Posts by Michael C

Dell to take on iPad with ton of tablets

failed tactics and vaporware

If you make a slew of products "hoping"one of them catches on, you've already failed at market analysis and clearly don't understand your customer base needs. Further, by releasing a half dozen products, you complicate what the devs are needing to code for, increase your own R&D costs, and manufacture fewer of each device, leaving a higher individual cost to make with higher software costs and less software selection. Complicate this by offering more than one OS and households looking for more than 1 form factor can't share apps and have vastly different user experiences.

Plus, with a true tablet (10"+) not coming out for 6+ months (lets call it 9 months), Apple only has that much more time to establish a stranglehold, and other products will also fail in the meantime leading analysts to proclaim Dells latest as nothing more than the next failed attempt.

I'm not the biggest apple fan, but I have to admit, the single OS, focused development, limited device variation, continued improvement in OS and hardware based on real market analysis and consumer feedback, high device build quality, cross platform support, shared app and content methodology (buy one ap, use it on up to 5 iOS devices on a single machine, and up to 5 machines on a single account) and a price point that no one else has yet matched? Anyone coming out with a similar performing (or better) device better plan on finding a price point more than $200 below the iPad or they will fail wen people honestly compare the whole package. Consumers in general don;t care about specs, they care about function, is it easy to use, can they find accessories, can they get support easily, and does it work with their existing other stuff (and their friend's stuff). Android has a big following, but its mostly limited to apple haterz ad the people Verizon and Sprint have literally shoved an Android device into the hands of that have no business (or want) to have it. Its complex, insecure, expensive, and fragmented. Feature for price, its a hard swallow unless it;s a lot cheaper. Phones are easy to choose from, and are not expected to do a lot, and a customer dissapoint can often be overcome with contract discounts. Tablets are a tough market since there's no recurring revenue stream. If a customer doesn't like the device, they return it. Dell is gonna loose tens of millions on this venture.

RIM unveils The BlackPad BlackBerry PlayBook

price of hardware not all

Its not just device price, but TCO. Apple has them all beat on that too. Nobody has a software selection to come close to apple, BB apps have always been priced out of reasonability ($40+ for apps that are $5 on iOS), and even Androd apps of the same name and manufacturer of the equivalent (and often better looking) iOS app cost 2X on android.

and what does the BES tablet work with? iPad works with PC and Mac flawlessly, Airplay, hundreds of devices, its not just a device with apps, but a whole ecosystems of accessories. Nothing that's not priced at least $200 less will attract significant numbers of buyers without them feeling underserverd and remorsefull of their purchase later.

misinformed?

the iPad supprots almost all bluetooth keyboards as well as many dock enabled models, likely including the one you already use with a blackberry.

not useful

Reasons I don;t care (the short list)

1) Airplay. Don't need to hook iPad to TV ever. HDMI adapter pointless. When in doubt, VGA adapter cheap and easy to come by.

2) SD cards with built-in WiFI, no need to physically connect to get to photos.

3) limited storage, just 2 of my SD cards would 100% fill the largest iPad or any other non HDD based tablet proposed, let alone released. I need the laptop handy for big shoots anyway. btw, I'm not a pro photographer, but having 1080p shooting capability on my camera means filling up data cards FAST. The iPad is not a dumping ground or storage unit, nor is any tablet. Larger SD cards are cheaper than getting more storage in tablets anyway.

4) HDMI and USB ports are not hermetically sealed. Dock port is. iPad is significantly more weather resistant for it.

5) camera backup. If having 2 copies of your images is that critical, a laptop with and external HDD and a WiFi enabled SD card is FAR superior to connecting the camera to the device. If you can wait until you get back to a room, or a car, a laptop is no burden. If you can not, the iPad (or other tablet) is no benefit becaus eit IMPORTS 9but does not COPY) the files from the connected camera, and wose, can delete them crom the camera automatically. Syncing back to the camera to have 2 copies is not easy. I'e also seen cameras scrub the data on connect due to errors. WiFi syncing in real time as pics are taken is the only secure method for protecting important pics (and the unimportant ones can be off-loaded later in the day)

6) Apple Tax? ok, first off name a more capable/powerful tablet actually for sale for less money. Next considder Apple Store app prices vs android; where the same app from the same company is 95% of the time 2X the price on android. Next considder contracts (or lack of them) on iPad. If you meant the "apple tax" on macs, I point you to the iMac and the MacBook, neither or which can even be BUILT from stock parts on NewEgg for less money. TCO of apple is lower than PC when comparing devices in the same compute class. This is only disputed by anti-apple people and trolls, and not any experts who open minded folk who actually look at real numbers. 5-6 years ago, yea, Apple was more expensive. You can discuss the apple tax again when you show me a device on the market with better specs, lower software costs, and has the same base features (or more).

WD Livewire four-port powerline Ethernet adaptor

several

1st link on Google was http://www.voiplink.com/D_Link_DES_1008PA_p/d-link-des-1008pa.htm There are lots of basic 100mbit PoE switches in 8 port configuration. They're quite a bit pircier than basic switches, and you have to cross check the PoE requirements of your devices. Most will run phones and Wireless G base stations, and most indoor IP cameras, but if you need PTZ or heater units outdoors, or many Wireless N stations, the 7.4 or 15w max output may not be sufficient.

Microsoft to hug fanbois on 26 October with Office 2011 for Mac

1 question

collaboration fully compatible across Mac/PC? Can i have a Windows Word 2010 doc open and have Mac users interact in real time?

Feds want backdoors built into VoIP and email

Aw heeeeeell no!

As an American, let me be the first to inform my own government: we are not yours to monitor. Warrant or not, you do not have the authority to tap any communications system simply because it may contain communication of known suspects you have warrants for. I feel there is a need to electronically track certain high profile criminal entities, but no way are the American people going to let you a) alter common protocols to allow easy tap access far beyond what you have today, b) potentially make those protocols incompatible with the rest of the world, and c) in-flight decryption? no way. Its bad enough a warrant is virtually never questioned (unlike it is on TV) with the rare cases one being refused making national news so its little enough real protection. Under most cases, there's no notice at all you're being monitored, and it can be for almost any reason, and for almost any length of time. We can't allow new systems to be deployed that make it so easy/cheap to monitor with little reason to think twice about the expense and trouble since the courts won;t stand in the way.

As an IT analyst. LOL! Sorry folks, those protocols were built specifically to PREVENT such monitoring and there is no way to make a back door. It may be possible to integrate a monitoring system as a caller on a line, via a hack of conference or milti-line calling, but only from withing each individual VoIP operator's systems, and each one is going to be highly unique. Taping a phone line is easy, taping an IP connection, NOT! The ISP woult pay to do it themselves, it costs too much and is a PR nightmare to admit they implemented such support. ...and I won't let my tax dollars go there either. If the feds can monitor calls by request, that means the hardware would exist in smalltime ISPs and other hack shops to record and listen to any calls they wanted. It also means they could trace almost any ISP connection, not just calls. Due to the nature of packet switched networks, its pretty hard to do that without being found out on traditional systems, but over IP? Could be a major personal security risk. I'm WAY more afraid of joe-bob in yonder local ISP back room than I am of Uncle Sam (uncle sam is easily audited, and highly accountable).

As someone who knows better: Technology will find a way around ANY system you try to implement. If it's going over IP, it can be hidden. Period. If you can tap VoIP netoworks, they'll use chat to get anound it, or bounce off voice servers in foreign nations, or use ComSat, I mhave a few main traditional e-mail accounts, but I get e-mail in about 30 places on the internet. You can not filter all of those. If I want communication hidden, its EASY. The only people such a system will catch are small time dumbass criminals, not national security threats, and the FBI and CIA has no jurisdiction hunting down small time crooks and drug dealers. Such a system will be easily circumvented by any terrorist or organized crime organization, so why bother implementing it? If they could do this so easily, there would be no bit torrents today. They can mandate major web company and FCC managed phone companies, but since the fed powers simply do not extend to Internet sites overseas, there's no way to prevent this. proxying is always an option. Anyone who wants their calls untracible will be able to do so free and easily.

US sues/settles with Apple, Google, Intel...

dumb suit

We need the US Courts to ban noncompete agreements, not mutually agreed upon cold calling. Now, i could see if the agreement was "we won't HIRE youre employees," yea, that prevents me from getting a job. The "no cold calling" thing is simply an honest thing to do. Don't shoot for stealing the competitions hand picked staff. If that staff is looking for a new job, let them be open, but I'd actually like to prevent job offers from ringing my desk line when I'm NOT looking for a new job. That's just good business.

Non-compete agreements? That I won't go work for the competition for 6 months to as long as 3 years? In my business, I have few eployers to choose from. I left a job recently at a major medical data company, and per my agreement, i could not go work for any company that handled medical records, insurance processing, or that in any way competed with my previous employer. Well, that eliminated about 50 opportunities, leaving me with banking, law firms, and tax services. Now I'm with one of those, and if my contract expires in 6 months, I still won;t be able to work in medical, and now I won;t be able to work in one of the others either, further limiting who i can work for.

To an extent, I can agree with non-compete, especially in sales organizations. Taking my customer list with me to the competition and cold calling my former clients? that should be verbotten (unless they were "my" clients before I worked with the other firm). However, being a systems analyst for one firm or another? What does saving a company money in their server architecture have anything to do with "competing" yet I'm bound by SIGNIFICANT financial panalties if they find out i took a job with the competition.

Yes, i checked, it IS legal in my state for them to do this (even if I take a job in another state!), and some people I call collegues actually got sued for violating their terms.

Preventing mutuial cold calling agreements? this is not a big deal. Mutual agreements to not hire at all, or binging contracts preventing current employees from seeking jobs with the cometition? thats an issue we need the courts involved in... .

Apple now world's second-largest company

he didn';t say it was

He said it was "a" standard, not an international standard, open standard, IEEE standard, or anything of the like. Simply that Apple has standardized on the connector, and opened it up to device manufacturers everywhere. It is a proporietary conenctor and use of it requires permission and royalties, but it is standard across an entier line of products and 3rd party adapters.

"open standard", "royaly free standard" and simply "standard" are NOT tro be confused.

Now, if you want to talk about "industry" standards that are not open:

- 1394 is a royalty incurring connector

- HDMI is a royalty incurring connector

- SCSI is a royalty incurring connector

- SAS/SATA ditto

- IDE ditto

- USB was initially, but is now free (though the chip behind it is not)

- PCI? yup

- ExpressCard? yup

- DisplayPort: royalty free, but still "licensed."

- RJ-11/45, yup.

Oh, Apple's FaceTime APIs and protocols: free.

The Apple 30 pin dock conenctor is not listed in IEEE or another standards body as a connector. Why? Well, it was developed entirely within Apple, with no 3rd party support. IEEE managed standards are almost exclusively when multiple companies pool patents together to share royalties. At the time the dock conenctor was developed (originally for Mac Laptops btw), no other laptop vendors supported 1394 onboard, but apple saw that as critical to their design. Sony, Toshiba, IBM, and others all had their own proprietary dock conenctors. Apple chose to make their own as none of the others had the required components. Later, the original iPod inherited this connection, and the idea of apple docking stations was dropped. later still the iPods discontinued use of firewire entirely, but for backwards compatability, the connector was maintained. With the iPhone 3GS, the power pinouts were changed, and have limited compatibility with older devices, butolder cables do stil work with newer phones and iPods. Apple may one day switch to a miniUSB3 conenctor, but at this time, chipset availability and power/heat requirements of that chip are too limited to reliably include in a phone or pocket device. Another issue with using USB, the voltage limits of both USB2-HighPower and USB 3 do not conform to charging devices while under heavy loads. The iPhone 3GS, 4, and iPad can all draw more power in real time than USB alone can support. Apple (as well as HTC and others) choose to use higher power wall worts, and some limited intel motherboards support higher USB voltage output, but that support requires not only power output, but in-line chips to detect support else it might fry other USB devices. Use of the dock connector eliminates user confusion. It will accept power from USB, high power usb, and all aopproved 3rd party adapters at yet higher wattage. An iPhone in a standard USB port might take hours to charge, but on an aproved connector, less than 90 minutes. The connector also allows 3rd party devices like cars, speakers, alarm clocks, keyboards, and more to be used, without the need to customized USB driver stacks and custom software. Certain types of input are simply supported natively, without drivers, at the hardware level, which can not be done on USB.

HP purges Cisco gear from data centers

Procurve is nice stuff

At one point, a firm I worked for was one of the largest area resellers (multiple states) of Cisco hardware. We deployed some procurve switches internally, and loved them. Within 2 years, nearly 80% of our new system deployments were procurve, using Cisco only where it was insisted upon with blind passion. Those who took in an HP loaner switch and did real comparrisons almost always chose procurve.

The stuff is cheaper with the same or better performance, is more modular, has higher availability, uses 100% open protocols, is easier to manage, and has lifetime warranty at no additional cost.

Having done several large scale swap outs, I'm not surprised it took HP 3-4 years to completely roll over. Some of the ingrained Cisco proprietary stuff can be a pain to remove once you're using it (EIGRP), but with some planning, it can be removed, and companies are surprised how much greater avaiablity they can get from lower priced products. ...especially when you have more than 2 datacenters in a complex and want fully redundant grid pathing instead of simple loops, where large centrally managed wifi deployments are needed, or when multiple different backplanes are needed in a single location (cisco makes you buy a giant 6500 series switch, HP has a 4u unit that does the same, and with 1 fewer single point of failure, and no additional licensing).

Moms stand firm against antenna madness

query

How does restricting placement of a cell toper to not closer than 1500 feet of a school or church help HOME values?

more over, how does placement of a tower anywhere it can't be SEEN from a home effect home values? Put one more than a few hundred feet from a house, and the treelines alone should block sight.

I see this going over really bad for the local town board, massive legal fees, thus increasing local taxes dramatically to cover legal costs, or reducing local services, thus plumeting home values compared to nearby towns who allow such towers with little restriction.

How do you copy 60m files?

linux has its limits too

We've got a server here we're trying to migrate to a SAN. Linux file system. Works fine so long as you query a file directly (by database reference) but if you ls a directory NFS throws all manners of errors.

I'm new here, trying to help out with a lot of things, and one of them is developing a script to parse the db and move the files and update the db records of their locations on the fly. file system was built when they expected to have a few hundred thousand files. ...there's millions, in flat folders. Huge nightmare. Can't be backed up.

which one?

Many many backup utils I've tried have failed over 4 million files. worse still, depending on their implementation, I've seen backup systems bring servers to their knees, or even crash them, trying to catalog a large flat folder before starting moving files.

nope.

ntbackup is a horrible application with many major shortfalls. It relies on the same interpreter as the cmd shell, and thus has path size limits.

Microsoft injects more juice into Office Web Apps

...one more thing

now, if they could just crossbreed some of Live Mesh's DNA over to Office Web Apps, such that a file created locally is "mirrored" into office live, instead of treating it as a completely seperagte storage volume, that would be nice.,.

I want to create a doc, disignate it individually (or simply by nature of what folder I save it to) to automatically be available online, sync locally to any machine I have authenticated on the account for off-line use on that machine, and have all changes sync back up to the cloud. If I edit the document through the web app, I want the changes synced to my local machine automaticaly.

thanksbai.

Blackhole your malware

This is news?

Wow, we've been doing this for years... Our firewall gets a package sent about once a week updating both known safe and known unsafe domains, and we outright block the unsafe and limit access to unknown (not safe). We also add to the white and black lists regularly, and choose filters based on OU.

Security flaw creates Android, Palm Pre snoop risk

Wow

Surprised all the apple Fanbolis are not in here getting their retaliation for the a$$ kicking you all gave them over the PDF exploit on iOS, which is even harder to pull off than this....

Hackers spoof car warning system

incomplete data

I don't know what cars they checked this with, but my car has to be "trained" to listen to a tire sensor. Every time I rotate the tires, we have to go through a jiration process of moving the car key, gas peddle, and stereo buttons to put it in learn mode, then after a few miles it IDs the 5 sensors (4 tires and spare) that have managed to stay with the vehicle eliminating other tire IDs from other cars, and the determines which tire is on which hub so the controls can tell me the front right tire is low.

If they had the ID and could send a powerful enough broadcast to overpower the one from the tire, and stick with my car long enough to trigger it to tell me I had a flat then a) i'd know I don;t (i've had many flats, its pretty friggin obvious, and I'd know to ignore the sensor.) Even if I fell for it and pulled over, i'd quickly ID it is faulty readings, which turns out to be harmless other than wasting my time, they're not hacking the engine...(that's been proven not possible). If I did figure I'd been spoofed, it would have to be a car that had been with me for a few miles thus far, and might even be easy to ID based on looking at other drivers, and I'd call 911 and have them arrested.

Any "hack" that puts you in close proximity to a mark, for an extended period of time, and takes $1500 worth of hardwarer to pull of (without any financial gain or benefit mind you) and which could be seen by the law as potentially harmful or dangerous (or property damaging), is simply not going to be pulled off in any reality setting other than as a proof of concept.... The most this will do is lead to manufacturers changing the TPMS system slightly to prevent such tampering.

Also, as for the "privacy" concerns... a) its illegal for them to collect that data. b) its a FUCKTON of data to keep and would require tens or hundreds of millions in servers and software just to real-time process the signals (let alone thousands of networked sensors), and then on top store and process that data to build patters on people, and c) if they want you, all they need is a warrant and a magnetic GPS device, or a cell trace, so such a monitoring system is completely unnecessary.

Prof: Carbon sequestration 'as bad as nuclear waste'

I'll go one better

Doty Energy, www.dotyenergy.com. They have the patents, they have the systems, this CAN be done, using technology we already have today. RFTS processing is a 70 year old tech. It's been energy expensive in the past, but with wind and solar, we can easily do it, and make gasoline for about $3-5 a gallon (pump price depending on market conditions, pipelining, etc)

Its clean, safe (by comparison to even a simple power plant), and all the fuel can be made here. Getting Wind from where we have it, into energy into your home is very difficult to do with predicability, and is very expensive. Getting fuel from where we have wind, very easy. Same with solar.

This is not vaporware, it;s simply a technology the big firms won't invest in (because they can't control it). Anyone can build a facility for a few tens of millions, and make enough fuel to support a very large town or small city. It can't be a true monopoly, and we can break both our dependence on foreign oil, and big energy monopolies.

Wrong.

See www.dotyenergy. They dispute about every claim out there, and bio and algae fuels are some of them.

We either don't have the land, don't have the water to support the plants, or don't have the money.

As for power, you've not heard of Wind's biggest issue have you? what to do with over-generation and off-peak power have you? Wind farms are literally PAYING people to take the energy during certain hours of the day. It;s a huge cost. If someone would pay a rate even a penny per KW wind farms could become 30-50% cheaper to operate. An RFTS plant only needs 4-5 hours of power per day to make enough H2 through electrolysis to feed RFTS to make fuel all day long (and storing H2 under low pressure locally to be used is clean and safe, using it is cars is NOT!) They can switch over and take power from the grid in less than 1/60th of a second, becoming a perfect system for grid balancing overproduction, and making wind generation cheaper (balancing the output from a wind farm is very difficult and expensive).

Google promises what Jobs hates in next Android

n900has NO flash

It has flash LITE, which is not Flash.

Here's some data:

http://www.adobe.com/products/flashlite/version/flashlite_feature_comparison.pdf

Primarily, lack of support for bitmap graphics means it can't display the vast majority of Flash content on the web.

A multitasking iPad? Let's bin the netbook

response

1) i thought the same thing, but i easily type 50wpm on my iPhone. Yes, for extended typing, a BT keyboard on an iPad would be most welcome, but it is not primarily a content generator, it;s an content consumption and editing device. Making the device hermetically sealed by not including a keyboard, thinner and lighter and cheaper as well, is a worthy sacrifice for the few times a keyboard may be required. If you really need that much hard core editing on a portable device, and also require full media playback function, go get a NOTEbook and spend the extra $300-400, that;'s your business case. Stop trying to make the device fit into classifications it is not designed for and select the appropriate device for your needs. Wishing it did this or that doesn't change the fact it;s a media device, not a computer.

2) There is 3rd party hardware support, through the dock connector and through bluetooth. That said: mouse is useless on a gesture based multitouch OS (you'd need 2 mice!). USB and SD requirements should be rare as well since the cloud and WiFi file access are the intended method for moving data.

3) you can jailbreak it anytime you want and load all the illegal apps you want, or any that contain identity theft issues or prove completely useless. Apple rejects apps that a) violate carrier contracts, b) violate IP of others, c) steal your information, and d) don't work right. If you want those things, YOU CAN HAVE THEM... NO ONE is stoping you from doing what you want, there are a QUARTER MILLION legally distributed apps, you can also write your own in small groups (up to 100 devices), and you can jailbreak to go beyond.

4) The emulator costs $100.... yes you can. you can't control what's in the STORE, but you CAN control what you otherwise load from illegitimate sources, apple just refuses to support the OS if you do (well within their rights).

5) That was a good argument a year ago, not so much today, and it will be completely irrelevant a year from now.

DUMB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YOYOYOYOYOO

HELLO!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am very opinionated!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Assumptions

1) The file sharing cloud is being built in NC, USA and will be online soon. Also, OS4 opens this much further. OS 4 was originally planned for the iPad, but is greatly delayed. iTunes file sharing integration was a last minute adjustment to accommodate Os 3.2.

2) mouse is not required, for an OS designed for multitouch and guestures it in fact would be a huge negative. BT keyboard was available from Day 1 on the iPad, OS 4 brings it to the iPHONE, and that is a mistake in documentation in this article.

Normal Human Being™ reviews the iPad

Not a NHB

A NHB does not require the use of complex spreadsheets on their portable media companion device. No more would one ask their cell phone to do this than an iPad, though one might simply expect a much more convenient VIEWING, and light editing of such a spreadsheet, where on the iphone you would not even consider it, heavy work should never even be a question on a $500 device. If you need power AND portable, even a netbook won't cut it (no video makes presentations dull...) you need a Macbook Air or equivalent full notebook.

The TARGET for this thing is the person relaxing on their couch, OFF work, enjoying news, a book, a video, catching up with e-mail, updating face book, cataloging new photos, making a slide show, or just doing casual or hobby research. handing this device to LW, who is clearly all about business, was simple inappropriate. This device is NOT targeted at her. Simply because she cares not about the technology inside does not mean she's a candidate to USe it. Bad form indeed.

Bank security guru: Sue your bank for refund

Bad business model

Anytime a company seeks to include in their business model policies that include profits from transactions that in reality are fraudulent, incorrect, or simply based on customers not following up properly to dispute, is simply bad business. If there's a mistake, and a transaction should be refunded/reversed, there should NEVER be a case when the customer is put in a backward position, where they might "give up trying" before receiving a just and due refund under the guise the customer's failure to complete the process is a profit for the company.

Prompt customer service earns customers which churn profit. Bad press because your customers are suing you for refunds you have to give them anyway because you've been sneaky and counted that as profit (and then shareholders who in turn also sue for misrepresentation of profit), is a money looser.

Apple uncloaks deep details of its 11 iPad apps

"A" killer app, not "one"

Keynote is a powerful app for the iPad, I'm not disagreeing. however, its not the "one" killer app, it's just one of many. The real killer app for most people is simply that it can plan H.264 720P video (and per the chipset specs 1080p, though there's no HDMI connector to support it yet). No netbook under $699 can do that, let alone one with a touchscreen, 10 hours of video playback on the battery, and as thin and light, and of course, no portrait mode.

Then there's the simple idea that is requires no software licenses of it's own. multiple iPads and iPhones can all share purchased apps. There's no AV to buy, no $149-399 Office license, and more.

Oh, and it plays GAMES, lots and lots of glorious 3D games that cost $0-10 that 2 years ago cost $30 on the Nintendo DS, and they look better on the pad than on the DS and approach that of the PS2.

Oh, and MY personal favorite: like a phone, it's ALWAYS ON, always in touch with notifications, and has near zero boot time when i want to look up something quick i just saw on TV or heard in a discussion. For me, no boot time is the killer app!

(I'm still not buying one until at least Christmas though, as awesome as it is, i have other priorities).

battery life

Per testing, with backlight at sufficient levels to use the device for watching a movie in a bright room (backlight up at least half way), and watching that movie streaming over WiFi, more than 10 hours.... playing music with screen off was measured in days, not hours.

Standby time (on with screen off, as your phone does), is 30 DAYS. it has a hell of a battery. This is not a concern.

weak effort

Dock connector to VGA and doc to progressive cables can easily be found for as little at $10. Also, your netbook that can do that free didn't come with the cable either... and it can't do 720P h.264 video either, which is kind of a drawback for any real presentation nowadays, where the inclusion of video clips is merely assumed.

IBM: Mainframe emulator part of a conspiracy

Lots of people need this for development

We have several data centers containing big iron. We support lots of customers, internally and externally. We also lease MIPS to local governments and various universities around the country. MANY of those same have requested access to OS390 development resources, so they can write code appropriately, without having to create additional text networks, segregated connectivity, additional host regions, and without the risk of runaway dev code eating up tens of thousands CPU seconds. A small scale Hercules system, configured by us and leased, loaned, or owned by them could provide a small scale mainframe environment for the to develop their own code on. IBM themselves sell no such solution. Worse, for internal only processing, many of our customers can't even connect to a dev environment, they have to physically come to our facility, incurring great expense for months on end developing code.

if IBM won't sell small scale OS390 systems, then they should be forced to let their competitors license that code to do so on their own.

iPhone, IE, Firefox, Safari get stomped at hacker contest

Stop scaring people

(most) of these hacks are useless. You'd make most people think we could steal their bank accounts simply buy identifying the IP address of their device... Other than for Windows, no, none of these "Owns" actually provided that.

Take the iPhone: Only if directed to a specific website can it be compromised, and even then it simply dumps the SMS history file. No contact database, no account settings, no passwords, can't install a bot, can't take over the device; just a simple trick to get it to release a file which can surely be easily patched.

Safari? Great, lots of hacks. Did any of them result in permission escalation that would allow the installation of a dangerous application (keylogger, bot, something that can corrupt data, etc, steal the keychain file?) No. It simply provided the person on the other end the ability to access files that Safari otherwise could, and only manually not with some automated code. Even half of that only works if no AV software or white list app was in use.

Windows is a gaping hole, yes we all know. Get in through any browser and permission escalation almost isn't even necessary, but even so it's still easily accomplished. However, as dangerous as the browser itself might be, did anyone even point out that the single most dangerous thing is DOWNLOADING?

Simple rules:

1) never click a link unless that link is on a known trusted site and the hyper link matches the link text. When in doubt, type the base site URL in and browse to the link manually.

2) Run both AV and AS software (even on macs). Use a blacklist (if not a white list), to avoid going to potentially dangerous or known hacked sites.

3) never run as root, when possible, disable default admin accounts completely.

4) never store passwords, SSNs, or any other important information in unencrypted systems.

5) use IE only when it's required explicitly by the site (and question why that is if it is). Use Opera or Chrome

6) download only when necessary, and only from trusted sources, and scan all files before they're opened. If you really must use torrents, do that in a VM or alternate machine that is clean of any sensitive information.

7) Only use online banking if it supports dual factor authentication. Pay online using a real credit card, a debit card if you don't have one, and never use your checking account number online if it can be avoided.

8) If your bank doesn't provide fraud protection on your debit card, change banks. Check to see if they offer it on checking as well.

9) use very strong passwords, and never use the same password on more than one site. spend $10 on a good password manager application, and change all your site passwords regularly.

10) be VERY careful about social networks. Never add someone as a friend just because they asked, you should actually KNOW them. Don't post anything online ever that you would not otherwise want to make public to the entire world, even in private parts of your site.

11) set your default browser to one you DON'T use, that has no plug-ins installed, and is set to the tightest possible security settings. If a link opens in your default browser, and its safe, copy the link into the browser of your choice.

12) never forget, no company will EVER e-mail you to go to their site about a security or account change issue.

13) unsubscribe from everything, get off all mailing lists, and tell your friends and family to take you off theirs as well. use an alternate e-mail account when sites make you provide one, and keep your private e-mail, business e-mail, and "other" email completely separate.

14) USE A HARDWARE FIREWALL, and keep the software firewall in your OS on, don't run services you don't have to, and keep sharing on your notebook turned off outside your home.

Limiting your surface area is a much more effective prevention from hackers than is actually securing the system. If they can't see your IP, external penetration attacks are useless. If you don't do stupid things, and follow their links, or download infected apps, you have essentially taken away every vector they have into your machine. Almost every single hack used in this contest required the user to do something (most commonly go to a web site). YOU are the security hole...

Steve Jobs and governator tout transplant reform

Not simply a match list...

...there are caveats, and some who are otherwise equal matches are weighed vs others. This is done by a small comittee.

First of all, certain drug use, or certain abuses may automatically disqualify you from organ donation if it's occured at all within say 5-10 years recent histroy. A history of it in the deep past (say you were reckless in your 20s and 30s, but now you're 50 and need an organ) usually has no impact. Some other factors may also disqualify you in some cases.

Age and "quality of life" and life expectancy usually weigh heavily on the decision when there are multiple matches. The primary concern is not simply who will the organ survive in, but will they a) survivie the surgery itself, b) will they remain crippled afterwards (or are they already), c) how many years do they expect to get off that organ, etc. This is generally the first set of cuts for who doea and does not get an organ, before anything else is considdered.

Distance and time are other big factors. They have to be able to contact you at a moments notice, and you have to be able to get to a transplant facility typically within hours unless they're lucky enough to be able to sustain a braindead body (which is not as frequent as you think).

Celebrities typically gas a small boost in the list because: a) they have access to funds necessary to travel great distances on short demand in short times, greatly expanding the search radius for an organ as well as their ability to get to one (they're not limited to having the transplant dome in just one part of the country, or even the world), b) they are emminently connected 24x7 and generally not only easy to get a hold of, but readily able to drop everything and travel, c) back-end financial issues. Many who might get an organ can't afford the lengthy loss of work, and don't have proper coverage for the extended recovery, and that places organs at risk in many cases, most celebrities don't have that issue.

money never plays into the decision. In fact, when an organ is geven to any celebrity, wealthy person, politicial, and a few other categories of person, an audit over the decision process is AUTOMATIC.

Not a "right"

No one has a "right" to your liver at all, unless you GIVE them that right by voluntarily becoming a doner. There no cost to do so, and no penalty if you choose not to be one. Much to the disdain of lots of other doners, even not being a doner you can still get donated organs (many of us think if you're not in the system, you should not be able to partake).

If you're not a doner, and you're dying or dead, even if you have what could be considderd the perfect organ for the perfect person on a waiting list, they simply can not take your organs, not with any amount of court effort, unless you are already a donor, or unless your Will leaves the door open as well, or unless someone has legal rights over you (because you're under 18, mentally disabled, etc).

If you don't want to be a doner, you're organs will hapily go to the grave with you...

Sony PS3 Slim

nice link for you

http://www.thecomputermechanics.com/forums/showthread.php?20842-PS3-Vs-Xbox-360-Specs

This post links to half a dozen others, and covers the exacting details of the PS3 hardware vs the xBox 360. The PS3 is simply far more powerful.

That said, Sony designed the SP3 to be an ever improving console, with an 8-10 year lifespan. How? They LIMIT access to CPU and RAM resources for devs, slowly bumping the game quality year over year, so each release allways look better than the previous. Look at early PS2 games compared to laterone, same deal there. Microsoft on the other hand is allow devs access currently to more then 85% of system resources. The console will simple top out at max quality within another year or so, but the PS3 will continue to improve for 5-7 more years. Sony is only giving devs about 65-70% of the raw power currently. Further, as firmware unlocks more power, even older games will start to look better. Right now, there's not a lot of difference...

Also, with cross platformers, you do have to take a serious look at a) which platform was it developed for primarily, and b) which parent company is pushing harder to ensure the game look s better on theirs (a lot of cross platformers are core M$ apps and only give Sony second fiddle to bump sales, others are long standing Sony games and the opposite applies, many more still are PC GAMES, ported to consoles and they actually look far better on a PC than a console (since it offers better than HD resolution and far bettter lighting and DirecX effects, not to mention a better physics engine).

Unfortunate news.

Sony recently made it VERY clear, PS2 back compatability will never be reintroduced. They have begin moving the PS2 classics collection into PS Home for download as native PS3 titles. Unfortunately, you have to buy them, even if you have the PS2 game itself, and I do not believe saved games can be imported from original PS2 (have not tried).

What sony really needs to do is set up a system whereby I can send in the original medial for any PS2 game available on PS Home, and they add the digital PS3 native version of the game to my account for download (and re-download up to say 5 consoles). Then I'll care...

For the monent, I actually have a PS3 hooked up, and have dabnled with the online system a bit, but I have no PS3 games AT ALL. I use it only for NetFlix, BlueRay, and streaming other media. Too cheap to buy all the controllers, accessories, and games atm, and still playing and betatesting too many PC titles to waste the time.,..

Apple bins iPhone covers

Not an issue

I have 2 iPhones, both without protectors and without cases of any kind. they have battle scars to prove it, but no scratches on the screen of my 3Gs. My older 2G (used by the wife) has 2 small scratches, one from being dropped on a wahsing machine tine, one from being stepped on while running on concrete, screen down. Niether case would have been averted by a screen protector.

I also have a nice watch (not safire, just good crystal). Been wearing it since about 1994. Had the band replaced 3 times due to scratches in the metal. i wear it doing everything, including working around the house and yard, and the crystal is constantly smashed into this and that. No scratches on it either.

Good glass is real damned hard. My watch costs more than my iPhone, and I've never considered a protector for it. The iPhone 3GS glass has a hardness rating in excess of the watch...

half the reason

Apple is dropping them... They're abusively priced, easily available in other places that don't charge shipping, expensive to stock, and have razor thin margins for Apple.

Honestly, a LOT of the content of the apple store has been dwindling. They're carrying less and less 3rd party products other than mainstream cases and cables. The bulk of device accessories are sold through Amazon, eBay, and via local retailers that don't charge shipping. I'm surprised someone noticed this product among the MANY dropped over the last year. Carying this kind of inventory costs Apple money, and it;s the kind of thing people want to buy on-the-spot, not wait 5 days for it to ship, so though it's the "most popular case accessory" that says nothing compared to how many might even be sold (since every case on Apple.com cost more than it does elsewhere, and I bet the sales numbers show it).

Screen protectors are a disposable commodity, regularly replaced. Apple only gets first sale, not replacements. Its a bad product to carry.

Contrary

The screen is so hard that any scratch is obviously abuse.

I have not only never used a screen protector, I've never used a case. My iPhone lives happily either in my business shirt pocket (with a pen and bluetooth headset), or in my pocket with keys. I've dropped it a hundred times.

My wife has my original 2G now, pushing 3 years old. It has 2 small scratches you can see, and 1 tiny one that only under certain lighting you might see if you know where to look. One came from being dropped face down onto a tine in my dishwasher from about 3 feet. The other i STEPPED ON IT face down on CONCRETE, in the rain when running, after it fell out of my pocket. If it takes THAT kind of abuse to get a single scratch on the glass, that's enough to not need the protector, which comes with multiple negatives.

My 3GS, which I've had since a few weeks after launch, is pristine. Yes, there's a few dings around the rim, and some micro-scratches in the plastic casing, but the screen is perfect, and it lives with my keys all day. no case, no protector, no problem.

...and you can buy screen protectors ANYWHERE. Apple is not banning them, they're just not carrying them online. Why?

- too costly to stock for tiny profits

- no perceivable impact to customers

- ridiculous pricing for a thin plastic film (should be $5 for a 10 pack, like it was a few years ago, not $7 for a single protector)

- negatively impacts usability

- numerous returns.

Apple DISCUSSED THIS with the vendors in advance. This was not an order, this was the result of planned action.

More behind this

1) At a few bucks, apple's itty bitty margin on selling these thing in their own store is lost on handling and storage.

2) no one has been able to show that a screen with a protector is more/less likely to be scratched than one without, given how much effort it really takes to scratch the glass at all (it;s fracking hard, I;ve never had a protector on either iPhone, i abuse the shit out of it, and the only scratch to old one got was being dropped on concrete and stepped on while I has running, which would have gone through that anyway).

3) protectors weaken the capacitive response and accuracy

4) due to the lack in accuracy, some people press harder, which can cause other damage over time.

5) they make phones look ugly, and in some cases cause issues with the ambient light sensor (detecting less light than it shoud, thus dimming the screen more, which is hard enough to read through anti-glare filters).

6) Seriously, $5-10 for a thin piece of plastic with some glue???? Rip-off artists.

Since apple has actually been in discussion with these folks, i think it's no big surprise to them, just the consumer, and they'll still be available in stores. besides, why go online to buy a replacement filter when they're readily available down the street sans shipping charges.

Doens't matter

I'm on my second iPhone. The wife now has my first.

I beat the SHIT out of mine. No case, no protector. It's dropped regularly.

My first iPhone managed to get 2 small scratches after 2 years of constant abuse. One was falling out of my shirt pocket screen down onto one of the tines in the dishwasher on which the protective rubber coating had worn off. Honestly I'm surprised it didn't skewer right through the device. The other time was when running in the rain it popped out of my pocket, landed on the driveway screen down, and I stepped on it and slid a few feet. It got one more noticeable scratch, and other so tiny it took looking under a good light to notice it

This glass it VERY tough. It;s not like the near plastic quality glass on other devices, not the lower grade glass on the original Nano's. This stuff is near diamond tough. Anything that could actually cause damage to this glass is gonna go right through a screen protector anyway. keys in your pocket, fingernails, bumping around in a purse, these things are NOT going to scratch the iPhone glass.

I keep my iPhone either in a shirt pocket with my pen, or in my jeans pocket with keys and a bluetooth headset. I've had it since a few weeks after the 3GS launch, and the screen still looks factory polished (even more so when i actually polish it, though actually the shirt pocket alone does an amazing job keeping it smudge free). Not a scratch in either the glass. There's only some micro-scratches in the plastic casing, and a few dings/scuffs around the edges where its been dropped on stone or gravel.

Intel pushes workhorse Xeons to six cores

looks like a 12 core architecture

That's clearly a chip design intended to be leveraged for more than 6 cores. I can easily see an extension to a 12 core architecture, and 8 cores is also an easy architecture, and 16 is not big leap from there, though i don't see how to go to more than 16 cores with this design, so i think AMD still has some tricks I haven't seen.

Windows Phone 7: free tools, captive Marketplace

Jailbreaking, checking a box, exactly the same.

Look, Jail breaking is simply an extended version of checking a box to enable 3rd party install. All it really boils down to is the user accepting full risk for the device's stability and security. By making the process more complicated, phone manufacturers simply keep the dumb asses (some of them anyway) from checking a box they have NO BUSINESS checking as they do not understand the risks involved in doing so.

Apple does NOT block jail breaking. The block companies that PROFIT from jail breaking, and there's a subtle but very distinct difference there. You CAN crack an iPhone for free. Sue to it;s very strong security model, it certainly isn't easy. If people freely distributed the cracks instead of charging for them, Apple would not seek to disable the cracks with each patch, unless of course they find the crack exploiting a bug that could otherwise be exploited by viruses and hackers in which case they're obligated to plug the hole anyway (or risk lawsuit for personal damages from identity theft for failing to either patch of fully disclose the risk to users).

Per their CONTRACT with providers like AT&T, they can't offer a straight forward unlock tool here in the USA (they do in other countries, and even sell iPhones unlocked direct to consumers). Google managed to broker a better deal. When AT&T's deal expires, other options may become available. It'll never happen on Verizon though (unlocked phones), as Verizon pressures all their distributors into custom firmware and more.

You can see how well Android's security model is working compared to Apple as there are already numerous nefarious apps, and several viruses in the wild that can target still-locked devices. Many 3rd party and cracked apps contain data pilfering code. The only way to keep an Android phone safe is to buy apps only from the central store, and even then, since they're not directly inspected or controlled, there is still great risk...

Apple details iPad's 'breakthrough' mobile contract

Why not?

Fact is, the cost of labor, and the risk of damaging the device during tear down/rebild is simply too high. If it takes an hour to disassemble and re-assemble, plus the processing time to get it in front of an engineer, and then process the return, there's the cost of the battery plus a good hundred bucks in the process, and a couple extra days delay while it sits in a queue waiting for repair.

They don;t fix inkjet printers, or later systems under $500, for the same reason, nor MOST cellphones for that matter. A replacement device is in most cases not only cheaper than a repair, but it's also a much quicker turnaround for the customer.

I'm also a personal fan of built-in batteries. It gets me a smaller device, the battery doesn't fall out and corrupt data I was working on when not properly locked in, and no one needs a second battery when it lasts 10 hours, charges in 1, and there's a tiny universal connector that can leech power off any outlet and most USB ports. Also, external 3rd party "portable chargers" (big battery that charges your internal battery) you don't require custom fit batteries, and a single portable charger could work for half a dozen personal devices with simple adapters, and it;s cheaper than a manufacturer replacement/OEM battery to start with, and typically holds 2-3 charges.

Batteries were not designed to be removable aside from the fact you had to change them several times a day years ago. 1-2 hours was too short to reasonably work. 6-8 hours on a performance notebook, and 10+ hours watching video (30 DAYS in standby) you don't require a stand-by battery that costs $100... Cross shipping a replacement iPad in a few business days is a COMPLETELY acceptable solution vs. the bulk and complexity of a removable since you'll NEVER use a spare OEM battery anyway (when you can charge via the dock almost anywhere and get cheaper 3rd party chargers to boot).

Correction.

1st, it's the single LEAST DRM infested piece of crud on the market. Music is DRM free, many ebooks will be DRM free, and TV and movies are not DRM free from ANY of the competition, and that's not even under Apple's control but the MPAA and the content providers you Troll. Apple is a leader in DRM free content, and has been the first ot offer such content from major distributors in each media market. TV is being worked on actively, and movies you can simply give up on as per the studios "we don't offer DRM free content in ANY format, it;s DRM locked even on physical media in stores, and we're seeking to lock your TV into DRM with selective output, so why should we let Apple or anyone else offer it without that same protection online?"

Next, Getting a movie on the iPad is as fracking simple as dragging a compatible (proper size/dimension, and a QT or H.264 file) file into your iTunes library. I have NUMEROUS home movies on my iPhone, as well as several ripped movies and TV shows. It requires no more software than clicking an "export to iPhone format" button in whatever video editing/compression/ripping software you're already using illegally to get your DRM free video content in the first place.

Lost Data?

It's synced with your fracking PC (and probably mobile.me, and probably many other online sources).

If you're getting a replacement because the battery isn't performing right, sync it, then send it in. 0% data loss (not even your personal settings and options will be lost). If the battery DIES, it can be powered THROUGH the dock port, and will still sync.

If it COMPELTELY dies, and you were not doing syncs, how is this any different from your notebook or desktop dying if you had not backed it up either?

This thing is SO much easier to keep backed up than any other PC, it;s IMAGED for all intents and purposes... Backups are a non-issue unless you;re a moron who buys a "companion PC" device without first owning a PC (which is a requirement printed on the packaging).

Sony PlayStation Move: your questions answered

yes

It does all that and more. It has additional functional controlls. Also the motions are not limited to pointing the device in the general direction of the screen, making motion much more natural, and additionally moving the device off camera (behind you) triggers additional actions (and it can tell the difference between you moving it behind you and out in front again while you stand still, and when you spin and it comes out the other side of you, as separate actions).

You can have 4...

...just not 4 people that require both controllers at once. Sports games like baseball, tennis, and more could be done with a single remote, also most car games. Some games will require a controller and sub-controller, others will require 2 standard controllers for each player.

Yes, for complex games involving moving around both arms, it;s a drawback. however, with the Wii, each player in a 4 player game usually doesn't act all at the same time, and the Wii's motions are far more limited (must point towards screen at all times, cable connecting both is short). With the PS3, the motions are more pronounced, use both arms, you spin and turn backwards, if you had 4 people in a major combat, that all have to stand within visual range of the camera, that's a case for disaster... only 2 hard core players at once, or 4 players with more simple motions, is a better plan likely.

not Nintendo's patents

Sony was VERY careful with this design, and extremely cautiously inspected each and every relevant patent. Keep in mind, Sony had the eye toy before there WAS a Wii, and motion control is nothing new in and of itself (only its implementation and hardware design was new). The method which Nintendo used to motion sense the controllers is COMPLETELY different than Sony's. The accelerometer input was patented long before the Wii and is properly licensed by Sony in this case. The game use scenarios are also nothing new, in general, and Sony has greatly expanded upon that by using such techniques as "hide the remote from the camera to do X".

yes, this is a side step of Nintendo's IP, but motion control has been around since the original Nintendo (actually I think even later Atari systems) and has long since passed it's 20 year patent lifespan. Only the Wii-motes, nun-chuck design, and sensing/input systems are really patents at stake here, and Sony did good to both avoid the patents and significantly improve on the idea (re-invention and visualization of someone else's IP is a long standing tradition with the PTO, you absolutely CAN patent something NEW and UNIQUE, even if it's based on someone else's work.

Apple's draconian developer docs revealed

a few points

First, I'm NOT a fan of Apples restrictions like this on devs and 3rd parties. i can understand in-development products and as-yet-unreleased NDAs, but when anyone who pays $99 can be a dev, an NDA on the terms of being one is kind of pointless...

As far as Apple's store? What's new, BestBuy can pull a product from their store for equally bizarre reasons, without explanation. If Apple doesn't like it, even if you followed their rules, you're subject to removal, and that'sd clearly disclosed in advance, so no one really should be bitching. its not like this CHANGED.

On "reverse engineering" sorry, i often agree with the EFF, but in this case they're wrong. You CAN reverse engineer software you;re licensed to own (under first sale doctrine and fair use) but a) only for non-commercial purposes, and b) the SDK is not sold, it's a service of a contract subscription and thus does not apply under first sale.

"don't hack our stuff, including anything you run the SDK or iPhone apps on." Duh. Standard. no news here. If there's no provided API, and you can't reverse engineer the tools, then is it really a jump in logic to think that hacking a device to inter operate with iTunes that's not an iPhone would somehow be OK?

"not libel" yup, standard. basically: You made it, we sold it FOR you, if you get sued that's YOUR problem, we only check to make sure it doesn't break our coding rules and general policies, you have to make sure it doesn't violate laws, patents, copyrights, and not injure people, etc... and you can't sue US for your loss because you did something we didn't like (or a customer didn't like). This is a VOLUNTARY system, accept it or leave.

iPhone is NOT the only choice of platform. It has a THRIVING development community, a secure device people trust and find easy to use, is compatible with lots of stuff they own, and is extremely popular. If you don;t like apple's policies after becoming a developer, Apple is more than happy to refund your $99 before you invest time and money in development and advertising something that might violate the policies defined. You can also always CALL apple and discuss a yet-to-be/in-development app and discuss possible infringement/acceptance. If you don;t like it, code for WinMo, RIM, Android, Symbian, or something else, YOU HAVE CHOICES (and many of them are equally restrictive, and becoming more so out of necesity for security and performance considerations)

Whatever happened to the email app?

mail is one thing

...managing contacts, calendars, meeting invites, project related messaging, share point integration, and more, that's what a client is for. If it was just receive/respond, I'd be OK with the mail client I had in Win 98.