SparkleFun has been selling the yellow ones in the US for over 3 years. This is not the first shipment, but might be the first one to get intercepted. So Fluke may have intervened with a complaint, as these $15 meters do look similar enough to confuse some buyers.
It is very common for a company to install a proxy server that decrypts traffic to the outside and inspects with a data loss prevention type tool. Proxy servers act as MITM attacks to be effective at decrypting SSL traffic so it can be inspected.
It is not as common that you would be allowed to connect to this employers network. Network access control should be in place to prevent vendors or employees from connecting potentially malware laden computers to the internal network. At the least, if you gained access to their network, the same proxy that performs the MITM attack should also be prompting for authentication to access the Internet.
There are a lot of conversations about chip and pin and how it would apply to Target.Chip and pin was developed to help with card present fraud and reduce the potential of duplicating an entire credit card by capturing the data at the point of sale (Target), on the wire (RaceTrac skimmers, Ethernet taps) , or at the processor (Heartland). Chip and pin does require or support encryption of the card number (PAN); it is still sent in clear text to the processor and banks. In truth, chip and pin would do nothing for Target as they have host their own processor. Bad actors had control of registers and potentially their payment processing systems, obtaining enough information to make counterfeit cards. In this scenario, the only solution that would help Target would be end-to-end encryption. Encrypt at the pin pad, decrypt at the bank. Nowhere is the card number or any track data in the clear on the retailer or processor network.
Instead of spending money on chip and pin which does not address the card not present problem, banks (and retailers) should be lobbying for end-to-end encryption. Many current readers are capable of encrypting at the swipe (or chip read). If you are upgrading to support chip and pin, your new pin pad will support encryption too.
You brought is the Apple and Macintosh line of computers. You gave us digital downloads and iPods. Then you showed us iPhones and iPods to stay connected. We owe much of your day to day lives to visionaries such as yourself. I started programming on a C-64 and Apple IIe. My first professional computer was a Mac IIfx. I am raising my glass to you.
PCI (Payment Card Industry) will deal with this eventually, as traffic should be encrypted from the reader to the backoffice server or whatever brokers the transaction to the payment processor. What needs to be done is encrypt the card information at the reader at the pump, even if the information is transmitted via serial connection (out of PCI scope today). Prudent companies keep the keys to the gas pumps secure as well as do at least daily checks on the pumps (crack the box, look for skimmer). I suspect this type of skimming is more prevalent that is getting press for.
The answer to your question: The Berne Convention [wikipedia.org], which affixes copyright on anything written down anywhere. Really. This comment is copywritten by yours truly thanks to that rule and that fun text at the bottom of the page, and as such if I were wealthy and a complete jerk I could sue someone for infringement if someone decided to plagiarize me.
I have removed Adobe Acrobat reader from my systems. In it's place, I use Foxit Reader (http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/rd_intro.php) for reading PDF files. It's a lot faster to load, and I have yet to come across a PDF it can't read.
For creating PDF files, I use PDFCreator (http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator). It works like Adobe Distiller used to, you create your PDF files by printing to PDFCreator.
Writing "see id" on your credit card is not valid.
The card is not valid unless signed (in most states at least). Retailers in those states are not allowed to accept unsigned or "see id" credit card sales. If you show ID and the card is not signed the retailer is required to still decline the purchase.
And before somebody says that the retailer MUST accept a credit card as payment, that is not true in ANY state in the US.
While these rules are in place, it is sad that most retailers do not check or follow any guidelines. More than likely, the clerk behind the counter is not even aware of them.
Only when the retailer is mystery shopped by a VISA or Mastercard representitive and they hand a fine to the retailers corporate office will any of this information make it down the food chain. Or if the retailer gets enough customers disputing purchases that they did not have matching signature for.
Reading through the posts here, seems that there needs a clarification as to what $2,500 in taxes is being collected.
If you walk into a retail store in Pennsylvania, there is a 6% sales tax on the $3.50 cigarettes.
The $3.50 cigarettes does not include sales tax. It *does* include cigarette taxes, which the retailer paid in advance when the cigarettes were brought into their distribution chain from the cigarette manufacturer. The proof of the cigarette tax is in the form of a official stamp on the carton.
If you live in Pennsylvania, and order cigarettes online you have avoided the cigarette tax and the sales tax. In this Michigan case it looks as if they are only going after the cigarette taxes, which are much larger than the lost sales tax revenue. You would claim the sales tax on the "use" tax on your tax forms every April.
The online ordering of these cigarettes is circomventing the cigarette tax and the sales tax, of which the state can only back tax you the cigarette taxes (for the moment- let's hope that does not change). The cartons of cigarettes you get online will not have any stamps showing that the retailer has paid the appropriate cigarette tax to the state.
Quitting smoking was hard. I smoked for about 10 years, and now have not smoked in 9 months. Every day I feel like having a cigarette, the cravings have not stopped. Thankfully I did not gain weight, and I did not have any other withdrawl symptoms other than these annoying cravings.
Quitting coffee has been a little more problematic. If I don't have coffee I get headaches. I drink 12-18 ounces a day. By noon if I have not had a cup I have a headache. If I take something for the headache, only medicine with caffine helps, defeating the giving up on caffinated coffee idea. The only reason I want to quit drinking coffee is to stop the need for having coffee *every* day. Quite annoying.
Think I'll go get a cup now... feel a headache coming on....
There is 1 device if it came to market that I would use to upgrade my older cell phone and PDA.
A GPS/PDA/CDMA phone. MP3 player added on might be usefull, but not required.
I have a Motorola StarTac phone, 4+ years old, it simply works, better than newer phones for reception.
I have a Palm IV. It simply works. Have a couple small programs on it, great for a contact list and little reminder notes to myself.
I would like to get a GPS as well, but don't want to carry around another device.
I don't need a camera, don't need a color screen or customizable ringtones.
So the first company that makes a CDMA phone with built in PalmOS and GPS system will get my business. It can't have a camera (could not bring it to work, defeating the purpose of having it in part). Color screen I suppose would be nice for GPS maps, but again not needed.
NASA is I'm sure hesitant to send up another shuttle crew for any reason. They are asking astronauts to willingly go into space on a vehicle much older than most peoples cars, to fix a telescope that also has "dated" technology.
We are young enough into space exploration that these accidents may happen. We just don't have the tech to make space travel safe just yet. But how many people does the world have that would line up to go into space despite the risks? More than you, or perhaps NASA might think.
I for one would like to see the Hubble get repaired/upgraded. They already have the parts. Even if they don't send them up on a NASA shuttle, they can still do the repairs. The pictures that the hubble has taken and can still take are part of what keeps the public interested in space, as well as providing usefull research for the scientific community. 2011 is too long to wait for another deep space telescope.
I bought a cheap Polaroid digital camera just to see if I would use one. This was about 6 years ago. I used it a lot of documenting things at work (wiring closets, server locations, wire runs in walls before they were finished so you knew where they are and the like). I have since bought a slightly better one, again, not very expensive, but there are a lot of things I can't use it for.
So I find myself wandering around with my Pentax 35mm and all it's lenses and adapters, as well as the digital camera and a bunch of batteries. The digital just is not very good at indoor distance shots, such as weddings or museums. And I can't adapt it to my telescope like my 35mm, or take good distance shots as the optics just are not as good as the 35mm ones I have yet. It's good for small room shots, and close by outdoor pictures, and I use it much more than the 35mm for those situations, as it's simply more convienent.
Someday, I hope Pentax (or some other company) will make a digital camera body that allows me to use my existing Pentax lenses, filters, and assorted adapters. Nikon already has this exact item (around $1500 USD if I recall) that allows you to use all your existing 35mm optics on digital format. Well worth the $1500 if the photographer has a considerable investment in his 35mm gear. When this arrives more for the masses allowing other brands to do the same, then digital camera will be the king of my home.
I do agree, digital cameras are very convienent (as long as you like rechargable AA's), and I can easily share pictures with any family member with a computer and a ISP, or simply mail a CD.
SillyKing
I bought a cheap Polaroid digital camera just to see if I would use one. This was about 6 years ago. I used it a lot of documenting things at work (wiring closets, server locations, wire runs in walls before they were finished so you knew where they are and the like). I have since bought a slightly better one, again, not very expensive, but there are a lot of things I can't use it for.
So I find myself wandering around with my Pentax 35mm and all it's lenses and adapters, as well as the digital camera and a bunch of batteries. The digital just is not very good at indoor distance shots, such as weddings or museums. And I can't adapt it to my telescope like my 35mm, or take good distance shots as the optics just are not as good as the 35mm ones I have yet. It's good for small room shots, and close by outdoor pictures, and I use it much more than the 35mm for those situations, as it's simply more convienent.
Someday, I hope Pentax (or some other company) will make a digital camera body that allows me to use my existing Pentax lenses, filters, and assorted adapters. Nikon already has this exact item (around $1500 USD if I recall) that allows you to use all your existing 35mm optics on digital format. Well worth the $1500 if the photographer has a considerable investment in his 35mm gear. When this arrives more for the masses allowing other brands to do the same, then digital camera will be the king of my home.
I do agree, digital cameras are very convienent (as long as you like rechargable AA's), and I can easily share pictures with any family member with a computer and a ISP, or simply mail a CD.
If I am reading this correctly, you can have software drivers load pre-boot. Reminds me of the stack of IBM reference disks I keep tucked away in my cabinet here at work.
This didn't get widely adopted before, but I did find the reference disks usefull, but also annoying. I can see this somewhat snowballing to the point where there is a full-fledged embedded OS where the BIOS used to be, and you have to load software drivers for unusual cards (SCSI array controllers and such).
Even funnier would be down the road Intel and MS pushing embedded linux and a Z80 proc as a BIOS replacement!
?If this guy had a rea IT job, he couldn't stand coming home and dealing with 8 friggin computers?
There are some things you are not considering here, as there are people who have small clusters of machines at home. For example, I have 9 computers running Seti@home. Now since I have these 9 computers, I also use them for education on operating systems, so have several linux and windows variants (sorry, not a MAC user).
I also find use in being able to redundantly backup multiple machines. However, I am only concerned with 3 machines that have any needed data on them: spousal units, my laptop, and my desktop. 2 windows and 1 linux box. I do this with a schedule NT backup of required NT anmd Samba shares. Works well for me, and has for years with an old Exabyte 8505 SCSI tape drive.
Saying that somebody has no immediate need for backing up data from multiple machines because they only have pr0n and mp3's is not a valid argument today. Besides, as many/.'ers that have replied would suggest he is not the only one who has pondered this need, as there are those who know the answer and those who have kindly developed it!
Slashdot Mirror
SparkleFun has been selling the yellow ones in the US for over 3 years. This is not the first shipment, but might be the first one to get intercepted. So Fluke may have intervened with a complaint, as these $15 meters do look similar enough to confuse some buyers.
It is very common for a company to install a proxy server that decrypts traffic to the outside and inspects with a data loss prevention type tool. Proxy servers act as MITM attacks to be effective at decrypting SSL traffic so it can be inspected.
It is not as common that you would be allowed to connect to this employers network. Network access control should be in place to prevent vendors or employees from connecting potentially malware laden computers to the internal network. At the least, if you gained access to their network, the same proxy that performs the MITM attack should also be prompting for authentication to access the Internet.
SillyKing
There are a lot of conversations about chip and pin and how it would apply to Target.Chip and pin was developed to help with card present fraud and reduce the potential of duplicating an entire credit card by capturing the data at the point of sale (Target), on the wire (RaceTrac skimmers, Ethernet taps) , or at the processor (Heartland). Chip and pin does require or support encryption of the card number (PAN); it is still sent in clear text to the processor and banks. In truth, chip and pin would do nothing for Target as they have host their own processor. Bad actors had control of registers and potentially their payment processing systems, obtaining enough information to make counterfeit cards. In this scenario, the only solution that would help Target would be end-to-end encryption. Encrypt at the pin pad, decrypt at the bank. Nowhere is the card number or any track data in the clear on the retailer or processor network.
Instead of spending money on chip and pin which does not address the card not present problem, banks (and retailers) should be lobbying for end-to-end encryption. Many current readers are capable of encrypting at the swipe (or chip read). If you are upgrading to support chip and pin, your new pin pad will support encryption too.
SillyKing
You brought is the Apple and Macintosh line of computers. You gave us digital downloads and iPods. Then you showed us iPhones and iPods to stay connected. We owe much of your day to day lives to visionaries such as yourself. I started programming on a C-64 and Apple IIe. My first professional computer was a Mac IIfx. I am raising my glass to you.
SillyKing
PCI (Payment Card Industry) will deal with this eventually, as traffic should be encrypted from the reader to the backoffice server or whatever brokers the transaction to the payment processor. What needs to be done is encrypt the card information at the reader at the pump, even if the information is transmitted via serial connection (out of PCI scope today). Prudent companies keep the keys to the gas pumps secure as well as do at least daily checks on the pumps (crack the box, look for skimmer).
I suspect this type of skimming is more prevalent that is getting press for.
The answer to your question: The Berne Convention [wikipedia.org], which affixes copyright on anything written down anywhere. Really. This comment is copywritten by yours truly thanks to that rule and that fun text at the bottom of the page, and as such if I were wealthy and a complete jerk I could sue someone for infringement if someone decided to plagiarize me.
Come and get me!
I have removed Adobe Acrobat reader from my systems. In it's place, I use Foxit Reader (http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/rd_intro.php) for reading PDF files. It's a lot faster to load, and I have yet to come across a PDF it can't read.
For creating PDF files, I use PDFCreator (http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator). It works like Adobe Distiller used to, you create your PDF files by printing to PDFCreator.
Writing "see id" on your credit card is not valid. The card is not valid unless signed (in most states at least). Retailers in those states are not allowed to accept unsigned or "see id" credit card sales. If you show ID and the card is not signed the retailer is required to still decline the purchase. And before somebody says that the retailer MUST accept a credit card as payment, that is not true in ANY state in the US. While these rules are in place, it is sad that most retailers do not check or follow any guidelines. More than likely, the clerk behind the counter is not even aware of them. Only when the retailer is mystery shopped by a VISA or Mastercard representitive and they hand a fine to the retailers corporate office will any of this information make it down the food chain. Or if the retailer gets enough customers disputing purchases that they did not have matching signature for.
Reading through the posts here, seems that there needs a clarification as to what $2,500 in taxes is being collected.
If you walk into a retail store in Pennsylvania, there is a 6% sales tax on the $3.50 cigarettes.
The $3.50 cigarettes does not include sales tax. It *does* include cigarette taxes, which the retailer paid in advance when the cigarettes were brought into their distribution chain from the cigarette manufacturer. The proof of the cigarette tax is in the form of a official stamp on the carton.
If you live in Pennsylvania, and order cigarettes online you have avoided the cigarette tax and the sales tax. In this Michigan case it looks as if they are only going after the cigarette taxes, which are much larger than the lost sales tax revenue. You would claim the sales tax on the "use" tax on your tax forms every April.
The online ordering of these cigarettes is circomventing the cigarette tax and the sales tax, of which the state can only back tax you the cigarette taxes (for the moment- let's hope that does not change). The cartons of cigarettes you get online will not have any stamps showing that the retailer has paid the appropriate cigarette tax to the state.
As a former smoker and current coffee drinker...
Quitting smoking was hard. I smoked for about 10 years, and now have not smoked in 9 months. Every day I feel like having a cigarette, the cravings have not stopped. Thankfully I did not gain weight, and I did not have any other withdrawl symptoms other than these annoying cravings.
Quitting coffee has been a little more problematic. If I don't have coffee I get headaches. I drink 12-18 ounces a day. By noon if I have not had a cup I have a headache. If I take something for the headache, only medicine with caffine helps, defeating the giving up on caffinated coffee idea. The only reason I want to quit drinking coffee is to stop the need for having coffee *every* day. Quite annoying.
Think I'll go get a cup now... feel a headache coming on....
There is 1 device if it came to market that I would use to upgrade my older cell phone and PDA.
A GPS/PDA/CDMA phone. MP3 player added on might be usefull, but not required.
I have a Motorola StarTac phone, 4+ years old, it simply works, better than newer phones for reception.
I have a Palm IV. It simply works. Have a couple small programs on it, great for a contact list and little reminder notes to myself.
I would like to get a GPS as well, but don't want to carry around another device.
I don't need a camera, don't need a color screen or customizable ringtones.
So the first company that makes a CDMA phone with built in PalmOS and GPS system will get my business. It can't have a camera (could not bring it to work, defeating the purpose of having it in part). Color screen I suppose would be nice for GPS maps, but again not needed.
SillyKing
NASA is I'm sure hesitant to send up another shuttle crew for any reason. They are asking astronauts to willingly go into space on a vehicle much older than most peoples cars, to fix a telescope that also has "dated" technology. We are young enough into space exploration that these accidents may happen. We just don't have the tech to make space travel safe just yet. But how many people does the world have that would line up to go into space despite the risks? More than you, or perhaps NASA might think. I for one would like to see the Hubble get repaired/upgraded. They already have the parts. Even if they don't send them up on a NASA shuttle, they can still do the repairs. The pictures that the hubble has taken and can still take are part of what keeps the public interested in space, as well as providing usefull research for the scientific community. 2011 is too long to wait for another deep space telescope.
I bought a cheap Polaroid digital camera just to see if I would use one. This was about 6 years ago. I used it a lot of documenting things at work (wiring closets, server locations, wire runs in walls before they were finished so you knew where they are and the like). I have since bought a slightly better one, again, not very expensive, but there are a lot of things I can't use it for. So I find myself wandering around with my Pentax 35mm and all it's lenses and adapters, as well as the digital camera and a bunch of batteries. The digital just is not very good at indoor distance shots, such as weddings or museums. And I can't adapt it to my telescope like my 35mm, or take good distance shots as the optics just are not as good as the 35mm ones I have yet. It's good for small room shots, and close by outdoor pictures, and I use it much more than the 35mm for those situations, as it's simply more convienent. Someday, I hope Pentax (or some other company) will make a digital camera body that allows me to use my existing Pentax lenses, filters, and assorted adapters. Nikon already has this exact item (around $1500 USD if I recall) that allows you to use all your existing 35mm optics on digital format. Well worth the $1500 if the photographer has a considerable investment in his 35mm gear. When this arrives more for the masses allowing other brands to do the same, then digital camera will be the king of my home. I do agree, digital cameras are very convienent (as long as you like rechargable AA's), and I can easily share pictures with any family member with a computer and a ISP, or simply mail a CD. SillyKing
I bought a cheap Polaroid digital camera just to see if I would use one. This was about 6 years ago. I used it a lot of documenting things at work (wiring closets, server locations, wire runs in walls before they were finished so you knew where they are and the like). I have since bought a slightly better one, again, not very expensive, but there are a lot of things I can't use it for.
So I find myself wandering around with my Pentax 35mm and all it's lenses and adapters, as well as the digital camera and a bunch of batteries. The digital just is not very good at indoor distance shots, such as weddings or museums. And I can't adapt it to my telescope like my 35mm, or take good distance shots as the optics just are not as good as the 35mm ones I have yet. It's good for small room shots, and close by outdoor pictures, and I use it much more than the 35mm for those situations, as it's simply more convienent.
Someday, I hope Pentax (or some other company) will make a digital camera body that allows me to use my existing Pentax lenses, filters, and assorted adapters. Nikon already has this exact item (around $1500 USD if I recall) that allows you to use all your existing 35mm optics on digital format. Well worth the $1500 if the photographer has a considerable investment in his 35mm gear. When this arrives more for the masses allowing other brands to do the same, then digital camera will be the king of my home.
I do agree, digital cameras are very convienent (as long as you like rechargable AA's), and I can easily share pictures with any family member with a computer and a ISP, or simply mail a CD.
SillyKing
If I am reading this correctly, you can have software drivers load pre-boot. Reminds me of the stack of IBM reference disks I keep tucked away in my cabinet here at work.
This didn't get widely adopted before, but I did find the reference disks usefull, but also annoying. I can see this somewhat snowballing to the point where there is a full-fledged embedded OS where the BIOS used to be, and you have to load software drivers for unusual cards (SCSI array controllers and such).
Even funnier would be down the road Intel and MS pushing embedded linux and a Z80 proc as a BIOS replacement!
?If this guy had a rea IT job, he couldn't stand coming home and dealing with 8 friggin computers?
/.'ers that have replied would suggest he is not the only one who has pondered this need, as there are those who know the answer and those who have kindly developed it!
There are some things you are not considering here, as there are people who have small clusters of machines at home. For example, I have 9 computers running Seti@home. Now since I have these 9 computers, I also use them for education on operating systems, so have several linux and windows variants (sorry, not a MAC user).
I also find use in being able to redundantly backup multiple machines. However, I am only concerned with 3 machines that have any needed data on them: spousal units, my laptop, and my desktop. 2 windows and 1 linux box. I do this with a schedule NT backup of required NT anmd Samba shares. Works well for me, and has for years with an old Exabyte 8505 SCSI tape drive.
Saying that somebody has no immediate need for backing up data from multiple machines because they only have pr0n and mp3's is not a valid argument today. Besides, as many