I had a problem with a recent iTunes patch, long story short it broke all DRM-ed music playback on my PC but not on the iPod. Tried all the standard bits, uninstall, reinstall, looked up help page...
Sure Apple did have a help page for the problem but it didn't help one tiny bit.
So I contacted them. Said something like "DRM protection music is distorted during playback as suggested by an apple help page(URL); MP3, WMA, and CD Audio playback works just fine..." and they sent back a cookie cutter "You can't convert to WMA"...
This is just yet another company that doesn't give too hoots enough to read what you send them or to respond on their forums. The article is talking a whole load of bull from my experiences with apple up to this point.
If you ask me, the company with the single best customer service is Amzon(.co.uk). They don't bull you... They are MORE than fair, and don't make you jump though hoops.
We all know that security though obscurity isn't any security at all... Which is how this lock works... But because anyone in audible distance can HEAR the code it isn't even secure...
So you have security though obscurity but without the obscurity?... Double home-run for these guys...
PayPal has lost so much goodwill, and annoying so many people that frankly I think people would move to a replacement if it was half-decent. Google need to look at what PayPal did right (simplicity, flexible, secure) and what PayPal did wrong (bad policy, account locking, 'random' charge-backs, poor complaints system, in escrow service).
I must admit, however, that having my personal information (name, CC, address) linked to my search queries seems like a profoundly bad idea... Even if that is still technically possible with my ISP I don't think they care enough, or it is in their best interests to do so. Google on the other hand...
This format does not work correctly in the most popular browser on the Internet: IE 6.
Whether you like or hate IE 6 you can't deny it exists, it has the largest market share after all... Any Internet format that does not support it is doomed to familiar.
Maybe in a few years from IE 7 and FF control 90% of the market but today that is not the case (not even close).
What are these copyright protection schemes trying to accomplish?... 99% of consumers *don't* copy their DVDs, 99% of consumers *don't* upload their DVDs to the internet... But do you know who this hardware will affect? 99% of consumers.
The last 1% of consumers who do backup / upload will continue to do so regardless of the protection. All it takes is a single producer to have a accidental backdoor (see X-Box exploits via a game).
Further more why are they protecting the extra quality so vigorously? From what I've seen you have get non-HD pictures without any kind of protection, but for HD you need all this crazy stuff... But who is crazy enough to upload a full quality HD movie on the 'net?
I think the copyright holders are going to KILL psychical media far faster than it otherwise would and push consumers towards platforms like iTunes for their video.
Considering the timeframe OS/2 was developed in, and its complexity excuse me if I don't believe it is secure. Most of the software from that timeframe has been shown to have a LOT of security problems, primarily because the training, and tools to discover holes didn't exist at the time.
Plus a complete OS that is secure?... I don't think so... Linux, and BSD, in their lifetimes have had lots of security problems, particularly as they have grown in popularity.
If OS/2 was released OpenSource tomorrow and got popular you'd have it with the MOST security venerabilities by years end I guarantee it.
The ONLY reason OS/2/appears/ to be secure is because it isn't worth any one's time trying to crack it.
When your employer comes to you about injecting an RFID tag under your skin remember this article. It is one thing to have an ID card with a tag on it, something that can be binned and replaced in time, but what about that chip under your skin? Are they going to take it out of you or will you end up with 10 all up your arm?
We have been writing epic stories for hundreds, if not thousands of years, and in which we've had to express complex emotions... So why can't we do the same over e-mail and or IM?
If you ask me we can't because everyone isn't an English grad' and likes to use as few words as they can get away with. Emoticons can help, giving indications to the meaning...
I like Microsoft's now dead cartoon chat, in which your 'character' displayed emotions for you -- like emoticons but to an extreme. Too bad it never took off.
I don't think this is a problem we can fix. But sooner or later e-mail and or IM will be dead, and we will be using internet voice chat and or video communications much more widely.
Why, when the Chinese government ask for information to enforce a law, is it wrong but when the American, or other Weston governments ask for information it isn't?
You can call them political dissidents if you want to, but we here in the west have branded them terrorists and have all sorts of powers to stump down on them.
Terrorism isn't just about violence, just look at what has become against the law since 2001 for evidence of that.
I'd agree with that in most cases, but people have looked at using this bug to execute and it seems highly unlikely unless we've overlooked something.
If you are really concerned enable Data Execution Protection for that extra layer of security.
In the interim there is no good reason (security wise) not to use IE 7 and, at least in my opinion, the bug should be fixed in the next beta release. No urgent patch is required.
Plus if you feel that IE 7 is insecure then I'd suggest uninstalling, continuing to use whatever you used before and wait for a final product to be released.
Calling Tom Ferris a "Security Researcher" is like calling Bill Gates a programmer... He is more a 'Robert Scoble' character. And his discovery of arbitrary code execution is incorrect as per the link: http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2006/02/01/522682 .aspx
The guy is not a professional anything, I mean he lists workarounds as 'Firefox'; which just shows how little he understands the security field which he claims to work in (A workaround should be a way to fix or bypass the bug, not a blind pointer at some random other product, even the Linux Security guys know that).
If HD-DVD 'wins' the battle then current DVD isn't at all dead... HD-DVD is backwards compatible thus allowing companies to continue to produce old style DVDs on the cheap while also supplying higher quality content or longer (in video length) disks.
I find this question somewhat odd... The guy clearly knows C++ and is able to develop on an embedded OS which isn't an easy thing to do but yet can't write himself a simple web-server, which a lot of us learnt during our first few years of programming in something nooby like VBA or Java...
So either he isn't being completely accurate in so much that he might not be as knowledgeable as he claims or just by freak chance managed never to write a web-server in a couple of hours like everyone else...
Just how much do you think electricity costs?.. Let's say the PC did consume 30W more than the Linksys hardwre, well at a very conservative estimate of 11c/kwh (more likely less than this) that means it costs you 0.33c per hour over the PC which means per year it costs you $28.908... $30 $40...
Not to mention the original poster also put across "value add" with using a PC, in that it can do more for you.. That has to have a 'value' associated with it.
Sorry I didn't know that... For me, switching on DEP with my P4 (DEP supported) worked fine. It caused IE to crash when the proof of concept was ran (and executed fine without DEP turned on).
Turn on "Data Execution Protection" for all programs and services. Instead of allowing full execution it will limit it to a DOS (crack IE).
Control Panel -> System -> Advanced [Tab] -> Performance Settings -> Data Execution Protection [Tab] -> Turn on DEP for all programs and services except those I select -> Ok -> OK.
So it runs at 300 MB/sec; but can you get 300 MB from it?.. I mean throwing out general performance numbers like that is completely meaningless.. How much of that data is in the cache? Does it before at 300 MB/sec for more than 16 MB? What if I do a number of seeks, how long does it take then?
Point is you can't just create numbers and throw them out... The fairest way to do it is to compare a few similar drives using identical testing software that reflects real life read/writes on a disk over a period of time.
I would also like to see advances made in drive redundancy; far more so than speed. Why is it when I have four or five platers in a drive, that any one failure can cause a 100% data loss? Shouldn't the data loss be limited to just that plater or read head?... Perhaps a little R&D in that area, I know I'd pay more for data security.
If we are talking new "On at the cinema" movies, I would pay just under what the local cinema charges me; primarily because you get surround sound at the cinema.
If we are talking "Out on DVD" movies, I would pay up to 50% of the cost of the DVD version... I mean with a internet version you get "nothing"; with the DVD version you get higher quality, a box, a disk and perhaps bonus features.
I am from the UK -- And purchased a couple of lost episodes even though the DVD versions of series 2 will be cheaper; but those episodes aren't on in the UK yet, and thus the extra cost was well worth it.
I would also be willing to pay a smaller fee to "rent" an internet movie (one that stops playing after n time limit)... So like $3.50 and you get to watch a new movie for a week wouldn't be all too crazy...
Jack might be a right wing nut job but he does have a point about Penny Arcade. He was doing an independent campaign that had nothing to do with them, then they took it on themselves to e-mail him.... Which, from what I gather, was - "hahah you are such a fool" - he then responded via phone and then posted it on their site for profit (web-ads based on page visits).
Then you have, after that the $10k thing; he obviously didn't do what he said he would and it is fine if Penny Arcade want to donate their money, but in his name? Yet again they create a story that relates to them and him thus again they make big bucks from their web-ads as gamers everywhere visit their site.
You also have people on the forum making baseless complaints and sending death threats! In my opinion some of the thing these 'supports' are doing isn't nice to be done to any human, especially not to someone that doesn't know they are doing anything wrong (according to their moral compass). This all was supported by Think Geek selling - "I hate Jack" - t-shirts.
So did Penny Arcade go after *him*? I think they did exactly that. Has he inflamed it by responding? Yes. But wouldn't you respond if the same happened to you out of the blue by some random internet site?
People like me, from the UK, and other internationals will be sad to learn that Apple doesn't want our money. They have Lost series 2 on the ITunes US store but won't allow us to sign up, they'd rather we use BitTorrent to view it... The PayMent options for the US store all check your address, so unless you have a US PO-Box and a US registered credit card then you're stuck.
I'm sure six months down the road Apple will add TV to the UK store but I bet even then that it won't contain the content that we WANT to see, instead it will contain content that was on TV a week ago...:-/
What we should do is restrict these evil companies from selling such software, or 'censor' the software companies if you like... That would solve the problem and the world would be a more free and happy place.
Slashdot Mirror
I had a problem with a recent iTunes patch, long story short it broke all DRM-ed music playback on my PC but not on the iPod. Tried all the standard bits, uninstall, reinstall, looked up help page...
..." and they sent back a cookie cutter "You can't convert to WMA" ...
Sure Apple did have a help page for the problem but it didn't help one tiny bit.
So I contacted them. Said something like "DRM protection music is distorted during playback as suggested by an apple help page(URL); MP3, WMA, and CD Audio playback works just fine
This is just yet another company that doesn't give too hoots enough to read what you send them or to respond on their forums. The article is talking a whole load of bull from my experiences with apple up to this point.
If you ask me, the company with the single best customer service is Amzon(.co.uk). They don't bull you... They are MORE than fair, and don't make you jump though hoops.
Didn't Microsoft engineers claim, in court, to the EU that they couldn't remove Internet Explorer from the Operating System without breaking it?
Interesting seeing as Microsoft are now suddenly able to seperate the two (in reference to Windows XP, not Windows Vista).
We all know that security though obscurity isn't any security at all... Which is how this lock works... But because anyone in audible distance can HEAR the code it isn't even secure...
... Double home-run for these guys...
So you have security though obscurity but without the obscurity?
So did each person get 0.333~ spam then? How exactly does that work...
//wwww.viagra-products .com
AOL subscriber #1: Buy our very high
AOL subscriber #2: quality and cheap
AOL subscriber #2: viagra product! http:
AOL subscriber #4:
AOL subscriber #5:
Damn those evil geniuses!
PayPal has lost so much goodwill, and annoying so many people that frankly I think people would move to a replacement if it was half-decent. Google need to look at what PayPal did right (simplicity, flexible, secure) and what PayPal did wrong (bad policy, account locking, 'random' charge-backs, poor complaints system, in escrow service).
I must admit, however, that having my personal information (name, CC, address) linked to my search queries seems like a profoundly bad idea... Even if that is still technically possible with my ISP I don't think they care enough, or it is in their best interests to do so. Google on the other hand...
This format does not work correctly in the most popular browser on the Internet: IE 6.
Whether you like or hate IE 6 you can't deny it exists, it has the largest market share after all... Any Internet format that does not support it is doomed to familiar.
Maybe in a few years from IE 7 and FF control 90% of the market but today that is not the case (not even close).
What are these copyright protection schemes trying to accomplish? ... 99% of consumers *don't* copy their DVDs, 99% of consumers *don't* upload their DVDs to the internet ... But do you know who this hardware will affect? 99% of consumers.
The last 1% of consumers who do backup / upload will continue to do so regardless of the protection. All it takes is a single producer to have a accidental backdoor (see X-Box exploits via a game).
Further more why are they protecting the extra quality so vigorously? From what I've seen you have get non-HD pictures without any kind of protection, but for HD you need all this crazy stuff... But who is crazy enough to upload a full quality HD movie on the 'net?
I think the copyright holders are going to KILL psychical media far faster than it otherwise would and push consumers towards platforms like iTunes for their video.
Considering the timeframe OS/2 was developed in, and its complexity excuse me if I don't believe it is secure. Most of the software from that timeframe has been shown to have a LOT of security problems, primarily because the training, and tools to discover holes didn't exist at the time.
... I don't think so... Linux, and BSD, in their lifetimes have had lots of security problems, particularly as they have grown in popularity.
/appears/ to be secure is because it isn't worth any one's time trying to crack it.
Plus a complete OS that is secure?
If OS/2 was released OpenSource tomorrow and got popular you'd have it with the MOST security venerabilities by years end I guarantee it.
The ONLY reason OS/2
When your employer comes to you about injecting an RFID tag under your skin remember this article. It is one thing to have an ID card with a tag on it, something that can be binned and replaced in time, but what about that chip under your skin? Are they going to take it out of you or will you end up with 10 all up your arm?
We have been writing epic stories for hundreds, if not thousands of years, and in which we've had to express complex emotions... So why can't we do the same over e-mail and or IM?
...
If you ask me we can't because everyone isn't an English grad' and likes to use as few words as they can get away with. Emoticons can help, giving indications to the meaning
I like Microsoft's now dead cartoon chat, in which your 'character' displayed emotions for you -- like emoticons but to an extreme. Too bad it never took off.
I don't think this is a problem we can fix. But sooner or later e-mail and or IM will be dead, and we will be using internet voice chat and or video communications much more widely.
Why, when the Chinese government ask for information to enforce a law, is it wrong but when the American, or other Weston governments ask for information it isn't?
You can call them political dissidents if you want to, but we here in the west have branded them terrorists and have all sorts of powers to stump down on them.
Terrorism isn't just about violence, just look at what has become against the law since 2001 for evidence of that.
I'd agree with that in most cases, but people have looked at using this bug to execute and it seems highly unlikely unless we've overlooked something. If you are really concerned enable Data Execution Protection for that extra layer of security. In the interim there is no good reason (security wise) not to use IE 7 and, at least in my opinion, the bug should be fixed in the next beta release. No urgent patch is required. Plus if you feel that IE 7 is insecure then I'd suggest uninstalling, continuing to use whatever you used before and wait for a final product to be released.
Calling Tom Ferris a "Security Researcher" is like calling Bill Gates a programmer... He is more a 'Robert Scoble' character. And his discovery of arbitrary code execution is incorrect as per the link: http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2006/02/01/522682 .aspx
The guy is not a professional anything, I mean he lists workarounds as 'Firefox'; which just shows how little he understands the security field which he claims to work in (A workaround should be a way to fix or bypass the bug, not a blind pointer at some random other product, even the Linux Security guys know that).
If HD-DVD 'wins' the battle then current DVD isn't at all dead... HD-DVD is backwards compatible thus allowing companies to continue to produce old style DVDs on the cheap while also supplying higher quality content or longer (in video length) disks.
Some anti-dupe software...
I find this question somewhat odd... The guy clearly knows C++ and is able to develop on an embedded OS which isn't an easy thing to do but yet can't write himself a simple web-server, which a lot of us learnt during our first few years of programming in something nooby like VBA or Java...
So either he isn't being completely accurate in so much that he might not be as knowledgeable as he claims or just by freak chance managed never to write a web-server in a couple of hours like everyone else...
Just how much do you think electricity costs? .. Let's say the PC did consume 30W more than the Linksys hardwre, well at a very conservative estimate of 11c/kwh (more likely less than this) that means it costs you 0.33c per hour over the PC which means per year it costs you $28.908... $30 $40...
Not to mention the original poster also put across "value add" with using a PC, in that it can do more for you.. That has to have a 'value' associated with it.
Sorry I didn't know that... For me, switching on DEP with my P4 (DEP supported) worked fine. It caused IE to crash when the proof of concept was ran (and executed fine without DEP turned on).
Turn on "Data Execution Protection" for all programs and services. Instead of allowing full execution it will limit it to a DOS (crack IE).
Control Panel -> System -> Advanced [Tab] -> Performance Settings -> Data Execution Protection [Tab] -> Turn on DEP for all programs and services except those I select -> Ok -> OK.
So it runs at 300 MB/sec; but can you get 300 MB from it? .. I mean throwing out general performance numbers like that is completely meaningless.. How much of that data is in the cache? Does it before at 300 MB/sec for more than 16 MB? What if I do a number of seeks, how long does it take then?
... Perhaps a little R&D in that area, I know I'd pay more for data security.
Point is you can't just create numbers and throw them out... The fairest way to do it is to compare a few similar drives using identical testing software that reflects real life read/writes on a disk over a period of time.
I would also like to see advances made in drive redundancy; far more so than speed. Why is it when I have four or five platers in a drive, that any one failure can cause a 100% data loss? Shouldn't the data loss be limited to just that plater or read head?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1414304420/104-92 75859-2849503 Jack Thompson's book
If we are talking new "On at the cinema" movies, I would pay just under what the local cinema charges me; primarily because you get surround sound at the cinema.
If we are talking "Out on DVD" movies, I would pay up to 50% of the cost of the DVD version... I mean with a internet version you get "nothing"; with the DVD version you get higher quality, a box, a disk and perhaps bonus features.
I am from the UK -- And purchased a couple of lost episodes even though the DVD versions of series 2 will be cheaper; but those episodes aren't on in the UK yet, and thus the extra cost was well worth it.
I would also be willing to pay a smaller fee to "rent" an internet movie (one that stops playing after n time limit)... So like $3.50 and you get to watch a new movie for a week wouldn't be all too crazy...
Jack might be a right wing nut job but he does have a point about Penny Arcade. He was doing an independent campaign that had nothing to do with them, then they took it on themselves to e-mail him.... Which, from what I gather, was - "hahah you are such a fool" - he then responded via phone and then posted it on their site for profit (web-ads based on page visits).
Then you have, after that the $10k thing; he obviously didn't do what he said he would and it is fine if Penny Arcade want to donate their money, but in his name? Yet again they create a story that relates to them and him thus again they make big bucks from their web-ads as gamers everywhere visit their site.
You also have people on the forum making baseless complaints and sending death threats! In my opinion some of the thing these 'supports' are doing isn't nice to be done to any human, especially not to someone that doesn't know they are doing anything wrong (according to their moral compass). This all was supported by Think Geek selling - "I hate Jack" - t-shirts.
So did Penny Arcade go after *him*? I think they did exactly that. Has he inflamed it by responding? Yes. But wouldn't you respond if the same happened to you out of the blue by some random internet site?
People like me, from the UK, and other internationals will be sad to learn that Apple doesn't want our money. They have Lost series 2 on the ITunes US store but won't allow us to sign up, they'd rather we use BitTorrent to view it... The PayMent options for the US store all check your address, so unless you have a US PO-Box and a US registered credit card then you're stuck.
:-/
I'm sure six months down the road Apple will add TV to the UK store but I bet even then that it won't contain the content that we WANT to see, instead it will contain content that was on TV a week ago...
What we should do is restrict these evil companies from selling such software, or 'censor' the software companies if you like... That would solve the problem and the world would be a more free and happy place.