Posts by MidnighToker

Sony's PS3 firmware update shows how retailers can be exposed

read you're own writing.

You've missed your own point.

"Sony hasn't forcibly disabled this functionality on anyone's PS3. "

"...you're forced to choose between Other OS and PSN..."

They're all crooks.

I always got the impression from both Virgin Media and Sky that you RENTED the PVR service as well as the hardware rather than owning either.

Its a little different knowing I'm stuck in an x month subscription to get the services I want from a company, rather than paying cash for a product that I *own* only to have the game changed on me.

tl;dr: I believe what virgin/sky do is legal (opposed to what sony have pulled) -but it still sucks.

optional my arse.

Going with the virgin/sky+ comparision above, its like telling customers

"Optional Update; you can EITHER watch live TV or watch the stuff you have already recorded".

The choice is yours, but it kinda cripples the functionality of a combined system.

In the UK

the retailer is very much the one responsible for the customers happiness.

That's why Comet are fixing my washing machine 8 months after the manufacturers warranty has run out.

Smartphone app botnet experiment blows up a storm

Android users only have themselves to blame

When you install an app on Android the system prompts you with a list of permissions that the application is requesting.

So a Weather applet might need access to the internet and possibly your coarse location data, but if when you install it you grant permissions for it to read your contacts, make phone calls, send email and access the GPS, then really, you only have yourself to blame.

Sensible permissions -and actually reading the screen at install time actually does a lot of good -if the application requests access to things it shouldn't, then don't install them.

Slappy above says "Thanks ...for making the app store look like a good idea :(" -it doesn't. The App store just gets users used to trusting everything rather than questioning what they are installing; what it advertises to do and what it actually requests access to -assuming your OS will let you see that.

Actually, the thing that really farks me off is that none of this actually makes sense. Even if they were distributing by both the Android and iTunes markets then obviously the clean version would install and when they upgraded to version 2.0-dodgy then it would make it obvious that something odd was going on (on Android) or you would hope this is the sort of shit gets picked up in the Apple review process.

Devs write program and get some people to install it. People install it. Devs point out that it could have been a virus. Idiots get free advertising.

World's first iPhone worm Rickrolls angry fanbois

PermitRootLogin = no

Seems obvious on (nearly) every sshd install.