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User: homer_ca

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  1. Re:Firewall on Spammers Using Hacked Machines as Decoys · · Score: 1

    If you can entice a user to run your trojaned executable with a built in proxy server, no current desktop OS can resist that attack. A personal firewall could catch the connections, but then they'd just give it an innocuous name like iexplor.exe. Sandboxing executables would stop it too, but no current email client does that for attachments.

  2. Re:Cool Suit on New 3D CPU Water Cooling Method · · Score: 1

    Evaporative cooling won't work in humid weather, but it's great for dry heat. They make neck bandanas filled will water absorbent gel. They'll hold enough water to keep your head cool with evaporative cooling for a pretty long time. Another trick if you have a vented nylon jacket is to wear a wet t-shirt under your gear.

  3. Re:Cool Suit on New 3D CPU Water Cooling Method · · Score: 1

    They already make cool suits for race car drivers. They pump cold water through tubes in the suit. This technology could miniaturize the pump but would add greatly to the complexity of the suit if the pumps are built in. Plus you'll still need a water chiller and power for it. Not much of a problem if you have power and minimal cargo room like on a motorcycle. More of a problem if you're on foot.

  4. Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program.... on Top 10 Software Titles Every Home PC Needs? · · Score: 1

    For a while there Adaware fell behind in updating their definition files, and I started recommending Spybot. I think Adaware has caught up since then, so either one would be a viable choice.

  5. Offshoring on 10th Circuit Says FTC Can Enforce Do Not Call · · Score: 1

    Offshoring the call centers won't help because the company whose product is being advertised is still liable if the telemarketer is offshore. The "distributors" you speak of are similar to the "affiliates" that those MLM vitamin firms Berrytrim and Herbalife use to shield themselves from accusations of spam and illegal billboards. That may work up to a point. As the story shows, Herbalife affiliates go to great lengths to hide exactly what they're selling until you pay something to buy into their business opportunity.

  6. Re:Speaking to people on 10th Circuit Says FTC Can Enforce Do Not Call · · Score: 1

    "The implicit right to free speech is not all encompassing. Certain things are excluded"

    You can also add disturbing the peace to not protected speech. People don't have a right to walk down a quiet residential street with a PA shouting their message. Telemarketers are equally obnoxious. That's why we already have laws banning telemarketing calls before 8am and after 10pm (not exactly sure of the times, but I think that's right).

  7. Re:Likely a change to stop "pirating". on Half-Life 2 Delayed Following Code Leak · · Score: 1

    Yes, I know 3d engines and level editors don't write themselves, but id has been very gracious in GPL'ing their last generation Quake source. You won't get cutting edge graphics working with an old engine, but who cares about eye candy if the gameplay is crap?

  8. Re:Torvalds might only be fifth... on Torvalds the "5th Most-Powerful Man in Tech" · · Score: 1

    Steve Jobs was never technical. He was more the "ideas" person on the sales and business side. Woz was the brains behind Apple, Jobs was the hype.

  9. Re:Likely a change to stop "pirating". on Half-Life 2 Delayed Following Code Leak · · Score: 1

    I should remind you that Counterstrike started out as a free mod done by hobbyists for the fun of it. Sure, there's plenty of crap mods out there, but don't discount the free work of the mod community.

  10. Re:not to mention "compliance fees" on 9th Circuit Overturns FCC's Cable Modem Decision · · Score: 3, Informative

    If you're talking about the Presubscribed Interexchange Carrier Charge (PICC), it's not a tax. It was a payment mandated by the FCC that the long distance companies pay to the local phone companies, and it was set at about $1 per month for residence lines. Lots of long distance carriers charged up to $5 per month which is pure profiteering. It was really just a cost of doing business and they have no business charging you extra for that any more than they could charge a line item for the CEO's golden bidet. But they probably did it so they could say "don't blame us, it's a tax that the FCC forces us to collect". Which is a lie. I say "was" because that charge was eliminated for most phone lines in 2000. So if they're still collecting a "National Access Fee" in year 2003, consider it padding for the bill so they can offer you those low low long distance rates.

  11. Re:WAP fashionable? on Software Fashion · · Score: 1

    Pocket IE in Pocket PC 2003 has the fit to screen option which tries to wrap text to the screen width as much as it can. It definitely helps. The only landscape mode browser I've heard of is Thunderhawk. It works, but it's pricey.

  12. Re:his worst argument... on Viruses and Market Dominance - Myth or Fact? · · Score: 1

    But how many different HTML engines? Let's see... Gecko and KHTML. Still, Kmail and Mozilla Mail tend to have safer defaults about HTML mail.

  13. Re:WAP fashionable? on Software Fashion · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I've browsed the web on a PocketPC, and it's more a half assed, almost there solution. Some sites will detect the User Agent as Pocket IE and reformat accordingly. Some sites have a mobile version that's formatted for handheld screens, if you can dig around and find the link. You can also just browse the regular full size site. It fits what it can on that little 320x240 screen. Sometimes it fits and sometimes you'll have to scroll around a lot. Speed is decent with Wifi, but I imagine CDMA or GPRS would be painfully slow.

  14. Re:Competition=good thing. on 9th Circuit Overturns FCC's Cable Modem Decision · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Yes, competition is good, but does that also mean more taxes for cable modem service if it's classified as a telecommunications service?

  15. Re:Linux Is Getting There, too! on Viruses and Market Dominance - Myth or Fact? · · Score: 1

    "His argument boiled down to; linux is more secure because it is harder to deal with. By harder, I mean more steps"

    You talk as if that's a bad thing. You WANT to make it difficult to run executable attachments. Many corporate email systems running Outlook clients have simply banned all executable attachments. Yes, it means a little user training to explain that they should send EXEs in a zip archive, but the tradeoff between security and convenience in this case is a no-brainer.

  16. Re:his worst argument... on Viruses and Market Dominance - Myth or Fact? · · Score: 1

    Although it couldn't damage the OS much, a mass mailing worm could still infect a system and spread itself with non-root privileges. All it would have to do is scan the user's files and address books for email addresses and send SMTP out, none of which requires root. Still, a mass mailing worm must convince the recipients to run an executable attachment or exploit a bug in the HTML renderer, both of which are possible but more difficult under Linux.

  17. Re:What if it misfires? on IBM Introduces 'Air Bags' For Laptop Hard Drives · · Score: 1

    Any PC (desktop and laptop) made in the last 5 years can set the power saving to spin down the hard drives after inactivity. It's completely harmless to the OS. It'll pause if it's waiting for disk data, but it resumes once the drives spin up. IBM's feature only parks the heads, not spin down the drive, and it'll resume even faster because it's just seeking the head, not stopping and starting the spindle motor.

  18. Re:Woo! on U.S. Court: Lexmark Can Tie Rebates To Refills · · Score: 1

    You know those Dell printers are rebadged Lexmarks, don't you?

  19. Re:Great Distribution on TSL Is Dead, Long Live TSL · · Score: 1

    Agree here. If you want an RPM based server distro without all the bloat, Trustix is great. I wish them the best of luck.

  20. Re:Hipocrits on Linux In Hollywood: Status Report · · Score: 1

    I'm not so sure about that quote, but they did support the SSSCA bill which would have outlawed all computers and software that didn't have DRM and copy protection built in. That bill would have outlawed Linux and all other open source software (computers do nothing but move bits around, if you have the source, you can bypass the DRM). So in that sense, it is hypocritical for them to be so eager to use the very software that they tried to kill.

  21. Re:Independent IM Client Futures on Yahoo Restored in Some IM Clients · · Score: 1

    "Use the phone if it needs to be any faster than a minute or so per message"

    Have you ever talked with someone who goes on and on and never lets you off the phone? That would explain at least some of the popularity of text messaging phones and IM. Sometimes you need to send a quick message without talking to someone.

  22. Re:You reap what you sow. on IBM Adds SCO Counterclaim Charging Copyright Infringement · · Score: 1

    When two big companies get into a patent dispute what often happens is that the defendant looks at the plaintiff's products and finds some of their own patents that the plaintiff's products infringe on. If the counterclaim is strong enough, they'll usually settle out of court for a patent cross-licensing agreement and maybe some settlement money one way or the other.

    If the plaintiff is a small company with no marketable products or if it's set up purely as an IP holding company, the big company can't make a counterclaim this way. Of course the small company will still need a warchest to pay the lawyers. That's what investors or lawyers on contingency fees are for.

  23. Re:That explains the Shrub... on Recall of Segway Announced by CPSC · · Score: 1

    "Anyway this is just one more example of the stupification of America"

    One could argue that the design of the Segway itself is a sign of the stupification of America. You're at the mercy of the computer because there's no manual override; not that you could balance it manually anyway unless you were a skilled unicycle rider. It's purposely designed to be idiotproof and require little to no skill to operate. It's barely one step above Steven Hawking's electric wheelchair.

  24. Re:Another "Apple is our R&D dept." idea. on Dell Announces New Music Player, Download Service · · Score: 1

    Apple did NOT invent the hard disk portable music player. The Creative Nomad Jukebox was the first mass market one available. It was the size of a CD discman and had its quirks. Later Archos and Sonicblue (Rio) made them too.

    However, the Ipod IS the best executed design we have yet. In a portable mp3 player, storage is everything. The Creative and Archos were limited by their 2.5" laptop hard drive which saddled them with a big and clunky form factor. Apple scored a coup by getting a good supply of those Toshiba PCMCIA hard drives which allowed them to design to a much smaller form factor. When they first came out, retail price for just the bare drives cost almost as much as the same size Ipod. Now that supply is getting better for those PCMCIA hard drives, I predict a lot more competition for the Ipod.

  25. Re:How many years has decimal infected computers? on 30th Anniversary of the Microcomputer · · Score: 2, Informative

    Back then binary coded decimal (BCD) was common. It wasted memory space, but at least displaying values was easy.