Windows 8 - Deeper Impressions

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Microsoft warns against using fake Xbox One backwards compatibility "trick" ( NeoWin 2013-12-06 )

...apparently a JPG image has been making the Internet rounds today with a procedure to use that code in a way to get the console to recognize Xbox 360 games. There's just one big problem; the procedure is fake and all it will do is brick an Xbox One console that costs $500.

Ouch. Sounds like a pretty clever case of social sabotage, the bait being a desirable feature that Microsoft purposely obsolesced from the new Xbox. The devious perps ( Sony fanboys? ) see this opening, design a fake fix for the Xbox to restore backwards compatibility and voilà ... Xbrick! Clever and devious.

The NeoKids spend all their time blabbing how backward compatibility is impossible yada yada yada. No kidding, it would not be easy, but it is not impossible by any means. Microsoft could have accomplished it in at least three ways, one by adding a separate PowerPC chip or a new clone IC, they could have integrated a PowerPC core into the AMD CPU die making a compound multi-architecture processor, or they could have developed a software emulator. There are a few more ways combining elements of each but personally I would like to see the smashing of the CPU prison we are living in and movement to compound processors, and of course appropriate operating systems. Imagine selecting a CPU that has 12 cores, eight x86, one ARM, one PPC, one 68xxx, one Alpha, or some other combination. The OS feeds the code using simple flags ( hey CPU, here comes an x86 image, here comes an ARM image ) and the processor does its job. The only reason we are stuck in this prison is because of IP nonsense in both hardware and software. The patenting system produces one thing - monopolies that exist to wring every drop of cash from each and every idea. It has not only resulted in the segregation of all these families, but even within an architecture such as x86 there are backward compatibility issues from planned obsolescence.

Microsoft's Newest Scroogled Ad is Another Misfire ( Maximum PC 2013-12-06 )

Make the bad man stop

This whole "Scroogled" campaign Microsoft has going reeks of pettiness and misguided priorities. The latest ad has a company pitchman walking up to seemingly complete strangers with a Chromebook in hand and asking them what kinds of things they do on a laptop. He then uses their answers to explain why a Chromebook is a poor choice, be it because it can't install Microsoft Office (though he neglects to mention you can run Office 365) or whatever other specific app isn't supported.

[...]

Given how badly the original Surface bombed and the slow rate of adoption to Windows 8/8.1, Microsoft should think about spending less time disparaging Google and put more time and energy into showing off (and improving) it's own products, don't you think?

Another criticism of another Scroogle campaign ad. Does anyone really like this idea? I doubt it. Microsoft hired a politician from our District of Criminals and apparently he is the driving force behind these attacks. And he's not an elected politician, but worse, a sleazeball contract smear merchant, a hitman for hire. Google and Apple also have politicos on their boards but I don't think either have stooped this low ( unless I'm forgetting something ). Regardless, Scroogle has even more detractors than Windows 8, and that is really saying something.

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Short Takes: December 6, 2013 ( Thurrott 2013-12-06 )

Users Still Don't Get Windows 8

Speaking of Windows 8, how is everyone's favorite whipping boy doing these days? Well, there are already more people using the Windows 8.1 update than are using the latest version of Mac OS X, but that's no surprise. The big issue for Windows 8 is that users are still confused by its multiple personalities as it combines the traditional Windows desktop experience with a new mobile environment that everyone still calls Metro. (Shh! Don't tell Metro AG.) And perhaps not surprisingly, Windows 8 usage has dramatically lagged behind that of its predecessor, Windows 7, over similar periods of time. According to NetApplications, Windows 8 accounted for about 8.3 percent of all PCs in use a year after its release. But Windows 7, by that point in its life cycle, was already surging past 20 percent. The worst news? Windows 8 growth, month over month, is so tiny that the gap between its performance and that of Windows 7 is actually growing over timeand to Windows 8's detriment. Maybe it's time for Windows 8.2. And I have a two-word recommendation for Microsoft for that release: "Start. Menu."

And the SeeSaw continues. Up and down and up and down and

Microsoft Strikes Back at Spying, Will Encrypt All Cloud Activities ( Thurrott 2013-12-05 )

Microsoft joins Yahoo! and Google in protecting customers from their own governments

The point, of course, is to prevent US National Security Agency (NSA), Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ, in the UK), and other secretive governmental spying from undermining the public trust in cloud computing generally and in Microsoft's offerings specifically.

"We're sensitive to the balances that must be struck when it comes to technology, security, and the law," Smith notes. "We all want to live in a world that is safe and secure, but we also want to live in a country that is protected by the Constitution. We want to ensure that important questions about government access are decided by courts rather than dictated by technological might. And we're focused on applying new safeguards worldwide, recognizing the global nature of these issues and challenges. We believe these new steps strike the right balance, advancing for all of us both the security we need and the privacy we deserve."

Well that sure sounds like a big fat chunk of nothing. As soon as they said "these new steps strike the right balance" it negated everything else IMHO. What are they even trying to say there? Does that mean they will encrypt some of the internal traffic, something short of 100%? Even with total 100% internal security that would only prevent employees of Microsoft and external trespassers from using the stored data. It does nothing for the endpoints, the input and output valves in the Microverse which is exactly where the spooks probably place their taps. There are more holes in this alleged plan than swiss cheese. One thing is for sure though, the Snowden spy leaks are taking a toll on the cloudy plans that Big Data had mapped out for us. And to that I say Thank You.

Paul's only commenter on this thread said this ...

Good. About time. I've been wanting to put some sensitive data on Skydrive to be able to access it from other, mobile devices. This will finally allow me to do it.

For real? That's all it takes to convince you? Jeez Louise. Let's hope this guy doesn't screen applicants, say for a school bus driver or a babysitter job, "Do you drink, do drugs, been convicted of a crime or did unspeakable acts to a child?" And gets the response: "Ummm sir, I believe I have struck a good balance between good and evil in my life. Trust me!".

Someones reportedly hijacking vast amounts of government and financial data through a US internet security hole ( TechSpot 2013-12-06 )

Supposedly in operation for quite some time unnoticed, someone is copying and redirecting massive amounts of important internet data traffic headed for American government agencies, corporations and others. As you can see in the image above the culprits are pulling data stateside and then siphoning it off and bouncing it around the globe, again very much like most of us would imagine it happens.

Wired says that, "The stakes are potentially enormous, since once data is hijacked, the perpetrator can copy and then comb through any unencrypted data freely reading email and spreadsheets, extracting credit card numbers, and capturing vast amounts of sensitive information." The publication went on to say that researchers suggest that those responsible for the cyber attacks initiated these kinds of bulk data grabs about 38 times from across 1500 different IP blocks. Sometimes the attackers would leech on for minutes and sometimes for as long as days. Another key point researchers are driving home is that these attacks could not have been a mistake of any kind.

So what's this now? Part of the Internet itself is being re-routed? Two obvious possibilities ...

{1} A huge criminal operation unmatched in scale previously,

{2} Elaborate government spook operation where they say to he!! with court orders, siphons, vacuums, taps, and spigots, and just re-arrange the pipes so the data pours into their tanks directly.

I'm not sure which is worse actually. In the former case they will use this as carte blanche for further inroads into our lives and to which our elected protectors will write them even bigger blank checks ( is that even possible? ). With everything we know so far from the leaks, I would bet on the latter at this point.

[TELVM]

Microsoft No Longer Selling Windows 7 to Retailers ( Tom's Hardware 2013-12-07 )

... It surely must be one of the greatest acts of suicide we have yet witnessed for a company, and one of the oddest acts of premeditated murder of a product ...

Edited December 8, 2013 by TELVM

[FiveAcres]

Love the Dr Seuss homage: Windows 8 Hatred Explained

And for a lot of users, dislike of the Metro screen has reached Dr. Seuss-like proportions:

They do not like it in their homes,

they do not like it on their phones;

they will not click upon its tiles,

they won’t use it to access files;

they wish that it would go and die,

they do not like Metro UI.

[JorgeA]

!!!

Microsoft: US government is an 'advanced persistent threat'

While Microsoft's recent move to encrypt user data made the most headlines, the reasoning underlying its new data protection strategies classify the US government in the same category as a cyber-criminal group.

Microsoft's EVP of Legal and Corporate Affairs labeled the American government as an "advanced persistent threat" in a December 4 post on The Official Microsoft Blog.

Now if Microsoft puts their money where their mouth is, and comes up with a practicable way of using e-mail and surfing the Web with end-to-end encryption -- that's one of the few things that could trump the insults and annoyances of the Metro environment.

--JorgeA

Let's not forget just who was in bed with and just how deeply they were involved here. Seems like I remember a mention here of a comment by the NSA of just how much more data they were getting after Microsoft purchased Skype.

I don't know abut you or anybody else here, but Microsoft has blown their credibility with me.

bpalone

Good point, and I agree.

The lawyer inside me hastens to point out that their coming out with end-to-end encryption "could" trump Metro, rather than "would." But still, I think I let my enthusiasm for the possibility of perfect Internet privacy run ahead of the fact that, after all, is IS Microsoft we're talking about.

--JorgeA

[JorgeA]

I don't know if this was ever mentioned here on MSFN, but if it was I apologize up front.

With all the current revelations of just how much all of us are being tracked by our friendly governments and the big corporations, I thought maybe it was time to mention this. I have not installed or used it, but have thought of installing it on a server.

The item is YaCy, a peer to peer web search system. Go to their website to get a better understanding of how it works and what it is. Its time could of arrived.

Here is link to their website: http://yacy.net/en/

bpalone

This is intriguing. I haven't read through everything yet, but two questions crop up after the first couple of pages:

1. Doesn't opening a port to all and sundry, represent a security threat to the participant's PC?
2. "YaCy harvests web pages with a web crawler." Doesn't crawling the Web also expose that PC to whatever nasties might be lying in wait out there? (You'd better have multiple layers of defenses.)

Maybe the questions will be answered as I page through more of the project's site, but it's an appealing idea for sure.

--JorgeA

[JorgeA]

New USB connector inbound, set to be smaller and reversible ( TechSpot 2013-12-04 )

Finally! New USB Standard Will Feature Reversible Connector ( Tom's Hardware 2013-12-04 )

USB to Become Quicker, Smaller and Flippable ( Tom's Hardware 2013-12-04 )

New USB connector standard won't matter which way you plug it ( NeoWin 2013-12-04 )

Finally, USB 3.1 Will Feature Reversible Connectors ( Maximum PC 2013-12-04 )

To start with, the connector will come with an entirely new design that's reversible - similar to Apple's Lightning connector - which will finally stop the issues with not being able to insert the plug correctly the first time. Type-C will also be smaller than the current Type-A plug, similar in size to the microUSB 2.0 connector.

The Type-C connector is currently in development and is expected to be finalized by mid-2014. Brad Saunders, chairman of the USB 3.0 Promoter Group, says the updated connector will "meet evolving design trends" while Intel's Alex Peleg says it will facilitate "an entirely new super-thin class of devices from phones to tablets, to 2-in-1s, to laptops to desktops".

No-one can argue with that idea, because everyone has this problem at one time or another. However, to experience this problem you must first be able to see the friggin USB receptacle in the first place. Besides being either upside down or flipped horizontally, the biggest problem is that almost every one is invisible on the device because the the little keying insert is almost always the same color as the device. Furthermore, the USB geniuses came up with a cute little icon for themselves rather than using 3 simple letters U-S-B. Try to describe that ridiculous little icon to a n00b user over the telephone, I dare you! Of course it's not just them, it's everyone really, including the device manufacturers who have never met a hardware or software GUI that they couldn't manage to screw up. Black on black? Check. Tiny icons? no problem. Connectors all jammed together? Of course.

I've been working some graphics with examples of hardware fails, here's part of one ...

That was a very nicely put together graphic, and an excellent presentation.

In fact it appears that every possible combination of user interface usability fail must be explored at every possible opportunity.

--JorgeA

[JorgeA]

Well this is nice to know ... the FBI must have one nice collection of "sex tapes" and other stuff to pass around the office !!! ... something to do on the slow days! From now on a person will have to put a "band-aid" over the camera since the light will not be on but is the camera on ... who knows ?

FBI Can Secretly Activate an Individual’s Webcam Without the Indicator Light Turning On

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/12/07/the-fbi-can-secretly-activate-an-individuals-webcam-without-the-indicator-light-turning-on/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=story&utm_campaign=ShareButtons

Ex-Official Says FBI Can Secretly Activate an Individual’s Webcam Without the Indicator Light Turning On

Dec. 7, 2013 - Oliver Darcy

The FBI can secretly activate a computer’s webcam to spy on an individual without turning on the indicator light, a former official revealed to the Washington Post in an article published Friday.

According to the Washington Post’s account of what Marcus Thomas — former assistant director of the FBI’s Operational Technology Division in Quantico — said, “The FBI has been able to covertly activate a computer’s camera — without triggering the light that lets users know it is recording — for several years, and has used that technique mainly in terrorism cases or the most serious criminal investigations.”

“Because of encryption and because targets are increasingly using mobile devices, law enforcement is realizing that more and more they’re going to have to be on the device — or in the cloud,” Thomas added, in reference to remote storage services. “There’s the realization out there that they’re going to have to use these types of tools more and more.”

TheBlaze has previously reported on hackers using remote access tools to activate an individual’s webcam and spy on them.

...

Wow, that's pretty scary. Talk about "spy"ware. And of course, with decreasing storage costs and increasing processing power there's nothing to stop them from eventually doing this on a massive scale rather than a few select targets. All for the purpose of (needless to say) detecting "patterns" so that they can "protect us better."

Checklist for a new laptop:

• Turn off the microphone and webcam
• Kill their processes in Task Manager
• Remove them from the startup group
• Disable the devices in Device Manager

That, at least until we get a completely atrophied Metrofied Windows 9 or 10 that has no Task Manager, startup configurability, or Device Manager.

--JorgeA

[Monroe]

JorgeA ... I was thinking last night after I posted the FBI camera spying thing ... of course the article only mentions the FBI but there could be other government agencies involved in this type of spying. In my head I'm wondering how are they able to do this ? ... they (FBI or whatever) would have to get into a person's computer to install some sort of software to operate the camera without the light being on ... so anyone the FBI or whoever wants to "spy" on would have to track down a computer owned by that individual to install some sort of software. However, with millions of computers scattered around wouldn't it make more sense that maybe "all" these computers already have the software installed ... a secret agreement or "handshake" between computer manufacturers and the NSA, FBI or other secret agencies.

We may all have this software already installed on our computers only needing to be quietly activated by some agency when they desire to do so.

I remember reading in an earlier post that some at the NSA were listening in on private calls by girlfriends or spouses to see who they were talking to. So all this spying isn't all for "national security".

Anyone fully understand how they can operate the camera without the light being on?

What a country we have become.

...

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

I'll tell you what, even a year ago I thought the idea of using webcams for spying was far-fetched and ridiculous because I pretty much understand the visible methods within Windows to access it. Not to mention the fact that it is as clear cut a case of intrusive trespassing as you can create and would violate the sensibilities of the most ignorant sheeple and even ardent law and order judges. Definitely a crazy idea ... back then ... Now, not so much. So let's looks at the old checklist of means, motive and opportunity ...

Opportunity? Well it is everywhere. Add-on webcams for desktops, built-in webcams on laptops, cameras on phones and tablets. Opportunity, check.

Motive? That has become clear this past summer. Spying is the main business of government now, and a rich source of data would be a visual portal into the lair of the peasants, I mean citizens. Their interest is self-preservation. They can always justify it by saying that they are looking for people making bombs or molesting children or whatever. It certainly wouldn't be a constant surveillance but targeted. I can easily imagine the head of No Such Agency sitting in his Star Trek TNG bridge room browsing the dossier of a current person of interest up on the big screen and he says: "Ensign, do you have any resources for recon nearby?" The lackey at the helm says: "Yes sir, two Smart TV's, a laptop webcam and a cellphone. Do you want me to patch them in?". The fearless Commander, I mean General says: "Make it so." Have they actually gotten this far? Well, why not? If they can do it in the extreme cases ( and I now believe they can ) then all that separates them from doing it to everyone else is an arbitrary decision guided by their personal ethics, morality, and level of belief in the Constitution. There is no way to properly oversee this, even if we had competent people in the elected Congress ( so very few IMHO ) and the unelected permanent bureaucracy. And what about crossing the old lines of spying for blackmail where where lurid details are compiled for use later? That actually happened for many years and was business as usual in the District Of Criminals, so it is a viable motive as well. Under the guise of preventing terrorism, or merely in addition to it, they would love to keep tabs on "anti-government" groups of troublemakers protesting government or taxes or power plants or whatever. Again, not routinely, just when someone in charge crosses that Maginot Line of a vaguely defined threshold of a "matter of national security". I don't think motive was ever in doubt, there are a multitude of motives and even more possible excuses. The only question was whether the technology would ever catch up to their imagination. It seems to have already done that by today, and certainly will have wider implications in 10, 20, 50 more years.

Means? This always was the wildcard. But Big Technology has handed them a steady stream of Christmas presents with each toy surpassing the last and fulfilling their wildest dreams. We've moved from closed circuit to everything networked. Those little baby monitors and stuffed toy cams whose audio and video used to be only available in the next room are now routinely connected to the Internet, as are Webcams, Laptops, TV's, all VOLUNTARILY! We now carry tiny phones with audio and video that connect to access providers ( who were compromised ages ago ) VOLUNTARILY! The only thing missing from the hybrid Orwell/Huxley/Rand stereotype is government-issued free cellular and broadband, and free Smart TVs, Laptops and Phones, a step made unnecessary by inviting everything in ourselves. The powers-that-be only need to stitch it all together. And they have the means to do it.

So back to the webcam issue. On a personal computer there has always been enough code in firmware ( and in not-so-firm-ware ) to consider the computer a read-only hardware device. Chips or BIOS code that allow displays, input devices and peripherals to work fine not just outside Windows, but even outside DOS. That's in fact how they started, almost as a super-Commodore 64 with a keyboard and display and LPT printer and Serial ports all available in the firmware BASIC environment or even in the elaborate firmware diagnostics ( in fact the PCjr even had native cartridge support too ) and you could spend all day doing stuff and never even seeing a byte of DOS code. This world exists in IC's, most significantly in BIOS. And these have gotten BIG. Once just 64 KB ( or maybe smaller ) we went to 2MB and 4MB and 8MB quietly and few people noticed. What this means is that there is a lot room in there now ( even moreso that the ROM BASIC environment has disappeared ).

So I might speculate now that disabling camera software within Windows is a rabbit hole distraction or at least only an additional concern, if the worry is about clandestine use of built-in cameras by spooks or hackers. Why? Because I can very easily imagine a tiny bit of code cooked into the BIOS with enough logic to allow rudimentary use, or even elaborate use. If it's tightly programmed in ASM ( the spooks are nothing if not thorough and well-financed ) it would be smaller than the once gigantic ROM BASIC which was like 32KB ( but famously grew later ). No-one would even notice KB's of code today. So the motherboard makers, including laptops, get modules of core code boilerplate that handles the common items like display, keyboard, mouse ( and USB and ... ) and then they of course add their own board specific code for settings ( and etc ... ) and the result is a 8MB image containing lots of stuff we expect and also God-knows-what. If I were a black-hat, I mean white-hat spook ( it's getting hard to keep that straight ) I would be exploiting this avenue for my entry point when laying out an infrastructure into personal computers. This infrastructure naturally would only be used in extreme cases, with court orders and under strict oversight guiding their actions ... /sarc ( had ya goin? ) ... Sadly, we're not even talking about the whole unTrustworthy Computing initiative which naturally comes with it's own secret code in their modules. There are so many paths here.

Whacky conspiracy theories? Heck yeah I would have thought precisely that even half a year ago. But this is already precedented. The spooks have been confirmed to have compromised a RNG algorithm seeding it into another alphabet agency called NIST ( plausible deniability or opportunism ) from which it matriculated into the public thanks to their position of trust and from there of course companies like Microsoft added it to what could have been 90% of the world's computers but since Vista flamed out ( and I'm seriously starting to believe that the reason they became so bitter was because of this crisis of Vista non-acceptance threw a monkey-wrench into their cooperation roadmap with the spooks because Microsoft just joined PRISM as the first partner ) it did not gain the expected foothold of powering the bulk of all personal computers on the planet which would have made the SP1 release ( with the Dual_EC_DRBG plus whatever else ) an extremely effective spying vector. Consequently, it is logical to assume they have many other avenues of penetration in play, and it is not a big leap now to think that both the BIOS and TPM are compromised.

I went way out on a limb there ( hope it doesn't snap off ). But it is seriously how things look today IMHO given all the information publicly available, and enhanced by observing the actions of all these companies lately. I'm finding it hard to believe any of them would even consider saying no to 'an offer they can't refuse' from our benevolent government protectors. Especially if it is couched in salable terms like 'national security' or 'for the children'. And if the soft sell doesn't work, there is always money, and that's even harder to refuse.

For some reason this picture seems to belong here ...

( Image Source: here )

EDIT: typo

Edited December 9, 2013 by CharlotteTheHarlot

[JorgeA]

JorgeA ... I was thinking last night after I posted the FBI camera spying thing ... of course the article only mentions the FBI but there could be other government agencies involved in this type of spying. In my head I'm wondering how are they able to do this ? ... they (FBI or whatever) would have to get into a person's computer to install some sort of software to operate the camera without the light being on ... so anyone the FBI or whoever wants to "spy" on would have to track down a computer owned by that individual to install some sort of software. However, with millions of computers scattered around wouldn't it make more sense that maybe "all" these computers already have the software installed ... a secret agreement or "handshake" between computer manufacturers and the NSA, FBI or other secret agencies.

We may all have this software already installed on our computers only needing to be quietly activated by some agency when they desire to do so.

I remember reading in an earlier post that some at the NSA were listening in on private calls by girlfriends or spouses to see who they were talking to. So all this spying isn't all for "national security".

Anyone fully understand how they can operate the camera without the light being on?

What a country we have become.

...

@Charlotte answered this pretty well (IMHO) with some very plausible methodologies.

It's entirely possible that every computer comes with malware already built into the OS or even the firmware, waiting for orders from the mother ship. Certainly that quote from the FBI agent gives the idea more credibility than ever before (assuming that he's accurate).

So you'd have to add one or two extra steps to my "checklist" upthread:

• Cover the webcam lens with opaque tape, or remove the webcam
• Cover the microphone with some sound-buffering material, or remove the microphone

--JorgeA

[JorgeA]

I don't know if this was ever mentioned here on MSFN, but if it was I apologize up front.

With all the current revelations of just how much all of us are being tracked by our friendly governments and the big corporations, I thought maybe it was time to mention this. I have not installed or used it, but have thought of installing it on a server.

The item is YaCy, a peer to peer web search system. Go to their website to get a better understanding of how it works and what it is. Its time could of arrived.

Here is link to their website: http://yacy.net/en/

bpalone

Some more info on this project:

Free software activists to take on Google with new free search engine

YaCy: It's About Freedom, Not Beating Google

However, one guy who tried it recently was less than impressed:

Yacy: Another Example of Why Java Sucks

Agonizing slowness and frequent timeouts aside, another big problem is the initial inability of yacy's indexing and ranking algorithms to avoid "SEO" spam. Results were almost entirely composed of posts to blogs, forums or wikis composed of nothing but lists of keywords. While yacy avoids censorship via content "de-indexing", it allows effective censorship by obfuscation.

[...]

While the project's goals are excellent, yacy fails to deliver in just about every possible measure of functionality. The reliance on java limits deployment to modern, high performance servers which means that deployment on resource limited VMs is out of the question. The nonstandard config setup dissuades experimentation. The use of P2P protocols, while essential to meet the goals of the project, also limit deployments to servers with reasonable fast, low latency upstream connections.

My initial thoughts are that the core functionality should be ported to an optimizable native language like C/C++ or perhaps something like Erlang while the UI elements should be moved to a separate project so that parallel and complementary implementations can be done in a variety of languages for different audiences and platforms. While this seems unlikely, yacy has still provided a foundation to be built on by different projects.

Like that guy (as you'll see in the full blog post), I do wish that more of the documentation (and the forum) were in a language that I can read. But it's still a promising-sounding idea and we should check on them every so often. Maybe you can give it a shot on a server like you suggested, and tell us how it went?

--JorgeA

[Monroe]

Thanks Charlotte for some in depth information on the camera spying topic. I guess this is all good education for many of us as to just how bad things have gotten in the world ... I'm all for catching criminals and such but the nets are pulling up more than just "tuna" ... and the abuse has to be a main concern.

I thought what you posted about Skype ... the image was a joke, but it's for real I guess ... seems very easy to do and all at the web site out in the open.

Hack Skype Webcams

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--------

I don't have a Skype setup but now others can be aware of what might be going on unless this is really a "joke" of some kind ... looks real to me.

All my notebooks are older with no cameras installed and my cell phone is from 2004, with no camera ... I still have the phone because I have a "Voice - Data" plan combined just before the companies decided they could make more money if they split Voice and Data for the future. My notebooks connect into my phone through a USB cable. I'm still in the "stone age" I guess and with everything working just fine - I plan to stay there as long as my equipment keeps working. Maybe this is one time when "old" is better than "new".

...

Edited December 9, 2013 by duffy98

[Tripredacus]

Microsoft warns against using fake Xbox One backwards compatibility "trick" ( NeoWin 2013-12-06 )

...apparently a JPG image has been making the Internet rounds today with a procedure to use that code in a way to get the console to recognize Xbox 360 games. There's just one big problem; the procedure is fake and all it will do is brick an Xbox One console that costs $500.

Ouch. Sounds like a pretty clever case of social sabotage, the bait being a desirable feature that Microsoft purposely obsolesced from the new Xbox. The devious perps ( Sony fanboys? ) see this opening, design a fake fix for the Xbox to restore backwards compatibility and voilà ... Xbrick! Clever and devious.

The actual trick isn't fake, it just won't work if you do it wrong (much like USB connectors)

Microsoft had already said that there will be no Xbox One devkits, and it was discovered that all retail Xbox Ones have a devkit menu. The problem with it "not working" is due to people not having an authorized key to enter in the field.

The real problem here is that you can actually break the boot sequence of the console by playing with this menu. That is the fault of the developer, not the users of the menu.

[bpalone]

JorgeA said: Like that guy (as you'll see in the full blog post), I do wish that more of the documentation (and the forum) were in a language that I can read. But it's still a promising-sounding idea and we should check on them every so often. Maybe you can give it a shot on a server like you suggested, and tell us how it went?

Well, my server isn't much different than his. In fact, mine has even less memory and is an Intel Atom single core. So, after seeing that blog post, I will be rethinking my thoughts. I would have to agree with him about the fact it should probably be ported to C or C++ (C would be my preference). I have never been a big fan of interpreted languages because of the high overhead. They have become popular again, because most everyone has a massively powerful computer setting on their desk, that doesn't really allow the user to notice just how much slower it really is. The same reason we have sloppy code written today, the horse power under the hood masks the performance hits.

I agree they need to be followed. As for search results, it will require a large number of users to adopt and use the system for it to become good. But, like everything it has to start somewhere. I just tried their trial portal and got a timeout error, the same thing I got the other day when I tried it again after mentioning it here. Could be, that their idea is hitting up against the limitations of their chosen programming language. Especially since I would guess that we are not the only people in the world concerned about a little privacy.

I am not totally against all of this information being gathered and made available. Not to long ago I was having trouble locating someone (something I have to do quite often in my profession) and found them because they built a garage. So, it is not all bad, as I was looking for them to buy something from them. But, in the same breath, just how much is enough and how much is to much?

bpalone