Comment Re:Why do people want bigger vehicles? (Score 1) 250
You know as well as me that people use their cars to compensate for their deficiencies.
Comment Re:Taller hoods? (Score 1) 250
Car manufacturers should be taken to the woodshed over this awful decision.
Why not the car buyers? The manufacturers are only responding to what buyers want. The petty arms race in our streets needs to stop!
Comment What he really should have said (Score 2) 51
It is deeply embarassing that Microsoft needs produce so many patches in a single month.
But consistent with past behavior (it's not a bug, it's a feature!), Microsoft is again twisting the truth.
Submission + - A China-linked hacking group is quietly living inside Microsoft IIS servers (nerds.xyz)
BrianFagioli writes: ReliaQuest says it uncovered a previously unknown China-linked hacking cluster called OP-512 that has reportedly been targeting outdated Microsoft IIS servers running unsupported .NET Framework software. According to the security company, the attackers used custom web shells, encrypted command channels, timestomping, and DNS-based âoephone homeâ techniques designed to evade traditional antivirus detection and maintain long-term access for espionage operations.
The company claims its âoeAgentic AIâ platform pieced together what initially looked like unrelated low-level security events into a single coordinated intrusion. ReliaQuest says the malware framework generates cryptographically unique deployments that make signature-based detection ineffective. The report also warns that organizations still exposing legacy IIS infrastructure to the internet remain attractive targets for increasingly sophisticated state-linked attackers.
The company claims its âoeAgentic AIâ platform pieced together what initially looked like unrelated low-level security events into a single coordinated intrusion. ReliaQuest says the malware framework generates cryptographically unique deployments that make signature-based detection ineffective. The report also warns that organizations still exposing legacy IIS infrastructure to the internet remain attractive targets for increasingly sophisticated state-linked attackers.
Comment Re:The Ukrainians aren't winning. (Score 1) 321
3) a man with no arms and one leg will be a reminder for decades.
Haven''t you learned anything from Russian history? Don't you really know how Stalin dealt with many of the cripples from WW II? Putin will most likely do the same, so public life will not be tainted by the presence of war invalids.
Submission + - Thanks to robots, Ukraine is now talking about winning, not just surviving (defenseone.com)
fjo3 writes: A small but growing number of European officials and analysts are saying what four years ago was unthinkable: Ukraine isn’t just surviving its grueling war with Russia, it is in some ways thriving and may even be on a path to victory.
This isn’t yet captured in headlines—for example, about last weekend’s barrage of Russian drones and missiles around Ukraine—but in the details, like how some 90 percent were intercepted.
Several long-term trends have shifted in Ukraine’s favor, and the core reason is its fierce focus on AI and robotics.
This isn’t yet captured in headlines—for example, about last weekend’s barrage of Russian drones and missiles around Ukraine—but in the details, like how some 90 percent were intercepted.
Several long-term trends have shifted in Ukraine’s favor, and the core reason is its fierce focus on AI and robotics.
Submission + - Microsoft Deliberately Bricking All Office for Mac 2019/2021 Installations (osnews.com) 2
joshuark writes: MacOS users who opted to buy a copy of Microsoft Office for macOS back in 2019 or 2021, eschewing the Office 365 subscription, so you could keep on using Office 2019/2021 forever if you wanted to. Just like in the old days.
Consumer Rights Wiki reports:
"Microsoft Office 2019 and 2021 for Mac view-only conversion (2026) is a scheduled remote degradation of perpetually-licensed Microsoft Office software for macOS and iOS, set for July 13, 2026 when a license-validation certificate used by the Office apps expires.[1] After Office 2019 for Mac reached end of support in October 2023, Microsoft assured customers their installed apps would "continue to function."[2] The July 13, 2026 conversion instead drops the apps into a Microsoft-defined "reduced functionality mode," in which files can be opened and viewed but not edited or saved.[1][3] By May 30, 2026, the original 2023 end-of-support page had been re-dated and rewritten on Microsoft's site; the "continue to function" clause was removed.[4][2]" https://consumerrights.wiki/w/...
Microsoft’s advice to the users they’re stealing from is to keep using the applications as mere viewers, switch to the free Office 365 web applications, pay for a 365 subscription, or buy a brand new regular copy of Office 2024. None of these make any sense, and clearly, all of this should be illegal, but it’s not because the software industry is a clown show.
Consumer Rights Wiki reports:
"Microsoft Office 2019 and 2021 for Mac view-only conversion (2026) is a scheduled remote degradation of perpetually-licensed Microsoft Office software for macOS and iOS, set for July 13, 2026 when a license-validation certificate used by the Office apps expires.[1] After Office 2019 for Mac reached end of support in October 2023, Microsoft assured customers their installed apps would "continue to function."[2] The July 13, 2026 conversion instead drops the apps into a Microsoft-defined "reduced functionality mode," in which files can be opened and viewed but not edited or saved.[1][3] By May 30, 2026, the original 2023 end-of-support page had been re-dated and rewritten on Microsoft's site; the "continue to function" clause was removed.[4][2]" https://consumerrights.wiki/w/...
Microsoft’s advice to the users they’re stealing from is to keep using the applications as mere viewers, switch to the free Office 365 web applications, pay for a 365 subscription, or buy a brand new regular copy of Office 2024. None of these make any sense, and clearly, all of this should be illegal, but it’s not because the software industry is a clown show.
Comment Re:"Just eat less, keep input output" know-it-alls (Score 1) 116
Your constant hunger is as much a result of habits or boredom as of an empty stomach.
When I did my masters, I was forced to use the crappy MS Fortran compiler of the day, and resolved I will not go to lunch before the code compiles. Turns out that I reached this state only at 3 or 4 in the afternoon when the canteen had long closed. Did that for a week and felt no hunger around lunchtime anymore.
So your habit of stuffing something in your mouth every two hours makes sure you will feel hungry after the next two hours. Yes, it does cost some discipline to break that habit, but you will be surprised how quickly you will adapt and will be able to work for a longer stretch. Same with boredom - your visit at the fridge is as much a result of desiring variety as of being hungry. Kick that habit, do something that keeps your mind occupied, and you will go without feeling the need to eat something for much longer stretches.
It is a matter of eating less, after all.
Submission + - I found a second vote.gov -- and it's registered to the White House
As_I_Please writes: The Drey Dossier reports that the National Design Studio, an office created by executive order and which reports only to the White House, has been building copies of federal agency websites like vote.gov, passports.gov, login.gov and others.
What [the National Design Studio] is doing is taking the parts of the federal government that touch you directly, your prescription, your voter registration, your passport, your federal login, out of the agencies that legally own them and rebuilding them on White House infrastructure. Vote.gov belongs to the Election Assistance Commission, and the studio built a copy. Passports belong to the State Department, and the studio is building a replacement this week. Login.gov belonged to GSA, and the studio’s guy runs it now.
Trump has said publicly that this infrastructure is for other presidents, and he is right about that. It is the one thing in this story I take him at his word on. The infrastructure outlasts him. Whoever wins in 2028 inherits the websites, the vendors, the data, and the hardware, sealed and waiting.
NDS Infrastructure Map — my live working github map of every National Design Studio subdomain I have found, filterable by status, registrant, and parent domain. If you want to retrace this investigation or watch new subdomains appear in real time, start here.
Submission + - China Is Testing Its State Surveillance Model Abroad (nytimes.com)
schwit1 writes: When a remote Pacific village asked for help with rowdy youth, the Chinese police arrived with a surveillance system. Then came the backlash.
Their solution was to introduce an obscure Mao-era community surveillance system: the Fengqiao Experience.
Named after Fengqiao, a town in eastern China, the system encouraged neighbors to spy and snitch on one another to root out political enemies. The system has been revived under Mr. Xi as part of a push to snuff out any challenges to the Chinese Communist Party.
In China, the system calls for the police to monitor individual households in sprawling apartment complexes, in one example assigning each unit a color code that denoted whether occupants presented a security risk. The police have also visited the homes of minority groups like Tibetans and Uyghurs to promote party policies. Government workers have visited churches to give “anti-cult” lectures. And companies are required to register their employees in police databases.
The idea of introducing such a heavy-handed style of state surveillance in the Solomon Islands alarmed local politicians and observers in nearby countries like Australia, who worried it could give the government the tools to stifle freedoms.
The Fengqiao pilot was suspended after an outcry. And the election this month of Matthew Wale, a prime minister who has historically been skeptical of Beijing, raises questions about China’s foothold in the country, and whether its ideas travel as easily as the party hopes.
Their solution was to introduce an obscure Mao-era community surveillance system: the Fengqiao Experience.
Named after Fengqiao, a town in eastern China, the system encouraged neighbors to spy and snitch on one another to root out political enemies. The system has been revived under Mr. Xi as part of a push to snuff out any challenges to the Chinese Communist Party.
In China, the system calls for the police to monitor individual households in sprawling apartment complexes, in one example assigning each unit a color code that denoted whether occupants presented a security risk. The police have also visited the homes of minority groups like Tibetans and Uyghurs to promote party policies. Government workers have visited churches to give “anti-cult” lectures. And companies are required to register their employees in police databases.
The idea of introducing such a heavy-handed style of state surveillance in the Solomon Islands alarmed local politicians and observers in nearby countries like Australia, who worried it could give the government the tools to stifle freedoms.
The Fengqiao pilot was suspended after an outcry. And the election this month of Matthew Wale, a prime minister who has historically been skeptical of Beijing, raises questions about China’s foothold in the country, and whether its ideas travel as easily as the party hopes.
Comment Re:What was the argument against Airbus? (Score 1) 43
Airbus has a flight laws system. That flight laws system which would have told the pilot they were in a stall failed because of ice accumulation during a thunderstorm.
The pilot didn't know they were in the stall because the otherwise highly redundant system which should have warned him didn't work.
WRONG. The system was off, precisely because the sensor had faulty readings. Any pilot with a bit of Airbus training should have been able to read the state the autopilot was in (Direct Law), because there is an illuminated indicator for this. In an Airbus A340, a reversion from Normal Law to Direct Law is explicitly indicated to the crew on the FMA (Flight Mode Annunciator) at the top of each Primary Flight Display. In Direct Law, most protections are off and the stick commands are directly used for control deflections precisely because the basis for the proper functioning of the protections is not present anymore. This is to protect the pilot from computer errors. Of course, this assumes a halfway competent pilot at the controls and not a complete idiot.
To use a car analogy: You are basically arguing that the car shouldn't have skidded with the brake pedal fully depressed, because the antilock system should have worked. But in that case, the equivalent to the antilock system had switched itself off because the inputs for its proper operation were not available.
Submission + - Leaked Documents Show Cisco Systems' Relationship with Israeli Security State (dropsitenews.com)
Alain Williams writes: Internal documents show Cisco’s growing collaboration with the Israeli military over the course of the genocide in Gaza.
Cisco makes a point of publicly highlighting its commitment to corporate social responsibility, and building “an inclusive future for all” in the dozens of countries around the world in which it operates. Yet the company’s aggressive pursuit of contracts with the Israeli government and military—a small yet growing part of its global business—has led to accusations that behind this sunny facade the networking giant is profiting from genocide.
Cisco makes a point of publicly highlighting its commitment to corporate social responsibility, and building “an inclusive future for all” in the dozens of countries around the world in which it operates. Yet the company’s aggressive pursuit of contracts with the Israeli government and military—a small yet growing part of its global business—has led to accusations that behind this sunny facade the networking giant is profiting from genocide.
Submission + - CIA whistleblower claims Anthony Fauci part of lab leak 'cover-up' (nypost.com)
RoccamOccam writes: A CIA whistleblower appeared publicly for the first time Wednesday to testify to a Senate panel that Dr. Anthony Fauci improperly “influenced” intelligence analyses about the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic to downplay findings that it most likely resulted from a laboratory accident in China.
Submission + - Trump on Iran war's cost: "I don't think about American financial situation." (the-independent.com)
fjo3 writes: President Donald Trump on Tuesday said the plight of Americans finding it harder and harder to make ends meet and rising gas and consumer prices simply aren’t on his mind as the months-long Iran war and impasse over the Strait of Hormuz continue to fuel surging inflation in the United States.
Trump made the stunning brush-off statement as he departed the White House for Beijing, where he will be feted by Chinese leader Xi Jinping at a state visit, including a lavish Thursday night banquet at the Great Hall of the People.
Trump made the stunning brush-off statement as he departed the White House for Beijing, where he will be feted by Chinese leader Xi Jinping at a state visit, including a lavish Thursday night banquet at the Great Hall of the People.
Submission + - There's an Unhinged New Video Game About Trump and the Iran War (wired.com) 1
joshuark writes: A new video game about President Donald Trump’s war in Iran features fights with the pope and New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani. It’s impossible to win, and that’s the point.
The game, Operation Epic Furious: Strait to Hell, was developed by Secret Handshake, an anonymous group of artists behind a handful of satirical works mocking the Trump administration. The game is available to play online, but three fully functional arcade cabinets are currently installed at the Washington, DC, War Memorial. The games will remain there for the next few days.
In the game, Trump is the playable character, on a quest to collect barrels of oil and ideas for Truth Social posts, to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, and win the war. During the game, Trump’s social media posts do little to move the needle, creating an endless cycle of tasks and threats that ultimately lead nowhere. Even if the game is unwinnable, players can lose, and do so abruptly.
The game, Operation Epic Furious: Strait to Hell, was developed by Secret Handshake, an anonymous group of artists behind a handful of satirical works mocking the Trump administration. The game is available to play online, but three fully functional arcade cabinets are currently installed at the Washington, DC, War Memorial. The games will remain there for the next few days.
In the game, Trump is the playable character, on a quest to collect barrels of oil and ideas for Truth Social posts, to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, and win the war. During the game, Trump’s social media posts do little to move the needle, creating an endless cycle of tasks and threats that ultimately lead nowhere. Even if the game is unwinnable, players can lose, and do so abruptly.
