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| "I don't think the report is true, but these crises work for those who want to make fights between people." Kulam Dastagir, 28, a bird seller in Afghanistan
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| Topic: Technology |
11:09 am EDT, Sep 23, 2002 |
"Roomba dancing robot vacuums and sweeps automatically -- even when you're asleep or out of the house." Roomba Floor Vac Robot |
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My comments on the optical keys |
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| Topic: Technology |
11:04 am EDT, Sep 23, 2002 |
"A transparent token the size of a postage stamp and costing just a penny to make can be used to generate an immensely powerful cryptographic key." Marie asked for my comments on this. The fact that the token cannot be copied doesn't mean the ones and zeros read from it cannot be copied, so this actually doesn't make a very good "cryptographic key." All you need to open cryptography is the ones and zeros. Not a card. Furthermore, the articles talk about reading the key from multiple angles, but cryptographic systems only have one password, so this is a capability mismatch again. In an environment like an ATM machine where you are fairly certain that you are actually reading from a physical card this might be a more secure (albeit expensive) replacement for a magnetic strip. It may also find its way into door locks. However, you won't find such a reader in your computer nor for scanning credit cards, as in such environments there is no way to be sure that the "key" is actually coming from such a card and not from something else. So in sum, the technology is interesting, but its not all that useful. My comments on the optical keys |
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Greek police crack down on video gamers |
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| Topic: Miscellaneous |
2:10 am EDT, Sep 23, 2002 |
"Greek police have been accused of using "Taleban tactics" after a fresh wave of arrests under a controversial law banning all forms of computer games closed down internet cafes around the country. "The police are acting like the Taleban, closing down businesses, seizing property and stopping people enjoying themselves," one of the two owners awaiting a retrial, Christos Iordanidis, told the BBC. " So, at first I shruged this off as a simple case of baddly crafted legislation, but it appears that the Greek police are taking their new law quite seriously and have begun raiding the Internet cafes in the country. Earth to the Greek Government - If you don't put a stop to this now your country will cease to be viewed as civilized by much of the west. Greek police crack down on video gamers |
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Cheap trick secures secrets |
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| Topic: Technology |
4:04 pm EDT, Sep 20, 2002 |
"The glass spheres scatter laser light so that it falls in a speckle pattern on a surface on the far side that is divided into a grid of pixels. The intensity of light in each pixel is the fingerprint that is compared against a pre-recorded version to verify the token. " Cheap trick secures secrets |
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BBSmates - dialing up the past |
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| Topic: Miscellaneous |
11:44 pm EDT, Sep 19, 2002 |
This guy parsed all the old fidonet node lists and put them up as a database where you can connect with friends who called BBSes you called. My board is listed. :) This place is major slashdotted, so it sort of feels like you are logged in at 300bps. Almost nostalgic like that. Just follow the link and watch some TV. It will respond... BBSmates - dialing up the past |
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l33t speak finds its way into the classroom, d00d3 |
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| Topic: Society |
1:43 pm EDT, Sep 19, 2002 |
"Deborah Bova, who teaches eighth-grade English at Raymond Park Middle School in Indianapolis, thought her eyesight was failing several years ago when she saw the sentence "B4 we perform, ppl have 2 practice" on a student assignment. "I thought, `My God, what is this?' " Ms. Bova said. "Have they lost their minds?" The student was summoned to the board to translate the sentence into standard English: "Before we perform, people have to practice." She realized that the students thought she was out of touch. "It was like `Get with it, Bova,' " she said. Ms. Bova had a student type up a reference list of translations for common instant-messaging expressions. She posted a copy on the bulletin board by her desk and took another one home to use while grading." l33t speak finds its way into the classroom, d00d3 |
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TNR Online | Intelligence Test (print) |
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| Topic: Current Events |
12:34 pm EDT, Sep 19, 2002 |
If the Bush administration's preparations for war with Saddam Hussein were proceeding appropriately, the president would probably be curling up right now with something called a National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) for Iraq. But ... there is no NIE for Iraq and there probably won't be one anytime soon. Everything is worse then you thought. TNR Online | Intelligence Test (print) |
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The interaction of urbanism and information technology |
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| Topic: Technology |
12:30 pm EDT, Sep 19, 2002 |
"Much of the form and function of cities, in both a social and physical sense, is designed to minimize the time and cost of searching for people and information. The whole host of wireless applications will dramatically change the 'cost structure' of the city." The interaction of urbanism and information technology |
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Yahoo! News - Bin Laden Targeted U.S. Defense, State, CIA Chiefs |
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| Topic: Current Events |
12:08 am EDT, Sep 19, 2002 |
Osama bin Laden targeted the heads of the Defense Department, State Department, CIA and FBI, and offered a $9 million bounty for the assassination of four top intelligence officers, a congressional investigator said on Wednesday. In August 1999, U.S. intelligence agencies obtained information that bin Laden's organization had decided to target the top officials at the State and Defense departments and the CIA, said Eleanor Hill, staff director of the joint 9/11 inquiry of the House and Senate intelligence committees. Yahoo! News - Bin Laden Targeted U.S. Defense, State, CIA Chiefs |
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