Geek
May 07, 2004
Wi-Fi Cycling
I struggled with this for a category. Geek? Cycling? Geek cycling.
A dude in New York put an iBook and antennas on his ride. This takes "cycling computer" to a whole new level.
Yury Gitman, a self-described "wireless and emerging-media artist" in New York, has outfitted his bicycle with an iBook laptop and Wi-Fi antennas so that everywhere he goes, a cloud of free, high-speed wireless Internet access follows him.
"I'm interested in exploring the Internet physically, in motion," said Gitman, who calls his vehicle the Magicbike. "It's not on our radar screen, even though we're obsessed with mobility and wireless. But in the future, we're going to do that a lot."
Gitman's antennas tap open Wi-Fi networks whose signals are too weak for ordinary laptops to pick up. He essentially extends them through his Magicbike, and when those hot spots fade out, he relies on the cell phone network.
Demand for wireless Internet access in automobiles has been picking up, and plans are on the drawing board to offer it in airplanes.
Why a bicyclist would want Internet activity is a question Gitman called "a very fun proposition to think about." Navigation help and communication with other bicyclists--"bike-to-bike communication," in Magicbike parlance--are two possibilities, he said.
I don't want to be distracted while I'm driving, and I REALLY don't want to be distracted while I'm riding. And who needs extra weight on the bike?
hln
May 03, 2004
Killer App Request
Hey, someone want to whip this one up for me? I'd like a browser emulator. I've got some complaints that a charity site I did doesn't look right in Netscape 4.5 for Mac and Netscape 6.0 for Mac. Seeing as I have neither of these browsers and have no Mac, wouldn't it be grand to pop open this program and have it render a web page as though it were a certain browser? Every web developer would kiss you if you were to develop such a thing (not enough motivation for me to undertake it, though).
Here are some attempts:
Dejavu is pretty cool - check out your own site (or this one) in Netscape 1.0 or IE 2.0. But nothing to get me my Netscape 4.5 for Mac. Sigh.
hln
November 05, 2003
Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers
Well, okay, thankfully, this is not THAT long nor is it THAT obnoxious. And making fun of Steve Ballmer is just so...necessary.
Found via samaBlog.
September 30, 2003
September 30, 2003 - The Day Brian Gave Up Coke in Cans
GPS - coming to a coke can near you!
But you get a Hummer if they find you. So...strange and disconcerting as a package.
hln
September 21, 2003
Worm Alert!
Yikes! Please inform all of your non tech-savvy friends because this one could nab quite a few victims.
Disguised as an official e-mail from Microsoft, the file comes attached to a
note asking the recipient to install a "September 2003, cumulative patch" to
protect against vulnerabilities in Microsoft's Internet Explorer Web browser
and Outlook and Outlook Express e-mail programs.
If installed, the program, known as Swen or Gibe.F, attempts to disable
firewall and antivirus software, gather password information and replicate
itself via e-mail, as well as the Kazaa peer-to-peer network and Internet
Relay Chat instant-messaging.
And...
The virus-laden e-mail looks like an authentic missive from the Redmond,
Wash., software developer (aside from a few grammatical errors), but a
spokeswoman for Microsoft said this week that it doesn't send security
updates in e-mail. They're all distributed through Microsoft's Web site (windowsupdate.microsoft.com).
hln
September 13, 2003
Geeks!
Kelley of Suburban
Blight had a recent post about geeks, dorks, and nerds, oh, my. I didn't think her
geeksplanation was quite good enough, so I commented thus, and several of
her readers agreed.
You're missing a few things - where is the dweeb in all of this, or is he
too proletariat?
The dork - usually says the wrong things in all situations. Using a sock
metaphor - he is often to ADHD to figure out where the socks go and may only
get one on each day.
The nerd - usually very good at one thing, and that one thing isn't anything
social. He can match his socks one day per week.
The geek - the greatest being ever to live. Among his own kind, he is a
social beast, often conversing with other geeks about geek culture,
including techno, software, sciences, science fiction, cyberpunk, video
games, etc. Geeks are multi-faceted individuals; for example, my company is
full of software developers who are avid cyclists. Reconcile that. Geeks
write software to organize their sock drawers. Just because.
hln
Heh, *flex*.
hln
September 11, 2003
Free Adrian Lamo
There's a website that
wants to do just that.
Contrary to the 2600s (not Atari) lying about my house, I'm not part of the
hacker culture, and I know little about it - my geekiness is pretty
mainstream in the code perspective.
I read about Lamo turning himself in on CNN's website, and I had to know
more.
Wired gives a better profile.
More than a year later, Lamo is becoming widely known in hacker circles for
tiptoeing into the networks of companies like Yahoo and WorldCom -- and then
telling the corporate guys how he got there.
Administrators at several of the companies he's hacked have called Lamo
brilliant and "helpful" for helping fix these gaps in network
defenses.
Critics blast Lamo as a charlatan who preens for the spotlight.
And...
Lamo's latest move: using a back door in The New York Times' intranet to
snag the home phone numbers of over 3,000 Op-Ed contributors, including Vint
Cerf, Warren Beatty and Rush Limbaugh.
Although Lamo (pronounced LAHM-oh) did nothing more mischievous with the
information than include himself in its roster of experts, the Times is
considering pressing charges, according to spokeswoman Christine Mohan.
Hacking is a federal crime, currently punishable by five years in jail.
Expert indeed. The rest of the story gets more personal (and therefore more
interesting).
"Strictly speaking, he is a criminal. The law doesn't take into account
motivation," security consultant Winn Schwartau said.
Lamo answered, "If (the government) were to decide to indict (me), I'd
rather everything be on the up and up -- inasmuch as you can be on the up
and up when you're committing a federal crime."
It's similar to the man who shipped himself in a crate. It was harmless in the
end, but now we're all watching because it's been exposed. And how horrid it
could be indeed.
So, software companies, how would you like the security holes in your
product exposed?
(As an aside, I like this story because it challenges my black-and-white
view of the world. This one's uncomfortably gray. Lamo doesn't make it so
with his "if the government were to decide to indict me" comment. That's
pretty clear, and I appreciate that.)
hln
Posted by hln at 09:47 PM
| Comments (0)
Wi-Fi Cycling
I struggled with this for a category. Geek? Cycling? Geek cycling.
A dude in New York put an iBook and antennas on his ride. This takes "cycling computer" to a whole new level.
Yury Gitman, a self-described "wireless and emerging-media artist" in New York, has outfitted his bicycle with an iBook laptop and Wi-Fi antennas so that everywhere he goes, a cloud of free, high-speed wireless Internet access follows him.I don't want to be distracted while I'm driving, and I REALLY don't want to be distracted while I'm riding. And who needs extra weight on the bike?
"I'm interested in exploring the Internet physically, in motion," said Gitman, who calls his vehicle the Magicbike. "It's not on our radar screen, even though we're obsessed with mobility and wireless. But in the future, we're going to do that a lot."
Gitman's antennas tap open Wi-Fi networks whose signals are too weak for ordinary laptops to pick up. He essentially extends them through his Magicbike, and when those hot spots fade out, he relies on the cell phone network.
Demand for wireless Internet access in automobiles has been picking up, and plans are on the drawing board to offer it in airplanes.
Why a bicyclist would want Internet activity is a question Gitman called "a very fun proposition to think about." Navigation help and communication with other bicyclists--"bike-to-bike communication," in Magicbike parlance--are two possibilities, he said.
hln
Killer App Request
Hey, someone want to whip this one up for me? I'd like a browser emulator. I've got some complaints that a charity site I did doesn't look right in Netscape 4.5 for Mac and Netscape 6.0 for Mac. Seeing as I have neither of these browsers and have no Mac, wouldn't it be grand to pop open this program and have it render a web page as though it were a certain browser? Every web developer would kiss you if you were to develop such a thing (not enough motivation for me to undertake it, though).
Here are some attempts:
Dejavu is pretty cool - check out your own site (or this one) in Netscape 1.0 or IE 2.0. But nothing to get me my Netscape 4.5 for Mac. Sigh.
hln
Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers
Well, okay, thankfully, this is not THAT long nor is it THAT obnoxious. And making fun of Steve Ballmer is just so...necessary.
Found via samaBlog.
September 30, 2003 - The Day Brian Gave Up Coke in Cans
GPS - coming to a coke can near you!
But you get a Hummer if they find you. So...strange and disconcerting as a package.
hln
Worm Alert!
Yikes! Please inform all of your non tech-savvy friends because this one could nab quite a few victims.
-
Disguised as an official e-mail from Microsoft, the file comes attached to a
note asking the recipient to install a "September 2003, cumulative patch" to
protect against vulnerabilities in Microsoft's Internet Explorer Web browser
and Outlook and Outlook Express e-mail programs.
If installed, the program, known as Swen or Gibe.F, attempts to disable firewall and antivirus software, gather password information and replicate itself via e-mail, as well as the Kazaa peer-to-peer network and Internet Relay Chat instant-messaging.
-
The virus-laden e-mail looks like an authentic missive from the Redmond,
Wash., software developer (aside from a few grammatical errors), but a
spokeswoman for Microsoft said this week that it doesn't send security
updates in e-mail. They're all distributed through Microsoft's Web site (windowsupdate.microsoft.com).
Geeks!
Kelley of Suburban Blight had a recent post about geeks, dorks, and nerds, oh, my. I didn't think her geeksplanation was quite good enough, so I commented thus, and several of her readers agreed.
-
You're missing a few things - where is the dweeb in all of this, or is he
too proletariat?
The dork - usually says the wrong things in all situations. Using a sock metaphor - he is often to ADHD to figure out where the socks go and may only get one on each day.
The nerd - usually very good at one thing, and that one thing isn't anything social. He can match his socks one day per week.
The geek - the greatest being ever to live. Among his own kind, he is a social beast, often conversing with other geeks about geek culture, including techno, software, sciences, science fiction, cyberpunk, video games, etc. Geeks are multi-faceted individuals; for example, my company is full of software developers who are avid cyclists. Reconcile that. Geeks write software to organize their sock drawers. Just because.
hln
hln
Free Adrian Lamo
There's a website that wants to do just that.
Contrary to the 2600s (not Atari) lying about my house, I'm not part of the hacker culture, and I know little about it - my geekiness is pretty mainstream in the code perspective.
I read about Lamo turning himself in on CNN's website, and I had to know more.
Wired gives a better profile.
-
More than a year later, Lamo is becoming widely known in hacker circles for
tiptoeing into the networks of companies like Yahoo and WorldCom -- and then
telling the corporate guys how he got there.
Administrators at several of the companies he's hacked have called Lamo brilliant and "helpful" for helping fix these gaps in network defenses.
Critics blast Lamo as a charlatan who preens for the spotlight.
-
Lamo's latest move: using a back door in The New York Times' intranet to
snag the home phone numbers of over 3,000 Op-Ed contributors, including Vint
Cerf, Warren Beatty and Rush Limbaugh.
Although Lamo (pronounced LAHM-oh) did nothing more mischievous with the information than include himself in its roster of experts, the Times is considering pressing charges, according to spokeswoman Christine Mohan. Hacking is a federal crime, currently punishable by five years in jail.
-
"Strictly speaking, he is a criminal. The law doesn't take into account
motivation," security consultant Winn Schwartau said.
Lamo answered, "If (the government) were to decide to indict (me), I'd rather everything be on the up and up -- inasmuch as you can be on the up and up when you're committing a federal crime."
It's similar to the man who shipped himself in a crate. It was harmless in the end, but now we're all watching because it's been exposed. And how horrid it could be indeed.
So, software companies, how would you like the security holes in your product exposed?
(As an aside, I like this story because it challenges my black-and-white view of the world. This one's uncomfortably gray. Lamo doesn't make it so with his "if the government were to decide to indict me" comment. That's pretty clear, and I appreciate that.)
hln
Posted by hln at 09:47 PM
| Comments (0)
