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User: pushing-robot

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  1. Re:Web sites on Popular Android Package Uses Just XOR -- and That's Not the Worst Part · · Score: 3, Informative

    http://www.techlicious.com/gui...

    http://gmic2012.greatwallclub.... (I imagine NQ Mobile's Vault is the 'Vault' listed, NQ published a press release about it)

    I can't find a free copy of PC Magazine's 2012 best apps, but given the others I have little reason to doubt it. The average reviewer has nary a clue about cryptography, and from an end user standpoint, the app seems well made and has several clever features. It would be easy to assume the app lives up to its claims.

    Mind you, it still seems a useful app just for its ability to hide content from casual snoops (the app can even hide its presence on the device), though it is quite overpriced and likely to disappear after this entirely deserved PR disaster.

  2. Re:How are these related? on Prosecutors Get an 'A' On Convictions of Atlanta Ed-Reform-Gone-Bad Test Cheats · · Score: 5, Informative

    No, he was pointing out that rewarding teachers for high test scores is likely to result not in better teaching but more cheating and manipulation of the results.

    We've been obsessing over test scores for a while now and it doesn't seem to improve the quality of education.

  3. Re:Amazing! on World's First 1 Megawatt All-Electric Race Car · · Score: 5, Informative

    It has the power to go as fast as the Bugatti, but (apparently) not the gearing. At 161mph it'll be using a heck of a lot less than 1MW, so the battery should last much longer than 3m.

    The extra power *will* give it crazy acceleration even up steep inclines, which is far more useful on Pike's Peak than pure top speed.

  4. Not so new on Google 'Makes People Think They Are Smarter Than They Are' · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Before the Internet, we said the same things about people who relied on books for knowledge.

    Also, xkcd.

  5. Re:Why use secrete service agents on Secret Service Plans New Fence, Full Scale White House Replica, But No Moat · · Score: 1

    The 'real' White House has a lot of valuable antiques (including the building itself), a large number of regular employees, and a steady stream of guests and visiting dignitaries.
    Even a simulated terrorist attack could get messy, and they'd have the inconvenience of having to schedule around the President and staff's activities.
    A staging site makes perfect sense here.

  6. Re:Christian Theocracy on Apple's Tim Cook Calls Out "Religious Freedom" Laws As Discriminatory · · Score: 3, Funny

    Apparently the closest chapter is in Pyongyang.

  7. Re:This Guy's Talents Should be Put to Good Use on Prison Inmate Emails His Own Release Instructions To the Prison · · Score: 4, Funny

    Dotan, have you ever been in a Turkish prison?

  8. Re:I read that as "Nortel" on Notel Media Player Helps North Koreans Skirt Censorship · · Score: 1

    And I read it as "Portable DVD Player."

  9. Re:My first SSD died on Endurance Experiment Kills Six SSDs Over 18 Months, 2.4 Petabytes · · Score: 4, Funny

    I haven't gone back to hard drives since I tried an IBM Deskstar. Windows 7 makes for a lot of floppy-swapping, but at least my data is safe.

  10. FREAK on FREAK Attack Threatens SSL Clients · · Score: 1

    Factoring Attack on RSA-EXPORT Keys

    Why do people go to the trouble of making an acronym if they're going to screw it up anyway?

  11. Re: ...letmegetthisstraight on Samsung Takes On Apple Pay By Acquiring Mobile Wallet Startup LoopPay · · Score: 1

    Sorry, I was confusing CVC1 and CVC2... though some cards include CVC2 as well, and you don't need to provide the CVC2 or any other data when you use the magstripe, so it doesn't really matter.

    Yes, magstripe cards are insecure by design, but we hardly need to make fraud easier. It's a lot safer and simpler for a criminal to stick an antenna in their pocket than to try to grab legible images of the fronts and backs of cards.

  12. Re:Loo Pay? on Samsung Takes On Apple Pay By Acquiring Mobile Wallet Startup LoopPay · · Score: 1

    For when you need to spend a penny.

  13. ...letmegetthisstraight on Samsung Takes On Apple Pay By Acquiring Mobile Wallet Startup LoopPay · · Score: 3, Insightful

    So it amplifies and broadcasts the signal held on the magnetic stripe of an old-style credit card. The completely unencrypted, insecure data that has your card number AND the 3-4 digit verification number.

    Why? Because modern card readers will never catch on, of course! Especially when retailers will be tripping over themselves to switch to the new smart readers in a year, since the credit card processors will hold them responsible for any fraud resulting from still using the old gear.

    This is a train wreck. Good on LoopPay for convincing some sucker to buy them before their product falls on its face.

  14. "In the years since Edward Snowden..." on Site Launches To Track Warrant Canaries · · Score: 2

    It's been a year and a half.

  15. Re:Is someone looking for a job? on SpaceX, US Air Force Settle Spy Sat Dispute · · Score: 2

    The Falcon 9 (1.0 and 1.1 combined) has had one partial failure and 12 successful launches, the Antares one complete failure out of five launches, the Delta II one failure (and one partial failure) out of 152, the Delta IV Medium 20 successful launches with no failures, the IV heavy 7 successes and 1 partial failure on a test flight, the Atlas V 51 successes and 1 partial failure. Yes, the Delta III was horrible, but it was only launched three times back in the 90s and abandoned.

    The DoD launch you're talking about happened in 2007. No other US company could get a satellite in GSO at the time. SpaceX had only launched two Falcon 1s for DARPA at that point, both too small, and both failures. Orbital at least had their Pegasus... with ~1/10th the required payload and a poor success rate.

    I'm not a ULA apologist, they were simply the only game in town for US satellite launches, and charged accordingly. SpaceX's recent successes have put them on track to become serious competition, and that's great. But you'd be crazy to trust a new space company with high-value payloads until they have a few successful launches under their belt.

  16. Re:Is someone looking for a job? on SpaceX, US Air Force Settle Spy Sat Dispute · · Score: 1

    There are only three US companies with LEO capabilities: ULA (Boeing/Lockheed), SpaceX, and Orbital.

    Of those three, Orbital's Antares is currently grounded after its spontaneous disassembly a few months ago, and our darling SpaceX's Falcon 9 1.1 has only been in use since 2013. ULA's Delta and Atlas have longer and better track records and much higher payload capacity than the Antares or Falcon 9.

    On top of that, SpaceX and Orbital have never handled classified payloads before, so that's training and time and effort on the part of the USAF.

    While I wouldn't be surprised if there's some palm-greasing going on behind the scenes between USAF and ULA, I also can't blame them for not trusting startups with billion dollar spy satellites.

  17. Re:This reminds me... on NVIDIA Responds To GTX 970 Memory Bug · · Score: 5, Informative

    You're describing 'TurboCache' (a marketing name if ever there was one).

    It wasn't a secret, it was only on very low end cards, and ATI was already doing the same with 'HyperMemory'. Intel, for their part, was exclusively using system RAM at the time (and largely still is).

    So what graphics *have* you been buying for the last decade?

  18. Re:That would be a Directed EMP on US Army Wants Weapon To Destroy Drone Swarms · · Score: 5, Informative

    The problem with an EMP is you can't focus it.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V...

  19. Re:Cool! on Steam Broadcasting Now Open To Everyone · · Score: 4, Funny

    I know what I'll be doing.

  20. Re:Very nice indeed on The Most Popular Passwords Are Still "123456" and "password" · · Score: 4, Insightful

    In fairness, it depends on what the passwords were *for*. If it's a bank site... that's bad. If it's some random site that hides content behind a pointless registration wall, '12345' is perfectly fine.
    It comes down to 'if this were a door, would I lock it?'

  21. Re:Remember when you guys applauded Holder... on FBI Seeks To Legally Hack You If You're Connected To TOR Or a VPN · · Score: 1

    Technically this is the FBI, so you should be pissed off at Comey, not Holder. Comey is officially Holder's subordinate at the DoJ, though I'm not sure how much the FBI chief really answers for.

    And you won't have to wait so long for Holder's departure; he announced his resignation months ago and Obama already tapped his replacement.

  22. Re:WHO forced them? on Iran Forced To Cancel Its Space Program · · Score: 2

    Don't forget the Islamic State, which also counts oil as its primary source of income. Saudi Arabia has no shortage of reasons to drive down oil prices.

  23. Another one? on Feds Operated Yet Another Secret Metadata Database Until 2013 · · Score: 3, Funny

    At this rate we'll need a metadata database metadatabase.

  24. Re:Wait a minute on SpaceX Landing Attempt Video Released · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Less complexity, less weight (and gets lighter as you use it). No pumps, no power source for pumps, no return lines, just a pressurized tank and a few valves.

    Of course, you have to know how much you'll need before the flight, and the longer you'll need it the lesser the savings over a traditional system.

  25. Curiously familiar on SpaceX Landing Attempt Video Released · · Score: 5, Funny

    Looks like most of my Kerbal Space Program landings.