In each of the cases listed, the person who found the security flaws tried to take things into his own hands and got in trouble for it. Why didn't they just anonymously report the problem to the company itself and let it decide how to handle the matter? If they wanted to go on a security crusade, fine, but first hook up with a group of people doing the same thing so it can be gone about in a productive, safe way. I can't help but thinking that each individual's actions were partly motivated by annoyance towards the company, rather than a simple desire to help it out.
"Wow, Sony as ever shows their originality. I mean, a motion-sensing controller? Who in the hell would have thought of that brilliant idea? Wasn't this one of the same companies who wrote off Nintendo's idea as a gimmick? Wow, ironic the innovation that Sony comes up with. Let's hope for their sake that they didn't take too much away from Nintendo's idea... last thing they need is another company suing them over technology theft in their controllers."
Good thing Sony wasn't doing anything illegal like installing rootkits, otherwise they'd have a hell of a time demonstrating that they weren't remotely monitoring Nintendo's computers for interesting ideas.
Agreed. It's the same with breakfast cereals. Why don't they just name the damn things by what's in them? Otherwise I have to look at the side of the damn box just to find the ingredients. Instead of the ambiguous "Toasted O's" (so they're shaped like the letter O, but what else?!?), it should be named "Toasted organic whole grain oats, organic rice flour, organic sugar, salt, calcium carbonate, and vitamins in the shape of an O".
"The amount of reduction in signal strength gave the researchers an indication of how much rain had fallen."
What about fog? What about different sized rain droplets and velocities and differing amounts of signal boost necessary for the same volume of water? Can the cell tower differentiate between signal loss due to rain as compared to objects near the phone, like a car body or metal object?
I was thinking along the lines of making the containment structure clearly show that it was intentionally made to keep something dangerous inside. Any intelligent beings could determine the intent without having to decode any language. One problem is that it might appear to be a structure made to securely contain something of value. So another option is to be sure that anyone mistakenly entering it would die quickly and graphically, serving as a warning to others. This kind of thing could also apply to stockpiles of biological weapons. The worst situation would be material which had an ill health effect in the long-term but was hard to determine the cause of.
- I've read often that Macs are too rare to support easy spread of viruses; an infected machine simply can't find enough Macs to spread to (it's a lonely world).
- There are two virus markets: one that pays the ego of the writers, and another that pays money for useful services (botnets). The former would profit by writing a successful Mac virus, while the latter would profit much less than writing one for Windows.
- For the average user, the question isn't about his computer's vulnerability in theory, it's about the practical risk of his data and the effort necessary to reduce this to an acceptable level.
- Apple includes a software firewall and makes regular security updates, so it's not like the security of the OS is being ignored.
- If the anti-virus companies want to write viruses in an attempt to create a market, it might actually benefit the Mac platform by helping to make it more secure. Why turn down well-funded security auditing, provided for free?
What's with the overuse of fighting metaphors? Seems every third article or so is titled using a metaphor related to fighting. Most commonly it's "X to be the next Y killer?" Maybe some people need spend more time playing competitive video games.
"So, what if you enter a random number with random PIN?"
This gives me the idea of having a way to verify the bank itself. Why don't banks have to give me a password I've assigned to prove they are my bank, then I'll give up mine? When I visit the site, it's their identity that's in question to me, not mine (at least when I'm sober).
"The right way to do it, of course, is to have the human from the security department leave this message: To call us back, call the number on your card; then, immediately enter the following code to be directed to the right department. But they still haven't learned."
So my card is stolen, they notice and leave me a message telling me to call the number on the back of the card (that was stolen)? If they left a message to call the number on a separate printed sheet, chances are most people will have lost that by now.
I like the idea but don't think it'd work for most people. On the other hand, why can't banks offer people the option to handle things in a more secure (but slightly less convenient) manner, so the organized and clueful customers can reduce their risk? It would actually benefit the banks too, since these customers wouldn't be as likely to require fraud compensation.
"Some of the game play features can be conscious -- such as forcing someone to concentrate in order to drive a car faster or toss something at an enemy."
That'll bring a new level of realism to games! Instead of these unrealistic steering wheels and pedals, we'll have to concentrate to accelerate, unconcentrate to brake, and er something else to steer.
Thing is, we already have neural interfaces. I'm using one right now to put my thoughts into this reply.
"They also sell higher priced and more complete DVD sets as 'silver' and 'gold' packs."
Great, I'll take the bronze version if it means I can put the thing in and immediately start watching the damn feature instead of having to watch some really lame menu intro that takes itself way too seriously. You know, like video tapes or audio CDs.
Re:Not the first time they haven't met expectation
on
How Vista Disappoints
·
· Score: 1
Since I am slowly learning how to deliver good humor here on Slashdot, I'll offer my alternative wording:
Imagine how poor Melinda Gates felt on her honeymoon when she discovered that Microsoft wasn't just the name of her husband's company.
Slashdot Mirror
In each of the cases listed, the person who found the security flaws tried to take things into his own hands and got in trouble for it. Why didn't they just anonymously report the problem to the company itself and let it decide how to handle the matter? If they wanted to go on a security crusade, fine, but first hook up with a group of people doing the same thing so it can be gone about in a productive, safe way. I can't help but thinking that each individual's actions were partly motivated by annoyance towards the company, rather than a simple desire to help it out.
"The PSWii..."
Or maybe the PS-Wrr (as in, past-tense)
"Wow, Sony as ever shows their originality. I mean, a motion-sensing controller? Who in the hell would have thought of that brilliant idea? Wasn't this one of the same companies who wrote off Nintendo's idea as a gimmick? Wow, ironic the innovation that Sony comes up with. Let's hope for their sake that they didn't take too much away from Nintendo's idea... last thing they need is another company suing them over technology theft in their controllers."
Good thing Sony wasn't doing anything illegal like installing rootkits, otherwise they'd have a hell of a time demonstrating that they weren't remotely monitoring Nintendo's computers for interesting ideas.
Agreed. It's the same with breakfast cereals. Why don't they just name the damn things by what's in them? Otherwise I have to look at the side of the damn box just to find the ingredients. Instead of the ambiguous "Toasted O's" (so they're shaped like the letter O, but what else?!?), it should be named "Toasted organic whole grain oats, organic rice flour, organic sugar, salt, calcium carbonate, and vitamins in the shape of an O".
"Or you can save them up for XBoxes."
The X-Box, because you can never have too many.
two aspirin in every package.
Could it be that Apple legal never sent the request, that it was a fake one sent by a prankster?
"As usual, there is nothing new under the sun."
Yes but this is for use in mines where there is no sunlight. Big difference.
"The amount of reduction in signal strength gave the researchers an indication of how much rain had fallen."
What about fog? What about different sized rain droplets and velocities and differing amounts of signal boost necessary for the same volume of water? Can the cell tower differentiate between signal loss due to rain as compared to objects near the phone, like a car body or metal object?
I was thinking along the lines of making the containment structure clearly show that it was intentionally made to keep something dangerous inside. Any intelligent beings could determine the intent without having to decode any language. One problem is that it might appear to be a structure made to securely contain something of value. So another option is to be sure that anyone mistakenly entering it would die quickly and graphically, serving as a warning to others. This kind of thing could also apply to stockpiles of biological weapons. The worst situation would be material which had an ill health effect in the long-term but was hard to determine the cause of.
- I've read often that Macs are too rare to support easy spread of viruses; an infected machine simply can't find enough Macs to spread to (it's a lonely world).
- There are two virus markets: one that pays the ego of the writers, and another that pays money for useful services (botnets). The former would profit by writing a successful Mac virus, while the latter would profit much less than writing one for Windows.
- For the average user, the question isn't about his computer's vulnerability in theory, it's about the practical risk of his data and the effort necessary to reduce this to an acceptable level.
- Apple includes a software firewall and makes regular security updates, so it's not like the security of the OS is being ignored.
- If the anti-virus companies want to write viruses in an attempt to create a market, it might actually benefit the Mac platform by helping to make it more secure. Why turn down well-funded security auditing, provided for free?
"So...This is all just deja vu all over again?"
Actually you're probably just experiencing Slashdot's mini-bangs and crunches that occur daily, sometimes more often.
Actually you're probably just experiencing Slashdot's mini-bangs and crunches that occur daily, sometimes more often.
What's with the overuse of fighting metaphors? Seems every third article or so is titled using a metaphor related to fighting. Most commonly it's "X to be the next Y killer?" Maybe some people need spend more time playing competitive video games.
Once privacy is outlawed, only criminals will have any.
Here is what they look like:
Warning: NOT SAFE FOR WORK
. .
You have been tainted for life!
If a thief is going to steal my key, I'd much rather them take my wallet or password than my arm. But that's just me.
"So would they be able to replicate the full experience in just 3 days?"
The EA version actually lasts only one day... one 72-hour day, that is.
"So, what if you enter a random number with random PIN?"
This gives me the idea of having a way to verify the bank itself. Why don't banks have to give me a password I've assigned to prove they are my bank, then I'll give up mine? When I visit the site, it's their identity that's in question to me, not mine (at least when I'm sober).
"The right way to do it, of course, is to have the human from the security department leave this message: To call us back, call the number on your card; then, immediately enter the following code to be directed to the right department. But they still haven't learned."
So my card is stolen, they notice and leave me a message telling me to call the number on the back of the card (that was stolen)? If they left a message to call the number on a separate printed sheet, chances are most people will have lost that by now.
I like the idea but don't think it'd work for most people. On the other hand, why can't banks offer people the option to handle things in a more secure (but slightly less convenient) manner, so the organized and clueful customers can reduce their risk? It would actually benefit the banks too, since these customers wouldn't be as likely to require fraud compensation.
"Some of the game play features can be conscious -- such as forcing someone to concentrate in order to drive a car faster or toss something at an enemy."
That'll bring a new level of realism to games! Instead of these unrealistic steering wheels and pedals, we'll have to concentrate to accelerate, unconcentrate to brake, and er something else to steer.
Thing is, we already have neural interfaces. I'm using one right now to put my thoughts into this reply.
"Passwords are like toothbrushes; change them every three months and don't share them with your friends."
I like to be thorough so I go even further by asking around to be sure my passwords aren't the same as anyone else's.
"Funded by DARPA? Maybe that PCI card is a rootkit from the government itself! Have you given that a thought?"
No problem, just pop in another non-DARPA-funded-rootkit-detecting PCI card!
"However, your employer will always notice if you leave early, so the idea situation is to leave late."
And he will also always notice if you arrive late, so the ideal situation is to arrive early and leave late.
"They also sell higher priced and more complete DVD sets as 'silver' and 'gold' packs."
Great, I'll take the bronze version if it means I can put the thing in and immediately start watching the damn feature instead of having to watch some really lame menu intro that takes itself way too seriously. You know, like video tapes or audio CDs.
Since I am slowly learning how to deliver good humor here on Slashdot, I'll offer my alternative wording:
Imagine how poor Melinda Gates felt on her honeymoon when she discovered that Microsoft wasn't just the name of her husband's company.