If our small research was able to accomplish acceptable results in a brief development time (approximately a week of work) and with cheap hardware, consider what a dedicated team or government agency can accomplish with more expensive equipment and effort.
There was a Slashdot story about this recently, though the equipment was a bit simpler, basically a piece of paper saying "List all your social networking sites and passwords along with your job application."
Fairly recently I was able to do something similar to this, copy all my old Apple//c floppies to my PC for archiving/access with an Apple ][ emulator. It was some BASIC program that sent the floppy data over RS-232 serial, and worked well. Just noting that this really does work.
Since this thread might have some people still using PowerMac 8500 and related machines, I've recently hacked the 7300/7500/7600/8500/8600 Graphics Driver to support resolutions in the 1600x1200 range on a stock PowerMac 8500 (probably works on the other models as well). I now have a 20" 1680x1050 LCD connected and working perfectly, locking on to the analog signal with perfect pixels. I figured out where the timing parameters are stored in the driver, allowing other new resolutions as well (like 1440x900), and fine-tuning of the pixel rate. Even with a CRT, this allows higher resolutions. Contact me if you'd like try the driver or have a different resolution.
Yeah, I'm still an OS 9 holdout, but I'm going to have to switch soon because of the lack of tools on it. I'm excited about this browser, which will help me hang on a little longer.
If my laptop booted faster I'd be more likely to boot it down and carry it around. Enough of a reason to complain about boot times imo.
And have to wait for shutdown as well (be sure not to move it before it finishes!). And even if startup and shutdown were instantaneous, you'd still have all your windows and programs closed when you started up. Putting it to sleep is quick and preserves your exact state; what's not to like about it?
A 2000 MHz clock rate is 1116.318... times greater than a 1.79 MHz clock rate. It's 1117.318 times that rate. The "greatER" means that you're implicitly adding one to the value.
Another example, $150 is 50% greater than $100, NOT 150% greater; $150 IS 150% of $100, $150 is also 1.5 times $100.
The picture was of a dummy cellphone, the kind without any electronics in it, used for demos in stores. It's a good excuse to use someone else's, "Hey, my phone isn't working." I have "proof" that I have a phone and am not just bumming someone else's. And I can even fake taking a picture of someone engaged in objectionable activity.
My cellphone is untrackable, never bothers me with calls, never needs charging (it has no battery or electronics), is totally waterproof, and has no monthly fee. Try tracking that!
This isn't IPv6. Everyone can't be issued a permanent address when they sign up for an ISP.
Hmmm, does this mean that ISPs will charge more for static IPv6 addresses (though actually put out extra work to randomize the addresses of subscribers who don't pay), or that everyone will have a static address and they'll have to give up making people pay extra for them as they aren't a scarce resource anymore?
You have a reasonable right to privacy, but you lose that right when you're in public. You don't get to get pissy when a store's security cameras capture your image. I rarely hear anybody complain about other people seeing you while you're at the grocery store.
Funny thing is, none of your examples is a public space, thus when you're in those private spaces, it's up to the owner as to how they observe you and what they record.
I live in Edmonton Alberta, Canada where 8 months of winter is fairly common. Here our old incandescent bulbs have 100% efficiency because the heat generated does not go to waste:-)
Along these lines another one that drives me nuts is something like "The older technology uses 150% more material" when they really mean "50% more material". If they want to say 150%, they should say "150% as much material" or "1.5 times the material" (but not "1.5 times more material").
If you want these restrictions to go away stop buying the devices, and educate everyone who'll listen about why YOU won't touch them, then let them make up their own minds.
If anything, those jailbreaking the iPhone are contributing to its existence by lessening, but not eliminating, the impact of Apple's restrictions. If it was never jailbroken, either backlash may have persuaded Apple to loosen restrictions, or encouraged another company to make a similar product.
It's funny... I normally find myself loathing companies like Goldman Sachs for hyper-selfish capitalism, finding ways to get rich at taxpayer expense, etc.
That's not due to capitalism, it's due to statism (having a government that goes way beyond its mandate). You can't fault companies for taking advantage of government perks, because if they don't, they can't compete in the marketplace. Again, the solution isn't more government regulation (which also has loophoes), but less (none!).
My previous ISP switched me over to Postini with no advance notice
Who uses their ISP's email/webspace anymore anyway? It makes switching ISPs much more difficult, unless you don't mind breaking all your old addresses or feeling stuck with your current ISP.
It's too bad that Internet service isn't more like cable, water, or electricity, where the usage of the service can only be monitored in gross terms, e.g. gallons or watt-hours. It could be, if everything was encrypted and there were plenty of proxies; then all the last-mile provider would see is large blocks of random data.
I love copyright and patents. I can spend the day coming up with even more ways that you cannot use your property without paying a license fee. Who couldn't love that?
Oh crap, I'm an idiot, that's 300 bits per second, or about 30 characters per second. Ugh, has it been that long that I've forgotten modem terminology? Bleah.
Slashdot Mirror
There was a Slashdot story about this recently, though the equipment was a bit simpler, basically a piece of paper saying "List all your social networking sites and passwords along with your job application."
And what do you think happens on the receiver connected to the computer's USB, that's different from what a wired keyboard does?
Not for long! Won't someone think of the innocent now-fat air?
Because you might suddenly find everything upside-down.
And these guys are the real deal, too! The font in the image? Sub-pixel rendered of course! They left out no details.
Fairly recently I was able to do something similar to this, copy all my old Apple //c floppies to my PC for archiving/access with an Apple ][ emulator. It was some BASIC program that sent the floppy data over RS-232 serial, and worked well. Just noting that this really does work.
Well, some people need about 128K more, which should be enough for anybody.
Since this thread might have some people still using PowerMac 8500 and related machines, I've recently hacked the 7300/7500/7600/8500/8600 Graphics Driver to support resolutions in the 1600x1200 range on a stock PowerMac 8500 (probably works on the other models as well). I now have a 20" 1680x1050 LCD connected and working perfectly, locking on to the analog signal with perfect pixels. I figured out where the timing parameters are stored in the driver, allowing other new resolutions as well (like 1440x900), and fine-tuning of the pixel rate. Even with a CRT, this allows higher resolutions. Contact me if you'd like try the driver or have a different resolution.
Yeah, I'm still an OS 9 holdout, but I'm going to have to switch soon because of the lack of tools on it. I'm excited about this browser, which will help me hang on a little longer.
And have to wait for shutdown as well (be sure not to move it before it finishes!). And even if startup and shutdown were instantaneous, you'd still have all your windows and programs closed when you started up. Putting it to sleep is quick and preserves your exact state; what's not to like about it?
What are the units that measure "lighterness"? Put another way, if it were 1 time lighter than in 1980, how heavy would it be?
Another example, $150 is 50% greater than $100, NOT 150% greater; $150 IS 150% of $100, $150 is also 1.5 times $100.
The picture was of a dummy cellphone, the kind without any electronics in it, used for demos in stores. It's a good excuse to use someone else's, "Hey, my phone isn't working." I have "proof" that I have a phone and am not just bumming someone else's. And I can even fake taking a picture of someone engaged in objectionable activity.
My cellphone is untrackable, never bothers me with calls, never needs charging (it has no battery or electronics), is totally waterproof, and has no monthly fee. Try tracking that!
Hmmm, does this mean that ISPs will charge more for static IPv6 addresses (though actually put out extra work to randomize the addresses of subscribers who don't pay), or that everyone will have a static address and they'll have to give up making people pay extra for them as they aren't a scarce resource anymore?
Funny thing is, none of your examples is a public space, thus when you're in those private spaces, it's up to the owner as to how they observe you and what they record.
And a heat pump has an effective efficiency greater than 100%, so your bulb is still a waste.
Along these lines another one that drives me nuts is something like "The older technology uses 150% more material" when they really mean "50% more material". If they want to say 150%, they should say "150% as much material" or "1.5 times the material" (but not "1.5 times more material").
You, sir, have just committed the crime of suggesting a (simulated) murder. I think I hear a knock at your door right now.
If anything, those jailbreaking the iPhone are contributing to its existence by lessening, but not eliminating, the impact of Apple's restrictions. If it was never jailbroken, either backlash may have persuaded Apple to loosen restrictions, or encouraged another company to make a similar product.
That's not due to capitalism, it's due to statism (having a government that goes way beyond its mandate). You can't fault companies for taking advantage of government perks, because if they don't, they can't compete in the marketplace. Again, the solution isn't more government regulation (which also has loophoes), but less (none!).
Who uses their ISP's email/webspace anymore anyway? It makes switching ISPs much more difficult, unless you don't mind breaking all your old addresses or feeling stuck with your current ISP.
It's too bad that Internet service isn't more like cable, water, or electricity, where the usage of the service can only be monitored in gross terms, e.g. gallons or watt-hours. It could be, if everything was encrypted and there were plenty of proxies; then all the last-mile provider would see is large blocks of random data.
I love copyright and patents. I can spend the day coming up with even more ways that you cannot use your property without paying a license fee. Who couldn't love that?
Oh crap, I'm an idiot, that's 300 bits per second, or about 30 characters per second. Ugh, has it been that long that I've forgotten modem terminology? Bleah.