Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Parkinson's law of triviality, also known as bikeshedding, bike-shed effect

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkinson's_law_of_triviality

Parkinson's law of triviality, also known as bikesheddingbike-shed effect, or the bicycle-shed example, is C. Northcote Parkinson's 1957 argument that organizations give disproportionate weight to trivial issues.[1] Parkinson observed and illustrated that a committee whose job is to approve plans for a nuclear power plant spent the majority of its time with pointless discussions on relatively trivial and unimportant but easy-to-grasp issues, such as what materials to use for the staff bike-shed, while neglecting the less-trivial proposed design of the nuclear power plant itself, which is far more important but also a far more difficult and complex task to criticize constructively.

The law has been applied to software development[2] and other activities, and the term "bikeshedding" was coined as a metaphor to illuminate Parkinson's Law of Triviality and was popularized in the Berkeley Software Distribution community by Poul-Henning Kamp[3] and has spread from there to the software industry at large.

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Sony Leaks Reveal Hollywood Is Trying To Break DNS


Sony Leaks Reveal Hollywood Is Trying To Break DNS

from the scorched-net-policy dept.
schwit1 sends this report from The Verge:Most anti-piracy tools take one of two paths: they either target the server that's sharing the files (pulling videos off YouTube or taking down sites like The Pirate Bay) or they make it harder to find (delisting offshore sites that share infringing content). But leaked documents reveal a frightening line of attack that's currently being considered by the MPAA: What if you simply erased any record that the site was there in the first place? To do that, the MPAA's lawyers would target the Domain Name System that directs traffic across the internet

The tactic was first proposed as part of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in 2011, but three years after the law failed in Congress, the MPAA has been looking for legal justification for the practice in existing law and working with ISPs like Comcast to examine how a system might work technically. If a takedown notice could blacklist a site from every available DNS provider, the URL would be effectively erased from the internet. No one's ever tried to issue a takedown notice like that, but this latest memo suggests the MPAA is looking into it as a potentially powerful new tool in the fight against piracy.

Tuesday, December 09, 2014

PiDuino kit

This PiDuino kit is an add on board for the Raspberry Pi.

It enables the Pi to have real-time and analog capabilities. Powered by an Atmega328 at 3.3v 8MHz.

http://skpang.co.uk/catalog/piduino-kit-p-1337.html

Sunday, December 07, 2014

The Computer Chronicles: UNIX (1985)

UNIX: Making Computers Easier To Use -- AT&T Archives film from 1982, Be...





Just ran across this gem. 

For more from the AT&T Archives, visit http://techchannel.att.com/archives

The Unix System: Making Computers Easier to Use - 1982

This 23-minute film about UNIX was designed for students with an interest in engineering, math, computer science or other sciences. The film was made available to the public in December 1982. It covers different ways that UNIX could be employed practically in a computing environment. Another film about UNIX released at the same time, "The UNIX System: Making Computers More Productive," was aimed at computer science majors and corporate trainees, and presented a more detailed discussion of the UNIX system and its various applications.

Hosted by Victor Vyssotsky in a Carl-Sagan-esque turtleneck sweater, this film includes Dennis Ritchie, one of UNIX's inventors, along with Bell Labs staffers and programmers Brian Kernighan, Catherine Ann Brooks, Lorinda Cherry, Alfred Aho, Nina Macdonald, and John Mashey.

Dennis Ritchie and Ken Thompson started work on what would become UNIX originally in 1969. They developed it to run on a DEC PDP-7 to begin with; it would eventually be ported to other computers. By 1976, UNIX was used in more than 30 Bell Labs groups, and there were UNIX installations at over 80 universities.

Footage Courtesy of AT&T Archives and History Center, Warren, NJ

Sunday, June 15, 2014

RASPBERRY PI COMPUTE MODULE: NEW PRODUCT!



http://www.raspberrypi.org/raspberry-pi-compute-module-new-product/

http://www.tweaktown.com/news/36852/the-new-raspberry-pi-is-here-and-it-s-not-what-anyone-expected/index.html





This is a big deal in getting smaller.  Trying to make small devices based on the PI is always limited by the connectors and adapters.

Now we can make custom PCB's that are far simpler then implementing a CPU system that just does our sensors and I/O.

PCB Express should do well from this.




Saturday, June 07, 2014

Annikken Andee - Arduino Bluetooth Shield, control a cell phone from Arduino.

http://www.annikken.com/

Arduino Bluetooth Shield , With a twist, it let's you control a cell phone from Arduino.

Supports both iOS and Android with what looks like good example code.

It also supports In Circuit Serial Programming and SD card making it able to store and forward, or store to deal with intermittent connections with any loss in a data collection application.

From the video is seems to have a large delay, that would be almost in the seconds and far too much latency for a driving an RC vehicle.

From what I can tell you use their special App and a library so all the the GUI cell phone user interface is programmed from the Arduino.  To do this they must turn the phone in to a slave terminal that responds to push and/or polling?
Looking at Android Library source code right now,

Lots of:
void AndeeHelper::setTitleTextColor(char* color){    textAndee("_TTC", color);}
Looks like a heavy protocol over bluetooth. 

Annikken Andee API Reference
http://resources.annikken.com/index.php?title=Annikken_Andee_API_Reference

Wow, this lets the Arduino have a lot of control over the cell phone.
You can take pictures, send text messages, of course screen and keyboard control with basic GUI elements, of buttons, sliders, and graphs. 

Amazingly there isn't any calls for sending an E-mail or communicating with a web server.

The website fails to explain what this is doing or how it's working. 

http://www.annikken.com/getstarted/

Resources
http://resources.annikken.com/index.php?title=Main_Page

Here is a link to the users manual:
 http://annikken.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/user_manual.pdf

Some of my favorite lines:
8.3.3.4 Text-To-Speech
Enable this if you want to use Text-To-Speech capability. Arduino can instruct 
Android to speak a line of text by using library calls. Here is an example code.

Supported Arduino Boards

Annikken Andee (Android and iOS) are compatible with the following boards:
  • Arduino Uno
  • Arduino Leonardo
  • Arduino Mega
  • Arduino Due
  • Femtoduino

Saturday, May 10, 2014

9 Tutorials On Raspberry Pi For Beginners



9 Tutorials On Raspberry Pi For Beginners

http://www.electronicsforu.com/newelectronics/articles/hitscc.asp?id=12956&group_type=cool_stuff

From our collection of videos, we bring to you 9 super helpful tutorial videos for Raspberry Pi beginners. Happy making!

Thursday, May 08, 2014

Linux I/O Stack Diagram

The Linux I/O Stack Diagram shows the layout of the the Linux I/O stack.
The current version 1.0 of the diagram refers to Linux Kernel 3.3.



Sent from my iPad

Wednesday, May 07, 2014

CRiOS (Custom Real-time intelligent Operating System)


Been noticing something new.  In all my blogs, usually coming in at 1 to 2 percent about 5 the after Firefox, chrome, IE and safari is a new browser  CRiOS.
This is the first time I've ever heard of it.

Quick google search isn't clear either but the second entry indicating this could be mobile chrome, makes more sense.   Anyone know anything about this?


Cell CRiOS (Custom Real-time intelligent Operating System) is the Operation System (OS) layer which is a proprietary and custom design based on open Linux kernel system version 2.6.x. This OS layer is uniquely with the best technology design to protect against software-based threats, guard the integrity of kernel OS and achieve the best performance.

The meaning of CriOS

Recently have a browser view from "CriOS" when viewing your blogger stats? Basically, what that is is Google Chrome for mobile devices; android and iOS. Not some revolutionary new operating system..

Saturday, May 03, 2014

Linux Video of the Week: Linux Sucks (But Actually It's Awesome)

http://www.linux.com/news/featured-blogs/200-libby-clark/771738-linux-video-of-the-week-linux-sucks-but-actually-its-awesome

Linux Video of the Week: Linux Sucks (But Actually It's Awesome)


In his annual “Linux Sucks” presentation at LinuxFest Northwest last Saturday in Bellingham, Washington, Lunduke unabashedly took aim at some controversial targets – Ubuntu, Fedora, Gnome, Wayland and X, to name a few – while simultaneously praising their accomplishments.
The talk highlights the Linux community's capacity to gripe and moan about the very same software that it faithfully uses and loves. And Lunduke, well aware that he's making himself a target of ridicule, conveys this dual nature well by going through the same set of slides twice: once to discuss how Linux sucks and once to hail how awesome it is. He does this well, with an air of showmanship (and a sprinkling of expletives.) But he ends on a sincere note.
“I think it's absolutely amazing that we have a multi-million person community out there that's rallied around one core set of an operating system, a piece of software, that we feel entirely invested in. For a lot of us it's an identity,” said Lunduke, a social media marketing manager at SUSE (and a guest blogger for Linux.com). “And yet we yell about Linux on Reddit and every other website we get a chance to... and we still at the end of the day love Linux... and each other.”

Comments

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  • valyum :

    Linux it's awsome beacuse is so muche diversified.You don't like somethig ?Have choise to get what you want.Well, not everythig is ok, but we have power for choise, and this is awsome.Have a nice day ! :-)
  • Jimmi :

    Please stop using the "R" word. It is so insensitive. Please stop,
  • Fbc :

    If it weren't for the language I'd spread links to this around. Too bad it's not suitable for people with children around.
 

Thursday, April 10, 2014

Fwd: Heartbleed security update


Begin forwarded message:

From: IVPN <support@ivpn.net>
Date: April 10, 2014, 10:27:01 AM PDT
Subject: Heartbleed security update
Reply-To: IVPN <support@ivpn.net>

iVPN.net

Dear customer,

Recently a serious vulnerability in the popular OpenSSL cryptographic software library was disclosed and we'd like to update you on what steps we've taken to ensure your security. In summary, the vulnerability allows an adversary to extract private keys (and session keys) used to encrypt traffic within an OpenVPN connection. This affects not only OpenVPN but many other services such as web, email, instant messaging etc. For more details see the heartbleed website.

Within a few hours of the vulnerability being announced we patched all vulnerable servers and regenerated new 4096 bit certificates across our entire infrastructure. We announced this on twitter at 1:38 PM (CEST) on 8 Apr 2014 - https://twitter.com/ivpnnet/status/453497012647116800 - If you have not yet followed us on Twitter now is a good time to follow @ivpnnet for the latest updates.

What do you need to do?

Whilst our servers are protected there still exists a vulnerability in the OpenVPN client software. Although adversaries are more likely to target a VPN server in an attack we strongly recommend you upgrade your client software to remain secure. OpenVPN technologies have released a new version of the software in the last 24 hours which fixes this vulnerability. If you are using L2TP/IPSec then this issue does not affect you at all. Otherwise if you are using OpenVPN please read the relevant section below:

Max OSX
If you are using the Tunnelblick client you need to update to either v3.3.2 or v3.4 Beta22 depending on whether you are running the stable or beta version. The Beta version is required if you are using the latest version of OSX - 10.9.x Mavericks. If you have automatic updating configured in Tunnelblick you should receive an automatic notice to update on startup. Otherwise, please download and install the latest version from the Tunnelblick downloads page. Instructions for downloading and installing Tunnelblick can be found here.

Windows
If you are using the old Windows client (controlled by right clicking the shield icon in the system tray) you should upgrade to the new IVPN client for Windows v1.1. If you are already using the new IVPN client then click on the 'update' link within the client to upgrade to version 1.1 - the update link should  automatically appear in 5 minutes after starting the client. Alternatively if you do not wish to install the new IVPN client you can still install the community edition of the OpenVPN client v2.3.3 - You can follow these instructions on our website to install the community client. 

Linux
OpenVPN on Linux uses the openssl libraries installed on your system. Check your distributions website for information and if necessary update openssl using your package manager. Reboot to ensure the new openssl libraries are loaded.

Best regards,

IVPN team

Friday, March 14, 2014

Re: U.S. to relinquish remaining control over the Internet - The Washington Post

On 3/14/2014 3:00 PM, Jesse Monroy wrote:
yes,,, i do remember this, just didn't think it would happen. 

  "there had been plans since ICANN’s creation in 1998 to eventually migrate it to international control...."

unfortunately, i also agree with the writers... ICANN’s not very reasonably, responsible, and does not act fairly or act like a .org should ....  favors some like verasign's trumping up the prices on .tv to outrageously high prices depending on the name you want ... costs well beyond reason... just try it... it's laughable, and they don't even own the right to .tv, they just license it annually from a s.pacific island country.... 

from the wiki:  ..."The domain is currently operated by dotTV, a Verisign company; the Tuvalu government owns twenty percent of the company. In 2000, Tuvalu negotiated a contract leasing its Internet domain name ".tv" for $50 million in royalties over a 12-year period.[1] The Tuvalu government receives a quarterly payment of US$1 million for use of the top-level domain.
On December 14, 2006, VeriSign announced an alliance with Demand Media, run by ex-MySpace chairman Richard Rosenblatt to market the .tv top level domain name (TLD) as the preferred Web address for rich media content. ".TV" premium names cannot be transferred to another registrar. Annual renewal fees for .TV premium names are the same as the initial "buy now" registration fee.
On March 16, 2010, Sedo announced that it teamed up with Verisign to hold an exclusive auction on April 1 for 115 premium .TV domain names that would carry standard non-premium annual renewals regardless of the closing auction price. On March 19, Verisign announced that premium .TV names would now be available through an expanded .TV registrar channel, slashed prices on premium .TV names, and made a significant number of high sought after premium .TV names non-premium. As a result, Verisign essentially lifted the roadblock that previously discouraged investment in the .TV extension by major domainers, investors, and developers.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

why doesn't ICCAN step in on this?... or the federal government... it not longer possible to get .tv at a regular domain name price....



U.S. to relinquish remaining control over the Internet - The Washington Post

Saturday, February 22, 2014

Is this a Joke? Web development with Assembly




The more I looked the cooler this is though.  Suddenly a solid C platform that I can compiled C code and run in a remote browser.    What's been done so far is incredible, and I think it's the underlying engine for many future UI and VR experiences.


WebAssembly (Wasm) is an universal low level bytecode that runs on the web. It is a compilation target for languages like Rust, AssemblyScript (Typescript-like), Emscripten (C/C++), and much more! Wasm offer a compact binary format with predictable performance, and portability to run alongside Javascript and other host languages. Wasm is currently shipped in all major browsers, and has runtimes meant for running on servers or interfacing with systems using WASI.
https://wasmbyexample.dev/

Emscripten is a toolchain for compiling to asm.js and WebAssembly, built using LLVM, that lets you run C and C++ on the web at near-native speed without plugins.
https://emscripten.org/


Introducing Emscripten
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Projects/Emscripten/Introducing





WebAssembly Literacy   Google DOC - Ebook

You want to learn WebAssembly (Wasm) for coding web apps in [replace by your favorite language] instead of Javascript and are not interested by the WebAssembly Text Format (WAT) : THIS EBOOK IS NOT FOR YOU !
Indeed, there’re already many great tutorials about the amazing Emscripten project (C/C++) or about Rust or Go in order to enter new realms of web development without javascript and capitalizing on existing code bases.

Else you know javascript but not very well (use it just for jQuery plugins) : THIS EBOOK IS VERY PROBABLY NOT FOR YOU !


Thursday, February 20, 2014

Project Tango: Google's all-ringing, all-dancing 3D-sensing smartphone * The Register


Project Tango is a five-inch handset running, surprise surprise, Android. The device uses cameras and depth-perception sensors to constantly map out the holder's physical environment in 3D and match that to the phone's internal gyroscopic systems and more general location data from GPS.
This data can be used by the phone to build up an accurate picture of its surroundings so that software can combine it with on-screen graphics, or throw the information into a database for later use. Imagine walking through a room, the phone in your hand detecting the walls surrounding you, and an app displaying stuff on the screen using that proximity data, for example.
"Mobile devices today assume that the physical world ends at the boundaries of the screen," said ATAP’s technical program leader Johnny Lee. "Our goal is to give mobile devices a human-scale understanding of space and motion."

- For those of you who don't know who Johnny Lee is , he has a series of amazing you tube videos doing  3D  movement and projects. What ever he does I am sure it will be amazing. 

Broadcom's new chip brings GPS to smartwatches without killing the battery

http://www.engadget.com/2014/02/20/broadcom-gps-chip/?ncid=rss_truncated

Sunday, January 19, 2014

"OpenBSD will shut down if we do not have the funding"

http://www.osnews.com/story/27519/_quot_OpenBSD_will_shut_down_if_we_do_not_have_the_funding_quot_

posted by Thom Holwerda on Thu 16th Jan 2014 23:08 UTC, submitted by jz
Icon

See the email thread on the misc list for more details.

In light of shrinking funding, we do need to look for a source to cover project expenses. If need be the OpenBSD Foundation can be involved in receiving donations to cover project electrical costs.

But the fact is right now, OpenBSD will shut down if we do not have the funding to keep the lights on.

If you or a company you know are able to assist us, it would be greatly appreciated, but right now we are looking at a significant funding shortfall for the upcoming year - Meaning the project won't be able to cover 20 thousand dollars in electrical expenses before being able to use money for other things. That sort of situation is not sustainable.

The OpenBSD project is the incubator for a number of other projects including OpenSSH and OpenSMTPD. If you use these or just want the project to survive, consider making a donation.