The editor's take on the story makes it seem rather benign. However, the actual story makes it sound more alarming:
Are Your PDFs Spying on You?
Like Adobe Policy Server, Remote Approach can FORCE users to be connected to the Web in order to read the documents. It can track who's e-mailing your PDFs to whom, and what they're reading. Real-time. (Emphasis mine)
FORCE me to go online??? I just hope that technical papers never use this tool.
Denizens of the PDF world, however, take note. We enjoy--and sell--the differences between PDF, e-mail and HTML, and a lot of those differences are in the realm of security...
Remote Approach, however, is the beginning of a movement that could chip away at PDF's sterling rep, one document at a time...
Since the Map-Bot can chase a PDF through e-mail forwarding, it's more powerful data mining than that associated with Web pages, where the vital information gets thrown out when the user's cache is emptied.
One would think they would come up with a better name than Map-BOT!!!
Hardware Hacking warning.
on
Inside the PSP
·
· Score: 0, Redundant
Not to rain on the parade of the hardware hackers, but the introduction to the article warns:
...One small slip and your PSP will be a $200 paper weight...
For the fearless in the crowd willing to part with a few Benjamins (if need be), there is one more issue that may be of some concern. The conclusion of the article states:
"While taking apart the device is not technically reverse-engineering, Sony explicitly outlaws any modifications to their PSP. If you don't believe me, check out page 15 of the manual where they state, "No authorization for the analysis or modification of the system, or the analysis and use of circuit configurations, is provided."
IANAL, but this sounds like tampering with the hardware could lead to serious static. That is, static with Sony lawyers.
fogez remarks may have been tongue-in-cheek, but... you have been warned.:)
To answer the submitter's implied question (i.e. No idea if this is related to Altair's six-minute-charge Li-ions...) I would have to say that it is unlikely that both are using the same technology.
From the New Scientist article:
Altair's patented modification is... achieved using a carefully controlled sequence of evaporative steps when making the lithium titanate [nano]crystals.
From the press release by Toshiba:
A breakthrough technology applied to the negative electrode uses new nano-particles to prevent organic liquid electrolytes from reducing during battery recharging. The nano-particles quickly absorb and store vast amount of lithium ions, without causing any deterioration in the electrode.
It would be futile for Toshiba to try to mimic Altair, since the New Scientist article also states:
...The firm is keeping the chemistry that allows it to do this pretty close to its chest for commercial reasons. But the patent (US 6689716) reveals that the increased surface area is achieved using a carefully controlled sequence of evaporative steps when making the lithium titanate crystals.
Perhaps my cynicism has got the best of me, but I have a question to ask the crowd. How unlikely is it that Blockbuster is going to suffer in the court of public opinion as a result of this fiasco?
It is rather hard to find news reports of organizations that have crumbled due to such odious behavior.
Perhaps that's exactly what SCO was thinking. IBM and Sony know better - succumb to blackmail once and you're an instant target for others...
That may very well be true, but I recall that this technology was around LONG BEFORE the [PS2] console arrived. In fact, I recall seeing these kind of controllers during the heydays of the original Sony Playstation.
How is it blackmail if they (i.e. Immersion) came up with the technology?
The Hugo Award® is the leading award for excellence in the field of science fiction and fantasy. The Hugos are awarded each year by the World Science Fiction Society, at the World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon). All members are entitled to make nominations and to vote on who receives the Awards, which are presented in a public ceremony which is always one of the highlights of the Worldcon.
I work retail, and our store received 60 PSP's and sold 10 the entire day. Outside of hardcore gaming stores, I was curious to find out if that was just an anomaly, or the standard. I actually had many people come up and talk to me about it, but balked at the price of $249.99.
This is a classic case of supply exceeding demand. Just knowing that Sony is willing to go for such a price point was enough of a turn-off for me. For that price, I am willing to wait a year or two before getting one.
...from the psp-stands-for-pretty-steep-price dept...
"...and we're running Slashdot for Grown-ups. Please try it out."
A while ago, I gave consideration to abandoning Slashdot due to the number of immature posts. I was looking for alternate sources for my news fix. Your "Slashdot for Grown-ups" tagline was definitely an appealing one.
However, here is one problem you might want to fix that kept me from switching:
As far as I can tell, there are no POCs avaialble on the website. I typed my email address incorrectly when I registered, and there is no way I can complete the registration without it.
If any contact information is available, it definitely is difficult to find. I decided to stick with Slashdot after that episode. Soon enough they got their act together and made it more confortable users like me to stick around.
I am the only one with visions of a vending machine stuffed with warez instead of Kit-Kat bars?
That is a legitimate question which may be blamed on poor editing skills... At any rate, the quote below is taken from the article:
The university's computer monitoring system caught some unauthorized software on the network in early February and determined that someone had broken into a computer server at the university's housing and food service center last July. The hacker had installed software to store files on the server. The individual also attempted to break into other computers.
I guess the "patent pending" avatar used in the story was a tongue-in-cheek joke when it was created. However, with these kind of stories, I fear that it may someday become a reality.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't that the allure of Cable TV when it was introduced in the late 70's? I've never been much into TV, and didn't get cable til I hit my mid 30's, but I seem to remember that a lack of commercials was part of what you paid for.
It seems that history has a funny way of repeating itself. It is very likely that the merchants will not appreciate your insightful analysis.
"There's a sucker born every minute." -- David Hannum
He [U.S. Circuit Judge Harry Edwards] said the FCC "crossed the line" beyond its authority approved by Congress. "You've gone too far," he said. "Are washing machines next?"
...Another circuit judge, David Sentelle, agreed...
"You can't regulate washing machines. You can't rule the world.
Correct me if I err, but I believe that washing machines do not qualify as COMMUNICATIONS equipment. Maybe it comes under DOE territory, but definitely not the FCC.
I know they are not experts, but the least they could do is not confuse apples and oranges.
If Slashdot Ruled The World, these judges would have been (-1, Offtopic)
IANAL, but it appears that the fellow is being busted for extortion. There are merchants who would love to have the technology.
I don't remember the last time that someone took efforts to restrain themselves from hawking their wares, even in the comfort of my own home. If you don't believe me, check the 'Do Not Call' list.
There are no heroes here, just the lesser of two evils.
Get dial up then have a dedicated 2nd phone line just for it, and leave it connected 24/7. I did this in college and never had a problem.
That would be nice if that worked reliably, but my experience with dial-up suggests that users are periodically kicked offline. Not exactly desirable for your purpose, but some view that (i.e. not always being 'on') as a security measure.
Slashdot Mirror
Dear moderators,
The genre I was referring to is electronica. Seeing that the story is ABOUT electronic music, how is it that my post is offtopic?
Was I the only one expecting the article to be about the genre which Kraftwerk is hailed as a pioneer of?
FORCE me to go online??? I just hope that technical papers never use this tool.
Denizens of the PDF world, however, take note. We enjoy--and sell--the differences between PDF, e-mail and HTML, and a lot of those differences are in the realm of security...
Remote Approach, however, is the beginning of a movement that could chip away at PDF's sterling rep, one document at a time...
Since the Map-Bot can chase a PDF through e-mail forwarding, it's more powerful data mining than that associated with Web pages, where the vital information gets thrown out when the user's cache is emptied.
One would think they would come up with a better name than Map-BOT!!!
Pretty damning, if I may say so.
After doing some research, I discovered that there is some good news for Novell:
Europe's Largest Railway Selects Novell's SUSE LINUX for Large Scale Server Migration
However, there is also some bad news:
Novell's Credibility 'Beginning To Wane'
Is Novell deserving of the support that the Open Source Software (OSS) community can provide to increase the odds of success regarding its Linux push?
If so, what can the average Linux user do to help (besides switching to Novell Linux Desktop (NLD) or becoming a shill?)
If not, why not?
I half-expected an invocation of the Patriot Act on this matter.
Perhaps some convoluted interpretation of Sec. 811 (i.e. "Penalties for terrorist conspiracies") could be applied?
My first thought was: Nothing to see here...
Not a troll, just a thought.
fogez remarks may have been tongue-in-cheek, but... you have been warned.
From the New Scientist article: From the press release by Toshiba: It would be futile for Toshiba to try to mimic Altair, since the New Scientist article also states:
Perhaps my cynicism has got the best of me, but I have a question to ask the crowd. How unlikely is it that Blockbuster is going to suffer in the court of public opinion as a result of this fiasco?
...from the truth-in-advertising dept...
It is rather hard to find news reports of organizations that have crumbled due to such odious behavior.
Hear, hear!!
Perhaps that's exactly what SCO was thinking. IBM and Sony know better - succumb to blackmail once and you're an instant target for others...
That may very well be true, but I recall that this technology was around LONG BEFORE the [PS2] console arrived. In fact, I recall seeing these kind of controllers during the heydays of the original Sony Playstation.
How is it blackmail if they (i.e. Immersion) came up with the technology?
Would it not have been easier for Sony to acquire the [Immersion Corp.] company before this mess happened?
from the you'd-think-they'd-have-thought-that-through dept.
You can say that again.
You can say that again.
Talk about false accusations. I am using FF on XP, and I am only reporting what has happened to me. How on earth is that trolling?
When ever I access my mail account at https://mail.yahoo.com, the browser crashes when I log out.
Has anyone else had similar experiences?
Thank you for taking the time to reply. It is greatly appreciated.
Well, one thing you could do is register with a different user name...
That is true, but I use a single username for convenience... Is there not a way to correct the mistake I mentioned?
"...and we're running Slashdot for Grown-ups. Please try it out."
A while ago, I gave consideration to abandoning Slashdot due to the number of immature posts. I was looking for alternate sources for my news fix. Your "Slashdot for Grown-ups" tagline was definitely an appealing one.
However, here is one problem you might want to fix that kept me from switching:
As far as I can tell, there are no POCs avaialble on the website. I typed my email address incorrectly when I registered, and there is no way I can complete the registration without it.
If any contact information is available, it definitely is difficult to find. I decided to stick with Slashdot after that episode. Soon enough they got their act together and made it more confortable users like me to stick around.
That is a legitimate question which may be blamed on poor editing skills... At any rate, the quote below is taken from the article: HTH
If you would, please give Timothy a nice round of applause. Why? I have yet to see a faster comeback posted to an anti-oss story than this.
^_^
(FWIW, this is not a dig at daria42 for submitting the initial story.)
I guess the "patent pending" avatar used in the story was a tongue-in-cheek joke when it was created. However, with these kind of stories, I fear that it may someday become a reality.
I hope breathing fresh air is never patented.
from the willie-sutton-working-overtime dept...
Q: Who is Willie Sutton?
A: This is Willie Sutton.
"There's a sucker born every minute." -- David Hannum
I know they are not experts, but the least they could do is not confuse apples and oranges.
If Slashdot Ruled The World, these judges would have been (-1, Offtopic)
IANAL, but it appears that the fellow is being busted for extortion. There are merchants who would love to have the technology.
I don't remember the last time that someone took efforts to restrain themselves from hawking their wares, even in the comfort of my own home. If you don't believe me, check the 'Do Not Call' list.
There are no heroes here, just the lesser of two evils.
Get dial up then have a dedicated 2nd phone line just for it, and leave it connected 24/7. I did this in college and never had a problem.
That would be nice if that worked reliably, but my experience with dial-up suggests that users are periodically kicked offline. Not exactly desirable for your purpose, but some view that (i.e. not always being 'on') as a security measure.
What you state may very well be true, but that did not stop the Catholic Church from condeming Galileo.
Who knows? There may still be people out there that believe the world is flat.
Not a troll, just a thought.