This report is hardly independent. If you ignore the CNET reporter looking for controversial pulp to post on a blog you'll find that this report comes from smobilesystems, a little-known mobile security company who conveniently have a new piece of Android security software to sell that will stop all these non-existent rogue spyware apps. You can argue all you want that users install these apps with full knowledge and consent. They know that it's BS; they just want to use FUD to convince the unwary and paranoid that their software (which if it actually does anything, probably just checks the installed apps against a package name blacklist) will keep them safe from an imaginary raging torrent of malware on the Android platform.
Ever notice how much bigotry is put into the mouths of other people by someone hiding behind satire? Happens all the time here in the UK when people are speaking about The Duke of Edinburgh. He's earned a reputation for making racist gaffes on his various public visits but for every one he's ever made there are 50 put into his mouth by comedians trying to score a cheap laugh, often much worse than anything he's ever said. I always have to wonder exactly how much is satire, and how much is a way of disguising their own prejudice with sarcasm. Which is more disparaging, naming companies using the words "aspire" and "specialist" or describing employed autistics as "short bus staff"?
It might well be specifically legislated against in the UK within a year or two. The OFT (Office of Fair Trading) is currently undergoing a market study into potentially misleading advertising and pricing practices including this specific area of artificially inflating reference prices to exaggerate the value of discounts: http://www.oft.gov.uk/news/press/2009/126-09
"it's unclear which of the various types they'll be"
It has in fact been clear what type they'll be for several months, since this was announced mid-August in fact: ColorCode blue and amber anaglyph filters. Even clearer since you could pick them up from Sainsbury's yesterday (and possibly before).
http://www.t3.com/feature/channel-4-to-begin-3d-broadcasts-this-autumn
I'm sure there are many technical reasons why current motherboards aren't compatible with CPUs 7 or 8 generations old (I suspect a 33MHz 386 on a 1066MHz FSB might fry quite quickly) and trying to add compatibility would require so many obsolete and expensive components dedicated to the legacy processor that you'd barely be testing the real motherboard at all.
There are also good marketing reasons such as adding a built in "test if it works before I put it in a PC" diagnostic implies something of a lack of confidence in your product's reliability.
It's far more efficient to put in simple diagnostic components that output (as many do) an audible failure indication when the fully-built system is booted. I've had my share of duff motherboards and ranted and raved at the time wasted constructing and then dismantling a PC but I think a built-in test CPU is overkill.
In any case, isn't 3DES being phased out because the cost of cracking it has fallen dramatically recently?
DES has been cracked by brute force in a short time for a limited cost but estimates are that DESede (or 3DES or whatever name you prefer) would still require milennia with current methods. The fault lies at the weakest link - the choice of encryption key.
The problem is that with encryption of static data (i.e. in a situation where you can't use something like Diffie-Hellman to negotiate a random key) you need to store the key somewhere and you have lots of options both good and terrible, for example: 1. Derive it from the public information in the data 2. Store it in a database on a secure system to be retrieved when required 3. Use the same key for all data
Option 3 is prone to internal leaks (once your fixed key is out all of the passports are compromised) but option 1 (which was chosen) is prone not only to people leaking how the key is stored but also to crackers just playing around with the data to see what works, especially if you choose something really stupid and obvious like using an MD5 or SHA hash of the passport number (or worse just the raw unmodified number). This applies equally to the Rijndael (or AES) algorithm that is replacing DES or even public-private key encryption if your half-baked developer with his cushy government contract decides the private key should be embedded in the passport.
WoW does support dual core (or did when I last played 2 months ago). Blizzard have stated that WoW has two threads but one of them is significantly more processor-intensive than the other so it takes some very limited advantage of a second core. It does (or did?) however experience some strange bugs with dual core such as an FPS limit of 64 and stuttering graphics when turning around.
I think it is down to the development cost for games writers and publishers. Optimising for multiple cores (and for different numbers of cores from 1 upwards) requires at minimum a good understanding of concurrency (i.e. computer scientists) to write new code or at worst a complete re-write of an established and tested geometry engine to support vector processing. Add this to the uncertaintly of whether dedicated geometry processors (or GPUs running geometry) will be a more popular, effective or cost-effective solution and you get a CPU development that while it may technically be capable of increasing game performance simply has no current commercial support.
Uk sales tax is 17.5% and is called Value Added Tax, unsure what value it brings, maybe i'm at a genuine advantage for paying it
It is called Value Added Tax because it is a tax on the monetary value added to goods each time they are sold on to the next party in the producer-consumer chain. Companies claim back the VAT on their business purchases and pay the VAT from their sales so in the end only the difference (the added value) is taxed at each stage.
It's the warning about the new Nigerian 419 scam about to do the rounds...
Dear friend,
I am the widow of the late Mr SADDAM HUSSEIN who was recently hanged [link to BBC News article]. My dear departed husband, may God rest his soul, left to me $18 BILLION US dollar in secret bank account for provision of his family. We wish to escape to the West but as we foreign national we need UK person to deposit the $18 BILLION in English bank. For your troubles we will pay you $1.8 MILLION US dollar. Please send your eager replies to mrs_hussein284 AT yahoo.com.
Does Vim still default to starting in command mode? I suppose it does (...) It's a text editor, it should start in insert mode like every other editor.
It has something called 'Easy mode' for those who dislike the mode distinction or just want to use a dubmed-down editor interface. And why should starting in insert mode be the 'right' thing to do just because other editors do it? 99% of the time when I first open a text file I don't want to start inserting text. I want to navigate somewhere, usually by searching for a string or a line number.
Pressing some key to start typing is bloody annoying, then pressing Esc to insert commands is also annoying.
You seem to be very easily annoyed. Use vi or ViM for a while and the dual mode system becomes second nature and you miss it in other applications.
Ctrl-sequences are much better, and the default insert mode means I can do simple text editing and slowly learn other commands of the editor.
I don't see any major disadvantage here. You can do the same with ViM. All you need to start with are 'i', 'ESC' and 'ZZ'. The cursor keys and most of the navigation keys work in the same way as other editors until you learn to use the more advanced navigation available.
To be honest, I also find Vim's shortcuts extremely unintuative. Want to go to the end of the document? 99% of editors, Ctrl-end. Vim, G. Sorry, that's retarded.
Did you actually try doing that in ViM? CTRL-END works just the same as G. Has done for a long time. And why should using one arbitary key combination be more 'retarded' than another? CTRL-END could just as correctly be used to terminate the application or insert the letters 'E', 'N' and 'D'. You are entitled to your opinion but it's just arrogance to assume your interpretation is the only valid one.
Maybe it's based in the days of legacy terminals that didn't have arrow keys or even control sequences, but we're not in those days anymore; it's the text editor equivalent of still using a green-on-black text-only monitor.
It's called Vi iMproved. It takes the features that people found useful with vi (and its predecessors) with newer features added (not that the Control key you seem to have an obsession with is exactly a cutting-edge invention). Most developers I know, myself included, prefer ViM because it contains a wealth of practical features and a fast, efficient user interface for those with the patience to learn a little and get past the preoccupation with Microsoft-prescribed keyboard shortcuts.
Why haven't you petititioned the Attorney General to bring RICO charges against the members of the RIAA?
Intellectual property theft is a clear danger to our economy and the health, safety, and security of the American people. The enforcement of our intellectual property laws is among the highest priorities of the Justice Department, and I created the Intellectual Property Task Force to explore ways for us to strengthen our protection of the nation's valuable intellectual resources. With the recommendations put forward by the Task Force, the Department is prepared to build the strongest, most aggressive legal assault against intellectual property crime in our nation's history -- Attorney General John Ashcroft [RIAA web site]
They can be a real pain if your ISP isn't doing as much as they should against botnets. On a few occasions I've been unable to send mail because my ISP (NTL) is less than rigorous in that respect and have been blacklisted by SpamCopand others. Even now I can't report spam using SpamCop's email submission service because a number (not all) of NTL's mail servers are apparently blacklisted.
Perhaps a solution is making the captcha time-intensive? If it takes an additional 30 seconds of 45 seconds, it might cut down on the number of captchas a person could solve in an hour.
Perhaps a long audio captcha with some intelligence required to prevent simple voice recognition
"The first letter is Q. The second letter is V. Letter three is the letter after N. The fourth letter is the same as the second. The letter Z is not present".
I just gave the online version of Verbix a go. It seems to be lacking ONE feature described in the patent application - the ability to enter any verb form. I haven't tried the pro Verbix version but the free one requires you to enter the infinitive. It produces some odd results if you enter, say, a verb in the past tense (I smokeded, he is smokeding).
In other news, the guys over at CherryOS have announced that they have a new product...
You jest but there is some truth in that. They have one item for sale - their domain (cherryos.com). Having failed to sell their 'borrowed' product they seem to have disappeared back into the web of lies from whence they came.
Indeed. A quick look at number 5 on that list shows just how reliable a dictionary written, reviewed and read by a community of prurient 13-year-olds can be (as of writing the 5th most popular definition of neologism is The One's manjuice) . People question Wikipaedia's accuracy - just take a look at the Urban Dictionary and see how bad it could have been.
Worse than that, they [0845 numbers] aren't even local rate!
They were in 1998 when Freeserve was created (IIRC 1.3p/min during evenings and 1p/min at weekends). The local call rates have changed since then and the two no longer match.
Effectively at the time you could have considered it free as ISPs at the time used actual local points of presence and geographic numbers that charged the same as 0845 but with a subscription on top. Only a year later in 1999 did ISPs start to provide toll-free (0800) access with or without subscription.
The real myth is that Freeserve was the first. X-Stream was the first to offer subscription-free 0845 access but they required the user to view banner ads that paid for the service. ConnectFree was the first ISP to offer true subscription-free 0845 access they just didn't have Freeserve's level of press coverage.
You're right. I completely misread your original statement. I was basing my rant on your sentence 'Look, if you're not a programmer, your idea is basically worthless'. I misread that to mean you thought only programmers could produce ideas for software whereas I see now that you are suggesting non-techies would have a difficult time realising good ideas, rather than generating them in the first place. Point taken along with a slice or 6 of humble pie.
Although, frankly, now that I re-read your post I'm not sure what your point actually is. What the hell are you trying to say? Programmers need somebody to supply ideas and market analysis in order for them to create software? Or what?
Obviously, if you're a programmer who has an awesome idea, don't participate in this contest. Implement it yourself. But I don't think there's even one programmer too stupid to realize this.
I'm am trying to say that long-term successful businesses use people from many disciplines to filter out bad ideas, find gaps in the market that software can fill to generate valid new ideas as well as tailor existing good ideas so that they can progress from being just technically innovative to commercially successful. A lone developer may be able to take a good idea and turn it into a success but they may not have the business skills, domain-specific knowledge or even enough time to do alone it so I don't think it so stupid that a programmer might try to use this contest to further develop a good idea they don't have the means to persue alone especially if they fail (or don't want) to get funding and expertise from other sources such as venture capitalists, banks or their own employer.
That is so utterly absurd that it's obvious that you don't have the first clue about software development.
I can see how you could make that assumption but I feel I should defend myself here. I am a successful software developer with 10 years of experience and I work on cutting edge VoIP technology for the largest telecomms equipment manufacturer on the planet (in revenue terms). That said I do have some kind of gravtitational force twixt foot and mouth and on many occasions put pen to paper before giving something proper consideration.
Oh, and what's with the personal attacks? Don't you like video games and movies?
I have no good excuse for that behaviour. I took you for someone with no experience of industry making outrageous comments and I then proceeded to commit such an act myself. I am ashamed that I succumbed to such prejudice and pettiness and I offer you a heartfelt personal apology.
Slashdot Mirror
Does this mean that I owe Apple £0.10 every time I mutter to myself to help me remember something?
This report is hardly independent. If you ignore the CNET reporter looking for controversial pulp to post on a blog you'll find that this report comes from smobilesystems, a little-known mobile security company who conveniently have a new piece of Android security software to sell that will stop all these non-existent rogue spyware apps. You can argue all you want that users install these apps with full knowledge and consent. They know that it's BS; they just want to use FUD to convince the unwary and paranoid that their software (which if it actually does anything, probably just checks the installed apps against a package name blacklist) will keep them safe from an imaginary raging torrent of malware on the Android platform.
Ever notice how much bigotry is put into the mouths of other people by someone hiding behind satire? Happens all the time here in the UK when people are speaking about The Duke of Edinburgh. He's earned a reputation for making racist gaffes on his various public visits but for every one he's ever made there are 50 put into his mouth by comedians trying to score a cheap laugh, often much worse than anything he's ever said. I always have to wonder exactly how much is satire, and how much is a way of disguising their own prejudice with sarcasm. Which is more disparaging, naming companies using the words "aspire" and "specialist" or describing employed autistics as "short bus staff"?
It might well be specifically legislated against in the UK within a year or two. The OFT (Office of Fair Trading) is currently undergoing a market study into potentially misleading advertising and pricing practices including this specific area of artificially inflating reference prices to exaggerate the value of discounts: http://www.oft.gov.uk/news/press/2009/126-09
"it's unclear which of the various types they'll be"
It has in fact been clear what type they'll be for several months, since this was announced mid-August in fact: ColorCode blue and amber anaglyph filters. Even clearer since you could pick them up from Sainsbury's yesterday (and possibly before). http://www.t3.com/feature/channel-4-to-begin-3d-broadcasts-this-autumn
or a rocket launcher to look like a stack of pipes on satellite photos
You don't need a cloaking field to do that. Back in 1996 John Major managed to it with something called the "Scott Report".
As long as it's not a big red cross they should be safe.
I'm sure there are many technical reasons why current motherboards aren't compatible with CPUs 7 or 8 generations old (I suspect a 33MHz 386 on a 1066MHz FSB might fry quite quickly) and trying to add compatibility would require so many obsolete and expensive components dedicated to the legacy processor that you'd barely be testing the real motherboard at all.
There are also good marketing reasons such as adding a built in "test if it works before I put it in a PC" diagnostic implies something of a lack of confidence in your product's reliability.
It's far more efficient to put in simple diagnostic components that output (as many do) an audible failure indication when the fully-built system is booted. I've had my share of duff motherboards and ranted and raved at the time wasted constructing and then dismantling a PC but I think a built-in test CPU is overkill.
...because we all live inside one. Well OK technically it's not a box but beige container of unknown size and shape isn't quite so catchy.
You can have everything except the letter 'i'. Apparently Apple own that one.
DES has been cracked by brute force in a short time for a limited cost but estimates are that DESede (or 3DES or whatever name you prefer) would still require milennia with current methods. The fault lies at the weakest link - the choice of encryption key.
The problem is that with encryption of static data (i.e. in a situation where you can't use something like Diffie-Hellman to negotiate a random key) you need to store the key somewhere and you have lots of options both good and terrible, for example:
1. Derive it from the public information in the data
2. Store it in a database on a secure system to be retrieved when required
3. Use the same key for all data
Option 3 is prone to internal leaks (once your fixed key is out all of the passports are compromised) but option 1 (which was chosen) is prone not only to people leaking how the key is stored but also to crackers just playing around with the data to see what works, especially if you choose something really stupid and obvious like using an MD5 or SHA hash of the passport number (or worse just the raw unmodified number). This applies equally to the Rijndael (or AES) algorithm that is replacing DES or even public-private key encryption if your half-baked developer with his cushy government contract decides the private key should be embedded in the passport.
WoW does support dual core (or did when I last played 2 months ago). Blizzard have stated that WoW has two threads but one of them is significantly more processor-intensive than the other so it takes some very limited advantage of a second core. It does (or did?) however experience some strange bugs with dual core such as an FPS limit of 64 and stuttering graphics when turning around.
I think it is down to the development cost for games writers and publishers. Optimising for multiple cores (and for different numbers of cores from 1 upwards) requires at minimum a good understanding of concurrency (i.e. computer scientists) to write new code or at worst a complete re-write of an established and tested geometry engine to support vector processing. Add this to the uncertaintly of whether dedicated geometry processors (or GPUs running geometry) will be a more popular, effective or cost-effective solution and you get a CPU development that while it may technically be capable of increasing game performance simply has no current commercial support.
It is called Value Added Tax because it is a tax on the monetary value added to goods each time they are sold on to the next party in the producer-consumer chain. Companies claim back the VAT on their business purchases and pay the VAT from their sales so in the end only the difference (the added value) is taxed at each stage.
It's the warning about the new Nigerian 419 scam about to do the rounds...
Dear friend,
I am the widow of the late Mr SADDAM HUSSEIN who was recently hanged [link to BBC News article]. My dear departed husband, may God rest his soul, left to me $18 BILLION US dollar in secret bank account for provision of his family. We wish to escape to the West but as we foreign national we need UK person to deposit the $18 BILLION in English bank. For your troubles we will pay you $1.8 MILLION US dollar. Please send your eager replies to mrs_hussein284 AT yahoo.com.
May God be with you.
Mrs Petronella Hussein
when Firefox 2.0 seems to quite happily lock up on its own with no need for help from the script-kiddies?
It has something called 'Easy mode' for those who dislike the mode distinction or just want to use a dubmed-down editor interface. And why should starting in insert mode be the 'right' thing to do just because other editors do it? 99% of the time when I first open a text file I don't want to start inserting text. I want to navigate somewhere, usually by searching for a string or a line number.
You seem to be very easily annoyed. Use vi or ViM for a while and the dual mode system becomes second nature and you miss it in other applications.
I don't see any major disadvantage here. You can do the same with ViM. All you need to start with are 'i', 'ESC' and 'ZZ'. The cursor keys and most of the navigation keys work in the same way as other editors until you learn to use the more advanced navigation available.
Did you actually try doing that in ViM? CTRL-END works just the same as G. Has done for a long time. And why should using one arbitary key combination be more 'retarded' than another? CTRL-END could just as correctly be used to terminate the application or insert the letters 'E', 'N' and 'D'. You are entitled to your opinion but it's just arrogance to assume your interpretation is the only valid one.
It's called Vi iMproved. It takes the features that people found useful with vi (and its predecessors) with newer features added (not that the Control key you seem to have an obsession with is exactly a cutting-edge invention). Most developers I know, myself included, prefer ViM because it contains a wealth of practical features and a fast, efficient user interface for those with the patience to learn a little and get past the preoccupation with Microsoft-prescribed keyboard shortcuts.
Intellectual property theft is a clear danger to our economy and the health, safety, and security of the American people. The enforcement of our intellectual property laws is among the highest priorities of the Justice Department, and I created the Intellectual Property Task Force to explore ways for us to strengthen our protection of the nation's valuable intellectual resources. With the recommendations put forward by the Task Force, the Department is prepared to build the strongest, most aggressive legal assault against intellectual property crime in our nation's history
-- Attorney General John Ashcroft [RIAA web site]
They can be a real pain if your ISP isn't doing as much as they should against botnets. On a few occasions I've been unable to send mail because my ISP (NTL) is less than rigorous in that respect and have been blacklisted by SpamCop and others. Even now I can't report spam using SpamCop's email submission service because a number (not all) of NTL's mail servers are apparently blacklisted.
I just gave the online version of Verbix a go. It seems to be lacking ONE feature described in the patent application - the ability to enter any verb form. I haven't tried the pro Verbix version but the free one requires you to enter the infinitive. It produces some odd results if you enter, say, a verb in the past tense (I smokeded, he is smokeding).
Indeed. A quick look at number 5 on that list shows just how reliable a dictionary written, reviewed and read by a community of prurient 13-year-olds can be (as of writing the 5th most popular definition of neologism is The One's manjuice) . People question Wikipaedia's accuracy - just take a look at the Urban Dictionary and see how bad it could have been.
They were in 1998 when Freeserve was created (IIRC 1.3p/min during evenings and 1p/min at weekends). The local call rates have changed since then and the two no longer match.
Effectively at the time you could have considered it free as ISPs at the time used actual local points of presence and geographic numbers that charged the same as 0845 but with a subscription on top. Only a year later in 1999 did ISPs start to provide toll-free (0800) access with or without subscription.
The real myth is that Freeserve was the first. X-Stream was the first to offer subscription-free 0845 access but they required the user to view banner ads that paid for the service. ConnectFree was the first ISP to offer true subscription-free 0845 access they just didn't have Freeserve's level of press coverage.