Smoking in binary

A year here and he still dreamed of cyberspace, hope fading nightly. All the speed he took, all the turns he'd taken and the corners he'd cut in Night City, and he'd still see the matrix in his sleep, bright lattices of logic unfolding across that colorless void..

::: posts on May 03, 2006 :::

Typepad and Livejournal down

Typepad and Livejournal, two blogging platforms, have been the target of DoS attacks recently.

Denial of Service, or DoS, is a simple yet overwhelming weapon in the arsenal of Script Kiddies. Yeah, I exclude true hackers. Who would want to block a blogging community from service?

The DoS attack, as experienced by Typepad and Livejournal, consists simply of sending a zillion requests to the server, so it gets jammed up. DoS attacks might utilize "owned boxes" to produce a countless number of requests, or they might exploit some security holes in the server side to simulate a "jam session".

The thing I want to emphasize is, few hackers would bother to go all out on Typepad or Livejournal. They are blog hosts, after all, not an engaged site with a certain political viewpoint, or a monopolyous corporation that brags about their security measures.

There's no challenge in it.

posted by Boggbee at 20:50 | permalink | 9 comments | email this post

Google Exam Jam

The coding contest, Google Code Jam Europe, has raised a few questions.

It seemingly aims to find the programming geniuses in Europe, awarding them in cash, as well as possible job opportunities at Google. However, the contest is open only to entrants of 18 years older.

This is probably a legal issue about the prize, but come on, if Google can't find a way deal with this limitation, who can? They can't possible be thinking that it takes 18 years on this planet to actually write swift code?

The date of the "online rounds" has also raised criticism. As posted on the Google list for the contest, the competition lasts through May 23rd - June 29th. This overlaps with the final exams of many college students all across Europe, who would be making up a major base for the contest.

Round 2 of the Code Jam event is scheduled at 11 AM GMT on Saturday, June 3rd. Although it's a Saturday, this too conflicts with exam schedules of many colleges.

The Google Team has responded with the point that the online rounds only take about an hour, but seriously, who would risk a final for the sake of winning the Code Jam?

posted by Boggbee at 20:21 | permalink | 0 comments | email this post

::: posts on May 01, 2006 :::

A year here and...

A year here and he still dreamed of cyberspace, hope fading nightly. All the speed he took, all the turns he'd taken and the corners he'd cut in Night City, and still he'd see the matrix in his sleep, bright lattices of logic unfolding across that colorless void…The Sprawl was a long strange way home over the Pacific now, and he was no console man, no cyberspace cowboy. Just another hustler, trying to make it through. But the dreams came on in the Japanese night like livewire voodoo, and he'd cry for it, cry in his sleep, and wake alone in the dark, curled in his capsule in some coffin hotel, his hands clawed into the bedslab, temperfoam bunched between his fingers, trying to reach the console that wasn't there.

How pathetic is the "cowboy" who has no access to the "cyberspace"?

Beer me up, before you go-go..

The Sprawl, a radiating dream carved into my memory, my cells pulsing along with every heratbeat, desperately seeking to embrace the network of nodes and tangents, the 1's and 0's, that were once the playground for my senses, my reflexes, my consciousness fading slowly into the "real world", thirsty for source codes, trying to debug what went wrong, and silently acknowledging all the syntax errors my song has produced, without regret, without remorse.

There are still boxes out there..

I can feel every one of them.

posted by Boggbee at 21:58 | permalink | 0 comments | email this post

::: posts on April 30, 2006 :::

Hacking for UFO's

Gary McKinnon, a British "hacker", is struggling to stop his extradition to the US.

He was arrested in March 2002 in England by the UK Hi-Tech Crime Unit, but was released with no charges. In November 2002, a US federal court indicted him on 8 counts of computer crimes in 14 states, hacking into over 90 US military and NASA computers. The legal battle of Gary McKinnon has been continuing since then.

If extradited to the US, McKinnon will be facing 70 years in jail (probably in Guantanamo Bay, since he is classified as a terrorist), and 1.75 million USD in fines.

From the Reuters article:

In the mid-1990s as Internet technology took off, McKinnon, armed with information gleaned from the book, "The Hacker's Handbook", began infiltrating British university systems.

Then during 2000-1 from his home in Hornsey, and using a computer with just a limited 56K dial-up modem, he turned his sights on the American government and military.

He insists his intention was not to cause damage.

"My main thing was wanting to find out about UFOs and suppressed technology. I wanted to use computer security tools to find out stuff the government wouldn't tell you about."

Surprisingly, he found it was easy despite being only a rank amateur who "couldn't even program at the time".

Using the hacking name "Solo", he discovered that many U.S. top-security systems were using an insecure Microsoft Windows program and had no password protection at all.

"So I got commercially available off-the-shelf software and used them to scan large military networks ... anything I thought might have possible links to UFO information," he said.

So do aliens exist? Yes, according to McKinnon.

He said he came across a group called the "Disclosure Project", which had expert testimonies from senior figures who said technology obtained from extra-terrestrials did exist.

He said one NASA scientist reported that the Johnson Space Centre had a facility where UFOs were airbrushed out of high-resolution satellite images. So, he broke in to see for himself.

"I saw what I'm convinced was some kind of satellite or spacecraft but it was manufactured by no means I have ever seen before -- there were no rivets, no seams, it was like one flawless piece of material. And that was above the Earth."

However, his probing came to an end in March 2002, when police arrested him. It was almost a relief.

"I was completely obsessed. I was completely addicted. It was like a huge game but I was getting very paranoid," he said.

McKinnon's story might sound like the plot of a movie, but the charges he faces after being indicted by a U.S. grand jury, are deadly serious.

He argues he is being made a scapegoat by U.S. authorities to deter other would-be hackers rather than address their own security flaws. His supporters include some MPs who back his fight to change the UK-U.S. extradition treaty

"I know that once I'm over there, I don't care what anyone says, it's not a reasonable democracy," he said.

"I'm already being treated as a terrorist. I appear in an official American army pamphlet ... in a guide to combating terrorism in the 21st century."

The next stage of his legal battle takes place on May 10 at Bow Street Magistrates Court. But he hints that whatever happens, he has a lot more to tell.

"I can't talk about a lot of stuff that I found. It's just not the right time," he said with a smile.

Just another War Games fan.. I salute you Solo!

Check out freegary.org.uk for details and updates.

posted by Boggbee at 14:26 | permalink | 0 comments | email this post

Password strength - the human factor

Corporately thinking:

Suppose you spent half a million dollars on securing your network. And one of your employees keeps his username and password written on a post-it sticked to his monitor.

And one of the janitors, who desperately needs some cash, takes a peek at the post-it after-hours, and sells that information to a hacker hired by your competitor.

Your customer database is, well, "owned".

Does this sound like a far fetched scenario?

How about this: One of your employees (whose username is, as seen in emails sent from your company, hisname@yourcompany.com), uses "qwerty" for a password, since it's easy to remember.

Again, you are "owned".

Can you guarantee that this won't happen to your firm?

Still, personally thinking:

You use your birthdate (mmddyy) as a password for all your internet accounts. And you have a CV on some human resources site.

You are, well, "owned".

Actually, no matter the technologies and software you employ, security on the internet all boils down to a username and password.

Think about it.

posted by Boggbee at 00:53 | permalink | 0 comments | email this post

::: posts on April 29, 2006 :::

The social aspect of online gaming

Why are online games so popular?

Because us geeks like to feel less anti-social?

Actually, that is a good reason I believe. First, there were the multi-player racing games that allowed you to beat your friend over a LAN or a straight cable connection. I exclude MUD's in this post. Then came the game servers, allowing people around the world to come and play the same game simultaneously.

Playing against a human, rather than trying to beat the same old AI of the game. Competition, a chance the make your way into the champs' league, with published scores and all over the internet. A challenge. Or a chance to meet someone all the way around the globe, who shares similar passions and obsessions with yourself.

I'd be extremely happy if I were able to play games online, compete or collaborate with other humans, and make a living out of it. Yeah, that sounded like paradise.

Would I feel anti-social? Not at all. As a geek, I find it hard to come up with things to chat about with people I meet everyday. I'd actually feel much more comfortable among people who I know to have a common interest with me.

Life is a game itself. If only people could see that..

posted by Boggbee at 01:50 | permalink | 0 comments | email this post

MMORPG vs the MUD

I'm sure anyone (reading this post) can name at least a few MMORPG's. Anarchy Online, Ultima Online, Runescape, Asheron's Call..

In case you are here by accident, MMORPG means Massively Multi-player Online Role Playing Game. If you don't know what role-play or game is, I cannot help you any further..

The truth is, I do not recall any MORPG's before the MMORPG's. It all grew up very suddenly, in the 90's. I think the first was EverQuest. Game publishers decided to take advantage of the ever-growing internet phenomenon, and all of a sudden we had MMORPG's.

Can you name a few of your favorite MUD's?

Mine was Aarinfel..

As the ancestors of MMORPG's, MUD's were, well, fun.

They were text-based, with ASCII graphics sprinkled around. You used to telnet to the server, then came mud-clients, which were basically advanced telnet clients with shortcuts and copy-paste luxuries. When you logged on to a MUD, the server used to ask you if you could use ANSI color codes.. Those were the days.

MUD is short for Multi User Dungeon (or Dimension according to some people; but I recall reading a quote of Richard Bartle of Essex University, the creator of the first MUD, saying it was intended as Dungeon) (for parentheses' sake, it was also known as Multi Undergraduate Destroyer back then at Essex, after becoming the main reason of many failed classes).

MUD's created a virtual world that could be shared by many, a place to compete in, as well as a junction to socialize with similar minded people.

Some MUD's were more RP oriented (like Aarinfel, if anyone remembers Zaga, that's me), some were more based on competition, referred to as the "Hack-n-slash". There were also variations that followed like MUSH'es (Multi User Shared Hallucination) or MOO's (MUD Object Oriented). These allowed any player to contribute to the game code, and evolve the game environment continuously.

Sorry I got kinda lost thinking of the times back then. I can't remember what was the point of this post was meant to be. I think it was something about the lack of comradeship in MMORPG's, compared to MUD's.

Had I said "Those were the days"?

posted by Boggbee at 00:46 | permalink | 0 comments | email this post

::: posts on April 28, 2006 :::

Google Sketchup - the free 3D modeling tool

When I heard about it, I was excited. I downloaded it as soon as I could.

Perhaps I was expecting much from Google. Sketchup, as the name implies, is only a sketching tool it seems. At least the free downloadable version.

Honestly, it is a very intuitive and fun-to-play-with kind of software. It is one of the most user friendly modeling programs I have tried. It is very simple, but still has many subtle settings to achieve interesting effects. It can even communicate with Google Earth, so you can place your model on a real world setting.

So why was I disappointed? Because I got over-excited..

As Google claims, Sketchup is only a sketching tool (again, I'm talking about the free version, I haven't tried the commercial one). It has no rendering engine. When you try to get a snapshot of your model, all you get is a screen shot, as if you PrtScr'ed and pasted.

The help files mention an "options" button that allows you to decide on the quality of snapshots when you export, but either the free version doesn't include that, or I cannot seem to find it.

But I did like Sketchup anyways. It's a very quick and easy way to create models.

However, if you wish to get some quality photos of your model, I think you'd still need the Povray & Moray couple.

Try it for yourself.

posted by Boggbee at 01:07 | permalink | 0 comments | email this post

::: posts on April 27, 2006 :::

Introducing Internet Explorer 7

Come on now, guys..

The IE7 Beta 2 is available for downloads. Truthfully, after reading the introduction at the Microsoft site, I didn't feel like downloading it.

Tabs.. The IE7 has tabbed browsing. Great idea, but Firefox already has it.

RSS feeds.. The IE7 can now display RSS feeds right from its menu. Great idea, but Firefox already has it.

Searching.. The IE7 now allows access to various search engines on its toolbar. Great idea, but Firefox already has it.

Oh, and security.. The IE7 keeps a log of reported phishing sites, and warns you when you try to load one. Is this a safety belt, or an insult to the user's IQ?

We all receive phishing emails everyday. Are we so inclined to give out confidential info, that we need our browser to keep an eye on us?

I guess, considering the mass of the phishing "industry", people do fall for such mails. Otherwise, so many kiddos wouldn't bother bulk mailing for credit card info.

But that is a whole yet finely-defined "market". Would you fall for a phishing email? I wouldn't. Not to be snobby and bragging. I just wouldn't. It's not rocket science.

But there is a "share of the market" who would. The impression I get from the IE7, is that Microsoft is aiming lower and lower everytime.

Come on, really..

The latest Microsoft product I awed at was MS-DOS 3.3..

Really.. It was a knock-out. It was original, not a copy-cat version of MacOS or Firefox. It wasn't fool-proof, and it didn't care. I really admired MS back then.

And the IE7? Nah..

posted by Boggbee at 00:48 | permalink | 0 comments | email this post

The end of the internet

How long can you stand being off the internet?

I remember a world record attempt on how long one can live in some isolated place, with only an internet connection to the rest of the world. I don't recall the details, nor can I seem to find the news about it.

I didn't get it back when I first heard about it. I still don't.

If the record was how long you can stand being off the net, I could get it. If it works the other way around for you, just stop reading, nothing really that can interest you in the rest of the post.

I'm on some odd schedule nowadays, and I can hardly get online, at the most inconvenient times. (Nice thing I just started a new blog. Blogs succeed only if updated frequently. Yeah well..)

It made me think how much time I spent on the net. You only realize that once you are refrained from it. I roughly calculated a total of 14.000 hours. That makes around a year and a half, non-stop.

Am I addicted? Or am I just a rookie?

I've read that an indicative sign of addiction is building tolerance. Over time, you tend to increase your dose, to get the same satisfaction you used to have earlier, with a smaller dose.

I haven't tried, but I think I could survive a week or two of non-stop internet. Actually, considering my current restricted on-time, that sounds attractive.

By the way, in case you still haven't found it, here's the end of the internet. No more links, nowhere else to go.

posted by Boggbee at 00:07 | permalink | 0 comments | email this post

::: posts on April 22, 2006 :::

the 286 vs iPod

Once upon a time, my dad came home with a 286.

I was far from happy.. I'd been wishing for an Amiga, or at least a Commodore, for a long time. Now I had this strange box called the PC. None of my friends had one - who was I supposed to trade disks with? Dad told me that a few years from now, everyone would want to have a PC. I said "Thanks..", but not whole-heartedly.

The PC was a weird machine. You couldn't "poke" into it's memory to change the screen colors, it had a monochrome video (yeah, Hercules). It contained an interesting "language" called MS-DOS (I didn't even know what MS meant back then). There was also GW-Basic, I had stolen its manual from the school library, and soon got obsessed with it.

It was the age of "demo" programming. I don't see any games with "demo"s nowadays. Back then, "cracked by" was the highest title your name could ever get.

Then came the 386. It was priced around 2500 USD in my country. Soon after, the 486 followed. I remember thinking "who would ever buy a 486?". As Bill Gates put it back then (now I knew what MS meant), "640KB should be enough for everything".

My next computer was a Pentium 90. I was trying to get a hold of Assembly, using "debug.com". No, not a website, just a proggie under 64KB in size. There was no mention of internet back then. There were only a few BBS's, and my favorite movie was "War Games".

Fast forward a couple decades..

Nobody has the vaguest doubt what MS means now. If such a survey was pulled, I'm sure "Windows" would receive a higher recognition rate than "DOS".

The P4 is quite affordable. AMD is just as strong. We now play MMORPG's, with no "demo"s. "iPod Nano" and "podcast"s are in.

Yes, I'm finally getting to my point. Thanks for your patience. Mind you, there was a time when I was happily "batching" in MS-DOS, while I mocked at Windows 3.1 users for their patience.

The theme of this post is: What can you do with an iPod?

Other than consume, that is.

I used to wish for a faster processor, at an affordable price, while I was trying to compile a list of prime numbers on my P90.

I don't have an iPod, but I'm sure it could process algorithms much faster.

Yes, I'm a geek.

But truly I wonder, are iPod owners aware of what they own?

Do they care?

Or ar they just happy?