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Worst Mac-Apple-iPhone Article of the Day
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Cold Warrior
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Jun 18, 2010, 10:39 PM
 
So most of us are probably information junkies. I use RSS to burn through a lot of articles and sites per day. Most of what I read is ok, some is excellent, and some is outright horrible, either in style or content or both.

For today's Worst iPhone Article, I nominate this one over at Wired.
Apple’s ‘Find my iPhone’ App Almost Impossible to Use | Gadget Lab | Wired.com

Money quote:
Originally Posted by Charlie Sorrel
My MobileMe password is a huge, randomly generated chain of nonsense....
and
As it stands, the idea is great, but the implementation is kind of hopeless. Avoid.

He pans the app, telling readers to avoid it, because his mobileme password is too long and difficult to remember or type in.
     
driven
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Jun 18, 2010, 10:51 PM
 
I agree with your point.

If you want a long, crazy-arse password, then so be it. But don't complain when software asks you to type it in.
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imitchellg5
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Jun 18, 2010, 11:09 PM
 
For Wired, that's incredibly depressing.
     
Cold Warrior  (op)
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Jun 18, 2010, 11:41 PM
 
Originally Posted by imitchellg5 View Post
For Wired, that's incredibly depressing.
Yes. I did a double-take on the website address when I read it.
     
-Q-
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Jun 19, 2010, 12:24 AM
 
Terrible article. Many schools are out for summer - maybe they're letting the interns write app reviews.
     
Laminar
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Jun 19, 2010, 12:44 AM
 
He keeps trying to defend himself in the comments as well.
     
mattyb
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Jun 19, 2010, 04:16 AM
 
I can't remember what story it was, but I deleted their bookmark due to a badly published/researched/written article a few months back. I haven't often seen references to their articles either - which (IMHO) is one way to gauge if people take their writings seriously or not.

But yeah, what a cock for complaining about his long password. I just use QWERTY everywhere. Nobody ever thinks of that.
     
ghporter
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Jun 19, 2010, 08:42 AM
 
A long, complex, very random password is VERY secure. He should be proud he's got that much security. He should also think for about half a second and realize that he can write down his password and keep it somewhere safe, instead of trying to remember it. That issue right there is what wins him the "DUHHH" award as far as I'm concerned.

Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
     
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Jun 19, 2010, 09:03 AM
 
Originally Posted by mattyb View Post
I can't remember what story it was, but I deleted their bookmark due to a badly published/researched/written article a few months back. I haven't often seen references to their articles either - which (IMHO) is one way to gauge if people take their writings seriously or not.

But yeah, what a cock for complaining about his long password. I just use QWERTY everywhere. Nobody ever thinks of that.
I just use ABCD1234 spelled backwards. Because nobody would ever try that during a brute force attack.
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Laminar
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Jun 19, 2010, 09:14 AM
 
That's the kind of password an idiot would use on his luggage.
     
msuper69
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Jun 19, 2010, 09:36 AM
 
"Well done sir, you've blamed Apple for your password, that you chose, yourself. If i was your editor, I would have changed the title to "Apple's 'Find my iPhone' App Great, but I Can't Use it Because I Can't Bear to Keep My Password in a Format That Allows Me To Access My MobileMe Account On Other Computers or Mobile Devices" I suppose it wouldn't fit in the RSS feed..."

I really like this commenter's suggested title.
     
driven
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Jun 19, 2010, 09:55 AM
 
Originally Posted by Laminar View Post
That's the kind of password an idiot would use on his luggage.
Um ... you realize it was a joke, don't you?
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Laminar
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Jun 19, 2010, 10:03 AM
 
Originally Posted by driven View Post
Um ... you realize it was a joke, don't you?
     
slugslugslug
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Jun 19, 2010, 12:43 PM
 
Originally Posted by ghporter View Post
A long, complex, very random password is VERY secure. He should be proud he's got that much security. He should also think for about half a second and realize that he can write down his password and keep it somewhere safe, instead of trying to remember it. That issue right there is what wins him the "DUHHH" award as far as I'm concerned.
I don’t think you should be proud of a long, complex, random password. There’s a way of coming up with passwords that are long, complex, and hard to guess, while still being meaningful and reasonably easy to remember:
  1. Think of a complete sentence (or two): Pithy quote, factual statement, memorable nonsense, whatever you want, as long as you’re confident you’ll remember it.
  2. Take the initial letter of each word
  3. Make some modifications: use replacements (a la 1337), add the 2nd letter of some words, change case, throw in some punctuation.
There you go. Long, if the sentence is long. No dictionary words. Nothing easily associated with you, as long as you chose the sentence wisely. And if you somehow chose it unwisely, your modifications are probably hard to guess.

Way better IMO than something long and complex that you have to write down.
     
Ghoser777
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Jun 19, 2010, 12:55 PM
 
Originally Posted by Laminar View Post
That's the kind of password an idiot would use on his luggage.
That's the same combination I have on my luggage!

     
Doc HM
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Jun 19, 2010, 03:42 PM
 
He has a long secure password because he values security but then he wants his passwords saved on his iPhone which he is happy to loose because it's protected by a crappy FOUR digit pin.

Moron
This space for Hire! Reasonable rates. Reach an audience of literally dozens!
     
ghporter
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Jun 19, 2010, 10:53 PM
 
Originally Posted by slugslugslug View Post
I don’t think you should be proud of a long, complex, random password. There’s a way of coming up with passwords that are long, complex, and hard to guess, while still being meaningful and reasonably easy to remember:
  1. Think of a complete sentence (or two): Pithy quote, factual statement, memorable nonsense, whatever you want, as long as you’re confident you’ll remember it.
  2. Take the initial letter of each word
  3. Make some modifications: use replacements (a la 1337), add the 2nd letter of some words, change case, throw in some punctuation.
There you go. Long, if the sentence is long. No dictionary words. Nothing easily associated with you, as long as you chose the sentence wisely. And if you somehow chose it unwisely, your modifications are probably hard to guess.

Way better IMO than something long and complex that you have to write down.
If you can code it in 1337, someone can write an algorithm to break it. A random password is not breakable by brute force because there are no "words" or repeated character sequences to attack, whereas something that includes translations or substitutions is pretty easily broken down at least to some extent.

Here's my password system. I generate a BUNCH of random character strings-63 characters is the maximum for WPA2-and save them in a text file on a USB keychain drive. When I need them, I insert the drive, copy/paste the selected string into where it's needed, then eject the drive. I do this with all my passwords, in different text files on the same drive. I keep that drive in a secure place. Were I to need a password, I would simply plug in the drive and select the right password, then paste it wherever I need it. I don't have to remember passwords, just where I put them.

Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
     
BLAZE_MkIV
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Jun 19, 2010, 11:23 PM
 
Start with a proper noun thats not a family member
Replace a character or 2 with a non-letter
Append a number to the beginning or end
     
slugslugslug
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Jun 20, 2010, 02:15 AM
 
Originally Posted by ghporter View Post
If you can code it in 1337, someone can write an algorithm to break it. A random password is not breakable by brute force because there are no "words" or repeated character sequences to attack, whereas something that includes translations or substitutions is pretty easily broken down at least to some extent.
No, Glenn, you misunderstand me (easy to do, I usually use ~2x as many words as are necessary). It’s not words that get translations or substitutions. It’s initialisms of sentences. Let me try to come up with one I don’t actually use…

Okay: “if you need to leave, please use the exit on dauphine street.”
iyntlputeods not a dictionary word or recognizable
Then, say replace the y with a u, since it stands for the word “you”, stick the comma back in, 1337 up some letters, capitalize the D for a proper noun, etc.
iuntl,pu730Dst
It is, for all intents and purposes, random. But if the sentence is meaningful to you and the substitutions have a method to them, it’s almost as easy to remember as a few bits of pet and family trivia. It’s probably good even without the substitutions, since the space of n-word sentence initialisms probably dwarfs the space of [I]n[/]-letter words. With variable-length passwords and more than 52 characters, brute force really isn’t tenable.
     
ghporter
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Jun 20, 2010, 09:23 AM
 
Ah, very different, and much more "random-like." That works fairly well if you take it out far enough. The only really successful exploits against WPA have been attacking the algorithm that generates the key from the password, and it only really works with short passwords. The bad guy tries possible passwords and looks at the encrypted data to see if there are recognizable output sequences-not "plain text," but encrypted data with byte sequences similar to his input text. This takes a lot of processing power and really only works in a practical sense on very short passwords that include real words (also called "dictionary words" because they can be found in some dictionary listing).

There are other attacks on WPA and WPA2, but if you keep your password long enough (I'd go at least 50% longer than your example) and your TKIP timeframe short enough, you are pretty well protected.

Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
     
BLAZE_MkIV
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Jun 20, 2010, 10:16 AM
 
It's not about making it immpossible, it's making it hard enough that it's no longer cost effective and they move on to the next target. Car / home alarms. Lie someone said before if they really want it they'll just break into your house / office.
     
ThinkInsane
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Jun 20, 2010, 10:40 AM
 
I've been on the fence about renewing my Wired subscription, and reading stupidity like this really doesn't help their cause. The fact that he's defending his dumbassery and acting like logical, rational, readers are too stupid to understand his brilliant point is really off-putting. In the comments he states "On my own device, though, which is already locked with a passcode PIN, I'd prefer to have the MobileMe password saved." He doesn't mind having his super-secure password saved in the app because it's protected by a four digit pin? Does that make any sense?
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Cold Warrior  (op)
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Jun 20, 2010, 10:51 AM
 
in general Wired is excellent, IMHO.
     
Cold Warrior  (op)
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Jul 16, 2010, 11:26 PM
 
Apple’s Rotten Response - Newsweek

This one struck me today. The worst part is his hard line in Apple's stance: that there is no antenna problem. But I think that's a lazy assessment. Apple spent 10 minutes talking about the antenna problem -- admitting that it's a part of all smartphones.

As insightful as he's been in the past with his Apple analysis and reading the tea leaves to divine Apple strategy, I find it hard to believe Lyons wouldn't consider that Apple can't say the iPhone 4 has a problem (because it'd fuel even more litigation). 'All smartphones' is the closest it can come, then it offers cases and a full refund.

Then he rattles off Apple's customer satisfaction and return metrics but it dead-ends with just those metrics; no commentary, analysis, or intelligent reflection on them. The article's comments take him to task for the same and other issues.

I'm not sure why Lyons has turned on Apple so much in the last year. His Fake Steve writings were funny yet always still seemed awe-struck at Apple's accomplishments. Now this and recent FSJ entries are more petty and derisive. In the former Apple and Steve are dramatized as arrogant but find redemption creating wonderful products that change industries, expose the shallow strategies of other tech giants, and take on the lethargic, anti-consumer monoliths. In the latter he tears down Apple, portraying the company and Steve as soulless, disconnected, and arrogantly unresponsive. One style connects with readers, the other produces angry hit pieces.
     
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Jul 17, 2010, 12:18 AM
 
I just want to stop hearing about this. Seriously. I don't care if there is or isn't a problem. There are valid workarounds.

In case nobody noticed, there is an oil-spill in the gulf, and two wars in the middle east. Those should be a little more newsworthy than an easily fixed phone problem.
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Jul 18, 2010, 06:15 PM
 
I know, seriously. I know what internet forums look like when a popular product goes out with a big flaw. People bitch about it non-stop. Real people with the real problem. I can count the number of real people with real iPhone 4 problems I've seen complaining about the problem online with one hand. Yes, it is a flaw and yes, for some people it is a real problem, and yes, Apple should have probably anticipated the problem a little better... but COME ON. People act like the thing can't even make phone calls. Obviously with 3 million sold if this was actually a big problem we would be hearing all sorts of noise from real people bitching. Not just tech bloggers looking for hits and endless Android fanboys getting their rocks off.

The mainstream media just hones in on Apple for some reason. I found it equally annoying when they wouldn't shut up about the iPad. Yes, the iPad is a cool new gizmo but COME ON. It's not THAT COOL. CNN.com didn't need to run 30 iPad articles on it's front page in 2 months. It was just stupid.

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imitchellg5
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Jul 18, 2010, 07:03 PM
 
Yeah, the Apple hype machine is pretty absurd lately with the mainstream press. That's why I now pretty much read Engadget for tech news. They don't overblow Apple stuff with hype and exaggeration.
     
   
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