I quite like that colour scheme. Not to look at mind you, but for its implications.
As I'm browsing with Opera I sometimes find sites that only work properly with Internet Explorer. It seems fitting that there are sites out there that are going to discriminate against MSIE users. Using Opera I just hit CTRL-G and the page resets to my default colur scheme and styles - black on white text, times new roman 12pt font throughout.
MSIE users OTOH are trying to blink away the purple spots before they've got to the end of the first page.
...and took ages to load but I clicked the Windows version download link and it responded instantly and started downloading at 72K/second.
I bet the link for the Linux version isn't handling the strain so well.
Wired News [wired.com] has a similar interesting article about a cease and desist letter [wired.com] sent to an independant news site [barkingdogs.org] by Belo [belo.com], corporate parent of The Dallas Morning News [dallasnews.com], forbidding them from linking to individual stories within the site
This is a bit rich seeing as how Wired themselves deep link to other sites. Checkout Wired news and see for yourselves.
You bet your ass unencumbered hardware could go away. Give it five years. Five years is forever in the computer industry - remember what hardware you were using five years ago?
I can't see how this will bother the world outside the US at all. Other countries do make hardware and they'll continue to make it despite not being able to sell it in the US. I suspect the Asian manufacturers can't wait for this to happen - they'll lose any sales to US citizens as their hardware is outlawed but will more than compensate by the rest of the world turning away from US hardware (after all who will use DRM crippled hardware when there's an alternative?)
Can US hardware manufacturers survive on US sales alone? They may have to unless they are allowed to produce non-DRM hardware for export only.
Now that is strange. I can't think where else I could have picked it up from but I have not downloaded KaZaa so I must have got it through another program. How many other programs are infected with this trojan?
For the record, I have run Morpheus (both the old FastTrack version and the new Gnutella-based one), but they wouldn't do this, what with their 'no spyware' policy, would they?
Just to make people aware that the trojan is also distributed with other FastTrack browsers such as Grokster. It is not just confined to KaZaa. I've never downloaded or installed KaZaa but I am running Grokster (with the spyware removed and dummy cydoor dll in place) and I was infected as well. If you're running Grokster check out your Windows directory. If there's a folder in there called BDE and you aren't running the Borland Databse Engine then you're infected as well.
What sort of device can read that quickly? That's an order of magnitude or so faster than the fastest RAM I've seen. I suspect they simply transmitted a simple repeating pattern rather than actually reading and writing data from a device of some sort.
Sorry if I gave the impression that I singled out FooN. It was just one link of many to a homebrew developer site that I could have posted. I chose your site simply because FooN is a very cool piece of software and well illustrates the level of sophistication of the hobbyist comunity.
...and I use it legitimately. There's a GNU GBA C compiler and tools available and it's fun to develop simple games for it. Of course I can't sell anything I produce, but the amateur GBA developer scene is very active and I can't see how it harms Nintendo in any way. Quite the opposite in fact; I wouldn't have bought a GBA if I couldn't program it. Checkout http://www.gbadev.org for more about the GBA amateur developer scene.
While the flash linker can be used for piracy, this case is exactly the same as the one reported here earlier about the Dreamcast-PC serial cable. Just because it could be used for piracy doesn't mean it is.
Having said all that, I can see why Nintendo are going after this kit - GBA roms are easy to find on the net and are small enough that even the slowest modem connection can download them. Nintendo are very different from companies like Sony and Microsoft in that they keep tight control of the content of any software developed for their hardware through draconian licences. They see their consoles as being aimed primarily at younger children and try to discourage development of 'adult' titles. Sites like http://foon.pocketheaven.com/ that carry unlicenced software weaken their position so, while being legal, their position is precarious.
As a flash linker is required to get the software from unlicenced developers onto the GBA, it's no surprise that this is where Nintendo's attack lawyers would concentrate their efforts. The DMCA just makes them an even more tempting target.
-- Input error. Replace user and press any key to continue.
I assume it's the same key as the 'Alt Gr' key that's standard on British keyboards. It's just to the right of the spacebar and seems to function the same as the other ALT key except ALT GR+4 gives the Euro character ().
-- Input error. Replace user and press any key to continue
The solution to your objection is simple, you create competing services
Why create competing services when you could just expand on the basic system by grouping messages so you only see groups that you are registered as belonging to?
It should be possible to link groups to cell phone transmitters so they would be local to a specific city. Default groups on all transmitters would be a general access group for anyone to leave messages, an official group reserved for local governement messages "Roadworks start here next week for 6 weeks", and local groups that anyone could define (so you only get messages from your freinds or clubs). Groups could be chargeable to join (tour guides at historic locations, listings magazines giving reviews of any location, traffic camera warning messages for motorists, etc).
Just having the ability to leave messages tied to specific locations is a really cool idea. Not having any grouping of messages would make it as unusable as usenet without groups - if all usenet posts were just to one generic group no-one would be able to use it, and this technology is no different.
If you're gonna destroy old media with sensitive data on it, make sure you thouroughly pulverize it
I second this advise. I used to work for a defence contractor back in the 80's and had the job of ensuring disk security on damaged drives. This consisted of taking a chisel to the disk platters and removing all trace of oxide from them and then sending the oxide off to be incinerated on-site and the blank aluminium platters off-site for recycling. This was taken very seriously and techniques for extracting data from disks can only have improved enormously in the intervening 20 years.
With reference to the DNA samples mentioned above, it's far worse than that.
The UK government already has 3.5 million DNA samples stored and indexed, which amounts to 1 in every 15 people, with a plan to increase this to 1 in 5 of the population by 2005. How is this going to be achieved? Simply anyone suspected of a crime has their DNA sample taken (by force if necessary) to be added to the database.
The only possible outcome of this policy is to turn the British justice system on its head - what was once an innocent-until-proven-guilty system becomes a guilty-until-proven-innocent system.
The reasoning behind this is as follows: If I'm ever arrested, whatever the circumstances, a DNA sample will be taken whether I'm ever charged with a crime or not. DNA matching is only accurate to about 1 in 10 million samples. Given that there are about 50 million people in the UK, there are 4 other people in the country that would match my DNA sample. If one of those 4 people burgled a house a few miles from where I live, I'd have to prove my innocence. People are convicted solely on the basis of forensic evidence all the time.
This, coupled with the RIP bill and the new traffic cameras that are starting to appear (they read number plates) raise serious civil liberties questions that are just not being answered - in the recent general election this was a non-issue, no mention was made of this at all.
I really don't see the problem here. If the system is used for the job they've announced then no-one can really argue against that (except those unfortunates who bear a superficial resemblance to someone who's wanted and who get picked up every time they go into town).
If they (whoever they are) start to misuse the system then you've got guns and cameras are fragile and expensive...
Don't count on it being more than you need for very long. Moore's Law still stands true and we'll probably see 5GHz machines as entry level in under four years.
I really hope they release a 4.77GHz system. That would be a milestone.
Slashdot Mirror
As I'm browsing with Opera I sometimes find sites that only work properly with Internet Explorer. It seems fitting that there are sites out there that are going to discriminate against MSIE users. Using Opera I just hit CTRL-G and the page resets to my default colur scheme and styles - black on white text, times new roman 12pt font throughout.
MSIE users OTOH are trying to blink away the purple spots before they've got to the end of the first page.
...and took ages to load but I clicked the Windows version download link and it responded instantly and started downloading at 72K/second. I bet the link for the Linux version isn't handling the strain so well.
This is a bit rich seeing as how Wired themselves deep link to other sites. Checkout Wired news and see for yourselves.
I can't see how this will bother the world outside the US at all. Other countries do make hardware and they'll continue to make it despite not being able to sell it in the US. I suspect the Asian manufacturers can't wait for this to happen - they'll lose any sales to US citizens as their hardware is outlawed but will more than compensate by the rest of the world turning away from US hardware (after all who will use DRM crippled hardware when there's an alternative?) Can US hardware manufacturers survive on US sales alone? They may have to unless they are allowed to produce non-DRM hardware for export only.
Now that is strange. I can't think where else I could have picked it up from but I have not downloaded KaZaa so I must have got it through another program. How many other programs are infected with this trojan?
For the record, I have run Morpheus (both the old FastTrack version and the new Gnutella-based one), but they wouldn't do this, what with their 'no spyware' policy, would they?
Just to make people aware that the trojan is also distributed with other FastTrack browsers such as Grokster. It is not just confined to KaZaa. I've never downloaded or installed KaZaa but I am running Grokster (with the spyware removed and dummy cydoor dll in place) and I was infected as well. If you're running Grokster check out your Windows directory. If there's a folder in there called BDE and you aren't running the Borland Databse Engine then you're infected as well.
To quote someone famous (but I can't remember who) "We'll see a paperless toilet before we see a paperless office".
What sort of device can read that quickly? That's an order of magnitude or so faster than the fastest RAM I've seen. I suspect they simply transmitted a simple repeating pattern rather than actually reading and writing data from a device of some sort.
Sorry if I gave the impression that I singled out FooN. It was just one link of many to a homebrew developer site that I could have posted. I chose your site simply because FooN is a very cool piece of software and well illustrates the level of sophistication of the hobbyist comunity.
...and I use it legitimately. There's a GNU GBA C compiler and tools available and it's fun to develop simple games for it. Of course I can't sell anything I produce, but the amateur GBA developer scene is very active and I can't see how it harms Nintendo in any way. Quite the opposite in fact; I wouldn't have bought a GBA if I couldn't program it. Checkout http://www.gbadev.org for more about the GBA amateur developer scene.
While the flash linker can be used for piracy, this case is exactly the same as the one reported here earlier about the Dreamcast-PC serial cable. Just because it could be used for piracy doesn't mean it is.
Having said all that, I can see why Nintendo are going after this kit - GBA roms are easy to find on the net and are small enough that even the slowest modem connection can download them.
Nintendo are very different from companies like Sony and Microsoft in that they keep tight control of the content of any software developed for their hardware through draconian licences. They see their consoles as being aimed primarily at younger children and try to discourage development of 'adult' titles. Sites like http://foon.pocketheaven.com/ that carry unlicenced software weaken their position so, while being legal, their position is precarious. As a flash linker is required to get the software from unlicenced developers onto the GBA, it's no surprise that this is where Nintendo's attack lawyers would concentrate their efforts. The DMCA just makes them an even more tempting target.
--
Input error. Replace user and press any key to continue.
What the heck is a 'Gr' key??
I assume it's the same key as the 'Alt Gr' key that's standard on British keyboards. It's just to the right of the spacebar and seems to function the same as the other ALT key except ALT GR+4 gives the Euro character ().
--
Input error. Replace user and press any key to continue
The solution to your objection is simple, you create competing services
Why create competing services when you could just expand on the basic system by grouping messages so you only see groups that you are registered as belonging to?
It should be possible to link groups to cell phone transmitters so they would be local to a specific city. Default groups on all transmitters would be a general access group for anyone to leave messages, an official group reserved for local governement messages "Roadworks start here next week for 6 weeks", and local groups that anyone could define (so you only get messages from your freinds or clubs). Groups could be chargeable to join (tour guides at historic locations, listings magazines giving reviews of any location, traffic camera warning messages for motorists, etc).
Just having the ability to leave messages tied to specific locations is a really cool idea. Not having any grouping of messages would make it as unusable as usenet without groups - if all usenet posts were just to one generic group no-one would be able to use it, and this technology is no different.
If you're gonna destroy old media with sensitive data on it, make sure you thouroughly pulverize it
I second this advise. I used to work for a defence contractor back in the 80's and had the job of ensuring disk security on damaged drives. This consisted of taking a chisel to the disk platters and removing all trace of oxide from them and then sending the oxide off to be incinerated on-site and the blank aluminium platters off-site for recycling. This was taken very seriously and techniques for extracting data from disks can only have improved enormously in the intervening 20 years.
Slow Glass? Other Days, Other Eyes
Security through Explosives Abort, Retry, Explode?
With reference to the DNA samples mentioned above, it's far worse than that. The UK government already has 3.5 million DNA samples stored and indexed, which amounts to 1 in every 15 people, with a plan to increase this to 1 in 5 of the population by 2005. How is this going to be achieved? Simply anyone suspected of a crime has their DNA sample taken (by force if necessary) to be added to the database. The only possible outcome of this policy is to turn the British justice system on its head - what was once an innocent-until-proven-guilty system becomes a guilty-until-proven-innocent system. The reasoning behind this is as follows: If I'm ever arrested, whatever the circumstances, a DNA sample will be taken whether I'm ever charged with a crime or not. DNA matching is only accurate to about 1 in 10 million samples. Given that there are about 50 million people in the UK, there are 4 other people in the country that would match my DNA sample. If one of those 4 people burgled a house a few miles from where I live, I'd have to prove my innocence. People are convicted solely on the basis of forensic evidence all the time. This, coupled with the RIP bill and the new traffic cameras that are starting to appear (they read number plates) raise serious civil liberties questions that are just not being answered - in the recent general election this was a non-issue, no mention was made of this at all.
I really don't see the problem here. If the system is used for the job they've announced then no-one can really argue against that (except those unfortunates who bear a superficial resemblance to someone who's wanted and who get picked up every time they go into town). If they (whoever they are) start to misuse the system then you've got guns and cameras are fragile and expensive...
Don't count on it being more than you need for very long. Moore's Law still stands true and we'll probably see 5GHz machines as entry level in under four years. I really hope they release a 4.77GHz system. That would be a milestone.