* Posts by John Smith 19

16326 publicly visible posts • joined 10 Jun 2009

Kill that Java plugin now! New 0-day exploit running wild online

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Unhappy

Could be worse

Some site still demand Internet Explorer to display properly.

Let's see how many complain if its disabled.

US gov blames Iran for cyberattacks on American banks

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Happy

Re: Because *only* a nation state could run PHP scripts.

"But PHP stands for "Persian Hacker Pro", nay?"

Voted up for neat word play.

John Smith 19 Gold badge
FAIL

Because *only* a nation state could run PHP scripts.

"The 'itsoknoproblembro' tool was designed and implemented as a general purpose PHP script injected into a victim’s machine allowing the attacker to upload and execute arbitrary Perl scripts on the target’s machine."

Is this ex USG guy f**king kidding us?

No zero day vulns (or rather multiple zero day vulns).

No complex development language.

No assembler.

It's PHP. FFS.

I've no doubt that there plenty of US officials who would like it to be the Iranian government.

Too bad it just did not take that level of competency.

Fail for anyone thinking it needs to be a govt and the sysadmins who let this thing exist. Find it and kill it.

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Unhappy

Re: "itsoknoproblembro..."

But wait till you see what's hiding inside "bigaccordionsolo"

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Silly Rabbit! Like Trix, color e-readers are for kids

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Go

Re: 4096 colours

"So that'll be HAM mode as on my old Amiga 500 then..."

It's been a long time since I had to understand this stuff

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hold-And-Modify

But I'd say better than HAM mode as you won't be fiddling around with palettes all the time.

HAM was an issue of how to map the display RAM (6 bits/pixe?)to drive the display lookup table (12).

Today they probably would just drive the display with 12 bits/pixel.

I'd expect any image you could have display in HAM you could do on a colour eInk display, with limits on the frame rate and of course if the colour is set using eInk then it will be retained without static power (and could be arranged to skip, on a per pixel basis if the next image is the same as the last).

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Meh

But good enough for *occaisional* use?

After all the Windows UI guidelines required 16 colours to work.

This is good for 4096 (4 bits of each color) at 12fps (which Plastic Logic demonstrated) of video.

So you've the ability for a friend to throw you a youtube video of some gory mishap and it's good enough to store for up load to your main machine.

Seriously how many people want to run blender or Autocad on their phone to generate content?

Apple built a product line on stuff that cannot do that either.

So occasional use for quick looks of stuff should be OK. The big USP of eInk remains the huge battery life you get with it. I think people would be OK with a system that allowed instant access to media for detailed viewing later. It might knock the battery life from 1 month to 1 week.

Remind me again how long most laptops and phone run off their batteries.

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Boffin

Re: The physics is easy...

"At the bottom of the stack is a white reflector, then above that you layer cyan, magneta and yellow pixels which can individually change from colourless transparent to their saturated C/M/Y."

Sounds like the Polaroid instant picture process.

Drop that can of sweet pop and grab a coffee - for your sanity's sake

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Unhappy

The sweetned thing suggests aspartane.

Which was linked to depression to the point where trials were stopped because the patients were viewed as serious risks of suicide.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8373935 (scroll to bottom of page for abstract).

For most people it might be OK but for a proportion of the population it appears Aspartane (created by the everyone's favorite agrichemicals and GM company Monsanto) is about as good an idea as working in a climbing rope shop or a plastic bag factory.

Intel uncloaks 'no excuses' smartphone for emerging markets

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Stop

So how badly *do* you need that Intel instruction set compatability?

That is the major reason for requiring an Intel processor after all.

And Intel are used to selling that privilege at a premium price.

If it's a computer (that allows you to make phone calls and you can put in your pocket) perhaps quite a lot.

If it's an appliance that you might get to do a few other jobs then not so much.

I think "instruction set compatibility" is rather a long way down most peoples wish list for a mobile phone in developing countries.

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Coat

But the *big* question for this new Intel reference phone.

What's the p()rn like on it?

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Trollface

Re: Barking up the wrong tree

Quality work.

Fireflies donate gut feelings to LED research

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Thumb Up

Sems to be an optical impedance matching layer ffor optical devices

The claim is not that it's novel.

It's that it can be retrofitted to existing devices and 55% improvement is IMHO very impressive.

Which is good.

What would be interesting is to know how this differs from the random pyramids etched into single crystal solar cells to improve absorption of light rather than emission as the goal (improved coupling between the hardware and its surrounding environment) is pretty much the same.

Thumbs up for building it, not simulating it.

Toy train company bids for West Coast Mainline

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Big Brother

Re: Shock Horror

"Human with sense of humour found masquerading as Civil Servant."

This defect will shortly be corrected.

The Ministry of Love

Panasonic pitches Ultra HD 4K x 2K monster tablet

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Unhappy

It's a monster.

Sadly probably with a monster price.

But who wouldn't want one

Up your wormhole: Star Trek Deep Space 9 turns 20

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Coat

I wondered if anyone thought of Benjamin Sisko's exit

As his thong song.

Segway daddy unveils DIY weight-loss stomach pump

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Paris Hilton

Clearly needs a celebrity endorsement.

Without celebrity endorsement -> Queesy

With celebrity endorsement ->Cheesy (but I'll give it a go).

Icon suggests where I'm going with this.

Biomass bummer: carbon mitigation could increase ozone

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Unhappy

Re: Use Australia as a test-bed

"Not sure about the sheep but the Koalas are so cute.

Surely they're harmless."

Well it appears they are. Unfortunately petting also appears to be (mostly) illegal.

http://www.fodors.com/community/australia-the-pacific/petting-koalas.cfm

Although if highly stressed they will wee on you.

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Happy

Re: Use Australia as a test-bed

"That groups appears to include all the Australian flora and fauna, apart from "some of the sheep"."

Not sure about the sheep but the Koalas are so cute.

Surely they're harmless.

Scientists snap first film of giant squid in action

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Joke

Next week the "Giant Squid Quest" team attempt to discover

How to cook it so the Ammonia is washed out.

And remember giant squid attacks on humans are very rare.

Guitar-playing keys enable extremely thin keyboards

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Coat

Who else is thinking...

"Electro Mechanical Polymers. The cutting edge of modern marital aids."

Which BTW is a multi $Bn industry.

Just saying.

Rocket 'Grasshopper' leaps higher than tall building in single bound

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Happy

Re: Whoa! Very sweet trick

"Seriously, man... the LLRV was a wicked-assed machine -- literally. From all accounts, astronauts training to fly the LM swore by the LLRV, and at it. Neil Armstrong was nearly killed in the LLRV training for his Apollo mission."

I think it was Buzz Aldrin but it was their instantaneous recognition that a)something was wrong b)they could not fix it and c)time to eject that demonstrated they were the 1st choice for the first Apollo landing.

Proving that one man's wicked ripping fun is another man's insanely dangerous kamakaze death ride.

Having read descriptions of it I still can't tell if the on board computer helped you compensate for the weight changes as the fuel ran out. The lack of this is one of the things which makes the various rocket belts built over the years (I did not know that Bell built both the rocket belts and this simulator) so tricky to fly (and why there are few people licensed to fly a rocket belt than pilot an LM).

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Thumb Up

Re: Bah they are as bad as those Wright brothers

"ITS A FSCKING PROTOTYPE NOT AN END DESIGN"

It's not even that. It's more like a proper X vehicle. It's mission is to gather information so the real vehicles can be be built. The X1, X2 and X15 (and most in between) never turned up as actual production aircraft but what was learned drove most supersonic US aircraft and missile design for decades(including the space Shuttle)..

Thumbs up for making the point.

John Smith 19 Gold badge

Re: Pilot required?

"Don't be silly, the whole idea of SS2 is the launch vehicle carries the orbiter to a high altitude"

Again I would suggest you look up the performance of the White Knight 2 / Space Ship 2 combination. While having a pilot may be comforting it's not the way Musk is planning to do it. As he walked away from PayPal with $1Bn in cash I don't he's likely to commit to something he has not fully thought through. Just an impression.

Virgin Galactic have said SS3 might be orbital.

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Boffin

Re: Keep in mind this has *never* been done before.

"The Flying bedstead is a British VTOL Prototype, built in the 50's."

Same nickname different concept.

The 1950's vehicle was the test bed that led to the thrust vectoring (by swiveled nozzles) Pegasus used on the Harrier.

We are talking about the NASA LM simulator using IIRC a turbojet to cancel most of the Earth "gravity" and the actual LM descent engine (possibly with the actual computer) to do the rest.

Their similar because neither had a recognizable fuselage, just a frame work with a seat in it.

NASA: There are 17 BEEELLION Earth-sized worlds in Milky Way

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Thumb Up

Tightens up some of the numbers on the Drake equation

Thumbs up for that.

Being selfish ba**ards the human race could work the problem in reverse.

Concentrate only on suns that are stable enough to allow Earth like planets to form in the liquid water zone of their orbits with a surface gravity <5g (at least one is known to exist already)

There has to be be something worth visiting when you get there to make the journey (and to justify it in the first place). Forget distance. Just how many Earths are there in this galaxy?

First rigid airship since the Hindenburg enters trials

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Meh

Re: well, here's a 1988 book that took COSH and added more scope!

On paper anything can be made to work.

They have actually built it.

Try doing that some time. Reality is trickier than it looks.

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Unhappy

Re: Vacuum Spheres (little ones)

It's maximum lift is the density of the air at sea level.

The idea is employed in the "The Diamond Age."

The problem is that air pressure is surprisingly strong when it's not balanced.

As the container gets bigger the surface area over which it acts (on the container) gets bigger.

John Smith 19 Gold badge
WTF?

Re: Helium from where ??

"All the Helium on planet Earth comes from a single mine in Delhart, Texas..."

No it does not. You are simply wrong.

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Thumb Up

Re: A few points

"As anti-submarine patrols, the British put a lot of non-rigid airships into the air. How about using an airship to as escort shipping in pirate zones."

ASW has been a running theme of US Navy work.

People keep thinking what a huge radar scanner you can skin inside the envelope without turning it into a fuel hog.

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Thumb Up

A few points

Shear stresses brought about by opposing storm cells.

Quite a problem without satellite surveillance.

Easy to shoot down by AAM.

More so than you might think. In WWII Zepplins were the terror weapon. Machine gun fire did not down them because they make very small holes in a very big skin. It was when both sides switched to tracer rounds and ignited the H2 that they started to drop.

And a dirigable would make quite a gunship.

One of the less appreciated things about airship operations was (AFAIK) that they had no flight simulators for pilots to practice on.

Keep in mind that a truck tire is also an "inflatable gas bag" and tires on carrier aircraft can run into the 100s of psi. So building a lightweight pressure sphere (best shape for high pressure) which does not have to be weather proof (as it's inside the body) should not be too difficult for say 10 atmospheres. Likewise using membranes to separate toxic propellants from driver gases which might dissolve in them is known in the pressure fed rocket field. Making lightweight highly impermeable gas tight membranes is well within the SoA. So using the same bags for air and Helium (on opposite sides of the membrane) is certainly possible and expelling the air should be quite fast.

The question is how big (and how heavy) a compressor do you need to get the responsiveness of the process to work?

I think their is huge potential for this. Imagine floating at near zero speed and watching Eagles or Falcons circling it the way dolphins follow ships.

Boffins create quantum gas with temperature BELOW absolute zero

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Unhappy

I sort of get it.

No it's gone.

Sorry.

Something about temperature ->measure of entropy rise in a substance.

But if most atoms already excited outside ground state more energy could make them collapse like a laser but in terms of physical movement of whole atoms rather than electrons.

No. It's gone. Really thought I had it. <sigh>

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Unhappy

Re: Anti gravity

"So does this mean I might eventually get the anti grav pack I always wanted since reading about them in Henlien's Starship Troopers when I was a kid?"

The GI's did not use antigravity.

And no you don't get one because of this research.

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Boffin

Looking at the abstract

It appears that they have produced a population inversion, like a laser before it fires.

Except that being in a solid the energized atoms are at different levels above the ground state when they pull their trick, rather than the single one you need for a laser to work.

I suspect SDoradus's description of temperature as it applies to a group of atoms is the correct way to look at this.

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Coat

Pop. Sci headline "Scientists clock the thermometer of the Universe."

Respect.

Time to do the walk of shame.

Bacterial quantum tricks could help solar power

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Thumb Up

It's doing photsynthesis 2000m below the surface

This is astonishing

Bendy screens are the future, screams maker of bendy screens

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Trollface

AC@16:30

Note no mention of OS.

Do not feed.

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Thumb Up

Scores points for using a new UI *enabled* by the technology.

Rather than tacked on top (I haven't forgotten the PoS that was Pen Windows).

Although I'm thinking someone has read "The Diamond Age," along with Xerox's work on "plaques."

The problem as always with PL's stuff is the price. You've now got multiple laptops on your desk. The price/sheet would have to drop drastically. Which might work if PL's idea worked out.

There might be a way to make this work out if the sheets become wireless peripherals of small format PC running this interface. The sheets retain the last thing sent to them on the screen.

Now what happens if part of that image is an icon for a large file? Where does is the underlying item kept and if you were to tap your sheet to a colleagues how would it be transferred? Now what if it was A.N. Random's sheet in another country? How does that work.

Thumbs up for the UI.

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Facepalm

@cyberdemon

ot sure about bendy chips though, but perhaps they could be made small enough to fit inside one end of the thing, and you could then roll it up?

Perhaps the name "Plastic Logic" is a subtle clue as to a possible approach.

Pity the clock speeds are rubbish and the linewidth is s**t.

US Patent Office seeks public input on software patents' future

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Unhappy

So will *any* US commentards be making their views felt *at* these events?

Just curious.

It's your creativity and hard work they are supposed to be protecting and rewarding.

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Joke

Re: no software patents

"In theory you could have something generate every possbile algoritm anyway, whether it be with monkeys and keyboards or another computer. "

Careful.

I have the patent for that.

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Go

Don't complain here. Complain *there*.

US commentards should check the Federal Register (You'll need to use the FedReg link in the article. The URL is too damm long) notice. It gives full details of when and where. BTW You need to register by Feb 4th. While it may be webcast that does not necessarily mean they will accept questions from the web.

If you think software patents are too long/broad/stupid say so.

Likewise if you think they are too short/narrow/difficult-to-get say so too.

I think the argument is quite a lot like file sharing of copyright works. Some think they should be free, some think a $150k fine is not enough. Most would pay what they feel is a fair price if they felt most of the payment was going to the author of the work, who is providing the core creative bit after all.

The many different aspects around software patents Vs normal patents (and patents for methodologies WFT is that about?) suggest there can be many different viewpoints but I feel there is a core consensus that can be found and the majority could live with. I don't think that's what exists now.

John Smith 19 Gold badge
WTF?

How much s**t have large corporations gotten away with over the years?

The Lisa and Mactinosh interfaces were blatant copies of the Xerox Alto in their core ideas.

Which should not be too surprising given Apple hired several people from around the project.

If "prior art" really means only stuff in previous patents then it's pretty clear why the system is f**ked.

Historically those tricks of the graphics art (for example) were passed on by working in the labs like Xerox or MIT, or later in books. Books like the "Graphics Gems" series started documenting them (partly) to try and stop this BS. But a lot of the early graphics patents could have been (and might have been) lifted wholesale from "Principles of Interactive Computer Graphics," (either book would do).

But the other puzzle is that patents are not meant to be granted if the idea is "obvious to some one versed in the art". Changing a copy of the screen image and swapping the fully changed version with the current one is obvious to someone "versed in the art," but that's been patented.

So let's see what happens. It should be clear the US software patents system is FUBAR.

'SHUT THE F**K UP!' The moment Linus Torvalds ruined a dev's year

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Facepalm

Re: The Kernel of Linux

"When you look at it this way and understand that it is about what is critical to the functionality of the majority of products of the world now... then it should be easy to understand its importance."

True

"Do you want your jet engine to reboot or even your cars engine management to get the fuel mix wrong or your android to hang... or your mission critical radar to go fritz. You know your screwed when the little blue light goes out."

Highly doubtful.

FADEC's I'm familiar with ran on Z80's. What you describe are hard real time critical systems. They run commercial RTOS's or build their own run time system.

Linux runs things like cameras, phones and set top boxes. True an STB that takes 20secs to boot. Why?

OTOH it also runs things like routers which could be mission critical or life threatening.

You do have a sort of point.

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Happy

This is *not* a software development problem, it's a *management* problem

Specifically a member of a team not taking responsibility for their c**kup.

And as others have pointed as this is the kernel a screw up here affects every app that sits on top of it.

I'm not sure if this is a paid role but I'm assuming if not then the fact you're trusted to have your work accepted into the core distribution bring lots of kudos and might have some benefits regarding your employer remuneration.

I've always liked that like of Gene Hackman's in "Crimson Tide." "We defend democracy, we do not practice it."

Ancient Mars: Covered with life, oceans, clouds, and imagination

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Go

Life existed on Mars

Pure speculation. True (at present)

Surface water existed on Mars (at some point). Fact.

Life existed on Mars (in the past) possible.

What has not changed is Martian gravity (roughly 1/3 g). and the level of Sunlight it has gotten.

I'd suggest that they would have a major impact on what atmospheric pressure can be retained (and hence things like the boiling point of water) and temperature.

Start with an arbitrary air pressure and see how if it's retained or decays over time (and if so what to).

ANOTHER Huawei partner accused of slipping US tech to Iran

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Black Helicopters

Re: I'd export them container ship loads of the latest tech...

"I mean the Merikens do it all the time.... just sell tech to this country, sell tech to that country, cook up some bullshit plots, play each country off against each other, profit hansomly on the wars, and then roll in a care taker government, and sell their oil and resources - obtained at sheckels for the ton, from a slave population, and then resell the loot on the world markets for a huge markup, to companies they lent the money too, to buy their own goods with, with INTEREST.

Really the Merikens don't give a fuck about the Rainians getting modern stuff, but it has to be THEIR modern stuff, from their corporations - and not any other people getting a slice of their gangster bankster action."

Congratulations I think that wins the prize for "Most incoherent conspiracy theory" this week.

BTW IBM's "hands off" approach to their German subsidiary (as long as the profits kept coming) is well documented but most of the rest of the US were rather less supportive of the 3rd Reich.

Something you might like to keep in mind.

Graphene plus molybdenum oxides yields faster electronics

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Coat

Re: "...fosters drinking..."

"At least here in Guildford, we do. I belive the common rabble seem to prefer Stella.."

Do publicans still call it "Old wife beater?"

Not my term, just what I've heard.

John Smith 19 Gold badge

Re: What do you do with it afterward?

" There are a great many "molybdenum oxides" to choose from though,"

True. And they also had a tendency to be volatile (a little problem that has limited it's otherwise excellent use for thinks like spaceplane heat shields. They don't forma protective layer like that on Alumium. They vaporise).

"might explain the obseved improvements in electron mobility, as the complex moly oxides can act as both an electron donor and an acceptor."

Which raises the question what does it do for hole transport? Relevant if you want to do CMOS.

"Also any dust with just the right "nano" size is harmful to the lungs; whether the particles are inert or not."

True but I think you'll find this is actually well below the active size, which IIRC is around the 50-70 micrometre size, rather than nanometre size.

My instinct is that the Mercury dumped from all those "eco friendly" light bulbs into the environment across Europe will be a much bigger health hazard.

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Happy

Re: "...fosters drinking..."

"Real Australians don't drink Fosters. We export it to the UK."

Advantage Aus.

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Meh

Re: What do you do with it afterward?

"That would be inert in the same way that asbestos is inert?"

No. That would be inert as in coal.

I think you'll find once Graphene passes it's ignition temperature in air you'll be left with a cloud of carbon dioxide.