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User: jonwil

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  1. Re:New tech fails again on Ex-Lottery Worker Convicted of Programming System To Win $14M · · Score: 1

    It may well be possible to rig the spinning cage full of balls. But I bet its a LOT harder to do (and a LOT riskier in terms of getting caught or getting it wrong and not getting the numbers you thought you were going to get).

  2. Re:except the IAEA is still a thing. on Antineutrino Detectors Could Be Key To Monitoring Iran's Nuclear Program · · Score: 1

    Maybe the Iranians want to build nuclear powered naval vessels like the US and Russia have...

  3. Big deal on Meet "London," Marshall's First Android Smartphone · · Score: 1

    Its a mid-range smartphone with some slightly-better-than-usual-for-the-specs audio hardware (but nothing you couldn't find on any number of fairly decent smartphones) and a fancy name attached to it.

  4. Why are we still using RC4? on New RC4 Encryption Attacks Reduces Plaintext Recovery Time · · Score: 2

    Why would any sane admin use RC4 for SSL/TLS instead of using a more secure algorithm like AES?

  5. Re:A university has $23 billion USD? on Why a Chinese Buyout of Micron Is Not Likely To Succeed · · Score: 1

    More than likely they are a vehicle to allow the Chinese government to spend the $23bn without it looking like the Chinese government is the one spending the $23bn.

  6. Thank you to whoever hacked Hacking Team on Critical Internet Explorer 11 Vulnerability Identified After Hacking Team Breach · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Thank you to whoever hacked Hacking Team. Because of your work leaking the big data dump, a number of fairly nasty security holes in commonly used computer software such as Flash and Internet Explorer have now been patched by their manufacturers.

    Companies (or government agencies) who discover/collect/buy/obtain unpatched vulnerabilities in software and sit on them so they can use them for spying purposes are no better than criminal gangs who discover/collect/buy/obtain unpatched vulnerabilities and sit on them so they can use them for building malware.

    IMO There is NEVER a valid reason for ANY entity to hold onto an unpatched vulnerability and exploit it, not even the arguments of "National Security" and "we need this to stop terrorists" that have been used by the NSA and other agencies to justify this practice.

  7. This can only be a good thing on Iran Has Signed a Nuclear Accord · · Score: 1

    There are several possible outcomes from this deal, none of which is worse than not doing a deal at all.

    That said, if Iran is serious in its claim that it doesn't want nuclear weapons and only wants peaceful nuclear technology, it should sign and ratify the various nuclear test ban treaties.

  8. Re:Crazy! on Iran Has Signed a Nuclear Accord · · Score: 3, Informative

    Quite a few of the problems in the middle east today can be traced back to actions taken in the past by western nations.
    The Palestinian problem wouldn't even be a problem if Palestine hadn't been taken away from the Palestinians and given to the Jews (first by the British at the end of WW1 when they created "Mandatory Palestine" and allowed the Jews in in big numbers then again at the end of WW2 when the country was split in two, then again when the Jews not only claimed independence for the Jewish part and called it Israel but proceeded to capture the Palestinian part and more land besides)

    The current situation in Iran would likely not exist had the US and UK not kicked out Mohammad Mosaddegh in a coup (all because Mohammad Mosaddegh kicked out the British oil company and nationalized the oil industry)

    Islamic State wouldn't be such a problem if the US had left things well enough alone in Iraq instead of launching a full-blown invasion just because some circumstantial intelligence suggested Iraq MIGHT have some WMDs somewhere (plus had the US and its allies not go into Iraq they would have been able to focus more on the war in Afghanistan and might not have taken 10 years to take out Osama bin Laden)

  9. Re:iPhone on Man Arrested After Charging iPhone On London Overground Train · · Score: 1

    Tell that to my Nokia N900 which cant even survive a full day of use (calls, Internet, other stuff) anymore :(

  10. Re:Buses suck, that's their problem. on Ask Slashdot: If Public Transport Was Free, Would You Leave Your Car At Home? · · Score: 1

    The problem isn't "buses suck", its "buses suck if you live in an area with poor bus service".

  11. Re:Bubble-brains in big cities on Ask Slashdot: If Public Transport Was Free, Would You Leave Your Car At Home? · · Score: 1

    If you have little kids and there are no suitable school buses, sure.
    But if there are school buses in your area then you dont need to worry about getting your kids to school. Or if your kids are big enough to use regular public transport by themselves, its not a problem either (the age at which its appropriate for kids to use public transport by themselves depends on the kids, the area, the mode of transport etc, in my case I used to use public transport to get to and from high school by my self all the time)

  12. Re:searching isn't a problem. on Bomb Squad Searches House Over Teenager's Chemistry Experiments · · Score: 1

    At the very most he should be charged with trespassing (for being somewhere he wasn't allowed to be) and theft (for stealing the mercury switches) and given a minimal punishment along with clear instructions not to go places he isn't allowed to go or take things that don't belong to him.

  13. Re:Master key on Crypto Experts Blast Gov't Backdoors For Encryption · · Score: 1

    Or if you are in a situation where doing so is possible you buy/travel with a starter pistol or something else legally classified as a "firearm" by the TSA and can then legally lock your case with a big fat non-TSA lock.

    Plenty of people who aren't gun people who use this "trick" to protect expensive camera gear, tech or whatever else.

  14. Re:No way in hell on Microsoft Edge, HTML5, and DRM · · Score: 1

    Windows RT and Windows Phone both have walled gardens and only let you install from the Microsoft store.

  15. Re:Good on Greece Rejects EU Terms · · Score: 1

    Instead of asking for austerity, what the EU SHOULD be doing is saying to the Greeks "you wont get any more money from us unless you get rid of the corruption and collect the taxes your laws say you are supposed to be collecting". If Greece actually collected all the tax the laws say they are entitled to collect, they wouldn't be in the trouble they are in.

    Only problem is that the same oligarchs, rich people, big companies etc that are not paying their taxes in Greece are also lobbying the EU under the table asking the EU to reject any Greek bailout plans that involve collecting these taxes.

  16. What about the Greek alternative? on Greece Rejects EU Terms · · Score: 1

    Ok so the EU says to Greece that it has to do certain things (raise VAT, cut pensions, some other stuff) which will swing the Greek budget back towards surplus by x amount of Euros. Greece has then countered by saying that they can get the same x amount of Euros by increasing taxes on big companies and doing a few other things instead of doing the things the EU wants.

    If Greece can get the money the EU says it needs to get in a way that provides less hurt to the Greek economy and to those worst off in Green society, why wont the EU let them do it instead of insisting on the economically destroying austerity?

  17. Re:No way in hell on Microsoft Edge, HTML5, and DRM · · Score: 2

    What hasn't been said by Microsoft is whether or not all extensions need to go through the official Windows store (and be approved by Microsoft) or whether it will be possible to produce extensions that can be installed directly from non-MS websites and hence not need approval from MS.

  18. Re:Sligthly over 12 million USD - for couple hours on Ask Slashdot: How Much Did Your Biggest Tech Mistake Cost? · · Score: 1

    Not if that database insertion caused money to be moved somewhere else and database entries existed on a system belonging to someone else.

  19. This isn't as good as it sounds on Amazon's New SSL/TLS Implementation In 6,000 Lines of Code · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Ok so firstly it still uses large chunks of OpenSSL (all the crypto stuff) and is still vulnerable to any security holes in that stuff. So its no good on that score.
    Also, it disables DHE (which is supposed to be good for ensuring forward secrecy) claiming its a "security risk" (to be fair, maybe there is some security flaw with DHE that I haven't read about yet and that is why its turned off)
    Oh and it still supports horridly broken things like RC4, 3DES, SSLv3 and TLS1.0 (all of which contain known unfixable security flaws making them unsuitable going forward)

  20. Opinon on recent moves by NVIDIA on Interview: Ask Linus Torvalds a Question · · Score: 1

    It seems like NVIDIA have decided to become more "open" as of late releasing various pieces of documentation and header files as well as NVIDIA guys participating in the Nouveau mailing list. They are also working on the best way to make the firmware for their cards available for the Nouveau developers to use and distribute.

    Do you see this as a sign that NVIDIA have genuinely changed their attitude towards Open Source or do you think this is just the actions of a company desperate to get more companies to use their Tegra SOCs?

  21. Happening here in Australia too on The Vicious Circle That Is Sending Rents Spiraling Higher · · Score: 1

    We have the same problems of high rents, lack of housing stock, builders of apartments targeting the higher end in order to maximize profits, people unable to afford to buy properties and governments that won't do anything to solve the problem (whether that be by removing red tape and increasing the supply of land, reform of planning policies so its easier to get new residential developments approved, reform of zoning rules to encourage developers to build higher density, changing tax and other laws to stop the investment property speculation bubble or whatever else)

  22. The real problem is incompatible hardware on Samsung Cripples Windows Update To Prevent Incompatible Drivers · · Score: 2

    The real problem is that the systems contain hardware that isn't compatible with the standard Windows drivers yet is still showing up in a way that Windows will think it is and will pull drivers via Windows Update.

    USB (even USB 3.0) is a documented standard that is supported out-of-the-box by Windows (and is likely part of the Intel chip-set they are using in the laptop), why would it need special drivers?

  23. Re:Save Money and Just say no on Who Owns Your Overtime? · · Score: 1

    Too bad Section 1706 of the Tax Reform Act of 1986 makes doing that very hard (at least not if you want to not get in trouble with the IRS)

  24. Re:"Clean Energy Candidate" on The Presidential Candidate With a Plan To Run the US On 100% Clean Energy · · Score: 1

    The replacement for airplane fuel is biofuels (made in a way that doesn't hurt the planet due to their production). A number of airlines have flown (and continue to fly) aircraft using biofuels (either 100% biofuel or biofuel/regular jet fuel blends). Even the US military has flown a number of test flights with biofuels of various sorts.

  25. Re:Masters know their limitations. on Knowing C++ Beyond a Beginner Level · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I thought I was a guru level C++ programmer (I have been programming C++ for around 2 decades) but even I am constantly finding out about new things I didn't know existed.