I just saw a report on the discovery of the Ebola Virus back in the late seventies. Back then the samples of a new unknown deadly disease from missionaries in Congo were put in card board boxes that were carried through Antwerp city (Belgium) on foot, taking them to the university for analysis under an electron microscope.
The virus was isolated in a normal room back then and stored in a thermos.
source: Prof. EM. Guido Van Der Groen (Virologist)
Since they do research for all mankind, but are mostly funded with American taxpayer dollars, they should start some kind of global donation program. I would love to chip in a bit for research like this. Maybe it will only bring in a few million dollars, which is peanuts compared to a billion dollars, but it could help the science cause anyway.
yes, tinfoil-hat jokes aside, a data leak at the provider will reveal everyone's wifi password. Three letter agency access to the provider's network essentially opens up access to all household and small business LANs.
The point is that as a non-business client you don't get an option, you have to use that specific telenet-branded box that contains a docsis modem and router which is only remotely manageable. And the public hotspot functionality gets mysteriously re-enabled every now and then. Even as a business-client i had to jump through hoops to get a modem without built-in router, managed by them. I don't care about actual cable-modem specific settings, those should be administered by the cable company, but I do care about the WAN/LAN/Wifi settings. The provider has absolutely no business managing my LAN. It also seems like a huge security risk to have this exact same device for all your customers.
Cable broadband provider Telenet in Belgium did the same thing. When my old DOCSIS 2 modem died, they gave me (without any options) one of their all-in-one fancy new 'modems', with built in router with private + public wifi. To manage my modem settings i had to go to their webpage to change MY modem/router/lan/wifi settings, which would then be pushed to my modem locally. So if they're site is down (which happens quite regularly imo, for 'maintenance'), i can't manage my own LAN ! Heaven forbid if someone ever finds an exploit in those modems, all of their customers' LAN's will be compromised. I re-disabled the public wifi several times, after it got mysteriously re-enabled. Forget about calling support, you always get brain dead morons that won't deviate from their silly 'please reboot your modem' flowchart even though you can provide perfect logical reasoning to locate the problem. Power users are a nuisance to them.
Repeated calls to support to ask for a normal modem as a consumer were all fruitless. I later played my cards different with the business support desk (as a business owner) and with some social engineering was able to get someone to give permission(!) for me to get a normal modem at my local telenet supplier.
I have since installed this modem with behind it a router running custom firmware, where I control my LAN & WIFI. Speeds even more than doubled too !
As of last year Liberty Global own a 57.8% stake in Telenet. A USA telecommunications and television company that is buying up broadband providers worldwide. With recent revelations this is also worrisome, but we don't have another choice for cable provider.
Stay vigilant people, and demand what you have the rights to !
The incentive to switch to secured Linux flavors for ALL operations has never been so high in EU organizations, both private and government.
Companies most affected by this will be MS, Cisco, Apple and the likes.. You did this to yourself USA, don't come crying now.
This is the perfect example of security through obscurity.
If I were to use spread spectrum communications with random modulation types and data encoding schemes I can claim this too.
Is this being proposed as a replacement for the engine-control bus, like the CAN-bus ?
Do we really want (relatively high-bandwidth) entertainment shizzle to be on the same bus/network as the as all the engine sensors, actuators and controllers etc. ? Fine if it's just some control signals, like 'volume up', 'play', 'next', 'accept incoming call'.. whatever. But wouldn't it make much more sense to use a separate good-old ethernet cable, or even WiFi to for the actual media devices and the internet. If it's all in the same network, any user-hot-pluggable device on said network is physically able to do crazy stuff, like 'deploy airbags', or 'unlock', 'engine start', etc.. Let's not even think about connecting this to the internet.
it now reads :
Dear MtGox Customers,
In the event of recent news reports and the potential repercussions on MtGox's operations and the market, a decision was taken to close all transactions for the time being in order to protect the site and our users. We will be closely monitoring the situation and will react accordingly.
Best regards,
MtGox Team
I got my rift a few weeks ago, and haven't had too much time to play with it yet, but these are my findings. The experience is truly quite new and incomparable to any non-stereo 3D tech, it is much more immersive, yet also very intense! Many game genres, like flightsims, space-fighters, etc, will no longer be relaxing, or even enjoyable the way they are on 2D screens, simply because it is now almost a real simulator. You will get sick, and you will need hours/days/months of training to be able to cope with the new level of realism. The stereo 3D images, combined with head-tracking, are now feeding much more info to your brain than just a visual scene, it's telling your brain you should be feeling G-forces (that the inner ear obviously doesn't register), and it can give you a very bad disembodied feeling when you don't see your arms or body when looking down. With the current oculus rift dev kit, you also still feel like you're looking at the world through a gas mask or hazmat suit or the likes, resolution is quite low, and you clearly see pixels. Even though it doesn't weigh too much, you will feel its weight on your cheekbones after a while too. I had no problem with the cables. For playing existing games, without native rift support, there are currently two "drivers" (read directx wrappers), that double render the scene in stereo and map and distort it for viewing on the rift, and also adjust the view transform in accordance with the head-tracking. (Vorpx (commercial), and Vireio (free oss)). Of course this doesn't work well for all games and genres, but it is very nice to be able to check out your favorite games this way. The most disturbing and nauseating things are the silliest things, like when the games loads and the scene freezes, or a cut-scene comes up with limited camera freedom, a HUD that requires you to refocus on a different plane, etc.. Of course it does have advantages too, like you can now turn off the guidance-lines in racing games that tell you when to brake etc, because now you'll FEEL you can't possibly take that turn at those speeds. First-person games are a lot more immersive than third-person games, which feel a bit weird when controlling a single character and viewing it from behind. Half-Life 2 (with buggy native support) did give the best experience for me so far, when Alyx first appears, it really feels like she is standing right in front of you. Quite amazing indeed. Overall you really feel like you're in the HL world, only thing killing it atm is the low resolution.
Anyway, imho, VR-tech should be around, but it will always exist side-by-side with watching a traditional screen, it will not replace it, at least not in its current state.
Has anyone considered that this tech can be weaponized ? Of course I'm all for a planetary wide protection against space debris, but it seems that the technology to intercept and redirect asteroids and such could be used to selectively wipe out entire nations without there ever being a radiological alert going off..
seriously, my old bimmer's on-board navigation already did this 15 years ago !
other than that, I've used u-blox in several embedded designs, and they are by far the most fun GPS unit to play with. They have some great pc software for it too. And they've had this functionality for quite some time now.
oh yeah, and boo to beta..
Slashdot Mirror
oh no, soon our computers will be confused and forgetful ..
you mean furlongs per fortnight
Won't this just put a greater load on the Wifi transmitters, or dampen the signal ?
seriously, "defence", doesn't every freakin' browser have a spell checker built in nowadays ?!
Mod parent up
mod parent up please
Did they fix the USB problems ?
Other Guido. The author of Python is Guido van Rossum, and he's Dutch, not Belgian.
I just saw a report on the discovery of the Ebola Virus back in the late seventies. Back then the samples of a new unknown deadly disease from missionaries in Congo were put in card board boxes that were carried through Antwerp city (Belgium) on foot, taking them to the university for analysis under an electron microscope. The virus was isolated in a normal room back then and stored in a thermos. source: Prof. EM. Guido Van Der Groen (Virologist)
I'd better write down the remote IP for my VPN connection before the session closes.
Since they do research for all mankind, but are mostly funded with American taxpayer dollars, they should start some kind of global donation program. I would love to chip in a bit for research like this. Maybe it will only bring in a few million dollars, which is peanuts compared to a billion dollars, but it could help the science cause anyway.
yes, tinfoil-hat jokes aside, a data leak at the provider will reveal everyone's wifi password. Three letter agency access to the provider's network essentially opens up access to all household and small business LANs.
The point is that as a non-business client you don't get an option, you have to use that specific telenet-branded box that contains a docsis modem and router which is only remotely manageable. And the public hotspot functionality gets mysteriously re-enabled every now and then. Even as a business-client i had to jump through hoops to get a modem without built-in router, managed by them. I don't care about actual cable-modem specific settings, those should be administered by the cable company, but I do care about the WAN/LAN/Wifi settings. The provider has absolutely no business managing my LAN. It also seems like a huge security risk to have this exact same device for all your customers.
ok, throw in some daily breeding programs and we have a deal.
Cable broadband provider Telenet in Belgium did the same thing. When my old DOCSIS 2 modem died, they gave me (without any options) one of their all-in-one fancy new 'modems', with built in router with private + public wifi. To manage my modem settings i had to go to their webpage to change MY modem/router/lan/wifi settings, which would then be pushed to my modem locally. So if they're site is down (which happens quite regularly imo, for 'maintenance'), i can't manage my own LAN ! Heaven forbid if someone ever finds an exploit in those modems, all of their customers' LAN's will be compromised. I re-disabled the public wifi several times, after it got mysteriously re-enabled. Forget about calling support, you always get brain dead morons that won't deviate from their silly 'please reboot your modem' flowchart even though you can provide perfect logical reasoning to locate the problem. Power users are a nuisance to them. Repeated calls to support to ask for a normal modem as a consumer were all fruitless. I later played my cards different with the business support desk (as a business owner) and with some social engineering was able to get someone to give permission(!) for me to get a normal modem at my local telenet supplier. I have since installed this modem with behind it a router running custom firmware, where I control my LAN & WIFI. Speeds even more than doubled too ! As of last year Liberty Global own a 57.8% stake in Telenet. A USA telecommunications and television company that is buying up broadband providers worldwide. With recent revelations this is also worrisome, but we don't have another choice for cable provider. Stay vigilant people, and demand what you have the rights to !
Sure! Give the machines some more incentive ..
The incentive to switch to secured Linux flavors for ALL operations has never been so high in EU organizations, both private and government. Companies most affected by this will be MS, Cisco, Apple and the likes.. You did this to yourself USA, don't come crying now.
This is the perfect example of security through obscurity. If I were to use spread spectrum communications with random modulation types and data encoding schemes I can claim this too.
Is this being proposed as a replacement for the engine-control bus, like the CAN-bus ? Do we really want (relatively high-bandwidth) entertainment shizzle to be on the same bus/network as the as all the engine sensors, actuators and controllers etc. ? Fine if it's just some control signals, like 'volume up', 'play', 'next', 'accept incoming call' .. whatever. But wouldn't it make much more sense to use a separate good-old ethernet cable, or even WiFi to for the actual media devices and the internet. If it's all in the same network, any user-hot-pluggable device on said network is physically able to do crazy stuff, like 'deploy airbags', or 'unlock', 'engine start', etc.. Let's not even think about connecting this to the internet.
it now reads : Dear MtGox Customers, In the event of recent news reports and the potential repercussions on MtGox's operations and the market, a decision was taken to close all transactions for the time being in order to protect the site and our users. We will be closely monitoring the situation and will react accordingly. Best regards, MtGox Team
care to name a few ?
VR != 3D movies
I got my rift a few weeks ago, and haven't had too much time to play with it yet, but these are my findings. The experience is truly quite new and incomparable to any non-stereo 3D tech, it is much more immersive, yet also very intense! Many game genres, like flightsims, space-fighters, etc, will no longer be relaxing, or even enjoyable the way they are on 2D screens, simply because it is now almost a real simulator. You will get sick, and you will need hours/days/months of training to be able to cope with the new level of realism. The stereo 3D images, combined with head-tracking, are now feeding much more info to your brain than just a visual scene, it's telling your brain you should be feeling G-forces (that the inner ear obviously doesn't register), and it can give you a very bad disembodied feeling when you don't see your arms or body when looking down. With the current oculus rift dev kit, you also still feel like you're looking at the world through a gas mask or hazmat suit or the likes, resolution is quite low, and you clearly see pixels. Even though it doesn't weigh too much, you will feel its weight on your cheekbones after a while too. I had no problem with the cables. For playing existing games, without native rift support, there are currently two "drivers" (read directx wrappers), that double render the scene in stereo and map and distort it for viewing on the rift, and also adjust the view transform in accordance with the head-tracking. (Vorpx (commercial), and Vireio (free oss)). Of course this doesn't work well for all games and genres, but it is very nice to be able to check out your favorite games this way. The most disturbing and nauseating things are the silliest things, like when the games loads and the scene freezes, or a cut-scene comes up with limited camera freedom, a HUD that requires you to refocus on a different plane, etc.. Of course it does have advantages too, like you can now turn off the guidance-lines in racing games that tell you when to brake etc, because now you'll FEEL you can't possibly take that turn at those speeds. First-person games are a lot more immersive than third-person games, which feel a bit weird when controlling a single character and viewing it from behind. Half-Life 2 (with buggy native support) did give the best experience for me so far, when Alyx first appears, it really feels like she is standing right in front of you. Quite amazing indeed. Overall you really feel like you're in the HL world, only thing killing it atm is the low resolution. Anyway, imho, VR-tech should be around, but it will always exist side-by-side with watching a traditional screen, it will not replace it, at least not in its current state.
Has anyone considered that this tech can be weaponized ? Of course I'm all for a planetary wide protection against space debris, but it seems that the technology to intercept and redirect asteroids and such could be used to selectively wipe out entire nations without there ever being a radiological alert going off ..
seriously, my old bimmer's on-board navigation already did this 15 years ago ! other than that, I've used u-blox in several embedded designs, and they are by far the most fun GPS unit to play with. They have some great pc software for it too. And they've had this functionality for quite some time now. oh yeah, and boo to beta..