Comment PBS is not the government (Score 2) 387
PBS is a private non-profit organization. WGBH (which produces Frontline) is owned by private foundation.
Where does the government come in here?
PBS Web Sites and Databases Hacked 387
wiredmikey writes "Late Sunday night, hackers gained access to several areas of PBS Web servers and were able publish a fake news story on a PBS news blog. The group also published PBS internal user login information that they were able to siphon out of PBS databases. The fake story was about rapper Tupac Shakur, who died in 1996 after being shot in Las Vegas, being been found alive and well in a small resort in New Zealand. A group going by the name of 'LulzSec' claimed responsibility for the hack, saying the attack was a protest against a PBS Frontline broadcast last week about WikiLeaks."
Comment Re:Taxes (Score 1) 619
No, it's not better unless it also takes into account the mass of the vehicle. Road wear increases with the cube of vehicle mass. A 5400 lbs Hummer causes 8x as much wear on the roadway as my 2700 lbs compact car. If we're taxing by miles driven, I demand to tax by the amount of wear caused during those miles. In which case, the Hummer can pay 8x taxes per mile.
We actually have a system in place that's more fair than tax by mileage. More massive vehicles require more energy to accelerate to speed (a result of physics) and typically need more energy to maintain speed (a result of styling). Through fuel taxes, we charge the more massive vehicles at a higher rate per mile driven-- as we should.
I don't know what is the paranoia about tax by miles driven. It would be a stupid and unfair tax. Perhaps people are concerned about wholesale surveillance. Well, you shouldn't be. Your movements are already tracked just fine through your mobile phone and other implements of the surveillance state. Why bother tracking a car when you want to track the driver and occupants?
Comment Re:Patriot Act Renewal (Score 2, Interesting) 350
Printing massive amounts of money has the fortunate effect of wiping out all of the mortgage, medical, education, auto, and credit card debt held by people like me and the rest of the working class. It also has the beneficial effect of wiping out the dollar denominated debt of the exploited countries of the global south.
I guess it's tough shit for you, but I'll be dancing in the streets when the dollar collapses.
Comment Veto (Score 3, Insightful) 350
Any chance Obama is going to veto this? He's Mr. Change-You-Can-Believe-In, right? Waiting on the change...
Comment Slashvertisement (Score 1) 45
The page loaded (they probably moved it off the ATV), and it looks like just an advertisement for colo of Mac Minis.
An Apple TV-Based Webserver 45
Wyvere writes "The folks over at Mac Mini Vault jailbroke an Apple TV, stuck lighttpd on it, and connected it up to the internet in the name of fun hacking. 'This project was a fun way to see how far we could take the A4 powered Apple TV. The Apple TV is running iOS 4.2.2 (obviously jailbroken) with lighttpd for a web server.'"
GSM Association Slams Euro Call For Ban On Wireless In School 271
jhernik writes "The ongoing debate over the supposed dangers posed by mobile phone usage and wireless signals has exploded once again. An influential European committee has called for a ban on mobile phones and Wi-Fi networks in schools – the GSM Association has denounced the report as an 'unbalanced political assessment, not a scientific report.' The report made its recommendation to reduce mobile and wireless use in schools, despite admitting that there is a lack of clear scientific and clinical proof. However, it said the lack of proof was reason enough to restrict use, just in case, comparing mobile phone radiation to other things whose dangers were once unknown, such as asbestos, leaded petrol and tobacco."
Do Developers Really Need a Second Monitor? 1002
jammag writes "It was an agonizing moment: a developer arrived at work to realize his second monitor had been taken (given to the accounting dept., to add insult to injury). Soon, the wailing and the gnashing of teeth began. As this project manager recounts, developers feel strongly — very strongly — about needing a second monitor (maybe a third?) to work effectively. But is this just the posturing of pampered coders, or is this much screen real estate really a requirement for today's developers?"
HDMI Brands Don't Matter 399
adeelarshad82 writes "I'm sure most of us looking for an HDMI cable have been in a situation where a store clerk sidles up, offers to help and points to some of the most expensive HDMI cables — because apparently these are 'superior cables' which we all absolutely need for the best possible home theater experience. Well, as it turns out the claims are, for the vast majority of home theater users, utter rubbish. According to tests ran on five different HDMI cables, ranging in price from less than $5 up to more than $100, HDMI brands really don't matter."
FCC Commissioner Leaves To Become Lobbyist 309
An anonymous reader writes "Meredith Attwell Baker, one of the FCC Commissioners, is leaving the FCC to become a lobbyist for Comcast-NBC, just four months after approving their merger deal. She refused to put any significant conditions on the merger, saying that the deal would 'bring exciting benefits to consumers that outweigh potential harms.' Comcast has released an official statement saying that, 'Meredith's executive branch and business experience along with her exceptional relationships in Washington bring Comcast and NBCUniversal the perfect combination of skills.'"
Comment Sony Vaio laptop battery bullshit (Score 1) 329
Several months ago, my boss bought a Sony Vaio laptop with Windows 7 Home on it. I was tasked with installing various work software on it. As part of that, I did a clean install of Win 7 Enterprise. While installing drivers (and trying to get the various hotkeys to work), I installed some power management software from Sony. After installation, there was continually a dialog box coming up saying that the battery is not properly connected. The only option was 'Click OK to hibernate.' Nothing was wrong with the laptop or battery. It had been purchased two days before. Fixing the problem was just a matter of killing the process raising the dialog and removing it from startup.
I did a bit of research, and I found that the sole purpose of that program is to prevent people from installing third party batteries. That's all it does. It's there to allow Sony to charge whatever it wants for batteries.
Aside from a walkman, I haven't had much experience with Sony, but after seeing their business practice, I don't think I will ever buy anything from them.
Comment Re:War is not for trials (Score 1) 1855
you cannot fight real bullets with lawyers not matter how many lawyers you have.
Sure you can-- just keep sending lawyers until they run out of bullets. It would be a good start!
Comment Re:Route their traffic through Tor (Score 1) 520
Agreed. GP post is a great idea.
Regarding Freenet, if I recall correctly, it's possible to configure who can manage the freenet node by IP address or subnet. It should be in text config file. So, if you put your machines on 192.168.1.0/24 and guests on 192.168.10.0/24, you can allow access from 192.168.0.0/16 but only allow management from 192.168.1.0/24.
Comment Host it yourself (Score 1) 236
Why not just host it yourself using the open source mail server and transport of your choice?
