"Industrial designers are like Architects: they design something idiotic, then let an Engineer figure out how to make it work in a useful way."
Obligatory Monty Python quote...
MR. WIGGIN: Good morning, gentlemen. Uh, this is a twelve-storey block combining classical neo-Georgian features with all the advantages of modern design. Uhh, the tenants arrive in the entrance hall here, are carried along the corridor on a conveyor belt in extreme comfort and past murals depicting Mediterranean scenes, towards the rotating knives. The last twenty feet of the corridor are heavily soundproofed. The blood pours down these chutes and the mangled flesh slurps into these large contai--
"Does this mean I can like wlak [sic] around in this 3-D world and kick over buildings and stuff?"
I think they mean "interact" in the same way that you "interact" with a painting in a museum... that is, you don't.
You're looking for something more along the lines of this. Greater entertainment value, and significantly cheaper.
Well, even if it sucks in terms of actual performance, this should still be great for all the rich low-IQ pseudo-geeks who judge the worth of equipment on "Gigahertz", "Megapixels", and "Gigabytes", and say "XP Pro" like it's a good thing... On the other hand, though... with a resolution range of 640x480 to 2048x1536, it's only got 10.24X "digital zoom"...:-p Sometimes I crack myself up.
The following caught my eye as I read the Forbes article: The article refers to the iPod external battery pack as being powered by "three nine-volt batteries"; however, the photograph clearly shows two nine-volt batteries and two AA batteries in a holder. I'm surprised such a well-known publication would make such a flagrant error...
Rather than providing a link to it on your own server, how about providing the original malware link? That way, the curious can enhance the DoS attack, rather than wasting your site's bandwidth.
The file I posted was the source file itself, rather than the whole package; my original intent was to post the code directly to Slashdot, but I was in a hurry and was having trouble getting past the Lameness Filter, so I uploaded it to my server with a.txt extension, with the intent of making it much easier for those who were interested in it to view it simply by clicking the link, without having to download and unpack it...
I actually tested it on a Fedora Core 2 machine as well. I had a similar problem, though I've reconfigured the heck out of it since the initial install, so perhaps it would work fine on a fresh installation.
The funniest part is that the code (a shell script compiled into C code, then into a binary, to obfuscate its purpose) failed miserably on my test systems, both Knoppix AND Fedora Core 2. It spat out a bunch of errors which completely revealed the fact that it was trying to add a user, start sshd, etc. C'mon, if you're gonna terrorize the Linux world, at least do it right!
I've tried to post the code here, but am repeatedly blocked by the Lameness Filter. I have posted the C file to my server. It's safe to view, as long as you don't go trying to compile and run it!:-p View inst.c
It would appear that the author of this code was a bit foolish. The code appears to try to add a user, then start an sshd backdoor, all during the time that it's supposedly "Identifying the system". But it fails and spits out a bunch of errors!
I will post the code shortly.
Identifying the system. This may take up to 2 minutes. Please wait...
adduser: No more than two names.
passwd: Unknown user bash
Could not load host key:/etc/ssh/ssh_host_key
Could not load host key:/etc/ssh/ssh_host_rsa_key
Could not load host key:/etc/ssh/ssh_host_dsa_key
Disabling protocol version 1. Could not load host key.
Disabling protocol version 2. Could not load host key.
sshd: no hostkeys available -- exiting.
System looks OK. Proceeding to next step.
"...while there is some argument about permitting unsolicited commercial e-mail because of free speech..."
Now that's a new one... What if somebody argued that graffiti was free speech? My point here is that nobody should legally be able to flood your email account with messages you don't want. It wastes the resources both of the systems across which the messages travel and of the people who have to go through them. In addition, it has been repeatedly shown in studies that unsolicited email is not an effective advertising strategy. In summary, free speech is the right to express your views, not to shove them in someone's face without their permission.
The fact that the author used a USB game pad as the electronic base of his device brings up an issue which increasingly plagues electronics hobbyists... Manufacturers are beginning to see many useful protocols (such as RS232) as obsolete and completely remove support for them from their products. While the average American consumer, who uses arbitrary metrics and units-of-measurement-become-buzzwords (megapixels... gigahertz... etc.) to judge the worth of a device, would not care much about seeing those ugly trapezoidal plugs disappear from the back of their computers, it presents a huge problem for us hobbyists who rely on good-old '232 and similar "old" interfaces for easy communication with a computer. Anyone who's ever written (or tried to write) USB interface code knows that's Hell to work with. Fortunately, though, there are solutions... including handy interface chips which handle all the nasty USB work and provide a simple asynchronous serial interface on the project end. However, I still will never buy a motherboard without RS232!
"Depending on the load, the voltage output will vary. Basically, if you do not need all the available power, the PSU will reduce the voltages"
Bzzzzzt!
Total bullsh**. No power supply would reduce voltages "if you do not need all the available power". What decreases is the total power output, but that is determined by the amount of current being drawn on each line (power is equal to the product of voltage and current) rather than the power supply itself. The voltage outputs are always regulated as closely as possible. Changes in voltage can cause malfunction (for example, I once was running 4 hard drives off an old power supply, and they would often spontaneously reset or fail). The only case in which the voltage would actually significantly decrease is in an overload situation, and with a modern 400-watt supply, this is pretty unlikely to happen in any normal computer.
It apparent that the reviewer has very little knowledge of electronics and is not qualified to write such a review. This also raises the question of why this article would be posted when hundreds of pertinent stories are rejected every day.
Just put the human(s), bald and naked, into liquid-filled pods and wire 'em up for electrical power! Then build some hovering tentacled robots to do maintenance. Then......Or you could do it the boring way -- you know, pedals and the like...
Slashdot Mirror
Obligatory Monty Python quote...
You're looking for something more along the lines of this. Greater entertainment value, and significantly cheaper.
R.T.F.A.
So it not only lets the government (and/or aliens, communists, etc.) track you, it gives you cancer too!
Scientists pimp out Brian's sardine scanner?
...Nobody?
Well, it was worth a shot...
Well, even if it sucks in terms of actual performance, this should still be great for all the rich low-IQ pseudo-geeks who judge the worth of equipment on "Gigahertz", "Megapixels", and "Gigabytes", and say "XP Pro" like it's a good thing... :-p
On the other hand, though... with a resolution range of 640x480 to 2048x1536, it's only got 10.24X "digital zoom"...
Sometimes I crack myself up.
..."Bozos Patent Information Exchange"?
The following caught my eye as I read the Forbes article:
The article refers to the iPod external battery pack as being powered by "three nine-volt batteries"; however, the photograph clearly shows two nine-volt batteries and two AA batteries in a holder. I'm surprised such a well-known publication would make such a flagrant error...
I actually tested it on a Fedora Core 2 machine as well. I had a similar problem, though I've reconfigured the heck out of it since the initial install, so perhaps it would work fine on a fresh installation.
The funniest part is that the code (a shell script compiled into C code, then into a binary, to obfuscate its purpose) failed miserably on my test systems, both Knoppix AND Fedora Core 2. It spat out a bunch of errors which completely revealed the fact that it was trying to add a user, start sshd, etc. C'mon, if you're gonna terrorize the Linux world, at least do it right!
I've tried to post the code here, but am repeatedly blocked by the Lameness Filter. I have posted the C file to my server. It's safe to view, as long as you don't go trying to compile and run it! :-p
View inst.c
It would appear that the author of this code was a bit foolish. The code appears to try to add a user, then start an sshd backdoor, all during the time that it's supposedly "Identifying the system". But it fails and spits out a bunch of errors! I will post the code shortly.
Identifying the system. This may take up to 2 minutes. Please wait... /etc/ssh/ssh_host_key /etc/ssh/ssh_host_rsa_key /etc/ssh/ssh_host_dsa_key
adduser: No more than two names.
passwd: Unknown user bash
Could not load host key:
Could not load host key:
Could not load host key:
Disabling protocol version 1. Could not load host key.
Disabling protocol version 2. Could not load host key.
sshd: no hostkeys available -- exiting.
System looks OK. Proceeding to next step.
Patching "ls": ###########
Patching "mkdir": ##########
System updated and secured successfully. You may erase these files.
I'm removing all local disks from the system. Just CD. Stay tuned for updates...
I am downloading the file to a Knoppix box, and will then disconnect the ethernet cord, run the code, and report back.
Stay tuned.
That's it, I'm moving to Japan!
"...while there is some argument about permitting unsolicited commercial e-mail because of free speech..."
Now that's a new one...
What if somebody argued that graffiti was free speech?
My point here is that nobody should legally be able to flood your email account with messages you don't want. It wastes the resources both of the systems across which the messages travel and of the people who have to go through them. In addition, it has been repeatedly shown in studies that unsolicited email is not an effective advertising strategy.
In summary, free speech is the right to express your views, not to shove them in someone's face without their permission.
The fact that the author used a USB game pad as the electronic base of his device brings up an issue which increasingly plagues electronics hobbyists... Manufacturers are beginning to see many useful protocols (such as RS232) as obsolete and completely remove support for them from their products. While the average American consumer, who uses arbitrary metrics and units-of-measurement-become-buzzwords (megapixels... gigahertz... etc.) to judge the worth of a device, would not care much about seeing those ugly trapezoidal plugs disappear from the back of their computers, it presents a huge problem for us hobbyists who rely on good-old '232 and similar "old" interfaces for easy communication with a computer. Anyone who's ever written (or tried to write) USB interface code knows that's Hell to work with. Fortunately, though, there are solutions... including handy interface chips which handle all the nasty USB work and provide a simple asynchronous serial interface on the project end. However, I still will never buy a motherboard without RS232!
All your TV are belong to us...
Imagine a Beowulf cluster off... oh, wait...
Total bullsh**. No power supply would reduce voltages "if you do not need all the available power". What decreases is the total power output, but that is determined by the amount of current being drawn on each line (power is equal to the product of voltage and current) rather than the power supply itself. The voltage outputs are always regulated as closely as possible. Changes in voltage can cause malfunction (for example, I once was running 4 hard drives off an old power supply, and they would often spontaneously reset or fail). The only case in which the voltage would actually significantly decrease is in an overload situation, and with a modern 400-watt supply, this is pretty unlikely to happen in any normal computer.
It apparent that the reviewer has very little knowledge of electronics and is not qualified to write such a review. This also raises the question of why this article would be posted when hundreds of pertinent stories are rejected every day.
Just put the human(s), bald and naked, into liquid-filled pods and wire 'em up for electrical power! Then build some hovering tentacled robots to do maintenance. Then... ...Or you could do it the boring way -- you know, pedals and the like...