Posts by Jason Bloomberg 2909 publicly visible posts • joined 8 Mar 2008
Presumably, like iButton and similar devices they'll all come with a unique serial number laser cut into the chip during production or set by OTP fuses which can be blown during software install and testing. The technology to do that exists today and has been around for years.
The meedja seem to be doing a lot of that these days.
I guess, for some, it's a convenient way to present a particular point of view while hoping to dodge defamation claims; "We didn't say it. We just reported the fact that someone else said it". Invariably presented with one criticising or dissenting tweet to provide the defence that they gave a balanced perspective.
I have enjoyed it all since the re-boot. It's not perfect, not the ultimate best, never will be; there's a too diverse audience for it ever to keep everyone entirely happy. It has its highs and lows, there were episodes I have disliked and others which I have really enjoyed. I can easily find fault, but I mostly won't; I'll just accept it for what it is. I have long accepted I have to sit back, be entertained and carried along. This last series was a thoroughly enjoyable ride. And that's good enough for me.
As noted; that's not what anyone asked for. It is Facebook who have decided 'if we aren't allowed to track readers, we will block content until the reader registers and login'.
That's fine; I won't be reading any public content hosted by Facebook then. Facebook users who want to put content in the public domain will have to do so without Facebook hosting. I doubt it's going to hurt surfers more more than it harms Facebook.
"Nothing will stop someone else from grabbing the source and doing a 32 bit build"
Except one can only get the source for Chromium not the source for Chrome.
Most Linux users of 32-bit Chrome are probably end-users who know nothing about compiling from source, and it goes against the grain to direct people to download pre-built browser images from unofficial providers.
They probably won't even notice the lack of security upgrades and will just keep on using Chrome as normal, exposing themselves and potentially everyone else to the consequences of that.
I haven't tried it yet but would also imagine it's not the "Visual Studio" we love or hate, and sometimes both. Its main advantage seems to be in providing the same front-end experience regardless of platform used. To me it looks like every other dime-a-dozen web-based IDE but hosted locally.
When I finally got round to buying a Rubik's Cube it came with a 'cheat sheet' which explained the sequence of twists required to move pieces around. I did eventually solve a jumbled cube but had no desire to memorise the algorithms nor perfect executing them at speed.
Despite having such little interest in Rubik's Cubes I do however enjoy wasting my time untangling topological puzzles. Each to their own I guess.
The 10K / 56K is only a signalling value which determines how much current the supply will allow down the power wires, the value is not a problem in itself.
If a power supply gets the wrong signalling value it may allow too much current down the power wires, causing those to heat, the cable to catch fire, and mayhem to ensue.
Plus you have to add the cost of SD card, PSU, keyboard, mouse, USB hub, cables and cable adapters and most likely a WiFi module before you have anything really useful. So that's probably nearer £40 than £4, but still an impressive achievement for what it is. At least those doubters who said there never would be a sub-$10 full-blown Linux PC any time soon have been proven wrong.
Given that cost savings seem to have come from trimming off things which the Pi B+ has, if needing to add them back to get where one wants to be, it may make sense to just buy a B+.
It could be an Arduino killer if it wasn't for the half a minute boot-up time and the risk of corrupting the SD card if the power supply is pulled without a proper shutdown.
Even if everyone could hack anywhere one would need to have a motive, and that, or the rewards, need to be great enough to override the risks of being caught or blamed.
I don't see North Korea having the motive. I don't see what they actually gained, or could possibly have gained, from such a hack. This poorly rated film was no worse than what North Korea and her leader has slung at them every day.
It still looks more likely to me that it was script kiddies doing what script kiddies do, perhaps a western false flag to get crap thrown at North Korea.
It's not like just one person has to sit and watch it start to finish in one sitting. I would guess they could find some means to derail pre-booking to get a swifter rating decision.
The only reason to watch it is to ensure it is only paint drying, doesn't contain something they could be caught out by rating without having watched it. If they have technology in place to spot subliminal frames they might be able to use that to look for scene changes; making it a very easy job to handle without even watching it.
It's 'funny' on some level but I am not sure it achieves anything or makes any real point. I also don't think the BBFC will care either, even if they do have to watch it all.
I have no idea if it is necessary or worthwhile and haven't looked into the details of the proposals but, on the face of it, it doesn't sound too different to holding 'next of kin' details.
While accepting there are concerns over what data is stored, who can access it, and the risks involved in having such a list stolen or inappropriately accessed, I fear we are frequently becoming too over-concerned with those risks. It seems it is becoming fashionable to have a knee-jerk reaction against any storage of 'personal data' rather than a sincere analysis of threat, risk and benefits.
Perhaps that is because of perceived eagerness for data grabs, difficulty to opt-out, opt-in as the default, and hidden agendas, and we do indeed need to assess proposals, but sometimes good ideas are simply that.
To fit in with the storyline you'd have to draft, plan, design, cut hole, and build in a day or two. Not possible to do safely. Probably not possible to do at all, but certainly not safely.
I imagine the Doctor simply pulled something out of his arse pocket in order to save the day.
If you are watching Dr Who and complaining about lack of realism and credibility I think you may be watching the wrong programme. After 50 years of Whovian entertainment I would expect there's a list of "that's just not possible" which could fill a number of books.
The nostalgia trip down memory lane brought back memories of fibreglass curtains, polyester trousers, and lino, and left me wondering if anyone ever manufactured a formica encased TV?
On SCART; the ability of plug to separate from socket is legendary but there were some plugs which had locking clips which could keep them in place. So well in fact that when I land-filled an old VCR it went with the cable attached.
Off to re-watch La Grande Bouffe; not a Depardieu in sight.
It will all be fine, until the day disaster strikes, and people find themselves living in an environment they simply cannot actually survive in.
Anything which relies on technology and its continuing to function is ultimately doomed to failure. The predictions are bad enough should electricity go off in the west for just a couple of days.
I cannot see any feasible long term outcome other than mass migration and consequential wars.
But just saying that's so won't get you very far. Their lawyers will simply say that's not so.
To get the matter definitively decided you would have to take them to court or stop paying and let them take you to court and use it as a defence or counter claim.
My guess would be they are saying there is only a pointer, index or indicator to where the actual credit card data is stored. Having only that data doesn't get you the actual credit card data, and there's no way to tell which credit card data it would be, so therefore safer than encryption which potentially could be decrypted.
From TalkTalk's perspective she's done a fine job no matter what people here think of her. The 'hack' has all but disappeared from media coverage, no one is really any wiser as to what happened, why or even what was 'stolen', let alone who did it. Harding sailed the ship through the storm and the share price is recovering. And, if some people guessed that it would happen that way, they likely made a tidy profit in the process. In a month's time most people will have forgotten it even happened and it will be business as usual.
You can down vote me - but that's just shooting the messenger.
I thought I had escaped the nagging but eventually it started, along with W10 appearing in the list of upgrades already ticked for installation. Sneaky bastards. Now it's as bad as getting nuisance phone calls.
I don't have a beef with Microsoft but it's royally fucking me off.
So, way to go Microsoft, you are turning even your supporters against you, proving you are the bunch of wankers your detractors said you were.
Populations get the government they vote for...
In a multi-party first past the post so-called democracy they often get a government the majority of voters did not vote for.
Even in a two party system there are electoral college effects which deliver results other than what the electorate would collective like.
"since this was apparently SQL injection, with the added diversion of DDoS"
Do we know for sure there was any actual DDoS attack or active diversion; or is that just how Talk Talk and observers have characterised it, or a consequence of second guessing what actually happened?
Talk Talk say their web site "came under sustained attack" but that could equally have been someone hammering URLs, a flood of SQL injection or login attempts, until they found the magic incantation.
I presume what Harding should be saying is the Talk Talk system took a hammering which knocked the doors off their hinges and let some bastard make off with the goods.
If she had actually come out and said that I would have had more respect and sympathy for her than the mumbo-jumbo nonsense she has come out with.
Also, 50g a day... I eat plenty of bacon, salami, ham etc and even then it's probably still less than 50g/day.
It's surprising how small a 50g portion is. Looking in the fridge, three slices of liver sausage, two slices of peppered beef or thick-cut ham is 50g and one can easily shift that in just a couple rounds of sandwiches.
I have decided to look at things the other way round; not so much how bad bacon is, but how much better off I would be if I stopped eating processed meats. I don't see evidence of any massive benefits. And something is going to kill me sooner or later.
Talk Talk's CEO Dido Harding on Newsnight last night appeared to be spouting this sustained DDoS had led to data being stolen nonsense. I just put it down to her not having a clue, having not had things properly explained to her, or simply confused. It certainly looked like Talk Talk were in a state of panic. At one point I could have sworn I heard her suggest all customer data had been taken..
That DLL (a driver for the USB hardware interface used) is on the engineer's computer, presumably translating "airbag disabled" into "airbag enabled" messages as it receives them and passes them on.
Only that and other tampered with PCs will do that. The car is still reporting the airbags are disabled and PCs not tampered with will show that.
They haven't 'hacked the car'; only modified the PC to silently disable the airbag and have it reporting the wrong status.
Why not? There is no implicit reason VM email should be worse than any other and it generally hasn't been.
In the wake of moving from Google it has been a steaming pile of crap; endless spam getting through, incoming mail lost (even email I have sent from one of my own accounts to another), web mail not working properly when one has to use that to try and fix things. And it is taking weeks to get things fixed.
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