those are some seriously good points, but I'm afraid you're just towing the party line here, mick.
I'm not in any party, Bill.:-) And I can assure I don't tow ANY line, and it has gotten me kicked out of many a studio. The guys with the egos upstairs often don't like to be challenged.
With the exception of Loveless and to an extent, Piper, no studio is needed or wanted for the true masterpiece.
I never said you couldn't make good art at home. I just said it'll never sound as good as the big boys.
Not a single $90,000 compressor was used on any of these albums. no $2M 'desk' (your parlance) was required to complete WL/WH
Well, I've never used a $90,000 compressor. Let's not get ridiculous. The Focusrite Red-3 comes in at around 3 grand. The Tube-Tech stuff sounds good too.;-)
And the most expensive desk (industry parlance) I have worked on to date only cost $840,000 at retail.:-)
But if you truly believe you can get your stuff to sound like that at home with a computer and a few plugins, you're mistaken. I've used the expensive stuff, and I've used the inexpensive stuff, and I can assure you there are light-years of distance between them in terms of audio integrity. When I tracked on an Amek Mozart RN (Ruperet Neve) for the first time, I couldn't BELIEVE how hard you could hit the mic pre's with signal. They just WOULD NOT distort. Up until then I had never seen anything like it.
What I'm truly disappointed about is that no one challenged me by talking about the lastest Victor Wooten album (I think it's called Yin/Yang). There is the rumor floating around that he did it entirely on his Roland home harddisk porta-studio thingie.
Well don't believe the hype. I've read a lot about it in Mix Magazine and the Roland Users Group magazine, and he tracked the important stuff (drums and bass) in an expensive Nashville studio on a Neve desk using killer mics and killer converters, and them transferred those tracks to the Roland at the digital level. He only did a few overdubs on the portable thing.
And now, with my Pod and my Tascam MD 8track, my cluster of smc '57 and a nice stretch of hardwood floors, I can attain better sounds than they got on Rubber Soul. all it takes is a little imagination and a a bit of tweeking in sound forge...
Well, that was more than 30 years ago. Ancient history in terms of technology. Pick a more recent target.:-)
Let me also say that I'm not trying to criticize anyone here. I hope you all make records and become millionaires! I encourage you all to get better at your craft and go crazy trying new things. Hell I'll even some over and work for free on your project! If you hate me, show me the door!:-)
I just kinda have a pet peeve about audio. Next time you see me you can slap me because of it.:-)
Do you really think that the success of a song hinges upon the subtle differences between "professional" mixes & mastering and what can be accomplished by a self producing musician with good ears?
I don't recall saying that. This is immaterial to what I was saying. Many records that sound bad do well. Just don't ever ask me to make one.:-)
And your point about having to do some sort of apprenticeship is just plain wrong too. It is no different than any other aspect of creating music. You can learn it (and invent it) on your own.
Perhaps, and you can believe this if you choose, but there are SOME things in audio engineering that require knowledge and experience. For example I know a guy who has been an "engineer" for about 10 years and STILL doesn't understand phase and constantly makes mix decisions that cause things in his mix to disappear when played in mono (for example). You can be ignorant and be happy, but that doesn't mean you're not going to shoot yourself in your foot.
Do you think that audio engineers are the only people who have good ears?
Of course not. And I didn't say that.:-)
Do you think it isn't possible for people to change mic placements and tweak knobs until they like the sounds?
Of course.:-)
And besides, it's the songs that really matter, not the glitter and gloss of production. That's one thing that we should have learned from the 80's. No amount of mixing and tweaking will save a crappy song. And on the other hand, a great song will shine through no matter what the level of production.
Of course, but my issue is really audio integrity and not really prodcution.
And I really wish you'd stop putting words in my mouth.:-)
I agree that getting a home recording to sound like what plays on the top 40 is not achievable by most people. On the other hand, not everybody WANTS their music to sound like the overproduced underwhelming crap that plays on the top 40.
To me these are two different issues. Good audio-integrity is key, whether it's a symphony or a top-40 act. Let's not confuse over-production with audio integrity, they are two different things.:-)
I want every project I do to have good audio integrity. That means going to tape (or disc) with good mics, good pre's, good converters, and using techniques that are proven to sound good.
The record that Ricky Martin did that had La Vida Loca on it is a perfect example of what I am talking about. The record IS overproduced drivel. The songs suck, and so does he!:-) But the audio integrity of that disc is SLAMMIN and I wish I could say that I tracked and mixed it. It sounds world class.
I am an audio engineer and have had the good fortune of working in some small, medium, and high-end studios, and I can say with a great deal of certainty, that some home wannabee engineer will NEVER be able to get his mixes to sound like the big boys... PERIOD.
Why do you think the big artists and labels hire guys like Roger Nichols, Ed Cherney, and George Massenburg? (if you want to see some serious gear check out HIS stuff!) They hire them because their ears have DECADES of experience.
Home engineers using modern, inexpensive, good-sounding digital tools simply don't have the experience. And getting the good experience isn't simply a matter of working in your home studio a lot. It's a question of working as a 2nd engineer to a guy with a ton of experience. Somethings are learned in a book, others are learned by working with a master, and both a required to be good.
Home engineers also don't have reliable accoustic spaces. How do you know what you have on tape if the environment your recording in and listening in has resonances at several frequencies? You don't.
For example, I didn't know what my home listening environment (ie my computer/stereo room) truly sounded like until I finally got to mix a record in a real accoustically neutral control room in NY City, on a world class desk and a great pair of studio monitors. Getting the project home in my computer room with all of those parallel walls was a shocker... suddenly it didn't sound the same.:-) And forget about the car....:-)
The bottom line is this. It still takes money and experience to build these good accoustic spaces and to make a TRULY wonderful record. Yes, the mic-pre's in the Mackie Digital 8-Buss sound OK, but they don't sound like a Neve 1073, an Amek 9098i, or a GML 8304, and that's for sure.
I am all for home-based digital recording studios (I've got one myself), but as long as the people running them don't have the knowledge and experience required, all they're going to produce is a decent demo-quality project.
I would however encourage all of you to continue what you're doing. Continue writing and recording your music and strive to make it great. Because who knows, maybe it is.:-)
I thought the author's point was that linux had too many apps (something that most people with a brain would say is a good thing)? But then he goes on to spend more time talking about how it is still too hard configure, and not easy enough to use.
Well which is it??
How can something like a software distribution be too big anyway? (BIG in this case meaning number of apps, not disk space used)
Many of the applications are not installed by default, and if it had fewer apps they'd be complaning that there weren't enough.
So without even meaning to, basically this one article has proclaimed linux to be number one because it has TOO MANY APPLICATIONS!!!!!
:-)
Hooray! Linux has finally made it. We have too many applications!
I've been trying to express this thought for years and haven't been able to phrase it half as well. The mac gui really does emotionally and intellectually regress those that use it.
Yes, I saw this demonstrated quite effectively on THE MACHINE THAT CHANGED THE WORLD. The Xerox PARC people were mentioning how the GUI was designed so that even 2 or 3 year old children could use it.
The researcher then brought his 2 year old daughter in, and she then sat down at a machine, used a simple paint program to draw a ball and change the color of the ball.
Although, from what I know of the orbital inclinations of satellites that do scientific reseach, they aren't high enough to make it to those (Alaskan) latitudes. It would have had to have been a spy satellite in a polar orbit (90 degree orbital inclintation) thaty killed him. And if that were the case the feds would have impounded his body since it had melded with the satellite!:-)
This may be seen as O-T but, why do companies insist on prosecuting the "illegal entrant" who just plays around on the system, and does no damage other than, possibly, to a company's reputation?
The answer to this question is actually quite simple:
Corporations, and even the government are finally learning that the net is the great equalizer, and they nave no control over it. In the beginning both the gov't and the corps thought they could control and manipulate things, but over time they learned that they had zero control.
This is a frightening thing to learn for a person or organization who thought they had utlimate power. So in order to gain back some of the power they lost by entering the internet community they will prosecute to the hilt in an attempt to set examples, because there probably are one or two people who won't hack or crack after they read those Time and Newsweek cover stories about the 14 year old kids who lost their computers and went to jail after hacking the KFC website looking for their secret-sauce recipe.
The same thing goes for the gov't as well. They ALWAYS over-react... and it's policy. Look at history. Recent examples being Ruby Ridge, Waco, and removing Elian Gonzales from that house in Miami. They go in full force to set examples in the hope that citizens will toe the line and be good little citizens and not do anything except sit around, watch Jerry Springer, and gain weight.
(I am concerned, though, with whether GPG should be used on Windows as Stormie points out above.)
In fact, here is what I asked Werner, and his exact reply:
-----
Are you saying that the Win32 version does have a secure EGD now and that it is offers similar security as PGP? No worries?
Actually Windows is quite good in delivering much random - everything is different with every use:-)
We use the same methods Peter Gutmann uses for his cryptlib and actually it is pretty the same source code. He has done quite a lot of research in this area and so I think the random numbers are okay.
Please note that the GPG website says that "due to the lack of a well tested entropy source, it should be used with some caution" under Windows. Linux is the recommended platform, the BSDs are the only others that get a full thumbs up.
Actually, although the site said that, it's not the case anymore, and I believe hasn't been the case since version 1.0.3 (maybe 1.0.2?). I asked Werner this very question this morning and he said that yes, the Win32 version is running securely and that he had forgotten to update the website as to this fact.
As I had originally assumed, the moment he removed the warning from next to the link to download the Win32 binary, was the moment it was known to be secure. He has now
updated the GnuPG web site to reflect this.
Werner is working on a gui program for both Win32 and linux called Gnu Privacy Assistant. It won't reside in the system tray, however.
From the sound of it, when I last asked him anyway, I got the impression he hadn't worked on it in a while.
With regards to a secure entropy source on the Windows version.... that warning used to be posted right next to the link where you could download the win32 binary.... but it's been gone frorm there for some time. So I made (the perhaps erroneous) assumption that they had found a secure EGD and that the windows version was kosher.
As someone pointed out, the warning is still there (though not as severe) but it's in an out of the way spot ont he web site. It's not as conspicuous, which I think is a bad thing.
So your conclusion is to continue to lock up innocent people, because the court system won't be able to consider new facts?
I guess we have found a Bush voter.
Did you ignore what I read or simply not read it at all?
MY CONCLUSION, was that the CJ system won't likely SUDDENLY decide that fingreprints aren't very unique for the reason stated in my previous post.
That conclusion has NOTHING to do with my personal views or for whom I voted. What I would do is likely DIAMETRICALLY OPPOSED to what the system will do.
And people wonder why our standardized test scores are as bad as they are... based on posts like this idiot AC's it's no surprise.
Learn to ACTUALLY read... as opposed to mouthing the words.
Slashdot is comprised primarily of Linux users not Linux developers. Questions like this are better sent to mailing lists frequented by the people who make these decisions than to a bunch of armchair critics. This article is similar to asking a bunch of random Windows users where Windows(TM) development should go and expecting a coherrent answer.
I disagree. Sure, Slashdot is frequented by linux users... AND most of them are very technically literate; certainly moreso than the average Windoze user. They know what they want out of the future of their OS and are not afraid to tell you. I suspect Windoze users just sit and wait for the next release to come down the pike.
It's very unlikely that the strength of weight given to fingerprint evidence in courts will lessen very much. Too many past cases have hinged on such evidence and the CJ system doesn't want to open THAT can of worms.
Think of all of the tens of thousands, if not millions of cases that would have to be looked at again if it were happen. The resources for that simply don't exist.
I'm wondering if the Department of Justice's case against MicroSoft is gonna quietly go away under Bush. This isn't flamebait -- I'm hoping someone will say something encouraging.
Why is it more likely to go away under Bush? Gore loves big corporations as much as the next guy.
The fact that one of Gore's daughters recently went to work for MS could cloud things, though.
But it raises the question, since he is bound to fail, why do you believe voting for him has any value?
Well, one of the major party candidates is going to lose also. Which meant (means) in the final analysis, he had no chance either. So I guess all of those voters wasted their votes as well since their guy didn't (isn't going to) win.
How long are you "serious voters" going to let yourselves get taken hostage by these ridiculous arguments that a vote for Nader equals a vote for Bush?
They (meaning "THE MAN", the 2-Party apologists, etc...) will have one of those arguments every 4 years if we don't START to put a stop to it RIGHT NOW. Sure, maybe Nader won't win this time, or next time, but as the articles says, he needs the votes to get on the Green Party Ballot next time.
And who knows, maybe in 12 or 16 years we'll have some real alternatives to the 2-Party, pro-corporate-welfare JERKS who take bribes to sell out their constituents.
Aren't you people tired of this crap? I know I sure as hell am.
And don't forget, Souter turned out to be one of the cooler justices in the court and HE wasn't appointed be a (sellout) Democrat.
Don't waste your vote by voting for jerks who sellout to corporate dollars. Vote for someone who ACTUALLY cares and will enact REAL change.
Wow. What was the point of posting this article? All it does it tell us what a bunch of ridiculously inflexible IT managers at some backwater locations would do if the rebel OS got installed on their network.
Who cares.
What's important is how YOU would respond, not someone you don't even know, or care about.
Exactly. Heck, there's 5 or 6 of them at the NSA's crypto museum. I even got to play with one of them. All of then at the crypto museum are in amazing condition, to boot.
Any predictions on how long it will take someone to crack this encryption method? You can sure bet people will start trying!
Ciphers should always be attacked for weaknesses, and attacks on the 5 AES finalists began the moment they were submitted, and they will (and should) continue.
In it's securist implementation it's likely that key exhaustion is the only way to crack this one.
I don't need to read anything again. There is a chance their server will have to store the message.
Further, and as everyone knows, the message will STILL have to go through a dozen routers between peer 1 and peer 2, so their whole damn plan falls to the ground.
Ummm, the email is still going through THEIR server, so what is to keep the FBI from getting a court-order to put Carnivore on this company's (AbsoluteFuture.com) server?
Someone please explain to me how this is any different or any better than the Public-Key systems they I'm using right now?
Does it matter how many servers the encrypted message goes through when you're using military grade encryption like GPG employs? I think not.
Do we even KNOW what ciphers this company is going to use? And since they'll probably close the source code can we be sure it's secure? No, probably not.
This silly idea sounds like they're going after people who don't actually use encryption now and will be impressed with the SOUND of this idea. When in reality they'd be better off running GPG or PGP.
Slashdot Mirror
I'm not in any party, Bill. :-) And I can assure I don't tow ANY line, and it has gotten me kicked out of many a studio. The guys with the egos upstairs often don't like to be challenged.
I never said you couldn't make good art at home. I just said it'll never sound as good as the big boys.
Well, I've never used a $90,000 compressor. Let's not get ridiculous. The Focusrite Red-3 comes in at around 3 grand. The Tube-Tech stuff sounds good too. ;-)
And the most expensive desk (industry parlance) I have worked on to date only cost $840,000 at retail. :-)
But if you truly believe you can get your stuff to sound like that at home with a computer and a few plugins, you're mistaken. I've used the expensive stuff, and I've used the inexpensive stuff, and I can assure you there are light-years of distance between them in terms of audio integrity. When I tracked on an Amek Mozart RN (Ruperet Neve) for the first time, I couldn't BELIEVE how hard you could hit the mic pre's with signal. They just WOULD NOT distort. Up until then I had never seen anything like it.
What I'm truly disappointed about is that no one challenged me by talking about the lastest Victor Wooten album (I think it's called Yin/Yang). There is the rumor floating around that he did it entirely on his Roland home harddisk porta-studio thingie.
Well don't believe the hype. I've read a lot about it in Mix Magazine and the Roland Users Group magazine, and he tracked the important stuff (drums and bass) in an expensive Nashville studio on a Neve desk using killer mics and killer converters, and them transferred those tracks to the Roland at the digital level. He only did a few overdubs on the portable thing.
Well, that was more than 30 years ago. Ancient history in terms of technology. Pick a more recent target. :-)
Let me also say that I'm not trying to criticize anyone here. I hope you all make records and become millionaires! I encourage you all to get better at your craft and go crazy trying new things. Hell I'll even some over and work for free on your project! If you hate me, show me the door! :-)
I just kinda have a pet peeve about audio. Next time you see me you can slap me because of it. :-)
Rich...
Elitist, yes. Naive? I don't think so.
I don't recall saying that. This is immaterial to what I was saying. Many records that sound bad do well. Just don't ever ask me to make one. :-)
Perhaps, and you can believe this if you choose, but there are SOME things in audio engineering that require knowledge and experience. For example I know a guy who has been an "engineer" for about 10 years and STILL doesn't understand phase and constantly makes mix decisions that cause things in his mix to disappear when played in mono (for example). You can be ignorant and be happy, but that doesn't mean you're not going to shoot yourself in your foot.
Of course not. And I didn't say that. :-)
Of course. :-)
Of course, but my issue is really audio integrity and not really prodcution.
And I really wish you'd stop putting words in my mouth. :-)
Rich...
To me these are two different issues. Good audio-integrity is key, whether it's a symphony or a top-40 act. Let's not confuse over-production with audio integrity, they are two different things. :-)
I want every project I do to have good audio integrity. That means going to tape (or disc) with good mics, good pre's, good converters, and using techniques that are proven to sound good.
The record that Ricky Martin did that had La Vida Loca on it is a perfect example of what I am talking about. The record IS overproduced drivel. The songs suck, and so does he! :-) But the audio integrity of that disc is SLAMMIN and I wish I could say that I tracked and mixed it. It sounds world class.
Rich...
Why do you think the big artists and labels hire guys like Roger Nichols, Ed Cherney, and George Massenburg? (if you want to see some serious gear check out HIS stuff!) They hire them because their ears have DECADES of experience.
Home engineers using modern, inexpensive, good-sounding digital tools simply don't have the experience. And getting the good experience isn't simply a matter of working in your home studio a lot. It's a question of working as a 2nd engineer to a guy with a ton of experience. Somethings are learned in a book, others are learned by working with a master, and both a required to be good.
Home engineers also don't have reliable accoustic spaces. How do you know what you have on tape if the environment your recording in and listening in has resonances at several frequencies? You don't.
For example, I didn't know what my home listening environment (ie my computer/stereo room) truly sounded like until I finally got to mix a record in a real accoustically neutral control room in NY City, on a world class desk and a great pair of studio monitors. Getting the project home in my computer room with all of those parallel walls was a shocker... suddenly it didn't sound the same. :-) And forget about the car.... :-)
The bottom line is this. It still takes money and experience to build these good accoustic spaces and to make a TRULY wonderful record. Yes, the mic-pre's in the Mackie Digital 8-Buss sound OK, but they don't sound like a Neve 1073, an Amek 9098i, or a GML 8304, and that's for sure.
I am all for home-based digital recording studios (I've got one myself), but as long as the people running them don't have the knowledge and experience required, all they're going to produce is a decent demo-quality project.
I would however encourage all of you to continue what you're doing. Continue writing and recording your music and strive to make it great. Because who knows, maybe it is. :-)
Rich...
Well which is it??
How can something like a software distribution be too big anyway? (BIG in this case meaning number of apps, not disk space used)
Many of the applications are not installed by default, and if it had fewer apps they'd be complaning that there weren't enough.
So without even meaning to, basically this one article has proclaimed linux to be number one because it has TOO MANY APPLICATIONS!!!!!
Hooray! Linux has finally made it. We have too many applications!
Rich...
Yes, I saw this demonstrated quite effectively on THE MACHINE THAT CHANGED THE WORLD. The Xerox PARC people were mentioning how the GUI was designed so that even 2 or 3 year old children could use it.
The researcher then brought his 2 year old daughter in, and she then sat down at a machine, used a simple paint program to draw a ball and change the color of the ball.
Rich...
She was a cutie.
That satellite had a part in his death though! :-)
Although, from what I know of the orbital inclinations of satellites that do scientific reseach, they aren't high enough to make it to those (Alaskan) latitudes. It would have had to have been a spy satellite in a polar orbit (90 degree orbital inclintation) thaty killed him. And if that were the case the feds would have impounded his body since it had melded with the satellite! :-)
Rich...
Rich...
The answer to this question is actually quite simple:
Corporations, and even the government are finally learning that the net is the great equalizer, and they nave no control over it. In the beginning both the gov't and the corps thought they could control and manipulate things, but over time they learned that they had zero control.
This is a frightening thing to learn for a person or organization who thought they had utlimate power. So in order to gain back some of the power they lost by entering the internet community they will prosecute to the hilt in an attempt to set examples, because there probably are one or two people who won't hack or crack after they read those Time and Newsweek cover stories about the 14 year old kids who lost their computers and went to jail after hacking the KFC website looking for their secret-sauce recipe.
The same thing goes for the gov't as well. They ALWAYS over-react... and it's policy. Look at history. Recent examples being Ruby Ridge, Waco, and removing Elian Gonzales from that house in Miami. They go in full force to set examples in the hope that citizens will toe the line and be good little citizens and not do anything except sit around, watch Jerry Springer, and gain weight.
Rich...
In fact, here is what I asked Werner, and his exact reply:
-----
Are you saying that the Win32 version does have a secure EGD now and that it is offers similar security as PGP? No worries?
Actually Windows is quite good in delivering much random - everything is different with every use :-)
We use the same methods Peter Gutmann uses for his cryptlib and actually it is pretty the same source code. He has done quite a lot of research in this area and so I think the random numbers are okay.
Werner
-----
Rich...
Actually, although the site said that, it's not the case anymore, and I believe hasn't been the case since version 1.0.3 (maybe 1.0.2?). I asked Werner this very question this morning and he said that yes, the Win32 version is running securely and that he had forgotten to update the website as to this fact.
As I had originally assumed, the moment he removed the warning from next to the link to download the Win32 binary, was the moment it was known to be secure. He has now updated the GnuPG web site to reflect this.
Rich...
Rich...
From the sound of it, when I last asked him anyway, I got the impression he hadn't worked on it in a while.
With regards to a secure entropy source on the Windows version.... that warning used to be posted right next to the link where you could download the win32 binary.... but it's been gone frorm there for some time. So I made (the perhaps erroneous) assumption that they had found a secure EGD and that the windows version was kosher.
As someone pointed out, the warning is still there (though not as severe) but it's in an out of the way spot ont he web site. It's not as conspicuous, which I think is a bad thing.
Rich...
Did you ignore what I read or simply not read it at all?
MY CONCLUSION, was that the CJ system won't likely SUDDENLY decide that fingreprints aren't very unique for the reason stated in my previous post.
That conclusion has NOTHING to do with my personal views or for whom I voted. What I would do is likely DIAMETRICALLY OPPOSED to what the system will do.
And people wonder why our standardized test scores are as bad as they are... based on posts like this idiot AC's it's no surprise.
Learn to ACTUALLY read... as opposed to mouthing the words.
Rich...
I disagree. Sure, Slashdot is frequented by linux users... AND most of them are very technically literate; certainly moreso than the average Windoze user. They know what they want out of the future of their OS and are not afraid to tell you. I suspect Windoze users just sit and wait for the next release to come down the pike.
Rich...
Think of all of the tens of thousands, if not millions of cases that would have to be looked at again if it were happen. The resources for that simply don't exist.
Rich...
Why is it more likely to go away under Bush? Gore loves big corporations as much as the next guy.
The fact that one of Gore's daughters recently went to work for MS could cloud things, though.
Rich...
Rich...
Well, one of the major party candidates is going to lose also. Which meant (means) in the final analysis, he had no chance either. So I guess all of those voters wasted their votes as well since their guy didn't (isn't going to) win.
Rich...
They (meaning "THE MAN", the 2-Party apologists, etc...) will have one of those arguments every 4 years if we don't START to put a stop to it RIGHT NOW. Sure, maybe Nader won't win this time, or next time, but as the articles says, he needs the votes to get on the Green Party Ballot next time.
And who knows, maybe in 12 or 16 years we'll have some real alternatives to the 2-Party, pro-corporate-welfare JERKS who take bribes to sell out their constituents.
Aren't you people tired of this crap? I know I sure as hell am.
And don't forget, Souter turned out to be one of the cooler justices in the court and HE wasn't appointed be a (sellout) Democrat.
Don't waste your vote by voting for jerks who sellout to corporate dollars. Vote for someone who ACTUALLY cares and will enact REAL change.
Rich...
Who cares.
What's important is how YOU would respond, not someone you don't even know, or care about.
Rich...
Rich...
Ciphers should always be attacked for weaknesses, and attacks on the 5 AES finalists began the moment they were submitted, and they will (and should) continue.
In it's securist implementation it's likely that key exhaustion is the only way to crack this one.
Rich...
Further, and as everyone knows, the message will STILL have to go through a dozen routers between peer 1 and peer 2, so their whole damn plan falls to the ground.
I stand by my statement. This scheme is stupid.
Rich...
Someone please explain to me how this is any different or any better than the Public-Key systems they I'm using right now?
Does it matter how many servers the encrypted message goes through when you're using military grade encryption like GPG employs? I think not.
Do we even KNOW what ciphers this company is going to use? And since they'll probably close the source code can we be sure it's secure? No, probably not.
This silly idea sounds like they're going after people who don't actually use encryption now and will be impressed with the SOUND of this idea. When in reality they'd be better off running GPG or PGP.
Rich...