JorgeA

A perfect example of what I just wrote in my previous post! I swear I didn't read your post before submitting mine!! --JorgeA

It's outrageous when the fix involves a 15-step procedure (at least) whch moreover wrecks your Start Screen. As one commenter wrote, And one more Win8.1 "deeper impression" by the last commenter in that thread: [emphasis added] The answer to the question in bold is (of course) control. They don't care that you have the disk space for your own backups, and if they had their druthers, instead of a nice big SSD you would have a 32GB SD card in your machine so that you had to put everything in the cloud. They're trying to move the individual away from owning and directing his own (cyber)life, to a "sharing" model where the major decisions are made by Experts who know better than you and your every action is monitored and logged for analysis. All in the name of protecting you, needless to say. Oh, and the answer to @jaclaz's question about what the cyberarcheologist from 2513 might say is that this is just about the time when the New Dark Ages took hold. Instead of priests in black robes, this time it was scientists in white lab coats who claimed special access to Truth and the right and the power to enforce their view of it on everyone else. --JorgeA

Security news, Google/Android edition: Google knows nearly every Wi-Fi password in the world [emphasis in original] Google Is Testing A Program That Tracks You Everywhere You Go Down in the comments section... . Any Android smartphone users reading this who can verify (1) whether this location feature can be disabled, and (2) whether the phone keeps working if you do disable the feature? --JorgeA

Woody Leonhard strikes again with an irreverent collection of Windows 8.1 warnings and cautions: The hidden fangs of Windows 8.1 -- and how to avoid them Next after that slide, he shows you the convoluted, unintuitive way to get around Microsoft channeling you into working within their Matrix account. --JorgeA

This comment on Windows 8.1 in PCWorld is a bit of an oldie, but a goodie: --JorgeA

One more on the NSA: The Google File System makes NSA’s hack blatantly illegal and it knows it [emphasis in original] --JorgeA

No Morsel Too Minuscule for All-Consuming N.S.A. A remarkably evenhanded article. Some of these overseas bad guys you DO want to find out what they're up to. But the danger, and the source of most of the outrage, is well put in this paragraph near the end: --JorgeA

It's amazing how much difference even a single voice can make. --JorgeA

I understand what you're saying. It does seem silly. But having been in the advertising business, I can say that it's possible that the provider of the service in Rome actually paid to have their ad shown to you in your city. Sometimes it's cheaper (or just as cheap) to cast a wider net (buy a wider area) than a more limited area. Or maybe the advertiser had money to burn. A third possibility is that some obscure government regulation or union requirement may have forced them to pointlessly buy more widely. A few years ago there was a case in a major U.S. city where new buildings were required to install plumbing inside the walls for urinals in men's rooms, even if they ONLY had regular toilets installed. It was a way to make extra work for the local plumbers' union, and the politicians signed on because it meant more votes for them. --JorgeA

The number of Websites to steer clear of is set to grow by leaps and bounds: Facebook Tests Software to Track Your Cursor on Screen Guess who makes Hadoop. One of the classical arguments against being concerned about surveillance is that you could mask your real sympathies by making a show of paying equal attention to sources from the side that you dislike. For example (and this argument has been made to me) you could buy equal numbers of Marxist and free-market books on Amazon, and it would be difficult to tell which ones you're actually reading. But with this emerging technology, it gets harder by an order of magnitude to mask your real beliefs: since the NSA (Coming Soon: and other major countries' spy agencies) has the capability to collect and sift through your Web travels, as a dissident now you'd not only have to open equivalent numbers of ideologically opposite websites, but you'd also have to spend the same time on each and scroll and mouse around on all of them in similar fashion. Talk about a chilling effect -- just watch animal videos on YouTube and keep up with the entertainment news like you're supposed to, and leave the thinking to Us. --JorgeA

Tidbit from Taiwan: Windows 8.1 tablet sales 20-30% below expectations It's not clear whether this information is for the ROC market or the global market, but it's undeniable that Metro tablets are failing (so far) to set the world on fire. --JorgeA

jaclaz, do you use any antivirus software, and if so then which one? (Just curious.) Norton protection has served us well over the years (it's stopped some really nasty stuff), and nowadays it sports a light CPU footprint, but I'm dissatisfied with their removing or wrecking features and ruining (Metroizing) the UI, so chances right now are good that I won't be renewing them. --JorgeA

I came across this post in the Norton forum. The new Norton versions eliminate local password storage and put it on Norton's servers. We're not the only ones concerned about the implications of all-cloud storage. I was going to quote highlights but really the whole thing is worth reproducing: And note the useless, sarcastic replies by the volunteer "guru" forum staff apologists. Incredible. --JorgeA

Fabulous emoticons!! That's slave talk in my book. I'll better switch off my comps for good than ever submit to such nazism. No wonder they call it "jailbreaking" when they manage to escape from that Konzentrationslager. Yeah, I'm with you! And a great point about the meaning of "jailbreaking." The saddest part is that there really are people who think that way, they'll come up with any reason to comply with somebody else's plans. I remember coaching an elementary-school chess club years ago. One day we tried a chess variant where two players on a team take turns making moves for their side of the board, without consulting each other. One little boy didn't want to play -- he came straight out and said, "I don't wanna think for myself, I just wanna be told what to do!" Different part of the thread discussion, but -- we're not the only ones who've thought of the "nazism" angle. Check out these photos taken recently at the site of a speed-enforcement camera in the U.S. state of Maryland. (It's the first three shots in the gallery; I hesitate to upload them here, lest they be found offensive.) --JorgeA

~tsk~ One bad idea after another. UPnP apparently wasn't enough of a shortcut for the ConnectTards, instead they desire the ability to have anyone walking into any home and turn anything on and off from any cellphone and tablet. Next wave of software growth to respond to this ... apps that promise to guard against threats from strangers controlling your toaster, TV, lights, baby monitors and security alarms! Home security redefined. Let Norton and McAfee guard your house. What could probably go wrong with that. ( well, you'll probably come home one day and find your door unlocked and a message reminding you that your subscription expired, please renew to re-enable home protection ). But the sheeple will be thrilled at their new ability to turn on lights or the stereo from their cellphone while sitting on their ever-fattening butts on the couch. Future criminals will never have had it so easy. Cellphones with war-dialers that try millions of combinations per second to unlock the victim's front door and then make off with their Xbox and giant LED TV. I wonder who the victim will blame when they come home to find their stuff is gone. Along these lines, check out the following report: China is spying on you through your KETTLE: Bugs that scan wi-fi devices found in imported kitchen gadgets Whether these specific allegations are true or not, what's undeniable is that the time is fast approaching when this sort of thing will be technically feasible. Your life will become an open book not just for your friendly national government spooks, but also for the foreigners who made your household goods and for all hackers expert enough to break into them -- as well as for run-of-the-mill criminals willing to bribe officials or to buy from the hackers. We will all be featured in The Truman Show, playing to a small select audience... --JorgeA

A provocative bit of analysis, with equal applicability to Metro on Win8: How will psychologists describe the iPhone syndrome in the future? --JorgeA

Wow, that was a fascinating walk -- thanks! It's remarkable how many programs still worked and how many settings managed to survive all those successive installations. A tribute to Microsoft's historical concern for its customers, and one reason for their enormous success over time. The video highlights the tragedy and the folly of dumping the Desktop as Foley and Thurrott report they plan to do. --JorgeA

One more UI critique: Windows 8.1's Calculator app sums up what's wrong with Microsoft's new OS Well, that last suggestion would be entirely too reasonable, so of course it's out of the question. --JorgeA

So much for the "Tabletizing Universe" cosmological model. Again apologies if mentioned, this made me chuckle : Windows 8 And Einstein's Definition Of Insanity On the first link: makes good sense. Why would any business in their right mind choose Windows 8 over 7 for their internal operations? Microsoft execs oughta be embarrassed that pros are snubbing their Metro baby. On the second link: nice find! I liked the metaphor that's quoted in there -- The writer makes a point that I've been saying here: That would remove all motivation to keep destroying Windows and keep to their highly successful historical strategy. --JorgeA

Here's an argument, from the advertiser's viewpoint, against encouraging all this mobile-device craze: So, for all the hype about tablets and smartphones, and all the contortions that websites and manufacturers and Microsoft have gone to in order to cater to mobile, it turns out that plain old boring desktops are still a more effective advertising vehicle. --JorgeA

More details (and worrisome implications) on the Lavabit case: Lavabit encryption key ruling threatens Internet privacy, EFF argues Great, so if the service doesn't log your communications, they want the private key. Lovely. --JorgeA

You're right, that IS pretty funny... and weird! H'ere's one comment that caught my eye: Umm, so I guess they had to go out into the woods with a .22 to "capture" one of these critters...

And now for some (possibly) good guys: How one small American VPN company is trying to stand up for privacy --JorgeA

Mary Jo Foley uses Microsoft's old way of reporting sales to uncover some uncomfortable trends regarding Windows 8: Woiuldn't you know it, they're doing the worst precisely in the areas where they're making the biggest "consumer" push. --JorgeA

Microsoft admits their image is a net consumer negative Check out the article for the visual demonstration of that point... Once again, SemiAccurate is right on target. --JorgeA