Yes, I can confirm the persistance of admin.dll in that location.
Also found another one under../../40/isapi/_vti_auth. It was titled "author.dll" and it did the same thing; you delete it and it reappears.
These appear to be some frontpage server extension exploit?
- AC
Re:It's been said before...
on
More WTC News
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· Score: 1
Well, I heard that either they will be relocated (to outside of the security gates), or they will be forbidden to sell certain items (no metal items is what I thought I heard...although I guess food areas may not allow knives). I don't have any more information on this though, we'll just have to keep listening to what gets finally implemented. Additionally, perhaps they should add another metal detector right at the gate as they check your ticket. Should go pretty quick (as well as at the other security checks) if people only have to empty their pockets and not have baggage scanned.
- AC
Re:It's been said before...
on
More WTC News
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· Score: 1
Face it folks - no matter WHAT happens, the only thing that could prevent something like this is sky marshals on EVERY flight in civilian clothes. And even then, they may not be able to overpower 5 guys with weapons (since shooting guns in the air is er, not a great idea)
Well, I saw on CNN that one of the requirements of the new security measures is that armed Sky Marshalls will indeed be back on planes. And while shooting guns on the plane is not the best idea...they might damage the plane but be able to take out the terrorists. At least at this point the pilots have a chance at bringing the plane down relatively safely. Should the passenger area decompress, I suspect a few lives lost out a rip in the plane will be acceptable against another plane bomb being dropped on a target.
As for lives being considered 'acceptable'...well, welcome to the world of flight travel experienced elsewhere. I feel that is what every American will have to understand now before they get on a plane; you may be sacrificed for the greater good. This seems to be what happened on the flight that crashed in Penn. Individuals on that plane realized their lives were forfeit if they did nothing, so it appears that they tried to stop the terrorists. Perhaps it was their struggle that caused the crash, perhaps they got control but could not land it. Either way, if they did indeed try such a thing, I commend their efforts.
Also, as for the shaving kit scenario, I have also heard (tentatively, not fully confirmed) that another security measure will be no carry-on luggage. Only thing allowed will be a wallet, and perhaps keys and/or a book?? Women will need to use wallets instead of purses. Provided that razors aren't stored in the heels of shoes, or as you mentioned, handed out by moles in the security force, this ought to help out a lot. Of course, it is going to be a major pain in the ass for most...myself included. I enjoy being able to read or listen to my CD player, not to mention all those who get work done on their computers. Again, this was heard around in the Colorado area, so not sure if it is truly the national standard yet. Will be interesting nonetheless.
- A non-productive mind is with absolutely zero balance.
I see a lot of people saying "well, at least the corps don't have weapons.", "at least they aren't fighting wars", etc. This reminds of an issue of a great comic book a while back. The comic was 'Scud, The disposable Assassin', about a robot purchased from a vending machine to do a killing and ends up on his own (spiritual in the end) quest to save existance.
In one issue he was teleporting around existance (on some time traveling horse...cant explain it now) and ended up on this planet in the middle of a war with another planet. Except, there were no weapons, *or* causulties (in our current sense). The two planets were rival media corporations and the war was for the control of the entertainment of the masses. A corporation planet would score a victory when one of its movies would draw more viewers on the enemy planet than what was produced there.
Perhaps this is slowly starting...one large mega-information-media-corporation fighting to gain the gray apathetic masses by launching mindless drivel entertainment at them.
- A non-productive mind is with absolutely zero balance.
"I can tell because when you read a webpage, you do one of a couple of things. You either shovel the mouse off to the right so that it is out of the way, or you will walk down the page with your mouse,"
I'm presuming here that what the person means by walking your mouse down the page, is that you are "reading" the text with your mouse pointer (like using your finger in a book). Many people here mention that they get around this by using their scroll wheel. They can probably track scroll wheel movements pretty easy. A simplistic method would be in javascript. You should just need something like:
if (browser is IE)
document.onmouseover = call function here;
if (browser is Netscape)
document.addEventListener("mouseover", call function here, true);
in your scripting area. I think this will take care of 'tracking' your mouse anywhere on the screen. So if the mouse is anywhere over the document, an event is fired off calling the function. I'm sure you've seen a site that has those anoying 'mouse trails' that can follow your cursor...similar concept. It's not limited to links, so provided your mouse pointer is anywhere over the page, it will track it. If you are using the scroll wheel, the page moves under the mouse...but the pointer ends up over a different section of page. Thus it looks like the mouse has moved. So the function could start a timer every time it is called. This could give you an idea of how long they spend viewing a portion of the screen before moving on (scrolling down, etc.).
Now, you could probably circumvent this by putting the mouse cursor off of the browser window altogether and use the arrow keys to scroll. Put you'll probably need to tab between the links in order to get to the one you want. This selects each link, which again should be viewable through a javascript event (can remember the handler off top of head, onfocus perhaps?) tagged to each link.
Other parts of the article mention being able to provide you with a site that tailors itself to you on the fly. Simple server-side scripting will do this. However, I fear sites becoming over-zealous with a feature like this. Many sites end up only providing you with common content it thinks you want, while hiding the content it thinks you don't want. This is to presumably speed up my experience because I wont have to see the other site information downloaded (quicker access over those modem links). After a while, I might not know what said site has to fully offer, as I get 'stuck in a rut' so to speak. They would need a 'show everything site has' (site map) link on everything single page to help offset this. Unfortunately, many sites don't adhear to this simple requirement. Consequently, many users never use certain sites to their full potential.
- A non-productive mind is with absolutely zero balance.
According to early reports, the characters in Enterprise would seem to embody tons of the 'Kirk Spirit'.
These are the first people to trot around the galaxy at warp speed(from Earth). They wanna have fun and explore. And since it's before any 'prime directive', they seem to be quite free to kick some arse as the need arises.
- A non-productive mind is with absolutely zero balance.
I don't have any links off the top of my head, but there have plenty of hacks and inventions using the Mindstorms. If you want more motors to control, just get another RCX brick and add the motors to it. I've seen an insect creation controled via 3 RCX bricks, 2 of which were running the 6 or so motors needed (the other brick was controlling enviroment sensing features). And I've seen plenty of other creations that incorporate metal parts, etc. There aren't any restrictions saying you must use only all lego parts in building. In fact a lot of the good Mindstorms robots rely on non-lego parts for their functionality.
Just because it's plastic hasn't stopped any Adults (especially those at MIT) from using this great kit. Hell, it probably would not be that hard to hack up an interface via 802.11, ya just gotta go do it.
- A non-productive mind is with absolutely zero balance.
Well, if you can make it to the website, you will see that this company also makes small helium filled R/C blimps (two models, one shaped like a blimp the other like a saucer).
I believe I used to see these sold at Sharper Image a long time ago. While they aren't 4" in size (the saucer is about 38" in diameter and the blimb looks to be around 52" in length), they are still great indoor flying machines.
- A non-productive mind is with absolutely zero balance.
- AC
Re:Why subscribe to software in the future...
on
Windows in 2020
·
· Score: 1
Keeping a "Pentium or better" is not sufficient in the long run and the reason is just one word: "Games".
I realize that Linux game distros are getting better and all, but the truth of the matter is that the gaming platform of choice is Windows (although one could make an argument for the PS2, but I think the distinction between gaming box and 'work' box will be bluring together again in the future). The games makers seem to push the limits of the operating system out there right now, so as the OS changes and expands, so will the games. And as that happens, new hardware will be needed to satisfy the requirements of these new games and OS'es. And people will buy this new hardware (and subscription software OS'es) up because right now, they really need their fix of games. The gaming industry is quite the moneymaker, or so I've heard; not quite passing the pr0n industry, but I believe it has surpassed the movie industry.
- A non-productive mind is with absolutely zero balance.
- AC
Re:This has already happened...
on
Windows in 2020
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
Actually what I find disturbing is that 'PC' seems be by some weird definition to mean 'runs MS Windows'. I get tired of hearing the watered down phrase, "you have a PC or a MAC". I'm sorry, but we all have PC's...it's called a Personal Computer. Doesn't matter what the operating system running on it is. I say yeah, I have linux machine and windows machine.
Perhaps it's some tie-in with that other PC acronym, political correctness. Ya gotta have a PC to be PC, or something like that. Yech.
- A non-productive mind is with absolutely zero balance.
- AC
We need to have as many technical and scientific minds work with the lawyers of the EFF all through this case. This being the first case testing this abomination of a law, we need to make sure that it is rightly patched and/or overturned. We don't want to fall for a 'quick fix' that seems to be better, when in the long run the law still favors the wrong side. Make sure the lawyers know what to get fixed and how to fix them properly for the benefit of everyone.
I'm sure the media cartels are grinding their gears to find the right obfuscated solution that may satisfy people now, yet still retain the draconian measures currently in place. Just getting his release is not enough, the law must be made right.
- A non-productive mind is with absolutely zero balance.
- AC
At least here in Colorado. Actually, I want to know if anyone else is experiencing this problem. It just happened to coincide with the code red insurgance, but then again, it could be on my end.
In Unreal Tournament (yah yah, windows...so I have a gaming partition) there is an internal browser of sorts. The 'news' page displays a web page with the latest news. You click another tab and find servers to play on. Etc.
Well the problem that has surfaced is that when I click on the 'news' page tab, it just keeps querying the server. Running it through a proxy filter, I can see that it is sending out the proper HTTP GET request. It just appears that the return data packet never makes it back to my computer. Now, the game listings work just fine and I can go into and play games. However, there is a feature which will auto-download skins, maps, mods, etc. if you enter a server and do not have a particular item installed on your drive. This feature has also mysteriously stopped working and I am not sure why, since I believe it operates on the same port as the game server (ie: usually a quite high port).
All other web browsing through IE, Mozilla, etc. work fine. Although I've just noticed that I cant seem to download Norton AV updates now either...that's not a good sign. The service here is ATTcrapHome (ATT@home), so if anyone else is having a similar problem, let me know and any workarounds you might have found. After that, I'll probably try and re-install the game to see if that corrects the problem.
- A non-productive mind is with absolutely zero balance.
- AC
Re:Code red growth spurts
on
Code Redux
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· Score: 1
Actually it is not FUD here at our college. The main university recomendations for new students are for them to purchase computers with Win2000.
Some of the sub-colleges, business and engineering even *give* notebook computers to students here. These are all configured with Win2K for integration with their particular mail and online services. Of course, *hopefully*, the computers handed out by the university will be patched. But as I mentioned in my post, there are individuals on campus who still dont keep up on their administration duties.
And again, most of our statistics showed a majority of students migrating to Win2K over the last year. We had plenty of mini-web servers running here at our campus. So don't disregard this as FUD. Perhaps at your local university, there isn't a push to Win2k. At ours there is and this could very well be commonplace at others, so my original post was not to spread fear but present a 'heads-up'.
- A non-productive mind is with absolutely zero balance.
- AC
Code red growth spurts
on
Code Redux
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
We might be in for another growth spurt...when the hundreds of thousands of college students return to campus and plug in their computers. A good portion of them have probably been unattatched to the network, or will be brand new machines just for school. Working at a University, we aren't looking forward to this potential new stream of *fun*.
One possible saving grace is that most of our students come back after the worm is supposed to sleep (20th of the month). However, it might wake again come Sept. 1st. Not to mention any server out there with bad dates ready to spew it around.
On another note, I've notified several people in other departments that they've been hit with the CR II version. They say "well, I'll just apply the patch". Wrong, that will stop your computer from trying to broadcast the worm. Unfortunately, the patch doesn't clean up the trojan explorer.exe and registry settings. I tell them "you'll need to reformat the whole computer, and they laugh". Well, at least I can be first in line to berate their IT department for not taking that suggestion when their whole networked gets compromised from another backdoor installed during the computers 'open' state.
-A non-productive mind is with absolutely zero balance.
- AC
Perhaps their damage rating only refers to immediate damage done to the machine. There is no web defacement, mass amounts of files are not deleted, the drive isnt reformatted. Of course, all this *could* be done via the installed backdoor.
-A non-productive mind is with absolutely zero balance.
- AC
So I haven't studied the graphs much, but I feel a bit nit-picky as to the rate of growth being used by everyone (caveat: I am not a hardcore mathmetician either).
I've seen two terms used to describe the code-red growth: geometrically and exponentially.
Now if I remember my basic math teachings you can have a arithmetically increasing (or decreasing) sequence which proceeds at a (I believe) constant rate: 2,4,6,8,10,12.... rate increase of +2.
There is also the geometric series which progresses something like this: 2,4,8,16,32,64,128.... rate increase of x2.
Then exponential series which (IIRC) progress by a factor of 'e'. Hrm. Have I just answered my question; exponential series are just a subset of geometric series, with the factor being 'e'? Or are they significantly different? And if so, just what rate is (did) code-red progressing at?
Like I said, it's nit-picky, but I hear both terms thrown around like they were candy and am curious as to which one best describes the growth (since the sites with graphs seem to be overtly busy at the time). Thanks in advance to any hardcore mathmeticians shedding light on this.
-A non-productive mind is with absolutely zero balance.
- AC
The trick is that so many of the so-called experts mis-understood the nature of the worm.
Once the worm went dormant, it stays dormant. So all of the worm infections that were out there as of July 19th were not a threat.
What is is a threat is the possibility of the worm beginning to spread again, which is exactly what is happening. Within the past few hours, attempts have increased...to recently for the media to have picked up on it yet, but it is happening, the growth rate is exponential, just like July 19th, and it will get to be a significant problem within a matter of hours.
Yes much of the media, and some of those experts have definitely mis-interpreted the worms actions.
The crushing blow that this worm could still deal, is not so much during it's spread, but rather when all those infected machines start broadcasting gigabytes (or some other arbitrary number) worth of data during attack mode. The attack phase was relatively short, IIRC, but generated the most traffic. Thus, all the previous infections that haven't been patched, could possibly began re-flooding come the 20th of August.
The worm is definitely trying to spread again, our school has already been probed a couple dozen times and I expect to see plenty more over the coming days.
What other MS admins need to worry about is keeping track of any future additions to their machines. If they, or someone else, adjusts Windows components on that server, this particular hotfix needs to be reinstalled. So, in effect, your machine could get infected sometime down the road if changes are made and vigilance is not kept up (of course once SP3 comes out, I think does a permanent fix...but still waiting...)
- A non-productive mind has absolutely zero balance.
- AC
Telecom executives say that without a major redesign of the Internet, such eagerly anticipated applications as video-on-demand, Internet telephony and Webcasts of live entertainment events will never be economical.
More like "without a major dump of money into getting fiber optic out to every last mile of every house, so as to provide a fast (relatively unclogged) data pipeline with which to carry these so-called eagerly anticipated applications."
Seriously, they can make the control of data more conducive to their 'business' models, but even after that, they will be *many, many* years from being profitable. Why? Because people aren't going to give them money for those services while they are still stuck behind a 56k modem. I suppose this would be their "lie-n-wait" strategy, which would probably mean that only 3 or 4 top companies (with enough money now to weather the tide) will be around to "give us what they know we need".
I see a lot of this as a result of poor marketing of the 'promises' of the Internet. And by poor, I mean *way overhyped, way too soon*. All the great services can (and probably will) be done, however the timeframe (which should be used to develop business strategies, not undermine the transport structure) promised by rampant marketeers over the last decade was just not feasible. The result? A lot of non-techies got overly-stimulated at what they were going to get with this Internet-thingee, but they didn't get it when promised. So, like many people nowadays (when they don't get what they want as quickly as they get their fast-food), their attention turned elsewhere...disregarding the Internet-world as a 'fad'. This is unfortunate, because this lull in attention (or excitement) towards it is just what big-Corps need to redesign it to their own liking. They can then market it again as something different, and the masses will all go googly-eyed over it again (or maybe they'll be forced to use it...who knows).
- A non-productive mind is with absolutely zero balance.
- AC
I'm an avid backcountry adventurer, but sometimes I like venturing into the (way overcrowded) public ski areas. Therefore, I get the Colorado Pass, a cheap ski pass for several resorts here. Well, several years ago I got my picture taken for it and got one pass. This, I was told at the time, was to be a re-usable pass for all the years to come.
However, this year upon renewal I find that we have to get re-photographed and get new cards. Why? The new cards will have better 'identity theft' prevention measures to them. They were pretty vague during the process. Well, I just got the new card and notice some interesting things about it.
It would seem they are using some primitive facial recognition techniques. The photo is relatively dark, so it seems weird to be able to rely on it by normal visual cues because it is tough to make out my face. However, around various parts of the photo, and *only* at key junctures of my face and upper body, there are what at first appears to be visible photograph 'artifacts'. Theses appear no where else in the background of the photo, so they dont resemble the result of a poor photograph. They are black 'blotches' with white highlights around one of their edges. They appear at areas that define my face: two dots right at the end of my nose (one for each nostril), some dots around one of my eyes, a few tracing the top of my head and cheekbones, and several around my neck and shoulder area. The dots seem to be placed to be able to measure the overall width of my head, nostril width, eye height, facial bone structure, shoulder composition.
The photo pretty much *sucks* in really proving that is you...at least to a lift operator who looks at it (barely even, they just quickly scan them) while you are wearing full hat and goggles. So I figure if there is a suspicion, they will take you in some room and point a camera at your face. This will then compare the dots taken then, with the pattern from the card (no doubt in a database somewhere) to make sure it is really you (apparently the big problem is casual sharing...is that like casual piracy?...where you give it to your friend to use tomorrow, etc).
So, there you have it, big brother is already scanning us for use of the ski slopes. The Colorado DMV procedure is a bit different however, at least according to first readings. We wont even get scanned by the new machines, at least not initially for those of us with licenses already. Their technology will be able to scan my existing photograph and interpolate from there. Then when I go renew in another five years I'll get scanned with the new machine to make sure it is me. I'm thinking of getting some facial putty and spirit gum. I want to 'alter' my cheekbones and nostril placement to see if I can throw off the new cameras. Then on the way to interrogation, slip the makeup off...or something like that.
-a non productive mind is with absolutely zero balance
No room for individual artistic talent (in their minds) because you can do something exactly the same, over and over, and another person can sit down and make the exact same thing, in every way identical.
Hrm, I agree with you in that this is "in their minds"...those who could be considered art critics. What needs to be more widely known is that this really need not be the case at all.
For example, they would be right to say certain "filters" play by the numbers and reproduce the same "result" over and over. However, randomness and individuality can be very prevelant in computer graphics. I work with high end graphics programs such as Painter 6. In creating brush strokes, there are options to allow for random variations in brush strokes (varying the bristle width, amount of paint on brush, etc). No two brush strokes will look alike from the same artist, let alone from different ones. Combine that with a very good drawing tablet which allows for precise stroke control as well as varied pressure levels, and you get original art that (aside from copying the end file) has a very high probability of not being reproducable...even by the same artist (given that he/she may have been in a certain mood at the time and pushed on the brush more, etc.).
So, while you might be able to scan any photograph and apply a sephia filter to it (to mass produce an effect to all your photos), the art of sketching and painting on the computer can be (and is, with the right tools) as infinitely varied as doing it on physical mediums. Now, more people need to be exposed to art created in this manner in order to break down that 'barrier' in their minds.
A non-productive mind is with absolutely zero balance.
If you're fixated on how it looked, you've already got the wrong idea. Looking pretty is all nice and good for the golly, gee marketing guys, but that completely fails to address such things as:
being able to get a dictionary lookup on an arbitrary word (good for non-English speakers)
being able to do a google search for background information on a given word or phrase
As the page author, you may not have considered the features, and implementing them server-side would probably result in excess linkage, but there are people who will want to be able to take advantage of them.
These are good examples that should be implemented into web browsers. However, they should NOT be implemented in the manner that MS wishes to impose on us. Granted, the tech-savvy geek will be able to write their own "dictonary" smart tag to provide this feature for themselves. But the average user will just swallow the defaults thrown at them from MS...which will more often than not lead them afoul.
A solution to provide useful "dictonary" (as one example) look-up features, would not be to add hyperlinks within the page itself. Rather, the web browser engine (or this case, the 'smart-tag' add-on) should scan the source and gather text within certain html blocks ('p','a','blockquote', etc.). Compile the list of all the words that appear on a page this way. Then, there will be a SEPARATE window (say accessed via a button) that can be brought up just showing all the words in the document. Any word in this window could be clicked on to then access an online dictonary to provide the needed definition.
This way the original content does not have the 'appearance' of being altered and viewers get the benefit of a new feature. Of course, MS wants these features to be as ubitquitous (sp?) as possible, hence the schema of making it appear as a new hyperlink right in the page. I mentioned above that a separate window could appear. Heck, to go along with an MS seamless idea, it would just be another use for that left 'sidebar' that can be enable currently in IE5. That is where the smart tag information should be working...providing a clear distinction that it is the web browser doing the work.
Yet another angle to take (on this subject as a whole), is that MS shouldn't be *forcing* this down everyone. Instead (since scanning pages could become inherently difficult), allow the content creators to begin designing their pages with XML tags. Then pages that want to make use of the smart-tag feature will do so and vise versa.
- a non productive mind is with absolutely zero balance.
AC
I notice a lot of people here saying "just look at the Internet as a whole...". This is fine and all, but still doesn't provide the clear example of so-called 'legit' usage. So here is a few that I've been exposed to.
I ran a small ISP that offered coverage to most of our state. We had three offices, which for simplicity, were located in roughly a triangular pattern across the state (physically separated by several hundred miles). Each office had it's own local technical support for its immeadiate area. However, all three needed to collaborate together to solve common technical problems (especially since two of the offices had overlapping dial-in nodes). Our solution was to use ICQ for everyone in all the offices. Once everyone was in for the day and logged on, everyone had instant access to chat with anyone else (you knew when someone was in, out to lunch or home sick). After implementing that our productivity increased approximately 40% and call time decreased accordingly. Phone support was now able to work the problem out with the customer and the rest of his peers around the state at the same time (often with the customer oblivious to this). Meetings between all the technicians were held through a simulataneous chat session (ICQ has simple IRC interface for chat), just like having a meeting in one room, everyone had a chance to speak at those meetings.
Being a P2P connection, technicians were able to use the file sharing abilities of ICQ to send drivers and other useful files quickly between each other when needed (it was able to go directly to the tech who needed it at the time). We even provided some techs with a public ICQ name and broadcast those to our users. That way, they provided online question support to online users using ICQ as well (those customer had other questions than "I cant get online..").
I think this is a very powerful use of P2P-like technology. In fact I remember about a year or two ago several tech-mags having articles about using these programs in that way (we had already been that way for a year). I think some of the new P2P programs might be written for the same useage, but wont rely on a central ICQ-type server. Give a particular company their own server and run the clients within their intranet. This way you offer higher security for your conversations among employees. It will only contain the users of that company (and or maybe any affiliates they let into it), and you wont get random pr0n anouncements from outside individuals.
- A non-productive mind is with absolutely zero balance.
AC
Threats were made against the authors, against the conference organizers, and against their respective employers.
Hrm, threats against the conference organizers? Isn't that analogous to free speech suppression? Like suing the newspaper for printing someones editorial?
Oh yeah, forgot, already happened against 2600. *sigh*
Slashdot Mirror
Yes, I can confirm the persistance of admin.dll in that location.
../../40/isapi/_vti_auth. It was titled "author.dll" and it did the same thing; you delete it and it reappears.
Also found another one under
These appear to be some frontpage server extension exploit?
- AC
Well, I heard that either they will be relocated (to outside of the security gates), or they will be forbidden to sell certain items (no metal items is what I thought I heard...although I guess food areas may not allow knives). I don't have any more information on this though, we'll just have to keep listening to what gets finally implemented. Additionally, perhaps they should add another metal detector right at the gate as they check your ticket. Should go pretty quick (as well as at the other security checks) if people only have to empty their pockets and not have baggage scanned.
- AC
Face it folks - no matter WHAT happens, the only thing that could prevent something like this is sky marshals on EVERY flight in civilian clothes. And even then, they may not be able to overpower 5 guys with weapons (since shooting guns in the air is er, not a great idea)
Well, I saw on CNN that one of the requirements of the new security measures is that armed Sky Marshalls will indeed be back on planes. And while shooting guns on the plane is not the best idea...they might damage the plane but be able to take out the terrorists. At least at this point the pilots have a chance at bringing the plane down relatively safely. Should the passenger area decompress, I suspect a few lives lost out a rip in the plane will be acceptable against another plane bomb being dropped on a target.
As for lives being considered 'acceptable'...well, welcome to the world of flight travel experienced elsewhere. I feel that is what every American will have to understand now before they get on a plane; you may be sacrificed for the greater good. This seems to be what happened on the flight that crashed in Penn. Individuals on that plane realized their lives were forfeit if they did nothing, so it appears that they tried to stop the terrorists. Perhaps it was their struggle that caused the crash, perhaps they got control but could not land it. Either way, if they did indeed try such a thing, I commend their efforts.
Also, as for the shaving kit scenario, I have also heard (tentatively, not fully confirmed) that another security measure will be no carry-on luggage. Only thing allowed will be a wallet, and perhaps keys and/or a book?? Women will need to use wallets instead of purses. Provided that razors aren't stored in the heels of shoes, or as you mentioned, handed out by moles in the security force, this ought to help out a lot. Of course, it is going to be a major pain in the ass for most...myself included. I enjoy being able to read or listen to my CD player, not to mention all those who get work done on their computers. Again, this was heard around in the Colorado area, so not sure if it is truly the national standard yet. Will be interesting nonetheless.
- A non-productive mind is with absolutely zero balance.
- AC
I see a lot of people saying "well, at least the corps don't have weapons.", "at least they aren't fighting wars", etc. This reminds of an issue of a great comic book a while back. The comic was 'Scud, The disposable Assassin', about a robot purchased from a vending machine to do a killing and ends up on his own (spiritual in the end) quest to save existance.
In one issue he was teleporting around existance (on some time traveling horse...cant explain it now) and ended up on this planet in the middle of a war with another planet. Except, there were no weapons, *or* causulties (in our current sense). The two planets were rival media corporations and the war was for the control of the entertainment of the masses. A corporation planet would score a victory when one of its movies would draw more viewers on the enemy planet than what was produced there.
Perhaps this is slowly starting...one large mega-information-media-corporation fighting to gain the gray apathetic masses by launching mindless drivel entertainment at them.
- A non-productive mind is with absolutely zero balance.
- AC
I'm presuming here that what the person means by walking your mouse down the page, is that you are "reading" the text with your mouse pointer (like using your finger in a book). Many people here mention that they get around this by using their scroll wheel. They can probably track scroll wheel movements pretty easy. A simplistic method would be in javascript. You should just need something like:
in your scripting area. I think this will take care of 'tracking' your mouse anywhere on the screen. So if the mouse is anywhere over the document, an event is fired off calling the function. I'm sure you've seen a site that has those anoying 'mouse trails' that can follow your cursor...similar concept. It's not limited to links, so provided your mouse pointer is anywhere over the page, it will track it. If you are using the scroll wheel, the page moves under the mouse...but the pointer ends up over a different section of page. Thus it looks like the mouse has moved. So the function could start a timer every time it is called. This could give you an idea of how long they spend viewing a portion of the screen before moving on (scrolling down, etc.).
Now, you could probably circumvent this by putting the mouse cursor off of the browser window altogether and use the arrow keys to scroll. Put you'll probably need to tab between the links in order to get to the one you want. This selects each link, which again should be viewable through a javascript event (can remember the handler off top of head, onfocus perhaps?) tagged to each link.
Other parts of the article mention being able to provide you with a site that tailors itself to you on the fly. Simple server-side scripting will do this. However, I fear sites becoming over-zealous with a feature like this. Many sites end up only providing you with common content it thinks you want, while hiding the content it thinks you don't want. This is to presumably speed up my experience because I wont have to see the other site information downloaded (quicker access over those modem links). After a while, I might not know what said site has to fully offer, as I get 'stuck in a rut' so to speak. They would need a 'show everything site has' (site map) link on everything single page to help offset this. Unfortunately, many sites don't adhear to this simple requirement. Consequently, many users never use certain sites to their full potential.
- A non-productive mind is with absolutely zero balance.
- AC
Well thats enough for now, here's to waiting for the premier to see if it's gonna occupy my attention on Wed. nights.
- A non-productive mind is with absolutely zero balance.
- AC
According to early reports, the characters in Enterprise would seem to embody tons of the 'Kirk Spirit'.
These are the first people to trot around the galaxy at warp speed(from Earth). They wanna have fun and explore. And since it's before any 'prime directive', they seem to be quite free to kick some arse as the need arises.
- A non-productive mind is with absolutely zero balance.
- AC
I don't have any links off the top of my head, but there have plenty of hacks and inventions using the Mindstorms. If you want more motors to control, just get another RCX brick and add the motors to it. I've seen an insect creation controled via 3 RCX bricks, 2 of which were running the 6 or so motors needed (the other brick was controlling enviroment sensing features). And I've seen plenty of other creations that incorporate metal parts, etc. There aren't any restrictions saying you must use only all lego parts in building. In fact a lot of the good Mindstorms robots rely on non-lego parts for their functionality.
Just because it's plastic hasn't stopped any Adults (especially those at MIT) from using this great kit. Hell, it probably would not be that hard to hack up an interface via 802.11, ya just gotta go do it.
- A non-productive mind is with absolutely zero balance.
- AC
Well, if you can make it to the website, you will see that this company also makes small helium filled R/C blimps (two models, one shaped like a blimp the other like a saucer).
I believe I used to see these sold at Sharper Image a long time ago. While they aren't 4" in size (the saucer is about 38" in diameter and the blimb looks to be around 52" in length), they are still great indoor flying machines.
- A non-productive mind is with absolutely zero balance.
- AC
Keeping a "Pentium or better" is not sufficient in the long run and the reason is just one word: "Games".
I realize that Linux game distros are getting better and all, but the truth of the matter is that the gaming platform of choice is Windows (although one could make an argument for the PS2, but I think the distinction between gaming box and 'work' box will be bluring together again in the future). The games makers seem to push the limits of the operating system out there right now, so as the OS changes and expands, so will the games. And as that happens, new hardware will be needed to satisfy the requirements of these new games and OS'es. And people will buy this new hardware (and subscription software OS'es) up because right now, they really need their fix of games. The gaming industry is quite the moneymaker, or so I've heard; not quite passing the pr0n industry, but I believe it has surpassed the movie industry.
- A non-productive mind is with absolutely zero balance.
- AC
Actually what I find disturbing is that 'PC' seems be by some weird definition to mean 'runs MS Windows'. I get tired of hearing the watered down phrase, "you have a PC or a MAC". I'm sorry, but we all have PC's...it's called a Personal Computer. Doesn't matter what the operating system running on it is. I say yeah, I have linux machine and windows machine.
Perhaps it's some tie-in with that other PC acronym, political correctness. Ya gotta have a PC to be PC, or something like that. Yech.
- A non-productive mind is with absolutely zero balance.
- AC
We need to have as many technical and scientific minds work with the lawyers of the EFF all through this case. This being the first case testing this abomination of a law, we need to make sure that it is rightly patched and/or overturned. We don't want to fall for a 'quick fix' that seems to be better, when in the long run the law still favors the wrong side. Make sure the lawyers know what to get fixed and how to fix them properly for the benefit of everyone.
I'm sure the media cartels are grinding their gears to find the right obfuscated solution that may satisfy people now, yet still retain the draconian measures currently in place. Just getting his release is not enough, the law must be made right.
- A non-productive mind is with absolutely zero balance.
- AC
At least here in Colorado. Actually, I want to know if anyone else is experiencing this problem. It just happened to coincide with the code red insurgance, but then again, it could be on my end.
In Unreal Tournament (yah yah, windows...so I have a gaming partition) there is an internal browser of sorts. The 'news' page displays a web page with the latest news. You click another tab and find servers to play on. Etc.
Well the problem that has surfaced is that when I click on the 'news' page tab, it just keeps querying the server. Running it through a proxy filter, I can see that it is sending out the proper HTTP GET request. It just appears that the return data packet never makes it back to my computer. Now, the game listings work just fine and I can go into and play games. However, there is a feature which will auto-download skins, maps, mods, etc. if you enter a server and do not have a particular item installed on your drive. This feature has also mysteriously stopped working and I am not sure why, since I believe it operates on the same port as the game server (ie: usually a quite high port).
All other web browsing through IE, Mozilla, etc. work fine. Although I've just noticed that I cant seem to download Norton AV updates now either...that's not a good sign. The service here is ATTcrapHome (ATT@home), so if anyone else is having a similar problem, let me know and any workarounds you might have found. After that, I'll probably try and re-install the game to see if that corrects the problem.
- A non-productive mind is with absolutely zero balance.
- AC
Actually it is not FUD here at our college. The main university recomendations for new students are for them to purchase computers with Win2000.
Some of the sub-colleges, business and engineering even *give* notebook computers to students here. These are all configured with Win2K for integration with their particular mail and online services. Of course, *hopefully*, the computers handed out by the university will be patched. But as I mentioned in my post, there are individuals on campus who still dont keep up on their administration duties.
And again, most of our statistics showed a majority of students migrating to Win2K over the last year. We had plenty of mini-web servers running here at our campus. So don't disregard this as FUD. Perhaps at your local university, there isn't a push to Win2k. At ours there is and this could very well be commonplace at others, so my original post was not to spread fear but present a 'heads-up'.
- A non-productive mind is with absolutely zero balance.
- AC
We might be in for another growth spurt...when the hundreds of thousands of college students return to campus and plug in their computers. A good portion of them have probably been unattatched to the network, or will be brand new machines just for school. Working at a University, we aren't looking forward to this potential new stream of *fun*.
One possible saving grace is that most of our students come back after the worm is supposed to sleep (20th of the month). However, it might wake again come Sept. 1st. Not to mention any server out there with bad dates ready to spew it around.
On another note, I've notified several people in other departments that they've been hit with the CR II version. They say "well, I'll just apply the patch". Wrong, that will stop your computer from trying to broadcast the worm. Unfortunately, the patch doesn't clean up the trojan explorer.exe and registry settings. I tell them "you'll need to reformat the whole computer, and they laugh". Well, at least I can be first in line to berate their IT department for not taking that suggestion when their whole networked gets compromised from another backdoor installed during the computers 'open' state.
-A non-productive mind is with absolutely zero balance.
- AC
Perhaps their damage rating only refers to immediate damage done to the machine. There is no web defacement, mass amounts of files are not deleted, the drive isnt reformatted. Of course, all this *could* be done via the installed backdoor.
-A non-productive mind is with absolutely zero balance.
- AC
So I haven't studied the graphs much, but I feel a bit nit-picky as to the rate of growth being used by everyone (caveat: I am not a hardcore mathmetician either).
I've seen two terms used to describe the code-red growth: geometrically and exponentially.
Now if I remember my basic math teachings you can have a arithmetically increasing (or decreasing) sequence which proceeds at a (I believe) constant rate: 2,4,6,8,10,12.... rate increase of +2.
There is also the geometric series which progresses something like this: 2,4,8,16,32,64,128.... rate increase of x2.
Then exponential series which (IIRC) progress by a factor of 'e'. Hrm. Have I just answered my question; exponential series are just a subset of geometric series, with the factor being 'e'? Or are they significantly different? And if so, just what rate is (did) code-red progressing at?
Like I said, it's nit-picky, but I hear both terms thrown around like they were candy and am curious as to which one best describes the growth (since the sites with graphs seem to be overtly busy at the time). Thanks in advance to any hardcore mathmeticians shedding light on this.
-A non-productive mind is with absolutely zero balance.
- AC
Yes much of the media, and some of those experts have definitely mis-interpreted the worms actions.
The crushing blow that this worm could still deal, is not so much during it's spread, but rather when all those infected machines start broadcasting gigabytes (or some other arbitrary number) worth of data during attack mode. The attack phase was relatively short, IIRC, but generated the most traffic. Thus, all the previous infections that haven't been patched, could possibly began re-flooding come the 20th of August.
The worm is definitely trying to spread again, our school has already been probed a couple dozen times and I expect to see plenty more over the coming days.
What other MS admins need to worry about is keeping track of any future additions to their machines. If they, or someone else, adjusts Windows components on that server, this particular hotfix needs to be reinstalled. So, in effect, your machine could get infected sometime down the road if changes are made and vigilance is not kept up (of course once SP3 comes out, I think does a permanent fix...but still waiting...)
- A non-productive mind has absolutely zero balance.
- AC
Telecom executives say that without a major redesign of the Internet, such eagerly anticipated applications as video-on-demand, Internet telephony and Webcasts of live entertainment events will never be economical.
More like "without a major dump of money into getting fiber optic out to every last mile of every house, so as to provide a fast (relatively unclogged) data pipeline with which to carry these so-called eagerly anticipated applications."
Seriously, they can make the control of data more conducive to their 'business' models, but even after that, they will be *many, many* years from being profitable. Why? Because people aren't going to give them money for those services while they are still stuck behind a 56k modem. I suppose this would be their "lie-n-wait" strategy, which would probably mean that only 3 or 4 top companies (with enough money now to weather the tide) will be around to "give us what they know we need".
I see a lot of this as a result of poor marketing of the 'promises' of the Internet. And by poor, I mean *way overhyped, way too soon*. All the great services can (and probably will) be done, however the timeframe (which should be used to develop business strategies, not undermine the transport structure) promised by rampant marketeers over the last decade was just not feasible. The result? A lot of non-techies got overly-stimulated at what they were going to get with this Internet-thingee, but they didn't get it when promised. So, like many people nowadays (when they don't get what they want as quickly as they get their fast-food), their attention turned elsewhere...disregarding the Internet-world as a 'fad'. This is unfortunate, because this lull in attention (or excitement) towards it is just what big-Corps need to redesign it to their own liking. They can then market it again as something different, and the masses will all go googly-eyed over it again (or maybe they'll be forced to use it...who knows).
- A non-productive mind is with absolutely zero balance.
- AC
WT News: MS Worm misses WhiteHouse apple, gets stuck in the Internet tree.
NYT News: 'Code Red' turns out to be false alarm.
WT Ed: IIS exploit misses it's mark; still causes widespread annoyances.
NYT Ed: Wiggly worm wusses out whitewashing WhiteHouse web.
(Sorry about the last one but hey, some people still use alliteration don't they?)
- a non-productive mind is with absolutely zero balance.
- AC
I'm an avid backcountry adventurer, but sometimes I like venturing into the (way overcrowded) public ski areas. Therefore, I get the Colorado Pass, a cheap ski pass for several resorts here. Well, several years ago I got my picture taken for it and got one pass. This, I was told at the time, was to be a re-usable pass for all the years to come.
However, this year upon renewal I find that we have to get re-photographed and get new cards. Why? The new cards will have better 'identity theft' prevention measures to them. They were pretty vague during the process. Well, I just got the new card and notice some interesting things about it.
It would seem they are using some primitive facial recognition techniques. The photo is relatively dark, so it seems weird to be able to rely on it by normal visual cues because it is tough to make out my face. However, around various parts of the photo, and *only* at key junctures of my face and upper body, there are what at first appears to be visible photograph 'artifacts'. Theses appear no where else in the background of the photo, so they dont resemble the result of a poor photograph. They are black 'blotches' with white highlights around one of their edges. They appear at areas that define my face: two dots right at the end of my nose (one for each nostril), some dots around one of my eyes, a few tracing the top of my head and cheekbones, and several around my neck and shoulder area. The dots seem to be placed to be able to measure the overall width of my head, nostril width, eye height, facial bone structure, shoulder composition.
The photo pretty much *sucks* in really proving that is you...at least to a lift operator who looks at it (barely even, they just quickly scan them) while you are wearing full hat and goggles. So I figure if there is a suspicion, they will take you in some room and point a camera at your face. This will then compare the dots taken then, with the pattern from the card (no doubt in a database somewhere) to make sure it is really you (apparently the big problem is casual sharing...is that like casual piracy?...where you give it to your friend to use tomorrow, etc).
So, there you have it, big brother is already scanning us for use of the ski slopes. The Colorado DMV procedure is a bit different however, at least according to first readings. We wont even get scanned by the new machines, at least not initially for those of us with licenses already. Their technology will be able to scan my existing photograph and interpolate from there. Then when I go renew in another five years I'll get scanned with the new machine to make sure it is me. I'm thinking of getting some facial putty and spirit gum. I want to 'alter' my cheekbones and nostril placement to see if I can throw off the new cameras. Then on the way to interrogation, slip the makeup off...or something like that.
-a non productive mind is with absolutely zero balance
Hrm, I agree with you in that this is "in their minds"...those who could be considered art critics. What needs to be more widely known is that this really need not be the case at all.
For example, they would be right to say certain "filters" play by the numbers and reproduce the same "result" over and over. However, randomness and individuality can be very prevelant in computer graphics. I work with high end graphics programs such as Painter 6. In creating brush strokes, there are options to allow for random variations in brush strokes (varying the bristle width, amount of paint on brush, etc). No two brush strokes will look alike from the same artist, let alone from different ones. Combine that with a very good drawing tablet which allows for precise stroke control as well as varied pressure levels, and you get original art that (aside from copying the end file) has a very high probability of not being reproducable...even by the same artist (given that he/she may have been in a certain mood at the time and pushed on the brush more, etc.).
So, while you might be able to scan any photograph and apply a sephia filter to it (to mass produce an effect to all your photos), the art of sketching and painting on the computer can be (and is, with the right tools) as infinitely varied as doing it on physical mediums. Now, more people need to be exposed to art created in this manner in order to break down that 'barrier' in their minds.
A non-productive mind is with absolutely zero balance.
These are good examples that should be implemented into web browsers. However, they should NOT be implemented in the manner that MS wishes to impose on us. Granted, the tech-savvy geek will be able to write their own "dictonary" smart tag to provide this feature for themselves. But the average user will just swallow the defaults thrown at them from MS...which will more often than not lead them afoul.
A solution to provide useful "dictonary" (as one example) look-up features, would not be to add hyperlinks within the page itself. Rather, the web browser engine (or this case, the 'smart-tag' add-on) should scan the source and gather text within certain html blocks ('p','a','blockquote', etc.). Compile the list of all the words that appear on a page this way. Then, there will be a SEPARATE window (say accessed via a button) that can be brought up just showing all the words in the document. Any word in this window could be clicked on to then access an online dictonary to provide the needed definition.
This way the original content does not have the 'appearance' of being altered and viewers get the benefit of a new feature. Of course, MS wants these features to be as ubitquitous (sp?) as possible, hence the schema of making it appear as a new hyperlink right in the page. I mentioned above that a separate window could appear. Heck, to go along with an MS seamless idea, it would just be another use for that left 'sidebar' that can be enable currently in IE5. That is where the smart tag information should be working...providing a clear distinction that it is the web browser doing the work.
Yet another angle to take (on this subject as a whole), is that MS shouldn't be *forcing* this down everyone. Instead (since scanning pages could become inherently difficult), allow the content creators to begin designing their pages with XML tags. Then pages that want to make use of the smart-tag feature will do so and vise versa.
- a non productive mind is with absolutely zero balance.
AC
I notice a lot of people here saying "just look at the Internet as a whole...". This is fine and all, but still doesn't provide the clear example of so-called 'legit' usage. So here is a few that I've been exposed to.
I ran a small ISP that offered coverage to most of our state. We had three offices, which for simplicity, were located in roughly a triangular pattern across the state (physically separated by several hundred miles). Each office had it's own local technical support for its immeadiate area. However, all three needed to collaborate together to solve common technical problems (especially since two of the offices had overlapping dial-in nodes). Our solution was to use ICQ for everyone in all the offices. Once everyone was in for the day and logged on, everyone had instant access to chat with anyone else (you knew when someone was in, out to lunch or home sick). After implementing that our productivity increased approximately 40% and call time decreased accordingly. Phone support was now able to work the problem out with the customer and the rest of his peers around the state at the same time (often with the customer oblivious to this). Meetings between all the technicians were held through a simulataneous chat session (ICQ has simple IRC interface for chat), just like having a meeting in one room, everyone had a chance to speak at those meetings.
Being a P2P connection, technicians were able to use the file sharing abilities of ICQ to send drivers and other useful files quickly between each other when needed (it was able to go directly to the tech who needed it at the time). We even provided some techs with a public ICQ name and broadcast those to our users. That way, they provided online question support to online users using ICQ as well (those customer had other questions than "I cant get online..").
I think this is a very powerful use of P2P-like technology. In fact I remember about a year or two ago several tech-mags having articles about using these programs in that way (we had already been that way for a year). I think some of the new P2P programs might be written for the same useage, but wont rely on a central ICQ-type server. Give a particular company their own server and run the clients within their intranet. This way you offer higher security for your conversations among employees. It will only contain the users of that company (and or maybe any affiliates they let into it), and you wont get random pr0n anouncements from outside individuals.
- A non-productive mind is with absolutely zero balance.
AC
Hrm, threats against the conference organizers? Isn't that analogous to free speech suppression? Like suing the newspaper for printing someones editorial?
Oh yeah, forgot, already happened against 2600. *sigh*