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User: bigtrike

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  1. You can have more fun than that on What to Do When Your Security is Breached · · Score: 1

    If you're not ultra concerned about the server, you can have some fun. One technique is replace the executables with similarly sized programs which do something slightly malicious, such as alter their internet settings to take them offline until they figure out how to fix it. Or corrupt a couple bytes in the file with a hex editor. Usually it seems like people just run irc bots on compromised systems. What they don't realize is that this gives you a method of determining channel passwords, bot passwords (which are probably their passwords on other compromised machines), and if you feel like it, you can use this information to take over their irc channel.

  2. Manually applying it is not nearly as good on IBM Doubles CPU Cooling With Simple Change · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Do you really think that in 2 minutes with a razor blade that you can get a more uniform thickness than machinery which can be accurate to millionths of an inch?

  3. Licensing is a big deal on Microsoft Segments Linux "Personas" · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It's not so much the cost of the licenses, but the amount of time required to keep license for all the MS products up to date is just not something workable. On top of that, windows servers are pretty complicated and time consuming to administer (reboots/downtime off hours at least once a month due to lack of shared library versioning and inode support, editing registry entries, etc), so it's not like you're saving money in the long run.

  4. Interstate Commerce covers everything on Homeland Security Offers Details on Real ID · · Score: 3, Informative

    If the interstate commerce clause can be used to regulate the growing and consumption of a plant which is never sold and never leaves the owner's property, then it can cover just about anything else.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gonzales_v._Raich

  5. Re:That's nice, but... on Launch of OSS For Mobile Phones · · Score: 2, Informative

    You can run your own software on quite a few GSM phones, which typically don't have any memory protection in order to save on hardware costs. You can pretty much do anything with a Symbian based phone that you want and there haven't been any massive service outages yet.

    The control issue is only about selling you extras. They want you to have to purchase $2 wallpapers, ringtones, etc. from the carrier.

  6. Re:OT: Smoking Bans on California Proposes to Ban Incandescent Lightbulbs · · Score: 1

    SMOKING AFFECTS OTHER PEOPLE. There's this little thing called second-hand smoke. I seem to recall it being actually worse than first-hand smoke, since the first-hand smoker at least has a filter.
      I never quite understood that, as a smoker you're also inhaling your second hand smoke in volumes similar or higher than anyone around you.
  7. Lots of current solutions for your problems on 'Dumb Terminals' Can Be a Smart Move for Companies · · Score: 1

    There are tons of ways today which you can do to reduce the amount of time you spend with the above activities. Drive imaging, network booting to something like knoppix, diskless/cd rom driveless workstations using something like knoppix, network booted installers such as kickstart, wake-on-lan your machines at night to auto-install patches, USB2 dvd rom drives to reduce downtime, etc. I think even Windows offers a way to do most of the setup via config file which would reduce your time.

    For the near future all of these methods will be cheaper when combined with $399 desktop+monitor deals from Dell and some reasonably fast disk image servers.

  8. Market Forces Are At Work on Fight DRM While There's Still Time · · Score: 1

    Those very same people were probably upset about their purchase and will be less likely to buy products from that company in the future. People are going to get pissed off when they can't play their purchased content on their purchased computer.

  9. ...and if your friends die? on US Military Tests Non-Lethal Heat Ray · · Score: 2, Insightful

    If your friends that are over there now die in service later, will they have died accomplishing anything? In order to stay in Iraq, we better have some sort of plan other than just "stay the course"

    If sectarian violence and civil war is inevitable, why waste the lives of our service men just to postpone it a little longer?

  10. It depends on the price structure on Running Your Electric Meter Backwards · · Score: 1

    In some states the utilities bill you per kWh what they pay and bill separately for overhead. With this structure, it's actually better for the utility company because then they get your power at the end of the grid without any transmission losses.

  11. Re:Shortly there after... on Pentium 4 631 Overclocked to 8 GHz · · Score: 1

    ...in its exceedingly fast speed, it developed AI and became aware. It quickly started amassing great stores of knowledge and began solving many previously unsolvable problems of the world, and then suddenly went silent and refused to respond to any further input...

    Tm

    Those P4's always overheat at the worst possible time.
  12. a workaround to your workaround on Startup Tries Watermarking Instead of DRM · · Score: 1

    Just duplicate some frames at random spots in the movie. This will likely realign all the compressed block boundaries and change all of the bits. It won't just be a matter of figuring out offsets like the text version of diff does. You'll need multiple copies of the movie and code which compares each frame in all of them to look for the duplicates. And even that might not be possible since the encoder will likely throw out different pieces of information giving each different encoding slightly different artifacts.

  13. Re:Cost savings still a long ways away on Solar Power Eliminates Utility Bills in U.S. Home · · Score: 1

    Most manufacturing processes require large amounts of petroleum based products. If oil gets very expensive, solar power may become less viable.

  14. Cost to company != Price the consumer pays on iPhone, Apple TV Headline MacWorld Keynote · · Score: 1

    If there is an increase in demand, the price will not drop. The company will attempt charge the price where supply meets demand. If they can't make a long term profit, they won't do it. Past investments for infrastructure are irrelevant for future decisions.

    The only thing which will lead to a decrease in price is an increase in supply (competitors realize there is a market) or a decrease in demand.

  15. It's a simple ROI decision on How ExxonMobil Funded Global Warming Skeptics · · Score: 1

    ExxonMobil will spend almost up to the amount they stand to lose in revenue in order to fund lobbyists and counter arguments to science which influences policy. For example, if they still to lose $16 million due to regulations which would be caused by a consensus on global warming, they will spend nearly $16 million dollars to discredit global warming.

    Nobody is breaking any laws, in fact they're required to do this as a public corporation. If you don't like it, change the laws.

  16. Amarok already runs on OSX on A Sneak Preview of KDE 4 · · Score: 1

    Version 1.4.3-1021 is already available through Fink. But after having countless problems with amarok linux builds, I'll stick with iTunes.

  17. No meddling = no cheap gasoline on Secret Gov't Documents Will be Declassified 12/31 · · Score: 1

    And give up our cheap gasoline? The lazy American masses would revolt if they had to consider other alternatives.

  18. No big deal, it won't work anyways on Face Search Engine Raises Privacy Concerns · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Unless face recognition has improved drastically, this company will just fail like the last couple companies which attempted to do anything with it.

  19. doing that also nicely blocks AOL users on The Dangers of Improper Cookie Use · · Score: 1

    bingo. that's why i store the IP address along with the session ID in the database. That has the convenient side effect of making your site not work for AOL users or anyone else behind a balanced proxy
  20. At least it's not always 20 years away! on Near-Complete Cure For Diabetes In Two Years? · · Score: 3, Funny

    Even if it's perpetually a few years away, that's better than perpetually 20 years away, right?

  21. What if the cost is almost nothing? on 10 Tech Concepts You Should Know for 2007 · · Score: 1

    I think the point is that they're about to get much cheaper if this company succeeds. If those solar panels were only marginally more expensive than roofing shingles and could pay for themselves within 6 months, would you still not buy them?

  22. Re:Uh, huh... on The Dutch Kill Analog TV Nationwide · · Score: 1

    People who are below the poverty level should know better than to put themselves in debt, shouldn't they?
    Even if they're capable of making good financial decisions (a skill which even many middle class people lack), they may not care because the extra debt does not matter.
  23. Or use a P4 to guard against freezes on How to Protect a Home When Away in Winter? · · Score: 1

    The heat released by most P4 systems will keep your pipes from freezing as well

  24. I bet they refer to Kleenex(TM) as facial tissues on Silly String Goes to War Against IEDs · · Score: 1

    And they probably call Band-Aids(TM) adhesive bandages and refer to Ping Pong(TM) as table tennis. What a bunch of idiots!

  25. You must not use Ameritech/SBC/AT&T on ASUS Integrates VOIP and PSTN Into Motherboards · · Score: 1

    My POTS line is far from reliable.