The last time I tried the problem was in the flash players/plugin making direct connections to content by ignoring the http_proxy settings of the browser. Setting the default route to the VPN made it work, long story short: proxy settings in browser might not be enough.

Speed is reasonable these days with 80211n, it comes close to 100Mbps. But the latency is still horrible compared to wired.

ACTA will be ratified in some form because it will be resubmitted again and again till the lobbyiest succeed. This happened before with the EU constitution, it will happen with ACTA and it will happen in the future for many more treaties/laws.

Last month the Dutch "ad regulation commission" forbade Apple to make invulnerability claims:
https://www.reclamecode.nl/webuitspraak.asp?ID=76881&acCode (in dutch offcourse, use your favorite translation engine).
The conclusion of the commission is that no software can guarantee immunity and asked Apple to prove their claims. Apple didn't (unclear if they even tried). So the commission ruled in favor or the complainer, thus banning Apple from making these false claims. It looks they changed this worldwide to prevent any further disputes/claims.

I've seen spikes in traffic coming from eastern european countries and Turkey a couple of years ago. Using the recent iptables module I limit traffic to ntp:
iptables -A INPUT -i eth0 -p udp --dport 123 -m recent --name ntp --set
iptables -A INPUT -m recent --name ntp --update --seconds 30 --hitcount 6 -j DROP
And the abuse eventually stopped.

An USB GPS means no Pulse Per Second (actually 1000ms). The PPS fires an interrupt on the serial port, which should result in an interrupt every 1000ms accurate within 100us.

The lack of PPS will result in a ntpd with lots of jitter, my experience is about +/- 150ms but this depends heavily on actual USB usage and the GPS device itself. This is unsuitable for a low stratum ntpserver IMHO, so don't use it as the only timesource if you want to participate in the pool unless you advertise it as some high stratum source (I would guess 5-10).

So for 3 phones you have to pay:
$40: 1st phone (smart one)
$30: 2nd phone (basic!)
$30: 3rd phone (basic?)
$50: 1GB
===+
$150 for 1GB shared data or $50/month for 333MB if shared evenly. WTF is Verizon thinking!

In other news I read Lenovo becoming an access provide:
http://news.lenovo.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=1602
In NL the prices would be 2GB for 35EUR/month or 5GB for 50EUR/month.
I thought that these prices were to expensive already.

Nope, most run linux over here (TV, settopbox, routers, WAPs, DECT basestation, mobile phone). Maybe the washer, microwave or SIP phone are running a *BSD.

"Show me evidence of a glitchy driver causing a loud squealing noise, the wireless chipset to stop working, and horizontal lines on the display."

AAHHHHHHhhhhhhhhh, the memories, they are back after I tried so hard to forget the S3 Virge driver:
http://www.spinics.net/lists/xf-xpert/msg05481.html

Wireless chips that stop working, I have seen people complaining about some Intel and Broadcom chipsets, fairly recent. I used to have some kind of BCM (4328 IIRC) with ndiswrapper, occasionaly stopped working (once 1 a month or 2).
http://linux.bigresource.com/Ubuntu-Networking-Wireless-connection-stops-working-randomly--AWdGAzaK2.html

If you keep the salt secret, the client is required to send a plaintext password to the server to have it hashed. If the salt is public (sent to the client), the client can do the hashing locally and avoid ever sending the plaintext password to the server (which might be compromized). So my guess for a fairly secure login/authentication scheme (IANACE):

client: Hi I'm foo@bar, give me a nonce and my salt.
server: Here is you nonce with a salt.
client: sents hash(hash(secret+salt)+nonce)
server: compares hash(hash(secret+salt)+nonce)==hash(DB[user][passwd]+nonce)

It keeps the password secret even from the server, the nonce prevents replay attacks. Login could even be done over an unencrypted connection. Could be wrapped with another nonce to prevent sending foo@bar as plaintext.

The weakest point is sending the newly created saltedhash to the server at account creation as the saltedhash is essentially the password. Add a little PKI to increase safety.

You simply have the legislature more than the lobbiest are paying to get the content blocked.

"Is the link you providing link to a metalic look wedge shaped object? Are the feet the same sizes? are the ratios the same? Does the lid and base tapper the same way?"

So change 1 thing and the patent doesn't apply, what is stopping other manifacturers from chaning the angle by a tenth of a degree or putting the feet a fraction to the edge to avoid infringing the patent. Are you telling me the design patent only applies to the _exact_ _same_ design.

Take a look at the patent, only the solid grey lines are important. That means only the bottom of the device and the lid are covert by the design patent. The ac-100 has the same lid design IMHO, the edge of the ac-100 is a but thicker/less sharp.

Take the look at the filing date: Oct 2010. So prior art for a wedge design.

Toshiba AC-100 Android netbook:
http://uk.computers.toshiba-europe.com/innovation/jsp/SUPPORTSECTION/discontinuedProductPage.do?service=UK&PRODUCT_ID=1091301

Physical dimensions W x D x H : 262.0 x 189.8 x 14.0 (front) / 21.0 (rear) mm
weight : starting at 0.87 kg

Release date: aug 2010