Recent Posts

1426

Non-Windows Software / *NIX: Pipelight has a new website - plus new version available

« Last post by 40hz on July 29, 2014, 06:46 AM »

This is good news!



If you don't know what Pipelight is, here's the description from the project website:

Pipelight is a wrapper for using Windows plugins in Linux browsers and therefore giving you the possibility to access services which are otherwise not available for Linux users. Typical examples of such services are Netflix and Amazon Instant, which both use the proprietary browser plugin Silverlight. These services cannot normally be used on Linux since this plugin is only available for Windows, and the only open source alternative (Moonlight) is lacking support for DRM.

Pipelight helps you access these services by using the original Silverlight plugin directly in your browser, all while giving you a better hardware acceleration and performance than a virtual machine. Besides Silverlight, you can also use a variety of other plugins that are supported by Pipelight. Take a look at the installation page for a complete list.

Pipelight uses a patched wine version to provide a windows environment to the plugins, but you do not need to worry about this as Pipelight will take care of installing, configuring and updating all supported plugins. From the perspective of the browser these plugins will behave just like any other normal Linux plugin after you have enabled them.

More information and installation instructions are available at the website.

1427

General Software Discussion / Re: diagnostic tool

« Last post by 40hz on July 29, 2014, 06:25 AM »

There's tons of software that will list processes and show CPU/RAM utilization for them.

But that won't identify a conflict, or a process causing a "lag" in another process.

About the only thing that will identify it (if that's really what the problem is) is going through a tedious process of elimination using msconfig. The procedure is discussed here if you don't already know how to do it.

Luck!

1428

General Software Discussion / Re: Is Antivirus Software a Waste of Money?

« Last post by 40hz on July 29, 2014, 06:01 AM »

I just got my first call from someone who had gotten dual-bitten by a password logging bot plus (to my amazement) some ransomware.

She was running a (mostly) updated copy of Win7x64 along with MS Security Essentials.

...

Draw from this what conclusions you will.

-40hz (July 27, 2014, 01:06 PM)

The problem is you can't draw any more elaborate conclusions than that MSE did not stop this threat. For all we know, a commercial protection might have been equally useless.

-Jibz (July 29, 2014, 02:22 AM)

Precisely.

To wit: the one and only time I ever got bit was some years back - on a fully protected and updated machine.

I think this is one of those situations where the old adage that "One prayer and a toothbrush is better than a thousand prayers and no toothbrush" applies. It's a more a risk minimization strategy rather than a risk elimination process.

How much additional protection you get going with something other than MSE as your main AV scanner is up for debate. But that's a topic I'm not really qualified (being merely an informed user - and not a bona fide security expert) to get into. About all I have to go on is what I'm seeing on the field. And what I'm seeing is that (lately) more and more stuff seems to be slipping past MSE.



FWIW I'm currently using BitDefender Total Security and Malwarebytes Premium as my two main guard dogs. Weighing in around $100 for that combo, it certainly isn't cheap. But I need to plug laptops into my client's networks. So I can't risk catching an infection - or even worse - spreading one. Most people won't have that concern, or need to be able to demonstrate "a reasonable level of precaution" has been exercised in the event something goes wrong. Your degree of liability can get a little sticky (and expensive) in business situations where finger pointing and blame assignment is the norm however.

If these were just personal machines that would never leave my home, I'd most likely use the freebie versions of the above.

YMMV.

1429

Living Room / Re: I'd like to get a Windows Tablet: help me decide.

« Last post by 40hz on July 28, 2014, 05:36 PM »

I got a hot dog on a stick and left.

-superboyac (July 28, 2014, 10:35 AM)

I still say you got the better value for what you're looking for. 

-wraith808 (July 28, 2014, 02:57 PM)

This.

1430

General Software Discussion / Re: Is Antivirus Software a Waste of Money?

« Last post by 40hz on July 28, 2014, 05:33 PM »

Dumb Terminals/Thin Clients connect to your own servers.  That's been a concept for a while...

-wraith808 (July 28, 2014, 04:07 PM)

You could also run your own trusted private mesh network with some fellow travellers and keep it all off the public backbone.

It's not enough to just own the servers any more. You also need to own the actual network infrastructure.

1431

Living Room / Re: Seagate starts shipping 8TB hard drives, with 10TB and HAMR on the horizon

« Last post by 40hz on July 28, 2014, 05:27 PM »

Don’t let Superboy find out about this. He'll be among the first to get one. And knowing him, he'll probably order a dozen to start. Just because.

1432

Living Room / Re: Director wants his film on The Pirate Bay, pirates deliver…

« Last post by 40hz on July 28, 2014, 05:21 PM »

I love this line!

“I know not everybody cares about that, but I do. The cinema is the best place to see movies. If you haven’t seen ‘Once Upon a Time in the West’ on the big screen, you just haven’t seen it,” Koolhoven says.

I just saw that movie for the first time a few years ago and it blew me away something special.  I just couldn't get over the experience of that movie for several weeks.  I haven't seen it on the big screen!  damn!!
I heard last year that they showed the full uncut never before seen version of this at a private showing with the stars in attendance, and it got a standing O from deniro, connelly, everyone.  I do really like this movie.

-superboyac (July 28, 2014, 04:14 PM)

You also need to see:

Patton
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Where Eagles Dare
Lawrence of Arabia
Ben-Hur
2001: A Space Odyssey
Seabiscuit
Twister


up on the big screen...in a theater....with a crowd...to really get the full effect.

Even the best home theater doesn't do these films justice.

1433

Living Room / Re: Moore's Law Dead by 2022, Expert Says

« Last post by 40hz on July 28, 2014, 05:13 PM »

I think the thing that may ultimately do it is the widespread adoption of "good enough" restricted platform tablet devices by the majority of the public.

And as a result, the future limits of this technology will be increasingly determined by politics rather than genuine "technical" roadblocks.

I think most big companies, and government in general, would be very happy if the personal and open computing platform - as we have heretofore known it -  just went away. Far too much power in the hands of the masses. And far too many opportunities for innovation - which then leads to competition against established mainline firms from 'untrusted' and 'upstart' competitors.

Not building real personal computers negates the need for better and faster chips. Not developing better and faster chips destroys the opportunity to design better and more powerful personal computers. QED.

"If you don't build it, they can't come." to paraphrase Shoeless Joe.

1434

Living Room / Re: Does anyone here use Bitcoins?

« Last post by 40hz on July 27, 2014, 09:33 PM »

@40hz - More ammo for you to chuck it at me!

-Renegade (July 27, 2014, 09:24 PM)

Who me? Never!

Two interesting vids btw.

Even if they did feel a little like a multi-level marketing meeting in places. But I suppose preaching to an enthusiastic choir (in Goldstein's case) is gonna sound like that more often than not.

1435

General Software Discussion / Re: MaidSafe - The new decentralized Internet

« Last post by 40hz on July 27, 2014, 09:26 PM »

Decentralised communications? That's a big deal.

-Renegade (July 27, 2014, 08:09 PM)

Agree. Tom Jennings's Fidonet   had something very similar to that back (somewhat ironically) in 1984.

(Note: Episode 4 of BBS: The Documentary is about Fidonet. You can watch it here.)

1436

General Software Discussion / Re: MaidSafe - The new decentralized Internet

« Last post by 40hz on July 27, 2014, 09:10 PM »

This is an information war.

-Renegade (July 27, 2014, 08:09 PM)

It's not really 'war' until your opposition decides to take up arms and seriously mobilize. And that part hasn't happened yet. Except maybe to Julian Assange and Kim Dotcom.

For the most part they're still trying to handle things quietly on the "law & order" front.

If 'war' does come to the cyber frontier, you'll know. And in no uncertain terms.

1437

Living Room / Re: Does google have to be *everywhere*?

« Last post by 40hz on July 27, 2014, 09:00 PM »

Updating software to cripple it is below low. It's kind of hard to believe. Is that right? Am I reading wrong?

-Renegade (July 27, 2014, 08:14 PM)

Nope. You're just being shown (the hard way) what that "terms of this service are subject to change without notice" clause is all about.

1438

Living Room / Re: What about Condaleezza Rice and Dropbox?

« Last post by 40hz on July 27, 2014, 05:25 PM »

Ms. Rice is a non-issue.

We all know what she is and what she's done.

We all know she will never be prosecuted for it.

There are far more important things to worry about than her continued presence.

She remains what she always was: yet another willing pawn in somebody else's ugly game.

Forget her.

1439

Living Room / Re: Director wants his film on The Pirate Bay, pirates deliver…

« Last post by 40hz on July 27, 2014, 03:34 PM »

Who is he uploading for?

-Curt (July 27, 2014, 12:42 PM)

Very tiny people who speak Dutch? 

1440

Living Room / Re: Does google have to be *everywhere*?

« Last post by 40hz on July 27, 2014, 01:27 PM »

Like a staph infection, it doesn't need to exist. But it does. And it's out there.

Ditto iOS. When you're in a walled garden that uses the rules Apple does, you're SOL. And an update that breaks something isn't that uncommon. I had a half dozen pro-level network utilities that represented about $80 out-of-pocket suddenly stop working following an update because Apple strongly restricted network scanning/sniffing capabilities across the board on iPhones.

When I complained I was told "We can do this. Please read the ToS for your iPhone." I was also informed I should not expect a refund for any purchases made through the AppStore. I was told: "You'll have to pursue that directly with the app developers."

One offered to give me a refund for the two apps of theirs I owned. I asked why they made the changes they made. They said it was "required by Apple" and they weren't at liberty to discuss it because the terms of Apple's developer contract didn't allow them to elaborate. I thanked them and told them to just keep the money.

The other three devs never responded to the any of emails I sent them. Two of them have since disappeared form the AppStore.

1441

General Software Discussion / Re: Is Antivirus Software a Waste of Money?

« Last post by 40hz on July 27, 2014, 01:06 PM »

I just got my first call from someone who had gotten dual-bitten by a password logging bot plus (to my amazement) some ransomware.

She was running a (mostly) updated copy of Win7x64 along with MS Security Essentials.

A close check of all her financial and personal logins followed by the creation of some strong new passwords fixed that worry. Fortunately, nothing was tampered with as far as she and we could tell.

The damage done by ransomware encryption was annoying, but less an issue since she had clean and very recent backups of all her critical stuff.

One HD wipe, reformat, and OS/apps/data reinstall and she was back to normal except for some personal inconvenience plus some money spent getting help and buying more powerful commercial antimalware.

Draw from this what conclusions you will.
.

1442

DC Gamer Club / Re: Anybody use or familiar with Roll20?

« Last post by 40hz on July 27, 2014, 12:33 PM »

If money is no object, FG is the best.  The only downside at that time becomes you have to have it installed, and licensed,

-wraith808 (July 26, 2014, 05:55 PM)

Thanks! Money is less an issue than the fact FG has the Call of Cthulhu ruleset - and especially a Masks of Nylarthotep module all set up and ready to go.

The people who are interested in this simply want to play the Masks of Nylarthotep campaign. So having it available for purchase at a reasonable price makes it a no-brainer. Figure $149 for the FG-Ultimate license plus $15 for the CoC ruleset and $25 for the MoN module comes totals $189 - which when divided among 8 players comes out to just under $24 each. That's very doable.

They also want to move quickly since Masks has a very long story arc which will take (roughly) the better part of a year for the average gaming circle to complete. Because of that, it's hard to assemble a group of players who are willing to commit to doing it. So it's best not to keep them waiting too long to start.
 

1443

General Software Discussion / Re: MaidSafe - The new decentralized Internet

« Last post by 40hz on July 27, 2014, 12:10 PM »

Still, anything effort on this front is better than nothing.

-40hz (July 27, 2014, 07:16 AM)

Do I detect a hint of hope and optimism?

Fingers crossed!

-40hz (July 27, 2014, 07:16 AM)

You and me both!

-Renegade (July 27, 2014, 10:18 AM)

LOL! I'm eternally optimistic. Wouldn't be alive or still have a sense of humor if I didn't. 

That said (you just  knew this was coming...

For a badass example of Maidsafe:
.
.
.
You can see file storage, file sharing, and real time chat there. :O Yeah... bad. ass.

-Renegade (July 27, 2014, 10:15 AM)

Less "bad ass" to my eyes than it is more the ever predictable kiddie bad-boy behavior you tend to see with this sort of thing. Oh well...let the food court and coffee shop 'revolutionaries' have their fun I suppose.

Crypto-anarchy is winning, and will win.

-Renegade (July 27, 2014, 10:15 AM)

Um...not to be a downer, but I think that's a little premature. Crypto-anarchy (as a movement) has yet to fight it's first real battle, let alone see hope for a lasting victory. Right now, it's little more than a minor annoyance to the powers that be, and not much more than an RPG for most of those who style themselves crypto-anarchists.

But not to fear. It will start getting seriously interesting soon enough.

1444

Living Room / Re: Movies or films you've seen lately

« Last post by 40hz on July 27, 2014, 11:50 AM »

Salamander - a Belgian 12 episode TV series.



A Belgian Federal Police inspector investigates the heavy-handed cover-up of the unreported theft of the personal contents found in 66 safe deposit boxes at a private bank in Brussels.



Very entertaining political conspiracy police thriller doled out in a dozen 40-minute chunks. Perfect when you don't have time for a feature length movie. If you do have time, just watch a couple of episodes back to back.

Go into it completely cold for the best entertainment. Avoid trailers. Any details other than the above will contain spoilers.

(Note: English subtitled. No overdubs available. Screen dialog is in French and Dutch.)

Recommended.

1445

Living Room / Re: Director wants his film on The Pirate Bay, pirates deliver…

« Last post by 40hz on July 27, 2014, 11:20 AM »

Article says it was done with public money for TV release, so I don't think the film's relationship to the producers is the same as your average Hollywood or even independent film in that respect.

-Edvard (July 26, 2014, 05:03 PM)

I wonder if that makes any difference. The BBC is funded with public money and they're pretty rabid about media rights. As is Canada with their "public" stuff. Guess it depends on which public money you're using.

The legality of his request may be questionable, but I suspect rather trivial (IANAL), so he's probably in the clear,

-Edvard (July 26, 2014, 05:03 PM)

Possibly. But in my experience it's only trivial until you get served with papers. Once that happens, it's far from trivial even if the claim being filed has absolutely no legal merit.

but I can't say he's not taking his own risk.

Fair enough. I wasn't aware he schlepped a copy over to YouTube on his own. I stand corrected.  

1446

Living Room / Re: Russia offers over $100,000 to de-anonymize Tor

« Last post by 40hz on July 27, 2014, 07:34 AM »

I thought the NSA already had backdoors/vulnerabilities in Tor. Wasn't something like that mentioned in another thread here on DC?

-Deozaan (July 26, 2014, 05:25 PM)

Was that the same thread where it was pointed out that they (the DOJ et al) actually funded the friggin project? This is turning into a question of what language do you want whispered into your ear when you're bent over..?

-Stoic Joker (July 27, 2014, 12:26 AM)

Russia isn't trying to break new ground. They just want in. And the NSA is demanding too much for a ticket.

1447

General Software Discussion / Re: MaidSafe - The new decentralized Internet

« Last post by 40hz on July 27, 2014, 07:16 AM »

Reminds me a little of FidoNet's concept. Which makes it a step in the right direction in my book.

Of course, it'll only be as secure as it's encryption methodology. And we know what we're up against with that 'poisoned well' thanks to Snowden spilling the beans. And as long as the powers that be are logging everything it's not exactly what you'd call fully stealthed. But it will make the task of those opposed to local control and personal privacy that much more difficult.

Of course there's nothing to stop MaidSafe from being compromised (local nodes infected with a government spybot for example) or honeypotted since there will be sloppy devs and node owners who don't understand or can't be bothered to RTFM. Less an issue while it's mostly übergeek. But once the masses pile on, it's a problem that will eventually surface.

Still, anything effort on this front is better than nothing. And who knows? Maybe that famous old story about Nasrudin and how "the horse will talk" just might come true here.



Fingers crossed!

1448

DC Gamer Club / Re: Anybody use or familiar with Roll20?

« Last post by 40hz on July 26, 2014, 05:11 PM »

Did you have a question?

-wraith808 (July 26, 2014, 04:42 PM)

Yes. This would be for RPG. Did you have a preference?

1449

Living Room / Re: Director wants his film on The Pirate Bay, pirates deliver…

« Last post by 40hz on July 26, 2014, 04:38 PM »

The director doesn’t own all copyrights to the movie himself, but grew frustrated by the fact that his film is not available through legal channels.

-Renegade (July 25, 2014, 07:17 AM)

His permission perhaps, but not the distributor's or studio's permission he is under contract with for that picture?

So...anybody want to throw themselves on the sword he himself doesn't plan to sacrifice himself on?

Sounds one of those suggestions that fall under the general heading of: "Hey! I just had this great idea!!! Why don't YOU do it instead of me?"

 

1450

DC Gamer Club / Anybody use or familiar with Roll20?

« Last post by 40hz on July 26, 2014, 02:02 PM »

I just became aware of this interesting online gaming resource called Roll20 and was wondering of anybody here has either run or participated in a game that used it?

For those who haven't heard about it, this is what Roll20 is about:

Who's this for?

Roll20 is a virtual tabletop. So it's all about taking any game that you traditionally play on a table (especially pen and paper RPGs and board games), and bringing it online. Play with friends who've moved across the country, or find a completely new gaming group online. Roll20 is easy to use, so dive in and get started!


Is this really free?

Yes! Roll20 is absolutely free to use for both GMs and players. Initial development of Roll20 was funded via Kickstarter, and we do offer totally optional supporter accounts for those who want access to additional perks (like more storage space and direct access to the Dev team) to help fund further improvements. But even if you're on a Base account for free, you'll still have access to everything you need to run your game -- unlimited campaigns and players, with access to all the great features listed on this page.