VT-d is used for something else, basically allowing PCI-E devices to access RAM without needing to worry about a >32 bit address space. While it might be possible to prevent this attack with it, that isn't how it is currently used. If a fix can be implemented it might break a lot of drivers.

The attack is so nasty because when you can overwrite random bits of memory you can modify executable code on the fly. Address randomization doesn't help, you can simply search the entire address space for some suitable entry point.

Funny, those masculine traits tend not to be associated with nerds.

One person doing something does not meant that the 50% of the population who share her gender is dishonest. #GamerGate is over, the bullshit was exposed. Let it go.

Affirmative action is supposed to still be a meritocracy, it's just that you make some effort to get members of the minority group to apply instead of just throwing the posting out there. For example, you might make an effort to network with women so that they see your job listing, as often guys mostly have other guys in their circles. It might go as far as offering grants to help minority candidates afford to apply and study, or to move to where the job is.

Ultimately though the choice of candidate is down to merit alone. If they don't make the grade, they still don't get in. At least, that's how it is supposed to work, but maybe some people are doing it wrong.

That women need more encouragement? That silicon valley rewards aggressiveness and risk taking, rather than good technology?

TFA says that silicon valley is a meritocracy, but then demonstrates that "merit" actually means masculine attributes rather than technical ability. That's the problem, and we lose out on potentially great tech and programmers because we don't value their work more than their personality.

While the troll mod is unjustified, it also misses the point and makes sets up a straw feminist to make its argument.

The point is that we waste a lot of talent because silicon valley and many companies are set up to value masculine attributes - daring, aggressive behaviour that involves a lot of risk. Sometimes that can be a good thing, but it also means that we might never get to see that brilliant technology that was invented by a female coder.

More over, that point focuses on the people at the top of start-ups, the ones responsible for raising money and taking risks with it. It doesn't justify the imbalance among engineers, the people writing the actual code. Again, it's down to things like guys looking for people like themselves, and not valuing feminine traits which are actually good for business, and not networking with enough women to get the applicants in the first place etc.

Advanced Business & Capitalism 2nd Edition Player's Handbook, page 32, second paragraph:

"The object of the game is not to out-compete your opponent; that's just a means to your ultimate goal of becoming a monopoly. Level 20 corporate persons gain the ability to stile all competition and absorb all wealth in a 12' radius. When rolling a natural 20 on a 1d20 the government passes a law allowing the player to charge all other beings within his castle walls rent."

Not protect them as in security, they are still festering holes of vulnerability that you wouldn't go near without a VPN. Protect them as in stop any competition that might force them to be competitive.

You can actively block wifi legally, sorta. The thing is, 2.4GHz is a free-for-all with some basic ground rules, but that's it. If you decide to set up an 802.11n AP with maximum channel bandwidth and then stream data over it constantly at maximum transmit power (i.e. what most heavy users do) that's fine, even though it might break your neighbour's connection. It happens all the time too - channels become useless, and in some areas the whole 2.4GHz band is pretty much saturated just by APs sending beacons, let along any traffic on top.

Throw in a crappy power supply (par for the course on consumer hardware) and your RX sensitivity goes right down, but you keep pumping out crap at full volume so the "hidden transmitter" problem (where transmitters talk over each other because they can't hear each other, but the client in between them can hear both) gets worse.

At this point it's looking like North Korea probably didn't do it.

Sounds kinda like Firefly. Although there was action, the ship was unarmed and there were never any technobable solutions.

I think most people do find them boring, it's just that they get suckered in by the trailer and the hope that it won't be a waste of two hours. I have to admit, I've seen all four Transformers films and every god damned time feel like I've been cheated out of a small part of my life with the promise of it being good this time, because I so want it to be...

That's the basic problem. People have too much free time and since reading is hard and WoW addiction is unhealthy they turn to movies and TV. 98.7% of movies and TV are total crap but what else is there to do? And the next episode might be a good one...

By all accounts it's a shit movie, and Sony Pictures has a well establish pedigree for making shit cash-in movies. Spider-man? The first three were basically the same film three times, and then they had to reboot and make another three just to cash in a little more and keep the rights for when Marvel want to do Civil War.

The there is the DRM they insist on for cinema projectors. Costs the cinema a fortune, which in turn costs you a smaller fortune when you want to buy a ticket. The best part is, all they are protecting is some headache-inducing 3D bullshit.

Fuck Sony Pictures.

But... but... but... they're better than normal screws! They are more robust, because you know, most people open their laptop up every week and replacement screws a really expensive...

Come on fanboys, mod me down :-)

USB 3.0 devices can't read or write arbitrary RAM like Thunderbolt devices can. The host controller (or rather the driver) has to allocate RAM buffers and then program its DMA controller to copy data in or out of it. In theory it might be vulnerable if there are flaws in the driver perhaps, but it would be reliant on specific drivers and host controllers. The vulnerability is designed in to Thunderbolt as a feature.