I've never tried to make a call but I have happily sent texts during a flight before. I can't say I paid much attention to it at the time, but I'm pretty sure I had a good bar or two of reception, at least whilst over land, so I'm guessing a call could have worked ok too. I'm sure the sitting-in-a-metal-tube thing won't help but presumably the windows allow enough RF to pass through.
Also, some of the passengers of 'flight 93' made calls to their loved ones during the 9/11 hijackings.
Spot on. The Java browser plugin is the real life vector for getting pwned, not Java the language or the Java virtual machine. Malicious code written in C could do a lot worse with a lot less lines of code - it's just that we don't have browser plugins for running x86 code. Ok... with Google's NaCl, that may be changing!
If Oracle want to save Java's reputation they have to kill the browser plugin. Like you suggest, make it an optional legacy download and set a date for when it will be killed off completely.
Your problem with some file formats not playing will more than likely be down to the Netgear box not supporting the wide array of file formats and codec variations you'll find in use on the net. All proprietary players suck because of this. For something cheap and very full featured, try Raspbmc on a Raspberry Pi (with the optional codecs and a remote control). Raspbmc will play absolutely anything you throw at it.
On the server side it's much easier. Either stick with Plex (it will probably be fine streaming to a decent player like Raspbmc / XBMC) or you could try something like MediaTomb or PS3 Media Server, both of which offer transcoding too (for shitty players).
Have you tried Clementine? It's cross platform and open source (started off as a QT port of Amarok 1.4) and IMO is the most useable music player around right now.
I totally agree with this. Amarok was a nice little player a few years back but has since become bit of a UI / feature mess in my opinion.
Clementine is great; clean UI, unobtrusive, open source, cross platform, decent podcast support, device sync, internet streaming (supporting quite a few services) and just does everything I want in a music library / player without going over the top.
So, out of interest, how are you securing this unpatched XP machine? I can understand that if it's firewalled, with no open ports, it may be resistant to direct connections from outside but that's not enough for a typical machine doing useful work. If the machine makes network requests, or works on data from removable media, it is way more than likely to be vulnerable to some buffer overflow type response that can be fed to it. You know, the type of vulnerabilities that turn up every few weeks or so and (hopefully) get patched.
Only 3? I've been the sys admin for a small number of web servers (for hobby and small business projects) for nearly 15 years and I see break-in attempts (*) from numerous IPs on a near constant basis; every few minutes a new, offending IP ends up getting blocked by my firewall. Nowadays, something close to 95% of these 'attacks' originates from China, where as only a few years ago the attacks were reasonably well distributed across the globe, with places like the Ukraine and Russia appearing highest on the list of offenders. Of course, the source IP may just be a proxy for the true source of the attack, so it is hard to say for sure where most originate from.
* The vast majority of break-in attempts I see are simple password guessing attempts for widely used account usernames. Disabling root login, enforcing use of SSH keys and using something like Fail2ban takes care of these with ease.
What is there besides MAC address and IP address to latch on to?
When you are assigned a different IP address by your ISP, does a reverse DNS lookup for your IP show the same or a different FQDN? I'm pretty sure I've seen at least one ISP update rDNS entries so a customer specific domain name always points to them, regardless of assigned IP. If that's the case, you can change your IP as often as you like but you'll always be reachable by the same FQDN.
It would make sense for Google to make this new console also be a replacement for their Google TV platform. People might actually think about buying into the whole Google TV thing then.
Google employee Nikhyl Singhal wrote in a Google+ post that 'Hangouts is designed to be the future of Google Voice.'
I wish Google weren't insistant on melding their existing services with their social platform, or dropping them altogether to concentrate on Google+ alternatives. I'm not particularly interested in Google+ and definitely won't be coerced to use it in order to use some of Google's otherwise very good services.
Facebook won the social game before Google ever entered it and there's not a chance in hell Google will overturn them now. Concentrate on your core services and keep your users happy, or you will lose them.
Please excuse my sceptism. I just googled the topic and it seems there's some evidence they've been doing this along with contributing to PRISM. Very enlightening to say the least!
In the telecoms lab I worked at 15 years ago or so, we used Visual Basic to control many of our GPIB test suites and they all spat out data as CSV files that could then be imported into Excel for quick and easy graphing, etc. It was maybe not the most elegant of solutions, but it was perfect for the task at hand. We could write new tests very quickly and the data could be easily emailed to anyone with Excel to analyse. There are not many things I'd suggest using Visual Basic for, or CSV for that matter, but for some jobs that simplicity is wonderful and a more 'professional' solution would have slowed the process down drastically.
meteor strike is easy to plan for -- put the data in two data centers very far apart -- East/West coast of the US is good enough
That's fine for most meteors, but what about asteroids that could destroy everything on Earth? That's why you should backup to the cloud, on another planet.
A couple of years or so later, we inherited a BBC Model B followed by a BBC Master 512 and I'd spend many an hour typing in code from Acorn User magazine and the like. At a pretty young age I was making my own programs in BASIC, even making rudimentary educational programs to run in primary school when they started adopting BBCs there. I remember coming across 'cryptic code' embedded within BBC BASIC that I eventually found out to be assembly language, and started to dabble with that, developing some very basic games and drawing programs.
Somewhere along the line there was a Spectrum and an Amstrad. I can't quite remember where they came from but they taught me that different computers had their subtle differences.
I always wanted an Acorn Archimedes but never owned one myself, although did have use of them at school. Instead, my parents were donated an early IBM PC (8086 CPU I think) from a relative and I found a copy of Turbo Pascal from somewhere. I think this is the point I started to grasp the fundamentals of 'more serious' programming.
It was all PCs from then on, using Turbo Pascal and Turbo C++ in DOS at first, to then falling in love with GUIs (yes, and Windows!) and spending a lot of time in Borland Delphi and MS Visual BASIC. As time went by, I realised C++ was what 'serious' programmers were using so figured Visual C++ was the way to go (back in version 1 days). I never really got into that though, much preferring Delphi at the time.
It was when I first put Linux on my 486 that things really opened up and I started using different languages for different tasks. I started examining other people's code, learning routines and tricks, best practices, getting to know some of the ins and outs of Perl (sadly, mostly forgotten now), Tcl, shell scripting, etc, as well as honing my skills in C/C++ and Java. For my sins, I've also spent a lot of time in PHP for web projects.
Nowadays, I wouldn't say I'm an expert in any one language, but I have a good enough knowledge and experience of programming in general to get stuff done, hopefully in a reasonably professional manner!
When I was younger, I adopted new technology as soon as I could save up the pennies to buy it. It was exciting to be using the latest tech and there were often big advancements with each iteration (early sound and graphics cards spring to mind). Twenty years or so on, I wouldn't say I'm reluctant to change, but I move forward at a much steadier pace. Maybe it's just seeing things through an older and more cynical pair of eyes, but I do not think there are as big advancements in new products today as marketeers would have you believe.
In everyday life and work, I generally use what I know well and does the job well. Operating systems, utilities, hardware, etc; I'm in no rush to upgrade or change them unless what I'm using now becomes unsupported, deficient in some way, or there are very real benefits to making a change. That kind of approach has served me well; my systems are robust, efficient, and I know the insides well enough that I can fix things if and when they go wrong.
For fun though, and to keep on top of emerging technologies, I do 'play' with a lot of new stuff when I have the chance. Test new operating systems, software, etc, in virtual machines. Evaluate new hardware if you can get your hands on it cheaply or for free (on loan, in store, or from friends). That way, you're always going to be aware of what the choices are and you'll be continuously building a picture of where technology is moving, and whether it's something you should think about adopting for yourself.
So, be careful to not get stuck in a rut and set in your ways, but don't rush out and buy every latest widget for widget's sake.
I might be wrong but I was under the understanding that it is primarily aimed at syncing your own data between your own devices (think Dropbox but without a centralised file server). You could choose to sync it with other users but they would then have access to your unencrypted data.
Slashdot Mirror
I've never tried to make a call but I have happily sent texts during a flight before. I can't say I paid much attention to it at the time, but I'm pretty sure I had a good bar or two of reception, at least whilst over land, so I'm guessing a call could have worked ok too. I'm sure the sitting-in-a-metal-tube thing won't help but presumably the windows allow enough RF to pass through.
Also, some of the passengers of 'flight 93' made calls to their loved ones during the 9/11 hijackings.
Spot on. The Java browser plugin is the real life vector for getting pwned, not Java the language or the Java virtual machine. Malicious code written in C could do a lot worse with a lot less lines of code - it's just that we don't have browser plugins for running x86 code. Ok... with Google's NaCl, that may be changing!
If Oracle want to save Java's reputation they have to kill the browser plugin. Like you suggest, make it an optional legacy download and set a date for when it will be killed off completely.
Your problem with some file formats not playing will more than likely be down to the Netgear box not supporting the wide array of file formats and codec variations you'll find in use on the net. All proprietary players suck because of this. For something cheap and very full featured, try Raspbmc on a Raspberry Pi (with the optional codecs and a remote control). Raspbmc will play absolutely anything you throw at it.
On the server side it's much easier. Either stick with Plex (it will probably be fine streaming to a decent player like Raspbmc / XBMC) or you could try something like MediaTomb or PS3 Media Server, both of which offer transcoding too (for shitty players).
Have you tried Clementine? It's cross platform and open source (started off as a QT port of Amarok 1.4) and IMO is the most useable music player around right now.
I totally agree with this. Amarok was a nice little player a few years back but has since become bit of a UI / feature mess in my opinion.
Clementine is great; clean UI, unobtrusive, open source, cross platform, decent podcast support, device sync, internet streaming (supporting quite a few services) and just does everything I want in a music library / player without going over the top.
Squirt Drive
Best they triple patch it, just to be sure.
It is indeed an awesome photo, but personally, I think Voyager 1's Pale Blue Dot photograph of Earth is much more thought provoking.
Wikipedia has a write-up about it here.
So, out of interest, how are you securing this unpatched XP machine? I can understand that if it's firewalled, with no open ports, it may be resistant to direct connections from outside but that's not enough for a typical machine doing useful work. If the machine makes network requests, or works on data from removable media, it is way more than likely to be vulnerable to some buffer overflow type response that can be fed to it. You know, the type of vulnerabilities that turn up every few weeks or so and (hopefully) get patched.
Or you could just click the 'Slashdot Classic' link in the footer. :)
Only 3? I've been the sys admin for a small number of web servers (for hobby and small business projects) for nearly 15 years and I see break-in attempts (*) from numerous IPs on a near constant basis; every few minutes a new, offending IP ends up getting blocked by my firewall. Nowadays, something close to 95% of these 'attacks' originates from China, where as only a few years ago the attacks were reasonably well distributed across the globe, with places like the Ukraine and Russia appearing highest on the list of offenders. Of course, the source IP may just be a proxy for the true source of the attack, so it is hard to say for sure where most originate from.
* The vast majority of break-in attempts I see are simple password guessing attempts for widely used account usernames. Disabling root login, enforcing use of SSH keys and using something like Fail2ban takes care of these with ease.
What is there besides MAC address and IP address to latch on to?
When you are assigned a different IP address by your ISP, does a reverse DNS lookup for your IP show the same or a different FQDN? I'm pretty sure I've seen at least one ISP update rDNS entries so a customer specific domain name always points to them, regardless of assigned IP. If that's the case, you can change your IP as often as you like but you'll always be reachable by the same FQDN.
How about donating them to a school?
Tell me, is a positive longitude east or west? I assume that positive latitude is north.
Positive longitude is east. Positive latitude is north.
It would make sense for Google to make this new console also be a replacement for their Google TV platform. People might actually think about buying into the whole Google TV thing then.
Google employee Nikhyl Singhal wrote in a Google+ post that 'Hangouts is designed to be the future of Google Voice.'
I wish Google weren't insistant on melding their existing services with their social platform, or dropping them altogether to concentrate on Google+ alternatives. I'm not particularly interested in Google+ and definitely won't be coerced to use it in order to use some of Google's otherwise very good services.
Facebook won the social game before Google ever entered it and there's not a chance in hell Google will overturn them now. Concentrate on your core services and keep your users happy, or you will lose them.
Please excuse my sceptism. I just googled the topic and it seems there's some evidence they've been doing this along with contributing to PRISM. Very enlightening to say the least!
While it is known that MS has given vulnerabilities to the NSA before patching them
Citations?
In the telecoms lab I worked at 15 years ago or so, we used Visual Basic to control many of our GPIB test suites and they all spat out data as CSV files that could then be imported into Excel for quick and easy graphing, etc. It was maybe not the most elegant of solutions, but it was perfect for the task at hand. We could write new tests very quickly and the data could be easily emailed to anyone with Excel to analyse. There are not many things I'd suggest using Visual Basic for, or CSV for that matter, but for some jobs that simplicity is wonderful and a more 'professional' solution would have slowed the process down drastically.
meteor strike is easy to plan for -- put the data in two data centers very far apart -- East/West coast of the US is good enough
That's fine for most meteors, but what about asteroids that could destroy everything on Earth? That's why you should backup to the cloud, on another planet.
woosh!
You could get a ELP Laser Turntable but it would probably be cheaper to get the original artists to reform and perform live in your home.
Ahhh, BBC BASIC. Fond memories! :)
I started with the Acorn Electron. Most, if not all, of its keys had secondary shortcuts to frequently used BASIC commands which is what first got me interested enough to investigate further.
A couple of years or so later, we inherited a BBC Model B followed by a BBC Master 512 and I'd spend many an hour typing in code from Acorn User magazine and the like. At a pretty young age I was making my own programs in BASIC, even making rudimentary educational programs to run in primary school when they started adopting BBCs there. I remember coming across 'cryptic code' embedded within BBC BASIC that I eventually found out to be assembly language, and started to dabble with that, developing some very basic games and drawing programs.
Somewhere along the line there was a Spectrum and an Amstrad. I can't quite remember where they came from but they taught me that different computers had their subtle differences.
I always wanted an Acorn Archimedes but never owned one myself, although did have use of them at school. Instead, my parents were donated an early IBM PC (8086 CPU I think) from a relative and I found a copy of Turbo Pascal from somewhere. I think this is the point I started to grasp the fundamentals of 'more serious' programming.
It was all PCs from then on, using Turbo Pascal and Turbo C++ in DOS at first, to then falling in love with GUIs (yes, and Windows!) and spending a lot of time in Borland Delphi and MS Visual BASIC. As time went by, I realised C++ was what 'serious' programmers were using so figured Visual C++ was the way to go (back in version 1 days). I never really got into that though, much preferring Delphi at the time.
It was when I first put Linux on my 486 that things really opened up and I started using different languages for different tasks. I started examining other people's code, learning routines and tricks, best practices, getting to know some of the ins and outs of Perl (sadly, mostly forgotten now), Tcl, shell scripting, etc, as well as honing my skills in C/C++ and Java. For my sins, I've also spent a lot of time in PHP for web projects.
Nowadays, I wouldn't say I'm an expert in any one language, but I have a good enough knowledge and experience of programming in general to get stuff done, hopefully in a reasonably professional manner!
When I was younger, I adopted new technology as soon as I could save up the pennies to buy it. It was exciting to be using the latest tech and there were often big advancements with each iteration (early sound and graphics cards spring to mind). Twenty years or so on, I wouldn't say I'm reluctant to change, but I move forward at a much steadier pace. Maybe it's just seeing things through an older and more cynical pair of eyes, but I do not think there are as big advancements in new products today as marketeers would have you believe.
In everyday life and work, I generally use what I know well and does the job well. Operating systems, utilities, hardware, etc; I'm in no rush to upgrade or change them unless what I'm using now becomes unsupported, deficient in some way, or there are very real benefits to making a change. That kind of approach has served me well; my systems are robust, efficient, and I know the insides well enough that I can fix things if and when they go wrong.
For fun though, and to keep on top of emerging technologies, I do 'play' with a lot of new stuff when I have the chance. Test new operating systems, software, etc, in virtual machines. Evaluate new hardware if you can get your hands on it cheaply or for free (on loan, in store, or from friends). That way, you're always going to be aware of what the choices are and you'll be continuously building a picture of where technology is moving, and whether it's something you should think about adopting for yourself.
So, be careful to not get stuck in a rut and set in your ways, but don't rush out and buy every latest widget for widget's sake.
I might be wrong but I was under the understanding that it is primarily aimed at syncing your own data between your own devices (think Dropbox but without a centralised file server). You could choose to sync it with other users but they would then have access to your unencrypted data.