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Posted 11/29/2002 - 1:42PM, by Caesar
In the UK, a group of educators convening in an "online virtual staffroom" were found discussing disciplinary fantasies in a way that's rather shocking to the public. While the comments were pseudonymous, and quite possibly perpetrated by individuals who are not necessarily teachers, the kinds of death threats and physical abuse threats are rather alarming. Alarming, not because they were made, but because they hint at the double-standard in education with regards to teachers and students. Were students to make these kinds of remarks, there would be a head hunt followed by expulsions, to be sure. <offtopic> While I'm at it, let me wish everyone a happalicious T-Day weekend. Those of you outside of North America may have noticed that things are a little slow Stateside these last two days. Yesterday was, yes, that last day of sanity before consumerism begins to drive us all mad for the next month (aka Thanksgiving). I've always enjoyed Thanksgiving, but strangely (I must admit) I have an aversion to Turkey. That's why my wife and I cooked up an Indian feast, instead. Regardless, wherever you are and and whatever you're eating, have a good weekend!
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Posted 11/27/2002 - 7:47PM, by Caesar
From the "someone-got-paid-for-this?" department, researchers at Ohio State have revealed in a "new study" that, were natural disasters or terrorist attacks to occur in cities with major Internet hubs, Internet traffic would be disrupted. *gasp*. Researchers at Ohio State University conducted experiments in which they simulated what would happen if a disaster crippled major nodes of the Internet – places that house the equipment where Internet traffic is collected and distributed. The results showed that major cities that serve as Internet nodes would continue to have network access in most scenarios, although it would probably be much less functional. But smaller and medium sized cities that link to the Internet through these major hub cities could be disconnected from the entire network.
Groundbreaking! What's odd about this study is the fact that three Professors in geography faculties were working on this problem. Ph.D.s are great and all (hey, I'm half way through mine), but do we need three geography Profs to figure out what any run of the mill network engineer could prove in 15 seconds? The study seems to be aimed in part at arguing for the decentralization of major internet hubs... moving them away from large cities and proliferating more lower-tiered peering connections, yet again this seems rather obvious. The problem with decentralization is, of course, cost.
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Posted 11/27/2002 - 11:01AM, by Caesar
This story has been popping in and out of my inbox for a week now, so I figured it was time to post this to put an end to my typing lots of responses. According to the Aberdeen Group, open source software, including Linux, was the largest generator of security advisories this year. The dubious distinction of being the chief progenitor of security flaws has passed (in their view) from Microsoft to the OSF community, a community which has historically enjoyed poking fun at the Redmond giant. In AG's terms: Open source software, commonly used in many versions of Linux, Unix, and network routing equipment, is now the major source of elevated security vulnerabilities for IT buyers. Security advisories for open source and Linux software accounted for 16 out of the 29 security advisories — about one of every two advisories — published for the first 10 months of 2002 by Cert (www.cert.org, Computer Emergency Response Team). Keeping pace with Linux and open source software are traditional Unix-based software products, which have been affected by 16 of the 29 — about half of all — advisories to date during 2002. During this same time, vulnerabilities affecting Microsoft products numbered seven, or about one in four of all advisories.
The report, which requires a free registration to read, says that while many flaws such email viruses and trojans on the Windows platform have dropped from 2001 to 2002, the same types of vulnerabilities affecting Linux and Unix systems have grown in that same period. The report, however, unfairly groups the whole of open source against the products of one company, making the comparison quintessentially biased. On a certain level, it's not fair to make sweeping statements about the reliability of open source vis-à-vis Microsoft's windows platform if that comparison also fails to take into account non-Microsoft Windows-based software. It's akin to grouping everything that you could run on Linux into one team, but then only including Microsoft products on the other, and calling the two equivalent. Futhermore, the study fails to mention that security flaws come in all shapes and sizes, from the minor to the severe, to the potential to the actual. That said, the report is quite correcting is provoking the question: is either approach inherently secure? Please note the word inherently. Clearly the answer is no.
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Posted 11/27/2002 - 10:30AM, by Caesar
Yeah, dat's right. Aside from fixing a number of bugs, the new release includes a handful of new features that you may or may not find compelling. Type Ahead Find is a curious feature that no doubt you mouse-haters will love. Type Ahead Find is a new feature that allows quick navigation when you type a succession of characters in the browser, matching the text in one or more links on the page. To give it a spin just go to a web page, start typing, watch the typed characters highlight as they find a match in a link and hit enter to load the selected link. You can also use it to search for any text on the page by typing / before your search text.
You can also now set your "start page" as a number of tabs, so you tab freaks out there can now help choke the 'net by opening your 6 favorite sites simultaneously! Seriously though, I love tabbed browsing, and while I'm still primarily an IE user, there are times when I use Moz because it makes my life easier, and less cluttered. I should also note that Opera is now in beta testing for version 7, just to throw a bone to our Opera loving fans out there.
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Posted 11/26/2002 - 7:50PM, by StoneTable
As this article points out, many consumers are finding themselves presented with odd choices when they return to their favorite websites. Just today I searched on Amazon.com for "writers market". Now, when I return to Amazon I'm presented with a list of recommendations, all of them books matching my earlier search criteria. This kind of techno-profiling, or as they would like you to believe, "feature", is becoming quite common. For a live demonstration before an audience of 500 people, Mr. [Jeff] Bezos once logged onto Amazon.com to show how it caters to his interests. The top recommendation it gave him? The DVD for "Slave Girls From Beyond Infinity." That popped up because he had previously ordered "Barbarella," starring Jane Fonda, a spokesman explains.
But wait, there's more. Not only has this trend become standard procedure at sites such as Amazon.com and NetFlix, even TiVo is in on the action. Mr. Iwanyk, 32 years old, first suspected that his TiVo thought he was gay, since it inexplicably kept recording programs with gay themes. A film studio executive in Los Angeles and the self-described "straightest guy on earth," he tried to tame TiVo's gay fixation by recording war movies and other "guy stuff." "The problem was, I overcompensated," he says. "It started giving me documentaries on Joseph Goebbels and Adolf Eichmann. It stopped thinking I was gay and decided I was a crazy guy reminiscing about the Third Reich."
Speaking as a TiVo addict, I have to say that it can pick some funky stuff at first but if you take the time to tell it what you do and don't like, it does reasonably well at picking programs to automatically record. Even the recommendations list on Amazon.com is reasonably helpful in most cases. So is techno-profiling helpful or harmful? Even if it proves to be a beneficial service in the short-term, could the detailed history of your viewing/browsing/purchasing habits come back to haunt you in the future?
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Posted 11/26/2002 - 5:29PM, by zAmboni
Problems may develop as semiconductors are shrunk to smaller and smaller processes, Nvidia can attest to that. New techniques and methods need to be developed in the sub-micron world and researchers at NASA Ames Research Center have elicited help from "extremophile" bacteria in building nanoscale structures. Why start from scratch in creating ordered structures when nature has already done so...packaged in tiny self-replicating factories? In an online version of Nature Materials, researchers in the Ames labs outlined a technique for creating nanometer scale quantum dot arrays using a protein from the bacteria Sulfolobus shibatae. They isolated heat shock protein (HSP60) from the bacteria and engineered it to bind quantum dots. The protein self assembles into a ringed structure which forms an ordered lattice when crystallized. Since it is derived from an extremophile bacteria, the protein is stable to extreme temperatures and pH conditions. "We apply the crystals to a substrate such as a silicon wafer, and we add a gold or semiconductor slurry," said McMillan. "The tiny particles of gold or semiconductor (cadmium selenide/zinc sulfide) stick to the lattices." According to McMillan, the minute pieces that adhere to the protein lattice are ‘quantum dots’ that are about one to 10 nanometers across. Today’s standard computer chips have features that are roughly 130 nanometers apart.
The researchers hope to use these materials for use in memory, logic and sensor chips. I'm sure Silicon Valley will find some use for it. It may be strange seeing bacteria brewing vats at TMSC fabs though.
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Posted 11/26/2002 - 4:44PM, by Ator
 Just in time for the holiday wish lists, the Ars System Guide returns to offer three tiers of computing goodness. This month sees a return of AMD to the Hot Rod, a slightly more reasonable God Box (under $10,000...whatta bargain!), and a Budget Box that continues to be damn cheap! Feel free to send the URL to friends and family who have money to burn on presents for the geek in their lives for the upcoming biggest shopping weekend of the year. If nothing else, a geek can dream, can't he?
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Posted 11/26/2002 - 2:17AM, by zAmboni
Professor Louis Bloomfield made news last year when he unleashed a search code to detect plagiarism in his Physics 105 class at the University of Virginia. Bloomfield originally wrote his search program because he believed the internet provided the students opportunity to download and share information which could be used for term papers. His search resulted in 158 students suspected of plagiarism, yet only 59 were eventually charged with violating U. Va.'s strict honor code. Needless to say, this seriously taxed the Honors Committee which normally handles about 60-80 cases per year, but they eventually weeded through all of the cases. Twenty were found guilty after student-run trials, and 28 others chose to leave the university while "admitting guilt." The others were found not guilty, or their cases were dismissed.
Three of the expelled had already graduated and the University revoked their degrees. Overall, the expulsions represented only 2% of the students who took the class. Honors Committee chairman Christopher Smith claimed it "really did show the (Honor) system is working," but what did Professor Bloomfield's search program really prove? Yes 48 students were expelled, but the search program still identified over 100 false positives...and the article didn't say if the internet had an impact on the cheating that occurred. Plus, I'm not even sure if a 2% cheating rate is that uncommon, even for an institution with a strict honor code such as U. Va. If such term paper searches expanded to other courses at U. Va. it would probably break their current court-like system. I have a sneaking feeling the Honors Committee gently asked Bloomfield to put his search program to rest. Nevertheless, current and future Physics 105 students will think long and hard about using the copy and paste function.
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Posted 11/25/2002 - 9:55PM, by zAmboni
With all of the hype surrounding the Segway, I wondered what happened to Dean Kamen's much cooler invention, the iBOT 3000 Transporter. The iBOT had been stuck in the FDA approval process for the past several years awaiting clinical trial results. Well, the University of Pittsburgh formally announced the conclusion of Phase II clinical trials today, while last week the FDA unanimously recommended approval for the sale of his souped up wheelchair. Final approval may come in a few months. What is so interesting about the iBot? The wheelchair contains a balancing mechanism similar to that of the Segway allowing the iBot to balance on two wheels. This allows the occupant to be ride higher giving people a new perspective on the world, while letting them to reach places they could never have before. In a conventional 4 wheel position the iBot has 4 wheel drive to travel over rough terrain, and oh yea...it can climb up and down stairs. There are a few caveat's with the device. The occupant needs one arm to operate the machine, plus some movement abilities. The user needs to lean forward or backward to help the chair sense the center of mass and direct movement ala the Segway. Also, the cost of the iBot may be out of the reach of many. The predicted price is about $29,000, and while that may buy several Segways, the price is less than many top of the line wheelchairs. On the other hand, many home accommodations needed for wheelchair use, such as ramps and elevators (which can run upwards of $40,000), will be unnecessary with capabilities the iBot possesses. For more on the iBot, wheelchair user John Williamson has compiled a bunch of information about the device here.
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Posted 11/25/2002 - 8:29PM, by johnnyace
I just saw an interesting piece discussing a recent sting involving identity theft on News.com. Allegedly, a helpdesk worker for Teledata Communications was usurping his position to grab confidential credit reports and pass them to two accomplices. Current reports say that $2,700,000 was pilfered from private and corporate bank accounts by using this illegally obtained personal information. "The defendants took advantage of an insider's access to sensitive information in much the same way that a gang of thieves might get the combination to the bank vault from an insider," Kevin Donovan, assistant director in charge of the FBI's New York field office, said in a statement. "But the potential windfall was probably far greater than the contents of a bank vault, and using 2lst century technology, they didn't even need a getaway car. Using the same technology, we determined what was done and who did it, proving that technology is a double-edged sword."
Utilities, phone service, and in most cases, bank accounts can be easily manipulated by a phone call and a little social engineering. The best part about it? There are very few ways to protect yourself under the current systems. Security is lax throughout the entire industry, and the consumer ends up paying for it in the end. I wish that companies would make an effort to protect our private information and safeguard what can be accomplished with only a couple of numbers.
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Posted 11/25/2002 - 3:36PM, by johnnyace
Yaz refererenced this BBC story in his post on copy protected CD's, but I'd like to call special attention to it. Digital Rights Management isn't going to stop users from encoding and sharing their movies and music, according to four Microsoft researchers. Their whitepaper (.doc format) makes for a good read if you want to see the theory and resulting (projected) failure of full blown DRM deployment. The best part is that they consider the social aspects of DRM implementation. This paper isn't looking solely at the "Hey, we have to stop these heartless thieves" aspect, but the more correct "Why would a user pay for a product that he or she can't use?" From their whitepaper: From the point of view of economic theory, this has profound implications for business strategy: for example, increased security (e.g. stronger DRM systems) may act as a disincentive to legal commerce. Consider an MP3 file sold on a web site: this costs money, but the purchased object is as useful as a version acquired from the darknet [Exp: A theoretical P2P distribution system]. However, a securely DRM-wrapped song is strictly less attractive: although the industry is striving for flexible licensing rules, customers will be restricted in their actions if the system is to provide meaningful security. This means that a vendor will probably make more money by selling unprotected objects than protected objects. In short, if you are competing with the darknet, you must compete on the darknet’s own terms: that is convenience and low cost rather than additional security.
I'm sending out a hearty huzzah to Peter Biddle, Paul England, Marcus Peinado, and Bryan Willman. Thanks for presenting the arguments that the enthusiast community has been preaching for years in a way that it will get a bit of attention. Take the time to read their paper, it's very good.
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Posted 11/24/2002 - 4:02PM, by Yaz
While I've been inundated in schoolwork and travelling all over the place for interviews, it appears as if other people have plenty of time for gaming in their schedules. In fact, video game sales are flourishing this year and are projected to hit an all-time high in 2003. It's not too surprising to see that video game sales have been fine despite the economic downturn since video games are reasonably affordable sources of entertainment when you consider the hours of entertainment they provide for your dollar. In other Game.Ars news, be on the lookout for the trailer to Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos in theaters, as well as a new chariot racing game from Candella Software. Check it out.
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Posted 11/24/2002 - 4:02AM, by Yaz
Perhaps in an effort to try to calm down people who have been unable to listen copy-protected CDs on their PCs, Sony's Label Gate CDs will allow customers to decode music from the CD onto their PC. The audio files must be played using Sony's Magiqlip software, which means non-Windows users still won't be able to play the CDs on their computers. The CDs, however, contain an audio track that should allow them to be played in standalone CD players. People will be allowed to decode music from their CD once for free via Internet authentication; after that, if they want to decode the music onto a computer again, it will cost about $1.64 per song, with the requirement that customers must pay for all of the songs on the CD. Using Magiqlip, the music data can also be copied for backup purposes along with the key, which must be uploaded for verification to SME (Sony Music Entertainment) when the music backup is restored, SME said.
Copied music on a hard disk can be transferred to audio devices that comply with SME's OpenMG digital rights management (DRM) technology for a number of times set by the music company.
Even if the compressed music on Sony's CDs is of similar quality to the original audio tracks, I still fail to understand what Sony thinks this action will accomplish. Making CDs more difficult to copy and forcing a restricted file format onto their customers may initially deter illegal sharing, but it only takes one individual to record the music as it's playing on their computer, connect their CD player to their sound card's line in, or just hold up a microphone to their speaker to have an unrestricted copy. In fact, copy-protection strategies may exacerbate the problem.
Normally, many people who purchase CDs may not see the need to download MP3 copies of their CDs and may instead make rips for themselves if they want to listen to them on their computer or on their MP3 players. However, the restrictions of copy-protected CDs will frustrate customers when they are not able to listen to music on all of their devices such as existing MP3 players and non-Windows PCs. Consequently, despite purchasing CDs, they will seek unrestricted tracks that they can freely use, most likely turning to a P2P network. If the aforementioned single individual has created a copy of his CD and shared it, the unrestricted file will propagate across the network. In the end, listeners probably will always find a way to have unrestricted audio files on their PCs, but the outcome that arises from copy-protection will see people who have purchased CDs not only having unrestricted copies of the songs from their CDs, but also being additional distributors of the music. By having a reason to connect to a P2P network, they would perpetuate the cycle of downloading and sharing music.
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Posted 11/23/2002 - 5:29PM, by johnnyace
"At 3:15 PM, on March 27th, Captain Picard was in the can." Ok, so maybe not that perfect, but almost. My good buddy Microsoft is currently working on a digital archive project the likes of which has never before been seen. From the New Scientist coverage: It is part of a curious venture dubbed the MyLifeBits project, in which engineers at Microsoft's Media Presence lab in San Francisco are aiming to build multimedia databases that chronicle people's life events and make them searchable. "Imagine being able to run a Google-like search on your life," says Gordon Bell, one of the developers.
In the same way that police academy trainees are taught to always carry a small notepad with them, Microsoft hopes to give us a picture perfect (literally) recounting of where we've been. Due to exaggeration and the occasional educated guess, an eye witness is the least reliable kind of legal testimony. Online purchases, photos, home movies, email, recorded phone calls; every aspect of your life can be converted to a digital medium and archived. MyLifeBits could be the technology that drives the digital version of the Granite Mountain Records Vault. An archive like this would be a boon to future archeologists. Make your very own Rosetta Stone, and help educate future generations! Searching your entire life by date, time, or keyword would be amazingly convenient. Between email, phone, AIM, and bar napkins I'm forever losing phone numbers. I'm considering calling Microsoft and volunteering to be a beta tester. I'm willing to take a privacy risk for convenience, but I still have my doubts. Let's face it: as interesting as it would be to search through my own life; searching someone else's would be cooler. We'd have to see some pretty hardcore security on any wide spread implementation of this. I can just imagine what a 14 year old kid would do with the contents of my inbox. A really accurate, searchable store of events could also help us preserve our experiences more vividly for posterity. Doug de Groot, who works on computer-generated beings called avatars and other types of digital "life" at Leiden University in the Netherlands, says Bell's system could eventually form the basis for "meet the ancestor" style educational tools, where people will quiz their ancestors on what happened in their lifetimes.
This is the best idea I've ever heard. I'd love to know what my great-grandfather was like, but sadly, no one remembers him. In a few years, my great-grandchildren might get a chance that I never had. Technology is a great thing, and I'm thrilled to see it put towards such a worthwhile endeavor (Plus, it's bitchin' cool in a Star Trek kind of way).
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