Friday, May 11, 2012
SVLUG 5/2/2012 Discussion on Operating Systems
SVLUG Comparative Operating Systems Discussion panel
Moderator: Rick Moen.
FreeBSD: Josh Paetzel, Director of IT at IxSystems, Inc.
Inferno: Charles Forsyth, Technical Director and Co-Founder at Vita Nuova for Plan 9
Illumos: Bryan Cantrill will be talking about the successor to OpenSolaris, illumos, and Joyent's own distro, SmartOS
Linux: Kevin Dankwardt of K Computing
Thursday, May 10, 2012
CCNx content-centric networking.
From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Content-centric_networking
CCNx project, which is led by Van Jacobson, a research fellow at PARC. On September 21, 2009, PARC published the specifications for interoperability and released an initial open source implementation (under GPL) of the Content Centric Networking research project on the Project CCNx site.
Van Jacobson
One of the primary contributors to the technological foundations of today's Internet, Van Jacobson joined PARC in 2006 as a Research Fellow to lead itsContent-Centric Networking (CCN) research program.
Van's algorithms for the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) helped solve the problem of congestion and are used in over 90% of Internet hosts today. Widely credited with enabling the Internet to expand in size and support increasing speed demands, Van helped the Internet survive a major traffic surge (1988-89) without collapsing.
Van's algorithms for the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) helped solve the problem of congestion and are used in over 90% of Internet hosts today. Widely credited with enabling the Internet to expand in size and support increasing speed demands, Van helped the Internet survive a major traffic surge (1988-89) without collapsing.
From : http://www.ccnx.org/
Project CCNx exists to develop, promote, and evaluate a new approach to communication architecture we call content-centric networking. We seek to carry out this mission by creating and publishing open protocol specifications and an open source software reference implementation of those protocols. We provide support for a community of people interested in experimentation, research, and building applications with this technology, all contributing to its evolution.
Project CCNx is sponsored by the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) and is based upon the PARC Content-Centric Networking (CCN) architecture, which is the focus of a major, long-term research and development program.
Wednesday, May 09, 2012
Cloud Computing anagram is UPCOMING, OLD CUT
http://deanjackson.dj/nameanagram/index.php?n=cloud+computing
Cloud Computing anagram is UPCOMING, OLD CUT
Old Cut usually refers to Diamonds. This an old style of faceting a diamond in a round shape, hand worked, in a less than perfect fashion.
Cloud Computing anagram is UPCOMING, OLD CUT
Old Cut usually refers to Diamonds. This an old style of faceting a diamond in a round shape, hand worked, in a less than perfect fashion.
Sunday, May 06, 2012
Saturday, May 05, 2012
Friday, May 04, 2012
Thursday, May 03, 2012
Wednesday, May 02, 2012
Tuesday, May 01, 2012
Monday, April 30, 2012
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Fwd: [svlug-announce] SVLUG May 2nd Meeting: Panel of Speakers on Comparitive Operating Systems
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "mark weisler"
Date: Apr 29, 2012 9:47 AM
Subject: [svlug-announce] SVLUG May 2nd Meeting: Panel of Speakers on Comparitive Operating Systems
To: <svlug-announce@lists.svlug.org>
WHEN:
Wednesday, May 2nd, 2012
7:00pm-9:00pm
MAIN PRESENTATION
TOPIC: Comparing Current Open Source Unix Systems
Snacks and beverages at this meeting will be provided by ValueHost.
PRESENTED BY:
A Distinguished Panel of Speakers
TOPIC SUMMARY:
The panel will discuss the main current open source Unix systems including Linux, BSD, illumos, SmartOS, Plan 9,
and possibly others. Attendees will learn more about the energy and ideas behind these operating systems
as well as their future direction.
ABOUT THE PRESENTERS:
Our panel includes Kevin Dankwardt of K Computing representing Linux; Josh Paetzel, Director of IT at IxSystems, Inc.
for FreeBSD; Bryan Cantrill will be talking about the successor to OpenSolaris, illumos, and Joyent's own distro, SmartOS;
Charles Forsyth, Technical Director and Co-Founder at Vita Nuova for Plan 9; and possibly others.
Check out our flyer (340 KB PDF).
Rick Moen, long-time volunteer to SVLUG and veteran system administrator, will be our moderator.
LOCATION:
Symantec
VCAFE Facility
350 Ellis Street (near E. Middlefield Road)
Mountain View, CA 94043
Directions on how to get there are listed at:
http://www.svlug.org/directions/veritas.php
We've tried our very best for these directions to be accurate.
If you have any improvements to make, please let SVLUG's volunteers know!
webmaster at svlug.org
POST-MEETING GATHERING:
If you just can't get enough, a smaller group usually goes to a local
restaurant/diner after the meeting: Frankie, Johnnie & Luigi, Too,
939 West El Camino Real between Shoreline and Castro, Mountain View.
We look forward to seeing you there!
_______________________________________________
svlug-announce mailing list
svlug-announce@lists.svlug.org
http://lists.svlug.org/lists/listinfo/svlug-announce
Saturday, April 28, 2012
Instagram used Twitter to make Facebook pay more (rumor) | ZDNet
Some real numbers include, like $300m in cash.
http://m.zdnet.com/blog/facebook/instagram-used-twitter-to-make-facebook-pay-more-rumor/12190
Creators have to be able to see what they are doing.
Amazing real time programming tools in JavaScript that let you see the results of code changes immediately. This is an incredible breakthrough.
Something that I hope one day can be in the Amorphous OS I wish to build.
Bret Victor - Inventing on Principle
Something that I hope one day can be in the Amorphous OS I wish to build.
Bret Victor - Inventing on Principle
Guiding Principal
Ideas are very important to me. Bringing ideas to the world are one of the most important thing for people do.
and I think that great ideas in the form of great art, stories, inventions,
scientific theories these thing take on lives of their own which give meaning to our lives as people.
So, I think a lot about how people create ideas and how ideas grow and in particular, what sorts of tools create a healthy environment for ideas to grow.
I've spent a lot of time over the years making creative tools, using creative tools, thinking about this a lot and here's something I've come to believe,
creators need an immediate connection to what they create.
When you making something you need to see the effect of that immediately.
Creators need an immediate connection to what they are creating.
Creators have to be able to see what they are doing.
Friday, April 27, 2012
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Friday, April 13, 2012
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
UPDATE: Nokia's US Re-entry Marred By Software Glitch - WSJ.com
Nokia is struggling big time. More losses, more layoffs, new product glitches, lower sales, it goes on.
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Monday, April 09, 2012
Friday, April 06, 2012
Re: Microsoft still handing out checks for Windows Phone apps - CSMonitor.com
From RM:
Quoting JM:
> Interesting. I wonder how much is that everyone is tired of M$ market
> dominance?
>
> http://www.csmonitor.com/Innovation/Horizons/2012/0406/Microsoft-still-handing-out-checks-for-Windows-Phone-apps
They've subsidised Windows preloads for decades, using co-op marketing
subsidies without which most PC models would lose money. That's a key
part of how they control the OEMs.
Quoting JM:
> Interesting. I wonder how much is that everyone is tired of M$ market
> dominance?
>
> http://www.csmonitor.com/Innovation/Horizons/2012/0406/Microsoft-still-handing-out-checks-for-Windows-Phone-apps
They've subsidised Windows preloads for decades, using co-op marketing
subsidies without which most PC models would lose money. That's a key
part of how they control the OEMs.
Microsoft still handing out checks for Windows Phone apps - CSMonitor.com
Interesting. I wonder how much is that everyone is tired of M$ market dominance?
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Friday, March 30, 2012
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Fwd: Driven by Smartphones and Tablets, the Market for Mobile Processors Is Projected to Reach 1.9 B...
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "In-Stat News" <news@displaysearch.com>
Date: Mar 28, 2012 5:17 AM
Subject: Driven by Smartphones and Tablets, the Market for Mobile Processors Is Projected to Reach 1.9 B...
To: <john.sokol@gmail.com>
From: "In-Stat News" <news@displaysearch.com>
Date: Mar 28, 2012 5:17 AM
Subject: Driven by Smartphones and Tablets, the Market for Mobile Processors Is Projected to Reach 1.9 B...
To: <john.sokol@gmail.com>
Contact:
Jim McGregor, Chief Technology Strategist
Email: jmcgregor@in-stat.com; Phone: (480) 609-4554
Rick Vogelei, Marketing Manager
Email: rvogelei@in-stat.com; Phone: (480) 483-4476
Driven by Smartphones and Tablets, the Market for Mobile Processors Is Projected to Reach 1.9 Billion Units Annually by 2016, Says NPD In-Stat
Scottsdale, Ariz., March 28, 2012—The term "mobile processor" refers to a range of processors used in mobile CE devices, often referred to as applications processors and central processing units (CPUs). These highly flexible mobile processors are used in multifunction devices that combine computing, communications, entertainment, and/or productivity capabilities. Mobile devices include e-readers, handheld game consoles (HGCs), mobile PCs, portable media players (PMPs), smartphones, and tablets. New NPD In-Stat (www.in-stat.com) research, reports that the growth of mobile processors in 2011 exceeded 43% and is forecast to grow at a 22% CAGR through 2016.
"Although the total available market for mobile processors continues to grow, the emergence of industry leaders in the high-growth mobile device segment is becoming a key factor in the success of processor vendors," says Jim McGregor, Chief Technology Strategist. "Just having a captive smartphone and tablet market has propelled Apple into second place for the entire mobile processor market just behind industry leader Intel. In 2012, Apple will likely capture the top spot, in terms of unit shipments, driven by the success of its iPhone and iPad. Other companies that benefitted greatly from new product releases or dominance by their OEM customers included Nvidia, Texas Instruments, Qualcomm, and Samsung."
Key research findings include:
- For all mobile devices, ARM is the dominant processor architecture with over 73% of all units shipped and is growing.
- Intel's dominance continues in mobile PCs, while Apple, Qualcomm, and Samsung claim the top spots in other CE devices.
- Smartphones and tablets represent the greatest opportunity for growth with a combined 75% growth in 2011 and 29.3% CAGR expected through 2016.
- In-Stat anticipates consolidation in the mobile processor market beginning in the 2013/2014 timeframe.
- The release of Windows 8 later this year will be a pivotal point in the competition between the ARM and x86 processor architectures.
New In-Stat research, Mobile Processor Architectures, Devices, and Market Shares, Q4'11 (#IN1204993SI), examines the vendors, markets, and issues surrounding the mobile processor market. As the first in a quarterly series of reports on mobile processors and mobile graphics, the mobile processor report provides in-depth analysis on key issues in the market as well as unit forecasts:
- Quarterly shipment forecast by mobile processor vendor
- Quarterly shipment forecast by application: mobile PCs, PMPs, HGCs, e-readers, tablets, smartphones
- Quarterly shipment forecast by processor architecture, including ARM, MIPS, and x86
- Analysis of key issues potentially impacting the market, including the battle between ARM and x86, the pending release of Windows 8, the make vs. buy decision, differentiation and integration, the growth of the low-cost segments, industry consolidation, technology adoption and migration, manufacturing, and legal issues
- Five-year outlook for the market
- Processor and vendor profiles for Amlogic, Anyka, AMD, Apple, Broadcom, Freescale Semiconductor, HiSilicon, Ingenic Semiconductor, Intel, Marvell Technology Group, MediaTek, NuFront, Nvidia, Qualcomm, Renesas Mobile, Rockchip, Samsung, Shanghai Jade Tech, Spreadtrum, ST-Ericsson, Texas Instruments, VIA Technologies, Vimicro, and ZiiLABS
This research is part of In-Stat's Mobile Technology service, which provides analysis of the market for technologies, IP, and semiconductors that enable next-generation mobile devices, including processors, graphics, modems, GPS, displays, memory, storage, operating systems, software, and human interfaces.
About NPD In-Stat
NPD In-Stat's market intelligence combines technical, market and end-user research and database models to analyze the Mobile Internet and Digital Entertainment ecosystems. Insights are derived from a deep understanding of technology impacts, nearly 30 years of history in research and consulting, and direct relationships with leading players in each of our core markets. NPD In-Stat provides its research through reports, annual subscriptions, consulting and advisory services to inform critical decisions. Technology vendors, equipment manufacturers, service providers and media companies worldwide rely on NPD In-Stat to support critical business, product and technology decisions. For more information, visit www.in-stat.com.
About The NPD Group, Inc.
The NPD Group is the leading provider of reliable and comprehensive consumer and retail information for a wide range of industries. Today, more than 1,800 manufacturers, retailers, and service companies rely on NPD to help them drive critical business decisions at the global, national, and local market levels. NPD helps our clients to identify new business opportunities and guide product development, marketing, sales, merchandising, and other functions. Information is available for the following industry sectors: automotive, beauty, commercial technology, consumer technology, entertainment, fashion, food and beverage, foodservice, home, office supplies, software, sports, toys, and wireless. For more information, contact us or visit www.npd.com and www.npdgroupblog.com. Follow us on Twitter at @npdtech and @npdgroup.
If you would rather not receive future communications from Savvy Public Relations, let us know by clicking here.
Savvy Public Relations, Not listed, Orlando, FL 32814 United States
Savvy Public Relations, Not listed, Orlando, FL 32814 United States
Monday, March 26, 2012
Microsoft shuts down 2 Zeus botnet servers – USATODAY.com
Finally a newstory that names the federal agents and the offending service providers.
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/story/2012-03-26/microsoft-botnet/53794692/1
EMACS brand of high quality POWER SUPPLIES?!?!?
Anyone planning on naming a product really needs to google the name before calling your product that.
EMACS is a very popular Linux/Unix editor.
It's an extensible, customizable text editor—and more. At its core is an interpreter for Emacs Lisp, a dialect of the Lisp programming language with extensions to support text editing.
EMACS is a very popular Linux/Unix editor.
It's an extensible, customizable text editor—and more. At its core is an interpreter for Emacs Lisp, a dialect of the Lisp programming language with extensions to support text editing.
GNU Emacs - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation (FSF)
www.gnu.org/s/emacs/---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Bijender Kumar <bijender_kumar@zippy.com>
Date: Mon, Mar 26, 2012 at 12:22 PM
Subject: ZIPPY USA INC
To: sokol
From: Bijender Kumar <bijender_kumar@zippy.com>
Date: Mon, Mar 26, 2012 at 12:22 PM
Subject: ZIPPY USA INC
To: sokol
Hi,
I hope you doing great!
We custom manufacture the well-known EMACS brand of high quality POWER SUPPLIES for File Servers, Industrial PC (IPC), Storage Systems, Workstations, Blade Servers, Communications, and Networking Equipment.
I hope we can join effort to increase our end customer's satisfaction by reducing cost and improve quality; this could result in a win-win for everyone.
Please take a minute to see the attached flyers to view our product and company.
- I can also offer you quick turn-around times,
- Low Minimum Order Quantities, (case by case basis, please contact me for details)
- We will work with you from Concept to Production for all new projects.
If you have any question please feel free to contact me and looking forward to work with you.
Thank you and best regards!
************************
Bijender Kumar
Project Manager
ZIPPY USA INC. (EMACS)
Fax: 732-203-6989
670 N. Beers Street, Bldg 2.
Holmdel, NJ 07733
e-mail: bijender_kumar@zippy.com
Website: http://www.zippy.com
*************************
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Study: free apps drain 75 percent more power, badly built advertising to blame -- Engadget
Interesting a windows mobile developer does not test windows mobile.
Monday, March 19, 2012
Friday, March 16, 2012
Special $400 Visual Studio Live NY Discount
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Kate Miller
Date: Fri, Mar 16, 2012 at 12:38 PM
Subject: Video Technology: Special $400 Visual Studio Live NY Discount
To: john.sokol@gmail.com
Hi John,
Visual Studio Live is coming back to New York, May 14-17, 2012 at New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge (http://bit.ly/VSNY2012), which I think your readers will be very interested in attending. Our communications firm is working with the organizers of Visual Studio Live! New York, and I'm reaching out to you today with a special discount code for readers of Video Technology.
Visual Studio Live! New York is your map to the .NET development platform. It will provide unbiased, hard-hitting and practical developer training, including a full track on Silverlight. Check out the agenda for sessions and speakers: http://bit.ly/VSNYWPF
We have a special discount code available, and I'd like to get your help promoting Visual Studio Live! New York and this discount to your readers. Simply register at http://bit.ly/VSNY2012 with the code VSNYTU for a $400 discount off of the 5 Day Best Value Package rate (discount applies to the Standard rate and new registrations only).
Will you help us spread the word about Visual Studio Live! New York and this discount to your readers? We have sample copy you can use for blog posts and tweets here: http://bit.ly/VSNYStW
Also, please let me know if you would be interested in becoming more involved with Visual Studio Live.
Thanks, John for your support and I hope you'll be able to attend Visual Studio Live! New York. Please let me know if you have any questions and how I can help your efforts!
Best regards,
Kate Miller
Visual Studio Live! Team/Tuvel Communications
Visual Studio Live! is a client of Tuvel Communications
Connect with Visual Studio Live!
Facebook: http://bit.ly/VSLiveFB
Twitter: http://twitter.com/vslive
LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/VSLiveLI
From: Kate Miller
Date: Fri, Mar 16, 2012 at 12:38 PM
Subject: Video Technology: Special $400 Visual Studio Live NY Discount
To: john.sokol@gmail.com
Hi John,
Visual Studio Live is coming back to New York, May 14-17, 2012 at New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge (http://bit.ly/VSNY2012), which I think your readers will be very interested in attending. Our communications firm is working with the organizers of Visual Studio Live! New York, and I'm reaching out to you today with a special discount code for readers of Video Technology.
Visual Studio Live! New York is your map to the .NET development platform. It will provide unbiased, hard-hitting and practical developer training, including a full track on Silverlight. Check out the agenda for sessions and speakers: http://bit.ly/VSNYWPF
We have a special discount code available, and I'd like to get your help promoting Visual Studio Live! New York and this discount to your readers. Simply register at http://bit.ly/VSNY2012 with the code VSNYTU for a $400 discount off of the 5 Day Best Value Package rate (discount applies to the Standard rate and new registrations only).
Will you help us spread the word about Visual Studio Live! New York and this discount to your readers? We have sample copy you can use for blog posts and tweets here: http://bit.ly/VSNYStW
Also, please let me know if you would be interested in becoming more involved with Visual Studio Live.
Thanks, John for your support and I hope you'll be able to attend Visual Studio Live! New York. Please let me know if you have any questions and how I can help your efforts!
Best regards,
Kate Miller
Visual Studio Live! Team/Tuvel Communications
Visual Studio Live! is a client of Tuvel Communications
Connect with Visual Studio Live!
Facebook: http://bit.ly/VSLiveFB
Twitter: http://twitter.com/vslive
LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/VSLiveLI
Thursday, March 15, 2012
'Unprinting' paper could trump recycling, says Cambridge | Crave - CNET News
The results showed that toner-print can be removed effectively without causing significant paper damage, allowing the paper to be reused, without being discarded, shredded or sent to a recycling plant.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-57398247-1/next-up-on-your-to-buy-list-someday-a-laser-unprinter/
What if instead of recycling old printouts, you could simply "unprint" them and re-use the paper?
Researchers at the University of Cambridge say it's possible--and that ultimately, widespread adoption of the practice could not only save trees but significantly reduce climate-change emissions from paper manufacturing and recycling as well.
The university reported yesterday that Julian Allwood, leader of the Low Carbon Materials Processing Group at Cambridge, and doctoral student David Leal-Ayala had successfully used lasers to remove toner from paper without significantly damaging the paper.
With help from the Bavarian Laser Center, Allwood and Leal-Ayala tested 10 different laser setups--spanning the ultraviolet, visible, and infrared spectrum, and featuring different strengths and pulse durations--on standard Canon copy paper with HP Laserjet black toner.
The researchers then examined the test sheets using a scanning electron microscope and subjected them to color, mechanical, and chemical analyses.
The university speculates that advances in laser, copier, and printer technology could one day make toner-removing devices widespread in office settings. "What we need to do now is find someone to build a prototype," the university quotes Allwood as saying.
And reusing paper in this way could at least halve emissions from the pulp and paper recycling industry, the university claims, with emissions from paper incineration and decomposition in landfill being affected as well.
A commenter on the Cambridge site also wonders if the process could replace shredding as a security measure.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-57398247-1/next-up-on-your-to-buy-list-someday-a-laser-unprinter/
What if instead of recycling old printouts, you could simply "unprint" them and re-use the paper?
Researchers at the University of Cambridge say it's possible--and that ultimately, widespread adoption of the practice could not only save trees but significantly reduce climate-change emissions from paper manufacturing and recycling as well.
The university reported yesterday that Julian Allwood, leader of the Low Carbon Materials Processing Group at Cambridge, and doctoral student David Leal-Ayala had successfully used lasers to remove toner from paper without significantly damaging the paper.
With help from the Bavarian Laser Center, Allwood and Leal-Ayala tested 10 different laser setups--spanning the ultraviolet, visible, and infrared spectrum, and featuring different strengths and pulse durations--on standard Canon copy paper with HP Laserjet black toner.
The researchers then examined the test sheets using a scanning electron microscope and subjected them to color, mechanical, and chemical analyses.
The university speculates that advances in laser, copier, and printer technology could one day make toner-removing devices widespread in office settings. "What we need to do now is find someone to build a prototype," the university quotes Allwood as saying.
And reusing paper in this way could at least halve emissions from the pulp and paper recycling industry, the university claims, with emissions from paper incineration and decomposition in landfill being affected as well.
A commenter on the Cambridge site also wonders if the process could replace shredding as a security measure.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Dell to acquire Sonicwall
The bigger news is Dell is serious about pushing into software. This purchase is low hanging fruit.
Monday, March 12, 2012
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Sun sends another cosmic burst our way - Space
These solar flares have been causing distrupions to wireless networks all week. No doubt we will see more this week.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46682358/ns/technology_and_science-space/
Friday, March 09, 2012
Embedded Systems Conference
The annual Embedded Systems Conference in late March in San Jose.
March 26 - 29, 2012
McEnery Convention Center formerly the San Jose Convention Center
An "embedded system" is virtually any computer that is part of something that would not normally be called a "computer". Examples include the electronic controls for clothes washers as well as flying sharks.
Registration for the exhibit hall is free. Many companies with development boards will be there. This year the ESC will be combined with several other "niche" activities including Android.
Details at: http://www.ubmdesign.com/esc/conference
March 26 - 29, 2012
McEnery Convention Center formerly the San Jose Convention Center
An "embedded system" is virtually any computer that is part of something that would not normally be called a "computer". Examples include the electronic controls for clothes washers as well as flying sharks.
Registration for the exhibit hall is free. Many companies with development boards will be there. This year the ESC will be combined with several other "niche" activities including Android.
Details at: http://www.ubmdesign.com/esc/conference
Thursday, March 08, 2012
SVLUG 3/2012 Akkana Peck - Fun with Linux and Arduinos
SVLUG (Silicon Valley Linux Users Group)
http://www.svlug.org
March 7, 2012
TOPIC SUMMARY:
Arduino is a popular open-source single-board microcontroller,
descendant of the open-source Wiring platform, designed to make the
process of using electronics in multidisciplinary projects more
accessible. The hardware consists of a simple open hardware design for
the Arduino board with an Atmel AVR processor and on-board input/output
support. The software consists of a standard programming language
compiler and the boot loader that runs on the board. Akkana will tell
us about using Linux to work with the Arduino. Akkana's talk is
especially timely with the recent introduction of Raspberry Pi, a
similar single-board microcontroller supporting Linux and Python.
ABOUT THE PRESENTER:
Akkana is a software engineer who recently took time to write
"Beginning GIMP" - a book about GIMP, the GNU Image Manipulation
Program. She is active in Bay Area open source and Linux activities.
http://shallowsky.com
http://gimpbook.com
Tuesday, March 06, 2012
This is the stupid shit I must deal with
It says:
Please CLICK OK if information entered is correct or CANCEL to update item
Friday, March 02, 2012
Thursday, March 01, 2012
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Fwd: Linus Torvalds on C++
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: av
Date: Tue, Feb 28, 2012 at 10:44 PM
Subject: Linus Torvalds on C++
To:
this is so incredibly funny--- and so fucking true ... .
From: av
Date: Tue, Feb 28, 2012 at 10:44 PM
Subject: Linus Torvalds on C++
To:
this is so incredibly funny--- and so fucking true ... .
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Friday, February 24, 2012
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Friday, February 17, 2012
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
NYT: Researchers Find Flaw in encryption
TECHNOLOGY Flaw Found in an Online Encryption Method By JOHN MARKOFF Published: February 15, 2012
SAN FRANCISCO - A team of European and American mathematicians and cryptographers have discovered an unexpected weakness in the encryption system widely used worldwide for online shopping, banking,e-mail and other Internet services intended to remain private and secure.
The flaw - which involves a small but measurable number of cases - has to do with the way the system generates random numbers,which are used to make it practically impossible for an attacker to unscramble digital messages. While it can affect the transactions of individual Internet users,there is nothing an individual can do about it. The operators of large Web sites will need to make changes to ensure the security of their systems,the researchers said.
The potential danger of the flaw is that even though the number of users affected by the flaw may be small,confidence in the security of Web transactions is reduced,the authors said.
The system requires that a user first create and publish the product of two large prime numbers,in addition to another number,to generate a public "key." The original numbers are kept secret. To encrypt a message,a second person employs a formula that contains the public number. In practice,only someone with knowledge of the original prime numbers can decode that message.
For the system to provide security,however,it is essential that the secret prime numbers be generated randomly. The researchers discovered that in a small but significant number of cases,the random number generation system failed to work correctly.
The importance in ensuring that encryption systems do not have undetected flaws cannot be overstated. The modern world's online commerce system rests entirely on the secrecy afforded by the public key cryptographic infrastructure.
The researchers described their work in a paper that the authors have submitted for publication at a cryptography conference to be held in Santa Barbara,Calif.,in August. They made their findings public Tuesday because they believe the issue is of immediate concern to the operators of Web servers that rely on the public key cryptography system.
"This comes as an unwelcome warning that underscores the difficulty of key generation in the real world," said James P. Hughes,an independent Silicon Valley cryptanalyst who worked with a group of researchers led by Arjen K. Lenstra,a widely respected Dutch mathematician who is a professor at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland. "Some people may say that 99.8 percent security is fine," he added. That still means that approximately as many as two out of every thousand keys would not be secure.
The researchers examined public databases of 7.1 million public keys used to secure e-mail messages,online banking transactions and other secure data exchanges. The researchers employed the Euclidean algorithm,an efficient way to find the greatest common divisor of two integers,to examine those public key numbers. They were able to produce evidence that a small percentage of those numbers were not truly random,making it possible to determine the underlying numbers, or secret keys,used to generate the public key.
They said they "stumbled upon" almost 27,000 different keys that offer no security. "Their secret keys are accessible to anyone who takes the trouble to redo our work," they wrote.
To prevent this,one of the organizations that had collected the public keys has removed the information from the Internet and taken steps to protect it from theft.
To perform their study,the researchers used several databases of public keys,including one at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and another created by the Electronic Frontier Foundation,a Internet privacy rights group. The foundation's database results from a project, known as the SSL Observatory,originally intended to investigate the security of the digital certificates that are used to protect encrypted data transmitted between Internet users and Web sites.
"We were very careful: we did not intercept any traffic,we did not sniff any networks," Mr. Hughes said. "We went to databases that contained public information and downloaded public keys."
The researchers said they were not able to determine why the random number generators had produced imperfect results,but they noted that the problem appeared in more than the work of a single software developer.
They also stated that if they had been able to discover the flaw,it was also possible that it had been previously uncovered,perhaps by organizations or individuals with malicious intent: "The lack of sophistication of our methods and findings make it hard for us to believe that what we have presented is new,in particular to agencies and parties that are known for their curiosity in such matters," they wrote.
While they said that the publication of results that potentially undermine the security of encryption keys was inappropriate unless the parties were notified first,the researchers noted that the way they discovered the flaw made identifying potentially vulnerable parties a challenge.
"The quagmire of vulnerabilities that we waded into makes it infeasible to properly inform everyone involved,though we made a best effort to inform the larger parties and contacted all e-mail addresses recommended or specified in still-valid affected certificates," they wrote. "The fact that most certificates do not contain adequate contact information limited our options. Our decision to make our findings public,despite our inability to directly notify everyone involved,was a judgment call."
There have been previous failures of random number generators that have undermined Internet security. For example,in 1995,two researchers at the University of California,Berkeley,discovered a flaw in the way the Netscape browser generated random numbers,making it possible for an eavesdropper to decode encrypted communications. Last year a group of computer hackers revealed that Sony had made a crucial mistake in not using a random number in the algorithm used by the security system of the PlayStation 3,making it possible to discover the secret key intended to protect digital content on the system.
The researchers whimsically titled their paper "Ron Was Wrong,Whit Is Right," a reference to two pioneers in public key cryptography,Ron Rivest and Whitfield Diffie.
Mr. Diffie was a developer of the first method for two people who had not previously physically met to share a secret message safely. However,what became known as the R.S.A. algorithm,created by and named after three mathematicians,Mr. Rivest,Adi Shamir and Leonard Adleman,ultimately became the dominant standard. (They later helped found the security company RSA.) The so-called Diffie-Hellman method,developed by Mr. Diffie,Martin Hellman and Ralph Merkle, required only a single secret number.
Friday, February 10, 2012
Tuesday, February 07, 2012
Monday, February 06, 2012
Translation of superbowl ads to online traffic
Because of an early release of the Ferris Bueller commercial on Youtube,
the Superbowl numbers for watching the commercial online (the web) was
was the highest of all superbowl commercials.
the Superbowl numbers for watching the commercial online (the web) was
was the highest of all superbowl commercials.
It's a blog, so some of the other stories are interesting.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/46253538
tc
Sunday, February 05, 2012
Android Camera App
I was going to write an app for the place I'm working now
http://www.lawrenceslist.com/
It would take a picture and upload it to the website.
I did not want to do it in Java. My alternatives are:
RFO Basic! 4 Android
http://laughton.com/basic/
and
Scripting Layer 4 Android,
http://code.google.com/p/android-scripting/
which uses a single library to support several scripting languages
(Python, Perl, JRuby, Lua, BeanShell, JavaScript, Tcl, and shell)
After looking at, and testing, Basic!, it appeared a good choice,
I preferred to use something I'm more familiar with - python or tcl.
After spending several hours with sample code, I was confident
enough to tweak a few of the samples. Things went well with an
example that used a method, cameraCapturePicture() - but it had
a small quirk. The person shooting had less than a second to
stabilize the camera while it focuses, then the camera shoots.
The alternative seemed to be cameraInteractiveCapturePicture().
After several failures, I found out the second method
was intended for the "Front-facing" camera (that would be
the camera on the same side as the screen)
it appeared the only alternative left was for another even less
documented method cameraStartPreview() and cameraStopPreview()
The hack would be that the camera would preview for several
seconds and then after a brief pause would focus and shoot.
It worked -- sort of.
The image was exposed in landscape while I shot in portrait.
As it turns out, the preview mode as in landscape. It appears
that as of this moment there are no other controls, modes, or
methods to use the camera under SL4A.
As it turns out, this round will be won by this dialect of
Dartmouth Basic - example f33_camera.bas does exactly
what I want the camera to do. Now all I have to do is upload
the picture.
tc
Saturday, February 04, 2012
Wednesday, February 01, 2012
Where OS's are heading.
From:
Steve Jobs Didn’t Believe in Macs for Business. But Here They Arehttp://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2012/02/mokafive-steve-jobs/
MokaFive runs Windows in what it calls a secure container on Mac OS X and backs up work onto a company’s servers. IT managers can create a common Windows image that they can then push down to an employee’s Mac over the network. They can also update the image over the network, but that virtualized Windows desktop still works when the machine is offline.
Managers can also prevent employees from moving data out of their virtualized Windows desktop, and when data is moved over the network, it’s encrypted. But Gartner’s Cosgrove questions whether the tool is suited for that are handling extremely sensitive data, such as healthcare outfits and government agencies. “[Client-side virtualization tools] tend to be [used] in areas with low security,” he tells Wired.
There are already system deployed in top secret facilities where it's limited to physical access and your eye's only. Their are people who work all day on system where nothing can be sent or downloaded.
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