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Slashback: Subterfuge, Rejoinder, Caution

A desire for information on Code Red and full disclosure, steganography, old game music, and an interesting bit on software patents are the reason you're reading tonight's Slashback.

Good things come in hidden pictures. Intrepid strongman Dug Song writes, in reaction to the "fairly thin" piece earlier today on Steganographic anlysis:

"The only cutting edge, practical work being done today in steganalysis and steganography is by Niels Provos, who gave a talk at HAL2001, and is also presenting at the USENIX security symposium tomorrow: He's been developing several interesting tools to do steganalysis during the course of his universal stego engine development: (http://www.outguess.org/) including stegbreak (which can detect images produced by all popular stego tools -- except outguess), crawl (which he's used to download 2 million jpeg's from eBay to analyze), discern (his distributed computing platform), etc."

Hushing up is not such a good answer sometimes ... Reader Brian McWilliams <brian@pc-radio.com< notes regarding the thread on Slashdot about the costs of full disclosure, "you might want to add an update linking to this story Newsbytes did a couple days ago about the Richard Smith posting. Contains responses from eEye & full disclosure advocates, as well as some more ammo from Smith."

Smith doesn't take kindly to being blamed for damages caused by security holes he publically aired.

So you want to patent "bacon and eggs"? I guess that's OK then. You recently read about the McAffee patent on a seemingly overbroad stretch of computing transactions. Well, it's raised quite a few eyebrows among people interested in a fair computing marketplace. geoa points to this article in which "Neil McAllister in The Gate takes too long to say we shouldn't let another monopoly in the playpen."

It was soooo old ... For everyone enjoying the recent upswing in retro computing interest, Silicon Avatar writes with another tidbit: "Although not necessarily new news, I found a link today when someone mentioned Roland MT-32 to me. Starting with Space Quest IV, Sierra games were written to use either the Adlib soundcard or the Roland MT-32 'soundcard.' Quest Studios seems to have repository of MANY of those songs, including the 'lounge tape' I once had but lost!"

Put that in your souped up underclocked emulator and smoke it.

174 comments

  1. If you're looking for more than Sierra game music by mikey573 · · Score: 5, Informative

    If you're looking for more than Sierra game music, check out the Videogame Music Archive for other 8,000 midis for NES, SNES, Genesis, and more. :-) Now that is nostalgia!

  2. Re:If you're looking for more than Sierra game mus by whiteranger99x · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Actually, if you're really into the music from the Nintendo, Super Nintendo and other old console games, you really should check out Zophar's Domain.

    You can download music rips from the actual games and download special players (many come in the form of a Winamp or even an XMMS plug-in :)

    --
    Join the TWIT army now!
  3. Re:AT&T Block blocking port 80 due to Code Red by operagost · · Score: 1

    A 'business connection' will be just an excuse for higher chages with no improvement in speed, reliability or service.

    --

    Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
  4. Full disclosure by moronic1 · · Score: 1

    I am sick of hearing about this. The systems administrators have had plenty of time to get the fix in. And it is within the full right of the bug "finder" to post and pretty much do whatever with what they found.. what if they didnt tell anyone and they decided to write CR#.. it would have been a much bigger mess..

    my $1.49...

    1. Re:Full disclosure by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      The stileproject web site got owned because of the telnet bug before the OSs had patches ready. The sysadmins had no fixes to have plenty of time to put the fix in.

      The wisdom of having telnet on a publicly available server is a different matter, but it wasn't a passwrd that was sniffed, it was a bug that led to a root hole.

    2. Re:Full disclosure by sqlrob · · Score: 1

      Stile got owned. Yeah, right. He didn't have backups and "lost" everything, yet was back up with full content pretty quickly. Smells like a PR stunt to me.

    3. Re:Full disclosure by Tin+Britches · · Score: 1

      If software is released with an exploitable error then damage has already been done. If someone discovers the flaw, someone else can as well. Unfortunately a whitehat's disclosure will potentially contribute more damage. However, if a whitehat discovers an exploit and keeps quiet, then a knowing blackhat can do far more widespread damage. If your doctor found cancer in you, you'd prefer he'd tell you and do the chemotherapy (with all it's ravages) than keep silent about the diagnosis.

    4. Re:Full disclosure by MadAhab · · Score: 2
      Sysadmins had plenty of time to deal with this. By the time Full Disclosure was doing its "horrible, horrible, avoidable damage", the exploit was already circulating. So what are you recommending, keeping the news secret

      And the slashback gets it wrong on smith, he's whingeing that news should be kept 'leet until the fixes are out there. How the hoi polloi are supposed to install fixes for bugs that they think don't affect them is beyond me, but, please "could have saved big companies a lot of money"???!!!! WTF!?!?!?!?! So we should keep information secret so that the big boys get their asses covered while admins of smaller sites get no information and get victimized? Fuck off and die, now, you brownosing crybaby.

      And tell stileproject to read bugtraq. I saw the 'sploit, i verified that it worked, i upgraded my machine toot sweet even tho i don't run telnet. Boo hoo for them.

      --
      Expanding a vast wasteland since 1996.
  5. Re:JPEGs by sulli · · Score: 3, Funny

    Yeah, and I'm sure he downloaded them just to see if they used steganography...

    --

    sulli
    RTFJ.
  6. Re:JPEGs by MadAhab · · Score: 2

    Oh, come on. I bet only 35% of those were pornographic. You can't fault a researcher for having 600,000 porn pix, it's his job.

    --
    Expanding a vast wasteland since 1996.
  7. Re:Well.. by markmoss · · Score: 2
    Of course, in this case you not only have to look at the claims, you also have to think about all the obvious prior art they've claimed and try to sort out which of them they'd actually try to take into court...

    Patents like this one, they ought to take the costs of challenging them out of the salary for the idiot patent examiner who approved them. Unfortunately, he'd be in the hole for 10,000 years...

  8. Re:how many idiots does it take... by evilpaul13 · · Score: 1

    ...to leave a box wide open to exploits? Just one, and his name is listed above. Maybe he and the moron that modded his FUD "insightful" should get together and breed. The world needs a few more microencephalics. Frkn idiots...

    FUD? Do you have a faint clue what that means? Since when did McAffee "seal a box up and prevent exploits" btw? It is a fscking antivirus that won't do anything to prevent future gaping holes in IIS or any other part of Windows 2000 from being exploited.

    It isn't like someone that can't open Internet Explorer, click Tools > Windows Update and apply some patches that are making national news for two weeks is going to keep AV definitions up to date either. I wonder how your 'briliant' post didn't get modded '-1 Flamebait.'

  9. Re:how many idiots does it take... by hubbabubba · · Score: 1
    Excuse me, oh bril(l)iant evilpaul13! You may be a master of the English language *cough* and a widely-hailed security guru *wheeze*, but you also seem to be operating under the dangerously mistaken notion that all a person has to do to eradicate a CR2 infection is patch and reboot. WRONG. Who said anything about AV programs??? Not I. Now how about sending me the IP of the box you worked that particular bit of magic on? I need to own a few dozen more to pull off my scheme for global domination.

    hubbabubba

    Eighth Wonder Of The World, But Nonetheless A

    --
    Fried ice cream is a reality. - George Clinton
  10. Re:JPEGs by Heem · · Score: 1

    Occupational Hazzard. Much like any other high-risk job

    --
    Don't Tread on Me
  11. Full disclosure - the reason why. by ben_tarval · · Score: 2, Insightful
    With all due respect to Richard Smith, he seems to have completely missed the point of Full Disclosure.

    His argument basically boils down to "Security through Obscurity"; and anyone who has delt with security knows that this leads to no security at all.

    Yes, there is "one hell of a price tag". Chalk it up to the hidden price tag of Windows.

    What in the world do you expect of an architecture where blatant security flaws are deliberately ignored? What do you expect from a company which has publically stated that "security gets in the way"? And what do you expect from a company where the average time to release a security patch is about 60 days?

    One expects problems - serious problems. And Smith's argument is an attempt to cover these problems up. This hinders how bad the situation really is. While some people might like to stick their head in the sand and not know the truth, this does not make our infrastructure stronger.

    Quite frankly, given how insecure Microsofts' software has been historically, I would expect a strong attempt by them to try to do away with Full Disclosure. It is certainly a lot cheaper than having to fix the problems properly in the first place. While I would not accuse Mr. Smith of being a Microsoft shill, I would certainly say that he is misguided here.

    Full Disclosure helps keep Microsoft honest. Anything less is an attempt to gloss over the fact that Windows is flawed; and that anyone who uses it has to pay an additional hidden tax due to its serious security flaws.

    Please let us deal with the truth, and stick to the truth. Anything less is deceitful; nor will it stop experienced pros from exploiting the existing flaws. Lack of full disclosure will however, lull people into a false sense of security.

    And as we have seen with the Code Red worm, the price of a false sense of security can be very expensive.

  12. Does no one remember Wing Commander? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Activision was also an early supporter of sound...remember Deathtrack and Mechwarrior?

    Thos were what sold me on the AdLib, but it was Wing Commander, and Wing Commander 2 with the speech synthesis which sold me on the Sound Blaster 16....

  13. Re:code red costs by FooRat · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Wouldn't their estimate also include (a) average hourly rate of administrators fixing the problem multiplied by average number of hours required to correct the problem, (b) productivity loss due to downtime of systems? We rely on our NT server at work pretty heavily (SourceSafe etc), when it goes down half of our programmers either can't work, or can work but in an impaired way that wastes quite a lot of time. And programmers aren't that cheap :) If you have twenty people getting paid 20$/hour, and they all can't work for two hours, thats $800 lost, not to mention that you're probably ending up further behind on a project that was already running late anyway. Another factor is that when the server is down, people often find it a convenient excuse to take a break. Yet another thing is that for many companies, it usually takes something like CR to get the management to realise that they *need* to spend money on things like antivirus software, and you need to have someone keeping the server patched etc. Management often think they're saving money here and there, until something like this happens. So some companies may end up hiring an administrator. And often, not only will an antivirus be installed on the server, but on everyone's systems (hmm .. this is pretty much what happened at our company a few weeks back with SirCam). Installing on everyones systems takes yet more time and money and productivity loss. And of course, you need meetings - you have to have one of those meetings where everyone is present, where everyone has explained to them (by managers who now think that all email attachments should be banned, because they don't understand the technology) the dangers of using email attachments, or running unmanaged web servers, how to keep their antivirus software up to date etc. Many companies are also probably going to go purchase firewall software now too, after CR. Heck, I wouldn't be at all surprised if the cost did approach $2600. I mean, if a large company with 500 desktops suddenly decides to install antivirus software on all 500 desktops just because their server was hit with CR, thats expensive. Professional firewall software can be very expensive too, as well as the training and time required by the administrator(s) to set up and install all the stuff.

  14. Re:JPEGs by mobets · · Score: 0

    for once this is actualy somewhat on topic...

    --

    It was me, I did it, I moved your cheese
  15. Well.. by mindstrm · · Score: 2

    You can't base your assumptions as to what would infringe and what doesn't based on the abstract; you have to read the exact wording of the patent itself. The abstract is just a 'summary' designed to quickly let you know generally what the patent is about.

  16. Sorry by mindstrm · · Score: 2

    I have to disagree. I want to buy *internet service* period. Charge me for extra bandwidth if you want (if I use it).. but don't tell me i "can't have listening TCP sockets'.

    The internet is about connecting computers, not about 'consumers' and 'servers'

    1. Re:Sorry by rjamestaylor · · Score: 1
      I want to buy *internet service* period. Charge me for extra bandwidth if you want (if I use it).. but don't tell me i "can't have listening TCP sockets'.

      With this I agree.

      --
      -- @rjamestaylor on Ello
  17. Re:If you're looking for more than Sierra game mus by abischof · · Score: 2

    Well, that's a start, but is there anywhere that I can buy videogame or demo music in Redbook format?

    --

    Alex Bischoff
    HTML/CSS coder for hire

  18. Re:Back in those DOS days... by Tackhead · · Score: 1
    > I remember when I first bought an 8 bits SoundBlaster to play DOOM, it was a truely unforgettable moment.

    Same moment, different card. Gravis Ultrasound. Totally blew me the hell away. Plugged it into my stereo and cranked it the hell up and didn't get any sleep that night. Must've pissed off the neighbors. Fuck 'em, I didn't care!!!

  19. Re:AT&T Block blocking port 80 due to Code Red by typedef · · Score: 1

    My Nazi ISP has done that for years, along with ports 21, 23, 25, 110, 6000, and anything else in /etc/services which might be considered remotely useful. Unfortunatly, there is no other alternative for broadband in my area, so I just have to take it and like it.

  20. Re:Just some thoughts by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is what confuses me about software patents. I thought you could only patent an implementation of a .. mouse trap. But these patents seem to be patents that cover all mouse trapping technology.

    How could this be fair? If you have a mini hangmans noose for a mouse, I should be able to profit from a mini mouse guillotine. Right?

  21. It was soooo old ... by DuranDuran · · Score: 3, Informative
    Incidentally, if you're after mobile phone ringtones of themes from your fave older C64, Amiga, and PC computer games, you can check out:

    Arcade Tones

    I'm not related to it, but it was the only place I could find the Megablast by Bomb the Bass from Xenon 2. Now all I need is someone to call me. Call, damnit!!

    DD

    --
    "You can justify anything by putting it in quotes, adding a famous name and making it a sig" - Albert Einstein
    1. Re:It was soooo old ... by jfmiller · · Score: 1

      If you would be so kind as to post your Cell Phone number, I can assure you that you will recieve a high enough volume of calls that you will be able to properly test and evaluate all your ring tones. Why you might even have the added benifit of getting to have a long conversation about the very special properties that can be discovered by a carful evaluation of goats.

      --
      Strive to make your client happy, not necessarly give them what they ask for
  22. Re:It was soooo old.. by RollingThunder · · Score: 2

    My father-in-law just gave me his old (but working!) Kaypro. I'm in retro heaven. CP/M is a hoot. :D

  23. Don't forget scenarios 3 and 4. by dave-fu · · Score: 1

    We sit on it and pretend it never happened, then wonder why our servers are defaced?
    Scenario 4: I'm an admin and I can't bring down my production servers because I'm unsure of how this new, untested patch might affect my systems. Thankfully, eEye or whomever has indicated mitigating factors and released a tool to test my machine for vulnerabilities. I remove the mappings and test my machine, reassuring myself that I'm safe from this.
    I can see that you might not like "exploit" (proof of concept?) code, but for some folks (not just crackers), it's very, very valuable.

    --
    Easy does it!
    This comment has been submitted already, 276865 hours , 59 minutes ago. No need to try again.
  24. Re:Back in those DOS days... by Fafhrd · · Score: 1

    IIRC, the Sound Blaster percursor was called Game Blaster (what's it with Creative and Blaster?)

    I remember at the time, the SB was like 3 boards in one: The Adlib, the GameBlaster, and the new one with the DAC. They were all different, unrelated chips.

  25. Re:Back in those DOS days... by WildBeast · · Score: 1

    I remember when I first bought an 8 bits SoundBlaster to play DOOM, it was a truely unforgettable moment.
    Creative Labs became the de facto standard of sound cards by using the same marketing strategy that RedHat, MS and Heinz use.

  26. Steganography by bentini · · Score: 5, Informative
    I happen to be a researcher in steganography at the moment. I fear that all this work, while "practical" is not as comprehensive as you might make it sound. If you read IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, you might remember the article a couple months ago: "Quantization Index Modulation" by B. Chen and... umm... Cornwell? Sorry, I don't have it in front of me.

    The point is, this article and others have been doning some amazing work on provably good steganography and making some strides in really making stego fit to the information theory model in good ways.

    A lot of the papers cited are less "practical" experiments in steganography but rather information theory which has similar issues. The two most interesting were "writing on dirty paper" and "capacity of memory with errors". These were all about similar problems in VERY different areas.

    The great thing about theory is that it finds connections you'd never imagine.

    If you want to talk about this, my email is dbentley at stanford (it's a university, guess what the TLD is)

  27. Re:code red costs by andruhill · · Score: 0

    paragraphs man.anyway. solve problem. dont ever have a server OS that requires rebooting for meer patchs

  28. Argument for Full Disclosure by TedCheshireAcad · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Full disclosure, although it sounds like a dangerous idea, is perhaps the most effective manner for preventing attack.

    It becomes a double-edged sword, when you release a vulnerability, who will get to it first, the vendor or the crackers?

    Scenario 1: Crackers take charge. OK, for the sake of argument, let's say eEye discovers a remote root in IIS. They release the vulnerability specifics, and as soon as they do so, a cracker creates an exploit, and before you know it, it's the hottest thing on Packetstorm. The attacks spread rampant, but by this time, Microsoft has gotten wind of the threat, and released a patch. Thousands of boxen are patched by admins who keep up with the news, however thousands remain unpatched, and many have been cracked. Over the course of a few months, things get ironed out, cracked boxes get fixed, security patch is propogated everywhere.

    Scenario 2: The Secret Vulnerability The same vulnerability, discovered by eEye, instead of being released to the public, is released to Microsoft only. Microsoft creates a patch, and puts it on the internet. Few admins apply it, because there is no huge hype about a massive attack wave. This leaves a massive amount of servers open to attack. Then, out of the blue, a cracker discovers the same exploit, and writes the code to exploit it. Script kiddies everywhere are rooting IIS boxen. The threat spreads vigorously, all the while, MS claims plausibly deniability, because they already released a patch.

    The Skinny: Why one is better The second scenario is somewhat similar to the CodeRed situation. MS released a patch for the bug long before the worm spread, and people never expected it. When the wave hit, many admins flocked to the MS update site, and patched their boxen. It uses the media to propogate information about the vulnerability.

    This is why CodeRed spread so fast, because there were fewer patched boxes. If more boxes had been patched, the spread would be less severe.

    The point I am trying to make here is that we must sacrifice a certain amount of servers to any given bug before it is eliminated. The patching-frenzy is triggered by the massive infection. Such a necessity for a patch must be created for it to be propogated fully.

    I hope this is understandable, for I still may be an idiot, I have yet to confirm.

    --Ted

    1. Re:Argument for Full Disclosure by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      "Full disclosure" is what your scenario 2 is. Ish. I don't think you'll find many people arguing for scenario 1.
      eEye discovers a vulnerability and tells MS; then, assuming MS comes up with a patch in a timely manner, eEye and MS make the vulnerability and the patch public at the same time. The question is, do they release the full details of the hole, or just that it exists.

  29. code red costs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    On Wednesday, Computer Economics, an information technology cost research firm, put the total economic pricetag of the Code Red worm at more than $2 billion, based on an estimate that 760,000 computers worldwide were infected.

    So, let me see, that makes it about $2600 per computer - I never knew that McAfee Virus Shield had gone up in price so much.

    Does Newsbytes have no fucking editor or what?

    1. Re:code red costs by evilpaul13 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      McAfee wasn't even necessary, just apply the security patch and reboot.

      I guess the "how many dozen suits does it take to change a light bulb" applies to using web browsers and rebooting a server?

    2. Re:code red costs by Syberghost · · Score: 3, Interesting

      What part of "infected server" don't you understand?

      You've got a server with an open, exploitable remote hole, and evidence that it's been advertising itself to the net as "exploitable server here!" in thousands of web logs.

      If you just patch that server and go on with life, you're an idiot. You need to either do a full audit to make sure it's clean, or (far cheaper) rebuild the damn thing from a wiped HD. You don't know what somebody else has done on it.

      This is especially true if it's Code Red II.

  30. Correction to the above - KQ4 was first sound game by JackAsh · · Score: 1

    Actually, Space Quest IV was not the first Sierra game to use sound. King's Quest IV was (The Perils of Rosella). Sierra almost singlehandledly created a market for sound cards by supporting the Roland MT-32 and the Adlib music cards with it.

    It response to some other messages, the Sound Blaster was predated by the Game Blaster, a.k.a. Creative Music System (I had one). As many people have pointed out, that card used crappy AM synthesis, and the Adlib sounded much better with FM synthesis. The Creative came out with the Sound Blaster, which emulated the Adlib, the CMS (initially at least, later optional), and had the DAC that permitted it to play recorded samples (anyone remember the .VOC format?) It also had basic voice synthesis.

    (Hello, my name is Dr. Sbaitso. I am here to help you. Please state whatever is on your mind freely. Our conversation will be kept in the strictest confidence. Memory contents will erased right after you leave. So, tell me about your problems.)

    Space Quest III, released shortly after KQ4, was the first game to incorporate sound samples in it's design, although they were there unoficially - Sound Blaster support was added way AFTER the release. Play the game again, and during the intro sequence, when Roger wakes up, he states "Where am i?". When I heard that a few years after I pleayed the game I nearly flipped. I couldn't believe it had been there all along! Apparently Roberta Williams wasn't too thrilled the Space Quest guys had done so much more with the sound system than she had for KQ4, she said she didn't even know that was possible when she made her game.

    Boy I feel old.

  31. Terrorists using ebay to communicate in secret... by doug363 · · Score: 4, Funny
    Recently, there has been rumors about terrorist using steganography to hide their communication and secret plans. ...[snip]...So far we have analyzed 2 Million images obtained from ebay auctions. So far not a single hidden message could be found.

    Hehe. Some people really have too much time/computing power to waste :).

    <tounge-in-cheek>
    I think it's a good thing that they haven't found anything yet, but not because I'm concerned about terrorists communicating over the Internet. Imagine some of the comments in the mainstream media: "Terrorists use Internet to send hidden messages to children!!" and "Popular Internet site taken over by terrorists!!". This would fit in nicely with senators learning about the dangers in things like file-sharing programs. Terrorists/pornographers/that sleazy guy across the road could be using Gnutella to communicate to other shady characters this very minute!
    </tounge-in-cheek>

  32. Someone had to say it... by jgrumbles · · Score: 5, Funny

    Porn isn't just for masturbation anymore, you can collaborate with fellow terrorists while fulfilling your sexual needs.

    1. Re:Someone had to say it... by banka · · Score: 1

      porn was never for masturbation. its a fine art. have YOU ever been to a porn convention? i thought so.

    2. Re:Someone had to say it... by Tackhead · · Score: 1
      > porn was never for masturbation. its a fine art. have YOU ever been to a porn convention? i thought so.

      Y'know, I disagree with you so vehemently that I'm gonna hafta... uh... go to a porn convention just to make sure I'm right.

  33. Re:AT&T Block blocking port 80 due to Code Red by mauryisland · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I got plenty of "Code Red" attempts in my web log from the speakeasy.net domain. Maybe they should've blocked port 80!

  34. a quick timeline by Alien54 · · Score: 3, Interesting
    In general, sound support in the early days was a royal pain. This was where a lot of folks first learned to configure PCs. The problems is tech support were legendary.

    Here is a quick sound timeline:

    1987 AD-LIB soundcard released. Not widely supported until a software company, aito, released several games fully supporting AD-LIB - the word then spread how much the special sound effects and music enhanced the games. Adlib, a Canadian Company, had a virtual monopoly until 1989 when the SoundBlaster card was released.

    1989 Release of Sound Blaster Card, by Creative Labs, its success was ensured by maintaining compatibility with the widely supported AD-LIB soundcard of 1987.

    1989 World Wide Web invented by Tim Berners-Lee

    1990 MPC (Multimedia PC) Level 1 specification published by a council of companies including Microsoft and Creative Labs. This specified the minimum standards for a Multimedia IBM PC. The MPC level 1 specification originally required a 80286/12 MHz PC, but this was later increased to a 80386SX/16 MHz computer as an 80286 was realised to be inadequate. It also required a CD-ROM drive capable of 150 KB/sec (single speed) and also of Audio CD output. Companies can, after paying a fee, use the MPC logo on their products.

    1991 Linux is born

    1992 Introduction of Windows 3.1

    1992 Wolfenstein 3D released by Id Software Inc.

    1992 Sound Blaster 16 ASP Introduced.

    1993 MPC Level 2 specification introduced This was designed to allow playback of a 15 fps video in a window 320x240 pixels. The key difference is the requirement of a CD-ROM drive capable of 300KB/sec (double speed). Also with Level 2 is the requirement for products to be tested by the MPC council, making MPC Level 2 compatibility a stamp of certification.

    1994 Doom II released - Command & Conquer released - Netscape 1.0 released - Linux Kernel. version 1.0 released

    - - -

    White House Selected Vegetables Coffee Mug

    --
    "It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
  35. Re:Terrorists using ebay to communicate in secret. by TACD · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Hmm, an interesting concept; a peer-to-peer network devoted entirely to scandalous and possibly paedophiliac pronography. Could be lucrative.

    (Joke, joke, thank you Mr. Modstick)

    I wonder how far into the ground they will bash Napster before giving up; perhaps they just don't want to have to admit that there are hundreds of other P2P networks out there, and that they cannot stop them all...

    --
    Security through promiscuity is no better than security through obscurity.
  36. Re:Hiding communication by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    You're thinking of spirographography.

  37. Gameboy stream by *deadend42* · · Score: 2, Informative

    Funny this should be brought up, I just finished getting my shoutcast stream working that plays exclusively Gameboy MIDIs. Tune in.

    --
    Watashi wa Amerika-jin desu.
    1. Re:Gameboy stream by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      what a popular /. / \

      the parent post was submitted over 25 minutes ago and less than a third of all the submitted comments are at or below the Score: 0 threshold.

      what a pity

    2. Re:Gameboy stream by Legion303 · · Score: 1
      You realize you just killed some poor sap's DSL bandwidth for a couple of days, right? :P

      -Legion

  38. For those wishing to participate.... by bendude · · Score: 0, Troll

    in the ticket thing, but are too lazy to follow instructions Try this

    I personally find most companies to be like this and would richly like to teach the corporate world that we are not going to just bend over and take it anymore.

    --


    Get the Hell off my planet, you slimy mobster Bush!
    1. Re:For those wishing to participate.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Holy Shit batman....That is the contender for worlds longest URL...

      http://ticketmonster.hostingsupport.com/cgi-bin/ti cket/support/add.cgi?client_inside=yes&Client=saa& Login_Pass=doneit&Phone=423432&Email=abuse%40hosti ngsupport.org&Domain=hostingsupport.org&Ticket=&OS =NT+Dedicated+Server&Error_Url=http%3A%2F%2Fgoatse .cx%2F&Problem=Hi%2C%0D%0AI+deal+with+a+few+differ ent+web+service+providers+and%2C+for+the+most%2C+I +find+that+they+aren%27t+up+to+the+job+at+hand.++T hey+treat+their+customers+badly+and+show+no+sign+o f+caring.%0D%0AAs+a+result+I+have+a+healthy+wish+t o+do+damge+to+one+of+these+organisations.++Then%2C +one+of+your+customers+advertised+that+he+wished+t o+launch+a+DDOS+attack+on+your+organisation+for+si milar+grievences+to+mine.++I+bet+you%27re+getting+ a+few+of+these%3F&Submit=Submit

      Fuckin' monster....But what's with the goatse.cx?

      1. Trying to Open Minds?

  39. Re:Back in those DOS days... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hah, Adlib or the Soundblaster rocked your world comared to the piece of shite 'Gameblaster.' And besides, Ultima 6, Skyroads, did the music in these games not blow your mind?

  40. It was soooo old.. by PopeAlien · · Score: 4, Funny

    Why when I was a kid we did'nt have these fancy laptop computers and tiny digital memory cards.. Nosir, we had punchcards, and we liked 'em.. If you wanted to type up a business proposal you had to punch it up on paper cards using a hydraulic press operated by connecting cables on a patch bay ..

    And if you ever wanted to read one of those proposals you had to spread the cards out on your big-ol conference table-top and get way up on ladders to be able to read it all.. Yep.. Then some smart sumbitch invented the pneumatic chair which could get you up there to read the punchcards without the ladder.. yep. those were the days..

    I think I'm gonna go down in the basment and bang on my altair..

    1. Re:It was soooo old.. by swschrad · · Score: 1

      don't forget about the old monitors used with those machines... you had to clean the kerosene soot off the back of The Big Eye every weekend, or you couldn't see if the machine booted cleanly or into hexcode Hell.

      --
      if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
  41. Re:Back in those DOS days... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    SoundBlasters were the standard long before Wolfenstein 3D or Wing Commander. Blame it on the lack of hardware abstraction and the inevitable peecee tendency towards the lowest common denominator

  42. Just some thoughts by boaworm · · Score: 3, Interesting
    I read through the abstract description of the MCAfee Patent. I find this a bit interresting...

    ... the user directs the Internet browser to a Internet clinical services provider web site computer and logs in to the site using an identifier and a secure password...

    Does this mean... that if i dont go there with an internet browser, i "worked around" the patent ? Lets take Microsoft and their .NET software... If I'm not totally wrong here, the idea there is to provide these types of services. You run programs of the servers, and maybe pay per use. So, Microsoft just integrates a .NET browser, (instead of an internet browser), a client software that can search the MS.NET for .NET applications out there.

    Or the open-source approach ? Use a peer2peer-style software. You start GnAppliTella, enter search for "word processor", and voila, you have a bunch of servers providing you with an online word processor. And.. since the patent seems to require some password authentication, what if you provide these online software services for free ?

    What I'm trying to point out, is that this patent is only useful if you use an "internet browser". I dont really think the online future lies within the restrictions of a web browser of todays style. They are big, sometimes filled with advertisements, they crash, they have security flaws, etc etc etc. Perhaps this patent seems like a big deal right now, but my guess is that tomorrow will tell different.

    --
    Probable impossibilities are to be preferred to improbable possibilities.
    Aristotele
    1. Re:Just some thoughts by Sinistar2k · · Score: 1
      This means that the patent is largely invalid due to Symantec's HealthyPC.com product having done the same thing a year before McAfee filed for their patent (HPC.com happened in '97, patent filed in '98).

      I've posted all the details in a comment under the initial McAfee patent article, so I'm not going to repeat myself here, but check it out if you're curious.

    2. Re:Just some thoughts by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      the rule to the patent game is that one skilled in the state of the art has to be able to implement what is claimed, by reading their specification.

      their spec, however, states that the server executes the program.... not the client... not the browser.... but the server computer.

      what else is interesting is that it explains that all request enter the server computer through the cgi program, and all response are sent via the cgi program. if the first request enters through apache, then you may have a different invention.... but I am not a lawyer...

  43. Re:JPEGs by ozbird · · Score: 3, Funny

    Yeah, and I'm sure he downloaded them just to see if they used steganography...

    So when he was complaining about the "hidden bits" in the photos, he was talking about steganography? Silly me...

  44. Re:Hiding communication by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Is anyone else bothered by the stylistic leap in Wired's direction that Scientific American did earlier this year? Happily they've kept the color choices in the reasonable contrast range, but the fonts and the graphics have gotten a bit to k-rad for me.

    Wired itself seems to have gone further down that road; becoming a parody of the parody of itself it once was. I used to refer to it as "Technology Vogue". These days "Technology MTV Music News" would be closer to the mark.

    This just in, Steve Jobs has a headache!
  45. F'in A Right Man by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    I agree with you 100%. The malicious or clueless hackers that created Code Red have primary responsibility, people who ignore security alerts have secondary responsibility, the company that releases bad code tertiary responsibility, and people who discover and disclose security flaws have ZERO responsibility. From the disclosure article:

    " 'One thing is now crystal clear with Code Red: full-disclosure comes with one of hell of a price tag. There has to be a better way,' said Smith."

    There is a better way: people who stick their bullshit product out on the network we all share taking responsibility for their little corner of it, keeping track of security and patching their damn holes.

    I am getting really sick of this kind of argument that blames the messenger. As if the most dangerous blackhat hackers aren't going to work out the details on their own. As costly and irritating as stuff like Code Red and SirCam are, if this is what it takes for the numbskulls to understand what happens when they ignore security and good practices, so be it.

    Maybe we should create a worm tax - for every piece of corrupt code sent out from a compromised server for which a fix exists and the owner was informed of the fix, you get charged $.001 by your ISP.

  46. Re:how many idiots does it take... by hubbabubba · · Score: 1
    ...to leave a box wide open to exploits? Just one, and his name is listed above. Maybe he and the moron that modded his FUD "insightful" should get together and breed. The world needs a few more microencephalics. Frkn idiots...

    hubbabubba

    And don't call me no Sig-less Wonder!

    --
    Fried ice cream is a reality. - George Clinton
  47. stego in the article from earlier by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I found that the stego article from earlier today, there were two pictures, one of a stego demo, and a picture of Dartmouth stego researcher Hany Farid. I have cracked the stego in this second picture. The guy's real name is Sudikoff.

  48. Retro Tunage... by spellcheckur · · Score: 0, Offtopic
    There's a great collection of retro (although not necessarily "vintage") tunes available at:

    http://remix.overclocked.org

    A ton of old NES-era games remixed with new instrumentation and some downright questionable rescoring.

    Fun memories, if nothing else.

    1. Re:Retro Tunage... by Legion303 · · Score: 1
      As one of the remixers from OCR, I'm probably qualified to correct this a bit... :)

      Not only NES-era, but all sorts of game music, from NES (I don't believe there are any Atari 2600 remixes yet, but if there were, they would probably be unlistenable anyway) through PSX2 is represented.

      <plug>
      If you're (in the plural sense) a musician, why not remix your favorite game tunage and submit it to OCR?
      </plug>

      -Legion

  49. Re:Please /. and troll these guys - they screwed m by Leven+Valera · · Score: 1

    clean language
    less use of bold text
    less use the the caps lock key


    What is this, advice for a Slashdot editor?

    --
    Woot w00t w007.
  50. The real reason adlib lost... by NerdSlayer · · Score: 1

    Take it from me, as a screwed over owner of the original adlib....

    The reason that SB took over and Adlib died is because it had no ability to play back sampled sounds. So, it could beep and bop all day with it's crappy synthesizer, the it couldn't play speech or sound effects.

    The SB, however, emulated the adlib's synthesizer perfectly, was 5 or 10 bucks cheaper, and it could play back samples.

    Of course, game developers jumped on this, and Adlib pulled a 3DFX:

    By the time it released it's 2nd gen products, it was 6 months late to market, more expensive, and had fewer features. The SB16 had won.

    And I still had an Adlib.

  51. Re:AT&T Block blocking port 80 due to Code Red by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There are 65,500+ other ports available to you. I have AT&T and I'm glad they did it. The ARP requests were begining to slow things down.

  52. Re:If you're looking for more than Sierra game mus by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The usual scene. A Doctor says to a patient, "Well, I've got good news and bad news."

    The patient asks for the bad news and the doctor tells him that he has just three weeks to live.

    "Three weeks! That's terrible. I'll be dead in three weeks! What's the good news."

    Doctor says, "See my huge breasted receptionist? Well, I'm fucking her!"

  53. Re:Back in those DOS days... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I remember what made me want a Soundblaster - it was Wing Commander. I had never heard such an exquisite score... even the tuning of the instruments in the intro sequence. Ahh, nostalgia...

  54. Back in those DOS days... by mystery_bowler · · Score: 2, Funny

    Speaking of old MIDI stuff always made me wonder: Just how did Creative Labs become the de facto standard of sound cards back in the days of DOS gaming? Maybe I don't remember clearly, but it's not as if there was a huge gaming population back then (back then, yeah way back in the early 90's...cripes I feel old). Was music more of less an afterthought back then? Seems you'd want to make the gameplay independent of the music (not like movies, where the score plays an integral part in the emotion of the moment) just because there would be a good possibility the user wouldn't have a compatible sound card or perhaps not even a sound card at all.

    Perhaps like all things in PC gaming, the sound card only became a necessity because of Leisure Suit Larry and Wolfenstein 3D. You've either got to have it to hear sleazy softporn sounds or the screaming deaths of Nazis.

    --

    My sigs always suck.
    1. Re:Back in those DOS days... by orcus · · Score: 1

      Early 90s? Hell - Soundblasters were ruling the roost in the late 80s.Sierra originally supported two sound generation devices: Adlib and Roland MT-32.
      The Roland was for people with lots of money to spend, the Adlib was for everyone else.
      Remember the Adlib? 8bit card with FM synthesis?
      It made better music than Creative Lab's predecessor to the Sound Blaster - Sound Master maybe?
      It was an AM synthesis card and it sucked.
      Early Sound Blasters contained the AM synthesis chips, which were optional on later models
      since no one used them anyway.
      The sound blaster was basically an Adlib card ripoff - with a single mono digital channel.
      The DAC is what made the sound blaster stand out - now you could have REAL sound effects - not corny
      effects made out of various FM noises.

      Adlib fell behind since they couldn't do digital to analog - and they took WAY too long coming out with the Adlib Gold which could.
      By then Sound Blaster was the new standard - the ol' embrace and extend strategy...
      Sound Blaster really made people sit up and take notice when Prince of Persia was released - the first game I ever had with REAL sound.

      --
      First they burn books, then they burn people.
    2. Re:Back in those DOS days... by bartle · · Score: 2

      Just how did Creative Labs become the de facto standard of sound cards back in the days of DOS gaming?

      Price, the Soundblaster was the best buy for the money. Few DOS games used sampled sounds since they took up so much space, rather they focused on MIDI music. To get the best quality music took a Roland MT32 or Sound Canvas which cost somewhere between $400 and $1000, a Soundblaster cost $130 and it could play and record audio samples. Unless you had money to burn or you were into computer music, it was the best choice.

  55. AT&T Block blocking port 80 due to Code Red by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Last week AT&T Broadband's solution to stopping port 80 was just to completely block all incomming packet going to port 80. See the 7/30 accouncement. Its to bad they had to cop out and filter this network wide. Its to bad I can't get speakeasy dsl in my area yet because I would have switch over in an instant.

    1. Re:AT&T Block blocking port 80 due to Code Red by hochy · · Score: 1

      If you click on the Code Red link in the 7/30 annnouncement and look about halfway down the page, they have a Q&A about filtering port 80

    2. Re:AT&T Block blocking port 80 due to Code Red by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      speakeasy is very sweet!

    3. Re:AT&T Block blocking port 80 due to Code Red by rjamestaylor · · Score: 2

      Just move your services to different ports

      --
      -- @rjamestaylor on Ello
    4. Re:AT&T Block blocking port 80 due to Code Red by rjamestaylor · · Score: 2
      What I _don't_ hear people saying is "what happens when Code Red VII scans multiple ports and not just port 80"? The filtering of a single port is a Band-Aid(TM) and does not address the real problem: shoddy system administration.

      In fact, I'm beginning to believe that the TOS should be enforced: no public servers on non-business broadband connections. Why? Because securing your computer is a serious job that is more than the @"lookie I've got a web site"Home user can/will handle.

      Of course, I'm using my home system as a temporary back-up server (our main hosting service is experiencing trouble) while a new product gets demonstrated to potential investors/customers. I'm on an AT&T Broadband cable modem connection (fast enough for the demos) so when they filtered port 80 I reconfigured Apache to listen on 8081. No big deal. Oh, they also left 443 open, so those home users running ecommerce web apps at home (!) should have not even noticed the change. TOS? What TOS?

      On second thought, restricting a whole class of Internet users to read-only violates the Internet Way. Toss the TOS.

      --
      -- @rjamestaylor on Ello
  56. Game Music by $uperjay · · Score: 2, Informative
    The problem I have with a lot of old game music is that the volume isn't tapered at the end, so it just drops off. Even better than the original music, however, are some remixes; Overclocked Remix has quite a few good ones, and they've just redone the layout on their site to make things easier to find (although the downloads can be a bit slow). I recommend the c64vibe remix of the good ole Arkanoid music, myself.

    Most of the later Squaresoft rpgs were released with full soundtracks, as well, most of which you can probably find on ebay.

    ---

  57. Re:If you're looking for more than Sierra game mus by Chelloveck · · Score: 2

    NovAurora used to have a ton of rips from PC games, mostly MP3s and MIDI. Unfortunately, the owner of the site shut down the server and sold the domain name.

    Fortunately I snarfed the archive before it went away. Between that collection, other game music sites on the web, and things I've ripped myself I have about 2GB of game music.

    Anyone want to volunteer a server to host it?

    --
    Chelloveck
    I give up on debugging. From now on, SIGSEGV is a feature.
  58. Re:Browsers aren't all big and insecure by david+duncan+scott · · Score: 2

    Would that be "Lynx"? Even IE lets you use links.

    --

    This next song is very sad. Please clap along. -- Robin Zander

  59. Re:Terrorists using ebay to communicate in secret. by carlos_benj · · Score: 1
    You laugh, but I found the following coded message on a website for linens...

    Not paying attention could mean the death of your relationship. You can't be too attentive in a great relationship. Try slipping between these Satin sheets for a romantic rendezvous tonight.

    I know "Satan" is misspelled, but hey, they're terrorists!

    --

    --

    As a matter of fact, I am a lawyer. But I play an actor on TV.

  60. Mod down the dumb irrelevent jokes! by RockyJSquirel · · Score: 1

    I don't THINK I'm posting this twice. The first time I tried to posting this, I left the Comment area blank and the software complained, so I tried again with the title repeated in the comment section and it refused saying this was already posted.

    What're all the filters that stop posts?

    Rocky J Squirrel

  61. First music comment by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    King's Quest V and VI are the best Sierra games. In fact, the best puzzle-adventure games. I'm listening to the opening music of V now and fondly remembering such zany adventures as the Ants (led by King Antony), the Yeti, and the memorable performance of Graham's line "Can I help you in any way?" which I am still quoting to thi day.

  62. Hiding communication by HobNob · · Score: 5, Funny

    Holy crap. Is it also called steganography when you hide communications by presenting them as yellow text on a blue and red spiral background?

    Edward Tufte would not be impressed.

    -- Bob

    1. Re:Hiding communication by sporktoast · · Score: 3, Funny

      Is it also called steganography when you hide communications by presenting them as yellow text on a blue and red spiral background?

      No. That's called Wired Magazine. Though, these days, it is a bit of a stretch to call what they're hiding "information".

      --
      In a related story, the IRS has recently ruled that the cost of Windows upgrades can NOT be deducted as a gambling loss.
  63. mmmmm by Rogain · · Score: 1

    subterfudge...mmmmmm....uuuuhhhhhhhmmmmmm...so delicous!

    --
    The current Slashdot moderation system is made by gay communists!
  64. NOT TRUE.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I have AT+T @Home cable modem, and port 80 is not blocked, and never was. still get one code red probe every five seconds.

  65. Re:If you're looking for more than Sierra game mus by whiteranger99x · · Score: 1

    I'm not quite sure if this is what you're looking for, but you can try Game Music.com for some video game soundtracks. They have your typical Final Fantasy series, and well pretty much any music from Squaresoft games. :)

    They also seem to have non-RPG games soundtracks too.

    --
    Join the TWIT army now!
  66. Re:Steganography (is stegbreak useful?) by RockyJSquirel · · Score: 1

    I played with stegbreak a little bit and it seems totally useless since I couldn't find any data on its false positive rate or on what conditions cause false positives.

    Since sd must report SOME false positives, any answer it gives you is pretty meaningless. The only way to be even slightly sure that someone is hiding data is to get enough positive matches on data from them that you can prove that it's unlikely for all of the positives to be false. Even then there may be some other factor, like photoshop effects that are causing false positives.

    By the way, the original article had too many topics. Why mix a bunch of unrelated stuff together?

    Rocky J Squirrel

  67. Re:Browsers aren't all big and insecure by peter+hoffman · · Score: 2

    Links is a text only web browser like Lynx but with a different feature set. See http://artax.karlin.mff.cuni.cz/~mikulas/links/ for more details.

  68. Re:Code Red II ethics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    that's a bit iffy. however, I'd love to catch a copy of that script, my error log is filling with 'file does not exist: default.ida'

  69. Hohohoh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny
    Hehe, here is the best bit from the above. Heh.

    Difficult to find enough machines:
    • Started client on about 100 machines at University of Michigan without asking for persmission.
    • Received a warning about losing my computer privilages the next day.
    1. Re:Hohohoh by jeffy124 · · Score: 1

      maybe he can shell out half a mil in research funds

      --
      The One Rule Of Chess You'll Ever Need: Don't play someone who carries a kit in their bookbag.
  70. Re:Steganography (is stegbreak useful?) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Charlie was visiting an old friend and his wife for dinner. When the time came to leave, his car wouldn't start, and it was too late to call the local service station.

    The husband urged Charlie to stay over. There was no spare bed in the house; there wasn't even a sofa. So Charlie would have to sleep with the husband and wife.

    No sooner had the husband fallen asleep when the wife tapped Charlie on the shoulder and motioned for him to come over to her. "I couldn't do that," he whispered. "Your husband is my best friend!"

    "Listen, sugar," she whispered back, "there ain't nothing in the whole wide world could wake him up now."

    "I can't believe that," Charlie said. "Certainly if I get on top of you and screw you, he'll wake up, won't he?"

    "Sugar, he certainly won't. If you don't believe me, pluck a hair out of his asshole and see if that wakes him."

    Charlie did just that. He was amazed when the husband remained asleep. So he climbed over to the wife's side of the bed and fucked her. When he finished, he climbed back to his own side. It wasn't long before she tapped him on the shoulder and beckoned him again.

    Again he pulled a hair to determine if his old friend was asleep. This went on eight times during the night. Each time Charlie screwed the woman, he first pulled out one of the husband's asshole hairs.

    The ninth time he pulled a hair, the husband awoke and muttered, "Listen, Charlie, old pal. I don't mind you fucking my wife, but for Pete's sake, stop using my ass for a scoreboard!"

  71. Re:Browsers aren't all big and insecure by david+duncan+scott · · Score: 2

    Cool stuff. Alternatives are always good.

    --

    This next song is very sad. Please clap along. -- Robin Zander

  72. Re:Code Red II ethics by Chandon+Seldon · · Score: 1

    What would be the ethics of making it do "deltree /y \inetpub" instead?

    Poor, you'd hit his content.

    On the other hand, something like:

    move \inetpub \inetpub.old
    move \winnt \winnt.old
    force-reboot

    would be perfectly acceptable.

    --
    -- The act of censorship is always worse than whatever is being censored. Always.
  73. Browsers aren't all big and insecure by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    right now I am sshing from a windows box to my linux box at home so I can use links, a browser that is small, fast, secure, and doesn't distract you with dancing monkeys or gaudy pictures.

  74. Code Red II ethics by Syberghost · · Score: 2

    Here's an ethical question for you:

    Currently, I run a script "default.ida" that, when hit, logs into the attacker's back door and reboots his server.

    What would be the ethics of making it do "deltree /y \inetpub" instead?

    1. Re:Code Red II ethics by Syberghost · · Score: 2

      Yes, but technically, he needs to rebuild that server anyway or he's a menace to the net.

      It's been pointed out to me, however, that just killing inetpub would probably cause them to just recover it from a backup and go on.

      deltree /y \ is probably better.

      Our discussion degenerated from there into the possibility of overwriting their bootsector with a RedHat FTP auto-install image, then rebooting...

    2. Re:Code Red II ethics by Chandon+Seldon · · Score: 1

      Deltree /y /winnt

      --
      -- The act of censorship is always worse than whatever is being censored. Always.
    3. Re:Code Red II ethics by Syberghost · · Score: 2

      The proper syntax, for those who care, is:

      lynx -source http://ip.address.of.moron/scripts/root.exe?/c+del tree+/y+\\

      Now, patch your fucking servers, because the whole world is gonna know how to do this soon...

    4. Re:Code Red II ethics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I know, dude. Check this idiot out. He's had his damn server owned by somebody for a friggin' week:

      lynx -source http:// http://207.30.159.129/scripts/root.exe?/c+dir+\\Qu ickBooks

      (I was going to post the directory and obfuscate his IP, but Taco's lameness filter decided that a directory output couldn't be a legitimate post, so here it is for the world to see. Like it matters; everybody here probably has this dink in their weblogs by now anyway...)

    5. Re:Code Red II ethics by Syberghost · · Score: 2

      You're right; I in fact have this dink in my weblogs, and I too have asked his ISP to put a stop to him.

      However, he has apparantly dropped off the net, so perhaps somebody took you up on that.

  75. Who Innovated Viruses by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Actually, MS innovated a whole Virus/AntiVirus industry when they refused to use the user/system protection hardware which was introduced with the 286 chip (80286 at the time -- and other chips at the time had better protection; the 386 was much better, but MS still didn't use any protection). Wide open system, wide open for infection.

  76. Re:Please /. and troll these guys - they screwed m by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    tips:
    clean language
    less use of bold text
    less use the the caps lock key
    mail a letter anonymously to Nintendo
    explain to us how they screwed you
    double-check that 403 error

  77. JPEGs by sheetsda · · Score: 4, Funny
    which he's used to download 2 million jpeg's

    2 million jpegs? He's got my collection beat.

  78. Re:My first ablib card by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    that;s some adlib card!

  79. Hackwatch by tagishsimon · · Score: 4, Informative
    Good to see that "Reader Brian McWilliam" was also the author of the Newsbytes story he asked you to link to.

    Odd for me to have seen much of the bones of his story already discussed at length in The Register, on the day before McWilliam's posted his Newsbytes contribution.

    Still; I'm sure the slashdot effect will please his employers & increase his marketability.

    Here, meanwhile, is what TheReg thinks of mcWilliams and his half-assed understanding of things technical.

  80. Re:Terrorists using ebay to communicate in secret. by Hard_Code · · Score: 2

    ""

    Ouch! You better take that tounge out of your cheek!

    --

    It's 10 PM. Do you know if you're un-American?
  81. I always did like Quest Studios. by Infinity+Squared · · Score: 1
    Especially when they took a couple of my offered arrangements to post... There's nothing more heartening to a composer getting started than a connoisseur listening to what you've created and saying, "Hey, I like that. It's pretty good. I think other people should hear this, too!" That was a couple of years ago now, and I've done several projects since then. Gotten a lot better, and learned to fix the minor errors cropping up in those early midi files. (What? You mean I have to initialize the volume in ALL the tracks?)

    I grew up playing Sierra games, and Mark Siebert et al. have given me a lot of inspiration for what I write, as well. Hours listening to looping midi themes really give you a taste for how to fit a mobius track together. I'm still glad somebody is keeping alive all the music I loved. I even bought the CD, some of us actually think it's worth a little money to hear it again as it was intended... Rolands weren't cheap then, and they aren't cheap now.

    --
    Never eat brocolli in the dark.