Switzerland, like probably some other countries in Europe, has privacy of its citizen written in the law. That means that, by default, you are not allowed to take pictures of home gardens without prior approval (with or without fence). You also cannot also take picture of, or interview, individuals without their prior consent.
This is his web site (english page full of flash).
The news is that's for the first time he did a public demo with loops and other acrobatic stuff. This is quite a feat since he's using only his body to move. Not too bad for a 48-old!
He was last year at the Geneva Invention Exhibition, I've found a video with him in the background where you can also see the 4 jets behind the wing.
BTW, a typical Swiss: nice and humble.
Wikidpad is a stand-alone wiki that works well for this. I'm using it every day to record all my researches. It's written in Python, opensource, and supports Graphviz (create graphs and orgchart on-the-fly with just text).
Competition: Commission Decision of 12 July 2006 to impose penalty payments on Microsoft - frequently asked questions
What is Microsoft required to do?
The European Commission's Decision of March 2004 required that Microsoft take various steps to put an end to its illegal and anti-competitive conduct (see IP/04/382 and MEMO/04/70). These included obligations to:
supply complete and accurate interface information which would allow non-Microsoft work group servers to achieve full interoperability with Windows PCs and servers; and
make that information available on reasonable terms.
On 10 November 2005, the Commission warned Microsoft, pursuant to Article 24(1) of Regulation 1/2003, that should Microsoft not comply with these obligations by 15 December 2005, it would face a daily penalty payment of up to 2 million (see IP/05/1695). Article 24 of Regulation 1/2003 entitles the Commission to impose such penalty payments not exceeding 5% of average daily turnover in the preceding business year per calendar day to compel companies to put an end to infringements of EC Treaty anti-trust rules, where an infringement has been established by a previous Commission anti-trust decision.
Why has the Commission levied a penalty payment for non-compliance on only the failure to provide interoperability information, and not the terms on which that information is provided (i.e. the first and not the second of the two points from the 10th November 2005 Article 24(1) Decision)?
As regards the provision of information on reasonable terms, Microsoft has announced that it will review the pricing of its protocols once revised technical documentation has been submitted. Furthermore, a final assessment on the degree of innovation, if any, that is contained in the interoperability information, and hence the reasonableness of the royalties that Microsoft charges, can only be made once the technical documentation embodying that interoperability information is complete and accurate.
Why has the Commission decided that the fine levied should be 1.5 million per day?
Of the two elements of non-compliance identified in the Article 24(1) Decision, complete and accurate interoperability information is a prerequisite for interoperable work group server operating systems to be developed. Microsoft's non-compliance in this regard has eliminated the effectiveness of the remedy. Consequently, the Commission has taken the view that failure to comply in this respect should at this stage constitute a larger part of the daily penalty payment identified in the Article 24(1) Decision of 10 November 2005.
Why has the Commission taken today's Decision given that Microsoft is in the process of preparing revised technical documentation?
Microsoft's obligation was to comply with the March 2004 decision's requirement to make available the relevant technical documentation as of June 2004. As of 20th June 2006, Microsoft had not done that, and the Commission decided that it was appropriate to levy a fine on Microsoft for its non-compliance so far.
More than two years after the 2004 Decision, the Commission has therefore been obliged to resort to formal measures to ensure compliance. If any revised documentation that Microsoft submits proved to be complete and accurate, then Microsoft would not be subject to further daily penalty payments from the date on which complete and accurate technical documentation was provided. This would be the best outcome. However, if Microsoft continued t
To stop Macromedia Flash Player 6.0 to store personal information, create an empty file named Flash Player in this folder: C:\Documents and Settings\user profile\Application Data\Macromedia\ You may have to delete a previous Flash Player folder before.
Now, with a file having the same name as the required folder, Flash will not be able to recreate the folder...
3) Built in Windows encryption isn't good enough, forcing you to get third party products to do the job right. This means that you pay through the nose if you haven't got the technical skill to set up a Linux or BSD box running free encryption modules and samba.
The Memorability and Security of Passwords
Some Empirical Results
Jianxin Yan, Alan Blackwell, Ross Anderson, Alasdair Grant
Cambridge University Computer Laboratory
Abstract. There are many things that are 'well known' about
passwords, such as that uers can't remember strong passwords and that the
passwords they can remember are easy to guess. However, there seems
to be a distinct lack of research on the subject that would pass muster
by the standards of applied psychology.
Here we report a controlled trial in which, of four sample groups of about
100 first-year students, three were recruited to a formal experiment and
of these two were given specific advice about password selection. The
incidence of weak passwords was determined by cracking the password
file, and the number of password resets was measured from system logs.
We observed a number of phenomena which run counter to the
established wisdom. For example, passwords based on mnemonic phrases are
just as hard to crack as random passwords yet just as easy to remember
as naive user selections.
Introduction
Many of the deficiencies of password authentication systems arise from the
limitations of human memory. If humans were not required to remember the
password, a maximally secure password would be one with maximum entropy: it
would consist of a string as long as the system allows, consisting of characters
selected from all those allowed by the system, and in a manner that provides no
redundancy - i.e., totally random selection.
Each of these requirements is contrary to a well-known property of human
memory. Firstly, human memory for sequences of items is temporally limited [1],
with a short-term capacity of around seven plus or minus two items [2]. Second,
when humans remember a sequence of items, those items cannot be drawn from
an arbitrary and unfamiliar range, but must be familiar 'chunks' such as words
or familiar symbols [2]. Third, human memory thrives on redundancy - we are
far better at remembering information that can be encoded in multiple ways [3].
Password authentication therefore appears to involve a tradeoff. Some
passwords are very easy to remember (e.g. single words in the user's native language),
but also very easy to guess with dictionary searches. In contrast, some passwords
are very secure against guessing but difficult to remember. In the latter case the
security of a superior password may be compromised due to human limitations,
because the user may keep an insecure written record of it or resort to insecure
backup authentication procedures after forgetting it.
This paper presents an empirical investigation of these tradeoffs in the
context of an actual population of password users. Research in cognitive psychology
has defined many limits of human performance in laboratory settings where
experimental subjects are required to memorise random and pseudo-random
sequences of symbols. It is very difficult to generalise from such research to
password users, who can select the string themselves, are able to rehearse it while
memorising, and need to recall it at regular intervals over a long period of time.
We show that this user context allows the exploitation of mnemonic strategies
for password memorisation. There are many successful mnemonic techniques that
can be used to achieve impressive performance when memorising apparently
random sequences. Password alternatives such as "Pass Faces" exploit superior
human memory for faces, for example [4]. However rather than changing the
password authentication procedure, we propose changing the advice that is given
to the user when selecting a password.
Existing Advice on Password Selection
Many large organisations give specific advice to new users about how to select
a "good password". A good password, in terms of the above discussion, should
aim to be reasonably long, use a reasonably large character set, but still be easy
to remember. There are some subtleties about whether the att
To save the original keys, do the following:
Launch Regedit (Start, Run..., regedit)
In Regedit, to to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SOFTWARE > Classes > PROTOCOLS > Handler.
Click on Registry, Export Registry File...
Enter the file name (chm-restore.reg) and select Win9x/NT4 Registration Files (REGEDIT4) in the Type list (this is to save in ASCII, otherwise it's in Unicode).
Save it as chm-disable.reg
Put a line like this in your logon script:
regedit/s chm-disable.reg
Use the same trick to restore the values when a patch is available (that means that you must save the HANDLER keys first).
Note: If you're still using batch files: KiXtart is your friend!
No, it's just a matter of respecting privacy while trying to provide the best quality. Of course there is a price to pay. And since Swiss are neutral (the best CYA line ever), they don't fear terrorism.
What is a bitrate? At what bitrate are EMusic's MP3s encoded at?
Bitrate is the number of bits per second used in the encoding process. A higher encoding rate usually means a larger size file, but higher quality sound.
EMusic currently encodes its MP3s at 128 Kbps.
Due to high demand, EMusic is planning on increasing the bitrate at which our songs are encoded.
NB: You can submit your email address to get notified when they upgrade to a higher bitrate. I would try it if it was fat, good, LAME-encoded VBRs...
I used to have a Rio 600... The software is so crappy! Slow and impossible to upload files.
My Nex II review:
Good:
Works on Whatever(tm) OS.
No DRM.
Uses CF Cards: cheap and big sizes available (theoricaly up to 2GB).
Not so good:
Headphone sucks: replaced by Sony MDR-EX70.
Well, it's MP3... but I feel that the S/N ratio is not that good.
The Next/Prev button is a Jog dial à la Sony. Can be unuseable in a tight pocket.
Firmware issues: Not fancy as the Rio 600, wrong display of VBR (display the current rate like WinAmp).
The battery holder is badly designed, but they last so long (1600mAh Ni-MH = 15-20 hours) that it's not a real issue.
The USB connector is not standard.
If those bad points could be taken seriously by Frontier Labs, the next Nex would be the best player ever! I'm not ranting on OGG support: if there was a chip to decode it, I'm sure they would use it... Would they?
Anyway, we are all switched to the Nex II here, and that keeps going. So far, we've been using that shop: MP3PlayerStore. They deliver in Europe.
Well, this is the Marimba updater . That is supposed to work like the new Microsoft Automatic Update stuff. This is one of those very good idea that turns out very bad when someone hacks in it and leave some trojans...
I wish I could use some tools like that on Linux to learn faster. Of course you have all those conf files, but having a single app to mess around would be so cool.
Just click here-and-there, reboot, crash, restore, reboot, play again... It's much easier that way to build a mental image of your system. Then, when you know everything by heart, you can start using that keyboard again (and pretend to be part of the 31337 since the beginning).
Just my.02
Slashdot Mirror
Switzerland, like probably some other countries in Europe, has privacy of its citizen written in the law. That means that, by default, you are not allowed to take pictures of home gardens without prior approval (with or without fence). You also cannot also take picture of, or interview, individuals without their prior consent.
What, there is no [Like] button on Slashdot?
Where do I download Quake 8.9? I'm still at version 4...
= LogMeIn + Dropbox. What else? Weave on Firefox. That's it.
What about just asking her? That works for me most of the time. And when she doesn't want, ask her if she would prefer the cat...
The news is that's for the first time he did a public demo with loops and other acrobatic stuff. This is quite a feat since he's using only his body to move. Not too bad for a 48-old!
He was last year at the Geneva Invention Exhibition, I've found a video with him in the background where you can also see the 4 jets behind the wing. BTW, a typical Swiss: nice and humble.
Wikipedia info on WikidPad.
Official download page
Productivity note: Create your wikis in Original Sqlite and setup Google Desktop Search to scan .wiki files (with Larry's Any Text File Indexer).
Competition: Commission Decision of 12 July 2006 to impose penalty payments on Microsoft - frequently asked questions
What is Microsoft required to do?
The European Commission's Decision of March 2004 required that Microsoft take various steps to put an end to its illegal and anti-competitive conduct (see IP/04/382 and MEMO/04/70). These included obligations to:
On 10 November 2005, the Commission warned Microsoft, pursuant to Article 24(1) of Regulation 1/2003, that should Microsoft not comply with these obligations by 15 December 2005, it would face a daily penalty payment of up to 2 million (see IP/05/1695). Article 24 of Regulation 1/2003 entitles the Commission to impose such penalty payments not exceeding 5% of average daily turnover in the preceding business year per calendar day to compel companies to put an end to infringements of EC Treaty anti-trust rules, where an infringement has been established by a previous Commission anti-trust decision.
Why has the Commission levied a penalty payment for non-compliance on only the failure to provide interoperability information, and not the terms on which that information is provided (i.e. the first and not the second of the two points from the 10th November 2005 Article 24(1) Decision)?
As regards the provision of information on reasonable terms, Microsoft has announced that it will review the pricing of its protocols once revised technical documentation has been submitted. Furthermore, a final assessment on the degree of innovation, if any, that is contained in the interoperability information, and hence the reasonableness of the royalties that Microsoft charges, can only be made once the technical documentation embodying that interoperability information is complete and accurate.
Why has the Commission decided that the fine levied should be 1.5 million per day?
Of the two elements of non-compliance identified in the Article 24(1) Decision, complete and accurate interoperability information is a prerequisite for interoperable work group server operating systems to be developed. Microsoft's non-compliance in this regard has eliminated the effectiveness of the remedy. Consequently, the Commission has taken the view that failure to comply in this respect should at this stage constitute a larger part of the daily penalty payment identified in the Article 24(1) Decision of 10 November 2005.
Why has the Commission taken today's Decision given that Microsoft is in the process of preparing revised technical documentation?
Microsoft's obligation was to comply with the March 2004 decision's requirement to make available the relevant technical documentation as of June 2004. As of 20th June 2006, Microsoft had not done that, and the Commission decided that it was appropriate to levy a fine on Microsoft for its non-compliance so far.
More than two years after the 2004 Decision, the Commission has therefore been obliged to resort to formal measures to ensure compliance. If any revised documentation that Microsoft submits proved to be complete and accurate, then Microsoft would not be subject to further daily penalty payments from the date on which complete and accurate technical documentation was provided. This would be the best outcome. However, if Microsoft continued t
Asta la Vista baby!
And it crashed.
C:\Documents and Settings\user profile\Application Data\Macromedia\
You may have to delete a previous Flash Player folder before.
Now, with a file having the same name as the required folder, Flash will not be able to recreate the folder...
Have you had a look at this: TrueCrypt: Free open-source disk encryption for Windows XP/2000/2003
So, in this case this is not a real sandbox. Can I call that a beach? Or a bitch? Sorry, it's Friday...
The Memorability and Security of Passwords
Some Empirical Results
Jianxin Yan, Alan Blackwell, Ross Anderson, Alasdair Grant
Cambridge University Computer Laboratory
Abstract. There are many things that are 'well known' about passwords, such as that uers can't remember strong passwords and that the passwords they can remember are easy to guess. However, there seems to be a distinct lack of research on the subject that would pass muster by the standards of applied psychology.
Here we report a controlled trial in which, of four sample groups of about 100 first-year students, three were recruited to a formal experiment and of these two were given specific advice about password selection. The incidence of weak passwords was determined by cracking the password file, and the number of password resets was measured from system logs. We observed a number of phenomena which run counter to the established wisdom. For example, passwords based on mnemonic phrases are just as hard to crack as random passwords yet just as easy to remember as naive user selections.
Introduction
Many of the deficiencies of password authentication systems arise from the limitations of human memory. If humans were not required to remember the password, a maximally secure password would be one with maximum entropy: it would consist of a string as long as the system allows, consisting of characters selected from all those allowed by the system, and in a manner that provides no redundancy - i.e., totally random selection.
Each of these requirements is contrary to a well-known property of human memory. Firstly, human memory for sequences of items is temporally limited [1], with a short-term capacity of around seven plus or minus two items [2]. Second, when humans remember a sequence of items, those items cannot be drawn from an arbitrary and unfamiliar range, but must be familiar 'chunks' such as words or familiar symbols [2]. Third, human memory thrives on redundancy - we are far better at remembering information that can be encoded in multiple ways [3].
Password authentication therefore appears to involve a tradeoff. Some passwords are very easy to remember (e.g. single words in the user's native language), but also very easy to guess with dictionary searches. In contrast, some passwords are very secure against guessing but difficult to remember. In the latter case the security of a superior password may be compromised due to human limitations, because the user may keep an insecure written record of it or resort to insecure backup authentication procedures after forgetting it.
This paper presents an empirical investigation of these tradeoffs in the context of an actual population of password users. Research in cognitive psychology has defined many limits of human performance in laboratory settings where experimental subjects are required to memorise random and pseudo-random sequences of symbols. It is very difficult to generalise from such research to password users, who can select the string themselves, are able to rehearse it while memorising, and need to recall it at regular intervals over a long period of time.
We show that this user context allows the exploitation of mnemonic strategies for password memorisation. There are many successful mnemonic techniques that can be used to achieve impressive performance when memorising apparently random sequences. Password alternatives such as "Pass Faces" exploit superior human memory for faces, for example [4]. However rather than changing the password authentication procedure, we propose changing the advice that is given to the user when selecting a password.
Existing Advice on Password Selection
Many large organisations give specific advice to new users about how to select a "good password". A good password, in terms of the above discussion, should aim to be reasonably long, use a reasonably large character set, but still be easy to remember. There are some subtleties about whether the att
To save the original keys, do the following:
Launch Regedit (Start, Run..., regedit)
In Regedit, to to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SOFTWARE > Classes > PROTOCOLS > Handler.
Click on Registry, Export Registry File...
Enter the file name (chm-restore.reg) and select Win9x/NT4 Registration Files (REGEDIT4) in the Type list (this is to save in ASCII, otherwise it's in Unicode).
Save it as chm-disable.reg
Put a line like this in your logon script:
regedit
Use the same trick to restore the values when a patch is available (that means that you must save the HANDLER keys first).
Note: If you're still using batch files: KiXtart is your friend!
No, it's just a matter of respecting privacy while trying to provide the best quality. Of course there is a price to pay. And since Swiss are neutral (the best CYA line ever), they don't fear terrorism.
I would try it if it was fat, good, LAME-encoded VBRs...
[Ctrl]-[Alt]-[Delete], [Enter]
Let me try...
Please wait while Windows is shutting down your computer
For the Beowulf posters, check their FAQ, question #10.
I used to have a Rio 600... The software is so crappy! Slow and impossible to upload files.
My Nex II review:
Good:
- Works on Whatever(tm) OS.
- No DRM.
- Uses CF Cards: cheap and big sizes available (theoricaly up to 2GB).
Not so good:- Headphone sucks: replaced by Sony MDR-EX70.
- Well, it's MP3... but I feel that the S/N ratio is not that good.
- The Next/Prev button is a Jog dial à la Sony. Can be unuseable in a tight pocket.
- Firmware issues: Not fancy as the Rio 600, wrong display of VBR (display the current rate like WinAmp).
- The battery holder is badly designed, but they last so long (1600mAh Ni-MH = 15-20 hours) that it's not a real issue.
- The USB connector is not standard.
If those bad points could be taken seriously by Frontier Labs, the next Nex would be the best player ever! I'm not ranting on OGG support: if there was a chip to decode it, I'm sure they would use it... Would they?Anyway, we are all switched to the Nex II here, and that keeps going. So far, we've been using that shop: MP3PlayerStore. They deliver in Europe.
Well, this is the Marimba updater . That is supposed to work like the new Microsoft Automatic Update stuff. This is one of those very good idea that turns out very bad when someone hacks in it and leave some trojans...
Have a look at this site: www.engrish.com. You'll find plenty of fun for the annoying week-end coming-up... It's even worst than CowboyNeal English!
Yeah right:
LOAD "BRUCELEE",8,1
(plug back the second joystick with a faulty button)
ERROR READING DRIVE: TOO OLD CRAP, GET A LIFE!
READY.
I wish I could use some tools like that on Linux to learn faster. Of course you have all those conf files, but having a single app to mess around would be so cool. Just click here-and-there, reboot, crash, restore, reboot, play again... It's much easier that way to build a mental image of your system. Then, when you know everything by heart, you can start using that keyboard again (and pretend to be part of the 31337 since the beginning). Just my .02
Aren't you?