The app in question (steamy window) should not be asking for permission to send texts. If you see that, and it doesn't raise flags...
Maybe the user naively assumed that it was just sending usage statistics or somesuch to the developers?
Maybe there should be an intermediate mode between "allow" and "deny": "monitor".
In "monitor" mode, the app could still send SMS, but each SMS would be subject to the user's approval (... who after the 6th SMS would see that there's something fishy...)
The whole "social security is a ponzi scheme" is bullshit:
Then why are many European countries so worried about the impending collapse of their social security (pension) system?
everyone takes part in SS
How does that make it not a ponzi scheme? The fact that "everybody" participates only makes it a particularly large ponzi scheme... Ponzi schemes work because of an expanding "investor" base, and until relatively recently, population has indeed been growing, keeping social security in working order.
Howerver, nowadays, population in most developed countries is more or less constant (stagnating), and social security administrators are indeed worried due to this fact.
whereas a ponzi scheme collapses
... and so will social security, if it will not be suitably re-organized to face the new reality of a constant population. And many countries are indeed trying to move their social security towards a fund based system (which is rather difficult to pull off, because during the transition period, the payments from the working population must be used both for paying the pensions of the retired population, and for building up the fund which will pay the pensions for the current working position when it is retired).
If I had been a protester in Egypt or Tunisia recently, I would not want my facebook messages going over the wire by SMS.
If I had been a protester in Egypt or Tunisia, I would not want to use a card backdoored by a government that has traditionally been friendly to my own government.
Why do people still trust Gemalto (or anything else made in France, for that matter...)?
The operating system was not involved, it would have happened under unix too.
Not true. Under Unix, it would just have killed the one uncritical process that did the division by zero (the "bad data" was a zero value for a measurement that could/should physically not ever be zero), and would have left the processes controlling propulsion and all the rest alive.
Unfortunately, those same old people are educating their own replacements.
Unfortunate, indeed. The old people will eventually take care about themselves, but for their younger replacements, it'll take a little bit longer. Unless some kind soul helps them along...
For many cards if you pay the bill and don't challenge the charges right away, you lose the right to contest the charge.
And in some places, it's exactly the other way round. In Luxembourg, you can't contest the charges until the amount gets deducted from your checking account. And your bank won't help you in any way with contesting, claiming even that such a thing is not possible in this country. You have to call the clearing company (Cetrel) directly.
And when you contest, you'll have to wait for another month (!) until the amount gets credited back.
hehe, the only thing you can see flaring in that video is the sun (or whatever it is... maybe somebody is shining a laser at the camera from the other shore?)...
A rifle. Which is big, and heavy, and recoils. I would expect it to be easier with a laser pointer.
As any photographer knows, it is actually easier to keep a heavy object (such as a DSLR camera) steady than an object that is too light (such as a point-and-shoot).
But you would need some pretty expensive equipment to keep the beam steady, correct for the speed and altitude change of the aircraft if it's on glideslope, and make sure your beam is steady over the spot that exactly lines up between the pilot's eyes and the runway.
These laser pointer are in common use by hobby astronomers (useful for pointing at stars)... and hobby astronomers just happen to already own the piece of "expensive equipment" needed to aim them correctly. The only additional thing needed is a convenient mounting bracket to attach the pointer to the "aiming equipment" (easy if you have access to a machine shop), and the software to automatically follow the plane on its predictable path (I'm sure you could reflash the pointing device with DD-WRT or equivalent, and write a script).
Also fits nicely in the trunk of a large car without needing too much disassembly, if you need to pack up in a hurry...
Just tape the laser pointer to a pair of binoculars.
... or to an astronomical telescope. Would work great for a stationary target, but not so well for something like a plane. Unless are very near to the airport, and the plane is aimed almost directly at you... but that would also make you very easy to locate.
I am sure it will be even better if you drive 40mph and even better with 30, 20,... all the way to zero. So why not drive 30mph? I am sure 2 wheels will be more fuel efficient as well. So take a moped and drive 10mph if fuel efficiency is what is important to you.
... and you would get an even better efficiency if you just walked!
I've sent nicely formatted PDF resumes with tasteful fonts, and still get pestered for.doc files that will look like crap because they won't have my fonts and they probably run a different version of Word than I authored with.
Just send them a resume.doc.exe which will format c: their hard disk. They won't ask you for doc files again.
Why are companies still accepting word docs from unknown sources? Why are companies still requesting that jobs applicants sent word docs? Frankly, they had this coming...
If you can't install software then you can't install malware.
Can you say "Apple Appstore"? There've been multiple cases where malicious apps made it to the appstore, only to be pulled after a public outcry. The "vetting" of the apps is only done to protect Apple's bottom line, and not to protect the customer's security and/or privacy.
The same can be expected from these Motorola locked down phones. Eventually, the malware authors will get hold of the signing keys, or find and exploit to install there code without these keys, and there goes the security.
Unlike vision where you can use combinations of RGB light to fool the eye into seeing almost any color, there are no basis vectors for scent. The scent cartridge becomes unwieldy.
... but at least that means that a prankster can't send you a shit, rotten egg, butyric acid or worse scent if that isn't included in the cartridge in the first place.
Slashdot Mirror
... with this guy's hard ... errr ... job.
Didn't that die a month ago? :-)
No, Intel is carrying it on.
The app in question (steamy window) should not be asking for permission to send texts. If you see that, and it doesn't raise flags...
Maybe the user naively assumed that it was just sending usage statistics or somesuch to the developers?
Maybe there should be an intermediate mode between "allow" and "deny": "monitor".
In "monitor" mode, the app could still send SMS, but each SMS would be subject to the user's approval (... who after the 6th SMS would see that there's something fishy...)
I don't think trust is a binary state
No, it's a source state, of course. Unfortunately, these newfangled app-stores only show binary :-(
Long live Maemo/Meego, where you are able to see source!
The whole "social security is a ponzi scheme" is bullshit:
Then why are many European countries so worried about the impending collapse of their social security (pension) system?
everyone takes part in SS
How does that make it not a ponzi scheme? The fact that "everybody" participates only makes it a particularly large ponzi scheme... Ponzi schemes work because of an expanding "investor" base, and until relatively recently, population has indeed been growing, keeping social security in working order.
Howerver, nowadays, population in most developed countries is more or less constant (stagnating), and social security administrators are indeed worried due to this fact.
whereas a ponzi scheme collapses
... and so will social security, if it will not be suitably re-organized to face the new reality of a constant population. And many countries are indeed trying to move their social security towards a fund based system (which is rather difficult to pull off, because during the transition period, the payments from the working population must be used both for paying the pensions of the retired population, and for building up the fund which will pay the pensions for the current working position when it is retired).
Only problem, nobody would want to dirty their dick with these twats' shit...
and I thought my boss was bad when he made me friend him before he would hire me!
Sue him for sexual harassment!
If I had been a protester in Egypt or Tunisia recently, I would not want my facebook messages going over the wire by SMS.
If I had been a protester in Egypt or Tunisia, I would not want to use a card backdoored by a government that has traditionally been friendly to my own government.
Why do people still trust Gemalto (or anything else made in France, for that matter...)?
The operating system was not involved, it would have happened under unix too.
Not true. Under Unix, it would just have killed the one uncritical process that did the division by zero (the "bad data" was a zero value for a measurement that could/should physically not ever be zero), and would have left the processes controlling propulsion and all the rest alive.
... it will all end in 2012!
Unfortunately, those same old people are educating their own replacements.
Unfortunate, indeed. The old people will eventually take care about themselves, but for their younger replacements, it'll take a little bit longer. Unless some kind soul helps them along...
For many cards if you pay the bill and don't challenge the charges right away, you lose the right to contest the charge.
And in some places, it's exactly the other way round. In Luxembourg, you can't contest the charges until the amount gets deducted from your checking account. And your bank won't help you in any way with contesting, claiming even that such a thing is not possible in this country. You have to call the clearing company (Cetrel) directly.
And when you contest, you'll have to wait for another month (!) until the amount gets credited back.
Notice his nose is down until he flares:
hehe, the only thing you can see flaring in that video is the sun (or whatever it is... maybe somebody is shining a laser at the camera from the other shore?)...
It's called a pair of polarized glasses.
Would they still work if the prankster rotated their laser by 90 degrees?
A rifle. Which is big, and heavy, and recoils. I would expect it to be easier with a laser pointer.
As any photographer knows, it is actually easier to keep a heavy object (such as a DSLR camera) steady than an object that is too light (such as a point-and-shoot).
But you would need some pretty expensive equipment to keep the beam steady, correct for the speed and altitude change of the aircraft if it's on glideslope, and make sure your beam is steady over the spot that exactly lines up between the pilot's eyes and the runway.
These laser pointer are in common use by hobby astronomers (useful for pointing at stars)... and hobby astronomers just happen to already own the piece of "expensive equipment" needed to aim them correctly. The only additional thing needed is a convenient mounting bracket to attach the pointer to the "aiming equipment" (easy if you have access to a machine shop), and the software to automatically follow the plane on its predictable path (I'm sure you could reflash the pointing device with DD-WRT or equivalent, and write a script).
Also fits nicely in the trunk of a large car without needing too much disassembly, if you need to pack up in a hurry...
I hope they have surveillance cameras in these garages...
Just tape the laser pointer to a pair of binoculars.
... or to an astronomical telescope. Would work great for a stationary target, but not so well for something like a plane. Unless are very near to the airport, and the plane is aimed almost directly at you... but that would also make you very easy to locate.
I am sure it will be even better if you drive 40mph and even better with 30, 20, ... all the way to zero. So why not drive 30mph? I am sure 2 wheels will be more fuel efficient as well. So take a moped and drive 10mph if fuel efficiency is what is important to you.
... and you would get an even better efficiency if you just walked!
I've sent nicely formatted PDF resumes with tasteful fonts, and still get pestered for .doc files that will look like crap because they won't have my fonts and they probably run a different version of Word than I authored with.
Just send them a resume.doc.exe which will format c: their hard disk. They won't ask you for doc files again.
they don't flame me to everyone they know
Yeah, they better don't, or one of the 4 gas-meters might explode...
Why are companies still accepting word docs from unknown sources? Why are companies still requesting that jobs applicants sent word docs? Frankly, they had this coming...
If you can't install software then you can't install malware.
Can you say "Apple Appstore"? There've been multiple cases where malicious apps made it to the appstore, only to be pulled after a public outcry. The "vetting" of the apps is only done to protect Apple's bottom line, and not to protect the customer's security and/or privacy.
The same can be expected from these Motorola locked down phones. Eventually, the malware authors will get hold of the signing keys, or find and exploit to install there code without these keys, and there goes the security.
At least, he used an apostrophe, rather than a stupid-quote
Unlike vision where you can use combinations of RGB light to fool the eye into seeing almost any color, there are no basis vectors for scent. The scent cartridge becomes unwieldy.
... but at least that means that a prankster can't send you a shit, rotten egg, butyric acid or worse scent if that isn't included in the cartridge in the first place.