CharlotteTheHarlot

IDF 2013: Intel Distances Itself From Windows 8, Microsoft ( DailyTech 2013-09-12 ) ( Someone at TechBroil mentioned this article ) Excellent blog coverage of IDF 2013 highlighting that thing I've also noticed - that Intel seems to be getting comfortable working outside of the Microverse. We're gonna need a new name for the replacement to the old WinTel paradigm. May Intellidroid? Or GoogleTel? Microsoft pulled videos mocking new iPhones for being 'off the mark' ( NeoWin 2013-09-15 ) More on that most recent MicroBlunder. Everyone is now trying to say that was about Tim Cook, but is that who really comes to mind when you see that photo at the link? Before sale to Microsoft, Nokia was testing Android on Lumia phones ( TechSpot 2013-09-14 ) Rumor: Nokia tested Android Lumia phones before Microsoft deal ( NeoWin 2013-09-14 ) I was thinking the same thing, and get this, I posted it only a half-hour before the Nokia assimilation was announced ... The fanboys at the NeoWin thread aren't thrilled by this rumor at all. Lots of denial with the usual foolish logic that Nokia could not go up against Samsung ( ummm, did they ever imagine Samsung got so successful because there was no Nokia on the playing field? ). One sane commenter at the sad NeoWin thread nails it by explaining ... EDIT: spacing

Whatever he does should be done one at a time, that means avoid changing a dozen settings and then it gets fixed but without a clear way to identify the culprit. Be systematic. First thing is to identify the exact software he used to listen to Internet radio on both the good laptop and the bad PC. The difference will be the key. What browsers and version ( assuming a browser, maybe some radio client? ). In other words, compare apples to apples here. If he is using a browser to stream, make sure the PC browser settings match the laptop ( make sure there isn't an obvious setting that is different on either device ). It would help to have the laptop and PC running side by side and then page through all the settings and compare. Definitely try a different browser too. It is quick an painless to install Opera, also Firefox. It might be that simple to fix. Obviously the audio hardware will be different between the laptop and PC which complicates things a bit since there will be different audio drivers loaded. I would check the audio driver settings on both side by side as best as possible, through both the driver GUI interface ( usually a systray icon ) and also in device manager. Maybe it would be a good idea to just update or reinstall the PC audio drivers from scratch. It might very well be time for a thorough cleaning of the PC. Check every fan including the power supply for dust. After that blow off all the components. Use canned air or a compressor and get every piece of dust out. If there was an audio card, at this step I would pull it out and put it back in. Obviously all the connected wiring should be checked also, particularly those crappy little 1/8th audio jacks. Take them out and put them back in. Look for any data signal wires being ran across any power wires. Make sure no wires are leaning against any fans because the vibration could create a problem. Make sure no fans are too noisy which could just be dust in the bearings or worse, electronic failure adding noise to the system. Oh, if possible drop in another power supply to rule that out as a culprit. As you run out of hardware demons then we get to other things like BIOS. CMOS can be dumped by pulling the battery for a while or shorting the appropriate jumper. This will cause a re-jiggering of resources when you next boot which might solve it right there. A full BIOS treatment would include resetting to defaults ( IMPORTANT: take photos or write down the settings on all the BIOS pages and take note of SATA settings ) or even reflashing the BIOS and pulling the battery. This is kind of a hodgepodge way to go about it not knowing his debugging skill level. I can tell you how I would do it if it were mine. I would get a second HDD and replace the system drive on the PC with it and fresh install Windows. Then get radio streaming to work, and then stop and export the registry, then replace the HDD back to the original and do some comparisons of certain parts of the registry that are related to audio and the browser to locate the likely errors and import them to the current PC. NOTE: There are a myriad of Windows settings involving networking and Internet communication. ( Only sections of the registry can be compared because there are so many differences between a fresh install and an aged one that it is impossible to diff the entire export at once unless you have access to a supercomputer. Even if you did, the relocation of blocks and the zebra stripes in Windiff would be impossible to decipher. ) But even more importantly, if on that fresh Windows on a different HDD I could *NOT* get radio streaming to work then I would know that there is a hardware issue to be resolved. You didn't mention if it is onboard audio or a card. You can try disabling the onboard audio in the BIOS and then reboot without sound and then re-enable in BIOS and reboot again. Reinstalling the audio driver is another idea. The main thing is to be systematic so you know what the problem was.

Yes and no (actually no). The actual point is not-so-slightly different. Noone and surely not the NSA actually cares about your fingerprints, BUT the real issue in traditional computer forensics has been that of "placing the suspect behind the keyboard". The use of fingerprint as authentication method (already used since years on high-end laptops and advertised as "enhanced security") nicely solves this problem. jaclaz Good point. It kind of moots the whole question of (IP Address) != (Specific Person). However, letting your fingerprints get digitized and distributed as easy as an email address or music file is dangerous. It wouldn't take much effort to take that digital file and use it for identity theft or even substitute it as their own so that crimes from their computer points back to you. They could even develop a way to 3D print a suitable imitation fingertip to be used to place your print at a physical crime scene too. On the other hand, perhaps if the digital world gets swamped with fingerprints including counterfeits then the reliability of fingerprinting in general will be questioned. Now that is a very interesting possibility. Pandora's Box.

Security Issues ... Wi-Fi Sniffing Like Wiretapping, Court Tells Google ( Tom's Hardware 2013-09-13 ) Tom's Hardware coverage of that court case mentioned yesterday. Unfortunate spin by the author, one of the rare MicroZealots at TH, describing what Google did. Look at this nonsense ... No fanboy, what they did was listen to and record what was in the air, and this was done from the street! They did not "go into" anyone's homes and they did not "wiretap" a single communication. This idjit, like the court judges, is equating "listening" with "wiretapping". Talk about missing the point! Especially considering what the government is up to nowadays. This is such a distraction and hugely hypocritical as well. One commenter nails it though ... : Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer publicly defends decision to comply with NSA ( NeoWin 2013-09-13 ) So much for the theory that Yahoo! is one of the good guys fighting the good fight. It seems they have a little coward at the helm and the feds capitalized on it by scaring her into submission. These companies, non-manufacturing businesses that do not require a physical presence anywhere should just move offshore to some South Pacific island chain. Close down silicon valley and open up coconut valley. I know this will be bad for my own country but what possible alternative is there against this kind of coercion? None of these corporate suits has the cojones to fight for the Constitution.

Xbox again ... Rumor: Microsoft working on "Cortana" personal assistant ( NeoWin 2013-09-13 ) Jeez, and just a day or two after their favorite lackey, Nokia, was busy accusing Apple of ripping off MicroNokia for multicolored phones. Hypocrisy is just thriving! The transition to MicroApple is clearly well under way now. This assistant of course does not remind the fanboys of Clippy or the Search Dog for some reason. I wonder why? Well it's because they apparently are using a pretty girl character from an Xbox game. Horny MicroVirgins are naturally thrilled. Lots of Xbox 360 games go missing from online store due to "technical glitch" ( NeoWin 2013-09-13 ) Another cloudy day in the Microverse but they will never learn. God I really wish they had kept the online DRM requirements in Xbone rather than killing them. That would be a learning experience they would never forget.

Microsoft mocks iPhone 5s, 5c in new videos (Update) ( NeoWin 2013-09-13 ) Hooo boy, another MicroBlunder. They started by posting some new attack videos against Apple but soon pulled them because of the offensive nature, namely mocking the deceased Steve Jobs. Unbelievable! Apple lives rent-free in the minds of the MicroTards. But how about this insane role reversal. Once again, for decades, Microsoft was seen as the stereotypical professional business while Apple was the stereotype of the hippy outsider. Now we have the NuWorld as defined by NuMicrosoft where Apple is the corporate suit and Microsoft is the undisciplined teenager. Bravo boys! This calls for a new graphic ... ( original photo ) Microsoft: Over 2 million downloads for Windows 8.1 so far ( NeoWin 2013-09-13 ) Whoopsie. Nice try though Tammi, with your selective telemetry. What is strange to me is that "2 million" would even be considered a significant number at this point concerning Windows. I guess that with Windows 8 their expectations have been lowered and are thrilled by any interest at all. Microsoft preparing Surface Mini, Nokia 'Sirius' tablet pictured ( TechSpot 2013-09-13 ) So there really is to be a Surface redux. Okay then. Truly there are some Microholics that need to crash the car a second time before someone takes the car keys away. But a mini? Another severe case of Apple envy? Do they seriously think that the size is what sells those iPads? The Surface is already a mini IMHO. At 10.6 inches it is just a tad smaller than the mono and color CRTs we used all throughout the 1980's. Then we had the ever-so-slightly increased ( but still dinky ) 14 and 15 inchers in the 1990's. Thank God for the 17 inchers and larger! Using x86 software on a 10.6" screen is pretty much insane IMHO but they plan to go even smaller, maybe to 8 inch. Stupid is as stupid does. The other part of this article comes from a a Thurrott story where he showed a possible photo of a Nokia Sirius tablet. The only thing I cared to notice was the complete lack of any Playskool Microsoft Tiles decorating the screen. Again ... ( original photo )

Well in this thread, I have a backup until post #4016 which has my image of the 9/11 WTC. When it came back up I can confirm that that post was still there with the same number so I can attest up to that point. Post #4017 by user 351837 was here when it came back up as well, but if something slipped in before his and was deleted I cannot say. Near as I can tell #4017 was posted after the downtime, but it's hard to tell because of the dumb IPB practice of using "yesterday" and other relative terms rather than absolute timestamps for display. I didn't look in the HTML though, it is probably decipherable in there.

Indeed you're right. No differentiation whatsoever. For example, here is a saved ad from Staples which shows how ridiculous that GUI is for not allowing a product to stand out ... ( original photo ) You inspired me to make another graphic ... ( Originals: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 ) EDIT: typo

Thanks, and that's a great link you found there. : If I may ... Former Nokia CEO founds Newkia, aims to create the Nokia Android phone youve always dreamed of ( Android Authority 2013-09-05 ) For all those among us that have dreamed of a Nokia Android phone, perk up. The marriage of Nokias legendary build quality and the best mobile operating system in the world would be a truly amazing thing, and now, its looking more likely than ever. Newkia indeed. Sounds like really good news. :

More news from the Competition ... Apple Stock Falls 6 Percent Following iPhone Event - New iPhones, same 4-inch display ( Maximum PC 2013-09-11 ) The article is kind of irrelevant to me, I just wanted to show some quick pictures of the products ... ... and a so-called "gold" one ... ( Original Photos: 1, 2 ) I don't know about anybody else but they are seriously reaching into Playskool territory with those pastel colors. The iOS 7 wallpaper selection makes each set of icons look worse than ever and they are seriously deluding themselves into thinking that there are any visual improvements on this interface. We'll see soon enough. And that "gold"? Well, I'll get to that. One pretty sensible comment there ... "Since the NSA has a backdoor to your phone, it'll now have your fingerprint, even if you've never been arrested or anything." ... all recent spy revelations considered I think this is a good point. Yes, that security article a few days ago implies that Apple phones have been one product that gives the spooks some trouble. But can we really trust that information? I doubt it. So having said that, why would we voluntarily place our fingerprints into that giant international digital vacuum cleaner they are operating. It is entirely possible that they are actually waiting and hoping for millions of new iPhones to blend into the system and then later launch a wholesale collection of fingerprints. I can't really think of a reason to doubt this anymore. Apple's iPhone gets approved for China Mobile's 700 million subscribers ( TechSpot 2013-09-11 ) If that news is true, given all these "less" expensive colored iPhones they are gonna sell a huge buttload of them over there. Great news for Apple of course but not necessarily for everyone else since it means a huge percentage of the actual world population will be getting addicted to still expensive phones that only exist because of hidden subsidies in the plans. That subsidy scam has to be beaten down, not given new life. This is worse news for WP naturally, but so is everything really. At the link is one of many photos of the new colors ( included in my graphic below ). It seems to me that Jony Ive and his crack team of AppleTards are nipping at the heels of the Microsoft MetroTard design school. They supposedly have a "gold" phone now, hmmm, that doesn't look like gold to me though. So I made them a helpful infographic ... ( Originals: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 ) iPad 5 body fully detailed in dozens of leaked high-res images ( NeoWin 2013-09-11 ) The picture at the link of the possible iPad 5 ( included in the following graphic ) just looks butt ugly to my eyes. This is all I really got to say about it ... ( Originals: 1, 2 )

News from the Competition ... Sony Xperia Z Ultra Review ( TechSpot 2013-09-12 ) ( original photo ) Pretty sharp looking Android tablet IMHO, I mean the GUI crispness and clarity. Perhaps there are a handful of non-blind non-retarded designers still around after all. No wonder Dell was hiding the Playskool interface on their tablet above. Oh, and it's a phone too, a so-called phablet. Very handy I think. Google Introduces Haswell Chromebooks ( Tom's Hardware 2013-09-12 ) Intel and Google Collaborate on Next Generation Chromebooks Powered by Haswell ( Maximum PC 2013-09-12 ) More Intel powered non-Windows computers. It wasn't too long ago that these were all ARM if I recall correctly. It seems Intel is getting comfortable outside the Microverse which spells trouble for Microsoft because this end of the market, Netbooks, was formerly dominated by Vista and Windows 7. Then Microsoft went and turned the world upside down. Now they are reaping the rewards - Google's Chrome OS on Intel nextgen silicon. Only Microsoft could have facilitated this one. Two thumbs up boys! Retro phone - the "Brick" straight outta time - gives up to six months standby ( NeoWin 2013-09-12 ) Shucks, I was hoping to use the term RetroPhone for MetroPhone but they went and stole it. This is a pretty good copy of 1990's SatPhones, late-1980's portables or 1960's-1970's walkie talkies. It does make you wonder though. When you make a handset that large there is a *lot* of room inside and it appears they have put it to good use with a huge battery. I've long thought that they should stop making smartphones thinner each year, and instead make the components smaller and cram more inside the same physical package ( and yes, the same goes for computer motherboards! ). I would be perfectly happy if my phone was the thickness of a portable camera ( but with a 5" or 6" screen ) as long as that depth was put to great use. Large or multiple batteries, large storage cards, a larger retracting camera lenses. Come to think of it, a portable camera is already almost the perfect size. Way too much Apple news to cover so here are just some quick impressions ... Editorial: iPhone's 64-bit architecture is pure marketing fluff ( NeoWin 2013-09-11 ) The hypocrisy is uber-thick with MicroZealots and MetroTards. So Apple's next phone CPU called the A7 uses 64 bit architecture. What a wonderful illustration of the shoe on the other foot. It was only 5 or so years ago that the big push in the Windows universe was to get everyone on 64-bit hardware and software, a self-serving cynical marketing ploy if ever there was one. But here we are, hearing all the same arguments made to debunk the earlier hype, but this time it comes from the 'Tards that previously we were arguing with. The difference of course is that Apple released the chip and now they are in full fledged role reversal. Hilarity ensues. UPDATE: now their other mortal enemy, Samsung, has also jumped onboard! Wait until this one gets picked up at NeoWin ... Samsung: our next-gen smartphones will have 64-bit chips, too ( TechSpot 2013-09-12 ) woohoo

More on the Security Front ... UK Intelligence Recruiting Code-breakers with Treasure Hunt ( Tom's Hardware 2013-09-12 ) What can you say except that spying is a growth industry, even in a 5-year long recession. Hurray. NSA Leaks 2013 - A Timeline of NSA Revelations ( Tom's Hardware 2013-09-12 ) An excellent table of contents to the early summer spy leaks. And this particular link still deserves special mention ... Microsoft handed the NSA access to encrypted messages ( UK Guardian 2013-07-11 ) How a Virtual Private Network Can Boost Your Security ( Tom's Hardware 2013-09-12 ) Continuing their series of security articles, this one provides an overview to VPN use. The true privacy value of a VPN remains a bit cloudy after all the related revelations but the concept of better than nothing still holds true IMHO. How Online Services Can Help Preserve Your Anonymity ( Tom's Hardware 2013-09-12 ) Another novice level overview of WWW privacy issues. Definitely nothing new to most folks on MSFN or even Tom's Hardware but worth spreading to friends and family if only to help wake them up from their blissful stupor. Motion tracking cameras coming to Asus, Dell, HP and Lenovo laptops in 2014 ( TechSpot 2013-09-12 ) Oh great, nothing could go wrong here. EDIT: spacing grrrr!

On the Security Front ... Google accused of wiretapping in latest lawsuit ( NeoWin 2013-09-11 ) The fanboys are of course attacking Google mercilessly even though they themselves swear allegiance to Microsoft who is the first and primary partner for the government spooks. I don't like this ruling at all from a common sense point of view. This court is in effect twisting and expanding the concept of public airwaves to equal "private" whenever they arbitrarily think so. I recall when satellite TV became an issue because some people could decode the scrambled signals beamed on their house. Rather than side with the creative and technologically savvy public, some small fraction of who were able to descramble Sat TV, they crazily sided with the companies, in effect removing any responsibility from them to protect their own signal with better encryption or not beaming it onto non-subscribers in the first place. This later happened with cable signals as well, also piped into your house. The onus was on the non-subscribers to NOT listen in. This precedent was widened by Hollywood who convinced and entire industry to add DRM chips to every consumer electronic DVD player and convinced governments to pass laws to make it illegal to even try. That is multiple levels down the rabbit hole of fascism if you ask me because the companies are being propped up by government and have no incentive to develop better hardware. They don't have to when the government waves a magic wand to protect your product. Never mind the fact that they also literally stepped into your home to tell you what you cannot do in there. Government in the bedroom. Now this idi0tic Court comes along and drags us into another deeper rabbit hole. This time the signals traveling through the air and landing on your house ( or Google's van ) don't even need to be scrambled to be illegal to listen to. The logical next step would be to make eavesdropping, hearing someone talking on the street, illegal next. You can't rule it out, trust me. This is not a defense of Google BTW. It is a defense of private property actually. If you talk or transmit signals that make it into my house you can expect me to listen. That is NOT wiretapping. That Court is a bunch of dopes. Encryption: What It Is, and How It Works for You ( Tom's Hardware 2013-09-11 ) Behind the Padlock: How Secure Web Connections Work ( Tom's Hardware 2013-09-12 ) A couple of articles with basic overviews of what Encryption and web security is. Good for beginners and even novices to get started on understanding what is now happening. Google and others band together for greater NSA transparency ( NeoWin 2013-09-11 ) Naturally even this offends a MicroTard ... Maybe a better question would be why does NeoWin owner Stephen Parker still pander to Microsoft who damaged NeoWin badly exactly one decade ago ... Cnet: Microsoft speaks, Neowin site goes dark ( CNet 2003-03-04 )... that's a better question. It is still hard to imagine how Microsoft has successfully raised such a crop of Apple-like fanboys in the past 6 or 7 years. They are even worse than the stereotype of those Apple fanatics. They exhibit knee-jerk hatred of Apple and Google and they ( for the most part ) are not even employees or stockholders. It is truly a Jonestown-like cult of koolaid drinking MicroChildren. Report reveals NSA director Keith Alexander replicated a war room after Star Trek's Starship Enterprise ( NeoWin 2013-09-11 ) ( NOTE: different image but with original NeoWin caption ) Well isn't this just the icing on the cake. The head of No Such Agency fancies himself as a starship captain. Never mind the fact that Picard, for all his fictional quirks, at least represented the highest possible integrity imaginable. This idjit here must hope some of that rubs off on his own image. Unfortunately, it does the opposite IMHO. It makes him look like a little fool that plays in a sandbox of taxpayer dollars with no oversight and no integrity because it is not a job requirement. How absurd to imagine this little twerp sitting in a chair like that, commanding his taxpayer funded peons to bring up the personal data of a target on the screen, probably tossing in the requisite "Make It So!" just to make their hard day of spying ever more enjoyable. It's even worse to imagine those creeps like Pelosi and Boehner doing the same thing, having a hearty chuckle on the dime of the taxpayers. It would be just great to elect some actual reformers and have them immediately after swearing in conduct a raid tour of all these facilities and let us see what we have purchased with our cash. I imagine they all have very comfy facilities with nice chairs and amenities and that is the crux of the problem. Give them wooden chairs and no creature comforts equivalent to Navy ship quartering and they would be less inclined to spend all day spending our money. Fricking disgusting!

Diary of a Dot MetroTard ... Image allegedly of Windows Phone 8.1 shows multi-tile select, notification center ( NeoWin 2013-09-11 ) The subject of the article, multiple tile select, is irelevant. The discussion takes a tangent onto the missing notification center and hilarity ensues when Dot MetroTard comes by to advertise both his uber-fanboyism and selfish need to dictate what features others do or do not need. Even his/her fellow NeoKids are scratching their heads and getting annoyed with the fanboy-in-chief ... More insight from Dot ... This goes on for a while until Dottie gives us some more brilliant insight ... ... and even more ... I guess Dottie must fancy him/herself as some kind of Playskool Microsoft Tiles aka "Modern" strategist or evangelist, and has somehow convinced himself that he knows all the actual decision making that went on behind the scenes in the Redmond Ivory Towers. The commenters are apparently tiring of his shtick though. Even self-described MicroZealots ... Dot MetroTard is getting butthurt ... Still they try to penetrate that thick noggin ... And some realize that resistance is truly futile with the MetroCommander-in-Chief ... Too bad Dottie. Even your fellow Microholics see you for what you are - an enabler of bad decision making and design regression. A typical day in the NeoVerse!

Microsoft wants feedback on what to add to Excel Web App ( NeoWin 2013-09-12 ) Okay, I got a suggestion ... why don't you add some more ribbon height and toolbars to that God awful ugly thing. ( original photo ) InFocus launches a 70-inch touchscreen Windows 8 PC; will set you back $8,999 ( NeoWin 2013-09-12 ) Joke of the day nomination. It's pretty much a giant laptop with touch capability. An LED TV at this size is less than $2000 and you can buy a good laptop for half that and mirror it to the TV, the only thing missing is the one hand touch capability which is not worth the extra $6000 you would save. In the comments it is made clear that this is targeted at corporate boardrooms and naturally, education. Personally any administrator that dumps our tax dollars on this toy should be fired and then deported. Xbox is in the news again ... Microsoft acquires the "Xbone.com" domain, even if it doesn't like the term ( NeoWin 2013-09-12 ) Too easy. I wonder if they also bought Xbox 180 too.

Dell cleared for $25 billion buyout, will remain committed to PCs ( TechSpot 2013-09-12 ) Dell Goes Private As Shareholders Approve $25 Billion Deal ( Tom's Hardware 2013-09-12 ) Dell shareholders approve plan to take the company private with Microsoft's help ( NeoWin 2013-09-12 ) Dell Shareholders Approve $24.9 Billion Sale to Michael Dell and Silver Lake, What's Next? ( Maximum PC 2013-09-12 ) Apparently for $25 billion the company will be going private again. Lucky thing for Microsoft that they bought in for a reported $2 billion. You never know what a Dell Computer unencumbered by Wall Street Analysts might do to regain marketshare from Lenovo. They just might have dumped the Playskool Microsoft Tiles albatross hanging around their neck. Dell shows 8-inch Venue tablet sporting Windows 8.1 ( CNet 2013-09-11 ) Dell announces Venue Tablet with Windows 8.1 ( NeoWin 2013-09-11 ) ( original photo ) Where did the Playskool Metro tiles go? Hey look everybody, another new Windows 8 device that for some strange reason doesn't show Windows 8! I wonder why? Anyone else noticing this trend because I'm even seeing it in the weekly sales flyers in the newspaper. Microsoft posts a behind-the-scenes look at recent Nokia Lumia 1020 TV ad ( NeoWin 2013-09-12 ) Speaking of hiding the Microsoft Tiles Playskool interface, I mentioned the Nokia ads a few posts back. Here is further proof of their sudden shyness. If Microsoft didn't make this video and have their logo tacked onto the end of this and on those TV ads you really would be forgiven for thinking this Lumia 1020 was an Android handset, which it should have been. Ah well, too late now. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Y3cOkZ8zEU Microsoft Store offers at least $200 gift card for old iPads ( NeoWin 2013-09-12 ) Don't you just love the smell of napalm desperation in the morning. This is quite an original new business model of buying marketshare. Literally they buy the competition devices and remove them from the public! Can't figure out how the financial math works though. Microsoft: Activations for Windows 8 in August were the highest so far ( NeoWin 2013-09-12 ) Sorry, numbers or it didn't happen.

Windows 8.1 program kills the Start button because no one can ever be happy ( NeoWin 2013-09-12 ) You gotta love it because the app will do precisely what the MetroTards claim they want done ( NO Start Button even if it is connected to Metro ) but is authored by someone they can only hate! The commnts are ... as expected ... a degenerating hatefest for the desktop and classic Windows but with a sense of foreboding of what the new management is going to do. Just in case they come to their senses and offer a classic Windows I suggest that all the parents of those MetroTards PLEASE make sure your firearms and prescription medication is locked up in a safe place in your home. Microsoft to offer masters-level certification exams until late December ( NeoWin 2013-09-11 ) Another ~slight~ backtrack here, postponing the deadline two months. What is interesting is that we have another clear case of telemetry driven strategy. They say only 150 grads per year came of this program! Cane we now check the telemetry for Microsoft Tiles? Pretty please? Windows 8.1 RTM's MSDN/TechNet release came after an intense internal struggle ( NeoWin 2013-09-12 ) Speaking of backtracking, even getting the so-called RTM into the hands of software developers was apparently considered controversial! However, this story is short on references and is by Brad Sams who is a fanboy himself, so we cannot be sure what is really going on here. It actually sounds a little like a publicity stunt pleading with developers to not hate them.

That could almost be a punchline to a joke.

Before this day ends I wanted to be sure to mention the 12th anniversary of the tragedy of 2001-09-11 ... Both hijacked flights that hit WTC pretty much passed over us, but we did not know it at the time. Then, we had just seen the aftermath of the first crash on the TV and a short time later we did hear the roar of one of the two F-15's out of Otis (*) over in Mass who flew over here in NY but were far too late for the first strike but managed to arrive almost in time for the second ( they actually launched after the first hit ). Somewhere south of us, closing in on NYC they broke Mach-1 but there was nothing for them to do really by that time but circle. It was a tragic day, week and month in my area. The newspapers eventually counted and covered over a dozen locals caught in the buildings and the services seemed to occur all the time. Many people were affected around here and I have a few close connections, a mere two degrees of separation. As bad as that tragedy was, and also the subsequent strikes and later events, nobody could possibly have suspected that the real triumph of Bin Laden would be the complete dismantling of the Internet and the liberty and privacy for billions of people around the world. Thanks a lot *sshole, I trust you are enjoying yourself rotting in hades. ( original photo ) It should be mentioned that a certain operating system had just gone RTM ( for real, not the phony kind we have now ). CDROMs were being pressed with files dated 2001 August 18 to 23 ( depending on your version ). General release was a dodgy event in late October, while the fires were still burning at the WTC site and the body count was rising. This is something that the MetroTard fanatics never mention when talking about Windows XP having a "slow start". If such an event had accompanied the Windows 8 launch they would now all be using it as an excuse though. If you read that bit in the earlier post about the NIST backdoor definitely placed into Vista, it is really starting to look the only perfectly "safe" OS is Windows XP RTM taken right off the original distribution disc. Unfortunately that version was not 48-bit LBA so it is unsafe with HDD's over 120 GB. All in all, I have to admit that I was a bit too critical of those "conspiracy nuts" that have always maintained that anything developed post-9/11 is suspect. The passage of time, and a big assist from Snowden has proved them right, and me wrong. Mea Culpa. Much more to come, I'm sure. EDIT: formatting, (*) not sure now about Otis AFB

Top Microsoft shareholders reportedly want Ford CEO to replace Ballmer ( NeoWin 2013-09-10 ) Alan Mulally ( Ford CEO ) and Mike Lawrie ( Computer Sciences CEO ) are rumored to be in the running to replace Ballmer. I saw this on CNBC yesterday. Naturally the fanboys are apoplectic ... Elop was a suit at Microsoft for just a couple of years, and then at Nokia for about the same. He's no Softie, more like a carpetbagger if you ask me. Meanwhile, a more logical candidate is apparently not even being considered ... CEO of Bill & Melinda Gates foundation to depart ( NeoWin 2013-09-10 ) Jeff Raikes who came to Microsoft the year after Ballmer and has been tight with Gates to this day is not even on the table. Quite the head-scratcher. Official Windows Phone, Nokia Twitter accounts poke fun at new iPhones ( NeoWin 2013-09-10 ) Here is an official Nokia tweet that slams the Apple product announcement. This is one of the biggest role reversals imaginable. A decade ago Microsoft was the serious business company and Apple was the tie-dyed hippie outsider. Now we have Apple as the corporate benchmark and Microsoft's b*tch Nokia acting like the petulant child ... (unedited screencap of tweet from https://twitter.com/NokiaUS/status/377486843178418176 ) I'm no Apple fan but this hypocrisy really burns me up because of that "imitation" smear. Microsoft and her Windows 8 and Windows Phone retarded GUI's are ripping off every child's toy to be found by using the Microsoft Tiles Playskool interface, not to mention borrowing heavily from other legacy Windows, MCE, and Xbox features. There is nothing original from the mind of the MetroTard. Now I'm gonna have to create a whole new set of images to tweet back at these children. ~sigh~ EDIT: formatting

NSA Affair: Germans Conduct Helicopter Flyover of US Consulate ( Der Spiegel 2013-09-09 ) Talk about unintended consequences. German aerial recon of the American embassy looking for exposed spy equipment on the building. This really highlights something that is a fuzzy gray area - Are embassies and consulates native land to the guest country or not? We're probably gonna see that issue settled once and for all in the next few years thanks to all the spy leaks. Hint for our German friends, you won't visually see the equipment that is listening to you, you will only see what is intentionally exposed. But they probably are fully aware of this and the action was a ( pretty good ) publicity stunt. NSA Violated Privacy Protections, Officials Say ( Wall Street Journal 2013-09-10 ) Oopsie daisy. 'Sorry, we'll try harder next time'. Don't be fooled again, this is one of those distracting slabs of meat thrown our way to divert attention from the real capabilities which are pressing ahead like a tsunami plowing miles inland through Japanese villages. Is Tor's Anonymous Internet Still Secure? ( Tom's Hardware 2013-09-10 ) Lots of background about Tor, SSL and WWW communications. Long story short - we're screwed. 'FLYING PIG' Soars Over Internet Privacy Protections ( Tom's Hardware 2013-09-10 ) It seems our UK friends own government are also leaving no stone unturned. The term "When Pigs Fly" which is typically used to denote a very unlikely eventuality has been cynically appropriated by James Bond, M and Q to describe how they can do anything they desire. The movies were not exaggerated, but understated! They're rubbing our noses in it now! NSA Poisoned Internet Security from the Beginning ( Tom's Hardware 2013-09-06 ) ( forgot about this one, and apologies if already mentioned here ). Excellent article, very long and quite detailed history of how it all happened as best as can be told. Most importantly, they seem to confirm some of our worst suspicions ... Once again, perhaps we now know the real reason that Microsoft and her MicroZealot and MetroTard fanboys have been on such a Jihad to kill Windows XP. Smart advice? Keep all WinXP and older computers from now on. Store them and stockpile them. Use the Vista/7+ computers only for the most innocent and least important tasks, nothing involving privacy obviously! Use the old ones whenever you want to at least try to remain private and anonymous ( there is more to it than just that of course! ). We've been at war with the governments and the tech companies and we didn't even know it.

You're using WinXP or better, correct? There should be no problem with that arrangement as is. You can probably disable the "On-Chip IDE" if you need to have more IRQ's available for some strange reason, in that case maybe the BIOS will stuff the SATA drives in different slots on that first screen, or maybe not. However, disabling something in the BIOS normally enabled ( and vice versa ) will suddenly become toggled later when the BIOS gets reset to defaults or failsafe after some error, or if you flash or change the battery. This is why I like to leave the drive settings at their default whenever possible so that some strange thing is less likely occur later. P.S. did you just time travel forward from 2006? When you go back I need you to invest some money for me on MSFT, I mean, AAPL and GOOG

More Security issues. Tom's Hardware is getting pretty good articles out there these days. These two are great recaps of the recent revelations reported in Der Spiegel which Jorge has mentioned ... Online Security Pioneer Predicts Grim Future ( Tom's Hardware 2013-09-09 ) That is an important point IMHO. While all these leaks have helped to educate us, they will have a profound effect on other governments spurring yet another arms race, this time over spying. The worst part is that they will watch and then notice that nothing has really changed over here and they will take that as meaning this is acceptible and ratchet up their own efforts. Hence, the point of this story and our "grim future". How the NSA Gets Into Your Smartphones ( Tom's Hardware 2013-09-09 ) I was just wondering when Snowden would do something useful like specify some areas where the spooks are NOT able to penetrate ... Lots more detail in the article covering Blackberry and Android also. For some reason WP is hardly mentioned. I wonder why? While Tom's Hardware is definitely NOT a fanboy site, it does get a clueless child every now and then ... That is an almost inexplicable level of ignorance. It's like Peak Stoopid. Notice that if you just change the subject from "government spying" to "Microsoft" then he sounds exactly like a MicroZealot or MetroTard. Ah, to be young and ignorant and foolish again.

IT Solutions Provider Arkoon Vows Support for Windows XP After Microsoft's April 2014 Deadline ( Maximum PC 2013-09-09 ) Here is a company that will specifically support Windows XP beyond the Microsoft deadline. While I applaud their entrepreneurship, this is not what is needed for the greater community. These folks are just going to satisfy the sheep crowd that live under constant fear of hacker boogeymen exploiting some obscure flaw. What we need are OEM's to buck Microsoft and supply hardware and drivers for Windows XP. For that to happen the people need to become activists and contact them directly. Here is my personal recommendation ... AVAST: 96 percent of U.S. schools will be affected by loss of Windows XP support ( NeoWin 2013-09-09 ) Oh look, another fanboy FUDfest! By the way, this comment thread is a perfect illustration of the young age of the clueless NeoKids. In comment after comment they are busy criticizing school districts for not throwing away cash on Windows 8 garbage. Children simply don't understand the facts because their daddies are busy working and paying their bills. The fact is that school districts don't have any money at all therefore they don't pay for anything. We do! The taxpayers are buying this junk. Specifically it is the neighboring homeowners that foot the bills whether or not they have any children in school in the ifrst place. Education spending is the black hole of taxpayer budgeting and we are always screwed! This is what is so evil about the whole thing, especially the strategy of Apple and Microsoft to cash in on us, taking our money and yet we never actually get these products ourselves. They wind up warehoused in schools, abused and stolen and mistreated by kids that don't even need them in the first place. Let them eat pencils.

More on the story that TELVM just mentioned ... Reversal: Windows 8.1 now available to developers via MSDN and TechNet, torrent leaks were the only option before this ( TechSpot 2013-09-09 ) Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2 RTM released on TechNet and MSDN ( NeoWin 2013-09-09 ) Backpedaling on a minor little thing though. TechNet is still dead and MSDN remains as expensive as always. Furthermore, while some are celebrating this little change, the real story is that thanks to their fast updating cycle "RTM" has been redefined to mean NOT-READY to release to manufacturing. There are more changes being developed post-RTM so what we have here is an ever-changing codebase that is anything except "frozen" as has been the case in the past. Windows is now literally a clone of chrome, both the OS and browser from Google. Well done boys! Xbox suckiness ... Xbox One dashboard previewed in leaked YouTube video ( TechSpot 2013-09-09 ) Ugghhhh! Microsoft's Metro tunnel vision (Metrovision ? ) on full display for everyone to see. I guess it's appropriate since one of the influences for the Windows 8 abomination was the Xbox dashboard in the first place. There is a video at the link but be warned that besides confirming that Microsoft has lost its mind by doing the unthinkable of blurring the two most opposite of computing platforms - game consoles and workstations, the YouTube author is just horrible at filming and should either be ridiculed into oblivion or hired at Microsoft. It sucks that bad, but I guess that is perfectly appropriate given the circumstances with Microsoft and her fanboys these days. Here is a screengrab to save you from going crazy watching this utterly ridiculous clip ... Windows 8.1: My Opinion Elaborated ( TweakGuides 2013-Sep ) Well written critique on the suckiness of Microsoft Windows 8 and related. Drives home a lot of points we made here over the past 4,000 posts in this thread and two years overall in the blogosphere. Two thumbs up!