Posts by DerekCurrie
25 posts • joined Friday 6th April 2012 19:24 GMT
Re: Singularity is nigh
"And as the UN frantically scrambles to reach a quorum, the machines rise and commence decimating there one-time masters....."
Considering how self-destructive we are to invent coward murder machines in the first place, of course the machines would want to wipe us out as a species. Hopefully that would then be followed by them wiping themselves out, leaving our miracle planet Earth to flourish once again. Next dominant species in queue, your turn!
Coward Warz
I consider war to be the single most primitive and self-destructive behavior of homo sapiens sapiens. (Followed close behind is our inability as a species to control our birth rate or to even be willing discuss the matter).
Compounding war with utter cowardice in the form of drones and robots, autonomous or not, turns our worst trait into our incomprehensibly insane worst trait. Congratulations mankind. Surely the 'mark of the beast' is actually the series number on one of these murder machines. (0_o)
So god. When do I get to graduate from being human?
Yeah but, parasitism is never comfortable
"The South Korean firm's figures make for uncomfortable reading for Apple CEO Tim Cook as his company's fortunes start moving in the opposite direction."
Yeah but, parasitism is never comfortable. Samsung skims the suckers and attracts people with little to spend and little interest in high tech. Thankfully, Apple has no interest in competing in the cheap device, of any kind, markets. I don't consider Samsung a competitor of Apple's due to their high degree of ripoff and dependence upon Google. But at least they are an alternative to Apple.
Re: Android Malware and Number of Infected Devices
The only malware for iOS attacks user-hacked iPhones. If you stick to the 'walled garden', there is zero.
But I should point out that Dr. Charlie Miller stuck a surveillance app past Apple's App Store process. Therefore, it's not impossible to foist malware to iPhone users. But when it happens, Apple simply yank the app and disable it on all iPhones.
In general, it is a good ideal to keep malware in mind and to be a safe user, not a 'LUSER'. No operating system is perfect. Modern programming continues to be plagued with poor memory management, allowing buffer overflows and PWNing of systems. However, having your apps vetted for you before you install them is extremely useful, as indicated by the number of iOS malware vs Android malware.
Android Malware and Number of Infected Devices
"Please don't think your smartphone or tablet is safer than your PC"
Unless you're using an iOS device, which suffers from zero malware.
Keeping up with the Android malware count is difficult. But here is one recent report:
http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/technolog/android-malware-more-doubled-worldwide-2012-6C9525347
"The amount of malware aimed at infecting Android devices worldwide more than doubled last year, according to a new report from a mobile-security firm.
"The sheer number of pieces of malware for the Android platform rose from less than 25,000 in 2011 to more than 65,000 in 2012.
"The annual report, published by mobile security company NQ Mobile, also estimated that nearly 33 million devices were infected in 2012, up from just under 11 million the year before — an increase of more than 200 percent."
The Microsoft Tax
"The Cupertino idiot-tax operation" is a lame, knee-jerk reaction to the long well known and infamous "Microsoft Tax". Which one of the two concepts makes sense? You decide. But check your facts before you decide. Knowing what you're talking about is consistently useful.
Extra-dimensional distance measurement
Consider this an imaginative post rather than scientific:
What If: Entanglement enables a 'identity' of two points in another dimension, other than what we perceive is 3D space. Or, more likely the two entangled energy bundles (since matter is only an illusion) may be separated by a much smaller 'distance' within an extra-dimensional space than in our 3D space. Therefore, when the change of one is measured against the time perceived change in the other, when we theoretically are seeing that change occur 'faster than light', perhaps the speed of light remains the intact limit, except that change is occurring across that extra-dimension we cannot perceive. The 'faster' the change speed, the CLOSER the two entangled energy bundles are to each other in that extra-dimension.
IOW: We can now, theoretically, measure distance within that extra-dimension (I'm avoiding calling it the 'fourth dimension' because of the abusive application of that term to the process, not dimension, of time) by measuring the speed of change between two entangled particles.
What that's good for, I don't know. But it certainly sounds a lot more useful than the scary/nasty idea of so-called matter teleportation, which involves destruction and reconstruction rather than actual transportation. I'd rather play in this apparent extra-dimension than get torn up into bosons and EM radiation.
2D Mosaic GUI, yawn
Isn't this the 21st century? Microsoft continues to celebrate it by going dire retro? Whoopee, lots of colored of flat rectangles. Nothing says 'MODERN!' like spending your time looking at what amounts to a Kiosk from the 19th century. At least a few things are occasionally animated. Otherwise: FAIL deluxe. Sooo boring and anti-functional. I'm looking elsewhere for the future of computing.
Desperation PR
How embarrassing.
Innovation of WHAT exactly?
Guy Kawasaki is what I call a 'marketing maven' (as opposed to the dime-a-dozen marketing morons of our current biznizz bozo age who parasitize humanity to the max). But what 'innovation' is he going to provide Motorola? New marketing strategies, no doubt! But Motorola/Google has gained nothing-at-all in tech innovation, which is their worst weakness.
Samsung as juvenile and parasitic as ever
It's amusing to watch Samsung pull off their own mask and show the world their juvenile and parasitic nature. This is a self-destructive company and we get to watch the self-induced carnage. I'd hide my eyes if it wasn't simple justice.
Time Warner Cable: User Abuse, Insincerity, Stupid As Hell
I'd enjoy learning what EXACTLY is Time Warner Cable's problem here. It is my experience, over and over, that TWC is Stupid As Hell. I seriously can't think of a company more adverse to adequately and respectfully providing their service to their customers. When I see this behavior I don't think of 'evil company'. I think of 'STUPID company'.
TWC are literally doing their best to destroy themselves. This fiasco with NetFlix is entirely in line with typical TWC behavior. Their management requires not just a major enema. it requires firing and replacement with tech savvy and sincere executives. From what I'm reading here, I applaud NetFlix and bitterly laugh at the TWC.
I've written a series of documentation articles about TWC USER ABUSE, available here:
http://zunipus.blogspot.com
Please TWC! Hurry your suicide so we can swiftly progress into a user-friendly Internet future.
Asian Patents? Nice try Samsung troll.
The US Patent Office is well known to be a largely technology illiterate, underfunded, deadly slow bureaucratic hell hole. That it does as well as it does these days is remarkable. But to expect 'Asia' to start pumping out patents (outside of Japan and Taiwan) is flippant absurdity. China, despite money poured into education, has a government and culture that kills incentives to be creative and innovative. China in instead almost exclusively imitative. For reasons I personally cannot comprehend, South Korea is stuck in a similar rut, as blatantly illustrated by Samsung in court and the almost exclusively imitative products of other South Korean companies. I wish South Korea to become creative in the future, but for now, it's not. China sadly looks hopeless with its current demented regime and culture.
So 'Michelle Knight', you are either kidding, or ignorant, or working for Samsung in order to troll us. Whatever the case, do your homework and know what you're talking about.
Macs Have Had Voice Command Recognition Since 1993
IGNORANCE ALERT!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plaintalk
In 1990 Apple started a project that became 'PlainTalk'. It was released in 1993 on AV Macs and became standard in Mac OS 7.1.2. It includes speech command recognition and action. It remains integrated in OS X today. Anything can be made a command by way of AppleScript. Surprise, no catastrophic Register nightmare imagined horrors have resulted.
Yeah, obviously this article is deliberately insane and stupid by intent. Why? What is the point here? Stupid anti-Apple FUD perpetration? (FUD = an ancient propaganda method known as 'Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt' for the purpose of manipulating sheeple).
Link To Source Security Explorations announcement
From Friday, 31 Aug 2012:
http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2012/Aug/388
"... Today we sent a security vulnerability report along with a Proof of
Concept code to Oracle. The code successfully demonstrates a complete
JVM sandbox bypass in the environment of a latest Java SE software
(version 7 Update 7 released on Aug 30, 2012). The reason for it is
a new security issue discovered, that made exploitation of some of
our not yet addressed bugs possible to exploit again."
Re: Publish a retraction or update, please
Further Details:
Apple and Oracle have made the Java JRE for OS X into an open source project with both companies providing support. Apple had originally planed to drop out of providing Java updates to OS X users. For now, Apple is remaining in the supply chain, forwarding updates for ONLY Java 6 JRE as required.
Meanwhile, the JRE of Java 7 for OS X is available only through Oracle. The only reason OS X users would want the Java 7 JRE would be for specific projects or applications that require it. As has been noted in the thread, at this time there is NO safe version of Java 7 for browsing the Internet. Therefore, if you installed Java 7 on ANY platform, turn Java 7 OFF while browsing the Internet, or only turn it on ONLY at trusted websites, or UNINSTALL Java 7 entirely.
(JRE = Java Runtime Engine, the part of Java that is specific to any particular operating system).
CORRECTION: The CVE-2012-0547 'mega-flaw' does NOT affect Apple's Java update
This article by The Register is INCORRECT. This was pointed out previously in the comments thread.
Please allow me to teach you how to discover the CORRECT information:
The 'mega-flaw' in Java 6, is described in CVE-2012-0547. You can read the CVE description HERE:
http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2012-0547
"Unspecified vulnerability in the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) component in Oracle Java SE 7 Update 6 and earlier, and 6 Update 34 and earlier, has no impact and remote attack vectors involving AWT and "a security-in-depth issue that is not directly exploitable but which can be used to aggravate security vulnerabilities that can be directly exploited."
Note that this security hole is specific to Java 6 Update 34 and earlier as well as Java 7 Update 6 and earlier. In response to this security hole, Oracle rushed out two patched versions of Java: Java 6 Update 35 and Java7 Update 7. Apple then forwarded Java 6 Update 35 to its OS X users.
NO further security holes have been found in Java 6 Update 35 at this time.
UNRELATED to Java 6 was the discovery of a further Java security hole described in CVE-2012-4681. This vulnerability is ONLY in Java 7 Update 6 and earlier, NOT Java 6, as is evident in the CVE report found HERE:
http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=2012-4681
"Multiple vulnerabilities in the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) component in Oracle Java SE 7 Update 6 and earlier..."
Also UNRELATED to Java 6 was the discovery of a new security hole in Java 7 Update 7, discovered by Security Explorations. So far, it does not have a CVE report. You can read about it HERE:
http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2012/Aug/388
"Today we sent a security vulnerability report along with a Proof of Concept code to Oracle. The code successfully demonstrates a complete JVM sandbox bypass in the environment of a latest Java SE software (version 7 Update 7 released on Aug 30, 2012)."
In fact, the ONLY secure version of Java being distributed at this time is Java 6 Update 35, the version Apple is currently providing to OS X users. There is currently no secure version of Java 7.
Learning about and reading CVE reports is easy. Below are links to the Wikipedia article about CVEs as well as the link to the CVE website. You can search for any CVE report using the 'SEARCH' link at the top right of the CVE home page.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Vulnerabilities_and_Exposures
http://cve.mitre.org/
Re: Why are they all worried about the public vote?
"In the US the public vote is largely irrelevant. The Electoral Colleges decide who is President most of the time."
Or a majority vote in the US Supreme Court, in the case of Dubya's first 'win', despite popular votes entirely to the contrary.
No, the public vote dictates the votes from the Electoral College. It is done state by state where each state winner grabs ALL that state's electoral college votes. It's an old stop-gap horse and buggy days system that is now antiquated and a detriment to sane democracy. It's how US maps get broken down into 'Red' and 'Blue' states, indicating how the Electoral College typically represents them. Sad and silly.
derekcurrie@mac.com
Yes Dear World. Obsessed extremist paranoid PoliTard lunacy like this is now rampant in the USA. Everything is interpreted as politically extreme, one way or the other. Political thinking exists only along the brain dead 1-Dimensional political line of right or left. Thus our USA two party system FAILs. It's time for a new world revolution of 3-D thinkers over the lame non-thinkers and psychopaths. (A special 'hello' to VP candidate Paul Ryan, 'Starve The Beast' perpetrator and Ayn Rand quisling).
Nothing Gay To See Here. Move Along. Return to your homes...
Having reviewed the new emoji characters, I can only laugh that anyone thought there was anything gay going on. Some people are apparently OBSESSED with gayness. We know why. But let's let them figure it out for themselves...
Hand Holding:
Sorry to disappoint, but it is entirely normal across the majority of the human cultural world for two girls OR two boys OR even two adults of the same sex, to hold hands. Holding hands ≠ sex. It never has. It's also normal for two girls or two guys to affectionately kiss without implying sex. If you think otherwise, I think you need to get out into the world and get some perspective. Not every human behavior can be interpreted as sexual. Even Freud knew that.
So get over your homophobia and homophilia and just enjoy the fact the lots of people of all sorts of varieties, enjoy being with one another and even holding hands. It's not scary. It's not satanic. It's not gay.
Hopefully the next set of emoji actually WILL have gay characters, imitating real life. Imagine that.
Posted in Gates' Corbis busted again for fraud
Deja Vu Microsoft Stealing Apple QuickTime Code (circa 1998)
"Corbis abruptly terminated the contract after four months and claimed ownership of the technology."
Where have I heard that scenario before? Apple QuickTime code robbery by Microsoft in 1998!
Microsoft paid dearly for ripping off QuickTime code from a third party contracted developer and refusing to return it . It's interesting how Bill Gates is the common denominator in both incidents. What could that possibly mean?
Posted in iPad swipes more of tablet market
iPad Swipeage...
I strongly suggest that what we're seeing with Amazon Kindle Fire market share in Q1 2012 is the result of an extremely high customer return rate of Fires purchased in Q4 2011. Amazon has never been willing to post numbers of actual sales, as opposed to the number shipped. Very naughty.
I still contend that what is here called the 'tablet' market is in fact TWO markets that require distinction from one another. There is the eReader market, which covers all things Kindle and Nook. Then there is the actual Tablet market that covers everything more capable than the hobbled Kindle Fire. It should include the iPod Touch on up to the iPad series.
Posted in Google Drive stalls on LAUNCH DAY
Clunk Clunk Clunk
It's particularly unique when a Version 1.0 Syndrome event results in the software not being even Alpha testing ready, which is the case today at Google Drive.
Way to go Google. :-P
Posted in China blames web for gun smuggling crims
China: Criminal Nation, Complaining About Non-Governmental Crime, hahaha
This is utterly hilarious. Here we have a Criminal Nation, China, complaining about crime in their country that isn't being perpetrated by their own government. I can offer only ridicule.
Oh, and of course: ANYTHING to HATE on the INTERNET, that dangerous source of diversity and free thought. Gotta kill that! Let's blame it for private crime in China. Yeah, that's the ticket.
What a bastion of blowhard bogosity. :-P
What Exactly Did Redmond Win, Besides Locked-In Windows PC Contracts?
"how did Redmond win?"
In my life, Redmond only won my disgust and derision. I learned on DOS and went on to use Windows extensively. Thankfully, however, in 1991 I graduated to using an Apple Macintosh as well. I tossed the PC I owned into the local dumpster and never allowed a Windows box into my home again. I currently have five Macs, all working, ranging from 1997 on up through this year. My 1997 PowerMac tower still runs 24/7 on the Internet as an FTP server. Therefore, from my perspective, Apple won.
Apple's Mac has also been eating at Microsoft's OS market share for the last few years. And don't forget Linux, the brave open source OS for the masses.
I seriously doubt Window L8 is going to do much for Microsoft apart from inspire widespread user disgust and derision. The Metro GUI is that bad, IMHO. But we shall see.
My happiest memory of Window 3.1: The moment I realized I never had to use that POS again.
