Windows 8 - Deeper Impressions

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Another astroturf article, this time Blackberry ( allegedly but highly doubtful IMHO ) ...

BlackBerry denies any involvement in questionable reviews of BBM for Android ( TechSpot 2013-10-25 )

What, this they notice but somehow turn a blind eye to the incessant MetroTard spewing of the past two years? Have a look at the screencap at the link to see examples of copy/paste reviews. Just substitute in the words fast and fluid and you have the most common Microsoft employee and/or fanboy astroturfing.

Privacy software at long last? ...

Mozilla's Lightbeam tool will expose who is looking over your shoulder on the web ( UK Independent 2013-10-24 )

New Firefox add-on allows you to see how, when and where sites are tracking your browsing history ( TechSpot 2013-10-25 )

The new add-on is called Lightbeam, it functions as a Firefox plugin and will put a name to the faces that are tracking your browsing history. The add-on, which is based on the experimental Collusion extension, will not only track first party sites but it also allows you to see third party tools and other forms of tracking technology connected to those sites.

It provides three view modes to display the data, including Graph, Clock and List. It will allow the user to examine tracking data over space and time. More importantly it will identify where they are connecting to your internet activity and provide ways for users to "engage with this unique view of the Web." From there, the add-on also has some sharing options where users can feed their data (or parts of it) into the Lightbeam database, which is attempting to piece together a more global picture of how different tracking elements work online.

Hopefully a new era of pro-user privacy software is coming but there have been a few stabs at this already. I'll wait for some solid reviews before trying this myself. Needs Firefox 19 or later ( not sure why though ).

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Government Spying ...

Leaked documents reveal NSA spied on the phone conversations of 35 world leaders ( TechSpot 2013-10-25 )

Germany proposes locked-down national internet after recent NSA scandal ( TechSpot 2013-10-25 )

How about a new Internet without any government allowed? Citizens only, corporations enter at their own risk with no crying to government to save them from the people.

It's quite convenient this crisis. Government first involved themselves by spying on everyone to save us from the terrorists, completely removing all expectation of privacy in exchange for the promise of security, ignoring Benjamin Franklin and other prophets. Then, once they fouled it all up government proposes locking the thing down completely. It almost looks like a carefully designed plan.

So how bad is it with an out of control government bureaucracy whose sole purpose is self-preservation? Here's a story that doesn't even involve technology but shows the lengths that government will go to protect themselves ...

Exclusive: Feds confiscate investigative reporters confidential files during raid ( Daily Caller 2013-10-25 )

In an interview with The Daily Caller, journalist Audrey Hudson revealed that the Department of Homeland Security and Maryland State Police were involved in a predawn raid of her Shady Side, Md. home on Aug. 6. Hudson is a former Washington Times reporter and current freelance reporter.

A search warrant obtained by TheDC indicates that the August raid allowed law enforcement to search for firearms inside her home.

The document notes that her husband, Paul Flanagan, was found guilty in 1986 to resisting arrest in Prince Georges County. The warrant called for police to search the residence they share and seize all weapons and ammunition because he is prohibited under the law from possessing firearms.

But without Hudsons knowledge, the agents also confiscated a batch of documents that contained information about sources inside the Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration, she said.

Outraged over the seizure, Hudson is now speaking out. She said no subpoena for the notes was presented during the raid and argues the confiscation was outside of the search warrants parameter.

In a nutshell, the government wanted the identities of her sources at "Homeland Security" and "TSA" which violates all whistle-blowing statutes and the First Amendment. Then they trump up a search warrant using her husband and some "resisting arrest" nonsense from 1986. Resisting is a charge padded onto all police encounters and is used in the pleading process to get the arrestee to agree to some other charge. It is almost always bogus, applied to people that talk back or any minor thing, and is all about power and police superiority. 1986 is astonishingly deep digging and patently obvious to everyone except the retarded judge that OK'd this invasion. Then they show up in force, and search for weapons while some swine locates and steals unrelated journalistic materials. This was an operation right out of a novel or movie and that is precisely how bad it is. The ends justify the means to the corrupted government.

Her sources in those two federal gestapo agencies are screwed for sure, but the bigger picture is that we all are. The sheeple will guarantee that "little things" like this get swept under the rug and won't even notice when bigger things happen ( and they already do with SWAT teams ). This operation was all about government self-preservation, nothing more. It is why the Internet has been compromised secretly and completely. They cannot have citizens communicating privately and cannot tolerate whistle-blowing "traitors" in their ranks exposing government malfeasance.

EDIT: typo

Edited October 26, 2013 by CharlotteTheHarlot

[TELVM]

Samsung fined $340,000 for online smear campaign and fraudulent reviews ( TechSpot 2013-10-24 )

BlackBerry denies any involvement in questionable reviews of BBM for Android ( TechSpot 2013-10-25 )

Wonder if the above has something to do with the tone down in vociferous shilling I've noticed around the web in the last days ...

Windows 8.1 activation has been bypassed ( NeoWin 2013-10-26 )

Who gives a fig?

Gentlemen, may I ask your opinion about this Firefox add-on: HTTPS Everywhere . Worth installing, or more harm than good?

[Formfiller]

Gentlemen, may I ask your opinion about this Firefox add-on: HTTPS Everywhere . Worth installing, or more harm than good?

All the major services are PRISMed anyway. It doesn't matter if the communication channel is secure, if the agencies have direct access to the servers at the end of the channel.

If you're it using mainly for smaller independent services it's another matter.

Edited October 26, 2013 by Formfiller

[JorgeA]

Windows 8.1 activation has been bypassed ( NeoWin 2013-10-26 )

~yawn~ Who really cares! I sure couldn't care less. The commenters though are in quandary, some condemning it others indifferent. But this thing was released for $39 or even $19 I think at first. It's only real future is as a loss leader but I doubt Microsoft has the stones to do this.

Ironically if it wasn't for pirating and monopolistic OEM preinstallation Windows would never have become entrenched in the first place. And today I suspect Microsoft only cares about piracy to the extent that they dream of monetizing it somehow.

The MS fanboys at Neowin are amazing. Where else could you see a comment such as this one (from the article above) posted in all seriousness:

I was responding to the general anti-Microsoft tone expressed by most of the editorials, and especially about anything having to do with either Windows 8 or 8.1.

So he/she/it thinks that the general tone over at Neowin is anti-Microsoft and anti-Win8?? Wow -- how much of a MicroTard do you need to be to develop that perspective???

BTW, and going back to the "Top Ten companies" chart, I'm not sure what the first column in the chart represents. At first I thought it was for total (gross) annual revenue, but then I see that Samsung's gross in the 3Q alone was $55.59 billion, so I'm not sure how the 3Q revenue could be bigger than that for the whole year (unlesss they had a ton of losses in 1Q and 2Q, which I doubt). Maybe I'm missing something.

Maybe I need my coffee.

One last thing, from the Samsung article:

Samsung is cleaning up in the lower-end, mass-market segment which was primarily responsible for driving profits up.

OK, so if Samsung is cleaning up in the mass-market segment and Apple dominates in the high-end segment, where exactly does that leave an opening for Microsoft to come in? Any highly paid MSFT execs who can give an answer for that one?

--JorgeA

[JorgeA]

Gentlemen, may I ask your opinion about this Firefox add-on: HTTPS Everywhere . Worth installing, or more harm than good?

It has a good reputation and was developed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation. But while certainly better than nothing, as @Formfiller pointed out sadly it looks now like it's not enough to protect against the big government guns.

For sensitive browsing, the only prayer (and it may be little more than that) is something like Tails, which combines a variety of protective measures into a single package. Not a very easy or convenient approach for routine, day-to-day Web surfing, but maybe enough for the occasional foray into areas where you don't want to be followed. If it actually works, it's something that a Samuel Adams might have used to avoid the Crown's scrutiny.

--JorgeA

EDIT: clarification

Edited October 26, 2013 by JorgeA

[JorgeA]

Since Microsoft announced it was "all in" with the Cloud, it has worked and toiled to get IT on its side about the Cloud, through conferences, webcasts, whitepapers, and other events and content. But, IT keeps fighting the Cloud. IT is stuck in the old ways of doing things.

Rightfully so. A very large part of enterprise data, is very confidential. Who in their right mind would trust such information to anyone but themselves?

And that's the nub of it.

One would hope that IT folks -- professionals that they are -- would resist the cloud's siren call of fad and fashion for more substantial considerations.

--JorgeA

[Tripredacus]

Regarding that SecureBoot message. Its confusing a lot of people because normally you do not see the build number on the desktop unless Windows isn't activated. However this is not the case. You can be activated and still see that message. Also, it is not a requirement to enable SecureBoot on UEFI systems unless they are a tablet. So if any Windows 8 system was installed on a GPT disk but SecureBoot is not enabled, the user will see that message after updating to Windows 8.1 from the Store. (it is possible a clean install also does this but I haven't tested it yet). And to make matters worse, not all hardware that does support UEFI for GPT boot (especially 3rd party emulators like MSI's 2.2TB Infinity) even have a SecureBoot option in the BIOS. I'm not sure why Microsoft would make all Windows 8.1 OSes show this message, except maybe to brag that the hardware it is installed on isn't certified for the OS.

Also found this online, maybe Charlotte can use it...

[JorgeA]

Privacy software at long last? ...

Mozilla's Lightbeam tool will expose who is looking over your shoulder on the web ( UK Independent 2013-10-24 )

New Firefox add-on allows you to see how, when and where sites are tracking your browsing history ( TechSpot 2013-10-25 )

The new add-on is called Lightbeam, it functions as a Firefox plugin and will put a name to the faces that are tracking your browsing history. The add-on, which is based on the experimental Collusion extension, will not only track first party sites but it also allows you to see third party tools and other forms of tracking technology connected to those sites.

It provides three view modes to display the data, including Graph, Clock and List. It will allow the user to examine tracking data over space and time. More importantly it will identify where they are connecting to your internet activity and provide ways for users to "engage with this unique view of the Web." From there, the add-on also has some sharing options where users can feed their data (or parts of it) into the Lightbeam database, which is attempting to piece together a more global picture of how different tracking elements work online.

Hopefully a new era of pro-user privacy software is coming but there have been a few stabs at this already. I'll wait for some solid reviews before trying this myself. Needs Firefox 19 or later ( not sure why though ).

I saw the UK Independent piece but you beat me to commenting on it.

Here's one thing that caught my eye in that article:

Lightbeam initially will only be available for desktop browsers. Apple has reportedly rejected from its store apps by developers which incorporate “cookie tracking” technology. “The whole mobile environment is closed,” Mr Surman said. “You have to go through Google and Apple for apps.”

[emphasis added]

Now now, who was it that said that Apple (and Google, and Microsoft) would be "hands-off" when it comes to what gets into their walled gardens, and that they're only trying to protect the user from malware?

--JorgeA

[Formfiller]

Introducing the iPhone 5 nsa!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSJqBJ1TF-E#t=195

[G8YMW]

Just for you Charlotte.

The Win8 fans are protesting

[TELVM]

Could someone please notify the PC, in no uncertain terms, about its official defunction? For it remains largely unaware of its own passing away, boy what a stubborn resistance to change:

http://www.netmarketshare.com/report.aspx?qprid=61

Anyway its fate is sealed and doom is impending: Notice how it has lost A WHOLE ONE PER CENT since last year, ha. At this abrupt rate of descent it will be completely extinct in no time, by 2101 AD give or take.


[/sARCASM]

[G8YMW]

Makes you ask "Why is so much effort being put in to turn a desktop into a console emulator?"

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

BTW, and going back to the "Top Ten companies" chart, I'm not sure what the first column in the chart represents. At first I thought it was for total (gross) annual revenue, but then I see that Samsung's gross in the 3Q alone was $55.59 billion, so I'm not sure how the 3Q revenue could be bigger than that for the whole year (unlesss they had a ton of losses in 1Q and 2Q, which I doubt). Maybe I'm missing something.

Maybe I need my coffee.

That was the ranking by Interbrand first mentioned at NeoWin ... http://www.neowin.net/news/apple-google-microsoft-among-10-most-valuable-brands

This is the current Interbrand list from 1-100 ... http://www.interbrand.com/en/best-global-brands/2013/Best-Global-Brands-2013-Brand-View.aspx#

And their page about methodology is ... http://www.interbrand.com/en/best-global-brands/2013/best-global-brands-methodology.aspx

Yeah, it's confusing because it is not a straight ranking of capitalization or ROI or earnings/profits or total assets. It is a complex weighted ranking from multiple analysis.

I should have used better wording though. Top Ten "Most Valuable" according to Interbrand :

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Microsoft provides fix for battery issues found by some Surface RT owners ( NeoWin 2013-10-26 )

A number of people who own the original Surface RT tablet (now known just as Surface) have not had a lot of luck when it comes to updating the tablet to Windows RT 8.1. Microsoft pulled that update from the Windows Store a couple of days after it was released because it was bricking some Surface RT devices. Microsoft put the update back in the store earlier this week.

Now, Microsoft has stated that some owners of Surface RT have experienced a decrease in the tablet's battery life after installing the Windows RT 8.1 update.

[...]

5: At the Administrator: Command Prompt, enter the following: powercfg -setdcvalueindex SCHEME_CURRENT 19cbb8fa-5279-450e-9fac-8a3d5fedd0c1 12bbebe6-58d6-4636-95bb-3217ef867c1a 3

6: Then enter powercfg -setactive scheme_current

NeoWin couldn't quite bring themselves to admit it, but Windows 8.1 Blew obviously nuked the power profiles which is just stunningly amateurish. It shows complete lack of testing and rushing of their code pushing, something they should be quite expert at by now. It really shoul makes you nervous when Windows Update reaches into your stable system to set things according to a script prepared by nameless underachievers who remain at Microsoft because they were denied employment at Amazon and the other companies picking off their talent.

Victory for tech giants on EU data laws ( FT.com 2013-10-25 )

Google, Facebook and other US tech giants have won an important victory against EU efforts to restrict the sharing of customer data after UK Prime Minister David Cameron persuaded the bloc to postpone the introduction of tougher privacy rules by at least a year.

[...]

It looks like we won, said an executive at a large US tech company. When we saw the story about Merkels phone being tapped and that 35 leaders phones were also compromised, we thought we were going to lose?.?.?. Britains common sense prevailed.

Tech lobbyists were alarmed this week when the European Parliament decided to amend the EUs draft data privacy legislation to limit the USs ability to obtain information on EU citizens. The measure had been stripped from the original proposal, made by the European Commission in January 2012, after intense lobbying from US officials.

[...]

One of David Camerons aides said on Friday that he had no idea whether the prime minister had discussed the data protection rules with Eric Schmidt, the chairman of Google, who sits on the prime ministers business advisory board.

But he insisted that Google was not the reason why the prime minister had fought against early adoption of the rules. As offered it contains huge extra burdens on businesses so there has to be some changes to it, that is why we got it removed.

( NOTE: not sure if you can get that page as it is using some kind of referrer string. )

Yep, the fix is clearly in. It seems Google got their hands on Cameron and he somehow influenced Merkel. And what else could be expected? Those 10 or so companies making up Big Corporate Data plus the 20 or so major ISP's are now the preferred class, the feudal nobility. They are the sheepdogs that the government farmers use to corral the sheeple. There is pretty much no chance for anything of substance to occur on either the spying or privacy front. Why would government care about privacy? It directly conflicts with their one and only need to maintain their position of authority over the bourgeoisie and the peasants. The ruling class and its favored aristocracy are in it to win it. They are carving the world into private little fiefdoms. Big Data makes tons of money, kicks some of it back to politicians in lobbying and golden parachute board jobs, and government looks the other way as long as they cooperate by letting spooks access the works.

It's a Brave New World that even Orwell wouldn't believe. Only The Matrix even comes close, but with a fair bit of Idiocracy mixed in.