JS/UIX is an UN*X-like OS for standard web-browsers, written entirely in JavaScript (no plug-ins used). It comprises a virtual machine, shell, virtual file-system, process-management, and brings its own terminal with screen- and keyboard-mapping.

File under "stupid web tricks". This is neat, but I can't think of a single useful application.

A more advanced security model for Javascript in web browsers is necessary. I have no idea what this adds to the argument.. Aside from the fact that it's a good example of how you can do much more with Javascript then is widely understood. Acidus has been doing some interesting research in this space. I look forward to the point when he can quit being tight-lipped and share some of the stuff he has come up with. It's the kind of stuff that will send a shockwave through the security and web development community.

JS/UIX - Unix implemented in Javascript

This is some beautiful stuff someone captured. Apparently someone at CNN trying to put together a map of the areas of France not currently in flames and bursting with rioters managed to really screw up using Google Maps.

Check it out, it's almost like a public school student's attempt at making their own map of a country they know nothing about.

The World According to CNN

The spyware that Sony installs on the computers of music fans does not even seem to be correct in terms of copyright law.

This article is a translation of this article I wrote for Webwereld.

It turns out that the rootkit contains pieces of code that are identical to LAME, an open source mp3-encoder, and thereby breach the license.

It just keeps getting worse for Sony. It'll be a long time before I knowingly buy anything from Sony again.

De Winter Information Solutions - open solutions in an open world - Spyware Sony seems to breach copyright

Decius wrote:

The Department will also implement Basic Access Control (BAC) to mitigate further any potential threat of skimming or eavesdropping. BAC recently has been adopted as a best practice by the ICAO New Technologies Working Group and will soon be formally added to the ICAO specifications. BAC utilizes a form of Personal Identification Number (PIN) that must be physically read in order to unlock the data on the chip. In this case, the PIN will be derived from the printed characters from the second line of data on the Machine-Readable Zone that is visibly printed on the passport data page. The BAC also results in the communication between the chip and the reader being encrypted, providing further protection.

Most of the folks commenting on the new RFID rule didn't mention this. This will satisfy most of the security concerns.

But see Schneier's piece on Wired about it.

I agree with Schneir, particularly with what he says about the State Department not having given compelling reason to make passports wirelessly readable.

RE: Anti-skimming covers are not the only feature in new passports.

The next phase of my investigation would be to verify that the rootkit and its hidden files were related to that CD’s copy protection, so I inserted the CD into the drive and double-clicked on the icon to launch the player software, which has icons for making up to three copy-protected backup CDs

Sony is using rootkit like programs to "protect" their cds now.

Mark's Sysinternals Blog: Sony, Rootkits and Digital Rights Management Gone Too Far

If you are near to this picture, Mr Angry is on the left and Mrs Calm is on the right. If you view it from a distance, they switch places.

Weird

Optical Illusion: Mr Angry and Mrs Calm

Now THESE are some WOW pumpkins. Incredible art.

Art in Pumpkins

The gleaming device I am staring at in the corner of
a machine shop in San Rafael, California, is the most audacious machine ever built. It is a clock, but it is designed to do something no clock has ever been conceived to do—run with perfect accuracy for 10,000 years.

As someone obsessed with clocks I must see this when it's done.

Time Machine - Discover Magazine - science news articles online technology magazine articles Time Machine

Nearly exact self-similar fractal forms occur do in nature, but I'd never seen such a beautiful and perfect example until, some time after moving to Switzerland, I came across a chou Romanesco like the one above in a grocery store. This is so visually stunning an object that on first encounter it's hard to imagine you're looking at a garden vegetable rather than an alien artefact created with molecular nanotechnology.

Coolest vegetable ever.

Fractal Food

11 years ago, April 1st 1990, rfc 1149 was written. This rfc specifies a protocol for IP over avian carriers, CPIP (carrier pigeon internet protocol). In 11 years, noone has bothered to implement this important protocol stack. But happily, we don't need to wait any longer! BLUG in cooperation with Vesta Brevdueforening has given you rfc 1149 support for Linux.

The BLUG implements rfc 1149.

Bergen Linux User Group