jaclaz Posted February 24, 2014 Posted February 24, 2014 On other news, The Guardian just jumped over the fence. I had some doubts that they were completely nuts after the physical grinding down of laptop chips, but they just published a story which besides being very tall, makes them undoubtedly conspiracy theory members, if you are missing some FUD, here it is:http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/feb/20/edward-snowden-files-nsa-gchq-luke-hardingOn the other hand, news about the data from 1.8 millions calls in the Netherlands harvested by our good Dutch friends, who made the collection in a legally way, obviously, and how this "had to do with Dutch military operations abroad" is an interesting new twist. http://rt.com/news/nsa-dutch-minister-intercepts-743/jaclaz
Monroe Posted February 24, 2014 Posted February 24, 2014 Interesting stuff jaclaz ... one tip off from the first article that we can watch out for ... if someone or a crew starts digging up the sidewalk in front of your home / office ... or road if you are in the country ... start to get concerned."There were curious moments in New York, too, from where many Snowden stories were reported. Within hours of publication of the first one - which revealed that the NSA was mass-scooping data from the US telecoms company Verizon - diggers arrived outside the Guardian's loft office in Broadway. It was a Wednesday evening. They dug up the pavement and replaced it. The same thing happened outside the Guardian's Washington bureau, four blocks from the White House and the Brooklyn home of US editor-in-chief Janine Gibson. Coincidence? Perhaps."Three different sidewalk locations dug up ??? ... too bad when the dig crew left, they didn't have another crew come in to see what might have been placed there ... some sort of listening device?I just looked out my window, nobody digging there yet !!!...
jaclaz Posted February 24, 2014 Posted February 24, 2014 I just looked out my window, nobody digging there yet !!!...Well, no. The fact that you did not see anyone digging there only means that you could not see them.For all you (and we) know they could be working behind a cloaking device of some kind and be digging alright.jaclaz
Tripredacus Posted February 24, 2014 Posted February 24, 2014 As first mentioned by TELVM ( with effective use of the HP image BTW ) ...Sales of new PCs with Windows 7 end October 31 for several SKUs ( NeoWin 2014-02-14 )Microsoft Pushing Users To Adopt Windows 8 Over Windows 7 ( Maximum PC 2014-02-16 )Microsoft has set a firm date of October 31st for final sale of consumer Windows 7 machines, but business machines are another story. The official website has been updated as such to reflect this, with Microsoft noting that October 31, 2014 is the new end-of-sale date for Windows 7 Home Basic, Home Premium, or Ultimate PCs. Home Premium takes the cake when it comes to sales, but now Microsoft is pushing for Windows 8 to take over as reigning champ, per PC World. That date is for Windows 7 stand-alone only. You can still purchase a computer with Windows 7 installed from an OEM under the Downgrade Rights program after that date.
TELVM Posted February 24, 2014 Posted February 24, 2014 (edited) Microsoft officially acknowledges Windows 8.1 'spring' update" ... Officials discussed 8.1 update tweaks, such as inclusion of a title bar at the top of Modern/Windows Store apps, and the addition of power and search buttons on the Start Screen, according to a report by The Verge's Tom Warren, who attended the Microsoft event. Officials also acknowledged the smaller footprint (1 GB of RAM; 16 GB of storage) of the update, which will enable device makers to put Windows 8.1 with the update on smaller, cheaper tablets ..."^ More turd polishing."But fear not dear power users, for we assure you what rains is champagne and not pee" Edited February 24, 2014 by TELVM
G8YMW Posted February 24, 2014 Posted February 24, 2014 TELVM wrote"But fear not dear power users, for we assure you what rains is champagne and not pee" Like it!! About the only way to tell is the temperature
Formfiller Posted February 25, 2014 Posted February 25, 2014 (edited) Foxconn is working with Google to replace workforce with robots ( TechSpot 2014-02-11 )Adding robots into the equation would no doubt speed along the process and help save a lot of money on the employee front.True enough, Foxconn currently has over a million workers and they have been under pressure lately over rising labor costs and workplace disputes. For these reasons, the company could serve as the perfect testing ground for Googles new robotics technology.( Image: TechSpot ) So, first the companies in 'rich' places outsource jobs to 'poor' places since it was much cheaper to build things there. Then when those places become 'rich' and they run out of 'poor' places to exploit they outsource the jobs to robots. And very soon products will be produced and sold for great profit, however no people anywhere will be working so they won't be able to afford them. Sounds like a great plan.Food for thought:http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0874777798/ref=s9_simh_gw_p14_d0_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=1QDK789NE79DXKKCPZCA&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1688200382&pf_rd_i=507846The "future" is that most work is being done automatically through robots and computers, humans get pocket money from the governments to spend on toys manufactured by bots. Edited February 25, 2014 by Formfiller
JorgeA Posted February 26, 2014 Author Posted February 26, 2014 (edited) Been a busy couple of days, but I hope to get the chance to dig into some of the recent postings here and comment on them.For now, feast on this tidbit:Microsoft's Julie Larson-Green becomes chief experience officer for Bing, Office, Skype, and moreMicrosoft's Julie Larson-Green, the woman who was formerly a Windows executive and most recently the top executive in the company's Devices and Studios Group thanks to former CEO Steve Ballmer's company restructuring, has transitioned into a new role at the devices and services giant. Her replacement? Nokia's Stephen Elop.Larson-Green will now become the chief experience officer for products such as Bing, Office, Skype, and more.[...]Yippee, she gets to ruin several more Microsoft user interfaces... --JorgeAEDIT: funny typo Edited February 26, 2014 by JorgeA
JorgeA Posted February 26, 2014 Author Posted February 26, 2014 And now for a bit of hopeful privacy news --Maintain your email privacy with ShazzleMailComments? Could this actually help freedom lovers in Ukraine, Venezuela, Iran... the U.S.? --JorgeA
bpalone Posted February 26, 2014 Posted February 26, 2014 (edited) And now for a bit of hopeful privacy news --Maintain your email privacy with ShazzleMailComments? Could this actually help freedom lovers in Ukraine, Venezuela, Iran... the U.S.? --JorgeAMy first reaction was a maybe, then I went and read some about it. Short answer --- No. Looks to be geared more towards the smart phone crowd and by using that device alone, those that are watching probably know what they are going to send before they even type it. Secondly, you and your recipient's IP address is well known by anyone that cares to be watching. Besides, who knows who is footing the bill for this FREE service. For all we know it could be one of the alphabet agencies or a collaborative effort. bpalonefix typo Edited February 26, 2014 by bpalone
bpalone Posted February 26, 2014 Posted February 26, 2014 Been a busy couple of days, but I hope to get the chance to dig into some of the recent postings here and comment on them.For now, feast on this tidbit:Microsoft's Julie Larson-Green becomes chief experience officer for Bing, Office, Skype, and moreMicrosoft's Julie Larson-Green, the woman who was formerly a Windows executive and most recently the top executive in the company's Devices and Studios Group thanks to former CEO Steve Ballmer's company restructuring, has transitioned into a new role at the devices and services giant. Her replacement? Nokia's Stephen Elop.Larson-Green will now become the chief experience officer for products such as Bing, Office, Skype, and more.[...]Yippee, she gets to ruin several more Microsoft user interfaces... --JorgeAEDIT: funny typoTook the words right out of my mouth. That was exactly the first thought that came to my mind when I started reading your post. bpalone
JorgeA Posted February 27, 2014 Author Posted February 27, 2014 And now for a bit of hopeful privacy news --Maintain your email privacy with ShazzleMailComments? Could this actually help freedom lovers in Ukraine, Venezuela, Iran... the U.S.? --JorgeAMy first reaction was a maybe, then I went and read some about it. Short answer --- No. Looks to be geared more towards the smart phone crowd and by using that device alone, those that are watching probably know what they are going to send before they even type it. Secondly, you and your recipient's IP address is well known by anyone that cares to be watching. Besides, who knows who is footing the bill for this FREE service. For all we know it could be one of the alphabet agencies or a collaborative effort. bpalonefix typoGood points, especially that last one.--JorgeA
JorgeA Posted February 27, 2014 Author Posted February 27, 2014 This year's RSA cybersecurity conference felt the consequences of their (alleged) collaboration with the spooks: RSA Security Event Dominated By NSA Surveillance TalkKeynote speakers admonished the NSA, attendees debated the topic in the halls of the Moscone Center, and the NSA was the focus of numerous breakout sessions.There might have been even more NSA discussion if not for a grass-roots boycott that resulted from media reports of RSA having created backdoors the NSA could use to crack RSA's encryption technology, which a lot of companies and agencies use.The allegations, first out in a Reuters story in December, led to an unknown number of speakers and attendees opting not to attend the annual conference, one of the biggest in the computer security field.Some critics even organized an alternate one-day event called TrustyCon, slated to be held just down the street from the RSA gathering on Thursday.Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer at security software vendor F-Secure, pulled out of his scheduled session at RSA and instead was slated for a TrustyCon speech titled "The Talk I Was Going to Give at RSA."--JorgeA
ricktendo Posted February 27, 2014 Posted February 27, 2014 (edited) If you thought Microsoft was bad, here is AppleApple retires Snow Leopard from support, leaves 1 in 5 Macs vulnerable to attacksApple provided Snow Leopard security updates for slightly more than four years, just four months shy of the record set by Tiger (OS X 10.4), which received its final fixes in September 2009. Edited February 27, 2014 by ricktendo
JorgeA Posted February 27, 2014 Author Posted February 27, 2014 (edited) Yeah, that's bad. Linux is even worse -- at best, they commit to supporting a given "long term" support version for what, three years. The prospect of having to reconstitute my PC every couple of years has helped to deter me from making the switch to Linux.Microsoft has actually been pretty good about this, typically supporting their OSes for 8-10 years. Better than everybody else, anyway.--JorgeA Edited February 27, 2014 by JorgeA
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