Much as I love Niven, James Hogan, Roger McBride Allen etc. etc., if you want to attract *all* ability levels, try some stuff they are already reading, like Marvel comics. "Iron Man" and Batman are basically Sci-Fi. There's also the whole Japanese anime genre. Not really my thing, though the video "Howl's Moving Castle" was pretty cool (steampunk/anime, maybe).
Some of the classics are a bit dated in style (Jules Verne, Asimov, even Heinlein) and are a bit hard to read for the modern generation. Stick to more recent works in the same style, even if they are acknowledged retreads. The Jupiter series by Hogan, Pournelle etc. is Heinlein's Space Cadet etc. rewritten for a new readership. http://www.webscription.net/p-956-the-jupiter-novels.aspx
Of course, it's not just root that gets bruteforced. Quietly search this for your "unguessable" password. Anyone using "3tm31ns1de" ?
http://andrew.triumf.ca/ssh_pass_file2.html
OK - I see http://www.inavx.net/ has real NOAA charts, plus a smattering for other countries. Garmin has most of the world I think - certainly a full set for the Canadian west coast. So for me, apart from not having an iPhone, inavx would not be useful. Maybe NMEA could be got to work on Iphone; pcables.com say they had/will have RS232 cables and that often works, although NMEA is supposed to have opto-isolators.
On my Nokia tablet (and Linux desktop) there's Navit which can read Garmin vector maps. Unfortunately all the marine charts are licensed and need a decryption key per GPS set:-(
A phone is not going to replace my Garmin, because there are no charts (or NMEA). For a boater, that could be life-and-death (MV Queen of the North, no-one checking GPS), or thousands of dollars damage, or maybe just being stuck for 8 hours waiting for the tide (been there, done that, mostly pre-GPS or without the right chart). Google terrain won't cut it because it doesn't show enough detail underwater.
Granted, Garmin/Magellan etc. could licence their charts to the phone makers, and the best GPS (or camera) is the one you have with you.
On the other hand, for wandering around the city or just breadcrumbing a hike, a smartphone can replace a pocket GPS, plus it's networked. I use my Nokia tablet with (cached) Google Maps in Maemo Mapper, and push routes to it from my PC. A big-screen set would be safer in the car, though (less need to take eyes off the road and fiddle with tiny buttons) and a waterproof/vibration-proof set would be better on my motorcycle (where a GPS sure beats messing with paper maps!)
As I recall, Harry Harrison's short story (SF) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_with_the_Robots addressed this issue. The underground bunkers used by the opposing generals to control the robot armies became uninhabitable due to enemy action, so they plugged in a robot officer and evacuated. The war continued, even though the humans had stopped fighting, and it was no longer possible to contact the robots in charge.
Troll Ebay for the same laptop with a different part broken. Then spend 5 hours with a lens and tiny screwdrivers putting the good bits together.
Or, drive around the suburbs for 30 min and grab a free VDT off the sidewalk and plug that in the back.
Stupid session IDs in the URL, that's why. Or in Google map URLs, empty parameters. Some sites want to track which ad worked, or which email someone responded to. Stripping the redundant parameters off usually leaves a working URL. Getting the culprits to add "link to this article" or rev=canonical would be near-impossible.
I believe some CMS's generate goofy URLs too. Hopefully static so you can still bookmark and search.
Linux's root-is-omnipotent approach is so 1980's compared to Vista's UAC and ACL structure (inherited in large part from VMS).
(most Windows users don't benefit because the dumb-ass installer doesn't get them to make a user account).
SELinux bolts on some ACL but you have to be a total guru to design new rules, or even to get things to work. Fedora thinks that application developers aren't to be trusted with securing their own apps, so we wait for the experts. Meanwhile I've disabled it to get my mail/antivirus to work..
A presentation by Nathan Hamiel & Shawn Moyer at DEFCON 2008 suggested that people who don't play are easier to spoof, as colleagues and family members may be tricked into accepting an imposter as the real you. They suggest creating a minimal presence, if not actually using the sites actively
http://www.defcon.org/images/defcon-16/dc16-presentations/defcon-16-hamiel-moyer.pdf
No-one is stopping you analyzing the data and getting a Nobel for finding a new particle. Wherever you are. The ATLAS data for one is being sent all around the planet for analysis as there is too much for CERN to analyze. http://atlas.ch/
Netbooks with Linux are getting more mainstream; even the Economist recommends Linux (for better performance with limited resources). Not just Dell, but ASUS, Acer, Nokia etc. offer these with Linux under the hood. They are aimed at consumers, not geeks. Turn it on, it finds a network and uses (standards-based) 802.11, DHCP etc. to connect. Click on a browser icon, it connects to Google with Firefox. Click on a Word document, it runs OpenOffice. Out of the box. (Windows users must install an Office suite, PDF reader themselves unless the reseller did it)
It just works, which is as things should be.
If an ISP or public-facing organization such as a college or government department demands a particular operating system or processor architecture to access supposedly open standards-based resources, they should be chastised, not the computer vendor. Just as the highway system works for all models of cars, motorcycles, trucks (and often the odd horse-drawn carriage), rather than only BMWs, the public Internet should work for all networkable devices.
True.
And of course one needs a Bluetooth antenna to hijack all those BMW sound systems... if you can keep up on a scooter.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=1c-jzYAH2gw
Back to the scooter; the camera's facing the wrong way. I am quasi-seriously thinking of a rearview camera on my bike; the
forward view is 100% and superior to any car, the rear view not so hot - my shoulders block the mirrors and there's a blind spot
right behind...
Who needs a serial interface ? Newer GPS come with Bluetooth.
Or just use something like the Nokia N810.
I mounted one on my motorcycle, with a 12V adaptor to let me run the backlight full-time. Primarily for the GPS, but war-driving
would be easy. Or playing MP3s via B/T headphones, or
getting email via GPRS in my cellphone. Slip it in your pocket when it rains, or you grab a coffee.
2.7 litres/100km, BTW.
Slashdot Mirror
It's still interesting, but yeah, the title's misleading. See http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=1174
Much as I love Niven, James Hogan, Roger McBride Allen etc. etc., if you want to attract *all* ability levels, try some stuff they are already reading, like Marvel comics. "Iron Man" and Batman are basically Sci-Fi. There's also the whole Japanese anime genre. Not really my thing, though the video "Howl's Moving Castle" was pretty cool (steampunk/anime, maybe). Some of the classics are a bit dated in style (Jules Verne, Asimov, even Heinlein) and are a bit hard to read for the modern generation. Stick to more recent works in the same style, even if they are acknowledged retreads. The Jupiter series by Hogan, Pournelle etc. is Heinlein's Space Cadet etc. rewritten for a new readership. http://www.webscription.net/p-956-the-jupiter-novels.aspx
Of course, it's not just root that gets bruteforced. Quietly search this for your "unguessable" password. Anyone using "3tm31ns1de" ? http://andrew.triumf.ca/ssh_pass_file2.html
OK - I see http://www.inavx.net/ has real NOAA charts, plus a smattering for other countries. Garmin has most of the world I think - certainly a full set for the Canadian west coast. So for me, apart from not having an iPhone, inavx would not be useful. Maybe NMEA could be got to work on Iphone; pcables.com say they had/will have RS232 cables and that often works, although NMEA is supposed to have opto-isolators. On my Nokia tablet (and Linux desktop) there's Navit which can read Garmin vector maps. Unfortunately all the marine charts are licensed and need a decryption key per GPS set :-(
A phone is not going to replace my Garmin, because there are no charts (or NMEA). For a boater, that could be life-and-death (MV Queen of the North, no-one checking GPS), or thousands of dollars damage, or maybe just being stuck for 8 hours waiting for the tide (been there, done that, mostly pre-GPS or without the right chart). Google terrain won't cut it because it doesn't show enough detail underwater. Granted, Garmin/Magellan etc. could licence their charts to the phone makers, and the best GPS (or camera) is the one you have with you. On the other hand, for wandering around the city or just breadcrumbing a hike, a smartphone can replace a pocket GPS, plus it's networked. I use my Nokia tablet with (cached) Google Maps in Maemo Mapper, and push routes to it from my PC. A big-screen set would be safer in the car, though (less need to take eyes off the road and fiddle with tiny buttons) and a waterproof/vibration-proof set would be better on my motorcycle (where a GPS sure beats messing with paper maps!)
As I recall, Harry Harrison's short story (SF) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_with_the_Robots addressed this issue. The underground bunkers used by the opposing generals to control the robot armies became uninhabitable due to enemy action, so they plugged in a robot officer and evacuated. The war continued, even though the humans had stopped fighting, and it was no longer possible to contact the robots in charge.
Troll Ebay for the same laptop with a different part broken. Then spend 5 hours with a lens and tiny screwdrivers putting the good bits together. Or, drive around the suburbs for 30 min and grab a free VDT off the sidewalk and plug that in the back.
Or in print. Most people can manage xkcd.com/84 without writing it down.
Stupid session IDs in the URL, that's why. Or in Google map URLs, empty parameters. Some sites want to track which ad worked, or which email someone responded to. Stripping the redundant parameters off usually leaves a working URL. Getting the culprits to add "link to this article" or rev=canonical would be near-impossible. I believe some CMS's generate goofy URLs too. Hopefully static so you can still bookmark and search.
Linux's root-is-omnipotent approach is so 1980's compared to Vista's UAC and ACL structure (inherited in large part from VMS). (most Windows users don't benefit because the dumb-ass installer doesn't get them to make a user account). SELinux bolts on some ACL but you have to be a total guru to design new rules, or even to get things to work. Fedora thinks that application developers aren't to be trusted with securing their own apps, so we wait for the experts. Meanwhile I've disabled it to get my mail/antivirus to work ..
A presentation by Nathan Hamiel & Shawn Moyer at DEFCON 2008 suggested that people who don't play are easier to spoof, as colleagues and family members may be tricked into accepting an imposter as the real you. They suggest creating a minimal presence, if not actually using the sites actively http://www.defcon.org/images/defcon-16/dc16-presentations/defcon-16-hamiel-moyer.pdf
No-one is stopping you analyzing the data and getting a Nobel for finding a new particle. Wherever you are. The ATLAS data for one is being sent all around the planet for analysis as there is too much for CERN to analyze. http://atlas.ch/
Netbooks with Linux are getting more mainstream; even the Economist recommends Linux (for better performance with limited resources). Not just Dell, but ASUS, Acer, Nokia etc. offer these with Linux under the hood. They are aimed at consumers, not geeks. Turn it on, it finds a network and uses (standards-based) 802.11, DHCP etc. to connect. Click on a browser icon, it connects to Google with Firefox. Click on a Word document, it runs OpenOffice. Out of the box. (Windows users must install an Office suite, PDF reader themselves unless the reseller did it) It just works, which is as things should be. If an ISP or public-facing organization such as a college or government department demands a particular operating system or processor architecture to access supposedly open standards-based resources, they should be chastised, not the computer vendor. Just as the highway system works for all models of cars, motorcycles, trucks (and often the odd horse-drawn carriage), rather than only BMWs, the public Internet should work for all networkable devices.
True. And of course one needs a Bluetooth antenna to hijack all those BMW sound systems ... if you can keep up on a scooter.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=1c-jzYAH2gw
Back to the scooter; the camera's facing the wrong way. I am quasi-seriously thinking of a rearview camera on my bike; the
forward view is 100% and superior to any car, the rear view not so hot - my shoulders block the mirrors and there's a blind spot
right behind...
Who needs a serial interface ? Newer GPS come with Bluetooth. Or just use something like the Nokia N810. I mounted one on my motorcycle, with a 12V adaptor to let me run the backlight full-time. Primarily for the GPS, but war-driving would be easy. Or playing MP3s via B/T headphones, or getting email via GPRS in my cellphone. Slip it in your pocket when it rains, or you grab a coffee. 2.7 litres/100km, BTW.