Well, it's a toy. A bunch of us at our school astronomy club had a ceiling projector for cloudy nights and also to see objects we could never see from my hometown. Of course, these days I'd just use Stellarium.
> I will not rely on their security only and use encryption that is under MY control
Actually, if 'they' really wanted to get your secrets and the benefit of doing so outweighed the risks of not following due process, they could and quite easily. Van Eck phreaking, surreptitious keylogger insertions when you aren't home, traffic analysis -- there are plenty of ways to get even encrypted secrets out.
And remember all of these techniques are also available to anyone interested enough in the private sector (organized crime, typically).
Agree (I'm a big fan of Media Player Classic too). However if you're stuck with Windows Media Player then you can choose to apply the 'Corporate' skin -- it makes the UI quite compact. There's also the mini mode.
Re:Security by Obscurity
on
Google Calendar
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· Score: 2, Interesting
> Not really. If it's a good hash, then it's just as if not more secure than a username/password combo
I agree, but it would have been trivial to do what Gmail does for _its_ ATOM feed - require HTTP authentication over SSL. Many RSS readers added decent HTTPS+auth support simply because Gmail required it. There's no reason why Calendar feed consuming software wouldn't have done the same.
Google Calendar's private feed will be an easy target for anyone with access to proxy logs (for example, anytime you use that private feed link behind a work firewall).
That's a pretty well-known dataloss bug in iTunes, and a lot of people have gotten bitten by it - random example. Of course, because Apple did it, it's okay. OTOH when Windows reboots because you've set it to reboot after applying updates automatically users rip it a new one.
> I'm not sure of the reason. Maybe they agree with the sentiment.
It's probably fear, but I don't think those masses actually exist. The Muslim masses in the West? First off, successful well-integrated middleclass Muslims in the West are a tiny minority and they'd prefer to stay avoid drawing attention to themselves (the majority are lower-middle-class, usually because of poor educational or professional skills).
Here in the UK nearly every Muslim I know has gnashed their teeth about the violence done in their name in _private_ but no one will 'name and shame' them in public -- even though in most cases they have an excellent idea of who the troublemakers are (as in the Finsbury Park Mosque case, where most mosque-goers were aware that their new Imam was preaching violent Jihad but still did not ask him to leave -- instead choosing to stop attending prayers at the mosque!).
As for the masses in the in the Middle East (ME) -- the vast majority in the ME live with a stupendous amount of misinformation because of their closed societies and seriously warped education systems (which are very, very religiously oriented). To makes things worse, ME governments have carried on a multi-decade propaganda assault on their own people depicting Jews, Christians and Hindus as scoundrels 'out to get' Muslims (primarily to protect their own turfs). The result of all of this has been to give the 'Arab Street' a HUGE persecution complex.
In all these societies people who want change probably exist, but they are a) outnumbered and b) they know they will get very little support from their governments and c) the way the tinpot ME governments are set up none of them have a snowball's chance in hell of actually making it to power. To speak one's mind in such an environment is a good way to invite trouble.
> Umm... what about Dashboard widgets in Mac OS X tiger? They also are built out of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript
Pfft. I was using widgets built out of SVG, HTML and CSS (SVG Clock Example) on my desktop to track email and server logs in _1998_ (Active Desktop shipped with Windows 98 and NT4's shell update).
Desktop Widgets are useful, but they're only going to _really_ catch on when multimonitor setups become common.
I think 'suck' is too strong a word for Slashdot's editorial grammatical/spelling. It's actually well-written by the standards of most forums -- the problem I guess is that Slashdot's importance on the web is well above any other forum out there so (I guess) people expect better from you. That and the fact that you're seen to Have Sold Out To The Evil Capitalists.
If anything, the commenters' spelling/grammar (and more importantly the predictable jokes/comments, but that's offtopic now, I guess) put me off Slashdot more than anything the editorial crew does. Hope the new comment reading modes are coming along nicely!
Comparing Outlook to Notes is like comparing a bicycle to a Boeing 747, sure you can use both to get across the country, but using the plane is much much easier:)
Actually you do your argument a disservice there: if *all* you want to do is read your email, Outlook would probably be easier. The Notes' client always reminds me of emacs somehow -- its very extensible and powerful, but not very approachable for beginners.
Good example: up to version 6 (which is what I use) you couldn't create a rule that'd stop further rule processing if a condition matched. This meant that if you had rules that scanned for 'foo' and 'bar' in the subject and put them in different folders, a message titled 'foobar' would end up in _both_ folders. I ended up hacking my mail template to add this feature, but how many people have the rights/skill to do that? (And it's no coincidence most corporate Notes users let all their mail come into their inbox and use manual filing.) This is a core MUA feature, and it's a shame Lotus/IBM couldn't be bothered to add it.
I'm not surprised by the text the GP pasted in. The last time/. covered this topic I pointed to this link which you may find interesting reading. It's a Reporters Without Borders report on the state of freedom in the countries (including Tunisia) that sought to oust control from ICANN.
I disagree about the bit about Win98 'lying' and being 'neurotic'. It's fun to anthropomorphize but Win98 is a product of various engineering compromises that allowed the Windows userbase to move as seamlessly as possible from DOS to NT (a process that took ~8 years). Its crashes etc are completely explainable when you understand the limitations of its core OS and in particular its driver model.
What is more interesting is that Prof Good is passing off behavior he doesn't understand (I'm willing to bet he's NOT a Win32 dev) as 'neurotic'. Makes one wonder how we'll see mentally challenged people once we have a far better understanding of the brain than we have now...
I'm *not* American, but my bullshit detectors go off hard when I see China and Saudi Arabia slavering for control of the free-est communication network known to man. And it's sad to see elements in the EU joining with these countries to promote their own bureaucratic agenda (and many Europeans have noticed).
And the ironic bit is that Tunisia, where this free-the-DNS-from-US-shackles gabfest was held, has an extremely lousy record on Net freedom.
I use the en-GB builds mainly because Google Search defaults to google.co.uk (although I'm sure it can be changed in the en-US builds). It's a small thing but it's one less thing to configure.
> modern, plugged in, brilliant, and utterly uninspired people
That is the best description of/.'s luddites I've read in a long time. Well put. It's really interesting (not!) to watch them crawl out of the woodwork every time there's a story on Space and do their sad little dance: "we ought to be spending money on AIDS research"; "we ought to be eliminating poverty"; "we've done it all before".
As for the GP -- Pathfinder is worth getting excited about because the Moon and Mars are problems on two wholly different *scales*. Saturn outwards is yet another scale (Sure, the physics involved in the same, but the level of engineering accomplishment necessary to pull it off successfully is dramatically different. Yeah, it's not necessarily as exciting to watch on your 60 inch plasma, but if you bother to dig in you'll be excited all right. And as for practical applications: remote-manipulation tech (which was key in Pathfinder) is making life more 'exciting' in lots of other Earth-bound areas, like deep-sea sub rescues and telesurgery.
One other point: another poster wrote In this day and age NASA can't afford to 'screw up' any more
I don't think that is true (think private enterprise), but if it ever became true it would one of the reasons behind the decline of (Western) civilization. No one ever won big without taking risks. Luckily for the human race, you'll see countries like China willing to take on BHAGs.
I'd be interested in exactly which company offers the 'unlimited' free minutes (there was exactly one network as of Dec 2004 that treated same-network long distance calls at the local rate) and only on their own network. There are other schemes which give unlimited free local cell calls but the monthly charge is quite steep by Indian standards (INR 2000+, £25).
The Indian phone market is still very immature. No number portability, the GSM providers are pretty much a cartel and raise/lower prices in synchrony and very poor rule-making by the FCC/Ofcom equivalent (TRAI). 3G coverage is spotty at best.
The only bright spot I see is that GPRS/CDMA equivalent is cheap mainly because of poor penetration, cellcos give it away cheap: MMSes are free in many states and you can get unlimited *data* for a flat INR 600 (£7).
It isn't *great* science, but it is not completely without foundation, and more importantly does reinforce the message that sci+tech is cool.
Of course, it does feature dorky guys in white coats on occasion, but on the whole scientists are shown in a positive light: Carter would be a lab rat given half a chance, Jackson is an out-and-out geek.
I find Cory novels difficult reading but I have read Accelerando and it totally rocks. About the only criticism some people have had of this book is that it you need to take breaks while reading it because of the sheer number of ideas and imagery thrown at you per paragraph (Accelerando is a very good title for the book, IMHO)
Some choice quotes from the book to give you a feel for the writing -- despite the technobabble it actually reads quite well in context and has a kind of manic humour driving it along:
"Uh, I'm not sure I got that. Let me get this straight, you claim to be some kind of AI, working for KGB dot RU, and you're afraid of a copyright infringement lawsuit over your translator semiotics?"
* * *
"Am have been badly burned by viral end-user license agreements. Have no desire to experiment with patent shell companies held by Chechen infoterrorists. You are human, you must not worry cereal company repossess your small intestine because digest unlicensed food with it, right? Manfred, you must help me-we. Am wishing to defect."
* * *
"Nyet!" The artificial intelligence sounds as alarmed as it's possible to sound over a VoiP link. "Am not open source! Not want lose autonomy!"
* * *
Manfred walks on, hands in pockets, brooding. He wonders what he's going to patent next.
* * *
He's the guy who patented using genetic algorithms to patent everything they can permutate from an initial description of a problem domain - not just a better mousetrap, but the set of all possible better mousetraps.
* * *
There are lawyers in San Diego and Redmond who swear blind that Macx is an economic saboteur bent on wrecking the underpinning of capitalism, and there are communists in Prague who think he's the bastard spawn of Bill Gates by way of the Pope.
* * *
His fiance and sometime dominatrix Pamela threw him over six months ago, for reasons he has never been quite clear on. (Ironically, she's a headhunter for the IRS, jetting all over the place at public expense, trying to persuade entrepreneurs who've gone global to pay taxes for the good of the Treasury Department.) To cap it all, the Southern Baptist Conventions have denounced him as a minion of Satan on all their websites. Which would be funny because, as a born-again atheist Manfred doesn't believe in Satan, if it wasn't for the dead kittens that someone keeps mailing him.
* * *
Oh shit, thinks Manfred, better buy some more server time. He can recognize the signs: He's about to be slashdotted.
Another ebook you may enjoy is Kelly Link's Stranger Things Happen -- it's a bunch of short stories so it'll be easier to sample.
Here in the UK lots of people buy cheap £30 Freeview boxes that lets them view ~30 free-to-air digital channels for no monthly fee. Since NBC et al will likely remain free-to-air, I expect the US market will see similar boxes before long.
Scoble did link to Ed Bott's take. If you think the Scobleizer is an echo chamber you've a lot to learn.
And oh, it's really funny to see an anonymous coward carp at Scoble, who consistently has shown that his opinions are his own, whether it be about MSN/China or Microsoft/Gay Rights. Yes he works for Microsoft. Yes he blogs. If you can't deal with that, don't read him. But stop calling _him_ a brown-noser when we know nothing about you or your biases.
Don't blame Microsoft-- it'd be less work for them to ship media software without DRM. The problem is that the content cartel (my name for the RIAA/MPAA) are too greedy by half-- they'll stick with the dessicated corpse of Mickey and their old properties until he's no longer cool... it's happening already.
Honestly, the best thing that could happen to copyright is a patent-style 15-20 year regime. The thing is, forget Microsoft and the tech industry, the entertainment business seem to pretty much have the pols in DC in their pocket.
However, if the "no murder of civilians in our name" protests don't come close to the scale of the "no desecration of our sacred book" protests, I think we'll see for ourselves (yet again) the real values and priorities of the majority of the Muslim world without need of instruction from you.
I appreciate the spirit of your post, however both you are the grandparent are simplifying the situation. When the GP says 'listen to what the majority moderates have to say on the situation' it is a red herring because there are no moderates in the Muslim world (except I guess in Turkey) -- it's either corrupt governments/royal families trying to stay in power or murderous jihadists thugs.
As for what the 'muslim street' thinks -- I am sorry if this sounds condescending but the majority of them will think whatever their mosque imam tells them to think. The minority who _can_ think on their own would rather keep their mouth shut than face (violent or, more commonly subtle social) reprisals.
The *big* problem facing Muslims is that most of them went to schools that taught a mediaeval syllabus and as such are out-of-touch with the world. (In India, for example, many Muslims were left out of the IT boom because they didn't get the Math+Science+English education in madrassas -- and Indian Muslims are actually better off than many in the Middle East/North Africa).
Thomas Friedman at the NYT wrote a very decent set of articles about how people who are busy making money tend not to blow things up. By the same rationale, people who see the world pass by them will be _much_ more inclined towards acts of violence.
It's easy to say 'Nuke 'em all.' The challenge is to figure out how to productively bring the muslim street out of the middle ages so the thugs who want to blow things up become a small enough minority that their own societies can take care of them (just like mainstream US society can take care of the KKK). Democracy is one way (which is one reason why I support the action in Iraq) but it'll need a *lot* more faith and a United West before Democracy takes seed through the Middle East.
Slashdot Mirror
Well, it's a toy. A bunch of us at our school astronomy club had a ceiling projector for cloudy nights and also to see objects we could never see from my hometown. Of course, these days I'd just use Stellarium.
> I will not rely on their security only and use encryption that is under MY control
Actually, if 'they' really wanted to get your secrets and the benefit of doing so outweighed the risks of not following due process, they could and quite easily. Van Eck phreaking, surreptitious keylogger insertions when you aren't home, traffic analysis -- there are plenty of ways to get even encrypted secrets out.
And remember all of these techniques are also available to anyone interested enough in the private sector (organized crime, typically).
Agree (I'm a big fan of Media Player Classic too). However if you're stuck with Windows Media Player then you can choose to apply the 'Corporate' skin -- it makes the UI quite compact. There's also the mini mode.
> Not really. If it's a good hash, then it's just as if not more secure than a username/password combo
I agree, but it would have been trivial to do what Gmail does for _its_ ATOM feed - require HTTP authentication over SSL. Many RSS readers added decent HTTPS+auth support simply because Gmail required it. There's no reason why Calendar feed consuming software wouldn't have done the same.
Google Calendar's private feed will be an easy target for anyone with access to proxy logs (for example, anytime you use that private feed link behind a work firewall).
That's a pretty well-known dataloss bug in iTunes, and a lot of people have gotten bitten by it - random example. Of course, because Apple did it, it's okay. OTOH when Windows reboots because you've set it to reboot after applying updates automatically users rip it a new one.
> I'm not sure of the reason. Maybe they agree with the sentiment.
It's probably fear, but I don't think those masses actually exist. The Muslim masses in the West? First off, successful well-integrated middleclass Muslims in the West are a tiny minority and they'd prefer to stay avoid drawing attention to themselves (the majority are lower-middle-class, usually because of poor educational or professional skills).
Here in the UK nearly every Muslim I know has gnashed their teeth about the violence done in their name in _private_ but no one will 'name and shame' them in public -- even though in most cases they have an excellent idea of who the troublemakers are (as in the Finsbury Park Mosque case, where most mosque-goers were aware that their new Imam was preaching violent Jihad but still did not ask him to leave -- instead choosing to stop attending prayers at the mosque!).
As for the masses in the in the Middle East (ME) -- the vast majority in the ME live with a stupendous amount of misinformation because of their closed societies and seriously warped education systems (which are very, very religiously oriented). To makes things worse, ME governments have carried on a multi-decade propaganda assault on their own people depicting Jews, Christians and Hindus as scoundrels 'out to get' Muslims (primarily to protect their own turfs). The result of all of this has been to give the 'Arab Street' a HUGE persecution complex.
In all these societies people who want change probably exist, but they are a) outnumbered and b) they know they will get very little support from their governments and c) the way the tinpot ME governments are set up none of them have a snowball's chance in hell of actually making it to power. To speak one's mind in such an environment is a good way to invite trouble.
> Umm... what about Dashboard widgets in Mac OS X tiger? They also are built out of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript
Pfft. I was using widgets built out of SVG, HTML and CSS (SVG Clock Example) on my desktop to track email and server logs in _1998_ (Active Desktop shipped with Windows 98 and NT4's shell update).
Desktop Widgets are useful, but they're only going to _really_ catch on when multimonitor setups become common.
I think 'suck' is too strong a word for Slashdot's editorial grammatical/spelling. It's actually well-written by the standards of most forums -- the problem I guess is that Slashdot's importance on the web is well above any other forum out there so (I guess) people expect better from you. That and the fact that you're seen to Have Sold Out To The Evil Capitalists.
If anything, the commenters' spelling/grammar (and more importantly the predictable jokes/comments, but that's offtopic now, I guess) put me off Slashdot more than anything the editorial crew does. Hope the new comment reading modes are coming along nicely!
Comparing Outlook to Notes is like comparing a bicycle to a Boeing 747, sure you can use both to get across the country, but using the plane is much much easier :)
Actually you do your argument a disservice there: if *all* you want to do is read your email, Outlook would probably be easier. The Notes' client always reminds me of emacs somehow -- its very extensible and powerful, but not very approachable for beginners.
Good example: up to version 6 (which is what I use) you couldn't create a rule that'd stop further rule processing if a condition matched. This meant that if you had rules that scanned for 'foo' and 'bar' in the subject and put them in different folders, a message titled 'foobar' would end up in _both_ folders. I ended up hacking my mail template to add this feature, but how many people have the rights/skill to do that? (And it's no coincidence most corporate Notes users let all their mail come into their inbox and use manual filing.) This is a core MUA feature, and it's a shame Lotus/IBM couldn't be bothered to add it.
I'm not surprised by the text the GP pasted in. The last time /. covered this topic I pointed to this link which you may find interesting reading. It's a Reporters Without Borders report on the state of freedom in the countries (including Tunisia) that sought to oust control from ICANN.
Oh they get credit. They also have huge fan followings and compilations are a cash cow for Indian record companies. Check out these wikipedia entries.
limitations of its core OS and in particular its driver model
I believe that marked out the driver model specifically for attention, not made it somehow separate from the core OS.
> Or that the templars forced Microsoft to use that driver model?
No, economics and engineering compromise did. At the same time Win95 was released Microsoft was beta-ing NT4 around which had a vastly superior model.
Real products always contain compromises. Things that don't, don't ship *cough* Hurd *cough*.
I disagree about the bit about Win98 'lying' and being 'neurotic'. It's fun to anthropomorphize but Win98 is a product of various engineering compromises that allowed the Windows userbase to move as seamlessly as possible from DOS to NT (a process that took ~8 years). Its crashes etc are completely explainable when you understand the limitations of its core OS and in particular its driver model.
What is more interesting is that Prof Good is passing off behavior he doesn't understand (I'm willing to bet he's NOT a Win32 dev) as 'neurotic'. Makes one wonder how we'll see mentally challenged people once we have a far better understanding of the brain than we have now...
I'm *not* American, but my bullshit detectors go off hard when I see China and Saudi Arabia slavering for control of the free-est communication network known to man. And it's sad to see elements in the EU joining with these countries to promote their own bureaucratic agenda (and many Europeans have noticed).
And the ironic bit is that Tunisia, where this free-the-DNS-from-US-shackles gabfest was held, has an extremely lousy record on Net freedom.
I use the en-GB builds mainly because Google Search defaults to google.co.uk (although I'm sure it can be changed in the en-US builds). It's a small thing but it's one less thing to configure.
> modern, plugged in, brilliant, and utterly uninspired people
/.'s luddites I've read in a long time. Well put. It's really interesting (not!) to watch them crawl out of the woodwork every time there's a story on Space and do their sad little dance: "we ought to be spending money on AIDS research"; "we ought to be eliminating poverty"; "we've done it all before".
That is the best description of
As for the GP -- Pathfinder is worth getting excited about because the Moon and Mars are problems on two wholly different *scales*. Saturn outwards is yet another scale (Sure, the physics involved in the same, but the level of engineering accomplishment necessary to pull it off successfully is dramatically different. Yeah, it's not necessarily as exciting to watch on your 60 inch plasma, but if you bother to dig in you'll be excited all right. And as for practical applications: remote-manipulation tech (which was key in Pathfinder) is making life more 'exciting' in lots of other Earth-bound areas, like deep-sea sub rescues and telesurgery.
One other point: another poster wrote In this day and age NASA can't afford to 'screw up' any more
I don't think that is true (think private enterprise), but if it ever became true it would one of the reasons behind the decline of (Western) civilization. No one ever won big without taking risks. Luckily for the human race, you'll see countries like China willing to take on BHAGs.
I'd be interested in exactly which company offers the 'unlimited' free minutes (there was exactly one network as of Dec 2004 that treated same-network long distance calls at the local rate) and only on their own network. There are other schemes which give unlimited free local cell calls but the monthly charge is quite steep by Indian standards (INR 2000+, £25).
The Indian phone market is still very immature. No number portability, the GSM providers are pretty much a cartel and raise/lower prices in synchrony and very poor rule-making by the FCC/Ofcom equivalent (TRAI). 3G coverage is spotty at best.
The only bright spot I see is that GPRS/CDMA equivalent is cheap mainly because of poor penetration, cellcos give it away cheap: MMSes are free in many states and you can get unlimited *data* for a flat INR 600 (£7).
It isn't *great* science, but it is not completely without foundation, and more importantly does reinforce the message that sci+tech is cool.
Of course, it does feature dorky guys in white coats on occasion, but on the whole scientists are shown in a positive light: Carter would be a lab rat given half a chance, Jackson is an out-and-out geek.
Some choice quotes from the book to give you a feel for the writing -- despite the technobabble it actually reads quite well in context and has a kind of manic humour driving it along:
Another ebook you may enjoy is Kelly Link's Stranger Things Happen -- it's a bunch of short stories so it'll be easier to sample.
Here in the UK lots of people buy cheap £30 Freeview boxes that lets them view ~30 free-to-air digital channels for no monthly fee. Since NBC et al will likely remain free-to-air, I expect the US market will see similar boxes before long.
Scoble did link to Ed Bott's take. If you think the Scobleizer is an echo chamber you've a lot to learn.
And oh, it's really funny to see an anonymous coward carp at Scoble, who consistently has shown that his opinions are his own, whether it be about MSN/China or Microsoft/Gay Rights. Yes he works for Microsoft. Yes he blogs. If you can't deal with that, don't read him. But stop calling _him_ a brown-noser when we know nothing about you or your biases.
The Hindus?
Don't blame Microsoft-- it'd be less work for them to ship media software without DRM. The problem is that the content cartel (my name for the RIAA/MPAA) are too greedy by half-- they'll stick with the dessicated corpse of Mickey and their old properties until he's no longer cool... it's happening already.
Honestly, the best thing that could happen to copyright is a patent-style 15-20 year regime. The thing is, forget Microsoft and the tech industry, the entertainment business seem to pretty much have the pols in DC in their pocket.
...like with the Beethoven symphonies. Just streaming sucks. And what would really rock is an RSS feed for the shows.
I'm not the biggest fan of the BBC and how they spend public funds, but the way they have leeway to experiment with programming is awesome.
However, if the "no murder of civilians in our name" protests don't come close to the scale of the "no desecration of our sacred book" protests, I think we'll see for ourselves (yet again) the real values and priorities of the majority of the Muslim world without need of instruction from you.
I appreciate the spirit of your post, however both you are the grandparent are simplifying the situation. When the GP says 'listen to what the majority moderates have to say on the situation' it is a red herring because there are no moderates in the Muslim world (except I guess in Turkey) -- it's either corrupt governments/royal families trying to stay in power or murderous jihadists thugs.
As for what the 'muslim street' thinks -- I am sorry if this sounds condescending but the majority of them will think whatever their mosque imam tells them to think. The minority who _can_ think on their own would rather keep their mouth shut than face (violent or, more commonly subtle social) reprisals.
The *big* problem facing Muslims is that most of them went to schools that taught a mediaeval syllabus and as such are out-of-touch with the world. (In India, for example, many Muslims were left out of the IT boom because they didn't get the Math+Science+English education in madrassas -- and Indian Muslims are actually better off than many in the Middle East/North Africa).
Thomas Friedman at the NYT wrote a very decent set of articles about how people who are busy making money tend not to blow things up. By the same rationale, people who see the world pass by them will be _much_ more inclined towards acts of violence.
It's easy to say 'Nuke 'em all.' The challenge is to figure out how to productively bring the muslim street out of the middle ages so the thugs who want to blow things up become a small enough minority that their own societies can take care of them (just like mainstream US society can take care of the KKK). Democracy is one way (which is one reason why I support the action in Iraq) but it'll need a *lot* more faith and a United West before Democracy takes seed through the Middle East.