LUX.ET.UMBRA

AT&T changes policy due to backlash

Thu, 11 Oct 2007 17:07:17 -0500

It looks like this little policy is getting changed. There's a lot of talk that this wasn't what they meant, but this is coming from the same company that would force the customers to pay for charges coming from stolen or lost calling cards at one point. To tell you the truth, since the TOS hasn't changed yet, and I wouldn't trust it as far as I could throw it, it sounds like it's a PR move rather than actual policy move. I'm willing to bet that the moment someone's watchful eye is turned, they'll be back at it. Just a hunch.

MusikCube

Thu, 11 Oct 2007 00:01:00 -0500

MusikCube is a music management program that is open source and for Windows 2000 and Windows XP. It can manage dynamic playlists depending on how you listen to your music and your playlist habits. What's more is that it's extremely fast because it's database driven, so large playlists won't be any sort of problem since it scales. Got to love sqlite. It also allows you to transfer music to pretty much any portable device from thumb drives to mp3 players. That makes it extremely versatile. And versatile with a music player is a good thing. Definitely one of those things that is really cool if you're very much against DRM and looking for something to manage your music.

How the Democrats are just as scary with domestic spying

Wed, 10 Oct 2007 01:13:17 -0500

You thought it was all the Republicans, didn't you? All the domestic spying? Alas, Democrats are way on board with this one too. House Democrats are proposing to have it permanently put in place as long as there is oversight. Don't get me wrong. This bill is way better than the so-called temporary action where telecommunication companies are given immunity to spying domestically, and there's a whole bunch of other types of anti-privacy acts that would make privacy activists mutter unholy things. But the whole permanent part of it? That's no so cool. As a citizen of what is supposed to be the "land of the free", I don't expect people to be looking over my shoulder for whatever reason, even if there is oversight. To tell you the truth, the oversight part is really part of the issue that makes it bad. Everyone knows that governmental oversight is less than spectacular. Even my favorite agency, GAO, has no power over what they tell other agencies to do when other agencies fail to meet government set standards. If there was more of something like an Inspector General or independent oversight, then I would feel a little bit better about it. Someone with enough umph to actually make sure that people's rights' were not violated and that it wasn't free reign to go snoop in citizens' things when there wasn't a good reason to do so. Just goes to show that when it comes to wording of things, generics could really hurt Americans in the long run because of legalese. We must be careful and not look at politicians as Republicans and Democrats, since they are all politicians, and politicians at the federal level have a sneaky way of fighting for special interest groups more so than the constituents they represent.

RogueScanner

Wed, 10 Oct 2007 00:01:00 -0500

NetworkChemistry has another interesting free Windows product that is open source. RogueScanner can be used to detect patterns and characteristics of devices that are wireless. I'm curious if they wrote this or if this was using someone else's deal. The unfortunate part of this free tool and the rest of NetworkChemistry stuff is you have to fill out a contact information type form to actually download the tool. Makes me slightly suspicious of these free tools, but hey... nothing in those licensing that stops you from collecting information I suppose. From a 802.11 standpoint, it sounds pretty good although there are many tools such as Netstumbler and such that do the same thing.

Game Review: Medal of Honor: Vanguard

Tue, 09 Oct 2007 10:00:00 -0500

It's one of those WWII games that just keep getting more and more realistic as the generations of game consoles advance. While it's not as good in graphics, there are parts of this game that are practically ridiculous when it comes to advancing without dying. Controls: The controls are with the Wii Remote and the Nunchuks. Usual playing style with pointing of the Remote and the Nunchuks that drive movement. I have to say that most of the controls are fairly well driven although the reload would interfere 180 degree turn around. In that essence, it was sort of annoying. Playability: If you're fond of WWII games, this is still worth messing with. There are multiple operations that you can participate in and each of them focus on different terrains (countries) that went against the Nazis. The wavering of the sniper rifle scope shots were sort of unrealistic, and sometimes the AI would just sit there and let you shoot them. The nice part of it? The environment variables. Maybe it's been a while since I've actually played a FPS, but I really liked the fact that the sunlight would blind you at different angles and that if it was really bright outside, the inside would be really dark because of the contrast of light. Multiplayer: This was your usual multiplayer selection with a few more games to choose from. I can say for a fact that you shouldn't play on any television less than a 32" though. Even that would be a little bit small. The main reason is this. The split for one against one is vertical. Now it's not because it's vertical split that makes it tough. It's the environment variables. If one person is in the bright sunlight, and the other is hiding in a darker area... the person in the darker area can't see a thing. Why? Simple fact of light bleeding. Your eyes can't focus just like in reality when sunlight is very very bright and you're trying to look for something that's not within the bright areas. Ever been hit by a ball coming out from the sun in sports? Same thing. Synopsis: Overall, I found Medal of Honor: Vanguard [affiliate] to be one pretty decent game for the Wii. Forewarning though. Those playing the last mission The Crucible beware! That level is one hellish level to beat. The sniper alley especially. Otherwise, onward as Sergeant Keagan, of the 82nd Airborne!

Incredible landing in EA Skate

Tue, 09 Oct 2007 01:54:08 -0500

Sometimes, it takes the impossible to actually see something amazing. Well, here's what seemed to be the impossible. Someone was playing Skate, by Electronic Arts, and happened to record a most brilliant landing after doing a failed trick and flying through the air. The screenshots don't do it justice, so just go check out the video. While I can see the physics behind how this happened, it's pretty amusing and somewhat difficult to reproduce again and again. How exactly do you go from this: To this:

Lightning speed of a pick

Tue, 09 Oct 2007 01:42:24 -0500

You've never seen the speed of a guitarist until you've seen Yngwie Malmsteen speed playing. This guy is so fast, that it's amazing the pick isn't smoking. What's even more interesting is that his fingers fly pretty quickly too.

Packetyzer

Tue, 09 Oct 2007 00:01:00 -0500

Packetyzer by NetworkChemistry for Windows that's free. It uses the Ethereal engine, but puts on top of it a more usable GUI, and allows you to configure it and filter the packets and capture it for whatever you're looking for. What's interesting is that I don't seem to see anything that's that much different from Ethereal's Windows version except for the RFprotect Mobile integration. According to this, it can sniff 802.11 packets and watch control and management frames.

Thoughts on the RIAA trial

Mon, 08 Oct 2007 23:22:13 -0500

Disclaimer: The following is opinion. Don't like opinion? Don't read on. Completely subjective piece based on the little facts I have about the trial from my linked source on the trial and my own expertise on the technology. Been following the RIAA trial a little bit and a couple things bother me. One is definitely the music industry and this really annoying and hateful but powerful special interest group. The question really is... who doesn't like them? But another is this defense strategy. The defendant claims she's innocent and victim of a "spoof"? What the hell. Seriously. Someone didn't consult a technical person before filing this ridiculous claim. First. Who hasn't downloaded music or copied a tape/CD/VHS/DVD. There's not many people in this world that haven't. Even the so-called luddites usually have received such a thing if you were around in the last two decades. Second. A spoof? Give me a break. Spoofing is a term used by hackers to make you look like someone else. But here's the thing. Why would anyone use spoofing for sharing music? No hacker or script kiddie in their right mind would ever use spoofing for such a thing. There are many other ways of sharing across a network and in fact hackers and script kiddies don't really care about sharing on a network.... they'd much rather break into one. Total no-brainer here. Third. When the Iowa computer scientist (based on the reporting) said that there was no way a person could be outside of the window because then Kazaa would show a private IP address? What the heck is this guy talking about? Not knowing how this lady set up the network, I'll make a few assumptions.

Wireless signal came from a wireless router.
Kazaa functions the same way as many other P2P programs do and allow you to show either external or internal IPs.

The second bullet isn't as important, but it plays a factor. First, if the wireless signal came from a wireless router, then one assumes that you would plug the desktop into the router. Thus the IP address would be a .... dynamic IP address. Most people do not set static IPs in their homes, and while it's conjecture, I assume that the defendant isn't a network guru. Thus, a private IP would show up just as much as the next wireless signal private IP would. If the external IP is showing, then the defendant would be outside the router, and that's assuming that Kazaa doesn't show either IP (choose between private or public). It's been a while since I've touched that scary program, but I remember something actually allowing me to choose. So from a technical standpoint, there was a very easily found way to create doubt. It's a long shot, but it's a possibility. On the side of technicals, the judge also made a serious error in defining that a person could be liable for sharing with by having something visible without actually committing distribution. This made absolutely no sense. Basically, this definition is along the same lines that... I see a gun in someone's house, so we should jail them because they're going to take a life with the gun. You think that's bizarro? Go figure that. I see this as a flaw in the definitions and a kink in the prosecution. Unfortunate. Realistically? In my opinion, the chances of this lady winning appeals is next to nothing based on the fact that most sharers have one thing in common. They "share". Taking the stance that you didn't do the sharing because some hacker spoofed your account even though you use the same name for MySpace (Tereastarr)? Pretty silly in my opinion. On top of that, a hacker would use their own handles and such and not use yours. In my opinion, both sides, regardless of how good the attorneys are or are not, didn't do their homework and in the end presented some pretty lousy cases for either side to find kinks in the armor. We won't be hearing the last of this. This lawsuit does nothing but make it more difficult for P2P to exist due to non-techies trying to lay judgment on a distribution method without full understanding. It's like people trying to speak a Chinese in China, after mastering their first day of Chinese. On the flip side, it makes the RIAA look even worse, because of the terrible tactics they've sought out to bring down pirates. Piracy is bad for business, but to judge people by thinking they'll buy your album due to the fact that they pirated it is a crock in itself. That's like saying people that buy third-party brand food would also buy the original brand. Maybe, maybe not. Maybe they need to re-name this lawsuit to Stupid vs. S.T.U.P.I.D. At least I would get a laugh out of it.

Why communities should be proactive instead of reactive

Mon, 08 Oct 2007 09:00:00 -0500

It's funny, but one of my managers used to tell me, "It's better to be proactive, than reactive." This was in relation to our customer service, and it was a wonder how much that improved from my end when I took this to heart. Strangely enough, this can be applied to community service and projects... in which I've felt has been lacking as of late. It's not that there isn't the same or more effort. But I'm a huge advocate for efficiency. There's no point in doing anything if you can't perform it in an efficient manner since otherwise it's a waste of time, and resources. And I absolutely hate that. Well, that's the way I feel about some of the projects being done currently in the community. WHICH.... ties back to being proactive instead of reactive. For example, there's Center City Park. It was a great go, and wonderful addition to our fair city. Since we didn't have one there, it was definitely a proactive project. Yet, because of the success, the City sought to increase more parks in the area. Why? Such a reactive move. There's another regional project that I personally don't care for at all that deals with college students and jobs. While the goals of the project are very inspiring, people seriously didn't take a look at their little plot of land in the South when they started to compare it with a similar project in a northeastern city. Not just a city, but a BIG city. You have to take the type of personalities and people into account when you look at such projects. On top of that, they pushed the preliminary start to the businesses instead of being proactive themselves. Personally, I think that's a huge mistake. Maybe I'm wrong, but whatever... we'll see how the results turn out. There were some comparisons to Greenville, South Carolina a while back. I remember a roadtrip that some took to see beautiful Greenville. Don't get me wrong, there was a lot of good out of that trip (no I didn't go). But one little thing has been gnawing at me ever since. One of the main points in picking Greenville was the fact that Greensboro was a similar size and population. Yet, I failed to see the point of this statistic. Like I said before, it's the people and personalities that make up the community, not the size or population. Just as Seattle is one of the most health conscientious cities I've ever lived in, but you won't find the same in Atlanta. Totaly different types of personalities. Another great analogy would be looking at weight. Just because you have two 220 pound men, doesn't necessarily mean that they would behave similarly. One could be a muscle-bound titan, while the other could have a beer gut. The fact is, there needs to be a lot of re-thinking and re-focusing of such economic development projects and community efforts. While it's great to see this city grow from what it was when I moved here, there is only so much time that many of us can divulge to such time draining projects. And if you waste my time, then I'll likely not want to participate in the next venture to advance the village as a whole.

PC Tools Firewall Plus

Mon, 08 Oct 2007 00:01:00 -0500

There are many firewalls that beat out the Windows default firewall. Still many that do a better job than the Windows default firewall. But this next thing? Not as many. That would be.... free. Yes, PC Tools Firewall Plus is free for Windows. The updates are smart, there are no silly questions to answer to actually teach your firewall, and if you're a crazy advanced user that wants some more control in adding some advanced rule sets, you're welcome to do so. Basically blocks a lot of things including trojans and backdoors. I'm not certain how it determines without question that something is a legitimate application that's running and asking for a network connection or not, but that's definitely an interesting thought and makes the end user's life a lot easier. I would imagine that they probably use heuristic methods and also compare the applications against signatures for trojans and the like. DownloadSquad < PCToolsFirewallPlus

System of checks and balances

Sun, 07 Oct 2007 09:00:00 -0500

It's amazing how what you learned when you were a child doesn't hold true anymore. Remember back in the day, when you were learning about how the government works and how there is a system of checks and balances? The greatness of the American government was that it was a three point system. The legislative branch and the executive branch are both elected by the people. The judiciary was appointed but each had their own movement and checked one another. Yet, when you take a look at the real world of politics, this amazingly enough is far from the truth. The judiciary branch is probably the most independent of the two, but legislative and executive seem to have changed to a Democrat vs. Republican type of scenario. The war on Iraq is a great example. First, we were all for going into Iraq because the majority of the legislative branch was Republican. Then in 2006 when the Democrats took the slim majority, we're now against being in Iraq. Regardless of how you feel about the war itself, the system of checks and balances isn't a system anymore. It seems more like political party finger pointing with a dash of righteousness by either side. It's unfortunately that people can't stand aside from the political parties when in Congress or the executive branch and just look out for the best interest of the American people anymore. Checks and balances? Why don't we just call it a system of Republicans and Democrats? That's truly what it is.

Defraggler

Sun, 07 Oct 2007 00:01:00 -0500

From those crazy guys that made CCleaner and Recuva, comes Defraggler. This product is neat because you don't just have the option of defragmenting the whole drive anymore. That usually would take you hours of time and leave your system useless while data shifts around. Instead, Defraggler shows you the most fragmented files and allows you to pick and choose what you're going to defragment. This gives you a lot more control over the defrag process and all of it in a nice clean GUI format. Best of all, just like the rest of the products developed by Piriform, it's free for commercial or personal use. Windows of course, but still... the only types of file systems generally that need defrag capabillities are Windows based. Lifehacker < Defraggler

"Minority Report" for terrorists in reality

Sat, 06 Oct 2007 20:58:20 -0500

It seems that the University of Buffalo computer scientists have been developing a system that track biometrics and behaviors and providing indicators that could detect terrorists before they commit an act. While this system seems to make sense since human screeners are more prone to error than a system, and humans get tired while a machine does not, this system has a lot of scary things going on for it. If you've seen the science fiction thriller Minority Report based on the short story by the same name by Phillip K. Dick, then you'll know how arresting people before they commit crimes might become a true. And that's a scary thought. The worst part is that the researchers have cautioned that the technology is not replacement for human judgment even though the system does learn over time based on the data given. But if there's any people that could be less than competant and allowing the technology to take over, it would be the government. Don't believe me? Then explain how this could have happened. [sigh] This is great science, but you're almost hesitant to use it because of all the baggage it comes with. This will have advocacy groups all over it when it is tested just like the screening system that could see people naked a while back. Scary stuff. Seriously.

Free music from God of War: Chains of Olympus

Sat, 06 Oct 2007 17:55:58 -0500

There's something great about promotions where you can download free stuff. Sony is doing a promotion for God of War: Chains of Olympus for the PSP and they happen to be releasing one of the songs for download. For free. Awesome. So get in there and grab Battle of Attica and immerse yourself in some great fight music while you anticipate the release of the next brilliant action game for the PSP.