TFA is not supposed to be relevant to most people.
TFA is an act of geek nostalgia. A good number of us like to remember for the sake of remembering. While I couldn't care less about Atari pre-Tramiel (the DOG!), stories about Amiga still interest me.
Check the comments section at the end of TFA, the messages are from people who still revere Atari and people with personal connections.
IIRC last Fall's 2600 had a basic intro to reversing obfuscated code (using Java example I think).
There are several websites out there that deobfuscate code in realtime to advertise their services... if I was actually interested in the issue I might still have a link, but you will have to google if you want to research this further.
The basic Visual Studio toolset has everything you need to reverse any managed code manually, obfuscated or not, providing you are willing to put in the time.
Anyhow, C# currently pays for my meals, so I'm not trolling here... but be careful about making assumptions about the privacy of any managed code that you release. Hell, same goes for any code, the 'managed' aspect just lower the bar for crackers a bit.
Hate speech? I am surprised to see that in a list of things that violate ISP TOS.
Out of curiosity, are you based in Europe? Even given the seemingly downward spiral of American rights or expression, I believe that hate speech is still legal here, and not at all deserving of being lumped with child-porn in a list of no-nos.
I know of several future lawyers who spend a lot of time on the net researching fringe movements and their psychology. A ban on the transmission of the hateful speech of these fringe groups would hugely handicap those who seek to understand the phenomenons of xenophobia and ultra-nationalism in America.
My father does a lot of video work, and any time he tries to access or move a video file he has crazy wait times while Vista chews on something.
What the hell changed between XP, which he has since gone back to using, and Vista that so radically changed the handling of video files? From his reading on various websites (none of which I can vouch for) the OS is checking for some sort of signatures in the files to figure out if he has permission to perform the selected task.
I have no idea if this is true or not, but either way, he had to ditch Vista and return to XP in order to do things like edit the video he shoots of conferences and events.
So the DRM issue has at least some anecdotal evidence in its favor. Either that or Vista is completely incapable of handling files over a certain size with any sort of grace.
"And yet from these supposedly assimilated folks a disturbingly large amount of funding flows to the Middle East, and they don't seem to protest much when Wahhabi hate literature starts to be distributed in their community."
Immigrant populations send money home and will continue to do so until exchange rates don't make it profitable to come live in western nations while supporting families elsewhere. Most of that money is going to families who are trying to make do in their ancestral homeland, not terrorist organizations.
As for hate literature, I have yet to see this happen in my community. On the contrary there are minimum two major interfaith events a year co-sponsored by the largest local mosque and the largest local synagogue not to mention the year end Unitarian celebration that includes Buddhists, Jews, Muslims, Christians, and anyone else who wants to attentd.
All I have to cite for you is my personal experience gathered while living across the USA in places like L.A., N.Y.C., and now New England. Each of these places has visible Muslim populations, and the examples of interfaith cooperation are everywhere for anyone who cares to look.
The only really dangerous experience I have had with a religious group was with the 'Black Israelites' in NYC. And anyone who has dealt with them will tell you that there homegrown religious threats as virulent as any imported Muslim variety.
In plain sight. By virtue of not being fanatical jihad-monkeys they tend to blend in pretty well with their surroundings just like peaceful Jews, Christians, Wiccans, etc..
Or did you not know that Muslims can look just like anyone else, speak reasonably, and contribute positively to their communities in unassuming and humble manners?
Hell, if nothing else it is nice having Muslims in your community because their bodegas are open on Christian holidays. Try getting out in the real world once in a while.
Having resistance and click-points on a keyboard was very helpful. When typing on such a keyboard I would never bottom out the key, thus expending extra force.
When using modern clickless (and mushy) keyboards I often find myself 'bashing' keys harder the faster I type. It has something to do with the lack of tactile feedback while touch typing.
Parent is first one to point out storage benefit... someone with points should mod up.
This is the biggest problem with solar/wind power, the power generated often needs to be supplemented with conventional generation technologies to ensure constant energy supply. Production of stored energy source like hydrogen solves this issue.
These guys are deep in every core industry and are global. A product like SageTimberline is used beginning to end in the commercial construction industry including by the owners and property managers who commissioned the construction.
It is kinda insane how powerful Sage is getting through acquisitions, they could open doors for Linux overnight.
Yeah, that has to be reason #1. Outside my professional acquaintances I know very few people who would ever attempt re-installing Windows without a pro technician, much less the great unknown Linux.
On a related note... Humans are still the weakest link in any network.
While it is interesting to read about insecurities in wireless it always bears to mention that even many well configured wired networks are easily compromised through the human component.
"Reportedly most of it comes from botnets: Insecure machines that were taken over by hackers and whose clueless owners did not notice anything."
I almost never bring this up... but then I almost never see someone mistake the word 'criminal' for 'hacker' on this site.
People who create botnets are criminals, not hackers. Given your six digit UID I am surprised I have to mention this, but the distinction is important... after all you are modded +5 and this story is currently linked to from Google News Sci-Tech frontpage.
My company is most likely in our last year of MSDN participation, but it has nothing to do with SP1.
The relationship between devs and MS has been deteriorating for some time. Off the top of my head I might point to the closing off of the IE development team from communication w/independents that occurred some time ago.
I am too jaded to sit here and detail all the problems that have been developing, so I will leave that to others. Needless to say it took quite some time before my partners were willing to consider looking away from MS as they have been developing with the Windows product line since 3.1.
Feeding Proxies is one potentially lucrative use of semantic technology.
Here is a basic scenario for ten years down the line:
1. You build a profile probably through a combination of allowing your online activities to be profiled, filling out in-depth surveys, and rating certain types of web-content on a semi-regular basis.
2. A proxy identity is imbued with a 'personality' based on both your preferences as represented in step one, and ongoing analysis of content that causes you to register a strong reaction.
3. The proxy consumes content and delivers what it believes to be desirable content to your device of choice.
Given this business model we could see a return to the old 'portal' style of doing web business - though the portal itself would be largely invisible to the subscriber. Anything as simple as changing diction of a news item could vastly alter the interest of the proxy public.
I am not in the cult, but I am very happy Ron Paul is running.
I saw my father change his political affiliation for the first time since he originally registered at the age of eighteen because of Ron Paul's message. That in itself is worth a lot.
I wouldn't necessarily have voted Paul, but I am glad my dad found a message to break through his increasingly jaded and hopeless view of American politicians.
"Or maybe someone'd come out with an open-source CPU--by the time that they'd be able to implement such a thing, those desktop fabrication plants would probably be capable of wrangling silicon."
My first thought is that this development is just the latest incremental improvement in robotics, and will help pave the way for more useful robotic applications.
Then I remembered a trip through the state of Oregon. As of ten years ago or so travelers were not permitted to pump their own gas. I don't know if this is still the case, or why it was the case in the first place, but these robots might actually have an application if there are many places with laws on the books requiring certified entities to dispense gas to motorists.
I must be a little slow or missing a meme or something... Can someone clue me into why parent is flamebait so I don't make the same mistake? Parent seems to make a perfectly logical comment.
Your comment is eerily similar to the argument many of my associates use when justifying who they are voting for.
Is the lesser of two evils no longer evil. Officially sanctioned shrouds of secrecy do not help ensure security, they help ensure the potential for abuse.
I don't like the DHS any more than the NSA, but neither of them can do a better job securing our infrastructure than publically vetted, periodically reviewed network security procedures.
"...welcome our well-meaning, friendly robotic overlords, and greatly appreciate their help."
Hmm.. I can see this help you speak of getting old very fast. Will these robots have the ability to identify individuals who have already been asked if they need assistance?
When I end up in places like malls it is usually because someone I know needs something, and I just end up meandering around aimlessly. I could see these things - even the same robot - asking me over and over again if I need assistance.
And what about people uncomfortable with the technology (many seniors perhaps). These people would decline the assistance and then be confronted with the bots endlessly throughout their trip to the mall?
Unless they can ID people who have already declined assistance these bots will fail.
Wouldn't the more important point be not whether there is value to the games, but whether playing games at an early age will assist or hinder the child's chances of fitting in with their family culture?
Families with game centric leisure time habits would benefit their children by teaching them early on how to participate in these activities.
Other types of families, outdoorsy families for instance, would be doing their child a disservice by substituting a video game console for a babysitter (as some busy parents do). This child is not learning skills that will assist in the healthy integration with their family unit.
The value of any activity is not only measured by a person's enjoyment of the activity, but also by peripheral benefits... one of which is kinship with other participants in the activity.
Slashdot Mirror
TFA is not supposed to be relevant to most people.
TFA is an act of geek nostalgia. A good number of us like to remember for the sake of remembering. While I couldn't care less about Atari pre-Tramiel (the DOG!), stories about Amiga still interest me.
Check the comments section at the end of TFA, the messages are from people who still revere Atari and people with personal connections.
IIRC last Fall's 2600 had a basic intro to reversing obfuscated code (using Java example I think).
There are several websites out there that deobfuscate code in realtime to advertise their services... if I was actually interested in the issue I might still have a link, but you will have to google if you want to research this further.
The basic Visual Studio toolset has everything you need to reverse any managed code manually, obfuscated or not, providing you are willing to put in the time.
Anyhow, C# currently pays for my meals, so I'm not trolling here... but be careful about making assumptions about the privacy of any managed code that you release. Hell, same goes for any code, the 'managed' aspect just lower the bar for crackers a bit.
He was more likely referring to events such as those depicted in Lost in La Mancha http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_In_La_Mancha, and the recent death of Heath Ledger.
I don't think the GP was in any way trying to defame our respected friend Mr. Gilliam.
Hate speech? I am surprised to see that in a list of things that violate ISP TOS.
Out of curiosity, are you based in Europe? Even given the seemingly downward spiral of American rights or expression, I believe that hate speech is still legal here, and not at all deserving of being lumped with child-porn in a list of no-nos.
I know of several future lawyers who spend a lot of time on the net researching fringe movements and their psychology. A ban on the transmission of the hateful speech of these fringe groups would hugely handicap those who seek to understand the phenomenons of xenophobia and ultra-nationalism in America.
Purely second-hand, but...
My father does a lot of video work, and any time he tries to access or move a video file he has crazy wait times while Vista chews on something.
What the hell changed between XP, which he has since gone back to using, and Vista that so radically changed the handling of video files? From his reading on various websites (none of which I can vouch for) the OS is checking for some sort of signatures in the files to figure out if he has permission to perform the selected task.
I have no idea if this is true or not, but either way, he had to ditch Vista and return to XP in order to do things like edit the video he shoots of conferences and events.
So the DRM issue has at least some anecdotal evidence in its favor. Either that or Vista is completely incapable of handling files over a certain size with any sort of grace.
"And yet from these supposedly assimilated folks a disturbingly large amount of funding flows to the Middle East, and they don't seem to protest much when Wahhabi hate literature starts to be distributed in their community."
Immigrant populations send money home and will continue to do so until exchange rates don't make it profitable to come live in western nations while supporting families elsewhere. Most of that money is going to families who are trying to make do in their ancestral homeland, not terrorist organizations.
As for hate literature, I have yet to see this happen in my community. On the contrary there are minimum two major interfaith events a year co-sponsored by the largest local mosque and the largest local synagogue not to mention the year end Unitarian celebration that includes Buddhists, Jews, Muslims, Christians, and anyone else who wants to attentd.
All I have to cite for you is my personal experience gathered while living across the USA in places like L.A., N.Y.C., and now New England. Each of these places has visible Muslim populations, and the examples of interfaith cooperation are everywhere for anyone who cares to look.
The only really dangerous experience I have had with a religious group was with the 'Black Israelites' in NYC. And anyone who has dealt with them will tell you that there homegrown religious threats as virulent as any imported Muslim variety.
"Where are they hiding?"
In plain sight. By virtue of not being fanatical jihad-monkeys they tend to blend in pretty well with their surroundings just like peaceful Jews, Christians, Wiccans, etc..
Or did you not know that Muslims can look just like anyone else, speak reasonably, and contribute positively to their communities in unassuming and humble manners?
Hell, if nothing else it is nice having Muslims in your community because their bodegas are open on Christian holidays. Try getting out in the real world once in a while.
Having resistance and click-points on a keyboard was very helpful. When typing on such a keyboard I would never bottom out the key, thus expending extra force.
When using modern clickless (and mushy) keyboards I often find myself 'bashing' keys harder the faster I type. It has something to do with the lack of tactile feedback while touch typing.
Google 'Uncanny Valley' for your theory. I would be surprised if this incarnation actually triggered the response widely, though.
Parent is first one to point out storage benefit... someone with points should mod up.
This is the biggest problem with solar/wind power, the power generated often needs to be supplemented with conventional generation technologies to ensure constant energy supply. Production of stored energy source like hydrogen solves this issue.
"When Quicken, Quick Books and Simply Accounting work, then there will be real in-roads to business."
I would suggest the Sage products are more vital to businesses.
http://www.sage.co.uk/productsandservices/home.aspx?tid=131865&stid=131870&pid=132037.
These guys are deep in every core industry and are global. A product like SageTimberline is used beginning to end in the commercial construction industry including by the owners and property managers who commissioned the construction.
It is kinda insane how powerful Sage is getting through acquisitions, they could open doors for Linux overnight.
Yeah, that has to be reason #1. Outside my professional acquaintances I know very few people who would ever attempt re-installing Windows without a pro technician, much less the great unknown Linux.
On a related note... Humans are still the weakest link in any network.
While it is interesting to read about insecurities in wireless it always bears to mention that even many well configured wired networks are easily compromised through the human component.
I always think of this when reading about new network vulnerabilities: http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2006/02/proof_that_empl.html
"Reportedly most of it comes from botnets: Insecure machines that were taken over by hackers and whose clueless owners did not notice anything."
I almost never bring this up... but then I almost never see someone mistake the word 'criminal' for 'hacker' on this site.
People who create botnets are criminals, not hackers. Given your six digit UID I am surprised I have to mention this, but the distinction is important... after all you are modded +5 and this story is currently linked to from Google News Sci-Tech frontpage.
Regards.
I would like to see a completely sound-proofed house with all appliances designed to work as quietly as possible.
After all, it is highly unlikely that the volume of sensory input people have to endure outside the home is going to decrease anytime soon.
Hell, people are already patenting devices to track your eyes so their adverts can talk to you if they think they have your attention.
My home of the future might well resemble a faraday cage.
My company is most likely in our last year of MSDN participation, but it has nothing to do with SP1.
The relationship between devs and MS has been deteriorating for some time. Off the top of my head I might point to the closing off of the IE development team from communication w/independents that occurred some time ago.
I am too jaded to sit here and detail all the problems that have been developing, so I will leave that to others. Needless to say it took quite some time before my partners were willing to consider looking away from MS as they have been developing with the Windows product line since 3.1.
Feeding Proxies is one potentially lucrative use of semantic technology.
Here is a basic scenario for ten years down the line:
1. You build a profile probably through a combination of allowing your online activities to be profiled, filling out in-depth surveys, and rating certain types of web-content on a semi-regular basis.
2. A proxy identity is imbued with a 'personality' based on both your preferences as represented in step one, and ongoing analysis of content that causes you to register a strong reaction.
3. The proxy consumes content and delivers what it believes to be desirable content to your device of choice.
Given this business model we could see a return to the old 'portal' style of doing web business - though the portal itself would be largely invisible to the subscriber. Anything as simple as changing diction of a news item could vastly alter the interest of the proxy public.
I am not in the cult, but I am very happy Ron Paul is running.
I saw my father change his political affiliation for the first time since he originally registered at the age of eighteen because of Ron Paul's message. That in itself is worth a lot.
I wouldn't necessarily have voted Paul, but I am glad my dad found a message to break through his increasingly jaded and hopeless view of American politicians.
Does anyone else change their homepage to links like this just to scare their girlfriends?
"Or maybe someone'd come out with an open-source CPU--by the time that they'd be able to implement such a thing, those desktop fabrication plants would probably be capable of wrangling silicon."
http://www.news.com/Sun-makes-Niagara-an-open-source-chip/2100-1006_3-5984935.html
UltraSparc T1.
My first thought is that this development is just the latest incremental improvement in robotics, and will help pave the way for more useful robotic applications.
Then I remembered a trip through the state of Oregon. As of ten years ago or so travelers were not permitted to pump their own gas. I don't know if this is still the case, or why it was the case in the first place, but these robots might actually have an application if there are many places with laws on the books requiring certified entities to dispense gas to motorists.
I must be a little slow or missing a meme or something... Can someone clue me into why parent is flamebait so I don't make the same mistake? Parent seems to make a perfectly logical comment.
Your comment is eerily similar to the argument many of my associates use when justifying who they are voting for.
Is the lesser of two evils no longer evil. Officially sanctioned shrouds of secrecy do not help ensure security, they help ensure the potential for abuse.
I don't like the DHS any more than the NSA, but neither of them can do a better job securing our infrastructure than publically vetted, periodically reviewed network security procedures.
"...welcome our well-meaning, friendly robotic overlords, and greatly appreciate their help."
Hmm.. I can see this help you speak of getting old very fast. Will these robots have the ability to identify individuals who have already been asked if they need assistance?
When I end up in places like malls it is usually because someone I know needs something, and I just end up meandering around aimlessly. I could see these things - even the same robot - asking me over and over again if I need assistance.
And what about people uncomfortable with the technology (many seniors perhaps). These people would decline the assistance and then be confronted with the bots endlessly throughout their trip to the mall?
Unless they can ID people who have already declined assistance these bots will fail.
Wouldn't the more important point be not whether there is value to the games, but whether playing games at an early age will assist or hinder the child's chances of fitting in with their family culture?
Families with game centric leisure time habits would benefit their children by teaching them early on how to participate in these activities.
Other types of families, outdoorsy families for instance, would be doing their child a disservice by substituting a video game console for a babysitter (as some busy parents do). This child is not learning skills that will assist in the healthy integration with their family unit.
The value of any activity is not only measured by a person's enjoyment of the activity, but also by peripheral benefits... one of which is kinship with other participants in the activity.