No they didn't. They never published a database of MAC address locations. They just allowed you to look up the location of specific MAC addresses. They must still have that, otherwise how does wifi location still work?
It's a good idea, and the BBC's publicity might give it enough mass to actually be useful. Unfortunately the app is pretty pathetic. Here are the major flaws:
* It uses GPS permanently! Seriously, it runs in the background with GPS on all the time. * As far as I can tell, the only thing it records is the connectivity method (GPRS, UTMS, HSDPA, etc.) It doesn't seem to record latency, throughput, or packet loss. * It doesn't tell you what data it has recorded! The only thing the app adds to you as a user is the percentage of time spent on 3G compared to 2G. Since I am on 3, that is always 100%. I mean come on, it should at least show you a map of your signal strength history. * Apparently it thinks wifi is 3G! In fairness this could be due to a long-standing bug in Android where the connection type query fails for certain wifi networks. * It doesn't seem like any of the raw data will be available in a useful form for third parties. Opensignalmaps have at least promised an API.
Yes, but you have to consider the likelihood of this actually being a bomb and causing damage, v.s. the hassle and disruption it causes if you call the police and it isn't.
Granted the disruption is pretty small, but the chances of this being a bomb are practically zero.
The big draw of Facebook in its early years was "It's not MySpace".
What? No it wasn't! It was:
* Not totally ugly. * More secure and private (only people from your uni can see you). * People used real names (because it was more private). * Really easy to tag photos.
And probably some other stuff I've forgotten, but it was certainly not just a myspace clone.
But the thing with metals and government-backed currencies is that it is pretty certain that *someone* wants them. Metals because they are obviously useful, and government-backed currency because the government says "You will accept this currency. It is the law." At the end of the day I suppose you could say they are backed by force.
I can see this being useful for specific websites though, e.g. on facebook you can talk to your facebook friends, on ebay you can ask sellers questions, on chatroulette you can show people your cock...
But I agree it should be standalone too. Maybe it is...
Yes I'm sure they haven't thought of that blindingly obvious possibility. Well done anonymous slashdotter, you have out-smarted the best minds of Google!
They aren't worthless. If a site is under your country's TLD you have a good idea it will be based in your country (*very* useful for online shopping), and there's the fact that different TLDs are controlled by different countries and have different rules. (torrentz.com is now torrentz.eu for example, and bit.ly had some issues with linking to porn, or something like that.)
I'll give you that.net is kind of pointless though..org is pretty useful for distinguishing non-profits.
No, there are many things wrong with Javascript. Just a sample:
1. The == operator. What. The. Hell. (Yes I know about ===; that's beside the point). 2. No true arrays. They are actually maps/associative arrays. (And that's the only thing you get.) 3. No typing. E.g. you can't have a 16 bit int, or an array of bytes. 4. No real integers. Bitwise operations are done by converting from doubles to int, and then back again. 5. Way too much implicit conversion (the stupid '1'+'1' -> '11', but '1'-'1' -> 0 thing). 6. No data hiding of any kind. Everything is public (unless you use crazy hacks). You can't even be sure third party code hasn't modified your classes. 7. Implicit semicolon. It's just a bad error-prone idea. (And I have *no* idea why Go made the same mistake.) 8. No support for proper modules. You basically have to put everything in one file, which wouldn't be so bad if the IDEs didn't all suck. 9. It's basically impossible to reason about performance, partly because of the new-fangled tracing/JIT engines, and partly because the spec doesn' make any guarantees about complexity.
I'm not saying it doesn't have nice features, it just has a lot of ugly "let's make this easy for noobs" mis-features that actually fuck everything up, which is a shame.
Slashdot Mirror
You could easily achieve this by combining the proposed system with an inertial measurement unit.
No they didn't. They never published a database of MAC address locations. They just allowed you to look up the location of specific MAC addresses. They must still have that, otherwise how does wifi location still work?
Ha ha, what is a 12,000 sq mile radius?
Did you actually read that IRC log? Worse. Double-bluff. Evar. Choice quotes:
[removed]: S'up Daniel
Topiary: s'appening [removed]
Topiary: anyway I trust you so yeah
Topiary: we can keep this between us
[removed]: Wont say a word bro
Right.
No it wouldn't. Facebook is very different from Twitter. Google+ and Twitter are much more similar.
> Oh, well, hey, if a major security flaw is almost a year old, it's no longer news!
News.
*New*s.
And it's not news anyway - anyone who knows anything about security could tell you that.
It sounds a lot like Hqx ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hqx ) applied to non-pixel art images.
It doesn't seem like the BBC will either though.
It's a good idea, and the BBC's publicity might give it enough mass to actually be useful. Unfortunately the app is pretty pathetic. Here are the major flaws:
* It uses GPS permanently! Seriously, it runs in the background with GPS on all the time.
* As far as I can tell, the only thing it records is the connectivity method (GPRS, UTMS, HSDPA, etc.) It doesn't seem to record latency, throughput, or packet loss.
* It doesn't tell you what data it has recorded! The only thing the app adds to you as a user is the percentage of time spent on 3G compared to 2G. Since I am on 3, that is always 100%. I mean come on, it should at least show you a map of your signal strength history.
* Apparently it thinks wifi is 3G! In fairness this could be due to a long-standing bug in Android where the connection type query fails for certain wifi networks.
* It doesn't seem like any of the raw data will be available in a useful form for third parties. Opensignalmaps have at least promised an API.
You should just have your software flash a big sign saying "Probability of match: 9%". I don't see how they could ignore that.
Yeah Android had (maybe still has) a bug where texts longer than 3*160 are sent as an MMS.
Because authentication is done on the SIM card. When GSM was created I doubt they were capable of public key cryptography.
Perhaps they're trying to embarrass people who use plain-text passwords. They certainly deserve it.
Apparently they are just renaming it to "The Sun on Sunday".
Yes, but you have to consider the likelihood of this actually being a bomb and causing damage, v.s. the hassle and disruption it causes if you call the police and it isn't.
Granted the disruption is pretty small, but the chances of this being a bomb are practically zero.
Or you could simply have it land periodically and swap batteries. Much simpler I would think.
The big draw of Facebook in its early years was "It's not MySpace".
What? No it wasn't! It was:
* Not totally ugly.
* More secure and private (only people from your uni can see you).
* People used real names (because it was more private).
* Really easy to tag photos.
And probably some other stuff I've forgotten, but it was certainly not just a myspace clone.
They meant the *botnet* is indestructible. You just killed one of four million nodes.
But the thing with metals and government-backed currencies is that it is pretty certain that *someone* wants them. Metals because they are obviously useful, and government-backed currency because the government says "You will accept this currency. It is the law." At the end of the day I suppose you could say they are backed by force.
Bitcoins are literally backed by nothing.
I can see this being useful for specific websites though, e.g. on facebook you can talk to your facebook friends, on ebay you can ask sellers questions, on chatroulette you can show people your cock...
But I agree it should be standalone too. Maybe it is...
Yes I'm sure they haven't thought of that blindingly obvious possibility. Well done anonymous slashdotter, you have out-smarted the best minds of Google!
Yes I'm kind of amazed that they paid. How on earth would you expense that?
They aren't worthless. If a site is under your country's TLD you have a good idea it will be based in your country (*very* useful for online shopping), and there's the fact that different TLDs are controlled by different countries and have different rules. (torrentz.com is now torrentz.eu for example, and bit.ly had some issues with linking to porn, or something like that.)
I'll give you that .net is kind of pointless though. .org is pretty useful for distinguishing non-profits.
Ha, actually this works. Sort of.
If I type me@gmail.com into the address bar it just goes to gmail.com and opens my email.
No, there are many things wrong with Javascript. Just a sample:
1. The == operator. What. The. Hell. (Yes I know about ===; that's beside the point).
2. No true arrays. They are actually maps/associative arrays. (And that's the only thing you get.)
3. No typing. E.g. you can't have a 16 bit int, or an array of bytes.
4. No real integers. Bitwise operations are done by converting from doubles to int, and then back again.
5. Way too much implicit conversion (the stupid '1'+'1' -> '11', but '1'-'1' -> 0 thing).
6. No data hiding of any kind. Everything is public (unless you use crazy hacks). You can't even be sure third party code hasn't modified your classes.
7. Implicit semicolon. It's just a bad error-prone idea. (And I have *no* idea why Go made the same mistake.)
8. No support for proper modules. You basically have to put everything in one file, which wouldn't be so bad if the IDEs didn't all suck.
9. It's basically impossible to reason about performance, partly because of the new-fangled tracing/JIT engines, and partly because the spec doesn' make any
guarantees about complexity.
I'm not saying it doesn't have nice features, it just has a lot of ugly "let's make this easy for noobs" mis-features that actually fuck everything up, which is a shame.