Well, that's not exactly cnet's main server - if you have a look at the address it's crave.cnet.co.uk, which resolves to c16-uk-cnet-lb.eu.cnet.co.uk from here. Interestingly, you can access the server crave.cnet.com, which appears to be a different machine: c18-uk-cnet-lb.eu.cnet.co.uk.
So let's slashdot the second one...
Technically, van Eck Phreaking has nothing to do with Steganography. And besides some NSA-paranoia and various SciFi shows, as well as Window's PGP's "don't-show-me-what-I-type"-feature I know of no impact of van Eck on the media/digital world.
Steganography is something completely different and reminds me of my old Boy-Scout days... when we used to devise "Secret Codes" so secret you couldn't find out it was a message at all. Steganography would have been fun to play with back then.
I had no problems with the other peripherals that I plugged into my Vista PCs including Wireless Keyboards and Mice (from Logitech and Microsoft), and portable hard drive (Vantec enclosure).
I'm sorry, but how can you possibly judge hardware compatibility of an operating system on that basis? Human Input Devices that talk to your computer via USB (as most do today) use a generic protocol that is supported by virtually every operating system that supports USB - even Plan 9. The same goes for external hard drives and the like.
That said, I always wondered why in the nine hells my mice work immediately after plugging them in in Linux, Mac OS X and *BSD, but XP took about 30 seconds to install a "driver"...
I only had brief contact with Vista when one of my users got a new PC with Vista pre-loaded. He gave up after two weeks and "downgraded" to XP. One of the astounding things is Vista's printing capabilities: Our network printer works over ipp and we have a mixed environment: Linux, Mac OS X, FreeBSD, WinXP and 2k, Solaris - everyone can print without issues... Enter Vista. There are no Vista drivers for this printer and it's not likely that there ever will be some, because it's a model only sold in certain parts of Europe - it never gained popularity. It's hard to find any page on the Net that offers drivers for this specific model.
However, using CUPS, all variants and versions of *BSD, Linux and Mac OS X and Solaris that we have running can talk to the printer using the same printer driver (.ppd file).
How does one Windows driver not work with all versions of Windows then? It's a printer driver. And it's supposed to address the printer with ipp! I just can't understand that...
That's the only things I have to say about Vista. I never used it, so I will not comment on anything else. But somehow I'm really happy not to be forced to use it. I left the Windows-world a while ago and the last Windows I actively used was 2k. 2k never managed to cleanly resume from suspend... version 2.6.23 of the Linux kernel however (pretty new) really shows nice behavior and the Laptop I use during my daily work--home commuting has a current uptime of about three days - with estimated 25+ suspend/resume cycles. Let's see how far we can push that uptime...
Mods, why is this a Troll? If you could tag him/her -1 Daydreamer, OK, but the suggestion is not all that far-fetched.
See, there are several major problems with nowadays condoms. First, they're quite fragile. Second, they don't like anything oily, which forces you to use water-based lubricants. Third, many people exhibit a latex allergy (geez, I almost typed LaTeX...)
This material seems to be fairly thin - and the layer-technology may even be able to make it flexible - who nows.
BUT: That stuff's too expensive, and it does not seem to be elastic, which would be a requirement.
So as it stands now, I don't see it coming...
Well, it depends on what hardware you want. If it's large scale server type stuff, Linux is easily a match for Microsoft - and surpassing it in many aspects. But that's not what we're talking about, right?
OK, then let's talk about consumer end hardware. Let's face it: it's awful. WiFi, TV-Card, audio & graphics cards, plus other external devices... and although the situation for drivers is improving, there's another problem:
Many hardware vendors ship their stuff bundled with software. That software's almost always a bad joke or even a nightmare, but a) some of it is good b) many consumers would just love to have it.
Let's take a look at an example: I've just ordered a semi-professional mobile USB sound card. It took me a long time to find something fairly compatible with Linux as most audio cards employ proprietary extensions for advanced controls. Some cards don't seem to work at all. What I wanted most though, was to support a company that supports Linux in that they release their specs or even write drivers themselves. After searching the Net to no avail, I took a look at the kernel sources, et voilà! Native Instrument's Audio Kontrol 1 has in-kernel drivers!
I have no idea how good those drivers are, but I'll know in about a weeks' time. The sad part of the story: This card has two things that make it worth your money:
1) Nice DA/AD trans. + good hardware-based configuration of your ins and outs.
2) MIDI control for your sound recording apps + some of them apps bundled with the card, including a guitar amp emulation I'd really like to make use of.
There are two videos on NI's site that show off the features. Video one about the hardware made me go 'wohoo', video two about software stuff was merely a 'meh'. Nice features, but I've spent a good part of my bucks on something I can't use at all (I'm not going to use Windows just for recording, if only for idealistic FOSS reasons). Those programs shipped with the card seem to be really cool + this MIDI-control stuff is great. Now I have a huge knob on my new card that's gonna be a dust catcher.
As it happens, I'm a techie and a musician and I'm enthusiastic about Free Software. If I wasn't I'd never have considered buying this card because I'd have had to pay for software functionality that is of no use to me...
I would really love to see vendors supplying that kind of software for Linux, too. Especially audio software as Linux is really evolving into a great audio processing workstation. Or maybe I'll brush up my C and try to implement that myself. There's a sub-option to the driver module that seems to enable the necessary OS-hooks.
You just made my day. Thanks for the laugh, at first I thought you're serious - bloody crap is, there are people who think like that... just google for it, it's so pathetic...
I'll make up an analogy that you, Mr. Software Engineer, should be able to understand:
Self-tuning guitars are like IDEs. They can make it easier for the professional, but more often than not they don't.
Let's explain this a bit:
When I started to play the one most important thing I had to learn was to be able to tune my freakin' bass. While tuning, you will learn how your instrument sounds when it's OK and well-tuned and you'll learn to immediately recognize when it's mis-tuned and sounding strange. That knowledge can and will save your ass on stage and during rehearsal. A good novice's etude is the following: completely de-tune your instrument and then tune it without using an electrical tuner. Do that at least twice a week and in about half a year you'll be able to tune that thing alright, even if your shiny electric box is currently out of order. A few strings will probably go plunck! and take direction towards your face, but that's OK, because a scarred face and an empty purse are a musician's trademark. What is more important though is the fact that you'll have your ears trained - your hearing will have improved a real freaking lot!
People who can't tune their instrument can't play it. Period. (I'm talking mostly about string/fret/fretless instruments here). And if you think you have to tune your instrument too often that's because your instrument sucks. Otoh, if you can't tune it properly, you suck, as a musician.
That said, this can really be an interesting choice for a professional, as it's really a nuisance to have to tune your guitar on stage (or during rehearsals). This is not intended to make your practicing at home easier, but to get rid of one of the big problems that happen when some 3000+ W of electromagnetic radiation are frying you and your instrument on stage. Thus, if you really intend to become a competent player, you'll not use this unless forced to. Because the next time you sit around the camp fire, you'll get laughed at by the girls for not being able to properly tune that random piece of wood you've found somewhere.
You see, just the same as with IDEs. If you intend to learn a language, better first learn to use a plain text editor and a shell, so you'll get behind the basic stuff. Getting to know your instrument is The Basic Stuff and one good method of achieving this goal is to tune your guitar on a regular basis. When you sit down to start practicing (or playing), the very first thing you do is check your strings and tune them! Consider this to be just another aspect of everyday life with your guitar.
My personal opinion about this new technology is: I don't need that, mostly because my main instrument is a six-string fretless bass. But I fear many kids will rush into the store and learn to play on them - while completely ignoring everything I've said above. I hope Gibson will make those things reasonably expensive so that only professionals would consider buying one. The amount of horribly mistuned kids on stage is already way too high! (And now don't come and say: but this guitar will prevent mis-tuning on stage in the first place! No, it is not going to, as playing in tune does not only rely on your instrument to be tuned. You have to be able to fret your strings properly and do the one thing that's pretty much most distinctive about guitarists: bending. Here, no LED-featured toy will help you.)
They'd be stupid to develop a weapon like this without the protective gear at the same time. I just wonder if they named it an Edgar suit. Well, no one says they didn't try, but how do you think they'll succeed in doing so? A protective suit against this would immobilize the one wearing it since it's gotta be sort of an overall or a second skin. Even one tiny hole in your suit could make you feel great pain. If it's so thin as to not hinder a soldier's movement it would probably be easy to penetrate.
If it's gotta be penetration-proof, at least mostly, it'll be a damn PITA to walk in that thing. And they could just increase the level of radiation beyond the amount your suit can handle.
Besides, they're not going to deploy that on the battlefield. America seems to be fighting mostly guerillas and suicide bombers these days. Now what's that? "Stop you filthy Muslim suicide bomber or I'll hit the button and you'll feel great pain!!11one"
Why? He'll just pull the wire.
They're going to use that against civilians. No need to justify killing soldiers, that's been a nation's damned and even divine right for ages. But killing civilians, that's what you can lose votes for. So we're the ones that those weapons get developed for. Ever seen a soldier with a cattle pro... uhm, sorry, Taser? Probably not. Despite this thing being developed by the military, I think it'll be only used officially for crowd control and filthy students asking stupid questions.
Meanwhile, I'm sure they'll find some nice "test subjects" around Guantanamo Bay and Romania...
Instead of making sure that a malicious thing in the browser can't touch anything else, we're one step further in the baroque, fragile and monumentally work-intensive direction of determining which of them should be allowed. Uhm... It's Symantec! They don't have any interest in making it less work, no matter for whom. They earn money for something that just has to look like it was complicated and bloated and doing heavy work - that's to make one billion users of MS Windows feel safe.
And on a personal note, I wish more people like this one would be tazed. It's not like this was political activism... this was about trying to make this event about himself, and trying to draw headlines for a quick 15 minutes of fame. And exactly how did this help the situation? I'm sitting right here on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. I've never heard anything special about the University of Florida, let alone this Meyer-guy. But now I know both. I know there's a guy that likes having a big show about himself and that for asking tricky questions in Florida you'll get arrested and tortured by the state officials. Fine. Another place I don't need to go now.
It may be MTV television and tabloid journalism mentality. But one thing it was surely not: democratic. A democracy is where everyone should be able to stand somewhere and ask whatever questions he likes to. Just like capitalism is where you can open your store and sell whatever stuff you like. If no one buys that crap you offer that's what you get for offering crap. And if no one listens to you or people ridicule you when you are asking your stupid questions in public then that's what you get for asking stupid questions.
When I was in 12th or 13th grade our class went to an interview with a high German politician and I started asking a lot of very uncomfortable questions. That was back then when the Iraq war started and his party wanted Germany to move in. His party was also responsible for an unbearable educational program. And I started to ask questions that made him sweat. I mean, not stupid questions like "What secret society do you work for?", but questions that really made him and his party look ridiculous and he even started to contradict the party's official statements (and hisformer official statements). But I was not arrested though my questions were a lot more dangerous to this politician than Meyer's ridiculous questions.
Got it?
The German guy just sat there, started watching at the clock and then invented an important appointment and pulled out. I got the applause of my class.
The American guys arrested him and inflicted pain on him where they didn't need to (THREE policemen and one policewoman are not able to arrest ONE guy without using a fancy toy? What's that? What do they do at Police Academy? The same they did in the movies? That certainly looked like one of the last episodes.)
Now the whole world applauds him.
What would be really cool is to see from someone like the OpenBSD crowd, if they're so keen on C, develop some verification tools that maybe only work on a very, very restricted subset of C. Any code which does not conform to this restricted "more easily verifiable" subset of C in the core OS would be rejected. I don't know how practical it would be, but it would be cool to see:) I'm by no means familiar with C in general or this tool in particular, but maybe you could have a look at Sparse. Maybe that's at least going in the same direction?
You might know Sedgewick's books about 'Algorithms in [language]', where the language is any of C, C++, Java. Well, I still have a (digital) copy of it's very first issue around where all those algorithms were written in Pascal - the book was called 'Algorithms'.
I did some Pascal coding back in the nineties (I was a thirteen yo Pascal newbie - when I take a look at the programs today I feel tempted to puke all over my keyboard) and re-learned part of it for the algorithms in this book - it's an elegant language, sad thing it's dying - the verbose syntax isn't all that bad; I think the most important thing about easy understanding of a program's logic is consistent indentation.
And google will give you some help with getting started with Pascal. I think there should be a lot around...
Unfortunately, it's not the bank who's the victim, but their costumers. The bank actually doesn't really care as long as the costumers don't get too concerned about their own security -
This means, of course, that we are the only ones that are able to stop the bank from acting stupid
Slashdot Mirror
Well, that's not exactly cnet's main server - if you have a look at the address it's crave.cnet.co.uk, which resolves to c16-uk-cnet-lb.eu.cnet.co.uk from here. Interestingly, you can access the server crave.cnet.com, which appears to be a different machine: c18-uk-cnet-lb.eu.cnet.co.uk. So let's slashdot the second one...
Err.. why is it so hard? 0 for off (false) and 1 for on (true). You're not a geek? Here on /.?
... Zep already started it. Stairway to Heaven, backwards. That funny 'reverse' knob on the tape deck sure was fun to play with!
Technically, van Eck Phreaking has nothing to do with Steganography. And besides some NSA-paranoia and various SciFi shows, as well as Window's PGP's "don't-show-me-what-I-type"-feature I know of no impact of van Eck on the media/digital world.
Steganography is something completely different and reminds me of my old Boy-Scout days... when we used to devise "Secret Codes" so secret you couldn't find out it was a message at all. Steganography would have been fun to play with back then.
I'm sorry, but how can you possibly judge hardware compatibility of an operating system on that basis? Human Input Devices that talk to your computer via USB (as most do today) use a generic protocol that is supported by virtually every operating system that supports USB - even Plan 9. The same goes for external hard drives and the like.
That said, I always wondered why in the nine hells my mice work immediately after plugging them in in Linux, Mac OS X and *BSD, but XP took about 30 seconds to install a "driver"...
I only had brief contact with Vista when one of my users got a new PC with Vista pre-loaded. He gave up after two weeks and "downgraded" to XP. One of the astounding things is Vista's printing capabilities: Our network printer works over ipp and we have a mixed environment: Linux, Mac OS X, FreeBSD, WinXP and 2k, Solaris - everyone can print without issues... Enter Vista. There are no Vista drivers for this printer and it's not likely that there ever will be some, because it's a model only sold in certain parts of Europe - it never gained popularity. It's hard to find any page on the Net that offers drivers for this specific model.
However, using CUPS, all variants and versions of *BSD, Linux and Mac OS X and Solaris that we have running can talk to the printer using the same printer driver (.ppd file).
How does one Windows driver not work with all versions of Windows then? It's a printer driver. And it's supposed to address the printer with ipp! I just can't understand that...
That's the only things I have to say about Vista. I never used it, so I will not comment on anything else. But somehow I'm really happy not to be forced to use it. I left the Windows-world a while ago and the last Windows I actively used was 2k. 2k never managed to cleanly resume from suspend... version 2.6.23 of the Linux kernel however (pretty new) really shows nice behavior and the Laptop I use during my daily work--home commuting has a current uptime of about three days - with estimated 25+ suspend/resume cycles. Let's see how far we can push that uptime...
Mods, why is this a Troll? If you could tag him/her -1 Daydreamer, OK, but the suggestion is not all that far-fetched.
See, there are several major problems with nowadays condoms. First, they're quite fragile. Second, they don't like anything oily, which forces you to use water-based lubricants. Third, many people exhibit a latex allergy (geez, I almost typed LaTeX...)
This material seems to be fairly thin - and the layer-technology may even be able to make it flexible - who nows.
BUT: That stuff's too expensive, and it does not seem to be elastic, which would be a requirement.
So as it stands now, I don't see it coming...
Well, it depends on what hardware you want. If it's large scale server type stuff, Linux is easily a match for Microsoft - and surpassing it in many aspects. But that's not what we're talking about, right?
OK, then let's talk about consumer end hardware. Let's face it: it's awful. WiFi, TV-Card, audio & graphics cards, plus other external devices... and although the situation for drivers is improving, there's another problem:
Many hardware vendors ship their stuff bundled with software. That software's almost always a bad joke or even a nightmare, but a) some of it is good b) many consumers would just love to have it.
Let's take a look at an example: I've just ordered a semi-professional mobile USB sound card. It took me a long time to find something fairly compatible with Linux as most audio cards employ proprietary extensions for advanced controls. Some cards don't seem to work at all. What I wanted most though, was to support a company that supports Linux in that they release their specs or even write drivers themselves. After searching the Net to no avail, I took a look at the kernel sources, et voilà! Native Instrument's Audio Kontrol 1 has in-kernel drivers!
I have no idea how good those drivers are, but I'll know in about a weeks' time. The sad part of the story: This card has two things that make it worth your money:
1) Nice DA/AD trans. + good hardware-based configuration of your ins and outs.
2) MIDI control for your sound recording apps + some of them apps bundled with the card, including a guitar amp emulation I'd really like to make use of.
There are two videos on NI's site that show off the features. Video one about the hardware made me go 'wohoo', video two about software stuff was merely a 'meh'. Nice features, but I've spent a good part of my bucks on something I can't use at all (I'm not going to use Windows just for recording, if only for idealistic FOSS reasons). Those programs shipped with the card seem to be really cool + this MIDI-control stuff is great. Now I have a huge knob on my new card that's gonna be a dust catcher.
As it happens, I'm a techie and a musician and I'm enthusiastic about Free Software. If I wasn't I'd never have considered buying this card because I'd have had to pay for software functionality that is of no use to me...
I would really love to see vendors supplying that kind of software for Linux, too. Especially audio software as Linux is really evolving into a great audio processing workstation. Or maybe I'll brush up my C and try to implement that myself. There's a sub-option to the driver module that seems to enable the necessary OS-hooks.
You just made my day. Thanks for the laugh, at first I thought you're serious - bloody crap is, there are people who think like that... just google for it, it's so pathetic...
I'll make up an analogy that you, Mr. Software Engineer, should be able to understand:
Self-tuning guitars are like IDEs. They can make it easier for the professional, but more often than not they don't.
Let's explain this a bit:
When I started to play the one most important thing I had to learn was to be able to tune my freakin' bass. While tuning, you will learn how your instrument sounds when it's OK and well-tuned and you'll learn to immediately recognize when it's mis-tuned and sounding strange. That knowledge can and will save your ass on stage and during rehearsal. A good novice's etude is the following: completely de-tune your instrument and then tune it without using an electrical tuner. Do that at least twice a week and in about half a year you'll be able to tune that thing alright, even if your shiny electric box is currently out of order. A few strings will probably go plunck! and take direction towards your face, but that's OK, because a scarred face and an empty purse are a musician's trademark. What is more important though is the fact that you'll have your ears trained - your hearing will have improved a real freaking lot!
People who can't tune their instrument can't play it. Period. (I'm talking mostly about string/fret/fretless instruments here). And if you think you have to tune your instrument too often that's because your instrument sucks. Otoh, if you can't tune it properly, you suck, as a musician.
That said, this can really be an interesting choice for a professional, as it's really a nuisance to have to tune your guitar on stage (or during rehearsals). This is not intended to make your practicing at home easier, but to get rid of one of the big problems that happen when some 3000+ W of electromagnetic radiation are frying you and your instrument on stage. Thus, if you really intend to become a competent player, you'll not use this unless forced to. Because the next time you sit around the camp fire, you'll get laughed at by the girls for not being able to properly tune that random piece of wood you've found somewhere. You see, just the same as with IDEs. If you intend to learn a language, better first learn to use a plain text editor and a shell, so you'll get behind the basic stuff. Getting to know your instrument is The Basic Stuff and one good method of achieving this goal is to tune your guitar on a regular basis. When you sit down to start practicing (or playing), the very first thing you do is check your strings and tune them! Consider this to be just another aspect of everyday life with your guitar.
My personal opinion about this new technology is: I don't need that, mostly because my main instrument is a six-string fretless bass. But I fear many kids will rush into the store and learn to play on them - while completely ignoring everything I've said above. I hope Gibson will make those things reasonably expensive so that only professionals would consider buying one. The amount of horribly mistuned kids on stage is already way too high! (And now don't come and say: but this guitar will prevent mis-tuning on stage in the first place! No, it is not going to, as playing in tune does not only rely on your instrument to be tuned. You have to be able to fret your strings properly and do the one thing that's pretty much most distinctive about guitarists: bending. Here, no LED-featured toy will help you.)
Interestingly, Excel 2004 for Mac on my 64bit PPC works fine as well. So is it an error in code, or in the compiler?
If it's gotta be penetration-proof, at least mostly, it'll be a damn PITA to walk in that thing. And they could just increase the level of radiation beyond the amount your suit can handle.
Besides, they're not going to deploy that on the battlefield. America seems to be fighting mostly guerillas and suicide bombers these days. Now what's that?
"Stop you filthy Muslim suicide bomber or I'll hit the button and you'll feel great pain!!11one"
Why? He'll just pull the wire.
They're going to use that against civilians. No need to justify killing soldiers, that's been a nation's damned and even divine right for ages. But killing civilians, that's what you can lose votes for. So we're the ones that those weapons get developed for. Ever seen a soldier with a cattle pro... uhm, sorry, Taser? Probably not. Despite this thing being developed by the military, I think it'll be only used officially for crowd control and filthy students asking stupid questions.
Meanwhile, I'm sure they'll find some nice "test subjects" around Guantanamo Bay and Romania...
It may be MTV television and tabloid journalism mentality. But one thing it was surely not: democratic. A democracy is where everyone should be able to stand somewhere and ask whatever questions he likes to. Just like capitalism is where you can open your store and sell whatever stuff you like. If no one buys that crap you offer that's what you get for offering crap. And if no one listens to you or people ridicule you when you are asking your stupid questions in public then that's what you get for asking stupid questions.
When I was in 12th or 13th grade our class went to an interview with a high German politician and I started asking a lot of very uncomfortable questions. That was back then when the Iraq war started and his party wanted Germany to move in. His party was also responsible for an unbearable educational program. And I started to ask questions that made him sweat. I mean, not stupid questions like "What secret society do you work for?", but questions that really made him and his party look ridiculous and he even started to contradict the party's official statements (and his former official statements). But I was not arrested though my questions were a lot more dangerous to this politician than Meyer's ridiculous questions.
Got it?
The German guy just sat there, started watching at the clock and then invented an important appointment and pulled out. I got the applause of my class.
The American guys arrested him and inflicted pain on him where they didn't need to (THREE policemen and one policewoman are not able to arrest ONE guy without using a fancy toy? What's that? What do they do at Police Academy? The same they did in the movies? That certainly looked like one of the last episodes.) Now the whole world applauds him.
That's like, what? De-escalation? Huh?
You might want to try Gentoo then. They have a FreeBSD branch. Chances are, you won't get a production system, but it's surely worth a try.
If my craptop's hardware was supported by FreeBSD, I would certainly give it a try. My server's vanilla FreeBSD for obvious reasons...
And by the way: I was a spoiled whiny apt-user myself - until I tried portage! Really a nice system, though apt is not that bad either.
You might know Sedgewick's books about 'Algorithms in [language]', where the language is any of C, C++, Java. Well, I still have a (digital) copy of it's very first issue around where all those algorithms were written in Pascal - the book was called 'Algorithms'.
I did some Pascal coding back in the nineties (I was a thirteen yo Pascal newbie - when I take a look at the programs today I feel tempted to puke all over my keyboard) and re-learned part of it for the algorithms in this book - it's an elegant language, sad thing it's dying - the verbose syntax isn't all that bad; I think the most important thing about easy understanding of a program's logic is consistent indentation.
And google will give you some help with getting started with Pascal. I think there should be a lot around...
Probably someone who had to learn it the hard way...
Unfortunately, it's not the bank who's the victim, but their costumers. The bank actually doesn't really care as long as the costumers don't get too concerned about their own security -
This means, of course, that we are the only ones that are able to stop the bank from acting stupid