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Desktops (Apple)

Submission + - Will Linux Ever Make it to the Desktop?

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: Linux has a few major problems keeping it from the desktop: http://www.wildgardenseed.com/Taj/blog/2007/04/15/ will-linux-ever-make-it-to-the-desktop/
  1. The Linux kernel has no way for hardware manufacturers to distribute drivers with their hardware.
  2. Namespace Conflicts: Installing everything under one prefix just doesn't work.
  3. No Platform: Linux has no list of standard libraries/versions of libraries that all distros are guaranteed have. (ISVs need this).
  4. A lot of important projects and libraries don't seem to understand the importance of stable APIs/ABIs (and the pain breaking them causes).
  5. ELF needs some work.
  6. Centralized repositories for installation just don't work.
Operating Systems

Submission + - Are .tmp files necessary or just bad programming?

Submitted by planckscale
planckscale writes: After spending another hour deleting .tmp files from a bloated XP machine I started to wonder, is the .tmp file necessary when coding an application on the MS platform? Why do so many apps produce .tmp files and is it just because of bad coding or does the use of them dramatically speed up an app? Don't coders use dev/null to reduce them in linux? I can understand the use of them in case an app crashes for recovery purposes, but why don't more apps have the capacity to delete their own .tmp files once they are done with them? Is it too much to ask to at least have the option when closing an app to delete your temp files?
Windows

Submission + - How do I get 4GB in Windows Vista?

Submitted by javajeff
javajeff writes: I decided to buy an extra 2 GB for my Windows Vista Ultimate. I installed the two new sticks, turned on the computer, and found that Windows only sees 3326MB. Apparently, 32 bit Windows will not see anything over 3.XGB due to memory mapping. Here is a Knowledge Base article from Microsoft: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929605 on the subject. My bios shows all the sticks installed, and I moved them around to make sure they were all working properly in a 2GB situation. I also ran Ubuntu off of the 7.04 CD to try, and it also did not detect all of the memory. I have an Intel Core 2 Duo Processor E6300 and an Intel Desktop Board DG965WH. My question to the Slashdot community: Is there any way to use 4GB without installing the 64 bit Vista Ultimate?
Security

Submission + - The Pirate Bay Gets Hacked

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: A group of hackers has stolen a list of all 1.6 million usernames and passwords for registered users of file-sharing site The Pirate Bay. Computer Sweden reports that the sensitive information was accessed by a group calling itself Angry Young Hackers (Arga Unga Hackare — AUH). Source: http://www.thelocal.se/7280/20070511/
The Almighty Buck

Submission + - Obnoxious websites

Submitted by ciscoguy01
ciscoguy01 writes: I heard an ad on the radio for Bank of America's new mortgage program, "NoFeeMortgagePlus". I took a look at their site, http://www.bankofamerica.com/nofeemortgageplus
and was immediately bombarded with an animated blaring flash ad. It was late at night and my computer was talking, and LOUDLY, and others were sleeping!. I couldn't mute the speakers quickly enough!
The animated character was basically reading the website to me, as if I couldn't read it myself. I have to give B of A the award for the most obnoxious web design I have encountered. My personal feelings are that websites should be seen and not heard, and if I want to view media or hear sounds I want to invoke them myself, but maybe I am a purist. What does Slashdot think? Does this nonsense ever add anything to your web experience? Or like me do you consider this just obnoxious?
Censorship

Submission + - Another DMCA Takedown Notice For Digg

Submitted by
ngottlieb
ngottlieb writes: "Digg has received another DMCA takedown notice for a post containing a number used to decrypt a copyrighted poem. The hosting of the key violates the DMCA's "ban on trafficking in circumvention devices" in the same way the hosting of the AACS key violated it. Will Digg.com comply with this takedown notice, or continue it's stand against the DMCA, supporting its users all the way?"
Slashdot.org

Submission + - Rogers losing more customers

Submitted by
jgoguen
jgoguen writes: "Once again, Rogers has angered and annoyed people with their blocking of encrypted traffic. As is disturbingly common, instead of pointing at existing policies to avoid confrontation and provide good customer service, Rogers decides to show once again how incompetent they really are. Network neutrality is potentially also in danger here, with Rogers poised to prioritize their own content and Industry Minister Maxime Bernier pushing ahead with a deregulation scheme."
It's funny. Laugh.

Submission + - The easiest way to social free pizza!

Submitted by
Anonymous Coward
Anonymous Coward writes: "Thanks to human stupidity, socially engineering pizza is simple. With these two tutorials, all the responses are layed out for you, including a fail safe coupon to give the driver. This method is much easier than other methods, like the one seen on TheBroken. You do not even need to drive to the pizza place!

Enjoy this guide, and impress your friends with free pizza and your new social engineering skills."
Businesses

Submission + - My software doesn't get enough pirate's attention

Submitted by
Benoit Joossen
Benoit Joossen writes: "My software doesnt get enough pirates attention. April 28th, 2007


Today I stumbled on an article by Daniel Jalkut about piracy. Daniel is also a Mac software developer.
He claims that piracy is not such a bad thing, because pirates will become our customers tomorrow.

A short summary of his article could be:
Granted, Pirates are not paying our bills today, but they contribute to word-of-mouth marketing, they provide some peer-to-peer support, and by choosing your product they help fighting your competitors. Eventually, theyll grow a moral backbone and legitimately pay for your products.
He concludes that piracy should be ostracized as a bad social behavior, rather than fought like crime.

At first, I found his reasoning very interesting and mostly agreed with him. But when I tried to apply it to SimpleMovieX, my main product, I discovered a more complex reality.

Like every software worth two pennies, SimpleMovieX has been cracked for a long time. My protection scheme is extremely simple, and I guess that any cracker with the right tools can break it in five minutes. Making it more difficult would be a loss of time, it would be cracked anyway. So this protection scheme is just aimed at reminding users of demo version that its a 30$ product, that they can buy it, receive my eternal gratitude, and enjoy a world-class technical support.

So as Im not fighting piracy seriously, does it make me a supporter of Daniels reasoning? Not so fast!

SimpleMovieX is not pirated enough to see the benefits that Daniel mentions. Word-of-mouth marketing, peer-to-peer support, fighting competitors, and finally getting future customers, all this depends on the pirates massively adopting your software.
You will say: Pirates dont choose it because its a bad quality product with too few features. Wrong! They dont choose it because its competing in a completly distorted market.

Ill take an example: If you like cars, and youre a thief, youll probably pick the most exclusive cars. A Porsche is not more difficult to steal as a Ford, but its much more rewarding, and the cost is the same: Nothing.
With software piracy, the same happens: If you can get cracked versions of Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere, and SimpleMovieX, which one would you use? High-end video editing or entry-level video editing? The fact that SimpleMovieX costs 30$ versus over 500$ for the other ones, doesnt matter for the pirate crowd. Not to mention freeware products, iMovie, and QuickTime Pro with hundreds of registration keys in the wild.

But its not an excuse. Im willing to fight for SimpleMovieX anyway. Ill continue improving it, differentiating it, and Ill try to turn this distorted market to my advantage.
Its clear that a certain type of entry-level software, often high-quality products, developed by small developers, is getting hurt harder. If the positioning is: offer less features but be affordable, then you get little pirates attention.

Like it or not, freeware and piracy are two forces that are shaping the software market. They decide to what extent a product can be successful, or said in other words, they decide what products get developed.
Ill learn the lesson for my next product, and one of design goals (not the first one!) will be to get maximum pirates attention.
A market shaped by free products and future customers cannot but be a passionate one!
"
Role Playing (Games)

Submission + - WoW Gold paid for real sex

Submitted by
Shohat
Shohat writes: "A woman posted an ad on Craigslist, offering a certain something for some quick cash in her game of choice, WoW.The offer was very specific, and And she got what she wanted — enough money an epic flying mount - Screenshots of the postings prior to removal .
First of all, is this prostitution? Sure seems like it, although MMO money isn't entirely established as legally worth real money yet, even if people buy and sell it all the time on multiple online and offline markets."
Linux Business

Submission + - linux's problems on the desktop

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: http://www.wildgardenseed.com/Taj/blog/2007/04/15/ will-linux-ever-make-it-to-the-desktop/

Almost every year someone declares it to be "The Year of the Linux Desktop." Yet, these pundits are wrong-every year. Definitely, Linux has made a lot of progress since the days of Red Hat 6.0, but it still has major architectural problems that have existed since the beginning (and actually, in the pre-Linux days as well).
User Journal

Journal Journal: VA Tech and Simon's Rock Shootings

Journal by evought

This entry is a compilation of some of my thoughts on the recent VA Tech shootings and the 1992 shooting at my College, Simon's Rock. Like many people, my thoughts are with the victims and survivors, but also on the past.
Security

Submission + - Social Engineer Proves Major Insecurity At Banks

Submitted by
ApocalypseXP
ApocalypseXP writes: "Story from: http://www.protokulture.net/?p=79

the life of a social engineer
April 15th, 2007 by applekid

I enter the first branch at approximately 9:00AM. Dressed in Dickies coveralls, a baseball cap, work boots and sunglasses I approach the young lady at the front desk.

"Hello," I say. "Jarred White with XYZ Pest Control, here to perform your pest inspection." I flash her the smile followed by the credentials. She looks at me for a moment, goes "Uhm... okay... let me check with the branch manager..." and picks up the phone. I stand around twiddling my thumbs and wait while the manager is contacted and confirmation is made. If all goes according to plan, the fake emails I sent out last week notifying branch managers of our inspection will allow me access.

It does.

The manager greets me and brings me into the secured area behind the teller line. She never asks for identification. She says she received an email from the bank's facilities supervisor saying that we would be by on Monday. I force myself not to laugh, and nod understandingly. I explain the procedure. "Awww no ma'am," I say in a deeply Southern voice, "We don't do sprayin' on this visit. We're just here to see if there's a problem to begin with. Y'know, check for signs of rodents and crap like that." She nods, relieved that I won't be spraying pesticides. The bag that I carry is, for the most part, empty. It contains a flash light, a paper mask, a pair of work gloves, a tiny wireless access point disguised as a pager, two key loggers and lots of space to store stuff. My clipboard is also full of goodies. I sling the bag off my shoulder and get to work, as the lady wanders off. As she begins to leave, she says "Well, I guess you know what you need to do. I'll be in my office. Let me know if you need anything." I don't look up from my "work" as I thank her.

As soon as she disappears I move into the next room. The room is a work room where documents are stored, the printers are kept and various other supplies are stored. I look around the area for anything of interest. A stack of checks for deposit catches my eye, so I grab them and shove them into my clipboard. Each check has a name and account number on it. Nothing else here, but I hear a familiar humming; warm and pleasing to the ears. I walk back to the manager's office, and ask her if she could please grant me entry into "this back room, whatever's in there." She explains that this room houses their computer equipment. I nod and say that rodents are known to bed up in warm areas, and in my experience, computer rooms generate heat. I see the gears turning inside her head, and once she decides that this answer makes perfect sense, she unlocks the door. She asks only that I notify her when I am finished so that she may lock it again. I nod and tell her I would be happy to.

I enter the computer room and immediately begin to see networking equipment. A few tower servers rest on the floor beneath the rack. I could plug any number of items into the switch at this point. If they use DHCP, my rogue access point, which has been preconfigured, will provide me access to the internal network from the parking lot. My key loggers come in two flavors: USB and PS2. I decide to save the goodies for another locale. I take stickers with my company logo and place them on the networking equipment to prove that I have been there. I rummage around the area looking for confidential items. I find a company phone directory and take it. This might come in useful later, I think to myself. Near one of the terminals, I see a pink sticky note. "Bingo," I say aloud. Written on the sticky note are login credentials to the core processor. This information should allow me to query the bank's core processing software for account numbers, names and social security numbers; once I have determined its IP address. I note the credentials in my clipboard.

I fetch the manager and she locks the door. I thank her, and ask if I may inspect some of the offices out in the lobby. I let her know that I don't want to interfere, so I point to an empty office and ask if I may inspect that one. "Oh yes, that's Tom's office. He's one of our loan officers, but he's at another branch today. Sure, go right ahead." I'm already walking toward the open office before she finishes. Satisfied that I'm completing my work, she turns around and goes back to her office. Once inside Tom's office, I get down on my hands and knees and retrieve my flashlight. I pretend to inspect the area around his desk. The walls are made of glass, and everyone can see in. I try to keep an eye out for what's going on, who is watching me, and who might be coming my way, but it's difficult to tell. I decide that I had better make quick work of this place and get out.

I pull a CD from my clipboard and place it in Tom's computer. This CD contains a virus which contacts our company's Network Operations Center and provides us with information about the workstation. It's intended as a proof of concept, and nothing more. The software doesn't hurt the victim's computer. I also rummage through his filing cabinets, which are not locked, and recover a folder full of loan applications. Loan applications are great. They contain social security numbers, names, and sometimes a photo copy of the drivers license. These are no exception.

I get to my feet and return to the manager's office. I smile as I let her know I'm finished, and they have a clean bill of health. "Welp, we didn't find anything ma'am," I tell her, "Now if you'd just sign this here invoice for me just to prove to my dispatcher that I was here, I'd be much obliged." Yes, sometimes I do lay it on quite thick. She signs the fake invoices we had printed up at a local printing company. I date it and sign my initials as well. I thank her for her time and cooperation and leave the building.

I enter my vehicle and realize that I'm sweating. It's Minnesota, so it's not exactly hot outside. I nervously drive to a parking lot across the street, thinking the entire time that somebody must be on to me. Somebody must have figured out my ruse. Somebody has called the police, noted my license plate, and they must be on their way. But they aren't. As I start to calm, I inspect the items I have collected.

* 27 account names and numbers
* 13 loan applications complete with socials, names, birthdays and drivers license
* 1 phone directory with (what appears to be) extensions for everyone in the bank
* 1 login to the AIX Core Processor

This should be enough to start some new eBay accounts. I seal the information in an evidence bag, date it, sign it and place it in a secure bag. I call home base and report that the first job is done, and that I'm moving to the main branch. I light a cigarette and turn up the music as I drive to the next target."

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