Byte Me!

Microsoft teaches Best Buy employees how to troll Linux users

foxsynergy — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 14:43:17 GMT

Microsoft is apparently teaching Best Buy employees that Windows 7 beats Linux in every category imaginable... The software giant is actually going as far as teaching employees that there are certain statements about Linux that need to be labeled as myths.

http://bit.ly/rK1Ld

When your market share's slipping and your software's a dud,
get your OS to shipping, and then lay on the FUD!

Among the things MS claims you can't do under Linux which I've personally done are:

Hook up any MP3 player (except a Zune... wonder why)
Hook up scanners and printers that worked fine under XP, but had support *removed* from Vista.
Play World of Warcraft.
Connect to the internet.
Personalize (Linux is far more customizeable then Windows 7, which you can't even change the wallpaper in the basic version of)
Let's not get into "maximum protection". I mean, DAMN.

Among the things MS claims you'd want to do under Windows 7 but you probably don't really are:

Install their shitty Windows Live bloatware (why the hell would anyone want this?)
Get their "Authorized Support"
Pay a lot of money for an OS that, at my last test, only ran apps that I wanted to use which were already supported under Linux anyway.

For the second time today, I've gotta say... fuck you, Windows.

Microsoft Gives Cops Free Tools to Hack Your Windows

foxsynergy — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 20:48:04 GMT

COFEE (Computer Online Forensic Evidence Extractor) is a tool that helps simplify the very complex problem of gathering “live” computer evidence of cybercrime.... COFEE is currently designed exclusively for use by law enforcement officials and is provided at no cost.

Specifically, MS has teamed up with INTERPOL to distribute this to armed government thugs worldwide. Hell, read it for yourself.

http://www.microsoft.com/industry/government/news/cofee_faq.mspx

...and for once you understand the full implications of the above:

http://iso.linuxquestions.org/

The Autocamp 2000

foxsynergy — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 13:18:18 GMT

I don't know how legit this is, but the story is so funny it had me in tears.

The Autocamp 2000 Plays Online RPGs with the following rules:

1) Join any group that invites you
2) When in a group, follow behind the leader
3) Attack any monster you see
4) Accept all trade requests from other players, then give them a melon

Well, that takes care of 90% of online play.

http://archive.gamespy.com/fargo/august03/autorpg/index.shtml

Microsoft Purchases GNU

foxsynergy — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 19:34:26 GMT

You had to know this day would come eventually -- they simply had more cash to throw at it than anybody else and apparently weren't shy about pushing an obscenely disproportionate heap of money to get their hands on it. =(

http://www.globalnerdy.com/2009/01/26/winning-the-gnu/

Ubuntu's Shuttleworth praises Windows 7, welcomes fight

foxsynergy — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 18:08:16 GMT

Mark Shuttleworth is looking forward to a good, clean netbook fight with Microsoft following the release of Windows 7.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/22/shuttleworth_windows_7/

Man builds his own robot girlfriend

foxsynergy — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 14:06:32 GMT

Le Trung, a 33 year old Canadian inventer, who claims he has never had time to find a human girlfriend has created his own perfect robot woman.

http://www.techotic.com/man-builds-his-own-robot-girlfriend.html

How an Italian judge made the internet illegal

foxsynergy — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 15:41:16 GMT

Italian bloggers are up in arms at a court ruling early this year that suggests almost all Italian blogs are illegal. This month, a senior Italian politician went one step further, warning that most web activity is likely to be against the law.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/09/26/italian_law_kills_blog/

Trying to win at Brainball by not thinking about winning

foxsynergy — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 10:02:31 GMT

Ever played a game where simply thinking about winning was enough to ensure you lost? I had that experience Thursday night at a preview event for Wired NextFest in Chicago's Millennium Park. My wife Kerry and I threw down in a spirited match of Brainball (after throwing down a couple of martinis, natch).

http://arstechnica.com/journals/thumbs.ars/2008/09/26/trying-to-win-at-brainball-by-not-thinking-about-winning

This Post Not Made In Chrome; Google's EULA Sucks

foxsynergy — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 17:37:10 GMT

Google's Chrome Terms of Service take out a royalty-free license for Google of any content submitted by users over the internet.

http://tapthehive.com/discuss/This_Post_Not_Made_In_Chrome_Google_s_EULA_Sucks

Glasnost: Test if your ISP is manipulating BitTorrent traffic

foxsynergy — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 19:37:35 GMT

Certain ISPs have been shown to rate limit or block BitTorrent traffic sent by their customers. While there are multiple reports of this on the web, only a few ISPs have admitted that they manipulate BitTorrent traffic. And, to date, it is hard for users without networking expertise to gain evidence about the behavior of their ISP.

This test suite creates a BitTorrent-like transfer between your machine and our server, and determines whether or not your ISP is limiting such traffic. This is a first step towards making traffic manipulation by ISPs more transparent to their customers.

http://broadband.mpi-sws.mpg.de/transparency/bttest.php

Reiser is guilty of first-degree murder, the jury has found.

foxsynergy — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 16:25:47 GMT

He killed Nina with premeditation and deliberation and now faces 25 years to life in prison. Reiser's brow was furrowed as court clerk Fil Cruz read the verdict in a courtroom packed with prosecutors, reporters and sheriff's deputies.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=37&entry_id=26050

Dammit, that's what the woman got for running EXT2! REISERFS simply slaughters every other file system...

New Version of Windows Coming Soon

foxsynergy — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 19:14:11 GMT

Because Vista is so sucktacular...

Microsoft Corp.(NasdaqGS:MSFT - News) co-founder Bill Gates said on Friday he expected the new version of Windows operating software, code-named Windows 7, to be released "sometime in the next year or so."

http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/080404/microsoft_windows_gates.html?.v=3&.pf=family-home

Any improvements will surely be warmly welcomed, guys. I mean... damn.

"Atari" delays game release not to bring you a better game, but to treat you like a criminal

foxsynergy — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 16:28:49 GMT

Shamus over at Twenty Sided has a very well thought out and detailed article about Atari’s decision to delay the release of an expansion pack for Neverwinter Nights 2 in order to create and polish their new DRM scheme. The idiocy of those corporations who rely on DRM never ceases to amaze me.

http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=1586#more-1586

Mac is the first to fall in Pwn2Own hack contest

foxsynergy — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 16:08:34 GMT

A brand-new MacBook Air running a fully patched version of Leopard was the first to fall in a contest that pitted the security of machines running OS X, Vista and Linux. The exploit took less than two minutes to pull off.

http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2008/03/28/mac_hack/

Vista SP1 borking computers. Users complain.

foxsynergy — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 16:10:18 GMT

A day after it was released for public download, Windows Vista SP1 is drawing barbs from some computer users who say the software wrecked their systems.

http://itnews.com.au/News/72401,windows-vista-sp1-wreaks-havoc-on-some-pcs-users-complain.aspx

Windows XP with andLinux is just about all you effin' need, pal.

MMOs. They're doing it wrong.

foxsynergy — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 16:03:27 GMT

Halting State is set in Scotland in 2017. In it Stross decides that MMOs have become very big business indeed and proceeds to build a rather good conspiracy story around a robbery in one of these MMOs. At as basic level he says this "The economy of an MMO is based around fun. If your players aren't having fun they'll go somewhere else".

Here's my list of things that Stross's MMO did right that current teams haven't managed to figure out yet.

http://blog.parallax-rising.net/2008/03/mmos-theyre-doing-it-wrong.html

Right on the money, really.

Robo Love

foxsynergy — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 00:57:32 GMT

[T]here will soon come a day when people fall in love with robots and want them for companions, friends, love objects and possibly even partners for sex and marriage.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/02/books/review/Henig-t.html

That day is imminent, Levy writes, especially the sex part. By the middle of this century, he predicts, “love with robots will be as normal as love with other humans, while the number of sexual acts and lovemaking positions commonly practiced between humans will be extended, as robots teach more than is in all of the world’s published sex manuals combined.”

The Problem With Blaming Piracy

foxsynergy — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 16:01:08 GMT

Software production company Stardock seems to have a much better grasp of reality as well as cause and effect than most others on the subject of softare "piracy". Encouraging!

http://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/post.aspx?postid=303512&amp;

RIAA drops file sharing case

foxsynergy — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 17:08:51 GMT

Since the RIAA began filing lawsuits against suspected file sharers in 2003, not a single one has gone all the way to trial.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20061015-7990.html

Scare tactics. Ignore them.

Buyers Beware: Current Blu-ray Players Won't Correctly Play Future Discs

foxsynergy — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 19:36:55 GMT

After the past week, it seems more and more likely that Blu-ray will be the movie disc format of the future. But with the exception of the Playstation 3, current Blu-ray disc players were built without future-compatibility capabilities...

http://consumerist.com/344116/buyers-beware-current-blu+ray-dvd-players-wont-correctly-play-future-discs

Insanity: House votes to criminalize the Internet, 409 to 2

foxsynergy — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 06:04:02 GMT

Before the House vote, which was a lopsided 409 to 2, Rep. Nick Lampson (D-Texas) held a press conference on Capitol Hill with John Walsh, the host of America's Most Wanted and Ernie Allen, head of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Not one Democrat opposed the SAFE Act. Two Republicans did: Rep. Ron Paul, the libertarian-leaning presidential candidate from Texas, and Rep. Paul Broun from Georgia.

http://www.news.com/8301-13578_3-9829759-38.html?tag=nefd.top

I just don't have anything I can possibly add to this, nor are there any comments I can make. Excuse me while I throw up forever.

Digg Pretty Much Sells Out

foxsynergy — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 21:57:10 GMT

Yeah, a lot of us saw this coming. Digg's just officially announced its partnership with Rupert Murdoch to provide neocon financial propaganda readily available to everyone. Check it out, halfway down on the right-hand side.

http://digg.com/all/?

Pardon me while I barf -- I now amazingly dislike Kevin Rose even more.

NSA Copies the Internet

foxsynergy — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 12:28:30 GMT

I heard an interview with this guy a few days ago and went slack, since this is the same sort of stuff I work with myself. Very nasty, and very illegal, and the NSA as well as other criminal parties (i.e. most telecoms except Qwest) should be boiled alive for this.

His first inkling that something was amiss came in summer 2002 when he opened the door to admit a visitor from the National Security Agency to an office of AT&T in San Francisco.

"What the heck is the NSA doing here?" Mark Klein, a former AT&T technician, said he asked himself.

A year or so later, he stumbled upon documents that, he said, nearly caused him to fall out of his chair. The documents, he said, show that the NSA gained access to massive amounts of e-mail and search and other Internet records of more than a dozen global and regional telecommunications providers. AT&T allowed the agency to hook into its network at a facility in San Francisco and, according to Klein, many of the other telecom companies probably knew nothing about it.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/07/AR2007110700006_pf.html

The diagram showed splitters, glass prisms that split signals from each network into two identical copies. One fed into the secret room, the other proceeded to its destination, he said.

"This splitter was sweeping up everything, vacuum-cleaner-style," he said. "The NSA is getting everything. These are major pipes that carry not just AT&T's customers but everybody's."

One of Klein's documents listed links to 16 entities, including Global Crossing, a large provider of voice and data services in the United States and abroad; UUNet, a large Internet provider in Northern Virginia now owned by Verizon; Level 3 Communications, which provides local, long-distance and data transmission in the United States and overseas; and more familiar names such as Sprint and Qwest. It also included data exchanges MAE-West and PAIX, or Palo Alto Internet Exchange, facilities where telecom carriers hand off Internet traffic to each other.

"I flipped out," he said. "They're copying the whole Internet. There's no selection going on here. Maybe they select out later, but at the point of handoff to the government, they get everything."

Encrypted E-Mail Company Hushmail Spills to Feds

foxsynergy — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 12:22:56 GMT

Hushmail, a longtime provider of encrypted web-based email, markets itself by saying that "not even a Hushmail employee with access to our servers can read your encrypted e-mail, since each message is uniquely encoded before it leaves your computer."

But it turns out that statement seems not to apply to individuals targeted by government agencies that are able to convince a Canadian court to serve a court order on the company.

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/11/encrypted-e-mai.html

This sort of thing is the reason I strongly suggest setting up GPG and handle your own damn security, or see a friend you really trust to do this for you, and then kill him.

Google turns over thought criminal's IP info to police.

foxsynergy — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 12:37:27 GMT

Meet Google! The new Yahoo!

On August 31, Lakshmana Kailash K. was arrested in Bangalore, India, and charged with posting insulting images of a revered historical figure on the Internet. The police claimed that he had uploaded disrespectful images of Chhatrapati Shivaji, the Indian equivalent of George Washington. Free speech, it seems, does not extend to that sort of thing in India.

So what makes this interesting? First, Mr. Kailash was alleged to have posted the pictures to Orkut, Google's redheaded stepchild of a social-networking site. Once Google divulged the IP address of the photo-uploader to the Indian authorities, the police sought the customer's identity from Airtel, one of the country's main telecommunication companies.

You can read more here:
http://www.cnet.com/8301-13739_1-9811569-46.html

It's not the central focus of the story as it's posted there, but my point is that Google's been rolling over to government requests like a McDonald's employment roster for a number of years now, and there are no signs of them improving. Thank goodness, at least, for OpenPGP.