The So-Called 'Future of eBooks'. Yeah riiiight.

So, some analyst over at O'Reilley posits that Apple's new tablet will be a 'game changer. Not so fast I say, buried in his soon to be approved comment roll:

I just have a few brief comments:

* Every device that Apple has put out that limits the user has required hacking to 'get it back' to full 'desktop functionality'. We have a paradigm, it's the desktop. That's why users hacked the Newton, and hack the iPhone and AppleTV. Crippled devices suck. Nintendo knows that and gets mostly out of the way. Apple does not, and the AppleTV and iPhone are examples of the other side.

* The 'Netbook boom' that Apple blithely ignores is a testament to the fact that the 'Book' and 'printed matter' is changing. But I disagree that new tools are needed. A lot of reading is done in-Browser, and those browsers will end up being Google Chrome, Safari, and anything that renders HTML5. HTML5 to me is the new PDF. PDF is not bad as long as Adobe stays out of it. Oh wait, they are.

* If you want a taste of the 'publishing revolution' then there are several good book readers [more like reformatters] in the iPhone AppStore: Eucalyptus, Stanza, Classics, etc. For folks coming from postage stamp screens it's like reading a paperback. Making the screen any bigger is of course welcome, but then you're jumping from paperback to hardcover, from iPhone to NetBook. For most folks this is diminishing returns.

So. There we have it. Your revolution is the browser you're reading this in. A 'sweet spot' between portability and power that Apple needs to figure out, and what we already have in smaller, and probably more useful form. By the time Apple figures out 'how to monetize it' it's already passé just like the AppleTV.

Where do students study? At a desk, probably in a dorm. With a laptop, copying & pasting text from a browser.

Where do I read novels? On my ipod touch, with Eucalyptus, in a form factor only slightly smaller than a paperback. Do I need to mention that Apple almost torpedoed Eucalyptus, one of the best readers... ever?

When I want 'the hardcover experience' there's either a 9" or 15" screen at my disposal. And Safari or Firefox. Or Preview.app, a PDF renderer that doesn't bug out like Acrobat.

The revolution's already here. And Apple is not making a cake, just putting the icing on it. And if they go the way of another closed system like the AppleTV, then expect their little contribution to fizzle.

What I'm really wondering is if publishers will go along with Apple's 'micro-sell via our store & we keep 1/3' model. I'm betting no, hence, nothing to see here, move along. At least for another 5-10 years.

Everything old is new, yet old, dog. Even Larry Ellison thinks so.

Still rotting my brain with this book in deadwood form. Go figure:

"Learn C on the Mac (Learn Series)" (Dave Mark)

Dear Nancy Pelosi...

....or, "you might want to watch that Yoda speech about 20 more times to see how it's done."

Every time you get an open mic to grandstand we see how out of touch and clueless you are. Even the 'fringe' calls bullshiat.

You and your generation had your little yell in the sun, probably from within a dope filled fog that you'd deny this generation. It's not like you're alone, you have friends on the other side of the aisle as deluded as you.

It's a FREE COUNTRY and you haven't shredded the 1st Amendment, have you? Yet? And we're 'mad'. Not to harsh your buzz, but I'm sure you remember this:

To paraphrase your little speech back at you, 'Shut up'. How about 'how dare you?' In fact, 'how dare you?'

To further elaborate, "don't you have a job to do?" How about "cleaning up the mess that Dubya & you helped make for the last 8 years?" "Turning on the water so we can farm" would also help.

Increasing the volume because you don't speak the same English we do is the American way.

But weepy tears and a 'stop the (non-existent) violence speech? WTF?

Seriously. Every American should either read the War Nerd or RantingKeyboard's Essay on what real war is. This is from someone who served!

This country was founded on the end of a blunderbuss. It was not pretty. None of us youngs want that. At. All.

That we now use words SHOULD be an indicator of how far we've come. But not for you, Nancy. You need to rub salt in the wound. We know what the future holds.

Maybe the soldiers that you've been stop-lossing for 5+ rotations will come back, run for office and we'll be done with your generations' nonsense. And to think you were anti-war. Hah!

That you do NOT understand this- that the Boomers in DC are the norm and not otherwise- should show you how messed up things are in both parties. Get off the stage. Please? Pretty please? All of you?

We need leaders. Not cheerleaders. And certainly not your weepy paranoid pinings for worse times. We need you to live in the here-and-now and take responsibility for what this country is now. You broke it. You fix it.

If you want to reminisce about how bad things were then you can go visit Charles Manson. Maybe that will give you some real perspective.

Finally, we of the younger generation(s) do not share your deluded, paranoid memories. So please keep them to yourself. TMI.

Yours, as respectful as you were to the American People,

Drunken Economist, more than mildly disgusted with you. Again.

PS. You're not my Mom. And neither are your friends 'who don't understand'.

"Animal Farm and 1984" (George Orwell)

WIRED: Microsoft Sets Up Zune HD for Failure — Again

Whoa, BXChen being... informative? Maybe? At least he does go to the other side of the fence from time to time instead of spouting off about the iPhone. Maybe the clubkid is learning.... no douchebag tags on this blog post, I gotta hand it to the kid this time:

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/09/zune-marketplace/comment-page-2/

And, WIRED really knows how to bury their commenters, so here's my take:

If there are any flaws in this article it's that there's not enough technical meat; that being said it was quite informative. If true, then I'm kinda sad for $MSFT, they're missing a big chance here to compete with $AAPL, and make both platforms better thru competition. Such as it is now Apple wins just by showing up.

I also find it surprising that bxchen is being slammed on this when he's usually regarded by the great unwashed as a $MSFT fanboy, and anti-$AAPL.

In my opinion $AAPL is re-defining the device space. All the iPhone *is* is an iTouch with camera, GPS and phone guts. Not only do 'iPhone apps' run on the touch, but the user 'owns' the apps to transfer to whatever device is tied to his iTunes / AppStore Account. That includes games, lots of games. You'd be surprised what runs on the 'Touch, including location aware apps (via wireless AP placement), Skype (because it supports the mic'd headphones), and camera apps (because there is a camera roll but no cam... yet).

Note that I don't care about the market forces that may limit this functionality. Marketing analysts are mostly WRONG, especially in an economic downturn.

Apple's main problem is that their AppStore is a glorified package manager run by inept sales & marketing types. It's a cluster you know what, and will continue to be so until they throw [some of] the same technical acumen [at it] that gave us the iPhone. That means automating the submission process and raising the bar so that crapware doesn't make the cut... and there's a LOT of crap in the crAppStore.

This isn't lost on $MSFT, they don't want the same problem that they see $AAPL going thru, and are content with just the package manager and a few trusted vendors. Can you blame them??

And for all you disbelievers, you need go no further than to the Wii Store on your console. I mean, those of you who have something other than an XBox.

There's also another problem here, and that's to do with tech companies losing their innovative edge as more "technical assets" are retired or laid off, to be replaced by folks overseas. There's no innovation there.. so now you have entrenchment tactics like the DRM in the iPhone and $MSFT 'not going there' with their app store.

You have to hand it to Gawker, they don't bury their commenters like WIRED does. Example, I can easily link back to my comment on Silicon Valley's Mass Delusion on VW. Easily.

Status: Staring at an old copy in the bookshelf of:

"Secrets of the Temple: How the Federal Reserve Runs the Country" (William Greider)

[it seems that a lot of MBAs get their degrees doing disser ^h^h^h^h book reports on this tome]

DethKlok New Vid: 'Bloodlines'

Okay, enough of the rap already, back to what my black heart loves. METAL:

ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED? -Mentok out.

"Metalocalypse: The Complete First Two Seasons" (Turner Home Ent)

Hey Jay-Z: Why you hatin' on T-Pain?

After reading about Jay-Z's Fail to kill 'autotuning' on the 'Wag, all this dissin' of my Frylock hero from ATHF, T-Pain prompted me to belt out this Vogon Poetry:

"Not Invented Here (Hee-Uhhhh)"
by Drunken Economist
rap it like Mystikal / Busta Rhymes

Yo Jay-Z! (Jay-Z...)
Yo Jay-Z! (Jay-Z...)

[monologue]
And da rest o' you Rapstablishment Jive Turkeys..
That don' understand that the past is the past....
Don' you be hatin on T-Pain (that much)
He just comin afta you, doin' his thang.
And now some ol' Geek that is me..
Gotta 'splain this to you.. (for Creative Commons 'Free')
[/monologue]

[PappaRappa mode=on!]
I know you think it weird, (weird)
This old shit commin' back, (back)
But yo' attitude,
That's what's really whack, yo!

What you talkin' 'bout, ('bout)
'S called 'Not Invented Heee-uh', (Here!)
Comma listen to the Green Man,
Cos I'm a retired Geek Man,
And for you my main re-re-retired Man,
Fo' You Imma break it down!

That iPhone yo' hand,
Was a fugly Newton don't you unda'stand!

And that Macintosh that you espouse;
Suckah was a Trash-80 in yo' Momma's Haus!

And yo' funky Twit-tah page! (page!)
Suckah was IRC in da early days! (ho!)

You big up on that Final Fantasy? (See?)
8D8 BugBear fsck you up from 'D&D'! (D, yo!)

And you likes that Anime? (may?)
Say the cold killah that is Walt Dis-NAY!

Sees we gotta grow that new shit,
On the bones of the old (old, old!)
And if you ain't gonna help, yo!
Then G, T, F and O!
[/PappaRappa mode=off!]

[Repeat Lyrics above until it sinks in]

Every old is new, Dog!
Every old is new, Dog!
Every old is new, Dog!

This old shit commin' back, (back)
But yo' attitude,
That's what's really whack, yo!

That's all I got... this is Creative Commons, the only proviso is donate to Red Crescent. Red Cross get all the shawties, yo....

Sexing up the US Mainstream Media: Autotune the News

Clearly the US Mainstream Media needs some sexing up.

If you don't know what 'autotune' is, get the **** outta yo' cave.

So sexy even Joe 'asleep in 5 seconds' Biden is watchable:

If I had an iPhone, I'd be auto-tuning my life. Oh wait! I do. And where did I see T-Pain first?

"Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Vols. 1-4" (Turner Home Ent)

Lest we forget: Adam Curtis: 'Journalists are creeps'

If you were ever wondering why the US MSM is more "entertainment" than information, Adam Curtis is here to help.

Once you figure out that real journos are a dead --not dying-- breed, the rest is easy.

Sorry, but Op/Ed bloviators and clubkids are not 'journalists'.

Where can you get more of this? Here's a ending.. or maybe a start...

Currently listening to:

"The Matrix: Original Motion Picture Score" (Varese Sarabande)

Dear Hippy-rina: Computer Security 101: SSH breakin attempts

Dear Hippy-rina. This is what a real hacking attempt looks like. This is an email, from me, to the system administrators listed below, after some little yob tried to attack my machine. Yes, they are in Brazil. I hope you can read.

[Seriously folks, if this is what the GOP has become, then we're in for another term with Barry.]

We don't need any more GOP Boomer stupidity like the DMCA. Like any other country cares about that. We don't need your ham handed attempts at explaining the internet, and we don't need a 'War on Users'.

Like any of your other Wars on Terror & Drugs did anything other than line your own pockets. So read:

From: The Drunk One

Subject: SSH breakin attempts from your user / DOS

Date: Sun, 6 Sep 2009 02:51:45 -0700

To: thiago@davoiisp.com.br,

abuse@embratel.net.br,

cert@cert.br

Hello.

Your user is attempting to breakin my machine. This happened literally 5 minutes ago, Pacific Time.

I love your country, I hate some of your users. Any job openings down

there?

-Drunken Economist,

http://mindtaker.blogspot.com/

SSHd log::::

Sep 6 02:30:29 FUCKOFF sshd[99825]: Did not receive identification

string from 189.86.73.19

Sep 6 02:33:13 FUCKOFF sshd[1111]: Invalid user admin from 189.86.73.19

Sep 6 02:33:17 FUCKOFF sshd[1152]: Invalid user stud from 189.86.73.19

Sep 6 02:33:19 FUCKOFF sshd[1189]: Invalid user trash from 189.86.73.19

Sep 6 02:33:21 FUCKOFF sshd[1191]: Invalid user aaron from 189.86.73.19

Sep 6 02:33:24 FUCKOFF sshd[1228]: Invalid user gt05 from 189.86.73.19

Sep 6 02:33:26 FUCKOFF sshd[1231]: Invalid user william from

189.86.73.19

Sep 6 02:33:28 FUCKOFF sshd[1260]: Invalid user stephanie from

189.86.73.19

Sep 6 02:33:41 FUCKOFF sshd[1351]: Invalid user gary from 189.86.73.19

Sep 6 02:33:46 FUCKOFF sshd[1391]: Invalid user guest from 189.86.73.19

Sep 6 02:33:48 FUCKOFF sshd[1393]: Invalid user test from 189.86.73.19

Sep 6 02:33:50 FUCKOFF sshd[1430]: Invalid user oracle from

189.86.73.19

Sep 6 02:34:44 FUCKOFF sshd[1864]: Invalid user apache from

189.86.73.19

Sep 6 02:34:51 FUCKOFF sshd[1906]: Invalid user lab from 189.86.73.19

Sep 6 02:34:57 FUCKOFF sshd[1946]: Invalid user oracle from

189.86.73.19

[snip, about 120 more lame attempts to find a username on my machine, full log sent to *.br sysadms]

Your laws, a 'Cyber Czar' or a cyber-air force aren't going to help with this problem. There are ways of dealing with real crackers [not hackers] and you're not helping. At. All.

Oh, and Hippy-rina? Buy a new keyboard. And a book about computers. Here's one:

"Introduction to Computer Security" (Matt Bishop)

And ORA books are always good, like this classic:

"Computer Security Basics" (Rick Lehtinen, G.T. Gangemi)

Seriously. I'm here to help. Mentok out.

My EMail to 'Why do the Dems need my help' poster...

Gee, how could a ‘Liberal’ post resonate with me? Let’s find out, here’s my email back to the poster:

You wrote:
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/rnr/1360015592.html

Just so you know, I’m a ‘conservative’.. no, scratch that, ‘moderate’.. I voted for the alky [Dubya] because it seemed a good idea at the time. I *didn’t* vote for McCain, or for Obama. Nobody likes us, because we try and think shit through, and change our minds about things.

I’m tired too. Tired of the lies, tired of the farce that was the Bush Admin, and tired that none of my ‘conservative’ friends can see a spade for a spade. And like everyone else, I’m trying to get my arms around the last 10 years. Near as I can tell, this is not a partisan thing, it’s more around money and generation cos the Boom-Booms are retiring:

* Boomers. Don’t get me started, you can read my blog about it or not. Clinton started it, Bush saw how far he could push it, and Barry? I guess he took notes. Barry (and Scharzeneger) both sound a lot like Gray Davis. Remember him? He ‘didn’t have the power’ to do anything either, more distracted by his abortive Presidential bid than Calif. brown outs. And basically let Enron run roughshod over the state power grid.

* Change the names to ‘Bush’ ‘Halliburton’ and ‘Iraq’ and it looks like war-profiteering, doesn’t it?

* I’m sure the Boomers are going to tell us how they’re gonna save the world on their deathbeds.

* You really ought to see ‘The Power of Nightmares’ by Adam Curtis. It’s a real red pill. Basically? The politicians used to sell us the American Dream. Now they sell us the Nightmare (paedophiles, drugs, terrorists, etc) that they’re protect us from. And they wanna be paid. Seriously, Wikipedia this film.

* All of this costs $$$. So we have to move it around to the big players (TARP, etc). And save ‘industries’ that should not be saved, like our do-nothing auto industry. I swear, except for Ford everything else in this country is a Citroen with chrome.

* Oh, and most of the folks in Washington DC are career politicians, like the ol’ Chappa-Killah. If we *ever* elect another Bush or Kennedy to high office we deserve exactly what we got in the last 8 years.

* To me, Carter and Dubya tie for the absolute WORST president of all time. It’ll be really hard for Barry to top Dubya.

* Again, this is all about $$$, and lawyers. You know, the real cottage industry of the USA, since we don’t have a tech industry anymore, really… the ‘Justice’ system, the ‘Legistlative Branch[es]’ .. a bunch of yobs who make a living basically quibbling about our existence and how it should be regulated.

* Remember all those jocks and cheerleaders in high school? They all grew up and went into ‘journalism’. They’re in the ‘entertainment’ industry. Dunno about you but I’m tired of the rolling news. It’s just violent porn / schadenfreude, which we Americans seem to get off on.

So yeah, I’m also tired. Maybe I should f**k off to Thailand or something for awhile.

—Drunken Economist, tempted to quote your CL entry, just clicked on ‘Best Of’.

Nothing to say other than I'm thinking of picking up Ron Paul's next book about the Fed....

"End the Fed" (Ron Paul)

From a Bay Area Lib: 'Why do the Democrats need my help?

I read this this morning on SF Bay Craigslist Rants'n'Raves. SF-RnR is probably the only one of all the cities that doesn't come off that much like a 'special needs' class. For the world.

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/rnr/1360015592.html [post will expire]

If you feel the same way go to this link and vote 'Best of' like I did...here's the text if it's expired...

I Don't Understand Why The Dems Need My Help

---

Date: 2009-09-05, 11:41AM PDT

---

I get these emails from MoveOn.org and other groups I belong to, asking me to do this and that, make phone calls, sign petitions, and so on. Otherwise, health care reform (or whatever the current agenda is) won't happen. What the f*** is that about? I clearly remember the Bush years, during which an illegal war was started, illegal wire tapping began, a CIA agent was outed, and the administration doing whatever it wanted with small, NON-super majorities. They never had to ask voters to go and do anything.

I started voting in 1984, and Obama's was the first campaign I'd ever sent money to. I did what I was asked. WE did what we were asked -- that is, deliver the presidency plus majorities in both houses. Instead of getting the "change you can believe in," we're getting excuses. "Weellllll, yes, we have majorities, but we still don't have enough to do what we want. Sooooo, we need you to work just as hard as you did during the campaign to get our agenda through." Ok, wait a second Mr./Ms. Politician. I have a damn job. I elected YOU to deal with this shit. You come to my job and help me out, then I'll go to D.C. and help YOU. As much as I hate Republicans (not all of them, just the crazed, Jesus-freak, birther, tenther morons; a lot of them are ok) I have to admit that they get more done with less.

The republicans never asked anyone to petition their member of congress to invade Iraq. The chimp wanted to invade Iraq, so we did. Done. The chimp wanted illegal wire tapping, and we had it. And so on. No "grass roots" movement required.

I am tired and I am out of gas. The way I see it, the dems can either get health care reformed or I no longer care. Ditto for the rest of our platform. I no longer have faith in the party, and I don't care who wins anymore. We could have 100 dems in the senate and there would STILL be an excuse. So why bother? I can find a way to enjoy my life no matter who wins the next "big election," so I think I will spend my energy on other things. I know that when the criminal republicans gain ground it will affect me adversely. It will affect almost everyone adversely, but I just don't care anymore. I had such high hopes for this president and this senate and now all I feel is disappointed. At least with the republicans in charge I can blame them for everything and vent my righteous anger. The dems get in charge and they want me making phone calls, visiting my member of congress, knocking and doors and so on, just to get nothing accomplished anyway. This isn't working for me.

Yes, I know this post doesn't help the cause and will only encourage right-wingers. I don't care about that either. I don't want republicans in charge, but I am seriously beginning to wonder if dems deserve to be in charge.

So, in the end, as we all feared, it boils down to the GOP hasn't cared about their moderate base since Reagan & the DNC can never, and I mean never get their act together. Okay, Clinton at least tried....

My email response in the next blog entry.....

Read this awhile ago:

"The Revolution: A Manifesto" (Ron Paul)

Stephen Colbert's lil bro Seth on why ATT is teh suck

Really. This Seth kid really *does* look like Colbert's kid brother. PR bunnies are soooo cute when they try to translate tech to Engrish. At least the kid can look at a teleprompter:

Yeah, ATT, we hear you. Same old same old. At least what you have Seth blah-blahing at least makes sense, and doesn't quite put us to sleep like this 'soma' from Hippy-rina about her peoples da 'Boomers & the GOP will destroy Twitter to save it' blather.

I pay $30/mo for DSL that trails behind 3rd world countries-- You did the typical ISP mistake of over-subscribing your network by a factor of 3 or more, and now you're applying that successful model to your cell network too.

I also pay $30/mo for 3G that isn't. 'Less bars in more places.'

So if this is old news then why is Seth standing in front of a green screen?

$AAPL is ready for a divorce. That's why.

Sometimes I think AT&T is staffed by monkeys. Build out your network and stop pulling QoS tricks like Comcrap. For you civilians:

"Technical, Commercial and Regulatory Challenges of QoS: An Internet Service Model Perspective (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Networking)" (XiPeng Xiao)

Adam Curtis & the Boomers: 'It Felt Like a Kiss'

Curse you, Auntie Beeb and your geo-locking ways. My favorite documentarian, Adam Curtis has his own blog. And a new documentary / media experience that charts the American Dream from the 60s thru the 80s.

But you don't get to even see "It Felt Like a Kiss" if you live in the country that is the show. Bollocks.

Well, at least the Charlie Brooker & the Guardian have a preview, and bright young things can find the film elsewhere.

Thoughts:

You could call this 'A young person's primer to the inside of a Boomer mind.' You could... And I don't think the inclusion of the Dust Brothers' Fight Club OST was by accident.

If this is the inside of a Boomer's mind, no wonder most of 'em are all talk and no do.

I don't remember these things. Not my generation, too young.

But if I did I'd probably be traumatized. GenX'ers, even olds like me only really got the fuzzy edge of the Cold War. So say my parents as well.

Maybe this explains the broken record spiel of the Boomers, always out to save the world but never getting around to it. Scared of failure. Failing by inaction.

I don't know why the Boomers are all polar-ballistic against Truthers, Birthers an the like. They had the whole Kennedy[s] thing with the Warren Commission, one bullet theory, the Bay of Pigs fiasco, etal. How the hell else are folks supposed to wrap their arms around a national trauma?

Not by listening to Glenn Beck and his ilk, that's for sure.

'Narratives' are very fragile. Remember this 10 years from now. And 10 years after that.

Even though this is the most recent thing Adam Curtis has made, it really comes off as a prequel to The Power of Nightmares. --and is a lot more coarse / brusque to Americans.

Even so, I think every American should see The Power of Nightmares. So go get it. [archive.org]

...along with most of his documentaries, at archive.org.

For the lazy, here are all the documentary intros on Youtube.

Thank me later. And if you're a Y, for Ghod's sake teach your Boomer parents how to move a mouse.

-Mentok out.

"Fight Club: Original Motion Picture Score" (The Dust Brothers)

"Then He Kissed Me" (Crystals)

Bruce Sterling, Closing Talk, Reboot 11

So Drunky, why are you so down on the Boomers? Maybe this speech by Bruce Sterling at the end of Reboot 11 can learn you some-- Flash vid from Reboot11.Site:

Bear in mind this is ONLY the next 10 years, based on the product of: war, outsourcing, globalization, and currency devaluation.

Of course the Boom-Booms don't have to "live" thru this. Anyway Sterling's intended audience is the ReBoot'ers, mostly GenX-Yers.

"Transition to Nowhere."

"Dark Euphoria."

Thanks, Boomers. THOOMERS.

Who's Bruce Sterling? This guy:

"Tomorrow Now: Envisioning the Next 50 Years" (Bruce Sterling)

"Schismatrix Plus (Complete Shapers-Mechanists Universe)" (Bruce Sterling)

Dear Jailbreakers,

Humor:

You haz it.

To you civilian types, if you wanna know what's up with this, this book:

"iPhone Open Application Development: Write Native Applications Using the Open Source Tool Chain" (Jonathan Zdziarski)

and even this, which is a joy,

"The Best of 2600: A Hacker Odyssey" (Emmanuel Goldstein)

..might give you some clue.

Dear Mr. President...

Compared to the last bozo we just ousted you're a nice guy. BUT-

Sorry, but you reeeeally look like a catspaw for #Boomers here.
"Generation Jones" -- all tidily summed up in one picture.

Oh noes another anti-Mac article from TIRED...

By Brian X Chen, who makes a living at it.. either that or obsessing over Digg folks calling him on it.

This is a case when the Digg comments are more interesting than his ‘articles’. Honestly, the guy wasn’t even calling out Chen except for the two instances here:

2005

“Attacks on Apple’s OS X operating system, thought by many who use the Mac to be virtually immune from hackers, are on the rise, according to a report from Symantec, an anti-virus software vendor.”—Brian X. Chen, Wired.

2006

“Mac owners’ smugness may not last forever. As Apple slowly expands its market share, it is gradually becoming a bigger target for attack.”—Brian X. Chen, Wired.

…and now you can add the 2009 article which I will not link to because it’s trash.

Maybe Chen blotted out his internship with TIRED in 2005. Maybe TIRED’s dating system is fscked. Maybe the commenter’s. Doesn’t matter, it’s just the same old crap from Chen and his buds at the anti-virus companies.

Dear BXChen:

If you, or your dubious ‘expert’ *had* a Snow Leppy’d Mac, you’d be booting it into 64-bit mode where there is ASLR (address space layout randomization) for 64-bit apps.

You would also find that MOST of the Apple apps, and quite a few of the popular ones *are* now or becoming 64-bit.

You would find that Apple has been laying the groundwork for the real attack vector to the Mac, which is trojans. Two real issues on the list and counting.

You don’t even cover the other major attack vector of OSX, that is, SSH buffer overflows or fuzzing. Which Macs seem to be very resilient to.

You would also know that Unix and Win32 are different architectures. If you want a real issue to jump on try edumacating yourself about the iPhone, the AppStore, and privacy leakage like I write about here 2-3 entries back.

But this is what comes of letting clubkids write ‘technical’ articles, and why you’re better off just staying at TIRED & leaving the real technical reportage to the hawtness that is Miss Jacqui Cheng.

Twatting about that $AAPL POS, the stock #iPhone

[Addendum: Yes, folks, as some of you say, this was not true in iPhoneOS1. And yes, it went downhill in OS2. And now we're at firmware 3.1.POS. I think I'm staying on 3.01 for a long time. Like Apple will ever clean up their act.

Seriously, and repeat this meme far and wide: iPhone 2009 == Windows 98.]

Sometimes I can't believe that Apple makes both Mac OS X and the iPhone. As a public service here's my twatting about it in reverse order:

Okay, let's rip on the POS that is the #iPhone for a while. It may be [ed: have been] built on MacOSX, but it's anything but.

Stock #iPhones have no backgrounding, no logging, and no /var/vm/swap like desktop OSX or any other Unix.

Memory management is teh suck, so Apple only allows one app running in the foreground. Unless you're #iPhone, *iPod*, MobileMail, or MobileSafari.

On the Mac, Apple HIG demands consistency. #iPhone? if you try to do the same you get rejected by the cr #AppStore: http://bit.ly/40uQ3B

Snow Leopard is as good as security gets on the desktop; the #iPhone is insecure and violates your privacy: http://bit.ly/14FmBg

Snow Leopard is secure out of the box, #iPhone is like a router with default passwords that must be hacked to secure: http://bit.ly/PNTGO

Only when you #jailbreak your #iPhone and get logging, password security & backgrounding back does it feel like an $AAPL product. Crazy, eh?

Bonus:

The #iphone #AppStore is $AAPL's #Vista. And #Schiller is their #Ballmer. Well at least they kept the #fail off my desktop! #Boomer #mistake

From what I'v been reading, the way the AppStore is run really reminds me of what I used to hear about the clusterfcuk that is Microsoft.

Dear Apple: Stop running the iPhone like the platform we all love to hate. It'd also help to stop employing failed $MSFT & $MACR employees. The AppStore reeks of them & outsourcing, no matter what your marketing bunny says.

Actually, it's time for Apple to find another whipping boy because nobody believes what he says anyway.

I mean seriously: Eucalyptus was almost banned from the AppStore for a over thousand year old book that was translated in 1883. You either employ Indians or Victorians --or the worst of both.

You violate the Apple way of 'consistent UI everywhere' - the Human Interface Guidelines - when you flunk apps like 'Chess War' for doing the right thing.

Maybe it's time for the creator to speak for the monster.

Jobs is probably the only Boomer I don't want to GTFO stage, but if this is his bad, then maybe it's time. [Actually, it's probably time. Memories are short, Jobs has been ousted before for 'being himself'.]

Seriously, he's the only guy who could get things done at 1 Infinite Segfault, but if he's pulling a King Lear, maybe it's time.

Dear Wanadoo. Please rein in your douchebags.

I’m thinking ‘Wanadoo’ is French for ‘douchebag’.

From: Drunkus Rex

Cc: abuse@francetelecom.net,

tech-dom-fr@lerelaisinternet.com

To: admin@lrouen-152-82-24-142.w80-13.abo.wanadoo.fr

Stop attacking my machine. You are interrupting my enjoyment of

Japanese porn.

To the admins of France Telekom and Le Ralais, please disconnect this

luser.

Aug 31 23:14:35 Drachen sshd[94309]: refused connect from

LRouen-152-82-24-142.w80-13.abo.wanadoo.fr

Aug 31 23:20:37 Drachen sshd[99393]: refused connect from

LRouen-152-82-24-142.w80-13.abo.wanadoo.fr

Aug 31 23:21:40 Drachen sshd[408]: refused connect from

LRouen-152-82-24-142.w80-13.abo.wanadoo.fr

Aug 31 23:22:43 Drachen sshd[1285]: refused connect from

LRouen-152-82-24-142.w80-13.abo.wanadoo.fr

Aug 31 23:23:46 Drachen sshd[2185]: refused connect from

LRouen-152-82-24-142.w80-13.abo.wanadoo.fr

Aug 31 23:25:52 Drachen sshd[3955]: refused connect from

LRouen-152-82-24-142.w80-13.abo.wanadoo.fr

Aug 31 23:26:55 Drachen sshd[4833]: refused connect from

LRouen-152-82-24-142.w80-13.abo.wanadoo.fr

Aug 31 23:27:58 Drachen sshd[5710]: refused connect from

LRouen-152-82-24-142.w80-13.abo.wanadoo.fr

Aug 31 23:28:41 Drachen sshd[6342]: refused connect from

LRouen-152-82-24-142.w80-13.abo.wanadoo.fr

Aug 31 23:29:25 Drachen sshd[6945]: refused connect from

LRouen-152-82-24-142.w80-13.abo.wanadoo.fr

Aug 31 23:30:07 Drachen sshd[7542]: refused connect from

[snip]

11 81.253.129.209 (81.253.129.209) 866.963 ms 729.473 ms 682.078 ms

12 ge-2-3-0-0.ncrou101.Rouen.francetelecom.net (193.252.159.165)

1101.971 ms 799.080 ms 1192.004 ms

13 * 193.252.162.134 (193.252.162.134) 941.092 ms 1072.415 ms

14 80.10.215.86 (80.10.215.86) 1690.927 ms 721.935 ms 687.735 ms

15 * * *

16 * * *

Did I mention I was very serious about porn?