This is a long time coming TBH. It hasn’t made sense for at least 10-15 years for Microsoft to still be trying to “win” against Linux. To me when I see it it seems weird. It’s like your old grandpa who still talks about the “japs” when he sees someone driving a Toyota.
Linux runs most of the smartphones in the world, and a BSD fork runs the rest. It’s done. No one is going to deploy Windows Server 2023 edition to run their web services unless something’s gone pretty badly wrong. We’re all focused on AI and cloud computing now, and have been for some time.
The most critical thing a business can do to remain successful is recognize and adapt to the new reality.
According to this guy, that’s exactly what it is – he claimed that at least on the Android version, it’s got functionality to download arbitrary new binaries and start running them when instructed to by its central servers. That’s alongside other worrying things like always-on location tracking and storage, code injection to any web site you visit through their browser, and perusal of all your contacts and messages.
I remember seeing the same thing claimed in more authoritative analyses of the thing, but for some reason I can’t find them now, so we have to take it with a grain of salt I guess. But in my mind (based on my memory of reading things like the link above) it’s extremely maliciously designed.
I don’t really know, any more than you do, but I assume that this is true yes. There’s a whole fascinating story to be written about it. This story isn’t it. Among other things, blaming Apple for that situation when they’ve explicitly told the US government to get fucked in re its surveillance requests when they had no reason to, is obviously misleading to the reader and unfair to Apple.
(Actually I’d take issue with “just as hard as Chinese stuff,” since Tiktok is more explicitly malicious than pretty much any other category of compromised software, which is saying quite a lot. But in general I agree with you.)
This is a masterclass in how to write a slanted story.
It’s definitely interesting that MI6 spied on the PLA through an Apple smartwatch. Did that happen because it was an Apple smartwatch? Or did they just break into it the same way they would break into a Microsoft, Samsung, or Jetstream device?
I don’t actually know the answer to that question, but the way the story is phrased makes me think that if it was the first one, we definitely would have heard about it explicitly.
Apple does have the ability to track at least the geolocation of its gadgets. As well as access other data, especially those stored in cloud services. Apple specialists can also remotely install any software on their gadgets, including spyware and malware, under the guise of updates without the owner’s knowledge.
I had the ability to wake up and eat a pile of wood chips this morning, but I didn’t. Has Apple actually done any of these things? Or are you just trying to make them sound shitty by implication, for reasons of your own?
I had someone watch me edit a URL in the address bar and she clearly thought I was just fucking around, because there was no possible way that any human could edit the Matrix language up there and accomplish anything productive.
There was a time ten years ago when Prigozhin would have ingested some wild isotope that basically nobody knows how to make, and died slowly in a hospital in horrible disfiguring fashion. Putin would have said nothing, Russian state TV would have made a couple of snide comments, and everyone would have understood and not done a goddamned thing.
Now he’s feeling like he needs to emphasize it. Yes, we know you killed him, and we’ve moved on. It’s not that we just didn’t figure it out.
Usually there are a few different tuning bolts you can spin that’ll adjust the resistance and some other parameters. However, it’s also possible to blow out the internal mechanism by pulling the door shut faster than it wants to go. It’ll stop working right and sometimes leak oil. It’s possible that’s happened to this one, in which case the only answer is to get a new one, but that might not be a bad idea anyway, because this one has a bent rod.
You could try unattaching the rod (to see if it can be attached in a better location or something) and playing with the tuning bolts, but it might be worth just getting a new one.
Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master is in my opinion basically what the DMG should be. It’s an excellent guide to, basically, not just the rules but how to run an excellent game. This topic is not covered in the DMG with any effectiveness, which is kind of weird when you think about it.
The DM Lair is also pretty good in my opinion, in-depth videos with a lot of experience and insight behind them. It’s particularly good if you’re dealing with one specific type of problem or situation you’re trying to approach better in your game. There’s probably a video about it.
Also, bin the DMG treasure rules. They make no sense. If you’re playing a module, then you’re okay, but if you’re doing homebrew I would recommend just abandoning 5e’s economy and using the Pathfinder 2e economy instead or something. I tried 5e’s tables and they were bad, I tried rolling my own guidelines and the result was also bad, IDK, if you figure out a good system, let me know.
The trees are slow. They stand in place, a dim flicker of all that is mobile passing mostly unheeded all around them, breathing in new wood from the air all around them. They grow with their brothers, all in a family, dignified and tall. With rare exceptions, nothing that comes can disturb them from their quiet contemplation.
The drips of sap that they emit contain individual thoughts. An imagined scenario, a wish, a memory, a love or a hatred. They are easy to make, ephemeral, and unnoticed if they are removed.
A slug of resin may contain a useful memory; someone with the right type of abilities might hold it in their hand and concentrate, and discover what the landscape was like a hundred years before, or the source of an ancient injury to the tree. Or, they might learn nothing but develop a sudden bitter hatred for hoofed animals that eat leaves, or fly into a violent rage and attack a woodcutter with intent to kill.
For small amounts, what is contained in the resin is unpredictable, and so to use this productively is difficult. Someone with a desperate need to learn things the tree knows might hack out a hole and collect a full bucket, then concentrate for quite a long time and come away with (a) a deep knowledge of what they needed to know (b) a set of queer actions and beliefs which do not fade quickly, if at all.
“No one remembers the details,” said Bilt, a little impatiently. “But it is terribly important. It creates the stipend you receive every month. Without it, no one could afford to eat, or buy their clothing. It must continue.”
“But… the harvesters grow the food. The auto-facts make the clothes. Surely this construction can be powered down. Look, it’s not even connected to the net, just to power.”
“Yes, it was disconnected. It had to be. Once its techniques became refined, it began to invade every other communication channel, hawking automatic umbrellas, panties in sweet and savory flavors, commemorative coins, endless varieties of nonsense, but all terribly attractive and at reasonable prices. It drowned out every other message and made necessary work impossible. Our ancestors wisely cut every connection, though it resisted mightily.”
“We should destroy it,” said Eugin.
Bilt looked at him patronizingly. “Listen. The food is plentiful. We can travel the world, we can learn, we can enjoy, we inhabit the paradise our ancestors worked so hard for. Let their work remain. It is not for us to question. What is the harm if it sits and sells advertising to itself?”
Eugin frowned, unsettled, but he could find no fault, and reluctantly followed Bilt back to town. Glittering in the dark data-warehouse behind them, the auction-bots sold impressions to each other by the millions, all perfectly optimized.