If I'm working on a project and need a tool, I can tell a buddy, "Hey could you pass me the whatcha-ma-callit, you know the turny-one?" and he can probably deduce that I want a 3/8" socket wrench based on context clues. I hope that one day, Google search will be like that.
The problem with this is that people would freak out over the privacy implications well before Google had enough contextual information to answer queries like this.:-(
A fingerprint seems like a reasonable idea. If she's just trying to keep other family members off of it, rubber-hose cryptanalysis is unlikely to become a problem, and she's highly unlikely to forget her fingers anywhere.
This would fail because people would need to have personal responsibility.
Exactly how can someone have "personal responsibility" for others on a plane? While I believe a lot of the current security is unnecessary or at the least far less useful than everyone thinks, I wonder how you would take responsibility for someone who simply decides to take a gun on board a plane with you and shoot you. Are you going to insist that all the passengers sharing the plane with you let you search them? Some minimum level of security checks is necessary.
I'm sure Lessig would be the first to vote for a stricter DMCA, a full-on ban on video games that he doesn't like, and a Congress-approved legal dragnet for the MPAA/RIAA, why? JUST BECAUSE BUSH WOULDNT and he kills BROWN PEOPLE FOR OIL yuk yuk yuk
His point was not the difference between open- and closed-source software but that, just because people can look at the source of open-source software and look for backdoors does not guarantee that someone will find one, if it exists.
I think a lot of people did care, and that was the point.
I know there's a very strong anti-TV sentiment on Slashdot, but everyone has certain types of entertainment they enjoy, and as long as they aren't consuming it to excess, there's nothing wrong with it. For people who like TV, and who follow certain shows (for example, I follow Numb3rs), it's irritating when there aren't any new episodes to watch.
Yay Numb3rs. It's cool to see that other geeks like it -- I'm a college freshman in CS, and I'm so tired of hearing that my classmates either haven't heard of it or think it's crap and not worth watching. Personally, I'm willing to suspend enough disbelief to enjoy the show despite the far-fetched uses of math.
That being said, I completely disagree with the author. There is no way that companies want to put all thier servers (not to mention clients) directly on the Internet. Firewalls will always exist for security reasons, and thus so will LANs.
Well, there is a middle ground. Most of the "security" from firewalls today comes from the fact that a public IP will have just a handful of ports forwarded to an internal box, and the services on the box will be listening on the LAN IP. Basically, NAT of various sorts protected everything by default, and you forwarded what you want. Once IPv6 becomes widespread, firewalls will simply restrict the data going in and out, rather than redirecting it to different IPs and/or ports. There will still be home routers/firewalls, but (hopefully) all the boxen behind them won't hide behind their (the routers') addresses.
Do you still think Portal's price is unfair when it's part of Orange Box?
Hell, I thought Portal's price was fair when packaged alone! I normally expect to pay something like $50 for a really big game, so $20 for Portal, which is shorter than most games but quite excellent, was a good deal.
Wow, way to RTFA. "White space" technology transmits in the gaps between broadcast TV channels. If anything, you have more potential bandwidth available than those who live in a city where many TV channels are used.
Nor was their anything telling me I shouldn't plug a coffee pot, a space heater, and a PS3 onto the same cord!
Er, that's a legitimate warning label to have. Why shouldn't it warn you against plugging in too many high-power devices? I mean, you can't expect people to intuit how many things they can or can't plug in, so why not say "Do not plug in more than ___ Amps (or ___ Watts) into this cord!"
Er, what are you talking about? I was under the impression that ADSL signals were modulated and demodulated, otherwise (as raw DC voltages carrying serial data?) they would be destroyed by the phone equipment at any transformer.
They made the voting booths with the pulldown lever, and though I doubt they're still around today, some of you older/.ers may remember them.
Heck, I only missed by a president or two. My parents used to vote on those machines, but by the time I got around to voting (in 2006) we were using Diebold optical scanners. Frankly they're comforting, because there's a sheet of paper they can read if it gets fucked up.
Both (special paper and ink) would be better. Otherwise, someone could steal (or reproduce) the watermarked paper, run off a bunch of ballots that will scan incorrectly, and put them back in the pile. If special ink were required, they would have to steal or reproduce that as well, making it more difficult to interfere.
The simple solution is don't run 32-bit Vista. If you have mission-critical apps, hassle their makers constantly, asking for a 64-bit Vista version. Once all of them comply, switch to 64-bit Vista and use all the RAM you want.
Yes, brave anonymous coward, you are correct. Mutt is the king of mail clients.
But seriously, there are great reasons to use a mail client instead of webmail. Offline access and/or synchronization is a major one. Also it lets you compose in your favorite editor easily.
No! The whole controversy with Beacon is that everyone was opted-in without their consent, and their purchases suddenly started showing up to other people on their Facebook profiles
It runs a customized, stripped-down version of Fedora Core 7 (details here). There isn't an "XO emulator", but since it's s standard x86 system, you can emulate an XO using Qemu, VMware, Virtualbox, or another virtualization program. (It's not perfect, but it is close enough to see how the system works.)
First, the target markets are not all African schools. They have target countries on other continents as well. (Off the top of my head, I know there are several in South America.)
Second, it's not an automatic kill switch. It allows you to disable the laptop if it is reported stolen, and will disable the laptop if it hasn't been able to check with the server for a certain time period. If the laptop is properly configured with a school server, then (even across the Internet) it will still be able to maintain its lease, and it won't shut off.
Slashdot Mirror
The problem with this is that people would freak out over the privacy implications well before Google had enough contextual information to answer queries like this. :-(
Link is MyMiniCity, please treat post with utter disregard and contempt.
A fingerprint seems like a reasonable idea. If she's just trying to keep other family members off of it, rubber-hose cryptanalysis is unlikely to become a problem, and she's highly unlikely to forget her fingers anywhere.
Exactly how can someone have "personal responsibility" for others on a plane? While I believe a lot of the current security is unnecessary or at the least far less useful than everyone thinks, I wonder how you would take responsibility for someone who simply decides to take a gun on board a plane with you and shoot you. Are you going to insist that all the passengers sharing the plane with you let you search them? Some minimum level of security checks is necessary.
You mean:
right? This is AJAX!
[citation needed]
His point was not the difference between open- and closed-source software but that, just because people can look at the source of open-source software and look for backdoors does not guarantee that someone will find one, if it exists.
Er, it mentioned it was a "short code competition". How would that lead you to believe the output was short?
I think a lot of people did care, and that was the point.
I know there's a very strong anti-TV sentiment on Slashdot, but everyone has certain types of entertainment they enjoy, and as long as they aren't consuming it to excess, there's nothing wrong with it. For people who like TV, and who follow certain shows (for example, I follow Numb3rs), it's irritating when there aren't any new episodes to watch.
Yay Numb3rs. It's cool to see that other geeks like it -- I'm a college freshman in CS, and I'm so tired of hearing that my classmates either haven't heard of it or think it's crap and not worth watching. Personally, I'm willing to suspend enough disbelief to enjoy the show despite the far-fetched uses of math.
[citation needed]
Well, there is a middle ground. Most of the "security" from firewalls today comes from the fact that a public IP will have just a handful of ports forwarded to an internal box, and the services on the box will be listening on the LAN IP. Basically, NAT of various sorts protected everything by default, and you forwarded what you want. Once IPv6 becomes widespread, firewalls will simply restrict the data going in and out, rather than redirecting it to different IPs and/or ports. There will still be home routers/firewalls, but (hopefully) all the boxen behind them won't hide behind their (the routers') addresses.
Hell, I thought Portal's price was fair when packaged alone! I normally expect to pay something like $50 for a really big game, so $20 for Portal, which is shorter than most games but quite excellent, was a good deal.
Wow, way to RTFA. "White space" technology transmits in the gaps between broadcast TV channels. If anything, you have more potential bandwidth available than those who live in a city where many TV channels are used.
Er, that's a legitimate warning label to have. Why shouldn't it warn you against plugging in too many high-power devices? I mean, you can't expect people to intuit how many things they can or can't plug in, so why not say "Do not plug in more than ___ Amps (or ___ Watts) into this cord!"
Lemme guess, seeking forward works, but seeking backward sends you back to the beginning of the file?
That happens with mplayer on Linux too. But clearly it's a bug in QuickTime, VLC, and mplayer, not HandBrake.
Er, what are you talking about? I was under the impression that ADSL signals were modulated and demodulated, otherwise (as raw DC voltages carrying serial data?) they would be destroyed by the phone equipment at any transformer.
Heck, I only missed by a president or two. My parents used to vote on those machines, but by the time I got around to voting (in 2006) we were using Diebold optical scanners. Frankly they're comforting, because there's a sheet of paper they can read if it gets fucked up.
Both (special paper and ink) would be better. Otherwise, someone could steal (or reproduce) the watermarked paper, run off a bunch of ballots that will scan incorrectly, and put them back in the pile. If special ink were required, they would have to steal or reproduce that as well, making it more difficult to interfere.
The simple solution is don't run 32-bit Vista. If you have mission-critical apps, hassle their makers constantly, asking for a 64-bit Vista version. Once all of them comply, switch to 64-bit Vista and use all the RAM you want.
(Same for s/Vista/Linux/;, of course.)
Yes, brave anonymous coward, you are correct. Mutt is the king of mail clients.
But seriously, there are great reasons to use a mail client instead of webmail. Offline access and/or synchronization is a major one. Also it lets you compose in your favorite editor easily.
That's total bullshit. Either nobody will obey the rules, or nobody will blog anymore. I don't care one way or the other.
Also, NCAA, shoot yourself in the foot much?
No! The whole controversy with Beacon is that everyone was opted-in without their consent, and their purchases suddenly started showing up to other people on their Facebook profiles
It runs a customized, stripped-down version of Fedora Core 7 (details here). There isn't an "XO emulator", but since it's s standard x86 system, you can emulate an XO using Qemu, VMware, Virtualbox, or another virtualization program. (It's not perfect, but it is close enough to see how the system works.)
First, the target markets are not all African schools. They have target countries on other continents as well. (Off the top of my head, I know there are several in South America.)
Second, it's not an automatic kill switch. It allows you to disable the laptop if it is reported stolen, and will disable the laptop if it hasn't been able to check with the server for a certain time period. If the laptop is properly configured with a school server, then (even across the Internet) it will still be able to maintain its lease, and it won't shut off.