The article assumes (US govenrment) suspicion and pressure to kill off the project, but neither is cited. This is not news (yet anyway).
TFA:
"Good guys need confidentiality, too," notes DEMO Executive Producer Chris Shipley.
This software sounds pretty damned cool. The article does not discuss specifically end user concern over the loose security (or even outright disclosure) practices of service providers (for profit, etc.) here lately, and I think that this user is the market for this software. People just aren't tickled by the idea of companies databasing and exploiting private conversations for the purpose of ad display. While this is certainly not the first software that is able to address these concerns, this is the first time I have seen it discussed in the context of who may not like it instead of the opposite. No specific information about the mechanics of the system is given.
While the idea of governmental interest in the personal conversations is not exactly preposterous, there is an awful lot of political hype on the subject. I think that the article could have given some more insight and a lot less innuendo. Potential for controversy does not controversy make. The article is actually bracketed by assumptions.
Void Communications had better be ready for a call from Department of Homeland Security.
and
...but that's not going to stop people from raising concerns.
Could not a software roundup have given a little pertintent information in place of all the speculation?
No, genius, US Attorney Generals do not exactly have jurisdiction over the overseas types --hence the emphasis. Please, don't anyone train US resident scammers! What are you arguing here? Just felt like posting? Did I somehow indicate that I am prejudiced against US Citizen scammers vs. foreign ones? Are you standing up for some group, whose rights I have trampled? I mean, really... bouncing off the walls.
Vista user experince... for crap. I spent the past couple of months testing this OS, and when my gaming XP boot feels like a safe haven, I know that something is definitely wrong. For migrating XP users, the interface feels counter-intuitive. Even more telling, my college-going roommate has only ever known Red Hat (thank you very much, he has only ever known linux on the front-room computer), and for him the simplest task, like installing Firefox (where's the package?) was torture (not to say there has been a change here). I became so frustrated with ctrl-esc,r yielding a "r" in the ever-so-laggy search sub-start dialogue (instead of a run window) tonight that I just blew out the whole partition. I actually wanted to run iexplore for once! I am downloading Mandrake 64 now, thank the creator.
I found Vista to be too heavy on the eye candy, and it seemed that "power tools" and control panel received heavy design attention, while the ~deeper~ apps like regedit and msconfig are the same old barf. Vista = skinned XP != new OS. Meh. Shiny? Yes. New? No.
Lock it down. Cancel the email account and have any attached credit cards cancelled/changed. Change your checking account number. Keep thorough records and dig to find recent bank statements, etc. This can be a huge hassle.
File complaints with the federal and your state Attorney Generals against the trading company immediately. Consider a 6-month paid monitoring service from a major credit reporting bureau. Both the feds and your state will have advisory hotlines. IANAL and slashdot is not the place you want to go for this kind of information. Basically, don't fsck around if you think anything has been compromised.
I've been there, and these steps cost me a few dollars but saved me tens of thousands. Overseas types are pretty damned creative with your numbers. paranoid != not out to get you.
In my experience, rewarding expected performance tends to slaughter exceptional performance. See: Wendy's effect. Once you had all the slackers fired or whipped into shape, everyone would be rewarded all the time. See: law of diminishing returns.
http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/07/11/ 0218250 quasi-dupe.
I hope so, but I doubt it. I have always believed that the most likely inroads for for Linux is through people that have never owned a Windows box, or have never learned to use a computer. I expect that almost all Win98 users will go/have gone to buy a new computer with XP or Vista preloaded. Most linux converts are already geeks.
Please get it from a website, not Radio Shack. Most of the stores carry a few Vex items, but most of the workers will not really know what you're asking about. Radio Shack does not deserve patronage from intelligent folks right now. Also, a hobby store will be a good place to meet up with someone who can help you with hands-on experience, while a local electronics shop can help with the engineering aspect of things.
If falling perpetually at 17000 miles per hour is so easy, lets see you do it!
Consider these. Supply missions and such have to achieve this velocity, too. There is a lot of manmade debris, not to mention natural hazards. Orbiting the Earth is not a simple groove in which the ISS slides by day in and day out. Orbit is a carefully calculated and obsessively maintained state of teetering on escape from gravity and orbital collapse into the atmosphere; thus, the orbit is a stressful, chaotic, dangerous and relatively unpredictable state for a floating flophouse.
Care to belittle the program a little more, doctor? Go ahead and make another comparison between standing on the earth and venturing into space.
Fasterfox makes firefox load pages more quickly through various methods. The Firefox Tweak Guide has many options for about:config and other tips for improving your specific experience. Firefox Preloader will make Firefox load more quickly by making Firefox do the same thing Internet Explorer does. Firefox will use system resources before being specifically called. The application will remain resident in memory like IE does, waiting for you to click the little fox. In this way, IE loads faster but slows overall system performance. How to use UPX to speed it up a little is what this article can tell you. Probably not the best way to go about it, but I have implemented this method on my HTPC.
It is VERY important to realize that the few seconds you wait around for the initial loading of Firefox are quickly surpassed by the lag you experience while using Microsoft's Explorer. Firefox ignores many advertisements right off the showroom floor, but can be configured to show NEARLY NO ADS AT ALL. FlashBlock,AdBlock, and NoScript will make your browsing much faster and cleaner.
Using Firefox, especially with these and other add-ons, will make your browsing incredibly secure. Explorer is left in the dust in comparison.
So the trade-off you seem to have made is this: A few seconds at load time in exhange for a combined several minutes waiting for ads to be displayed, just so you can fall victim to the shiny! new! IE exploit that seems to get barfed all over Slashdot once a week. This while using an underdeveloped, overpriced, practically featureless browser that has no database of expansions. Unless you are using the Vista beta (7 beta) you aren't even using tabs! Do you choose to commut on a horse? HOW DID YOU EVER SURVIVE THE PERMIAN MASS EXTINCTION? BAH! Why did I bother?
For a long time now, I have been sick of reading about IE exploits. When I was a retail repair tech, these could mean an extra buck or two for the next few weeks. The only real news about internet browser exploits comes when browser != iexplore.
Hell yes! Thank you for a great comment. Gus Grissom, who died in the Apollo 1 fire in 1967, is from my home state of Indiana. Many highways, buildings, and events are named for him, especially in Mitchell, IN. The three character code for Grissom Air Force Base is GUS. I have always thought that that was a nice touch. Astronauts don't get this type of accolade these days (except on Slashdot). As I recall, they were especially ignored between the destructions of Challenger and Columbia. Why no John Grunsfeld street in Chicago?
In Soviet Russia, potassium hydroxide breathes you!
Fron TFA: "NASA declared a spacecraft emergency for only the second time in the eight-year history of the station. The first time was for a false alarm of an ammonia spill."
That is a fantastic track record for an environment in a constant state of upgrade, falling perpetually at 17000 miles per hour. Nevermind the flammable nature of the atmosphere that surrounds overworked electronics and the parade of "space tourists." Ever have a visiting family member flush a broken toilet?
I cannot and AFAIK never have produced anything but task manager DIRECTLY via ctrl-alt-del. I cannot produce a different result with ctrl-shift-esc. In what scenarios would the ctrl-shift-esc shortcut make a difference? I have never had to use ctrl-shift-esc but I knew it had the same result. Windows 98? couldn't tell ya this late in the game.
Is there an AOL keyword for the website? Maybe a CompuServe one? Can I get this via my local ASCII dial-up BBS over 9600 baud? Shoot me if I am ever this desperate for a technology news source--this thing is like a stack of Hollywood tabloids for sale outside of a Hollywood studio. It is like a tech news website compiler posted to Slashdot. The only use is if you are paranoid that there may be SOMETHING out there that you did not read. How many article submitters have gotten their submissions from this kind of slag site?
I thought that Slashdot was the only website on the interweb tubes.
The site seems to provide too much information in too small of a space. I choose to visit a website based on what I feel like seeing at the moment. While a clear effort is made to categorize articles and news, the site lacks direction and provides little to no new information. What you want is lost in the static. Many of the covered websites will have dupes and when big news happens, I can see that RSS feed being completely filled with the same news.
I think the point is being missed about the value of RSS and what has been accomplished. Websites of this type are no longer necessary because we get to choose our own sources, layout and priority for news. Google's home page service has more value than this RSS feed compilation website.
Wow, I knew that the transfer of contract terms was possible, but I never realized that there were businesses and groups dedicated to public benefit from this. Very informative, thanks!
Use CamStudio (GPL), or some other desktop video recorder. Record your
desktop until the event has occurred a few times, then advance to a frame in the video file that contains the
dialogue box/application window. Leave the task manager (ctrl-alt-delete) running off to the side. Let the event
occur once with the applications tab displayed and once with the processes tab. Make sure you can see the whole
process list.
Check the event viewer (control panel->administration) for erratic messages. Try disabling
processes one by one to see if one of them is the cause. What Anti-stuff are you running? Anti-stuff is only as
good as the definition database. Furthermore, many malicious processes can hide their existence from the OS, and
an application tracking software is almost certainly going to get this info from the OS. Make sure your video
drivers are up-to-date. If you suspect that the app communicates over the netowrk, install a software firewall and
set it to anal mode.
Run a benchmarking utility or simultaneously run several resource hungry applications
to slow the machine down, and maybe the window will hang around for a while.
If you cant catch it there,
just format and reinstall Windows--the standard fix for anything Microsoft. Cue the mac/linux comments!
Dad says, "The first automobile was patented in 1886. They weren't exactly running out for milk in it." The drum was used in proprietary systems and the massive disk arrays that the article addresses as being "first" were also implemented and threatening in similar ways.
My father talks about his younger days with the US Air Force as a mid-level computer technology worker in Anchorage. He speaks of how dangerous magnetic storage was in the early days, with all that weight in a drum, spinning up to 1200 RPM. We still jokes about the emergency procedures in the event of a catastrophic mechanical failure of operating storage media. The USAF's official line was to take cover in a corner behind other heavy equipment at the first sign of trouble. Techs used to work under constant threat of going three rounds with bouncing betty. Now all we have to worry about are laptop batteries.
Politicians were careful to ensure that they could still pander over the phone. Among the other exceptions, the basic rules are that any business you have had contact with for X amount of time can still call you penalty-free. Most not-for-profits can call as well. I should hope that many file complaints on truly irritating or repetative solicitations that don't meet the requirements of the program. You need the company name, phone number, and the date of the offending call.
I have found that rudeness can be pretty effective in stopping future calls, but these are my two favorite methods:
1: Telemarketer: "Well hello Mr. sporkme, how are you this evening?" Me: "I am soooo glad you asked. First, I was late for work because my kids made off with the car keys and I had to spend ten minutes digging through a toybox full of legos. Then I got a speeding ticket on my way in. My back has hurt all day, and I'm honestly hoping that you're selling a hemorroid cream of some kind. How is your day going?"
2: Telemarketer: "Now what would it take to get an order from you today?" Me: Well, honestly, sales have been down at work. Are you aware that our BXK-31-R is capable of tolerating well over sixty rads per cycle and still produces results within tolerance? This is well in excess of industry standard and we offer free support and service for the first sixty seconds of your contract. How many can I sign you up for?
To the point, It seems to be difficult to find statistical information about the success of the registry. Indiana was one of the first states to implement such a program, and several other states have separate registries (many have merged with the federal one). All I really could find without making a job of it was
information on Indiana's success with the state program, and registration numbers for the federal one. Also, here is a summary chart of nationwide complaint volume.
Re:USB controlled or USB powered?
on
Outré USB Gadgets
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
Well, this qualifies. DIY USB phone handset The guy combined a USB skype/gaming headset and an older style telephone handset for something that actually seems somewhat practical compared to a USB aquarium.
This stupid thing too.
on
Outré USB Gadgets
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
My most sincere apologies to Fiftythree.org, but when I read about plugging unconventional things
into the computer, this classic came to mind. Note: the USBKiller is not listed. Scatter a few
of these outside the back door of your local bank.
Only truly deviant birds would choose to ignore such a great gift. Many suburban and urban geese (in vast numbers), as well as some species of cranes and other birds have thrown off the shackles of cryptochromes and chosen to stop migrating. Why buy the cow when you Get the milk for for free?[google cache of The Wall Street Journal]
Slashdot Mirror
TFA: This software sounds pretty damned cool. The article does not discuss specifically end user concern over the loose security (or even outright disclosure) practices of service providers (for profit, etc.) here lately, and I think that this user is the market for this software. People just aren't tickled by the idea of companies databasing and exploiting private conversations for the purpose of ad display. While this is certainly not the first software that is able to address these concerns, this is the first time I have seen it discussed in the context of who may not like it instead of the opposite. No specific information about the mechanics of the system is given.
While the idea of governmental interest in the personal conversations is not exactly preposterous, there is an awful lot of political hype on the subject. I think that the article could have given some more insight and a lot less innuendo. Potential for controversy does not controversy make. The article is actually bracketed by assumptions. and
Could not a software roundup have given a little pertintent information in place of all the speculation?
No, genius, US Attorney Generals do not exactly have jurisdiction over the overseas types --hence the emphasis. Please, don't anyone train US resident scammers! What are you arguing here? Just felt like posting? Did I somehow indicate that I am prejudiced against US Citizen scammers vs. foreign ones? Are you standing up for some group, whose rights I have trampled? I mean, really... bouncing off the walls.
Vista user experince... for crap. I spent the past couple of months testing this OS, and when my gaming XP boot feels like a safe haven, I know that something is definitely wrong. For migrating XP users, the interface feels counter-intuitive. Even more telling, my college-going roommate has only ever known Red Hat (thank you very much, he has only ever known linux on the front-room computer), and for him the simplest task, like installing Firefox (where's the package?) was torture (not to say there has been a change here). I became so frustrated with ctrl-esc,r yielding a "r" in the ever-so-laggy search sub-start dialogue (instead of a run window) tonight that I just blew out the whole partition. I actually wanted to run iexplore for once! I am downloading Mandrake 64 now, thank the creator.
I found Vista to be too heavy on the eye candy, and it seemed that "power tools" and control panel received heavy design attention, while the ~deeper~ apps like regedit and msconfig are the same old barf. Vista = skinned XP != new OS. Meh. Shiny? Yes. New? No.
Lock it down. Cancel the email account and have any attached credit cards cancelled/changed. Change your checking account number. Keep thorough records and dig to find recent bank statements, etc. This can be a huge hassle.
File complaints with the federal and your state Attorney Generals against the trading company immediately. Consider a 6-month paid monitoring service from a major credit reporting bureau. Both the feds and your state will have advisory hotlines. IANAL and slashdot is not the place you want to go for this kind of information. Basically, don't fsck around if you think anything has been compromised.
I've been there, and these steps cost me a few dollars but saved me tens of thousands. Overseas types are pretty damned creative with your numbers. paranoid != not out to get you.
How many PS3 articles can there be in a day? Can consoles really be this exciting? Many crappy blogs^W^Wnew articles, little new information.
In my experience, rewarding expected performance tends to slaughter exceptional performance. See: Wendy's effect. Once you had all the slackers fired or whipped into shape, everyone would be rewarded all the time. See: law of diminishing returns.
http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/07/11/ 0218250 quasi-dupe.
I hope so, but I doubt it. I have always believed that the most likely inroads for for Linux is through people that have never owned a Windows box, or have never learned to use a computer. I expect that almost all Win98 users will go/have gone to buy a new computer with XP or Vista preloaded. Most linux converts are already geeks.
1. Go to Radio Shack and pick up a Robotics kit.
Please get it from a website, not Radio Shack. Most of the stores carry a few Vex items, but most of the workers will not really know what you're asking about. Radio Shack does not deserve patronage from intelligent folks right now. Also, a hobby store will be a good place to meet up with someone who can help you with hands-on experience, while a local electronics shop can help with the engineering aspect of things.
If falling perpetually at 17000 miles per hour is so easy, lets see you do it!
Consider these. Supply missions and such have to achieve this velocity, too. There is a lot of manmade debris, not to mention natural hazards. Orbiting the Earth is not a simple groove in which the ISS slides by day in and day out. Orbit is a carefully calculated and obsessively maintained state of teetering on escape from gravity and orbital collapse into the atmosphere; thus, the orbit is a stressful, chaotic, dangerous and relatively unpredictable state for a floating flophouse.
Care to belittle the program a little more, doctor? Go ahead and make another comparison between standing on the earth and venturing into space.
Fasterfox makes firefox load pages more quickly through various methods.
The Firefox Tweak Guide has many options for about:config and other tips for improving your specific experience.
Firefox Preloader will make Firefox load more quickly by making Firefox do the same thing Internet Explorer does. Firefox will use system resources before being specifically called. The application will remain resident in memory like IE does, waiting for you to click the little fox. In this way, IE loads faster but slows overall system performance.
How to use UPX to speed it up a little is what this article can tell you. Probably not the best way to go about it, but I have implemented this method on my HTPC.
It is VERY important to realize that the few seconds you wait around for the initial loading of Firefox are quickly surpassed by the lag you experience while using Microsoft's Explorer. Firefox ignores many advertisements right off the showroom floor, but can be configured to show NEARLY NO ADS AT ALL. FlashBlock, AdBlock, and NoScript will make your browsing much faster and cleaner.
Using Firefox, especially with these and other add-ons, will make your browsing incredibly secure. Explorer is left in the dust in comparison.
So the trade-off you seem to have made is this: A few seconds at load time in exhange for a combined several minutes waiting for ads to be displayed, just so you can fall victim to the shiny! new! IE exploit that seems to get barfed all over Slashdot once a week. This while using an underdeveloped, overpriced, practically featureless browser that has no database of expansions. Unless you are using the Vista beta (7 beta) you aren't even using tabs! Do you choose to commut on a horse? HOW DID YOU EVER SURVIVE THE PERMIAN MASS EXTINCTION? BAH! Why did I bother?
For a long time now, I have been sick of reading about IE exploits. When I was a retail repair tech, these could mean an extra buck or two for the next few weeks. The only real news about internet browser exploits comes when browser != iexplore.
Hell yes! Thank you for a great comment. Gus Grissom, who died in the Apollo 1 fire in 1967, is from my home state of Indiana. Many highways, buildings, and events are named for him, especially in Mitchell, IN. The three character code for Grissom Air Force Base is GUS. I have always thought that that was a nice touch. Astronauts don't get this type of accolade these days (except on Slashdot). As I recall, they were especially ignored between the destructions of Challenger and Columbia. Why no John Grunsfeld street in Chicago?
In Soviet Russia, potassium hydroxide breathes you!
Fron TFA:
"NASA declared a spacecraft emergency for only the second time in the eight-year history of the station. The first time was for a false alarm of an ammonia spill."
That is a fantastic track record for an environment in a constant state of upgrade, falling perpetually at 17000 miles per hour. Nevermind the flammable nature of the atmosphere that surrounds overworked electronics and the parade of "space tourists." Ever have a visiting family member flush a broken toilet?
I cannot and AFAIK never have produced anything but task manager DIRECTLY via ctrl-alt-del. I cannot produce a different result with ctrl-shift-esc. In what scenarios would the ctrl-shift-esc shortcut make a difference? I have never had to use ctrl-shift-esc but I knew it had the same result. Windows 98? couldn't tell ya this late in the game.
Very well stated.
Is there an AOL keyword for the website? Maybe a CompuServe one? Can I get this via my local ASCII dial-up BBS over 9600 baud? Shoot me if I am ever this desperate for a technology news source--this thing is like a stack of Hollywood tabloids for sale outside of a Hollywood studio. It is like a tech news website compiler posted to Slashdot. The only use is if you are paranoid that there may be SOMETHING out there that you did not read. How many article submitters have gotten their submissions from this kind of slag site?
I thought that Slashdot was the only website on the interweb tubes.
The site seems to provide too much information in too small of a space. I choose to visit a website based on what I feel like seeing at the moment. While a clear effort is made to categorize articles and news, the site lacks direction and provides little to no new information. What you want is lost in the static. Many of the covered websites will have dupes and when big news happens, I can see that RSS feed being completely filled with the same news.
I think the point is being missed about the value of RSS and what has been accomplished. Websites of this type are no longer necessary because we get to choose our own sources, layout and priority for news. Google's home page service has more value than this RSS feed compilation website.
This feels like a shameless plug or a blatent ad.
Wow, I knew that the transfer of contract terms was possible, but I never realized that there were businesses and groups dedicated to public benefit from this. Very informative, thanks!
Use CamStudio (GPL), or some other desktop video recorder. Record your desktop until the event has occurred a few times, then advance to a frame in the video file that contains the dialogue box/application window. Leave the task manager (ctrl-alt-delete) running off to the side. Let the event occur once with the applications tab displayed and once with the processes tab. Make sure you can see the whole process list.
Check the event viewer (control panel->administration) for erratic messages. Try disabling processes one by one to see if one of them is the cause. What Anti-stuff are you running? Anti-stuff is only as good as the definition database. Furthermore, many malicious processes can hide their existence from the OS, and an application tracking software is almost certainly going to get this info from the OS. Make sure your video drivers are up-to-date. If you suspect that the app communicates over the netowrk, install a software firewall and set it to anal mode.
Run a benchmarking utility or simultaneously run several resource hungry applications to slow the machine down, and maybe the window will hang around for a while.
If you cant catch it there, just format and reinstall Windows--the standard fix for anything Microsoft. Cue the mac/linux comments!
Imagine a Beowulf cluster of these!
Dad says, "The first automobile was patented in 1886. They weren't exactly running out for milk in it." The drum was used in proprietary systems and the massive disk arrays that the article addresses as being "first" were also implemented and threatening in similar ways.
My father talks about his younger days with the US Air Force as a mid-level computer technology worker in Anchorage. He speaks of how dangerous magnetic storage was in the early days, with all that weight in a drum, spinning up to 1200 RPM. We still jokes about the emergency procedures in the event of a catastrophic mechanical failure of operating storage media. The USAF's official line was to take cover in a corner behind other heavy equipment at the first sign of trouble. Techs used to work under constant threat of going three rounds with bouncing betty. Now all we have to worry about are laptop batteries.
See Drum Memory
Politicians were careful to ensure that they could still pander over the phone. Among the other exceptions, the basic rules are that any business you have had contact with for X amount of time can still call you penalty-free. Most not-for-profits can call as well. I should hope that many file complaints on truly irritating or repetative solicitations that don't meet the requirements of the program. You need the company name, phone number, and the date of the offending call.
I have found that rudeness can be pretty effective in stopping future calls, but these are my two favorite methods:
1:
Telemarketer: "Well hello Mr. sporkme, how are you this evening?"
Me: "I am soooo glad you asked. First, I was late for work because my kids made off with the car keys and I had to spend ten minutes digging through a toybox full of legos. Then I got a speeding ticket on my way in. My back has hurt all day, and I'm honestly hoping that you're selling a hemorroid cream of some kind. How is your day going?"
2:
Telemarketer: "Now what would it take to get an order from you today?"
Me: Well, honestly, sales have been down at work. Are you aware that our BXK-31-R is capable of tolerating well over sixty rads per cycle and still produces results within tolerance? This is well in excess of industry standard and we offer free support and service for the first sixty seconds of your contract. How many can I sign you up for?
To the point, It seems to be difficult to find statistical information about the success of the registry. Indiana was one of the first states to implement such a program, and several other states have separate registries (many have merged with the federal one). All I really could find without making a job of it was information on Indiana's success with the state program, and registration numbers for the federal one. Also, here is a summary chart of nationwide complaint volume.
Well, this qualifies. DIY USB phone handset
The guy combined a USB skype/gaming headset and an older style telephone handset for something that actually seems somewhat practical compared to a USB aquarium.
My most sincere apologies to Fiftythree.org, but when I read about plugging unconventional things into the computer, this classic came to mind. Note: the USBKiller is not listed. Scatter a few of these outside the back door of your local bank.
The EtherKiller and friends: http://www.fiftythree.org/etherkiller/
The Google cache
Or this stupid thing is more in line with the aim of the article.
Only truly deviant birds would choose to ignore such a great gift. Many suburban and urban geese (in vast numbers), as well as some species of cranes and other birds have thrown off the shackles of cryptochromes and chosen to stop migrating. Why buy the cow when you Get the milk for for free?[google cache of The Wall Street Journal]