I used to be a big fan of Lenovo's Thinkpads but the quality (and keyboard) has gone downhill in recent models. Preinstalling malware is the final deal-breaker (The TFS says it was to consumer-grade machines, but doing this is a serious breach of trust).
Does anyone recommend a good enterprise-grade laptop? Something like the T400 but with a Haswell chip?
Can the bootloader be unlocked? It seems that any non-nexus devices can only be rooted through running some sort of security exploit against the running OS, which only gets you control over that OS and doesn't let you easily load a new OS.
I'd like to see a device where not only the bootloader is unlocked, but it lets you set your own signing key, re-lock it, and then only boot images you sign. I know this will not be the case for mainstream devices, but I hope there will be a market for such devices among the geek crowd.
I have upgraded a few of my firefox installations (all with heavily customized profiles) and the tabs default to "Classic" mode. It looks like they disable the ads by default for existing installations.
It may be a while before the hardware becomes available, but thinking ahead even further, wouldn't it be awesome if you could replace a DIMM or a CPU without shutting down the machine? For really critical servers, this might be a good option to have at some point. It would be quite a challenge to implement something like this since the CPU and memory are so integral to the machine but it doesn't mean it can't be done.
I think that fines should be a percentage of the company's total profit instead of a fixed dollar amount. That way, no matter how big or small the company is, if they commit a crime, they are punished in proportion to the severity of the crime. Any company being fined 20%-30% of their profit will think twice before pulling shit like this. The shareholders will make sure of it.
Pin tumbler locks are actually very simple devices. They're quite easy to disassemble. You can physically inspect the pins and see that there are only regular bottom pins (no master pins).
That being said, they're extremely easy to pick. I saw a locksmith pick one (the kind you find on your front door) in seconds with a pick gun (it "bounces" the pins to the shear line).
On a separate note, I'm posting this purely for technical interest (/. is news for nerds after all). I do agree with your argument, technical reasons aside. People have to trust professionals in subjects they're unfamiliar with, and some of those people, because they're people, will violate that trust.
The term "cyber war" really annoys me. Let's save the use of the word "war" for conflict in which real people are killed and "weapon" for devices that are used to kill real people or destroy real property. I hate propaganda bullshit.
Actually, I went to the setting to opt out, and I found that I was already opted out "based on my current activity." So they've seen that I don't like that sort of thing (because I've opted out in the past) and respected that preference.
I just got a smart TV, but I've left it entirely disconnected from the network. I connected a Debian box running XBMC to it. I trust that machine far more than whatever is running on the smart TV. The rule for my trusted network is: if I don't have root, it's not trusted. And root is a necessary, but not sufficient condition for trust. For example, my Kindle is rooted, but I still don't entirely trust it since Amazon still has remote control over it.
Also, remember that in a city, you can't legally take your gun into most stores or offices. If you illegally take it in, you are subject to a felony and loss of your CCW permit.
Which city/cities are you talking about? Private businesses have to post a no-gun sign in order to prohibit lawful concealed carry on their premises, and illegally carrying into one of these businesses is usually treated as a matter of criminal trespassing - a misdemeanor (although you'll still lose your CCW permit). Government buildings are a different story - federal buildings are always felonies, although state buildings can differ (e.g. Ohio-> felony, Oregon-> OK w/ permit).
The rest of your comment is excellent advice for future CCW holders. For anyone with a CCW, always remind yourself of your responsibility every time you put on your weapon.
Setting a good password on your PC to protect the personal information on it is useless unless you also have full disk encryption. Unless you've enabled some form of remote access, the password to your home PC is useless to a remote hacker. The best practice for securing the personal info on your PC is to keep it in a secure location (i.e. your house). If the PC leaves your house, encrypt it. If someone's physically broken in, you have bigger issues to worry about.
I have a Kindle paperwhite (a "normal" kindle). I have rooted it, and I am able to ssh into it. It runs Linux: [root@kindle root]# uname -r 2.6.31-rt11-lab126
It looks like it has most of the GNU stuff, so in that sense it is more familiar than Android.
I'm not disagreeing with you - it's a device built for a single purpose. It just uses a general computer to do so.
If they continue to make it difficult for me to enjoy video at home without advertising or other ridiculous restrictions, I'll read a book instead. Besides, a lot of the movies / TV shows today aren't really worth watching anyways. I can read some of the classics, and many of those are in the public domain.:)
You're absolutely right about how businesses must be regulated after they get to be a certain size. Just look at the gilded age. There was a whole bunch of new manufacturing technology, and businesses saw an opportunity to make a shit ton of $$ on it. They abused the system, and people got pissed off and demanded reforms, which led into the progressive era.
I think that we're going through a similar phase with computers. Right now, there is little regulation, and the companies are taking full advantage of that. However, I think that more and more people will get pissed off at the tracking and invasion of privacy. Many people fought very hard to bring in the reforms of the progressive era. I hope people today will fight to bring in the reforms needed to keep up with today's tech.
Ubuntu has served me well in the past, but I find it's easier to install just what I want in Debian (and I know exactly what I'm getting) than trying to remove all of the extra stuff in Ubuntu these days.
I disagree - I think it's easier than ever to get started with programming. The kids of today have an entire Internet full of programming tutorials. It's much easier to Google a question than it is to try to look it up in a book, which is what one had to do in the 80's.
I've been running 64-bit firefox on Linux for years and I've had no issue with plugins. I've run both packaged installations (when I ran Ubuntu) and stand-alone (unzipped from the.tar.bz2 file) installations. Neither have had problems with addons.
davidshewitt@DSH-Computer:~$ file/opt/firefox/firefox /opt/firefox/firefox: ELF 64-bit LSB executable, x86-64, version 1 (SYSV), dynamically linked (uses shared libs), for GNU/Linux 2.6.9, stripped
Slashdot Mirror
I used to be a big fan of Lenovo's Thinkpads but the quality (and keyboard) has gone downhill in recent models. Preinstalling malware is the final deal-breaker (The TFS says it was to consumer-grade machines, but doing this is a serious breach of trust).
Does anyone recommend a good enterprise-grade laptop? Something like the T400 but with a Haswell chip?
cat | ./post-to-slashdot END_OF_RANT
Can the bootloader be unlocked? It seems that any non-nexus devices can only be rooted through running some sort of security exploit against the running OS, which only gets you control over that OS and doesn't let you easily load a new OS.
I'd like to see a device where not only the bootloader is unlocked, but it lets you set your own signing key, re-lock it, and then only boot images you sign. I know this will not be the case for mainstream devices, but I hope there will be a market for such devices among the geek crowd.
END_OF_RANT
I have upgraded a few of my firefox installations (all with heavily customized profiles) and the tabs default to "Classic" mode. It looks like they disable the ads by default for existing installations.
It may be a while before the hardware becomes available, but thinking ahead even further, wouldn't it be awesome if you could replace a DIMM or a CPU without shutting down the machine? For really critical servers, this might be a good option to have at some point. It would be quite a challenge to implement something like this since the CPU and memory are so integral to the machine but it doesn't mean it can't be done.
I think that fines should be a percentage of the company's total profit instead of a fixed dollar amount. That way, no matter how big or small the company is, if they commit a crime, they are punished in proportion to the severity of the crime. Any company being fined 20%-30% of their profit will think twice before pulling shit like this. The shareholders will make sure of it.
Pin tumbler locks are actually very simple devices. They're quite easy to disassemble. You can physically inspect the pins and see that there are only regular bottom pins (no master pins). That being said, they're extremely easy to pick. I saw a locksmith pick one (the kind you find on your front door) in seconds with a pick gun (it "bounces" the pins to the shear line). On a separate note, I'm posting this purely for technical interest (/. is news for nerds after all). I do agree with your argument, technical reasons aside. People have to trust professionals in subjects they're unfamiliar with, and some of those people, because they're people, will violate that trust.
The term "cyber war" really annoys me. Let's save the use of the word "war" for conflict in which real people are killed and "weapon" for devices that are used to kill real people or destroy real property. I hate propaganda bullshit.
Actually, I went to the setting to opt out, and I found that I was already opted out "based on my current activity." So they've seen that I don't like that sort of thing (because I've opted out in the past) and respected that preference.
I just got a smart TV, but I've left it entirely disconnected from the network. I connected a Debian box running XBMC to it. I trust that machine far more than whatever is running on the smart TV. The rule for my trusted network is: if I don't have root, it's not trusted. And root is a necessary, but not sufficient condition for trust. For example, my Kindle is rooted, but I still don't entirely trust it since Amazon still has remote control over it.
Google Nose is real?
Also, remember that in a city, you can't legally take your gun into most stores or offices. If you illegally take it in, you are subject to a felony and loss of your CCW permit.
Which city/cities are you talking about? Private businesses have to post a no-gun sign in order to prohibit lawful concealed carry on their premises, and illegally carrying into one of these businesses is usually treated as a matter of criminal trespassing - a misdemeanor (although you'll still lose your CCW permit). Government buildings are a different story - federal buildings are always felonies, although state buildings can differ (e.g. Ohio-> felony, Oregon-> OK w/ permit).
The rest of your comment is excellent advice for future CCW holders. For anyone with a CCW, always remind yourself of your responsibility every time you put on your weapon.
Setting a good password on your PC to protect the personal information on it is useless unless you also have full disk encryption. Unless you've enabled some form of remote access, the password to your home PC is useless to a remote hacker. The best practice for securing the personal info on your PC is to keep it in a secure location (i.e. your house). If the PC leaves your house, encrypt it. If someone's physically broken in, you have bigger issues to worry about.
I have a Kindle paperwhite (a "normal" kindle). I have rooted it, and I am able to ssh into it. It runs Linux:
[root@kindle root]# uname -r
2.6.31-rt11-lab126
It looks like it has most of the GNU stuff, so in that sense it is more familiar than Android.
I'm not disagreeing with you - it's a device built for a single purpose. It just uses a general computer to do so.
I shit you not - the rules you just described are the ones in use at my bank! Needless to say, I plan to switch soon.
They weren't thinking 4th-dimensionally. ;-)
and it can never be physically taken from you
Me and my $5 wrench disagree. ;)
Are you suggesting...to RTFA? Oh No! ;)
... due to lack of physical access. :-(
If they continue to make it difficult for me to enjoy video at home without advertising or other ridiculous restrictions, I'll read a book instead. Besides, a lot of the movies / TV shows today aren't really worth watching anyways. I can read some of the classics, and many of those are in the public domain. :)
You're absolutely right about how businesses must be regulated after they get to be a certain size. Just look at the gilded age. There was a whole bunch of new manufacturing technology, and businesses saw an opportunity to make a shit ton of $$ on it. They abused the system, and people got pissed off and demanded reforms, which led into the progressive era.
I think that we're going through a similar phase with computers. Right now, there is little regulation, and the companies are taking full advantage of that. However, I think that more and more people will get pissed off at the tracking and invasion of privacy. Many people fought very hard to bring in the reforms of the progressive era. I hope people today will fight to bring in the reforms needed to keep up with today's tech.
My solution is:
$ wget http://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/6.0.6/amd64/iso-cd/debian-6.0.6-amd64-netinst.iso
Ubuntu has served me well in the past, but I find it's easier to install just what I want in Debian (and I know exactly what I'm getting) than trying to remove all of the extra stuff in Ubuntu these days.
Obligatory xkcd: http://xkcd.com/927/
I disagree - I think it's easier than ever to get started with programming. The kids of today have an entire Internet full of programming tutorials. It's much easier to Google a question than it is to try to look it up in a book, which is what one had to do in the 80's.
Stability.