The U.S. State Department, known for its ravenous hunger for private information, seems to have developed a cyphering tool for the Department of Homeland Security's cyber rootkit for federal agencies. There's not much out there on it other than mention of a tool called SuckIT in a recent press release from State's Bureau of Diplomatic Security. According to the site, "SuckIT is a fully working rootkit that is loaded through/dev/kmem. It makes available to Federal agencies a password protected remote access connect-back shell initiated by a spoofed packet, and can hide processes, files and connections." Sounds scary to me, but may be a step in the right direction.
BlogLines - web-native but with an API to die for.
AmphetaDesk - around for a while, great if you like shooting your foot of in Perl.
NewsGator - for Outlook - still, you can tweak it to feed event-extended RSS into your task calendar.
rss2Email - for when my Knoppix install has nothing better to do.
SharpReader - not as good as FeedDemon, but less expensive. There are a few others, the WikiPedia has a good handle on that - point is, how is the IBM tool different than all of the above? Are they not going to use RSS or ATOM feeds?
Bad move by Forbes, followed by bad legal advice
on
Forbes Goes After Bloggers
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· Score: 2, Informative
Asides from the/. affect Forbes is going to suffer, imagine the brilliant move of torquing off a large section of one's current and future demographic? Brillian, absolutely brilliant.
Of course then there are the countless parodies - here's the anti-blog cover redone to mock the ginned-up hysteria: http://www.blogs4god.com/node/626
I remember when Google came out. Not much talk on their part about what they were going to do... rather they just went out and kicked everyone's butt.
I'm not quite sure if this annoucement isn't just to make investors happy or to make the Ask Jeeves more 'sellable' but if search.yahoo.com couldn't wack Google, what makes AJ think they can?
Yeah, I've been around long enough to have backed-up data on drums, TK50's, QIC DC 600A and DAT... the burninating question though is: what about the hardware?
Yeah, I've got all my data stored from 20 years ago on big old 1/2" Open Reel Nine Track Tape, so what? Without working hardware that can be read and scaled on a system I currently have, then I'll need to convert it.
Note the emphasis on "working hardware"... let's not forget, we're talking about hardware with movable parts, which means they break. Backups are afterall made to be restored. Otherwise they're only good to string in the yard to keep the birds away from the grape vines and grass seed.
So perhaps along with your off-site storage of your backup tapes (you do have off-site storage don't you?) you may want to stow a hot-swap.
I think the problem with MovableTYpe isn't that they're charging $$, but rather their pricing architecture is too restrictive to the 3rd party programmers that made it happen...... and too much based upon the success of TypePad...
Many of the European smart cards have embedded chip techonogy that works as a debit card. That is, there are limitations to how much can be stolen, if it can be stolen. Most smart card chips are designed to fuse themselves shut when hacked.
Proximity scan for such cards isn't as big a deal as getting access to someone's credit-card number, which in turn can be parlayed into a fake credit card used to drain someone's line of credit, or check banking account.
big difference.
equip clerks w/x-ray glasses to confirm signature
on
RFID MasterCard
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· Score: 1
Great, so the card stays in my wallet that I wave near the proximity reader... so my signature and photo on the card remain a mystery to the hurried cashier.
Looks similar to the failed technology Mobile used at its gas pumps, only flatter and provides more opportunities for nere-do-wells.
I wouldn't say Drudge, Wonkette or others are getting a free pass.
At least once a week, some form of the "old media" takes it to the blogosphere.
The fact is, there are people who want a quick, short, snarky read... and don't mind it coming from a singular, unedited point of view, so long as it is entertaining and has some semblance of intellectual honesty.
Is there a big difference in gender between the audiences. If so, what is it about the battling 'bots that one sex find attractive over another? That is, are we looking at more hormonal/emotional causes, e.g. testosterone, or is there something intellectually more rewarding to one gender over another?
I've been to Asia a couple times on business, and I gotta tell you, it's not because we think they're "an obnoxious show of money."
People here in the U.S. play by a different set of cultural rules. As we continue to integrate people from other societies and cultures, we don't see it as much, but at least for now, it is just considered rude the same way someone talking [even without a phone] in a theatre is considered rude.
Similarly, we have teens who play against these "unwritten rules" with over-amped stereo systems in their cars. Basically, a show of testosterone that impresses their friends and annoys all the adults within a 3 mile radius.
Basically, it's an unecessary interruption... I don't go to the theatre to think about business... phones ringing reminds me of work. Why not just put the phone on vibrate and put it in your front pocket. You'll enjoy the movie more... and perhaps so will your date.
What my non-legal mind takes from this is that SCO now has to hire more lawyers because they've got a real problem on their hand with Red Hat.
As I see it, and I could be wrong, if SCO wins against IBM, then they make Red Hat's case. Even if SCO loses, they've still got some real damages claims to deal with.
Worse, it means they're going to have to put-up or shut-up proving their accusations for the Red Hat case, evidence, which if admitted, could bolster IBM's defense.
Not to knock the healing hands in India, but I just can't snicker at the thought of my HMO telling me that they've outsourced my hip replacement to the cousin of the guy who replaced my job as a programmer.
Part of this problem comes out of who owns the daggoned data. For example, let's say a hospital, instead of using clipboards, uses smartcards to hocket about patient records.
Who own's the data. The hospital, the insurance company paying the bill, or the poor schmuck on the business end of a colonoscopy?
I ask because without the indiviual having the write to own the data, there seems to me little that can be done to protect oneself other than go through expensive and tedious legal channels.
And if someone else can own sensitive data about me, then what can we do, as private citizens with limited resources, to make sure larger entities such as insurance companies play by rules like HIPPA?
Within 30 days he leaps into action. He then sandbags IBM after he sends out a Shareholder's letter...... I mean, usually you don't play such a public game unless you've failed at some backroom negotiation. Not the case here, according to the interview.
Then he get's all pissy, claming IBM goes ballistic when Big Blue flexes it's muscles.
The more I read about this the more and more it's clear to me that McBribe isn't leading this company into profitability, but a death march...... but not until he first sucks out ever red cent from any possible revenue stream without actually creating any new product, or continually modifying the old one.
Sounds to me like SCO has no one to blame but themselves here.
I don't have a problem with Wal*Mart using RF to track, stock and sell their wares. I mean as a consumer, hasn't had a bar code or worse, a price tag slapped across the instructions. And I'm sure it would be nice from a store manager's point of view to merely walk down the aisles with a nothing more than a receiver to do inventory... as opposed to pulling everthing off the shelfs to barcode it.
No, my problem is the same issue I have with SPYWARE. Okay, now we have this technology embedded in a coat I buy for my daughter. Now, Wal*Mart can make deals with other companies such a McDonalds to track every time a 4 year old walks into to the door.
And heaven forbid they link-up such tracking with our credit cards.
Oh I know... I'm sounding a bit paranoid, still, having years experience in biometrics and RF card technologies, and having seen the later used to track and sometimes even ticket drivers via toll systems... I dunno... I just don't like the privacy violation potentials.
I'm sure this has been brought up before (though I can't find it right off), but isn't this type of arm-twisting by SCO illegal?
For example, and any input from you legal beagles out there would be greatly appreciated, couldn't a company such as Just Sports use the RICO act as a means of seeking relief?
"What do I make of this from a conservative Christian point-of-view? My guess is that God is mad that we're wasting the gift of bandwidth on our cell phones while attempting to drive our car... or worse downloading MP3's of Britney Spears' latest hit."
I personally think it is the Sun complaining about the biased press coverage other heavenly bodies are getting. I mean, big deal, Mars is sooo close... whoodie stinking doo... did I feel any heat from it... did my radio cut out... all hail God's Holy Herf Gun!
From what I gather from the article, our woes are due to our success. The author claims that we were designed for scarcity... or as I read it... failure.
What, he would have us living in the dirt like we did back in the 7th century? Hmmm... where have I heard that before... Oh yes, isn't that what Al Queda wants?
The problem here isn't an abundance of scarcity, it is a scarcity of ethics.
With added abundance comes added responsibility, both personally and socially.
And that goes both ways, both for those downloading music, as well as those who produce it.
The BBC article misses the point, as does a similar article in Wired. Seems the editors are more focused on name-dropping and doomsdaying than on focusing on some recent solutions. For example:
Point is... perhaps we'd all be better service if said articles spent less time on the hype and a bit more investigation on some of the solutions... whether they succeed or fail... as both are educational.
Slashdot Mirror
The problem with programming are books like Bjarne Stroustrup's "The C++ Programming Language."
I mean, just because a computer language was hard to write, doesn't mean it should be hard to read about.
The U.S. State Department, known for its ravenous hunger for private information, seems to have developed a cyphering tool for the Department of Homeland Security's cyber rootkit for federal agencies. There's not much out there on it other than mention of a tool called SuckIT in a recent press release from State's Bureau of Diplomatic Security. According to the site, "SuckIT is a fully working rootkit that is loaded through /dev/kmem. It makes available to Federal agencies a password protected remote access connect-back shell initiated by a spoofed packet, and can hide processes, files and connections." Sounds scary to me, but may be a step in the right direction.
Just to help IBM out, here are a few I'm familiar with - your mileage may vary:
FeedDemon - yeah, to get your $25 worth it helps to OPML and how to transform XML, but that's what I like about it.
Straw - for when I'm in the Gnome .
BlogLines - web-native but with an API to die for.
AmphetaDesk - around for a while, great if you like shooting your foot of in Perl.
NewsGator - for Outlook - still, you can tweak it to feed event-extended RSS into your task calendar.
rss2Email - for when my Knoppix install has nothing better to do.
SharpReader - not as good as FeedDemon, but less expensive. There are a few others, the WikiPedia has a good handle on that - point is, how is the IBM tool different than all of the above? Are they not going to use RSS or ATOM feeds?
Asides from the /. affect Forbes is going to suffer, imagine the brilliant move of torquing off a large section of one's current and future demographic? Brillian, absolutely brilliant.
0 04104
Of course then there are the countless parodies - here's the anti-blog cover redone to mock the ginned-up hysteria:
http://www.blogs4god.com/node/626
Not to mention the crappy legal advice the column offered, which is nicely reubtted using the DCMA's own verbage:
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/004104.php#
Sheesh - didn't the editors ask for some research first? Or is that only the domain of bloggers and not 'real journalists'
I remember when Google came out. Not much talk on their part about what they were going to do ... rather they just went out and kicked everyone's butt.
I'm not quite sure if this annoucement isn't just to make investors happy or to make the Ask Jeeves more 'sellable' but if search.yahoo.com couldn't wack Google, what makes AJ think they can?
Yeah, I've been around long enough to have backed-up data on drums, TK50's, QIC DC 600A and DAT ... the burninating question though is: what about the hardware?
... let's not forget, we're talking about hardware with movable parts, which means they break. Backups are afterall made to be restored. Otherwise they're only good to string in the yard to keep the birds away from the grape vines and grass seed.
Yeah, I've got all my data stored from 20 years ago on big old 1/2" Open Reel Nine Track Tape, so what? Without working hardware that can be read and scaled on a system I currently have, then I'll need to convert it.
Note the emphasis on "working hardware"
So perhaps along with your off-site storage of your backup tapes (you do have off-site storage don't you?) you may want to stow a hot-swap.
Ummm ... while MT has been 'open code' ... MovableType has NEVER been Open Source ... says so right in their documentation.
I think the problem with MovableTYpe isn't that they're charging $$, but rather their pricing architecture is too restrictive to the 3rd party programmers that made it happen
More on this at:
What we can learn from MovableType's new pricing schedule
Smart cards are an entirely different technology.
Many of the European smart cards have embedded chip techonogy that works as a debit card. That is, there are limitations to how much can be stolen, if it can be stolen. Most smart card chips are designed to fuse themselves shut when hacked.
Proximity scan for such cards isn't as big a deal as getting access to someone's credit-card number, which in turn can be parlayed into a fake credit card used to drain someone's line of credit, or check banking account.
big difference.
Great, so the card stays in my wallet that I wave near the proximity reader ... so my signature and photo on the card remain a mystery to the hurried cashier.
Looks similar to the failed technology Mobile used at its gas pumps, only flatter and provides more opportunities for nere-do-wells.
I wouldn't say Drudge, Wonkette or others are getting a free pass.
... and don't mind it coming from a singular, unedited point of view, so long as it is entertaining and has some semblance of intellectual honesty.
At least once a week, some form of the "old media" takes it to the blogosphere.
The fact is, there are people who want a quick, short, snarky read
Is there a big difference in gender between the audiences. If so, what is it about the battling 'bots that one sex find attractive over another? That is, are we looking at more hormonal/emotional causes, e.g. testosterone, or is there something intellectually more rewarding to one gender over another?
I've been to Asia a couple times on business, and I gotta tell you, it's not because we think they're "an obnoxious show of money."
... I don't go to the theatre to think about business ... phones ringing reminds me of work. Why not just put the phone on vibrate and put it in your front pocket. You'll enjoy the movie more ... and perhaps so will your date.
People here in the U.S. play by a different set of cultural rules. As we continue to integrate people from other societies and cultures, we don't see it as much, but at least for now, it is just considered rude the same way someone talking [even without a phone] in a theatre is considered rude.
Similarly, we have teens who play against these "unwritten rules" with over-amped stereo systems in their cars. Basically, a show of testosterone that impresses their friends and annoys all the adults within a 3 mile radius.
Basically, it's an unecessary interruption
What my non-legal mind takes from this is that SCO now has to hire more lawyers because they've got a real problem on their hand with Red Hat.
As I see it, and I could be wrong, if SCO wins against IBM, then they make Red Hat's case. Even if SCO loses, they've still got some real damages claims to deal with.
Worse, it means they're going to have to put-up or shut-up proving their accusations for the Red Hat case, evidence, which if admitted, could bolster IBM's defense.
Either way, SCO has failed to learn from history.
Not to knock the healing hands in India, but I just can't snicker at the thought of my HMO telling me that they've outsourced my hip replacement to the cousin of the guy who replaced my job as a programmer.
Part of this problem comes out of who owns the daggoned data. For example, let's say a hospital, instead of using clipboards, uses smartcards to hocket about patient records.
Who own's the data. The hospital, the insurance company paying the bill, or the poor schmuck on the business end of a colonoscopy?
I ask because without the indiviual having the write to own the data, there seems to me little that can be done to protect oneself other than go through expensive and tedious legal channels.
And if someone else can own sensitive data about me, then what can we do, as private citizens with limited resources, to make sure larger entities such as insurance companies play by rules like HIPPA?
My dream job is to pursue my passions, which are currently issues of website usability and accessibilty. Sorta in a 'geek eye for the internet guy'
... I learn so much from my exchange of experience with the younger turks' savvy (and energy)
I also like the team/technical/mentoring thing
I'd like it to pay enough where I could do the same work for the variety of charities of my choice
I'd like it to last for more than 2 years
Bottom line, I want to work, work hard, work productively at what I love to do.
Doesn't everyone?
Good stuff
So how to integrate. Continue working with Jabber libraries, or will these be obviated with XMPP API's and libraries?
Oh, and now that we have a standard, how will this standard hold up againt various patent issues and claims?
The BusinessWeek/Information Technology/Online Extra is pretty slick. As I read it, it appears that if McBribe is a cornered rat, then it's by his own devices.
Within 30 days he leaps into action. He then sandbags IBM after he sends out a Shareholder's letter
Then he get's all pissy, claming IBM goes ballistic when Big Blue flexes it's muscles.
The more I read about this the more and more it's clear to me that McBribe isn't leading this company into profitability, but a death march
Sounds to me like SCO has no one to blame but themselves here.
I don't have a problem with Wal*Mart using RF to track, stock and sell their wares. I mean as a consumer, hasn't had a bar code or worse, a price tag slapped across the instructions. And I'm sure it would be nice from a store manager's point of view to merely walk down the aisles with a nothing more than a receiver to do inventory
No, my problem is the same issue I have with SPYWARE. Okay, now we have this technology embedded in a coat I buy for my daughter. Now, Wal*Mart can make deals with other companies such a McDonalds to track every time a 4 year old walks into to the door.
And heaven forbid they link-up such tracking with our credit cards.
Oh I know
I dunno. Perhaps by stating that his time is wasted, he's lining himself up for future class action suits.
I mean, it's clear the Just Sports had to spend time researching the claims, the associated news and perhaps some very expensive lawyer time.
If the case by SCO is indeed baseless, then indeed, Just Sports' time was wasted and should be compensated for it by SCO.
At least that's this geek's take on what's right, wrong and legal. I'm sure a lawyer out there will slap me back into reality
I'm sure this has been brought up before (though I can't find it right off), but isn't this type of arm-twisting by SCO illegal?
For example, and any input from you legal beagles out there would be greatly appreciated, couldn't a company such as Just Sports use the RICO act as a means of seeking relief?
From blogs4God:
"What do I make of this from a conservative Christian point-of-view? My guess is that God is mad that we're wasting the gift of bandwidth on our cell phones while attempting to drive our car
I personally think it is the Sun complaining about the biased press coverage other heavenly bodies are getting. I mean, big deal, Mars is sooo close
From what I gather from the article, our woes are due to our success. The author claims that we were designed for scarcity
What, he would have us living in the dirt like we did back in the 7th century? Hmmm
The problem here isn't an abundance of scarcity, it is a scarcity of ethics.
With added abundance comes added responsibility, both personally and socially.
And that goes both ways, both for those downloading music, as well as those who produce it.
The BBC article misses the point, as does a similar article in Wired. Seems the editors are more focused on name-dropping and doomsdaying than on focusing on some recent solutions. For example:
Point is
Just so long as no one attempts to use a rather evil solution I discovered here on