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Comment Bacula open source comunity edition (Score 1) 283

by BitPit1 (#61136374) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: What Do You Use for Backups at Home?
I use https://www.bacula.org/free-li... to backup computers on my home network and store the backup files on computers other than the one being backed up. I create incrementals daily for 2 weeks, differentials weekly for 5 weeks and full backups monthly for a year. It is easy to get files accidentally deleted or modified using the command line with ascii menus. Often when I break my system the window system may not work so I consider this a plus. No cloud is involved, only the local network (LAN). Bacula sends me daily short emails (OK or intervention required) about each system's backup.

Comment Arpanet didn't have much spam at first ... (Score 1) 64

by BitPit1 (#59195480) Attached to: Was Advertising in Open Source Software a Useful Experiment?
I started using the internet when it was called arpanet. You did not send unsolicited emails to many people. I accidentally sent a message to a group that was not relevant. I got harsh replies from most of the members and felt bad about my error. Now email is extremely abused on the internet.

Open source code must not display unrelated messages of any kind. Otherwise the result will be spam just like email. It is up to us developers to squash this right now.

Comment Like tax preparation software. (Score 1) 227

by BitPit1 (#54198277) Attached to: Should The FBI Have Arrested 'The Hacker Who Hacked No One'?
RAT is just like TurboTax. Each has an intended purpose (Remote Administration / Tax Filing). Each can be used by criminals (unauthorized system administration for ransom / filing another person's taxes for refund). Poor business decisions about where to promote your product for maximum intended purpose sales is not a crime. Improper use of the product is a crime.

Comment Mythtv on gentoo linux (Score 1) 236

by BitPit1 (#50776781) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: What's Your Media Setup?
Mythtv, antenna, 3 ATSC tuners, 8TB raid storage, OTA Program Guide, no subscriptions to anything. Picture and sound are not degraded by cable company compression. Commercial skip in mythtv is pretty good. I don't know how I could watch TV without it as commercials are inserted at critical points in dramas. Live sports is great delayed at the start by an hour or more. I can skip right over half time and 30 second time outs too. I'll never run out of new (to me) programming. I have some series that I have never watched.

Submission + - Why is Google Opening a New Data Center in a Former Coal-Fired Power Plant?

Submitted by HughPickens.com
HughPickens.com writes: Quentin Hardy reports at the NY Times that Google just announced that it is opening its 14th data center inside a former coal-fired power plant in Stevenson, Alabama. While there is considerable irony in taking over a coal-burning plant and promoting alternative power, there are pragmatic reasons Google would want to put a $600 million data center in such a facility. These power facilities are typically large and solid structures with good power lines. The Alabama plant is next to a reservoir on the Tennessee River with access to lots of water, which Google uses for cooling its computers. There are also rail lines into the facility, which makes it likely Google can access buried conduits along the tracks to run fiber-optic cable. In Finland, Google rehabilitated a paper mill, and uses seawater for cooling. Salt water is corrosive for standard metal pipes, of course, so Google created a singular cooling system using plastic pipes. Once fully operational, Google's Alabama data center will employ up to 75 employees in a variety of full-time and contractor roles, including computer technicians, engineers, and various food services, maintenance and security roles. "This a fantastic and exciting day for Jackson County," says Jackson County Commission Chair Matthew Hodges.

Submission + - U.S. tech giants ask Obama not to compromise encryption (thestack.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Two industry bodies which represent, among others, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook and IBM have written [http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/09/us-cybersecurity-usa-encryption-idUSKBN0OP09R20150609] to President Obama urging that the U.S. government not seek to legislate 'official back doors' into encryption techniques. The Software and Information Industry Association and the Information Technology Industry Council sent the 'strongly worded' letter on Monday, celaring "Consumer trust in digital products and services is an essential component enabling continued economic growth of the online marketplace...Accordingly, we urge you not to pursue any policy or proposal that would require or encourage companies to weaken these technologies, including the weakening of encryption or creating encryption 'work-arounds,"

Comment This looks like another tracker. (Score 4, Insightful) 351

by BitPit1 (#49877367) Attached to: Mozilla Responds To Firefox User Backlash Over Pocket Integration
Pocket should not be built in to Firefox as it is yet another third party that gets to capture your browser usage. Good old bookmarks have the same function without involving some unknown third party. I do not want the Pocket feature taking up resources on my computer! Leave it as an addon for folks that can't figure out how to use bookmarks.
NASA

Submission + - NASA to future lunar explorers: Don't mess with our Moon stuff (networkworld.com)

Submitted by coondoggie
coondoggie writes: NASA today gently reminded any future Moon explorers that any relics of its Apollo missions or other US lunar artifacts should be off limits and are considered historic sites. NASA issued the reminder in conjunction with the X Prize Foundation and its Google Lunar X Prize competition which will use NASA's Moon sites guidelines as it sifts through the 26 team currently developing systems and spacecraft to land on the Moon.
AI

Submission + - Face Recognition Maps History via Art (i-programmer.info)

Submitted by mikejuk
mikejuk writes: Face recognition techniques usually come with a certain amount of controversy. A new application, however, is unlikely to trigger any privacy concerns because all of the subjects are long dead.
FACES: Faces, Art, and Computerized Evaluation Systems will attempt to apply face recognition software to portraits. Three University of California, Riverside researchers have just received funding to try and piece together the who's who in history.
  “Almost every portrait painted before the 19th century was of a person of some importance. As families fell on hard times, many of these portraits were sold and the identities of these subjects were lost. The question we hope to answer is, can we restore these identities?”
  If the algorithm can be fine tuned we can look forward to the digitized collections of museums and art galleries around the world suddenly yielding a who-knew-who social network graph that could put more science, and computer science at that, into history.
Businesses

Submission + - Tech Site Sues Ex-Employee, Claiming Rights To His (forbes.com)

Submitted by nonprofiteer
nonprofiteer writes: Noah Kravitz worked as a mobile phone reviewer for a tech website called Phonedog for four and a half years. While there, he started a Twitter account (of his own volition) with the handle @PhoneDog_Noah to tweet his stories and videos for the site as well as personal stuff about sports, food, music, etc. When he left Phonedog, he had approximately 17,000 followers and changed his Twitter handle to @noahkravitz.

This summer, Phonedog started barking that it wanted the Twitter account back, and sued Kravitz, valuing the account at $340,000 (!), or $2.50 per follower per month. Kravitz claims the Twitter account was his own property. A California judge ruled that the case can proceed and theoretically go to trial. Meanwhile, Kravitz continues to tweet.
Apple

Submission + - Siri Protocol Cracked (applidium.com)

Submitted by jisom
jisom writes: Today, we managed to crack open Siri’s protocol. As a result, we are able to use Siri’s recognition engine from any device. Yes, that means anyone could now write an Android app that uses the real Siri! Or use Siri on an iPad! And we’re goign to share this know-how with you.
Security

Submission + - New Malware Signed With Stolen Government Certific (threatpost.com)

Submitted by Trailrunner7
Trailrunner7 writes: Security researchers claim that malware spreading via malicious PDF files is signed with a valid certificate stolen from the Government of Malaysia, in just the latest evidence that scammers are using gaps in the security of digital certificates to help spread malicious code.

The malware,identified by F-Secure as a Trojan horse program dubbed Agent.DTIW, was detected in a signed Adobe PDF file by the company's virus researchers recently. The malicious PDF was signed using a valid digital certificate for mardi.gov.my, the Agricultural Research and Development Institute of the Government of Malaysia. According to F-Secure, the Government of Malaysia confirmed that the certificate was legitimate and had been stolen "quite some time ago.
United Kingdom

Submission + - Government surveillance cameras in taxis (dailymail.co.uk)

Submitted by Beowulf878
Beowulf878 writes: In yet another data-collection feast by the government in the UK, a local council has proposed fitting at least one CCTV camera per taxi to record every conversation. Obviously the reason given is our own safety. Thoughts below?

Comment Midi controller Roland PG-300 (Score 1) 147

by BitPit1 (#38035050) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Physical Input Devices For Developers?
I have a Roland Midi controller PG-300 designed for a 1970's Roland Alpha-Juno2 analog/digital synth keyboard. It is an optional box with 1 push button and 36 sliders customized for the Alpah-Juno2. Its not for sale, just an example of a controller with lots of physical controls. Visit a professional music store, you might find just the controller you want used.

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