Radio Signal Spawns 'Alien' Art. Conceptual artist Jonathon Keats transforms an anomaly originally mistaken for an extraterrestrial transmission into an out-of-this-world abstract exhibition. Keith Axline reports from Berkeley, California. [Wired News: Top Stories]

 

10:34:43 AM    comment []

 

Gallery: Crop Circles. Since showing up in English wheat fields 30 years ago, crop circles have become increasingly beautiful and intricate. [Wired News: Top Stories]

 

10:27:57 AM    comment []

 

Crop Circles Gain Perspective. The latest wheat-field artwork displays a complex, 3-D design and reignites the age-old debate about the origin of the farmland phenomenon: crafty humans or little green men? By Nigel Watson. [Wired News: Top Stories]

 

10:27:18 AM    comment []

 

Photos transformed into 3D model. Technology that can transform digital photographs to 3D will be unveiled at a conference. [BBC News | Technology | UK Edition]

 

10:20:12 AM    comment []

 

How the web went world wide. Fifteen years ago web pioneer Tim Berners-Lee published details of his technology online. [BBC News | Technology | UK Edition]

 

10:19:06 AM    comment []

 

Sachin Katti, Hariharan Rahul, Wenjun Hu, Dina Katabi, Muriel Medard, Jon Crowcroft: XORs in the Air: Practical Wireless Network Coding. [Hack the Planet]

 

10:18:10 AM    comment []

 

Defcon 14 Full of Amazing Hardware Hacks. nTrfAce writes "Defcon 14 is taking place right now in Las Vegas. You know it's serious when you see things like an IPV6 enabled refrigerator with an IP address of 1337:sec:badd:a22:DEF:C012::14. And of course using a rocket for war driving, er WarRocketing. And Joe Grand has created the absolutely coolest Defcon badge ever out of a PCB, PIC, and LEDs."

[Slashdot]

 

10:15:31 AM    comment []

 

VoIP Numbers Stations were Social Experiment. IO ERROR writes "The mysterious phone number stations appearing on Craigslist for the last three months, which resembled their shortwave radio cousins, and which Slashdot reported on in June, were an experiment devised by security researcher Strom Carlson and a group of Los Angeles hackers to determine if encrypted messages could be passed using unwitting third parties to foil traffic analysis by hostile intelligence agencies. Carlson and the hackers presented their findings at DEFCON earlier today and gave away CDs with "Make your own Mein Fraulein station" kits and posted one final number station for people to try to decrypt."

[Slashdot]

 

10:13:19 AM    comment []

 

You're 0wn3d! Wi-Fi driver hack attack demoed.

Third party, fire and theft

Updated White Hat hackers have demonstrated how to use low-level hacking exploits on wireless drivers to gain control of Apple MacBook PC, albeit one running a third-party wirless card.…

[The Register]

 

10:11:27 AM    comment []

 

e-passport cloning risks exposed.

RFID hack attack

A security consultant has shown how to clone electronic passports based on internationally agreed designs due to begin distribution this year.…

[The Register]

 

10:09:09 AM    comment []

 

Researchers warn over web worms.

Right here, right now

LAS VEGAS - Exploiting a lack of security checks in browsers and Web servers, web worms and viruses are likely to become a major threat to surfers, security researchers speaking at the Black Hat Briefings warned on Thursday.…

[The Register]

 

10:07:04 AM    comment []

 

Disney design exec touts pen and paper (CNET News.com).

Disney design exec touts good ol' pen and paper

From: CNET News.com
Type: News Report

[CADwire.net - GIS industry news]

 

10:04:53 AM    comment []

 

ESRI Announces Enhanced Standards Support. Commitment to Open and Interoperable GIS Platform [ESRI.com - News]

 

10:02:16 AM    comment []

 

This is the future of our landscape photos...if you are not already there...

Photos: Vivid photos via HDR technique. High dynamic range photography helps you make up for a light-sensitivity shortcoming of your digital camera. [CNET News.com]

 

9:56:17 AM    comment []

 

Why RSS should be decentralized.

Steve Rubel reports that China is blocking RSS hosted by Feedburner.

5/21/06: "It's absolutely essential that the user own the domain that their feed is hosted at, so that, in case of emergency, they can switch to a different hosting service. If they don't own the domain, it doesn't matter how many promises the vendor makes, or how well-intentioned they are, an act of god could result in a blackout of a huge portion of the RSS network." Or an act of government.

It would be possible for the Chinese to block RSS even if it were totally decentralized, but it would be expensive, they'd have to actually look at the payload and see if it contained RSS. But when all the feeds come from one domain, it's easy and cheap, as easy as blocking CNN. That's why we should decentralize as much as possible, and every move to centralize has costs, because it makes it easier for censors.

[Scripting News]

 

9:54:38 AM    comment []

 

Something we all 'deal' with...

About the s-word.

Okay I was called a sexist by Liz Henry and Chris Boese echoed it and added a few other insults to the mix. Both of them claim it's just humor, but it's not funny.

I think we're in a transition period, out of the 20th century when men had to shut up on gender issues, to a different place, where there is some tolerance for men having opinions about gender. At least in principle, the people who came to BlogHer said they wanted to hear from men. But, put into practice it's actually really hard to hear men say things on this subject.

A simple case of men talking about gender, pointing out male-bashing. It's not proactive, it's not even very imaginative. A woman (and sometimes a man, to impress a woman) says something negative about the male gender. I've tried to object, to point out the male-bash, and been told to lighten up, it's just a joke, or be strong, be a man. In other words, shut the fuck up. Your opinion is worth even less if you're white. And something I've only been learning in the last few years, if you're old, white and male, you're worth less than shit. (You can see the ageist BS in Chris Boese's post, although she said nothing about my whiteness, perhaps because she is also white?)

So, ironically, all these people who tell us to shut up have one thing in common, they're fighting for freedom, but don't see the contradiction that freedom has to be inclusive. If you fight for your freedom by supressing someone else's, well, the math just doesn't work. Freedom isn't exclusive, it has to be inclusive.

That's why BlogHer was so revolutionary, not a word I use lightly. Over and over I was told how glad people were that I came. When I asked why, they said something that made a lot of sense. They were flattered that I was interested in what they had to say.

I needed reassurance that my presence was welcome, after a lifetime of being told to shut up. Gradually, if the door stays open, something great is going to happen. There are always some who are scared of change, and I think that's what Liz and Chris are doing. There are others who aren't scared, or are willing to go through their fear, who want to see what's on the other side. I'm one of those people. I'm tired of living with other people's fear, and am willing to go through my own.

If I am a sexist, I'll own that. But there's not much point in calling someone a sexist, there's very little chance they're going to hear it. So little chance that it seems when someone uses that word they must be talking over my head, to someone else, trying to say "Let's stop this fucker before anyone listens to him." That's the bad kind of fear, the fear that stops motion. I've seen it happen with men, all the time. We do that to each other to keep progress from happening. Now we're seeing it happen with women too. My guess is, it's for the same purpose.

[Scripting News]

 

9:53:37 AM    comment []