Wake me up when I can pull up the main page of Google using nothing but packets with IP6 headers.
That means that I can do a DNS query using nothing but IP6 packets - NOT IP4 packets. That means that I can do an HTTP transfer from Google's servers using nothing but IP6 packets - NOT IP4 packets.
Hell, wake me up when there's a AAAA record for Slashdot.
You can dial any modem at 14.4k for free (just using minutes) from any vzw cell account... I have personally confirmed this works on several phones... If you just want to use the internet, then they provide their own DUN number. #777 user/pass = qnc/qnc for 14.4k, so you don't need your own ISP or modem bank.
That no longer works from what I understand: if you use the #777 number you will be on the EVDO system if it is available. The only way around this is to disable the EVDO support in the phone.
However, if you know differently (as in, you have actually done in in the past few days and confirmed that it both works, doesn't violate Verizon's TOS, and doesn't cost anything but minutes) I would be glad to hear I was mis-informed.
Please clarify: by "user/pass = qnc/qnc" do you mean that literally - literally use qnc for the user and qnc for the password?
In a 1xRTT service area, if you have National Access MOU enabled on your account you can get 144k service to the internet. I called customer service to get this code on my account when it first came out, but I believe it's now added automatically to all new accounts. phone number = #777, user = (yourphonenumber@vzw3g.com), pass = vzw. Again, just uses minutes. (To use this, you usually have to change a setting in a programming screen on your phone to disable EVDO)
And that MOU costs US$60 on top of the normal cell charges if I am not mistaken - I don't think you can get it free of charge any more.
If you poke around in your phone's firmware and change the tethering profile details, you can also tether at full EVDO speeds using just minutes. I'm able to get full EVDO over bluetooth with my plain old verizon razr v3c (stock firmware)... again, just using regular plan minutes. I've used this all over the US, and the performance for EVDO is very comparable to my first DSL connection! Again, do some research on the net. The info is out there.
And if Verizon catches you doing this, they can and will terminate all service as this is a violation of their wonderful service contract. Unfortunately, I have exactly two choices in cellular server where I live: Verizon or nothing. Reducing that choice to "nothing" is not something I wish to do.
No, a data call initiated by Bluetooth DUN does NOT go through the vocoder - rather, it is encapsulated on a 1xRTT channel and transmitted instead of voice data. At the far end the system then takes the data out of the 1xRTT data stream, digitally modulates it into modem signaling, and injects that into the PSTN as standard PCM data.
This doesn't even tie up a "modem", as all that is happening is that the base equipment is just using a time slot on the PSTN trunk, just like a voice call.
So, this is UNLIKE using their US$60 service, as this is using a single 1xRTT voice slot (thus burdening the system no more than a voice call), instead of taking up a chunk of the EVDO channels available.
Moreover, Verizon *used* to offer exactly this sort of service: you could do a normal 1xRTT data call to their system and access the Internet at the relatively slow speeds of 1xRTT for only the cost of the minutes used..
Peachy. So I can now get mobile devices by a wide range of vendors, and pay Verizon large amounts of money every month to use those devices. What great altruists are Verizon.
Verizon charges US$60 a month to access their data service from my computer via my phone.
I tried calling a modem under my control as a data call - while modem speeds aren't great, they are better than nothing, and I'd gladly spend minutes I wouldn't otherwise use for those rare occasions I want data access but have no WiFi.
It didn't work.
I verified that I could call the modem with a normal phone - thus the only variable left was Verizon. I contacted them, and asked them about this. I was VERY CLEAR that I was not trying to access their data service, but rather my own modem.
Their response? "Oh, you need the US$60 plan to do that." I need to pay them US$60 a month to access my own damn modem.
Sorry, but being able to access Verizon with other people's devices doesn't really thrill me - especially since every one of those devices will still have to license the CDMA patents form Qualcomm - the Microsoft of the phone industry.
"OK, Comcast: you've decided you are going to pick and choose what traffic you want to carry. Fine - it's your equipment, it's your call, do what you want.
HOWEVER: since you've appointed yourselves the arbiter of what your system will carry, you are no longer a common carrier and you are no longer afforded the protections of a common carrier.
Have a nice day - oh, and BTW: Here's all the items over which we will be bringing enforcement action, since you are no longer a common carrier...."
I really wish that Youtube would do as Google video has done, and provide a direct download link for the FLV in addition to streaming it, for several reasons:
On "thin" connections, streaming simply doesn't work, but downloading does. Sure, it may take longer to download than it takes to watch - that's what background downloads are for.
For something like a lecture, I want to be able to watch them multiple times, in case I miss something.
I want the option of watching when I am not connected - if I can download it I can put it on my N800 or my phone.
Folks: streaming is NOT a form of copy protection. Nor is using Javascript to compose the video URL so that things like VideoDownloader can't parse it. You aren't making saving the video impossible - just difficult.
This, plus IM plus social networking plus Microsoft =
"Your boyfriend is thinking about porn: Allow or Deny"
TFA: if the first point is WRONG, can I trust it
on
The 700MHz Question
·
· Score: 1
Picking a good frequency for a particular application is difficult. High frequencies have a greater information carrying capacity. An encoding used to transmit data typically has a fixed number of bits per cycle. On a pure, noiseless, square wave, this would be one; the wave is either up or down, giving a one or zero. More commonly, the amplitude is varied in smaller steps, giving more than two possible symbols per cycle. All other things being equal, however, doubling the frequency (that is, doubling the number of cycles per second), will double the data rate that can be transmitted.
WRONG! That's so wrong it's not even funny! It is NOT the frequency of the channel, but the BANDWIDTH of the channel, which varies as the baud rate changes. I can cram just as many symbols per second down a 5 MHz wide channel at 10.7 MHz as I can down a 5MHz wide channel at 1GHz - indeed, the first thing almost ALL receivers do is mix the channel down to a lower frequency (look up superheterodyne receiver). Moreover, a "noiseless" signal can carry an infinite amount of data - Look up Shannon's law!
If they cannot get even these simple little things right, why should I trust any other aspect of the article?
It's one thing to have $1000 exchangeable on demand for x grams of gold (or of silver), but it would get a bit daft if the central bank had to pay out 10g of gold, 0.1 bushels of wheat, three lean hogs and half a tonne of copper.
No, they give you a booklet containing coupons worth 10gAu, 0.1 bushel of wheat, etc.
You then go to the local granary, hand them the coupon for the wheat, and they give you a bag of wheat. They punch the coupon to indicate it had been redeemed and put it in the bag to send back to the government to indicate that share of the government's reserve in wheat has been paid out (for which the government has previously paid them).
You go to the local meat market, hand them the coupon for the hogs, and they give you the meat.
You sell the coupon for the copper on the open market to a business which needs it.
etc.
The "reserve" for the various items in the "basket" is just bookkeeping in the various entities which produce the goods - much as it is now. The government maintains a reserve of gasoline, food, etc. - most of which is nothing but a ledger entry at some refinery/food producer/etc.
Obviously, some Gansta Rappa's be pissed that dey be dissed by da Intarweb homeyz downloadin' deyr tunz free and not payin' da rappa's so dey'z kin git dey's new bling - so de Gansta's be poppin' some caps inta dat Intarweb!
This, of course, assumes that you allow Java to run without asking first.
If you, like me, don't allow Java or any other plug-in to run without the browser first asking you if it is OK to run, and if you don't allow plug-ins to run without having a VERY CLEAR idea of where they are coming from and what they will do, and do not run any such plug-in save from a VERY trusted source, then this will be very hard for an advertiser to exploit.
All the more reason why ALL plug-ins should be "user interaction required before use" BY DEFAULT.
And as I ask on every IPv6 story, is it possible to access Slashdot using IPv6 datagrams?
NOTE TO STUPID FANBOIS: The fact that IPv4 *addresses* are also valid in IPv6 has no bearing on this. An IPv6 TCP datagram is different from an IPv4 datagram, even if they both are sent from IPv4 representable addresses.
If a tech oriented site like Slashdot cannot be bothered to support IPv6 datagrams, then how can we expect anybody else to care?
Shortly after this story was published and I posted, the Maemo development team announced a replacement browser package for the N800, based upon Mozilla. This may even be what Intel is working on as well, I don't know.
So, this is a case of "Ask and ye shall receive." Kudos to both the Nokia team and the Intel team.
# Browser -- based on Mozilla, but with a finger-driven UI and Hildon integration. Gads I hope they contribute this back, as the version of Opera that comes with the N800 bites small rocks - it doesn't play nice with Google Maps (things like the route dragging and street level view don't work), and will NOT work at all with AAA's TripTiks.
Yes, considering that "Radar Love" was composed by Golden Earring — in fact I'd never heard anybody ELSE do Radar Love — and "Ballroom Blitz" was composed by Sweet, and again, until "Wayne's World" I had never heard anybody BUT Sweet perform "Ballroom Blitz".
Assume that any business to which you give an email will immediately sell it to every spammer on the planet.
Assume that any individual to whom you give your email will be trojan'ed and harvested by spammers.
Assume that any web site to which you give an email will be scraped by spammers.
Assume that every mailing list to which you sign up will be scraped by spammers.
In other words, for any email address you use, assume that it will at some point fall into the hands of spammers.
So, given these assumptions, what are you to do?
Never get too attached to any given email address. Be prepared to drop any address like a hot rock.
Thus, try to have one address for each role in your life: one for friends, one for close friends, one for work, one for each mailing list, one for each business with which you do business, etc. Use sites like SneakEmail or SpamGourmet as needed.
Refuse to give your email where-ever possible. Most places that want it don't need it, but ask for it so that they can spam it. Ask yourself "Do they REALLY need to be able to email me?" If you cannot think of a good reason why they should, refuse.
For entities which will NOT allow you to refuse to give your email, give them a disposable email, and revoke it as soon as possible. Alternatively, use an email which has become compromised and is now worthless.
Make up a list of disposable emails, print it out, and carry it with you, to deal with those Big Blue Room incidents where you need to fork over an email. Make the print-out have 2 parts — one to tear off and hand to the requester, one to keep for yourself (with a space below the email into which you enter the entity assigned to it.)
Use email hosts which have the best possible spam filtering. I suggest setting up an account with Spamcop and using them.
Don't use the email assigned by your ISP for anything if at all possible: that way if you need to change ISPs you can do so without any big issue.
When creating an email address, don't use your name or any other unique identifying information (e.g. a ham radio call sign) - those are too easy to guess.
Yes, this may sound paranoid. But unfortunately until the technology is changed to allow tracking spammers down, and the laws are changed to allow dealing with spammers effectively (.30-06 is effective), these are the sorts of measures needed to keep your inbox relatively clean.
Why are credit card numbers so easy to find? Or put another way, why is credit card fraud so easy?
Because it does not cost the credit card companies.
When fraud is reported, the credit card company charges back to the merchants. As such, the credit card company is out relatively little money (it is the merchants who get screwed).
Adding meaningful security to credit cards would cost the credit card companies money. It would also make people less likely to use their cards, costing the credit card companies more money.
Also, the credit card companies can use fraud to justify higher interest rates, annual fees, and as a marketing gimmick to sell their card over others.
So, to recap: fraud costs the card companies little, preventing fraud would cost them much.
Has this helped identify why credit card fraud is so easy?
Datum: A friend of mine was involved with a large e-commerce site. He detected an on-going fraud ring trying to buy large amounts of goods from the site with stolen cards. He reported it to the card companies - "Here are the cards. Here's where they are trying to send the goods. Do you want to nail these guys?"
The response: "Thanks, but no, it's not worth our time. Just don't send them anything."
A DTD spec SHOULD have both a PUBLIC identifier and a SYSTEM identifier. The system identifier is strongly recommended to be a URL so that a validating parser can fetch the DTD if the DTD is not found in the system catalog.
The system catalog is supposed to map from the PUBLIC identifier to a local file, so that the parser needn't go to the network.
If you are running a recent vintage Linux, look in/etc/xml/ - there are all the catalog maps for all the various DTDs in use.
So:
The application writers SHOULD have added the DTDs to the local system's catalog.
Failing that, the application SHOULD have cached the DTD locally the first time it was fetched, and never fetched it again.
The last time I checked, there is no mechanism by which an XML file can provide a link to the corresponding RelaxNG schema in the same way that it can provide a DTD.
Thus, while an application which expects files conforming to a specific schema can validate against that schema, it is not possible for a program to validate an arbitrary XML file. For example, there is no way xmllint can automatically find the related RelaxNG schema, in the same way that it can find the DTD.
If I am wrong, and there is a way to provide the schema, please enlighten me.
Just as a chemical catalyst reduces the energy needed to perform a chemical reaction, and allows certain reactions to take place that couldn't happen directly, so does a nuclear catalyst allow nuclear reactions to take place at lower energies than would otherwise be needed.
This also explains why oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon are so common, as well.
I am in the process of trying to get TV out working - and having no luck so far. The GATOS site is waaaaaaaaaay out of date, the Freedesktop site seems to have nothing, and I cannot get a reasonable hit on Google.
AND I cannot really get TV in working, either - while composite in works fine, trying the tuner just gives me a black screen.
Slashdot Mirror
Wake me up when I can pull up the main page of Google using nothing but packets with IP6 headers.
That means that I can do a DNS query using nothing but IP6 packets - NOT IP4 packets.
That means that I can do an HTTP transfer from Google's servers using nothing but IP6 packets - NOT IP4 packets.
Hell, wake me up when there's a AAAA record for Slashdot.
This is a *baby* step towards IP6 being useful.
That no longer works from what I understand: if you use the #777 number you will be on the EVDO system if it is available. The only way around this is to disable the EVDO support in the phone.
However, if you know differently (as in, you have actually done in in the past few days and confirmed that it both works, doesn't violate Verizon's TOS, and doesn't cost anything but minutes) I would be glad to hear I was mis-informed.
Please clarify: by "user/pass = qnc/qnc" do you mean that literally - literally use qnc for the user and qnc for the password?
And that MOU costs US$60 on top of the normal cell charges if I am not mistaken - I don't think you can get it free of charge any more.
And if Verizon catches you doing this, they can and will terminate all service as this is a violation of their wonderful service contract. Unfortunately, I have exactly two choices in cellular server where I live: Verizon or nothing. Reducing that choice to "nothing" is not something I wish to do.
No, a data call initiated by Bluetooth DUN does NOT go through the vocoder - rather, it is encapsulated on a 1xRTT channel and transmitted instead of voice data. At the far end the system then takes the data out of the 1xRTT data stream, digitally modulates it into modem signaling, and injects that into the PSTN as standard PCM data.
This doesn't even tie up a "modem", as all that is happening is that the base equipment is just using a time slot on the PSTN trunk, just like a voice call.
So, this is UNLIKE using their US$60 service, as this is using a single 1xRTT voice slot (thus burdening the system no more than a voice call), instead of taking up a chunk of the EVDO channels available.
Moreover, Verizon *used* to offer exactly this sort of service: you could do a normal 1xRTT data call to their system and access the Internet at the relatively slow speeds of 1xRTT for only the cost of the minutes used..
Peachy. So I can now get mobile devices by a wide range of vendors, and pay Verizon large amounts of money every month to use those devices. What great altruists are Verizon.
Verizon charges US$60 a month to access their data service from my computer via my phone.
I tried calling a modem under my control as a data call - while modem speeds aren't great, they are better than nothing, and I'd gladly spend minutes I wouldn't otherwise use for those rare occasions I want data access but have no WiFi.
It didn't work.
I verified that I could call the modem with a normal phone - thus the only variable left was Verizon. I contacted them, and asked them about this. I was VERY CLEAR that I was not trying to access their data service, but rather my own modem.
Their response? "Oh, you need the US$60 plan to do that." I need to pay them US$60 a month to access my own damn modem.
Sorry, but being able to access Verizon with other people's devices doesn't really thrill me - especially since every one of those devices will still have to license the CDMA patents form Qualcomm - the Microsoft of the phone industry.
What the FCC *ought* to do is say:
"OK, Comcast: you've decided you are going to pick and choose what traffic you want to carry. Fine - it's your equipment, it's your call, do what you want.
HOWEVER: since you've appointed yourselves the arbiter of what your system will carry, you are no longer a common carrier and you are no longer afforded the protections of a common carrier.
Have a nice day - oh, and BTW: Here's all the items over which we will be bringing enforcement action, since you are no longer a common carrier...."
Sorry, but the BBC have the trademark on that....
Folks: streaming is NOT a form of copy protection. Nor is using Javascript to compose the video URL so that things like VideoDownloader can't parse it. You aren't making saving the video impossible - just difficult.
This, plus IM plus social networking plus Microsoft =
"Your boyfriend is thinking about porn: Allow or Deny"
WRONG! That's so wrong it's not even funny! It is NOT the frequency of the channel, but the BANDWIDTH of the channel, which varies as the baud rate changes. I can cram just as many symbols per second down a 5 MHz wide channel at 10.7 MHz as I can down a 5MHz wide channel at 1GHz - indeed, the first thing almost ALL receivers do is mix the channel down to a lower frequency (look up superheterodyne receiver). Moreover, a "noiseless" signal can carry an infinite amount of data - Look up Shannon's law!
If they cannot get even these simple little things right, why should I trust any other aspect of the article?
No, they give you a booklet containing coupons worth 10gAu, 0.1 bushel of wheat, etc.
You then go to the local granary, hand them the coupon for the wheat, and they give you a bag of wheat. They punch the coupon to indicate it had been redeemed and put it in the bag to send back to the government to indicate that share of the government's reserve in wheat has been paid out (for which the government has previously paid them).
You go to the local meat market, hand them the coupon for the hogs, and they give you the meat.
You sell the coupon for the copper on the open market to a business which needs it.
etc.
The "reserve" for the various items in the "basket" is just bookkeeping in the various entities which produce the goods - much as it is now. The government maintains a reserve of gasoline, food, etc. - most of which is nothing but a ledger entry at some refinery/food producer/etc.
Obviously, some Gansta Rappa's be pissed that dey be dissed by da Intarweb homeyz downloadin' deyr tunz free and not payin' da rappa's so dey'z kin git dey's new bling - so de Gansta's be poppin' some caps inta dat Intarweb!
This, of course, assumes that you allow Java to run without asking first.
If you, like me, don't allow Java or any other plug-in to run without the browser first asking you if it is OK to run, and if you don't allow plug-ins to run without having a VERY CLEAR idea of where they are coming from and what they will do, and do not run any such plug-in save from a VERY trusted source, then this will be very hard for an advertiser to exploit.
All the more reason why ALL plug-ins should be "user interaction required before use" BY DEFAULT.
And as I ask on every IPv6 story, is it possible to access Slashdot using IPv6 datagrams?
NOTE TO STUPID FANBOIS: The fact that IPv4 *addresses* are also valid in IPv6 has no bearing on this. An IPv6 TCP datagram is different from an IPv4 datagram, even if they both are sent from IPv4 representable addresses.
If a tech oriented site like Slashdot cannot be bothered to support IPv6 datagrams, then how can we expect anybody else to care?
Shortly after this story was published and I posted, the Maemo development team announced a replacement browser package for the N800, based upon Mozilla. This may even be what Intel is working on as well, I don't know.
So, this is a case of "Ask and ye shall receive." Kudos to both the Nokia team and the Intel team.
Yes, considering that "Radar Love" was composed by Golden Earring — in fact I'd never heard anybody ELSE do Radar Love — and "Ballroom Blitz" was composed by Sweet, and again, until "Wayne's World" I had never heard anybody BUT Sweet perform "Ballroom Blitz".
In other words, for any email address you use, assume that it will at some point fall into the hands of spammers.
So, given these assumptions, what are you to do?
Yes, this may sound paranoid. But unfortunately until the technology is changed to allow tracking spammers down, and the laws are changed to allow dealing with spammers effectively (.30-06 is effective), these are the sorts of measures needed to keep your inbox relatively clean.
Why are credit card numbers so easy to find? Or put another way, why is credit card fraud so easy?
Because it does not cost the credit card companies.
When fraud is reported, the credit card company charges back to the merchants. As such, the credit card company is out relatively little money (it is the merchants who get screwed).
Adding meaningful security to credit cards would cost the credit card companies money. It would also make people less likely to use their cards, costing the credit card companies more money.
Also, the credit card companies can use fraud to justify higher interest rates, annual fees, and as a marketing gimmick to sell their card over others.
So, to recap: fraud costs the card companies little, preventing fraud would cost them much.
Has this helped identify why credit card fraud is so easy?
Datum: A friend of mine was involved with a large e-commerce site. He detected an on-going fraud ring trying to buy large amounts of goods from the site with stolen cards. He reported it to the card companies - "Here are the cards. Here's where they are trying to send the goods. Do you want to nail these guys?"
The response: "Thanks, but no, it's not worth our time. Just don't send them anything."
If you are a math person, go into digital signal processing. Communications is still a growing field.
Just don't use YUM - PLEASE! I'd rather the Linux car not be a DNF (did not finish).
A DTD spec SHOULD have both a PUBLIC identifier and a SYSTEM identifier. The system identifier is strongly recommended to be a URL so that a validating parser can fetch the DTD if the DTD is not found in the system catalog.
The system catalog is supposed to map from the PUBLIC identifier to a local file, so that the parser needn't go to the network.
If you are running a recent vintage Linux, look in
So:
The last time I checked, there is no mechanism by which an XML file can provide a link to the corresponding RelaxNG schema in the same way that it can provide a DTD.
Thus, while an application which expects files conforming to a specific schema can validate against that schema, it is not possible for a program to validate an arbitrary XML file. For example, there is no way xmllint can automatically find the related RelaxNG schema, in the same way that it can find the DTD.
If I am wrong, and there is a way to provide the schema, please enlighten me.
It's called the Carbon-Nitrogen-Oxygen cycle.
Just as a chemical catalyst reduces the energy needed to perform a chemical reaction, and allows certain reactions to take place that couldn't happen directly, so does a nuclear catalyst allow nuclear reactions to take place at lower energies than would otherwise be needed.
This also explains why oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon are so common, as well.
I can afford to wait....
I am in the process of trying to get TV out working - and having no luck so far. The GATOS site is waaaaaaaaaay out of date, the Freedesktop site seems to have nothing, and I cannot get a reasonable hit on Google.
AND I cannot really get TV in working, either - while composite in works fine, trying the tuner just gives me a black screen.