Posts by Cipher

Is the answer to life, the universe and everything hidden in Adams' newly uncovered archive?

Who Gives a Fuck...

... about an estate eger to make a few more bucks off his work? The answer to the universal riddle will not be found in this book of tripe...

Schneier: NSA snooping tactics will be copied by criminals in 3 to 5 years

3 - 5 years? The NSA is breaking the law now, so criminals are using the tech now...

OK, Mr. President, those cybersecurity guidelines you ordered are HERE

Re: Being seen to be doing something... anything

Interesting the way you segway to gun control, as if that anything to do with the topic.

What the government wants, and may eventually get, is total control of the net, including a killswitch. They'll promise not to use it for political reasons like they did with the IRS, but they will anyway.

California takes a shot at mobile 'killswitch' mandate

Owner yes, Law Enforcement no

Certainly the owner of the device should have the power/option to brick the device, but law enforcement? I would give it a week before abuse and out of scope kills start occuring. The last thing we need is Officer Friendly with control of our devices...

Those NSA 'reforms' in full: El Reg translates US Prez Obama's pledges

Anyone who thinks things will change is delusional. There will be lies and more lies, but the police state will continue to grow unabated. Snowden should release more, unredacted, documents. When the government is the criminal, the people must know the facts...

Antarctic ice shelf melt 'lowest ever recorded, global warming is not eroding it'

Re: Climate stuff

http://www.cfact.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/TimeMagCoolingCovers.jpg

When there was a buck in global cooling, we had hacks promoting it. Then they thought they could milk the public with global warming. Trading carbon credits and other nonsense that would do nothing to ease the problem, IF there actually was one. Follow the money...

RSA comes out swinging at claims it took NSA's $10m to backdoor crypto

This says it all...

"The carefully worded post, which avoids discussing whether or not the company actually took the NSA's $10m"

If they didn't take it, they would say so.

They took the cash.

Microsoft: Still using Office installed on a PC? Gosh, you squares

It was predictable...

... emacs vs. vi fanbois engaged in total war...

Scientists at Cambridge University discover backdoor in military chip

Scientists at Cambridge University discover backdoor in military chip

Scientists at Cambridge University discover backdoor in military chip

https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~sps32/Silicon_scan_draft.pdf

"...were able to locate and exploit undocumented backdoor in the Actel

ProASIC3 chip positioned as industry's highest security device. To our knowledge

this is the first documented case of a backdoor inserted in real world device with

critical applications. Not only can a poorly protected AES key be extracted from the

PA3 chips in no time and with minimal effort, but the Passkey which was believed

to be unbreakable and which was robust against DPA attacks can also be extracted.

"

"...found that this particular backdoor is not a result of any mistake or an innocent bug,

but is instead a deliberately inserted and well thought-through backdoor that is

crafted into, and part of, the PA3 security system."

Using encryption? That means the US spooks have you on file

Just a quick note to Big Ears...

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

Hubble spies unlikely planet being born in hostile neighborhood

WTF...

... does Randy Newman's politics have to do with this story? I mean other than some hack writer jumping on a chance to inject politics into it.

NSA Prism: Why I'm boycotting US cloud tech - and you should too

http://trollthensa.com/

Re: Part of the answer is...

You miss the point. Encrypt everything. Make them work real hard. Then, maybe, they'll concentrate on the stuff they need to be looking at instead of harvesting the net for everything.

trust me, encryption everywhere is not what they want to see...

Part of the answer is...

Ubiquitous *Strong* Encryption.

All email should be encrypted for a start...

Hacker who helped find Steubenville rapists threatened with decade in prison

Re: IIRC

@matt

"If all the people on here don't like the difference in sentences handed out to the rapists then they need to change the law"

See the thing is when there is no investigation, no trial, no judgment, your argument disintegrates. The "hackers" sent out a wake up call, made it a national issue by revealing evidence even Barney Freakin' Fife could have uncovered.

The cops in Ohio didn't want to mess up the football team, so they did not do their job. So someone did it for them...

YES, Xbox One DOES need internet, DOES restrict game trading

Attention Microsoft:

Thank you for validating my decision to move to Steam.

Attention Steam: Thank you for moving towards Linux...

Hitchhikers' Guide was WRONG, Earth is not in a galactic backwater

Re: Far from the centre

Considering what is likely at the center, this is a good thing...

How Microsoft shattered Gnome's unity with Windows 95

Re: @Gav

The reality is this (from my experience):

Official Microsoft answers to problems are either ignored or the user is read the MS script about malware, safe boot, driver updates and all the usual crap that has nothing to do with the problem. Private forums are your best bet, a well formed question with necessary info generally results in an answer. I work one of the larger sites, it is amazing what volunteers do to help the noobs...

Linux has its own problems, there are some good forums, but far too many sites where they expect you to be an expert first or belittle the user or ignore the problem. There is an air of elitism in many Linux forums, the high priesthood seems to wish to continue Vi/Emacs fanboi wars rather than help people. Worse yet, they often give recommendations for alternate solutions instead of addressing the problem. Telling someone they are using the wrong stove isn't an answer to why the stove they use isn't working...

Anonymous 'plonks' names, addresses of far-right EDL types on web

Re: What have fundamentalist Christians got to do with anything?

Exactly! Islamic Haters are out blowing people up and killing innocents nearly everyday and what do we get? Anonymous defending them, as the Press mostly does, and a deflection to the evils of Christianity.

The topic is Islamic murder worldwide. Stay on topic...

Windows 8.1 Start button SPOTTED in the wild

Re: There is a difference...

Thing is many people can never master Photoshop and Paint is all they need. Win 8 attempts to make a desktop into a smartphone and people want the desktop. Microsoft is bowing to weak sales and will be bringing back features... (Don't count the OEM licenses sold but still on shelves unsold. Win 8 on the street is weak...)

Steve JOBS finally DEFEATS the PC - from BEYOND THE GRAVE

Re: It's not the size

Correct, the magic is in the way the wand is waved, not how large it is...

37,000-machine study finds most reliable Windows PC is a Mac

Re: @JC_

Correct, I meant the .dll system...

...and no, one error doesn't invalidate the rest of my comment. But I suppose you never make mistakes.s

Re: @JC_

eulampios wrote:

"MS Windows side of the problem is always flooded with expertise like "it's a virus, get a better AV", "just reinstall your Windows, the younger it is the better""

True, take a look at enough MS technet, answers.MS, etc. sites where MS employees and quasi employees hang out and the familiar pattern described above becomes evident. MS clearly has no clue as to why some problems occur. *Real* fixes, even if only work arounds, come from folks not paid by MS in most cases. The MS script is "Its either a virus or Av related, or try a system restore." Which often doesn't work, which is why Acronis does so well...

Speaking of the registry, isn't WinSxs just MS's way of saying "We give up on trying to correct the registry and make it work right"?

Reg boffins: Help us answer this Big Blue RAID data recovery poser

ilmari speculated thus:

"...perhaps these researchers are presenting error correction codes, and placement strategies for these codes, that would push the probability of single bit errors up into the realm of "wont happen" for another decade or so?"

I'm sensing a Grant Application in all of this. Doubtful payoff down the road, but sustenance for a Research Boffin meanwhile...

Boffins strap turbocharger to BitTorrent

Re: WTF?

Richard Chirgwin was helpful thusly:

"Note that they're not talking about distance as in "metres of copper / fibre whatever". Distance in the context of the paper is the topology - how many nodes between you and I, for example."

Doesn't more nodes generally equal greater physical distance? I cannot imagine that it doesn't.

WTF?

"What the paper suggests is that if upload capacity is no longer a constraint,"

A mighty big IF. And their "solution" is based on this.

And they just figured out that distance has something to do with speed? They even claim to be the first to realize this? Clearly they have never actually seeded a freakin' thing in their ivory tower lives...

Nonsense...

Mosaic turns 20: Let's fire up the old girl, show her the web today

Re: It was my first

1994 ?, used a SLIP connection from an .edu account to the "World Wide Web" with Mosaic.

I thought I was Christopher Freakin' Columbus!

antique browsers...

@ Idocrase

***************************************

All your browsers are belong to us...

***************************************

Thanks for the link, nice...

Ubuntu 13.04: No privacy controls as promised, but hey - photo search!

OK, Ubuntu has lost me. They continue to go in what is, IMO, the wrong direction.

They had a shot, all they had to do was remove the anti-privacy features or at least make them off by default. Clearly they have another agenda...

Brutally efficient galaxy SPITS OUT STARS at 'maximum rate'

Re: It does my head in how far away stuff in the Universe is...

Yes, very big place our Universe.

At 6 billion years old (at least) now, many of the original stars have likely left the main sequence. The results of the stellar explosions may have created significant amounts of dust and gas, it may well resemble the Milky Way by now...

CISPA row: Slurped citizen data is ENORMO HACK TARGET - infosec boss

Might I suggest...

... the Tails Live CD for "sensitive" needs on the Internet?

Securing the Internet of Things - or how light bulbs can spy on you

Not a Luddite, but...

Why would anyone connect their toaster to any network? So script kiddies can burn our toast?

I am also perfectly capable of managing the contents of the refrigerator without data analysis...

And BTW, my old fashioned rolodex with my contacts on it is not only faster then any computer model of it, it also works when the power is down...

(And before someone pipes in: In most of the USA landline phones have their own power, rarely go out of service when big electric goes offline, say in a storm)

Windows 8 has put the world's PC market to sleep - IDC

Re: Vista Part II...?

Obvious Robert

Re: Vista Part II...?

I have to agree. Mint 13 works on every machine I've put it on just fine. I use Wine for Acrobat, but other than that there apps for everything I do.

Netbooks projected to become EXTINCT by 2015

Save the netbooks...

The CompuSystem is fragile. We have already lost many species of Computer Based Lifeforms (CBLs), others are represented by a few specimens barely hanging on in captivity...

Not only have Human Articulated Malwares (HAMs) threatened the CompuSystem, now we have the 1% Elites playing Diety with CBL entities. They have no right to do this, a Universal Declaration of Digital Rights to Life needs to be proclaimed, our silicon based brethren and sisteren deserve protection!!

I urge you all to speak up now, protest, contact lawmakers, whatever... This slaughter must stop!!

Facebook Home gets SMACKDOWN from irate users

Ballmer's *Deep Mole*...

... has apparently done his/her Job!

Each side is infiltrating the other and making sure that horrible GUIs are implemented...

'You can keep it' - Brit's nicked laptop turns up on Iranians' sofa

Re: Stolen Goods

Uffish babbled:

"Would all the upstandingly moral readers of El Reg please return to me any banknotes in their possesion that they are not absolutely sure have never been stolen."

So many logical fallacies in your, ahem, argument I don't know where to start.

The victim in this case can prove that the laptop is his. It should be returned. What an absolute wimp he is for allowing them to keep it because they were embarrassed by the fact they were in possession of a stolen laptop was blasted to the net.

You cannot prove which banknotes are yours. You *did* manage to prove something however, and I'll leave as an exercise for the reader to figure out what...

Windows 7 'security' patch knocks out PCs, knackers antivirus tools

Don't be so hard on Microsoft. Everyone knows how hard it is to do proper testing before release when your company has such meager resources. This is no worse than the 5 major update fails in 2012, Microsoft just cannot devote resources to testing and QC when Marketing clearly needs the help far more...

Watchdog warns UK.gov not to create 'them and us' digital divide

Ole Juul

"I get the joke, and it's exactly what some bureaucrats seem to think.

<snippage>

But the sad fact is that even if the government were to give away free computers to the 15% in question, it would take some time before very many of them would be able to file something on line."

I'm left wondering how many of the 15% will sell the computer given them for the cash to procure their more essential requirements...

Also, what is the government's vested interest in having everyone post their data online? oh wait, i think i just answered my own question...

The ten SEXIEST computers of ALL TIME

Talk about sexy computers...

... have a look at http://weburbanist.com/2009/07/15/15-cool-crazy-concept-computers/

The Toshiba Desktop Deathstar looks particularly interesting...

Hard luck lads, todger size DOES matter: Official

This reminds me of...

...The penis obsession in Kurt Vonnegut's "Breakfast of Champions."

Must be a slow tech news day, eh?

US Air Force reclassifies 6 cyber tools as weapons

Well Punk...

...Did I Ping 5 times, or six? You gotta ask yourself: "Do I feel lucky?"

MISSING LINK between HUMANS and MONKEYS FOUND

Article title is a bit disingenuous...

...this *startling news* that monkeys communicate with sound and to some it sometimes sounds like people talking in the distance is the *Missing Link*?

Really?

Many animals communicate with sound, i.e. whales and dolphins. This is hardly the Missing Link...

Hold on! Degrees for all doesn't mean great jobs for all, say profs

I have a theory about Libraries. Visit one and you will find 90% of it is filled with magnificently erected steaming piles of academic psycho-babble. Art. Literature. Fiction. All manner of subjects are covered, some of them fine and wonderful. A tiny portion of it is actually useful. But go down the Social Sciences Aisle, and you run into the mangled, tortured syntax of the modern liberal arts professor convinced that only he/she knows the the path to true enlightenment. And they wish to share it with us, the Great Unwashed. Worse than that, they wish to impose their wills upon us...

To properly construct a title for one of these monstrosities, you must cover all the bases:

1. In the first half of the title, list at least two unrelated disciplines.

2. Separate the first half of the title from the second with a colon.

3. In the second half of the title, mention "A Multi-Disciplinary Approach."

4. Make sure it is as removed from reality as possible.

Real Life Examples:

Criminal Belief Systems: An Integrated-Interactive Theory of Lifestyles

ISBN: 9780275978204

Gendering Citizenship in Western Europe: New Challenges for Citizenship Research in a Cross-national Context

ISBN:978184742237

Queer Theory and Communication: From Disciplining Queers to Queering the Disciplines

ISBN: 9781560232766

Social Gerontology: A Multidisciplinary Perspective

ISBN: 9780205336258

And even a book about how to write such nonsense:

Exploring Avenues to Interdisciplinary Research: From Cross- to Multi- to Interdisciplinarity

ISBN: 9781904761686

And way back in the dimly lit corner of the library, you'll find something else. A row or two of the books that put us atop the food chain. The works that separate us from the ape. The books that built the world we live in.

This section, often poorly maintained, has tags on the rows:

Science. Engineering. Physics. Mathematics.

These books are for the knuckle-dragging brutes who insist on constants. Unshaded truth. Where the color gray exists only as a part of studies of non-spectral colors in the achromatic band of the electromagnetic spectrum. The authors of these books live in a world where 1 + 1 always = 2. Not 2.5. Not Giraffe. They do not consider how the numbers feel. They worry not a whit about the self-esteem of an equation. They seek Truth. It is the work of their lives to provide us with the empirical proof of things.

Academics, upon their next visit to the library, should at least glance over that way. And thank their Upright-Walking God for having made the men and women who wrote those books...

Ancient website from 1999: By Mark Zuckerberg aged 15¾

Ripped the site...

For posterity. No doubt Markee Zee will have this yanked in short order...

Google goes on the Blink in WebKit fork FURORE

Re: Simple

@Skoorb:

The Zoho mail product, while lacking *every* bell an whistle is a pleasant change from GMail...

Scottish SF master Iain M Banks reveals he has less than a year to live

A sad day...

...for those who read books for pleasure...

No Skype traffic released to cops or spooks, insists Microsoft

Re: Doesn't need to hand it over

And that NSA key didn't belong to the NSA, it was as Microsoft said: just an unfortunate string choice.

Right... Microsoft will be selling swampland next...

Tim Cook eats necessary crow, apologizes to China

Re: 4月第一胡說

Weppy:

You clearly missed my point. I am not a shill for the Chinese government.

4月第一胡說 -= April Fool's Bullshit

4月第一胡說

廢話