"the organisers attempt to top themselves every year" - in Blighty that means that they're annually attempting to commit suicide. So either they're very bad at it, or they keep getting distracted by the shiny things.
This broadcast brought to you by Pan Atlantic Linguists (FRIEND).
"There should honestly be minimal intelligence requirements for one to be a reporter, I think."
But then how would they find reporters for Fox?
Wait...
Contraception, data integrity, making sure your presentation goes smoothly. All these are only done with any sense with redundancy.
If you make sure that the site has a combination of pdf, ppt, odp, etc copies of your presentation, you massively increase the chance of all being well. Just like if you're going for a normal presentation you take your laptop, the files on a usb key and a set of acetates/transparencies. Usually you won't need it, but just sometimes you'll be so glad you spent an extra few minutes taking precautions.
For remote stuff, assuming there's not much control over their system(s), ppt is the most frequently used option (therefore people know how to use it). So if the fancy VNC/remote desk/fancy X echo system goes wrong you can just get them to load the presentation on their system and say 'next slide'. This even works when people's network connections go down - it fails over all the way down to crowding around individual PCs and using a POTS conference call.
So, my advice? Try out something whizzy, because that could be really cool. But email them (and/or put on the web) copies of the presentation in a few formats as well.
Well, it pretty much covers the other main hobby of geeks across the globe, namely pretty girls. It's the only reason I watch it, I'll admit. I'm only proud of that because otherwise I'd have to be liking the plot, and I haven't found one yet. No matter how hard I stare at her. Hmm?
In the world of cryptography, there is no greater problem than key distribution. If I have a bank, and I want a secure connection to the head office, I need a big enough one-time pad to cover all the transactions for, say, a month. This is nigh-on impossible, as the amount of data is too huge. It also creates a huge weak point in the whole operation in allowing someone to infiltrate the courier, block deliveries, copy the data, etc.
Public key cryptography (mainly via RSA) was the answer to that problem. A public server can hold people's public keys, and only the intended recipient can read messages encrypted with them. So now, RSA is used to encrypt the key for a symmetric cryptosystem which is subsequently used.
Quantum computing, however, breaks that security by making the private key available from knowing only the public key. Sure, the devices are not that big yet, but people like those I work for are working on scaleable technology that will put large devices within reach.
Sure, for most people, it's not an issue. Only people with million-dollar quantum computers could break their encryption and steal their credit card data. But governments still need secure communication, and banks still need to secure their transactions. So for those with a serious need, there is Quantum Key Distribution, as outlined in the article.
QKD is not 'breakable' in any sense. You cannot only intercept the classical communication channel and somehow obtain the original data. The only possible attacks are based on good access to the fibre used for the quantum key. Some of us can see methods of intercepting the key with various degrees of success if you can get to the fibre. The easier ones rely on non-ideal implementation of the method - multi-photon bursts, polarisation dependent fibre, insensitivity to mode biasing.
Oh, and the traditional piggy-in-the-middle trick is (and always will be) entirely undetectable.
Then I suggest you read the Griffin site a bit more thoroughly. They sell a cassette adapter for the iPod named the Smartdeck, which uses your car stereo's controls to control the iPod. It's not wireless, but it's clever, and connects an iPod to a car stereo with a minimum of fuss...
The sats that SSTL build are generally earth-obs sats - they're midway through a global monitoring constellation to provide 24/7 distaster and earth monitoring to a group of many countries. The router, therefore, will be being used on the onboard data networks between the system and sensor modules, uplink/downlink, OBC etc. I have a feeling that this is only being tested, so it'll run in parallel with their normal satellite data shunts and their multiple redundant networks.
Being in LEO, it's in the line-of-sight of any one ground station for about 10 minutes at a time, and not on every orbit. Despite the movement, continuous data transmission is entirely possible over LEO constellations - as Iridium's 66 sat constellation shows.
SSTL are micro, mini (and recently nano) sat builders, and they're currently building a test sat for the Gallileo GPS alternative for the European Space Agency.
Why do I know this? My uni course was run in collaboration with them...
Slashdot Mirror
"the organisers attempt to top themselves every year" - in Blighty that means that they're annually attempting to commit suicide. So either they're very bad at it, or they keep getting distracted by the shiny things.
This broadcast brought to you by Pan Atlantic Linguists (FRIEND).
"There should honestly be minimal intelligence requirements for one to be a reporter, I think." But then how would they find reporters for Fox? Wait...
Contraception, data integrity, making sure your presentation goes smoothly. All these are only done with any sense with redundancy.
If you make sure that the site has a combination of pdf, ppt, odp, etc copies of your presentation, you massively increase the chance of all being well. Just like if you're going for a normal presentation you take your laptop, the files on a usb key and a set of acetates/transparencies. Usually you won't need it, but just sometimes you'll be so glad you spent an extra few minutes taking precautions.
For remote stuff, assuming there's not much control over their system(s), ppt is the most frequently used option (therefore people know how to use it). So if the fancy VNC/remote desk/fancy X echo system goes wrong you can just get them to load the presentation on their system and say 'next slide'. This even works when people's network connections go down - it fails over all the way down to crowding around individual PCs and using a POTS conference call.
So, my advice? Try out something whizzy, because that could be really cool. But email them (and/or put on the web) copies of the presentation in a few formats as well.
Well, it pretty much covers the other main hobby of geeks across the globe, namely pretty girls. It's the only reason I watch it, I'll admit. I'm only proud of that because otherwise I'd have to be liking the plot, and I haven't found one yet. No matter how hard I stare at her. Hmm?
In the world of cryptography, there is no greater problem than key distribution. If I have a bank, and I want a secure connection to the head office, I need a big enough one-time pad to cover all the transactions for, say, a month. This is nigh-on impossible, as the amount of data is too huge. It also creates a huge weak point in the whole operation in allowing someone to infiltrate the courier, block deliveries, copy the data, etc. Public key cryptography (mainly via RSA) was the answer to that problem. A public server can hold people's public keys, and only the intended recipient can read messages encrypted with them. So now, RSA is used to encrypt the key for a symmetric cryptosystem which is subsequently used. Quantum computing, however, breaks that security by making the private key available from knowing only the public key. Sure, the devices are not that big yet, but people like those I work for are working on scaleable technology that will put large devices within reach. Sure, for most people, it's not an issue. Only people with million-dollar quantum computers could break their encryption and steal their credit card data. But governments still need secure communication, and banks still need to secure their transactions. So for those with a serious need, there is Quantum Key Distribution, as outlined in the article. QKD is not 'breakable' in any sense. You cannot only intercept the classical communication channel and somehow obtain the original data. The only possible attacks are based on good access to the fibre used for the quantum key. Some of us can see methods of intercepting the key with various degrees of success if you can get to the fibre. The easier ones rely on non-ideal implementation of the method - multi-photon bursts, polarisation dependent fibre, insensitivity to mode biasing. Oh, and the traditional piggy-in-the-middle trick is (and always will be) entirely undetectable.
Then I suggest you read the Griffin site a bit more thoroughly. They sell a cassette adapter for the iPod named the Smartdeck, which uses your car stereo's controls to control the iPod. It's not wireless, but it's clever, and connects an iPod to a car stereo with a minimum of fuss...
Have you not heard? Sir Richard Branson has signed Rutan up to make him some space planes, in his latest venture: Virgin Galactic
Stories:
Virgin Atlantic Licensing SpaceShipOne (27/09/04)
Sir Richard takes Virgin into Space (10/01/05)
Yahoo: 2004, The Year Space Tourism Finally Took Off
Plus, Armadillo Aerospace don't seem to have lost all hope yet either - Almost ready (06/01/05)
By merely being the subject of this thread, they've provoked just 2 Score:5 responses out of 172. QED.
The sats that SSTL build are generally earth-obs sats - they're midway through a global monitoring constellation to provide 24/7 distaster and earth monitoring to a group of many countries. The router, therefore, will be being used on the onboard data networks between the system and sensor modules, uplink/downlink, OBC etc. I have a feeling that this is only being tested, so it'll run in parallel with their normal satellite data shunts and their multiple redundant networks.
Being in LEO, it's in the line-of-sight of any one ground station for about 10 minutes at a time, and not on every orbit. Despite the movement, continuous data transmission is entirely possible over LEO constellations - as Iridium's 66 sat constellation shows.
SSTL are micro, mini (and recently nano) sat builders, and they're currently building a test sat for the Gallileo GPS alternative for the European Space Agency.
Why do I know this? My uni course was run in collaboration with them...