Q Why is it an opt-out system?
A Because they couldn't get away with providing no optionality control, so they went for the option which pushed as many users as possible to their system.
Q When did I or Slashdot give implied consent to anyone to inspect the packets for reasons other than routing?
A You didn't, but Phorm and the spineless UK government has decided you did.
Q What data do they collect and what do they do with it?
A Browsing habits to produce targeted advertising.
I love the way these things are always spun as if they are significant military attacks coordinate by the foreign government or their agents. Is there any evidence that it isn't just a few bored teenagers who happen to live in Russia and think it would be fun to try and hack the US DOD?
Precisely. More hocus-pocus rubbish from the "we'll sell you security" brigade.
Still doubtless the TSA will buy loads so they have a new toy to intimidate travellers with.
"People who rely on using all the features of their hardware will not see availability [of drivers] for some time, if ever, depending on the mfg. The built-in drivers never have all the features but do work. For example, I could print with my Brother printer and use it as a stand-alone fax. But network setup, scanning, print to fax must come from Brother".
Yes - buying Vista is a really good idea if you want to keep any existing hardware.
Just to emphasise the point:
that their cheaper technique is simply drawing needed attention to a problem that mobile carriers have long ignored--one that well-financed eavesdroppers may have been exploiting for years Clearly the carriers haven't ignored this problem - they have produced a better encryption algorithm in the form of A5/3. The real problem is that the governments hold the carriers over a barrel. If the encryption gets too good then the algorithm is subject to all kinds of export restrictions which makes it very difficult to use in a global standard like GSM.
This is a good hack, and impressive work by all involved, but its rather limited in its application. It only works against the GSM A5/1 encryption algorithm. While there is a huge amount of A5/1 equipment out there it's a ~30 year old algorithm that was designed to run on battery powered equipment from the late 80s.
New GSM equipment already supports A5/3 which is still secure. I think the main impact of this hack is going to be some sensational headlines and a big push to make A5/3 universally available.
The problem with this idea is that it assumes that TV broadcasting will always be done the way it is today with unused space between the channels. If "white space" equipment gets deployed it is going to create a massive problem for any attempts to change use of the existing TV spectrum. Any future users of this spectrum are going to have to work around the applications now running in what used to be the "white space".
I saw a paper recently illustrating how a "careful" person might typically break copyright law many times every day (eg replying to an email and quoting the original in the reply). Anyway the point being that if copyright was actually strictly enforced then everyone would be guilty.
If anyone has a link to that paper it would be great.
If you don't want ANY signed drivers and you don't want ANY DRM then splitting hairs over the details of just how bad these features are is rather pointless.
Re:It's the all encompassing .com that's the probl
on
Utube Sues YouTube
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· Score: 3, Funny
Let me guess, you sort your socks before putting them away - right?
Yes this has always been my thought. I am amazed that nobody ever points this relatively obvious fact out when we get the usual complaints about how much power standby electronics uses.
Having read Richard Feynman's comments on the Shuttle report I am amazed they chose to use the Shuttle booster and the Shuttle main engine, both of which he specifically comments on. To quote:
On the solid rocket booster: A more reasonable figure for [reliability of] the mature rockets might be 1 in 50. With special care in the selection of parts and in inspection, a figure of below 1 in 100 might be achieved but 1 in 1,000 is probably not attainable with today's technology.
On the main engine: Engineers at Rocketdyne, the manufacturer, estimate the total probability [of shuttle main engine failure] as 1/10,000. Engineers at marshal estimate it as 1/300, while NASA management, to whom these engineers report, claims it is 1/100,000. An independent engineer consulting for NASA thought 1 or 2 per 100 a reasonable estimate
So, how exactly does this make a safe, reliable launch system?
Megapixels are not a measure of quality, they are a measure of resolution. This is the photographic equivalent of the "MHz Myth". Though resolution is a partial attribute of quality it is only part of the whole story.
2M Pixel photos will print fine on 6x4, but if the lens and the sensor are crap they will still look crap.
So let's think about how this might work. Looking at BoingBoing it looks like it's based on the UK's DVB-T system. Simplest way to implement what's described would be to just decode each multiplex in a particular area and pump all the data on to disk with some time markers.
So, the usual load of CD-DRM rubbish then!
Reading between the lines of TFA it's just the normal semi-crippled audio tracks along with Microsoft WMA DRMd PC files.
What a load of complete tosh. How DRM companies can get away of charging for their crap technology is beyond me.
Lots of people posting comments like this:
* Better battery life
12 hours is not enough!? Really!? Do you have power in your house, or do you rely on solar power flash lights?
Well 12 hours is the absolute max you will ever get with a new unit, quiet volume and no changing of tracks. I do most of my music listening on long-haul flights. I could easily be travelling 20 hours door to door without power in between. I ended up buying a Zen Touch - not as nice as the iPOD in many ways, but it has the battery life I need.
Slashdot Mirror
Q Why is it an opt-out system?
A Because they couldn't get away with providing no optionality control, so they went for the option which pushed as many users as possible to their system.
Q When did I or Slashdot give implied consent to anyone to inspect the packets for reasons other than routing?
A You didn't, but Phorm and the spineless UK government has decided you did.
Q What data do they collect and what do they do with it?
A Browsing habits to produce targeted advertising.
Very nice event up in Newcatle, but exhausting!
I love the way these things are always spun as if they are significant military attacks coordinate by the foreign government or their agents. Is there any evidence that it isn't just a few bored teenagers who happen to live in Russia and think it would be fun to try and hack the US DOD?
The main problem is: chemical rockets suck.
If you've built a rocket that sucks you are doing it wrong. They need to blow!
Precisely. More hocus-pocus rubbish from the "we'll sell you security" brigade. Still doubtless the TSA will buy loads so they have a new toy to intimidate travellers with.
"People who rely on using all the features of their hardware will not see availability [of drivers] for some time, if ever, depending on the mfg. The built-in drivers never have all the features but do work. For example, I could print with my Brother printer and use it as a stand-alone fax. But network setup, scanning, print to fax must come from Brother".
Yes - buying Vista is a really good idea if you want to keep any existing hardware.
New GSM equipment already supports A5/3 which is still secure. I think the main impact of this hack is going to be some sensational headlines and a big push to make A5/3 universally available.
The problem with this idea is that it assumes that TV broadcasting will always be done the way it is today with unused space between the channels. If "white space" equipment gets deployed it is going to create a massive problem for any attempts to change use of the existing TV spectrum. Any future users of this spectrum are going to have to work around the applications now running in what used to be the "white space".
Next stop is people who make clothes apply the same rule. In fact any photo that contains a manufactured product could be blocked. Go naked mannnnnnn.
I saw a paper recently illustrating how a "careful" person might typically break copyright law many times every day (eg replying to an email and quoting the original in the reply). Anyway the point being that if copyright was actually strictly enforced then everyone would be guilty. If anyone has a link to that paper it would be great.
Yep, typical land-grab by one group pleading "special needs" to take resources away from the rest of the organization.
If you don't want ANY signed drivers and you don't want ANY DRM then splitting hairs over the details of just how bad these features are is rather pointless.
Let me guess, you sort your socks before putting them away - right?
Yes this has always been my thought. I am amazed that nobody ever points this relatively obvious fact out when we get the usual complaints about how much power standby electronics uses.
On the solid rocket booster: A more reasonable figure for [reliability of] the mature rockets might be 1 in 50. With special care in the selection of parts and in inspection, a figure of below 1 in 100 might be achieved but 1 in 1,000 is probably not attainable with today's technology.
On the main engine: Engineers at Rocketdyne, the manufacturer, estimate the total probability [of shuttle main engine failure] as 1/10,000. Engineers at marshal estimate it as 1/300, while NASA management, to whom these engineers report, claims it is 1/100,000. An independent engineer consulting for NASA thought 1 or 2 per 100 a reasonable estimate
So, how exactly does this make a safe, reliable launch system?
Though the conditions you used are quite difficult even the cheapest proper 2MPixel camera will produce much much better results.
Camera phones are fine for the odd fun snapshot, but don't try and use them for photography!
2M Pixel photos will print fine on 6x4, but if the lens and the sensor are crap they will still look crap.
You think that's funny? Here's a link for you.
According to http://erg.abdn.ac.uk/research/future-net/digital- video/dvb-trans.html each DVB multiplex runs at 24Mb/s.
So, storing one multiplex for a month needs
(24/8)*60*60*24*31 Mbytes of storage = 8 Terra Bytes
So 8TB per multiplex per month just about doable at the state of the art, but not very likely.
I haven't checked how many muxes in use for different channels. I think it's about 3, so say 24TB all in. That's a lot of disks!
So, the usual load of CD-DRM rubbish then! Reading between the lines of TFA it's just the normal semi-crippled audio tracks along with Microsoft WMA DRMd PC files. What a load of complete tosh. How DRM companies can get away of charging for their crap technology is beyond me.
12 hours is not enough!? Really!? Do you have power in your house, or do you rely on solar power flash lights?
Well 12 hours is the absolute max you will ever get with a new unit, quiet volume and no changing of tracks. I do most of my music listening on long-haul flights. I could easily be travelling 20 hours door to door without power in between. I ended up buying a Zen Touch - not as nice as the iPOD in many ways, but it has the battery life I need.
"I think we are already good enough on ISS, even for a crew of six," Foale said
"The line for the toilet is never that bad," he laughed.
I assume he isn't against toilets in general!
- batteries are highly inefficient
- batteries are heavy and waste power when they are moved about with the vehicle
- batteries are made of heavy-metals and other substances that are very polluting to extract and refine.
I would really like to see a total lifecycle environmental impact of convetional vs hybrid cars.