Geek Stuff category archive

No one could have predicted . . . .

A patrolman was summoned to a Seattle high-rise early Sunday morning when a female tenant reported that a drone was hovering outside her window and she was “worried that someone was trying to look in her apartment,” according to a police report.

. . . The building employee told a Seattle Police Department officer that they went outside the building’s main entrance and “observed two males who appeared to be operating the drone. Next to them was a tripod with what appeared to be a video camera.”

A good ruling.

In a strong defense of digital age privacy, a unanimous Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that police may not generally search the cellphones of people they arrest without first getting search warrants.

Cellphones are powerful devices unlike anything else police may find on someone they arrest, Chief Justice John Roberts said for the court. Because the phones contain so much information, police must get a warrant before looking through them, Roberts said.

. . . so dress appropriately.

From Bruce Schneier, pre-eminent computer security expert:

I am regularly asked what is the most surprising thing about the Snowden NSA documents. It’s this: the NSA is not made of magic. Its tools are no different from what we have in our world, it’s just better-funded.

Read the rest.

XP is on life-support in the Navy. So is the ability to plan.

Dunn said at a lunch briefing with contractors last month in Norfolk that the Navy is using XP widely throughout the fleet, including in critical weapons systems.

That necessitated a deal with Microsoft to continue getting support for a while.

“Given the scale and scope of Windows XP’s use, the Department has a Custom Support Agreement with Microsoft that provides support for all critical security hotfixes and helps maintain our security posture for both ashore and afloat networks,” the Navy said in an emailed response to a query from The Pilot.

The agreement is good for the next three years and is expected to cost about $3.6 million for the first year, according to the Navy.

Microsoft’s pulling support from XP was hardly a surprise. Indeed, it’s been coming for half a decade.

The article goes on to point out that the Navy isn’t the only outfit that couldn’t see the bus barreling towards it under clear skies in the bright light of the noonday sun. Much of private industry has similar planning skills.

H/T to Susan for calling the article to my attention.

Facebook is a bully place to be.

Tetris turns 30.

Studious twits.

I have one Windows computer.

It’s set to dual-boot Windows and Linux (currently, Mageia–it’s not Slackware, but it is a good solid distro).

I’m currently booted into Windows to pick up recent updates and to play a bit with Rainmeter, run virus scans (something not usually needed in my Linux world), and keep my Windows skills fresh. If you are a Windows user and want a decent system monitor program, you might want to take a look at Rainmeter.

Every time I boot into the Windows side of this box, I am reminded how really and truly clunky and annoying Windows can be.

Read more »

Der Spiegel takes a look at the recent EU Court’s decision requiring search engines to remove links in certain circumstances so as to preserve the “right to be forgotten.” I commend it to your attention.

A nugget:

But while attitudes over the ruling in Europe may border on the ecstatic, the comments coming out of the United States verge on the hysterical. As evidenced so many times since the birth of the Internet era, the Europeans and the Americans often have polar opposite views of the same sets of facts. Indeed, there’s a deep digital divide between the Old World and the New World when it comes to issues of Internet privacy. The Europeans regard the right to privacy particularly highly, whereas the Americans consider freedom of expression to be paramount. Often enough, it seems these two views are irreconcilable.

Ari Kohen thinks he is on the wrong end of the algorithm (which is in no way related to that other Al, Gore). He reports that Facebook has informed him that, if he greases the right palms, this can be remedied.

Now, however, Facebook shows my post to somewhere between 20-50 people when I post it. If none of them quickly Like it, share it, or comment on it, it basically goes away forever. And then, of course, Facebook offers me the option of paying so that they’ll show it to more people after they prevented those same people from seeing it when I first posted it.

His fallacy is this: if someone is truly interested in what you have to say on the Zuckerborg (or anywhere else, for that matter), they will seek you out, not wait for you to appear, though I really can’t argue with what he says next . . .

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.