When IBM sold its desktop and laptop PC business to Lenovo nine years ago, it held on to its x86-based server business. But now, IBM doesn’t see the x86 server business as a growth area anymore, and now they’re interested in selling that to Lenovo, too.
All posts tagged Ars Technica
Lenovo’s phone is ringing again. And it’s IBM. Again.
Posted by Dave Farquhar on April 21, 2013
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2013/04/lenovos-phone-is-ringing-again-and-its-ibm-again/
The ethics of writing nefarious security instructions
This week I posted a link to a video showing how to crack a WPS-enabled wifi network, and this week, Ars Technica wrote a firsthand account of cracking a password list. I’m sure this raises questions of ethics in some people’s minds. To be honest, spreading this kind of information makes me a little uncomfortable [...]
Posted by Dave Farquhar on March 28, 2013
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2013/03/the-ethics-of-writing-nefarious-security-instructions/
The men (boys) who spy on women through webcams
Ars Technica made a bit of a splash this week with this provocative headline. This is real. The article gives the usual advice, like not opening e-mail from strangers, not clicking attachments from strangers, and not visiting dodgy websites. That’s all good advice, as is staying off torrent and other file sharing sites, but even [...]
Posted by Dave Farquhar on March 13, 2013
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2013/03/the-men-boys-who-spy-on-women-through-webcams/
Ars Technica looks at asymmetric enryption
Ars Technica posted an overview of asymmetric encryption recently.
Posted by Dave Farquhar on February 18, 2013
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2013/02/ars-technica-looks-at-asymmetric-enryption/
Book scanning on the (relatively) cheap
Ars Technica has a fascinating article on the trials and tribulations of building a book scanner from a kit. They lament the lack of software support, however–namely, a program to convert the image files generated by the digital camera into a PDF. Should I point them in the right direction? Why not? The key is [...]
Posted by Dave Farquhar on February 15, 2013
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2013/02/book-scanning-on-the-relatively-cheap/
SSDs might be getting less interesting, but that’s not necessarily bad
Ars Technica has a story about SSD news coming out of CES. Basically, they’re predicting that the big news this year will be consolidation and lower prices. That may be bad news for someone who writes about SSDs for a living (I don’t), but good news for consumers.
Posted by Dave Farquhar on January 12, 2013
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2013/01/ssds-might-be-getting-less-interesting-but-thats-not-necessarily-bad/
Ars Technica: 64-bit Firefox on Windows needs to be a priority
Ars Technica said yesterday that Mozilla needs to make 64-bit Firefox on Windows a high priority. I agree with this completely. With web browsers, you can’t have too much security, and Firefox on Windows is a big target.
Posted by Dave Farquhar on November 28, 2012
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2012/11/ars-technica-64-bit-firefox-on-windows-needs-to-be-a-priority/
How abandonware gets abandoned
From time to time on classic computing and/or videogaming forums, the question of how to track down the current copyright holder to a particular given title comes up. Sometimes someone knows the answer. Frequently they don’t. This week, when George Lucas announced he’d sold Lucasfilm to Disney, illustrated precisely how this kind of thing happens.
Posted by Dave Farquhar on November 1, 2012
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2012/11/how-abandonware-gets-abandoned/
Ways to keep your password from being guessed–today
Articles like Ars Technica’s Why passwords have never been weaker — and crackers have never been stronger are getting more and more common these days. In a positive development, I don’t think the story had been live more than an hour or two before people started asking me questions. That’s good, because that tells me [...]
Posted by Dave Farquhar on August 23, 2012
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2012/08/ways-to-keep-your-password-from-being-guessed-today/
Short takes, 5 Jun 2012
I’m positively uninspired this morning, trying to recover from a weekend of the most boring writing I’ve ever done in my life–something that, mercifully, only a small handful of tortured souls will ever have to see and read–so I’ll do some short takes.
Posted by Dave Farquhar on June 5, 2012
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2012/06/short-takes-5-jun-2012/