Linked by Thom Holwerda on Sun 19th Sep 2010 20:32 UTC, submitted by sawboss
On a Windows Vista or Vindows 7 disk, all versions of the operating system are present, from Starter to Ultimate, and everything in between. So, if you want too upgrade to a more capable version of Windows down the road, all you need to do is pop the Windows disk in, let Windows Anytime Upgrade do its thing, and you're done. It seems like Intel is experimenting with a similar technology... For its processors.
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RE[4]: Unpleasant experience?
by WorknMan on Mon 20th Sep 2010 07:30
in reply to "RE[3]: Unpleasant experience?"
Member since:2005-11-13
The scam is in the fact that the hardware is deliberately crippled so as to force the customer to pay $50 for what is essentially a string of text in order to unlock what they already paid for once.
Well, this all depends on how it works. I mean, if the chip with all features unlocked is $100, but you can buy it crippled for $75 with an option to unlock the rest for $50 later on, then just buy it for $100 and be done with it.
In other words, I guess I don't have a problem with it, so long as there's an option to pay for it all up front and spend less than you would getting it piecemeal.
And, as others have pointed out, this scam is possibly limited to Windows based machines
Citation needed.
RE[4]: Unpleasant experience?
by Brendan on Mon 20th Sep 2010 12:59
in reply to "RE[3]: Unpleasant experience?"
Member since:2005-11-16
Hi,
The scam is in the fact that the hardware is deliberately crippled so as to force the customer to pay $50 for what is essentially a string of text in order to unlock what they already paid for once. And, as others have pointed out, this scam is possibly limited to Windows based machines, and perhaps is even a pure software switch so that if you have to reinstall the OS you lose your performance and must shell out another $50 to get it back. I'm sorry, but I'd feel much more comfortable knowing that my hardware's raw performance is not a variable based on a highly volatile software switch.
I've been looking into it a little, and (at http://www.intel.com/technology/product/ius/howitworks.htm?iid=ius_... ) Intel say:
"The upgrade enables changes to the firmware (driven by the Intel Active Management Technology Management Engine in the chipset) that in turn modify the hardware."
From this I'd assume that changing/reinstalling the OS won't cause the "$50 unlock" to disappear. A firmware upgrade might (or might not) cause the "$50 unlock" to disappear (but I'm not too sure which firmware is modified - the normal/system firmware, or the Active Management Technology Management Engine's firmware).
I'm also unsure if only Windows can be used to unlock, or if you can use any OS to unlock. Intel say (same web page) that it's "architected to be highly flexible and should be compatible with most third-party management consoles"; but I'm not familiar with Active Management Technology and I'm not sure which management consoles exist for which OS/s; and to be perfectly honest, every time I try to unravel what "Active Management Technology" actually is I drown under a sea of seemingly unrelated buzz-words.
- Brendan
RE[5]: Unpleasant experience?
by Morgan on Fri 24th Sep 2010 01:30
in reply to "RE[4]: Unpleasant experience?"
Member since:2005-06-29
RE[4]: Unpleasant experience?
by nt_jerkface on Mon 20th Sep 2010 19:38
in reply to "RE[3]: Unpleasant experience?"
Member since:2009-08-26
The scam is in the fact that the hardware is deliberately crippled so as to force the customer to pay $50 for what is essentially a string of text in order to unlock what they already paid for once.
I bought a cpu before that was deliberately clocked low by Intel to encourage sales of high-end models. Was I scammed?
Early AMD triple core cpus were actually quad cores with the L3 cache and one core disabled. Was this a scam?
http://www.cpu-world.com/news_2010/2010041501_Unlocking_fourth_core...
News
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 22:33 UTC
Official Apple statement on PRISM and privacy: "Regardless of the circumstances, our Legal team conducts an evaluation of each request and, only if appropriate, we retrieve and deliver the narrowest possible set of information to the authorities. In fact, from time to time when we see inconsistencies or inaccuracies in a request, we will refuse to fulfill it." This is basically Apple re-publishing their earlier statement in a more official manner. You either believe it, or you don't.
Linked by Anonymous on 06/18/13 22:26 UTC
The open source Contiki operating system and its commercial Thingsquare distribution are making strides towards the connected home. According to a Computerworld article, a new LED light bulb manufacturer is putting small computers into their light bulbs. Each computer runs the Contiki OS, which gives each bulb an IP address and allows them to be controlled with a smartphone application. To connect the bulbs to the application, the bulbs use both Wi-Fi and the much lower power IEEE 802.15.4 mesh technology.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 22:25 UTC
"Google asked the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court on Tuesday to ease long-standing gag orders over data requests it makes, arguing that the company has a constitutional right to speak about information it's forced to give the government. The legal filing, which cites the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech, is the latest move by the California-based tech giant to protect its reputation in the aftermath of news reports about sweeping National Security Agency surveillance of Internet traffic." Draining the ditch after the cow has drowned in it.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 17:45 UTC
"I can't find one person who has been using the Nexus 7 for an extended period of time, and hasn't seen a massive downgrade in performance. Just what kind of downgrade are we talking here? I cannot pick up my Nexus 7 without experiencing problems like a lag of ten seconds, or more, just to rotate the display; touches refusing to acknowledged; stuttering notification panel actions; and unresponsive apps." Fully and utterly agreed. My Nexus 7 was blazing-fast and awesome for a few months, and at some point, it just started sucking. Just like that. I've tried loads of ROMs, and nothing helps.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 17:32 UTC, submitted by poundsmack
A new release of the hobby operating system MenuetOS! The release notes are a bit non-descript, but you'll have to take what you can get: "updates and improvements (picview, httpc, ehci, ...)".
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/17/13 17:58 UTC
"The Internet is one of the most transformative technologies of our lifetimes. But for 2 out of every 3 people on earth, a fast, affordable Internet connection is still out of reach. And this is far from being a solved problem. There are many terrestrial challenges to Internet connectivity - jungles, archipelagos, mountains. There are also major cost challenges. Right now, for example, in most of the countries in the southern hemisphere, the cost of an Internet connection is more than a month's income. Solving these problems isn't simply a question of time: it requires looking at the problem of access from new angles. So today we're unveiling our latest moonshot from Google[x]: balloon-powered Internet access." Insane.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/17/13 17:52 UTC
"MineAssemble is a tiny bootable Minecraft clone written partly in x86 assembly. I made it first and foremost because a university assignment required me to implement a game in assembly for a computer systems course. Because I had never implemented anything more complex than a 'Hello World' bootloader before, I decided I wanted to learn about writing my own kernel code at the same time. Note that the goal of this project was not to write highly efficient hand-optimized assembly code, but rather to have fun and write code that balances readability and speed. This is primarily accomplished by proper commenting and consistent code structuring." Just cool.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/14/13 21:03 UTC
Jon Rubinstein, former CEO of Palm: "Well, I'm not sure I would have sold the company to HP. That's for sure. Talk about a waste. Not that I had any choice because when you sell a company you don't get to decide that. Obviously, the board and shareholders decide that. If we had known they were just going to shut it down and never really give it a chance to flourish, what would have been the point of selling the company? I think the deal we had with Verizon really hurt us, but who knew that at the time? These things are all hindsight."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/14/13 20:46 UTC
"And so it is with Dell's Alienware X51 R2, a small form factor gaming PC in console digs. It's shaped similar to Microsoft's Xbox 360 Slim, and though it's slightly larger than either a 360 or PlayStation 3, the X51 R2 would be right at home in a living room setting nestled next to a large screen TV. Indeed, it's adept at running Steam's Big Picture mode, and if your primary objective is to play games in the living room, go ahead and consider the X51 R2 a hybrid game console." This is obviously not the only machine like this - still, these are very valid console alternatives even for those that don't like being hunched over with a cramped WASD-claw. Also, PC gamers among us: could you get away with the $699 model for gaming?
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/14/13 17:32 UTC
From Bloomberg: "Microsoft, the world's largest software company, provides intelligence agencies with information about bugs in its popular software before it publicly releases a fix, according to two people familiar with the process. That information can be used to protect government computers and to access the computers of terrorists or military foes." The lid has officially been blown off.More News »
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Member since:
2005-06-29
The problem with that argument is that the customer pays more up front for the full featured chip and reaps the benefits immediately. There is no bait-and-switch involving activation codes purchased at almost pure profit. If you're okay with lower performance, you pay less. If you want more performance, you pay more. Either way, you get what you paid for the first time around.
The scam is in the fact that the hardware is deliberately crippled so as to force the customer to pay $50 for what is essentially a string of text in order to unlock what they already paid for once. And, as others have pointed out, this scam is possibly limited to Windows based machines, and perhaps is even a pure software switch so that if you have to reinstall the OS you lose your performance and must shell out another $50 to get it back. I'm sorry, but I'd feel much more comfortable knowing that my hardware's raw performance is not a variable based on a highly volatile software switch.
To put it another way, it's being forced to pay twice (or more) for one physical purchase. It's dirty and underhanded. Didn't Intel follow the Sony debacle?