When new connections are created, an initial sequence number (ISN) generator is employed which selects a new 32 bit ISN. The generator is bound to a (possibly fictitious) 32 bit clock whose low order bit is incremented roughly every 4 microseconds.
Which would provide somewhat random ISNs. What we are seeing here is the fact that compuers today are faster than they where twenty years ago, and thus better random (or psuedo-random) ISN generators are needed. Still it's nice to see vendors getting called out on bad implementations.
I'm sorry if I'm being a bit dense here, but nowhere in this message can I find anything suggesting RedHat is going forward with x86-64.
All I see is a (good) suggestion for altering the current set of RedHat install CDs to allow for processor-specific optimisations in the kernel/system binaries. There is mention of how this would carry through into x86-64 support, but this is just a suggestion from someone outside RedHat.
These security related updates may disable your ability to copy and/or play Secure Content and use other software on your computer.
Now there's a particularly nasty line. It starts off with DRM for 'Secure Content' (which I guess is M$'s new term for protected IP), but then it expands into 'Other Programs'. Which means, MS is now reserving the right to disable any program they don't like.
Furthermore, the patch that disables the program will "will be automatically downloaded onto your computer," without your knowledge. But, the real kicker is this one (my favourite line):
If we provide such a security update, we will use reasonable efforts to post notices on a web site explaining the update.
So even if they send out patches killing off all non-MS software, they can bury a notice so deep in microsoft.com that no one will ever find it, and claim (correctly) they are going above and beyond the EULA. Damn, I'm glad I use Macs and NetBSD.
Forgive me, I phrased that badly. What I should have said is that as O.S. projects approach a more feature-complete stage, then they will gain backing from companies (previously existing, or just coming into existence). That is, rather than having companies founded on vague 'Linux --> ??? --> Profit' style business plans, companies are adopting the products of garage or weekend hackers.
One last try at expressing myself clearly: I am trying to say that more and more, the product will exist before the company that will successfully market it has even heard of it.
Hmm, perhaps it's just me, but the word 'Internet' is only used twice in the BBC article, and the idea that this network will be used for net access is passed over fairly quickly.
The bulk of it seems to be about how "Broadband gives computer users high-speed access to broadcast-quality films, video conferencing and other facilities." And how this network will be used to "receive movies, music videos and entertainment shows on-demand to their living room."
In fact, the only user testimonial in the article is:
"We have been watching music videos and flicking through films," tester Andrew Sharpe told BBC News Online from his newly wired Gelliwastad Grove address.
"Before, I was dialling up using a slow 56 kbps modem, but now I can't notice the difference from a TV picture. It's very impressive."
All-in-all, this seems more like a North American CableCo switching to wireless delivery in rural areas, as opposed to an ISP. In this article, at least, 'net access is only given a cursory lip-service.
Yes, I know that Wal-Mart shows up on Netcraft as running Microsoft IIS, but curiously, the operating system is Linux. So, it appears to be a case of the fairly common Apache hack, in which the Apache source is modified to output IIS as the server string. Mike Prettejohn of Netcraft assures me that the method used to find out the underlying operating system is less susceptible to modification in this way than the Web server signature.
Could this be an indicator of the future of Open Source? It seems to me that while IT departments are going to be pushing open solutions more and more, the management is going to be worried about the effect that would have on customers and users. Which could be significant, with Microsoft spending vast sums on FUD, and adding a 'Works best (or only works) with an MS-approved client/server' warning to their products. (Which we will likely see more and more of as the march to Palladium continues.) In the future, we will see more open source system masquerading outright as proprietary ones.
The second reason I foresee this happening is that the history of Open Source is replete with examples of projects such as GNU, Linux, Lindows, and XFree86, all started with the intention of replacing a proprietary product with an open one.
Frankly, the fact that there are less companies developing open products doesn't worry me, because it's much easier to start building a clone while you are small enough to fly under radar. It's only when the product is approaching a usable status that a company is needed for promotion, protection, etc. and it is then that they will spring up around the product.
Last I checked, most Open Source developers had day-jobs unrelated to their open projects.
usability links
on
Built For Use
·
· Score: 4, Informative
Re:Great, as long as it doesn't eat up minutes...
on
The Wireless Arcade
·
· Score: 1, Insightful
Arcade game players who have learned to milk hours out of a few quarters will also likely find wireless gaming a far less congenial experience. Wireless distribution means that gamers essentially get punished--instead of rewarded--for their skills. "If you're successful at a network game," says Ovum analyst Roope Mokka, "you end up paying more in airtime charges because you have a longer session."
This would be the largest stumbling block for me -- my Palm, with it's games stored locally, would win out over my phone every time. This is probably going to be the same for everyone who doesn't spend massive amounts of time in multi-user games already.
Now if it was a flat rate access, then I'd probably go for it.
We already have people taking violent action against cellphone owners whose phones go off at the 'wrong' time. Now, these people are going to have to listen to tinny, repetitive, fairly cheesy music while waiting in lines.
It would be bad enough at the theatre (if they annoy you outside, what are they going to do inside). But what about the lines where people are already frustrated, like the DMV or lunch-hour runs to bank tellers.
create a pager system that uses Wi-Fi wireless networking
If I'm reading this correctly, this means that you can only receive (two-way) calls on this device, not initiate your own. So you would still need a phone to contact someone with one of these. Doesn't that make it less useful than a walkie-talkie (VoIP or not)?
"No, Homer, cartoons rarely done live -- it's a tremendous strain on the animator's wrist."
A little closer to home would be the episode where Home is brought on stage to do some digital animation of a 6' animated dog (coincidence, I'm sure) with a motion capture body suit. He eventually wanders off the stage (still in the suit) and visits the men's room. Funnier than it sounds, I swear!
It's a neat and innovative idea, but my first impression is that the usability metrics would suck. Unless, of course, the scrolling was throttled down to where it gets frustrating (1:1 mouse settings, anyone?).
If you drove down the highway at 300 km/h (180 mph) and thought it was perfectly alright because it's your car and you can tinker with it if you want, should you get caught?
Yes, by the Highway Patrol/RCMP/What-have-you, but you wouldn't expect the National Guard to be scrambled to intercept your car.
The issue could have been settled by disconnecting their cable and suing for damages from the breach of contract. Calling in the FBI is massive overkill. (Hence the lack of charges.)
Re:First photo? Wild Turin Shroud theories...
on
World's First Photo
·
· Score: 0, Offtopic
Which is why your is at 3 and mine is at 1.
cheers.
Re:First photo? Wild Turin Shroud theories...
on
World's First Photo
·
· Score: 1
The Shroud of Turin is a 14th century painting, see here.
That's not actually a bug -- the AppleSoft BASIC system parsed all input on a line by line basis, and the first step in that was to remove all whitespace. So the parser saw:
10 FORC=ATOB
and tokenised it as:
10 [FOR] [C] [=] [AT] [O] [B]
it also truncated all variables to two letters, just to be difficult...
Slashdot Mirror
Island, Ape and Essence, and, actually, most of Aldous Huxley's works.
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.
The Third Man by Graham Green.
The Castle, The Metamorphosis, and, again, the majority of Franz Kafka's Work.
Depending on your Politics and Economics, the works of Ayn Rand might be the most depressing stuff you've ever read.
Oh, and let's not forget Hamlet, Macbeth and the rest of the Shakespearean Tragedies.
Which would provide somewhat random ISNs. What we are seeing here is the fact that compuers today are faster than they where twenty years ago, and thus better random (or psuedo-random) ISN generators are needed. Still it's nice to see vendors getting called out on bad implementations.
I'm sorry if I'm being a bit dense here, but nowhere in this message can I find anything suggesting RedHat is going forward with x86-64.
All I see is a (good) suggestion for altering the current set of RedHat install CDs to allow for processor-specific optimisations in the kernel/system binaries. There is mention of how this would carry through into x86-64 support, but this is just a suggestion from someone outside RedHat.
These security related updates may disable your ability to copy and/or play Secure Content and use other software on your computer.
Now there's a particularly nasty line. It starts off with DRM for 'Secure Content' (which I guess is M$'s new term for protected IP), but then it expands into 'Other Programs'. Which means, MS is now reserving the right to disable any program they don't like.
Furthermore, the patch that disables the program will "will be automatically downloaded onto your computer," without your knowledge. But, the real kicker is this one (my favourite line):
If we provide such a security update, we will use reasonable efforts to post notices on a web site explaining the update.
So even if they send out patches killing off all non-MS software, they can bury a notice so deep in microsoft.com that no one will ever find it, and claim (correctly) they are going above and beyond the EULA. Damn, I'm glad I use Macs and NetBSD.
Forgive me, I phrased that badly. What I should have said is that as O.S. projects approach a more feature-complete stage, then they will gain backing from companies (previously existing, or just coming into existence). That is, rather than having companies founded on vague 'Linux --> ??? --> Profit' style business plans, companies are adopting the products of garage or weekend hackers.
One last try at expressing myself clearly: I am trying to say that more and more, the product will exist before the company that will successfully market it has even heard of it.
Hmm, perhaps it's just me, but the word 'Internet' is only used twice in the BBC article, and the idea that this network will be used for net access is passed over fairly quickly.
The bulk of it seems to be about how "Broadband gives computer users high-speed access to broadcast-quality films, video conferencing and other facilities." And how this network will be used to "receive movies, music videos and entertainment shows on-demand to their living room."
In fact, the only user testimonial in the article is:
"We have been watching music videos and flicking through films," tester Andrew Sharpe told BBC News Online from his newly wired Gelliwastad Grove address.
"Before, I was dialling up using a slow 56 kbps modem, but now I can't notice the difference from a TV picture. It's very impressive."
All-in-all, this seems more like a North American CableCo switching to wireless delivery in rural areas, as opposed to an ISP. In this article, at least, 'net access is only given a cursory lip-service.
Yes, I know that Wal-Mart shows up on Netcraft as running Microsoft IIS, but curiously, the operating system is Linux. So, it appears to be a case of the fairly common Apache hack, in which the Apache source is modified to output IIS as the server string. Mike Prettejohn of Netcraft assures me that the method used to find out the underlying operating system is less susceptible to modification in this way than the Web server signature.
Could this be an indicator of the future of Open Source? It seems to me that while IT departments are going to be pushing open solutions more and more, the management is going to be worried about the effect that would have on customers and users. Which could be significant, with Microsoft spending vast sums on FUD, and adding a 'Works best (or only works) with an MS-approved client/server' warning to their products. (Which we will likely see more and more of as the march to Palladium continues.) In the future, we will see more open source system masquerading outright as proprietary ones.
The second reason I foresee this happening is that the history of Open Source is replete with examples of projects such as GNU, Linux, Lindows, and XFree86, all started with the intention of replacing a proprietary product with an open one.
Frankly, the fact that there are less companies developing open products doesn't worry me, because it's much easier to start building a clone while you are small enough to fly under radar. It's only when the product is approaching a usable status that a company is needed for promotion, protection, etc. and it is then that they will spring up around the product.
Last I checked, most Open Source developers had day-jobs unrelated to their open projects.
Arcade game players who have learned to milk hours out of a few quarters will also likely find wireless gaming a far less congenial experience. Wireless distribution means that gamers essentially get punished--instead of rewarded--for their skills. "If you're successful at a network game," says Ovum analyst Roope Mokka, "you end up paying more in airtime charges because you have a longer session."
This would be the largest stumbling block for me -- my Palm, with it's games stored locally, would win out over my phone every time. This is probably going to be the same for everyone who doesn't spend massive amounts of time in multi-user games already.
Now if it was a flat rate access, then I'd probably go for it.
We already have people taking violent action against cellphone owners whose phones go off at the 'wrong' time. Now, these people are going to have to listen to tinny, repetitive, fairly cheesy music while waiting in lines.
It would be bad enough at the theatre (if they annoy you outside, what are they going to do inside). But what about the lines where people are already frustrated, like the DMV or lunch-hour runs to bank tellers.
All in all, I hope they have a mute button...
The first place I saw the idea was AskTog, May, 2000. But he has an update saying the technology has been developed by a company called bluelinx.
What's worse is that Star Trek (Ahh, it's spreading!) gets listed in the related links box. A fairly tenuous relation at best.
create a pager system that uses Wi-Fi wireless networking
If I'm reading this correctly, this means that you can only receive (two-way) calls on this device, not initiate your own. So you would still need a phone to contact someone with one of these. Doesn't that make it less useful than a walkie-talkie (VoIP or not)?
Wait a second,
:)
Open Source = Communism ?
Why hasn't this been modded down to Troll?
"No, Homer, cartoons rarely done live -- it's a tremendous strain on the animator's wrist."
A little closer to home would be the episode where Home is brought on stage to do some digital animation of a 6' animated dog (coincidence, I'm sure) with a motion capture body suit. He eventually wanders off the stage (still in the suit) and visits the men's room. Funnier than it sounds, I swear!
Let's start a pool on how long it takes those tentatively linked to, and the indirect spammers (grey boxes) fire out the Cease and Desist letters.
/.er could be a spammer, right?).
I say tommorrow (no self-respecting
It's a neat and innovative idea, but my first impression is that the usability metrics would suck. Unless, of course, the scrolling was throttled down to where it gets frustrating (1:1 mouse settings, anyone?).
So a 20-way cluster would require two copies -- event in single user mode, ack.
I wonder if an emulator would count as a second CPU...
If you drove down the highway at 300 km/h (180 mph) and thought it was perfectly alright because it's your car and you can tinker with it if you want, should you get caught?
Yes, by the Highway Patrol/RCMP/What-have-you, but you wouldn't expect the National Guard to be scrambled to intercept your car.
The issue could have been settled by disconnecting their cable and suing for damages from the breach of contract. Calling in the FBI is massive overkill. (Hence the lack of charges.)
Which is why your is at 3 and mine is at 1.
cheers.
The Shroud of Turin is a 14th century painting, see here.
This isn't intended as flamebait, honestly.
That's not actually a bug -- the AppleSoft BASIC system parsed all input on a line by line basis, and the first step in that was to remove all whitespace. So the parser saw:
10 FORC=ATOB and tokenised it as: 10 [FOR] [C] [=] [AT] [O] [B] it also truncated all variables to two letters, just to be difficult...