Yeah - it seems like the same sort of thing. The policy is the same - to deny all incoming mail that isn't explicitly allowed. It's the only way to combat spam though unfortunately.
I understand that spam by SMS is already becoming a problem, in the UK some of my friends have responded to competitions (SMS your answer to...), not realising that in the VERY fine print they were selling their soul (and mobile phone number) to the SMS spam merchants.
Spam by email is bad enough - but spam by mobile phone when you could be interrupted any time, any where without knowing if it's a critical SMS from work, or meaningless spam is an invasion of privacy.
I'd like to see this new form of spam stamped on hard, and stamped on fast, before it gains even more of a foothold as "acceptable practice". Anyone receiving spam by SMS should do everything possible to report it, and ensure that the companies making use of this form of advertising are made aware that it is totaly unacceptable.
We may have lost the fight againast mail spam - but if we fight now, and fight hard, we may just be able to keep our mobile phones free from this junk...maybe...
It's interesting that you mention that people are willing to pay for software if it's easier to pay than to get the crack codes.
There has only been one occasion when I have searched for a crack code, and that was when the software I had (music CD playing software) was exactly what I wanted, without all the bells and whistles you typically see. I tried to register the software, but the company had been absorbed into a bell'n'whistles music CD software producing company that gave their software away as freeware. As a result I couldn't pay for the simple software that I wanted, so I eventually gave up and got a crack code.
I try and pay for any shareware I use on a frequent basis if I think it is fairly priced, and it's simple enough to pay. If not, then I either delete it, or just stop using it. The one exception at the moment is WinZip - and I'll pay for that soon, it just seems to be that I never remember to register it when I have my credit card to hand...doh.
Ahh, the Eden project is about 1 mile from where I grew up in Cornwall, and where my parents still live. It is an awesome project for the millennium and it was great to see it being built. Unfortunately I haven't had a chance to go back there since it was completed.
One great thing about the project, is the interest and tourism that it's bringing to the local area - Cornwall has always been a beautiful place for people to visit, but now there's another reason to go as well.
This is an excellent use of one of the open-cast pits left over from the china clay mines that are scattered around that region of Cornwall, taking what was an eyesore and turning it into a thing of beauty. The Eden project is everything the Dome should have been in London.
If ever you're in the area, make a special effort to go and visit the project - it's really something special that you can't see anywhere else - not really anything like the Biosphere2 project - they're entirely different things, with entirely different objectives, on entirely different continents!
Not only does Belgium have the highest number of subscribers (in relation to the size of its population), but 90% of the population can now get connected - this is unique in Europe.
All switching centres in Belgium are ADSL enabled - and the first one was enabled in 1998. Not too shabby I think...:)
Most sensible organisations will already be blocking.pif files in mail - this virus is already known by McAfee as W32/Shoho@MM and they have detailed it as a LOW risk worm.
On another note, I hope Slashdot isn't going to run a story on every new virus that gets released...
Interesting stuff, but how much storage space will we ultimately need to carry with us?
With technology like this advancing along with moore's law I can see that it shouldn't be a few more years before it'll be commonplace to carry devices with GBs of data in your pocket.
It's a common point to note that famous phrase that "640Kb should be enough for anyone!", but I think that now we truely are starting to reach the limits of neccessity for normal portable memory.
Well it would work if the data was encrypted as well as being spanned across the devices. Retrieving the bits and pieces from one of the devices would be meaningless.
Probably not all that practical, and there are better ways, but a cool idea none-the-less...:)
One better way would be to have the private key spanned across the two devices, then there could be as much data to retrieve as you like on the disk, but you'd need both devices to unlock it.
All funky stuff - then again, if I was going that route, then I'd rather have something even smaller, such as iButton or something.:)
This sounds very impressive. It's great to hear that there is still plenty of active development in seeking out new power-sources. The tower sounds absolutely incredible:
The lightweight concrete tower will be the diameter of the Melbourne Cricket Ground's playing surface at its base, and will reach a kilometre towards the sky. A vast, gently sloping greenhouse will extend from its base to a radius of 2.5km, funnelling a rising column of hot air through 32 wind turbines about 40m above ground, generating power day and night.
If it's built it will surely be a wonder of the modern world - I'd certainly love to see it! A prime example of the better elements of what mankind is capable of...
Also there is always an environmental issue, even in solar power it is common for there to be MORE damage to the environment at first - in this case they expect to have countered that, and be "in the black" environmentally after only 2 1/2 years!
I use a telnet based BBS (located in the UK) - called Monochrome. It's 10 years old now, and still going strong, although the population seems to remain roughly constant (but aging). It used to primarily made up of a user-base of students, but it has now evolved into a BBS for young adults, and hopefully it'll continue to evolve as time goes on.
I don't know how the admin would choose to try and boost the population however if it started stuttering into serious decline - there seems to be a resistance these days to anything without a web interface or a custom client. Trying to explain telnet to someone who has never used it before can be quite difficult - especially when they try and click on the screen to activate options. The BBS has a java client on the website, but I don't think this really offers the best solution.
The main attraction for people though is the community itself - there are files on virtually every topic anyone would want to discuss, but the files are nothing without the community. People KNOW each other there - in a current vote at least a third of the users claim to know (in real life) 20 or more other users. This is a real life community, not just a virtual one - and a perfect example of how the virtual world need not be entirely divorced from the real world.
Is it just me who wonders in amazement at the cynicism over the missile defence tests about whether it's possible to hit a missile travelling at great speed (GPS or no GPS) - and yet now everyone oohs and ahhs and has no problem with NASA aiming a laser at something moving at 7000 m/s...:)
Hmm, this has always seemed to be a hot discussion...I'm all for full disclosure, but is it really necessary for people to include exploit code?
One argument is that it can help people to test their systems for vulnerabilities, bit I think that exploit code is not strictly necessary for this. People who really need it to test systems are in a position where they should have the capability or the resources to generate a "test script" for themselves, once given an accurate description of the vulnerability.
Making code exploits freely available possibly creates more opportunity for the low-life script kiddies who often don't appreciate exactly what they are doing, or the mechanics of the exploits that they are using. Why should we make it easy for those guys?
My opinion on this element of full disclosure is still not complete though, and I am fully prepared to be convinced...:)
-- Pete.
Re:Treo: Re:What I'm waiting for in a PDA...
on
iPAQ 3800 In Photos
·
· Score: 1
Sounds like you'd like Handspring's forthcoming Treo, unless you're married to Microsoft.
Hmm, I wouldn't say that I'm married to Microsoft...the Nokia 9210 communicator I use now is based on the SymbianOS (crystal).
I looked at the Treo on the web a couple of days ago. It's not for me though - I can't see anything it offers (except maybe a little size and a touch screen) that I don't already have on my existing phone - and the screen is certainly inferior. Also it's still a device that you have to hold to make calls. I'd love to see the headset get seperated from the main unit once and for all.
However, when I said "pen sized/shaped" in my original comment, I was referring to a fairly chunky pen - I'm not expecting to have a bic biro sized handset just yet! I don't see why something the size of a largish fountain pen should be too much trouble though.
-- Pete.
What I'm waiting for in a PDA...
on
iPAQ 3800 In Photos
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
I'm waiting for someone to bring out a PDA and mobile phone combined...but wait - not in the style of the Nokia communicator or many of the hybrids (although the 9210 is a nice bit of kit, which is what I use at the moment). I want the GSM technology to be built into the palm sized device, but I want a pen sized/shaped unit to use as the phone component. Communication between the phone component and the base phone could be done via buetooth. Much the way the ericsson headsets operate now - with headset -> PDA instead of headset -> mobile phone.
Also I would expect such a device to have voice recognition, so calls can be made entirely with the headset, without having to pull up the PDA to specify the call details.
Another thing that of course makes or breaks PDAs is the syncronisation software - there is no excuse for sloppy code here - and I really think that this is one area that Nokia haven't done so well with their communicators. I have about 1500 contacts, but once I start trying to syncronise more than about 900 it becomes unbearably slow. come on - why aren't the contact databases transferred as a file to the PC, syncronised on the PC, and thne the files should be transferred back - the PC is vastly more powerful than the device, so it should be doing the donkey work!
I think that the iPAQ's have fairly good syncronisation software though (AvantGO is quite impressive I understand), and this is a point that anyone else developing a PDA needs to bear in mind. the PC interface matters!
JANE B, on 60 STREET says, "Please remove my name (Jane S. Brody, Woodside, dob 7/4/47) from your site IMMEDIATELY (i.e., this morning, Friday, August 24). AND PLEASE DO NOT POST MY COMMENTS ON YOUR SITE. Your site, for all your good intentions, is a serious invation of privacy (for one thing, if you have a person's birthday but are not sure of the year, you can now find out the year; also you can now determine anybody's party affiliation). You would be well advised to shut your site down, at least for several days, and redesign it. By the way, why did you choose a person's birthday as the identifier? Would social security number be safer? No one that I know of (besides myself, my bank, my employer, etc.) has that information. Thank you for your immediate attention to this matter."
I think that demonstrates exactly how much they respect the wishes of the citizens of NY...
I was hired from the UK in 1999 by a large company in Belgium because they were suffering from a skills shortage.
There is no way anyone could claim that this is the cheap way of hiring someone, by the time the company had paid the recruitment fee, the relocation costs (including a specalist company to help me move over, find somewhere to live and settle in), the consultant costs for determining how to best pay us when dealing with the (fairly) complex Belgium tax laws for forigen specalists, etc etc...
What's being missed here is that some countries (such as the USA which the article is directed around) have a high technology base, and not enough people with the required knowledge, and other countries (such as India) have a lot of trained, skilled workers in IT, but do not yet rely as much on the technology so that they are surplus to requirements. The whole process is basically supply-and-demand. IT Staff are a resource like any other to be "traded" by countries. the USA just has a trade deficit in this particular area of business, and India has a trade surplus.
All of that sounds pretty cool, but exactly what I'd expect of a trouble ticketting system. I'm more interested in the AI point of view - what makes it so much more special than a trouble ticketting solution from HP or Peregrine?
The company I work for is looking for a new trouble ticketting system at the moment, and this looks pretty interesting. I might prod people and ask them what they think of it. I'm not one of the guys who worries about calling up a web page to try and get a solution - I'm one of the guys who takes the worst of the incidents and makes sure things get done...
It all sounds like fun stuff (the AI) - IF it works well enough...:)
Slashdot Mirror
Yeah - it seems like the same sort of thing. The policy is the same - to deny all incoming mail that isn't explicitly allowed. It's the only way to combat spam though unfortunately.
-- Pete.
Once you've learned how to use procmail, you may want to use the Spam Stopper perl script you can download from one of my friend's website.
Very nifty spam stopper indeed.
NB: Sorry Andy! If you get slashdotted, I'll buy you some beer!
-- Pete.
A friend of mine has written something like this...go to his software page and see "Spam Stopper".
I just hope he won't hate me too much for linking his page in Slashdot... ;)
-- Pete.
Okay try this then:
Login: test-account
Password: testtest
-- Pete.
Hmm - April 1st isn't that far off now - maybe this is being prepared to be published then...
-- Pete.
I understand that spam by SMS is already becoming a problem, in the UK some of my friends have responded to competitions (SMS your answer to...), not realising that in the VERY fine print they were selling their soul (and mobile phone number) to the SMS spam merchants.
Spam by email is bad enough - but spam by mobile phone when you could be interrupted any time, any where without knowing if it's a critical SMS from work, or meaningless spam is an invasion of privacy.
I'd like to see this new form of spam stamped on hard, and stamped on fast, before it gains even more of a foothold as "acceptable practice". Anyone receiving spam by SMS should do everything possible to report it, and ensure that the companies making use of this form of advertising are made aware that it is totaly unacceptable.
We may have lost the fight againast mail spam - but if we fight now, and fight hard, we may just be able to keep our mobile phones free from this junk...maybe...
-- Pete.
It's interesting that you mention that people are willing to pay for software if it's easier to pay than to get the crack codes.
There has only been one occasion when I have searched for a crack code, and that was when the software I had (music CD playing software) was exactly what I wanted, without all the bells and whistles you typically see. I tried to register the software, but the company had been absorbed into a bell'n'whistles music CD software producing company that gave their software away as freeware. As a result I couldn't pay for the simple software that I wanted, so I eventually gave up and got a crack code.
I try and pay for any shareware I use on a frequent basis if I think it is fairly priced, and it's simple enough to pay. If not, then I either delete it, or just stop using it. The one exception at the moment is WinZip - and I'll pay for that soon, it just seems to be that I never remember to register it when I have my credit card to hand...doh.
-- Pete.
Ahh, the Eden project is about 1 mile from where I grew up in Cornwall, and where my parents still live. It is an awesome project for the millennium and it was great to see it being built. Unfortunately I haven't had a chance to go back there since it was completed.
One great thing about the project, is the interest and tourism that it's bringing to the local area - Cornwall has always been a beautiful place for people to visit, but now there's another reason to go as well.
This is an excellent use of one of the open-cast pits left over from the china clay mines that are scattered around that region of Cornwall, taking what was an eyesore and turning it into a thing of beauty. The Eden project is everything the Dome should have been in London.
If ever you're in the area, make a special effort to go and visit the project - it's really something special that you can't see anywhere else - not really anything like the Biosphere2 project - they're entirely different things, with entirely different objectives, on entirely different continents!
-- Pete.
*grin* Nice one... :)
Belgium is doing pretty well actually for technology...people don't usually realise that Belgium is a world leader in ADSL technology.
From internal news at Belgacom:
All switching centres in Belgium are ADSL enabled - and the first one was enabled in 1998. Not too shabby I think... :)
-- Pete.
Maybe you'd like to know how McAfee assess risk?
There are also more details available about AVERT Risk Assessment if you are really interested.
-- Pete.
Most sensible organisations will already be blocking .pif files in mail - this virus is already known by McAfee as W32/Shoho@MM and they have detailed it as a LOW risk worm.
On another note, I hope Slashdot isn't going to run a story on every new virus that gets released...
-- Pete.
Interesting stuff, but how much storage space will we ultimately need to carry with us?
With technology like this advancing along with moore's law I can see that it shouldn't be a few more years before it'll be commonplace to carry devices with GBs of data in your pocket.
It's a common point to note that famous phrase that "640Kb should be enough for anyone!", but I think that now we truely are starting to reach the limits of neccessity for normal portable memory.
How much do you really think YOU need to carry?
-- Pete.
Well it would work if the data was encrypted as well as being spanned across the devices. Retrieving the bits and pieces from one of the devices would be meaningless.
Probably not all that practical, and there are better ways, but a cool idea none-the-less... :)
One better way would be to have the private key spanned across the two devices, then there could be as much data to retrieve as you like on the disk, but you'd need both devices to unlock it.
All funky stuff - then again, if I was going that route, then I'd rather have something even smaller, such as iButton or something. :)
-- Pete.
Is there something you are trying to keep secure?
Yes - my privacy.
Why do you want to keep your data safe?
Because much of it is irreplacable.
Is an encryption device utilized with a harddrive or an application?
Both.
Where did you obtain all of your software?
Original media - or downloaded. All licenced. (except for winzip - have to fix that soon...)
Are you looking to copy to a device that has the ability to encrypt files?
Yes.
If you are looking for a portable back-up device, why do you need it to be portable?
N/A
Do you travel extensively?
Yes.
When you do travel, do you primarily travel by air?
Yes.
Do you have a digital camera?
Yes.
Do you have a mobile phone?
Yes.
Have you ever encrypted an email message?
Yes.
Have you ever deleted an email message?
Yes.
If so, have you had data rewrite over the sector(s) containing such message?
Yes.
What was the title of the last book you purchased?
Mr Tickle by Roger Hargreaves.
Okay - I guess I'm a terrorist...
-- Pete.
This sounds very impressive. It's great to hear that there is still plenty of active development in seeking out new power-sources. The tower sounds absolutely incredible:
If it's built it will surely be a wonder of the modern world - I'd certainly love to see it! A prime example of the better elements of what mankind is capable of...
Also there is always an environmental issue, even in solar power it is common for there to be MORE damage to the environment at first - in this case they expect to have countered that, and be "in the black" environmentally after only 2 1/2 years!
-- Pete.
I use a telnet based BBS (located in the UK) - called Monochrome. It's 10 years old now, and still going strong, although the population seems to remain roughly constant (but aging). It used to primarily made up of a user-base of students, but it has now evolved into a BBS for young adults, and hopefully it'll continue to evolve as time goes on.
I don't know how the admin would choose to try and boost the population however if it started stuttering into serious decline - there seems to be a resistance these days to anything without a web interface or a custom client. Trying to explain telnet to someone who has never used it before can be quite difficult - especially when they try and click on the screen to activate options. The BBS has a java client on the website, but I don't think this really offers the best solution.
The main attraction for people though is the community itself - there are files on virtually every topic anyone would want to discuss, but the files are nothing without the community. People KNOW each other there - in a current vote at least a third of the users claim to know (in real life) 20 or more other users. This is a real life community, not just a virtual one - and a perfect example of how the virtual world need not be entirely divorced from the real world.
-- Pete.
Doh - my mistake, sorry about that...I'm a European as well...so even less excuse for such a mistake!
-- Pete.
Is it just me who wonders in amazement at the cynicism over the missile defence tests about whether it's possible to hit a missile travelling at great speed (GPS or no GPS) - and yet now everyone oohs and ahhs and has no problem with NASA aiming a laser at something moving at 7000 m/s... :)
-- Pete.
Hmm, I can't help wondering...how do they ship the tags - and how many of THOSE arrive already tripped? :)
-- Pete.
Hmm, this has always seemed to be a hot discussion...I'm all for full disclosure, but is it really necessary for people to include exploit code?
One argument is that it can help people to test their systems for vulnerabilities, bit I think that exploit code is not strictly necessary for this. People who really need it to test systems are in a position where they should have the capability or the resources to generate a "test script" for themselves, once given an accurate description of the vulnerability.
Making code exploits freely available possibly creates more opportunity for the low-life script kiddies who often don't appreciate exactly what they are doing, or the mechanics of the exploits that they are using. Why should we make it easy for those guys?
My opinion on this element of full disclosure is still not complete though, and I am fully prepared to be convinced... :)
-- Pete.
Hmm, I wouldn't say that I'm married to Microsoft...the Nokia 9210 communicator I use now is based on the SymbianOS (crystal).
I looked at the Treo on the web a couple of days ago. It's not for me though - I can't see anything it offers (except maybe a little size and a touch screen) that I don't already have on my existing phone - and the screen is certainly inferior. Also it's still a device that you have to hold to make calls. I'd love to see the headset get seperated from the main unit once and for all.
However, when I said "pen sized/shaped" in my original comment, I was referring to a fairly chunky pen - I'm not expecting to have a bic biro sized handset just yet! I don't see why something the size of a largish fountain pen should be too much trouble though.
-- Pete.
I'm waiting for someone to bring out a PDA and mobile phone combined...but wait - not in the style of the Nokia communicator or many of the hybrids (although the 9210 is a nice bit of kit, which is what I use at the moment). I want the GSM technology to be built into the palm sized device, but I want a pen sized/shaped unit to use as the phone component. Communication between the phone component and the base phone could be done via buetooth. Much the way the ericsson headsets operate now - with headset -> PDA instead of headset -> mobile phone.
Also I would expect such a device to have voice recognition, so calls can be made entirely with the headset, without having to pull up the PDA to specify the call details.
Another thing that of course makes or breaks PDAs is the syncronisation software - there is no excuse for sloppy code here - and I really think that this is one area that Nokia haven't done so well with their communicators. I have about 1500 contacts, but once I start trying to syncronise more than about 900 it becomes unbearably slow. come on - why aren't the contact databases transferred as a file to the PC, syncronised on the PC, and thne the files should be transferred back - the PC is vastly more powerful than the device, so it should be doing the donkey work!
I think that the iPAQ's have fairly good syncronisation software though (AvantGO is quite impressive I understand), and this is a point that anyone else developing a PDA needs to bear in mind. the PC interface matters!Bah - just a few random(ish) thoughts anyway...
-- Pete.
I just went to the site (http://www.registeredtovoteornot.com) and in the section entitled "What others are saying:" was the following...
JANE B, on 60 STREET says, "Please remove my name (Jane S. Brody, Woodside, dob 7/4/47) from your site IMMEDIATELY (i.e., this morning, Friday, August 24). AND PLEASE DO NOT POST MY COMMENTS ON YOUR SITE. Your site, for all your good intentions, is a serious invation of privacy (for one thing, if you have a person's birthday but are not sure of the year, you can now find out the year; also you can now determine anybody's party affiliation). You would be well advised to shut your site down, at least for several days, and redesign it. By the way, why did you choose a person's birthday as the identifier? Would social security number be safer? No one that I know of (besides myself, my bank, my employer, etc.) has that information. Thank you for your immediate attention to this matter."
I think that demonstrates exactly how much they respect the wishes of the citizens of NY...
-- Pete.
I was hired from the UK in 1999 by a large company in Belgium because they were suffering from a skills shortage.
There is no way anyone could claim that this is the cheap way of hiring someone, by the time the company had paid the recruitment fee, the relocation costs (including a specalist company to help me move over, find somewhere to live and settle in), the consultant costs for determining how to best pay us when dealing with the (fairly) complex Belgium tax laws for forigen specalists, etc etc...
What's being missed here is that some countries (such as the USA which the article is directed around) have a high technology base, and not enough people with the required knowledge, and other countries (such as India) have a lot of trained, skilled workers in IT, but do not yet rely as much on the technology so that they are surplus to requirements. The whole process is basically supply-and-demand. IT Staff are a resource like any other to be "traded" by countries. the USA just has a trade deficit in this particular area of business, and India has a trade surplus.
-- Pete.
All of that sounds pretty cool, but exactly what I'd expect of a trouble ticketting system. I'm more interested in the AI point of view - what makes it so much more special than a trouble ticketting solution from HP or Peregrine?
The company I work for is looking for a new trouble ticketting system at the moment, and this looks pretty interesting. I might prod people and ask them what they think of it. I'm not one of the guys who worries about calling up a web page to try and get a solution - I'm one of the guys who takes the worst of the incidents and makes sure things get done...
It all sounds like fun stuff (the AI) - IF it works well enough... :)
-- Pete.