Read on after the jump for more Conficker madness.
In case you haven't guessed it yet, APRIL FOOLS!!! Seriously, if we get any real news about outages, deaths, or disruptions actually caused by Conficker today, you will read it here first.
They may see this as a precedent, toward full-blown corporate sponsorship. Fast forward: "NASA presents the Microsoft Mission to Mars, Version Four, bringing Microsoft Software to All Reaches of the Known Universe. Let's check in with Chief Bacteria Detection Evangelist, and Microsoft Executive Steven Sinofsky... any bugs up there?"
"Things are looking good here.... Wait... the kernel just panicked on the LifeSupportDrv.386. Houston, We have a Bug Report."
If the Life Support module dies, does that count as a Blue Screen of Death?
Or are any fatal errors on the way to Mars automatically tagged as Red Screen of Death?
So, can the companies that currently make the Space Shuttle pieces "go into business for themselves" and make Direct a reality?
The ability to use existing components should help drop costs extensively (as you've pointed out), and most of those components are already "man rated" I would think (or does the whole system need to be tested again also?)
That would provide the first Commercial Manned Launch Vehicle. Launch a "manned module" and "payload module" to heft several satellites at a fraction of the cost (or two payload modules with automated satellite launches once you get enough practice/confidence). I'd imagine that sort of system would pay for itself quickly given the current rates for commercial launches.
Frankly, Colbert has stepped in and dignified the proceedings by finally putting and end to the debacle.
ROFL. Thanks, I needed a good laugh today.
While Colbert may be bringing the idea of "Internet voting" into question, the idea that he "dignified the proceedings" is rediculous.
The only thing he's ever dignified was the White House Press Corp Dinner, and look how well that turned out.
As for naming the new ISS module "Colbert", I agree with the AC up top, let the "Colbert Nation" put their own station in orbit (ought to be worth at least a weeks worth of jokes as he details the process of creating the station before it is finally "scaled back" due to budget considerations to something launched off a model rocket).
It was good enough that it got me to spring for a license (usually I just wait for a free alternative to appear). This combined with better reception once the Digital TV transition happens means a lot more people can cut their cable bill drastically.
Besides just creating a new "On Demand" service, Hulu is a great way to get access to some Cable shows, without needing cable anymore.
(I hear HBO is pissed and trying to figure out how to let only subscribers have access to their content:/ )
Last time I checked the only one that supported it out of the box was Apple's Airport Extreme.
I've heard "the usual suspects" (Linksys, Dlink, Netgear) have added it since then, but I haven't been looking to confirm that, and I'm not sure if it ships enabled or not.
Lenina Huxley: I have, in fact, perused some newsreels in the Schwarzenegger Library, and the time that you took that car... JohnSpartan: Hold it. The Schwarzenegger Library? Lenina Huxley: Yes. The Schwarzenegger Presidential Library. Wasn't he an actor when you...? JohnSpartan: Stop! He was President? Lenina Huxley: Yes! Even though he was not born in this country, his popularity at the time caused the 61st Amendment which states... JohnSpartan: I don't wanna know. President...
Just goes to show that Science Fiction can in fact predict the future... even when its trying to be humorous and not cautionary.:D
Update 4 -- Before you read anything else, read this
Am I Vulnerable?
You are only vulnerable if:
Your device is a mipsel device. Your device has telnet, SSH or web-based interfaces available to the WAN Your username and password combinations are weak, OR the daemons that your firmware uses are exploitable. As such, 90% of the routers and modems participating in this botnet are participating due to user-error (the user themselves or otherwise). Unfortunately, it seems that some of the people covering this botnet do not understand this point, and it is making us look like a bunch of idiots.
Any device that meets the above criteria is vulnerable, including those built on custom firmware such as OpenWRT and DD-WRT. If the above criteria is not met, then the device is NOT vulnerable.
How can I tell if I have been infected?
Ports 22, 23 and 80 are blocked as part of the infection process (but NOT as part of the rootkit itself, running the rootkit itself will not alter your iptables configuration).
If these ports are blocked, you should perform a hard reset on your device, change the administrative passwords, and update to the latest firmware. These steps will remove the rootkit and ensure that your device is not reinfected.
The removal instructions seem pretty easy to me. Wipe the image and reinstall.
I'm not sure what you mean by quiet but if you need the least noise possible, look at the Atom architecture from Intel.
If its Beefy enough then you could probably build a PC without a FAN (they use Atoms in most of the popular Netbooks which don't have fans, just some thermal material to passively cool the chips).
Combine that with an SSD if you can afford one (again, depends on what you mean by "Recording PC"), OR some of the Western Digital "Green" drives (their 5400 RPM and run easy on power so their spin low and are relatively quiet), OR if you ABSOLUTELY need quiet in a specific area, try combining approaches. Use a smallish SSD to boot the local system, and feed the data to a big honking RAID in another room (possibly soundproofed if need be).
Again, depending on how "beefy" a PC you need (and other requirements), some netbooks are relatively beefy and are incredibly quiet. Either think about using them, or learn from what they do.:)
Think of it like this, each C degree change is equal to a 2.2 degree difference in F.
In order to have the same control of a system in C as you do in F you NEED to have 'marks' twice as often, hence the need for the half degree 'mark'.
While its certainly possible that the HVAC makers decided to include that precision because of the need to show F degrees and used C + 1/2 C markings as a compensation factor, it seems odd because:
1) It isn't an exact match, so you'd still need to interpret the changes through a conversion.
2) If you just used 'round' C degrees you'd still have the coarse granularity.
Perhaps #2 is what made them aware of the problem and possible solutions (maybe from working with US HVAC systems which would be more granular... Multiple Standard for the Win!:P )
That's only true if you assume biofuel = corn. Think about algae however.
Algae can be grown in vats using only the Earth's deserts as farmland, taking up zero arable land. The lipids from this algae could likely keep all our cars running a very long time.
Biofuel research is not a bad thing at all, it's just been handled badly thus far.
Interesting ideas, if only some company with experience in the Petrochemical Industry would decide to spend the time and money pursuing this Biofuel idea. Of course, to really FOCUS on it they might have cut expenditures researching other alternative fuels like Wind, Solar and Hydro. ~
Nah, it was "Nuclear Winter" that I remember being tied to cold. So, basically, anyone "lucky enough" to live through a nuclear war would probably die from starvation, even if they weren't directly affected by the radiation.... joy
Or is land intrisincally a much more dynamic/chaotic/subject to wild changes ecosystem ?
Well... land does have this really aggressive predator that tends to wipe out lots of creatures, and influence their environment to such a degree that it affects even creatures that aren't directly impacted.
They could, but that would take design time, and development time. The designs I listed should be "ready to go" with only minor modification (if needed), before they could be put into production to fill the hypothetical "processor gap".
I'm sorry, I reread your message and you're right, nothing I said contradicted you, but I feel like Intel losing x86_64 would set them back much more than saying "its not exactly symmetrical" implies.
I think I just felt that even if it is not perfectly symmetrical destruction to AMD and Intel (and we haven't talked about AMDs embedded chip work which probably brings in a $$$ or two and would also go unhindered), I think the fallout to the whole industry would make that lack of symmetry irrelevant.
The ONLY upshot I could see if something like this happened would be an immediate uptick in the adoption of ARM based Linux platforms since Linux would already be in a position to exploit an ARM laptop/desktop market, while everyone else (OSX, Windows, in this context), would have much more work on cross-compilation to do.
Like and idiot, I forgot to update the section in my reply that actually listed the model number before I hit submit (with Slashdot had an "Edit" feature:) ).
Slashdot Mirror
Ah, so Terminator: TSCC is merely a research arm of Fox Entertainment.
Hmmm I think they've succeeded wonderfully with the Summer Glau model.
The end of the Fine Article:
"Things are looking good here. ... Wait ... the kernel just panicked on the LifeSupportDrv.386. Houston, We have a Bug Report."
If the Life Support module dies, does that count as a Blue Screen of Death?
Or are any fatal errors on the way to Mars automatically tagged as Red Screen of Death?
So, can the companies that currently make the Space Shuttle pieces "go into business for themselves" and make Direct a reality?
The ability to use existing components should help drop costs extensively (as you've pointed out), and most of those components are already "man rated" I would think (or does the whole system need to be tested again also?)
That would provide the first Commercial Manned Launch Vehicle. Launch a "manned module" and "payload module" to heft several satellites at a fraction of the cost (or two payload modules with automated satellite launches once you get enough practice/confidence). I'd imagine that sort of system would pay for itself quickly given the current rates for commercial launches.
Can you chose which version you get? (I always liked the Obama Rickroll mashup, certainly effective for driving other thoughts from your head)
In the head?
No, it was about economics, the same as most of the rest of the wars.
ROFL. Thanks, I needed a good laugh today.
While Colbert may be bringing the idea of "Internet voting" into question, the idea that he "dignified the proceedings" is rediculous.
The only thing he's ever dignified was the White House Press Corp Dinner, and look how well that turned out.
As for naming the new ISS module "Colbert", I agree with the AC up top, let the "Colbert Nation" put their own station in orbit (ought to be worth at least a weeks worth of jokes as he details the process of creating the station before it is finally "scaled back" due to budget considerations to something launched off a model rocket).
I'm a longtime Mac fan, but can't help pointing out you forgot about the Air.
It also has a "non-removable" battery.
True. PlayOn has a two week free trial.
It was good enough that it got me to spring for a license (usually I just wait for a free alternative to appear). This combined with better reception once the Digital TV transition happens means a lot more people can cut their cable bill drastically.
Besides just creating a new "On Demand" service, Hulu is a great way to get access to some Cable shows, without needing cable anymore.
(I hear HBO is pissed and trying to figure out how to let only subscribers have access to their content :/ )
Darn puritanical American standards. I want OUR ads to have TATAs in them! ;)
Last time I checked the only one that supported it out of the box was Apple's Airport Extreme.
I've heard "the usual suspects" (Linksys, Dlink, Netgear) have added it since then, but I haven't been looking to confirm that, and I'm not sure if it ships enabled or not.
Demolition Man (1993)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106697/quotes
Just goes to show that Science Fiction can in fact predict the future ... even when its trying to be humorous and not cautionary. :D
FTFA: http://dronebl.org/blog/8
The removal instructions seem pretty easy to me. Wipe the image and reinstall.
What do you mean by "Recording PC"?
I'm not sure what you mean by quiet but if you need the least noise possible, look at the Atom architecture from Intel.
If its Beefy enough then you could probably build a PC without a FAN (they use Atoms in most of the popular Netbooks which don't have fans, just some thermal material to passively cool the chips).
Combine that with an SSD if you can afford one (again, depends on what you mean by "Recording PC"), OR some of the Western Digital "Green" drives (their 5400 RPM and run easy on power so their spin low and are relatively quiet), OR if you ABSOLUTELY need quiet in a specific area, try combining approaches. Use a smallish SSD to boot the local system, and feed the data to a big honking RAID in another room (possibly soundproofed if need be).
Again, depending on how "beefy" a PC you need (and other requirements), some netbooks are relatively beefy and are incredibly quiet. Either think about using them, or learn from what they do. :)
Think of it like this, each C degree change is equal to a 2.2 degree difference in F.
In order to have the same control of a system in C as you do in F you NEED to have 'marks' twice as often, hence the need for the half degree 'mark'.
While its certainly possible that the HVAC makers decided to include that precision because of the need to show F degrees and used C + 1/2 C markings as a compensation factor, it seems odd because:
1) It isn't an exact match, so you'd still need to interpret the changes through a conversion.
2) If you just used 'round' C degrees you'd still have the coarse granularity.
Perhaps #2 is what made them aware of the problem and possible solutions (maybe from working with US HVAC systems which would be more granular ... Multiple Standard for the Win! :P )
MAYBE THEIR DEAF FROM STANDING BY THE KVM IN THE SERVER ROOM?
IT MAY HAVE AFFECTED MY HEARING A LITTLE ALSO.
(The irony of it all is that the lameness filter said: "Filter error: Don't use so many cap. It's like YELLING." so, in order to )
Interesting ideas, if only some company with experience in the Petrochemical Industry would decide to spend the time and money pursuing this Biofuel idea. Of course, to really FOCUS on it they might have cut expenditures researching other alternative fuels like Wind, Solar and Hydro. ~
too late. The federal government beat them to it.
Nah, it was "Nuclear Winter" that I remember being tied to cold. So, basically, anyone "lucky enough" to live through a nuclear war would probably die from starvation, even if they weren't directly affected by the radiation. ... joy
The smog was tied to Acid Rain.
Well ... land does have this really aggressive predator that tends to wipe out lots of creatures, and influence their environment to such a degree that it affects even creatures that aren't directly impacted.
Well, they're ok then. According to most people the world is going to be turned into a Giant Soggy Hothouse once global warming kicks in.
Man: 0, Octopi: 1
They could, but that would take design time, and development time. The designs I listed should be "ready to go" with only minor modification (if needed), before they could be put into production to fill the hypothetical "processor gap".
I'm sorry, I reread your message and you're right, nothing I said contradicted you, but I feel like Intel losing x86_64 would set them back much more than saying "its not exactly symmetrical" implies.
I think I just felt that even if it is not perfectly symmetrical destruction to AMD and Intel (and we haven't talked about AMDs embedded chip work which probably brings in a $$$ or two and would also go unhindered), I think the fallout to the whole industry would make that lack of symmetry irrelevant.
The ONLY upshot I could see if something like this happened would be an immediate uptick in the adoption of ARM based Linux platforms since Linux would already be in a position to exploit an ARM laptop/desktop market, while everyone else (OSX, Windows, in this context), would have much more work on cross-compilation to do.
Like and idiot, I forgot to update the section in my reply that actually listed the model number before I hit submit (with Slashdot had an "Edit" feature :) ).
Please replace this:
With this: