The Tech Random Crap Thread

WPA2 is dead: https://hashcat.net/forum/thread-7717.html Long live WPA3! (It can't come soon enough IMO)

Short summary for the less-techie: WPA2 is what protects Wifi networks so that you need the password in order to connect. If you can break this, you can connect to anything. I'm not sure if it also means you can listen in on anything too (it might).

In the example given, they crack it with a 4xGTX1080 rig in under a minute.
 
Yes. The current advice is to use WPA2-AES whenever possible, at least until better standards are adopted.

EDIT: It appears the attack described is for WPA or WPA/WPA2 hybrid networks. WPA hasn't been considered "secure" for some time now, and the KRACK vulnerability for WPA2 was patched late last year (for most vendors).

--Patrick
 
I really want to run that tool and see how vulnerable my router is... but I really, really don't want to know. Anyway, my bit of randomness? I get a new 2TB portable external drive (the Elements series). Of course, I have to pay for it, but it's literally the only way to prevent @Aislynn from having to drive the six hours to Vancouver or Sacramento so tech support can clone/image her (completely online profile connected) Microsoft account and online documents from one laptop to another. So after that I'll have an additional 2TB of capacity for movies, I guess.
 


Looks like we'll finally get to see what NVIDIA is up to next week.
Lotta hints in the video, if you watch for 'em.

--Patrick
 

GasBandit

Staff member
You know how I know those weren't real gamers?

Their PCs were powered off. They had to turn them on when they wanted to start playing.

Outside of power outages and hardware upgrades, my PC has not been powered off since I got it in 2013.

Every PC I have ever owned, dating back to my 386sx I got in middle school, has always been on. Always. Until the day they were turned off, for the last time.
 
Last edited:
You know how *I* know they weren't real gamers?
All their equipment was new. No bandaged-up favorite mouse from 2012, no worn ear cups on headsets, no wear on the WASD keys.
...and their gaming areas were immaculate.

--Patrick
 
no wear on the WASD keys.
My WASD keys (and a few around there) don't really have clear ink on them. It was actually a SLIGHT problem when I was needing those keys for something in a menu binding recently. When typing, I just touch-type, so it's no biggie, but once in a while when looking for "d" to do something specific, I stutter a bit, then remember that on some level I just "know" where it is.
 
You know how I know those weren't real gamers?

Their PCs were powered off. They had to turn them on when they wanted to start playing.

Outside of power outages and hardware upgrades, my PC has not been powered off since I got it in 2013.

Every PC I have ever owned, dating back to my 386sx I got in middle school, has always been on. Always. Until the day they were turned off, for the last time.
I keep my PC powered off when I'm not using it. It only takes a second for it to start up.
 
I leave my computer on, but with the birth of the SSD, it's not as annoying to turn it on and off all the time.
 
Mine has regular HDDs in it. It takes almost a minute to boot up all the way.
I turn it off every time I'm done with it.

I leave the plastic on my LCD displays, too. Don't wanna scratch 'em.

--Patrick
 
Looks like Intel also may finally be ready to jump into the fray.



The video says "SIGGRAPH 2018" but they'd better hurry...SIGGRAPH 2018 ends tomorrow.

--Patrick
 
It looks like essentially what's going on is ShutUp10 re-enables the backdoor group policies access that existed in earlier versions of Home editions of Windows but was locked down in 10 (or at least one of the iterations of 10). The company has a Microsoft Gold partnership, they're not doing anything that Microsoft wouldn't allow for any enterprise level customer, just applied to the personal PC level. It really, really pisses me off that in order for your wishes regarding personal information to be taken into consideration at all, you have to be a company; so after a quick rundown of the options, including the fact that this allows me to disable both telemetry AND Microsoft's use of my computer as a peer in their update network, I'm all in.
 
And it's been available now for more than 2 years already but I haven't heard of it? Goodness.

--Patrick
I hadn't heard of it either - just came across it this morning while at work. I was like, yep, gotta share this out - too much goodness there to not share it.

Though after any Windows updates are ran, you will have to re-run the app just to make sure things stay off.
 
Last edited:
So... Plex Servers. Does Plex happen to randomly add movies to your server list, by any chance? Because I just installed the media server software today, on this computer that I put together in May, with one of the two external drives hooked up; and there are movies on my list that I've never even heard of, let alone ripped from DVD or downloaded. So, before I go on a wild goose chase to figure out what the hell movies like Zero Zero 3D are doing on my list - is this normal?
 
So... Plex Servers. Does Plex happen to randomly add movies to your server list, by any chance? Because I just installed the media server software today, on this computer that I put together in May, with one of the two external drives hooked up; and there are movies on my list that I've never even heard of, let alone ripped from DVD or downloaded. So, before I go on a wild goose chase to figure out what the hell movies like Zero Zero 3D are doing on my list - is this normal?
That's never happened to me.
It only ever shows me movies I have on the hard drive in the movies folders. But I've had Plex Pro for a long time, and I don't know if what you describe is some kind of new advertising scheme.

1535425619575.png


Open the movie in plex (the main info page, don't actually play the movie), click the 3 dots, and then click "Get info" and it'll tell you where that movie is living.
 
That's never happened to me.
It only ever shows me movies I have on the hard drive in the movies folders. But I've had Plex Pro for a long time, and I don't know if what you describe is some kind of new advertising scheme.

View attachment 27497

Open the movie in plex (the main info page, don't actually play the movie), click the 3 dots, and then click "Get info" and it'll tell you where that movie is living.
SMDH... apparently what it was doing is attempting to fill in the names of movies from the filenames being uploaded. The source location for that movie (Zero Zero 3D) is actually eight DVD folders where I haven't bothered to rename title00.mkv into the actual title of the DVD. It apparently also found 13 mentions of the word "car" in my uploads and decided I had the movie Cars. Much like it decided that the version of Toy Soldiers that I uploaded was The Toy Soldiers from 2014 and the version of Red Dawn I uploaded (starring Patrick Swayze) was released in 2012.
 
Hmm... well, as fun as going through and renaming all of my mkv files sounds, I think I'll just go ahead and keep using videostream for my streaming needs. It doesn't rename my shit into weird movies I've never heard of.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
Hmm... well, as fun as going through and renaming all of my mkv files sounds, I think I'll just go ahead and keep using videostream for my streaming needs. It doesn't rename my shit into weird movies I've never heard of.
... as long as you only use the desktop browser app.

Videostream's mobile app currently things every single episode of monogatari (and there are a lot of them) is its own individual movie that needs its own entry in my media library :facepalm:
 
Hmm... well, as fun as going through and renaming all of my mkv files sounds, I think I'll just go ahead and keep using videostream for my streaming needs. It doesn't rename my shit into weird movies I've never heard of.
The reason Plex requires a positive match with MDB (therefore, a proper name to the file) is because it then uses that match to get trailers, movie poster art, and actor interviews. It also grabs movie metadata, so that you can then search your movies based on actor, genre, etc, and sort them by release date (for instance) I don't mind it :)
 
The reason Plex requires a positive match with MDB (therefore, a proper name to the file) is because it then uses that match to get trailers, movie poster art, and actor interviews. It also grabs movie metadata, so that you can then search your movies based on actor, genre, etc, and sort them by release date (for instance) I don't mind it :)
I'm sure that it's useful for a lot of people. For me, I already have everything stored in one central location, ordered by name, in their own individual folders - so going through and renaming all of the individual video and subtitle tracks is just a useless waste of time. Anywho, no harm, no foul.
... as long as you only use the desktop browser app.

Videostream's mobile app currently things every single episode of monogatari (and there are a lot of them) is its own individual movie that needs its own entry in my media library :facepalm:
Yeah, I've noticed any time there's a sale, the Videostream team seems to really advise against buying their mobile app. One wonders why they even bother keeping it available if they have so many issues with it that even they don't recommend it.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
Yeah, I've noticed any time there's a sale, the Videostream team seems to really advise against buying their mobile app. One wonders why they even bother keeping it available if they have so many issues with it that even they don't recommend it.
And really, if they just let you do file/folder navigation like the chrome app does, it'd be fine. It's a lot more convenient for me on the couch to use my phone to control the TV, than having to do it on a PC.
 
I'm sure that it's useful for a lot of people. For me, I already have everything stored in one central location, ordered by name, in their own individual folders - so going through and renaming all of the individual video and subtitle tracks is just a useless waste of time. Anywho, no harm, no foul.
I get it. I have my music sorted the same way. Consequently, on my phone, I use RocketPlayer (which is designed for folder-sorted music) instead of the Google music player (which is set up more like Plex, using metadata to let you find and play music). So I totally get what you're saying.
 
It amazes me just how many different types of encryption I've run into while trying to rip all of my DVDs into mkv files. Compressed DVDs with long movies on them are bad, but not quite as bad as movies released in that sweet spot in the early 2000's when all everyone cared about was copyright protection. Seriously, it took longer to crack the encryption and/or compression on Lawrence of Arabia and Hackers than it did to make mkvs of the entirety of the Lord of the Rings Special Extended Release Director's Cut Trilogy.
 
...and they're going to keep trying it until they finally find that One True Encryption Method that finally makes it impossible to steal their stuff.
Y'know, instead of just trying to compete on price, or offering some other value-add, or something more customer-friendly.

--Patrick
 
It amazes me just how many different types of encryption I've run into while trying to rip all of my DVDs into mkv files. Compressed DVDs with long movies on them are bad, but not quite as bad as movies released in that sweet spot in the early 2000's when all everyone cared about was copyright protection. Seriously, it took longer to crack the encryption and/or compression on Lawrence of Arabia and Hackers than it did to make mkvs of the entirety of the Lord of the Rings Special Extended Release Director's Cut Trilogy.
I was just having this discussion with my wife yesterday! Movies from the 90's or the 2010's are fine, and easy. DVD's from the early 2000's? A nightmare. I think I pretty much have every trick down now, though.

But if you have any blu-rays hanging around, watch out. It's like they've shifted all of their focus to blu-ray protection. Even modern movies can be a pain to rip.
 
if you have any blu-rays hanging around, watch out. It's like they've shifted all of their focus to blu-ray protection. Even modern movies can be a pain to rip.
The Blu-Ray spec contains metadata that allows them to "poison pill" individual Blu-Ray drives that are suspected of being used to commit piracy. Discs contain a "revocation list" of all the players/drives they are searching for to brick as soon as they see one, and that list is updated with additional devices to search for with every new Blu-Ray that gets released.

Because Sony.

--Patrick
 
Well, luckily(?), I don't have to worry about blu-rays, because I don't have any. In other news, Blades of Glory is one of those rotten DVDs to rip. It's been running now for 2 hours and apparently has another hour to go.
 
...and they're going to keep trying it until they finally find that One True Encryption Method that finally makes it impossible to steal their stuff.
Y'know, instead of just trying to compete on price, or offering some other value-add, or something more customer-friendly.

--Patrick
 
I recognize everything they talk about in that song.
And I agree with its assertion 100%.

--Patrick
 
Last edited:
Top