Looks like it's time to cast our votes on what we think of our "favorite" CEO again! Every time Verisign pulls a stunt like this, his approval ratings take a nosedive. Remember, every vote counts, and maybe we can get him down to less than a 1% approval rating this month, if that's possible.
How about fax numbers? If you fax them questions such as, "Why do you keep calling us?" with huge images attached, then one of two things will happen: 1. If they use a regular fax machine, it will use up lots of paper. 2. If they use a computer to receive faxes, it could fill the harddrive.
It's really interesting, because I don't doubt for one second that M$ told them that either they fire them or they loose their business together. It is common sense, one uncloud's their mind, that M$ is a REALLY bad platform to be on in regards to security. It definitely has a wonderful software base, but that is due mostly to really good marketing, including making a visually appealing interface. Lock-in also plays a big role. However, when one has to worry continually about security holes in their systems, that is bad. Linux systems may have a large number of holes, but they are typically in the daemons running on the machine, and one can jail or chroot them into secure directories, but Windows' core services are the ones that are the culprits here-- and they cannot be jailed!
It's sad that a person who speaks truth gets fired if it is not in the best interest of their companies, but I guess that is why a truly outspoken person must be freelance, because otherwise they WILL be fired eventually for their honesty.
I am really happy to hear about yet another release of a very well designed OS. Because BeOS has it's history tied to where NeXT did, in Apple, it is a very simple, yet like NeXT, elegant OS. I hope to see people do for BeOS what Apple did for NeXT. NeXT was really great, but was not quite as user friendly as the consumer would have liked, but Apple was able to take an already well developed architechture, and without too much blood and sweat, create a truly beautiful (in my opinion) interface. I truly think that the same could be done with BeOS, not that it is not already really well designed. I think that between all the other free desktop OSes to gain market share, BeOS is one of the most promising.
Once we have a number of people going into space, and it builds a travel industry around it, suddenly we will see lots of innovations like the space elevator, etc. become not only practical but quite cheap. If only the government used computers, computers would cost a fortune, but since there is such competition, we have computers that sell for $300 or less now. If that same concept is applied to space travel, there WILL be competition, and there WILL be new better, cheaper ways to get up there, which may or may not involve the space elevator.
My theory has always been that once we have a hotel on the moon, due to it's gravity, people will not have as much of a hard time adapting to it for their vacation, more hotels will open up in competition. Initially, a lot of money would be spent setting up, but the costs of everything would continue to go down. Before we knew it, we would have faster propulsion technologies, better gravity-like technology, and we would be off to Mars for our next resort, resulting in even better competition for innovation.
No kidding. Not only that, but ever tried to suggest to a non-technical person that they get something high-tech? I made that mistake. I told my grandfather to get my grandmother a TiVo. All I can say is: let me just die in peace. Giving an "average" person all the high tech toys is not always the best thing to do, they can't understand them usually it seems! I suppose if I were a paid technical consultant it might not be quite as bad, but when it comes to recommending new technology to non tech people, I recommend the SIMPLEST, least-featured items, because it is guaranteed they will have me over for a half an hour for each feature, trying to teach them. And my patience is not that good, sorry to say. I love technology, I hate teaching technology when I keep hearing, "You are going to have to slow down, you keep going too fast" when I am trying to lay things out as sllllloooowwwwllllyyy as possible.
It's actually kind of sad, being that as the Earth warms up, (if indeed it continues) our children, grandchildren, and so on might only be able to see icecaps, icebergs, etc. in their imaginations or in pictures. It kind of makes me want to go visit some of those places before they are gone.. Of course, we probably have another 400 years before there is nothing else to see, but hey... That viewpoint of "you don't know what you've got until it's gone" has creeped up for me.
It is interesting, because when it all comes down to it, the "good guys" are hurt due to restrictions, and the "bad guys" always end up pirating, etc. I am not sure there really is an answer as to how to protect information 100% without it both hurting the consumer and being crackable by a cracker. Of course, the governments can keep passing laws that make reverse engineering illegal, etc, but again, that's just going to scare the average Joe much more than it would scare someone who really wants to crack a DRM transmission. Only time will tell where the DRM issue ends up.
This guy should would have an even more interesting map if he would use Loran or GPS to track his actual movements too. Especially if he could create an animated map allowing him to retrace every move of every day. That accompanied by his actual ATM/grocery store/etc transactions, itemized receipts and all, and it would make for an impressive "journal" you would never have to write a word in.
A C64 will hardly be able to push 2kbps, which makes broadband seem useless to me. It would seem that beyond the "coolness factor," the most realistic thing to do would be to just simply run it through your PC using serial, and save a buck. Maybe if we can just figure out how to overclock a C64 to 250mhz, we could saturate a T1!
I noticed that the root servers serve out the IP directly. Somebody should write a filtering DNS cache program that detects if the gtld-servers.net servers respond directly. They are INTENDED to simply point you to the owner name server, not actually answer back with A records themselves.
In other words, detect if *.gtld-servers.net returns with anything other than an NS record, don't accept it.
Isn't there a law against sitting on patents for such a long time? They filed in 1994, it became a patent in 1998, and now, FIVE years later, they decide to take up the matter. That seems criminal to me. But really, the fact the the UPSTO does not throw out their patent for letting it just sit there and atrophy until the right time, to maximize lawsuit profits just seems plain wrong.
In a world where companies, especially entertainment companies, seem to happily sell out on anything, and release half-baked products and productions, it is nice for a change to see a company cancel something for not being up to par. Now if we can just get that mentality going in regards to other computer software. "Hmm. Our operating system is too bloated and runs slowly on anything under 1.5 gigahertz and a gig of ram! Back to the drawing board!":)
Remember in grade school when one kid would do something bad, and it would ruin the opportunity for all the other kids? Our country started off as one of the most free countries you would live in. The laws were not in your face, and you could do pretty much what you wanted, within reason. But as more wackos ack out their evil, really our government has no choice but to keep censoring more and more stuff.
Last time I flew in an airplane, I remembered back to years before, when I could look up from my seat at the cockpit door, and sometimes it would be open, and you could vaguely see the front of the plane. That was something that we all just took for granted. But now? We have reinforced doors that must be locked at all times. Likewise in scientific research, it is really sad that people cannot publicly share a lot of ideas, because suddenly it can be used for terrorists. Next thing you know, we will all have to walk through metal detectors to go into the grocery store. Seriously, all we need is a few people walking into grocery stores doing what they do in Israel, and they will have to beef up security there... It is pretty scary to think of where all this can go, depending on how many people decide to act out against civilization.
I guess it all comes down to a comprimise. Which is more important... Security and safety or rights?
It seems that as time goes on, SCO's case gets weaker and weaker, but they keep laying the intensity harder and harder. I really wonder if it is possible that one of the competitive software companies purchased a SCO license with the stipulation that they must make life hell for the Linux/Open Source community. It's gotta make you wonder... It was only very shortly after all the lawsuit stuff popped up that one company particular (we all know who) a license for UNIX code from SCO.
I don't think I have ever subscribed to online content where I had to pay money. Another thing I don't do, which Clay mentioned in his article, is sign up to the people who force you to fill out their questioneers to read their content. I have definitely found that I can find the information through Google via Usenet which, despite people claiming is dead or whatever, is a very good resource for many types of info, including world events in which the posters themselves might be taking part in. So being an average consumer myself, his words ring very true to me.
When we have full VR environments, an interface like that would be very cool and useful, but it seems to me, when we try to break out of the windowed paradigm, things begin to get more complicated than useful. Of course, at the point when we have VR, I am not sure a ferris wheel style would be quite as useful as a concept of rooms, or something of that sort.
That is a bit too much control on our rights, in my opinion. I would think that if that can happen for the Internet, then it could also happen for TV, telephone, and any other type of communication device.
Though education is important, it is the software vendors who are really to blame for a lot of the problems... (i.e. RPC holes, etc) A lot of the propagation of viruses and worms is a result of software accessing flaws in the software, without user intervention.
Now we need to make a bootable live DVD-RW distro.
on
GNOPPIX: Bootable GNOME CD
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
It would be really cool to take KNOPPIX to the next level: DVD-RW knoppix, where you can actually save your changes on the disk. (albeit slowness) Theoretically, you could write a certain amount of information to it, until you have filled up the disc, then have a mechanism to write a new clean DVD-RW with just the most modern information. That with a very driver heavy Linux kernel should allow for your "desktop" being exactly the same on any machine you insert the disc into!
He claims it did not destroy the CD, but really, the data side is the side where the label is. He might be talking about the clear glass side. If so, that is fascinating. I would figure the laser would not be able to focus on that. One has to wonder what if different types of bacteria from things other than yogurt or beer would create even more interesting types of sounds.
I don't have a regular CD player. Someone should do this, record it, then post it up here for those of us without regular CD players!
So not only do they spam us, reserve weird rights to our domain names, and cybersquat, but now they are doing this. It is really too bad there is not some kind of ICANN policy against this type of thing... Then again, ICANN is made up of a bunch of organizations like them anyway, so the whole thing is corrupt.
If server administrators would stop using BIND and Sendmail, probably about 80% of the vulnerabilities would go away for Linux.
On the other hand, that other 20% of vulnerabilities could be reduced greatly by chrooting or jailing (if you can use FreeBSD) all daemons that listen on a port.
On my servers, I also un-setuid as many programs as I can, leaving only those that will be used regularly.
Slashdot Mirror
I think you meant http://brook.sourceforge.net
Oops, here's the actual link.
Forbes CEO Approval Ratings
Looks like it's time to cast our votes on what we think of our "favorite" CEO again! Every time Verisign pulls a stunt like this, his approval ratings take a nosedive. Remember, every vote counts, and maybe we can get him down to less than a 1% approval rating this month, if that's possible.
Forbes CEO Approval Poll
Happy voting.
How about fax numbers? If you fax them questions such as, "Why do you keep calling us?" with huge images attached, then one of two things will happen:
1. If they use a regular fax machine, it will use up lots of paper.
2. If they use a computer to receive faxes, it could fill the harddrive.
Can anybody find a fax number for them?
Hacking TiVo
It's really interesting, because I don't doubt for one second that M$ told them that either they fire them or they loose their business together. It is common sense, one uncloud's their mind, that M$ is a REALLY bad platform to be on in regards to security. It definitely has a wonderful software base, but that is due mostly to really good marketing, including making a visually appealing interface. Lock-in also plays a big role. However, when one has to worry continually about security holes in their systems, that is bad. Linux systems may have a large number of holes, but they are typically in the daemons running on the machine, and one can jail or chroot them into secure directories, but Windows' core services are the ones that are the culprits here-- and they cannot be jailed!
It's sad that a person who speaks truth gets fired if it is not in the best interest of their companies, but I guess that is why a truly outspoken person must be freelance, because otherwise they WILL be fired eventually for their honesty.
M$OS-less 15" Powerbook G4
I am really happy to hear about yet another release of a very well designed OS. Because BeOS has it's history tied to where NeXT did, in Apple, it is a very simple, yet like NeXT, elegant OS. I hope to see people do for BeOS what Apple did for NeXT.
NeXT was really great, but was not quite as user friendly as the consumer would have liked, but Apple was able to take an already well developed architechture, and without too much blood and sweat, create a truly beautiful (in my opinion) interface. I truly think that the same could be done with BeOS, not that it is not already really well designed. I think that between all the other free desktop OSes to gain market share, BeOS is one of the most promising.
Be Advanced Topics
Once we have a number of people going into space, and it builds a travel industry around it, suddenly we will see lots of innovations like the space elevator, etc. become not only practical but quite cheap. If only the government used computers, computers would cost a fortune, but since there is such competition, we have computers that sell for $300 or less now. If that same concept is applied to space travel, there WILL be competition, and there WILL be new better, cheaper ways to get up there, which may or may not involve the space elevator.
My theory has always been that once we have a hotel on the moon, due to it's gravity, people will not have as much of a hard time adapting to it for their vacation, more hotels will open up in competition. Initially, a lot of money would be spent setting up, but the costs of everything would continue to go down. Before we knew it, we would have faster propulsion technologies, better gravity-like technology, and we would be off to Mars for our next resort, resulting in even better competition for innovation.
space elevator
No kidding. Not only that, but ever tried to suggest to a non-technical person that they get something high-tech? I made that mistake. I told my grandfather to get my grandmother a TiVo. All I can say is: let me just die in peace. Giving an "average" person all the high tech toys is not always the best thing to do, they can't understand them usually it seems! I suppose if I were a paid technical consultant it might not be quite as bad, but when it comes to recommending new technology to non tech people, I recommend the SIMPLEST, least-featured items, because it is guaranteed they will have me over for a half an hour for each feature, trying to teach them. And my patience is not that good, sorry to say. I love technology, I hate teaching technology when I keep hearing, "You are going to have to slow down, you keep going too fast" when I am trying to lay things out as sllllloooowwwwllllyyy as possible.
40g iPod
It's actually kind of sad, being that as the Earth warms up, (if indeed it continues) our children, grandchildren, and so on might only be able to see icecaps, icebergs, etc. in their imaginations or in pictures. It kind of makes me want to go visit some of those places before they are gone.. Of course, we probably have another 400 years before there is nothing else to see, but hey... That viewpoint of "you don't know what you've got until it's gone" has creeped up for me.
Indiana Jones
Wow! I went to that URL, and realized something pretty crazy, if you enter older article numbers, you can see some cool historical stuff. For example: Apple II+: Mini-Assembler (1 of 2) or Apple III: Emulation Mode--Controlling Bit 8 of the RS-232 Port. Kinda cool, though not exactly the topic of this article.
Powerbook G4 1ghz
It is interesting, because when it all comes down to it, the "good guys" are hurt due to restrictions, and the "bad guys" always end up pirating, etc. I am not sure there really is an answer as to how to protect information 100% without it both hurting the consumer and being crackable by a cracker. Of course, the governments can keep passing laws that make reverse engineering illegal, etc, but again, that's just going to scare the average Joe much more than it would scare someone who really wants to crack a DRM transmission. Only time will tell where the DRM issue ends up.
the new 40gig ipod
This guy should would have an even more interesting map if he would use Loran or GPS to track his actual movements too. Especially if he could create an animated map allowing him to retrace every move of every day. That accompanied by his actual ATM/grocery store/etc transactions, itemized receipts and all, and it would make for an impressive "journal" you would never have to write a word in.
gpspda
A C64 will hardly be able to push 2kbps, which makes broadband seem useless to me. It would seem that beyond the "coolness factor," the most realistic thing to do would be to just simply run it through your PC using serial, and save a buck. Maybe if we can just figure out how to overclock a C64 to 250mhz, we could saturate a T1!
The Protocols
I noticed that the root servers serve out the IP directly. Somebody should write a filtering DNS cache program that detects if the gtld-servers.net servers respond directly. They are INTENDED to simply point you to the owner name server, not actually answer back with A records themselves.
In other words, detect if *.gtld-servers.net returns with anything other than an NS record, don't accept it.
I wonder how hard it would be to patch djb's dnscache software, which I use, to do that.
Professional TCP/IP and DNS
Isn't there a law against sitting on patents for such a long time? They filed in 1994, it became a patent in 1998, and now, FIVE years later, they decide to take up the matter. That seems criminal to me. But really, the fact the the UPSTO does not throw out their patent for letting it just sit there and atrophy until the right time, to maximize lawsuit profits just seems plain wrong.
Contributing to Eclipse
In a world where companies, especially entertainment companies, seem to happily sell out on anything, and release half-baked products and productions, it is nice for a change to see a company cancel something for not being up to par. Now if we can just get that mentality going in regards to other computer software. "Hmm. Our operating system is too bloated and runs slowly on anything under 1.5 gigahertz and a gig of ram! Back to the drawing board!" :)
Madden NFL 2004
Remember in grade school when one kid would do something bad, and it would ruin the opportunity for all the other kids? Our country started off as one of the most free countries you would live in. The laws were not in your face, and you could do pretty much what you wanted, within reason. But as more wackos ack out their evil, really our government has no choice but to keep censoring more and more stuff.
Last time I flew in an airplane, I remembered back to years before, when I could look up from my seat at the cockpit door, and sometimes it would be open, and you could vaguely see the front of the plane. That was something that we all just took for granted. But now? We have reinforced doors that must be locked at all times. Likewise in scientific research, it is really sad that people cannot publicly share a lot of ideas, because suddenly it can be used for terrorists. Next thing you know, we will all have to walk through metal detectors to go into the grocery store. Seriously, all we need is a few people walking into grocery stores doing what they do in Israel, and they will have to beef up security there... It is pretty scary to think of where all this can go, depending on how many people decide to act out against civilization.
I guess it all comes down to a comprimise. Which is more important... Security and safety or rights?
PS2
It seems that as time goes on, SCO's case gets weaker and weaker, but they keep laying the intensity harder and harder. I really wonder if it is possible that one of the competitive software companies purchased a SCO license with the stipulation that they must make life hell for the Linux/Open Source community. It's gotta make you wonder... It was only very shortly after all the lawsuit stuff popped up that one company particular (we all know who) a license for UNIX code from SCO.
Elph
I don't think I have ever subscribed to online content where I had to pay money. Another thing I don't do, which Clay mentioned in his article, is sign up to the people who force you to fill out their questioneers to read their content. I have definitely found that I can find the information through Google via Usenet which, despite people claiming is dead or whatever, is a very good resource for many types of info, including world events in which the posters themselves might be taking part in. So being an average consumer myself, his words ring very true to me.
Zen
When we have full VR environments, an interface like that would be very cool and useful, but it seems to me, when we try to break out of the windowed paradigm, things begin to get more complicated than useful. Of course, at the point when we have VR, I am not sure a ferris wheel style would be quite as useful as a concept of rooms, or something of that sort.
Tricks of the 3D Game Programming Gurus
That is a bit too much control on our rights, in my opinion. I would think that if that can happen for the Internet, then it could also happen for TV, telephone, and any other type of communication device.
Though education is important, it is the software vendors who are really to blame for a lot of the problems... (i.e. RPC holes, etc) A lot of the propagation of viruses and worms is a result of software accessing flaws in the software, without user intervention.
Apple 10 GB iPod
It would be really cool to take KNOPPIX to the next level: DVD-RW knoppix, where you can actually save your changes on the disk. (albeit slowness) Theoretically, you could write a certain amount of information to it, until you have filled up the disc, then have a mechanism to write a new clean DVD-RW with just the most modern information. That with a very driver heavy Linux kernel should allow for your "desktop" being exactly the same on any machine you insert the disc into!
Linux in a Nutshell, Fourth Edition
He claims it did not destroy the CD, but really, the data side is the side where the label is. He might be talking about the clear glass side. If so, that is fascinating. I would figure the laser would not be able to focus on that. One has to wonder what if different types of bacteria from things other than yogurt or beer would create even more interesting types of sounds.
I don't have a regular CD player. Someone should do this, record it, then post it up here for those of us without regular CD players!
Seal: new self titled album
So not only do they spam us, reserve weird rights to our domain names, and cybersquat, but now they are doing this. It is really too bad there is not some kind of ICANN policy against this type of thing... Then again, ICANN is made up of a bunch of organizations like them anyway, so the whole thing is corrupt.
Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace
On my servers, I also un-setuid as many programs as I can, leaving only those that will be used regularly.
Useful resources:
tinydnsA VERY secure DNS server to replace BIND.
The Ultimate Guide to FreeBSD This book includes information about how to set up Jails in FreeBSD.