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....and did I mention the need to be able to edit comments to put in that closing quotation mark we really were intending to include before we got distracted doublechecking the spelling of something?

...that we can enlarge to something worth looking at is okay and maybe in its own way even better than a generic icon, but big stock photos not much more closely related to the story than a generic icon would be, which is to say "the approach taken by many web sites these days, at least some of whom should know better, would be, by myself at least, unwelcome.

Overall I find the visual appearance of this site quite well crafted. My compliments to the chef.

That would be my view too, but there would probably still be a problem with consistency. The icons, which looked great BTW, all had a consistent appearance and size which is obviously not going to be the case with images, and trying to find appropriate images that can be cropped and scaled down to the same size as the icons is likely to be even harder than finding an appropriate icon. If going with images then we're just going to have to accept some variation in appearance. Then again, maybe that's not the real problem, but rather that the topics that stories are grouped into isn't a good enough or broad enough match for the range of stories being posted - or there just needs to be a generic icon for when all else fails.

The real Hewlett Packard is not HP, it's the test and measurement equipment spin off, Agilent. Unfortunately the line of calculators stayed with the printer ink cartridge company known as HP.

My 15C acquired in 1987 is luckily still going strong.

So few times the little word gets a chance without a dirty meaning. Give the little guy his due.

I really like his attempt to bring humour to the practice of science and academics.

I didn't put this in the original story, but this standup clip ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4loWSOFAZK0 ) posted on Youtube is an incredibly poignant tale of how a boy who saved insects in his house could transform to a lab associate who kills mice in the process of becoming a scientist of and about life. It strikes me that the line between humour and sadness can be very thin sometimes.

And you sound like a profoundly stupid twit. If particular computers are or were targeted, the size of the keylogger or storage medium doesn't matter one whit to most of us. Oh shocking, no shat, people and governments can install spygear including keyloggers on specific targets.

Only alarmist Luddite morons such as you would countenance the implication that this has ANY bearing on ANY mass produced or deployed keyboards or other PC parts in use by uninteresting ordinary people.

And this story is ONLY interesting if it applies to more than the usual set of espionage targets.

Shame on you for your dimwittedness and alarmist twaddle.

Err that post wasn't finsihed at all, I discovered I had been a little bit wrong (ARM2 is more powerful that the first PCs) and was correcting myself when it accidentally got posted partially through the edit. Sorry about that :|

I'm not saying the NSA has any need to use ancient stuff like ARM2, as we all ought to know they have their own foundries and could easily make task-focused implants small enough to be unnoticeable to the naked eye.

You sound like you don't know anything at all about computers. While the processing power in a SD card is just about between a third and half of the very first PCs that's more than plenty. The chip in the SD card is tiny, cheap, and fairly old (ARM2 is common, I've used the numbers from ARMv2 and ARMv2a and compared to the first 80386).

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instructions_per_second :
Intel 286 2.66 MIPS at 12.5 MHz0.20.21982 [5]
ARM2 4 MIPS at 8 MHz0.50.51986

The people in the article are looking at one aspect: which components got destroyed by the GcHQ when they wanted to remove data and possible traces of data. It doesn't mean these are implants (if you want pictures of the implants go to Schneiers blog and look at the TAO stuff, there are some pictures there courtesy of the NSA themselves).

"Luddite" is the new "racist": a self-inflicted insult to whoever utters it demonstrating their lack of cognition and a total submission which isn't the survival mechanism you may hope it is (submission is irrelevant).

The NSA has done what the Unabomber couldn't achieve.

This guy is pretty funny!

• I like the liberal arts.
• I have enjoyed the fruits of grade inflation.
• I have called myself "doctor" because it sounds impressive.

I like it, but I liked the icons too. And yet, something about the icons seemed old school, so this is nice, especially if the code resizes the images. I know the trend now - Slashdot is definitely guilty of it in the redesign - is huge images that span the article. That kind of drives me crazy, maybe because I'm a more text oriented kind of person and I am turned off by sites that seem to emphasize images and bling over the text, which is the content I'm looking for.

This seems like the perfect compromise - nice work!

So how soon til this gets hacked to show inexplicably horrid images as a joke?

I don't think having them only on certain stories would look good, too little consistency. Maybe an image if there is a good looking relevant one, or generic logos otherwise.

I'm consistently impressed with how this site is run. Great idea. =. hurrah.

Images are fine if they contribute to the story, but to use an image which is only vaguely related to the story seems unnessecary. Maybe images should be used when it makes sense to, and just have nothing otherwise.

I voted none, but i am not against having images or icons. The great thing about having icons is that you are able to quickly notice the category of the story, which is great when you're scrolling through the page.

This is completely stupid, and just some awfully produced cg crap for a patent application.

Why on Earth would you want to waste space in an electronic watch that's supposed to be a small wearable device by cramming a large mechanical watch in there? As it is, there's no space for a battery that would give smart watches enough run time.

This is no more real than the Starship Enterprise/

Yeah, saw this referenced on the other site. Seems exactly like alarmist luddite claptrap to me.

Tiny tiny cheap keyboard control chips have magical keylogging powers that two generations of hackers have failed to notice? Bull offal.

More likely they destroyed multiple functional parts and a few got highlighted here, for conspiracy theory fun times.

Keyboards retain fingerprints. That's about the extent of the exposure outside the hard drive.

Extraordinary claims require... SOME frickin' evidence.

Nothing wrong with that, if you like it you like it, I'm just gently mocking the smartwatch/wearable computing hype and/or fashion thing :)

What if I think watches are pretty. :(

My wriswratch has been broken for months. I haven't sent it for repair. I just like the look of it.

My necklace is an abacus of physical bitcoins so I can do my accounting anywhere (front vs. back, multiple rows) and when the IRS calls I only have to walk in the door :P

Sure it's big and weighs a ton but it also costs several millioioioins dollares because of the bitcoin and nobody will ever steal it because nobody steals necklaces and nobody thinks that anyone wearing a necklace would be wearing anything but a cheap trinket and it's not like it's the most visible, alluring, and easy theft around except for dumb smartphones.

That's what I think of wristwatches, they were enough of a pain when they weren't computers :)

Yes I know the shallowness of human social interaction requires something easy and nontaxing to latch on to for the bragging rituals to start, wear a colorful band-aid on your forehead and it will serve the same purpose for cents and be even more "in your face", in addition you will know it's "you" that's wanted because who the hell digs for band-aids? :D

"Did you hurt yourself?"
Genuine smile. "Yes emotionally, I use this to get into conversations with people and to invite members of the opposite sex"

Consternation = avoid, interest = snog, laugh = marry.

Accidentally, an article in this week's Economist addresses the first issue, i.e. software implementation. If software can be ensured to be functionally equivalent with differences in underlying code, that would potentially restrict mass-targeted attacks.

99% of the way there already.

Computer security being broken is not really the big issue, nor is it about the lack of control, nor is it that computing and its results can't be trusted or taken at face value. Security, control, and trust are to a very large extent delusional notions and computers didn't change that. These things are water under the bridge.

The big issue is the amount of effort and resources spent on not only actively removing such of your (imagined or not) "property rights" (security, control, and trust of the tools you own) but on doing the same to everyones entire "objective" existence past, present, and future and doing it continuously, simultanously, efficiently, scalably, eternally, and tied to the accelerating technological improvement and how they were nearly done completing the rudimentary working prototype of this setup two years ago .

That is what Snowden revealed even if he perhaps did not realize it. It is the sum total and the conclusion and it doesn't matter the slightest whether this meta-tool was intentional or not: it is going to be used and improved upon.

Good analogy.

We could all buy steel reinforced doors, industrial strength security glass but we don't.
Same for software. The time and expense is not seen worthwhile.

Those claws were pretty amazing, much more viscerally impressive than the shoes. They also seemed incredibly, incredibly dangerous. To him.

But this guy and people like him are the role models for future geeks.

To think that for some us growing up it was just Mr. Wizard. RIP.

Sounds like me. :)

And of course, ironically and fittingly enough, I have nothing of value to steal and nothing really to hide.

Some people care about privacy, and only a small subset of us are both guiltless and somewhere near normal.

As you say, the vast majority don't give a shit. Which is why Zuckerberg is so incredibly rich.

...unless he's your neighbor and you've got kids, in which case, "um, kids, stay away from the guy next door with the wolverine claws, stomping around on the ceiling. And don't try to sell him any girl scout cookies or magazine subscriptions."

Of course, there's the idea of reducing your attack-surface, too. Stay off social networking sites, don't use "free" web-based email, don't use cloud services, and so on - most of the things your ordinary modern Netizen doesn't do at all. Cloud storage is another, as evidenced by just some of the posts on Pipedot, for example. Guess cloud backup is right out.

If they want it, they'll get it, sure, but you can certainly reduce the points of entry.

Damn, you said everything I was getting ready to say. :)

Only real difference is there are many more brands it virtual locks, each with its own idiosyncrasies.

The speed and mutability of electronic "attack surfaces" and the ease of attack, sheer number of criminals, and immunity from consequences are all vastly greater online though.

Most of us have only a simple, easy to pick door lock standing between any would-be thief and our stuff. The real use of these things is merely to act as a deterrent, so people have to be serious if they want to get your stuff. But if they are serious, no amount of security will keep you completely safe. We generally seem to be ok with that situation.

I think the situation is relatively the same for computers. If someone really wants your digital stuff, they'll get it. You can't really prevent that. But you can control what information you allow to be digitally stored.

Honestly, the gadgets themselves don't impress me that much; they are bulky and don't really do anything innovative. They are things people could have done for years but haven't because, frankly, the disadvantages by far outweigh any any advantages (although the sparking claws were a nice touch)

But you gotta admire that guy's enthusiasm.

Great one - I'd never seen that one. Love the idea of a new smart phone - flipphone. I love my Note 3 but do miss the days I could actually get my phone into a pocket. I once had a lovely little Samsung flipphone that was so small I lost it for a couple of days before it eventually turned up in a pocket of pants I'd put back in the drawer. No chance of ever accidentally putting the Note in a drawer: too big and heavy.

Dick Tracey is on line one, sir.

So this watch buzzes and flashes an incoming call on the display. Are you supposed to answer it and speak into the watch? Sounds pretty douchey.

Obligatory xkcd.

http://xkcd.com/1372/

I agree with the name. Stick the overlay and bluetooth and brains on a rolex and you can feel free to charge an extra $5k for it, put it on a citizen and charge an extra $100, but a no-name, I'd only be willing to spend a couple hundred overall. It's easier to buy a all-digital and feel fine from a tech company (samsung, apple, etc.) but I want my mechanical parts to work day-in, day-out with no maintenance and remain accurate; I won't trust a startup to deliver on that (or really, anything else) until their product has been around for a while. Fancy new electronic gizmo I'm more willing because it is more of a toy. My watch is a tool, and I need it to work.

You really think so? It's not to my tastes at all. I think the contrast between a conservative design and the overlay would be really cool. But right, to be successful it needs a more reasonable price, or a big watchmaker name behind it.

I agree this is a step in the right direction; regardless of the snazzy marketing for things like the Galaxy Gear, the Gear remains kind of dorky looking, and as far as I can tell, it's not useful for much.

It looks really really nice, and the transparent overlay is a nice idea. Having said that, I'm not sure I'm ready to shell out $500-$1000 for one. Maybe 4 or 5 years from now we might see the price drop into impulse-buy territory...

Smart watches aren't ready for mainstream yet, though this is certainly is progress in the right direction.

At the price range they're looking for, brand and image is a big factor. This looks very thick and would probably look out of place with formal wear. There is a market for big, chunky, and cutting edge, but it is very small.

Places that promote nudism -- which includes people from ages 1 to 101 -- will sometimes be confused with child pornography if pictures are taken of children and adolescents.

Just occured to me too, imagine if the military suddenly decided this would be the coolest thing ever and ordered a million of them. Not only would the guy be a millionaire, but we'd have military/wolverine folks running around - interesting.

Got to love the hackerspace energy/philosphy too, even if the guy does look a bit nuts. We need more of these creative types.

Courtesy of Ars today: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/05/houseguest-downloads-child-porn-cops-show-up/

Local police in Marin communities like Novato are members of the regional Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force, and as such they participate in the common law enforcement practice of monitoring peer-to-peer file-sharing networks for possible child pornography files. In September 2013, Novato detective Amy Yardley was looking for such files being traded from Marin County IP addresses, and she scored a hit on the Ares network with a suspicious file downloaded by a Sausalito Internet subscriber.
Yardley passed the tip to the Sausalito Police Department, where detective Brian Mather obtained a search warrant for the subscriber's address. He showed up at the house with a search team but couldn't find any child pornography within. The home's residents, no doubt unnerved by both the search and the charge behind it, pleaded their innocence and gave Mather a complete list of all houseguests who had used their wireless network in recent months.
Investigating this list took months, but Mather eventually developed a suspect: Mark Magner, age 32, from nearby San Rafael. Police then searched Magner's home and seized his computer. A forensic examination of the machine turned up "multiple videos and pictures that depicted juveniles and children involved in sexual acts," in the words of a police department press release .

The guy is both crazy and awesome, love the energy. I'd probably be acting the same way if I had pneumatic claws I could run around just cutting stuff up with.

A new chinese phone will come rooted which means easy firewall and better app permissions and phone security. So, will Android 5 finally giveus user set app permissions (no! you may not have internet access! denied and stop trying to enable wireless!) or an easier path to root?

Android is one of two horses in the mobile race... but will they give users what they need.

Meanwhile, My phone is powerful enough to run linux. Why make it hard to do so?

I hope the pizza parlor didn't pocket all that, or at least that the driver got a tip.

Doesn't that depend on the dose? I mean if it's too high won't we just get Happy Days?

You guys love to externalize your problems - I reckon it'll be Fight Club ..

Wasn't $99 the same price as the HP Touchpad firesale? (After initially launching at $500-600 one month prior)

Somewhere out there, David Packard is turning in his grave. Or maybe, Zombie Packard is out and about, haunting Meg Whitman and the other, previous CEOs that have driven HP from being field leader in so many technological efforts, to also-ran and box-pusher. Just threw out my HP 15C calculator last week; it had lasted since 1988 and was a great example of innovation, quality, and pride.

That said, I'm all in on a $99 tablet. Samsung charges more than that - why not go for volume?