I was sort of thinking the same thing - I mean, if I plug a totally blank CF card into my digital camera, I just have to hit "format" and it's done in about 4 seconds. Easy.
Sigh... I was actually considering buying this until you found the "catch". I don't want my files converted to their proprietary (likely DRM'ed) format. I want it to support PDF, RTF, TXT, HTML and the like natively.
For example: Device shows up as a USB drive when plugged into a computer, drag and drop your documents onto it, let the device convert/display them on the fly for me. No special software necessary.
Now it's possible (and I stress the "possible") that they're doing the conversion upfront on the host machine to save processing power and to make the battery life longer on the reader unit. But they should at least give the user the choice... Either do the conversion up-front, or support the file types internally with the understanding that the unit will have less battery life and may take longer to display pages.
I'll reserve judgement until reviews of their conversion software come in, but if that software tries to sneak any sort of DRM onto MY files, or prevents files loaded onto the unit from being transferred back to a PC it's connected to, they can kiss a sale goodbye.
I tend to agree - a recording/playback technology can be termed "dead", when new media is not being actively produced for it on a reasonable scale (ie: can't be bought in mainstream retail stores).
VHS is gasping it's last breath right now, but the movie studios and content providers have every interest in killing-off DVD as fast as possible...
First they get to encourage people to start replacing their "old" DVD collections with brand-new HD or high-capacity blue ray versions, and make more sales on previously-released content (much cheaper than producing new content).
Second, they get the increased DRM on the new media/players which they believe will increase profits by driving pirates out of business (cawf cawf). Oh, and for the consumers, I suppose they will have a better picture quality somewhere in there too.
I expect that they'll try and milk it for all it's worth by pricing the HD versions at twice the price of a regular DVD release. We'll see if consumers bite or not (the percentage of viewers with HD-capable sets is still quite low, probably less than 5%?).
I have never used windows encryption, but I was under the impression that it's a file-level, rather than a disk-level encryption - so while you couldn't get the information back easily, you could view the file name, size, date and other attributes, as well as see the number of files encrypted.
Disk-level encryption, which protects the entire drive until the key is entered is far more secure - you can't even prove there is anythign at all on the disk, or if it's just randomized bits generated from a secure wipe.
The filevault key is hashed from the user's password. If you reset the login password and reset the keychain, it will do you no good as you still can't open the filevault container because you still don't know the original password that was used to generate the key.
The only way to bypass filevault is by setting a master encryption password on the computer, which will allow filevault recovery if you know that master password (also not possible to reset).
I beg to differ - it also speaks to the "perceived professionalism" of the software. Take a (fairly) recent example, "FilmGIMP". Sure, it's a funny name, and it's great software, but it's sure hard to get someone who hasn't seen the software to take it seriously with a name like that.
So they smartened-up and changed it to "Cinepaint". Much, MUCH better. Now it's a professional-sounding name for a professional product that people will take seriously when the hear about it.
It doesn't look like the program is generating completely random domains, it looks like it's using domains that can be created on one of the free hosting services (ie: like the european version of geocities or whatever) that are mentioned on the page.
So all you'd need to do is register the account name on the free hosting service that's utilized for that day and away you go. Not a problem to register an account using a hacked email account and keep it anonymous.
Even a speck of dust isn't really a huge problem assuming it doesn't get between the head and the platter - all modern HDs have a small air filter inside them that will catch tiny bits of grime and oxide and prevent them from blowing around inside the casing.
So long as you're relatively careful, it shouldn't be a major problem.
The "Don't be evil" motto sort of lost the lustre for me when I read about how they fired a new employee that was blogging about his "behind the scenes" Google experiences shortly after being hired.
Sure, it would be one thing if he was blatantly broadcasting private information (which a new employee probably shouldn't have access to anyway), but as far as I read, he was just kind of enthusiastically gushing about the behind the scenes operation of the great new job he had. Now it's entirely possible that we don't have the "full story", but...
I know if I had blundered similarly, my boss would've chewed me out a bit, but there's no possibility I'd ever even come close to losing my job over it...
Seems a shame that some middle-manager ran to the lawyers and got them to dash-off this letter (in the event that the lawyers weren't just operating on auto-pilot). I mean, when was the last time that anyone here actually bought a RISK board game? Hell, I don't even remember the rules.
If they had been smart (and yes, I know that's a stretch for "suits"), they would've just asked him to link some advertising back to the Hasbro site, and maybe said "ya, it's a violation, but we'll let you run it for another six months because you're helping to promote our product with the time and effort you put into it - after that, we'd ask you to please take it down".
Results? Free advertising on Slashdot (and others), warm feelings for the company, and possibly some extra board games sold before xmas...
I recently bought a multi-function laser printer for my home office at Staples. I made sure to get one with the "easy rebate" system, and I have to say that having used that rebate system once, I'll ALWAYS check products to make sure they have the "easy rebate" before purchasing again.
Filling out the form online took about a minute, and I got my rebate ($100) about two weeks later. By contrast, when I bought a Benq LCD monitor, it took almost 4 months ($50).
There's no reason at all why other merchants couldn't implement such a useful system to make life simpler for customers... Sure it's initially expensive to set-up, but consumers will thank you for it...
I used to run sveasoft on my linksys, but after reading more and more about their business practises, I let my account expire, and have now permanently dropped them in favor of the DD-WRT firmware (http://www.dd-wrt.com/).
DD-WRT is just as feature-rich (if not more) than sveasoft, and doesn't play sveasoft's silly games with their firmware source code, the GPL, and banning people on their forums. Sadly I can no longer recommend sveasoft to any of my friends with linksys routers.
Your Prius cannot compete with the horsepower numbers of a VW 1.8T, or a Passat(I4, V6 or W8).
But I'm not interested in the horsepower of a VT or a Passat. Nothing like having a big-horsepower car and being stuck in city traffic for most of your life. What a waste...
It makes absolutely no difference for me in my daily commute (and the Prius has plenty of power to merge on highways or beat people off of green lights). The cruise at 70-80mph is silky smooth.
A Prius may have been a better choice, but you should consider the cost of batteries when you want to keep it over 4 years. When the 2000 hybrids start failing (~2008) yours will not be worth as much.
The batteries will last the life of the car (an original Prius used hard as a taxi had 400,000km on the hybrid drive system and battery with no ill-effects whatsoever).
If you look at the table in the linked report, the Prius even beats the VW Jetta TDI in terms of estimated resale value after 5 years.
The prius is nice in its own right, but its not comparable to a VW.
Sure the Passat is a nice car, but aside from the Lexus 400h or another Prius, there's nothing out there I'd trade my car for. Not a Mercedes, not a BMW, not a Ferrari. Nothing.
A lot of these articles always assume that you're paying a "hybrid premium", which just isn't always the case.
For example, before I purchased my 2004 Prius, I was investigating alternatives (VW Jetta 1.8T, Passat, etc). I paid about the same for my Prius than a comperably equipped Passat and I got (IMHO) a much nicer car.
So any savings on gas and maintenance are gravy as far as I'm concerned.
I was more curious if it would run xbox media centre:)
It's a shame that MS doesn't embrace that project - it's the only thing that would make buying a 360 worthwhile for me right now. Games are fine and all, but a media player that's constantly evolving and compatible with all major formats is an easy-sell.
Microsoft really should partner up with the XBMC folks and just offer free updates of it over xbox-live. Would generate sales from people like me. Heck, I'd probably even buy a few games for it too if I already had one.
I didn't bother buying an xbox until modchips (and more importantly, software like DVD-HD loaders, emulators and XBMC was available). Knowing console manufacturer paranoia, I'm imagining that MS will have locked-up the 360 hardware to insane levels.
Sure they might suspect it (if they even know about it), but there's no way they can ever "prove" that you're using it. Because you can have an infinate (?) number of containers within containers, there is no way they could ever be "sure".
At some point, it won't be worth their time to continue to work you over... Of course, they may still kill you, but perhaps it's worth death to keep some secrets, especially if they topple a brutal government?
That's not the point - I know perfectly well how to fix it if I want to, but if authors aren't going to update their plugins until after 1.5 is released, why should I bother even testing a beta version?
That's why the latest encryption software includes hidden encrypted containers INSIDE encrypted containers that cannot be distinguished from random sectors - it simply appears as unallocated drive space inside the container. Because space inside an ecrypted container is never "zero'ed-out", and still contains random characters, there's no way of discovering the container (it's not necessarily contigious sectors/blocks).
When said operative starts working you over, you hold out as long as you can, then give them the password to the encrypted outer container so they can get inside and see some "moderately incriminating" evidence but hopefully nothing they'll kill or imprison you permanently for. But there's no way they can ever prove there is anything else inside the container and justify the effort and expense of continuing to "work you over".
For a great example of such software, look for "rubberhose" (which apparently is a now-defunct project, but can still be found on the internet archive http://tinyurl.com/c2pu4/).
The same goes for countries that can hold citizens in jail (lawfully) until the citizens hand-over the encryption key. With the hidden partition, they can safely give them the key for the outer container and be off-the-hook because the authorities can never prove the existance of an inner container.
I certainly hope so, because installing 1.5 disabled 90% of my plugins from 1.07. My total 1.5 install time was less than 30 seconds before I uninstalled and went back to 1.07.
A 1.5 release is nowhere near as important as having my plugins work, so I'm not contemplating upgrading permanently any time soon... Anything that encourages developers to update existing plugins is worthwhile IMHO.
I was sort of wondering about this - how many rootkits/exploits could still be installed if the user didn't run under admin access, but only as a power user?
I doubt it would get rid of all of them, but it should prevent the vast majority should it not?
Skype doesn't use random ports and protocols does it? It needs to handshake the two programs before the encrypted data transfer starts, which probably makes it relatively easy to block at the router level.
That said, it shouldn't be impossible to masquerade VOIP data as something like a first-person shooter data stream (many of which have voice-chat already integrated), or by some other means that would result in the ISP/Telco blocking legitimate users as well and raising their angst level.
Fighting technology is a losing proposition for conventional telcos, so they better find a way to work with users rather than against them...
This whole stupid spy business is glamorized but people forget that you basically need to recruit sociopaths for the murdering. You hire some people who have zero empathy and send them out to kill people.
And this is different from a soldier in a regular army who's "just following orders" when they kill people, in what way exactly?
As much as a CEO who reads his email sounds like a good thing, emailing the CEO (or upper management in general) usually results in you getting "noticed" in one way or another. Now, it's entirely possible that things will turn-out OK, but personally, I prefer the "keep a low profile" routine. You're less-likely to be "let go" if they don't know about you...
I tend to agree with another poster here that mentioned the sad fact of management/employee relations these days - if your idea is good, someone higher-up will feel threatened (result: you're under the spotlight and first against the wall), and if your idea is bad, you get the same treatment.
Fortunately, I currently have both a good manager and good boss (and I'm under a union contract, so I feel reasonably safe), but I still try and keep out of the line of fire whenever possible...
Slashdot Mirror
I was sort of thinking the same thing - I mean, if I plug a totally blank CF card into my digital camera, I just have to hit "format" and it's done in about 4 seconds. Easy.
N.
Sigh... I was actually considering buying this until you found the "catch". I don't want my files converted to their proprietary (likely DRM'ed) format. I want it to support PDF, RTF, TXT, HTML and the like natively.
For example: Device shows up as a USB drive when plugged into a computer, drag and drop your documents onto it, let the device convert/display them on the fly for me. No special software necessary.
Now it's possible (and I stress the "possible") that they're doing the conversion upfront on the host machine to save processing power and to make the battery life longer on the reader unit. But they should at least give the user the choice... Either do the conversion up-front, or support the file types internally with the understanding that the unit will have less battery life and may take longer to display pages.
I'll reserve judgement until reviews of their conversion software come in, but if that software tries to sneak any sort of DRM onto MY files, or prevents files loaded onto the unit from being transferred back to a PC it's connected to, they can kiss a sale goodbye.
N.
I tend to agree - a recording/playback technology can be termed "dead", when new media is not being actively produced for it on a reasonable scale (ie: can't be bought in mainstream retail stores).
VHS is gasping it's last breath right now, but the movie studios and content providers have every interest in killing-off DVD as fast as possible...
First they get to encourage people to start replacing their "old" DVD collections with brand-new HD or high-capacity blue ray versions, and make more sales on previously-released content (much cheaper than producing new content).
Second, they get the increased DRM on the new media/players which they believe will increase profits by driving pirates out of business (cawf cawf). Oh, and for the consumers, I suppose they will have a better picture quality somewhere in there too.
I expect that they'll try and milk it for all it's worth by pricing the HD versions at twice the price of a regular DVD release. We'll see if consumers bite or not (the percentage of viewers with HD-capable sets is still quite low, probably less than 5%?).
N.
I have never used windows encryption, but I was under the impression that it's a file-level, rather than a disk-level encryption - so while you couldn't get the information back easily, you could view the file name, size, date and other attributes, as well as see the number of files encrypted.
Disk-level encryption, which protects the entire drive until the key is entered is far more secure - you can't even prove there is anythign at all on the disk, or if it's just randomized bits generated from a secure wipe.
Uh, no.
The filevault key is hashed from the user's password. If you reset the login password and reset the keychain, it will do you no good as you still can't open the filevault container because you still don't know the original password that was used to generate the key.
The only way to bypass filevault is by setting a master encryption password on the computer, which will allow filevault recovery if you know that master password (also not possible to reset).
Assuming of course that you have a CPU that supports DEP (less than a year old, more or less)...
Without it, setting DEP in windows won't do very much...
N.
Hmm... Maybe like a beer? piss-head?
N.
I beg to differ - it also speaks to the "perceived professionalism" of the software. Take a (fairly) recent example, "FilmGIMP". Sure, it's a funny name, and it's great software, but it's sure hard to get someone who hasn't seen the software to take it seriously with a name like that.
So they smartened-up and changed it to "Cinepaint". Much, MUCH better. Now it's a professional-sounding name for a professional product that people will take seriously when the hear about it.
N.
It doesn't look like the program is generating completely random domains, it looks like it's using domains that can be created on one of the free hosting services (ie: like the european version of geocities or whatever) that are mentioned on the page.
So all you'd need to do is register the account name on the free hosting service that's utilized for that day and away you go. Not a problem to register an account using a hacked email account and keep it anonymous.
N.
Even a speck of dust isn't really a huge problem assuming it doesn't get between the head and the platter - all modern HDs have a small air filter inside them that will catch tiny bits of grime and oxide and prevent them from blowing around inside the casing.
So long as you're relatively careful, it shouldn't be a major problem.
N.
The "Don't be evil" motto sort of lost the lustre for me when I read about how they fired a new employee that was blogging about his "behind the scenes" Google experiences shortly after being hired.
Sure, it would be one thing if he was blatantly broadcasting private information (which a new employee probably shouldn't have access to anyway), but as far as I read, he was just kind of enthusiastically gushing about the behind the scenes operation of the great new job he had. Now it's entirely possible that we don't have the "full story", but...
I know if I had blundered similarly, my boss would've chewed me out a bit, but there's no possibility I'd ever even come close to losing my job over it...
N.
Seems a shame that some middle-manager ran to the lawyers and got them to dash-off this letter (in the event that the lawyers weren't just operating on auto-pilot). I mean, when was the last time that anyone here actually bought a RISK board game? Hell, I don't even remember the rules.
If they had been smart (and yes, I know that's a stretch for "suits"), they would've just asked him to link some advertising back to the Hasbro site, and maybe said "ya, it's a violation, but we'll let you run it for another six months because you're helping to promote our product with the time and effort you put into it - after that, we'd ask you to please take it down".
Results? Free advertising on Slashdot (and others), warm feelings for the company, and possibly some extra board games sold before xmas...
Too bad...
N.
I recently bought a multi-function laser printer for my home office at Staples. I made sure to get one with the "easy rebate" system, and I have to say that having used that rebate system once, I'll ALWAYS check products to make sure they have the "easy rebate" before purchasing again.
Filling out the form online took about a minute, and I got my rebate ($100) about two weeks later. By contrast, when I bought a Benq LCD monitor, it took almost 4 months ($50).
There's no reason at all why other merchants couldn't implement such a useful system to make life simpler for customers... Sure it's initially expensive to set-up, but consumers will thank you for it...
N.
I used to run sveasoft on my linksys, but after reading more and more about their business practises, I let my account expire, and have now permanently dropped them in favor of the DD-WRT firmware (http://www.dd-wrt.com/).
DD-WRT is just as feature-rich (if not more) than sveasoft, and doesn't play sveasoft's silly games with their firmware source code, the GPL, and banning people on their forums. Sadly I can no longer recommend sveasoft to any of my friends with linksys routers.
N.
Your Prius cannot compete with the horsepower numbers of a VW 1.8T, or a Passat(I4, V6 or W8).
But I'm not interested in the horsepower of a VT or a Passat. Nothing like having a big-horsepower car and being stuck in city traffic for most of your life. What a waste...
It makes absolutely no difference for me in my daily commute (and the Prius has plenty of power to merge on highways or beat people off of green lights). The cruise at 70-80mph is silky smooth.
A Prius may have been a better choice, but you should consider the cost of batteries when you want to keep it over 4 years. When the 2000 hybrids start failing (~2008) yours will not be worth as much.
The batteries will last the life of the car (an original Prius used hard as a taxi had 400,000km on the hybrid drive system and battery with no ill-effects whatsoever).
If you look at the table in the linked report, the Prius even beats the VW Jetta TDI in terms of estimated resale value after 5 years.
The prius is nice in its own right, but its not comparable to a VW.
Sure the Passat is a nice car, but aside from the Lexus 400h or another Prius, there's nothing out there I'd trade my car for. Not a Mercedes, not a BMW, not a Ferrari. Nothing.
N.
A lot of these articles always assume that you're paying a "hybrid premium", which just isn't always the case.
For example, before I purchased my 2004 Prius, I was investigating alternatives (VW Jetta 1.8T, Passat, etc). I paid about the same for my Prius than a comperably equipped Passat and I got (IMHO) a much nicer car.
So any savings on gas and maintenance are gravy as far as I'm concerned.
N.
I was more curious if it would run xbox media centre :)
It's a shame that MS doesn't embrace that project - it's the only thing that would make buying a 360 worthwhile for me right now. Games are fine and all, but a media player that's constantly evolving and compatible with all major formats is an easy-sell.
Microsoft really should partner up with the XBMC folks and just offer free updates of it over xbox-live. Would generate sales from people like me. Heck, I'd probably even buy a few games for it too if I already had one.
I didn't bother buying an xbox until modchips (and more importantly, software like DVD-HD loaders, emulators and XBMC was available). Knowing console manufacturer paranoia, I'm imagining that MS will have locked-up the 360 hardware to insane levels.
Shame really, guess I'll have to wait...
N.
Sure they might suspect it (if they even know about it), but there's no way they can ever "prove" that you're using it. Because you can have an infinate (?) number of containers within containers, there is no way they could ever be "sure".
At some point, it won't be worth their time to continue to work you over... Of course, they may still kill you, but perhaps it's worth death to keep some secrets, especially if they topple a brutal government?
N.
That's not the point - I know perfectly well how to fix it if I want to, but if authors aren't going to update their plugins until after 1.5 is released, why should I bother even testing a beta version?
N.
That's why the latest encryption software includes hidden encrypted containers INSIDE encrypted containers that cannot be distinguished from random sectors - it simply appears as unallocated drive space inside the container. Because space inside an ecrypted container is never "zero'ed-out", and still contains random characters, there's no way of discovering the container (it's not necessarily contigious sectors/blocks).
When said operative starts working you over, you hold out as long as you can, then give them the password to the encrypted outer container so they can get inside and see some "moderately incriminating" evidence but hopefully nothing they'll kill or imprison you permanently for. But there's no way they can ever prove there is anything else inside the container and justify the effort and expense of continuing to "work you over".
For a great example of such software, look for "rubberhose" (which apparently is a now-defunct project, but can still be found on the internet archive http://tinyurl.com/c2pu4/).
The same goes for countries that can hold citizens in jail (lawfully) until the citizens hand-over the encryption key. With the hidden partition, they can safely give them the key for the outer container and be off-the-hook because the authorities can never prove the existance of an inner container.
N.
I certainly hope so, because installing 1.5 disabled 90% of my plugins from 1.07. My total 1.5 install time was less than 30 seconds before I uninstalled and went back to 1.07.
A 1.5 release is nowhere near as important as having my plugins work, so I'm not contemplating upgrading permanently any time soon... Anything that encourages developers to update existing plugins is worthwhile IMHO.
N>
I was sort of wondering about this - how many rootkits/exploits could still be installed if the user didn't run under admin access, but only as a power user?
I doubt it would get rid of all of them, but it should prevent the vast majority should it not?
N.
Skype doesn't use random ports and protocols does it? It needs to handshake the two programs before the encrypted data transfer starts, which probably makes it relatively easy to block at the router level.
That said, it shouldn't be impossible to masquerade VOIP data as something like a first-person shooter data stream (many of which have voice-chat already integrated), or by some other means that would result in the ISP/Telco blocking legitimate users as well and raising their angst level.
Fighting technology is a losing proposition for conventional telcos, so they better find a way to work with users rather than against them...
N.
This whole stupid spy business is glamorized but people forget that you basically need to recruit sociopaths for the murdering. You hire some people who have zero empathy and send them out to kill people.
And this is different from a soldier in a regular army who's "just following orders" when they kill people, in what way exactly?
N.
As much as a CEO who reads his email sounds like a good thing, emailing the CEO (or upper management in general) usually results in you getting "noticed" in one way or another. Now, it's entirely possible that things will turn-out OK, but personally, I prefer the "keep a low profile" routine. You're less-likely to be "let go" if they don't know about you...
I tend to agree with another poster here that mentioned the sad fact of management/employee relations these days - if your idea is good, someone higher-up will feel threatened (result: you're under the spotlight and first against the wall), and if your idea is bad, you get the same treatment.
Fortunately, I currently have both a good manager and good boss (and I'm under a union contract, so I feel reasonably safe), but I still try and keep out of the line of fire whenever possible...
N.