Slashdot Mirror

If you wrote the other comment, can you point me to the relevant bits of law regarding this? I would be very interested in reading about it...

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

Wasn't Wagner's (sp?) "Ring Cycle" (I think I have that right) written (and performed) during the Nazi regime?

If so (I am so lacking in this area), couldn't putting up a bit of music from this opera constitute going against what they are after...

OK, I know it is a stretch (to the breaking point) - I might not even have any of this right - someone correct me and mod me down if I am wrong...

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

You have a point, AC - maybe I should've made a statement to the effect that "you are fine as long as you don't use them for commercial gain". That seems better.

I was assuming (a bad thing to do), that when the poster said "home-grown", he meant he used them from home to monitor a remote server (that he owned), for no commercial gain.

I can see how this would be a thorny thing in a commercial environment.

I agree, this is a pretty lame patent...

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

In a recent (oh, say 6 months ago) issue of SciAm, they detailed how to build a heart monitor (ECG), which could be used as the basis of such a device.

I have a copy of that Byte article, lying around somewhere. From what I remember, the device was basically a very high-gain opamp - and very expensive (at the time). What it provided that other op-amps didn't was electrical isolation from the circuit (so you don't give yourself a frontal lobotomy vi electrocution while using it). In addition, the output was processed somewhat to remove noise (IIRC).

Doing a little searching on google, I came up with this link - something called the Brainmaster. The following link is a note detailing how to build it:

http://cs.felk.cvut.cz/~holoubl/stranka2/eeg.txt

Next, is a link referenced in the above note, with information on coding, documentation, etc:

ftp://brainmaster.com/pub/brainm/rel17/

Did some more searching, and there is a new release:

ftp://brainmaster.com/pub/brainm/rel18/

Finally, go to the next level, lots more:

ftp://brainmaster.com/pub/brainm/
http://www.br ainmaster.com/

Have fun!

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

Because patents allow for this - patents exist for the exact purpose of allowing you to see how something works, and actually building it, to gain a "hands-on" knowledge of the device/process patented. Once you have that knowledge, you can then make improvements on the existing device, submit the improved version, and reference the original patent in your abstract (IIRC - IANAPL).

It is only when you try to sell or distribute the device in some way that it goes into patent infringement. So your homegrown scripts should be fine (if you were really worried about them at all), but if you decide to put them on SourceForge - well, good luck...

Personally, I think this patent is a bunch of bull, I am certain there is plenty of prior art...

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

...if this is only for occasional watching, and not for serious movie type stuff, then you might want to try a BookPC, with a DVD drive. It's only downside is stereo output, not surround sound (which I know you want).

There may be other models in the same scheme as the BookPC that do offer surround sound. Seems like a good all around low-cost way of doing things.

If you support the whole DVD rights issue, buy the CD-ROM version, then buy a used DVD drive, and used discs (if you have to have DVD - if not, buy only VCDs)...

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

I guess that is one way to get longer playing records on wax cylinders. I imagine that for home machines (which I think the one I saw was, since it use cylinders about the diameter of a soup can, and about twice as "tall"), bigger diameter cylinders might cause "fit" problems, as in the cylinder wouldn't fit the machine.

I was thinking "taller"/"longer" cylinders, of the same diameter, or (as regular LPs do), a slower RPM (at the expense of music quality).

When you mention up/down motion - my history teacher never mentioned that, but I am sure I read it somewhere - it is nice to be reminded. Maybe this was also a problem - maybe the needle could "pop" out of the track, causing scratches and such?

Very interesting devices, at that - if only for their simplicity...

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

Well formed HTML - using HEIGHT and WIDTH properties to allow the rest of the page to load (of course, maybe they are already doing this, and it is just the ad server overload that is slowing the thing down?)...

You are correct in your assessment though - I guess overall banner ads SUCK!

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

These probably died (though I have no direct proof of this) because you couldn't put long performances on them.

I had the chance to hear a wax cylinder, on a genuine Edison machine (it was after finals in history class of my senior year in high school - my history teacher was an antique appraisor on the side). I don't remember what song it was, but it was definitely nice - though kind of crackly and scratchy (what do you expect after 80 years?). However, the thing I remember distinctly is that the music only lasted a few minutes - for a single cylinder.

I don't know what the "RPM" was (I don't think there was standard rpm settings on cylinder records - just a preset speed, or spin it up until it sounds right) - but was there ever "long-play" cylinder records made, or was there multi-speed players made?

Would be curious to know if this was the case...

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

Typically, these are sold as "tiff" mowers - tiff grass is a lightweight, oh-so-soft grass (the best damn grass to lie down on, if you ask me), that simply can't be cut by a rotary mower (rotary mowers tear and break the grass, and are thus used for hardier grasses like bermuda - tiff is soft, and a rotary mower will literally "blendo" the grass, and produce a sludge - providing you can find tiff grass that long, of course).

They are essentially a reel mower with an engine, and a wheel at the back, connected by a drop chain/lever combo. You have to push the mower, then drop the wheel to prevent a "scuff" mark on the grass (boy, was I bawled out by my boss on my first job in high-school about that!), but man - you could litterally guide them easily once going.

Now, these suckers were anything _but_ safe - the reel keeps spinning as the engine runs (of course, the model I used was old, they may be safer today, with a clutch or something) - I am sure some fingers could be chopped off by that thing (and I know more than one snail in the yard lost its life due to the mower I was using!)...

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

Code - plain and simple. Keep coding. Build a portfolio, and shop it around. Make sure that whatever code you have is clean and well thought out. If you can show a spec, going from design to implementation, in a portfolio, so much the better. Comment heavily, and neatly. But most importantly, keep coding.

I worked as a cashier at Osco before I got my first "professional" coding job. It isn't impossible (one trick I learned was to ask them to let me work for free - if they liked my work after a trial period, of say, 2 weeks, then they could hire me - this is easily something you can do if you are living at home, harder or impossible if you have a family to support)...

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

1) They were small (byte wise).

How many times have you been to a site with banner adds and it seemed to take forever to load just the ad? Many times for me.

2) They weren't animated.

Relating to #1 above, animated ads account for a lot of size issues - the most hideous being a Flash or Java-based advert. Animated GIFs can sometimes be just as bad, when they don't do thier compression right (or do a 24 bit GIF, or something equally tacky). Plus, the animation is distracting.

3) They weren't pushed in your face at every click of a link.

Slashdot is probably the sanest use of banner ads, but even they get somewhat annoying. Some sites make you look at ads constantly, relying on Javascript (or Java?) to keep the ad "in-the-window", no matter where you scroll (Geocities does this with there "G" symbol down in the corner, do they think they are a TV station?)...

4) Put at the end of the page, instead of the beginning.

If I want to read your advertising, I will read it last - not first. Then, and only then, will I decide if I want to click on it. Many a time have I been to a site that I wanted to see the content, waited forever to load the banner ad, then said "Screw it!", and closed the window, before even seeing a thing (sometimes, including the banner ad)...

---

Marketers just don't seem to get that the internet is a communication medium, and as such, anything that interupts the flow of information will be ignored and scorned (in the end). Stop interupting us, and give us something worthwhile (heck, even a free tee-shirt would be cool in some cases)!

Sadly, I think product placement ads are soon coming - since these porno-site tactics are going to fail instantly (do they really think people are going to like whack-a-mole?)...

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

Want a great programming resource?

Check out Programmer's Heaven, more code than you can shake a stick at!

You apparently can add submissions in some manner. It started out as a collection of files on two CD-ROMs, which are near impossible to find now (I managed to grab a copy from somewhere, probably Walnut Creek, before they started getting real scarce). Lots of great code, ideas, articles and such on just about every programming topic and problem.

While a lot of the code isn't cutting edge, it is still an excellent resource, no matter what language you code in...

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

Specifically, a modified Victormaxx Stuntmaster (and later a custom built HMD using the optics and LCD's from a Victormaxx Cybermaxx). These HMDs accept composite video input only (though there might be a small chance on the Cybermaxx stuff that I might be able to use RGB and sync, and thus do away with the composite stuff). Maybe at some point in my life I will be able to afford a "real" HMD, but not for a long while.

I also have a video projector that uses a composite input, which I want to play with. I suppose I could get a better projector, but at this point I can't justify spending around $2000 for a projector (I can't understand why 640x480 color projectors aren't hitting the used market for under $1000 - heck, $500 would be more realistic. Of course, 3 tube CRT projectors are out there, but since shipping seems to cost over $300 for one of these from anywhere, that isn't worth it, not to mention the special ceiling mounts, etc)...

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

I am not wanting to watch TV on my PC, I am wanting to display my PC's output on my TV (actually, I am wanting to display it on a VR HMD that only supports composite video input).

BTW, I am not cheap (although, I guess one could argue why I don't just get a better HMD - that's a problem when the cheapest VGA-compatible HMD runs around $1000) - but I do have a budget (and for your information, I have considered getting one of these cards, they seem pretty neat).

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

Hey, I love LEDs as much as the next geek, and I believe they could take over regular lighting (for a long time I wondered why they were only used on the third brake light, and nowhere else, then the turn signal and brake lights for commercial vehicles came on the market, and now one of the Cadillacs have them - should trickle down to regular vehicles soon). Still, I think there is another option not too many people know about:

Tesla bulbs.

These bulbs work in a similar fashion as a flourescent bulb. Essentially, the bulb looks like a normal bulb, but with a wire running up the middle in a glass tube, tipped with a small metal sphere. The inside of the bulb is "coated" with a material that flouresces in the presense of intense radio waves. When Tesla was experimenting with them, simply holding one in the presence of a Tesla coil was enough to get them to light, but they were really meant to be "directly" connected to the Tesla coil output.

IIRC, Tesla's original bulbs weren't very bright, but they showed the concept well. Later inventors have experimented with the system, and built bulbs in which the Tesla coil formed part of the "filament", with some of the electronics in the base of the bulb - meant to be screwed into an ordinary socket and run off of normal houshold current. These bulbs were much brighter, and supposedly last for over 50 years of continuous operation.

I don't know if they were ever manufactured on a large scale. They were VERY expensive, supposedly costing over $30 each, but given their longevity over ordinary bulbs, this wasn't a real issue. They were meant for commercial installations, where changing a bulb was difficult or dangerous.

Does anyone know more about these bulbs, and whether they still exist (I tend to wonder if the new compact flourecents have taken over)?

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

Had the writer of the diary actually built the machines...

Instead, she intones that her boyfriend and her roommate ended up putting them together, and the roommate was the one actually soldering - what, was the boyfriend there for moral support (apparently so, she says later on one goes home after the racer did not immediately work, which could only mean the boyfriend, since the roommate is at home)?

Instead, she says she served drinks. Then, the rest of the article goes into really inane observations of the machines "at play". The only fun observation was of the photovore avoiding a grape, and getting to the lamp.

All this individual ended up doing was writing an article. I would have been more impressed had she tackled the soldering iron, made a few mistakes, learned how to solder, and build the racer. Even if it didn't work right, it at least would have shown that she tried to learn something completely new - instead of passively letting life go by.

Furthermore, she doesn't feel these devices are really worth the effort put into the building of them. You can tell by the tone of the writing. She talks about setting up an environment filled with various knick knacks and things. Why doesn't she get it about BEAM - hobble the damn thing! Put tape on one of the photovore's motors, see how it works around this "impediment"! Geez, is experimentation that difficult?!

People, if you want to know more about BEAM, and want to play with it yourself, avoid this article. Here are a few links to check instead:

http://www.solarbotics.com/ (she could've at least provided this link!)
http://www.nis.lanl.gov/projects/robot/
h ttp://www.geocities.com/frankendaddy/BEAM.html

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

I sometimes wonder how true it is that you "need" those computers and sensors in a car. With the exception of some things the computer controls, I wonder if all those other sensors are really needed. Case in point:

My GF had a 1986 Mustang - it of course had a computer. The thing ran well. However, it had a secret. If you opened the hood, you noticed that a lot of wires and hoses to various sensors were NOT hooked up. The computer was, to whereever it controlled - but almost every sensor was disconnected...

Now, why was it this way, you may ask? Well, my GF's brother-in-law bought it for her when she was going to college, as an auctioned vehicle. When he got it, it had a lot of problems with it, so he ended up working and working on it, removing this, that, and the other thing - fixing and tweaking stuff, and realized that once he got it running, many things were still disconnected... He's of the "if it works, leave it alone" crowd - so he simply removed what wires/hoses he could, and left the rest to dangle.

The car always ran good after that - making many long and short trips all over Arizona. Now, you may say "Sure - but what about emmisions?"

It passed! Every single time. Sure, not with flying colors, but it was better than a lot of other vehicles.

In the end, the car eventually died (transmission failure), and ended up getting towed away after we left it in a no-parking area (long story). At the time, it wasn't worth the money to get it out of impound - probably has been crushed by now...

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

I want information. I want data that excites and entertains me, much in the way a good book would. I want bandwidth to explore new worlds - I want to use that data in the manner that I see fit, not how some other entity wants me to see it.

I will not passively sit and watch the world go by - give me HTML and vi! Watch as I create and publish, much as a sculpter would with stone and chisel.

I am tired of how society continues to think all it should do is take, take, take! Society should get off it's collective bum and give back. What is so difficult about being imaginative, letting ideas and creations flow?

Has the internet peaked? Bah! Only if we let it become the new boob-tube.

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

http://www2.lm-sensors.nu/~lm78/index.html

BTW - it is the BT869, not 848. My appologies for my mistake...

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

Can you post the modeline you are using - that might help me...

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

I had read that the some of the later Voodoo cards used a BT848 to switch the TV output on/off - I have ran across references to a driver that allows this.

You are the second to mention using modelines only. Can you post the modeline you are using here (when you get a chance to look it up)?

Thanks...

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

Making too many assumptions here, I appologize.

I am located in Phoenix, Arizona, USA (hence my URL) - so that would be NTSC standard.

Thanks for pointing that out...

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

I was in the coop, and still follow the list. When the poll came around, I updated my database entry to be zero units - what with the holidays and other obligations, I just really couldn't afford to participate (at least I backed out graciously - I know there will be some who said "yah", and will back out after he receives the units - not good).

Anyhow, I am in the "middle" of "hacking" my own box - an Acer NT-150. Full details can be found here. Both Acer and Liberate seem to be stonewalling me for information. That and the fact that it is only me working on it doesn't help matters...

However, you may still find one on Ebay from the guy I bought from! Search under "N/C Network Computer" - you are sure to find one. They tend to go real cheap - 15->20 dollars. I am certain they can be made to do some interesting stuff, we just need more people on it...

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

I don't have AGP - but any suggestions on new cards are well appreciated.

I purchased the HiEncoder off of Ebay, and didn't get any documentation on it. It has a variable cap that I don't know the use of (it doesn't seem to affect anything, color wise) - I have heard that some older converters could only do 640x480 in black and white, and at a lower res (320x240?), one could do color. But without the documentation, I don't know if this is the case.

Finally, I have purchased another VGA->TV converter from an individual off of Ebay (an AverKey 3), as a sanity check, in case the color output on the HiEncoder is hosed. When I receive it, I should have at least some kind of answer.

I have given thought to tracing the R, G, B and sync lines on the HMD, then setting up a custom connector for it, and just run straight from the card. I still would like to use video out, only because I have a cheap video projector I want to view with as well...

Thank you all for any help...

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

Not trying to start a flame war or anything, just wanted to let the AC know it wasn't a rumor...

Commodore had a CD "console" (ok, it was more akin to a set top box than anything) back when the NES was still an infant (around 1987?) - the CDTV. A full 16 bit game playing machine, it could be outfitted with a hard drive, a keyboard, and a monitor - if you wanted. Had a CD-ROM drive that allowed you to load a few games, and enjoy VCDs and such (waaaay ahead of its time!)...

As far as the 90s are concerned - in 1992 (or was it 1993? Can't remember...), the CD32 came out - a full fledged 32 bit CD-ROM drive based gaming console (and this one looked like a game console), joypads, etc - had either a 2x or 4x drive, and the ability to play back MPEG-2 streams from CDs (no DVD then). Shared a lot of hardware with the Amiga 1200 (AGA Graphics, etc), as well as had a bit of custom hardware not on the Amiga AGA computer line (vector chip? Can't remember). The blitter was faster, too. A full CD based 32 bit gaming platform - long before all the others...

Nice to see everyone play catchup...

I remember being in a shop here in Phoenix, and seeing a CD-based game on the thing, and was very impressed. I asked the salesman what CD32 title it was - he told me "It isn't a CD32 game - it is a CDTV game we had lying around, we just wanted to see if it would work!" - amazing...

Memories...

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

Actually, he was right in blaming *nix, at the time - since there wasn't any good form of a real time *nix available then (mid-late 80's).

I agree with your sentiment that he should get off his butt and do something - but his VR ideas are not terminally flawed - immersive VR is a different interface for a computer, one no better or worse than, say, a CLI - both have their purposes and applications.

Q3A could easily be imagined as a desktop-based VE (virtual environment) - where the principle use is to run around, have fun shooting at others, and maybe - between frags - talk to another player. Wrap an HMD on your head, allow the software to detect you looking around and aiming your gun with the 6DOF tracked wand - think about it now...

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

I don't think JL had much of anything to do with a-life - besides, much of a-life can trace its origins back to John Conway's LIFE "game" (a ruleset based primitive a-life).

Did JL bring us VR? Well, he wasn't the inventor of it - like many "inventions", VR was developed by a long series of independant inventors and inventions - ranging way back to the Victorian-era stereoscopes and panopticons, possibly even further, as people tried to bring and recreate an artificial or real world, via an external interface.

Prior to JL, was Sutherland and his "Sword of Damocles" (sp?), years later NASA and thier pilot training and simulation HMDs (big ugly things, but all off the shelf). JL saw this, and thought that he could do it too, and became the first to popularize and market HMDs, Datagloves, and Virtual Reality in general. In the end, his venture failed, and most (or all?) of the patents were bought up by Thompson - and sat on. Someday (actually, it should be someday soon - maybe in 10 years), those patents will expire, and alternate interfaces may take off then (VPL, JL's company - had patents that virtually blocked off all alternate implementations of the glove interface, at least the ones that were most flexible, easiest to use, and easiest to wear and adjust)...

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

I believe you are thinking about the Virtuality system from W Industries, Ltd. Lanier had nothing to do with this system directly (ie, he didn't develop it - he probably only inspired the developers). On another note, W Industries became Virtuality, Inc (or Ltd?), they are now known as CyberMind, Ltd.

Lanier developed high-end VR systems (ie, the VPL dataglove was a very expensive piece, on the order of $8000 US - they were also instrumentive in the design of the Mattel Powerglove for the Nintendo), with gloves, bodysuits, HMDs, and software, running on SGI workstations (IIRC - someone correct me if I am wrong). High res, high speed (for the time), and highly immersive.

Jaron Lanier is far from an idiot - though his latest views have me a little stumped. Why he doesn't like *nix and such - he kinda clears it up in this article, but I still get the feeling he hasn't really played with it much. Back when he was doing his VR stuff, there wasn't any form of real-time *nix (real-time OS's are nearly mandatory for immersive VR work), now there are several available, many free.

I don't think we should discount everything he has to say just yet - it might just be a case of "throwing the baby out with the bathwater"...

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

When I saw this question, I went "WTF?!" - then I started thinking...

I first imagined a drawing program - one hand controls the rotation of the paper, the other controls the brush or pen (could make some wacky designs)...

Then (of course) my thoughts turned to VR apps - imagine one hand controlling a "virtual" hand pointer in space (left button to control left/right/zoom, right to control "grabbing" - no buttons for X/Y positioning). The other hand could control (in a similar manner) avatar positioning in the world - so one could move around, and grab things.

A similar scheme could be done for games - it is a little awkward, but it might be something fun to play with...

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

Does anyone know of alternative OS's for the TRS-80 CoCo, other than OS-9 (actually, if anyone knows of an "abandonware" site for OS-9, that would be great, too)?

I just want to try something different on my CoCo, away from the TRS DOS (m$ basic, etc), on it...

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

You could control the robot in Robot Odyssey "internally" - sometimes this was needed to "disguise" yourself. Other times you had to program it by "wiring" logic circuits (using chips, logic circuits, wires and a "soldering iron") to control it, as well as signal other robots along the way, to overcome obstacles - in certain areas, you couldn't be inside when this happened, as sentries or some other thing would detect you, and drag you away (I had Robot Odyssey on my CoCo 2 - great game!)...

ChipWits may either be a renamed version of RO, or it may have been another's version of it, or maybe it was a prior version (RO, if I remember right, was actually a sequel or something)...

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

Some time back, I was wearing glasses, and decided to "update" my look, and get contacts. When I went in to the doctor, I told him the after working all day on the computer, my eyes would start to itch and burn.

He checked my eyes, did the lens-flippy thing, and said I had astigmatism in one eye (my left), that wasn't being corrected by my glasses. So, he gave me a toric lens prescript for my left eye (very expensive).

You know what? Pain and itching are now gone!

So, the moral is, if you wear glasses or contacts, make sure they are the right prescription - or if you are having problems, see the eye doctor - you may need a new prescription, or you might find out it is something else...

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

I think it most likely could have. From what I have read about Wardeclyff, it wasn't going to be a giant Tesla coil as we think of it - throwing off lightning and such. There might have been small streamers, but nothing of great proportion.

Look at his work - the majority involved resonance (heh - though there was the "flying bedframe" patent - Tesla definitely wasn't an aviation pioneer). He once remarked that he knew how to split the earth, using timed dynamite charges to cause the earth to "ring", and crack like a wine glass. Whether this was possible with the tech of the day is questionable (ie, TNT) - but in theory it could be done given strong enough explosives (H-Bombs?). He used to make a variety of mechanical oscillators that could shake entire buildings (causing him to be kicked out of more than one apartment complex), merely by "tapping" them at the proper resonant frequency of the structure (similar to how you can get a pendulum to swing by tapping it at its resonant period). Those who experienced it thought it was an earthquake.

One poster nearly got it right - a ground wave station. Tesla's idea was to pump energy into the earth at resonant frequency, then tap that back out anywhere along the point (probably via one of those aerial earth/sky antenna things - that used the atmosphere as a giant capacitor - he has several patents on these).

Would there have been noise - yeah, there would have. It probably wouldn't have been good for today's electronics. However, if he had suceeded in his plans, and made such wireless power distribution a reality, we may not have gone down the same roads we have since gone down - and probably would have developed our current tech differently to deal with the noise.

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

This is what should've been posted in place of that article. Here is something that really shows home automation, and how it can be done by anybody, not just the "rich and famous".

And damn! Talk about features! This is one heck of a software package! Voice control and feedback! Event handling, remote control, GPS - damn!

Double damn!

Makes me want to break down and buy a ton of X-10 and play, play, play - too bad I already have more projects going on than - what's that old saying? - "than Carter has pills!"

There ya go!

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

But considering that affronts to our (American - but hey, all this can apply to other countries as well) Constitutionally protected rights - rights that the authorities and legislators seem willing to dismiss - rights that most people have forgotten they even have...

Considering all this - we should be more paranoid - not less. It seems every day I hear or read about something that convinces me further that we are falling into a police state form of government. Something has to be done. Today it wasn't me, tommorow it probably won't be either.

Someday it might be - better to be prepared now than wait until it is too late...

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

Does anyone know if this GLV tech is what is being used in the fancy "monitor menus" at McDonalds*?

* For those that don't know - here in the Phoenix area (and I guess they are cropping up elsewhere), certain McDonalds have menus displays, instead of the "standard" light up menu - behind the counter. The "menus" can display animations and movies. The resolution seems OK - on par with an 800x600 LCD - maybe better. These displays, though, are much larger (approximately 24 inches diagonally). They aren't that deep - but deeper than what an LCD display would need, but less deep than what a projection system would use (I suppose).

Does anyone know what these displays are and/or who makes them?

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

Ok, maybe third!

Anyhow, I managed to snag a 15 inch Trinitron monitor from my apartment complex a couple of years back - someone had left it in the laundry room as a "give away" item. I took it home, plugged it in - screen is completely white - but nothing else seemed wrong. So, I took a gamble:

I took it down to a guy who has a shop repairing small monitors at a flat rate ($100 - larger monitors are a bit more). A week and $100 later, it was fixed (some control ICs were blown).

That has been two years ago - it is a great monitor. I just recently replaced it with a 19 inch Trinitron (KDS monitor) - I will never go with anything else...

*note - side bitch*

Just realized I have "helped" a small portion of the MPAA, since Sony is a member. God I hate how these bastards are EVERYWHERE!

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

Heh...

I give a hearty round of applause to the winners - they clearly took a lot of time on their projects (especially the clock - damn - clocks are HARD to make).

I would suppose I lost points on the relatively small numbers of AOL CDs used (2), and the fact that I used LEGO for the rest (it was easiest for me to build with).

Actually, I had fun entering this competition - I have always liked "here's-an-idea-this-is-what-you-can-use-GO!" type contests...

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

Want to know how to defeat this "logging" for your "surepticious" behavior? Simple - don't use a keyboard.

At least not in the normal sense...

First off, since they are doing a B&E to set it all up (heck, even with a warrant you should do this), first make sure you set up some kind of ultra-secret hidden cam recording movement (hide it in the ceiling or wall - use a pinhole type camera, mount it to NEW wallboard right over a pinhole, then mount the new wallboard. Break up the wall with pictures, wall hangings, carpet). Don't tell anyone about it. This will let you know if something hinky is going on.

Next, since they are likely tapping one or more of four spots (the keyboard, the interconnecting cable, the motherboard connection, or OS hooks with a software logger), you need a way to bypass these. A good way would be to build a simple encrypting keyboard (or even a complex one), and a special card for the PC, and drivers to read it.

Another way would be to set up a serial console to do everything from - use a funky terminal not in great production anymore (a real VT100 or ADDS, or something similar - Olliveti?). Perhaps you can encrypt the serial comms as well. Maybe set up UltraTerm on a CoCo 3, serialized over the RS-232 pack to the console serial port on the box (that should confound them!).

Use an optical keyboard, with custom "encryption", perhaps. Mark your keyboard with an identifying mark. Put a seal on the keyboard, or over screw holes to detect "modification". Same with the case. Add locks to the case. Add an alarm.

Here is a funky idea - set up the "computer" to be a dummy with an alarm (or other nastiness), into which the keyboard is plugged into. Using cat-5 and a "dummy" network card, route that out to another "dummy" network card in the real computer, with that dummy card hooked up to the keyboard header of the real machine (thus the actual machine looks like it hasn't got a keyboard attached). Set up a current monitor to notice drops in current on the keyboard "port", with alarms and such to notify you.

Here is one - rewire the keyboard port and keyboard (and any interconnecting devices - keyboard switchers/extenders might need to be taken into account). Swap the wires and connections around (might be a pain at the motherboard end). Done clean and right, it would be a mess for them to sort out *on site* - heck, they might not even notice it (think they do wire tracing to make sure the keyboard is standard - perhaps, perhaps not). Maybe even use completely non-standard connectors. Maybe go so far as installing a non-standard (keyboard wise) microcontroller in the keyboard, with custom coding (combine this with the other tips, like "encryption" and such - one hell of a hack).

Do I really think any of these would stop the FBI? Naw - but it would make their lives at least a bit more miserable. Perhaps it would confound them enough to make them come back later - given enough covert surveillance on your part, you could destroy the machine (or change it!) in the meantime...

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

I entered this contest - I doubt I will even be mentioned in the "other entries" catagory (ie, all those who _didn't win), when they put it up (have they? Haven't checked in a while). My entry was a laser lissajous pattern maker, using the AOL CDs as the mirrors on a LEGO frame...

Anyhow - what I should've done, had I known that lamps were going to be the popular thing (and this was actually an idea I was going to do, but I thought that the laser maker was a more "geek" thing - stupid me):

The light-up AOL CD coaster - take an AOL CD, nuke it properly (to get the crackle effect), laminate the label side (to prevent future flaking?), and on the silver side, glue some EL thin-film backlighting material. Maybe make a half-inch stack, cored out, and house the step-up system and 9 volt battery to power it. Mount a switch somewhere else.

The light would shine/glow out through the top crackled surface, surrounding your can... Would look pretty neat...

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

Back in 1992 I was poor, and I wanted to set up a way to control my VCR (in the living room) from my bedroom in the back of my apartment. Lacking the funds to buy a remote extender, I built a cheesy circuit composed of a matched IR NPN phototransistor/LED pair from RatShack, a resistor (1K? Can't remember), a 9 volt battery and some speaker wire.

Basically, the positive terminal of the battery was hooked to the resistor, then the resistor to the collector of the IR transistor, the emmitter to one side of one end of the speaker wire, the other side to ground. The LED was connected to the other end.

What I had then was a circuit that given the input on one side, would "flash" the LED on the other side at the same rate. It didn't work very well - I had to place the remote nearly against the phototransistor, and the LED next to the TV's detector.

However, something similar could be built for a laptop, and housed inside a 25 pin D-Sub connector for the parallel port. Both the phototransistor and the LED would have to be housed in the connector, facing out - with a baffle between them. Code could then be written to allow polling of the port, to "sample" the IR data stream from the remote, analyse it, and store it. More code could be used to "play back" the samples through the LED to activate the TV or whatnot.

There are kits out there just for this, but rolling your own should be a lot cheaper, and maybe more fun.

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

This is something I have wanted to try to do for quite awhile.

I live in the Phoenix, Arizona area - specifically north of the east/west portion of Loop 101. My actual location makes it difficult to impossible to reach anything south and west (due to some mountains being in the way), but if anyone would like to help me set up a wireless (preferably optical!) net between houses - contact me or post to this thread. With enough nodes, dispersed properly, we could get around any obstacles of the nature...

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

While I understand your reasoning (and I also have seen another poster's reply on this topic - the gist of which is that of trust and levels of education in users), it wouldn't matter if the creator of the original was blamed (though it would suck). Why?

Because the creator of said benign virus should develop and release it in UTMOST secrecy, with NO WAY to trace it back to him (after release, he should destroy all notes and such, as well as his copy of source, to the trojan as well - maybe he should even physically destroy the hard drive as well). He should take the knowledge to his grave. With proper precautions, no one could trace it back to him.

Note that I won't be the one developing this "trojan" - though I am certain I could, given a little time. My simply posting here in this forum has tainted me from doing it (because I would be a suspect).

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

Part of the DMCA deals with "circumvention of content copyright controls" (or some such legal garbage). In other words, bypassing said "controls" becomes illegal - in theory if bypassed by anyone (outside of very strict reverse engineering - and I think they are working to close that "hole" as well). So...

If you encrypt the thing, then place the proper "notices" on the front and in the code, any virus checker (and/or creators of such software) would be in violation of the DMCA - creating a very interesting conundrum (though one I think they - meaning the creators of anti-virus software - would easily weasel out of - remember the DMCA only applies to the proles, not big brother)...

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

In theory - they could do this...

Back in the late 60's-early 70's Time-Life published a set of books: Time-Life Science series (or some such). Many topics relating to science, both research and applied, were explored (a very fascinating one deals with Water). These books may still be found in used books stores all over.

Photos tended to be the high point of these books - most had the quality of Life magazine photos (I assume because they used the same photographers). In short, these books were of rather high quality.

One particular book in the series dealt with the Brain, discussing a variety of subjects related to this organ: learning, memory, vision - even AI and machine intelligence were discussed. There were photos and captions throughout showing the brain and how it worked (according to 1960's science). One particularly disturbing photo:

A couple of lab monkeys (rhesus, I believe) were being used for experiments regarding the brain (I can't remember what - probably brain activity or stimulus). Under anesthesia, these monkeys had their skulls, just above the browline, sawed completely off, exposing the top half of their brains. In place of the skull, an acrylic "dome" was attached (it looked molded to match the monkey's heads) to the bone "shelf", screwed down with stainless steel screws.

Essentially, the brains of the monkeys became "viewable". I imagine the monkeys were given anti-inflammatory medicine (and possible other pain killers), and probably a healthy dose of antibiotics for infection prevention. At least, I hope they were - though I have wondered whether that would have skewed any results, and whether they were given nothing to help any pain or infection...

I have only seen this picture in that particular book - nowhere else (I speculate that it may have appeared in either a Time or Life magazine of the period, but I have not located such an issue). Nothing was ever said further about the monkeys, such as what was learned or how long they "lived" in that condition.

It is a very macabre picture - disturbing in a primal way. Not an APCA moment, assuredly!

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

This is crazy - why are there "old" cell phones that have to be thrown away? I can understand an analog vs. digital phone (hard to get analog service anywhere it seems - only one company here in Phoenix offers it, and only via calling cards - kinda makes my $10 Motorola brick phone worthless - I love that phone!) - but regular digital cell phones becoming worthless?

I have heard (is this rumor?) that if you complete your service contract, and try to go to another provider with a "branded" phone (ie, you have an AT&T cell phone, and you try to use Verizon), the phone becomes "worthless" - and thus you have to get yet another "free" phone! What kind of scam is this?

I can still take my grandma's old clunky pulse-only phone from the 50s and still dial out on it in most areas - why don't we have the equivalent for cell phones?

Actually, why do we have this forced obsolescence, period (I want analog service, damnit)? More importantly - why do we stand for it? It isn't just cell phones, but everything - nearly everything has to be bought "new" again in order to use it (hell, even our entertainment works this way - records->tapes->cds->RSN - audio DVDs). Rarely is it worth the "upgrade".

If cars were like this (and I am sure they are going to go that way some day), people would be screaming bloody murder - so why do we take it for everything else?

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

...screw 'em both ways?

IE - VOIP for both local and long-distance calls?

Heck, get rid of the "middle-man" so to speak (although I guess there will always be a middle-man, until we build our own wireless optical link network) - use a broadband service and "dial" the IP address of your neighbor - so to speak.

Corporations (not just telcos, but broadband providers, media corps - especially them - and others) are SCARED of this tech falling into the "masses" hands. They would be just as scared of email and such if everybody understood it, but they don't. Why? Because it makes it harder for them to segregate us from one another - from forming communities.

Community is a threat to the corps - they will do anything to stop it.

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

Very interesting...

I was thinking more in the realm that the VBS trojan would be self-contained - ie, it would be the email, and it would contain all the code to "update" the system (like that "cable modem speed fix" VBS file does to the registry). As I noted in the post, it would ask to do the update _first_, before doing anything. Furthermore, I did note that it could "quarantine" the messages/VBS scripts, so that nothing would be lost (in case some of those scripts were legitimate) - ie, it wouldn't really delete anything, just move them to an area not readily accessible by the user. Plus the bit about educating the user (maybe even recommending virus protection software, using another email reader instead of Outlook, etc).

Glad to see that someone else tried it, and at least put out a feeler to see what people's response would be...

Of course, he was looking at this as an uncontrolled admin tool, instead of what it really is - a weapon against the enemy. Since stealth is the rule of the game, the writer of such an "Antivirus" will release it anonymously, in such a way that it can't be traced back to the individual - heck, probably couldn't even be traced back to the machine it was released from.

I can see the bandwidth problems with downloading another application/EXE to do the fix, but this would just be email (though it would be a funky automated SPAM), so eventually after propagating it would slowly die out...

Worldcom - Generation Duh!

Why do these people write these? Why do people CONTINUALLY get infected by them?

What I really don't understand is why someone hasn't written a benign virus/trojan - same manner as the Mellisa/ILOVEYOU trojan, except that when run by the clueless, it would remove any other trojan VBS scripts (or quarantine them) on the machine, ask to send copies to "friends" (upon which it would email itself to people on the address list), then remove itself from the machine.

If the "hacker" wanted to go further, he could place a little "Agree or Disagree" EULA/disclaimer at the beginning the user would have to agree to in order for the code to run. He could also insert a little "educational" note on why the virus ran, and how to protect against future attacks by less benign viruses in the future (up to and including installing Linux?). Finally, he could encrypt the "meat" of the VBS trojan, and put a little blurb in the EULA about the DMCA clauses prohibiting the alteration or creation of software to remove copyright controls on software.

Such a "hack" would be more worthy of a /. story than this dreck - which is only going to serve to harm the Linux community in general.

Worldcom - Generation Duh!