Geek Stuff category archive

Twitter is a waste of perfectly good electrons.

From the accompanying article:

The woman then noticed the drone was flying very close to female beach-goers and had a camera attached to it, according to her Reddit post. After the device hovered close to her and her mother, the woman said she located the men controlling it and approached them. She told them the device was “seriously creepy.” One responded, “It isn’t going to hurt you,” according to her Reddit post.

Video below the fold because it autoplays.

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In the context of a larger story about a nothingburger about a “show about nothing” is this (emphasis added):

Now he is entering the world of online games, having collaborated with Pippin Barr, a video game creator from New Zealand with a master’s degree in “user-interface metaphors,” . . . .

As near as I can tell from the PDF available at the link, it’s a masters degree about icons.

My local rag covers “bitcoin believers” in my local area.

“Bitcoin believers.”

I find that phrase telling. Like any fiat currency, bitcoins work only if you believe in them. But it’s only ones and zeroes, guaranteed by no one and founded in nothing. (“Bitcoin believers” will tell you that they are guaranteed by math. Ask the folks who believed in Mt. Gox. Interpol is not on the case.)

Bitcoins are electronic Libertarianism–a masturbatory fantasy for the privileged.

Twits on a troll.

Learn about the wonderful world of free and open source. Learn how to use computers to do what you want, not what someone else wants you to do.

It’s not hard; it’s just different.

What: Monthly TWUUG Meeting.

Who: Everyone in TideWater/Hampton Roads with interest in any/all flavors of Unix/Linux. There are no dues or signup requirements. All are welcome.

Where: Lake Taylor Transitional Care Hospital in Norfolk Training Room. See directions below. (Wireless and wired internet connection available.) Turn right upon entering, then left at the last corridor and look for the open meeting room.

When: 7:30 PM till whenever (usually 9:30ish) on Thursday, May 1.

Directions:
Lake Taylor Hospital
1309 Kempsville Road
Norfolk, Va. 23502 (Map)

Pre-Meeting Dinner at 6:00 PM (separate checks)
Uno Chicago Grill
Virginia Beach Blvd. & Military Highway (Janaf Shopping Center). (Map)

Linux Voice offers a nice set of tutorials to help you get started with Linux.

It’s easier than you think.

Aside:

I contributed to Linux Voice’s Indiegogo campaign and also subscribe to the magazine. It’s nice bit of work. They also offer one of the funnest Linux podcasts you will find.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has brought forth an article by Sean Sposito extolling Bitcoins.

Here’s a bit from the bitbait:

It’s a system based on transparency rather than trust. And even if you’re not about to rush out and buy into the digital currency, the Bitcoin protocol could potentially change the way you — and all of us — do business in some pretty fundamental ways.

To prep for the changes to come, read the full story . . . .

That transparency depends on your having super-brawny computers (“bitcoin mining rigs“), database administration and encryption skills, and the ability to pay electric bills out the ying-yang to pay for the power for your mining rigs. How much more transparent can something be?

That “full story” is behind a paywall, and, as George Smith noticed, you can’t pay with bitcoins.

No, I didn’t byte.

Facebook creates yet another reason to keep the GPS on your cell phone turned off.

Facebook is introducing a mobile feature called Nearby Friends that taps into that steady stream of location information so friends can track each other in real time.

The idea is to make it easy for people to meet up in real life, so they can have conversations in person instead of comment threads, temporarily replacing Likes and LOLs with eye contact and actual laughter. A live meet-up is also an excellent opportunity to grab a selfie with your pal and upload it to the Facebook owned Instagram.

And I thought the idea behind social networking was to avoid having to deal with people face-to-face.

Afterthought:

Whatcha wanna bet that the persons using this the most will keep right on bitching about the NSA, even as they run naked through their Facebook “friends”?

How much more evidence do we need to realize that Twitter is a waste of electrons?

Facebook may be central to your world, but not to everyone else’s.

Today, I helped an acquaintance set up her new Windows 8 computer.

I now have a first-hand understanding of why Windows 8 has failed in the marketplace.

It is a dog, a kludge, a monstrosity. Essential features, such as the command line (to do simple things like a ping command to test an internet connection) are hidden many fathoms deep.

I had to do a web search to find out how to reboot the computer, for Pete’s sake.

It is no surprise that Steve Ballmer is out of a job. Every decision he made was wrong.

Learn about the wonderful world of free and open source. Learn how to use computers to do what you want, not what someone else wants you to do.

It’s not hard; it’s just different.

What: Monthly TWUUG Meeting.

Who: Everyone in TideWater/Hampton Roads with interest in any/all flavors of Unix/Linux. There are no dues or signup requirements. All are welcome.

Where: Lake Taylor Transitional Care Hospital in Norfolk Training Room. See directions below. (Wireless and wired internet connection available.) Turn right upon entering, then left at the last corridor and look for the open meeting room.

When: 7:30 PM till whenever (usually 9:30ish) on Thursday, April 3.

Directions:
Lake Taylor Hospital
1309 Kempsville Road
Norfolk, Va. 23502 (Map)

Pre-Meeting Dinner at 6:00 PM (separate checks)
Uno Chicago Grill
Virginia Beach Blvd. & Military Highway (Janaf Shopping Center). (Map)

Elizabeth Wagele debunks de bunk (emphasis added):

“’We all bet high mulitaskers were going to be stars at something,’ he said in an interview with the PBS program ‘Frontline.’ ‘We were absolutely shocked. We all lost our bets. It turns out multitaskers are terrible at every aspect of multitasking. They’re terrible at ignoring irrelevant information; they’re terrible at keeping information in their head nicely and neatly organized; and they’re terrible at switching from one task to another… One would think if people were bad at multitasking, they would stop. However, when we talk with the multitaskers, they seem to think they’re great at it and seem totally unfazed and totally able to do more and more and more.’ . . . .”

Hell, sometimes I can’t do even one thing at a time.

At this point, it’s just proof of concept, but what a concept! This drone spoofs your wireless connection.

Snoopy takes advantage of a feature built into all smartphones and tablets: When mobile devices try to connect to the Internet, they look for networks they’ve accessed in the past.

“Their phone will very noisily be shouting out the name of every network its ever connected to,” Sensepost security researcher Glenn Wilkinson said. “They’ll be shouting out, ‘Starbucks, are you there?…McDonald’s Free Wi-Fi, are you there?”

That’s when Snoopy can swoop into action (and be its most devious, even more than the cartoon dog): the drone can send back a signal pretending to be networks you’ve connected to in the past. Devices two feet apart could both make connections with the quadcopter, each thinking it is a different, trusted Wi-Fi network. When the phones connect to the drone, Snoopy will intercept everything they send and receive.

Much more at the link.

The moral of the story is turn your wireless off if you are not using it.

The Philadelphia Inquirer rounds up some of the new twists in the identity theft game. Here’s the most macabre:

Cyber crooks now e-mail fake funeral notices. Stealing the names and logos of legitimate funeral homes, they send authentic-looking notices that appear to be invitations to funerals or services for a friend or acquaintance.

The danger is in an attached link, which claims to provide details about the “upcoming celebration of your friend’s life service.” Don’t click on the link! By doing so, you are downloading malware onto your computer, Levin said.

More at the link.