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Comment Re:dumbass (Score 3, Informative) 140

by Sonic McTails (#29481289) Attached to: Windows Marketplace For Mobile Kill Switch Details
The difference here is that you could sell a program that could cause a phone self-destruct (for instance, damaging the /Windows folder which will cause the phone to fail to boot) and require a manual reflash (which while is not a difficult process, would still probably require most users to bring the phone to a store to do it).

Since in all cases, Microsoft can only examine binaries, and can't see if such a Trojan horse exists, and even if they could see the source, it is still possible to obscure the behavior. If such a self-destruct feature is found, Microsoft can remotely delete the application, the Android Marketplace has the same sorta kill switch for the same reason.

If the program is just delisted, Microsoft won't remotely delete it (at least according to their press release). If you believe them is an entirely different problem.

Comment Having recently setup IPv6 ... (Score 1) 169

by Sonic McTails (#29461279) Attached to: IPv6 Adoption Will Grow With Smart Grid Adoption, Hopes Cisco
I recently redid the routing on my network to add support for IPv6 through a tunnel broker. In all actuality, if your hardware supports IPv6, its VERY trivial to setup with autoconfiguration as long as you don't have a network configuration that requires DHCPv6 (such if you want ipv6 DDNS to work).

On the flip side though, getting it setup across a tunnel broker is extremely tedious, and difficult. That being said, being able to route into the machines on my network directly is an absolute blast. Makes me wish I had a real IPv6 from my ISP.

Comment *sigh* ... (Score 1, Offtopic) 684

by Sonic McTails (#29413259) Attached to: IPhone 3.1 Update Disables Tethering
I'm no Apple lover (nor do I have any great love of Microsoft), but I can at least say Microsoft was never THIS bad with Windows Mobile nor did they lock you down into this kind of ecosystem of control. At least you could write your own programs from Windows Mobile and extend it all you want without Microsoft trying to break you (or being obsessively married to the carrier). Apple-fanboi's take note: I can take control of any other smartphone (Windows Mobile, Blackberry, Android*, etc and get it to do what I want) * - Android phones DO lock out root on non-developer devices, which is unfortunate, and T-Mobile has brought down the hammer on tethering apps in the marketplace (although you can still install them manually).

Comment Re:Android = no native code support (Score 1) 263

by Sonic McTails (#28378891) Attached to: Nvidia Lauds Windows CE Over Android For Smartbooks
You do know that you can use C/C++ code right? JNI is fully supported you know. At most you'd have to rewrite the GUI code in Java and you need to do that with most mobile devices anyway (and here's a hint, Windows CE is different enough from mainstream Windows that it usually requires significant reworking unless your app uses a subset of the MFC libraries or a subset of .NET).

Comment Re:the usual BS about 64-bit (Score 2, Interesting) 770

Actually, i386->amd64 is an improvement. While you do loose performance going from 32->64 memory addresses (and thus using more cache), you gain more general use registers, which i386 is *greatly* starved (you basically have four that you know are always available, and the a bunch more that may or may not be available for general usage if you know what features the processor supports, and you hand-write ASM, or tune your compiler). Hence the performance increases going from i386->amd64, but no on other 32 to 64 migrations involving the same architecture base set (i.e., sparc32->sparc64 or powerpc32->powerpc64).

Comment Re:Because Snapdragon Is an ARM Processor! (Score 1) 125

by Sonic McTails (#28184771) Attached to: Qualcomm Demos Eee PC Running Android OS
I'm not sure what your talking about, but Ubuntu on ARM is free as standard i386/amd64 Ubuntu: http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ports/releases/jaunty/release/ - images are available for the iMX51, and the NSLU2 (I have to dig the link out ofr that) as of Jaunty. People have gotten it running on the Breadboard.

Comment Re:The Charges (Score 1) 469

by Sonic McTails (#27936265) Attached to: Intel Receives Record Fine By the EU
It's illegal when its anti-competitive and forcing other manufacturers out of the marketplace. In addition, there are things that are illegal for monopolies that are legal for other companies (although I'm not sure if Intel been deemed a monopoly in the Eurozone).
The Internet

Euro Parliament Warns Against Overzealous IP Enforcement 73

Posted by timothy from the death-to-whistlers-of-beatles-tunes dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Days after New Zealand dropped its support for the 'three strikes and you're out' approach for terminating Internet subscribers, the European Parliament has now similarly rejected the proposed approach. Today the EP adopted a new report on security and fundamental freedoms on the Internet that expressly rejects disproportionate measures for IP enforcement and the use of excessive access restrictions placed by IP rights holders."
Censorship

The Coming Censorship Wars 197

Posted by timothy from the just-go-around dept.
KentuckyFC writes "Many countries censor internet traffic using techniques such as blocking IP addresses, filtering traffic with certain URLs in the data packets and prefix hijacking. Others allow wiretapping of international traffic with few if any legal safeguards. There are growing fears that these practices could trigger a major international incident should international traffic routed through these countries fall victim, whether deliberately or by accident (witness the prefix hijacking of YouTube in Pakistan last year). So how to avoid these places? A group of computer scientists investigating this problem say it turns out to be surprisingly difficult to determine which countries traffic might pass through. But their initial assessment indicates that the countries with the most pervasive censorship policies — China, Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia — pose a minimal threat because so little international traffic passes their way. The researchers instead point the finger at western countries that have active censorship policies and carry large amounts of international traffic. They highlight the roles of the two biggest carriers: Great Britain, which actively censors internet traffic, and the US, which allows warrantless wiretapping of international traffic (abstract)."
Data Storage

24x DVD Burners Hit the Market 140

Posted by timothy from the break-the-news-gently-to-your-cd-r-drive dept.
KingofGnG writes "There is some uncertainty on which will be the one, between Sony Optiarc and Lite-On, to market the first drive of such kind, but the fact is that DVD burners will once again exceed the maximum write speed limit going from 22x to 24x. Both companies will release the new optical drives between March and May, and though in practice the speed difference isn't amazing at all, the new breakthrough shows that firms continue to invest in a technology with a surprisingly long life."
The Courts

Microsoft Sued Over Vista-To-XP Downgrade Fees 479

Posted by Soulskill from the can't-win-for-losing dept.
Krojack writes with this excerpt from Computerworld: "Los Angeles resident Emma Alvarado charged Microsoft with multiple violations of Washington state's unfair business practices and consumer protection laws over its policy of barring computer makers from continuing to offer XP on new PCs after Vista's early-2007 launch. Alvarado is seeking compensatory damages and wants the case declared a class-action suit. ... Irked at having to pay a fee for downgrading a new Lenovo notebook to XP, Alvarado said that Microsoft had used its position as the dominant operating system maker to 'require consumers to purchase computers pre-installed with the Vista operating system and to pay additional sums to "downgrade" to the Windows XP operating system.'"

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