Geek Stuff category archive
“That Does Not Compute” 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, Bobby Azarian suggests that AI is nothing more than an uber geek’s pipe dream. A snippet:
Feynman described the computer as “A glorified, high-class, very fast but stupid filing system,” managed by an infinitely stupid file clerk (the central processing unit) who blindly follows instructions (the software program).
If you dream of–or fear–the singularity, follow the link and read it, all the while remembering that “fast” and “smart” are not the same thing.
Facebook Frolics 0
After 30 years of internet and two decades of Fox News, persons still haven’t figured out that, even though they saw it on a screen in glorious electrons, it ain’t necessarily so.
Bloatware 0
If you have ever bought a computer with Windows preinstalled, you will have seen that it included lots of stuff that is not part of Windows: optical disk burning programs, firewalls, anti-virus programs, stuff included on a “free trial basis.” (If you ever installed Windows clean from installation media, it’s surprisingly sparse compared to the typical commercial consumer-grade install.)
Computer manufactures do not put this junk on their computers just to irritate customers (Windows can do that quite nicely without any assistance, thank you). The manufacturers of the bloatware pay them to do it.
El Reg reports that one of the side effects of this bloatware is extra added bonus security vulnerabilities over and above those inherent in using Windows.
The research from Duo Security shows that bloatware is not just a nuisance that causes a lag in system boot-up, but a security risk. Laptops from Acer, Asus, Dell, HP and Lenovo all have at least one security vulnerability that can lead to a full system compromise. Most of the vulnerabilities would be straightforward to exploit even for technically unsophisticated hackers, according to Duo Security.
If you use Windows, follow the link for more.
Make TWUUG Your LUG 0
Learn about the wonderful world of free and open source. 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, June 2.
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)
Join the forums.
Oracle in Error 0
Bad guys lose suit against not-quite-so-bad guys.
Oracle will, no doubt, appeal, because it has more money than God. Google, to its credit, will no doubt continue to fight.
As an aside, I point out that Oracle has no qualms about using other people’s stuff. It markets something called “Oracle Linux” (if I remember correctly, it used to be called “Ironclad Linux”), which is little more than Red Hat Enterprise Linux (commonly referred to as RHEL) repackaged with an extra added price tag. That is quite legal under the terms of the GPL that governs must free and open-source software, but it also highlights Oracle’s self-serving lack of–er–consistency.
/dev/null 0
I haven’t paid much attention to the Hillary Clinton email scamdal because I knew from the git-go that it was yet another Republican lie in a long parade of lies about the Clintons, a parade reaching back to and beyond the Republican fever dream that the Clintons somehow murdered Vince Foster.
One does not have to be a fan of the Clintons to be disgusted by the Republican lies.
Now Cynthia Dill has sacrificed her time to plough through the bureacratise of the report on Hillary Clinton’s email scamdal so we don’t have to. Her findings come as no surprise. As with an email sent to /dev/null, there’s no there there.
Here’s a bit (emphasis added):
Clinton reasonably believed her private server was allowed because the bureaucrats in charge of security allowed it. This present-day conviction for violating rule 12 FAM 544.2 after the fact means nothing of any consequence. Nobody was hurt. No security was breached. Who cares?
I think one reason that this particular scamdal has had some staying power is that, to most persons, an email server–hell, a computer–is a dark magic box, mysterious and alchemical.
An email server is, actually, nothing more than a program that relays mail from the persons who write it to the recipients over a network and from a network to the recipient(s).
You too can have your own email server, if you wish. I know folks who do. It’s a bit complex, but it’s not magic, it’s not alchemy, it’s not voodoo; it’s just a computer program. (If you think government servers are somehow magically more secure than other servers, think again. Governments don’t do security better than anyone else, except possibly Sony.)
(Be sure to check your ISP’s terms of service before setting up your own mail server; most US ISPs forbid public-facing servers–news, web, database, mail–unless you have a business-class account. That’s why I don’t run my own mail server–my ISP’s TOS forbid it for my level of account. Otherwise I’d set one up just to see whether I could make it work. I like crossword puzzles too.)
“No Municipal Wireless for You” 0
Shorter Kerry Dougherty: Other people can’t have nice things.
Opening the Windows to Assimilation 1
The strategy is quite simple, really. Microsoft wants to turn your computer into the functional equivalent of a cell phone–something you can use, but cannot control, even as it phones home about your every action.
The Snaring Economy Comes to the Big Screen 0
Moved below the fold because it may autoplay on some systems.
Note: If you catch something autoplaying on the front page here, use the email linke, over there
——————————————–>
on the sidebar to let me know and I’ll bury it below the fold.
Alphabet (in the) Soup 0
Google’s parent company revealed as investor in loan shark payday lender which has been banned from Google search results for being morally dubious.
So much for “Don’t be evil.”
How about Thinking for Yourself? 0
Heh.
In a study by MIT’s School Effectiveness & Inequality Initiative, titled The Impact of Computer Usage on Academic Performance: Evidence from a Randomized Trial at the United States Military Academy, students whose classroom access to computer devices was prohibited performed better in exams.
Why am I not surprised?
The Snaring Economy 4
Instead, witnesses said, around a hundred people showed up at the two-bedroom house a couple of miles from the Oceanfront during College Beach Weekend. Police were called there twice: once for a report of gunshots and again three hours later for a shooting that left 20-year-old Darren Campbell dead.
In a resort town like this, short-term rentals are common, but most of them don’t fly under the regulatory radar as Airbnb stuff does. Follow the link for a thoughtful consideration of the challenges that snaring poses to municipal governments.
Eyes on the Prize 0
Alfred Doblin doesn’t think much of Cracker Jacks’s new prizes, which will require access to either an Android or iJunk device to use, for Pete’s sake, or of what they may indicate. A snippet:
A 5-year-old boy should not need a smartphone and app to delight in a cheap prize. The prize was never the actual thing; it was in the unwrapping of the thing, the discovery of it, the touch and feel of it.
Take that away and we are diminished as people. We see a bunch of angry Americans pushing police cars not because of racial injustice, but because they dislike Donald Trump, and we call that “chaos.” We witness a tidal wave of refugees who want nothing more than a chance to live and we call that none of our business.
Make TWUUG Your LUG 0
Learn about the wonderful world of free and open source. 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 5.
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)
Join the forums.
The Snaring Economy 0
Berlin acts to rein in rogue rentals which raise rents beyond the resources of rental residents (emphasis added).
Given that it is more profitable to rent out whole apartments for short holiday lets, some investors are holding on to apartments for such rentals rather than having long-term tenants.
San Francisco-based Airbnb.com — short for the business’s original name AirBed & Breakfast — is the biggest of several sites that allow people to offer and find such rental accommodation worldwide.
When it’s being done by “investors,” my friends, it ain’t sharing, not by any measure.
More at the link.