CompuBlab

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Month: July 2011 Page 1 of 2

Hackers Claim They Stole 1 Gigbyte of Data From NATO

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On July 26, 2011

In Computer Security, Translated Tech News

This happened a few days ago, but I thought I would comment briefly on the story that hackers from the group “Anonymous” are claiming not only to have stolen about 1 gigabyte of data from NATO computer systems, but they have already released two documents that they claim came from this data incursion (click here to see the original article that inspired this post).

I wanted to include this bit of information to continue the discussion I have had for a while that most people simply do not understand the nature of computer security. I myself have been in the computer field for over 30 years, and through I am not a specialist in the area of security, I know enough to understand just how secure your online data is…and basically it just isn’t that secure.

Again I will repeat the analogy that I have used in the past that the security measures that you often hear being touted by online vendors (encryption, firewalls, and my personal favorite “the latest in security measures”) is a lot like what my mother taught me about locking the doors on our car when I was growing up. Locking your doors discourages the amateurs, the pranksters, and those perpetrators of opportunity who want to make off with your car. However, a professional car thief will indeed make off with your car if he or she wants it.

And so it is similar in the world of computer security.

There are just too many ways that data can be compromised…and that’s when you are talking about simply breaking into a computer system (guessing weak passwords, exploiting vulnerabilities in operating systems, exploiting vulnerabilities in applications, etc.). This is before you get into such areas as:

  • attacks on data that prey on people’s psychology
  • mistakes that are made by companies that accidentally expose their customer’s information
  • unscrupulous employees of companies who hold your information
  • and more

I certainly do not condone the unauthorized intrusion into computer systems. However, with such intrusions occurring so often, I sincerely hope that the general public is beginning to get a better understanding about the true state of computer security at the current time.

Supressed Study that Shows That Movie Piracy Can Actually IMPROVE Movie Sales?

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On July 25, 2011

In Legal, Translated Tech News

As you probably know, the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) and the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America), with their HUGE lobbying power in DC, has for years been telling us about the billions (or was that trillions?) of dollars lost each year due to piracy. Even with the inflated numbers, these two organizations have been pushing congress for years to enact legislation such as the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) to give power to law enforcement officials to crack down on music and movie piracy.

Never mind that the legal power they seem to be garnering against copyright infringement is getting to be downright frightening (think about the RIAA suing grandmothers, 11-year olds, and the estates of people who have died just because someone…not necessarily them…downloaded a music or video file from their house), and never mind that they are having to come up with a “cutesie” name for their legislation so that you don’t realize exactly what it is that they are doing (think “The Patriot Act”…a piece of legislation that stripped more rights from Americans than…well…I digress…). Never mind all of that…and ponder this: Research shows that those who pirate a movie are MORE likely to buy a movie than those who don’t!

Yep! That’s right! All this time when the MPAA has been complaining about the lawlessness of the standard human being who would steal from a fine organization such as the MPAA by downloading movies illegally…they’ve really been talking about some of their best customers!

It turns out that a study performed by one of the largest research companies in the world (click here to read the original article that inspired this post) concluded that those who pirate movies are MORE likely to buy DVDs and MORE likely to attend the release of a new movie at the theater (when the ticket prices are the highest).

Man, I’d LOVE to read such a study…wouldn’t you? Too bad, we won’t be able to. It seems that the un-named person or persons who requested and funded the study decided to “bury” the study…because they found the results to be “unpleasant.”

Well then, I wonder why the MPAA continues to lobby for even more powerful (some might say “outlandish”) powers to be given to law enforcement officials to be used…apparently…against some of their best customers?

Bloggers Note: When you get past the tongue-and-cheek style of my writing for this article, I hope you’ll remember that despite all the antics of the MPAA and the RIAA, downloading movies and recordings illegally is still exactly that…illegal! Please don’t sell your personal integrity for such a small price. More specifically, please do not sell your personal integrity at all. If you want to stick it to the MPAA and RIAA…do it legally. Vote with your dollars! Don’t buy their stuff! Contrary to popular belief, not downloading the latest recording of your favorite artist, or not downloading the latest movie of your favorite actor will NOT immediately turn you into dust! Just some food for thought…

Laptop Rental Company Takes Secret Pictures via the Web Cam

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On July 25, 2011

In Legal, Privacy, Translated Tech News

A somewhat sobering article appeared over on TechGoblin (click here to see the original story) regarding a Laptop Rental Company that installed software to take pictures using the computer’s built-in webcam and to transmit them back to the rental company. Of course, they never DISCLOSED this minor detail to their customers.

Now, I don’t know about you, but it seems to me that such behavior is well outside of what one would consider proper conduct with respect to a customer’s privacy. Apparently, a lot of customers agreed with my opinion as they opened up a class-action lawsuit against the company.

Well, the surprising part of this little story is that the judge recently decided not to issue an injunction against the laptop rental company (that is, the judge did not order them to stop). You’ll have to read the article yourself  (see the link to the original article I listed previously) to try to understand why it is the judge decided the way he did. I for one seem to have too much common sense to be able to understand the twisted nature of our legal system.

The best that I can come up with is that the judge did not necessarily disagree with the plaintiffs that what this laptop rental company was going was despicable, but that he was saying that the WAY the plaintiff’s attorney was trying to argue the case was not going to be very strong.

No matter what the reason, apparently the judge did not feel it necessary to put an end to this invasion of privacy.

iPhone Survives Fall Out of Skydiver’s Pocket

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On July 23, 2011

In Mobile Technologies, Off Topic

I just had to comment about this story I read over on CNN about a skydiver who lost his iPhone 4 sometime after he jumped out of the plane (click here for original iphone 4 skydiving article).

It seems that our intrepid skydiver’s son once knocked this same phone off of a bathroom shelf, causing the phone to crack. Well, this time the phone  fell out of the skydiver’s pocket somewhere between 13,500 feet and the ground. Never expecting the phone to work, our skydiver managed to retrieve the phone with the help of a GPS application, where he was then dumbfounded when he was able to receive a call with it.

Of course, the phone was completely shattered, bit it is quite impressive that it worked at all.

While I don’t recommend tossing your phone out of the window (especially from 13,500 feet), this story will no doubt end up in an iPhone ad sometime in the near future. Maybe they’ll find a way to make it into an “I’m a mac…I’m a PC” commercial. Or would that be “I’m a iphone…I’m an android” commercial?

Posting Guidelines

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On July 23, 2011

In Administrative

Greetings All!

Here at CompuBlab.com we encourage insightful and wholesome discussion regarding technology issues and also the occasional “off-topic” discuss as well.

Since I had not given much thought as to what to do when people actually wanted to comment or post on this blog, I am developing a set of guidelines that should be quick to read and plain to understand. However, please note the following:

  1. ALL posts on this board are moderated. That is, no post, be it a comment or it’s own original post, is allowed to appear on the blog until a CompuBlab staff member reviewed and approved it. I know this slows down the discussions on the blog, but it is the only sure fire way to ensure quality content and spam-free discussions. I will do all in my power to keep spammers and their like away from posting on this blog.
  2. If you sign up for an account, you will first be given the status of “subscriber,” which allows you to update your profile, but not to post or comment. As soon as a CompuBlab.com staff member reviews your account, you will be upgraded to a “contributor,” which allows you to post your own posts and make comments on other posts (see below regarding moderation of posts). Please be sure to enter your real First and Last Name into your profile. This is a requirement for posting on this board.
  3. As a “contributor,” ALL of your posts are moderated (which means your post does not appear on the blog until a staff member has approved it)
  4. Please note that in order for any of your posts to be approved by the staff you MUST have a valid First and Last name set on your profile.
  5. After some time has passed and you have demonstrated that you are a solid contributor to the blog, you may be given authority by the staff to post without moderation. It is our intention to allow people their own freedom to post as they will here, but that is a privilege to be earned, not a right.
  6. The staff reserves the right to decide who is allowed to post here and who is not.

Out goal here is to provide a quality blog and a pleasant online experience.

I will in the coming days codify these thoughts into an official policy that will be posted on the blog. I also invite your comments and suggestions (use the feedback form on the Contact Us page).

Congratulations To Our First Subscribers!

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On July 23, 2011

In Administrative

I would like to personally thank our first two subscribers to CompuBlab.com!

Our first subscriber shall remain nameless…because his or her account name was an obvious attempt at a “spam” name (a user name that is in truth an advertisement). You have helped us determine that for now, our anti-spam procedures are up and running!

As to our second subscriber, we appreciate your patronage and hope that you will contribute insightful commentary and ideas to this site. We won’t divulge your name just yet…but we thank you for your patronage!

Sincerely,

 

Peter S. Lee

Low Power Fanless Computer

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On July 14, 2011

In Buyer's Guide, Hardware

Greetings all!

The blog has been silent the last week or so due to the fact that yours truly has been out of town. However, since returning to the homestead I have had a chance to play with some new computer hardware that I thought you might find interesting…

For some time now I have been looking for a computer capable of running the Linux operating system (as opposed to say Windows) that I could set up to run services 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. While I had an older computer that was set up for this type of work, I had a few problems with keeping it running all day and night:

  • The computer is in my office and generates a lot of heat
  • The computer was making an impact on my electric bill
  • The cooling fans in the computer used very cheap bearings…which were wearing out. Thus, the computer was frequently generating annoyingly loud screeches due to the fans.

As I looked for a solution to this problem, I began to search the web for a low power computer (in this case, “low power” means a computer that does not consume a lot of electricity). Further investigation yielded that a number of manufacturers were just beginning to offer low power computers, with the best of them having no moving parts! I decided to investigate this hardware and spent approximately two months in the effort.

So with what I had learned, I set my goal to find a computer that:

  1. Cost under $300
  2. Had no moving parts (no spinning drives, no rotating fans, etc.)
  3. Used very little power
  4. Generated very little heat
  5. Could survive running 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
  6. Had enough power to run the Linux operating system along with one or more web servers and other services.

I found that there were a host of “fanless” computers on the market that came close to fulfilling these requirements, but sadly most of those were very expensive because the computers were designed to be used in applications where the computer had to live in a very hostile environment (for example, as an entertainment system in a vehicle, where it would be subject to both dirt and frequent vibration from the vehicle). Since I didn’t require such ruggedness (it would just be sitting on my desk), I continued to search for a system that would meet my needs and wasn’t so expensive.

Ultimately, I did find such a system, which I want to share with you at this time. I have had the system together for a little over a week and thus far I have been absolutely thrilled with how it has worked out. The system had to be assembled from three different components, all of which were available from Amazon.com.

The components of the system include the main computer, a solid state hard drive, and a memory chip as listed below with links to where you can buy them if so interested:

The grand total for all of these components was approximately $280 (but I had a $50 gift certificate to use, so my price was $50 less).

Assembly was a snap, as all I had to do was open the computer case (remove one screw and slide a panel back), install the hard drive (insert a few screws and pop the unit in), pop in the memory chip, and in less than 30 minutes I was ready to rock and roll.

Now some important things you need to know about this system:

  1. The prices above do not include a keyboard, mouse or monitor. I already had those. In my case I had a USB keyboard, which is the only kind of keyboard this computer will accept (it doesn’t have a jack/port for a PS/2 style keyboard), a USB mouse (again, to use a mouse you MUST have a USB mouse as no other mouse port is available), and a simple monitor.
  2. This unit DOES NOT COME WITH AN OPERATING SYSTEM! That means if you want to run windows on this computer, you must buy a copy of Windows. Since I was interested in using Linux, Linux is available for free so there was no problem. However, I saw several reviews where people successfully and happily ran Windows XP, Windows Vista, and at least one version of Windows 7 (just make certain you have enough disk space on the solid state hard drive to run Windows 7…you may need a bigger drive).
  3. This unit does not come with an optical drive (DVD or CD drive). In my case I knew that I could install linux from a memory stick onto the hard disk, so I did not get an optical drive. The computer CAN take an optical drive, but it has to be a slim factor laptop drive, which can be had on the cheap ($25 or less). Since I didn’t have need of such a drive, I skipped it.
  4. If like me you wish to run Linux on this computer, you should know that running 64-bit Ubuntu server ran into a minor problem where the network card was not recognized during installation (apparently the desktop version of Ubuntu Linux recognizes the network card just fine, as does several of the other flavors of Linux). The fix for this was about two lines typed into a config file, and feel free to leave a comment here if you need that specific information and I’ll respond with the info.
  5. The computer comes with a wireless network adapter as well. At the current time I have not managed to get the wireless card working under Ubuntu Server, however, I have located some online directions where a user of this same computer and also running Ubuntu server has managed to get it running. I will be testing out that process in the coming days, but no problems are expected.

Now, I would also like to point out that my purpose for this computer DOES NOT include having it run a home theater system. I found during my investigation that many people were looking for fanless, low-power computers to run their entertainment systems at home. The problem you would have with this computer is that it does not have an HDMI video output port. If you want a fanless computer for use in your home entertainment system you can look to the upgraded model of this computer that DOES have an HDMI port (the Shuttle XS35GTV2 Intel Atom D510 1.66GHz, Intel Socket BGA559 Intel NM10 NVIDIA ION, but shop around…the price I saw at Amazon.com was NOT the cheapest …NewEgg.com had it cheaper at the time of this writing).

Another thing I should point out is that this computer will NOT be able to play the latest and greatest computer games. Reviews I read said it could play most of the older games, but if hard-core gaming is your desire, this is not the computer for you. If you are a moderate gamer and don’t have to play the latest games, this may work for you. Since gaming was not one of my planned uses for this machine, this was not an issue.

I would also like to point out that the form factor/footprint of this machine on your desk is very small! The system comes with a stand and you really do need to stand the computer on its end for ventilation purposes. The form factor is approximately the same size as a large format paperback book (approx 10 inches by 1.5 inches wide, but the oval base sticks out a bit wider than the 1.5 inches in the middle where it attaches).

Finally, I think I should give you, in an easily readable format, the specifications for this setup:

  • Dual core Atom processor running at 1.8 gigahertz (this is a 64-bit processor!)
  • 4 gigabytes of RAM
  • 30 gigabytes of Solid State Disk storage (like a hard drive but no spinning platter or moving parts)
  • 1 network card for wired networks
  • 1 wireless network card
  • Audio in and out
  • VGA graphics out
  • 5 USB ports (all are USB 2.0)
  • 1 SD Memory card slot
  • Intel graphics media Accelerator 3150 chipset (will NOT run the latest graphics intensive computer games)

For my purposes, this machine has proven to be absolutely what I was looking for both in price and performance. Your mileage will vary, depending on your intended use.

Florida Voter DB Hacked…AGAIN

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On July 8, 2011

In Computer Security, Translated Tech News

Earlier this week I posted about a hacker who broke into the Florida voting database to demonstrate how vulnerable it was (click here for original post on hacked Florda voter database). True to form, Florida officials downplayed the entire incident, stating that Florida elections were now more secure than ever.

Not to be dissuaded, our intrepid hacker has struck again, this time publicly posting a file directory from the voting database with the message “Glad you cleaned things up, pretty secure now guys” (click here for original article on the re-hack).

So this begs the question: Are the Florida officials incompetent or simply liars?

As bad as online security is, I think perhaps the worst aspect of the problem is that those in authority either don’t understand the problem themselves, or perhaps in their petty behind-covering mentality, refuse to acknowledge the problem.

In either event, I doubt that “the powers that be” in Florida have thanked their lucky stars that this guy or gal has only been interested in illustrating his point…not in actually causing any real damage. They seem more interested in trying not to look bad. To that end, they simply throw out that it is a felony to tamper with a voting database and if/when caught, this perpetrator will get jail time.

In my opinion, they ought to thank this hacker…but…since he offended their pride, I doubt that will ever happen. Humility and politics rarely mix.

 

Angry Birds – The Physics Teacher

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On July 7, 2011

In Education

An interesting article on eschoolnews.com (note that if you don’t establish an account at eschoolnews.com and log in, you won’t be able to read the entire article. However, enough of the article can be read without setting up an account to give you a good idea of the content) talks about how some creative physics teachers are using the popular game (available on phones and browsers near you) to teach physics principles.

Now, I find this especially interesting because the physics employed in the game do not match the real-world physics that human beings experience. ..interesting in a good way!

One of the most challenging aspects of teaching is to make the material interesting for the student. Rather than simply teaching dry facts about how objects move in the real world, these instructors are getting the kids to look at how the physics differ from the real world to the virtual world of Angry Birds. Through this process, the kids are learning about the real world, even if their interest is only in the game. Plus, comparative study, in my opinion, engages the student more in the learning process, and I can see how this might lead to a more productive learning experience.

I am especially happy that teachers are successfully using games as a vehicle for learning. I have watched over the years, out of professional interest, other attempts at using games as a vehicle for learning which totally flopped. One of the problems that previous attempts at such learning systems suffered was that often times these were games that were developed solely for the purpose of learning…and the games were boring! I don’t think it would take a rocket scientist to realize that if the games are of no interest to the students, then the value of using games in a learning environment are going to be very limited (if any at all).

I certainly hope that educators will continue to look at such innovative ways of teaching at all levels.

Verizon to End Unlimited Data Plans

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On July 7, 2011

In Mobile Technologies, Translated Tech News

On the big battlefield of mobile electronics, Verizon recently announced that it was doing away with its “unlimited” data plans. This could potentially have a huge impact on your Verizon bill if you are Verizon customer and you currently subscribe to their unlimited plan.

This is no doubt in part a response to the explosion of data usage on the cellular networks being caused by the latest in mobile technologies such as (smart phones, tablet computers, etc., but when I look at their new pricing models, I see the same problems with them as I have seen in the past.

For example, I see no guarantee that the service will inform you of when you are about to go over on your plan’s usage. This type of thing has been a problem in the mobile market since the beginning of time, providing a way for users to get those “surprise bills” in the mail that are hundreds or thousands of dollars more than they ever expected. Also, I don’t think that the “cap” that Verizon is setting on their new data plan is all that realistic ($30 for 2 gigabytes of data download per month…but as the original article points out, you will almost double this usage each month if you simply stream 2 hours of audio to your phone every month).

If you are a Verizon customer, you will want to take a very close look at your data usage patterns as this change goes into effect.

On the positive side, this shift away from “unlimited” data plans removes one of the biggest lies in the mobile technologies market: unlimited data plans.

You see, if you didn’t read the fine print of your unlimited data plan carefully, you would have missed the fact that “unlimited” really doesn’t mean “unlimited.” Their terms of service, or some other fancy-named document in very small print, will outline what they will call an “abuse” of their service…which in layman’s terms is simply trying to use an unlimited amount of their service. Another variant of this type of deception is to limit the download speeds of “unlimited” data users.

I have never understood how these companies could get away with advertising “unlimited” use of their services only to turn around in their terms of service (or some similar declaration of services) and effectively say you cannot make “unlimited” use of their services.

Well, even as I typed the above paragraph, it occurred to me that perhaps these phone companies HAVE NOT managed to get away with this entire “unlimited service” deception. It turns out that a quick Google search shows that there are at least a few class action lawsuits that have been filed regarding this very issue:

I suspect there are probably more either in the works or already settled…

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