"The number of compromised Master Card accounts has been revised downward to about 68,000, with another 132,000 possibly compromised accounts belonging to Visa, American Express, and other companies."
Is that so? I'm going to have to throw the bullshit flag on this one. Any numbers that add up to a nice round number like '200,000' are complete crap that someone pulled directly out of their arse.
I'm sorry, but I just don't buy it. I say they don't have a fucking clue how many numbers were exposed.
Apparently, keeping credit card numbers secure isn't working out. Why? Because it's just a number. The major credit companies need to revise how the whole credit system works. If they assume that everyone knows everyone else's credit card number by default, they should be able to devise a system a hell of a lot more secure than some 16 digit number. Your credit card number has to be retained by anyone you do business with so that they know who you are. Credit card security needs some major improvements, like a passphrase, password, or even a PIN. A 4-digit PIN would make a world of difference, but if you're going to fix it, you should fix it right. A passphrase would be best. Something that's communicated when the authorization is taking place, checked against a nice secure server, and then is forgotten and not retained. The fact that a system of this nature is not yet in place just shows that the major credit card companies just don't give a shit.
/end rant
In the unlikely event that he's right, and Apple and Intel decide to merge, what are the chances the government will actually let it happen? Don't we have enough problems with monopolies as it is? Or would Apple+Intel not qualify as a monopoly? Would they allow it just so they can compete with Microsoft?
I wonder what the EU would do if Microsoft decided to fight back? What's preventing them from taking a page from IBM's playbook and firing people, mostly in Europe, to make up for the $5 million a day? I'm not sure how many employees Microsoft has in Europe, but it would likely put a serious dent in that $5 million.
For anyone interested in what is probably the most factual telling of the conflict between Markoff and Mitnick, check out Freedom Downtime.
I saw the premier in New York, and have no doubt that Markoff is just out to make another buck. Markoff attempted to get a movie called 'Takedown' produced and released while Kevin Mitnick was being held without a trial. In the movie, Mitnick is found guilty, and they wanted to release it before his case ever went to trial, which would have severely reduced his chances of getting a fair trial.
I actually don't mind most banner ads. As long as they're not blinking, they're okay. I just like the built in pop-up blocker in Firefox. Pop-ups suck.
Is it just me, or do any other logged in Slashdot members see a giant vertical Empire Earth II banner pushing down the articles on the main page? If I log out, it goes away. When I log back in, there it is again. Anyone else see this?
"To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries"
Patents are a good idea. Laws regulating how patents may be used and what types of ideas may be patented are an even better idea. Without the neccesary regulation, patents have the potential to destroy much more than they create. The intent of a patent system is to reward an inventor for their work. The keyword in there was 'inventor'. An invention has to be something new and unique that no one else has done before. You shouldn't be able to patent anything that people have already been doing for a while.
Unfortunately, most software companies that are interested in patenting things are looking to patent something that someone else invented and that every average user is using so that they can charge for the use of their patent. As there are very rarely 'inventions' in the world of software, patents for things software already do is just a way for them to make money by charging people for their use.
"Today, people go and shop around, and talk to different sales people before making a decision to buy a something
There are people who really consider that unethical."
I know I speak for most everyone when I say that it would be nice if everyone still had the morals of the people that lived in the 1950's, but unfortunately, this is reality. You feel that it's unethical for a customer to waste a salesperson's time? Has it occured to you that a percentage of salespeople are also unethical and are ripping people off? It's almost required that you shop around and talk to other salespeople in order to avoid being overcharged.
"The movie theater owner of $8 plus maybe concessions."
Are you suggesting that the movie someone downloads and watchs on their computer is the same quality experience as attending a movie with a huge screen and nice surround sound? It's not the same, and doesn't have the same value. People that watch movies in theaters still watch movies in theaters. People that buy DVDs still buy DVDs. If this wasn't true, then wouldn't the DVD Market or the box office have suffered? They haven't. Their sales numbers are directly proportional to the quality of the movies they produce. P2P downloads have no more affect on their income than the weather.
The majority of people buy DVD's and go to the movies instead of downloading them. Do you know why? Because of the quality. A DVD is worth $18 to them because they know they're receiving a quality film. They know that hundreds of people spent weeks making it, and that those people are getting paid properly for their time and effort. Hollywood is not screwing over their actors, directors, producers, or any other people that are important to a film reaching it's audience. DVDs are worth the money spent on them. If the MPAA was really concerned with copyright infringement, they would be after the huge Asian market that is almost exclusively illegal copies. There are people there making money off the copyright infringement, unlike most of the people here in the US.
This is not the story in the music industry. $18 for a CD? The people, the artists, that put their time, effort, and creative ability into creating that CD are not being properly compensated. So people don't feel as good about buying them, and rightly so. Download your music. Buy a t-shirt and concert ticket instead.
"Limited-rights accounts and Firefox effectively solve this problem."
You're absolutely right. It does solve that particular problem. But when they go ahead and install BearShare, Kazaa, DopeWars, and eXeem, they're going to get a ton of spyware and adware. They're not going to know what they're agreeing to. Without a doubt, the average user doesn't read a EULA or do research about what their software really does. Matter of fact, they likely don't care until it starts slowing down their computer.
"to use the setup I made for them properly. At least the dad is"
I'm glad every average Windows user has you to specially prepare their computer for them. Is this pro-bono work? Also, not every family has a Dad to take care of the admin account on a computer. A lot families, or to use a better word, households, don't have anyone computer literate enough to defend their computer against the baddies of the internet. Matter of fact, in my family, the Dad is just about the last person you want being in charge of the computer. (I love you anyway, Dad)
"(Subsequent anti-Linux FUD ignored. I have neither the time nor the inclination.)"
By definition, there was no FUD in my post. I'm not saying all Linux users are idiots. But there are some Linux users out there that are also idiots. If you can prove to me that there are no Linux users that are also idiots, I'll eat my shorts.
Has it occurred to anyone that the only reason Yahoo! might release a search bar could be so that the lack one can't be used against them? I know this sounds stupid, but hearing a user say "I use Google instead of Yahoo! Search because Yahoo! doesn't have a toolbar" is a likely reason enough for Yahoo! to release an inferior search toolbar. Just so they can say they have one too.
It's a feature contest. Neither one wants to be the one with the less features.
Aero
Yahoo! -- Now with more stupid, poorly-written, inferior features!
"All the more reason to do all your real work under a user account with limited privileges and definitely never to allow others who use your computer to run with administrative privileges. Since nothing can touch C:\Program Files from a regular user account, the trojan would be ineffectual."
You're forgetting one major problem. Let's do a hypothetical situation here to help you understand. Let's pretend that you've managed to get the average Windows user to use a regular user account and only user the admin account when they need to install something. In this fantasy world, guess what will happen? The average user is going to log out of his user account, log into the admin account, and install whatever retarded, virus-laden, spyware-supported software he just downloaded. You could argue that they would put more thought into what they install that way, but let's be realistic. They won't. The only thing that will help this is educating and training the average Windows user so that they understand that the internet isn't as friendly as they would like it to be. The only reason this training isn't mandatory like driver training is because the average person doesn't care if his neighbor is slowly killing his computer. If they were to do away with driver training, the average person would pitch a fit, as he doesn't want his stupid neighbor driving into his house. This is going to sound horrible, but the reason why GNU/Linux/Unix doesn't have such a large problem with users installing retarded shit is not because of the seperation between admin and regular users accounts. It's because of the much steeper learning curve with GNU/Linux/Unix. There are quite a few less idiots running GNU/Linux/Unix.
Don't get me wrong. There are still idiots using Linux. Slashdot proves that every day. There are just less of them.
I haven't used Knoppix, only Slax. I've used it for viewing data on machines I wasn't supposed to have access to, but I didn't know of a way to get data off the computer other than mailing it to myself. How do you get the data off their computer? Does Knoppix allow you to burn CDs? Do you hook it up to your home network? I'm used to pulling the drive, sticking it in my removable mount, and pulling the data onto my own computer. I'm really curious to know how you do this with Knoppix. Mind you, I'm also pretty new to Linux. I use Windows XP myself on a regular basis, with another computer or two running Linux so that I can attempt to learn it when I have time.
As a side-note, I charge $25/hour for my tech support services, and things that can be quickly handled over the phone are free. Also, service to family is free, and to most friends. Most friends wind up forcing me to accept money. I do house calls, but only to pick up and drop off computers. I do actually run a computer business out of my home, but part of my agreement with the city/county is that I will not have an unusual amount of visitors at my home for business related reasons.
"It seems like having an animate series' license is an excuse to make a silly racing/whatever game for some quick cash."
If you take them at what they are, silly racing games, then you're not much disappointed. When you buy one, you should be cool with the idea that this is going to be just another racing game with the characters added in afterwords. How can you be disappointed if you don't expect too much? Also, try to think of what the ideal game would be. I love The Simpsons, but I really can't think of a great game that could be made out of it. If they ever do make a great game out The Simpsons, it'll likely be a great game on it's own, with The Simpsons thrown in for amusement value and branding.
"This kind of thing (animated series) doesn't need a video game, because it's GREAT the way it is. A video game, which who knows how seriously it will be taken (its production, not its content), is just cheapening the brand for true fans, ESPECIALLY if the game sucks."
This is just my personal opinion, but I don't think The Simpsons has been 'cheapened' by all the horrible video games they've made out of it. I still see it as an excellent political and social satire, and I don't think any number of video games would change that. Then again, I haven't played all The Simpsons video games.
Conversations in cars will be completely outlawed. No chatting on the phone. No getting directions from your passenger. If your kid needs to use the bathroom, you'll have to pull over so that it can ask you stop.
"How about SpaceShipOne? Looks like an aircraft to me."
Why didn't NASA start contracting out to their shuttle missions to Scalar Composites as soon as they won the X-Prize? Oh yeah, I forgot, SpaceShipOne isn't capable of reaching orbit. To put it very simply, it goes up real high, and then falls down, just like my model rockets did when I was a kid, except on a $20 million dollar scale.
What Rutan and Scaled Composites did was indeed incredible, but they're no where close to building an orbiter.
"I wonder if this system will be used to rescue American space tourists now that private enterprise is making forays into space?"
There's a huge difference between putting something into space and into orbit. The private enterprises like Scalar Composites have no intention or capability of putting anything into orbit. Anything they send up will be coming back down very quickly, whether they like it or not. They'll be no need to rescue them 'in space'. If they need rescuing, it'll be from wherever they crash-landed.
I have the funny feeling that if someone were to actually ask Newell your question:
"If in the unlikely event that you were unable to continue providing authentication services within a reasonable amount of time, would you make certain people could activate the game?"
I think his most likely answer would be:
"We'd be out of business. We wouldn't give a fuck."
The computer game industry revolves solely around money. They don't care if the consumers are "blissfully happy". They only care if they're "happy enough to keep paying us". Once the money is removed from the picture, I assure you, they just don't give a shit.
Slashdot Mirror
"The number of compromised Master Card accounts has been revised downward to about 68,000, with another 132,000 possibly compromised accounts belonging to Visa, American Express, and other companies."
Is that so? I'm going to have to throw the bullshit flag on this one. Any numbers that add up to a nice round number like '200,000' are complete crap that someone pulled directly out of their arse.
I'm sorry, but I just don't buy it. I say they don't have a fucking clue how many numbers were exposed.
Aero
Apparently, keeping credit card numbers secure isn't working out. Why? Because it's just a number. The major credit companies need to revise how the whole credit system works. If they assume that everyone knows everyone else's credit card number by default, they should be able to devise a system a hell of a lot more secure than some 16 digit number. Your credit card number has to be retained by anyone you do business with so that they know who you are. Credit card security needs some major improvements, like a passphrase, password, or even a PIN. A 4-digit PIN would make a world of difference, but if you're going to fix it, you should fix it right. A passphrase would be best. Something that's communicated when the authorization is taking place, checked against a nice secure server, and then is forgotten and not retained. The fact that a system of this nature is not yet in place just shows that the major credit card companies just don't give a shit.
/end rant
Aero
In the unlikely event that he's right, and Apple and Intel decide to merge, what are the chances the government will actually let it happen? Don't we have enough problems with monopolies as it is? Or would Apple+Intel not qualify as a monopoly? Would they allow it just so they can compete with Microsoft?
Aero
I wonder what the EU would do if Microsoft decided to fight back? What's preventing them from taking a page from IBM's playbook and firing people, mostly in Europe, to make up for the $5 million a day? I'm not sure how many employees Microsoft has in Europe, but it would likely put a serious dent in that $5 million.
For anyone interested in what is probably the most factual telling of the conflict between Markoff and Mitnick, check out Freedom Downtime.
I saw the premier in New York, and have no doubt that Markoff is just out to make another buck. Markoff attempted to get a movie called 'Takedown' produced and released while Kevin Mitnick was being held without a trial. In the movie, Mitnick is found guilty, and they wanted to release it before his case ever went to trial, which would have severely reduced his chances of getting a fair trial.
Aero
I actually don't mind most banner ads. As long as they're not blinking, they're okay. I just like the built in pop-up blocker in Firefox. Pop-ups suck.
Aero
Nevermind. It's gone now..
Aero
Is it just me, or do any other logged in Slashdot members see a giant vertical Empire Earth II banner pushing down the articles on the main page? If I log out, it goes away. When I log back in, there it is again. Anyone else see this?
Aero
Here's one.
Here's another.
Or, if you feel those two links are from sites that are a bit too 'liberal', how about a link to the Slashdot story?
Aero
"To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries"
Patents are a good idea. Laws regulating how patents may be used and what types of ideas may be patented are an even better idea. Without the neccesary regulation, patents have the potential to destroy much more than they create. The intent of a patent system is to reward an inventor for their work. The keyword in there was 'inventor'. An invention has to be something new and unique that no one else has done before. You shouldn't be able to patent anything that people have already been doing for a while.
Unfortunately, most software companies that are interested in patenting things are looking to patent something that someone else invented and that every average user is using so that they can charge for the use of their patent. As there are very rarely 'inventions' in the world of software, patents for things software already do is just a way for them to make money by charging people for their use.
Aero
Wow, where shall I begin?
"Today, people go and shop around, and talk to different sales people before making a decision to buy a something
There are people who really consider that unethical."
I know I speak for most everyone when I say that it would be nice if everyone still had the morals of the people that lived in the 1950's, but unfortunately, this is reality. You feel that it's unethical for a customer to waste a salesperson's time? Has it occured to you that a percentage of salespeople are also unethical and are ripping people off? It's almost required that you shop around and talk to other salespeople in order to avoid being overcharged.
"The movie theater owner of $8 plus maybe concessions."
Are you suggesting that the movie someone downloads and watchs on their computer is the same quality experience as attending a movie with a huge screen and nice surround sound? It's not the same, and doesn't have the same value. People that watch movies in theaters still watch movies in theaters. People that buy DVDs still buy DVDs. If this wasn't true, then wouldn't the DVD Market or the box office have suffered? They haven't. Their sales numbers are directly proportional to the quality of the movies they produce. P2P downloads have no more affect on their income than the weather.
The majority of people buy DVD's and go to the movies instead of downloading them. Do you know why? Because of the quality. A DVD is worth $18 to them because they know they're receiving a quality film. They know that hundreds of people spent weeks making it, and that those people are getting paid properly for their time and effort. Hollywood is not screwing over their actors, directors, producers, or any other people that are important to a film reaching it's audience. DVDs are worth the money spent on them. If the MPAA was really concerned with copyright infringement, they would be after the huge Asian market that is almost exclusively illegal copies. There are people there making money off the copyright infringement, unlike most of the people here in the US.
This is not the story in the music industry. $18 for a CD? The people, the artists, that put their time, effort, and creative ability into creating that CD are not being properly compensated. So people don't feel as good about buying them, and rightly so. Download your music. Buy a t-shirt and concert ticket instead.
Aero
"Limited-rights accounts and Firefox effectively solve this problem."
You're absolutely right. It does solve that particular problem. But when they go ahead and install BearShare, Kazaa, DopeWars, and eXeem, they're going to get a ton of spyware and adware. They're not going to know what they're agreeing to. Without a doubt, the average user doesn't read a EULA or do research about what their software really does. Matter of fact, they likely don't care until it starts slowing down their computer.
"to use the setup I made for them properly. At least the dad is"
I'm glad every average Windows user has you to specially prepare their computer for them. Is this pro-bono work? Also, not every family has a Dad to take care of the admin account on a computer. A lot families, or to use a better word, households, don't have anyone computer literate enough to defend their computer against the baddies of the internet. Matter of fact, in my family, the Dad is just about the last person you want being in charge of the computer. (I love you anyway, Dad)
"(Subsequent anti-Linux FUD ignored. I have neither the time nor the inclination.)"
By definition, there was no FUD in my post. I'm not saying all Linux users are idiots. But there are some Linux users out there that are also idiots. If you can prove to me that there are no Linux users that are also idiots, I'll eat my shorts.
Aero
"There are just less of them."
"Fewer, not less."
You may be right about that, but I'm not sure. Any english professors what to chime in?
Aero
Has it occurred to anyone that the only reason Yahoo! might release a search bar could be so that the lack one can't be used against them? I know this sounds stupid, but hearing a user say "I use Google instead of Yahoo! Search because Yahoo! doesn't have a toolbar" is a likely reason enough for Yahoo! to release an inferior search toolbar. Just so they can say they have one too.
It's a feature contest. Neither one wants to be the one with the less features.
Aero
Yahoo! -- Now with more stupid, poorly-written, inferior features!
Sidenote: I am a regular Yahoo! Mail user.
"All the more reason to do all your real work under a user account with limited privileges and definitely never to allow others who use your computer to run with administrative privileges. Since nothing can touch C:\Program Files from a regular user account, the trojan would be ineffectual."
You're forgetting one major problem. Let's do a hypothetical situation here to help you understand. Let's pretend that you've managed to get the average Windows user to use a regular user account and only user the admin account when they need to install something. In this fantasy world, guess what will happen? The average user is going to log out of his user account, log into the admin account, and install whatever retarded, virus-laden, spyware-supported software he just downloaded. You could argue that they would put more thought into what they install that way, but let's be realistic. They won't. The only thing that will help this is educating and training the average Windows user so that they understand that the internet isn't as friendly as they would like it to be. The only reason this training isn't mandatory like driver training is because the average person doesn't care if his neighbor is slowly killing his computer. If they were to do away with driver training, the average person would pitch a fit, as he doesn't want his stupid neighbor driving into his house. This is going to sound horrible, but the reason why GNU/Linux/Unix doesn't have such a large problem with users installing retarded shit is not because of the seperation between admin and regular users accounts. It's because of the much steeper learning curve with GNU/Linux/Unix. There are quite a few less idiots running GNU/Linux/Unix.
Don't get me wrong. There are still idiots using Linux. Slashdot proves that every day. There are just less of them.
Aero
I haven't used Knoppix, only Slax. I've used it for viewing data on machines I wasn't supposed to have access to, but I didn't know of a way to get data off the computer other than mailing it to myself. How do you get the data off their computer? Does Knoppix allow you to burn CDs? Do you hook it up to your home network? I'm used to pulling the drive, sticking it in my removable mount, and pulling the data onto my own computer. I'm really curious to know how you do this with Knoppix. Mind you, I'm also pretty new to Linux. I use Windows XP myself on a regular basis, with another computer or two running Linux so that I can attempt to learn it when I have time.
As a side-note, I charge $25/hour for my tech support services, and things that can be quickly handled over the phone are free. Also, service to family is free, and to most friends. Most friends wind up forcing me to accept money. I do house calls, but only to pick up and drop off computers. I do actually run a computer business out of my home, but part of my agreement with the city/county is that I will not have an unusual amount of visitors at my home for business related reasons.
Aero
"Golf Clap"
That should be Dr. Bill Frist's 'Safe Clapping'.. because palm on palm clapping could give you aids..
Aero
"It seems like having an animate series' license is an excuse to make a silly racing/whatever game for some quick cash."
If you take them at what they are, silly racing games, then you're not much disappointed. When you buy one, you should be cool with the idea that this is going to be just another racing game with the characters added in afterwords. How can you be disappointed if you don't expect too much? Also, try to think of what the ideal game would be. I love The Simpsons, but I really can't think of a great game that could be made out of it. If they ever do make a great game out The Simpsons, it'll likely be a great game on it's own, with The Simpsons thrown in for amusement value and branding.
Aero
"This kind of thing (animated series) doesn't need a video game, because it's GREAT the way it is. A video game, which who knows how seriously it will be taken (its production, not its content), is just cheapening the brand for true fans, ESPECIALLY if the game sucks."
This is just my personal opinion, but I don't think The Simpsons has been 'cheapened' by all the horrible video games they've made out of it. I still see it as an excellent political and social satire, and I don't think any number of video games would change that. Then again, I haven't played all The Simpsons video games.
Aero
Conversations in cars will be completely outlawed. No chatting on the phone. No getting directions from your passenger. If your kid needs to use the bathroom, you'll have to pull over so that it can ask you stop.
Aero
"How about SpaceShipOne? Looks like an aircraft to me."
Why didn't NASA start contracting out to their shuttle missions to Scalar Composites as soon as they won the X-Prize? Oh yeah, I forgot, SpaceShipOne isn't capable of reaching orbit. To put it very simply, it goes up real high, and then falls down, just like my model rockets did when I was a kid, except on a $20 million dollar scale.
What Rutan and Scaled Composites did was indeed incredible, but they're no where close to building an orbiter.
Aero
"I wonder if this system will be used to rescue American space tourists now that private enterprise is making forays into space?"
There's a huge difference between putting something into space and into orbit. The private enterprises like Scalar Composites have no intention or capability of putting anything into orbit. Anything they send up will be coming back down very quickly, whether they like it or not. They'll be no need to rescue them 'in space'. If they need rescuing, it'll be from wherever they crash-landed.
Aero
I have the funny feeling that if someone were to actually ask Newell your question:
"If in the unlikely event that you were unable to continue providing authentication services within a reasonable amount of time, would you make certain people could activate the game?"
I think his most likely answer would be:
"We'd be out of business. We wouldn't give a fuck."
The computer game industry revolves solely around money. They don't care if the consumers are "blissfully happy". They only care if they're "happy enough to keep paying us". Once the money is removed from the picture, I assure you, they just don't give a shit.
Aero
You heard it here first!
One of the next 3 stories posted on Slashdot will be about Exeem Lite with links to the story at the Register...
Aero
"I wouldn't like to shop here then... http://www.resellerratings.com/seller1867.html (note lower rating)"
Agreed! I wouldn't buy from Dell if you paid me.
This is been posted here before, I'm sure, but Newegg is just about the only place that I give any business to. Check out their rating..
Aero