Notice that they're careful to say they're tracking "equipment that can access the Internet". I have 1 IP address, but I have 4 internet-capable devices using it, 5 if you count my phone.
I would imagine that they have ways of estimating how many devices on average use the same IP based on surveys and studies and the like.
Makes sense to me, at least for certain things. If you lose your bank card, a thief has access to your bank account anyway, so what's the harm in putting your online banking password in the same place?
Indeed, I'll admit to having had issues with spinny drives in the past. I had two fail within a month of each other last year, both less than 2 years after I got them. So I suppose I'm more in the 'Yay Solid State' box than I made myself out to be, but I'm still going to wait a little while longer before diving in.
Agreed, SSDs still have many cost and reliability issues to overcome, and I'm not going to get too excited till I see some improvements in those areas. Solid State is the wave of the future, but the wave is still way out there and is only just reaching the rocks off-shore.
Hah, that's a great analogy. But a better one might be that it's like having a super expensive security system for a building, but making it so hard to use that people just cheat and leave their access card taped on the wall next to the door.
Hah, my worst enemy is a system where a password has to have:
- at least two uppercase letters
- at least two lowercase letters
- at least two numbers
- at least two symbols
- at least 12 characters
- no characters that repeat
- nothing that's in your personal records
- nothing from the dictionary that's over three characters
- nothing from a FOREIGN dictionary that's over three characters
- at least three characters different from your last 10 passwords
No joke, I used a system for years that had those exact password requirements. Worse yet, I had to SUPPORT this system. Sometimes it would take a half hour for me to help someone figure out a new password.
There is a danger in creating a password system with two many requirements, because I know very few people who used that system who didn't have their password on a sticky note on their monitor.
It's actually kind of sad that most people identify Debian solely as being "that one that Ubuntu's based on".
Not really, I'd say that's a compliment to Debian. To create a basic system solid enough that the most popular Linux distribution is based on it? That rocks!
Sitting all alone, in the corner of the server room... waiting for something - nay, anything to happen. The only thing you have left to hope for is the odd hardware failure... Each failed drive is like a joy ride, each blown out power supply is like a day at the fair.
Soon, you find yourself wishing, hoping for these things to happen. Then one day you can't resist anymore. You plug way too many things into the same power source, causing an outage. Finally something to get out of your seat! It feels so good to actually have something to do.
This happens a few more times. Never the same thing twice; you don't want people to catch on, right? But even then it begins to lose its interest. Where are the software crashes, the mystery failures that used to happen with the old systems? Sometimes they took days to figure out. There's no mystery anymore.
Then one day it happens. You finally break down and sneak a Microsoft product onto one of your servers...
Is open source software the gateway drug to Microsoft?
It's a good thought, but I highly recommend getting out of town if you can and get away from the city lights. I guarantee that you'll see 10-100 times more meteors.
And until that happens, remember to use a password that has duplicate characters so that nobody can tell how often the letters you punched are used in your password.
Hah, agreed. I have friends with normally in-demand skills who have been looking for a job for a year.
I once fell for a cleverly-crafted internet scam. The ten minutes it took for me to get my bank card canceled felt like my boss had pulled me into the office and chewed me out. So.... I'd say this is about accurate.
I must disagree. Government exists to protect the people and the peoples' resources. It has been hijacked with legal bribes in order to protect commerce over the people. That's what we're seeing here.
It wouldn't surprise me if this were true; I've always thought LCD prices have been uniformly way too high considering the materials involved and the maturity of manufacturing processes.
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Notice that they're careful to say they're tracking "equipment that can access the Internet". I have 1 IP address, but I have 4 internet-capable devices using it, 5 if you count my phone. I would imagine that they have ways of estimating how many devices on average use the same IP based on surveys and studies and the like.
Makes sense to me, at least for certain things. If you lose your bank card, a thief has access to your bank account anyway, so what's the harm in putting your online banking password in the same place?
An even better game... rig your machine up to an explosive device and program it so that if you get the same error message three times, BOOM!
That's exciting, right?
Not to mention people using their kid to cheat the system. Believe it or not, it happens.
Don't worry; 5 minutes after this is released, someone out there will start porting it to the iPhone.
Porting it to the iPhone: the newest, hottest fad.
Yeahhhh... if you're going to send fake soldiers onto the fake battlefield, don't be surprised if some of them fake die.
Indeed, I'll admit to having had issues with spinny drives in the past. I had two fail within a month of each other last year, both less than 2 years after I got them. So I suppose I'm more in the 'Yay Solid State' box than I made myself out to be, but I'm still going to wait a little while longer before diving in.
Agreed, SSDs still have many cost and reliability issues to overcome, and I'm not going to get too excited till I see some improvements in those areas. Solid State is the wave of the future, but the wave is still way out there and is only just reaching the rocks off-shore.
Hah, that's a great analogy. But a better one might be that it's like having a super expensive security system for a building, but making it so hard to use that people just cheat and leave their access card taped on the wall next to the door.
Hah, my worst enemy is a system where a password has to have:
- at least two uppercase letters
- at least two lowercase letters
- at least two numbers
- at least two symbols
- at least 12 characters
- no characters that repeat
- nothing that's in your personal records
- nothing from the dictionary that's over three characters
- nothing from a FOREIGN dictionary that's over three characters
- at least three characters different from your last 10 passwords
No joke, I used a system for years that had those exact password requirements. Worse yet, I had to SUPPORT this system. Sometimes it would take a half hour for me to help someone figure out a new password.
There is a danger in creating a password system with two many requirements, because I know very few people who used that system who didn't have their password on a sticky note on their monitor.
Yes, but still, I can't help but to be amused when a hundred people go ballistic when they see someone tinkering with a gizmo using a screwdriver.
It's actually kind of sad that most people identify Debian solely as being "that one that Ubuntu's based on".
Not really, I'd say that's a compliment to Debian. To create a basic system solid enough that the most popular Linux distribution is based on it? That rocks!
This story is from the world of obvious. It's why people used to watch scrambled porn all the time.
No, they would need to take up Bender's cousin, Floater.
I don't believe it. I think there's an evil villain up there with a blow torch. Bwhahahahahahaha!
Japan has all the vending machines of the future, from beer to used panties.
Couldn't "bootleg material" theoretically involve things like phones? This seems like a nasty slippery slope to me.
Sitting all alone, in the corner of the server room... waiting for something - nay, anything to happen. The only thing you have left to hope for is the odd hardware failure... Each failed drive is like a joy ride, each blown out power supply is like a day at the fair.
Soon, you find yourself wishing, hoping for these things to happen. Then one day you can't resist anymore. You plug way too many things into the same power source, causing an outage. Finally something to get out of your seat! It feels so good to actually have something to do.
This happens a few more times. Never the same thing twice; you don't want people to catch on, right? But even then it begins to lose its interest. Where are the software crashes, the mystery failures that used to happen with the old systems? Sometimes they took days to figure out. There's no mystery anymore.
Then one day it happens. You finally break down and sneak a Microsoft product onto one of your servers...
Is open source software the gateway drug to Microsoft?
Excellent! I'm jealous. I'm going to have to drive 30 miles to see it myself.
It's a good thought, but I highly recommend getting out of town if you can and get away from the city lights. I guarantee that you'll see 10-100 times more meteors.
And until that happens, remember to use a password that has duplicate characters so that nobody can tell how often the letters you punched are used in your password.
Also, wipe your screen off after you enter it.
Hah, agreed. I have friends with normally in-demand skills who have been looking for a job for a year.
I once fell for a cleverly-crafted internet scam. The ten minutes it took for me to get my bank card canceled felt like my boss had pulled me into the office and chewed me out. So.... I'd say this is about accurate.
I must disagree. Government exists to protect the people and the peoples' resources. It has been hijacked with legal bribes in order to protect commerce over the people. That's what we're seeing here.
What was this test for? I can't remember... And how did I get up in this tree?
It wouldn't surprise me if this were true; I've always thought LCD prices have been uniformly way too high considering the materials involved and the maturity of manufacturing processes.