Comment Re:"A high-energy, 'metastable' state"? (Score 2) 259
Maybe the uni/multiverse had a "reboot" from a prior state?
Comment Re:Custom Firmware? (Score 1) 148
I appreciate the insight. I wasn't sure if the source was a generic AMI base or a more specific firmware/BIOS build for a single motherboard.
Comment Custom Firmware? (Score 4, Insightful) 148
Would it be possible that more ambitious/less sinister programmers and/or modders could create a highly customized firmware or BIOS that allowed for more options? I guess I see a positive outcome to any leaked source code rather than the negative weaponry most people imagine.
Comment Re:biological repair system (Score 1) 32
An application for life-like automatons (robots) would be another. The gap of the uncanny valley would close significantly.
Comment Re:whatcouldposiblygowrong (Score 1) 497
Practically speaking, it really isn't different.
The surgeon who kills someone might, if the victim's family is very lucky, be assessed damages of a couple million. An idiot with a cracked server farm can easily cause that much damage on the net.
Comment Re:So... (Score 1) 163
Ummmm.... I read the entire conversation. I also read your statement in which you couldn't be too mad for too long because money was one of the first forms of "virtualization".
That is not what I said. What I said was that I would not want him, pardon the crude terminology, fucked in the ass.
To that I say, so what? What's that got to do with anything? You get your identity stolen in our world today you are very liable to lose all your real property and your very real reputation and ability to work.
Uh, no. This is an unlikely extreme. People get their identity stolen all the time. It sucks. But it's not like we're seeing an increase in the homeless population, like in the picture you're painting.
You're the one that floated the idea that because money was a form of virtualization you couldn't stay mad for long.
No, I didn't. See above.
That you wanted to see no harm come to someone who had stolen everything from you.
No physical harm. Again, this is something you should have gotten from your mastery of the context of this conversation.
I just asked why.
No, you didn't. You used a few question marks, but you didn't actually ask me anything. You used questions to put words in my mouth and then responded to that. You have not, at any time, seriously asked for clarification of what I meant. Here, I'll use this thread as an example of what you're doing:
"Just because money is a "virtualized" form of wealth identity theft is any less heinous than stealing someone's real wealth?"
So you really think stealing $2,000 from somebody's bank account is as bad as rape? When sex is forced upon somebody, something they value, intimacy that is worth a great deal to them, has been violently ripped away from them. This is something that they would spend any amount of money to erase from their history, thus making it more valuable than $2,000. They would spend their whole lives trying to deal with that, whereas that $2,000 they would make back much sooner in their lives. Just because somebody can give what they have to as many people as they want, doesn't mean there is no value in it.
Obnoxious, isn't it?
Newly-Found Windows Bug Affects All Versions Since NT 393
garg0yle writes "A researcher has found a security bug that could allow privilege escalation in Windows. Nothing new there, right? Well, this affects the Virtual DOS Machine, found in every 32-bit version of Windows all the way back to Windows NT. That's 17 years worth of Windows and counting. 'Using code written for the VDM, an unprivileged user can inject code of his choosing directly into the system's kernel, making it possible to make changes to highly sensitive parts of the operating system. ... The vulnerability exists in all 32-bit versions of Microsoft OSes released since 1993, and proof-of-concept code works on the XP, Server 2003, Vista, Server 2008, and 7 versions of Windows, Ormandy reported.'"
Tynt Insight Is Watching You Cut and Paste 495
jerryasher writes "In recent weeks I've noticed that when I copy and paste text from Wired and other websites, the pasted text has had the URL of the original website appended to it. Cool, and utterly annoying, and how do I make that stop? Tynt Insight is a piece of Javascript that sends what you copy to Tynt's webservers and adds the backlinks. Tynt calls that a service for the site owner, many people call that a privacy invasion. Worse, there are some reports that it sends not just what you copy, but everything you select. And Tynt provides no opt outs. Not cookie-based, not IP-based, but stop-it-you-creeps-angry-phone-call-based. It ain't a pure useful service, and it ain't a pure privacy invasion. But I sure wish they'd go away or have had the decency never to start up in the first place. I block it on Firefox with Ghostery."
Does a Lame E-Mail Address Really Matter? 1049
theodp writes "Over at the Chicago Tribune, freelance writer Nancy Anderson makes an embarrassing confession. It's 2010 and she still has an AOL e-mail address. 'You've got to get rid of that AOL address,' her publicist sister told her five years ago. 'It's bad for your image.' Image, shmimage, Anderson thought. 'If I do good work,' she asks, 'does my e-mail address really matter?' Good question. Would an AOL e-mail address — or another 'toxic' e-mail address — influence your decision to hire someone?"
Intel Launches Wi-Di 172
Barence writes "Intel has launched a new display technology called Wi-Di at CES. Intel Wireless Display uses Wi-Fi to wirelessly transmit video from PCs running Intel's latest generation of Core processors to HD television sets. Televisions will require a special adapter made by companies such as Netgear — which will cost around $100 — to receive the wireless video signals. Intel also revealed its optical interconnect technology, Light Peak, will be in PCs 'in about a year.'"
IT Workers To Get Fewer Perks, No Free Coffee 620
dasButcher writes "While the economy is showing signs of recovery and tech stocks posted double- and triple-digit gains in 2009, IT workers are facing a less hospitable workplace in the coming year. Many employers say they're going to continue trimming budgets, particularly in human resources. Rather than giving up head count, they're planning to trim 401k contributions, eliminate bonuses, curtail travel and, dare we say, shut off the free coffee (it wasn't that good anyway)."
Danish DRM Breaker Turns Himself In To Test Backup Law 466
coaxial writes "In Denmark, it's legal to make copies of commercial videos for backup or other private purposes. It's also illegal to break the DRM that restricts copying of DVDs. Deciding to find out which law mattered, Henrik Anderson reported himself for 100 violations of the DRM-breaking law (he ripped his DVD collection to his computer) and demanded that the Danish anti-piracy Antipiratgruppen do something about it. They promised him a response, then didn't respond. So now he's reporting himself to the police. He wants a trial, so that the legality of the DRM-breaking law can be tested in court."
Life and Work On the LHC At CERN 81
An anonymous reader sends in a CNet Crave interview with a working physicist at CERN. The interview is full of detail about what it's like to work in this geek paradise (if a bit dumbed-down for an audience assumed not very technical). Dr. Paul Jackson, a particle physicist working on the LHC's Atlas experiment, says there's no chance of black holes wiping us out, and that the time travel speculation is bunkum. He is 100% convinced that they will find the Higgs boson. The scientists there favor Macs, while computers in the control room are Linux-based. "What would happen if you were standing in front of the beam? You would die. It would be a pretty spectacular death, and you wouldn't know a lot about it. ... It would be the equivalent of having 87kg of TNT dumped into your body."
Microsoft Readies Ad-Supported Office Starter 2010 235
Martin writes with this excerpt from Ars Technica: "Microsoft Office Starter 2010 will be not available for purchase; it will only come pre-loaded on new PCs. It includes basic functionality so users can view, edit, and create documents via Office Word Starter 2010 and Office Excel Starter 2010. Not only are these programs ad-supported, but Microsoft claims they are 'designed for casual Office users,' who apparently will be perfectly fine with reduced-functionality and ad-supported software."
Comment Re:Almost competing (Score 1) 706
You definitely have brough the truth to light. Nvidia's infamous nvklddm.sys BSoD still rears its ugly head. Windows 7 seems to have gottent past this horrible bug but I'm sure people will still see it regardless of which Windows 6.x version is around.
