The standard web browser for the N800/N10 devices is MicroB, which is based on Gecko and it's a royal piece of crap. It's VERY slow, buggy, non-intuitive, and lacking most of the standard features of any modern desktop browser. The only redeeming quality is that it does Javascript and Flash just as well as Firefox but of course orders of magnitude slower. With Nokia acquiring Trolltech, I figured we'd see a good WebKit-based browser around the corner, but the Nokia developers still seem married to Gecko. Nokia needs to completely rework Maemo from the ground with Qt and Wekbit if they ever want to create a decent user experience.
I downloaded Fennec onto my 2.6GHz deskop and my 320MHz MIPS N800. On the desktop, performance seemed to be about on par with Firefox (that is to say, decent but not great) and at 9MB, it's even about the same size. On the N800, it was completely unusable. It took almost a full minute to load and going back and forth between tabs and controls was painful. Scrolling pages sucked too.
I know it's still in alpha, but unless they can trim the size back by at least half and increase performance at least tenfold, it still will not be a viable solution until phones and Internet tablets start shipping with 1GHz processors. Gecko is just not a solution for embedded browsers.
Nokia needs to take Apple's lead and release a WebKit-based browser for their tablets and phones. WebKit is plenty fast, standards-compliant, stable, and above all, proven. The only thing my N800 does particularly well is download and play podcasts. I'd love to be able to actually use it as an Internet tablet.
I was never a big fan of TOS, but these pictures are clear evidence of Paramount's increasing insanity and willingness to smear feces all over what was once a respected franchise.
Honestly, the actors all look like they just stepped off the set of Saved by the Bell. They can be the best actors in the world, but Starfleet is a military organization and nobody's going to believe they sent a rag-tag team of 15 year-olds out on a voyage in the fleet's flagship.
Gene Roddenberry's rotational velocity surely increased by a few RPM when these photos were leaked.
NAT allows outbound connections from an internal network to the Internet while making the reverse impossible without deliberately adding some special forwarding rules. Explain to me how that isn't one implementation of a firewall.
Yeah, I know you pedantic network security types draw a distinction between the concept of "NAT" and "firewall" and that's fine because in theory they're not really the same thing. But if you want to get really technical and snooty about it, I counter that the term "firewall" can mean anything from a single iptables rule on some bloke's laptop all the way up to a rack full of sophisticated servers and networking equipment that perform complex routing, filtering, QoS, traffic shaping, authentication, access control, etc. At the end of the day, "firewall" just means something that blocks or allows traffic based on a static or dynamic configuration.
I've worked for two companies now (one an ISP, one a web host) where every server, desktop, laptop, printer, and wireless client in the building was given an "Internet" IP and then firewalled off from the Internet rather than being given a "private" IP (10.x.x.x or 192.168.x.x) and placed behind a NAT. Why? Apparently, no other reason than for the fact that they can. I've tried explaining to managers at both companies what a poor idea this was but they didn't care.
The web host I worked at also wastes IPs like no tomorrow. They'll put 1024 IPs in a VLAN and then stop assigning IPs to new servers once it's 75% full so that they don't run out of IPs to assign to existing customers. Which is fine, except that the vast majority of customers never request anywhere near that amount.
There have got to be many other companies that just throw away IPs like this. If we really are going to run out of IPs in the next few years, then ARIN really needs to start charging more for the use of IPs or make it harder for companies like the above to keep grabbing large chunks of IPs and just sit on them.
Well, what kind of car was the used one? Certain models--and indeed, entire makes--have a reputation for poor reliability and high maintenance once the manufacturer warranty has expired. If you don't bother to research this before you buy a new car, then you deserve what you get.
Toyota (along with Honda) vehicles generally have excellent reliability ratings and it's not uncommon for them to have very few issues even after 250k miles. It's not a surprise that a new one hasn't given you any trouble.
On the October 1st edition of Off the Hook, Kevin Mitnick talks about how he was recently detained in an airport because because the FBI told customs that he was under suspicion for cocaine smuggling. (A charge which he was cleared of in a matter of hours). It's a fun story to listen to, but the lessons boil down to:
1. You're still protected by the 5th Amendment if you're a U.S. citizen, even at the border. Although Mitnick consented to a search of his personal data and told the agents lots of stuff he wasn't required to, he did so with the intent of getting the whole thing cleared up so he could get out of there quicker. His lawyer later advised him that he only should have told them his basic personal information and travel plans and kept silent about everything else.
2. Don't carry any privileged, sensitive, or classified information with you when you travel. Even encrypted. In today's wired world and near-ubiquitous Internet access, there's just no excuse. You carry a "blank" trusted laptop with you and access your data remotely via an encrypted link.
3. The new boot-to-Linux-firmware feature on laptops is priceless at customs encounters. Maybe they'll pick up on it eventually (they'll probably consider it some devious deceptive thing), but for now it fools them into thinking that what they see in the flash-based Linux desktop is the whole computer.
Holy cow, I thought I had seen all possible ways to crapify a web page via Javascript, but today I have learned of another: Adding a partially transparent Mac OS dock to it. So that when you scroll down (as you normally do with web pages), the thing jumps around like a monkey on amphetamines. And you presume that it doesn't get any worse than that, wouldn't you? You would, but then you'd be wrong because it also does the magnification thing and it does it about as well as you'd expect Javascript to do it.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm heading out to abuse my 2nd Amendment rights.
Believe it or not, I sincerely hope that you didn't read TFA, because this kind of attitude can only arise out of ignorance of the facts of the case.
The kid who gained access to Palin's email account did absolutely no hacking. Let me repeat that again for the media and the hard-of-reading: There was absolutely zero hacking here. Not on a technological level, not even on a social level. Yahoo simply handed him unfettered access to her account after he correctly guessed the "secret" question, "Where did you meet your spouse?" Palin provided the answer to this "secret" herself during her introduction at the Republican National Convention.
For the sake of your users, I hope that as an email administrator, you exercise a fair sight more prudence in your security policies. But hey, since we're playing the blame game, let's take a look at all the players.
Palin used a stupid email security question, one that literally anyone could have researched and figured out in 15 minutes of googling or less. She should carry some of the blame for not adequately protecting her accounts and information. If she can't be bother to keep her own email account secure, how can she be trusted with matters of national security? I'm not trying to be partisan here, I'd say the same thing if this happened to Biden.
For a long time, Yahoo mail was known as a haven for spammers due to its general lack of security. It's discouraging to see that nothing has changed. If Palin provided the question herself, then see the above paragraph. But the wording of the question implies that it's a selectable default question, in which case Yahoo should be held accountable for its negligence in failing to provide even a basic level of security for customers of its services.
Finally, the kid. I guess Kernell is his name. Many people argue that he performed a public service by exposing proof that Palin was using her personal, non-goverment account for conducting official state business, a blatant violation of Alaskan law. I'm on the fence as to whether this justifies his actions or not, though I'm siding toward not.
But I do know this: It's an utter shame that the authoritarian and anti-intellectual element of our society (looking at you, OP) think that it's perfectly acceptable to send an individual to federal prison for 5 years because of their curiosity combined with a poor judgement call. It's hard enough for real hackers to impress upon the world that their community isn't a bunch of vandals and thieves without the media and laymen yelling "Hacker!" while tarring and feathering this kid before he's even seen a court room. At the same time, they're making Palin and Yahoo out to be the victims here when they easily share as much or more blame for the whole incident. The whole thing just makes me ill.
I guess the main problem that I have with the linked article is that its author actually believes that he designed an acceptable permanent water pump belt by taking a length of purple bungee cord and tying it into a loop with dental floss.
IANAL but I'd that this was unwarranted because otherwise it could easily be exploited.
Courts have almost always ruled that evidence obtained illegally (i.e., without a search warrant or probable cause) cannot be used in a trial. Although I'm sure there have been plenty of exceptions, this guy has a slim chance of getting convicted unless he was also high at the time or something.
However, the problem here is that there's no incentive for police to obey the law and constitution when going about their daily business. In business terms, there's no quality control. The police get a free pass when it comes to illegal conduct, bullying, and physical battery.
If you read Fark, you'll see at least one story on the front page about a police officer grossly abusing their power, having their name withheld from the press, and then going on paid leave for a few weeks while the department sweeps it under the rug. Police abuse of power is expected by the public and actually glamorized in the media these days: When you see a police officer in a TV show beat the crap out of a bad guy during interrogation, it's always justified because the officer "had a hunch" and was "doing what was necessary."
The scariest part is that our children, who watch this crap night after night, are going to grow up believing that this is the way it should be. You never see an episode of CSI or 24 (or whatever hip crime drama is popular) where they follow all the clues, end up killing an innocent man, and apologize to his widow for their mistake at the end of the episode.
Agreed completely. I can't believe they actually made it bigger. And a keyboard? For reading books? Arg. The design trend should be to make the non-screen elements smaller and the screen bigger. There's no reason an e-book reader should be anything more than a touch-sensitive e-ink screen and a power button.
It's a nice gesture on his part, but I don't think that people should take it without a grain of salt. If you look carefully enough there's potential financial motivations for making this decision as well, and it may actually -limit- your options as a consumer
I'm a huge fan of Al, but I can't stand Apple and their iTunes DRM crap. If these tracks never get released on an album or as MP3s, it's unlikely that I'll ever get to hear them.
Back in the late 19th century when the landline telephone network was relatively new, the telephone industry naturally looked quite a bit different than it does today.
1. You couldn't simply buy a new telephone in any store, you could only rent one from AT&T along with a monthly service plan.
2. You could only use AT&T phones on their network. No other third-party phones or devices were allowed. They would repossess your phone if they caught you doing anything "unauthorized."
3. There was no other phone company to choose from, so if you wanted a telephone, you were stuck with AT&T.
This is in stark contrast to today's high-tech wireless cell phone industry, where you are only subject to a few comparatively minor restrictions if you would like to use the most advanced phones currently on the market, the iPhone.
1. You can't simply buy a new iPhone in any store, you can only purchase one from AT&T along with a monthly service plan.
2. You can only use AT&T/Apple-approved software on the iPhone. No other third-party software or applications are allowed. They will brick your phone if they catch you doing anything "unauthorized."
3. There is no other cell carrier to choose from, so if you want an iPhone, you are stuck with AT&T.
What bleak times those must have been!
(P.S. Before I'm deluged with pedantic replies: yes, there are indeed other cell phones than the iPhone and cell phone providers than AT&T on the market. I'm just having a bit of irony here, let me be.)
I've always thought of swap space as the operating system's bungee cord. If a program decides to be stupid and allocate shit-tons of memory, you often have enough time to do a quick Ctrl+F1, log in on the console, and killall whatever while the disk is thrashing away. If you have no swap (or if you have it on a solid-state hard drive you silly bastard), you never get this opportunity.
Also, I thought it proper that the quote at the bottom of the page says, "Never trust an operating system."
Slashdot Mirror
All I want for xmas is a WebKit browser.
The standard web browser for the N800/N10 devices is MicroB, which is based on Gecko and it's a royal piece of crap. It's VERY slow, buggy, non-intuitive, and lacking most of the standard features of any modern desktop browser. The only redeeming quality is that it does Javascript and Flash just as well as Firefox but of course orders of magnitude slower. With Nokia acquiring Trolltech, I figured we'd see a good WebKit-based browser around the corner, but the Nokia developers still seem married to Gecko. Nokia needs to completely rework Maemo from the ground with Qt and Wekbit if they ever want to create a decent user experience.
I downloaded Fennec onto my 2.6GHz deskop and my 320MHz MIPS N800. On the desktop, performance seemed to be about on par with Firefox (that is to say, decent but not great) and at 9MB, it's even about the same size. On the N800, it was completely unusable. It took almost a full minute to load and going back and forth between tabs and controls was painful. Scrolling pages sucked too.
I know it's still in alpha, but unless they can trim the size back by at least half and increase performance at least tenfold, it still will not be a viable solution until phones and Internet tablets start shipping with 1GHz processors. Gecko is just not a solution for embedded browsers.
Nokia needs to take Apple's lead and release a WebKit-based browser for their tablets and phones. WebKit is plenty fast, standards-compliant, stable, and above all, proven. The only thing my N800 does particularly well is download and play podcasts. I'd love to be able to actually use it as an Internet tablet.
I was never a big fan of TOS, but these pictures are clear evidence of Paramount's increasing insanity and willingness to smear feces all over what was once a respected franchise.
Honestly, the actors all look like they just stepped off the set of Saved by the Bell. They can be the best actors in the world, but Starfleet is a military organization and nobody's going to believe they sent a rag-tag team of 15 year-olds out on a voyage in the fleet's flagship.
Gene Roddenberry's rotational velocity surely increased by a few RPM when these photos were leaked.
Here are the URLs for C-SPAN and C-SPAN2. One of them ought to be showing the debate.
C-SPAN: http://play.rbn.com/play.asx?url=cspan/cspan/wmlive/cspan1v.asf&proto=mms?mswmext=.asx
C-SPAN2: http://play.rbn.com/play.asx?url=cspan/cspan/wmlive/cspan2v.asf&proto=mms?mswmext=.asx
VLC and MPlayer play both of these fine, though VLC seems to work somewhat better.
NAT allows outbound connections from an internal network to the Internet while making the reverse impossible without deliberately adding some special forwarding rules. Explain to me how that isn't one implementation of a firewall.
Yeah, I know you pedantic network security types draw a distinction between the concept of "NAT" and "firewall" and that's fine because in theory they're not really the same thing. But if you want to get really technical and snooty about it, I counter that the term "firewall" can mean anything from a single iptables rule on some bloke's laptop all the way up to a rack full of sophisticated servers and networking equipment that perform complex routing, filtering, QoS, traffic shaping, authentication, access control, etc. At the end of the day, "firewall" just means something that blocks or allows traffic based on a static or dynamic configuration.
Signed,
A Pedantic Network Security Type
I've worked for two companies now (one an ISP, one a web host) where every server, desktop, laptop, printer, and wireless client in the building was given an "Internet" IP and then firewalled off from the Internet rather than being given a "private" IP (10.x.x.x or 192.168.x.x) and placed behind a NAT. Why? Apparently, no other reason than for the fact that they can. I've tried explaining to managers at both companies what a poor idea this was but they didn't care.
The web host I worked at also wastes IPs like no tomorrow. They'll put 1024 IPs in a VLAN and then stop assigning IPs to new servers once it's 75% full so that they don't run out of IPs to assign to existing customers. Which is fine, except that the vast majority of customers never request anywhere near that amount.
There have got to be many other companies that just throw away IPs like this. If we really are going to run out of IPs in the next few years, then ARIN really needs to start charging more for the use of IPs or make it harder for companies like the above to keep grabbing large chunks of IPs and just sit on them.
Sorry, I'm not sure I follow completely... can you try it again with a car analogy instead?
I'm not sure I like the tone of your voice, sir.
My impression was that once Windows 7 is out, they're going to try to erase any hint that Vista ever existed, so they started with the version number.
So I guess this is what Linus had in mind when he was talking about world domination all those years ago...
Well, what kind of car was the used one? Certain models--and indeed, entire makes--have a reputation for poor reliability and high maintenance once the manufacturer warranty has expired. If you don't bother to research this before you buy a new car, then you deserve what you get.
Toyota (along with Honda) vehicles generally have excellent reliability ratings and it's not uncommon for them to have very few issues even after 250k miles. It's not a surprise that a new one hasn't given you any trouble.
On the October 1st edition of Off the Hook, Kevin Mitnick talks about how he was recently detained in an airport because because the FBI told customs that he was under suspicion for cocaine smuggling. (A charge which he was cleared of in a matter of hours). It's a fun story to listen to, but the lessons boil down to:
1. You're still protected by the 5th Amendment if you're a U.S. citizen, even at the border. Although Mitnick consented to a search of his personal data and told the agents lots of stuff he wasn't required to, he did so with the intent of getting the whole thing cleared up so he could get out of there quicker. His lawyer later advised him that he only should have told them his basic personal information and travel plans and kept silent about everything else.
2. Don't carry any privileged, sensitive, or classified information with you when you travel. Even encrypted. In today's wired world and near-ubiquitous Internet access, there's just no excuse. You carry a "blank" trusted laptop with you and access your data remotely via an encrypted link.
3. The new boot-to-Linux-firmware feature on laptops is priceless at customs encounters. Maybe they'll pick up on it eventually (they'll probably consider it some devious deceptive thing), but for now it fools them into thinking that what they see in the flash-based Linux desktop is the whole computer.
Holy cow, I thought I had seen all possible ways to crapify a web page via Javascript, but today I have learned of another: Adding a partially transparent Mac OS dock to it. So that when you scroll down (as you normally do with web pages), the thing jumps around like a monkey on amphetamines. And you presume that it doesn't get any worse than that, wouldn't you? You would, but then you'd be wrong because it also does the magnification thing and it does it about as well as you'd expect Javascript to do it.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm heading out to abuse my 2nd Amendment rights.
Believe it or not, I sincerely hope that you didn't read TFA, because this kind of attitude can only arise out of ignorance of the facts of the case.
The kid who gained access to Palin's email account did absolutely no hacking. Let me repeat that again for the media and the hard-of-reading: There was absolutely zero hacking here. Not on a technological level, not even on a social level. Yahoo simply handed him unfettered access to her account after he correctly guessed the "secret" question, "Where did you meet your spouse?" Palin provided the answer to this "secret" herself during her introduction at the Republican National Convention.
For the sake of your users, I hope that as an email administrator, you exercise a fair sight more prudence in your security policies. But hey, since we're playing the blame game, let's take a look at all the players.
Palin used a stupid email security question, one that literally anyone could have researched and figured out in 15 minutes of googling or less. She should carry some of the blame for not adequately protecting her accounts and information. If she can't be bother to keep her own email account secure, how can she be trusted with matters of national security? I'm not trying to be partisan here, I'd say the same thing if this happened to Biden.
For a long time, Yahoo mail was known as a haven for spammers due to its general lack of security. It's discouraging to see that nothing has changed. If Palin provided the question herself, then see the above paragraph. But the wording of the question implies that it's a selectable default question, in which case Yahoo should be held accountable for its negligence in failing to provide even a basic level of security for customers of its services.
Finally, the kid. I guess Kernell is his name. Many people argue that he performed a public service by exposing proof that Palin was using her personal, non-goverment account for conducting official state business, a blatant violation of Alaskan law. I'm on the fence as to whether this justifies his actions or not, though I'm siding toward not.
But I do know this: It's an utter shame that the authoritarian and anti-intellectual element of our society (looking at you, OP) think that it's perfectly acceptable to send an individual to federal prison for 5 years because of their curiosity combined with a poor judgement call. It's hard enough for real hackers to impress upon the world that their community isn't a bunch of vandals and thieves without the media and laymen yelling "Hacker!" while tarring and feathering this kid before he's even seen a court room. At the same time, they're making Palin and Yahoo out to be the victims here when they easily share as much or more blame for the whole incident. The whole thing just makes me ill.
This is to differentiate them from the non-news sections of Slashdot which are appearing more frequently and are instead tagged as "crap".
In other news, several bloggers called for the U.S. to charge Malaysia, sending scores of /b/tards into uncontrollable lulz.
I guess the main problem that I have with the linked article is that its author actually believes that he designed an acceptable permanent water pump belt by taking a length of purple bungee cord and tying it into a loop with dental floss.
Courts have almost always ruled that evidence obtained illegally (i.e., without a search warrant or probable cause) cannot be used in a trial. Although I'm sure there have been plenty of exceptions, this guy has a slim chance of getting convicted unless he was also high at the time or something.
However, the problem here is that there's no incentive for police to obey the law and constitution when going about their daily business. In business terms, there's no quality control. The police get a free pass when it comes to illegal conduct, bullying, and physical battery.
If you read Fark, you'll see at least one story on the front page about a police officer grossly abusing their power, having their name withheld from the press, and then going on paid leave for a few weeks while the department sweeps it under the rug. Police abuse of power is expected by the public and actually glamorized in the media these days: When you see a police officer in a TV show beat the crap out of a bad guy during interrogation, it's always justified because the officer "had a hunch" and was "doing what was necessary."
The scariest part is that our children, who watch this crap night after night, are going to grow up believing that this is the way it should be. You never see an episode of CSI or 24 (or whatever hip crime drama is popular) where they follow all the clues, end up killing an innocent man, and apologize to his widow for their mistake at the end of the episode.
Agreed completely. I can't believe they actually made it bigger. And a keyboard? For reading books? Arg. The design trend should be to make the non-screen elements smaller and the screen bigger. There's no reason an e-book reader should be anything more than a touch-sensitive e-ink screen and a power button.
It's a nice gesture on his part, but I don't think that people should take it without a grain of salt. If you look carefully enough there's potential financial motivations for making this decision as well, and it may actually -limit- your options as a consumer
I'm a huge fan of Al, but I can't stand Apple and their iTunes DRM crap. If these tracks never get released on an album or as MP3s, it's unlikely that I'll ever get to hear them.
Not that I am advocating it, but it will be interesting to see just how PO'd folks will get...
With only 30% of the U.S. population actually getting off the couch to vote, I'm betting not much.
Back in the late 19th century when the landline telephone network was relatively new, the telephone industry naturally looked quite a bit different than it does today.
1. You couldn't simply buy a new telephone in any store, you could only rent one from AT&T along with a monthly service plan.
2. You could only use AT&T phones on their network. No other third-party phones or devices were allowed. They would repossess your phone if they caught you doing anything "unauthorized."
3. There was no other phone company to choose from, so if you wanted a telephone, you were stuck with AT&T.
This is in stark contrast to today's high-tech wireless cell phone industry, where you are only subject to a few comparatively minor restrictions if you would like to use the most advanced phones currently on the market, the iPhone.
1. You can't simply buy a new iPhone in any store, you can only purchase one from AT&T along with a monthly service plan.
2. You can only use AT&T/Apple-approved software on the iPhone. No other third-party software or applications are allowed. They will brick your phone if they catch you doing anything "unauthorized."
3. There is no other cell carrier to choose from, so if you want an iPhone, you are stuck with AT&T.
What bleak times those must have been!
(P.S. Before I'm deluged with pedantic replies: yes, there are indeed other cell phones than the iPhone and cell phone providers than AT&T on the market. I'm just having a bit of irony here, let me be.)
Sheesh, condescend much?
Er, Linus Torvalds is many things, but God is certainly not one of them.
I've always thought of swap space as the operating system's bungee cord. If a program decides to be stupid and allocate shit-tons of memory, you often have enough time to do a quick Ctrl+F1, log in on the console, and killall whatever while the disk is thrashing away. If you have no swap (or if you have it on a solid-state hard drive you silly bastard), you never get this opportunity.
Also, I thought it proper that the quote at the bottom of the page says, "Never trust an operating system."
Crap, I just realized that I meant to say "pick two" instead of "pick one". Even used the preview button!