chuckup

5 ms·

1.
by chuckup 11y ago
Your story on thenextweb was excellent - it's a complex story and you managed to explain it all very well. http://thenextweb.com/insider/2015/08/12/lenovo-used-a-hidde...
2.
by chuckup 11y ago
I would just add, it took them nearly 4 years to add these guidelines! >November 29, 2011 First publication >July 8, 2015, 2015 Revision to include security guidance and requirements
3.
by chuckup 11y ago
tl;dr version (since this blew up on Reddit and there's lots of stuff to digest) * in Windows 8+ any PC vendor can include an .EXE in Firmware/BIOS, and Windows will look for this on each boot, and run it right before you log in.
4.
by chuckup 11y ago
I hope Roel Schouwenberg does a writeup about this. If you're wondering what this is about, see https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10039870
5.
by chuckup 11y ago
Wow, nice find! Also, I see Microsoft has updated that document in the last two weeks, apparently due to Lenovo's use of it. http://news.lenovo.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=2013 "a security vulnerability tha
6.
by chuckup 11y ago
I would be interested to see if any other manufacturers are doing this as well. You can easily check: if a file called wpbbin.exe is in your windows\system32 directory, that means Windows found and executed code that was in your firmware. O
7.
by chuckup 11y ago
Very interesting, thanks for that link. "If LSE is not enabled, it will not be shown under the “Security” tab in the system BIOS and the user is not affected" FYI, This was not true for me - there was no option in the BIOS regardi
8.
by chuckup 11y ago
No - see my reply to the Ars thread. Windows 8 introduced an "official" way to do this called "Windows Platform Binary Table". Every time Windows boots, it checks your ACPI table for an entry called "WPBT", wri
9.
by chuckup 11y ago
I just replied to the Ars thread - it's even stranger. Windows 8 and up have an officially Microsoft sanctioned way of letting manufacturers load software through Firmware, called "Windows Platform Binary Table". It means it
10.
by chuckup 11y ago
There is no setting I can see to opt-out of what the Lenovo is doing. It's not an anti-theft software, it's software that makes popups appear, asking you to install their software.
11.
by chuckup 11y ago
Lenovo is now using rootkit-like techniques to install their software on CLEAN Windows installs, by having the BIOS overwrite windows system files on bootup. Someone detailed this here: http://arstechnica.com/civis/view
12.
by chuckup 11y ago
> every civilization must regard every other civilization as an existential threat I've wondered about this! If "the singularity" is something that really can happen, then perhaps it IS wise to fear any civilization that h
13.
by chuckup 12y ago
She then added "full disclosure. I'm not proud, I poured a drink on him. It became about that." http://www.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/2015/03/07/former-google-e...
14.
by chuckup 12y ago
My first thought: here's another Google offering they won't promote, and will discontinue in a year or two. Why bother? It reminds me of the "compare CD rates" page they had - I tried to find it just now, but it looks li
15.
by chuckup 12y ago
I don't think you need to buy them (unless you want to gamble on their value going up) - just be willing to accept them as payment in the future. As more people see they can easily spend bitcoin, they become more willing to accept it a
16.
by chuckup 12y ago
Speaking of large gaps between primes - There is a Bitcoin clone recently released called "Gapcoin" which replaces the SHA256 hash-breaking with finding large prime gaps. It seems completely unknown and has very few people mining
17.
by chuckup 12y ago
someone pasted it here - http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/2q0jb4/why_bitcoins...
18.
Bitcoin: Near-zero fee transactions with hub-and-spoke micropayments(sourceforge.net)
1 points by chuckup 12y ago|0 comments
19.
by chuckup 12y ago
Add some ANSI color, a message board section, stir, and you've got a BBS! k-rad!
20.
by chuckup 12y ago
This might sound corny, but you are my favorite gadfly. I've seen many posts from you over the years on slashdot and HN pointing out flaws with things I love such as python, and now lately bitcoin. I don't always agree with you, b
21.
by chuckup 12y ago
I think even more interesting is the idea of "colored coins" that represent actual items. I'd start playing Magic: The Gathering again if the digital cards I bought were colored coins or counterparty-style tokens that I contr
22.
by chuckup 12y ago
> Which makes it rather difficult to obtain bitcoin in the first place. True, but now with Bitcoin a teen can do work for pay over the internet (I assume minors cannot easily get a paypal account). I've seen teens draw incredible ar
23.
by chuckup 12y ago
This is great news. I've always thought teenagers are the biggest market for bitcoin, they're less likely to have a bank/credit card. Knowing you can now exchange bitcoin for Xbox points makes accepting bitcoin a lot more att
24.
by chuckup 12y ago
And what if the sender does not send the key? Or, when you use the key, you find out it is just a blob of zeros? (Or, the other way around: receiver lies and says that the sender did not send the key, or that the decrypted data did not mat
25.
by chuckup 12y ago
> But I understand all the bitcoin evangelists don't even want to consider that another digital currency can make it to the top. Can you explain why "Safecoin" is needed and more importantly, how it is superior to Bitcoin?
26.
by chuckup 12y ago
I could imagine the payment protocol being very flexible. Some servers may want their money up front, some may be willing to trust you to pay afterwards, etc. > At that point, why not setup escrow processes where the sender has to provid
27.
by chuckup 12y ago
I would love to see something simpler, think Kad DHT meets Bitcoin. I could share a hash with you, and from the command line you could simply type "fetch L9ThxnotKPzthJ7hu3bnORuT6xI" just as you'd use wget. This would be a ha
28.
by chuckup 12y ago
I've always heard the line, Aliens would never travel many light years to destroy/enslave humanity, because we're no threat, and they'd be enlightened enough not to. But the idea that we could stumble upon AI, and it cou
29.
by chuckup 12y ago
>Also, can someone in the know care to tell me why that is that those additions for what is the end rather basic functionality is coming so late to the language? I would think Internet Explorer being the dominant browser had something to
30.
by chuckup 12y ago
Also, if you like Lua, the LOVE library is excellent for writing games, and someone has recently started porting it to the browser - pretty impressive I think: "An attempt to replicate the LÖVE API in the browser using moonshine."

More ›