I always wondered why they don't use off the shelf VHS tapes for data backup. You could probably build an inexpensive, yet reasonably reliable backup unit from the mechanism+record/playback heads of a low end VCR.
Other suggestions: Hair stands on end if system under attack Hair falls out if virus detected Receeding hairline indicates time to patch the system Punk green hairstyle means hacker detected
They still have to connect through somebody onshore who agrees to accept mail from them, to reach you. Setting up an offshore spam haven will just mete them out an internet death sentence.
There is no panacea for the spam problem, but I believe it can be stopped by a combination of tools, and multinational cooperation is a big part of the solution. There was an earlier article today on how to improve internet caching, but this is totally moot if the backbone is being jammed up with spam. There has been some limited success, in that spamming is becoming more difficult and less profitable now - big time spammers must resort to using viruses to hijack home user's machines. As we add more defensive layers such as email filters, blacklists, and legislative bans, life for spammers become more and more difficult. Their free ranging "happy time" of unrestricted profits is in the past.
It was unfortunate that Email and other networking protocols were developed under the assumption that the public network itself is friendly and nobody is trying to jam or abuse it - I still remember the first accidental ARPNET worm.
But I suppose a bit of realism here would give the movie (and comic book) an "X" rating. Would have been funny to see him net bad guys that way though...
that went bezerk for almost 48 hours. It worked perfectly until out of the blue, the alarm would sound, doors would lock and unlock every second, and if I shut it off, it would turn itself on again a second later. The car was parked in my parents driveway at the time. I had to disconnect the battery to shut the damned thing off. I tried it again 24 hours later, same problem. The day after that, the problem went away, never reappeared.
Co-incidentally, there was an airshow on in town during this time. When the airshow ended, so did the problems. I wonder what kind of super radar they were using that had this effect.
I knew somebody who was once a former member. They quit when they felt it was becoming more obsessed with fundraising than trying to stay relevent. In order to try and stay relevent, (nobody has done any nuclear testing lately) they try to drum up false, unsubstantiated fears over technology such as GM foods.
Wasn't there a video card driver hack that somebody was going to release some time back, that would allow you to see through walls?
But seriously, I can see this as being useful for hostage situations, terrorist takedowns, etc. Scan the room through the wall, ID the bad guys, and use depleted uranium rounds to penetrate the walls, and them out without hitting any hostages.
You would hear sounds inside the spacecraft for sure - in fact, one of the biggest complaints about life on the ISS is noise from all the equipment that is operating, it is very difficult to sleep through all the fans, pumps, and various apparatus turning on and off 24/7.
But from outside, you wouldn't hear anything, unless electrical interference from the ship's system or natural sources was being picked up by your space suit radio. What is interesting, is that astronouts can communicate without radios if they touch their helmets together, as the helmet itself will carry sound.
Even a nuclear blast in space wouldn't produce much of anything in the way of sound, as the only "atmosphere" would come from the vaporized bomb itself, and would be quite tenuous unless you were right beside it, when the thing went off. And you would of course be vaporized long before you could sense it.
Most of the explosion effects would be thermal energy and radiation pressure. Particle and directed energy weapons (lasers or phasers?) would not produce any sound at all.
The only way to get any sound at all floating about in a space battle, is perhaps if you were right beside a ship was ripped apart and lost pressurization. Then you would (very briefly) have a tenuous atmosphere to carry whispers of the ship's destruction. You might have better luck hearing something if you press your helmet to the hull of a vessel.
If you are really curious, leave a kilo of raw hamburger sitting on the kitchen counter for a couple of weeks, while you go on vacation. Your house will be filled with the lovely aroma of T-Rex breath upon your return.
#1: Difficulty: It is harder to write, although having an inherently secure language such as Java or Ada helps. You not only have to think about your algorithm performing correctly, you have have a "hacker's eye" to make sure it cannot be used to compromise the O/S.
#2: Performance: (This is a biggie) Checking parameters and disallowing certain programming techniques that could be misused to compromise the underlying system will have a performance impact. It also makes for fatter code, if you ever tried to decompile Ada. The performance loss may or may not be significant, depending on the algorithm. But for something like direct X that provides a thin software layer for high performance graphics, I suspect the performance hit would be unacceptable. This is probably true for other high performance apps as well. That is why 99.99% of all software comes with a "caveat emptor" EULA. (Imagine if they built airplanes, cars, and buildings like that?)
Safety and life critical application will of course always be coded using "tinfoil hat" secure languages and operating systems. They also cost 100x as much to do the same job, and require more powerful hardware to do the job.
#3: Complexity: The more complex a given system is, the harder it is to secure it. The more complex the system, the more places for flaws to hide.
I think it is time for model rocketry enthusiasts to start developing miniature lightweight engines that run on less restricted liquid or gas fuels, such as gasoline, alcohol, kerosene or propane. Time to "route around" the restrictions. Nobody is going to concern themselves with you filling up a jerry can of gasoline. , as they will assume it would be going into your lawnmower. Since the engines themselves would be more expensive, you would probably want to reuse and recover them. I had no problems buying small O2 cylinders for my welding kit, at least here, (Canada) there isn't draconian restrictions on it.
Ironically, this would probably make for a less safe hobby, as I wouldn't want to be anywhere near a liquid fuelled rocket that ruptured its fuel tank and/or oxidizer on launch.
Reminds me of a funny story from the first gulf war...
Canadian officers wee attending a fancy dinner party at a ritzy hotel in Qatar, as I remember. The Head Waiter receives a phone call from the American HQ, apparently looking for somebody name Scott Allard. He wanders from table to table looking for the mysterious Mr. Allard to no avail. Only later did the find out the message was not for Scott Allard, it was a SCUD ALERT and they were all supposed to be taking refuge underground. Fortunately for everybody at the hotel, the SCUDs landed elsewhere.
Add a wireless ethernet link and in car microphone, so he can take requests from other drivers and play MP3s back for anybody in range. Just think - the world's first mobile, all digital radio station.
The Canadian war museum, http://www.civilization.ca/cwm/cwme.asp has one on such captured balloon on display. They also have a map showing where each balloon landed. The source of the balloons were eventually tracked down by studying the sand they used for ballast - it had a unique composition particular to one area in Japan. From this information they were able to later able to pinpoint the location the factory and put it out of commission.
The Japanese were the first to discover the existance of the jet stream, and take advantage of it.
The best way to stop such DMCA nonsense is not in the courts, it is by grassroots public awareness. If somebody tries to sell you a DirectTV subscription, or a Lexmark printer (with DMCA protected non-3rd party ink cartridges) let them know exactly why you will not purchase it. If they hear it more than once or twice, this will work its way back to headquarters. Eventually the execs will clue in that they are pissing off enough potential customers that they will back off, even if the law was on their side.
It has to be assumed that any system open to the general public, can be expected to come under hostile attack from hackers/spammers/criminals/terrorists. All hardware and software deployed in the field needs to be examined carefully for this. It is even more critical when you have a "monoculture" of HW/SW, since one exploit compromises the whole system.
History has shown time and time again, hackers will expend a great deal of effort to compromise any accessible system even if just for the heck of it.
There is nothing like a little competition to put the fear of god into companies (and politicians) who have grown complacent and arrogant. This is yet another example.
That is one of the great things about open source software, even if you never use it. Every windows XP, MS-Office and IE user should give thanks to Linux, Open Office, and Mozilla every time they boot. MS comes under pressure to lower prices and develop new features, whenever open source products can match or exceed their offerings. Even if you keep your Yahoo! account and never even look at GMail, you have derived benefit from them.
That reminds me of a case where a pharmacy database screwed up for anybody over 100 year olds. Drug dosages for octogenearians were set as if they were infants or toddlers, and as I recall, a couple of patients may have died from it. I remember this from comp.risks somewhere.
Slashdot Mirror
I always wondered why they don't use off the shelf VHS tapes for data backup. You could probably build an inexpensive, yet reasonably reliable backup unit from the mechanism+record/playback heads of a low end VCR.
Other suggestions:
Hair stands on end if system under attack
Hair falls out if virus detected
Receeding hairline indicates time to patch the system
Punk green hairstyle means hacker detected
They still have to connect through somebody onshore who agrees to accept mail from them, to reach you. Setting up an offshore spam haven will just mete them out an internet death sentence.
There is no panacea for the spam problem, but I believe it can be stopped by a combination of tools, and multinational cooperation is a big part of the solution. There was an earlier article today on how to improve internet caching, but this is totally moot if the backbone is being jammed up with spam. There has been some limited success, in that spamming is becoming more difficult and less profitable now - big time spammers must resort to using viruses to hijack home user's machines. As we add more defensive layers such as email filters, blacklists, and legislative bans, life for spammers become more and more difficult. Their free ranging "happy time" of unrestricted profits is in the past.
It was unfortunate that Email and other networking protocols were developed under the assumption that the public network itself is friendly and nobody is trying to jam or abuse it - I still remember the first accidental ARPNET worm.
In an act of divine, immaculate compilation.
Spiders don't spin web from their wrists.
But I suppose a bit of realism here would give the movie (and comic book) an "X" rating. Would have been funny to see him net bad guys that way though...
that went bezerk for almost 48 hours. It worked perfectly until out of the blue, the alarm would sound, doors would lock and unlock every second, and if I shut it off, it would turn itself on again a second later. The car was parked in my parents driveway at the time. I had to disconnect the battery to shut the damned thing off. I tried it again 24 hours later, same problem. The day after that, the problem went away, never reappeared.
Co-incidentally, there was an airshow on in town during this time. When the airshow ended, so did the problems. I wonder what kind of super radar they were using that had this effect.
I knew somebody who was once a former member. They quit when they felt it was becoming more obsessed with fundraising than trying to stay relevent. In order to try and stay relevent, (nobody has done any nuclear testing lately) they try to drum up false, unsubstantiated fears over technology such as GM foods.
If he plans on outsourcing the development work? LOL
Wasn't there a video card driver hack that somebody was going to release some time back, that would allow you to see through walls?
But seriously, I can see this as being useful for hostage situations, terrorist takedowns, etc. Scan the room through the wall, ID the bad guys, and use depleted uranium rounds to penetrate the walls, and them out without hitting any hostages.
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=112410&cid=
Read the reviews of the Star Trek/Star Wars remake and nearly split my sides laughing. Can't wait to see what they do with Harry Potter as well!
You would hear sounds inside the spacecraft for sure - in fact, one of the biggest complaints about life on the ISS is noise from all the equipment that is operating, it is very difficult to sleep through all the fans, pumps, and various apparatus turning on and off 24/7.
But from outside, you wouldn't hear anything, unless electrical interference from the ship's system or natural sources was being picked up by your space suit radio. What is interesting, is that astronouts can communicate without radios if they touch their helmets together, as the helmet itself will carry sound.
Even a nuclear blast in space wouldn't produce much of anything in the way of sound, as the only "atmosphere" would come from the vaporized bomb itself, and would be quite tenuous unless you were right beside it, when the thing went off. And you would of course be vaporized long before you could sense it.
Most of the explosion effects would be thermal energy and radiation pressure. Particle and directed energy weapons (lasers or phasers?) would not produce any sound at all.
The only way to get any sound at all floating about in a space battle, is perhaps if you were right beside a ship was ripped apart and lost pressurization. Then you would (very briefly) have a tenuous atmosphere to carry whispers of the ship's destruction. You might have better luck hearing something if you press your helmet to the hull of a vessel.
I don't think I would be particularly interested.
If you are really curious, leave a kilo of raw hamburger sitting on the kitchen counter for a couple of weeks, while you go on vacation. Your house will be filled with the lovely aroma of T-Rex breath upon your return.
#1: Difficulty: It is harder to write, although having an inherently secure language such as Java or Ada helps. You not only have to think about your algorithm performing correctly, you have have a "hacker's eye" to make sure it cannot be used to compromise the O/S.
#2: Performance: (This is a biggie) Checking parameters and disallowing certain programming techniques that could be misused to compromise the underlying system will have a performance impact. It also makes for fatter code, if you ever tried to decompile Ada. The performance loss may or may not be significant, depending on the algorithm. But for something like direct X that provides a thin software layer for high performance graphics, I suspect the performance hit would be unacceptable. This is probably true for other high performance apps as well. That is why 99.99% of all software comes with a "caveat emptor" EULA. (Imagine if they built airplanes, cars, and buildings like that?)
Safety and life critical application will of course always be coded using "tinfoil hat" secure languages and operating systems. They also cost 100x as much to do the same job, and require more powerful hardware to do the job.
#3: Complexity: The more complex a given system is, the harder it is to secure it. The more complex the system, the more places for flaws to hide.
I think it is time for model rocketry enthusiasts to start developing miniature lightweight engines that run on less restricted liquid or gas fuels, such as gasoline, alcohol, kerosene or propane. Time to "route around" the restrictions. Nobody is going to concern themselves with you filling up a jerry can of gasoline. , as they will assume it would be going into your lawnmower. Since the engines themselves would be more expensive, you would probably want to reuse and recover them. I had no problems buying small O2 cylinders for my welding kit, at least here, (Canada) there isn't draconian restrictions on it.
Ironically, this would probably make for a less safe hobby, as I wouldn't want to be anywhere near a liquid fuelled rocket that ruptured its fuel tank and/or oxidizer on launch.
A product of late 20th century genetic engineering!
Reminds me of a funny story from the first gulf war...
Canadian officers wee attending a fancy dinner party at a ritzy hotel in Qatar, as I remember. The Head Waiter receives a phone call from the American HQ, apparently looking for somebody name Scott Allard. He wanders from table to table looking for the mysterious Mr. Allard to no avail. Only later did the find out the message was not for Scott Allard, it was a SCUD ALERT and they were all supposed to be taking refuge underground. Fortunately for everybody at the hotel, the SCUDs landed elsewhere.
Dr. Who's faithful robot companion.
Add a wireless ethernet link and in car microphone, so he can take requests from other drivers and play MP3s back for anybody in range. Just think - the world's first mobile, all digital radio station.
I think I am onto something here!
The Canadian war museum, http://www.civilization.ca/cwm/cwme.asp has one on such captured balloon on display. They also have a map showing where each balloon landed. The source of the balloons were eventually tracked down by studying the sand they used for ballast - it had a unique composition particular to one area in Japan. From this information they were able to later able to pinpoint the location the factory and put it out of commission.
The Japanese were the first to discover the existance of the jet stream, and take advantage of it.
Like being on the receiving end of a lawsuit.
Wanna bet a public apology was part of the secret settlement terms?
The best way to stop such DMCA nonsense is not in the courts, it is by grassroots public awareness. If somebody tries to sell you a DirectTV subscription, or a Lexmark printer (with DMCA protected non-3rd party ink cartridges) let them know exactly why you will not purchase it. If they hear it more than once or twice, this will work its way back to headquarters. Eventually the execs will clue in that they are pissing off enough potential customers that they will back off, even if the law was on their side.
It has to be assumed that any system open to the general public, can be expected to come under hostile attack from hackers/spammers/criminals/terrorists. All hardware and software deployed in the field needs to be examined carefully for this. It is even more critical when you have a "monoculture" of HW/SW, since one exploit compromises the whole system.
History has shown time and time again, hackers will expend a great deal of effort to compromise any accessible system even if just for the heck of it.
> Sure, the difference isn't that big a deal, but to most people, there isn't any > real difference between Linux and Unix...
Especially if you work for SCO!
There is nothing like a little competition to put the fear of god into companies (and politicians) who have grown complacent and arrogant. This is yet another example.
That is one of the great things about open source software, even if you never use it. Every windows XP, MS-Office and IE user should give thanks to Linux, Open Office, and Mozilla every time they boot. MS comes under pressure to lower prices and develop new features, whenever open source products can match or exceed their offerings. Even if you keep your Yahoo! account and never even look at GMail, you have derived benefit from them.
That reminds me of a case where a pharmacy database screwed up for anybody over 100 year olds. Drug dosages for octogenearians were set as if they were infants or toddlers, and as I recall, a couple of patients may have died from it. I remember this from comp.risks somewhere.