Even though it only has an output and no inputs, one trivial way of providing input would be to request random numbers in an irregular, timed pattern to trigger a state change in the obscured chip.
That sounds incredibly shady - I'm glad I saw your warning in time. Maybe if enough people report them to stopbadware.org they can be recognized as an attack site and blocked in browsers until they clean up/shut down completely.
It's a chore to find how to re-enable core features that have been removed and disable terrible additions (like the recent giant green arrow animations every single time a file is downloaded)
So in summary, despite the terrible digital pad and stiff, domed buttons, he still prefers the 360 pad? One of the "minor" problems with this new controller is that "your thumbs need tactile contact in order to accurately know what button you are pressing", but this controller doesn't even have this "advanced" feature, so you don't know which button you're pressing!?!?!? Isn't that like the most fundamental feature of an input device??? Wow, this Valve controller sounds great...
I personally just don't understand how old consoles like the SNES, Genesis, even the NES had MUCH better digital pads than modern consoles - I'm not sure if they're trying to intentionally cripple them to encourage 3D games over 2D or what.
Yeah, unless you had a terrible password, you should spend your time checking your system for vulnerabilities and/or reinstalling the OS rather than trying to track them down.
In case anyone reading believes this crap - Google did not "fight against state censorship in China" in any way. It worked with the Chinese government to provide a censored version of Google for Chinese consumers, and helped the Chinese government identify political dissidents for imprisonment. They only left China and started bitching about them after hacking attacks (Operation Aurora).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Google#China
I assume that Facebook sets up information sharing agreements with most governments to help them spy on their citizens. I think Facebook probably has a LOT of pull with the German government due to this - they can threaten to revoke all access to their data until the German government changes its laws to suit Facebook. That's why it's Germany's problem.
Labour MP Helen Goodman was "genuinely shocked that a public official could say such a thing."
I'm genuinely shocked that a public official (internet security chief Andy Smith) could actually be this competent and give citizens valid, practical advice about protecting their privacy.
What, giving false information to random social networking sites is a "felony hacking crime"? Name one country where this is the case.
Terms of Service are usually ridiculously overreaching works of corporate fantasy that conflict with many local laws - especially in the EU.
Violating a corporation's Terms of Service is not "breaking the law" unless your action is actually illegal.
I initially defended this Unity Dash adware with the same comparison, but after reading more about it, the Mint advertising is nowhere near as bad. All LOCAL searches are transmitted UNENCRYPTED back to Canonical! If users aren't aware of this new "addition", they will be leaking potentially private local information all over the net - I'm surprised this is even legal (it probably isn't in the EU). There is also no filtering done on pictures of suggestions returned from Amazon, so even pornographic images can be displayed - I guess this automatically bars Ubuntu from any workplaces/net cafes/universities etc. due to possibilities of dismissals, sexual harassment lawsuits etc.
Last time I installed Mint, it had modified Firefox so that built in Google search would kick back some money to the Mint team with referrals. This is a pretty similar situation - easy to remove, and IMHO a reasonable method to support a free distro (I doubt many people donate).
Well, they do need 'Cleanfeed' as a blanket excuse to force all ISPs into line and censor the web in a coordinated fashion. Rather than bicker and get involved in court cases to get each individual ISP to add each individual site to their IP filters, the government can just force all ISPs to run Cleanfeed proxy censorship systems using the same blacklist, where sites can be added silently if the government disapproves of them. Obviously it hasn't progressed that far yet, but I'm sure that's what they want.
Wow, that's bad news... someone I actually admired and had an incredibly wide reaching, positive influence on computer science. I can't even imagine how different the tech world would be today without his amazing accomplishments.
While both of the situations you describe sound fairly innocuous, I personally think a no-photo policy is more in line with preserving civil liberties, and I'm surprised I seem to be in the minority. Imagine being photographed around shops, and having those photos then submitted to random corporate entities like Facebook and Flickr. With the advances in facial recognition software and increasing government/corporate control, pretty soon your privacy and freedom is a distant memory, and everything you buy and everywhere you go is public knowledge. There are even disgusting sites like http://www.peopleofwalmart.com/ dedicated to trying to publically humiliate people who have non-consensual photographs taken of them in supermarkets. In these circumstances, I think it's essential that stores have no-photograph policies (perhaps permission/supervision could be granted by staff on a case-by-case basis?)
+1 I've never experienced this on any other site - I constantly think Firefox has frozen or crashed because closing a Slashdot tab causes the browser to become unresponsive for several seconds - I can't believe this sort of fault (presumably caused by dodgy bloated car-crash Javascript) is even allowed by the browser!
Oh, and congrats to the Slashdot coders for getting OPENING LINKS in comments working again after about half a year.
Well, actually, after the Columbine massacre news media emphasized how the killers used level editors in Doom or Duke3D (forget which) to recreate their school layout and carry out fantasy massacres. So I suspect your competent parenting efforts (i.e. spending time with them and teaching them stuff) had a much bigger positive influence on their ability to discern between reality and fantasy, and not become spree killers, than the aquisition of modding knowledge alone...
Well, it actually is a silent movie - the blog author says that he had the 8mm reel digitised, and added the music (apparently by Dave Brubeck) himself.
Slashdot Mirror
Even though it only has an output and no inputs, one trivial way of providing input would be to request random numbers in an irregular, timed pattern to trigger a state change in the obscured chip.
That sounds incredibly shady - I'm glad I saw your warning in time. Maybe if enough people report them to stopbadware.org they can be recognized as an attack site and blocked in browsers until they clean up/shut down completely.
It's a chore to find how to re-enable core features that have been removed and disable terrible additions (like the recent giant green arrow animations every single time a file is downloaded)
So in summary, despite the terrible digital pad and stiff, domed buttons, he still prefers the 360 pad? One of the "minor" problems with this new controller is that "your thumbs need tactile contact in order to accurately know what button you are pressing", but this controller doesn't even have this "advanced" feature, so you don't know which button you're pressing!?!?!? Isn't that like the most fundamental feature of an input device??? Wow, this Valve controller sounds great... I personally just don't understand how old consoles like the SNES, Genesis, even the NES had MUCH better digital pads than modern consoles - I'm not sure if they're trying to intentionally cripple them to encourage 3D games over 2D or what.
The film Minority Report is going to single-handedly do more damage to UI design than even the falling cost of touch-screen technology.
Yeah, unless you had a terrible password, you should spend your time checking your system for vulnerabilities and/or reinstalling the OS rather than trying to track them down.
I still consider the level design in Dark Forces II and its expansion pack Mysteries of the Sith to be the best of any FPS!
Like Ubuntu?
This made me laugh so much, thank you!
In case anyone reading believes this crap - Google did not "fight against state censorship in China" in any way. It worked with the Chinese government to provide a censored version of Google for Chinese consumers, and helped the Chinese government identify political dissidents for imprisonment. They only left China and started bitching about them after hacking attacks (Operation Aurora). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Google#China
Yeah, that seems to have really hindered all the famous French mathematicians...
I assume that Facebook sets up information sharing agreements with most governments to help them spy on their citizens. I think Facebook probably has a LOT of pull with the German government due to this - they can threaten to revoke all access to their data until the German government changes its laws to suit Facebook. That's why it's Germany's problem.
Labour MP Helen Goodman was "genuinely shocked that a public official could say such a thing." I'm genuinely shocked that a public official (internet security chief Andy Smith) could actually be this competent and give citizens valid, practical advice about protecting their privacy.
What, giving false information to random social networking sites is a "felony hacking crime"? Name one country where this is the case. Terms of Service are usually ridiculously overreaching works of corporate fantasy that conflict with many local laws - especially in the EU. Violating a corporation's Terms of Service is not "breaking the law" unless your action is actually illegal.
I initially defended this Unity Dash adware with the same comparison, but after reading more about it, the Mint advertising is nowhere near as bad. All LOCAL searches are transmitted UNENCRYPTED back to Canonical! If users aren't aware of this new "addition", they will be leaking potentially private local information all over the net - I'm surprised this is even legal (it probably isn't in the EU). There is also no filtering done on pictures of suggestions returned from Amazon, so even pornographic images can be displayed - I guess this automatically bars Ubuntu from any workplaces/net cafes/universities etc. due to possibilities of dismissals, sexual harassment lawsuits etc.
Last time I installed Mint, it had modified Firefox so that built in Google search would kick back some money to the Mint team with referrals. This is a pretty similar situation - easy to remove, and IMHO a reasonable method to support a free distro (I doubt many people donate).
You are a corporation's dream consumer - willing to give up all privacy in return for... being subjected to slightly more relevant advertising!
pfff banning killing animals in prolonged, painful ways for magic rituals - those right wing fascists!
Well, they do need 'Cleanfeed' as a blanket excuse to force all ISPs into line and censor the web in a coordinated fashion. Rather than bicker and get involved in court cases to get each individual ISP to add each individual site to their IP filters, the government can just force all ISPs to run Cleanfeed proxy censorship systems using the same blacklist, where sites can be added silently if the government disapproves of them. Obviously it hasn't progressed that far yet, but I'm sure that's what they want.
Ahh, so that's what 'Cleanfeed' was for. What a surprise!
Wow, that's bad news... someone I actually admired and had an incredibly wide reaching, positive influence on computer science. I can't even imagine how different the tech world would be today without his amazing accomplishments.
While both of the situations you describe sound fairly innocuous, I personally think a no-photo policy is more in line with preserving civil liberties, and I'm surprised I seem to be in the minority. Imagine being photographed around shops, and having those photos then submitted to random corporate entities like Facebook and Flickr. With the advances in facial recognition software and increasing government/corporate control, pretty soon your privacy and freedom is a distant memory, and everything you buy and everywhere you go is public knowledge. There are even disgusting sites like http://www.peopleofwalmart.com/ dedicated to trying to publically humiliate people who have non-consensual photographs taken of them in supermarkets. In these circumstances, I think it's essential that stores have no-photograph policies (perhaps permission/supervision could be granted by staff on a case-by-case basis?)
+1 I've never experienced this on any other site - I constantly think Firefox has frozen or crashed because closing a Slashdot tab causes the browser to become unresponsive for several seconds - I can't believe this sort of fault (presumably caused by dodgy bloated car-crash Javascript) is even allowed by the browser! Oh, and congrats to the Slashdot coders for getting OPENING LINKS in comments working again after about half a year.
Well, actually, after the Columbine massacre news media emphasized how the killers used level editors in Doom or Duke3D (forget which) to recreate their school layout and carry out fantasy massacres. So I suspect your competent parenting efforts (i.e. spending time with them and teaching them stuff) had a much bigger positive influence on their ability to discern between reality and fantasy, and not become spree killers, than the aquisition of modding knowledge alone...
Well, it actually is a silent movie - the blog author says that he had the 8mm reel digitised, and added the music (apparently by Dave Brubeck) himself.