] Acidus writes "While researching for an embedded systems
] project (a magstripe enabled Coke machine), I was shocked
] by the lack of magstripe information: Programs/code that
] would run on a modern OS were all but nonexistant,
] articles that were 6-10 years old, etc.

Acidus is on Slashdot today. That's the hardcore geek year 2k+ version of being on TV.

He's done an extremely good job with the StripeSnoop site. All the information you'd need to get up to speed on working with magstripe stuff is there in the form of FAQ's, diagrams, and even video.

Also, I just sync'd the SiteSnoop CVS tree, and it is building on OSX now as well.

Acidus is the authoritative source on magstrip interfacing

The purpose of computers is human freedom.

Like "maturity" and "reality" and "progress", the word "technology" has an agenda for your behavior: usually what is being referred to as "technology" is something that somebody wants you to submit to.  "Technology" often implicitly refers to something you are expected to turn over to "the guys who understand it."

What we really need is software designs that go into realms that cannot be visualized on paper, to break ideas and presentations out of their four-walled prison.

Cyber means "I do not know what I am talking about" or "I am trying to fool and confuse you."

And please, Mr. Programmer, leave the choices to ME, not labyrinths of software outside my control, because I DO NOT TRUST YOU.

The Web is a foam of ever-popping bubbles, ever-changing shop windows.
The Web is the minimal concession to hypertext that a sequence-and-hierarchy chauvinist could possibly make.

If you haven't read Ted Nelson you're not really a hacker.

] The Rino 120 is state-of-the-art GPS navigation and
] two-way communications combined, with enough memory to
] download detailed mapping for driving, hiking, hunting,
] fishing or just about anything else you can dream up.
]
] It's waterproof and can "beam" your exact location to
] another Rino user within a two-mile range (on the FRS
] spectrum) using "Position Reporting". The radio
] functionality of the Rino 120 provides two-way
] communications for up to two miles (using FRS channels),
] and you can talk to friends or family who own
] conventional FRS radios. There's also a voice scrambler
] and a vibration mode for silent calls.
]
] The Rino 120 has a built-in basemap consisting of
] American road and highway detail, along with 8 MB of
] internal memory for downloading additional road, street,
] and points-of-interest data from MapSource®
] MetroGuide, Fishing Hot Spots, Topo, or BlueChart
] CD-ROMs. The PC-interface cable also comes with the Rino
] 120.

Garmin: Rino 120 - GPS-Integrated FRS/GMRS Radio

But we suggest the potential utility of reputation services is far greater, touching nearly every aspect of society. By leveraging our limited and local human judgement power with collective networked filtering, it is possible to promote an interconnected ecology of socially beneficial reputation systems -- to restrain the baser side of human nature, while unleashing positive social changes and enabling the realization of ever higher goals.

Manifesto for the Reputation Society

] SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A group of media and technology
] companies including Microsoft Corp. and Walt Disney Co.
] have agreed in principle to allow consumers to make legal
] backup copies of next-generation video discs and share
] their content on portable devices.
]
] The group, which also includes International Business
] Machines Corp., Intel Corp., Matsushita Electric
] Industrial Co. Ltd. and Time Warner Inc.'s Warner Bros.,
] will not have any technology to license until the end of
] the year

One small step for consumer electronics? One giant leap for fair use?

Reuters | Industry Deal Set on Allowing Limited DVD Copying

] Buried near the bottom of an article in last month's
] Wired is this little gem; Friendster rep Lisa Kopp
] insists, "We have a policy that we are not being hacked."
]
] I don't know if it's sad, scary or funny, but I can see
] someone in some corporate highrise somewhere actually
] saying this with a straight face.

Friendster: We Have a Policy that We Are *Not* Being Hacked || kuro5hin.org

Stripe Snoop reads the contents of a magstripes (Track 1, 2, or 3) through different hardware interfaces and not only displays the contents, but uses a CDDB-like database of card formats to try and figure out what the contents mean.

Stripe Snoop 1.1 Released - SourceForged!

] Greetings fellow pirates! Arrrrr! I'm here today to talk
] to you about copyright, technology and DRM, I work for
] the Electronic Frontier Foundation on copyright stuff
] (mostly), and I live in London. I'm not a lawyer -- I'm a
] kind of mouthpiece/activist type, though occasionally
] they shave me and stuff me into my Bar Mitzvah suit and
] send me to a standards body or the UN to stir up trouble.
] I spend about three weeks a month on the road doing
] completely weird stuff like going to Microsoft to talk
] about DRM. I lead a double life: I'm also a science
] fiction writer. That means I've got a dog in this fight,
] because I've been dreaming of making my living from
] writing since I was 12 years old. Admittedly, my IP-based
] biz isn't as big as yours, but I guarantee you that it's
] every bit as important to me as yours is to you. Here's
] what I'm here to convince you of: 1. That DRM systems
] don't work 2. That DRM systems are bad for society 3.
] That DRM systems are bad for business 4. That DRM systems
] are bad for artists 5. That DRM is a bad business-move
] for MSFT It's a big brief, this talk. Microsoft has sunk
] a lot of capital into DRM systems, and spent a lot of
] time sending folks like Martha and Brian and Peter around
] to various smoke-filled rooms to make sure that Microsoft
] DRM finds a hospitable home in the future world.
] Companies like Microsoft steer like old Buicks, and this
] issue has a lot of forward momentum that will be hard to
] soak up without driving the engine block back into the
] driver's compartment. At best I think that Microsoft
] might convert some of that momentum on DRM into angular
] momentum, and in so doing, save all our asses.

This is a great talk Cory Doctorow gave at MSFT recently regarding all of the arguments we have made over the years regarding DRM. (via boingboing)

Why Microsoft should get out of DRM

] Q: There are some personalization tools emerging. Amazon's
] A9.com and MSN are using different techniques. Google's
] tool is a little bit more like, "Give us information, and
] we will help you out," and the others take the approach,
] "We will learn from you, and then we will help you out."
] Tell me why your approach is superior.

] A: In the latter scenario, where first you learn, and then
] you help the visitor out, you have two places where the
] computer has to make intelligent judgments. I am not
] saying that is not an interesting or promising approach,
] but it does put more strain on the computer. When you
] tell it what your interests are, then the computer only
] has to be intelligent to use that information to try to
] help you out. They are both part of the same goal of
] trying to help people out with personal information--it
] is just a matter of how you get there. We will be seeing
] more of this in the future.

Interview with Google's Craig Silverstein | CNET News.com

] Pushed by their government, Chinese firms are shunning
] technological protocols invented abroad and developing
] their own.
]
] They want Chinese-made video discs to run on
] Chinese-invented players. They want Chinese consumers
] linking up with China-developed mobile gadgets.

A very interesting strategy. If Chinese people have Chinese electronics that only communicate using Chinese protocols then incompatibility will limit their exposure to "corrupt" western culture.

CNEWS - Tech News: China seeks to develop its own technology standards