trs998 - Slashdot User

Comment: Re:how on earth? (Score 1) 748

by trs998 on Tuesday August 28 2007, @06:45AM (#20382179) Attached to: Playing Music Slows Vista Network Performance?

Oh, yes you can. I sell them!

Big retailers only sell Vista - I suspect but don't have proof that they get steep discounts on Vista if they agree not to sell XP.

Small Independants (that's me) will sell whatever the customer wants, and at the moment most of my customers want XP, so I'm buying OEM XP and pre-installing it for people.

Hell, even Dell offer laptops with XP as an option - the demand is there for it, after all - but the average customer will take what he's given to some extent, and that's what PC Hurled etc etc are banking on, that that's why all these "You can't return it unless it's physically faulty" vista policies are coming from (Go to curry's and ask about returning Vista and you'll be surprised!)

The power of LinuxMCE / Media & Entertainment-> 0

Submitted by

josecc

on Wednesday August 22 2007, @05:33AM

josecc writes "LinuxMCE is a free, open source add-on to Kubuntu including a 10' UI, complete whole-house media solution with pvr + distributed media, and the most advanced smarthome solution available. It is stable, easy to use, and requires no knowledge of Linux and only basic computer skills. http://linuxmce.org/ | http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Mirrors"
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Arm Wrestling Machine Breaking Arms 0

Submitted by iminplaya on Wednesday August 22 2007, @05:31AM

iminplaya writes "Japanese arcade distributor Atlus Co. said it will recall 150 arm-wrestling machines that are breaking players' arms.

The machine, known as Arm Spirit, has so far broken three arms of players who put it to the challenge. The machine features 10 levels of arm-wrestling difficulty, including a French maid, a drunken martial arts master and a Chihuahua. The final throw-down, for those who manage to avoid having their forearms snapped, is against a professional arm-wrestler.

"We think that maybe some players get overexcited and twist their arms in an unnatural way.""

Researchers develop a practical attack on KeeLoq-> 0

Submitted by

StevenOdb

on Wednesday August 22 2007, @05:01AM

StevenOdb writes "Cryptography researchers from Belgium and Israel have developed a practical attack on KeeLoq, a cipher used in several car anti-theft mechanisms distributed by Microchip Technology Inc. The cipher is included in the remote control device that opens and locks your car and that activates the anti-theft mechanisms. Each device has a unique key that takes 18 billion billion values. With 100 computers, it would take several decades to find such a key. Therefore KeeLoq was widely believed to be secure. Now, a method has been found to identify the key in less than a day. The attack requires access to the remote control for about 1 hour (for example, stored in the victim's pocket while he's enjoying a meal). With this key the alarm can be easily deactivated. The results were presented at the CRYPTO 2007 conference."
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