* Posts by Charles 9

16605 publicly visible posts • joined 10 Jun 2009

Renewable energy 'simply won't work': Top Google engineers

Charles 9

Don't be so sure. Thorium still produces weaponizable Uranium (U-233, I think) in its fuel cycle, and a determined state actor out of options may go through the lengths to extract it.

Drones are dropping drugs into prisons and the US govt just doesn't know what to do

Charles 9

Re: alternatively

"Legalize ALL drugs. Evolution in action."

Many drug users don't live in isolation. What are you going to do if there's a resulting rise in widows and orphans? It's like with the divorce dilemma: outlaw divorce and you'll likely see an increase in spousal homicides.

Brit spies can legally hack PCs and phones, say Brit spies' overseers

Charles 9

Re: Now GCHQ has

I think the problem is that the trails eventually run into other states: usually hostile to the West. Police power tends to have its limits when one sovereign state is being stymied by another.

Charles 9

Re: It is not the fact that it does which is the issue, it is the code of conduct

And there's really no way to do #3 in a legally binding way due to the state holding ultimate, sovereign authority. IOW no country can be beholden to any other authority and remain sovereign.

AdBlock Plus, websites draft peace deal so ads can bypass blockade

Charles 9

Oh? Tell that to the developer of World of Goo. BTW, if copy protection really was a problem, why is Netflix (which copy-protects its streams IIRC) doing so well, why are BluRay Discs (which are copy-protected) still the go-to medium for movies, and why are the studios adamant about copy protection and a Trusted Path for future 4K movie disc players?

Charles 9

Re: The reason for these "peace talks"

"Marketers can trivially bankrupt a developer by tying him up in court - it's been done several times in the past along with gagging orders so the dev can't say who's suing him (or even that he's being sued)."

What about if they run into a dev who employs a canary in a country where one legally cannot be compelled to lie or where being compelled to lie interferes with another law such a fiduciary duty (meaning you create a law versus law situation)?

Charles 9

Re: This is getting dumb now...

Doesn't work as well anymore. More ad networks are using the sites themselves as proxies to create All or Nothing situations by making the ads match domains.

Charles 9

Re: This is getting dumb now...

"That sounds quite risky, getting drivers from a site that has those kinds of intrusive ads."

But as the saying goes, Take It Or Leave It. And when it's a matter of money...

Charles 9

Re: We Prefer

"No, "it pays for the free content you benefit from" isn't an excuse - get funding from reputable sources!!!"

And if none is forthcoming? You either starve yourself or take your stuff off the Internet?

Charles 9

Re: This is getting dumb now...

Until you hit an adwall where blocking the ad also blocks the continue button. And before you say, "You don't need it," obscure drivers (not found anywhere else) are often kept behind these kinds of sites, so it's either suffer or go without, and since hardware is involved that means money.

Charles 9

Re: Plus Fail?

Won't work. Our metadata is worth more to the ad agencies than the average Net user is willing to pay. Ad agencies thus outbid us every time. Bet pretty soon most of the Internet will be locked behind ad walls, and the decision will come whether or not to go "autistic" and abandon the Internet.

Put your private parts on display if you want to keep earning a living

Charles 9

Re: Just unscrew it from the desk and bin it...

How do you unscrew it when it's done with "one-way" screws? WITHOUT getting a bill for tearing up the desk?

Most developers have never seen a successful project

Charles 9

Re: Shiny new object/methodology syndrome

In other words, everyone wants everything yesterday and if you can't promise AND deliver that, they'll find someone else to chuck their money.

Earthquake-sensing smartphone app fires off early alerts of disaster

Charles 9

Re: Done this already

I guess we can consider ourselves fortunate that so few earthquakes are actually centered WITHIN a heavily-populated area because not only would there be no warning at all, not even a P wave because you're at the point they're being generated, but also maximum impact because all the energy's right there.

1Gbps quad-antenna mobile broadband chip dives off Qualcomm's drawing board

Charles 9

Re: Call Me A Crumugeon

"We've maxed out the bandwidth our senses can really use, so there are no more order of magnitude increases in our needs."

I don't think we have. Remember, our eyes are designed to detect changes in images and can do it as quickly as 1/200th of a second according to US Naval research. That's why most people can easily distinguish between a 30fps presentation and a 60fps one. What's to stop going up to 120fps and using 8K imagery that's projected using high-density VR displays put right in front of our eyes (meaning close enough to still see the pixels)?

Charles 9

Re: Call Me A Crumugeon

The article notes that one possible use right now would be to create a remote WiFi hotspot (under commercial agreements, I would imagine), in which case you may have 30 or 40 people streaming 4K Netflix at once.

France joins India in telling Facebook to just Zuck off

Charles 9

"Including a related word can make them easier to remember. They don't become less secure with extra words, and you won't be using that method if you're a slow typist."

But then you create a mnemonic pattern, and it's been noted that just about ANY mnemonic can be figured out if you get enough info. Plus even this can be too much for some people with really BAD memories.

Charles 9

"Using a long sentence of words in some weird order (still much easier to remember)"

Until you have to remember so many of them you start wondering, "Now was it 'correcthorsebatterystaple' or 'rositachiquitajuanitachihuahua'?" At least with messy passwords you more quickly realize you're in over your or any human's head.

Boffins' gravitational wave detection hat trick blows open astronomy

Charles 9

Re: Step 1 done - No

"Four detectors are really needed unless each Ligo itself can give some information on the diretcion of the wave."

They may just be able to give an insight on direction because each LIGO structure is two-dimensional (the L-shape mentioned). Plus we don't know how each LIGO structure is oriented relative to each other, which could help in terms of orientation of the detected wave.

Trane thermostat is a hot spot for viruses on home networks

Charles 9

Re: not a *real* problem

How can they block ssh when it's an encrypted protocol? Sure, they can block the standard port, but what's to stop a connection to a nonstandard port, or a pushed connection initiated by the device? As for why invade a thermostat, it becomes a beachhead or hideout point for the crooks: like those malwares that keep copies of itself strewn about. Even if the WiFi is changed out, they can use the hideout as a way to establish a new link and just pwn you all over again.

Charles 9

Can't. Don't stay home long enough (and don't have enough in the budget) to justify it staying a certain temperature when I'm not around (BTW, many people with irregular schedules also tend to be single, as (potential) spouses tend to get aggravated over such schedules. And since it takes time to get the place warmed up, the ideal solution MUST be one I can trigger when I'm not at home but on the way (which can literally be any time at all, so no scheduling system on Earth would be able to keep up).

Charles 9

Re: When is the IoT industry going to get smart on security?

"When is the IoT industry going to get smart on security?"

Probably when someone dies or has their life directly threatened by IoT tech.

Put it this way. The Internet of Things is a lot like the shoe-fitting x-ray machine, radium clock and watch faces, or thalidomide.

Charles 9

What if you work irregular hours and don't live your life to a schedule? Meaning you have no F'n clue when you're in or out of your house?

We're going to use your toothbrush to snoop on you, says US spy boss

Charles 9

Re: The marketing target has definitely changed

"They're not going to fit it with a mobile connection - too costly, too unreliable"

Amazon's Kindle shows how useful a Whispernet can be, and if they tie the mobile chip to the fridge's basic operation, they'll put you into a dilemma: either bend over or go without. And if EVERY refrigerator comes with this standard and ALL used fridges are mandated to be scrapped (probably under the guise of capturing damaging refrigerants), then it's either Big Brother in the fridge or coolers for the rest of your life...

Charles 9

Except you'd probably be too late. I bet they already have the chips in them and the ability to slip their way across any network or whispernet available. The only reason they're going public now is because they know you can't avoid it anymore.

Charles 9

Re: I don't see the point of IoT for me

Actually, I compare the IoT more to the shoe-fitting x-ray, the radium clock face, and thalidomide. Remember them?

Charles 9

REAL IoT items don't need your network OR permission to work. They can use Whispernets, Powerline networking, and other mesh networking techniques to find a way to exfiltrate their information will ye, nil ye. Heck, next thing you'll know you'll be buying secret network nodes without your knowledge.

Smart toys spring dumb vulns. Again. This time: Cuddly bears, watches

Charles 9

"Plus, as the 1000 other sources each tend to varying dobs, good luck finding my actual one."

They'll just go to the one source where they WILL know the true DOB: government websites. There's a lot of identity information that's open to the public for various legal reasons (voter registration checking and so on). I frankly think disguising a date of birth is an exercise in futility given there's already a known true source.

That's cute, Germany – China shows the world how fusion is done

Charles 9

Re: Bah!

I recall the energy stored in the Earth's core didn't come from the Sun but rather was captured during its formation.

Charles 9

"The fact that one Country accumulate the means to destroy the world rother than another is marginal to the rational resolve of not doing it."

Perhaps, but you must also consider the philosophies of those countries, particularly in regards to warfare. For example, are we taught to accept inevitable defeat gracefully or to find a way to take the enemy with us instead if all else fails? Are we taught that there's something beyond our everyday lives so we become willing to gamble on annihilation because losing still means something to look forward to? That's why MAD Doctrine was always such an iffy thing: it depended on all sides caring about their continued existence. The moment someone comes along that doesn't think that way, the whole works falls apart.

Thirty Meter Telescope needs to revisit earthly fine print

Charles 9

Re: Time to move to La Palma

But what if the goal was to get BOTH high altitude AND a near-equatorial location? La Palma is too far north (28 degrees) while Mauna Kea at only 19 degrees is in the torrid zone. Is a tropical location a requirement for the TMT?

EU could force countries to allocate 700 MHz band to mobile by mid-2020

Charles 9

I wonder how this will mesh with US mobile frequencies, given the 700MHz range is also given over to mobile use IIRC.

If you're reading this on your phone, pray you're in Singapore

Charles 9

There are those who would say Canada's population is more concentrated geographically (primarily towards the south) than in the US. Does the assessment of Canada take note of its territories, Northwest and Nunavut, who are closer to Alaska in terms of the need to service a population?

Microsoft's malware mitigator refreshed, but even Redmond says it's no longer needed

Charles 9

Re: Hang on MS...

Thing is, many people still play the old CounterStrike, and as far as they're concerned IT's not the thing that's broken but the OS. If the OS can't support the software (and the software's more important than the OS), then the OS should be able to accommodate. Until then, we're kinda stuck here. Like I tell people, if you want people to REALLY start finally migrating off Microsoft OS's, probably the best way to do that is to get the mainstream game developers on board.

Charles 9

Re: No longer Needed.....

And if your business-critical software is Windows-ONLY and WINE-unfriendly?

The fracking oil price drop whacked Panasas – who's next in energy IT?

Charles 9

Re: Who's next?

"That said, even including all the military reactor incidents along with the big 3 civilian ones, nuclear power is statistically hundreds of thousands of times safer than burning coal in terms of deaths per TW/h (coal fire steam boilers go boom occasionally, it's not news) even for all those plants built before all the new safety rules went into place post Three-Mile-Island (many of which need applying to conventional plants)"

I'm actually for increased use of reactors because, in practical terms, it's our only option in terms of meeting electrical demands long-term barring a paradigm shift like a net-positive fusion reactor. Part of the research into Generation IV is to find safer ways to do reactors. However, we're stymied by an extreme green "hairshirt" sect who can tap into all those disasters and the inherent uncertainty of atomic energy (Have we tested for ALL possibilities? Just ONE and it'll be TMI or Chernobyl all over again) to both raise NIMBY issues and raise regulatory costs. There's also the matter of handling the waste long-term because, IINM, one of the other problems is that waste fuel has a "sour spot" where it can be repurposed by a determined state into weapons-grade material for a fission bomb. In order to REALLY use up the fuel, you have to cross that sour spot, which is why reprocessing waste has been such a taboo.

Charles 9

Re: Who's next?

"That taboo is going to be insanely hard to break."

They said the same thing about same-sex couples, too, I recall.

Price at the pump could help to sweeten the deal.

Charles 9

Re: Who's next?

"I assume synthetic fuel isn't created from Hygrogen and carbon"

Actually, it is. The current process extracts both CO2 and H2 from seawater and through an electrochemical process turns them into hydrocarbon fuel (specifically, JP5 jet fuel). Since the process extracts and uses CO2, it offsets practically any negative aspects of the fuel's use (pretty much what it puts into the environment was drawn from it when it was made).

Charles 9

Re: Who's next?

Not if we break the taboo on nuclear reactors. The reasons the Navy's funding the research is because it reduces the logistics for aircraft carriers (who both have a portable fuel need AND an onboard nuclear reactor that could stand for some idle-time usage).

Charles 9

Re: Who's next?

And even then there's a risk of what I call an "aluminum moment" when some breakthrough turns petroleum from precious to common overnight (like the Navy's synthetic fuel research).

T-Mobile US's BingeOn does break net neutrality, says law prof

Charles 9

Re: No....

Given that, what if someone cheats and disguises a low-priority packet as a high-priority one? And then further muddies the water by encrypting the contents to prevent a deeper inspection? Sounds a lot like gaming the system to me, which is why at some point you just have to drop the clipboard and just get everyone in queue because at some point everything will look like a high-priority packet.

Charles 9

Re: No....

So what if I route all my traffic through a VPN? Then how will they tell what's VOIP traffic and what's VOD traffic?

Sorry, Toshiba, speak up ... What was that? A $6bn loss amid an accounting scandal?

Charles 9

Regarding pron, some would say it's less better and more just different. Their "tastes" are noted to be more exotic than in the west, so they tend to be more varied. Also, same sex relationships don't have the same taboos as in the west.

Charles 9

Re: Culture

You may wish to note that extreme social pressure can have side effects: namely, a high SUICIDE rate (South Korea and Japan last I read are 1 and 2 among industrialized nations). Having a population increasingly swinging towards the elderly doesn't help matters.

Microsoft’s Get Windows 10 nagware shows signs of sentience

Charles 9

"Your boss bases his views on what he knows of the industry and that's reasonable. However it doesn't necessarily justify inaction in trying to find alternatives so I can applaud your efforts, though it does illustrate (pun not intended) the way that product lock-in works."

But lock-in it will remain until someone else can go one better AND still support the industry standard. That's one reason the likes of Microsoft Office and Adobe Creative Suite/Cloud still stand strong: because they've cornered their respective markets and can therefore dictate terms. It may be ugly, but it's also the natural result of winning the favor of an industry. The upstart has to RIDE institutional momentum if it wants to have any chance to STEER people away from it.

So to take an example, if GIMP wants to draw converts from the world of Photoshop, they need to at least support import/export of the de-facto-standard PSD format. Similarly, LibreOffice, like it or not, needs to be able to cleanly import and export OOXML documents AND included scripting if it wants to bridge the standards gap.

Why a detachable cabin probably won’t save your life in a plane crash

Charles 9

Re: And now.....

Unfortunately, the wings happen to carry the very means to ignite it: the engines.

Charles 9

Re: If weight is such an issue...

"It's going to happen one day."

But as said, how do they do that without running into age- or sex-discrimination lawsuits since some people naturally tend to be lighter than others due to their physical characteristics (thus the sex discrimination suit--women on average tend to be lighter than men). The plaintiffs would just counter, "Find another way to reduce the load; remove seats if you gotta..."

Charles 9

Or worse...INSIDE one of those skyscrapers. Man, no matter how I try to picture it, it's just ugly.

Sure, encrypt your email – while your shiny IoT toothbrush spies on you

Charles 9

Re: Connected telly

And if you DON'T? What if the TV is all you have?

Charles 9

Re: @ Charles 9

TVs are useless without stuff to watch. They can just carry the signals through that, leaving you with a Take It Or Leave It. You either accept the TV signals that carry the info with them or you're left with an expensive dead weight. Plus that TV should start acting unpredictably without the ability to phone home.

After all, man usually cannot break a one-way mechanism without setting it off.