Category: Interesting Reads

1.21 gigawatt laser?

(via Engadget)

Well, maybe not quite Back to the Future levels of power.  But it looks like the military is trying to get funding a super high powered lasers to destroy enemy satellites:

So far a subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee has “shot down” the program, which would build on a 1997 Pentagon study of a two-million-watt laser, although the full committee could reinstate the provision following analysis of the full bill. Although certain military interests have pushed for anti-satellite weapons since the Cold War, concern over the space junk that destroyed sats would create has kept the international community from serious pursuit of any “Star Wars”-like programs.

Got that? Two-million watt lasers.  That’s extreme.  Handy for shooting down all those Al Queda satellites, too, I suppose.

[tags]Lasers, military weapons[/tags]

Portable apps

If you happen to get a hefty USB drive (like the 4 Gig drives for <$100 at newegg I listed a couple days back), you should visit Wikipedia dn get a list of portable apps you can put on this stick to run without install on other systems.  Some of these I already use, but some were new to me.  Here are a few

And tons more.  Check out the full list.

[tags]Portable apps[/tags]

Pr0n industry may be the big provider in HD-DVD vs Blu-Ray

This isn’t some amazing insight.  I’ve told plenty of people I think that winner of the next-gen DVD format wars will most likely be heavily influenced by the providers of adult entertainment.  Now, Computerworld has an article making that same claim.  Suddenly, I feel like a genius.  That might be because I am, but one can never be sure of these things.

MAY 02, 2006 (COMPUTERWORLD) – Just as in the 1980s, when the Betamax and VHS video formats were battling it out for supremacy, the pornography industry will likely play a major role in determining which of the two blue-laser DVD formats — Blu-ray Disc and HD-DVD — will be the winner in the battle to replace DVDs for high-definition content.

[tags]pr0n, next-gen DVD, blu-ray, HD-DVD[/tags]

Movie-plot threat contest

I forgot to post this when I first read it, but I find the idea so intriguing that I felt I had to pop it up here now that I’m reading up on it again.  On his blog, Bruce Schneier is running a movie-plot threat contest.  The basic idea is to come up with some potential terrorist threat that is highly unlikely, but sufficiently sensational to capture the attention of security spenders and elevate public fear enough to damage the economy and get public buy-in to bad, stupid, or highly intrusive but ineffective security measures.  As of last week, Bruce reported nearly 600 entries, and I suspect that number will grow for a while yet.

Looking over the different terrorist plots, they seem to fall into several broad categories. The first category consists of attacks against our infrastructure: the food supply, the water supply, the power infrastructure, the telephone system, etc. The idea is to cripple the country by targeting one of the basic systems that make it work.

The second category consists of big-ticket plots. Either they have very public targets — blowing up the Super Bowl, the Oscars, etc. — or they have high-tech components: nuclear waste, anthrax, chlorine gas, a full oil tanker, etc. And they are often complex and hard to pull off. This is the 9/11 idea: a single huge event that affects the entire nation.

The third category consists of low-tech attacks that go on and on. Several people imagined a version of the DC sniper scenario, but with multiple teams. The teams would slowly move around the country, perhaps each team starting up after the previous one was captured or killed. Other people suggested a variant of this with small bombs in random public locations around the country.

There is a lot of meat to this article, so head over to Bruce’s blog and read the entire contest status update.
[tags]Schneier, Movie-plot threats[/tags]

Airline security failure overseas

(via Bruce Schneier’s blog)

I know that neither of my visitors likely share my fascination with computer and physical security, but I still like to share interesting stories I read about security problems.  This one, in particular, caught my eye because I’ve pointed out the same potential problem numerous times in real life (yes, I actually interact with people not online at times).  Here is the full story from the link:

An investigation is being conducted into a security breach at Dublin Airport last week.

A female member of the airport search unit is undergoing re-training after the incident in which a Department of Transport inspector passed unchecked through security screening.

It is understood that the department official was waved through security checks having flashed an official badge. The inspector immediately notified airport authorities of a failure in vetting procedures. Only gardai are permitted to pass unchecked through security.

Informed sources said the incident which took place last Tuesday was a ‘‘procedural’’ breach.

Flash a badge that looks like the right one, and through you go without screening.

I’ve worked places where security requirements are such that all employees must pass through metal detectors and have all packages hand inspected.  All employees except the security guards, that is.  I’ve worked places where security requirements are such that all contract employees must pass through a metal detector and have bags passed through an X-Ray machine, but company employees don’t have to submit to any inspection.

In each of these cases, consider who the most likely culprits are in cases of stolen equipment or prohibited items making their way inside the security perimiter.  But if you state the obvious answer, you’ll be accused of having a bad attitude because you are in the former groups instead of the latter.

So, continuing with the above article, this is a failure where someone in charge of screening allowed someone who upon cursory inspection appeared to pass the “allowed to enter without screening” requirements, and was therefore allowed to enter without screening.  This risk can be reduced somewhat with better inspections than cursory, but it can be reduced even more by getting rid of that exception.  Of course, this won’t happen, because too many those in charge of physical security prefer to consider their groups outside the need for physical security checks.  Isn’t it ironic?
[tags]Security failures[/tags]

Sony still hates consumers, now also hates artists

(via boingboing)

Sensationalist headlines just sound good to me some times.  For this write-up, the title refers to the fact that Sony pays its recording artists royalties on iTunes downloads as if the download were a sale of music.  This means lower royalty payments.  However, when a consumer downloads a tune from iTunes, Sony has a license agreement that restricts the user’s rights, basically stating that the download is a licensing of content, not a sale of goods.

NEW YORK – Rock bands Cheap Trick and The Allman Brothers Band are suing Sony Music, claiming they are being shortchanged on royalties for songs downloaded legally over the Internet.

. . .

According to the suit, the record company is treating digital downloads like traditional record sales, rather than licensed music, triggering a different royalty deal.

Under that old rubrik, the record company deducts fees for the kind of extra costs they used to incur when records were pressed on vinyl, including packaging charges, restocking costs and losses due to breakage.

Tracks sold over the Internet usually go for about 99 cents. About 70 cents of the sale price goes to Sony. The bands are getting about 4 1/2 cents per song, according to the suit, rather than the approximately 30 cents they claim is rightfully theirs.

Something smells fishy here.  Anyone know what that is?

[tags]Sony, iTunes, Screw the consumer[/tags]

Free techie books

I can’t even reemember where I got this link, but check out all the free techie books at TechToolBlog.  Here’s a sampling of the books:

  • Assembly Language Tutorial
  • A Tutorial on Pointers and Arrays in C
  • Win32 Programming for x86 Assembly Language Programmers
  • A Beginners C++ Book
  • Understanding the Linux Virtual Memory Manager
  • Advanced Bash Scripting Guide
  • Loving Lisp – the Savy Programmer’s Secret Weapon
  • Non-Programmers Tutorial for Python

Tons more are listed at the site.  There are 195 books on the site on all kinds of topics.

[tags]Techie books, Free books[/tags]

Sometimes, Bill just nails them…

I don’t know that there’s any better way to sum up the world than what Bill had to say:

I’ve seen stories indicating that Tom Cruise is visiting your countries and wowing you.

Please, Rest of the World, listen to us on this one: Tom Cruise may look tiny and cute like a Ken doll, but he is a gigantic, scary asshole. Please do not giggle and throw him parades. Thank you.

Now there.  Doesn’t that seem to have everything covered?  And check below – how often do you think you’ll find Bill Harris and Tom Cruise listed together in the tags for an article?
[tags]DubiousQuality, Bill Harris, Tom Cruise[/tags]

Winternals Software sues Best Buy/Geek Squad

I hadn’t even heard of this until I read about it on Mark Russinovich’s SysInternals blog, but apparently Winternals Software is suing Geek Squad and Best Buy for admitted and ongoing illegal use of the Administrator’s Pak from Winternals.

From the story, my understanding is that Best Buy and Geek Squad have been illegally using the Administrator’s Pak software for providing system recovery services to Best Buy customers.  After doing this illegally for a while, Best Buy approached Winternals Software about licensing the software.  After a few months of negotiations and free training at Best Buys’ corporate headquarters, Best Buy made the decision to not license the software.  Oddly, though, Best Buy and Geek Squad continued (and presumably continue) to use the software.  So, a lawsuit has now be filed.

As outlined in our Complaint and Motion for Temporary Restraining Order (which can be found, along with all other legal documents filed in the case, at http://www.winternals.com/legal/), Best Buy and Geek Squad initially contacted us and said that a license was needed to come into compliance. Rather than focus on the degree to which Best Buy and Geek Squad had previously engaged in the unauthorized copying and use of our products, we entered negotiations for a software license and to establish a long-term business relationship. To educate their employees on the software and facilitate these negotiations, we even held a training session at our expense on the Administrator’s Pak at their facilities in Minneapolis and offered an eminently reasonable software license for all Geek Squad employees. While surprised that they ultimately decided against a license, we were willing to go our separate way with the hope that they would someday change their mind.

However, after receiving information that Geek Squad employees continued to use ERD Commander frequently in repairing customers’ computers we decided to investigate the situation on our own.

[tags]Best Buy, Winternals Software, Administrator’s Pak, Software Piracy[/tags]