Of course, when most ISPs have a very long DHCP lease, it might as well just be static. For example, if you have Comcast, chances are that your IP address hasn't changed since you first started your service.
Yes. I had them for a few years, and you're right: it hardly ever changed. The only times that it did were when they were doing a major network upgrade (I lost service for an hour or so, and when it came back on I had a new IP) and when I upgraded my speed. I think they call it a "Permanent IP", meaning they can change it if they want, but usually leave it alone. Worked well for me: I could get to my machines from the outside and didn't need to bother with DynDNS or anything like that.
Similarly: Nigerian spam messages are usually funny, but their purpose is to scam people.
Not quite. The 419ers aren't trying to be funny or entertaining... they're intended to be taken seriously (and by the people that fall for them, they are.) That the rest of us find them hilarious is irrelevant.
Like it or not, Apple is the most wanted brand lof tablets and phones. You can add flash, hdmi, double rainbows to your tablet but if Steve Jobs didn't produce it then it is regarded as pig shit by the masses.
Samsungs status = Told.
No, it's regarded as pig shit by Apple afficionados, people that would believe in the infallibility of Apple even if it did turn out pig shit. The rest of us look at the overall value proposition, and may or may not decide to buy Apple based upon our actual needs. The phenomenal success of Android in the handset market shows very clearly that not everyone considers Apple a "must buy." And that's only reasonable: no single product, or product line, can hope to serve everyone's needs.
250GB a month and $10 for 50GB sounds really cheap...
Sure it does. For now. But all the big boys are looking towards the future where people will continue to find uses for more and more bandwidth, and they are trying to make a pre-emptive strike. That is, make us afraid to actually use our Internet connections for anything more than email and browsing.
Things like the condom argument just don't have any ground for me, because I'm not the sort of person who does things behind people's backs. If you are so fed up of your marriage that you need to have affairs, you should already have got a divorce..
That's nice, but it doesn't mean anything. The mere fact that you don't care about that particular example means you ought to be thinking about what kinds of scenarios would affect you, or those closest to you. Personal privacy (and the loss of it) is something is of concern to everyone, whether they realize that or not, and I see no reason to give it up just because I'm not inconvenienced by the losing it one specific situation. Knowledge is power, and the more other people know about you, the more detailed the profile they have on you, the more they have power over you. That's just the way it is, and you have no way of predicting how that information will be used against you in the future.
Another point: just because a particular group of people for whom you do not care is at risk of harm from the government or the private sector is no reason to ignore their plight. That's because the next time around it may be you. Some precedents should not be set, some things should simply not be permitted.
People have a right to a private life, a right to keep things secret from their employer etc. which Facebook can circumvent.
Rights depend upon what your particular society decides is you get to have: contrary to popular belief there's no such thing as a universal right. So far as Facebook is concerned, I pretty much circumvent any privacy issues by not having a Facebook account.
It's not like anybody is gonna buy something besides an Ipad (for the best tablet experience) unless they're lied to or defrauded in some way or fashion. Samsung really has no other choice but to engage in the most crass form of commercialism, or they risk not being able to sell any of their wannabee "Ipad Killer" tablets.
They have to engage in lies or their lame attempt at copying Apple will surely die.
Enjoy.
So speaks the Jobs surrogate assigned to Slashdot. Yeah, we cottoned on to you some time ago. Time for a new Slashdot account.
It would need legal protection or it might be sued for defamation, even if it is correct
Not sued successfully. The truth is a complete defense in a defamation suit.
Not absolutely, even in America. It's pretty close, but not absolute. And even then, if the person you supposedly defamed sues you and forces you to defend yourself from an expensive lawsuit, you can still be effectively punished even if you win.
Exactly. TV adverts have actors, billboard ads have models. People here need to get a grip
I think you misunderstand. The meaning of this story is that it is proof that the iPad is the superior tablet because the smiling people who appear in the iPad advertisements are all real people and not models.
That might actually be true if "superior" were an absolute.
Seems like a painfully simple app to write for you programer types out there. My nokia has a meter but I've never reset it. It should have a field for billing date and update automatically. Also could have a reconciliation function and or link to carrier website listing of you use.
It's not only simple, but a number of third-party firmware offerings for certain models of low-end routers already do this. I run Tomato on my venerable WRT54G: it has bandwidth monitoring and it works reasonably well. The problem isn't that end users can't monitor their usage, it's that the providers won't care if they do. "Oh sure, Mr. Smith, we'll be happy to knock a hundred bucks off your bill because your little toy router says so. Now go away and pay your bill before we turn your happy little ass off."
Try getting a job these days when you tell them you don't have a cellphone, or you will only be reachable on it when it's convenient for you.
I've got a job exactly like that, and it really shouldn't be that hard to do, if you are working for a company that doesn't equate "job" with "indentured servitude".
I agree. A couple of my coworkers, and my immediate supervisor, have my personal cell number, but that's because I trust them not to abuse it. But I'm not on call (they don't pay me enough for that) and I may, or may not, pick it up. My boss is a great guy, and so far has never called me outside of regular hours, but I know that he can if some emergency were to arise. That's to my benefit, actually.
Now, the GP has a point when you are looking for a job. You want to be readily available when the HR person is working down his or her list of possible candidates. Even then, it would be best to give them a throwaway number (say, GV number) that you immediately change once you're hired. But unless your particular position requires you to be on-call outside of business hours, they have no business knowing your personal cell phone number.
And, if they ask you why your phone isn't working once they hire you, tell them that you got a new phone, or you don't have one anymore, or whatever. But I look at a cellphone as a service that I pay to be for my benefit, not my employers. If it's so all-fired important they be able to contact me any time they want, they can a. pay me more for the privilege and b. buy me a phone for that purpose.
If Flight Mode really is true, then that should be enough. But is it really???
Well, the good news is that unlike closed-source products like iOS and Windows Mobile, the Android firmware is available for scrutiny. I suspect that if such code were in the phone, it would have been outed by now, especially considering the number of third-party Android ROMs that are out there. Of course, there could be something untoward in the radio firmware, which is usually a binary blob from the phone manufacturer. Typically that runs on its own ARM: whether it would have access to the GPS receiver I don't know, and would be device-dependent anyway.
Salpetre, Sulphur and Glycerine.
Just because you may be from the USA should not excuse you for 3 spelling mistakes in a row.;)
Now get on the programe!
Umm.. does it really upset you that much that they know how often you buy bread, and what brand of toilet paper you prefer? Why would you even think about caring about that, let alone actually get paranoid about it?
I don't care if the store does. I do care when they collect PI (personally-identifiable) information about me and start selling it to marketers. Any time you start aggregating something, whether it be a warehouse full of high-explosives, or a server room full of personal information on millions of people, there are risks. Accidents can happen, people can misuse the contents. There is value there, certainly, but generally that value is to the people that own the warehouse, not the people whose records are stored there. Suppose you end up in a divorce: do you really want your lawyer finding out that you regularly bought condoms at a pharmacy in an area that you would normally never visit, and for which you have no good explanation?
Grocery stores do offer a discount on many products if you use their card when checking out. That's how they tie your purchases to you. Of course, what it really means is that they've jacked up the prices on those items, and those who use the cards get "discounted" back to the original price, or something close. Still, there are some items that I'm pretty sure are being sold as loss-leaders to those who have cards, so at least you're getting something out of the trade-off. Me, I don't bother with those things. The fewer databases I'm in, the happier I am, just as a matter of principle.
That's somewhat better than outfits like AT&T and Verizon, who just grab your personal data as if it were their own and sell it to anyone that wants it so they can make even more money. And do they pass those savings on to us? No, I don't think so. They just pocket it. I'd like to know if upper management of these companies is subjected to same kind of tracking that their customers are. I'll bet they aren't, and if they are, once the first subpoena goes through, they won't be.
Deutsche Telekom is the parent company of T-Mobile USA. And Europe has stricter privacy laws than the US.
Yes, and from what I hear DT is about as popular in Germany as AT&T is here, and for much the same reason (entrenched monopolist, etc.) Of course, it's equally true that of all the major players in the U.S., T-Mobile has been one of the most customer-friendly carriers of all of them. I really object to
the AT&T buyout of T-Mobile, for oh so many reasons.
No, that's not how it works - otherwise GPS and tower tracking wouldn't be such relatively new features to cell phones if it was that essential.
They can go by signal strength, I'm pretty sure they still do so in a handoff.
Some smartphones can use an initial coarse location by cell tower signal strength to speed up their GPS lock. Android has options for turning this feature on or off independently of GPS. Works well: my G2 with Cyanogenmod gets a lock almost instantly after enabling GPS, presumably because it already knows roughly where it is.
Not unless you like getting both yourself and your wallet fucked in the ass.
AT&T makes Comcrap, Microsoft and Apple look benign.
Hell they're probably even nastier than Exxon-Mobile.
I dunno... I agree that AT&T/SBC is nothing but a criminal gang in three-piece suits, but the reality is that (so far!) I've had much better service from AT&T than I ever got from Comcast. That sounds like it's changing though. All I have in my area is U-Verse, Comcast and some wireless outfit, so it's not looking good.
Where I live I have two choices, AT&T and Comcast. It's like trying to pick a side to root for on the Ostfront in WWII. Can we root against them both?
It's like the Devil you have, and the Devil you used to have until he got so bad you went with the Devil you have.
Sucks, I know. I'm in the same boat, but I have managed to play them off against each other on occasion. "Oh, you won't fix my problem? Well, I guess I'll have to head on over to [Comcast | AT&T] again. I'd rather not, but I'd rather have service than not."
The difference is that when you use more natural gas, the gas company has to buy more natural gas.
Well, that's true, but that just means that the company has a vested interest in accurate billing so they don't lose money. As you point out, ISPs have a vested interest in exactly the opposite, so I agree with you about metered billing.
Slashdot Mirror
Of course, when most ISPs have a very long DHCP lease, it might as well just be static. For example, if you have Comcast, chances are that your IP address hasn't changed since you first started your service.
Yes. I had them for a few years, and you're right: it hardly ever changed. The only times that it did were when they were doing a major network upgrade (I lost service for an hour or so, and when it came back on I had a new IP) and when I upgraded my speed. I think they call it a "Permanent IP", meaning they can change it if they want, but usually leave it alone. Worked well for me: I could get to my machines from the outside and didn't need to bother with DynDNS or anything like that.
Similarly: Nigerian spam messages are usually funny, but their purpose is to scam people.
Not quite. The 419ers aren't trying to be funny or entertaining ... they're intended to be taken seriously (and by the people that fall for them, they are.) That the rest of us find them hilarious is irrelevant.
Wait... are you saying Skittles don't come from rainbows?! Bastards!
Next thing you know, we'll find out that Cheetos don't come from cheese.
Like it or not, Apple is the most wanted brand lof tablets and phones. You can add flash, hdmi, double rainbows to your tablet but if Steve Jobs didn't produce it then it is regarded as pig shit by the masses.
Samsungs status = Told.
No, it's regarded as pig shit by Apple afficionados, people that would believe in the infallibility of Apple even if it did turn out pig shit. The rest of us look at the overall value proposition, and may or may not decide to buy Apple based upon our actual needs. The phenomenal success of Android in the handset market shows very clearly that not everyone considers Apple a "must buy." And that's only reasonable: no single product, or product line, can hope to serve everyone's needs.
250GB a month and $10 for 50GB sounds really cheap...
Sure it does. For now. But all the big boys are looking towards the future where people will continue to find uses for more and more bandwidth, and they are trying to make a pre-emptive strike. That is, make us afraid to actually use our Internet connections for anything more than email and browsing.
Things like the condom argument just don't have any ground for me, because I'm not the sort of person who does things behind people's backs. If you are so fed up of your marriage that you need to have affairs, you should already have got a divorce..
That's nice, but it doesn't mean anything. The mere fact that you don't care about that particular example means you ought to be thinking about what kinds of scenarios would affect you, or those closest to you. Personal privacy (and the loss of it) is something is of concern to everyone, whether they realize that or not, and I see no reason to give it up just because I'm not inconvenienced by the losing it one specific situation. Knowledge is power, and the more other people know about you, the more detailed the profile they have on you, the more they have power over you. That's just the way it is, and you have no way of predicting how that information will be used against you in the future.
Another point: just because a particular group of people for whom you do not care is at risk of harm from the government or the private sector is no reason to ignore their plight. That's because the next time around it may be you. Some precedents should not be set, some things should simply not be permitted.
People have a right to a private life, a right to keep things secret from their employer etc. which Facebook can circumvent.
Rights depend upon what your particular society decides is you get to have: contrary to popular belief there's no such thing as a universal right. So far as Facebook is concerned, I pretty much circumvent any privacy issues by not having a Facebook account.
yup. But no more or less 'cool' than any other weapons system.
Personally I think weapons are very uncool.
Until you happen to need one.
It's not like anybody is gonna buy something besides an Ipad (for the best tablet experience) unless they're lied to or defrauded in some way or fashion. Samsung really has no other choice but to engage in the most crass form of commercialism, or they risk not being able to sell any of their wannabee "Ipad Killer" tablets. They have to engage in lies or their lame attempt at copying Apple will surely die. Enjoy.
So speaks the Jobs surrogate assigned to Slashdot. Yeah, we cottoned on to you some time ago. Time for a new Slashdot account.
The point is that they're not deceiving you about anything that matters.
You don't get to decide that. The law does, and what the law says about this is something we need a lawyer to comment upon.
It would need legal protection or it might be sued for defamation, even if it is correct
Not sued successfully. The truth is a complete defense in a defamation suit.
Not absolutely, even in America. It's pretty close, but not absolute. And even then, if the person you supposedly defamed sues you and forces you to defend yourself from an expensive lawsuit, you can still be effectively punished even if you win.
I think you misunderstand. The meaning of this story is that it is proof that the iPad is the superior tablet because the smiling people who appear in the iPad advertisements are all real people and not models.
That might actually be true if "superior" were an absolute.
Seems like a painfully simple app to write for you programer types out there. My nokia has a meter but I've never reset it. It should have a field for billing date and update automatically. Also could have a reconciliation function and or link to carrier website listing of you use.
It's not only simple, but a number of third-party firmware offerings for certain models of low-end routers already do this. I run Tomato on my venerable WRT54G: it has bandwidth monitoring and it works reasonably well. The problem isn't that end users can't monitor their usage, it's that the providers won't care if they do. "Oh sure, Mr. Smith, we'll be happy to knock a hundred bucks off your bill because your little toy router says so. Now go away and pay your bill before we turn your happy little ass off."
Try getting a job these days when you tell them you don't have a cellphone, or you will only be reachable on it when it's convenient for you.
I've got a job exactly like that, and it really shouldn't be that hard to do, if you are working for a company that doesn't equate "job" with "indentured servitude".
I agree. A couple of my coworkers, and my immediate supervisor, have my personal cell number, but that's because I trust them not to abuse it. But I'm not on call (they don't pay me enough for that) and I may, or may not, pick it up. My boss is a great guy, and so far has never called me outside of regular hours, but I know that he can if some emergency were to arise. That's to my benefit, actually.
Now, the GP has a point when you are looking for a job. You want to be readily available when the HR person is working down his or her list of possible candidates. Even then, it would be best to give them a throwaway number (say, GV number) that you immediately change once you're hired. But unless your particular position requires you to be on-call outside of business hours, they have no business knowing your personal cell phone number.
And, if they ask you why your phone isn't working once they hire you, tell them that you got a new phone, or you don't have one anymore, or whatever. But I look at a cellphone as a service that I pay to be for my benefit, not my employers. If it's so all-fired important they be able to contact me any time they want, they can a. pay me more for the privilege and b. buy me a phone for that purpose.
If Flight Mode really is true, then that should be enough. But is it really???
Well, the good news is that unlike closed-source products like iOS and Windows Mobile, the Android firmware is available for scrutiny. I suspect that if such code were in the phone, it would have been outed by now, especially considering the number of third-party Android ROMs that are out there. Of course, there could be something untoward in the radio firmware, which is usually a binary blob from the phone manufacturer. Typically that runs on its own ARM: whether it would have access to the GPS receiver I don't know, and would be device-dependent anyway.
Some brands you can't take the battery out, they are obviously in bed with the cops.
Hm. I wonder which brand that would be ...
That would be "saltpetre" not "salpetre" surely if following the UK English spelling? ;-)
(hung by your own petard?)
Do you know what a "petard" is? It's kinda cool ... Google it.
Salpetre, Sulphur and Glycerine. Just because you may be from the USA should not excuse you for 3 spelling mistakes in a row. ;)
Now get on the programe!
Don't you mean "programme"?
Umm.. does it really upset you that much that they know how often you buy bread, and what brand of toilet paper you prefer? Why would you even think about caring about that, let alone actually get paranoid about it?
I don't care if the store does. I do care when they collect PI (personally-identifiable) information about me and start selling it to marketers. Any time you start aggregating something, whether it be a warehouse full of high-explosives, or a server room full of personal information on millions of people, there are risks. Accidents can happen, people can misuse the contents. There is value there, certainly, but generally that value is to the people that own the warehouse, not the people whose records are stored there. Suppose you end up in a divorce: do you really want your lawyer finding out that you regularly bought condoms at a pharmacy in an area that you would normally never visit, and for which you have no good explanation?
Grocery stores do offer a discount on many products if you use their card when checking out. That's how they tie your purchases to you. Of course, what it really means is that they've jacked up the prices on those items, and those who use the cards get "discounted" back to the original price, or something close. Still, there are some items that I'm pretty sure are being sold as loss-leaders to those who have cards, so at least you're getting something out of the trade-off. Me, I don't bother with those things. The fewer databases I'm in, the happier I am, just as a matter of principle.
That's somewhat better than outfits like AT&T and Verizon, who just grab your personal data as if it were their own and sell it to anyone that wants it so they can make even more money. And do they pass those savings on to us? No, I don't think so. They just pocket it. I'd like to know if upper management of these companies is subjected to same kind of tracking that their customers are. I'll bet they aren't, and if they are, once the first subpoena goes through, they won't be.
Deutsche Telekom is the parent company of T-Mobile USA. And Europe has stricter privacy laws than the US.
Yes, and from what I hear DT is about as popular in Germany as AT&T is here, and for much the same reason (entrenched monopolist, etc.) Of course, it's equally true that of all the major players in the U.S., T-Mobile has been one of the most customer-friendly carriers of all of them. I really object to the AT&T buyout of T-Mobile, for oh so many reasons.
No, that's not how it works - otherwise GPS and tower tracking wouldn't be such relatively new features to cell phones if it was that essential.
They can go by signal strength, I'm pretty sure they still do so in a handoff.
Some smartphones can use an initial coarse location by cell tower signal strength to speed up their GPS lock. Android has options for turning this feature on or off independently of GPS. Works well: my G2 with Cyanogenmod gets a lock almost instantly after enabling GPS, presumably because it already knows roughly where it is.
And we're taking that as gospel? AT&T needs to get off their asses and answer the questions, but so far we've got nothing to go on.
They also may very well not be using the same methodology in every service region.
I repeat, do not fucking do business with AT&T.
Not unless you like getting both yourself and your wallet fucked in the ass.
AT&T makes Comcrap, Microsoft and Apple look benign.
Hell they're probably even nastier than Exxon-Mobile.
I dunno ... I agree that AT&T/SBC is nothing but a criminal gang in three-piece suits, but the reality is that (so far!) I've had much better service from AT&T than I ever got from Comcast. That sounds like it's changing though. All I have in my area is U-Verse, Comcast and some wireless outfit, so it's not looking good.
Where I live I have two choices, AT&T and Comcast. It's like trying to pick a side to root for on the Ostfront in WWII. Can we root against them both?
It's like the Devil you have, and the Devil you used to have until he got so bad you went with the Devil you have.
Sucks, I know. I'm in the same boat, but I have managed to play them off against each other on occasion. "Oh, you won't fix my problem? Well, I guess I'll have to head on over to [Comcast | AT&T] again. I'd rather not, but I'd rather have service than not."
The difference is that when you use more natural gas, the gas company has to buy more natural gas.
Well, that's true, but that just means that the company has a vested interest in accurate billing so they don't lose money. As you point out, ISPs have a vested interest in exactly the opposite, so I agree with you about metered billing.