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Comment Re: Bitcoin != Coins (Score 2) 108

trading gold is nothing more than trading the energy consumed in mining it.

Gold comes from mines? I always believed it came from pawn shops and elderly relatives.

Well, the generation of that gold probably occurred in a process even more energy intensive than bitcoin mining, such as a very large star going out with a bang. After that it's just been transferred around.

Comment Inadequate summary of Szabo's article (Score 1) 1

Nakamoto block chains don't address the problem of authenticating and authorizing transactions, they address the problem of resolving disputes over whether and when any given transaction happened. In conjunction with the block chain, digital signatures and smart contracts provide the authentication and authorization respectively, and neither technology needs access to anyone's private information when verifying or validating.

Comment Re:More moaning and groaning for nothing. (Score 1) 206

It doesn't stop at 'name endianness'. It's probably less confusing, in print at least, to use the convention of all-capping the surname while leaving the full name in its native order. I imagine such a convention would be especially handy when trying to wrangle elaborate names carrying a whole syntax tree laden with titles, adjective phrases, and prepositional phrases, leaving the surname somewhere in the middle. Such names tend to be found in Europe and the Middle East at least.

The downside to smashing case is that it loses information, such as whether 'VON FOO' is properly cased as 'von Foo' or 'Von Foo'. Where possible it's probably better to use an inline tag or something, but plain text doesn't leave room for such niceties.

Comment Re:Depends... (Score 1) 170

Didn't say it was. It's the pattern of usage, though, not any real time constraints. Server-based games tend to be receive-heavy rather than symmetric; they're sending the user's actions but updating the entire environment around the user. Always on DRM is basically periodic license re-validation, relatively low frequency. UI remoting is again going to be extremely receive-heavy; keystrokes and coordinates take up much less space than graphics pushes.

You might have difficulty distinguishing one voice app from another within an encrypted tunnel, though.

Comment Re:Sounds good to me (Score 1) 238

Even better: use TLS mutual authentication with client certificates. Even if your user-agent can be forced into trusting the MITM's CA, the origin server will be tipped off to the interception because the MITM won't be able to forge a client certificate.

Comment Let's generalize that. (Score 1) 238

More generally, CDNs aren't "in-network services" in the same sense as middleboxes and thus aren't hampered by TLS. When properly deployed they don't sit between the page server and the browser, but rather the page server links to CDN URLs for images, scripts, and other referenced content. From that standpoint they are essentially just another farm of web servers specialized for static content.

The "in-network services" TFA talks about can only work because they can freely inspect, collect copies of, transform, redirect, and generally tamper with the data streams without the end user explicitly opting into them. Most of these I have encountered primarily add value for the network owner, and more often than not actually subtract value for the individual user forced to go through them.

Comment Someone already makes a business of this (Score 1) 1

... and that would be Ninite, whose Pro offering includes command line scriptable updates of all your favorite security holes from Adobe, Oracle and more, and can also automatically decline partner offers and disable updater popups.

The free edition no longer updates Flash, as a compromise with Adobe who appears to rely on bundled partner offers with every patch as a revenue stream from Flash Player home users. Ninite Pro has more software package options, over-the-network install/upgrade/uninstall, and a desktop UI instead of web-based.

No affiliation here, just a happy customer.

Submission + - Oracle finally release Java MSI file. 1

nosfucious writes: Oracle Corporation, one of the largest software companies and leading supplier of database and enterprise software quietly started shipping a MSI version of their Java Runtime (https://www.java.com/en/download/help/msi_install.xml). Java is the worlds leading software security vulnerability and keeping up with the frequent patches of nearly a job in itself. Added to this is the very corporate (read: Window on a large scale) unfriendly EXE packaging of the Java RTE. Sysadmins around the world should be rejoicing. However, nothing from Oracle is free. MSI versions of Java are only available to those with Java SE Advanced (and other similar products). Given that urgency and frequency of Java updates, what can be done to force Oracle release MSI versions publicly (and thereby reduce impact of their own bugs and improve Sysadmin sanity).

Comment Dry cells really zinc that way. (Score 1) 97

The potassium hydroxide electrolyte used in typical alkaline batteries will dissolve its way through the zinc canister over time even when not under load. The other common electrolytes, zinc chloride and ammonium chloride, will do the same. Zinc will corrode if exposed to acid, alkali, or sometimes if you just look at it cross-eyed, but the ease with which it gives up electrons makes it an effective primary cell anode.

One workaround is to swap positions of the electrodes: make the canister out of carbon and use a zinc center electrode shaped to give it as much surface area as a canister would have. I imagine you'd have problems with the carbon breaking easily from rough handling, though, and it might cost more to make. Maybe powdered carbon with a plastic binder instead?

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