] Magnetic Stripe Snooping at Home
]
] Posted by CmdrTaco on Tuesday March 01, @09:59AM
] from the because-you-can dept.
]
] pbrinich writes "Have you ever wondered what information
] is actually stored on all those cards you have in your
] wallet? Well, it turns out you can find out yourself! An
] excellent project, Stripe Snoop started by Billy Hoffman,
] a Georgia Tech computer science student, contains
] schematics, source code and a wide variety of information
] about the standards used to store all sorts of
] information on your magnetic cards."

[ Billy makes the front page of /. Go billy! -k]

StripeSnoop on /.

] 4. Remove every extraneous word
]
] You want to get up on a soapbox and preach? Fine. Get one
] and try your local park. You want to write for money? Get
] to the point. And if you remove all the excess garbage
] and discover you can't find the point, tear up what you
] wrote and start all over again . . . or try something
] new.

[ Holy shit! Steven FUCKING King is encouraging writers to be concise?! Every single one of his full length novels could be reduced by 20-50%, at least. Ok, fine, i can only speak to the ones i've read, and I'll admit I gave up on his ass some time ago, but shit man, this motherfucker can describe a scene for 14 pages without getting around to any action on the part of the actors in the story. -k]

Everything you Need to Know About Writing Successfully: in Ten Minutes (Stephen King)

[ An email discussion between tom and Jonathan Shapiro regarding ID and the point of science. It's worth perusing, and I have little to add. I will note that the New York Times Magazine addressed the issue (briefly) this week as well :

http://tinyurl.com/53qxy

-k]

On Intelligent Design (Long)

Decius wrote:
] Wow, someone finally commercialized body pan technology!
]
] Now, here is the issue. If my bluetooth system had the same
] cryptographic properties would I need this. I could still use
] touch as a user interface in most device applications. You
] could have a doorknob detect when it was touched. And an RF
] transceiver is going to be more comfortable then something
] which must make good physical contact with the skin.
]
] The only applications for which this would not work would be
] person to person handshake data sharing...

[ That's a good point. I have a general bias against radio things, which I can't really explain completely, but I just feel better when the data is point to point over a physical medium. From a pure application standpoint, however, you're right that the convenience of a short range wireless transciever probably trumps this, while offering a lot of the same functionality.

In the midst of their demo page, they note some other applications, like making medecine bottles transmitters, and having them trigger an alarm on your terminal if you picked up medecine not meant for you. That doesn't really work over radio as well.

Also, they note that radio technology gets more complicated in crowded spaces. If you're in a train station, and want to buy a ticket, for example, the radio space is going to be congested. The logistics become easier if the linkage is made by touch.

I agree though, that the key hurdle here is how to attach a transceiver without it being either invasive, uncomfortable, or a burden. Not to mention the wire you'd need to connect from the transceiver to your device. The simplest and least cool way would be have the device in a holster and a little wire over the edge of your pants, where the transceiver could sit on your waist or hip. That's not useful for someone who wants to wear a dress, or not look like a geek, of course. It's the one thing i didn't really see them tackle amongst the rest of their info.

The best idea i've come up with is a watch. That has good skin contact and wouldn't offend our existing fasion modes. As a PDA, a watch offers a bad form factor, but with 10Mb, you might be able to make the watch into the cpu and storage, and then simply make the hip-top/palm-top/smart-phone act as something like a dumb terminal -- a remote display device for the actual computer that's inside the watch. For automatic things, in which devices autonegotiate (authentication, etc) or for those requiring simple input (like authorizing data transfers/purchases/etc.) the watch could easily handle that with even a small display and a couple of buttons. Obviously, putting that much gear into a watch would require some impressive miniaturization, but not revolutionary changes, i don't think. -k]

RE: RedTacton

[ Forget bluetooth and rfid. This is the future.

Ok, I'm kinda kidding, but it's a very intriguing technology concept... one that changes some of the usage modes and privacy concerns associated with existing tech like bluetooth, rfid, etc. If my phone and my headset can comm over my skin, i don't have to worry about "bluejacking"-type attacks unless someone physically touches me, which is a more invasive procedure, and one i'm likely to notice.

Some of the other applications they note, such as user authentication and access control via touch, as well as business applications like personal data transmission on a handshake, are compelling.

The idea of data transmission via the body itself isn't brand new, of course, but i saw this today and thought it was worth sharing.

I envision the Japanese tapping a vending machine with an index finger to get their munchies while we're still trying to flatten a dollar bill on the edge of a table. -k]

RedTacton

] The small town of Galena, Alaska, is tired to pay 28
] cents/kwh for its electricity, three times the national
] average. Today, Galena "is powered by generators burning
] diesel that is barged in during the Yukon River's
] ice-free months," according to Reuters. But Toshiba,
] which designs a small nuclear reactor named 4S (for
] "Super Safe, Small, & Simple"), is offering a free
] reactor to the 700-person village, reports the New York
] Times (no reg. needed).

[ I've posted about this before... I think it looks very promising. -k]

Alaska Village Moves from Diesel to 'Micro-Nuke'

] The ASCAP license is only the tip of the iceberg: there
] are also comparable licenses for BMI and SESAC, two other
] performing rights organizations; mechanical rights from
] the Harry Fox Agency, _and_ a "master use license" to be
] negotiated with the record labels for each track. The
] latter can be under any terms the label chooses, and they
] can refuse you outright.

This is a subject that is near and dear to my heart. The corrupt world of Digital rights clearance. If you click on the link at the bottom of this story to Matt May's blog there are comments from me at the very end.

[ It's an interesting discussion... -k]

Boing Boing: Wil Wheaton: So, ASCAP to *license* podcasts? Readers respond.

Microsoft at their most transparently self serving:

] Their use could be an indicator that your teenager is
] involved in the theft of intellectual property, particularly
] licensed software.

:-o

[ Jesus christ it's like the 1950's all over again. Rock and Roll is a gateway to using alcohol and drugs, not to mention loose sexuality! Any behavior distinct from what you, as parents, think is "normal" is an indicator of dangerously deviant thinking on the part of your children. They're all thieves, and fornicators, and they're bad, bad, bad. -k]

Microsoft guide to l33t speak.

] He also pays a lot less in gasoline taxes which fund
] highway projects and road repairs. As more and more
] hybrids hit the road, cash-strapped states are warning of
] rough roads ahead.
]
] Officials in car-clogged California are so worried they
] may be considering a replacement for the gas tax
] altogether, replacing it with something called "tax by
] the mile."
]
] Kim and his team at Oregon State University equipped a
] test car with a global positioning device to keep track
] of its mileage. Eventually, every car would need one.

Question: We're discouraging fuel efficiency. Why not just raise the damn gas tax?

Answer: Because this way we get to install tracking devices in every car!

You might win a debate with the cops about this but you'll never win a debate over tax revenue.

[ Yeah, kinda wack. I had thought we'd see the push come from insurers, who could use that sort of tracking data to really customize their coverage and rates (not to mention refuse to pay claims in which you were going 1 mph over the limit and so on).

I guess my question is, why do you need a GPS to track mileage? Doesn't my car already do that? I mean, I guess if you want to calculate distribution of the funds to localities and so on you'd need it, but computerizing the odometer does not strictly require a GPS unit, and would be a fuck of a lot cheaper. Hell, my focus already has a computerized odometer... slap on a short range radio and that's it.

I have nothing against the idea of taxing per mile though, in theory. By no means do i think the gas tax should go away, and in fact, I kinda feel like it should be progressive, but that's probly impractical at best. -k]

CBS News | States Mull Taxing Drivers By Mile

[ It's a quicktime movie, so don't click unless you are prepared to watch an adaptation of Baby Got Back, in which the bible is substituted for the large ass.

I'm not joking. And I'm not sure he is either. -k]

babygotbook512.mov (video/quicktime Object)