Okay this makes sense except...wasn't CSS encryption 40-bit? That's obviously not as secure enough to be impossible to brute force...but it's still fairly difficult even by today's standards.
It's not like they XOR'd it or something. When you say algorithm it makes me think of something that trivial. At some point, there had to be some kind of key used, right? So the only question was how strong was that key? I don't know and trying to google for it turns up a lot of information about DeCSS but little about CSS.
I think you are confusing "title key" with "player key". Every CSS protected disc has a title key. This title key is burned on a special part of the DVD that cannot be burned with normal software on normal blank DVDs. Any consumer grade blank DVDs you buy has this title key area pre-burned blank. This means that any content you wish to put on the disc must have a blank title key, ie not be CSS encrypted.
The title key is unique to the content and to the disc. It only needs to be calculated once and then it can be repeated forever for the same content. There are DeCSS programs that are written in ridiculously short bits of code like three or four lines. However, these short programs require you to enter the title key to DeCSS the content. Where does the title key come from?
That's what the Xing key is for. By applying the Xing keystring to the content with some kind of process, the title key is derived and the content can be played back unencrypted. In theory, if someone "decrypted" a movie, then all Hollywood would have to do is press new copies with a new title key and the damage would be limited. But what happened with the exposing of the Xing key means that all CSS content, not just a particular title, is vulnerable because the Xing key gives us the ability to make the title key for any CSS content. That's where the magic is.
As I said, I'm 99% sure this is still the case today. If you can find any code samples of a DeCSS program that use different player keys, I'd be very interested in seeing them. Remember, not the decrypting the CSS content part...the decrypting the title key part.
The key was never brute forced. When Xing wrote their player software, they failed to encrypte the CSS decryption key that was licensed to them. It's common knowledge that the key is Xing's key, but because that key can decrypt any CSS content, it doesn't matter. To change CSS would break all the other keys, not just Xing's. There's no way to put code on a DVD to detect and exclude this key from being used. Even to this day I'm almost positive that any program that decrypts DVDs has in it somewhere that original binary string that was extracted from the Xing player. After all, why reinvent the wheel? Why brute force a new DVD key...which isn't impossible but still very difficult...when there is no advantage? Since DVDs can't tell who is decyrpting them, and nobody is going to change CSS, the Xing key is here to stay.
I rarely take the time to criticize a Slashdot editor, but this posting is terribly confusing.
Which is it?
Is the format using "CSS with stronger encryption" in other words...once some company makes a mistake and puts the key in the clear (like Xing did with the original CSS key) then it's game over, have a field day with HD content...
Or is it some kind of improved system that uses any of the principles in the cryptography.com article? The stuff in that article would scare the pants off anyone who believes in fair use rights and using any tactics necessary to secure them. Thankfully, it sounds like this articles is merely pointing out the dream and there doesn't exist such a magic bullet.
But judging by the replies to this articles, it already looks like people are bemoaning and wailing the lost of fair use rights thanks to this unbelievably draconiam new system.
My reading leads me to believe that we should all be very very quiet, wait for HD to reach a nice sizeable market penetration, then wait for the key to appear and bring about DeCSS round II.
I'm glad I live in an open and free country like the USA where chilling tactics like this aren't used! Imagine if people were punished for merely providing a forum for other people to post information!
May not apply to *nix but for Windows servers, I answer requests like this with Remote Control on a Terminal session. If a vendor needs to get "Administator" level access for some reason, I push them through Terminal Services then remote control their session so I or someone else can watch what they do. If the vendor is smart (haven't found one yet) they are aware that someone can watch what they are doing, but they aren't so I usually get to watch them do all kinds of boneheaded things while they take a guess and check approach to fixing a problem. The downside for me is I have to take notes so when the vendor finally disconnects I can undo anythign they did that was outside the scope of their repair.
Which makes me wonder why I can't record an RDP session somehow. This would serve two purposes: a) it would let me replay what a vendor had done later when it is more convenient and b) it would give me some proof if I later have to go blast a vendor for doing something absurdly stupid.
The same question for VNC or really any kind of remote management tool that is likely to be used on the Windows platform. Can any of them be logged and/or replayed?
If you are working in the tech industry, I think you would be crazy to think that full-time employment means something more stable than contracting.
Thanks to the new overtime rules, you are more than likely to find yourself exempt from any kind of overtime pay on that salary. As the folks at EA how that's working out for them. Contracting is paid by the hour. I've never been paid overtime, but at least if I end up working a 12 hour day, I get paid for it.
California, as I suspect is the same elsewhere, is an "at-will" state. You can be fired at any time for any reason. There is no tech union so unless you are working for a government agency, if the company decides to get rid of you, poof. Contracting is theoretically unstable but you at least have some notice. If you contract is ending in a month, all you need to do is ask the company if they want to extend it or start shopping for another customer. If you contract for an agency, they take care of this for you. I've never worked for a company that didn't expand the scope of a project several times. Six month contracts end up being 18 month contracts...if you do good work, believe me they find places for you.
The dirty secret of contracting is that it's considered overhead, not employees. You get paid out of the same fund that pays for things like light and heat. So consequently, there's not a lot of attention paid to what gets spent, it's simply the cost of doing business. It's not uncommon to make twice as much per hour as a salaried equivalent. For specialize things like security, thin-client, servers you can make hourly rates that bring back visions of the dot-com days.
Health insurance is a biggie if you have no coverage right now. I was on my parents health insurance when I started contracting, and I switch over seamlessly to my own plan when that expired. I pay $170/mo for your basic HMO garbage, which isn't ideal, but I make enough to cover the cost. I got a Roth IRA way back when that I occasionally remember to pay into, but honestly...the only real way I've made any money is real estate. I bought a house that doubled in value in four years. Thank you California.
For stability, your best bet is to get work for a government agency. TSA, Post Office, I have many techie friends that moved to those jobs when the dot com bust happened and they haven't looked back...essentially they have jobs for life. Working for state governments is a more midgroup approach. You still have a pecking order (they don't fire, but they might layoff), but if you make it there a few years, again, employment for life. But full time? In this current pro-corporate climate? I don't think it's stable. You should expect to change jobs at least three or four times in your lifetime.
If that's what you are facing, the question remains, why not at least make the most while you can? Just don't be a spend-happy idiot consumer. Put lots away for a rainy day and keep your taxes in a separate bank account. As a contractor, you have to pay your own taxes and that's a pretty hefty chunk if you don't remember to "set aside" like withholding does. Again, agencies will often take care of this for you but you will be paying for it...if they pay you $30/hr you can bet they are billing more like $60/hr
Anyway, that's my thoughts. I started contracting, went through two failed dotcom companies, got fired from one full-time position (long story), got my business license, started contracting for myself, and haven't looked back.
PPV does preceed DVD/Video sales and rentals: Hotel Pay-Per-View. Systems like LodgeNet (used in most major hotel chains) have agreements with studios to air movies still in theaters. However, there is a four to six week delay to ensure that it doesn't cut into precious box office sales when the matter most.
Home PPV is also delayed four to six weeks to prevent similar impact on the DVD/Video sales figures.
None of those cover the case that the scientist from the article is mentioning, aliens exist and even though travel is impossible, shining lasers around the galaxy and seeing who lasers back seems like a pretty reasonable possibility.
The first answer would not fit with current scientific models of the universe. To science, Earth/Sol is not unique in any way, it's average at best. So for Earth to be the only place where life could exist must meant there is something specifically unique about Earth that we haven't discovered yet.
If we assume aliens of sufficient intelligence to create weapons of mass destruction (doesn't have to be nuclear, plague and influenza took at serious hit on the population) then we must also assume aliens of suggicient intelligence to want to avoid destruction and work to curtail/eliminate them or their use. Not to mention, there would always be survivors, and so restoring the planet to its previous considition would be relatively quick (compared to it evolving from scratch again).
There is only one alien civilization? Even if it is true that the timespan is millions of years, surely there is at least one alien civilization whose timespan overlaps our own? If we assume aliens can visit us, then we asumme distance isn't an issue so any alien culture in existence right now should be able to visit us.
Even if travel isn't possible, commuication is. We are already sending out probes and beacons...give it another 100 years and I bet we are lighting up this section of the universe like it's Las Vegas.
Given that it does not take a concentrated world-wide effort to have space travel or space communication, it seems impossible that a planet would exist where every member had absolutely no desire to explore beyond their world. In fact, I would say that it's inevitable. As soon as the people on a planet run out of land to claim as their own, they would start looking for more land. That looking is going to have to be up.
This seems reasonable, since Earth is not unique, what reason would aliens have to visit? It would be like us going out of our way to visit a particular anthill in Kenya. But at the same time, if the ants in Kenya had our level of intelligence, they would no doubt notice some signs of intellegence life other than their own. The first ant to hit a road or railway or see a plane fly overhead would have to wonder about it unless they deliberately hide it from us.
Hiding such things from us assume a unity of purpose and organization that seems impossible. Earth/Sol has resources. Someone would probably be looking for them. We are reasonably remote, but if we assume that there is an "intergalatic federation" passing laws, we must assume that distance isn't an issue.
The last two are pretty much just movie plotlines, and well explored.
This isn't to say that none of these are possible, but I think they reflect a definite ignorance of the exponential rate of discovery/technology and the reality of statistics/odds.
To us, maybe. But given the accelerating rate of discovery (it's exponential) in 100 years or so we might consider faster-than-light travel as trivial as heavier-than-air travel (planes) today.
Not to mention, light's pretty fast and so the scientist raises a good point that if aliens wanted to contact another world and faster-than-light travel wasn't possible, fast-as-light communication is possible.
"When all you have is a hammer, everything starts to look like a nail"
Next thing you know, we will look for SETI in the burn pattern of a tortilla...or maybe in the reflection from a store window...
Is anyone getting my point here?
"For centuries, mankind has searched for evidence of God, in the skies, in the stars, in animals and in himself." Now do a search and replace s/God/aliens/ and ask if this is really any more a sensible statement. Not to mention, if we do find aliens, are we their peers, or are they our gods?
Final thought of the day...from what I can understand, our solar system is rather young compared to other galaxies out there. And apparently there are hundreds of planets capable of supporting life (our life, that's not even counting life that forms in some environment we consider hostile). Well if that's the case, and life/evolution is as easy as the theories make it sound (all it takes is heat and time)...then why isn't the universe like something out of Star TRek with hundreds of alien species flittering about, dropping in to violate the prime directive, establish moonbases, and so forth? Think about it.
True story...had a personal fileserver with a Promise RAID card. I got the Promise card because it was cheap and had a good rating on a couple of review sites.
What I didn't know at the time, but learned the hard way, is that Promises's RAID monitoring program "PAM" is a user-mode only application. That means that if you don't login, it doesn't run. Care to guess what happened to me?
At some point while I was gone for the weekend, I can only guess something crashed and rebooted Windows 2000. When it rebooted, I didn't have it set to automatically login (why would I? it's a server). So "PAM" wasn't running when one of the drives in the RAID 5 set failed. Maybe it even had something to do with the crash, I don't know.
Now, the point of PAM is that if a drive fails, an e-mail gets sent, in this case to my mobile phones textpage address. Since PAM wasn't running however, nothing was sent. The drive failed and, I can only guess, put off so much heat that it cooked the drive above it (why do so many cases mount hard drives horizontally above each other anyway?) and next thing I know, I can't login to my server from where I'm staying. I call a family member with a key to come by and they are unable to restart the server. It wasn't until I came home and read the BIOS messages that I understood why. Everything gone.
I had a lot of stuff on CDR, but let me tell you, I was plenty outraged that Promise could design something so utterly stupid as a monitoring utility that doesn't know how to run as a service. Even to this day, PAM still will only run as a user-mode program, and even worse, you actually have to login to the program now to start it, which can't be scripted.
F Promise. Only a complete and utter fool would be stupid enough to buy any of their products. May they rot in that special place reserved for child molesters. (Yes, I'm still bitter about it)
- JoeShmoe .
Re:Why not just record straight to the hard disk?
on
LA to Oregon at Mach 9
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I'm sorry...I wasn't aware he was pushing the car to Oregon...because if the engine is running, there is more than enough amps available to run a whole host of equipment, although maybe not as much as Homer Simpson had in his car.
I think it's more likely that a VCR is cheap and relatively sturdy, whereas a laptop (even an old one) is not. Not to mention, a lot of car insurance will limit coverage for electronics unless it's on the way from the store to your home or you're moving from home A to home B (I found out the hard way when I was rear ended carrying about five expensive computers in my trunk, not covered).
The only downside with a VCR is having to swap tapes but when you think about it, this is not unreasonable. I sure wouldn't want to drive more than six hours without stopping for food or gas or whatever, perfect tape swapping time.
So really it's just about what's easiest, not power concerns. A DVR based solution sure is sexy, but pointless unless you'd like stream the video to other cars driving alongside or something.
I bought two...and was pleasantly surprised that I got black bezel units instead of crappy beige! And I got them the next day on free shipping! Go newegg and FedEx Super Saver!
Haven't done the update yet, but the platinum card covers "theft or accidental damage" and given that the several people have apparently done this, I'm optimistic. The real question is whether the mechanics hold up or if it's like Celeron processors where Intel takes all the P4's where the cache failed and presto, Celerons.
Erm, some point of clarification...the site that techbargains links is an English-language site that actually tested this firmware update and posted the results from several CD info tools as well as the results of a burn. There appear to be no problems going 2500->2510 although they say they did not test 2100->2510.
Also, on the second link I posted, the NEC 2500 bioses are region unlocked and rip unlocked (apparently most drives slow down on purpose when they detect a video DVD to discourage ripping, these unlocked firmwares will rip at full speed...go figure).
Scroll down to the bottom to find the NEC 2150 firmware to upgrade the 2500...the one labeled "K0P2 Binaries and Flasher".
NEC 8x DVD Burner $81 - Free Double Layer Conversion 12-May-04 newegg has the NEC 8X Beige DVD+RW/-RW Drive, Model ND-2500A, OEM Bulk packed for $81.50 free shipping. No rebates. Click Thru to see new price. Hack it into a NEC 2510A DVD+R Double Layer burner! (Thanks Ken) Save $120 over a new Double layer burner!
Here's a link to the article linked by techbargains.
And here's a link to a page with the firmware (scroll down to NEC 2500).
...specifically speaking plastic smurf tubes aka conduit. Don't debate over fiber versus twisted pair, allow for either or both.
To each home run two or three unpopulated tubes to a central wiring area (I prefer a 1st floor closet or under a stairwell, anywhere that dinky 16" space between exterior studs). This would be in addition to a separate run for power (keep away from telephone/twisted pair).
Have the houses go to a central wiring pot in the street/block, and from there a more central wiring pot and so on. When you are ready to begin offering service, push a CAT 6e cable down the tube to intitially get everyone on, say, standard 10/100 network. If VoIP isn't happening, a second CAT-5/6 will provide your phone. Later one, you can replace the switch to upgrade everyone to gigabit on the same cable. There's talk of even faster twisted pair connections so I think it's clearly the way to go. But, fast forward a few years, and suddenly everything is fiber? Well, push one of those down too.
Here's the best part...competition. If some ISP comes along as wants to offer service, lease them a tube. You get income from leasing them tubes that would otherwise be unoccupied. The ISP gets instant customers who would otherwise not pay the cost of installtion themselves or not be economically viable if the streets had to be trenched. It another ISP comes along and wants to offer service, they can too, which ultimately is what is best for the homeowner.
Where I live, we have a choice of cable TV and phone provides...which is extremely rare in most settings. As a result, we have much lower prices and better features since the two companies know they can't just shaft their customers endelessly or they will just jump ship to the other guy.
When you said "relationship" I assumed you meant contractural or financial because in a lot of cases, you need some kind of standing to have a case proceed. I see the connection between McDonald's sidewalk and McDonald's management.
But as I said initially in my analogy, this is more of an issue of public health. If companies are losing money hand over fist every time there is a virus/worm outbreak, there's got to be a pocket somewhere for a clever lawyer to hang a legal argument. Maybe it would be more legally sound to sue individual pirates for using an unpatchable pirate program. But I doubt that is even possible, let alone realistic. I think it is far more likely that some lawyer can make the case that Microsoft refusing to treat infected machines is just as bad as Ford saying they aren't responsible because people didn't underinflate their Firestone tires according to the fine print in the manual instead of going by the proper PSI on the tires themselves.
And regarding settlement, what's so hard to believe? It could be happening every day, that's what NDAs are for. If Microsoft ever did settle, you can bet condition number one would be that no one ever find out about it.
Negligence doesn't require a prior relationship. If I slip and fall on an walkway in front of McDonalds, I can sue McDonalds even if I've never eaten there in my life. Neligence means that someone responsible for something was lax in their duties and injury resulted.
Microsoft certainly has no obligation to provide support to pirates. They don't have to make it easier. But for them to actually go out of their way to exclude certain users enters is an entirely different matter.
I'm not sure the proper legal term, but basically the party at fault in an issue is the party that had the last opportunity to avoid the problem. If Microsoft has the ability to push out an update that would have corrected a unsafe condition, but doesn't do it, I think the legal case could be that it is negligent.
Of course, it's a stretch but...my other point was that Microsoft has a huge tendency to settle cases, especially ones that might drag out embarassing numbers showing how many infected Windows machines are out there, and how much downtime businesses relying on Windows experience.
1) Wait for Microsoft to release SP2 and not allow installation on pirates systems 2) Wait for next major virus/worm outbreak that targets flaw fixed by SP2 3) Sue Microsoft for contributory negligence resulting in downtime/cleanup of your website/mailserver 4) Watch Microsoft settle from their 20? 30? 40? billion war chest 5) PROFIT!!!!
I'm totally serious. As I said in my original post on the original story, this is no different than a hospital turning away a patient because they detect at some point they have used drugs. If a hospital did that and the patient fell over dead, there would be one whopping big lawsuit resulting from it.
Here Microsoft is selling pancakes accidentally laced with the Black Plague and when some people who stole their tainted pancages later come back to Microsoft for a cure, Microsoft is booting them out on the street so they can infect other innocent people. Why shouldn't Microsoft be responsible for allowing it to spread further?
A new prisoner is at lunch with some fellow inmates when one of them bellows out "36!". Right away all the other inmates in the cafeteria start to chuckle and guffaw. A few minutes later, another inmate yells "28!" and everyone starts laughing and smiling. Soon another inmates shouts "12!" and soon everyone is rolling on the floor in laughter. The new prisoner turns to another inmate and asks what's going on. The inmate explains that the prisor library only has one joke book, and since everyone has read it a thousand times over, to save time people just shout out the page number of the joke the want to tell. The new prisoner decides to get into the swing of things, so he stands up on a table and screams out "17!" Dead silence results. Sheepishly, the new prisoner sits down and resumes eating his lunch. "Man," the inmate exclaims, "some people just can't tell a joke."
My point in all this is that I've seen enough of these stories and bellowed out enough appropriate statement of outrages that I'm tired of repeating myself and others, so I'm gonna simply call it "17" and be done with it. This can include:
1) stupid analogies about hammers and crowbars 2) ridiculous hypotheticals about some guy named Britney Spears who actually wants to give away his music 3) references to anti-freedom, anti-democracy and probably a handful of Godwin's law violations 4) detail explanations of 1500 programs that do the same thing but somehow escape attention 5) updated links to kazaalite
Okay, so...that's all about that. From now on, if the story says "P2P" then just put me down for an automatic "17" and let me get on with my day.
This question's answer is really quite obvious if you move it into a real-world scenario:
"Should drug users be allowed to receive treatment in a hospital (public or private) even if treatment is due to drug-related illness or injury? Or do they get what they deserve and have to fend for themselves?"
People who pirate do it for a myriad of reasons. How about the poor inner-cities child whose family can barely afford the $299 Wal-Mart PC and has no chance of a retail priced copy of Windows and Office? How about the elderly grandmother whos well-meaning grandson hooked her up with the latest copy of XP Home because it had larger fonts and buttons than her legally licensed copy of 95 did?
Support for Windows should be user agnostic. I've said many many times in the past, someday the laws of this country will recognize that computer professionals need the same legal protection that priests and doctors currently enjoy. People who have computer problems need to know they can get them fixed without worrying about the tech turning around and reporting them to the BSA or DOJ. Otherwise, they will sit on the problem and contribute to a greater harm.
If Microsoft wants to exclude pirates users from receiving assistance, then they should be legally liable for any further or collateral injury that occurs as a result of this...the same way a doctor or nurse would be liable for turning away a mental patient complaining of "voices telling me to do bad things" who then goes on to murder someone.
The simplest thing for Microsoft to do is drop the whole cockamamie "Windows Update" bullcrap and just post the damn updates on an FTP or website where people can download them without handing over Product IDs (and from other operating systems as well). If they don't want to do this, well, then let's make sure they they are responsible for whatever happens.
1) Firefly doesn't need saving, the DVD sales did that
2) Feel free to check my postings from two years ago where I defended Firefly on numerious occasions from the accusations of it being "space cowboys" or "Buffy in space"
3) I like how going along with a minority means I'm some kind of conformist me-too sheep. Gee, if only I could be as free thinking and independant as the majority opinion!
Slashdot Mirror
Okay this makes sense except...wasn't CSS encryption 40-bit? That's obviously not as secure enough to be impossible to brute force...but it's still fairly difficult even by today's standards.
It's not like they XOR'd it or something. When you say algorithm it makes me think of something that trivial. At some point, there had to be some kind of key used, right? So the only question was how strong was that key? I don't know and trying to google for it turns up a lot of information about DeCSS but little about CSS.
- JoeShmoe
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I think you are confusing "title key" with "player key". Every CSS protected disc has a title key. This title key is burned on a special part of the DVD that cannot be burned with normal software on normal blank DVDs. Any consumer grade blank DVDs you buy has this title key area pre-burned blank. This means that any content you wish to put on the disc must have a blank title key, ie not be CSS encrypted.
The title key is unique to the content and to the disc. It only needs to be calculated once and then it can be repeated forever for the same content. There are DeCSS programs that are written in ridiculously short bits of code like three or four lines. However, these short programs require you to enter the title key to DeCSS the content. Where does the title key come from?
That's what the Xing key is for. By applying the Xing keystring to the content with some kind of process, the title key is derived and the content can be played back unencrypted. In theory, if someone "decrypted" a movie, then all Hollywood would have to do is press new copies with a new title key and the damage would be limited. But what happened with the exposing of the Xing key means that all CSS content, not just a particular title, is vulnerable because the Xing key gives us the ability to make the title key for any CSS content. That's where the magic is.
As I said, I'm 99% sure this is still the case today. If you can find any code samples of a DeCSS program that use different player keys, I'd be very interested in seeing them. Remember, not the decrypting the CSS content part...the decrypting the title key part.
- JoeShmoe
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The key was never brute forced. When Xing wrote their player software, they failed to encrypte the CSS decryption key that was licensed to them. It's common knowledge that the key is Xing's key, but because that key can decrypt any CSS content, it doesn't matter. To change CSS would break all the other keys, not just Xing's. There's no way to put code on a DVD to detect and exclude this key from being used. Even to this day I'm almost positive that any program that decrypts DVDs has in it somewhere that original binary string that was extracted from the Xing player. After all, why reinvent the wheel? Why brute force a new DVD key...which isn't impossible but still very difficult...when there is no advantage? Since DVDs can't tell who is decyrpting them, and nobody is going to change CSS, the Xing key is here to stay.
-JoeShmoe
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I rarely take the time to criticize a Slashdot editor, but this posting is terribly confusing.
Which is it?
Is the format using "CSS with stronger encryption" in other words...once some company makes a mistake and puts the key in the clear (like Xing did with the original CSS key) then it's game over, have a field day with HD content...
Or is it some kind of improved system that uses any of the principles in the cryptography.com article? The stuff in that article would scare the pants off anyone who believes in fair use rights and using any tactics necessary to secure them. Thankfully, it sounds like this articles is merely pointing out the dream and there doesn't exist such a magic bullet.
But judging by the replies to this articles, it already looks like people are bemoaning and wailing the lost of fair use rights thanks to this unbelievably draconiam new system.
My reading leads me to believe that we should all be very very quiet, wait for HD to reach a nice sizeable market penetration, then wait for the key to appear and bring about DeCSS round II.
-JoeShmoe
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I'm glad I live in an open and free country like the USA where chilling tactics like this aren't used! Imagine if people were punished for merely providing a forum for other people to post information!
Oh wait
- JoeShmoe
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May not apply to *nix but for Windows servers, I answer requests like this with Remote Control on a Terminal session. If a vendor needs to get "Administator" level access for some reason, I push them through Terminal Services then remote control their session so I or someone else can watch what they do. If the vendor is smart (haven't found one yet) they are aware that someone can watch what they are doing, but they aren't so I usually get to watch them do all kinds of boneheaded things while they take a guess and check approach to fixing a problem. The downside for me is I have to take notes so when the vendor finally disconnects I can undo anythign they did that was outside the scope of their repair.
Which makes me wonder why I can't record an RDP session somehow. This would serve two purposes: a) it would let me replay what a vendor had done later when it is more convenient and b) it would give me some proof if I later have to go blast a vendor for doing something absurdly stupid.
The same question for VNC or really any kind of remote management tool that is likely to be used on the Windows platform. Can any of them be logged and/or replayed?
- JoeShmoe
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If you are working in the tech industry, I think you would be crazy to think that full-time employment means something more stable than contracting.
Thanks to the new overtime rules, you are more than likely to find yourself exempt from any kind of overtime pay on that salary. As the folks at EA how that's working out for them. Contracting is paid by the hour. I've never been paid overtime, but at least if I end up working a 12 hour day, I get paid for it.
California, as I suspect is the same elsewhere, is an "at-will" state. You can be fired at any time for any reason. There is no tech union so unless you are working for a government agency, if the company decides to get rid of you, poof. Contracting is theoretically unstable but you at least have some notice. If you contract is ending in a month, all you need to do is ask the company if they want to extend it or start shopping for another customer. If you contract for an agency, they take care of this for you. I've never worked for a company that didn't expand the scope of a project several times. Six month contracts end up being 18 month contracts...if you do good work, believe me they find places for you.
The dirty secret of contracting is that it's considered overhead, not employees. You get paid out of the same fund that pays for things like light and heat. So consequently, there's not a lot of attention paid to what gets spent, it's simply the cost of doing business. It's not uncommon to make twice as much per hour as a salaried equivalent. For specialize things like security, thin-client, servers you can make hourly rates that bring back visions of the dot-com days.
Health insurance is a biggie if you have no coverage right now. I was on my parents health insurance when I started contracting, and I switch over seamlessly to my own plan when that expired. I pay $170/mo for your basic HMO garbage, which isn't ideal, but I make enough to cover the cost. I got a Roth IRA way back when that I occasionally remember to pay into, but honestly...the only real way I've made any money is real estate. I bought a house that doubled in value in four years. Thank you California.
For stability, your best bet is to get work for a government agency. TSA, Post Office, I have many techie friends that moved to those jobs when the dot com bust happened and they haven't looked back...essentially they have jobs for life. Working for state governments is a more midgroup approach. You still have a pecking order (they don't fire, but they might layoff), but if you make it there a few years, again, employment for life. But full time? In this current pro-corporate climate? I don't think it's stable. You should expect to change jobs at least three or four times in your lifetime.
If that's what you are facing, the question remains, why not at least make the most while you can? Just don't be a spend-happy idiot consumer. Put lots away for a rainy day and keep your taxes in a separate bank account. As a contractor, you have to pay your own taxes and that's a pretty hefty chunk if you don't remember to "set aside" like withholding does. Again, agencies will often take care of this for you but you will be paying for it...if they pay you $30/hr you can bet they are billing more like $60/hr
Anyway, that's my thoughts. I started contracting, went through two failed dotcom companies, got fired from one full-time position (long story), got my business license, started contracting for myself, and haven't looked back.
- JoeShmoe
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PPV does preceed DVD/Video sales and rentals: Hotel Pay-Per-View. Systems like LodgeNet (used in most major hotel chains) have agreements with studios to air movies still in theaters. However, there is a four to six week delay to ensure that it doesn't cut into precious box office sales when the matter most.
Home PPV is also delayed four to six weeks to prevent similar impact on the DVD/Video sales figures.
- JoeShmoe
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You'd think with all the time they spend putting little tiny hairs all over her body, they would have found some time to give her some "down there".
Or am I the only one seeing "virtual camel toe"?
http://www.this-wonderful-life.com/various01.htm
- JoeShmoe
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None of those cover the case that the scientist from the article is mentioning, aliens exist and even though travel is impossible, shining lasers around the galaxy and seeing who lasers back seems like a pretty reasonable possibility.
The first answer would not fit with current scientific models of the universe. To science, Earth/Sol is not unique in any way, it's average at best. So for Earth to be the only place where life could exist must meant there is something specifically unique about Earth that we haven't discovered yet.
If we assume aliens of sufficient intelligence to create weapons of mass destruction (doesn't have to be nuclear, plague and influenza took at serious hit on the population) then we must also assume aliens of suggicient intelligence to want to avoid destruction and work to curtail/eliminate them or their use. Not to mention, there would always be survivors, and so restoring the planet to its previous considition would be relatively quick (compared to it evolving from scratch again).
There is only one alien civilization? Even if it is true that the timespan is millions of years, surely there is at least one alien civilization whose timespan overlaps our own? If we assume aliens can visit us, then we asumme distance isn't an issue so any alien culture in existence right now should be able to visit us.
Even if travel isn't possible, commuication is. We are already sending out probes and beacons...give it another 100 years and I bet we are lighting up this section of the universe like it's Las Vegas.
Given that it does not take a concentrated world-wide effort to have space travel or space communication, it seems impossible that a planet would exist where every member had absolutely no desire to explore beyond their world. In fact, I would say that it's inevitable. As soon as the people on a planet run out of land to claim as their own, they would start looking for more land. That looking is going to have to be up.
This seems reasonable, since Earth is not unique, what reason would aliens have to visit? It would be like us going out of our way to visit a particular anthill in Kenya. But at the same time, if the ants in Kenya had our level of intelligence, they would no doubt notice some signs of intellegence life other than their own. The first ant to hit a road or railway or see a plane fly overhead would have to wonder about it unless they deliberately hide it from us.
Hiding such things from us assume a unity of purpose and organization that seems impossible. Earth/Sol has resources. Someone would probably be looking for them. We are reasonably remote, but if we assume that there is an "intergalatic federation" passing laws, we must assume that distance isn't an issue.
The last two are pretty much just movie plotlines, and well explored.
This isn't to say that none of these are possible, but I think they reflect a definite ignorance of the exponential rate of discovery/technology and the reality of statistics/odds.
-JoeShmoe
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To us, maybe. But given the accelerating rate of discovery (it's exponential) in 100 years or so we might consider faster-than-light travel as trivial as heavier-than-air travel (planes) today.
Not to mention, light's pretty fast and so the scientist raises a good point that if aliens wanted to contact another world and faster-than-light travel wasn't possible, fast-as-light communication is possible.
-JoeShmoe
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"When all you have is a hammer, everything starts to look like a nail"
Next thing you know, we will look for SETI in the burn pattern of a tortilla...or maybe in the reflection from a store window...
Is anyone getting my point here?
"For centuries, mankind has searched for evidence of God, in the skies, in the stars, in animals and in himself." Now do a search and replace s/God/aliens/ and ask if this is really any more a sensible statement. Not to mention, if we do find aliens, are we their peers, or are they our gods?
Final thought of the day...from what I can understand, our solar system is rather young compared to other galaxies out there. And apparently there are hundreds of planets capable of supporting life (our life, that's not even counting life that forms in some environment we consider hostile). Well if that's the case, and life/evolution is as easy as the theories make it sound (all it takes is heat and time)...then why isn't the universe like something out of Star TRek with hundreds of alien species flittering about, dropping in to violate the prime directive, establish moonbases, and so forth? Think about it.
- JoeShmoe
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Someone apparently forgot to remove an "example.com" placeholder! It's good to see that slashdot hires people so well versed in RFC 2606!
( Read More... | science.example.com )
( Read More... | 91 comments | yro.example.com )
And so on...
- JoeShmoe
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True story...had a personal fileserver with a Promise RAID card. I got the Promise card because it was cheap and had a good rating on a couple of review sites.
What I didn't know at the time, but learned the hard way, is that Promises's RAID monitoring program "PAM" is a user-mode only application. That means that if you don't login, it doesn't run. Care to guess what happened to me?
At some point while I was gone for the weekend, I can only guess something crashed and rebooted Windows 2000. When it rebooted, I didn't have it set to automatically login (why would I? it's a server). So "PAM" wasn't running when one of the drives in the RAID 5 set failed. Maybe it even had something to do with the crash, I don't know.
Now, the point of PAM is that if a drive fails, an e-mail gets sent, in this case to my mobile phones textpage address. Since PAM wasn't running however, nothing was sent. The drive failed and, I can only guess, put off so much heat that it cooked the drive above it (why do so many cases mount hard drives horizontally above each other anyway?) and next thing I know, I can't login to my server from where I'm staying. I call a family member with a key to come by and they are unable to restart the server. It wasn't until I came home and read the BIOS messages that I understood why. Everything gone.
I had a lot of stuff on CDR, but let me tell you, I was plenty outraged that Promise could design something so utterly stupid as a monitoring utility that doesn't know how to run as a service. Even to this day, PAM still will only run as a user-mode program, and even worse, you actually have to login to the program now to start it, which can't be scripted.
F Promise. Only a complete and utter fool would be stupid enough to buy any of their products. May they rot in that special place reserved for child molesters. (Yes, I'm still bitter about it)
- JoeShmoe
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I'm sorry...I wasn't aware he was pushing the car to Oregon...because if the engine is running, there is more than enough amps available to run a whole host of equipment, although maybe not as much as Homer Simpson had in his car.
I think it's more likely that a VCR is cheap and relatively sturdy, whereas a laptop (even an old one) is not. Not to mention, a lot of car insurance will limit coverage for electronics unless it's on the way from the store to your home or you're moving from home A to home B (I found out the hard way when I was rear ended carrying about five expensive computers in my trunk, not covered).
The only downside with a VCR is having to swap tapes but when you think about it, this is not unreasonable. I sure wouldn't want to drive more than six hours without stopping for food or gas or whatever, perfect tape swapping time.
So really it's just about what's easiest, not power concerns. A DVR based solution sure is sexy, but pointless unless you'd like stream the video to other cars driving alongside or something.
- JoeShmoe
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I bought two...and was pleasantly surprised that I got black bezel units instead of crappy beige! And I got them the next day on free shipping! Go newegg and FedEx Super Saver!
Haven't done the update yet, but the platinum card covers "theft or accidental damage" and given that the several people have apparently done this, I'm optimistic. The real question is whether the mechanics hold up or if it's like Celeron processors where Intel takes all the P4's where the cache failed and presto, Celerons.
- JoeShmoe
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Erm, some point of clarification...the site that techbargains links is an English-language site that actually tested this firmware update and posted the results from several CD info tools as well as the results of a burn. There appear to be no problems going 2500->2510 although they say they did not test 2100->2510.
Also, on the second link I posted, the NEC 2500 bioses are region unlocked and rip unlocked (apparently most drives slow down on purpose when they detect a video DVD to discourage ripping, these unlocked firmwares will rip at full speed...go figure).
Scroll down to the bottom to find the NEC 2150 firmware to upgrade the 2500...the one labeled "K0P2 Binaries and Flasher".
-JoeShmoe
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NEC 8x DVD Burner $81 - Free Double Layer Conversion 12-May-04
newegg has the NEC 8X Beige DVD+RW/-RW Drive, Model ND-2500A, OEM Bulk packed for $81.50 free shipping. No rebates. Click Thru to see new price.
Hack it into a NEC 2510A DVD+R Double Layer burner! (Thanks Ken) Save $120 over a new Double layer burner!
Here's a link to the article linked by techbargains.
And here's a link to a page with the firmware (scroll down to NEC 2500).
- JoeShmoe
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...specifically speaking plastic smurf tubes aka conduit. Don't debate over fiber versus twisted pair, allow for either or both.
To each home run two or three unpopulated tubes to a central wiring area (I prefer a 1st floor closet or under a stairwell, anywhere that dinky 16" space between exterior studs). This would be in addition to a separate run for power (keep away from telephone/twisted pair).
Have the houses go to a central wiring pot in the street/block, and from there a more central wiring pot and so on. When you are ready to begin offering service, push a CAT 6e cable down the tube to intitially get everyone on, say, standard 10/100 network. If VoIP isn't happening, a second CAT-5/6 will provide your phone. Later one, you can replace the switch to upgrade everyone to gigabit on the same cable. There's talk of even faster twisted pair connections so I think it's clearly the way to go. But, fast forward a few years, and suddenly everything is fiber? Well, push one of those down too.
Here's the best part...competition. If some ISP comes along as wants to offer service, lease them a tube. You get income from leasing them tubes that would otherwise be unoccupied. The ISP gets instant customers who would otherwise not pay the cost of installtion themselves or not be economically viable if the streets had to be trenched. It another ISP comes along and wants to offer service, they can too, which ultimately is what is best for the homeowner.
Where I live, we have a choice of cable TV and phone provides...which is extremely rare in most settings. As a result, we have much lower prices and better features since the two companies know they can't just shaft their customers endelessly or they will just jump ship to the other guy.
- JoeShmoe
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When you said "relationship" I assumed you meant contractural or financial because in a lot of cases, you need some kind of standing to have a case proceed. I see the connection between McDonald's sidewalk and McDonald's management.
But as I said initially in my analogy, this is more of an issue of public health. If companies are losing money hand over fist every time there is a virus/worm outbreak, there's got to be a pocket somewhere for a clever lawyer to hang a legal argument. Maybe it would be more legally sound to sue individual pirates for using an unpatchable pirate program. But I doubt that is even possible, let alone realistic. I think it is far more likely that some lawyer can make the case that Microsoft refusing to treat infected machines is just as bad as Ford saying they aren't responsible because people didn't underinflate their Firestone tires according to the fine print in the manual instead of going by the proper PSI on the tires themselves.
And regarding settlement, what's so hard to believe? It could be happening every day, that's what NDAs are for. If Microsoft ever did settle, you can bet condition number one would be that no one ever find out about it.
- JoeShmoe
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Negligence doesn't require a prior relationship. If I slip and fall on an walkway in front of McDonalds, I can sue McDonalds even if I've never eaten there in my life. Neligence means that someone responsible for something was lax in their duties and injury resulted.
Microsoft certainly has no obligation to provide support to pirates. They don't have to make it easier. But for them to actually go out of their way to exclude certain users enters is an entirely different matter.
I'm not sure the proper legal term, but basically the party at fault in an issue is the party that had the last opportunity to avoid the problem. If Microsoft has the ability to push out an update that would have corrected a unsafe condition, but doesn't do it, I think the legal case could be that it is negligent.
Of course, it's a stretch but...my other point was that Microsoft has a huge tendency to settle cases, especially ones that might drag out embarassing numbers showing how many infected Windows machines are out there, and how much downtime businesses relying on Windows experience.
- JoeShmoe
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1) Wait for Microsoft to release SP2 and not allow installation on pirates systems
2) Wait for next major virus/worm outbreak that targets flaw fixed by SP2
3) Sue Microsoft for contributory negligence resulting in downtime/cleanup of your website/mailserver
4) Watch Microsoft settle from their 20? 30? 40? billion war chest
5) PROFIT!!!!
I'm totally serious. As I said in my original post on the original story, this is no different than a hospital turning away a patient because they detect at some point they have used drugs. If a hospital did that and the patient fell over dead, there would be one whopping big lawsuit resulting from it.
Here Microsoft is selling pancakes accidentally laced with the Black Plague and when some people who stole their tainted pancages later come back to Microsoft for a cure, Microsoft is booting them out on the street so they can infect other innocent people. Why shouldn't Microsoft be responsible for allowing it to spread further?
- JoeShmoe
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There's an old joke that goes...
A new prisoner is at lunch with some fellow inmates when one of them bellows out "36!". Right away all the other inmates in the cafeteria start to chuckle and guffaw. A few minutes later, another inmate yells "28!" and everyone starts laughing and smiling. Soon another inmates shouts "12!" and soon everyone is rolling on the floor in laughter. The new prisoner turns to another inmate and asks what's going on. The inmate explains that the prisor library only has one joke book, and since everyone has read it a thousand times over, to save time people just shout out the page number of the joke the want to tell. The new prisoner decides to get into the swing of things, so he stands up on a table and screams out "17!" Dead silence results. Sheepishly, the new prisoner sits down and resumes eating his lunch. "Man," the inmate exclaims, "some people just can't tell a joke."
My point in all this is that I've seen enough of these stories and bellowed out enough appropriate statement of outrages that I'm tired of repeating myself and others, so I'm gonna simply call it "17" and be done with it. This can include:
1) stupid analogies about hammers and crowbars
2) ridiculous hypotheticals about some guy named Britney Spears who actually wants to give away his music
3) references to anti-freedom, anti-democracy and probably a handful of Godwin's law violations
4) detail explanations of 1500 programs that do the same thing but somehow escape attention
5) updated links to kazaalite
Okay, so...that's all about that. From now on, if the story says "P2P" then just put me down for an automatic "17" and let me get on with my day.
- JoeShmoe
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This question's answer is really quite obvious if you move it into a real-world scenario:
"Should drug users be allowed to receive treatment in a hospital (public or private) even if treatment is due to drug-related illness or injury? Or do they get what they deserve and have to fend for themselves?"
People who pirate do it for a myriad of reasons. How about the poor inner-cities child whose family can barely afford the $299 Wal-Mart PC and has no chance of a retail priced copy of Windows and Office? How about the elderly grandmother whos well-meaning grandson hooked her up with the latest copy of XP Home because it had larger fonts and buttons than her legally licensed copy of 95 did?
Support for Windows should be user agnostic. I've said many many times in the past, someday the laws of this country will recognize that computer professionals need the same legal protection that priests and doctors currently enjoy. People who have computer problems need to know they can get them fixed without worrying about the tech turning around and reporting them to the BSA or DOJ. Otherwise, they will sit on the problem and contribute to a greater harm.
If Microsoft wants to exclude pirates users from receiving assistance, then they should be legally liable for any further or collateral injury that occurs as a result of this...the same way a doctor or nurse would be liable for turning away a mental patient complaining of "voices telling me to do bad things" who then goes on to murder someone.
The simplest thing for Microsoft to do is drop the whole cockamamie "Windows Update" bullcrap and just post the damn updates on an FTP or website where people can download them without handing over Product IDs (and from other operating systems as well). If they don't want to do this, well, then let's make sure they they are responsible for whatever happens.
- JoeShmoe
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1) Firefly doesn't need saving, the DVD sales did that
2) Feel free to check my postings from two years ago where I defended Firefly on numerious occasions from the accusations of it being "space cowboys" or "Buffy in space"
3) I like how going along with a minority means I'm some kind of conformist me-too sheep. Gee, if only I could be as free thinking and independant as the majority opinion!
- JoeShmoe
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