I have recently found a copy of an old check from an anti-virus company to a student which proves that the student was paid to write viruses to help improve the bottom line.
Just a check? Woah! I agree! It must have been a pay-off for a virus! There is absolutely no way it could have been a refund, rebate, promotion, or other legit payout of some kind!
Heh. Everyone knows that Norton and McAffee are not only evil, their software sucks, too.
AVG from GriSoft is by far simply the best AntiVirus I have personally seen for a Windows machine. Their newest free version is even easier to get (no registration, free, small, efficient, functional) and on top of all that it actually WORKS without bogging down the system.
The only thing that disgusts me more than the unethical racketeering of the big antivirus makers, is the fact that people still BUY that shit. (Heh, some people say that about Microsoft, too.)
They are used to performing workarounds for Windows that lead to acceptance of viruses (just buy an antivirus) that lead to acceptance of spyware (just buy an antispyware) and that lead to acceptance of systems so bogged down by combinations of the above (just reinstall every 6 months).
There are small, efficient, safe, and free programs that perform these tasks without bogging the system down.
But your points do to some degree stand. Though even if the virus/worm/spyware problem weren't as bad today as it is, I probably would STILL run a software firewall and a good antivirus just as a matter of precaution. I also have all of my systems behind the network firewall but not everyone has that option.
The point is, that just because things are worse now on Windows than they have ever been, doesn't mean that good precautions wouldn't be paying off.
It's only a matter of time before MacOS X gains enough popularity that it's own security holes (though admittingly less serious than many of those in Windows) are mass exploited causing many Mac users some grief.
As it stands right now MOST Linux users can fend for themselves. How true do you think that would be if there was a huge wave of new Linux users converting from Windows? The clueless masses would show people that even a Linux box in the wrong hands can exploited, and I would dare say that an arm compromised *nix boxes is a far greater threat to the internet as a whole than the army of zombie Dialup AOL connected budget PCs running XP home that we currently have to dela with.
Security IS a problem right now, but Windows is only PART of the problem. The clueless human side of the equation isn't going to go away no matter how many people ditch Windows.
Nothing like demoralizing an entire class and probably ruining more than a few scholarship opportunities.
And that right there is the part that bothers me most. Demoralizing, lowering GPAs, hurting scholarships, and possibly even derailing potentially brilliant minds from the entering the industry. A shame, really.
Actually, there are a few funny things about my parent comment.
I actually do like to see money spent on research, even if the immediate benefits aren't obvious. The "Dummy" comment was just an obvious cheap jab that was too hard to pass up and was really just meant to be funny. SOME of the moderators did get that.
I was also wondering how long it would take before someone brought GWB into this, and it didn't take long. Heh.
Bravo on the research, really. But the politicians are still dummies.
I didn't know that was who this guy was, but that doesn't change anything. The dude is as much a shithead as they come, no matter what his accomplishments.
If he wanted to be as good a professor as he is a coder, he could try to encourage his students rather than give them unsurmountable tasks.
Maybe he could find 10 holes, maybe not. That would really all depend on where he looked, I imagine. Writing software that doesn't have holes and finding them in other software are two totally different things. His accomplishments do not justify his desire to make himself feel better by making his students feel far inferior to him, however true it may be.
They're letting you down by allowing a professor to fail an entire class, especially since the grades are based on something that doesn't really reflect your understanding of the subject.
I couldn't agree with this post any more.
Let me also say that if this professor feels so high and mighty, let's see this person perform the assignment themself! Something tells me this professor would also fail!
10 previously undiscovered exploits for one person to find is a serious undertaking. Most Security Professionals probably don't find that many per year I would guess.
They had us ship the old one to them and had it repaired and back to us in a matter of weeks.
If that's how they do things, I'd take the the thing back to the store I bought it from to get an exchange.
When my XBox died, Microsoft had it repaired and returned within THREE DAYS.
Anyway...
The first Playstation had problems. The PS1 had problems. The PS2 had problems. Now the PSP has problems.
Here is what I've learned: NEVER buy a Sony game machine until months after release. This gives them time to work out the kinks.
I firmly believe Sony's quality does pick up a bit after they've been making their products for a little while. There are other people however who believe they intentionally design their stuff to fail eventually as some planned obsolescence scheme.
Years ago, Sega Soft released a program called Web-Vengeance.
It was a program that ran as a plugin on top of your browser and while running it allowed you to vandalize ANY site you visited.
Basically, you could shoot the site with guns, deface it with spray paint, and even throw various food stuffs at it.
The best part? Web-Vengeance uploaded all of your actions to a server so that other WV users would see the damage you had done. Their client simply checked against the server whenever you visited a page, and displayed your work to all who visited the site.
It was a fun little application. I don't think it's still around, and I could find very little related to it in my web-searches. At least nothing that wasn't several years old that is.
I don't know why this hasn't been mentioned, but if you long for a home arcade cabinet that is bound to be better than almost any that you are likely to be able to make at home (unless you have extensive manufacturing experience) then you really need to look at SlikStik. They have everything from the simple to the elaborate, and most anything in between. You have to put it together, of course, and there is still some work to do, but most of the hardest work (esspecially for the tech-savvy) will be in the cabinet construction itself.
That having been said, SlikStik handles all of that by providing a cabinet that is arcade quality, easy to assemble, and though somewhat pricey, probably the best you're going to be able to find. They can even provide functional coin doors.
Here soon I plan on buying a 33 inch cabinet with the quad controller.
Of course as I said in a different post it seems pretty pointless when you can get wireless mice with rechargable batteries and a docking station.
I will also add to that...
Modern day (as in released this year) cordless, rechargable, optical mice with docking stations are not only more sensitive, but also have low battery indicators that give really good warning about a low battery.
I have to put my Logitech MX700 on the charger about once every few days or the light will start to flash by the fourth. The flashing light is a good reminder that it needs to be done soon, but seeing the light doesn't mean the batteries are critical yet, so I can get by with using it for a while even then.
Only a few times have I pressed my luck to the point of complete battery drain, and even in those cases I was able to put the mouse on the charger, go use the restroom and make Tea and I was back in the game when I returned.
So nearly every complaint I could have is gone with my most recent cordless mouse (and I've had several).
The only remaining complaint now is that the mouse isn't ambidextrous. This is only a minor complaint to me since I am right handed, but other people might find this to be a major turn off.
This just goes to show that it is possible to hide game loading if you just put some thought into it and make it a key element in the design of your game.
Naturally, this works better for some games than it does for others.
Then Eisner came into power, the Disney family left, and the board of directors stopped thinking about pushing creative talent to be creative, but pushing them to make movies just expensive enough and just good enough to ride the name recognition wave and turn a good profit.
And NOW they're ruining The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy as we speak.
Couldn't an enterprising individual just "back into" those reference names and rename his files to something that then won't trigger a flag?
No. Renaming probably doesn't help. This software almost certainly searched for files by hash. In fact, some file trading services such as e-donkey actually search for the files by Hash. You can find the Hash from FINDHASH.ORG making it easier to find the movies you want. Not only does this allow you to find the same file which has been renamed several times over by other users, but it also allows you to be sure that the file you are downloading is in fact the file it claims to be.
All the while, sites like FindHash.Org are perfectly legal as they do not contain the files in question, but rather only hashes by which they can be identified.
I REALLY hope I don't have to land jumps while flipping in First-Person mode...
This seems to be used less for attacks and more for scaling walls for the Wall-Jump, a technique that served as a rite of passage for true Metroid fans.
Mastering the Wall-Jump was the difference between 70% and 100% item recovery.
Slashdot Mirror
I have recently found a copy of an old check from an anti-virus company to a student which proves that the student was paid to write viruses to help improve the bottom line.
Just a check? Woah! I agree! It must have been a pay-off for a virus! There is absolutely no way it could have been a refund, rebate, promotion, or other legit payout of some kind!
Heh. Everyone knows that Norton and McAffee are not only evil, their software sucks, too.
AVG from GriSoft is by far simply the best AntiVirus I have personally seen for a Windows machine. Their newest free version is even easier to get (no registration, free, small, efficient, functional) and on top of all that it actually WORKS without bogging down the system.
The only thing that disgusts me more than the unethical racketeering of the big antivirus makers, is the fact that people still BUY that shit. (Heh, some people say that about Microsoft, too.)
They are used to performing workarounds for Windows that lead to acceptance of viruses (just buy an antivirus) that lead to acceptance of spyware (just buy an antispyware) and that lead to acceptance of systems so bogged down by combinations of the above (just reinstall every 6 months).
There are small, efficient, safe, and free programs that perform these tasks without bogging the system down.
But your points do to some degree stand. Though even if the virus/worm/spyware problem weren't as bad today as it is, I probably would STILL run a software firewall and a good antivirus just as a matter of precaution. I also have all of my systems behind the network firewall but not everyone has that option.
The point is, that just because things are worse now on Windows than they have ever been, doesn't mean that good precautions wouldn't be paying off.
It's only a matter of time before MacOS X gains enough popularity that it's own security holes (though admittingly less serious than many of those in Windows) are mass exploited causing many Mac users some grief.
As it stands right now MOST Linux users can fend for themselves. How true do you think that would be if there was a huge wave of new Linux users converting from Windows? The clueless masses would show people that even a Linux box in the wrong hands can exploited, and I would dare say that an arm compromised *nix boxes is a far greater threat to the internet as a whole than the army of zombie Dialup AOL connected budget PCs running XP home that we currently have to dela with.
Security IS a problem right now, but Windows is only PART of the problem. The clueless human side of the equation isn't going to go away no matter how many people ditch Windows.
Nothing like demoralizing an entire class and probably ruining more than a few scholarship opportunities.
And that right there is the part that bothers me most. Demoralizing, lowering GPAs, hurting scholarships, and possibly even derailing potentially brilliant minds from the entering the industry. A shame, really.
Actually, there are a few funny things about my parent comment.
I actually do like to see money spent on research, even if the immediate benefits aren't obvious. The "Dummy" comment was just an obvious cheap jab that was too hard to pass up and was really just meant to be funny. SOME of the moderators did get that.
I was also wondering how long it would take before someone brought GWB into this, and it didn't take long. Heh.
Bravo on the research, really. But the politicians are still dummies.
Do you know who this guy is?
I didn't know that was who this guy was, but that doesn't change anything. The dude is as much a shithead as they come, no matter what his accomplishments.
If he wanted to be as good a professor as he is a coder, he could try to encourage his students rather than give them unsurmountable tasks.
Maybe he could find 10 holes, maybe not. That would really all depend on where he looked, I imagine. Writing software that doesn't have holes and finding them in other software are two totally different things. His accomplishments do not justify his desire to make himself feel better by making his students feel far inferior to him, however true it may be.
the ICBM was a dummy... no worries.
The ICBM isn't the dummy that worries me about this failure...
They're letting you down by allowing a professor to fail an entire class, especially since the grades are based on something that doesn't really reflect your understanding of the subject.
I couldn't agree with this post any more.
Let me also say that if this professor feels so high and mighty, let's see this person perform the assignment themself! Something tells me this professor would also fail!
10 previously undiscovered exploits for one person to find is a serious undertaking. Most Security Professionals probably don't find that many per year I would guess.
Shesh. What an ass.
They had us ship the old one to them and had it repaired and back to us in a matter of weeks.
If that's how they do things, I'd take the the thing back to the store I bought it from to get an exchange.
When my XBox died, Microsoft had it repaired and returned within THREE DAYS.
Anyway...
The first Playstation had problems. The PS1 had problems. The PS2 had problems. Now the PSP has problems.
Here is what I've learned: NEVER buy a Sony game machine until months after release. This gives them time to work out the kinks.
I firmly believe Sony's quality does pick up a bit after they've been making their products for a little while. There are other people however who believe they intentionally design their stuff to fail eventually as some planned obsolescence scheme.
Kill them.
I agree on the definition of a Dork, but most everyone I know have opposite definitinos of Geeks and Nerds than those you've just given.
Though I personally prefer not using either and go straight for the term "Techie".
Calling someone a techie doesn't normally bring about any of the negative imagery, yet still makes the point.
Bottom line, computers are still too new to teachers and too unfamiliar to parents right now. Give it some time.
Might I also add that we need to discourage children from learning to read and write from the contents of chat rooms.
l337 5p34k c4n 0n1y hur7 gr4d3z.
Years ago, Sega Soft released a program called Web-Vengeance.
It was a program that ran as a plugin on top of your browser and while running it allowed you to vandalize ANY site you visited.
Basically, you could shoot the site with guns, deface it with spray paint, and even throw various food stuffs at it.
The best part? Web-Vengeance uploaded all of your actions to a server so that other WV users would see the damage you had done. Their client simply checked against the server whenever you visited a page, and displayed your work to all who visited the site.
It was a fun little application. I don't think it's still around, and I could find very little related to it in my web-searches. At least nothing that wasn't several years old that is.
I don't know why this hasn't been mentioned, but if you long for a home arcade cabinet that is bound to be better than almost any that you are likely to be able to make at home (unless you have extensive manufacturing experience) then you really need to look at SlikStik. They have everything from the simple to the elaborate, and most anything in between. You have to put it together, of course, and there is still some work to do, but most of the hardest work (esspecially for the tech-savvy) will be in the cabinet construction itself.
That having been said, SlikStik handles all of that by providing a cabinet that is arcade quality, easy to assemble, and though somewhat pricey, probably the best you're going to be able to find. They can even provide functional coin doors.
Here soon I plan on buying a 33 inch cabinet with the quad controller.
After seeing that car, I don't think I would want to go 90MPH in it....
After reading about it's 60 hp, 3-cylinder, rear-mounted turbo engine, I don't think it'll happen quick enough for you to worry about.
Don't you mean....
"Another Vi-si-tah? Stay a while! Staaaaaaaaaay foreeevaaaaaaaaaaa!"?
Of course as I said in a different post it seems pretty pointless when you can get wireless mice with rechargable batteries and a docking station.
I will also add to that...
Modern day (as in released this year) cordless, rechargable, optical mice with docking stations are not only more sensitive, but also have low battery indicators that give really good warning about a low battery.
I have to put my Logitech MX700 on the charger about once every few days or the light will start to flash by the fourth. The flashing light is a good reminder that it needs to be done soon, but seeing the light doesn't mean the batteries are critical yet, so I can get by with using it for a while even then.
Only a few times have I pressed my luck to the point of complete battery drain, and even in those cases I was able to put the mouse on the charger, go use the restroom and make Tea and I was back in the game when I returned.
So nearly every complaint I could have is gone with my most recent cordless mouse (and I've had several).
The only remaining complaint now is that the mouse isn't ambidextrous. This is only a minor complaint to me since I am right handed, but other people might find this to be a major turn off.
I guess maybe if the store kept your credit card info on file or something and associated it with the serial number, but how often would that happen?
Did you know hurricanes increase strawberry Pop Tarts sales 7-fold?
If anybody has the power to link serial numbers with credit cards it's Wal-Mart. They have the technology, they just need the incentive.
Metroid Prime had no loading screens.
:)
Metroid Prime 2 still has no loading screens.
This just goes to show that it is possible to hide game loading if you just put some thought into it and make it a key element in the design of your game.
Naturally, this works better for some games than it does for others.
The likelihood of Acclaim going out of business is what?
Acclaim is actually doing well? You must be talking about a different Acclaim, but not the one that publishes shit title after shit title.
Because This Acclaim has financial troubles. Or were you being sarcastic?
Sorry if I misunderstood.
Wait, you must've been sarcastic, because Virgin/Vivendi/Fox may very well end up selling their software subsidaries.
I don't know anything about the state of Argonaut.
This is all off topic, but how was WindWaker a letdown? I think Wind Waker was an outstanding Zelda game, and I'm not alone.
Majora's Mask, on the other hand....
Then Eisner came into power, the Disney family left, and the board of directors stopped thinking about pushing creative talent to be creative, but pushing them to make movies just expensive enough and just good enough to ride the name recognition wave and turn a good profit.
And NOW they're ruining The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy as we speak.
Couldn't an enterprising individual just "back into" those reference names and rename his files to something that then won't trigger a flag?
No. Renaming probably doesn't help. This software almost certainly searched for files by hash. In fact, some file trading services such as e-donkey actually search for the files by Hash. You can find the Hash from FINDHASH.ORG making it easier to find the movies you want. Not only does this allow you to find the same file which has been renamed several times over by other users, but it also allows you to be sure that the file you are downloading is in fact the file it claims to be.
All the while, sites like FindHash.Org are perfectly legal as they do not contain the files in question, but rather only hashes by which they can be identified.
I REALLY hope I don't have to land jumps while flipping in First-Person mode...
This seems to be used less for attacks and more for scaling walls for the Wall-Jump, a technique that served as a rite of passage for true Metroid fans.
Mastering the Wall-Jump was the difference between 70% and 100% item recovery.
Just two words...
SCREW ATTACK!
YES YES YES!
It has made it's way into Metroid Prime 2!!!
I loved the first one, and literally went without sleep for days playing it, even replaying it on hard!
My only real complaint was the lack of Screw Attack! And it's in there now!!!!!
They're probably too late!
Someone has likely already patented that idea!
$$$$ CHA-CHING! $$$$$