Spam key generation is an ideal application for "grid computing" - very distributed, compute-intensive, moderate data traffic, tolerant of failure. Spammers are already used to capturing the machines of others and using them for their own purposes. Effectively, they already have a "grid".
If it takes some massive computation to generate a key to send an e-mail, spammers will just have their captured zombies do it. All on Windows home machines, of course, where most users won't notice.
For the "legal" spammers (as legalized by the CAN-SPAM act), there's another alternative - unloading the task onto customers.
Sharman Networks could make all tke Kazaa clients do it. Legally - read the Kazaa EULA.
It's not that big. He just crammed way too much detail into a modest room by stacking it up. The layout really ought to be about five to ten times as big.
Re:This problem will diminish over time
on
Perens on Patents
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· Score: 1
Yes. The Hayes "+++" patent on modem commands, the RSA patent, and the Lempel-Ziv compression patent (GIF files), have already expired. The new PTO rules are supposed to reduce "submarine" patents
(it's 20 years from application, instead of 17 years from issue, now). It is getting better.
If the FSF had a few patents that could only be used in GPLd software, that would make things more interesting.
Did SCO write Linux? NO. Linus Torvalds and hundreds of others worldwide did. SCO is trying to steal the property rights to something they do not own and never did.
Is Linux copied from UNIX? NO. It's new, and better. UNIX is 1970s technology. Linux is 1990s technology.
Has SCO proved its claims in court, anywhere? NO. So far, they have an injunction against them in Germany preventing them from making any claim that they own Linux, are under investigation in Australia for violation of trade laws, are being sued by Red Hat for making false claims, and have been ordered by a Federal judge to produce specific details of claimed infringement in their litigation with IBM.
Does SCO make any significant contribution to the sofware industry? NO. Their primary business is litigation. They are an asset purchaser of failing companies, not a technology company.
Many universities with mass spectrometers will run a sample through for $10 to $100. They'd probably be glad to give you a letter on university stationery with the elemental analysis. You can then lower the boom on the manufacturer of this snake oil.
The U.S. Army is really converting to all-Diesel, as part of the "Single Fuel on the Battlefield" program. The "single fuel" is JP-8, which is usable in Diesel engines, jet aircraft, and gas turbine vehicles like the M1 tank.
The Army decided in the 1990s that gasoline tankers had no place on the battlefield - they're too attractive as targets.
Army policy on alternative fuel R&D is that any fuel considered must be less flammable than JP-8.
The official court status listing doesn't show any change. The calendar for that judge is up for Thursday, but Friday's calendar isn't online yet. It looks like the court only posts the calendar a day ahead. So we'll know tomorrow, around the end of the day.
If we could actually build He-He fusion rockets, which we don't know how to do, that would be a workable propulsion system. That reaction doesn't create neutrons, and if the gammas were absorbed into distilled water to produce steam and thrust, the radioactive waste problem would be minor. The fuel fraction would be far lower than with chemical rockets. We'd finally be able to build a space vehicle that didn't spend most of its fuel trying to lift fuel.
We don't need lunar mining to do this.
Helium 3 has been made in kilogram quantities over the years. Tritium decays into helium-3 with a half life of 12 years, and fifty years of tritium production for H-bombs has resulted in a stockpile of helium-3. It's a weird fuel cycle. Tritium is created by transmutation in nuclear reactors, loaded into H-bombs, allowed to decay, and replaced with fresh tritium after a few years. Helium-3 is then separated out from the decayed tritium.
The US's tritium production facility (Savannah River, K-reactor) has been shut down since 1993. A replacement facility is being built to do transmutation the hard way - with a big linear accelerator. This is hopeless as a power source, of course. But it might be acceptable as a way to make fuel for fusion rockets. Tritium is also being produced in some of Canada's heavy-water reactors, and one of the TVA's reactors is being modified to produce tritium. But right now, the supply is a bit tight. Not too tight, though; you can buy tritium-illuminated exit signs and watches.
The US tritium and helium-3 stockpile sizes are classified, because they give a hint as to how many US nuclear weapons are still functional.
The Accelerator Production of Tritium facility is supposed to make about 3Kg of tritium per year, which provides a sense of what can be produced.
This isn't cheap, but it doesn't require a giant lunar mining infrastructure. If He-He fusion can be made to work, it's the cleanest and safest way to go.
HP implemented this technology in their Windows printer drivers, not in their printers. This raises some serious questions for open-source printer support.
Will printers be locked to Windows drivers, so that they only work with Windows? This might be justified as an "anti-counterfeiting" measure.
Otherwise, there's an "open source hole" in the protection strategy.
Will generic printer drivers stop working? What about standalone printer spooling devices? Less-common operating systems?
Apparently this has a camera and a computer, but the computer doesn't look at the camera image.
The Volkswagen automatic parking system of a decade ago was better.
What's really needed are low-cost 3D imaging laser rangefinders, to get an unambiguous picture of the nearby obstacles. Such devices are quite possible if there's a market for them. Today's laser rangefinders are big and clunky, but that's due to the tiny size of the market.
It's coming. Two no-moving-parts 3D laser rangefinders exist in prototype right now. One is too low power and doesn't have enough range. The other is too high power and isn't eye-safe (the application is antiaircraft missile guidance.) In a few years, this technology should filter down to the robotics and automotive communities.
Get the database of health department citations for restaurants, and whenever any subscriber enters a restaurant on the list, they get a warning message.
So far, computer viruses have been surprisingly harmless.
But what if a reasonable fraction of viruses were moderately hostile, but not totally destructive?
Totally destructive viruses that wipe out hard drives are rare, because they wipe out their own host. As with infections in the biological world, the virus has an interest in the host staying alive for a while, so it can propagate further.
So the most effective viruses do some damage, but not enough to kill the host.
Changing random bits in random files, making small random changes to Excel spreadsheets, changing a few bits in the BIOS, changing bits in crypto keys, de-authorizing installed applications, and
changing contact lists would make computers too unreliable to use. Corporate America could be nibbled to death by mice.
Slashdot Mirror
Could be worse. Joan Baez is working at a dinner theater in San Francisco. Cher does infomercials.
Three Superbowl this year ads are for Viagra-type drugs. Really.
If it takes some massive computation to generate a key to send an e-mail, spammers will just have their captured zombies do it. All on Windows home machines, of course, where most users won't notice.
For the "legal" spammers (as legalized by the CAN-SPAM act), there's another alternative - unloading the task onto customers. Sharman Networks could make all tke Kazaa clients do it. Legally - read the Kazaa EULA.
It's not that big. He just crammed way too much detail into a modest room by stacking it up. The layout really ought to be about five to ten times as big.
If the FSF had a few patents that could only be used in GPLd software, that would make things more interesting.
I refuse to take seriously any car computer system that doesn't drive the car.
Hearing postponed to Feb. 4th. See Groklaw. No reason given. Probably just a scheduling issue.
It's not on the judge's calendar for Friday. Something did change.
Many universities with mass spectrometers will run a sample through for $10 to $100. They'd probably be glad to give you a letter on university stationery with the elemental analysis. You can then lower the boom on the manufacturer of this snake oil.
Army policy on alternative fuel R&D is that any fuel considered must be less flammable than JP-8.
The official court status listing doesn't show any change. The calendar for that judge is up for Thursday, but Friday's calendar isn't online yet. It looks like the court only posts the calendar a day ahead. So we'll know tomorrow, around the end of the day.
We don't need lunar mining to do this. Helium 3 has been made in kilogram quantities over the years. Tritium decays into helium-3 with a half life of 12 years, and fifty years of tritium production for H-bombs has resulted in a stockpile of helium-3. It's a weird fuel cycle. Tritium is created by transmutation in nuclear reactors, loaded into H-bombs, allowed to decay, and replaced with fresh tritium after a few years. Helium-3 is then separated out from the decayed tritium.
The US's tritium production facility (Savannah River, K-reactor) has been shut down since 1993. A replacement facility is being built to do transmutation the hard way - with a big linear accelerator. This is hopeless as a power source, of course. But it might be acceptable as a way to make fuel for fusion rockets. Tritium is also being produced in some of Canada's heavy-water reactors, and one of the TVA's reactors is being modified to produce tritium. But right now, the supply is a bit tight. Not too tight, though; you can buy tritium-illuminated exit signs and watches.
The US tritium and helium-3 stockpile sizes are classified, because they give a hint as to how many US nuclear weapons are still functional. The Accelerator Production of Tritium facility is supposed to make about 3Kg of tritium per year, which provides a sense of what can be produced.
This isn't cheap, but it doesn't require a giant lunar mining infrastructure. If He-He fusion can be made to work, it's the cleanest and safest way to go.
Either nac.net kicks all ths spammers off and keeps them off, or they start losing customers.
By the way, are uncopyable images copyable in black and white?
HP could have done that, but they didn't. They apparently did it in the Windows driver. Is the spec for talking to that printer documented?
Agreed. It's been over 35 years now. Give it up.
Will printers be locked to Windows drivers, so that they only work with Windows? This might be justified as an "anti-counterfeiting" measure. Otherwise, there's an "open source hole" in the protection strategy.
Will generic printer drivers stop working? What about standalone printer spooling devices? Less-common operating systems?
Effectively, there's now a standard symbol for "do not copy". It needs to be better publicized, but it's out there. Soon we'll see it on everything.
The Volkswagen automatic parking system of a decade ago was better.
What's really needed are low-cost 3D imaging laser rangefinders, to get an unambiguous picture of the nearby obstacles. Such devices are quite possible if there's a market for them. Today's laser rangefinders are big and clunky, but that's due to the tiny size of the market.
It's coming. Two no-moving-parts 3D laser rangefinders exist in prototype right now. One is too low power and doesn't have enough range. The other is too high power and isn't eye-safe (the application is antiaircraft missile guidance.) In a few years, this technology should filter down to the robotics and automotive communities.
That could be a useful subscription service.
Did anybody ever use iVillage?
MSN might be able to get away with it, since it's the default home page for people who don't know how to change the home page.
For ESPN, it might work. They actually have, like, content.
It's pretty clear that Flash-blocking has to become standard, and soon.
Changing random bits in random files, making small random changes to Excel spreadsheets, changing a few bits in the BIOS, changing bits in crypto keys, de-authorizing installed applications, and changing contact lists would make computers too unreliable to use. Corporate America could be nibbled to death by mice.
Not with a bang, but with a wimper.