This is a geek forum - why aren't you all running dedicated devices (firewall/switch/APs)?
Anyone who buys Netgear's junk deserves the pain they will inevitably receive. I've had the displeasure of using Netgear's home and "pro" stuff over the years and it's all been absolute junk.
Flaky VPN firewalls, switches that fall over during heavy usage - or don't participate in spanning tree properly, wireless devices that need to be reset constantly to work...yadda, yadda...
I don't expect home users on a budget to run Cisco/Meraki/Rukus and the like, but take a look at Ubiquiti. Their stuff is cheap and worlds better than the consumer junk you can get at Best Buy and Walmart.
I asked the Ubiquiti folks at CES this year if a SOHO Wifi/Router device is coming - and they winked and said - "we can not confirm or deny that at this time".
So my guess is we'll see a SOHO device sometime this year.
Every time I see a bug like this I can't help but think - the engineers that built this don't actually use this.
Android wear is another one. I believe no engineer on that product actually wears an Android Wear device. It's so full of bugs that it's practically useless.
The people developing products should be forced to actually live with them (except maybe medical equipment....).
If your keys are between your ears, the 5th amendment protects you from "witnessing against yourself". You simply need to shut up and invoke the protections of the 5th amendment when asked for your encryption keys.
My '08 GTI had a black tailpipe from the day I bought it. Turbocharged direct injection engines also suffer from momentary overboost conditions on hard acceleration and they produce soot. What's worse is that many, if not all, of these gasoline engines do not have particulate filters on the exhaust.
I'll bet if we start scrutinizing the exhaust pipes of all these turbocharged, direct injected gasoline engines, you will find their emissions probably aren't compliant either.
No one is forcing anyone to buy a phone or any other technology.
You act as if owning a piece of technology is a natural-born human right. Owning a phone is not a human right and does not warrant government intervention.
IoT will end up in the pile of rejected consumer electronics technologies - like 3D and curved TVs. Companies are desperately looking for the next big thing to foist on consumers.
I've seen IoT devices for the past few years at CES (and I will probably see a ton more next week when I go). The IoT display at the Samsung booth always makes me shake my head. Here is a company that can't manage to keep Android updated on 2 year old mobile devices, but somehow they are going to update my 5 year old refrigerator?.....right.
The biggest problem that IoT has is that mainstream consumers (not you and I on Slashdot) simply view these devices as too complicated and not worth the hassle and expense.
Does your washer and dryer really need Twitter and Facebook? I'll bet most consumers think not.
Make no mistake - some IoT devices will succeed. Most will not.
Ever try to buy diesel at a station that only sells gasoline? Some two-stroke engines require oil and gas mix. Some old cars require lead additive to fuel.
Should the government force engine standardization for convenience's sake?
Choice is good, and it's your responsibility to have the appropriate cables and chargers for your device. It's also your responsibility to choose the appropriate fuels for your particular engine.
Whining about standards is ridiculous. If you don't like a particular charging solution - don't buy the product.
No one has answered the question Why? Why do we need "universal plugs" whatever that means?
It's your device, take responsibility for it and carry the appropriate cables and chargers. If you don't like the arrangement your vendor has provided, buy a different product.
We've turned into whiny little people and we want government to step in on every little topic we don't like.
This is absurd. We have far bigger problems and government should not waste the people's time on stupid issues like charging cables.
Instead of choosing a popular power standard, they created their own - hypocrisy is great isn't it?
The reason government enforced standards suck is that governments typically are not entrepreneurial in nature. They don't actively look for the next great thing - simply because that's not what government's do.
If the standard becomes micro USB what becomes of USB C? It's better in almost every way - faster, reversible, and in some cases cheaper. Will innovation simply be tossed aside for government standards compliance?
The phone charging problem is something the free market can solve very effectively. There is no reason for government to dictate standards like this.
Will there be advertisements with Google Apps? For all EDU domains, ads are turned off in Google Apps for Education services and K–12 Google Apps for Education users don't see ads when they use Google Search and are signed in to their Apps for Education accounts.
It is almost impossible to use chromebooks and google apps without syncing to Google's cloud.
We've run chromebooks and google apps for almost 3 years now. We are a member of NJAIS and we don't know of any chromebook implementation where cloud sync was disabled or turned off.
To properly manage the devices, you need to sync your devices to google's cloud. It would be unwise for any school or district to deploy these devices without management protocols in place.
Schools are required to safeguard non-public information about their students (medical records, grades, IEPs...etc). The EFF claim does not make it clear that Google has leaked non-public student information to any unauthorized people.
Students have no expectation of privacy when using school supplied computer systems (Reichert v. Elizabethtown College). Schools are allowed to access and use any staff or student generated data if that data was generated using school supplied computer systems.
EFF's cloud "sync" argument isn't too solid. Google's system of syncing data between devices is the entire point of Google Apps and their Chrome OS system. These systems are provided by the school district to the students and staff - just the same as local network supplied computer services - and the expectation of privacy is the same - there is none.
My experience in the tech world has been that most tech people lean libertarian....a kind of "don't bother me and I won't bother you" culture. This culture is reflected in the early days of software and networks where most code and communications protocols weren't designed with security built in.
Unfortunately, this world has ended. The world is a nasty place of people competing for resources and politics is part of that world.
The IT world needs a lobby group - maybe many groups to represent its interests in our government policies and our interactions with the world.
Rough consensus and running code are no longer enough.
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
Show me where the federal government is given the authority to regulate education in our constitution.
You can't because control over education was not granted to the federal government in our constitution.
Schools are staffed, managed and financed locally. Local control over education means that you have a say in how your kids are educated. If you are unhappy with your schools, you can elect a new school board. If that fails, you can always move to another school district.
Federal control over education standards will be politicized like everything else in Washington. Do you really want the dysfunction that is Washington DC ending up in your kid's classroom?
Ron Paul is right. The federal government needs to be out of the education business entirely.
HP will be the poster child for what happens when MBAs and H1Bs take over a company.
Ultimately, tech companies need to be run by tech visionaries. Car companies need to be run by car guys/gals. Financial companies need to be run by sharks.
You can't simply crank out an MBA and put that person in charge of a bunch of cheap programmers and expect innovation. Creativity and passion can not be taught.
I miss the old HP, run by passionate engineers, that built the worlds best calculators, printers, and oscilloscopes.
The political fascination with coding is ridiculous. The last time I checked, we still need plumbers, electricians, welders, and equipment operators as well. Why not make those skills mandatory as well?
Hell, before any of that, let's step up drivers ed first. Many newly minted high-school graduates can't drive a manual transmission, or change a flat tire, or jumpstart a car.
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For those of us who want quality, but don't want the hassle of complicated configs, the Unifi USG is pretty nice as well - and it's cheap.
https://www.ubnt.com/unifi-swi...
So far, I'm a big fan of what Ubiquiti is doing these days.
This is a geek forum - why aren't you all running dedicated devices (firewall/switch/APs)?
Anyone who buys Netgear's junk deserves the pain they will inevitably receive. I've had the displeasure of using Netgear's home and "pro" stuff over the years and it's all been absolute junk.
Flaky VPN firewalls, switches that fall over during heavy usage - or don't participate in spanning tree properly, wireless devices that need to be reset constantly to work...yadda, yadda...
I don't expect home users on a budget to run Cisco/Meraki/Rukus and the like, but take a look at Ubiquiti. Their stuff is cheap and worlds better than the consumer junk you can get at Best Buy and Walmart.
I asked the Ubiquiti folks at CES this year if a SOHO Wifi/Router device is coming - and they winked and said - "we can not confirm or deny that at this time".
So my guess is we'll see a SOHO device sometime this year.
Every time I see a bug like this I can't help but think - the engineers that built this don't actually use this.
Android wear is another one. I believe no engineer on that product actually wears an Android Wear device. It's so full of bugs that it's practically useless.
The people developing products should be forced to actually live with them (except maybe medical equipment....).
If your keys are between your ears, the 5th amendment protects you from "witnessing against yourself". You simply need to shut up and invoke the protections of the 5th amendment when asked for your encryption keys.
Between this and the SAFE act NY has turned into a group of paranoid and fearful people willing to stamp out rights for some perceived security.
It makes no difference - if you outlaw guns and encryption, only outlaws will have them - and you will be even less secure than before.
Would you trust ANY ISP to deliver your surgery packets?
I sure as hell would not.
My '08 GTI had a black tailpipe from the day I bought it. Turbocharged direct injection engines also suffer from momentary overboost conditions on hard acceleration and they produce soot. What's worse is that many, if not all, of these gasoline engines do not have particulate filters on the exhaust.
I'll bet if we start scrutinizing the exhaust pipes of all these turbocharged, direct injected gasoline engines, you will find their emissions probably aren't compliant either.
No one is forcing anyone to buy a phone or any other technology.
You act as if owning a piece of technology is a natural-born human right. Owning a phone is not a human right and does not warrant government intervention.
IoT will end up in the pile of rejected consumer electronics technologies - like 3D and curved TVs. Companies are desperately looking for the next big thing to foist on consumers.
I've seen IoT devices for the past few years at CES (and I will probably see a ton more next week when I go). The IoT display at the Samsung booth always makes me shake my head. Here is a company that can't manage to keep Android updated on 2 year old mobile devices, but somehow they are going to update my 5 year old refrigerator?.....right.
The biggest problem that IoT has is that mainstream consumers (not you and I on Slashdot) simply view these devices as too complicated and not worth the hassle and expense.
Does your washer and dryer really need Twitter and Facebook? I'll bet most consumers think not.
Make no mistake - some IoT devices will succeed. Most will not.
Ever try to buy diesel at a station that only sells gasoline? Some two-stroke engines require oil and gas mix. Some old cars require lead additive to fuel.
Should the government force engine standardization for convenience's sake?
Choice is good, and it's your responsibility to have the appropriate cables and chargers for your device. It's also your responsibility to choose the appropriate fuels for your particular engine.
Whining about standards is ridiculous. If you don't like a particular charging solution - don't buy the product.
Here it is:
http://www.apple.com/shop/prod...
All Android and iPhones that I'm aware of will charge just fine on most USB chargers - you simply need to supply the correct cable.
Is this really an issue that warrants government intervention?
No one has answered the question Why? Why do we need "universal plugs" whatever that means?
It's your device, take responsibility for it and carry the appropriate cables and chargers. If you don't like the arrangement your vendor has provided, buy a different product.
We've turned into whiny little people and we want government to step in on every little topic we don't like.
This is absurd. We have far bigger problems and government should not waste the people's time on stupid issues like charging cables.
Switzerland has it's own power outlet standard, yet it wants to enforce a phone charging standard:
http://www.worldstandards.eu/e...
Instead of choosing a popular power standard, they created their own - hypocrisy is great isn't it?
The reason government enforced standards suck is that governments typically are not entrepreneurial in nature. They don't actively look for the next great thing - simply because that's not what government's do.
If the standard becomes micro USB what becomes of USB C? It's better in almost every way - faster, reversible, and in some cases cheaper. Will innovation simply be tossed aside for government standards compliance?
The phone charging problem is something the free market can solve very effectively. There is no reason for government to dictate standards like this.
Our "intelligence" community missed plain-old, unencrypted, facebook communications in the San Bernardino attack.
Terrorism is simply a convenient excuse to expand government reach into personal communication and data.
From Google's Apps for Education Common Questions page:
https://support.google.com/a/a...
Will there be advertisements with Google Apps?
For all EDU domains, ads are turned off in Google Apps for Education services and K–12 Google Apps for Education users don't see ads when they use Google Search and are signed in to their Apps for Education accounts.
It is almost impossible to use chromebooks and google apps without syncing to Google's cloud.
We've run chromebooks and google apps for almost 3 years now. We are a member of NJAIS and we don't know of any chromebook implementation where cloud sync was disabled or turned off.
To properly manage the devices, you need to sync your devices to google's cloud. It would be unwise for any school or district to deploy these devices without management protocols in place.
Any data generated using school systems is property of the school or school district.
Student data does not belong to the student. No one is forcing kids to put "their data" (whatever that means) on anyone else's computer.
Schools are required to safeguard non-public information about their students (medical records, grades, IEPs...etc). The EFF claim does not make it clear that Google has leaked non-public student information to any unauthorized people.
Students have no expectation of privacy when using school supplied computer systems (Reichert v. Elizabethtown College). Schools are allowed to access and use any staff or student generated data if that data was generated using school supplied computer systems.
EFF's cloud "sync" argument isn't too solid. Google's system of syncing data between devices is the entire point of Google Apps and their Chrome OS system. These systems are provided by the school district to the students and staff - just the same as local network supplied computer services - and the expectation of privacy is the same - there is none.
Who would be willing to buy an asset worth less than zero?
My experience in the tech world has been that most tech people lean libertarian....a kind of "don't bother me and I won't bother you" culture. This culture is reflected in the early days of software and networks where most code and communications protocols weren't designed with security built in.
Unfortunately, this world has ended. The world is a nasty place of people competing for resources and politics is part of that world.
The IT world needs a lobby group - maybe many groups to represent its interests in our government policies and our interactions with the world.
Rough consensus and running code are no longer enough.
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
Show me where the federal government is given the authority to regulate education in our constitution.
You can't because control over education was not granted to the federal government in our constitution.
Schools are staffed, managed and financed locally. Local control over education means that you have a say in how your kids are educated. If you are unhappy with your schools, you can elect a new school board. If that fails, you can always move to another school district.
Federal control over education standards will be politicized like everything else in Washington. Do you really want the dysfunction that is Washington DC ending up in your kid's classroom?
Ron Paul is right. The federal government needs to be out of the education business entirely.
HP will be the poster child for what happens when MBAs and H1Bs take over a company.
Ultimately, tech companies need to be run by tech visionaries. Car companies need to be run by car guys/gals. Financial companies need to be run by sharks.
You can't simply crank out an MBA and put that person in charge of a bunch of cheap programmers and expect innovation. Creativity and passion can not be taught.
I miss the old HP, run by passionate engineers, that built the worlds best calculators, printers, and oscilloscopes.
The political fascination with coding is ridiculous. The last time I checked, we still need plumbers, electricians, welders, and equipment operators as well. Why not make those skills mandatory as well?
Hell, before any of that, let's step up drivers ed first. Many newly minted high-school graduates can't drive a manual transmission, or change a flat tire, or jumpstart a car.
I've got kids and plenty of family in the toy-consuming age bracket......and I can't remember the last time we set foot in a Toys R Us.
With any luck, internet retailers will kill the Toys R Us model anyway - its about efficiency (for me) you know.