[Rant] Tech Minor Rant Thread
- Thread starter DarkAudit
- Start date
figmentPez
Staff member
I loathe the push to make ad supported devices standard, but this one is exceptionally bad:
Telly, the ‘free’ smart TV with ads, has privacy policy red flags
First, this TV is "free" because it has a second screen dedicated to showing nothing but banner ads, and it has sensors to detect how many people are in the room watching (and probably gather a whole lot more information about them as well).
The sketchy levels get even higher when reading the privacy policy, which includes comments from someone at the company asking if they actually have the ability to delete information gathered about children under 13, as they claim to be able to do.
I hope this stinking pile of dog shit goes up in flames.
Telly, the ‘free’ smart TV with ads, has privacy policy red flags
First, this TV is "free" because it has a second screen dedicated to showing nothing but banner ads, and it has sensors to detect how many people are in the room watching (and probably gather a whole lot more information about them as well).
The sketchy levels get even higher when reading the privacy policy, which includes comments from someone at the company asking if they actually have the ability to delete information gathered about children under 13, as they claim to be able to do.
I hope this stinking pile of dog shit goes up in flames.
WHAT NO NO NO NO
--Patrick
It would have to be some terrible programming indeed to mistake
https://thissite.com/thisfile.zip (obviously a file)
with
https://thissite.zip (obviously a tld)
though I suppose if you were generically discussing a file...like "open mycontent.zip in your local drive"...but how often does that come up in casual conversation?
"Can you download notascam.zip to keep as a backup please?"
"Hey man, you got to see this aweosme new video of Scarlett Johansson ScarJonaked.mov!"
"Please click here to download the videos of your trip to Jamaica: ScubaDiving123.zip!"
Because so many client OSes automagically use logic to convert any displayed text strings that they recognize as URLs (such as "halforums.com") into clickable links, the worry is that websites, notes, emails, messages, or the like -- even ones that were created prior to these TLDs being released -- will be "gamed" by people abusing this detection logic in order to convince clueless users to visit a website. As an example of this gamed logic, imagine you are emailing a pics.ZIP file from yourself to yourself, between a work and personal computer, let's say. When you open the email on the destination computer, you will see your email "Here are those pics I needed" or whatever, and there will be the icon in the email showing the file "pics.zip," which you can click on to download the file. The email client program will of course put the name of the file under that icon (again, "pics.zip") because that's what email clients do. BUT if someone registers the http://pics.zip/ URL and sets up a site, the existing URL-detection logic on the client's computer will say, "Oh hey, that's a text string that is also a URL" and so light it up as a hyperlink which you could easily click on because you would expect it to download the linked .ZIP file. They then have their site auto-download a file named "pics.zip" which is actually something entirely different than what you expected, and you go and automatically double-click on it because innocent ol' you is expecting it to be the pics that you just sent yourself, but nope! Malicious payload!
This is something that an email client could easily be updated to avoid, but of course the threat actors are counting on it to take a while before the IT community at large comes around to guarding against this sort of thing.
--Patrick
I hadn't even considered email..which would be a major issue, I agree
Dave
Staff member
I just bought a 16 TB external. That gives me about 40 TB spread across 8 drives RAID 10 format. Hot swapping on the fly can be so nice.
GasBandit
Staff member
What made you decide to go raid 10 instead of, say, 5? Are you doing something that requires the faster write and rebuild time?
(I use raid 5 on my server)
Dave
Staff member
Some of the disks are plate read so I wanted faster read/write speed. I had the extra space so fuck it. I know it uses more space but I only do it for my media/plex stuff. My M.2 drives hold my games.
GasBandit
Staff member
Well, it's not like you did anything wrong. Raid 10 is definitely the most solid way to go. But it's also the most expensive per byte.
But you get 90% of the read speed of 10 with 5 (though 66% of the write speed due to having to do parity calculations), and get to use n-1 drives worth of your total space instead of n/2. So if you had 4 10tb drives, a raid 5 would give you 30tb of space whereas a raid 10 would give you 20. And you have to expand your 10 in pairs, whereas you can expand a raid 5 1 drive at a time. 5 is a good option for those looking to get speed and redundancy for less money. And even if you're doing platter drives, motion video needs, at most, ~50 mbit per simultaneous user, and even the slowest single non-raid platter drive out there is gonna give you 600.
To NAS or not to NAS, that is the question.
That's not the same one you linked to me (maybe somewhere else). That one was this one and is 2.5". Yeah, that was just the first hit I found, which is a little cheaper. The second one I linked is the one I bought. Man. Your office is so CLEAN! You should see my house :P
www.halforums.com
Salvaged all of it. Put it all on freshly installed SSD.
Too bad he can't play right now because his privileges are taken away until he gets his schoolwork caught up, but at least that's complete.
My own rant: Built this new machine almost 2 years ago now. Only just last week finally installed the IGP drivers. Couldn't install 'em earlier because I had the IGP set to "Auto" in the BIOS which means it never got lit up since I never plugged anything into it, and that means 2 years where I never got to enjoy the benefit of Intel's v8 QuickSync (not that I was transcoding all that much, but still).
--Patrick
GasBandit
Staff member
Roku has filed a patent for your TV to detect when you're paused and play 'relevant ads'. Nope, no thank you, not for me I'm afraid https://www.pcgamer.com/hardware/ro...t-ads-nope-no-thank-you-not-for-me-im-afraid/
The article I saw had it titled like this:
arstechnica.com
...because what we here at Roku have determined is that you are not seeing enough ads.
--Patrick
Roku patent invents a way to show ads over anything you plug into your TV
System would detect paused content on external devices and show ads on top.
arstechnica.com
--Patrick
GasBandit
Staff member
Here at (corporation), one of our guiding principles is line go up. Our other guiding principle is rate at which line go up go up. And we will burn any bridge and poison as many wells as we need to in the pursuit of those principles.
Ah, I see you also work in (corporation). Hello, colleague. Let's go make line go up more.
Why the FUCK do companies give you a USB cord with USB-C to USB-C ports? My PC doesn't have any USB-C plugs. I'm pretty sure MOST PCs don't.
And yet, I just bought a Rugged USB-C external hard drive. I wanted to move all my GoPro footage onto it because I'm running out space on all of my hard drives. But the only plug it comes with is a USB-C to USB-C.
I tried using the cord I use to charge my phone, a USB-A to USB-C. My computer recognizes the device, but then it does nothing. It keeps making clicking noises and doesn't show up in File Explorer.
I give up. I'm returning this POS to Best Buy tomorrow.
And yet, I just bought a Rugged USB-C external hard drive. I wanted to move all my GoPro footage onto it because I'm running out space on all of my hard drives. But the only plug it comes with is a USB-C to USB-C.
I tried using the cord I use to charge my phone, a USB-A to USB-C. My computer recognizes the device, but then it does nothing. It keeps making clicking noises and doesn't show up in File Explorer.
I give up. I'm returning this POS to Best Buy tomorrow.
USB-C started becoming "normal" on personal computers in 2016 or so.
One of the reasons it is finally spreading faster now is that USB-C ports can carry more power than USB-A ports, which are limited to just 12W or so. This means no more "hydra" Y-adapter plugs required to boost power, faster charging for phones and such, etc. The reason your drive is not working properly is likely because it is expecting at least 20-30W to come down that cord, but that would exceed USB-A's limit. You can probably get a powered hub that will make up for the power requirement, but that'll mean buying another thing that goes on your desk.
--Patrick
GasBandit
Staff member
I can also attest that USB-C is becoming the de facto norm. Almost all the new PCs are coming with them now, and laptops have been coming with them since, as Pat says, 2016 or so. In fact, my USB-C port is pretty much the *only* port on my work laptop I use because it's what my docks connect to. And it's gotten so that I won't even consider buying a laptop that doesn't have a USB-C port that is both 100w power-accepting and Thunderbolt compatible.
Most of the pro AV laptop content inputs in the solutions we sell and program have started including USB-C connectors for laptops, many of them also delivering 60w or more to keep the laptop powered by that same port while getting video from them. They also join the room's cameras, mics, and speakers so that the entire room can be used in zoom/teams/webex/discord/whatever for videoconferencing.
So yeah, I understand that there's a lot of legacy gear out there, but for things to really be getting serious... the kid gloves come off, and USB-C is a standard that serious users insist on.
Heck, the dock connector for the Steam Deck is USB-C.
Most of the pro AV laptop content inputs in the solutions we sell and program have started including USB-C connectors for laptops, many of them also delivering 60w or more to keep the laptop powered by that same port while getting video from them. They also join the room's cameras, mics, and speakers so that the entire room can be used in zoom/teams/webex/discord/whatever for videoconferencing.
So yeah, I understand that there's a lot of legacy gear out there, but for things to really be getting serious... the kid gloves come off, and USB-C is a standard that serious users insist on.
Heck, the dock connector for the Steam Deck is USB-C.
figmentPez
Staff member
I'm absolutely positive you're wrong. Laptops have been outselling desktop computers for about a decade now, and every single modern laptop has USB-C ports.
This is just anecdotal, but since 2015, I've had two new PC towers and a laptop. None of them have a USB-C port.
It's true that there were some holdouts who didn't want to add the new ports. Maybe they thought it was a passing fad, another new connector that wasn't going to go anywhere, or maybe they would just add one as a kind of token gesture, but the momentum definitely accelerated, and they're just about everywhere now. Especially what with Europe mandating them, and all.
--Patrick
--Patrick
The alienware desktop computer I bought in 2022 has 4 USB C ports in the back and one in the front.
The laptop I bought years before that has 2 usb C ports as well
The laptop I bought years before that has 2 usb C ports as well
My tower desktop does not have a USB-C connector, but it's 10 years old now.
My work laptop has one USB-A connector and three or four USB-CS, (depending on if you include the one for the power cord/docking station).
And yes, like Pat said, a lot of it has to do with power throughput.
Having said that, I've been annoyed by only getting a C-to-C connector too.
My work laptop has one USB-A connector and three or four USB-CS, (depending on if you include the one for the power cord/docking station).
And yes, like Pat said, a lot of it has to do with power throughput.
Having said that, I've been annoyed by only getting a C-to-C connector too.
My TV, also my computer monitor, is slowly going out. it's darkening from the bottom up. Saddening. I'm not prepared to buy a new one, and there's no way I could afford one I would want.