Reading the PDF, the new rules seem to be: 1.Cable operators need to provide better access to switched digital video services (via improved tuning adapters, via an IP backchannel or via some other option) 2.They must provide greater information to consumers about the cost of a cable card. They must also offer consumers who dont lease a set top box a lower price than those who do lease a set top box. And there is something in there about making any set top box they lease also available for sale. 3.They must improve cable card installation including allowing self-install for any device where the manufacturer has provided installation instructions (i.e. anything where the cable company wont have to provide self-install technical support) 4.They must provide multi-stream cable cards by default unless a consumer specifically asks for a single stream card 5.There are changes to cable card certification designed to ensure cable card certification bodies cant hold up cable card equipment for anything other than valid technical reasons 6.There are some changes in the interface between set top boxes and other devices. The current requirement to provide a firewire port will go away and be replaced with a requirement that is physical-interface-neutral. It will also be expanded to require 2-way communication (such as being able to send the cable box remote control signals) 7.There is something there that says recievers will not be reqired to implement features designed to lock certain outputs on playback of certain content (something the MPAA was asking for to close the "analog hole" and prevent direct copying of certain kinds of PPV movie content) There are also some other things that I dont understand.
The thing I want to see from the FCC is the elimination of any rules regarding analog cable programming and a new rule pushing cable companies to completly end analog cable programming (which frees up spectrum/bandwidth for more TV channels or higher broadband speeds) Something regarding over-the-air channels that says cable companies can carry over-the-air channels (including ant digital channels, high-definition or otherwise) and that the over-the-air channel providers like ABC can not prevent the cable companies from carrying their content or charge "unreasonable" fees for doing so would be nice.
Nuclear power doesn't HAVE to produce anywhere near as much toxic crap as it currently does. If you overcome the cold war era BS about "nuclear proliferation" and allow spent-fuel reprocessing and use the right reactor designs (including breeder reactors) the total amount of waste left after you have extracted all the usefully-extractable energy from the nuclear fuel is significantly smaller and remains radioactive for less time.
If you use fuels like Thorium that dont require pre-enrichment, you can get even lower amounts of waste.
Chernobyl happened because they turned all the safety systems off and ran the reactor in ways it wasnt designed to. And then acted all surprised when it blew up. Also, the reactor design was flawed from day one (because it had a positive void coefficient)
Modern reactor designs (i.e. not the 70s era PWRs and BWRs that are all anyone in the US is even thinking about building) can be (and have been) built such that even total failure of every mechanical component of the reactor system wont lead to a meltdown.
My understanding is that as part of the "made for ipod" type program, you get the ability to buy (and put into your device" the special Apple hardware chips that will allow the iPhone/iPad/etc to recognise your accessory as valid (if your device doesnt have the chip, the handshake will fail and the phone wont recognise the device).
Apple could easily add the same requirement for Bluetooth devices.
To add to this evidence, I own a Sony CyberShot digital camera. Worst purchase I ever made, never worked very good (and it doesnt even have an Optical Zoom).
Replaced it with a Canon Ixus and am much happier.
They opened it up. But every bluetooth device you want to talk to has to be built from scratch with a special Apple hardware lock (just like the special hardware lock in dock connector devices) Wanna write (and put in the App Store) and app to talk to your LEGO Mindstorms NXT brick over Bluetooth from an iPhone? You can't because the NXT doesn't have the "Apple Approved" hardware lock.
Why dont they have the ICE drive the generator which then drives the electric motor which drives the wheels? And do that at all speeds in all cases where the battery is out of juice? If the electric motor can handle highway speeds when the battery is full, there is no reason it cant handle highway speeds being driven by the generator set.
If there are no mechanical linkages between the ICE and wheels, it becomes possible to swap the ICE (or ICE and generator) for something different. Such as a fuel cell. Or a different and better ICE.
Also, the ICE would be able to be run without a transmission and be tuned to always run (when its running) at exactly the right speed to most efficiently run the generator.
I WAS considering a HTC DeeZire Z (the generic non-carrier version of this phone) but in light of this, I am highly likely to bypass Android altogether and go for the Nokia N900. On an N900 there are NO restrictions on being able to replace files on the device. Plus, the N900 comes with Nokia Maps (unlike Android where you have to pay extra to get Australian maps for navigation purposes). And they have NO impediments to being able to install a selfbuilt kernel on the device if you choose to do so.
Of course, it may be that this was added at the specific request of T-Mobile and wont affect generic unbranded DeeZire Z handsets but even if it WAS a carrier request, I dont want to support a company that would pull this kind of crap. (even Apple hasnt gone this far)
Here is a design I have for a secure hard disk that would, if stolen or seized by the cops, prevent the recovery of any useful data. (assuming the thief/cops follow standard practice and just steal/sieze the device rather than caring about how it works) Items needed: 1.A hard disk (any one will do). Or you could use flash memory if you wanted to. 2.A microprocessor capable of encrypting/decrypting (using a strong algorithim such as AES) all data passed to the hard disk on the fly and circuitry to allow it to talk to the host PC and to the hard disk. Possibnly, a FPGA or custom ASIC could be used to accellerate the crypto operations. 3.A GPS module that outputs data in a form the microprocessor can parse. 4.A small amount of non-volitile memory that can hold a set of GPS coordinates and a set of keys for the encrption algorithim 5.A power supply for all this 6.A backup battery designed to power the microprocessor, GPS module and memory. Something that is charged up whilst its plugged into the wall and only runs down when there is no household power. 7.A nice case to put all this in that hides the inner workings and makes it look just like a normal external storage device.
The idea is that you wire up the GPS module and program the microprocessor so that it polls the GPS module every couple of minutes for the current GPS coordinates. If the GPS coordinates dont match what is stored in the memory, the microprocessor should erase the encryption keys. Add a nice large fudge factor to account for the inaccuracy of GPS units
The backup battery is so that when its unplugged, it erases the encryption keys before the cops/thief can get to the lab and analyze it. If you were REALLY paranoid, you could put the keys on memory that goes away if the power is removed. (and hope you dont have a power outage longer than the life of your UPS and backup battery_
You will need a special way to reprogram the GPS coordinates (i.e. temporarily disable the coordinate check then program new coordinates at the new location) in case you ever need to move the device legitimatly.
The idea is to ensure that if the device is seized by the cops (following standard practice of seizing anything that looks like its computer related and throwing it in the back of the cop car/van for later examination), the GPS module and backup battery will detect it and will permanenty erase the encryption keys.
Simple solution, someone should write something that tricks the Skype app into thinking its connected to a WiFi network and not to 3G. Its been done for the iPhone so I see no reason it couldn't be done for Android.
IE5 and 6 got so much market share because of Microsoft's "Bundle IE with Windows" lock-in policy and because IE6 WAS better than many of the alternatives at the time (including Netscape 4.x and Netscape 6)
These days there are plenty of alternatives (Opera, Firefox, Safari, Chrome and others) that are easily as good as IE (even IE9). Its highly unlikely IE9 could get "market dominating" levels of usage.
They should stop caring what the carriers have to say. Support Skype on Android (voice and video calls) without even detecting what connectivity is being used.
If the carriers like AT&T dont like it, they are free to block Skype completly (and risk users switching to another carrier that doesn't block Skype)
The answer to the "the diet would be missing xxx important nutrient" problem is to do what people on earth do when they need more of it. Take a vitamin pill of some kind.
So you eat whatever normal food is required to get most of your nutrients then you take a vitamin pill to get the stuff the food cant provide.
Its getting harder and harder to pracice hobby chemistry We have the "war on drugs" making chemicals with many legitimate uses hard to get just because ONE of the 100s of uses for that chemical happens to be the production of an illegal drug. Other chemicals are hard to get because they happen to have uses in fireworks or explosives (in addition to all the other legitimate uses) Chemicals are being restricted because of the "war on terror" (just ask any rocket hobbiest how its gotten harder to get rocket fuel because its now classified as an "explosive" even though rocket fuel that explodes instead of burning is the LAST thing manufacturers and users of rocket fuel want)
Lab equipment and glassware is also getting harder to just buy (again due to concerns about the "war on drugs", "war on terror" etc)
And then we have science kits that have no real experiments because even 100s of pages of warnings arent good enough to shield the manufacturer from liability because some kid mixed household cleaner with one of the chemicals in the chemistry set and hurt themselves.
They have a problem with any projects (private or government) that take away all the pork and jobs from companies like ATK who are currently getting all the contracts for the Shuttle.
Googling for my name on Google finds a lot of people with the same name as me but does not turn up anything about me. Googling for my email address does find lots of references to me but nothing that would be a major issue. Googling for my phone number shows nothing useful
I dont have a profile with any of the major sites (Facebook, Myspace, Linkedin, YouTube etc) I have a twitter account that I never post to which I set up for a reason I cant remember.
I have never been in trouble with the cops, taken illegal drugs, consumed anything much in the way of alcohol or done anything else notably bad.
If a company has a problem with the fact that I like to reverse engineer computer games for fun then its not a company worth working for.
I hope someone can create a payload using this exploit specifically designed to load Linux and incapable of running ANY PS3 games at all. With full access to all the hardware (maybe the NOVEAU drivers can help with the PS3s GPU)
A way to "dual boot" such that you can boot into GameOS and play games (including playing on PSN) yet at the same time can then run the exploit and load Linux would be great too.
Something that specifically allows legitimate uses without allowing any piracy at all.
I dont know what the landscape is like over there but if my ISP here in Australia tried a stunt like this, I would have no hesitation venting my spleen (both in public and to the company) and then changing to another ISP.
If enough people stand up to ISPs that want to pull these tricks, ISPs will stop doing it. Any ISP that doesnt listen to its customers is not an ISP you should be supporting anyway (too many companies in this modern world have adopted a "screw the customer, its all about the money" mentality. GOOD companies realize that the way to make more money is to keep the customers happy so they remain customers)
And get all your friends to do the same. If enough people start writing in and telling the government that they DON'T want their civil liberties violated, maybe the government will start listening. Especially if you put a couple of bits of paper with pictures of presidents on them inside the envelope...
What I meant was that the technology used to help prevent phishing and viruses (including one-time-use login numbers, SecurID keyfobs, on-screen keyboards, "click the correct picture" etc) would also make it harder to write a script to log into your bank automatically.
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Reading the PDF, the new rules seem to be:
1.Cable operators need to provide better access to switched digital video services (via improved tuning adapters, via an IP backchannel or via some other option)
2.They must provide greater information to consumers about the cost of a cable card. They must also offer consumers who dont lease a set top box a lower price than those who do lease a set top box. And there is something in there about making any set top box they lease also available for sale.
3.They must improve cable card installation including allowing self-install for any device where the manufacturer has provided installation instructions (i.e. anything where the cable company wont have to provide self-install technical support)
4.They must provide multi-stream cable cards by default unless a consumer specifically asks for a single stream card
5.There are changes to cable card certification designed to ensure cable card certification bodies cant hold up cable card equipment for anything other than valid technical reasons
6.There are some changes in the interface between set top boxes and other devices. The current requirement to provide a firewire port will go away and be replaced with a requirement that is physical-interface-neutral. It will also be expanded to require 2-way communication (such as being able to send the cable box remote control signals)
7.There is something there that says recievers will not be reqired to implement features designed to lock certain outputs on playback of certain content (something the MPAA was asking for to close the "analog hole" and prevent direct copying of certain kinds of PPV movie content)
There are also some other things that I dont understand.
The thing I want to see from the FCC is the elimination of any rules regarding analog cable programming and a new rule pushing cable companies to completly end analog cable programming (which frees up spectrum/bandwidth for more TV channels or higher broadband speeds)
Something regarding over-the-air channels that says cable companies can carry over-the-air channels (including ant digital channels, high-definition or otherwise) and that the over-the-air channel providers like ABC can not prevent the cable companies from carrying their content or charge "unreasonable" fees for doing so would be nice.
They should just turn it up to whatever the full power is and answer the question about the "higgs boson" once and for all...
Nuclear power doesn't HAVE to produce anywhere near as much toxic crap as it currently does. If you overcome the cold war era BS about "nuclear proliferation" and allow spent-fuel reprocessing and use the right reactor designs (including breeder reactors) the total amount of waste left after you have extracted all the usefully-extractable energy from the nuclear fuel is significantly smaller and remains radioactive for less time.
If you use fuels like Thorium that dont require pre-enrichment, you can get even lower amounts of waste.
Chernobyl happened because they turned all the safety systems off and ran the reactor in ways it wasnt designed to. And then acted all surprised when it blew up. Also, the reactor design was flawed from day one (because it had a positive void coefficient)
Modern reactor designs (i.e. not the 70s era PWRs and BWRs that are all anyone in the US is even thinking about building) can be (and have been) built such that even total failure of every mechanical component of the reactor system wont lead to a meltdown.
My understanding is that as part of the "made for ipod" type program, you get the ability to buy (and put into your device" the special Apple hardware chips that will allow the iPhone/iPad/etc to recognise your accessory as valid (if your device doesnt have the chip, the handshake will fail and the phone wont recognise the device).
Apple could easily add the same requirement for Bluetooth devices.
To add to this evidence, I own a Sony CyberShot digital camera. Worst purchase I ever made, never worked very good (and it doesnt even have an Optical Zoom).
Replaced it with a Canon Ixus and am much happier.
They opened it up. But every bluetooth device you want to talk to has to be built from scratch with a special Apple hardware lock (just like the special hardware lock in dock connector devices)
Wanna write (and put in the App Store) and app to talk to your LEGO Mindstorms NXT brick over Bluetooth from an iPhone? You can't because the NXT doesn't have the "Apple Approved" hardware lock.
Why dont they have the ICE drive the generator which then drives the electric motor which drives the wheels? And do that at all speeds in all cases where the battery is out of juice?
If the electric motor can handle highway speeds when the battery is full, there is no reason it cant handle highway speeds being driven by the generator set.
If there are no mechanical linkages between the ICE and wheels, it becomes possible to swap the ICE (or ICE and generator) for something different. Such as a fuel cell. Or a different and better ICE.
Also, the ICE would be able to be run without a transmission and be tuned to always run (when its running) at exactly the right speed to most efficiently run the generator.
I WAS considering a HTC DeeZire Z (the generic non-carrier version of this phone) but in light of this, I am highly likely to bypass Android altogether and go for the Nokia N900. On an N900 there are NO restrictions on being able to replace files on the device. Plus, the N900 comes with Nokia Maps (unlike Android where you have to pay extra to get Australian maps for navigation purposes). And they have NO impediments to being able to install a selfbuilt kernel on the device if you choose to do so.
Of course, it may be that this was added at the specific request of T-Mobile and wont affect generic unbranded DeeZire Z handsets but even if it WAS a carrier request, I dont want to support a company that would pull this kind of crap. (even Apple hasnt gone this far)
Here is a design I have for a secure hard disk that would, if stolen or seized by the cops, prevent the recovery of any useful data. (assuming the thief/cops follow standard practice and just steal/sieze the device rather than caring about how it works)
Items needed:
1.A hard disk (any one will do). Or you could use flash memory if you wanted to.
2.A microprocessor capable of encrypting/decrypting (using a strong algorithim such as AES) all data passed to the hard disk on the fly and circuitry to allow it to talk to the host PC and to the hard disk. Possibnly, a FPGA or custom ASIC could be used to accellerate the crypto operations.
3.A GPS module that outputs data in a form the microprocessor can parse.
4.A small amount of non-volitile memory that can hold a set of GPS coordinates and a set of keys for the encrption algorithim
5.A power supply for all this
6.A backup battery designed to power the microprocessor, GPS module and memory. Something that is charged up whilst its plugged into the wall and only runs down when there is no household power.
7.A nice case to put all this in that hides the inner workings and makes it look just like a normal external storage device.
The idea is that you wire up the GPS module and program the microprocessor so that it polls the GPS module every couple of minutes for the current GPS coordinates. If the GPS coordinates dont match what is stored in the memory, the microprocessor should erase the encryption keys. Add a nice large fudge factor to account for the inaccuracy of GPS units
The backup battery is so that when its unplugged, it erases the encryption keys before the cops/thief can get to the lab and analyze it. If you were REALLY paranoid, you could put the keys on memory that goes away if the power is removed. (and hope you dont have a power outage longer than the life of your UPS and backup battery_
You will need a special way to reprogram the GPS coordinates (i.e. temporarily disable the coordinate check then program new coordinates at the new location) in case you ever need to move the device legitimatly.
The idea is to ensure that if the device is seized by the cops (following standard practice of seizing anything that looks like its computer related and throwing it in the back of the cop car/van for later examination), the GPS module and backup battery will detect it and will permanenty erase the encryption keys.
Wouldn't Siemens be able to tell (based on the commands sent to the PLC by the Stuxnet worm) what it is trying to do?
Simple solution, someone should write something that tricks the Skype app into thinking its connected to a WiFi network and not to 3G. Its been done for the iPhone so I see no reason it couldn't be done for Android.
IE5 and 6 got so much market share because of Microsoft's "Bundle IE with Windows" lock-in policy and because IE6 WAS better than many of the alternatives at the time (including Netscape 4.x and Netscape 6)
These days there are plenty of alternatives (Opera, Firefox, Safari, Chrome and others) that are easily as good as IE (even IE9). Its highly unlikely IE9 could get "market dominating" levels of usage.
They should stop caring what the carriers have to say.
Support Skype on Android (voice and video calls) without even detecting what connectivity is being used.
If the carriers like AT&T dont like it, they are free to block Skype completly (and risk users switching to another carrier that doesn't block Skype)
The answer to the "the diet would be missing xxx important nutrient" problem is to do what people on earth do when they need more of it. Take a vitamin pill of some kind.
So you eat whatever normal food is required to get most of your nutrients then you take a vitamin pill to get the stuff the food cant provide.
Its getting harder and harder to pracice hobby chemistry
We have the "war on drugs" making chemicals with many legitimate uses hard to get just because ONE of the 100s of uses for that chemical happens to be the production of an illegal drug.
Other chemicals are hard to get because they happen to have uses in fireworks or explosives (in addition to all the other legitimate uses)
Chemicals are being restricted because of the "war on terror" (just ask any rocket hobbiest how its gotten harder to get rocket fuel because its now classified as an "explosive" even though rocket fuel that explodes instead of burning is the LAST thing manufacturers and users of rocket fuel want)
Lab equipment and glassware is also getting harder to just buy (again due to concerns about the "war on drugs", "war on terror" etc)
And then we have science kits that have no real experiments because even 100s of pages of warnings arent good enough to shield the manufacturer from liability because some kid mixed household cleaner with one of the chemicals in the chemistry set and hurt themselves.
They have a problem with any projects (private or government) that take away all the pork and jobs from companies like ATK who are currently getting all the contracts for the Shuttle.
If people can login via OpenID, they can use their google account or their yahoo account or other accounts.
Googling for my name on Google finds a lot of people with the same name as me but does not turn up anything about me.
Googling for my email address does find lots of references to me but nothing that would be a major issue.
Googling for my phone number shows nothing useful
I dont have a profile with any of the major sites (Facebook, Myspace, Linkedin, YouTube etc)
I have a twitter account that I never post to which I set up for a reason I cant remember.
I have never been in trouble with the cops, taken illegal drugs, consumed anything much in the way of alcohol or done anything else notably bad.
If a company has a problem with the fact that I like to reverse engineer computer games for fun then its not a company worth working for.
Stuff Vodka, I wanana see someone try Whisky in space.
Although I dont know you would put the barrels whilst the whisky ages for a few years.
Knowing Fosters, they would take the micro-gravity Fosters brew, stick it in bottles labeled "Fosters Extra" and charge double the price.
I hope someone can create a payload using this exploit specifically designed to load Linux and incapable of running ANY PS3 games at all. With full access to all the hardware (maybe the NOVEAU drivers can help with the PS3s GPU)
A way to "dual boot" such that you can boot into GameOS and play games (including playing on PSN) yet at the same time can then run the exploit and load Linux would be great too.
Something that specifically allows legitimate uses without allowing any piracy at all.
I dont know what the landscape is like over there but if my ISP here in Australia tried a stunt like this, I would have no hesitation venting my spleen (both in public and to the company) and then changing to another ISP.
If enough people stand up to ISPs that want to pull these tricks, ISPs will stop doing it.
Any ISP that doesnt listen to its customers is not an ISP you should be supporting anyway (too many companies in this modern world have adopted a "screw the customer, its all about the money" mentality. GOOD companies realize that the way to make more money is to keep the customers happy so they remain customers)
Thats why you include the bits of paper with presidents on them in the envelope.
If there is one thing that US politicians love MORE than BS laws in the name of "the war on xxx", its money
And get all your friends to do the same. If enough people start writing in and telling the government that they DON'T want their civil liberties violated, maybe the government will start listening. Especially if you put a couple of bits of paper with pictures of presidents on them inside the envelope...
What I meant was that the technology used to help prevent phishing and viruses (including one-time-use login numbers, SecurID keyfobs, on-screen keyboards, "click the correct picture" etc) would also make it harder to write a script to log into your bank automatically.