Windows 8 - Deeper Impressions

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Security ...

NSA Has Trouble with Tor, Snowden Documents Show ( Toms Hardware 2013-10-04 )

NSA has had little success in cracking Tor network, documents reveal ( TechSpot 2013-10-05 )

"We will never be able to de-anonymize all Tor users all the time," reads a PowerPoint presentation entitled "Tor Stinks" and meant to be shown to NSA and GCHQ personnel. "With manual analysis, we can de-anonymize a very small fraction of Tor users."

Cryptography expert Bruce Schneier, who is assisting The Guardian with examination of the Snowden files, wrote in a piece on the newspaper's website that NSA and GCHQ have fallen back to attacking flaws in the software and computers running Tor.

"The NSA attacks we found individually target Tor users by exploiting vulnerabilities in their Firefox browsers," Schneier wrote, "and not the Tor application directly."

Well frankly I don't know what to believe now. I have lots of respect for Schneier especially these days but how do we know this part about TOR in the leaked files is not disinformation. I have to believe that going forwards we will need completely new methods, new p2p software, new anonymizers, and frankly, and a new Internet.

Miscellaneous ...

DRAM Prices Skyrocketing After Hynix Fabrication Plant Fire ( Toms Hardware 2013-10-05 )

DRAM prices are on the rise after a Hynix fabrication plant fire in Wuxi, China. After a September 4th blaze that raged on for nearly two hours, the plant was left ravaged, filled with damaged equipment and problems that have caused DRAM prices to inflate up to 35 percent.

Déjà vu anyone? Thai floods boost PC hard drive prices ...

By Noel Randewich. SAN FRANCISCO | Fri Oct 28, 2011 5:49pm EDT

(Reuters) - Prices for hard drives are jumping as flooding in Thailand creates a shortage of the major component used in personal computers and one big customer is complaining of price gouging.

Drive manufacturers have raised prices by 20 to 40 percent and international electronics distributor Avnet Inc in turn has raised its prices by a similar amount after water poured into factories this month, said Avnet Senior Vice President Chuck Kostalnick.

"The word we're getting is that prices are going to continue to go up," he told Reuters Friday. "This isn't going to be a one-time event."

And HDD prices have still not recovered, almost exactly two years later now. Can't wait for the earthquakes that allegedly affect CPU and Chipset production. I'm surprised they didn't use the tsunami to jack up prices too.

This Android smartphone charger also acts as an anti-virus scanner ( NeoWin 2013-10-05 )

Now that is what I call a great idea! : If done thoughtfully.

It kind of correlates to a self-contained antivirus boot disc, or what I prefer, dropping the infected system HDD into another computer with software tools at the ready. I have to admit I hadn't really thought much of how to deal with tablets and phones that might get infested with malware. You can't really disassemble the thing or easily boot to a known safe alternate OS. But if this is done correctly, with a firmware based OS and scanner onboard a hardware device that is safely update-able to new A/V signatures, this could be a great solution. I mean, you have to charge the thing anyway.

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

The Competition ...

Uber Entertainment has used the Steam Controller and likes it ( PC Gamer 2013-10-04 )

The latest crew to lay hands on it is Uber Entertainment, creator of Planetary Annihilation and Super Monday Night Combat. So far, the developer likes it.

Moving the mouse around in X-Com using the Steam controller and having it go exactly where I wanted felt good. Like a trackball with feedback, Art Director and Executive Producer Chandana Ekanayake wrote. I think based on what we played with today, Planetary Annihilation in the living room with a Steam controller is possible.

Valve seems to have really hit that one out of the park judging by all the early reviews. Now if they can just keep the price low enough.

Prototype Steam Machine hardware revealed ( TechSpot 2013-10-04 )

Steam Machine prototype specs revealed ( PC Gamer 2013-10-04 )

Steam Box Prototypes Detailed ( Maximum PC 2013-10-04 )

Valve Finally Reveals Steam Machine Prototype Specs ( Toms Hardware 2013-10-04 )

Valve reveals general hardware specs for its prototype Steam Machine ( NeoWin 2013-10-04 )

According to Valves Greg Coomer, the 300 beta participants will receive one of the following builds:

GPU: some units with NVidia Titan, some GTX780, some GTX760, and some GTX660

CPU: some boxes with Intel : i7-4770, some i5-4570, and some i3

RAM: 16GB DDR3-1600 (CPU), 3GB DDR5 (GPU)

Storage: 1TB/8GB Hybrid SSHD

Power Supply: Internal 450w 80Plus Gold

Dimensions: approx. 12 x 12.4 x 2.9 in high

These arent necessarily the specs of the third-party systems being sold next year. As we talked about last week, the Steam Machines available for sale next year will be made by a variety of companies, writes Coomer. Some of those companies will be capable of meeting the demands of lots of Steam users very quickly, some will be more specialized and lower volume. The hardware specs of each of those machines will differ, in many cases substantially, from our prototype.

A lot of naysayers already! The important thing to realize is that this is a prototype. As of what we now know there will be two ways to do this ...

{1} Get a pre-made SteamOS system from OEMs

{2} Download SteamOS and use it on your own build.

... which should be seen as a completely new paradigm because there is no real comparison to the current locked-in game console arena ...

{1} You CANNOT get PS or Xbox systems from OEMs, just Microsoft and Sony.

{2} You CANNOT download PS or Xbox "software" to use on your own build.

The difference is like night and day. So the real important thing here is that bit about "being able to upgrade parts later" as they get more powerful and/or inexpensive which defeats the current hardware lock-in on many levels. This new concept is very good for the home-built PC world in general, unlike the mobile craze with crappy expendable tablets and Windows 8 which jacked up all prices across the board.

Exploring Valves masterplan: on SteamOS, Steam Machines and the future of the PC ( PC Gamer 2013-10-05 )

Nice long article exploring all the recent announcements and the big picture.

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Microsoft Recycling Outlook, Live, and Hotmail Accounts ( Maximum PC 2013-10-05 )

Microsoft recycling Outlook email accounts; not mentioned in service agreement ( NeoWin 2013-10-05 )

According to reports via PCWorld, Microsoft has been enacting a policy they've had in place for years. In fact, the Microsoft Services Agreement itself mentions that you should log in at a minimum of every 270 days, to "keep the Microsoft branded services portion of the services active," or else your data may be deleted, with your access revoked.

The agreement does not mention the recycling of usernames, but the company has said that this is actually part of their policy. After your account goes inactive, it's set up for deletion. Then, after 360 days, it's made available again. This is causing some alarm amongst users concerned for breaches of their privacy, which is of course understandable -- but it appears the practice is just now being brought to life.

It's in stark contrast to companies like Google, who upon deletion of email addresses will not allow that username to be put into circulation once more.

Oh what could possibly go wrong? Oh waitaminit, from just a week ago ...

Yahoo! Users Receiving Emails Meant for Past Users ( Tom's Hardware 2013-09-25 )

One man reported receiving Facebook emails, as well as various messages from the older user's phone provider (which included their account number and a pin), emails regarding an investment account, and their Pandora account information.

"I can gain access to their Pandora account, but I won't. I can gain access to their Facebook account, but I won't. I know their name, address and phone number. I know where their child goes to school, I know the last four digits of their social security number. I know they had an eye doctor's appointment last week and I was just invited to their friend's wedding," IT security professional Tom Jenkins told Information Week. "The identity theft potential here is kind of crazy."

Jenkins isn't alone. Others have received everything from funeral announcements to airline confirmations, as well as more mundane (but still annoying) emails like newsletters and catalogs. Yahoo! told IW that it's received minimal complaints from users of these new, recycled IDs, but that it's continuing to work with companies to ensure they implement an RRVS email header in any correspondence. This would check the age of an account before delivering an email and cause messages sent to the recycled account to bounce.

TechCrunch reports that Yahoo! is also planning the introduction of a 'Not My Email' button that users can click when they receive an email meant for the former user (or anyone else). It also plans to reach out to users of old accounts by phone and email, extend the grace period for inactive accounts, and offer users a way to reclaim their old accounts.

Who didn't foresee this? Well apparently Yahoo didn't. It's like we are living in CrazyLand now. It's like people actually need to stick their hands into the stove to see if it burns. When something is so obvious and is right in front of your face and yet we still need to go through the motions to see it through, well, humanity is doomed. Why don't we all drink some cyanide next?

I guess Microsoft missed that recent news item.

And yes, NeoWin already has a whole cabal of enablers already cheering them on in the comments.

[TELVM]

As scary as they come, gives me the creeps. It escapes my comprehension how any unfeathered biped with intact cerebral functions could pay money to plant such a WPD (Weapon of Privacy Destruction) at home.

Brings to mind the "Big Bro Television" in Truffaut's 1966 version of Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAFGUEUVweU

[JorgeA]

Microsoft Set to Patch Critical Internet Explorer Flaw ( Toms Hardware 2013-10-04 )

Microsoft's upcoming round of Patch Tuesday monthly updates, due next week, will likely include an all-encompassing patch for a serious Internet Explorer flaw.

Malware attacking the browser flaw, dubbed a zero-day exploit because Microsoft didn't know about the underlying flaw beforehand, has been attacking government agencies and financial institutions in Japan and Taiwan through poisoned Web pages.

Would someone please diagram exactly how that works for me? How do poisoned webpages up and attack government agencies and financial institutions in Japan and Taiwan? Presumably they would only be using MSIE for Intranet apps and not browsing the WWW. Why would they even have access to the larger web? And even if some did would they be the same systems that have access to their secure Intranet? Am I living in crazyland?

Yup, you must be living in crazyland. Or rather, they are living there. Evidently they must have access to the larger Web in some fashion, and those do also have access to their intranet, else they wouldn't be getting infected.

--JorgeA

[JorgeA]

As scary as they come, gives me the creeps. It escapes my comprehension how any unfeathered biped with intact cerebral functions could pay money to plant such a WPD (Weapon of Privacy Destruction) at home.

Brings to mind the "Big Bro Television" in Truffaut's 1966 version of Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAFGUEUVweU

Agreed on the creepiness factor in Chalotte's graphic. (Very well done BTW.)

That clip from Truffaut's movie -- can I get it with subtitles? I have a tough time unscrambling British accents. I couldn't tell whether the men on the screen really were paying attention to what she said, or whether they would have gone ahead and said whatever they did regardless of her comments. (IOW, was it real interactive TV, or was it merely an illusion of interactivity to maker her feel that her choices had an effect?)

--JorgeA

[JorgeA]

An overview + analysis of Microsoft's recent fails, touching on several themes we've been developing in this thread:

Microsoft’s impending obsolescence is caused by its failure to grasp its own increasing irrelevance

The fact that Microsoft has backtracked, reversed course, and clarified every item on this list is proof that there are still people at the company devoted to keeping it on an even keel. Unfortunately, “Look, we fixed our blunders!” isn’t nearly as attractive a sales pitch as “Look at our awesome product!” Every time Microsoft repeats the “reinvent, retreat, recant” cycle, it weakens the company’s position and leaves it looking foolish. What Microsoft has yet to grasp — the real crux of the matter — is that no one is waiting on it anymore. Windows and Office remain essential, but no one, anywhere, is sitting around asking when Microsoft is going to build the first real messaging platform, video service, cloud storage, gaming console, media player, smartphone, connected home, or self-driving car. So when the company blows its product plans, or reveals a new strategy for charging customers 2-3x the same amount of money for a product, the response has changed from grumbling acceptance to enraged blowback.

Microsoft is a company with many assets and talented people, but the only way it’s ever going to solve this problem is by facing the fact that its own policies have rendered it increasingly irrelevant. Strong-arming developers and customers worked in the 2000s, when Macs lagged behind PC hardware by generations, smartphones didn’t exist, and tablets were a dream. It’s not working anymore.

--JorgeA

[TELVM]

I was digging in the catacombs of this thread when I was struck by this astonishing clairvoyance . Written in February 2012:

... So I guess updating is over. No more sales for MS ever. Let's hope we'll have enough years of downgrade rights to switch away or something (then again, lots of people will certainly pirate it beyond that point), and updates beyond year 2020 too. Or maybe some company's going to make a killing selling a sane shell for the new OS. Or maybe they'll fire Ballmer and Sinofsky... Or maybe someone will find an easy way to patch Win7's shell and bolt it on top of Win8's core. Who knows. But they've essentially done the unthinkable and killed Windows as far as I'm concerned. My next PC will be a Mac. Microsoft just sold me into buying a Mac

They're just going to force users to other OS'es, developers to make cross-platform software (no need for Windows anymore) or to make web apps (ditto). And Windows will just slowly become irrelevant, being used mainly for legacy stuff, in VMs and terminal servers.

... That clip from Truffaut's movie -- can I get it with subtitles? I have a tough time unscrambling British accents ...

You can try 'watch on youtube' button => turn on english automatic captions ... ... but I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy .

... I couldn't tell whether the men on the screen really were paying attention to what she said, or whether they would have gone ahead and said whatever they did regardless of her comments. (IOW, was it real interactive TV, or was it merely an illusion of interactivity to maker her feel that her choices had an effect?)

Honestly no idea, but I seriously suspect that the gentlemen in the screen couldn't care less about what any "cousin" says, or doesn't.

As of the trustworthiness of "Big Bro TV", later in the movie a healthy Montag watches his own violent death on another screen .

Edited October 7, 2013 by TELVM

[Tripredacus]

So we're to believe that Microsoft wants Windows Phone 8 to go head-to-head against Android? I don't think so. If they wanted to do that there is a real simple controlled experiment they could do right now ... release both a WP8 *and* an Android version of the Lumia 1020 and see which one actually sells.

I'm due for an upgrade and I would prefer Nokia's hardware, specifically the camera. But it is really app selection that stops me from moving away from Android. If Nokia had an Android product available, then I would certainly consider it. I have no problem with Windows phones in the least, but I have grown to use specific apps whose developers only made them available for Android.

[jaclaz]

I'm due for an upgrade and I would prefer Nokia's hardware, specifically the camera. But it is really app selection that stops me from moving away from Android. If Nokia had an Android product available, then I would certainly consider it. I have no problem with Windows phones in the least, but I have grown to use specific apps whose developers only made them available for Android.

Curiously enough EXACTLY the SAME reasons why a multitude of people still use the MS Operating Systems on a PC, that is because they have "legacy", see here the actual meaning , please:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com./jonathan.deboynepollard/FGA/legacy-is-not-a-pejorative.html

application/tools/whatever that do not (or do not easily) work on Linux or OsX (or my preferred "alternate OS, which is FreeBSD).

What the MS guys broke (intentionally) with Windows 8 (and of course with Windows RT in a much more effective manner) is the non-written agreement about the possibility (often with just a few, simple tricks) to run "legacy" software.

In the last few years (some examples):

They removed (almost) direct disk access.

They removed the possibility to run, simple, easy, .com files.

They made the usage of a PC (for a non technical savvy user, possibly with limited access credentals) a "nightmare", they forced all the "home" users to implement a "corporation like" structure, with any PC being multi-user, having an Administrator and an user with limited powers, de-facto forced the use of NTFS (which makes very little sense on a personal device), invited everyone (thanks to the BIG OEM's too) to have the possibly most stupid setup with a single "monolythic" filesystem (anyone having run a CHDKSK /R on a laptop with a 500 GB hard disk, obviously a single huge volume with the pagefile on it - Windows cannot access this volume, do you want to schedule it on next reboot - from "safe mode"? ) .

They forced the (senseless) Silverlight (deceased) and the (also senseless) mass of bloat which is .NET, besides all the crappy vearious Internet Explorer's.

They made the system so complex (while still keeping it insecure enough ) that you (or at least the common user) is forced to use an antivirus, that will typically hog the system, devouring at least 1/3 of RAM and up to 100% CPU when booting.

They actually deserve IMHO the lack of success they are now experiencing.

jaclaz

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

So we're to believe that Microsoft wants Windows Phone 8 to go head-to-head against Android? I don't think so. If they wanted to do that there is a real simple controlled experiment they could do right now ... release both a WP8 *and* an Android version of the Lumia 1020 and see which one actually sells.

I'm due for an upgrade and I would prefer Nokia's hardware, specifically the camera. But it is really app selection that stops me from moving away from Android. If Nokia had an Android product available, then I would certainly consider it. I have no problem with Windows phones in the least, but I have grown to use specific apps whose developers only made them available for Android.

I hear that. The Lumia 1020 ( 40 MP ) would absolutely kill with an Android OS.

In fact, go back a few pages to the Microsoft buyout announcement and I had that story that said Nokia were planning an Android fallback which probably spurred the decision to buy them.

[bpalone]

Well it appears that the friendly folks at the NSA are having some problems with their new toy in Utah. Here is a quote that speaks quite a bit about the possible thought processes in creating this monster:

Since August 2012, there have been 10 electrical surges that have prevented the NSA from using computers. One official described them as "a flash of lightning inside a 2-foot box."

Each meltdown caused as much as $100,000 in damage. The center requires about 65 megawatts of electricity to run, at a cost of more than $1 million a month, and the surges are probably connected to the electrical system's inability to simultaneously run computers and keep them cool.

Gee, I wonder if anyone thought to check with the local power supplier to see if they could meet the demand?

From another article about the place:

One Fox News report says as much as 5 zettabytes — 1 zettabyte = 1 billion terabytes = 1 trillion gigabytes — and with just 1 zettabyte (1024 exabytes) of space, the NSA can store a year's worth of the global Internet traffic (which is estimated reached 966 exabytes per year in 2015).

Sounds to me like they are real serious about tracking EVERYBODY. But, then maybe I'm a bit paranoid (not).

The articles are reasonably short and there is quite bit of more information there. Some of which is either impressive or depressing, depending on whether you're an optimist or a pessimist.

First one quoted: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-nsas-data-center-keeps-melting-down-2013-10

Second one quoted: http://www.businessinsider.com/pictures-of-the-nsas-utah-data-center-2013-6

bpalone

[JorgeA]

I was digging in the catacombs of this thread when I was struck by this astonishing clairvoyance . Written in February 2012:

... So I guess updating is over. No more sales for MS ever. Let's hope we'll have enough years of downgrade rights to switch away or something (then again, lots of people will certainly pirate it beyond that point), and updates beyond year 2020 too. Or maybe some company's going to make a killing selling a sane shell for the new OS. Or maybe they'll fire Ballmer and Sinofsky... Or maybe someone will find an easy way to patch Win7's shell and bolt it on top of Win8's core. Who knows. But they've essentially done the unthinkable and killed Windows as far as I'm concerned. My next PC will be a Mac. Microsoft just sold me into buying a Mac

They're just going to force users to other OS'es, developers to make cross-platform software (no need for Windows anymore) or to make web apps (ditto). And Windows will just slowly become irrelevant, being used mainly for legacy stuff, in VMs and terminal servers.

Wow, amazing. We should invite CoffeeFiend back and see what the future holds in store now!

Wonder what other nuggets are buried in the thousands of posts in this thread...

TELVM, on 07 Oct 2013 - 08:43 AM, said:

JorgeA, on 06 Oct 2013 - 12:13 PM, said:

... That clip from Truffaut's movie -- can I get it with subtitles? I have a tough time unscrambling British accents ...

You can try 'watch on youtube' button => turn on english automatic captions ... ... but I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy .

LOL, can I watch them with Spanish subtitles then?

TELVM, on 07 Oct 2013 - 08:43 AM, said:

JorgeA, on 06 Oct 2013 - 12:13 PM, said:

... I couldn't tell whether the men on the screen really were paying attention to what she said, or whether they would have gone ahead and said whatever they did regardless of her comments. (IOW, was it real interactive TV, or was it merely an illusion of interactivity to maker her feel that her choices had an effect?)

Honestly no idea, but I seriously suspect that the gentlemen in the screen couldn't care less about what any "cousin" says, or doesn't.

As of the trustworthiness of "Big Bro TV", later in the movie a healthy Montag watches his own violent death on another screen .

Ah, that settles it. Whatever she said made no difference, it was all an illusion.

Thanks.

--JorgeA

[JorgeA]

I'm due for an upgrade and I would prefer Nokia's hardware, specifically the camera. But it is really app selection that stops me from moving away from Android. If Nokia had an Android product available, then I would certainly consider it. I have no problem with Windows phones in the least, but I have grown to use specific apps whose developers only made them available for Android.

Curiously enough EXACTLY the SAME reasons why a multitude of people still use the MS Operating Systems on a PC, that is because they have "legacy", see here the actual meaning , please:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com./jonathan.deboynepollard/FGA/legacy-is-not-a-pejorative.html

application/tools/whatever that do not (or do not easily) work on Linux or OsX (or my preferred "alternate OS, which is FreeBSD).

What the MS guys broke (intentionally) with Windows 8 (and of course with Windows RT in a much more effective manner) is the non-written agreement about the possibility (often with just a few, simple tricks) to run "legacy" software.

In the last few years (some examples):

They removed (almost) direct disk access.

They removed the possibility to run, simple, easy, .com files.

They made the usage of a PC (for a non technical savvy user, possibly with limited access credentals) a "nightmare", they forced all the "home" users to implement a "corporation like" structure, with any PC being multi-user, having an Administrator and an user with limited powers, de-facto forced the use of NTFS (which makes very little sense on a personal device), invited everyone (thanks to the BIG OEM's too) to have the possibly most stupid setup with a single "monolythic" filesystem (anyone having run a CHDKSK /R on a laptop with a 500 GB hard disk, obviously a single huge volume with the pagefile on it - Windows cannot access this volume, do you want to schedule it on next reboot - from "safe mode"? ) .

They forced the (senseless) Silverlight (deceased) and the (also senseless) mass of bloat which is .NET, besides all the crappy vearious Internet Explorer's.

They made the system so complex (while still keeping it insecure enough ) that you (or at least the common user) is forced to use an antivirus, that will typically hog the system, devouring at least 1/3 of RAM and up to 100% CPU when booting.

They actually deserve IMHO the lack of success they are now experiencing.

jaclaz

This overview and critique of the changes in the UX reminds me of the posts we were putting up here early on. Very nice.

(Not that the directions the thread has taken since then are any less important, in some ways they're more so... )

--JorgeA

[JorgeA]

bpalone, on 08 Oct 2013 - 12:20 PM, said:

Well it appears that the friendly folks at the NSA are having some problems with their new toy in Utah. Here is a quote that speaks quite a bit about the possible thought processes in creating this monster:

Since August 2012, there have been 10 electrical surges that have prevented the NSA from using computers. One official described them as "a flash of lightning inside a 2-foot box."

Each meltdown caused as much as $100,000 in damage. The center requires about 65 megawatts of electricity to run, at a cost of more than $1 million a month, and the surges are probably connected to the electrical system's inability to simultaneously run computers and keep them cool.

Judging from the number of problems of an electrical nature that they've been experiencing, it makes me wonder if Somebody Upstairs might be suggesting to our friendly budding totalitarians that maybe it's not such a great idea...

Here's a report I'd seen on this:

The electrical problems, known as arc fault failures, create "fiery explosions, melt metal and cause circuits to fail," one official told the newspaper.

"Documents and interviews paint a picture of a project that cut corners to speed building," the Journal said. Backup generators have failed several times and the cooling system has yet to be tested, according to the newspaper.

--JorgeA

Edited October 9, 2013 by JorgeA