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Submission + - Linux 3.18 Released, Lockup Bug Still Present

Submitted by jones_supa
jones_supa writes: As anticipated, Linus Torvalds officially released Linux 3.18. The new version is now out there, though that nasty lockup issue has still yet to be resolved. Dave Jones is nearing the end of bisecting the issue, but since it also affects Linux 3.17 and not too many people seem to get hit by the lockups, Linus Torvalds decided to go ahead and do the 3.18 release on schedule. Linus was also concerned that dragging out the 3.18 release would then complicate the Linux 3.19 merge window due to the holidays later this month. Now the Linux 3.19 kernel merge window is open for two weeks of exciting changes.

Comment Re:Sony needs to invest in their IT (Score 1) 170

by jones_supa (#48547345) Attached to: Sony Hacks Continue: PlayStation Hit By Lizard Squad Attack

When companies start having penalties for getting hacked and leaking people's information, they might do something.

It's also too easy for the attackers to hide in Internet.

What good is it for companies to just build increasingly stronger and more complex security fortresses and still be at the complete mercy of sudden anonymous attacks from unknown directions. That's just crappy design of Internet.

Submission + - HackerNews is killing stories related to an Uber driver raping a woman (ycombinator.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A story which made #1 on the front page of HackerNews just a few hours ago has disappeared completely. Ironically the story itself was asking why users posting stories about an Uber driver raping a woman in India were being removed. This active censorship may be to due to YCombinator (who run HackerNews) having an investment interest in Uber, or because Uber is somehow gaming the site (Uber were recently reported to be willing to spend millions of dollars to defame journalists writing negative articles about the start-up.)

Comment Re:Yep (Score 5, Interesting) 103

by jones_supa (#48541797) Attached to: Neglecting the Lessons of Cypherpunk History

A security solution does not have to be 100% perfect to still provide value.

Let's take another example. A workstation requires pressing Ctrl-Alt-Del and typing a password to unlock the computer. You might say that it is useless protection because an attacker can just walk away with the hard drive of the computer.

So why is the password still useful? Well, without a password, an attacker might just start locally using the computer and quickly take a look at various secret documents. If he were to grab the hard drive, it would take significantly more time, which would increase the chances of being captured by the security team.

To get back to the topic, by using encryption you are not the lowest hanging fruit out there.

Submission + - Why does Google Maps need to track who I'm calling on my cell phone? 5

Submitted by cyanman
cyanman writes: I see the latest update to Google maps for Android wants permission to monitor phone numbers I talk to on my phone?

Specifically the new permissions for v9.1.2 (Dec 5 2014) require:
Maps also needs access to:
"Allows the app to determine the phone number and Device ID's, whether a call is active, and the remote number connected by a call."

As I see this, you give Google carte blanche to monitor and record who you talk to on your phone. Maybe this is while you are connected to Google Maps, but it is not restricted by the terms I read here. WTF? The least invasive thing I can think of here is that Google wants to start leveraging the numbers you call for marketing purposes. As if the fact that I spoke to someone on my hone means they want Google tracking them too.

Looking at from Google Play the update (or maybe just Maps) has been downloaded over a billion times. I'm sure that 99.99% of the folks never read a thing and just click the "gimme free update please" button, but surely I'm not the only person foolish enough to ask how much arm twisting the NSA had to do to get Google to monitor who I call on my phone within Google Maps.

Submission + - All I Really Need to Know About Coding I Learned in Monopoly

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: Thanks to the backing of some of tech's wealthiest corporations and individuals, tens of millions of kids across the nation will take to school computers with high-speed internet connections next week to participate in the 2014 Hour of Code. In this year's signature tutorial, kids will be exposed to important computer science concepts for the first time by advancing Disney Frozen Princess Anna a specified number of units, turning her 90 degrees, and repeating the steps 4 times to skate in a square. Yep, kind of like what one might learn by playing the board game Monopoly, which also exposes one to other coding concepts like IF and GOTO statements! By the way, while neither Disney nor Code.org mentioned it in their announcements, their 2014 Hour of Code tutorial looks like it has roots in a circa-2005 ice-skater based learn-to-code tutorial (associated skate-in-a-square HW assignment) from the Alice software research group that was once led by the late Randy Pausch.

Comment Any criticism? (Score 1) 125

by jones_supa (#48525297) Attached to: Consumer-Grade SSDs Survive Two Petabytes of Writes
I think this has been a fantastic experiment, but do you still have any criticism regarding their test methodologies? Can we trust the results? For example, would we get different results if we leave the same data sitting on the drives for a longer time? Anything else that they are possibly not taking into account?

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