Comment Re:Really? (Score 1) 131
Action figures, perhaps not. But I wouldn't be surprised if some Odysseus themed pottery still survives.
Comment air gap? (Score 1) 243
Is it just me or does "air gap" sound like the kind thing best implemented in hardware?
Comment Just politics as usual. (Score 1) 563
This sounds to me like there was sort of deal struck between the Trump administration and NRA. The NRA is suddenly spouting of anti-net neutrality rhetoric, which seems off topic for them, and after the latest school shooting the Trump administration is trying to shift blame away from guns and place it on anything else.
Comment Re: Now THAT is amazing (Score 1) 127
Well I'm thinking that with heating applications any gains in efficiency are going to come from eliminating waste heat and improving the transfer of energy into the thing that you're heating. Probably a wash in the winter though if you have to heat your home anyway.
Comment Re:Philadelphia Fire Department of Streets Departm (Score 1) 259
It's a typo, "of" should be "or".
Comment Re:Sad (Score 1) 239
If people in this country where actually educated about how their government works and capable of forming their own opinions. I don't think it would matter much who gets to yell the loudest.
Comment Re:Someone doesn't like being left of the new econ (Score 1) 198
sea otters...
Comment Re:I'm glad I never had a single CS class in schoo (Score 1) 208
I've had the opposite experience. My first encounter with computer programming was on my own with an old copy of turbo pascal during middle school, but it wasn't until I took classes in high school that I had any interest in pursuing it as a career.
On the other hand, if the class had been mandatory and taught by someone without a passion and/or good grasp of the subject I suppose I could have easily found it discouraging.
On the other hand, if the class had been mandatory and taught by someone without a passion and/or good grasp of the subject I suppose I could have easily found it discouraging.
Submission + - Heartbleed Exposes Critical Infrastructure's Patch Problem (veracode.com)
chicksdaddy writes: The good news about the Heartbleed vulnerability in OpenSSL is that most of the major sites that were found to be vulnerable to the flaw have been patched. (http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9247787/Most_but_not_all_sites_have_fixed_Heartbleed_flaw)
The bad news: the vulnerability of high-profile web sites are just the tip of the iceberg or – more accurately – the head in front of a very long tail of vulnerable web sites and applications. Many of those applications and sites are among the systems that support critical infrastructure. For evidence of that, look no further than the alert issued Thursday by the Department of Homeland Security’s Industrial Control System (ICS) Computer Emergency Readiness Team (CERT). The alert – an update to one issued last month – includes a list of 43 ICS applications that are known to be vulnerable to Heartbleed. (http://ics-cert.us-cert.gov/advisories/ICSA-14-135-05) Just over half have patches available for the Heartbleed flaw, according to ICS CERT data. But that leaves twenty applications vulnerable, including industrial control products from major vendors like Siemens, Honeywell and Schneider Electric.
Even when patches are available, many affected organizations — including operators of critical infrastructure — may have a difficult time applying the patch. ICS environments are notoriously difficult to audit because ICS devices often respond poorly to any form of scanning. ICS-CERT notes that both active- and passive vulnerability scans are “dangerous when used in an ICS environment due to the sensitive nature of these devices.” Specifically: “when it is possible to scan the device, it is possible that device could be put into invalid state causing unexpected results and possible failure of safety safeguards,” ICS-CERT warned.
The bad news: the vulnerability of high-profile web sites are just the tip of the iceberg or – more accurately – the head in front of a very long tail of vulnerable web sites and applications. Many of those applications and sites are among the systems that support critical infrastructure. For evidence of that, look no further than the alert issued Thursday by the Department of Homeland Security’s Industrial Control System (ICS) Computer Emergency Readiness Team (CERT). The alert – an update to one issued last month – includes a list of 43 ICS applications that are known to be vulnerable to Heartbleed. (http://ics-cert.us-cert.gov/advisories/ICSA-14-135-05) Just over half have patches available for the Heartbleed flaw, according to ICS CERT data. But that leaves twenty applications vulnerable, including industrial control products from major vendors like Siemens, Honeywell and Schneider Electric.
Even when patches are available, many affected organizations — including operators of critical infrastructure — may have a difficult time applying the patch. ICS environments are notoriously difficult to audit because ICS devices often respond poorly to any form of scanning. ICS-CERT notes that both active- and passive vulnerability scans are “dangerous when used in an ICS environment due to the sensitive nature of these devices.” Specifically: “when it is possible to scan the device, it is possible that device could be put into invalid state causing unexpected results and possible failure of safety safeguards,” ICS-CERT warned.
Submission + - Why I'm Sending Back Google Glass (computerworld.com)
Lucas123 writes: After using Google Glass for several weeks, Computerworld columnist Matt Lake had plenty of reasons to explain why he returned them, not the least of which was that they made him cross-eyed and avoid eye contact. Google Glass batteries also drain like a bath tub when using either audio or video apps and they run warm. And, as cool as being able to take videos and photos with the glasses may be, those shots are always at an angle. Of course, being able to do turn-by-turn directions is cool, but not something you can do without your smart phone's cellular data or a mobile hotspot. The list of reasons goes on... Bottom line, if Google Glass is in the vanguard of a future class of wearable computers, the future isn't the present.
Comment Re:Depends on what they are doing (Score 1) 153
That hissing sound is normal. They are releasing excess pressure from the boil off.
Comment Re:Do all schools even offer CS classes? (Score 2) 325
I took the exam around '99 and I'm sure it was around before that. Yes, not every high school offers classes in computer science. I think we only had it because our teacher was a big proponent of it and our school district was very well funded to say the least. There where only five or six students who actually took the AP course with me, two where female, and two where minorities.
Comment Re:Concerns about intellectual property (Score 1) 164
The automobile industry operates under some unique pressures - and it's dangerous to generalize from them to other industries.
Submission + - Internet Blackout delivers serious blow to SOPA an (thepowerbase.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Following the highly successful "Internet Blackout" Lamar Smith has issued a statement on the indefinite postponement of PIPA, which comes just days after the shelving of SOPA earlier in the week.
With both of these controversial bills now in a holding pattern, the community needs to turn it's attention to supporting new legislation which combats Internet piracy while preserving Internet freedoms, like the "OPEN Act".
With both of these controversial bills now in a holding pattern, the community needs to turn it's attention to supporting new legislation which combats Internet piracy while preserving Internet freedoms, like the "OPEN Act".
Submission + - College Campus Network Still Infected by a Compute (ieee.org)
wjousts writes: From IEEE Spectrum, computers at the City College of San Francisco (CCSF) may still be infected with several viruses, the oldest from 1999!
As of Friday, the viruses were still active. The Chronicle says that CCSF administrators are telling students and employees to "change computer passwords, avoid using school computers for banking or purchases, and to check home computers for viruses" since the viruses have, the college's Chief Technology Officer warned, infected servers and desktops "across administrative, instructional and wireless networks."
