Catch up on stories from the past week (and beyond) at the Slashdot story archive

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
×

Comment Re:It isn't just licensing costs... (Score 4, Informative) 863

Did you even read the Secunia links you posted? Both unpatched vulnerabilities require usage of Apache's mod_ftp module, which I've honestly never even seen used as most hosts and general servers use external (and hardened) FTP software like ProFTPd:

Successful exploitation requires that a threaded Multi-Processing Module is used and that the mod_proxy_ftp module is enabled. (...) An error in the included APR-util library can be exploited to trigger hangs in the prefork and event MPMs on Solaris.

And the second (first in order on the site) unpatched vulnerability deals strictly with a mod_ftp input validation issue. Again, I rarely even see mod_ftp even used as opposed to an entirely seperate FTP server daemon but disabling the faulty module is simple enough in environments requiring absolute security.

And input validation issues are usually patched fairly quickly anyways, I mean come on, this is 2009 and there are too many developers for the project that wouldn't let this sort of thing continue for this amount of time. Not to mention the fact that these unpatched vulnerabilities are nothing compared to the olde IIS Webdav exploit of a few years ago - too bad there wasn't a community aware of it sooner other than the underground black hats already using it to their advantage by the time it was brought to the attention of MS.

Comment Re:Not really... (Score 1) 267

Users don't read dialog boxes. It could've had red flashing lights around it, and it wouldn't have mattered.

Yeah I get those at the bottom of websites all the time, usually because I'm the Xth visitor etc. For some reason, the prize is always a bunch of forms to fill out promising more prizes. (this is a joke, by the way)

Earth

Laughing Gas Is Major Threat To Ozone Layer 306

Hugh Pickens writes "The Christian Science Monitor reports that according to new research, nitrous oxide, the colorless, sweet-smelling gas with a long history as a medical and dental anesthetic is the next big threat to Earth's protective ozone layer. Its role in destroying ozone has long been recognized, as well as its role as a heat-trapping greenhouse gas but the new study puts nitrous oxide's ability to deplete ozone into numbers comparable to those used for other ozone-depleting gases covered by the 1987 Montreal Protocol. The researchers note that the health of the ozone layer has been improving since the adoption of the protocol and that nitrous oxide looms large today as an artificial destroyer of the ozone layer, in part because the emissions of other harmful chemicals have been so sharply reduced." (Continues.)
Privacy

Submission + - The Internet Knows Everything: MIT PersonasWeb (thecoffeedesk.com)

An anonymous reader writes: In the latest Orwellian display of the Internet, MIT's Aaron Zinman has conjured up PersonasWeb — an in-depth datamining utility that aims to display and categorize any instance of an individuals name found on the Internet using a private database and a simple AJAX web page.The tool is similar to traditional Google datamining, but also uses keywords found in and around instances of an individuals name to categorize the instances into several categories, including "Illegal", "Online", "Sports", and more.
Programming

Submission + - iPhone background apps (daemons) without jailbreak (thecoffeedesk.com)

Not An AT&T Fanboy writes: An editor at The Coffee Desk seems to have found a way to run background processes (Unix daemons) on an Apple iPhone without jailbreaking. The method for doing so is not supported by Apple at all, and is sure to send security researchers through the roof with the realization that this could allow seemingly-legit iPhone apps to contain full-blown viruses while being distributed via the App Store.
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft Begins Using Twitter, Fails In (thecoffeedesk.com) 1

Twitter Failure writes: So I think most geeks or curious people in general have checked out @Microsoft's long-unused Twitter account, only to find a skimpy amount of followers and no tweets to speak of. Today, that changed in what is apparently Microsoft's minimal effort to get in on the Twitter marketing business (as 1 out of every 2 Twitter spammers love to tell you about). Here's the best part — they don't have nearly the amount of followers as Linux does!
The Internet

Submission + - ICANN's New gTLD Proposal, and Why It Won't Happen (thecoffeedesk.com) 1

YouCANN writes: ICANN is proposing tailored Top Level Domain names, e.g. my.ibm and my.dell instead of the usual com and net TLDs. The move to a more USENET-style DNS hierarchy is already coming under criticism by those both inside and outside of ICANN for a variety of reasons, including (but not limited to) trademark issues, the obvious overstuffed resulting DNS tree, cybersquatting and lack of future support from registrars. The already lack of use of some current generic TLDs is also hurting the proposal, sources say.
Social Networks

Submission + - Facebook and the Severe Lack of Privacy Within (thecoffeedesk.com) 1

ILovePrivacy writes: Facebook's recent popularity surge over the past few years has brought in waves of new users. With these new users, however, also come the spammers and a flurry of privacy violations by both application writers and the Facebook staff themselves. Quizzes designed to harvest personal information (as permitted by the agreed-to terms), the lack of in-transit encryption (HTTPS/TLS) and the lack of true deletion outside of mere "bit-flipping" for personal data are all major privacy concerns with Facebook that most users never realize.
Windows

Submission + - Dell says Windows 7 pricing may be a 'problem'

ausekilis writes: On Tom's Hardware is a brief article concerning the price for the upcoming Windows 7

The director of product management for Dell's business client product group, Darrel Ward, thinks that the price for the upcoming Windows 7 operating system may potentially be an obstacle for early adopters.

Considering Dell sells Ubuntu-equipped Inspiron 15n for ~$350, and Vista Equipped Inspiron 15 for ~$399, and "If there's one thing that may influence adoption, make things slower or cause customers to pause, it's that generally the ASPs (average selling price) of the operating systems are higher than they were for Vista and XP", it makes you wonder exactly what they hidden "Windows 7 fee" will be on machines later.

Let the flames begin.

Comment inodes (Score 1) 2

This is probably an effort to keep inode count down, so as not to overtax the filesystem. Having a million 1KB files can be more expensive than having a single 1TB file, depending on the FS, which they apparently worked out in order to impose this limit. They could also be trying to keep down extraneous file hosting (hurting their business as a host) in the same manner that you can't share a Comcast business Internet connection amongst clients.

That'd be my guess, in addition to just plain common sense: why/how on earth would you need 50,000+ files anyways? Something a database couldn't satisfy?
Unix

Submission + - Unix New Hampshire license plate turns 20 (nashuatelegraph.com)

Anonymous Coward writes: "Local newspaper talks to Linux International's Jon "maddog" Hall, who lives in New Hampshire, and who since 1989 has had a "Live Free or Die" UNIX license plate — a real one, not a conference hand-out — on his Jeep. From the story: The day he installed the UNIX plates, he went early to work at DEC's office on Spit Brook Road in Nashua, to be sure to get the parking space right next to the door used by all the Unix engineers. He watched them come in and, one after another, do a double take at seeing the real-world version of the famous fake plate. "People would race in and yell, 'Who is it? Whose plate is it?!?' " Hall said. It was his then and it is his now. After 20 years, one suspects you will have to pry it from his cold, dead fingers."
Handhelds

Submission + - The iPhone Architecture: A Detailed Look (thecoffeedesk.com) 1

S. Jobs writes: The iPhone architecture, although generally out of the scope of application development, is a very simplistic design in terms of operating system theory. A decent understanding of it is necessary for a detailed overview of the iPhone's functionality, and this article (complete with fancy diagrams and flow charts) may help to satisfy the curiosity of those interested in how it works (i.e. geeks) but whom lack an available document describing it in as much detail.
IBM

Submission + - A Look Back At The IBM AS/400 Advanced (thecoffeedesk.com) 1

Bigiron-veteren writes: The Coffee Desk has an interesting new installment of their Vintage Computers series on the IBM AS/400 Advanced minicomputer, something older Slashdotters might remember working with. The minicomputer is a beast, with almost every component redundant and built to last a lifetime (or at least until it was end-of-lifed by IBM).

The picture gallery also depicts every component on the inside and out, along with a modern-day comparison of each piece — including the front panel IPL interface, from an era where men were men and acted as their own BIOS and operating system loader!

Comment Re:The slashdot effect strikes again (Score 5, Informative) 143

Pictures and the Mother's day rush killed our 2Mbps cable bandwidth; here's a "mirror":

Netbooks are making huge waves within the hardware and software industries today, but not many would believe that the whole Netbook craze actually started back around 1996 with the Toshiba Libretto 70CT. Termed technically as a subnotebook because of its small dimensions (given below), the computer is the first that fits all of the qualifications of being what we would call a Netbook today, due in part to its built-in Infrared and PCMCIA hardware, and itâ(TM)s (albeit early) web browsing software. The First Netbook Computer

The First Netbook Computer

The hardware includes the two (potentially) wireless PCMCIA and Infrared network connections, Windows 95 OSR 2 with Internet Explorer 2.0, a whole 16MB of RAM and a 120Mhz Intel Pentium processor (weâ(TM)re flying now!).

A further look at the hardware reveals even more Netbook-ish hardware/software trends (and pictures below), given todayâ(TM)s standards for Netbook qualifications.

The Libretto (70CT) was certainly not the first small (8â) form factor laptop produced in the early 90â(TM)s, but it was the first to be considered a Netbook given todayâ(TM)s standards because of itâ(TM)s PCMCIA and Infrared connections, used for wireless network connectivity and possibly even via a phone card. The inclusion of Internet Explorer 2.0 within the software also contributes to its ability to be officially termed a âoeNetbookâ (more on this below).

The hardware includes an 8â wide, 5â deep and almost 1.5â form factor containing a whopping 16MB of RAM, a 120Mhz Intel Pentium processor (with added MMX technology!) and a whole 30-45 minutes of battery life.

The software running on the âoeNetbookâ is Windows 95 OSR2, with Included Internet Explorer 2.0 and the Windows 95 Plus! pack of software. The mouse is the nub/nipple/clit mouse, given the lack of trackpad hardware and the only alternative being the bulky ball-based mice of the time, and the actual mouse buttons are mounted on the back.

I donâ(TM)t consider Internet Explorer 2.0 being the most supported browser for web-based applications (hell, I donâ(TM)t even support 6 or 7), and 16MB doesnâ(TM)t sound like a whole lot of RAM for storing a large web page and JavaScript into memory along with the operating system, but around the year 1996 this laptop/subnotebook/netbook would meet all the requirements given its environment to be called a Netbook as we would today.

Other hardware besides what was listed above includes a (HiFi?) 1/4â sound port on the back, a mono speaker on the front above the mouse, and a proprietary docking port on the bottom.

The Pentium MMX and bulky battery connector doesnâ(TM)t exactly make this ACPI-lacking portable the most environmentally-friendly book of all time, but it is certain that it must have gotten the job done in its time.

The screen was a very low-resolution (640Ã--480) 5â LCD screen, leaving enough room on the front for the mouse, speaker, power button, and all-too-important logos of Intel and Toshiba.

While I write this largely with humorous intent, it is worth noting the satire I intend to make of the industryâ(TM)s buzzwords for modern products that sometimes have been out for quite a while, e.g. cloud computing versus clustering/distributed applications and âoehigh-speed Internetâ versus what a T1/ATM connection was over decade ago.

Also, something patent trolls working for Toshiba might wish to investigate are the 22 patents listed on the bottom of the Libretto model (pictured below). What these patents cover and how many modern netbooks/subnotebooks violate these are unknown to me, although Iâ(TM)m sure you could find a few with the right research as these patents were approved less than 25 years ago.

Picture Gallery

These (possibly slow-loading) pictures display several features of the computer, displaying as many of its features as possible (and probably killing our bandwidth): (and indeed they did)
Portables

A Look Back At the World's First Netbook 143

Not-A-Microsoft-Fan writes with this excerpt from The Coffee Desk: "Netbooks are making huge waves within the hardware and software industries today, but not many would believe that the whole Netbook craze actually started back around 1996 with the Toshiba Libretto 70CT. Termed technically as a subnotebook because of its small dimensions, the computer is the first that fits all of the qualifications of being what we would term a netbook today, due in part to its built-in Infrared and PCMCIA hardware, and its (albeit early) web browsing software. The hardware includes the two (potentially) wireless PCMCIA and infrared network connections, Windows 95 OSR 2 with Internet Explorer 2.0, a whole 16MB of RAM and a 120Mhz Intel Pentium processor (we're flying now!)."

Slashdot Top Deals

All seems condemned in the long run to approximate a state akin to Gaussian noise. -- James Martin

Working...