* Posts by Jeffrey Nonken

1208 publicly visible posts • joined 3 Sep 2007

US congresscritter's iPhone hacked (with, er, the cell networks' help)

Jeffrey Nonken

"Or use a WhatsApp call, which now has end-to-end encryption."

Because I would totally trust Facebook with our national security.

Jeffrey Nonken

Re: CTIA rep at end of article is LYING

...Or perhaps he meant T-Mobile.

Idiot millennials are saving credit card PINs on their mobile phones

Jeffrey Nonken

Not gonna happen on my phone, nor any browser I use.

Jeffrey Nonken

Re: Fails the Smell Test

"Who bothers to store a 4 digit pin?"

Anybody who has to remember too many of them.

Anybody with an account they don't access via PIN regularly.

Anybody who doesn't have a perfect memory.

Anybody who is mortal and might want to leave their account details to whomever might have to take them over. Especially if they become disabled but not dead. Like, you know, growing old.

Jeffrey Nonken

Re: Encryption?

Keepass here, long passcode easy for me to remember but hard to guess. 59.

Jeffrey Nonken

Re: And pre-Millienials were tech savants?

"(I have memorised my PIN, but I do use a password manager on my phone to remember alarm codes etc.)"

Keepass here, though I don't think I qualify as a millennial, seeing as how I'm actually a 'boomer.

I am sending pouting selfies to a robot. Its AI is well buff

Jeffrey Nonken

Re: modern era’s obsession with misspelt branding

Don't forget Xerox.

Swedish air controllers debunk cyber attack disruption theory

Jeffrey Nonken

Re: Ockham's Razor

So which is the simpler explanation: the sun doing sun stuff, or a group of people spending hundreds of hours focused on the task of finding weaknesses in a foreign computer system thousands of miles away, then using that to cause minor disruption to air travel for an hour and a half?

When you just wave your hands at it, you make it sound simple. Just because there's a simple term for something doesn't mean it's actually simple. "Having a baby" sounds pretty straightforward if you don't think about the processes involved, not to mention all the things that can go wrong.

Apple pulled 2,204lbs of gold out of old tech gear

Jeffrey Nonken

Re: Spelling!

Picking on spelling, grammar and punctuation on the Internet is like shouting at clouds.

Also, maybe it was an autocorrect that he missed. On a phone here, and I had to re-correct two just in that first sentence. Sorry, three; Internet wasn't capitalized. And I forgot to include "capitalization" in the rant list. Oh hey, I just started a sentence with a conjunction. VERY bad form.

Jeffrey Nonken

Re: Love 'em or hate 'em...

I recently repaired an iPhone 5 for my neighbor by soaking it acid.*

I did not bother with an iPhone 4 for a friend (just needs a new case, front and back both cracked) only because it's locked to a carrier we don't like, and would need to spend money on an account for 6 months to get a free unlock. Third party unlock costs $90, before anybody suggests it.

I own two working iPhone 3GS units and one broken. All are Frankenphones. Broken one has bad battery, cracked glass, non-working backlight. Not worth fixing, though some parts may be useful (buttons) and the logic board works and in fact is unlocked from AT&T.

...Of course, I'm a geek and a nerd. But phones can be fixed for pay. Only question is value, like my friend's iPhone 4. My point is that "forced" may be a strong word here. There are choices, if unpalatable.

* Actually, I disassembled it and soaked the logic board in white vinegar overnight, rinsed in water, rinsed in alcohol, blew off with compressed air, let dry a few hours, then reassembled and tested. Seeing it boot was a GLORIOUS thing. Months later the neighbor reports it still working flawlessly. Came from a drawer in my boss's desk; after water exposure he deemed it preferable to replace. Obviously it WAS a choice.

Mac hinge may change

Jeffrey Nonken

Re: metal injection

22.86 Centimeter Nails.

Hmm. It lacks a certain... something.

Cinema boss gives up making kids turn off phones: 'That's not how they live their life'

Jeffrey Nonken

Not all of them

For the record, my 23yo daughter turns her phone off and watches the damn movie.

Jeffrey Nonken

How about us 60 year olds?

Line by line, how the US anti-encryption bill will kill our privacy, security

Jeffrey Nonken

Re: I fired off a Nasty-Gram to Feinstein

Her. Dianne. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dianne_Feinstein

Not that I expect everybody in the world to know our politicians. The US citizenry are notorious in our own ignorance of global politics. Or culture. Or language. Or geography. I... May be slightly less parochial than most, but I'm guilty of it as well.

Jeffrey Nonken

Re: Unwanted consequences

"I wonder whether these congresspeople ever think their ideas through to the end. If they insist on weakened encryption, this encryption will not only be broken by law enforcement, but by criminals ranging from individual to corporate."

No. They think the keys well be safe in the hands of law enforcement, won't be abused, and won't be cracked independently by hackers or other governments.

After all, they're the good guys, right?

They really are that incredibly stupid and ignorant.

Jeffrey Nonken

Actually I don't think it's well-meant, and I also think it's made in ignorance. I think it's an intentional power grab by people who have no effing clue what they're doing. There is no either/or here.

HTC 10: Flagship goes full Google – but the hardware's top notch

Jeffrey Nonken

Doesn't come in rose gold. Tsk. Forget performance, forget battery life, screw pixels, who cares if it makes phone calls? I need rose gold!

I mean, come on. Who doesn't love rose gold?

Half of people plug in USB drives they find in the parking lot

Jeffrey Nonken

Re: Safe for me

I'll just pull my old PIII system of the shelf and plug it in there. Knoppix and no hard drive.

Ok, worst case: hardware fried. Somebody in the thread threatened to install an inverter to fry my hardware, so maybe I found that one. It's a cute little system but I can live without it. Yeah, I've got all kinds of old crap hardware about. Kind of an elaborate joke, especially if you don't get to see the result.

Spinning rust fans reckon we'll have 18TB disk drives in two years

Jeffrey Nonken

"Such nearline drives, it is thought, will appeal more to hyper-scale data centres and cloud service providers than enterprise data centres."

Nope. I just want one at home for the coolness factor.

Vivaldi Jon: Mobile – yes. Feeds and an ad blocker… probably not

Jeffrey Nonken

Re: Vastly more powerful?

Or they simply meant that cellphones are vastly more powerful than they were 20 years ago.

FBI, Apple continue cat-and-mouse game over iPhones in New York

Jeffrey Nonken

Re: Morton's Fork

Excludes *all* Americans? Seriously? Try reading Techdirt.

For that matter, seems to me that Apple is an American company. Your claim doesn't pass the laugh test.

Read America's insane draft crypto-borking law that no one's willing to admit they wrote

Jeffrey Nonken

Ron Wyden?

Dropping 1,000 cats from 32km: How practical is that?

Jeffrey Nonken

Re: not a cat fan

It's their nature because it's instinctive behaviour. They do it for practice, to improve their hunting skills.

Whereas humans do it deliberately, just for the sake of cruelty.

I think you're intent on wiping out the wrong species for exactly opposite the reason you're citing.

I'll not try to claim there's anything wrong with your being disgusted by their actions, but please don't play the moral superiority card.

Jeffrey Nonken

I gather they can limit their terminal velocity to the point they can survive the fall. Sorry, won't do what you want.

Britain is sending a huge nuclear waste shipment to America. Why?

Jeffrey Nonken

Toss it into the sun

Of course, if we ever figure out how to recycle it, we won't have it any more. But it'll be someplace that it won't do any harm.

PayPal freezes 400-job expansion in North Carolina over bonkers religious freedom law

Jeffrey Nonken

Re: America

Totally cool with it. So are my daughters. Because we understand the difference between those labels you're throwing around so blithely.

Tesla books over $8bn in overnight sales claims Elon Musk

Jeffrey Nonken

Re: @ bazza

Unlike fuel for direct fuel-burning vehicles, however, electricity is fungible.

Space archeologist discovers new evidence of Vikings invading America

Jeffrey Nonken

Re: HOGWASH!

TFA is talking about first European occupation, not first discovery or occupation.

How do you build a cheap iPhone? Use a lot of old parts

Jeffrey Nonken

Why are so many of you going on about Apple recycling used phone parts? It's the design they're recycling. Why invent a new display when the 5S display will work fine for this phone? They basically took a 5S and updated the processor, and maybe a few bits like the camera. Must've saved tons of time and money on R&D, not to mention that they already manufacture and stock the 5S parts. Inventory reduction is a big cost savings.

Jeffrey Nonken

Re: "...used parts..."

Pretty sure they just mean the 6E uses some of the same parts in the design, like adjacent years of some automobile models and/or similar models from different lines (e.g. Plymouth Dart and Valiant) may use some of the same parts. Rather than saying that Apple is digging into junkyards to recycle used parts to make new 6E phones.

Call the Cable Guy: Wireless just won't cut it

Jeffrey Nonken

Re: Wired vs wireless

I rent, so wiring options are limited. But the two main desktops and the entertainment system are wired. Also the printer.

5GHz for those who can use it, 2.4GHz for the older gadgets.

Jeffrey Nonken

Re: The bottle neck is further up the chain

Uh... April Fools, right? You have to be joking about where the bottleneck is.

Jeffrey Nonken

There was the segment that went down because a guy disconnected his computer and, thinking he was helping, plugged the resulting open plug with a F-F coupler and a terminator. Fortunately he had the sense to fess up when he heard us coming and fortunately I had the sense not to blow him off because we were too busy to talk to him just then. (I didn't know it was relevant until I talked to him, understand.)

Palm over face, I explained that the cabling was not a water pipe and didn't need to be capped off to keep the elections in.

Ignorance rather than stupidity and he came to us so we let him off without a lynching. He had the grace to be deeply chagrined.

Adblock wins in court again – this time against German newspaper

Jeffrey Nonken

Advertising is content

Don't push intrusive, offensive, obnoxious, annoying or malware-ridden advertisements on me and I'll be happy to stop blocking.

I'm usually happy to disable it on sites that ask me politely to do so. Also on webcomics sites specifically. But if you try to force me, I'll walk away. I'm looking at you, Forbes. I never did get to read that article. Too bad.

Amazon to bad cable slingers: USB-C yourself out

Jeffrey Nonken

Re: Why the explicit exception?

More likely that it gives them more legal options to protect themselves.

I remember pointing out to a mallcop friend that people constantly ignored the"no sneakers" sign on the escalator. Including me. He replied that it was only there to minimize litigation in case of accident.

Infosec miscreants are peddling malware that will KO your router

Jeffrey Nonken

Re: What Security?

Telnet logon. I didn't see any other vector in TFA, though I admit I read it rather quickly. Do router companies really leave that on by default? I noticed the option in e.g. my last router (Asus RT-AC68R) but I don't remember having to disable it. Granted my memory is vague on that.

Why would anybody turn that on?

Jeffrey Nonken

Re: "nasty surprise"?

I was trying to find that myself. Didn't notice anything in the linked article.

Microsoft's Brad Smith on encryption: Let the politicians decide

Jeffrey Nonken

"Smith reflected Bill Gates' comments about there being a necessary balance between securing conversations and making sure that law enforcement can do its job."

Huh. Didn't realize it was Microsoft's job to make law enforcement's job easier.

And to be clear, I know he was saying possible, not easy. But funny thing, police were able to do their jobs before smartphones were around. Suggesting that police can't operate without access to smartphone data is several kinds of fallacy.

Not a fan of Apple's walled garden approach. But will take them over Microsoft any day.

Android's unpatched dead device jungle is good for security

Jeffrey Nonken

ASOP... Did you mean AOSP?

http://highonandroid.com/android-roms/what-is-aosp/

Woman scales Ben Nevis wielding selfie stick instead of ice axe

Jeffrey Nonken

Experience is nothing but a lot of mistakes.

Apple's fruitless rootless security broken by code that fits in a tweet

Jeffrey Nonken

Re: They're so darn cute...

"Would start to worry if kid is actually 35, though."

Mine's only 20, but she's autistic, so... We'll check back in 15 years, agreed? ;)

Tired of Windows 10 phoning home? Maybe the special Chinese govt version is for you

Jeffrey Nonken

Re: Inside info

A case could be made for 8.1, but it's 7 for me, too.

Is iOS 9.3 Apple's worst ever update? First it bricks iThings, now Safari is busted

Jeffrey Nonken

Well, unable to use Safari>unable to use your device. So, progress of a sort, I suppose.

East Coast: Verizon on the hook for landline hikes. West Coast: AT&T denies hooking $100m for 10Mbps broadband

Jeffrey Nonken

Re: E. Coast. . .

"In my "town" X, in the "county" of X, [X=X in this exercise] (VERY little research needed)..."

Chester, Pennsylvania?

I'll bet there is more than one town in a county of the same name on the east coast. Not even counting major cities like Philadelphia.

Obvious if you live there, I guess.

William Hague: Brussels attacks mean we must destroy crypto ASAP

Jeffrey Nonken

Re: Sadly,

Indeed. Every time I see something that I think is a particular US style of madness, somebody across the pond does us one better.

I'm thinking of moving to Iceland.

Jeffrey Nonken

Re: Dear William Hague

Q: How can you tell if a politician is lying?

A: His lips are moving.

Stagefright flaw still a nightmare: '850 million' Androids face hijack risk

Jeffrey Nonken

Custom ROMs

Not for everybody, but some might consider running AOSP or Cyanogenmod. Of course Google Pay and some other apps may not run, as has been mentioned.

It looks like it's the only way I'm going to get Marshmallow on my S4. Still running 5.0.1. Feh.

Net neut naught: Netflix throttles its own video

Jeffrey Nonken

Not a violation of net neutrality

Net neutrality is about passing others' data neutrally as a carrier. Netflix is restricting their own data as a content provider. Not the same thing at all.

The way I see it, Netflix is trying to help their customers by keeping costs down. Their mistake was not being transparent about it, and not giving customers the choice to decide for themselves. Unwise, yes, but I see no evil intent, at least not with regards to the throttling itself.

"Netflix said it doesn’t limit its video quality at two carriers: T-Mobile and Sprint Corp., because “historically those two companies have had more consumer-friendly policies.” When customers exceed their data plans on Sprint or T-Mobile, the carriers usually slow their network connections, rather than charge overage fees." I pulled that quote from Techdirt, but I believe they were quoting from WSJ.

It looks like they're now going to offer the ability to make the choice yourself, so that's that part sorted. If you want to boycott them for being dishonest by omission, go for it, but I don't see this as hypocrisy myself.

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20160325/05264934013/netflix-reveals-it-throttles-att-verizon-customers-to-save-them-usage-caps-overage-fees.shtml

Computers shouldn't smoke. Cigarettes aren't healthy for anyone

Jeffrey Nonken

Re: Smokers machines? Put them in the Shower!

I've heard the dishwasher can be effective, too.

For a faster drying time, rinse with alcohol after the water bath.

Biometrics not a magic infosec bullet for web banking, warns GCHQ bloke

Jeffrey Nonken

Re: Biometrics are very popular among the technically less-educated

15-20 online accounts? Is that all? Let's see...

Bank

CC

Phone

Internet

Cable

Email

Utilities

DMV

IRS

Insurance

WiFi

Home computer

That's 10 right there. Some could be combined, some may have multiples. The banks probably include cards whose PINs you must choose and remember. Now, what else...

Amazon

EBay

Paypal

Netflix

Hulu

Redbox

Twitter

Facebook

Google

Apple

Starbucks

Work email

Work computer

Work WiFi

Skype

Any typical person might have some or all of those. Now let's add a few that I also have...

Steam

Yahoo

Newegg

Tigerdirect

Hosting service (Eapps)

Dating site

Tumblr

Cypress Semiconductor

Texas instruments

Digikey

Work phone system

Work server admin logon

Work development server logon

Root for above

Killing Floor dedicated server

USPS

UPS

Fandango

Logitech Harmony

Dropbox

XDA

The Register

Slashdot

Techdirt

Reddit

Wikipedia

Wikia

Tvtropes

IMDB

IMFDB

WordPress

Teamviewer

Firefox

Glyde

Freedompop

Franchise tax board

Daily Steals

...That's just a few of the top of my head, and doesn't count old accounts nor the fact that in some cases I have multiple accounts. Nor that my wife and I sometimes have separate accounts but know each other's information.

I use Keepass. Of course, I also have an elaborate password I have to remember.