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User: fredrikj

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  1. Re:Finding 1 MD5 collision does break the system.. on Slashback: Flashmob, Currency, Verification · · Score: 1

    if you're trying to hide from governments and big corporations, you'd better start using SHA-256

    Except that SHA-256 was developed by the NSA, which means it may have been designed with some intentional obscure "shortcut" that could be exploited by the NSA. The SHA message digest functions have been scrutinized quite heavily, though, so it seems unlikely in my humble opinion.

  2. Re:Finding 1 MD5 collision does break the system.. on Slashback: Flashmob, Currency, Verification · · Score: 3, Insightful

    As far as I've understood it, the primary purpose is to demonstrate that cracking MD5 is realistic. If this project can then anyone with decent resources (the MD5CRK FAQ claims $100,000 would be enough) can do it. Also, additional collisions will most likely be found soon after the first one (the probability of finding collisions increases), and the data collected from the search can be used for future efforts (e.g. for analysis that might reveal actual statistical flaws in the algorithm).

  3. Re:I'll drop MD5 in a heartbeat... on Slashback: Flashmob, Currency, Verification · · Score: 2, Informative

    SHA-1 isn't really "their" message digest algorithm, they're just recommending it as a replacement for MD5, which they're trying to crack.

    You have three different "MD5 sum" utilities that all give different checksums for the same data? If so, then at least two of them aren't actually MD5 utilities, in the sense that they don't compute MD5 sums. *cough*

  4. Re:Truly Random Number ? on Quantum Random Numbers For Download · · Score: 1

    But the point is, we don't know that quantum mechanics is correct.

  5. Re:Truly Random Number ? on Quantum Random Numbers For Download · · Score: 1

    There is however no way for us to know whether quantum randomness is true randomness or just apparent randomness, as if coming out of a pseudorandom number generator. And only one case can be proven (hypothetically, that is) - the lack of randomness - by finding a formula whose output is identical to that of the observed apparent randomness.

  6. No, no, no on On Videogame Storage Solutions · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The best storage solution, by far, is keeping everything on a hard drive. Unfortunately, game companies won't allow us this convenience.

  7. The largest solar system model on Worlds Largest Scale Model Solar System? · · Score: 3, Informative

    The world's current largest solar system model is located in Sweden, scale 1:20 million.

  8. Re:Can't see it working... on Doom - The Board Game Announced · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Almost everything on Amazon has a rating between 4 and 5, though.

  9. Re:Is this as laughable... on Doom - The Board Game Announced · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Though a Doom movie hasn't reached production stages, the rumors aren't entirely groundless.

  10. Re:Can't see it working... on Doom - The Board Game Announced · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I haven't read those novels myself, but from what I've heard, they're beyond bad.

  11. The Doom Comic on Doom - The Board Game Announced · · Score: 5, Informative

    This better not be anything like the Doom comic in quality.

  12. Re:Yea right on 3D Realms' Scott Miller Warns Warner · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I think Carmack stated in a Slashdot post about a year ago that writing a 400-page design document and following it down to the details is a really bad idea - a good game evolves out of thousands of design decisions that turn up along the way. Compare Tom Hall's original "Doom bible" written in 1992 with the end result, I don't want to think about how bad the game would have been if they had followed the original plan. I think Tropico's problem was lack of communication, not lack of a design document.

  13. Re:600 octillian spam emails per year. on The Family That Spams Together Stays Together · · Score: 1

    To compare: the total amount of particles in the universe is estimated at 10^89 IIRC.

    I've heard they recently nailed the figure a bit lower, 10^89 - 2, IIRC.

  14. Re:Doom 3? on Localizing High-End Games for Low-End Machines · · Score: 2, Funny

    A time machine, to take you to 2110 when it comes out.

    We'll all be laughing at that statement in 2638.

  15. Re:Erm... There the hell is Dark Forces? on Picking The Top Ten FPS Titles Of All-Time · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Agree completely, Dark Forces was immensely atmospheric, and probably the best FPS next to Doom.

  16. Re:Simple Reason on TV Losing to Video Games · · Score: 1

    While it is true that the bulk of games has improved considerably, the peak titles are not better today than at any time before in history. And since I've always bought top games only, the increased quality of video games hasn't affected me personally.

    I don't watch TV at all, though.

  17. Re:tricky on NEC Demands License Fees For Carbon Nanotubes · · Score: 1

    I think it used to be the case that (for the most part) you couldn't claim a patent on a substance

    I'd like a patent on arsenic so I could sue RIAA for all that pop music they produce.

  18. Too easy and too hard... on Are Modern Games Too Easy? · · Score: 1

    Games are either too easy or too hard, or too far in between. What I mean by this is that they're either hard-too-impossible, or way-to-simple to easy. Why not offer the whole spectrum?

    One of my favorite games ever, Doom, is straightforward on the lowest difficulty setting. On Nightmare! (the highest), it's nearly impossible for mortals. I remember that someone at id Software (Romero?) even stated that he didn't think beating Doom 2 from start to end without dying on Nightmare! was possible. He was eventually proven wrong, though :) I hope they make DOOM 3 similar.

    I think the biggest problem with modern games is lack of non-linearity and choice, though. The rise of advanced scripting has led to increasing linearity, with games possibly being more fun the first time through but then losing all replay value. It was more fun when the games were laid out complexly and allowed sequence breaking. Some still do, but scripting is usually harder to bypass than buggy collision detection :)

  19. Re:14%? Alright; spill the beans on Metroid II, Prime Get New Speed Run Records · · Score: 2, Informative

    Sorry. I checked the recording again, the other difference is that he only uses 10/10 missiles/super missiles.

  20. Re:14%? Alright; spill the beans on Metroid II, Prime Get New Speed Run Records · · Score: 3, Informative

    The removed item is the Speed Booster, which you in fact don't need to access Draygon. By freezing a Mochtroid and jumping on it in the right moment, it is possible to pass through the block above it. Another glitch in the collision detection has been found that makes it possible to skip the Zebetites (but it doesn't change the amount of missiles needed, since you could always reload, and the amount required to beat Mother Brain is the same).

    This is easy to fake in a video mind you, since Gravity and Varia/Gravity look identical)

    Well, you'd record picking it up, wouldn't you?

  21. Re:Silly Question on Metroid II, Prime Get New Speed Run Records · · Score: 5, Informative

    Why would a video recording be more reliable as evidence? Really, what would prevent a cheater from recording on an emulator and then creating a video from that (through his TV or whatever)?

    Your chances of catching a cheater are in fact greater when dealing with emulator input recordings, since you can analyze the exact input and, judging from reaction times and various oddities, to some degree determine the likelihood of slowmotion being used. Then there's visual analysis, of course. A skilled player can often tell when there's something superhuman going on. I know that a few cheaters on the Doom speedrunning scene have been caught this way.

    In the end, the safest way is knowing the person. And trust me, there's no reason the guy who set these records would have cheated. He's made tons of recordings, each containing mistakes and occasionally improving his time slightly. I doubt a cheater would go through that.

    On the other hand, if I saw a flawless run...

  22. Re:Minimum percentage runs on Metroid II, Prime Get New Speed Run Records · · Score: 4, Informative

    Super Metroid has been done with 14% items.

  23. Re:Silly Question on Metroid II, Prime Get New Speed Run Records · · Score: 2, Informative

    Well, the record for 100% in Super Metroid in 0:58. Straight speed is 0:38. Check my post history, I recently posted links.

  24. Re:Super Metroid on Super Mario Bros Record Broken · · Score: 1

    No, that glitch isn't used.

    The only "real" glitch (I wouldn't count the mockball as a glitch) he uses in these runs is the one to pass through the Zebetites (the barriers in Mother Brain's room) without using any missiles.

  25. Re:How about one that doesn't require an illegal R on Super Mario Bros Record Broken · · Score: 3, Funny

    They don't require an illegal ROM - a legal ROM will do just fine.