Recent Comments

If you buy from one of the 6 biggest manufacturers, you almost certainly have it, even if you don't know it.

There needs to be a moderation option for "syntax Error"

unless you looked at the firmware for each laptop you can't be sure. a lot of big vendors put it on their boards* and some vendors just remove the options from the "BIOS Setup Utility" but it's still there.
* #5-scale-of-potential-problem" rel="nofollow">https://securelist.com/analysis/publications/58278/absolute-computrace-revisited/#5-scale-of-potential-problem

"Nearly every PC" has this crap? Come on now. First of all, it sounds like it's almost entirely restricted to laptops. Certainly my laptops don't have it, and it's for damn sure none of my many desktops and servers do.

Good question. How could we check it.. if we don't know how this module works?

Back when I used to manage Windows laptops (mostly IBM/Lenovo), it seemed that:

(1) the Computrace thing was only capable of "hacking" your Windows install; wipe and install, say Ubuntu, and Computrace can't do anything.

(2) the BIOS usually offered three settings, forgive me that I'm fuzzy on the exact same wording, Inactive (meaning it hacks you and phones home but pretends it doesn't), Enabled (hacks you, phones home, if you've paid you can track it), Disabled (doesn't hack you, but doesn't un-hack you if you already are). The last two are permanent choices, once you pick either of those you can never undo it. Flashing the BIOS has no effect.

Anybody know if these are still true?

After installing a number of HDTVs to the wall with complex (and expensive) mounting brackets, a simple magnet mounting mechanism sounds like a dramatic improvement. Just mount an iron plate (or a few smaller plates) to the wall and then the TV just sticks in place.

Although the panel in the picture is certainly flexible, it doesn't look flexible enough to roll up into a tube. Imagine how much cheaper shipping would be if your new "giant" TV came in a slender tube instead of a large rectangular box that needed 2 people to pick up.

62,000 hrs for blue OLEDs. Means 7 years 24/7 running. Means solved for my use cases. My TVs don't come even close to 24/7 runtime. If the OLEDs don't degrade when switched off, I expect a lifespan of at least 20-30 years for my devices. I never had a TV that long.

I had no idea it was in my BIOS. My preference is that nothing in the host OS can modify the BIOS. Think of the hacking potential....

Probably a duct in the wall directly behind it for the power, HDMI and other cables. Power cable weight isn't a problem - just hook it in when putting in the cabling kit.

Doesn't look solved to me. Rather, looks like it's solved good enough for devices that are seen as more or less disposable, like cellphones and tablets.

I'm surprised nobody knew about it being installed. When i bought my laptop it was a selling point, one for which i gladly paid to keep the subscription. Where i live and work the chance of theft is moderate to high, its worth it to me. But my laptop is now old enough that i doubt i'll see any bios updates...and being a dell (poor update track-record, ime)

Fun disclosure: i also run Cerberus tracking on my phone, and Lojack on my vehicle :)

Plus, once devices start becoming so light and thin I'd start worrying that the tension and weight of the power cord might pull the damn thing off the wall.

Of course, if you ever look at the advertising of these ultra-light products, you'll notice they do everything they can to hide the fact that it even needs an unsightly power cord at all.

Initially this was the biggest problem.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OLED#Disadvantages

Seems to be solved, but in an article for an expensive product like this, I'd still like to read some numbers.

How he found his way to |. I don't know...

From time to time I drop the |. url on /.. Should I not doing this?

Pretty hard to follow, probably not native English,

I just saw a wall of text. No introduction of the topic and why it could be generally interesting for |.. It had no apparent 'story' so I ignored it.

Last time it was submitted, I searched and found this is a (serious) product proposal (not a news story) which has been repeatedly submitted all over the web. How he found his way to |. I don't know...

Pretty hard to follow, probably not native English, so I didn't really try. There are hordes of people out there in the perpetual motion community, coming up with motor and turbine designs every day, which don't hold-up to any scrutiny.

...which made it through reviews. Is this one of those?

Wow, somebody who understands economics! This is rare even among economists.

Those bags have radically inferior performance characteristics. Try sticking your key fob inside them and see if you can still open the car door - you might be surprised. If you want a tried and independently tested product that will give you -80db across the board, and is made in the USA, you know where to go :)

Be careful to seal all the holes in the tin foil, and don't leave any gaps, tears and holes. The size of an allowable gap in a faraday cage relates to the size of the wavelength the cage is absorbing. Be careful when you are re-folding the foil that it doesn't tear and no new holes exist from general wear and tear.

I always Imagined that as automation goes up, the wealth gap also goes up. As those with capitol spend it in such a way that it does not benefit laborers.

Go back several hundred years, and you don't see a nice even distribution of wealth, despite the lack of automation. Instead, the wealth gap is caused by laws (like taxes) that are too-favorable for the wealthy, disadvantaging the middle-class... Property, stocks, and other assets appreciate faster than wages, while being subject to much-lower tax rates. As long as that holds, the wealth gap can only continue increasing, and it will do so regardless of the progress of automation.

It's automation that has made goods so incredibly affordable, today, that people can afford huge volumes of stuff. Go back before the industrial revolution, and you'll see homes that are nearly barren of commercially-produced goods... Remember when people had 90-hour work-weeks, and still couldn't afford to pay rent and food? Compare to today's 40-hour work-weeks, with everyone spending less than 15% of their income on all the food they can eat. When was the last famine in the western world?

But historically there was a dynamic between labor and capital that lead to the betterment of all.

That dynamic only existed for a very brief period, and it wasn't ever the case that paying for more, less-productive labor, benefited anyone. Instead, it was the growing efficiency of labor (assisted by automation) that made it possible for those jobs to become high-paying. And the US was on top because automation allowed high-paid union workers to make products that were exported to 3rd world countries, cheaper than being built locally by poorly-paid 3rd world laborers without the automation.

Rich Guy A buys ipad from Rich Guy B. Ipad completely automated, zero humans involved in the design or manufacturer of said Ipad. Rich Guy B just owns the robots that did everything.

1) This ipad can be manufacturered for $1 more than the cost of materials. If Rich Guy A tries to sell it for more than that, Rich Guy C will be able to start making ipads cheaper and will sell them to Rich Guy B.

2) As long as there are ANY jobs left for humans, even modest wages will allow those workers to afford a large amount of said ipads, thanks to automation driving the prices towards zero. And the cost of materials will continue to fall as well, as the automation allows for cheaper solar power, and more efficient mineral extraction and more.

Not sure. I always Imagined that as automation goes up, the wealth gap also goes up. As those with capitol spend it in such a way that it does not benefit laborers. Rich Guy A buys ipad from Rich Guy B. Ipad completely automated, zero humans involved in the design or manufacturer of said Ipad. Rich Guy B just owns the robots that did everything.

Of course that's just a gut reaction. I'd have to do some modeling to see how that would work in practice. But historically there was a dynamic between labor and capital that lead to the betterment of all. With devalued labor, I'm not so sure that still holds. We may return to a middle ages style of serfdom or worse.

Not sure, I'm not well versed in the history of airlines or cars. I kind of wish I was. I was kind of guessing that it might have been packard?

OTOH, once hacked this will be useful for determning when my daughter isn't having sex. ATM knocking on her door is a bit of a crapshoot...

Do you really want your web browser having an open audio input stream permanently on?

There are too many cars polluting the skies and requiring vast quantities of landscape to be paved for roads and parking.

It's likely pollution will increase. Automation will make it cheaper and easier for vehicles to drive MORE miles. Who needs trains when you can stick a mattress in your car, tell it to drive across the country, and just wake-up in a new city? Mass-transit will have an even harder time competing. The switch to EVs and hybrids could help with pollution (and road noise), but that's really independent of the introduction of self-driving cars.

It could mean we get away with fewer parking-spaces, but will probably require even MORE roads. Automated cars should more efficiently utilize existing roads, but when miles driven climbs substantially, you'll still hit capacity limits.

The article forgot to mention that AI may make all knowledge workers redundant!!!

Sweeping predictions of AI taking over the world have been falling-short for the past half century. I'd say we've got a few hundred more years before we need to worry about it.

As long as there is ONE JOB out there, which humans can do just slightly better than machines, the economy won't collapse. Sure, you won't earn much money for, say, sorting rocks by shape and texture, but you'll live quite comfortably since extreme automation drove prices of everything very nearly to zero at the same time.

Quite right - big 3. Was it airlines that used to be the big 5?

Anyway, the points are that US manufacturers haven't been keeping ahead, and lots of stuff would have to change for there to actually be something for them to adapt to.

Not that I'm hoping things won't change. I want my next car to drive itself.

Really? Its usually pretty simple. I have a bad habit of sneaking looks at other random people's computers in public places. Like what are they doing at starbucks/mc donalds? Why are they traveling? What does an enterprise spreadsheet look like? Are they using macros? So many interesting things one could learn by glancing over. I'd probably notice he was doing something cool. Probably not enough to think " hey he's trying to take over the flight system" , but enough to try and find a way to start an innocuous conversation with him to try and figure it out. Like: Is that xnomad? I've never seen such a nice setup before... Etc, until I tiptoed around what he was doing.

Not sure if I'd be the best spy in the world, or the worst. With such a dramatic swing in possible outcomes, its probably glad that I'm not one.

Well, except for GM. Its still number two in the world according to that article. At times its traded the Number one position with Toyota.

There are existing car share services which work fairly well in metro areas. I'm in more of a suburban area. Where they aren't as common, nor is public transportation readily available. Of course, if the car comes to you, that's even better and might make it viable.

Four hours out of one's day might be enough of an inconvenience to inspire someone to buy an additional car. Depending on their income and their responsibilities. My parents did that for quite some time. I think the third child made them decide that they needed to do get a second cheaper car. Getting all of us kids in the car so my dad could get to work on time was a chore. He also worked odd hours, so she would occasionally wake us up at 1:00 am to pick him up.

From your use case above I don't know, if you don't overlook something. Many families cannot afford two cars. So everything has to done be with only one car. Many people manage. Some probably with optimizations, which not require additional tours. If now a car can drive alone from one to the other owner, it really might mean more traffic. Less thinking and compromises necessary to achieve the same effect easier and more convenient. Additionally sooner or later people will notice 'hey, my car sits most of the time motionless around... it could make me money, if it transports people when I don't need it. So someone develops an app, which calls stand-by private cars, which are registered for this service... kills the cap driver business and possibly other forms of public transportations. It might make less cars necessary, but it might at the same time increase traffic. The net effect? I have not idea.

I think it is impossible for uneducated people

What do you mean with 'uneducated people'? I am very educated. Softwaredeveloper and consultant for years. And it still would be impossible for me to see what you are doing if you type on your laptop on the neighbouring seat. Especially since most people give others a modicum of privacy and don't constantly snoop what they are doing.

But in recent years; Toyoda, Volkswagon, and Hyundai all make more cars than any of those American manufacturers.

Who were the big five?

Big three: Ford, GM, Chrystler right?
Big five: Big Three + AMC + ??

Hmm... From reading the summary, I don't think this will necessarily mean less miles traveled by cars. Just less cars. If I'm going to work at 8:00 and leaving work only at 5:00 and my wife needs the car to run errands. All of that can be done with one car, but today uses two, because my wife might not want to drop me off and pick me up from work ( at an hour's commute each way durring traffic, that kind makes sense) . So now if the car can just return home after dropping me off, it doesn't suck an additional four hours from her day where she could be doing other things. The down side is that instead of just operating for two hours a day taking me to and from work, it now operates four hours a day.

But obviously not spending the resources and energy to create a second car saves the enviornment a bit.

The article forgot to mention that AI may make all knowledge workers redundant!!!

So if some technology that is 'on the cusp' comes to fruition and people adapt it widely and their purchasing patterns change drastically then the 'big 3' - that used to be the 'big 5', but which have been failing to meet consumer desires - may need to adapt.

I'm waiting with baited breath.

There are too many cars polluting the skies and requiring vast quantities of landscape to be paved for roads and parking. Also of note, driverless cars won't just impact US automakers, they will impact all automakers. There will likely be a short lived (in the 10ish year time span) boost in sales as everyone gets theirs, then people will just relax and enjoy. As an avid driver, I'm only worried (and even then, just slightly) that driverful cars will at some point be banned.

As a side note, I expect driverless cars to last longer than driverful cars due to the cars always driving smoothly and the potential for the car to drive itself to the mechanic for maintenance.

Hmm... It would be great if you had some kind of polarized display that showed you the contents only if you are wearing special glasses. Yet to everyone else, it looks like solitaire...

Something like this, but with solitaire for everyone else not wearing glasses:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Privacy-monitor-made-from-an-old-LCD-Monitor/

I think if you sat with glasses on staring at a white screen, that might also rasie suspisions too much.

They would interpret you as dangerous. As well they should! You are educated in something they don't understand, so that makes you scary.

My "desktop" is xmonad with many xterms open. I use green as foreground color, so almost all text comes up at green. I read my mail through the console, ircing, writing programs with vim. How would they interpret this? A lot of green text flying on screens...

I think it is impossible for uneducated people to know what somebody does in front of the computer. Just because it looks like "Hollywood hacking" it is not hacking.

Yeah, I know! It's like they pick me out of the crowd going ZOMG HACKER! Can't I I wear my Black Hat in peace?

You think far too complicated. Do you really think the flight attendants are able to distinguish between a passenger playing tetris and one trying to hack the system? I suppose after reading the bulletin they look around to see if one of their passengers is wearing a black hat. They might have heard that black hats are evil hackers.

> the F.B.I. issued a bulletin to airlines to be on the lookout for passengers showing signs they may be trying to hack into an airplane's Wi-Fi or inflight entertainment system

What a joke! An well-organized effort to break into passenger jet flight control systems doesn't need to possess any outwards visible behavior cues.

All any break-in needs is a person carrying a malicious transponder to interface with, and relay command and control transmissions.

They can just sit there, while someone else remotely transmits commands, which are then tunneled through the relay device. At that point, the limitations of the attack vector would be reduced to line-of-sight, and the remote transmitter's signal strength.

So then, what you have is a person carrying what appears to be a cell phone, but the guts have been replaced with a black box transponder. Some one from miles away could then broadcast signals to the transponder, which then delivers payloads, and returns the details of the avionics systems state.

My primary OS. LiveCD, easy to install, user-friendly. I've used Slack in the past, Salix isn't like that at all. Includes Gslapt for pre-compiled packages, and Sourcery for source packages. I haven't found anything it can't do, compared to the debs. Bonus: no PulseAudio, ALSA works great! Recommended for all except maybe complete linux novices.

I don't know. If its a retail unit, its both awesome, hilarious, and perfectly within Microsoft's reach to do that. They broke a Microsoft rule, well, then Microsoft revoked their access to their software. Go ahead and sue. You're both at fault. Microsoft might wave the cost of purchasing a xbox one, but hold you accountable for their professional attourney infated losses.

...he deserves jail time. But so does every idiot, who is responsible for implementing a passenger wifi system, which is not 100% separated from the flight systems. And jail time for everybody who could have done something, but did not after she was informed that something like that is possible.

Previously #7NYM