I kind of agree - disclaimer: I've a Macbook Pro at home, and a Hackintosh fileserver I built myself. Getting OS X to work on third party hardware involves some tinkering: quite a bit, in fact, as you've got to fudge the kernel extensions to get it to run on non-EFI PC hardware. Typically a point release from Apple will break Hackintoshes, for example: not because Apple are evil, but because it'll upgrade the hacked kexts with the new versions of official Apple kexts.
Psystar acknowledge this by releasing their own point release patches of OS X but this isn't trivial: OS X on random hardware is going to be a nightmare to support for the non-geek, and it wouldn't be fair to ask Apple to now start supporting and releasing patches for every new board that comes out.
Result: OS X would be perceived as buggy and fragile. Not something Jobs would go for, I think.
Bang on. It's a tough time to be something that can be readily outsourced, such as helpdesk, support or development. It's not a bad time to be someone who is needed to work with outsourcing providers such as a project manager, a business relationship manager, or a technical architect - people who understand the business and can help the business articulate their IT needs in terms that an outsourcing provider can understand, then manage delivery from those providers.
It's an uncertain world we live in and you can guarantee change. The only real way to manage this yourself is to make sure you're as employable as possible and your skills are in demand...
It depends, doesn't it? If you've got a massive infrastructure with multiple DCs, MSX boxes, etc then it makes sense to standardise the name so when a random server name pops up an alert you've an idea what it does.
My old place used to use UKAPDEVMSX01 type names: first two chars are the country, second pair the site, "dev" refers to "development" and MSX is an MS Exchange box, number 1. Similar suffixes of ORA01, DC01, etc for other machines.
Printers should have location (down to individual room) within the name - this allows you to tell users to just search for a room number or building/floor in active directory themselves when they add a printer and pick the one closest.
Well, consider that switching without adequate provision for the vast majority to pick up DTV will piss a lot of people off, and then consider that governments don't remain in power if they piss people off.
Also consider the investment in digital TV broadcast masts to ensure you cover the whole country. It is not moronic to be out of range of a digital signal.
Ergotron http://www.ergotron.com/tabid/158/language/en-GB/default.aspx make loads of stuff like this - also pole mounts for industrial shop floors, mounts on arms that attach to the wall, etc. They are *not* cheap, but they are very well made.
No affliliation, but I've used them professionally (in a medical setting) and was very happy with them. Bear in mind it wasn't coming out of my budget though...!
First off, when did it become private enterprise's problem to pay for law enforcement?
There is obviously a cost of some form to the ISP for providing this information, and it seems fair that this cost should be passed to the law enforcement organisations to be serviced out of their budget - this is what their budget is for. If it's not sufficient, they should lobby for it to be increased via taxation or other methods.
The telcos are already allowed to charge for providing background information - and this is as it should be. If information is made available freely and at the drop of a hat to third parties then it encourages misuse of that information and encourages scope creep to monitoring a wider population than you might originally have required.
HDCP dummies *do* exist. A mate bought one 2 years back after he discovered that HDCP wouldn't let him send HD content to his 12k UKP SIM2 rear projection HD TV, as it was an early model that didn't have HDMI. We suspect they spoof the encryption key of common HDCP devices by other major manufacturers, so it would be difficult for the keys to get blacklisted. Works great, was quite hard to buy...!
I don't use Ubuntu anymore (I'm more of a try out the latest release every 6 months or so on whatever hardware I have around that isn't my main Macbook Pro) but on X31 and X41 Thinkpads everything worked out of the box on Hardy Heron upwards, including sleep...
{points up]
This is correct. If you have a system that records the full card number on the receipt then you are not compliant with EMV (Europay-MasterCard-Visa) rules for accreditation and if they catch you, they'll pull your merchant account - leaving you unable to accept credit or debit cards issued by either member. Which is a pretty good stick to hit the retailers with.
It used to be common for fraudsters to dumpster-dive the bins at petrol stations and similar to pickup discarded receipts prior to this for exactly the reasons outlined above.
...it would be a crime not to put it on eBay untouched for some fool to pay through the nose for it.
Jesus, I mean, come on. This sort of story isn't helping with changing perception of geeks, is it?
Similarly, emergency 999 (or 911/112) calls take priority over other cell users' - if a cell is at capacity, a user making a 999 call will cause another user to be disconnected to allow the emergency call.
This can be abused: if you're on a GSM network that is heavily overloaded (New Years Eve, big public events) as the GSM stations are at capacity, you can cause other users to be kicked off by starting a 999 call, then terminating before it connects, and immediately making your conventional phone call. Not exactly whitehat, though...!
Slashdot Mirror
That's my patented idea there! You owe me!
I kind of agree - disclaimer: I've a Macbook Pro at home, and a Hackintosh fileserver I built myself. Getting OS X to work on third party hardware involves some tinkering: quite a bit, in fact, as you've got to fudge the kernel extensions to get it to run on non-EFI PC hardware. Typically a point release from Apple will break Hackintoshes, for example: not because Apple are evil, but because it'll upgrade the hacked kexts with the new versions of official Apple kexts.
Psystar acknowledge this by releasing their own point release patches of OS X but this isn't trivial: OS X on random hardware is going to be a nightmare to support for the non-geek, and it wouldn't be fair to ask Apple to now start supporting and releasing patches for every new board that comes out.
Result: OS X would be perceived as buggy and fragile. Not something Jobs would go for, I think.
...and by then I'll be a weakly god-like entity, therefore making my observations much more on target.
She does. Trust me.
Bang on. It's a tough time to be something that can be readily outsourced, such as helpdesk, support or development. It's not a bad time to be someone who is needed to work with outsourcing providers such as a project manager, a business relationship manager, or a technical architect - people who understand the business and can help the business articulate their IT needs in terms that an outsourcing provider can understand, then manage delivery from those providers.
It's an uncertain world we live in and you can guarantee change. The only real way to manage this yourself is to make sure you're as employable as possible and your skills are in demand...
I misread that as "eighth or ninth graders"
It depends, doesn't it? If you've got a massive infrastructure with multiple DCs, MSX boxes, etc then it makes sense to standardise the name so when a random server name pops up an alert you've an idea what it does.
My old place used to use UKAPDEVMSX01 type names: first two chars are the country, second pair the site, "dev" refers to "development" and MSX is an MS Exchange box, number 1. Similar suffixes of ORA01, DC01, etc for other machines.
Printers should have location (down to individual room) within the name - this allows you to tell users to just search for a room number or building/floor in active directory themselves when they add a printer and pick the one closest.
Wait a minute, how did you get in? Guards! GUARDS! INTRUDER!
Mom?
Can I put the above forward as a new, official Slashdot meme? Love it!
Well, consider that switching without adequate provision for the vast majority to pick up DTV will piss a lot of people off, and then consider that governments don't remain in power if they piss people off.
Also consider the investment in digital TV broadcast masts to ensure you cover the whole country. It is not moronic to be out of range of a digital signal.
...which should be enough for anyone!
I'm here all week, try the veal.
a marketing company, obviously
This happened in 2004 http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/10/08/fbi_indymedia_raids/ - FBI confiscated its servers in London (how the hell does that work, then? US law enforcement in the UK?) based on comments on the G8.
It also happened in 2005: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/06/28/indymedia_server_seizure_bristol/ in Bristol, UK, again relating to the G8 conference.
Ergotron http://www.ergotron.com/tabid/158/language/en-GB/default.aspx make loads of stuff like this - also pole mounts for industrial shop floors, mounts on arms that attach to the wall, etc. They are *not* cheap, but they are very well made.
No affliliation, but I've used them professionally (in a medical setting) and was very happy with them. Bear in mind it wasn't coming out of my budget though...!
First off, when did it become private enterprise's problem to pay for law enforcement?
There is obviously a cost of some form to the ISP for providing this information, and it seems fair that this cost should be passed to the law enforcement organisations to be serviced out of their budget - this is what their budget is for. If it's not sufficient, they should lobby for it to be increased via taxation or other methods.
The telcos are already allowed to charge for providing background information - and this is as it should be. If information is made available freely and at the drop of a hat to third parties then it encourages misuse of that information and encourages scope creep to monitoring a wider population than you might originally have required.
They are. In the UK the 100W incandescent lightbulb has been removed from sale to encourage low-power equivalents.
HDCP dummies *do* exist. A mate bought one 2 years back after he discovered that HDCP wouldn't let him send HD content to his 12k UKP SIM2 rear projection HD TV, as it was an early model that didn't have HDMI. We suspect they spoof the encryption key of common HDCP devices by other major manufacturers, so it would be difficult for the keys to get blacklisted. Works great, was quite hard to buy...!
I don't use Ubuntu anymore (I'm more of a try out the latest release every 6 months or so on whatever hardware I have around that isn't my main Macbook Pro) but on X31 and X41 Thinkpads everything worked out of the box on Hardy Heron upwards, including sleep...
You know, you could just ask her out, instead. It'd be less messy.
This is correct. If you have a system that records the full card number on the receipt then you are not compliant with EMV (Europay-MasterCard-Visa) rules for accreditation and if they catch you, they'll pull your merchant account - leaving you unable to accept credit or debit cards issued by either member. Which is a pretty good stick to hit the retailers with.
It used to be common for fraudsters to dumpster-dive the bins at petrol stations and similar to pickup discarded receipts prior to this for exactly the reasons outlined above.
Just wait for the "one more thing" moment at the end where he's going to wheel out Steve Jobs as Chief Technology Officer
...it would be a crime not to put it on eBay untouched for some fool to pay through the nose for it.
Jesus, I mean, come on. This sort of story isn't helping with changing perception of geeks, is it?
What's your problem? It's a perfectly crommulent word.
Similarly, emergency 999 (or 911/112) calls take priority over other cell users' - if a cell is at capacity, a user making a 999 call will cause another user to be disconnected to allow the emergency call.
This can be abused: if you're on a GSM network that is heavily overloaded (New Years Eve, big public events) as the GSM stations are at capacity, you can cause other users to be kicked off by starting a 999 call, then terminating before it connects, and immediately making your conventional phone call. Not exactly whitehat, though...!