In case you were wondering, yes, Instagram is indeed owned by Facebook

Again, are we surprised?

In his (sort of) apology/explanation,  Kevin Systrom co-founder, Instagram, says: 

"Some or all of the service may be supported by advertising revenue. To help us deliver interesting paid or sponsored content or promotions, you agree that a business or other entity may pay us to display your username, likeness, photos (along with any associated metadata), and/or actions you take, in connection with paid or sponsored content or promotions, without any compensation to you"

I was going to add some commentary but Randal Munro says it way better in xkcd

Cool example of Augmented Reality

Marco Tempest uses Augmented Reality to improve an old card trick
http://boingboing.net/2012/12/10/augmented-reality-card-routine.html
This is almost as good as his talk on Tesla

Oh yeah BTW, the Oculus Rift VR headset, (possibly the first mass market VR rig) is delayed until next april  :-/

md5crypt() no longer suitable for production use?

A 25-GPU clustered password-cracking computer has passed a new threshold in brute-force guessing, apparently making weaker password algorithms (like LM and NTLM) obsolete.  This has prompted Poul-Henning Kamp, creator of md5crypt() to state that it's not suitable for production use.

What does this mean?  Unfortunately I don't know, but will keep my eyes out.

Perry

What's a Web Proxy?

A proxy server is a computer that sits between your browser and the web site you're trying to visit.  It can do a number of things such as help with data security, make loading pages faster, keep access logs, etc.   It was put there either by your company if you're at work,  your ISP, or if you're at a hotel, by either the local hotel, provider, corporate, etc.

Unfortunately it can be used for evil purposes, either simply placing ads and other spyware activities, or real spying, reading your unencrypted traffic.

This article on SANS Internet Storm Center tells some more, really technical, information.   Contact me if you'd like more information.

Do you know what ToR is?

It's a way to anonymously use the Internet.  Handy for people who want more privacy, whether they're spies, or dissidents in hostile countries, or just people who want privacy.

To use it, you download software, and configure it to connect to the internet, where your traffic connects to random places,  gets encrypted, bounces around the web, getting reencrypted or decrypted and finally gets completely decrypted and leaves from another random place before it goes to its final destination.  YOUR AMOUNT OF PRIVACY AND ANONYMITY IS COMPLETELY A FUNCTION OF HOW WELL YOU UNDERSTAND EVERYTHING ABOUT IT ( and the internet, likely )

It exists on the generosity of people running "Exit nodes", the places that accept connections, bounce traffic around, or squirt data out.

Unfortunately, if someone uses ToR to do something illegal, the authorities might go after the person running the Exit node, and because of the nature of Tor, it's REALLY HARD TO FIND THE ACTUAL CRIME.  This could be a problem to the person in custody, in spite of the fact they haven't (really) done anything wrong.

You have been warned.

Perry

App maker thinks it's OK to hijack your twitter account

If they think you've pirated the app, Enfour will use your Twitter credentials and post a confession.

I know what Apps that do (really) unexpected things are called - "Malware".  And I'll accuse them of that, just on my blog though.

This is the problem with apps that take your credentials from other services, you never know what they'll do with them until it's too late.

Don't buy toshiba laptops

Blah - I don't know what it is with some of these companies, but Toshiba shut down a blogger that put their repair manuals online.  This simply means that they'll cost that much more to repair, or if an authorized center won't fix it at all, you're out of luck

There are way more manufacturers out there

The Privacy Racket

I performed a vanity search a minute ago, to see how easy it was to link a username to my real identity, and I came across "mylife.com", which showed my name, town, age, and my immediate family's names and ages.  If I wanted to remove my information on line, I had to create an acocunt and gice them more information.  Great.  so I called them on the telephone.

They quickly removed my information with a minimum of additional information, they only verified my previous address (!).

Then the kicker.  The nice woman on the telephone informed me about all the places with public information on the web, and how difficult it would be to call them all.  On the other hand, there was a great service called "Safe Shepherd" which would make all those telephone calls for me for only $60 per year!

Such a deal!  Racket?  Scam? whatever.  sheesh. what will they think of next?

According to Wikipedia they have a free service too - wonder why the nice young lady didn't mention that?

Perry

When you want something real bad...

That's exactly what you get.

Or, "What's worse than online voting?  How about email voting?"   WHAT COULD THEY POSSIBLY BE THINKING?

Yes kids, this is not The Onion , but someone in New Jersey thinks you can securely create an online voting system in a week, and use email.

Hello, HELLO?! Read this - yes "recoil in horror" - ( his words ).

This is not "Which Jersey Shore member are you most like?"  This is for the COMMANDER IN CHIEF OF THE MOST POWERFUL COUNTRY IN THE WORLD.

There are truly bad people out there that want to steal the election, and they have WAY MORE RESOURCES than (bleeping) NEW JERSEY in the MIDDLE OF THE WORST DISASTER maybe EVER!

Please don't do this!

Perry

Patch Java, now and forever

If you don't need Java JRE on your PC, get rid of it. If you need it, patch it. If you can't patch it because some silly application is not compatible with the patch, kick the [beep] of whoever supplies that application.

Yet another danger of cloud computing...

From an article in Ars Technica, "For example, if the government accidentally seized iCloud servers containing the only copy of priceless family photos, you'd need to be prepared to explain why there are pirated MP3s in your iTunes folder."

 The user who was an example a paid customer of Megaupload wants his business files back.  The DOJ looked at the contents, and found "numerous videos produced by Mr. Goodwin have as their soundtracks recordings of popular copyrighted music." and "music files with MD5 values that matched the hash values of pirated versions of popular music"

IANL, but it looks to me like a storage facility that was seized by the government, and its users want their spaces back.  If the facility was seized for a pattern of housing stolen property, and that's what the customers have in their spaces...  Well?  How about customers that have non-stolen property commingled with thing that are provably a problem?

Well, I guess the standard recommendations for cloud computing still stand, maybe now more than ever.

Our hearts and prayers go out to the people in the mid atlantic states in the wake of the hurricane  :-(

Where does the Ask! virus come from? Java.

A *Really Good*, *maybe the best* reason to stop running java!

Perry

Lots Happening this week...

Very good - now if we can just disavow all software patents...

U.S. Disavows Patent at Center of Apple-Samsung Dispute

How about this:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/venkateshrao/2012/10/22/amazon-needs-a-public-editor/

(Funny how the page has an ad for the Kindle.   Interesting to see that you can now own a device that has *all* its content in the cloud )

Or this:

Cory Doctorow:  We don't use computers any more.  They're everywhere.  We're inside them (cars, planes, etc), and they're inside us - hearing aids, pacemakers. So if the government, or an insurance company pays for my hearing aid, can they decide what I can hear?

Or even this?

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonevangelho/2012/10/23/5-reasons-you-shouldnt-buy-an-ipad-mini/

No, I don't think I want an ipad mini - $329 for a 7.8" walled garden.  Crummy resolution, No development,  No HDMI, no SD card slot,  Total control by them.  Maybe (hopefully) the next Nexus 7 that has a back camera.

Perry

Well, maybe TSA is listening to *someone*...

Is it the White House's "ban the TSA" petition (oops sorry, pulled right before it got to the required number of signatures)?  Is it the pending election?  Is it the people opting out (maybe the screener who opts out)?  Who knows? but they're moving x-ray scanners from large to small airports , likely this means that the millimeter-wave (good) systems at say, MHT, might be replaced by backscatter (bad), from BOS, but I've been going to BOS a lot more often lately.

At least the TSA Agents are totally trustworthy

Perry

How good is The Cloud?

Well, it depends.  Remember, you're using someone else's servers.  If they slip, and you lose stuff, what are your options?

Here's the story of Kyle Goodwin, as told in his Motion For Return of Property to the US District Court in Virginia.  He was a Premier paying customer to MegaUpload (remember KimDotCom?), and stored his small business's backups of his video files there.

His hard drive crashed, and within hours the US and New Zealand courts had shut down MegaUpload's servers, shutting off access to Mr Goodwin's data.  It's stored in MegaUpload's colo site, bit turned off and unavailable.

So don't worry, the cloud is fine, your data on the other hand,  Reply hazy, try again.

Facebook selling YOU

Are we Surprised?

From the Wall Street Journal: Facebook Sells More Access to Members

Is there anything we can do about it?  Probably not.  Remember, if you're not paying anything, you're not the customer, you're the product.

 

Every Movie Ever Made in Every Language Any Time Day Or Night

(In a cheap motel in the middle of nowhere)

I guess they didn't mention the price

This was a 1999 commercial for quest, and talked about by Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter David Cay Johnston in his article in Techdirt and an interview on the daily ticker linked by DSLReports.com.  The book is about why our internet is way worse than the rest of the world (largely because we frittered is away on smartphones).

The Fine Print: How Big Companies Use 'Plain English' to Rob You Blind

Warp Drive? What Could Possibly Go Wrong? Part Deux

New calculations show warp drive possible with much smaller energy expense

(500 KG vs the mass of a planet)
http://news.discovery.com/space/warp-drive-possible-nasa-tests-100yss-120917.html


The slide show is pretty good too  - here's a quote: "To initiate the warp drive, however, vast amounts of energy would be required. Also, there will be some practical issues to overcome, such as preventing the creation of artificial black holes, as well as catastrophic warp bubble collapse when the power is switched off."

The best part - They're trying it in their lab!

WCPGW?!

Update 11-18-2012:  The warp bubble will likely pick up a high energy particles which will accumulate in the bubble, which have to go somewhere, and will be released on arrival -  "A long trip could vaporize entire planets upon your arrival" 

We now have a great new weapon!  Hallelujah!  A reason to fund space travel!  (Don't tell anyone, but my money is on using those particles to power this whole thing as an interstellar ramjet)

Synthetic Life. Awesome.

Posted to Google Plus

Hacking DNA Jun 9, 2012  -  Limited

Synthetic Life.  Awesome.  What could possibly go wrong?
http://www.wesolveforx.com/#t=t&n=2d02ffdb

It made it to Slashdot - Feb 2013 

Proxy for the Onion Network

This is not The Onion

You can now get from the real internet to the Darknet - if you're not sure what I mean - Don't do it!

http://www.onion.to/enter.php

Which part is more objectionable?

In case you don't know what the slogan means

Affordable Personal Satellite Messaging

This is so cool!

Delorme has released a 2-way Satellite-enabled GPS called InReach.  It's Iridium-based, costs $250 and $9.99 per month gets safety services and 10 messages, with $1.50/text after that.

Here's a good review

There's another technology called SPOT which apparently doesn't gave global reach (WTH?)

EMS does sell it not sure about Rental - but how cool would that be?

New Google Nexus 7 Tablet is pretty cool

It has a *LOT* going for it - Price $200, Performance - tons of processors, Jelly Bean, Kick-ass screen, Android is open and tinkerable.

Not going for it is no sd card, and no video out.

Are these showstoppers?  I don't know...

Big Engadget Review of Fancy Phones

Upgrading your Sprint Epic?  Maybe...

Well Sprint has 2 cool phones, the Samsung Galaxy S III and the HTC One X, I think, they're noth LTE, blah blah

Engadget tells all

Facebook goes public

Well it went public last Friday, and instead of a pop, it's definitely a fizzle, or a slide?  $38-$34-$31.5 - How low can it go?

What happens when they panic and start making big changes?

I think an early move is to create premier accounts with some sort of badge for pay, maybe with (tiny) extra features - that won't cause too much backlash, but if there are some swell features for pay only - well that's a trumpet of doom we hear.  blah.

Oh BTW - Of the places I hate - GRPN (11.95 EPS -.54),  ZNGA (6.80 EPS -1.22), LNKD ($101.33! EPS .15)

Linked in - Positive EPS - W00t! - Wait, What? - that's a PE of 694!  Makes Facebook's (now) 71 look positively anemic.

Update: LinkedIn steals data?  Say it ain't so (Forbes)
 
    Oh they're hacked too (Business Insider )

   Oh and June 6 - Facebook is at 26!

Did Apple participate in a conspiracy? Don't say it's so!

Apparently the judge in the Apple case frowns on a bunch of companies getting together to charge customers more.

Who'd a thunk?


http://arstechnica.com/apple/2012/05/judge-ample-evidence-that-apple-knowingly-joined-e-book-conspiracy/

Even the New Yorker knows Geohot is a folk hero

What do you know?

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/05/07/120507fa_fact_kushner?currentPage=all

Obligatory -

They also know that sony sucks

P

Hmm. I didn't buy RockBand on the iPad...

But this is what people saw yesterday


Then they saw this

 

Hey, it's only 5 bucks, why the complaining.  You pay, we get the money.  We win.  We're too busy to keep supporting it.  Sheesh, whiners!

Love, EA
 

@DellHomeUS asked on Twitter...

@DellHomeUS asked on Twitter how I'd want to be rewarded to follow them -

 


here's my reply:

@DellHomeUS Maybe @newegg honoring my extended warranty for a broken hinge? They told me to fix it myself, so I did.

Perry

Firefox thinks that a 3 inch and a 30 inch screen can have the same UI?

Umm, Riiiight.

http://arstechnica.com/business/news/2012/05/new-firefox-design-will-offer-uniform-look-across-desktop-and-mobile.ars

Well, this explains a lot

Apparently the BLINK tag was inspired by alcohol - anyone surprised by that?

The mystery remains - what can possibly explain the MARQUIS tag?

P

OK TSA, How about it?

SO...  On the same day that we get this:  TSA inspector accused of stealing iPads

we also get this:  Why Airport Security Is Broken— And How To Fix It

This begs the question - is TSA more dedicated to prolonging their bureaucracy and making US travelers miserable, or are THEY GENUINELY TRYING TO PROTECT THE COUNTRY?!

TSA bans box cutters, scissors, Ski poles?  Really ?  They just can't understand the threat.  We've got to stop giving them our money.

How about it?

#sheesh

Perry

Clearly I'm not the only one thinking this

Rock Band Blitz dumbs the rhythm game down to timed thumb twiddling

People are really caring about the new Google privacy policy

I was at a dinner party with the Italy group, when someone asked me about the Google privacy policy.

All the other conversations stopped, and people wanted to listen to my answer.  I tried to explain that Google was sharing information between different applications like Apple and Blackberry already do, and that was causing problems for people that are trying, for example, to keep work email separate from a personal calendar.  I do realize now that it's complicated enough that it's hard to explain.

and I need to do more research

I Do know that some people have things in their Web history that they wanted to delete, mine is already turned off.  Is yours turned on?  (Please tell me if it is)

Perry

Confusing Attackers with Artillery By Dave Kennedy (ReL1K)

Interesting server software named Artillery from The Hacker News, written by Dave Kennedy (@ReL1K) - looks like it works both as a honey pot and file integrity monitor

http://thehackernews.com/2012/02/confusing-attackers-with-artillery-by.html

The Right to Read

This is a very good essay by Richard Stallman showing a distopic future where the SPA/BSA and RIAA/MPAA have all their wishes, and citizens have, well, none.


http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read

I had to go to the DMZ protected network to get it, because it was on the blog.torproject.org site, which is blocked at work because it was on a filter bypass site (sigh)

Sounds a lot like stories of the Soviet Union in the 60's - where people were frightened of the secret police finding out they have unapproved books.  Luckily it's not like that...  is it?

[ Semi-obligitory smarmy comment:  In his notes, Mr Stallman states: "The Republicans took control of the US senate shortly thereafter. They are less tied to Hollywood than the Democrats, so they did not press these proposals. Now that the Democrats are back in control, the danger is once again higher." ]


Perry

One News Story Shows All - SOPA/PIPA Isn't Needed, is Stupid, and Doesn't Work

Umm, I think the following post is incorrect - check the update

If you haven't heard, the day after the SOPA/PIPA internet protest, and the governmental retreat, the Justice Department showing their stunningly bad decision making (and timing), shut down Megaupload.com.

Anonymous responded, shutting down the RIAA and the Justice department ( this BTW is not really part of the story )  I do not condone this reprehensible behavior ( believe me ).

On the other hand, I can vouch for the fact that Megaupload is used for legitimate uses - it's where I get my home router firmware.

We shouldn't worry, in spite of our crack justice department work, megaupload was down for less than 24 hours. 

Our taxpayer dollars at work.  Sheesh

Perry

Update
One of the people arrested is Kim Schmitz. Not exactly a poster child for protected speech. Actually a global celebrity in Internet Abuse and Fraud.

Hey - If you've real lost work because you stored it on MegaUpload, did you do a little bit of research?

Update 2 It's probably worse than that

I haven't read the indictment, but Wikipedia has, and says:
"In Megaupload's case, the indictment asserts DMCA provisions were used for the appearance of legitimacy - the actual material was not removed, only some links to it were, takedowns agreement was approved based on business growth rather than infringement, and the parties themselves openly discussed their infringing activities. The indictment states that Megaupload executives "... are willfully infringing copyrights themselves on these systems; have actual knowledge that the materials on their systems are infringing (or alternatively know facts or circumstances that would make infringing material apparent); receive a financial benefit directly attributable to copyright-infringing activity where the provider can control that activity; and have not removed, or disabled access to, known copyright infringing material from servers they control."[46]"

Which, from what I know of Schmitz, is just him acting as himself. So he's making a business stealing intellectual property. This is illegal in a large number of civilized countries, which I define as places where I'd like to live. He was living in a mansion in New Zealand, and (allegedly) living off wholesale IP theft. Too bad for him.

OTOH if he was living in some sort of country where this wasn't illegal, well, our legal process just couldn't touch him, so that would be too bad for us. Oh well, let's see how it plays out in the courts.

Of course, that doesn't matter for Anonymous or Luzsec - they're just in it for the chaos or the Lulz

Perry

Does Android have a Siri Competitor ?

Nuance (owns Dragon) has released a free product that's supposed to be context sensitive voice recognition for Android

http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/10/nuance-dragon-go-android/#continued

Let's see what happens