Recent Posts

7326

Living Room / Re: Patents - "Don't know whether to laugh or cry" Department

« Last post by 40hz on July 08, 2011, 08:43 AM »

( FYI - The link is missing from there.)

-Renegade (July 08, 2011, 08:07 AM)

@Ren - fixed! Thanks guy. 

7327

General Software Discussion / Re: can you recommend a free email system

« Last post by 40hz on July 08, 2011, 08:35 AM »

SBS is a classic train wreck. Everything is on C: and DNS is borked, and the box goes tits up in a year ... Why??   ...I see this happen all too often.

-Stoic Joker (July 08, 2011, 08:21 AM)

Agree 110% (More like 'The Hindenburg' AFAIC)

I've reached the point where the only SBS project I'm still willing to take on is migrating somebody off it.

7328

General Software Discussion / Re: can you recommend a free email system

« Last post by 40hz on July 08, 2011, 08:07 AM »

Might be easier to stick with what you're already familiar with if you're only looking at a few more years of keeping it going.

That being said, Mercury is a good solution for light to moderate e-mail traffic. If you routinely pass large attachments back and forth - or do a lot of "copy all" announcements or distributions - Exchange is usually much more efficient with message storage space. So keep that in mind too.

7329

Living Room / Patents - "Don't know whether to laugh or cry" Department

« Last post by 40hz on July 08, 2011, 07:57 AM »

This was bound to happen. Apparently patent litigation is now adopting some the strategies of the former US/Soviet Cold War...

Makes sense. Why should the trolls be allowed to have all the fun?

From OSNews:

HTC Buys S3 Graphics, Gets Patents Apple Is Infringing
posted by Thom Holwerda on Thu 7th Jul 2011 20:41 UTC, submitted by sawboss

Sorry, but for some reason, there's a spike in patent, trademark, and related news this week - not entirely unsurprising considering it's earnings season. HTC, currently under attack from Apple and a recent signer of Microsoft patent agreement regarding Android, has bought S3 Graphics... For the patents. Patents Apple has already been found infringing upon.

I really don't know whether to laugh or cry about it.

Link to full article here.

7330

Living Room / Re: More ammunition why patents are EVIL

« Last post by 40hz on July 08, 2011, 07:11 AM »

I have long maintained that George Carlin was the only true sage of the 20th century. He forced us to look at things (and ourselves) for what they really are...and not what we believed, or wanted them to be.

-Stoic Joker (July 08, 2011, 06:36 AM)

I'd add the comedian 'Gallagher' (Leo Anthony Gallagher Jr.) and writers George Ade, James Thurber, and Jean Shepherd to the list of 20th century sages as well.  

(Note: Members of the Little Orphan Annie Inner Circle can hear some of Shepherd's best over at the Flick Lives! website. No secret decoder required.   )

7331

General Software Discussion / Re: Google+

« Last post by 40hz on July 07, 2011, 11:52 AM »

According to a couple of German websites, some profiles with an obviously faked name were removed.

-Tuxman (July 07, 2011, 11:00 AM)

Well that sucks, I really don't want to use my real name online. Nor will I (it's boring). Sure the G+ thing is a bit tempting to try - for the hell of it - Mainly because I completely ignored the last 500 fads... But I'll not be signing up with anything close to what it says on my drivers license.

-Stoic Joker (July 07, 2011, 11:40 AM)

+1 with that. A Google and Bing search of my first/last name returns a grand total of 6 valid hits.

This did not come about by accident. 

I'd like to keep it that way.  

7332

General Software Discussion / Re: Data Recovery for SCO OpenServer

« Last post by 40hz on July 07, 2011, 09:27 AM »

If worstje's assumption about your level of technical knowledge is correct, then I must agree with him. This shouldn't be taken as an insult. It's the simple acknowledgement that even basic data recovery involves having some fairly advanced technical knowledge and experience.

If this data is that important, definitely seek assistance from a qualified data recovery service rather than try to do it yourself.  

7333

General Software Discussion / Re: Data Recovery for SCO OpenServer

« Last post by 40hz on July 07, 2011, 08:59 AM »

What type of disk is it, how is it partitioned, and what FS are you using?

7334

Living Room / Re: I Finally Bought a Kindle Book...

« Last post by 40hz on July 07, 2011, 06:17 AM »

It is strange and sad that we're moving from the universal and lifetime+ format of paper books to a corporate-controlled, DRM, proprietary set of formats for many books. If one ever had the fantasy that technology would free the world and make things better, corporations didn't get the message.

-zridling (July 07, 2011, 12:37 AM)

Oh I think they got the message just fine.

Unfortunately, their response to the message is: "We'll soon put a stop to this nonsense."  

7335

Living Room / Re: OK - lets get to know each other... who are you, what do you do, where from?

« Last post by 40hz on July 07, 2011, 06:00 AM »

Hey tjbray!

Quite an experience you've gone through. It's both inspirational and gratifying to see how you turned something like that around to be a positive factor in your life. Hope you'll find the time and energy to be a regular participant here. Be seeing you around the campus!

7336

Developer's Corner / Re: Bourne / Bash Shell Scripting Resources

« Last post by 40hz on July 07, 2011, 05:48 AM »

May be I'll have the opportunity to browse physical copies at a bookstore before too long.

-ewemoa (July 07, 2011, 03:49 AM)

Very smart move doing that. Whenever possible I always try to eyeball a tech book before I plunk down cash. One thing I've learned - you can't always trust Amazon's reviews. Or go by what your friends think either!  

7337

Living Room / Re: quick opinions: do i return this annoying machine

« Last post by 40hz on July 07, 2011, 04:49 AM »

Return it. It sounds like there's a hairline crack, bad connector, or cold solder joint on the board that's causing intermittent faults. Moving the cables around could be flexing the board or connectors just enough to temporarily get things working again. But the minute the components heat up (after they've been running for a while) or get cold (because the system has been switched off for a few hours) you'll be back to square one.

Life is too short.

My rule: any component failure or repeated system anomaly within the return period - send it back.

Two big PC manufacturers hate us because we always advise our clients to do that. Even for the slightest hardware glitch if it's within the return grace period. Our attitude is that the manufacturer's warranty on parts and labor should only be invoked once you can't get a new machine or your money back.

Note: Sometimes you have to push a little to get them to honor their return policy. They'll often try to stall you with a promise in order to get you to slip the return deadline. Don't fall for it.

We had a client take delivery on a shipment of something like 20 desktops where two were obviously defective. After a few phone calls to "Peggy" it was pretty obvious they were running a stalling play on the client. First they wanted to send two replacement hard drives. (We had already run full diagnostics and positively identified the problem was on the mainboard.) Then, after a heated 45-minute argument with a series of techs as the case got "escalated," they finally offered to send two replacement motherboards we could install for for our client. When we said "no" to that, they then offered to send one of their techs to install them. I have a pretty dim view of the wisdom of replacing mainboards in the field so I asked for an RMA to ship the two machines back for replacement per the warranty terms. They declined.

When I pointed out what I wanted was within the terms of their warranty, Dale (the "senior customer service manager") informed me it was solely at his discretion whether or not to do an RMA - and since he felt he was "being reasonable" in offering to send out parts and a technician - it was now a case of "take it or leave it."

When I pointed out we were still within the return period and that I would be contacting sales to arrange for a return and credit, his attitude changed dramatically. Dale offered to cut an RMA, but he insisted our client would have to pay for the return shipping (which is not what the warranty or sales terms said). Further, he refused to cross-ship replacement machines without first charging them to our client's credit card - with an actual refund credit amount to be determined once the defective machines had been received and "evaluated."

At that point I thanked him, told him "no thanks," and said we would be contacting our sales rep to cancel and arrange for the return of the entire order. I also said I'd be sure sales was given his name in case they had any follow-up questions about what just went down...

We received two replacement PCs the following morning via overnight express - along with two prepaid pickup tags for the defective machines.

I hate to be an SOB - but sometimes you just have to push.

 Luck.

7338

General Software Discussion / Re: alternative to filehamster?

« Last post by 40hz on July 06, 2011, 09:46 PM »

@mouser - I've heard that same complaint in some other places as well.

Thanks for confirming it's not just talk. 

7339

Developer's Corner / Re: Bourne / Bash Shell Scripting Resources

« Last post by 40hz on July 06, 2011, 09:41 PM »

If you don't want/need to restrict yourself to online and/or free resources, check out this book.





IMHO the single best $29 (via Amazon) you'll ever spend if you want to start working with the shell.

Combine it with a copy of the UNIX and Linux System Administration Handbook (4th Edition) (about $43 USD) and you'll have 85-90% of all the technical info you'll ever need to effectively work within the "nix" environment.

 

7340

General Software Discussion / Re: Google+

« Last post by 40hz on July 06, 2011, 09:31 PM »

Hmm...

Google+: Circles + Sparks + Huddle + GMail

Microsoft: Skype + Live + Office360 + maybe Facebook? 

Now that Google's thrown down the gauntlet, is there any creditable news about Facebook seeking a champion yet?

I'm betting if Circles really takes off - FB will do just that. 

7341

Living Room / Re: More ammunition why patents are EVIL

« Last post by 40hz on July 06, 2011, 05:36 PM »

Pretty off-topic but just a quick comment on the above -
The other side of the coin is that you get a lot of pretty crazy conspiracy theories.
Which is why I avoid the term "Big Pharma"...
Of course,
I wouldnt trust any big corporation with anything else, so I especially wouldnt trust them with my health.

-tomos (July 06, 2011, 04:47 PM)

Which works great until you need a brand name "new medicine" prescription .

-/------


+1 w/tomos on dissing the "everything is a conspiracy" argument. I'm tired of conspiracy theories about everything from the gospels to the NASA moon landing. I'm not saying there has never been a conspiracy or that some aren't operating as we speak. But to hear some people argue (with the laughable "proofs" they product) about how virtually every bad outcome on this planet is the direct result of a well orchestrated conspiracy...well...I just have to shake my head in amazement at the levels to which the human imagination can soar.

7342

General Software Discussion / Re: Sticking to TODO software

« Last post by 40hz on July 06, 2011, 06:59 AM »

+1w/Carol above.

I've tried most (or maybe all) of them. If I had the luxury of having one job with a clearly defined set of responsibilities where I mostly was able to sit at my desk all day, then any one of a dozen apps would have served quite nicely. I could be like a friend of mine who runs her extremely busy (and remarkably successful and remunerative) life out of MS Outlook.

But my own life is much more mobile  And my responsibilities and priorities tend to be more...fluid?

For the last few years I've used index cards and Post-its - and a corkboard. My "daily planner" takealong is half a sheet of quarter inch graph paper folded into three columns headed: ToDo; ToSee; ToGet/Buy. My contacts and monthly/long range calendar (in a token nod to technology) are on my smartphone

Not very elegant. And it violates the GTD rule of having everything under one system. But it works quite well for me.
 

7343

Living Room / Re: Lots of New Members

« Last post by 40hz on July 05, 2011, 11:50 AM »

(playing off laser) Lazar, as in Lazarus: Popular back-from-the-dead guy in the bible.

-Stoic Joker (July 05, 2011, 11:07 AM)

You guys really are exceeding yourselves, there's not even an ice cube's chance in hell I'd ever get that one

-jgpaiva (July 05, 2011, 11:42 AM)

+1w/jgp

And yeah. Really! In not exacty a slouch when it comes to wordplay, but jeez!

7344

Living Room / Re: More ammunition why patents are EVIL

« Last post by 40hz on July 05, 2011, 09:03 AM »

I am a patent attorney, and I serve inventors from the garage to the post-doctoral academic lab to the large company. I would love to have a discussion about patent policy and the US patent system, but I would not love to spend all of my time clearing up misinformation and baseless vitriol. @zridling, do you really prefer the latter?

-MSchantz (July 05, 2011, 07:57 AM)

First up, I'd like to welcome you to DonationCoder. Although we're an occasionally opinionated and feisty group of technical types, I think you'll find this forum is one of the more civil places to have a discussion on the web. So welcome and well met MSchanz! We hope you'll participate in the dialog and come back often.

re: patents, patent law, and misconceptions

I think all of us here would welcome your comments and expertise with open arms (and ears) if you'd care to share.

Please understand, however, that most of us aren't attorneys. So please try to be patient with what may seem to you to be silly questions or attitudes about patents. With input from a professional such as yourself, I'm sure the discussion would benefit greatly - and greatly reduce the number of misconceptions about patent law many of us have.

Perhaps you could start us off with a new discussion thread about how patent law really works so we can move away from the negative tone found in this one?
 

7345

Living Room / Re: Reminder Bear - Single Use Bookmarks

« Last post by 40hz on July 05, 2011, 06:24 AM »

I could see a real use for something like this. Thx for sharing.

(justice has a new avatar! Woo-hoo! )

7346

Living Room / Re: What annoys you to no end?

« Last post by 40hz on July 04, 2011, 08:34 PM »

Traffic lights in the United States.

With all the technology we have, why are these things still being manufactured with such an antiquated electrical design? Most of them can't even automatically reset themselves following a power failure. Talk about a joke.

7347

Living Room / Re: OK - lets get to know each other... who are you, what do you do, where from?

« Last post by 40hz on July 04, 2011, 04:48 PM »

Welcome Razzy. Glad you found us. Take a look around and join in the conversation! 

7348

Living Room / Re: Lots of New Members

« Last post by 40hz on July 04, 2011, 08:05 AM »

Lotsa necroposting lately too! What's up with that? 

7349

Living Room / Re: PWNIE EXPRESS! This is hilarious, and real!

« Last post by 40hz on July 04, 2011, 06:46 AM »

Kevin Mitnick is quoted. Isn't that the hacker that went to jail and is never allowed near the internet for life?

-zridling (July 04, 2011, 02:20 AM)

The same.

The lifetime ban on internet use got overturned by the courts following his release from prison. There are different stories as to why he was able to cut a deal. One rumor has it this deal got made in exchange for him not pursuing a civil rights case against the government for its questionable act of holding him in solitary confinement for something like most of a year because somebody convinced prison officials he would be able to start a nuclear war if he so much as sat in the same room with a telephone. Other stories cite the inconvenient fact (for prosecutors) that he already served 4 years in prison (on pre-trial detention) before his case even got to court. (Note: The US still had a functioning Bill of Rights back then. Today Kevin Mitnick would wind up being classified as an "enemy combatant" and disappear into some non-existent government detention facility where he would soon learn that there are no secrets to be kept from an angry government.  *Splash!!!*)

But he's since seen the error of his ways. Jail cells and solitary confinement can do that to ya! He now writes books, consults, and speaks publicly on computer security topics.

There really is a Mitnick Security Consulting LLC btw:

Mitnick Security Consulting, LLC is a full-service information security consulting firm. Founded by Kevin Mitnick, Mitnick Security Consulting offers a comprehensive range of services to help businesses protect their valuable assets. read more >>

I just wonder if that Pwnie testimonial is real.

 

7350

Living Room / Re: PWNIE EXPRESS! This is hilarious, and real!

« Last post by 40hz on July 04, 2011, 01:06 AM »

Why am I a little skeptical about this?  

Maybe it's this:



Or this (Marvell's Sheeva Plug computer - picture directly taken from Marvell's sales brochure)



(Note: I guess you could set it up as a "pen box" since the Sheeva Plug is a Linux PC. All it would take is to load it up with a free copy of BackTrak or a similar NIX 'security' distro. But you can also run BackTrak off a live DVD (or a USB drive) using any computer so I'm not sure what the advantage of putting it on it's own plug computer would be. Unless maybe you were planning on quietly slipping it in someplace you shouldn't, and then accessing it remotely? )

Then there's the Go Daddy private registration on the website...(a security firm uses Go Daddy as their registrar?)

It's also weird (to me) how Rapid Focus Security, LLC of 27 French Street, Barre, VT - (the alleged operator of the website) doesn't show up as a registered corporation in Vermont. They could be registered in another state. But checking the usual corporate shell registration places like Nevada and Delaware comes up blank. Nothing in shows up for Nevada. (Can't check Delaware until Tuesday since they only allow online corporate registration verifications during regular business hours.)

Or the fact there's no phone number or contact information on the webpage - or a street address - or any company history or related info - or...

There might be a reason why they're so 'invisible.' But I'm always a little concerned when a security company is totally stealthed, and doesn't at least have a token 'front office' that's out in plain sight.

It also strikes me as odd they offer intrusion assessment and penetration testing services - and then list some recent clients. (Most big corporations like Cisco have a confidentiality clause in their contracts that forbids vendors from using their name in any marketing activities. Especially if it's security related, in which case the vendor is usually contractually forbidden from even saying they did work for the corporation.)

Dunno...I could be wrong...but I'm a little leery about this.