I keep boring people with this point and I'm going to keep doing so until the Linux peeps get it. Linux needs a program that performs the same function as Zone Alarm. In other words no program on a desktop system should be allowed to connect to the internet before the user has okayed it.
One of the first things I do when a non tehcnical friend asks me to help with their Windows PC is to install Zone Alarm simply because it will prompt you before a programm cann connect to the network or internet. I then explain that if they don't know what a program is, or why it's trying to connect to the internet, don't let it. You can always change your mind later and you can always google it, or ask me, to find out what the program is and what it does.
This has stopped numerous malware infestation getting serious (i.e. downloading their real payload) I believe there's very little real malware nowadays that doesn't require 'net access to do it's work (reporting personal information such as credit card details, being a node in a botnet etc.) so having a gatekeeper between programs and the network should be a primary design consideration of all desktop systems.
Without this functionality it's just a matter of time before the first serious auto updating Linux virus problem occurs. It might well be harder to get a root infestation on a Linux box but does this matter ? A userland program can steal information, participate in a botnet etc. quite adequately for most purposes. If it's well written and consumes little in the way of resources a user probably wouldn''t even notice either.
On Windows Zone Alarm acts like a nightclub bouncer for 'net access. Meanwhile on Linux any old program gets full internet access without the user knowing a thing.
Well I've got 3 Ubuntu machines too. So far I tried upgrading 2 and the first now has no sound through HDMI (despite me reconfiguring it to what was working under 9.04) and the second gets GRUB error 25 when it tries to boot. Probably fixable but annoying. The other machine has been left well alone.
So for me personally this has been the worst Ubuntu upgrade so far.
> Vista and W7 are much more thoroughly instrumented than XP was. Many of these will send anonymous usage and > config data back to MS. These are all well documented and understood, and don't really cause any concern for > privacy.
Anything that "Phones home" is an immediate cause for concern and, unless it has first told me exactly what it is sending back and expressly asked for my permission before even so much as attempting a network connection (never mind sending so much as a byte), is an INVASION of my privacy. Never mind a being mere concern.
Unless we really seriously get to work on harnessing solar power in which case it's bye bye electricity bill !
n.b. This post assumes the full cooperation of the vested interests who (mostly) control the world via access to power so has been made purely as a "best case" fantasy:)
"Bio fuel" is the stupidest idea I've heard in a long time. Utterly retarded. Crops should be grown for food not to power bloody cars.
We should be directing as much of our efforts as possible into tapping solar power. Imagine every roof in the world with an efficient solar panel on top. With some sort of shared storage capacity we'd have practically limitless, practically free, clean power for all for as long as good old Sol shines.
Oh but wait a minute, then there's nobody making a huge profit off everybody's energy use and, more importantly, they're not in control of your power requirements. Silly me. It'll never happen.
Radomness and strangeness are your friends when it comes to this sort of thing. I don't think too many people would guess one of mine (obviously no longer in use)
Q: How many Alsations mime to rice ? A: Egyptian Eskimo Chess
Of course it helps if such systems at least allow you to set up your own questions as that is entirely memorable to me:)
It also confused the hell out of my bank when my memorable date was too far in the future for it's system to cope with. That soon made me switch banks to one with a half decent system !
I thought those lumps were just the actors lunch time Cornish Pasty which they took to carrying round on their foreheads due to them previously getting stolen from their lockers.
> I should be able to do stuff like give any executable in the "notsotrusted" directory no internet access"notsotrusted" directory no internet access
I'd go further than this. On a desktop system no program whatsoever should be allowed to access the network or internet until the user has *explicitly* given their consent. None, nada zilch. No exceptions, no excuses. Default policy "Deny all".
No crappy excuses like "but it's only going off getting cover art" or "it's only reporting anonymous usage statistics". No thankyou very much it's my computer and *I* should be in total control of what gets network privileges.
All desktop systems should come with a firewall with a GUI that asks the user for permission when a program first wants to connect to the outside world or act as a server.
So called firewalls that allow outward connections and server behaviour from all and sundry local programs are about as much use as a chocolate teapot.
Another day, another example of the venal, self serving, political class currently running the UK into the ground. I just wish people in the UK would wake up, get off their arses and go out and vote for anything other than the red themed (the one with the rose logo) or blue themed (the one with the torch logo) Conservative parties.
Honestly just go and vote for absolutely anybody else. Vote Liberal democrats, vote Monster Raving Loony, vote Green, vote for the Miss UK party, just make sure you vote and make sure it's not for either the red or blue parties. if necessary tactially vote to make sure the bastards are beaten. I'd love to see the day when we had a government comprised of an eclectic mix of all sorts of individuals.
The political class in this country treat its citizens with utter contempt and do not deserve a job of any sort, let alone one that allows them to ruin the lives of everyone else. If they're not putting their hand in our back pockets to pay for yet more luxury furnishings to their second homes (paid for by us) they're desperately trying to find more ways to micro manage and interfere with every last vestige of our personal lives.
I think Mr. Coleman (Killing Joke) puts it best in Implant with the line "You don't want to protect, you just want to fucking control".
Oh never mind Eastenders is on in a minute, followed by Match of the day, and it's all too difficult to think about. I suppose people do get the governments they deserve after all...
> We, as a consumer group, do have the power to stop RIAA and MPAA cold. How? Stop listening to music on the radio, don't buy any new CDs (used is fine), turn off your TV (and cable/sat/uverse), and don't go to the movies. I
I already did this a decade ago. Not out of any spirit of protest it's just that > 90% of everything they ever seem to broadcast is crap and a waste of my time. One of the best moves I ever made.
> The cause appears to be a known issue with the Google search engine
More like the usual issue with idiots who fail to adequately protect, secure and dispose of this sort of data in the first place. "Sensitive directories" have absolutely no business ever being readable from the web.
Company executives and IT administrators who allow this sort of security breach need to start doing hard jail time. Until this happens we'll be reading more and more of these stories by the week.
One approach I use quite a lot is to record the band live then produce a sync track by getting the drummer to overdub a click track using a MIDI drum pad (i.e. they just hit the pad on the start of each beat). Any half decent sequencer should then be able to use this track to create a "Tempo Map" so the timing will slightly fluctuate as required by the dictates of the song. (I use an old version of Logic on Windows and it works a treat)
You then get the best of both worlds as you can add your MIDI tracks which can then be quantised to the song. Any external devices can also be synced in the usual way (i.e. MTC, MIDI Clock, SMPTE etc.)
Other times when you play with machines that are rigidly synced you just allow yourselves to have passages where you either "push" (play slightly in front of the beat) or "pull" (play slightly behind the beat) All helps with the build/release of tension.
In fact sometimes I've used old analogue machines that can't be synced together (due to lack of available interfacing hardware) and we've just left two machine running whose timings slowly drift apart but which sounds great. On the same note setting them off slightly apart and using slightly different sequences running at different tempos can also produce some odd (but very usable) polyrhythms.
So who cares if you can "tell there's a click" ? As usual when recording music just play around until you find what works for the song/band. There are no rules !
I'd second that regarding Entanet and the Wikipedia debacle.
And if you're going the Entanet route you could also try UKFSN who are not only an Entanet reseller but also contribute to the development of open source and have and anti Phorm policy.
As you may guess I'm a very satisfied customer. I've had over 2 years with them now, have not had a single problem and have had good, competent, technical support on the two occasions I've asked technical questions.
Sadly I don't know the name of it (I'm at work, it's at home) but I have a 6 way extension with a master socket. The TV plugs into the master socket and when the TV is turned off (I spliced a switch into the cable so I could switch the damn thing off) the extension senses the master socket is not drawing power and cuts off power to the other sockets.
As a bonus it does surge protection too so all in all is a nice simple solution and about £ 10 well spent.
Then again I only watch TV for about 3 hours a month so could probably just get rid of it altogether:)
Slashdot Mirror
> keep itself updated via downloads
I keep boring people with this point and I'm going to keep doing so until the Linux peeps get it. Linux needs a program that performs the same function as Zone Alarm. In other words no program on a desktop system should be allowed to connect to the internet before the user has okayed it.
One of the first things I do when a non tehcnical friend asks me to help with their Windows PC is to install Zone Alarm simply because it will prompt you before a programm cann connect to the network or internet. I then explain that if they don't know what a program is, or why it's trying to connect to the internet, don't let it. You can always change your mind later and you can always google it, or ask me, to find out what the program is and what it does.
This has stopped numerous malware infestation getting serious (i.e. downloading their real payload) I believe there's very little real malware nowadays that doesn't require 'net access to do it's work (reporting personal information such as credit card details, being a node in a botnet etc.) so having a gatekeeper between programs and the network should be a primary design consideration of all desktop systems.
Without this functionality it's just a matter of time before the first serious auto updating Linux virus problem occurs. It might well be harder to get a root infestation on a Linux box but does this matter ? A userland program can steal information, participate in a botnet etc. quite adequately for most purposes. If it's well written and consumes little in the way of resources a user probably wouldn''t even notice either.
On Windows Zone Alarm acts like a nightclub bouncer for 'net access. Meanwhile on Linux any old program gets full internet access without the user knowing a thing.
For fans of the Galaxys greatest comic (2000AD) this brings the famous hottie tree one step closer to reality :)
Zarjaz news indeed !
Well I've got 3 Ubuntu machines too. So far I tried upgrading 2 and the first now has no sound through HDMI (despite me reconfiguring it to what was working under 9.04) and the second gets GRUB error 25 when it tries to boot. Probably fixable but annoying. The other machine has been left well alone.
So for me personally this has been the worst Ubuntu upgrade so far.
YMMV.
> Are there unexplained phone-homes?
> Vista and W7 are much more thoroughly instrumented than XP was. Many of these will send anonymous usage and
> config data back to MS. These are all well documented and understood, and don't really cause any concern for
> privacy.
Anything that "Phones home" is an immediate cause for concern and, unless it has first told me exactly what it is sending back and expressly asked for my permission before even so much as attempting a network connection (never mind sending so much as a byte), is an INVASION of my privacy. Never mind a being mere concern.
It's my machine, and it's my bandwidth.
Unless we really seriously get to work on harnessing solar power in which case it's bye bye electricity bill !
n.b. This post assumes the full cooperation of the vested interests who (mostly) control the world via access to power so has been made purely as a "best case" fantasy :)
"Hello little fat girl, what would you be willing to do for this delicious Hershey bar ?"
"Bio fuel" is the stupidest idea I've heard in a long time. Utterly retarded. Crops should be grown for food not to power bloody cars.
We should be directing as much of our efforts as possible into tapping solar power. Imagine every roof in the world with an efficient solar panel on top. With some sort of shared storage capacity we'd have practically limitless, practically free, clean power for all for as long as good old Sol shines.
Oh but wait a minute, then there's nobody making a huge profit off everybody's energy use and, more importantly, they're not in control of your power requirements. Silly me. It'll never happen.
And don't forget to write the passphrase somewhere on the netbook or you'll forget it :)
Beware, It's a trap !
(sorry)
A turbo "mode" eh ? Wake me up when it has a real turbo "button" !
Sadly all this did was remind me of a (very) poor joke (which should really be said in a Scottish accent).
Q: What's the difference between Bing Crosby and Walt Disney ?
A: Bing sings and Walt disnae.
Sorry about that :)
> The sooner people stop associating Google and Alpha in their heads, the better.
Yup, everyone knows Google stuff is always Beta.
Radomness and strangeness are your friends when it comes to this sort of thing. I don't think too many people would guess one of mine (obviously no longer in use)
Q: How many Alsations mime to rice ?
A: Egyptian Eskimo Chess
Of course it helps if such systems at least allow you to set up your own questions as that is entirely memorable to me :)
It also confused the hell out of my bank when my memorable date was too far in the future for it's system to cope with. That soon made me switch banks to one with a half decent system !
I thought those lumps were just the actors lunch time Cornish Pasty which they took to carrying round on their foreheads due to them previously getting stolen from their lockers.
> I should be able to do stuff like give any executable in the "notsotrusted" directory no internet access"notsotrusted" directory no internet access
I'd go further than this. On a desktop system no program whatsoever should be allowed to access the network or internet until the user has *explicitly* given their consent. None, nada zilch. No exceptions, no excuses. Default policy "Deny all".
No crappy excuses like "but it's only going off getting cover art" or "it's only reporting anonymous usage statistics". No thankyou very much it's my computer and *I* should be in total control of what gets network privileges.
All desktop systems should come with a firewall with a GUI that asks the user for permission when a program first wants to connect to the outside world or act as a server.
So called firewalls that allow outward connections and server behaviour from all and sundry local programs are about as much use as a chocolate teapot.
Another day, another example of the venal, self serving, political class currently running the UK into the ground. I just wish people in the UK would wake up, get off their arses and go out and vote for anything other than the red themed (the one with the rose logo) or blue themed (the one with the torch logo) Conservative parties.
Honestly just go and vote for absolutely anybody else. Vote Liberal democrats, vote Monster Raving Loony, vote Green, vote for the Miss UK party, just make sure you vote and make sure it's not for either the red or blue parties. if necessary tactially vote to make sure the bastards are beaten. I'd love to see the day when we had a government comprised of an eclectic mix of all sorts of individuals.
The political class in this country treat its citizens with utter contempt and do not deserve a job of any sort, let alone one that allows them to ruin the lives of everyone else. If they're not putting their hand in our back pockets to pay for yet more luxury furnishings to their second homes (paid for by us) they're desperately trying to find more ways to micro manage and interfere with every last vestige of our personal lives.
I think Mr. Coleman (Killing Joke) puts it best in Implant with the line "You don't want to protect, you just want to fucking control".
Oh never mind Eastenders is on in a minute, followed by Match of the day, and it's all too difficult to think about. I suppose people do get the governments they deserve after all...
Well how about SAD then (Super Awesome Definition) Which also goes for the content watched on them which is usually SADly dissapointing.
> We, as a consumer group, do have the power to stop RIAA and MPAA cold. How? Stop listening to music on the radio, don't buy any new CDs (used is fine), turn off your TV (and cable/sat/uverse), and don't go to the movies. I
I already did this a decade ago. Not out of any spirit of protest it's just that > 90% of everything they ever seem to broadcast is crap and a waste of my time. One of the best moves I ever made.
How dare you call these PCs unused... They're part of my botnet you insensitive clods !
Here's another of a similar age
"An elephant is a mouse built to government specifications".
> The cause appears to be a known issue with the Google search engine
More like the usual issue with idiots who fail to adequately protect, secure and dispose of this sort of data in the first place. "Sensitive directories" have absolutely no business ever being readable from the web.
Company executives and IT administrators who allow this sort of security breach need to start doing hard jail time. Until this happens we'll be reading more and more of these stories by the week.
One approach I use quite a lot is to record the band live then produce a sync track by getting the drummer to overdub a click track using a MIDI drum pad (i.e. they just hit the pad on the start of each beat). Any half decent sequencer should then be able to use this track to create a "Tempo Map" so the timing will slightly fluctuate as required by the dictates of the song. (I use an old version of Logic on Windows and it works a treat)
You then get the best of both worlds as you can add your MIDI tracks which can then be quantised to the song. Any external devices can also be synced in the usual way (i.e. MTC, MIDI Clock, SMPTE etc.)
Other times when you play with machines that are rigidly synced you just allow yourselves to have passages where you either "push" (play slightly in front of the beat) or "pull" (play slightly behind the beat) All helps with the build/release of tension.
In fact sometimes I've used old analogue machines that can't be synced together (due to lack of available interfacing hardware) and we've just left two machine running whose timings slowly drift apart but which sounds great. On the same note setting them off slightly apart and using slightly different sequences running at different tempos can also produce some odd (but very usable) polyrhythms.
So who cares if you can "tell there's a click" ? As usual when recording music just play around until you find what works for the song/band. There are no rules !
I'd second that regarding Entanet and the Wikipedia debacle.
And if you're going the Entanet route you could also try UKFSN who are not only an Entanet reseller but also contribute to the development of open source and have and anti Phorm policy.
As you may guess I'm a very satisfied customer. I've had over 2 years with them now, have not had a single problem and have had good, competent, technical support on the two occasions I've asked technical questions.
But it would make a great Slashdot poll.
Sadly I don't know the name of it (I'm at work, it's at home) but I have a 6 way extension with a master socket. The TV plugs into the master socket and when the TV is turned off (I spliced a switch into the cable so I could switch the damn thing off) the extension senses the master socket is not drawing power and cuts off power to the other sockets.
As a bonus it does surge protection too so all in all is a nice simple solution and about £ 10 well spent.
Then again I only watch TV for about 3 hours a month so could probably just get rid of it altogether :)