Thats right, the scum of the network are taking advantage of open wireless networks, whether they are chalked or grabbed off online maps such as net stumbler dot com. The rise of drive-by hacking is a natural by-product of the wardriving/chalking community, and it would be naive to considering this a surprising development. Highjacking an open wireless network is only the smart thing to do for hackers whether they are after data or just a spamming platform.
This puts the pressure on network administrators to secure their wireless networks. It is far easier to drive by a NAP and jack in, and the proliferation of wireless networks could obsolete physical intrusion techniques such as connecting a Dreamcast or iPAQ to an internal network. Tools for wardriving are readily available, such as THC-warDrive. A lazy or incompetant network administrator makes it easy for a kid with the parents car, a pringles can, and a laptop.
No, I believe in quality and choice, so I don't own anything that comes from the slavepits of Apple =)
If the hardware and software is so good, why isn't it trouncing the competition? I suppose you could easily write it off as "PC users are dumb", which would be an interesting echo of to age-old "Mac users are dumb".
This gets us nowhere, and certainly doesn't help your holy war against the evil not-Apple infidel. You can rage against the machine all you like, until you realize that PC hardware does not spontaneous combust after 2 years. It may surprise you when you wake up one day. I also don't accept that Apple's hardware is superior. The recent comparisons I've seen don't support that, unfortunately I don't have any URLs handy.
If you have some URLs to evidence, actual quantitative evidence, to support your claims, please share. Otherwise, its just FUD.
No, it just stops working after a year or two. I've managed dozens of x86 machines in my career... good ones from IBM and, er, well, Toshiba do tend to last. But crap from Gateway, Dell, and all those no-name fly-by-night people lasts, on average, about two years before it dies.
Bullshit.
The myth that Apple boxes are somehow magically going to last longer than Intel-compatible hardware may be a nice security blanket so you can sleep at night, but you have no facts to support your assertion.
Your points about regarding the upgrade costs for PCs that allegedly don't exist for Apples are a false comparison. Many of those crappy iMacs CAN'T be upgraded. Furthermore, most of the drive for upgrading in a 6 month cycle is related to gaming. Gamers overwhealmingly tend to be PC users because there are actually games to play. Good ol' Apple tends to get a small selection of games many months after the fact. They are completely different markets.
And what are those markets? Apples are good at what they do... unfortunately, that includes less and less as time goes on, especially as Linux applications advance to the point where they replace Apple's offerings. Linux is doing the same damage to SGI.
Even if we are to accept your assertion that "Macs are cheaper", I still would rather buy quality PC hardware with a future and a full ranges of choices. If PowerPC hardware wasn't so damn expensive (and yes, it is expensive) AND was readily available in components that I could put together myself and actually have choice, then I might buy some and run OS X. However, until Jobs and company stop thinking that only they are smart enough to design a computer, they can take their candy colored boxes and stuff them.
For one thing, Apple just isn't taken seriously by most IT departments I've had experience with. The graphics or desktop publishing people might "demand" an Apple in some cases, but the geek population (which outnumbers the graphics/publishing people) will usually have better luck getting a Linux workstation. I would also suggest that most geeks will PREFER a Linux workstation. OS X has a high cool factor, but it still doesn't have anywhere near the acceptance level among the hardcore users that it needs to displace Linux.
What surprises me is that this figure didn't come out last year.
Arguably, yes. My bad, I suppose. That CNet report is garbage though, there is nothing like getting to the source and skipping past rediculous media coverage.
I'm fairly dissapointed at the level of apathy. Americans don't seem to care, at least relatively. Canadian's don't seem to care much (are we really this apathetic?). There are a number of problems with the consultation process that nobody is noticing.
There is no mention of safe harbour. Does this mean that an ISP forced to release data is subject to a civil suit for privacy violation?
Why is the consultation process so short? It seems like Justice is trying to ram this through. It also smells like the laws are already drafted, and after an obligatory lip-service "consultation process", they will get tabled. And industry and civil liberties will get ignored just as they were with Bill C-15a. In an of itself, it is a noble cause to fight child exploitation. However, it is dangerous when laws aimed at doing so also try to turn ISPs into content watchdogs.
Who will bear the costs? Will Canadian industry be forced to pay for a Canadian equivalent of Carnivore?
My apologies for the dupe, I didn't see a previous post on the Lawful Access Consultation. I am also taking part in the process, representing another Canadian ISP which is a CCTA member.
The paper doesn't provide much detail on making your views known as a private citizen. It is geared towards industry associations such as CAIP and the CCTA, civil liberties groups, etc. Notice the emphasis on "group". God forbid the average citizen should be listened to...
At any rate, the news release on this matter includes the email address the DoJ wants submissions sent to:
Those wishing to respond may send their submissions to
la-al@justice.gc.ca before November 15, 2002.
Who you need to talk to is the Privacy Commission, not puny little MLAs. Our Privacy Commissioner is very much an advocate for the people. I've had a change to attend a course on privacy which he spoke at. That would be the appropriate venue for your concerns.
Actually, if you read the Lawful Access Consultation paper, you will notice that much of the drive for this is to be able to not only ratify, but comply with the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime. Canada is a signitary already, but our existing laws do not allow us to actually comply. The DoJ's Lawful Access legislation for service providers will change that.
"We lied to you, so here is a refund... oh, you like the product anyways? Well is is a crappy game for free. Oh, you already subscribe to alt.warez? Well... here... um. *click*"
... something like Apple's lame Switch ads. I want to see some former cleancut Windows drone become a greasy hairy Linux hippy. I want to see a former bowtie-wearing AIX admin pull on shorts, sandals, and a Tux tshirt.
Maybe Redhat could get some mileage out of this.
How can you tell that it is near the end of the work day in my timezone and I desparately need to be entertained?
You are just jealous that you didn't think of it first =P
In all seriousness, this is akin to domain prospecting, at least if you stretch logic a little. We have a little nobody taking advantage of a loophole in an attempt to gouge an organization with deep pockets. The/. crowd may instinctively side with the little guy on things like this, but the businesses that employ us need to be protected from this kind of thing.
I don't particularly care, at the moment, about sensitivity over being called a consumer, "reductionist philosophy" or anything other than facts divorced from an emotioning response to being classified as something.
It will show that poorly written laws with big teeth are dangerous to everyone, whether they are consumers, the non-consuming public, industry, or the politicians who support them.
Cross your fingers, maybe this is the beginning of the end for the DMCA.
... wardriving is a fun hobby for real security professionals with big name consulting firms. Its a great way to demonstrate the importance of good practices and how pervasive bad security is. Its a pretty quick way to justify the expense for security, otherwise it can be pretty hard to quantify the benefits of vigilance to the penny counters.
An ounce of prevention shows up in the ledgers, but they never see the cost of the avoided pound of cure.
Boringwind couldn't keep my attention for more than 10 minutes.
I've noticed a similarity between NWN and V:TM, however NWN is getting much more attention than either of the two mentioned games did.
People slag Bioware for NWN instability (don't know what you are talking about, mine is fine), UI (I don't have a problem with the user interface, and I've studied ergonomics, so there =P ), etc etc etc.
All games should have a Your Mileage May Vary disclaimer. To each their own.
Sid Meier did yet another Civilization game, didn't he? With pretty graphics? I think its time he explored some more new ideas. An old idea with a new engine is a pretty weak excuse for charging anothing $50 for a "new" game.
Bioware has Neverwinter Nights, it as pretty graphics and revolutionary features and blah blah blah. Morrowind. Driving games... etc. The fact is, however, that the FPS develops tend to lead the industry in the development of new technology in terms of graphics engines and network code. Other than them, its the massively-multiplayer crowd.
The point is that a fantastic game back in the day DOESN'T look great today. More often than not, such a game will look like ass.
There is nothing wrong with updating the graphics for an old game. Its fun for the developers and fun for gamers to revisit a title that may only be collecting dust. New != bad. Games are graphical entertainment. If you don't care about graphics, play Nethack.
There is nothing wrong with adding quality that requires a more powerful computer. If you have any thoughts like "this Pentium 2 was good enough for games when I was in college, it should be good enough today" then you might as well forget about claiming to be a "gamer". Gaming drives much of the evolution of PC hardware.
As long as an update to an old title is done with quality, I have no problems with it. Updates that suck (for example, George Lucas' bastardization of the original Star Wars) should be critized because they suck, but there is nothing inherently wrong with giving the technology a spitshine.
If you want a programmer, have another programmer look at their code. Have a non-programmer with an understanding of logic and basic concepts look at their code.
Mix that with good behavioral interviewing techniques (ask your HR people for help, in other words) and you should do ok.
Slashdot Mirror
That is his day job, hence 'PunWork'. Maybe he should quit his day job afterall.
They spammers are already all over this like a fat kid on a smartie. Check out my comment below for URLs n stuff.
Thats right, the scum of the network are taking advantage of open wireless networks, whether they are chalked or grabbed off online maps such as net stumbler dot com. The rise of drive-by hacking is a natural by-product of the wardriving/chalking community, and it would be naive to considering this a surprising development. Highjacking an open wireless network is only the smart thing to do for hackers whether they are after data or just a spamming platform.
This puts the pressure on network administrators to secure their wireless networks. It is far easier to drive by a NAP and jack in, and the proliferation of wireless networks could obsolete physical intrusion techniques such as connecting a Dreamcast or iPAQ to an internal network. Tools for wardriving are readily available, such as THC-warDrive. A lazy or incompetant network administrator makes it easy for a kid with the parents car, a pringles can, and a laptop.
If the hardware and software is so good, why isn't it trouncing the competition? I suppose you could easily write it off as "PC users are dumb", which would be an interesting echo of to age-old "Mac users are dumb".
This gets us nowhere, and certainly doesn't help your holy war against the evil not-Apple infidel. You can rage against the machine all you like, until you realize that PC hardware does not spontaneous combust after 2 years. It may surprise you when you wake up one day. I also don't accept that Apple's hardware is superior. The recent comparisons I've seen don't support that, unfortunately I don't have any URLs handy.
If you have some URLs to evidence, actual quantitative evidence, to support your claims, please share. Otherwise, its just FUD.
The myth that Apple boxes are somehow magically going to last longer than Intel-compatible hardware may be a nice security blanket so you can sleep at night, but you have no facts to support your assertion.
Your points about regarding the upgrade costs for PCs that allegedly don't exist for Apples are a false comparison. Many of those crappy iMacs CAN'T be upgraded. Furthermore, most of the drive for upgrading in a 6 month cycle is related to gaming. Gamers overwhealmingly tend to be PC users because there are actually games to play. Good ol' Apple tends to get a small selection of games many months after the fact. They are completely different markets.
And what are those markets? Apples are good at what they do... unfortunately, that includes less and less as time goes on, especially as Linux applications advance to the point where they replace Apple's offerings. Linux is doing the same damage to SGI.
Even if we are to accept your assertion that "Macs are cheaper", I still would rather buy quality PC hardware with a future and a full ranges of choices. If PowerPC hardware wasn't so damn expensive (and yes, it is expensive) AND was readily available in components that I could put together myself and actually have choice, then I might buy some and run OS X. However, until Jobs and company stop thinking that only they are smart enough to design a computer, they can take their candy colored boxes and stuff them.
For one thing, Apple just isn't taken seriously by most IT departments I've had experience with. The graphics or desktop publishing people might "demand" an Apple in some cases, but the geek population (which outnumbers the graphics/publishing people) will usually have better luck getting a Linux workstation. I would also suggest that most geeks will PREFER a Linux workstation. OS X has a high cool factor, but it still doesn't have anywhere near the acceptance level among the hardcore users that it needs to displace Linux.
What surprises me is that this figure didn't come out last year.
I'm fairly dissapointed at the level of apathy. Americans don't seem to care, at least relatively. Canadian's don't seem to care much (are we really this apathetic?). There are a number of problems with the consultation process that nobody is noticing.
There is no mention of safe harbour. Does this mean that an ISP forced to release data is subject to a civil suit for privacy violation?
Why is the consultation process so short? It seems like Justice is trying to ram this through. It also smells like the laws are already drafted, and after an obligatory lip-service "consultation process", they will get tabled. And industry and civil liberties will get ignored just as they were with Bill C-15a. In an of itself, it is a noble cause to fight child exploitation. However, it is dangerous when laws aimed at doing so also try to turn ISPs into content watchdogs.
Who will bear the costs? Will Canadian industry be forced to pay for a Canadian equivalent of Carnivore?
The paper doesn't provide much detail on making your views known as a private citizen. It is geared towards industry associations such as CAIP and the CCTA, civil liberties groups, etc. Notice the emphasis on "group". God forbid the average citizen should be listened to...
At any rate, the news release on this matter includes the email address the DoJ wants submissions sent to:
Who you need to talk to is the Privacy Commission, not puny little MLAs. Our Privacy Commissioner is very much an advocate for the people. I've had a change to attend a course on privacy which he spoke at. That would be the appropriate venue for your concerns.
Actually, if you read the Lawful Access Consultation paper, you will notice that much of the drive for this is to be able to not only ratify, but comply with the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime. Canada is a signitary already, but our existing laws do not allow us to actually comply. The DoJ's Lawful Access legislation for service providers will change that.
"We lied to you, so here is a refund... oh, you like the product anyways? Well is is a crappy game for free. Oh, you already subscribe to alt.warez? Well... here... um. *click*"
Maybe Redhat could get some mileage out of this.
How can you tell that it is near the end of the work day in my timezone and I desparately need to be entertained?
You owe me $5.
In all seriousness, this is akin to domain prospecting, at least if you stretch logic a little. We have a little nobody taking advantage of a loophole in an attempt to gouge an organization with deep pockets. The /. crowd may instinctively side with the little guy on things like this, but the businesses that employ us need to be protected from this kind of thing.
In the context of purchasing products such as music, software, etc, yes, that is what I am implying.
I don't particularly care, at the moment, about sensitivity over being called a consumer, "reductionist philosophy" or anything other than facts divorced from an emotioning response to being classified as something.
It will show that poorly written laws with big teeth are dangerous to everyone, whether they are consumers, the non-consuming public, industry, or the politicians who support them.
Cross your fingers, maybe this is the beginning of the end for the DMCA.
An ounce of prevention shows up in the ledgers, but they never see the cost of the avoided pound of cure.
OH THE HUMANITY!
I've noticed a similarity between NWN and V:TM, however NWN is getting much more attention than either of the two mentioned games did.
People slag Bioware for NWN instability (don't know what you are talking about, mine is fine), UI (I don't have a problem with the user interface, and I've studied ergonomics, so there =P ), etc etc etc.
All games should have a Your Mileage May Vary disclaimer. To each their own.
Bioware has Neverwinter Nights, it as pretty graphics and revolutionary features and blah blah blah. Morrowind. Driving games... etc. The fact is, however, that the FPS develops tend to lead the industry in the development of new technology in terms of graphics engines and network code. Other than them, its the massively-multiplayer crowd.
There is nothing wrong with updating the graphics for an old game. Its fun for the developers and fun for gamers to revisit a title that may only be collecting dust. New != bad. Games are graphical entertainment. If you don't care about graphics, play Nethack.
There is nothing wrong with adding quality that requires a more powerful computer. If you have any thoughts like "this Pentium 2 was good enough for games when I was in college, it should be good enough today" then you might as well forget about claiming to be a "gamer". Gaming drives much of the evolution of PC hardware.
As long as an update to an old title is done with quality, I have no problems with it. Updates that suck (for example, George Lucas' bastardization of the original Star Wars) should be critized because they suck, but there is nothing inherently wrong with giving the technology a spitshine.
The gestures *I* make at Konqueror and KDE in general are often considered rude, and can ellicit a "punching" response out of most people.
VIVA REDMOND!
Oh wait, thats not quite what you meant to imply, was it?
Mix that with good behavioral interviewing techniques (ask your HR people for help, in other words) and you should do ok.