Because activating it with loss of signal as the activation criteria is inaccurate, at best. How soon prior to the arrival of whatever target is coming along will the signal be cut? What if the the motorcade is preceeded by a second helicopter to cut the signal momentarily and detonate such a device minutes before the motorcade comes through, rendering it useless against its target (and regrettibly killing/injuring bystanders in the process).
Using loss of signal as a trigger is the equivalent of trying to shoot clay pigeons blindfolded when someone nearby simply yells "shoot!"
Would it be too low-tech to think that they could simply put an arming switch inline with the motor output and the detonator? Throw the switch when you're ready to walk away from it.
The problem isn't necessary the proliferation of LEDs in devices, it's how they're designed into the product. Do we really need a 5000mcd LED to indicate that a box has power? It's more of a matter of putting putting more sedate LEDs into things we like to check, but are usually not checked often. Designers need to get away from the "bigger and brighter...because we can" mentality, that's all.
Having to troubleshoot a piece of hardware, I certainly appreciate having LED indicators available to speed the process. I design them in on machinery and systems for items that are critical to check. Yet, at the same time, LEDs simply don't need to be the super, ultra-bright kind unless they're indicating a warning or serious problem, or their environment requires it (i.e. sunlight).
This shouldn't be an prescence/absence of LEDs issue, it should be one of actually specifying the right LED for the job, and designing their placement in a box accordingly, including behind a technician's access panel door, if appropriate.
Keeping in mind that a Darwin Award is awarded to individuals that remove themselves from the gene pool in spectacularly stupid ways. It doesn't necessarily involve dying, but is does require that one be rendered incapable of reproducing, whether though death or sterilization.
So, who was killed or had their nuts cut off as a result of this dumb little stunt?
Well, I'm no geologist or hydrologist, but maybe because Niagra shield, of which Lake Michigan, Huron, and Erie reside, is made of dolomitic limestone, and constricts its drainage over Niagra Falls?
More speculation on my part (afterall, this _is_ Slashdot): The Michigan-Huron basin, although drained primarily through the St. Clair River, and to a much lesser extent the Chicago River, also loses a significant amount of water through evaporation.
So? Just because it seems like everyone else is doing it still doesn't make it right. He was called on it, and most unfortunately, there are many others out there who have even more agregious lapses in judgement and ethics who are not getting caught. If you're willing to play the game to hedge getting the rewards, then you darned well be willing to accept the risks and consequences that come with it.
Yes, I agree with you that the grant system is broke, just like a myriad of thousands of other programs in government. But using that reason as an excuse for unethical behavior? Where does this put your integrity as a scientist/researcher any further ahead?
From TFA, it would appear that it has to do with the administration of research grant money. If you make false/exaggerated claims, manipulate your results, omit your name from being party to research that substantiates your claims, all while having your research federally funded (at least partially), is why congressional oversight is getting involved.
...and Lake Michigan is 579 feet above sea level (this means that the majority of the state of Michigan is even higher in altitude). No predictions, regardless of how absurd, ever mentioned the oceans rising by that much.
And no, melting ice caps will not make the Great Lakes flood. If anything, global warming is more likely to make them continue shrinking in size.
One other effect I can see this having, is let's say www.bigcompanyhere.com gets tagged as being potentially harmful. Now Google has done them a favor by alerting them to a security problem, which they can then address, and are likely to do so much quicker to try and minimize damage to their image.
The next question would be, what are Google's plans/procedure for getting a site recrawled after a problem is corrected? I could see a company being be upset about not having a quick and effective way of getting this flag cleared after fixing the problem. Or, for that matter, a less scrupulous site operator removing the malware, getting cleared, then reintroducing it, and the repeat the cycle on the next crawl when it gets flagged again.
While I think Google would like to just say that such a warning would be reset on the next crawl showing a clean site, most businesses would not be happy about this. This could potentially become an administrative overhead nightmare if not carefully done.
The answer to your first question is most likely yes.
What it would do, hopefully, is force companies in the business of serving up ads for pages to clean up their act, or find themselves going out of business. When word gets out that XYZ web ad agency's ads led Google to flag ABC company's web page as having malware, those looking to whore search rank positions will drop them like a bad habit.
Don't be surprised if somehow this becomes an integrated feature in Google Toolbar, much like their page rank feature. My guess is that you would be able to disable it, too.
I would hope that Google is looking at it more from the perspective of what is generally good for the betterment of the entire internet. Who cares if it directly benefits users of Microsoft product users more than Linux/OSX users? Bottom line, it is potentially one less infection, and one less pwned computer in a bot network. Less infections means less machines that are probing ports on random addresses, or used in brute force attacks, such as DoS attempts.
Don't get too tied up in the means, but rather what the potential end results, good or bad, might be.
Good point. What's to say that some employee, either through a plant or bribe simply plugs a wireless access point into a spare RJ-45 jack in the back room.
As for their databases, they should be shamed for not improving the security for accessing them, such as tiered levels of access (what in hell is a store employee/manager doing with full database access?), adding something like RSA SecerID pin generators and the like.
On second thought to the dead battery thing: A lithium battery should be able to power the card for 3 years or more. The card company would just have to make a point to reissue a new card every two years or so to avoid that problem. This would eliminate the problem of changing the battery and allow it to be sealed into the card.
Likely, by a small lithium battery. However, the power requirements are small enough that a solar cell/capacitor arrangement or a very small mechanism that generates a small current from motion (think Eco-drive watches) would be feasible solutions in the future.
I have to agree that I'm not all that thrilled with their software and drivers for ink jet printers. The driver/software for my 682c (long ago) was rather buggy. Letting it install for a home networked printer configuration was a joke. It couldn't find files and the install had to manually be led around like a four year old and shown where to extract everything it needed. Doing a generic new printer install, with using the correct.dll files from the HP install stuff proved more successful...and eliminated the annoying messages telling me to replace a half-used ink cartridge.
HP must have felt that they were caught with their pants down (presumably urinating on their ink jet customers at the time) and decided to narrow the disparity as to not look too dumb to the average consumer. Who knows, maybe their marketing folks advocated giving their customers a small perceived price break after feeling compelled to do so by the competition's pricing.
The kicker is the less ink part. Knock the price down 25% and reduce the ink by, say, 33%, they're actually raising the price of their ink.
/. editors had their way with the submission, sorry.
I don't remember exactly how I wrote it, but I think it was something to the effect of "buck the trend set by HP of low cost printers and exorbitantly priced ink cartridges." Somehow they managed to juxtapose the words so that it referred to Kodak instead of HP. My sentence structure might have been clunkier, but it made the point (to my recollection) that HP == low cost printer + expensive ink cartridge and Kodak == fair market value printer + reasonably priced cartridges
Oh well, the summary is only the tease anyway, RTFA and enjoy.
We use these where I work and it's a great retrofit when you have multiple builds, including ones that don't have any electrical power. Basically, you have electrical lock tumblers that you replace the mechanical ones currently in your door handles. The key supplies the power (no batteries in the locks to change). When the key is inserted, it powers up the tumbler. The key and the tumbler do their digital handshaking (Key says: "I'm key number 12345" tumbler checks its programmed list and sees that key 12345 is on it and says "Okay, I'm unlocking the door" and mechanically unlocks the tumbler).
Pretty interesting system with a lot of configuration options. Depending on how you set up the configuration, it's a little more involved if someone loses a key, but you can reprogram the tumblers fairly easily with a programming key, and you can set them up to permanently disable key 12345 if it is considered lost/stolen.
Not hackable? Hardly. But then again, so are mechanical locks. This system gives you an electronic equivalency of security that you have with the mechanical locks, plus with a more flexible method of key control and access.
Slashdot Mirror
Because activating it with loss of signal as the activation criteria is inaccurate, at best. How soon prior to the arrival of whatever target is coming along will the signal be cut? What if the the motorcade is preceeded by a second helicopter to cut the signal momentarily and detonate such a device minutes before the motorcade comes through, rendering it useless against its target (and regrettibly killing/injuring bystanders in the process).
Using loss of signal as a trigger is the equivalent of trying to shoot clay pigeons blindfolded when someone nearby simply yells "shoot!"
Would it be too low-tech to think that they could simply put an arming switch inline with the motor output and the detonator? Throw the switch when you're ready to walk away from it.
The problem isn't necessary the proliferation of LEDs in devices, it's how they're designed into the product. Do we really need a 5000mcd LED to indicate that a box has power? It's more of a matter of putting putting more sedate LEDs into things we like to check, but are usually not checked often. Designers need to get away from the "bigger and brighter...because we can" mentality, that's all.
Having to troubleshoot a piece of hardware, I certainly appreciate having LED indicators available to speed the process. I design them in on machinery and systems for items that are critical to check. Yet, at the same time, LEDs simply don't need to be the super, ultra-bright kind unless they're indicating a warning or serious problem, or their environment requires it (i.e. sunlight).
This shouldn't be an prescence/absence of LEDs issue, it should be one of actually specifying the right LED for the job, and designing their placement in a box accordingly, including behind a technician's access panel door, if appropriate.
Keeping in mind that a Darwin Award is awarded to individuals that remove themselves from the gene pool in spectacularly stupid ways. It doesn't necessarily involve dying, but is does require that one be rendered incapable of reproducing, whether though death or sterilization.
So, who was killed or had their nuts cut off as a result of this dumb little stunt?
Trying to remove any confusion in what might be otherwise implied.
Well, I'm no geologist or hydrologist, but maybe because Niagra shield, of which Lake Michigan, Huron, and Erie reside, is made of dolomitic limestone, and constricts its drainage over Niagra Falls?
More speculation on my part (afterall, this _is_ Slashdot): The Michigan-Huron basin, although drained primarily through the St. Clair River, and to a much lesser extent the Chicago River, also loses a significant amount of water through evaporation.
So? Just because it seems like everyone else is doing it still doesn't make it right. He was called on it, and most unfortunately, there are many others out there who have even more agregious lapses in judgement and ethics who are not getting caught. If you're willing to play the game to hedge getting the rewards, then you darned well be willing to accept the risks and consequences that come with it.
Yes, I agree with you that the grant system is broke, just like a myriad of thousands of other programs in government. But using that reason as an excuse for unethical behavior? Where does this put your integrity as a scientist/researcher any further ahead?
From TFA, it would appear that it has to do with the administration of research grant money. If you make false/exaggerated claims, manipulate your results, omit your name from being party to research that substantiates your claims, all while having your research federally funded (at least partially), is why congressional oversight is getting involved.
Page rank feature - yes, it's been there for years, right along with the pop-up blocker.
Didn't see the malware alerter/blocker though, did I miss it?
...and Lake Michigan is 579 feet above sea level (this means that the majority of the state of Michigan is even higher in altitude). No predictions, regardless of how absurd, ever mentioned the oceans rising by that much.
And no, melting ice caps will not make the Great Lakes flood. If anything, global warming is more likely to make them continue shrinking in size.
Mask the identity of their crawler for this work.
The next question would be, what are Google's plans/procedure for getting a site recrawled after a problem is corrected? I could see a company being be upset about not having a quick and effective way of getting this flag cleared after fixing the problem. Or, for that matter, a less scrupulous site operator removing the malware, getting cleared, then reintroducing it, and the repeat the cycle on the next crawl when it gets flagged again.
While I think Google would like to just say that such a warning would be reset on the next crawl showing a clean site, most businesses would not be happy about this. This could potentially become an administrative overhead nightmare if not carefully done.
The answer to your first question is most likely yes.
What it would do, hopefully, is force companies in the business of serving up ads for pages to clean up their act, or find themselves going out of business. When word gets out that XYZ web ad agency's ads led Google to flag ABC company's web page as having malware, those looking to whore search rank positions will drop them like a bad habit.
Don't be surprised if somehow this becomes an integrated feature in Google Toolbar, much like their page rank feature. My guess is that you would be able to disable it, too.
I would hope that Google is looking at it more from the perspective of what is generally good for the betterment of the entire internet. Who cares if it directly benefits users of Microsoft product users more than Linux/OSX users? Bottom line, it is potentially one less infection, and one less pwned computer in a bot network. Less infections means less machines that are probing ports on random addresses, or used in brute force attacks, such as DoS attempts.
Don't get too tied up in the means, but rather what the potential end results, good or bad, might be.
No, that would be thinking outside the box...
Keeping in mind that there is a difference between restrictive thinking and the ability to think in the first place.
Perhaps one could say that her self discretion has been less restrictive from such an environment.
Good point. What's to say that some employee, either through a plant or bribe simply plugs a wireless access point into a spare RJ-45 jack in the back room.
As for their databases, they should be shamed for not improving the security for accessing them, such as tiered levels of access (what in hell is a store employee/manager doing with full database access?), adding something like RSA SecerID pin generators and the like.
On second thought to the dead battery thing: A lithium battery should be able to power the card for 3 years or more. The card company would just have to make a point to reissue a new card every two years or so to avoid that problem. This would eliminate the problem of changing the battery and allow it to be sealed into the card.
Likely, by a small lithium battery. However, the power requirements are small enough that a solar cell/capacitor arrangement or a very small mechanism that generates a small current from motion (think Eco-drive watches) would be feasible solutions in the future.
How's it controlled?See how RSA SecurID works here.
What happens when the battery in my credit card is dead?Replace it. The server should resync with the unit after one failed attempt (it will just ask you to enter the next code).
I have to agree that I'm not all that thrilled with their software and drivers for ink jet printers. The driver/software for my 682c (long ago) was rather buggy. Letting it install for a home networked printer configuration was a joke. It couldn't find files and the install had to manually be led around like a four year old and shown where to extract everything it needed. Doing a generic new printer install, with using the correct .dll files from the HP install stuff proved more successful...and eliminated the annoying messages telling me to replace a half-used ink cartridge.
HP must have felt that they were caught with their pants down (presumably urinating on their ink jet customers at the time) and decided to narrow the disparity as to not look too dumb to the average consumer. Who knows, maybe their marketing folks advocated giving their customers a small perceived price break after feeling compelled to do so by the competition's pricing.
The kicker is the less ink part. Knock the price down 25% and reduce the ink by, say, 33%, they're actually raising the price of their ink.
/. editors had their way with the submission, sorry.
I don't remember exactly how I wrote it, but I think it was something to the effect of "buck the trend set by HP of low cost printers and exorbitantly priced ink cartridges." Somehow they managed to juxtapose the words so that it referred to Kodak instead of HP. My sentence structure might have been clunkier, but it made the point (to my recollection) that HP == low cost printer + expensive ink cartridge and Kodak == fair market value printer + reasonably priced cartridges
Oh well, the summary is only the tease anyway, RTFA and enjoy.
Don't they make bike locks out of this stuff?
8-)
Here's something a little different than the typical swipe card systems that all have to be connected back to some central control:
CyberlocksWe use these where I work and it's a great retrofit when you have multiple builds, including ones that don't have any electrical power. Basically, you have electrical lock tumblers that you replace the mechanical ones currently in your door handles. The key supplies the power (no batteries in the locks to change). When the key is inserted, it powers up the tumbler. The key and the tumbler do their digital handshaking (Key says: "I'm key number 12345" tumbler checks its programmed list and sees that key 12345 is on it and says "Okay, I'm unlocking the door" and mechanically unlocks the tumbler).
Pretty interesting system with a lot of configuration options. Depending on how you set up the configuration, it's a little more involved if someone loses a key, but you can reprogram the tumblers fairly easily with a programming key, and you can set them up to permanently disable key 12345 if it is considered lost/stolen.
Not hackable? Hardly. But then again, so are mechanical locks. This system gives you an electronic equivalency of security that you have with the mechanical locks, plus with a more flexible method of key control and access.