I'm not being entirely tongue-in-cheek by any means. The abuse of the English language at the hands of so-called "University Grads" nowadays is absolutely atrocious. Granted, there have always been those who were good technically that could not write properly, but it seems to me the problem has been exacerbated by the advent of "text-speek." Where it used to be predominantly a problem of phrasing and grammar, now it's a question of whether actual words are even used.
What's next? Attaching a cat photo to your project proposal?
Look, here's the simple fact: peer-to-peer communications for any protocol is not a "novel" idea. It's a normal, every-day thing a programmer or engineer considers as a means of preventing bottlenecks at a proxy or server.
Worse, the standards for SIP specifically set up peer-to-peer connections after the initial hand-shake, so every SIP stack is affected by this bullshit patent. In other words: virtually every IP phone on the planet, whether hardware or software based.
The US patent system is fundamentally and badly broken. Everyone knows that. But I'm rooting for Apple to spank the everliving shit out of these assholes.
I follow up the conversation with an email to confirm that we're on the same page and to provide a record of the discussion. But it's far faster to talk to someone for 10-15 minutes than to spend a day or few emailing back and forth.
I thought using proper English and a little courtesy and respect in writing was required of *all* generations when dealing with business, especially customers and "the boss." Equally silly, I always thought it was only *courteous* to use the phone or even (*shudder*) walk over to someone's office to talk to them!
But I guess the "kids" think it's funny to use text-slang instead, further exposing their ignorance and lack of respect for others.
Back in the early-mid 1990s, I worked on a billing data collection system that was to be sold to the Australian and German telcos.
The EBAF and SMDR data collected from the phone switches only includes the to/from phone numbers, the start time of the call, and the end time of the call. it's sufficient to do billing calculations, but absolutely does not include recordings of the calls themselves.
Back then, of course, online storage was very expensive and computers were only in the 386 power range, so once billing was completed, the data was archived off to tape in case there were any billing discrepencies that had to be investigated in the future. It would seem those tapes were retained and loaded into the online systems that are feasible nowadays.
Still, I am surprised that they bothered doing so -- it's not like they'd be willing to correct billing that far back. So it had to be done in response to law enforcement demands rather than because of any valid business need.
Case in point: The Snowden files carried by that "companion" of a British journalist have already been partially cracked -- I believe they claim they have access to 75% of the TrueCrypt-protected data so far.
2048 bit encryption, yes, but lower key sizes? The decryption time increases exponentially with the size of the key.
1500 years was quoted by one article I read as the time for a "standard desktop" to crack a 1024bit key (worst case.) Given that the NSA has tens of thousands of processors at their disposal, that means it's probably more on the order hours for their clusters to crack a 1024 bit key.
The point is: just using encryption isn't enough. The encryption has to be sufficiently hard to be of any value, and your keys have to be securely stored in such a fashion that the NSA can't just steal them with one of their software-based attacks. And unless you're running a version of Linux where you've reviewed all the code personally and compiled from source, you have absolutely no guarantees about a lack of backdoors for the NSA and their ilk to use to steal your keys.
I think they underestimate the sheer power of the NSA's cloud. If they decide to sic it on a particular encrypted file, they *will* gain access. We're talking about tens of thousands of servers working to decrypt a file.
Sure they can't do it for every piece of data they're interested in, but if they want something badly enough, they will decrypt it.
It's equally ridiculouse for the owners, CEO, and directors of a company to walk away from the lawsuits with hundreds of millions of dollars while having the company declare bankruptcy to avoid paying out when they lose the lawsuits.
A balance needs to be struck. Right now it is grotesquely in favour of the CEO, and it shouldn't be.
At worst, being on the list should mean you're subject to a full search of your luggage and person to make sure you're not carrying explosives or weapons. Not that you can't fly at all.
It's not possible. Sailing into the unknown is dangerous. It's expensive. There are unquantified risks. Combine all of those under one umbrella; you cannot establish a free market capitalization of that enterprise. People like Columbus just can't do it.
Now, granted, Columbus himself was supported by Queen Isabella, but there were many explorers over the centuries who were not supported by anything but private enterprise despite the "risks" of their forays. But I've no doubt they had their detractors, too, telling them they were crazy and that it "couldn't be done."
Not really. What I think you'll see is the resurgence of the artisan -- people doing jobs by hand just for the artistic flair and novelty of it, whether it be woodworking, food preparation, or "classical" arts and crafts. There is already a huge upscale market for hand-crafted furniture, for example.
In the future, people who decide to do something they love that could be done by a machine will stand out as artistes, and will hopefully reap the rewards of being "oddballs" who actually work at something.
With a little robotics added in, good bye delivery drivers, postal drivers who drop off at boxes instead of houses, and maybe even pizza delivery people.
Face it: Mankind's efforts at automation mean everybody will be automated out of a job in due time, save possibly the programmers and the decision makers. And I foresee a day when AIs do a better job at day-to-day decision making than their human counterparts, too.
That will leave doctors, nurses, lawyers, teachers, and politicians employed.
Mankind will eventually have no choice but to move to a socialist society, where you work for perks and extras, not for survival. Sure those days are still a long way off, but eventually "Star Trek" and "Communism" will rule the day because there isn't enough *real* work for people to do.
Slashdot Mirror
I think it's more important that it's not a standalone device, but an accessory for an existing one.
What's the point of a super-portable "smart watch" if you still need to carry around your phone, or worse, a bulky tablet?
I'm not being entirely tongue-in-cheek by any means. The abuse of the English language at the hands of so-called "University Grads" nowadays is absolutely atrocious. Granted, there have always been those who were good technically that could not write properly, but it seems to me the problem has been exacerbated by the advent of "text-speek." Where it used to be predominantly a problem of phrasing and grammar, now it's a question of whether actual words are even used.
What's next? Attaching a cat photo to your project proposal?
Sorry. My bad. I don't really follow Apple's product lines in detail, so I was confused about the names.
Not that their naming conventions make any sense. One would think AppleTalk would be for phones, not file transfers. :P
My understanding is AppleTalk was a modified SIP implementation. Therefore if AppleTalk infringes, so does SIP.
The only reason I can see for Apple being targetted is they have deep pockets.
They're attacking American websites. Surely that constitutes electronic terrorism and would fall under the NSA's mandate.
Look, here's the simple fact: peer-to-peer communications for any protocol is not a "novel" idea. It's a normal, every-day thing a programmer or engineer considers as a means of preventing bottlenecks at a proxy or server.
Worse, the standards for SIP specifically set up peer-to-peer connections after the initial hand-shake, so every SIP stack is affected by this bullshit patent. In other words: virtually every IP phone on the planet, whether hardware or software based.
The US patent system is fundamentally and badly broken. Everyone knows that. But I'm rooting for Apple to spank the everliving shit out of these assholes.
And the whiteboard in someone's office is a "huge" bonus for diagramming things, which can't be easily done via chat or emails.
Don't get me wrong -- if I just need to ask someone to do something simple, an email or a chat message will suffice.
But when there is any degree of discussion to be done with back-and-forth communications, nothing beats a conversation.
I follow up the conversation with an email to confirm that we're on the same page and to provide a record of the discussion. But it's far faster to talk to someone for 10-15 minutes than to spend a day or few emailing back and forth.
Or one can just install Ubuntu server (with or without a support license) and do:
apt-get install kde-full
I thought using proper English and a little courtesy and respect in writing was required of *all* generations when dealing with business, especially customers and "the boss." Equally silly, I always thought it was only *courteous* to use the phone or even (*shudder*) walk over to someone's office to talk to them!
But I guess the "kids" think it's funny to use text-slang instead, further exposing their ignorance and lack of respect for others.
And despite the NSA's budget and breadth of intrusion on private lives, they haven't caught them.
I'm *so* impressed with their effectiveness.
The problem is the idiots are searching an ever larger haystack of data for a few needles. The more data they collect, the worse the problem is.
Of course I'd also presume newer systems, especially cellular ones, have a lot more metadata than those old POTS systems did.
Back in the early-mid 1990s, I worked on a billing data collection system that was to be sold to the Australian and German telcos.
The EBAF and SMDR data collected from the phone switches only includes the to/from phone numbers, the start time of the call, and the end time of the call. it's sufficient to do billing calculations, but absolutely does not include recordings of the calls themselves.
Back then, of course, online storage was very expensive and computers were only in the 386 power range, so once billing was completed, the data was archived off to tape in case there were any billing discrepencies that had to be investigated in the future. It would seem those tapes were retained and loaded into the online systems that are feasible nowadays.
Still, I am surprised that they bothered doing so -- it's not like they'd be willing to correct billing that far back. So it had to be done in response to law enforcement demands rather than because of any valid business need.
Case in point: The Snowden files carried by that "companion" of a British journalist have already been partially cracked -- I believe they claim they have access to 75% of the TrueCrypt-protected data so far.
2048 bit encryption, yes, but lower key sizes? The decryption time increases exponentially with the size of the key.
1500 years was quoted by one article I read as the time for a "standard desktop" to crack a 1024bit key (worst case.) Given that the NSA has tens of thousands of processors at their disposal, that means it's probably more on the order hours for their clusters to crack a 1024 bit key.
The point is: just using encryption isn't enough. The encryption has to be sufficiently hard to be of any value, and your keys have to be securely stored in such a fashion that the NSA can't just steal them with one of their software-based attacks. And unless you're running a version of Linux where you've reviewed all the code personally and compiled from source, you have absolutely no guarantees about a lack of backdoors for the NSA and their ilk to use to steal your keys.
I think they underestimate the sheer power of the NSA's cloud. If they decide to sic it on a particular encrypted file, they *will* gain access. We're talking about tens of thousands of servers working to decrypt a file.
Sure they can't do it for every piece of data they're interested in, but if they want something badly enough, they will decrypt it.
It's equally ridiculouse for the owners, CEO, and directors of a company to walk away from the lawsuits with hundreds of millions of dollars while having the company declare bankruptcy to avoid paying out when they lose the lawsuits.
A balance needs to be struck. Right now it is grotesquely in favour of the CEO, and it shouldn't be.
Bombing the Syrian people will not stop anyone from using such weapons in the future.
If you want to stop such nonsense, assassinate Assad. Don't screw around. Don't hurt innocents. Take out the head of the snake.
Doing what you love rarely puts bread on the table and a car in the garage. Just ask a musician.
No matter how shitty the AI, it can't be any dumber than the typical rent-a-cop.
At worst, being on the list should mean you're subject to a full search of your luggage and person to make sure you're not carrying explosives or weapons. Not that you can't fly at all.
Now, granted, Columbus himself was supported by Queen Isabella, but there were many explorers over the centuries who were not supported by anything but private enterprise despite the "risks" of their forays. But I've no doubt they had their detractors, too, telling them they were crazy and that it "couldn't be done."
Over 50 BILLION dollars and they didn't catch and stop the Boston bombers.
<SARCASM>What a great investment.</SARCASM>
It makes it worth every penny to spy on the whole nation and surrounding world, doesn't it?
Not really. What I think you'll see is the resurgence of the artisan -- people doing jobs by hand just for the artistic flair and novelty of it, whether it be woodworking, food preparation, or "classical" arts and crafts. There is already a huge upscale market for hand-crafted furniture, for example.
In the future, people who decide to do something they love that could be done by a machine will stand out as artistes, and will hopefully reap the rewards of being "oddballs" who actually work at something.
Good bye truck drivers, and taxicabs.
With a little robotics added in, good bye delivery drivers, postal drivers who drop off at boxes instead of houses, and maybe even pizza delivery people.
Face it: Mankind's efforts at automation mean everybody will be automated out of a job in due time, save possibly the programmers and the decision makers. And I foresee a day when AIs do a better job at day-to-day decision making than their human counterparts, too.
That will leave doctors, nurses, lawyers, teachers, and politicians employed.
Mankind will eventually have no choice but to move to a socialist society, where you work for perks and extras, not for survival. Sure those days are still a long way off, but eventually "Star Trek" and "Communism" will rule the day because there isn't enough *real* work for people to do.