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User: Britz

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  1. Shark-Mount on Many Lasers Become One In Lockheed Martin's 30 kW Laser Weapon · · Score: 0

    Wake me up when they are shark mountable.

  2. Re:Almost. there. on Phil Zimmerman Launching Secure "Blackphone" · · Score: 1

    That is the one feature that would set it apart from any phone running an open source mod (Android Replicant comes to mind) with a couple privacy apps on top. Like a sip client with encryption on. And therefore pretty much the only good selling point.

    I wonder if it will only be a firewall, or if someone finally manages to really open source the baseband. Though I doubt it. As far as I understand even the OpenMoko stuff has closed source binary blobs for the baseband, though they have sufficient barriers between the main processor and the baseband stuff.

  3. Other countries would do the same on F-Secure's Mikko Hypponen Cancels RSA Talk In Protest · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I hate to be *that guy*, but everyone needs to understand two significant points:

    1. After a couple month of watching the PRISM scandal unforld I now believe this is a "Hiroshima moment". Never before in human history was it possible to spy on everyone. To have a file on everyone. The secret services (the bad as well as the good) always had to focus on a select few. No more. We are living in 1984.

    2. I firmly believe the main reason why other spy agencies are not doing what the NSA is doing is because of their limited capabilities. Both in less money and resources, but also in reach. Google, Facebook, Apple and Microsoft are US based. Many important internet exchanges as well. This point is especially important, because of the US tradition of transparency and whistleblowing. As American as the NSA may be, Snowden is even more so. I can't imagine a Chinese Snowden. And even if he existed, would they have a broad discussion on that subject in China? How about Russia? Or even the UK? GHCQ has been as bad as the NSA, yet do we see a broad and honest discussion about it in London?

    I hate the constant and ubiquitous surveillance, but the technology advances were the ones that brought them here. The NSA were only the first and foremost ones that took advantage of the new tools. They become cheap fast. Soon every spy agency will have them. This is a very useful and helpful discussion we are having right now. Because we either need to encrypt everything and move everyone onto Tor, or get used to having a file on everyone. There is no "gentlemen's agreement" (no-spy-agreement, UN accord, whatever), because there is no way to enforce it.

  4. Re:Bureaucrats != engineers on Healthcare.gov Official Resigns, Website Still a Disaster · · Score: 1

    That may very well be, but once you get off your high horse and try to compare an obviously crazy guy wanting to have his weekly schedule rendered with a dtp application to a government project with a deadline, you might realize what it is: A deadline. So there is a law about something people can sign up for. So it is rather important that the website needs to be up for the deadline. You can bungle this project time and technology wise in many ways.

    I don't know how much time they actually had between the passing of the ACA and the deadline. But don't you think 12 month should be enough for any website project if you have fairly large resources and absolutely need to be finished on time? Don't you think that kind of project should be possible? Or did the ACA not pass before October 2012?

    Yes, the project was obviously bundgled in some way. But not because they didn't have enough time from the start.

  5. Not a big deal on IAB Urges People To Stop "Mozilla From Hijacking the Internet" · · Score: 1

    They will simply need to use browser fingerprinting via web bugs. In combination with flash cookies, stored content and java cookies. It will just get a little more technically complicated. But not much.

    I don't even know why he makes such a big fuss. When the task gets more complicated, web advertising companies will have to use more technical expertise making the market harder to penetrate. Which benefits existing companies. So his customers are safer from new competition.

  6. Canonical lately on More From Canonical Employee On: "Why Mir?" · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Canonical is behaving very "weird" lately.

    This is an interview with Jonathan Riddell, the lead on Kubuntu [1].

    Quotes:

    "I only had contact with the Linux Mint developer recently when Canonical claimed that they needed a licence to use the compiled packages from Ubuntu. This is a dangerous misunderstanding of copyright licencing from a company which should understand it. I advised Linux Mint to say some rude things to Canonical but I think they're too polite for that."

    "Canonical has the trademark of Kubuntu so they had to get a trademark licence from Canonical which took many months of long and slow negotiations. It was very frustracting to have Canonical be the blocker for part of the Ubuntu community since Canonical should be an enabler for the Ubuntu community (at least when we don't compete directly). So we did look at changing the name of Kubuntu but were told by Mark we'd be kicked out the project if we did that which would be a worst case scenario for everyone."

    "Since then Canonical has started asking for donations when downloading Ubuntu and one option is to give "Better support for flavours like Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Lubuntu Slider thumb". Kubuntu has never received any of these funds or seen any better support, so this is a disappointing case of fraud."

    [1] http://www.muktware.com/5369/how-will-changes-ubuntu-affect-kubuntu-exclusive-interview-jonathan-riddell

  7. Re:Can't America get its acts together ? on Congressman Introduces Bill To Ban Minting of Trillion-Dollar Coin · · Score: 1

    First of all who says debt is a problem? There is much debate on this. A nation does not work like a business or a household. Actually quite the opposite. Debt can be good. And right now a lot of people really, really want to give their money to the US government for safekeeping, because they think the best and safest investment is the US government. Therefore interest rates for borrowing are very low. There are other reasons why debt might not be such a huge issue. As I said, this is really up to debate.

    Personally I believe that the rate is borrowing is, in fact, a little high right now.

    But this is not about borrowing, but about spending. A lot of people in Congress want to spend money on different things. And they don't want to raise more income. So they have to borrow. The problem, if you are concerned about debt, is not the debt ceiling, but the spending and income.

    The debt ceiling is mainly about bullying the president. It's a bargaining chip. It's only about politics.

    But no one wants to talk about which programs to cut exactly and which taxes to raise, because this is unpopular. This applies to all players.

    The ironic part is that the Republicans are making a huge deal out of the debt (I said at the beginning that debt doesn't have to be bad), while they are being responsible for it through defense spending and tax cutting during the Bush years. And they never had a problem back then.

  8. Re:Key word is "in the app store". on OS X Notifier App Growl Goes Closed Source · · Score: 0

    That makes a lot of sense. Apple probabely also has a gag clause in their app store contracts that forbids them to talk about said contract. So they can't explain why the went closed source.

  9. Isn't that the difference between KVM and XEN? on Linus Thinks Virtualization Is 'Evil' · · Score: 1

    I thought that was exactly the difference between XEN and KVM. KVM uses the Linux kernel as ring 0, whereas XEN creates it's own 'sort of' kernel as ring 0.

    And, I don't think this approach is the best, because Linux and Unix still outperform any other approach by a long shot and have a lot of stability. So I prefer OpenVZ, Linux-Vserver.org and, since it is now the officially sanctioned solution: LXC. On the server side everything is Linux anyways. So why should I virtualize hardware, when I can use the perfectly good Linux kernel, which is very fast and very stable and just virtualize the userland? I get more perfomance AND more stability.

  10. It DID hurt them! on Amazon App Store 'Rotten To the Core,' Says Dev · · Score: 1

    > This hasn't been a financial success, but it's not hurt them that badly either.

    Actually it did hurt them bad. They sold something like 2 copies (at 2 bucks) a day afterward, but had to buy freakin *new* servers (at what? $1000 bucks) just to support all the new people.

  11. No ui upgrade since Win95 on Windows XP Market Share Finally Falls Below 50% · · Score: 1

    Partially for monopoly reasons the computer has not seen any major ui revision since Win95. XP brought the stability to that ui. Maybe because of competition from OO.org (I dunno), the Office division of MS was able to push through a minor overhaul. The ribbon interface for Office 2007. Which finally made a change from Office 95. Now it's 2011 and we are still waiting to see anything on the ui front.

    Though I do believe Microsoft will do something minor in Windows 8, because they want to make it tablet friendly.

    Note that I didn't comment wether or not the ribbon interface is better. Personally I certainly think so, but I didn't want to get into that discussion.

  12. Re:Ubuntu + VMWare Player on Ask Slashdot: Easiest Linux Distro For a Newbie · · Score: 2

    What Win7 image are you using? I seriously didn't know Win7 came with an official option to put it on a usb stick for install. Also: How big does the stick have to be?

    Now when you install Linux, you arrive at a machine ready to go. With office and internet applications already installed. When I install any version of Windows I will still need to install drivers and applications afterwards. If you don't have a fresh install, but a new machine and/or a restore to factory you can't start installing, but rather need to start removing crapware, some of which (like anti Virus) will ask you for reboots.

    > I don't know why I still consider this a technical forum.

    It's not really, but this discussion is clearly going OVER your head, not under.

    > but I assume it's better now so I won't condem the entire Linux platform on my bad experience (ancient history now

    > That doesn't make Windows a less viable platform or me ignorant on the available options.

    It actually does if you don't have any recent experience on Linux.

  13. Re:Let's hope for another radical GUI change! on 9 Features We May See In Ubuntu 11.10 · · Score: 1

    I personally use Debian for servers and my personal desktop and it IS awsome. Though you have to know what you are doing. I am using apt-pinning to get some recent packages. KDE packages in stable have numerous bugs that are fixed in the current KDE for example and I would like to pull in the KDE from experimental and so far have not been able to, because apt pinning sounds better than it sometimes works.

    If you want fresh stuff you can always use Kubuntu (KDE), Xubuntu (XFCE) or Lubuntu (LXDE).

    That being said, there are numerous tutorials on the web on how to use either Gnome2 or Gnome3 with the default Gnome Shell instead of Unity on Ubuntu Natty. So where is your problem?

    If enough people end up liking the default Gnome3 shell they might even create an Ubuntu spin of their own.

  14. What about para-virtualization? on Microsoft To Support CentOS Linux In Hyper-V · · Score: 3, Interesting

    OpenVZ (Virtuozzo) and Linux-VServer used to be the big names in virtualization. Now Linux has LXC in the mainline kernel. Virtualization with Xen and KVM are nice. But when you want to run Linux in virtualized guests you get a much better performance with para virtualization.

    Xen and KVM are useful is you want to run Windows as a guest. But for Linux guests I really recommend the above.

    But why would you buy a commercial Hyper-V? VMware is there. VirtualBox has excellent support for Windows hosts and is free. I don't see how Microsoft could make any headway with all the excellent products with every ninche (commercial, open source, free, expensive) already taken.

  15. Blizzard s*cks! on Blizzard Unveils Custom StarCraft 2 Game Types, Encourages Map Design · · Score: 1

    I am a pretty big rts fan. Even though I don't play all that much computer games and even though I run Debian on my desktops I actually purchased copies of Warcraft III and Starcaft. I believe those are among the very few games I ever bought. And the only Windows games I bought within the last ten years (I got myself Tribes 2 and Civilization CTP from Loki and UT2004, all for Linux). I was really looking forward to Starcraft 2 and even considered a Windows partition or a purchase of Crossover Games (Wine on steroids for money). Since I don't follow game news I never thought Blizzard would become one of THOSE companies.

    I will definitely buy a copy of Starcarft 2 as soon as I can play it whenever and whoever I want. But now? I tell my friends not to buy Blizzard anymore. They are free to pirate that crap.
    I thought Blizzard got it, when a recent (within the last two years or so) patch for Warcraft III removed the need to have an original cd in the cd drive bay. I guess I was wrong. Blizzard can kiss my behind.

  16. Nokia Symbian talks SyncML with SyncEvolution on Open Source-Friendly Smartphones For the Small Office? · · Score: 1

    If you don't want to go cloud you will either have to set up your own server or directly sync between the desktops and the phones. Since you are already set on Evolution you will have to find a solution that works with Evolution. I have done a lot of research into syncing for myself and for my job. For Evolution there is a mature solution called SyncEvolution that even has corporate sponsors. SyncEvolution speaks SyncML, so you simply have to find either phones or a server that speaks SyncML.

    For servers: http://www.synthesis.ch/ or http://www.egroupware.org/

    Certain phones can speak syncml. For example the Nokia E-Series (business phones). Also said company Synthesis does offer an Android app to add SyncML capability to Android phones.

  17. Wondering why, is there an app for that? on Poor Vision? There's an App For That · · Score: 1

    Come on. How many times do you need to check your eyes. And shouldn't somebody do this that has an idea of what they are doing?

  18. Slashdot these days on Air Cannon Ties Pirates In Knots · · Score: 1

    This is the first insightful post I came across browsing at +4 from top. There are 8 (eight) +5 insightful comments discussing just shooting pirates (which is what a five year old would say without thinking first).

    Now I know what everyone will now say: "This is /. You didn't come here expecting to read anything remotely insightful."

    But I remember a time when I was browsing at +3 and everything I read was much more insightful than the original story. Be it from the NYT or just about anywhere. And there used to be a time I posted a lot of comments. Even some "First Post" ones. And then I started caring about karma. That is when I started posting only once or twice a month. Got modded up every single time. Often to +5. Because I only posted when I had something really smart to say.
    And then I stopped getting modded up. It wasn't that long ago. What really got to me was not that I stopped getting modded up, but what other posts were modded up. Most of it was really dumb. So I stopped posting. Has /. gone stupid or have I just outgrown it (I doubt the latter, I am not that smart).

    Since you seem to make insightful comments I was wondering how you managed to getting mod points for actually good posts.

    Disclaimer: I wouldn't have ranted like this, but 8 (eight count em again) comments discussing just shooting pirates are too much or me. Glenn Beck seems to have really taken his toll on the US.

  19. Big parts break up to form smaller parts on The Space Garbage Scow, ala Cringely · · Score: 1

    Why did you get "insightful"? The problem is that big parts hit each other and then produce A LOT of smaller parts. We need to get the big parts first. Then we can worry about small stuff. I heard they wanted to try and smoke those with "friggin lasers".

  20. OJ trial on Malware Can Download Child Porn To Your Computer · · Score: 1

    I was a US exchange student in Napa, CA during the trial. When the verdict came they actually shut down the school and got everyone in classrooms with tvs, so they could watch it. I always thought that the interest in celebrities (which I partly share) is more of a guilty little secret, rather than something to cherish. So I kinda walked out in disgust. No one could understand that. At least in my school I was the only kid outside at that time.

    People were furious, and again I didn't get it. At least once they didn't "fry the black guy", which I thought speaks for the traditionally racist judicial system.

  21. Tweak Firefox on Installing Linux On Old Hardware? · · Score: 1

    Since you want a browser, you probabely have a choice between w3m, lynx, links, elinks or some very inadequate X11 browser. I don't know if Dillo is up to the task of displaying current webpages in a proper way.

    You should look at older versions of Opera (they have an archive). Some run on very low spec hardware and also check out how much you can tweak a current version of Firefox to run on those very low specs.

    Since someone suggested Debian, please make sure it is compiled for i486. Some distros nowadays compile for the Pentium.

  22. The monopoly was always Wintel on ARM Stealthily Rising As a Low-End Contender · · Score: 1

    Neither Microsoft nor Intel had it. The perfect monopoly was always the duo. Both of them. Hence it was called Wintel by many in the industry. And AFAIR Intel was really up there with Microsoft when it came to playing hardball with the competition.

  23. Why modded funny on Now Linux Can Get Viruses, Via Wine · · Score: 1

    Well, many malware apps still spread simply because users will click on anything and also try to click away checkboxes as fast as possible.

    The problem is the user, not the os. It doesn't matter how secure your system is.

    So this comment is actually very insightful. Replace "malware" with any app that the certain user REALLY wants to have (like Facebook-Hack-And-See-Pictures-Marked-Private-In-Profiles-Application) and they WILL install it. Even if the procedure is complicated.

  24. XO Design question on Internet Archive Puts 1.6M E-Books On OLPC Laptops · · Score: 1

    I still wonder why they didn't build the first XO on the ARM architecture. I only researched via Wikipedia. What I found out was that the processor they used was based on the an old line of AMD (before the Athlon came out) x86 processors. AFAIR AMD x86 processors were inferior to Intel 486 processors.
    So why use such an ancient design instead of a modern day ARM. It would have extended the battery life.

    I think they now changed it to the ARM.

    Is there anyone here on /. that can explain why they used the x86 on the first version? While I certainly am not qualified to say wether that desing decision was good or bad I can definitely say that the XO fell way short of their goal to become a widely used education tool in many countries. Which is sad, because I think it was a great idea and in many ways a very good design.

    I am also not qualified to say why the XO failed in that respect, but I believe it was more politics than either good or bad design that was the major factor behind that failure. And including a major company (like AMD) could be good politics sometimes...

  25. Why scoff at calling this a server? on Apple Blurs the Server Line With Mac Mini Server · · Score: 1, Insightful

    This Mac mini has more power than most servers had a couple years ago. Is a HTPC serving all your multimedia needs in your home (mp3s, videos, pictures) a server, or do you also need to use it as a file server? Microsoft has been advertising the concept of a home server for a couple years. What is blurred here?
    I got a 10 year old dsl router from ebay for 5 bucks to use as a print server. 10 of those things would have less computing power than my last cellphone (my current one actually has the same computing power as my last computer). And I call it a server.

    Has the guy who wrote this ever typed anything into a command line?

    However, with the robust capabilities of my butt I will surely find a niche on my couch...