Better yet, dont use your landline at all. Have a cellphone and/or VoIP. Dont give out the landline phone number to anyone, only the cell number. If you have Cable for internet, dont get a phone line at all. If you have Fiber or something else, dont get a phone line. If you have Dialup or you have DSL or you have Fiber or something and you must have a phone line (e.g. "verizon will only let you get FIOS if you get verizon phone over that FIOS"), get the phone line but dont even have a real phone (only the modem for broadband/dialup) plugged into it.
That way, even if the telemarketers do get your landline number (if any), all they get is no answer then ring out since no-one even knows a call was made.
Putting it in the glove box means that thieves cant see that you have an iPod in your car. If it was visible, thieves would smash the window to steal your iPod.
Option one is to produce a new iPod or addon for iPods that implement Bluetooth and other features and basicly allows the iPod to pair up with a cellphone. For example, when a call comes in over the cellphone, the iPod would stop playing music and route the cellphone audio through the iPod headphones like it was a bluetooth headset. Also, the iPod could hold a contact list synced with the apple contact list software (iCal or whatever it is) and then you select one from the iPod interface and it dials the number on your phone. Could include other features to allow phone & iPod linkup (for example, some way to use the Java and GPRS/internet features present on all phones to allow one to download a song from the iTunes store on your phone using the internet and then transfer it directly to the iPod).
Option 2 is for apple to partner with a 3rd party (such as Motorola) and produce something that I forsee as being similar in base architecture to the Motorola EZX products. Basicly, it would have a dual CPU setup with all the radio stuff (SIM card access, talking to the cell tower, bluetooth etc etc) being handled on one CPU (with the hardware and software being provided by the phone maker) and the application layer (music player, phonebook/contact list, application stuff) being on the other CPU and being written by Apple. Apple would also be responsible for the design, look & feel etc of the phone.
There is no "airplane mode" signal but a lot of phones (especially smartphones/PDAs and other high end phones) have an "airplane mode" option that, when turned on, disables the cell phone parts (and probobly bluetooth too I expect) whilst still letting you use the non radio parts of the phone. I think the Motorola V3 series has it for example.
I dont understand why everyone says the SNES version of SFII was so good. I think the Genesis version was WAY better (for starters, it kept the arcade versions title screen AND the music sounded much more like the arcade)
1.Every passport that has one of these RFID chips should contain a unique number burned into the RFID chips in a way that can never be changed but can be read back. 2.When the passport data is written to the RFID chip, the data is encrypted using an RSA (or similar) key that only the government has which will prevent "drive by data dumping" as long as the other half of the key is only embedded in passport machines and is kept tightly controled. Also (and more importantly), it is digitally signed using the same key (including the unique number burned into the RFID chip). This would prevent anyone from even being able to make a 1:1 copy of a passport.
No I dont mean Beatmania, I mean Keyboardmania which is also produced by Konami and features an actual keyboard for each player with 2 octaves worth of keys. I think the aim of the game is to press the keys (and use the pitch wheel) in time with what it shown on the screen. I want to see a PC game that is like Keyboardmania that I can connect my MIDI keyboard to and play that way.
Microsoft sells a devkit (either as an addon to an existing 360 or a special 360). With this devkit, you can build and compile XBOX 360 code. But, the code would only be signed for (and run on) the specific devkit. If you want others to be able to use it, you can post the code and other devkit users can compile it and sign with their devkit key. The libraries would provide access to the DirectX stuff and other features of the console with the following differences: No access to run code from or read data from any disks in the optical drive. Everything would be loaded onto the hard disk only Changes to the library to prevent pirate copies of normal 360 games from being made and run with this devkit and also to make it useless for real shops doing game development (licence aggrement would also prevent real shops from doing anything with this cheap kit) Limits would be placed on network access
Then, there would be a way where people with something worth selling could approach microsoft and if its good enough, microsoft would allow it to be sold on XBOX live marketplace with microsoft getting $$$ from the sale.
They could even allow things like 360MC (to let you play all your media files on the 360) or the like. (as long as they get their cut)
On windows, you are limited to whatever OpenGL version Microsoft supports through opengl.dll (1.1 at the moment with 1.4 to appear in Vista). To extend beyond that, you have to use extentions to access the newer functionality. On Apple platforms, its up to apple (IIRC) to release an OpenGL core that supports 2.0 and for graphics card vendors to release drivers that support 2.0 natively (instead of just through extentions) and on Linux, its a matter of when the ATI and NVIDIA binary drivers are made to support OpenGL 2.0 directly (or any other drivers for whatever card you are using).
Basicly, on Vista, there are 3 ways to run OpenGL: 1.Microsoft implementation. This is basicly a layer that translates to Direct3D and supports up to OpenGL 1.4 plus a few selected extentions on top of that. (there is talk that MS deliberatly picked 1.4 over 1.5 because the main difference is that 1.5 supports Vertex Buffer Objects which are important for high speed games but not for stuff like CAD and 3D)
2.Existing OpenGL ICD provided by the hardware vendor. This will work just fine and give the same full OpenGL interface as you get now on windows XP (including all provided extentions). However, when this is used, the Vista Aeroglass interface is disabled.
and 3.A new OpenGL ICD built to cooperate with DirectX and Aeroglass. This option is the prefered option however microsoft has so far refused to provide graphics card vendors with all the information and specs required to make it happen (again, there is speculation that this is to "cripple" OpenGL). Of course, microsoft may provide (or may have already provided) the necessary information that the vendors require.
Anyone running games knows to install the latest graphics card drivers for their card (and game readme files often say to do that anyway) so gamers who choose to upgrade to Vista will just download and install an ICD written by the display card manufacturer following option 3 and everyone is happy.
DirectX 9 games will still run just fine on Vista. Expect to see games companies developing for DX9 and targeting Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 2003 and Windows Vista for a while yet.
And even for cases like voting machines and ATMs and such, its not really an issue.
For example, the owner of an ATM is the bank whos logo is on it. So, as long as the bank has control over what software runs (something they generally want anyway I would imagine), GPLv3 is not being violated. In the case of a voting machine, its the electoral commision/state/whoever that owns the machines and would have the keys.
Wwill make it bad is who decides what you can run. And which external entities (ISPs, banks etc) start checking for what information.
The idea of having a hardware device in the computer that can control what software can run, what software can access what data etc is NOT a bad thing. If the owner of the PC (e.g. a home user or an IT department at a corporation) controls the keys, its perfectly fine. Its only when Microsoft/RIAA/MPAA/IDSA/Government agency/etc control the keys that trusted computing is bad.
I am all for fighting the use of trusted computing to control what we can run on our PCs or what we can talk to (e.g. trusted internet, banks blocking non trusted PCs etc) but lets not ignore the usefull uses of trusted computing here.
Some good uses of trusted computing: Users using it to block viruses, worms, spyware, malware etc from running Corporations/IT departments/etc using it to control the installation of unapproved software on employee PCs Companies using trusted computing to protect sensitive data (for example, even if a hacker could get into the server holding all the credit card numbers, they wouldnt be able to use the hacker tools to get all the numbers out because trusted computing would prevent the hacker tools from running. Wont stop the hacker but would make it harder. Also prevents hacker from installing rootkits or other tools since they wont run or will cause the signature on the OS binaries to no longer be vaild)
The reason ActiveX is worse than Java applets, firefox extentions etc is that even today, many many machines run (either intentionally or unintentionally) with privileges set to blindly allow any control to install itself. And to allow those controls to do whatever they like. Whereas, Java (the alternative to ActiveX) has a nice safe sandbox that is difficult to get out of without direct user involvement.
Plus, any slashdotter who doesnt bash M$ at every opertunity isn't a true slashdotter:P
I dont know what they are called over there but here in.au the banks offer something called a Term Deposit. Basicly, you take a chunk of money and give it to them for a fixed term (say, a 6 month term) and you get more interest on it than you would from a normal bank account. I think you can get it back if you really need to but you do loose most of the interest if you do so.
What is it about the intel integrated graphics chips that makes them so crappy. I had a GeForce 4 MX 440 that was BETTER than even the highest spec integerated intel graphics chipset you can get today. If intel wanted to, they could easily make (or licence from someone else) a better chipset for even the lowest end systems with hardware T&L and other 21st centuary graphics card features and all without affecting the functionality of the chipsets or motherboards or making them cost significiantly more.
Its not sbout the pirates who download corp ISOz from "sekret warez ftpz", its about the casual pirates. The people who buy a new computer with XP on it and think its OK to install it on their old machine as well. The people who borrow XP from their mates because they are too cheap to pay for it. etc.
Also, WGA can even stop people using corp keys, if someone with corp keys goes to download something thats protected by WGA (from windows update or elsewhere), the WGA checker can check if the corp key is on the blacklist (i.e. corp keys that are known to be in the wild and used by pirates) and if so, prevent the download. Of course, that doesnt account for the fact that whenever microsoft updates the WGA software, crackers pull it to bits and release a new way to defeat it.
Re:Screw the Q, give me an A1200 running linux!
on
Unmaking Motorola's Q
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· Score: 1
I dont know for sure but I believe that the A1200 MING was submitted to the FCC for FCC certification which probobly means they are (or were) planning to release it stateside at some point.
I too wish I could get a motorola EZX linux phone (moto dont sell ANY of them here in australia:( )
Being able to use any handset with any provider is exactly what standards like GSM and UMTS are all about. If you dont like what the carrier wants to sell you, go find an unbranded unlocked phone somewhere else (you wont get a carrier subsidy obviously) and put in the SIM (or USIM in the case of UMTS) card from the carrier of your choice.
Anyone who buys crappy locked in CDMA phones when you can get much better GSM phones is an idiot (either that or someone who is unable to use a GSM phone in the places they need to use a mobile phone in, in which case the GSM carriers need to invest more in building towers to increase their coverage and hence market share)
from the article: Giving outside software developers the same access to technical information that Windows developers have, so "competitors will know that they can plug into Windows to get services in the same way that built-in Windows features do"
I wonder just WHAT technical information microsoft is talking about?
I used to work for a software engineering firm and they had the following processes in place to prevent theft of confidential information by janitors and anyone else not authorised to have the info: Any physical confidential items (printouts, prototypes, manuals, stuff written down etc) are secured in a locked cabinet of some kind (employees were all given their own storage space to which they have keys but janitors, co-workers etc dont) unless its actually being used. Any paper materials being disposed of go into a locked trash can for secure destruction. Computers are secured by passwords and by screen locking software so janitors (or anyone else) cant come in and use it to steal information.
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Better yet, dont use your landline at all.
Have a cellphone and/or VoIP.
Dont give out the landline phone number to anyone, only the cell number.
If you have Cable for internet, dont get a phone line at all.
If you have Fiber or something else, dont get a phone line.
If you have Dialup or you have DSL or you have Fiber or something and you must have a phone line (e.g. "verizon will only let you get FIOS if you get verizon phone over that FIOS"), get the phone line but dont even have a real phone (only the modem for broadband/dialup) plugged into it.
That way, even if the telemarketers do get your landline number (if any), all they get is no answer then ring out since no-one even knows a call was made.
Putting it in the glove box means that thieves cant see that you have an iPod in your car.
If it was visible, thieves would smash the window to steal your iPod.
Option one is to produce a new iPod or addon for iPods that implement Bluetooth and other features and basicly allows the iPod to pair up with a cellphone.
For example, when a call comes in over the cellphone, the iPod would stop playing music and route the cellphone audio through the iPod headphones like it was a bluetooth headset.
Also, the iPod could hold a contact list synced with the apple contact list software (iCal or whatever it is) and then you select one from the iPod interface and it dials the number on your phone.
Could include other features to allow phone & iPod linkup (for example, some way to use the Java and GPRS/internet features present on all phones to allow one to download a song from the iTunes store on your phone using the internet and then transfer it directly to the iPod).
Option 2 is for apple to partner with a 3rd party (such as Motorola) and produce something that I forsee as being similar in base architecture to the Motorola EZX products. Basicly, it would have a dual CPU setup with all the radio stuff (SIM card access, talking to the cell tower, bluetooth etc etc) being handled on one CPU (with the hardware and software being provided by the phone maker) and the application layer (music player, phonebook/contact list, application stuff) being on the other CPU and being written by Apple. Apple would also be responsible for the design, look & feel etc of the phone.
There is no "airplane mode" signal but a lot of phones (especially smartphones/PDAs and other high end phones) have an "airplane mode" option that, when turned on, disables the cell phone parts (and probobly bluetooth too I expect) whilst still letting you use the non radio parts of the phone.
I think the Motorola V3 series has it for example.
I dont understand why everyone says the SNES version of SFII was so good.
I think the Genesis version was WAY better (for starters, it kept the arcade versions title screen AND the music sounded much more like the arcade)
Anyone who is running Windows XP and is not running SP2 is an idiot.
I prefer the CPS1 original with MAME and a decent arcade stick (like my OzStick)
1.Every passport that has one of these RFID chips should contain a unique number burned into the RFID chips in a way that can never be changed but can be read back.
2.When the passport data is written to the RFID chip, the data is encrypted using an RSA (or similar) key that only the government has which will prevent "drive by data dumping" as long as the other half of the key is only embedded in passport machines and is kept tightly controled. Also (and more importantly), it is digitally signed using the same key (including the unique number burned into the RFID chip). This would prevent anyone from even being able to make a 1:1 copy of a passport.
No I dont mean Beatmania, I mean Keyboardmania which is also produced by Konami and features an actual keyboard for each player with 2 octaves worth of keys. I think the aim of the game is to press the keys (and use the pitch wheel) in time with what it shown on the screen.
I want to see a PC game that is like Keyboardmania that I can connect my MIDI keyboard to and play that way.
Better yet, I want a keyboardmania clone that I can play with my MIDI keyboard (and unlike MIDI guitars, MIDI keyboards dont cost the earth :)
Microsoft sells a devkit (either as an addon to an existing 360 or a special 360).
With this devkit, you can build and compile XBOX 360 code. But, the code would only be signed for (and run on) the specific devkit.
If you want others to be able to use it, you can post the code and other devkit users can compile it and sign with their devkit key.
The libraries would provide access to the DirectX stuff and other features of the console with the following differences:
No access to run code from or read data from any disks in the optical drive. Everything would be loaded onto the hard disk only
Changes to the library to prevent pirate copies of normal 360 games from being made and run with this devkit and also to make it useless for real shops doing game development (licence aggrement would also prevent real shops from doing anything with this cheap kit)
Limits would be placed on network access
Then, there would be a way where people with something worth selling could approach microsoft and if its good enough, microsoft would allow it to be sold on XBOX live marketplace with microsoft getting $$$ from the sale.
They could even allow things like 360MC (to let you play all your media files on the 360) or the like. (as long as they get their cut)
On windows, you are limited to whatever OpenGL version Microsoft supports through opengl.dll (1.1 at the moment with 1.4 to appear in Vista). To extend beyond that, you have to use extentions to access the newer functionality.
On Apple platforms, its up to apple (IIRC) to release an OpenGL core that supports 2.0 and for graphics card vendors to release drivers that support 2.0 natively (instead of just through extentions)
and on Linux, its a matter of when the ATI and NVIDIA binary drivers are made to support OpenGL 2.0 directly (or any other drivers for whatever card you are using).
Basicly, on Vista, there are 3 ways to run OpenGL:
1.Microsoft implementation. This is basicly a layer that translates to Direct3D and supports up to OpenGL 1.4 plus a few selected extentions on top of that. (there is talk that MS deliberatly picked 1.4 over 1.5 because the main difference is that 1.5 supports Vertex Buffer Objects which are important for high speed games but not for stuff like CAD and 3D)
2.Existing OpenGL ICD provided by the hardware vendor. This will work just fine and give the same full OpenGL interface as you get now on windows XP (including all provided extentions). However, when this is used, the Vista Aeroglass interface is disabled.
and 3.A new OpenGL ICD built to cooperate with DirectX and Aeroglass. This option is the prefered option however microsoft has so far refused to provide graphics card vendors with all the information and specs required to make it happen (again, there is speculation that this is to "cripple" OpenGL). Of course, microsoft may provide (or may have already provided) the necessary information that the vendors require.
Anyone running games knows to install the latest graphics card drivers for their card (and game readme files often say to do that anyway) so gamers who choose to upgrade to Vista will just download and install an ICD written by the display card manufacturer following option 3 and everyone is happy.
DirectX 9 games will still run just fine on Vista.
Expect to see games companies developing for DX9 and targeting Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 2003 and Windows Vista for a while yet.
And even for cases like voting machines and ATMs and such, its not really an issue.
For example, the owner of an ATM is the bank whos logo is on it. So, as long as the bank has control over what software runs (something they generally want anyway I would imagine), GPLv3 is not being violated.
In the case of a voting machine, its the electoral commision/state/whoever that owns the machines and would have the keys.
Wwill make it bad is who decides what you can run. And which external entities (ISPs, banks etc) start checking for what information.
The idea of having a hardware device in the computer that can control what software can run, what software can access what data etc is NOT a bad thing.
If the owner of the PC (e.g. a home user or an IT department at a corporation) controls the keys, its perfectly fine. Its only when Microsoft/RIAA/MPAA/IDSA/Government agency/etc control the keys that trusted computing is bad.
I am all for fighting the use of trusted computing to control what we can run on our PCs or what we can talk to (e.g. trusted internet, banks blocking non trusted PCs etc) but lets not ignore the usefull uses of trusted computing here.
Some good uses of trusted computing:
Users using it to block viruses, worms, spyware, malware etc from running
Corporations/IT departments/etc using it to control the installation of unapproved software on employee PCs
Companies using trusted computing to protect sensitive data (for example, even if a hacker could get into the server holding all the credit card numbers, they wouldnt be able to use the hacker tools to get all the numbers out because trusted computing would prevent the hacker tools from running. Wont stop the hacker but would make it harder. Also prevents hacker from installing rootkits or other tools since they wont run or will cause the signature on the OS binaries to no longer be vaild)
The reason ActiveX is worse than Java applets, firefox extentions etc is that even today, many many machines run (either intentionally or unintentionally) with privileges set to blindly allow any control to install itself. And to allow those controls to do whatever they like.
:P
Whereas, Java (the alternative to ActiveX) has a nice safe sandbox that is difficult to get out of without direct user involvement.
Plus, any slashdotter who doesnt bash M$ at every opertunity isn't a true slashdotter
How "open" is AMD as far as providing specs, documentation, info and code goes? And what effect will the "openness" of AMD (if any) have on ATI?
I dont know what they are called over there but here in .au the banks offer something called a Term Deposit. Basicly, you take a chunk of money and give it to them for a fixed term (say, a 6 month term) and you get more interest on it than you would from a normal bank account.
I think you can get it back if you really need to but you do loose most of the interest if you do so.
What is it about the intel integrated graphics chips that makes them so crappy.
I had a GeForce 4 MX 440 that was BETTER than even the highest spec integerated intel graphics chipset you can get today.
If intel wanted to, they could easily make (or licence from someone else) a better chipset for even the lowest end systems with hardware T&L and other 21st centuary graphics card features and all without affecting the functionality of the chipsets or motherboards or making them cost significiantly more.
Its not sbout the pirates who download corp ISOz from "sekret warez ftpz", its about the casual pirates.
The people who buy a new computer with XP on it and think its OK to install it on their old machine as well.
The people who borrow XP from their mates because they are too cheap to pay for it.
etc.
Also, WGA can even stop people using corp keys, if someone with corp keys goes to download something thats protected by WGA (from windows update or elsewhere), the WGA checker can check if the corp key is on the blacklist (i.e. corp keys that are known to be in the wild and used by pirates) and if so, prevent the download. Of course, that doesnt account for the fact that whenever microsoft updates the WGA software, crackers pull it to bits and release a new way to defeat it.
I dont know for sure but I believe that the A1200 MING was submitted to the FCC for FCC certification which probobly means they are (or were) planning to release it stateside at some point.
:( )
I too wish I could get a motorola EZX linux phone (moto dont sell ANY of them here in australia
Being able to use any handset with any provider is exactly what standards like GSM and UMTS are all about.
If you dont like what the carrier wants to sell you, go find an unbranded unlocked phone somewhere else (you wont get a carrier subsidy obviously) and put in the SIM (or USIM in the case of UMTS) card from the carrier of your choice.
Anyone who buys crappy locked in CDMA phones when you can get much better GSM phones is an idiot (either that or someone who is unable to use a GSM phone in the places they need to use a mobile phone in, in which case the GSM carriers need to invest more in building towers to increase their coverage and hence market share)
from the article:
Giving outside software developers the same access to technical information that Windows developers have, so "competitors will know that they can plug into Windows to get services in the same way that built-in Windows features do"
I wonder just WHAT technical information microsoft is talking about?
I used to work for a software engineering firm and they had the following processes in place to prevent theft of confidential information by janitors and anyone else not authorised to have the info:
Any physical confidential items (printouts, prototypes, manuals, stuff written down etc) are secured in a locked cabinet of some kind (employees were all given their own storage space to which they have keys but janitors, co-workers etc dont) unless its actually being used.
Any paper materials being disposed of go into a locked trash can for secure destruction.
Computers are secured by passwords and by screen locking software so janitors (or anyone else) cant come in and use it to steal information.