Given that the inner sphere must be large enough to hold a person, that meants it must be around six feet in diameter. If I remember my geometry correctly (yeah, sure!) then the volume of the sphere is something like 4/3*pi*r^2. If I remember my biology right (uh huh, right) 20 liters of air can sustain a calm person for an hour...
Oh forget it...someone else can do the math...my point was that the thing looks like it has enough air to last at least a couple hours. If you haven't hit bottom in two hours...well then you are probably in the mafia's "Cement Zorb" on the way to the bottom of the ocean...
I'm no expert, but from the pictures it looks like this is constructed in the same manner as an air mattress: several different pockets of plastic that are connected by tiny air conduits.
When inflating with a slow, steady stream...the air can flow into every single plastic chamber until the entire sphere is inflated. Plus, the plastic walls of each chamber (with sufficient air pressure on both sides) are what actually supports the sphere.
In the case of an extreme puncture, only one of the cells will completely deflate right away, and the surrounding cells will continue to leak air at the same slow, steady rate. Eventually, the entire thing will become rather floppy but hopefully by then you are safe on the ground.
This doesn't mean hurl yourself into a spike pit because if the "extreme puncture" happens to be in the place where your back is, all bets are off.
Except you are pinned by a harness and the rock is only pinned by centripital force. Which means if the Zorb does anything but roll (like bounce), stuff could fly straight at you.
Everything is fine on water or rolling gently down grassy hills but if this thing is flying down cliffs I see plenty of possibilty for the opening to scuff against something and throw junk inside the sphere. I think the sealed globe is the better idea.
Suddenly the Zorb becomes one giant salad bowl and you are covered in thousand island dressing.
Seriously...what if this happened at the top of a hill? By the time you reach the bottom, you would probably have passed out from the acrid fumes...that might be dangerous.
Also, what happens if you are bouncing down a hill and a rock gets in the opening? Severe cits or bruises since you are pretty much pinned to the wall and at the mercy of whatever object is flying around with you.
All told, this is still a way cool invention. I just don't think it's something I would try.
Okay...first of all, the most common reason for reverse-engineering something is to remove or bypass the copy protection scheme. I know this because I see the results float by every day on IRC channels. I bought every game Blizzard ever made, but yet I am extremely glad some talented person reverse-engineered their copy to get rid of the damn CD checks...which I just happened to acquire as a "offsite copy for backup purposes".
In the interest of education about reverse-engineering, I'm going to discuss a step-by-step process as it relates to the most popular use for it...copy protection. If you want to flame me, or moderate this down to -2, or post hateful comments go ahead...your local library has instuctions on how to make bombs so I see no reason to feel guilty for teaching something that requires at least ten times the brain power of bomb making.
Not to mention, if you seriously think that someone who has never reverse-engineered a program in his or her life is going to somehow magically take the information I post here and never have to pay for software again, get real. Warez are just a search engine away so if someone actually take the time to LEARN a new skill, I say good for them. Okay, here we go...
Required definitions:
1) PRC : Palm Resource File. Like an EXE. Contains app's code, graphics and forms 2) Form (FRM) : A Palm window filled with text, buttons or dropdowns 3) Alert (ALT) : Popup form, often used to comment on the validity of one's reg code 4) String (STR) : ASCII characters like "Registration Successful!" 5) Offset : Location in the PRC file where we will do some editing 6) ID : 2 byte hex code such as 05 DC that identifies a Resource 7) Trap : Palm function to perform a task such as sysTrapStrCompare
Required tools:
Yes, they are all for Windows, but if you are smart enough to read/. then you are smart enough to have access to a Windows box or know how to VMWare one.
1) PilotDis to thoroughly break down PRC files 2) Prc2Bin to untangle PRC files into Alerts, Forms and Strings 3) Palm Emulator (POSE)to run PRC's on your Windows machine for testing 4) Hex WorkShop to reach into PRC files and change the most delicate parts of them 5) UltraEdit to quickly find text occurrences in files
Now, you don't need to own a Palm to learn how to reverse engineer a Palm program, but the emulator isn't going to run without a PalmOS ROM file. If you can't figure out how to get a ROM file on the Internet, forget about learning to reverse engineer and instead learn how to use a search engine. Of course, if you own a Palm, or know someone who does, POSE has a button to download the ROM from it.
Fire up the Palm Emulator (POSE) and load the OS ROM to begin a new emulation session. Load up whatever program it is you want to reverse engineer. I recommend starting with a nice simple program like Yearly (stand-by for/. effect) because it is easy to understand.
Click the menu button and navigate to the Info menu where you'll find an About option. Choose that option and note the text "Unregistered Copy" (write this text down). Now choose the Register option and notice the test "Yearly Registration" (write this down too). Enter a bogus number like 111 and notice the message "Registration Failed: You entered a wrong code!"...yes, you need to write this down too.
Now, let's see where those resources are in the program file. Run PilotDis with the command "dis yearly.prc". Then run PRC2Bin with the command "prc2bin yearly.prc". If everything was done properly then your should have many.BIN files and a file called "yearly.prc.s"
We know that the "Registration Failed" window is an Alert because it pops up when we enter the wrong number. If you've installed UltraEdit then right-click on one of the Alert files like "Talt138c.bin" and open it. What do you see inside? It says "Registration Successful!" Check out the other Alerts. Open them one by one. You'll notice that A#138D (Alert ID #138D) contains the text "Registration Failed".
Now, where do these ID's show up in the program? Open up UltraEdit and load "yearly.prc.s". Search for $138D to locate calls to the Failed Alert.
It is called at x4A1C (Address 4A1C), right after the #5005. Right above it is a call to $138C after #5004. This is our Successful Alert. Where does it decide what Alert to branch to? See the instruction 'BEQ'? That means 'branch if the compare or test equals 0'. The TST.W 40(A4) code above it checks memory location 40(A4). Therefore, somewhere in the program, 40(A4) is set to a value and depending on the value, flags either Pass or Fail responses. In this case, a 0 means we've Failed the check. Let's take a look at the the code immediately above it: L48 (label 48), part of the BSR (Branch Subroutine).
Here is truncated routine L48 that you found by searching for 'L48':
Noticed that the instruction CLR.W 40(A4) refers to the key address? This makes the memory location equal to 0 which it remains until another instruction affects 40(A4). The only way around it is at x0802 where 40(A4) may become 1. The BNE instruction above x0802 steers the program from the Pass outcome. Farther up, the instruction sysTrapStrCompare is a big tip-off things are coming to a close in L48. Memory location D0 will hold a 0 if the two compared values are equal and a 1 if they are not. The BNE instruction at x0800 means "branch if the compare or test does not equal 0". So, if we can ensure that the routine always returns a 1, it will always Pass.
Let's take the quickest path and plan to get rid of the BNE instruction, ensuring that we will always MOVE.W #1 into 40(A4). When you want to remove an instruction, the easiest thing to fill it with is a NOP, short for no instruction. The 2 byte opcode for NOP is 4E 71.
"Huh?" Well, unfortuately, Palms use Motorola DragonBall processors and the list of instruction codes is copyrighted material. I can't provide a link to it here. If you are seriously interested in reverse engineering on the Palm platform, you'll have to contact Motorola and request a copy from them. I'm providing the NOP number here so that its possible to learn how a reverse-engineering process works.
Anyway, at x0800 we want to place 4E 71. Because our BNE L53 instruction is also 2 bytes we only need one NOP. Open Hex Workshop or another hex editor and go to address x0800. In UltraEdit, type CTRL+G and type '0x0800'. You should find '66 06' there. Type over it with '4E 71' and save.
Now, reload the modified yearly.prc file into POSE. Try to register with any number. Does it work? Of course it does. Check the About screen. It says "Registered" now.
Thus ends the lesson. You now know why reverse-engineering is such a hot topic on the Internet today.
As I mentioned in a previous post, I happen to be using a cable modem...and the mental giants that set up the network decided to name every single host name by it's physical location. Which means if someone does a reverse-DNS lookup on my IP, they will get...
customer.city.region.state.country.home.com
Plus, my since my customer number is first, if the person has any amount of human engineering skills, they will have my street address in no time. I can't tell you how many times I've had @Home reps read aloud my home address and THEN ask me for my security passcode. Failing that, since they have my city and state, if they get my last name they have a better-than-average chance of finding me listed in a phone directory. =\
Obviously, my complaints fall on deaf ears since @Home is not going to change their idiotic naming scheme any time soon. So, that means I must use the utmost caution when allowing my IP to be posted somewhere online. You people think that only e-mail address are harvested from public discussion groups? Wrong. For several weeks following a posting to a beginners help forum (that listed my IP) I was bombarded with signals on port 31337 and 12345. I actually had to threaten @Home with legal action to get them to change my IP and ever since I haven't let that thing get out of my sight.
If you have a cable modem, especially @Home, I strongly suggest you be just as careful.
IRC is normally "spoof-proof" because it is a two-way medium. It's pretty hard to spoof something if you need to receive traffic.
On the other hand, it appears that you haven't heard of a "bounce" which basically runs all your IRC communication through a vhost/shell (or two or three or however secure you want to make it).
So, in theory someone who wants to find you would need to review the IP logs on several different ISPs probably located around the world. That's something even a governement agent would have a hard time doing if the shell was in, say, Singapore and the sys admin didn't answer his phone.
So, in that situation, IRC is as safe as posting through a proxy on the web. It's not bulletproof but at least if the authorites go after the IP, they are not going to be knocking on your door first.
Some moderator out there is missing his or her sense of humor and/or irony. This was an "anonymous coward" posting a completely "unbiased" view of the President. Note the signature. It's a joke, get it?
[SARCASM] Maybe Rob Malda needs to fix that "Don't include sig when posting as AC" feature? [/SARCASM]
It's not the most hilarious joke I've ever read but it's certainly not -1:Off-topic...
I can't stand it when online sites or forums post your IP without first warning you in big flashing bold letters.
First of all...from a security standpoint, it's completely useless since any eight-year-old who reads/. know how to spoof or masquerade or proxy their real IP...not to mention that Bill Clinton could just get on a AOL account if he wants to look like some average Joe Shmoe.
All it does is post the IPs of people who probably aren't smart enough to know how to hide them...which pretty much paints a big red bulls eys on them for the BO/NetBus crowd.
Back on my dial-up ISP days, I didn't care if my IP was out there since all I had to do was disconnect to get a new one. But now having a cable modem, the last thing I want is for some bored wanna-be-cr/hacker to port scan me because something about my post leads him to believe I have vast treasure troves of illegal warez just waiting for him on port 2121...
I honestly saw this move coming. Having these different colors is really impractical. Black and purple are clearly the "in" colors right now yet you hardly seen any products that them. The result is that no one is happy since customers can't get enough purple iMacs and retailers are not selling computers simply based on their style.
What would be a smarter idea is for Apple et. al. to make cases where the colored parts are removable and made out of a white, permeable plastic. Then, include some dye packs and let the user find the exact shade that pleased them. I know some people suggest spray paint, but that only really works for metal cases that you can sand down and put on a primer. Paint on plastic just peels off so dyeable plastic is really the best solution.
I think eventually Apple will have a color for each major model line and try to stick the most "elite" colors (purple and black) on the most expensive hardware. IE, if you pay toy prices it will look like a toy.
And regarding the CD/DVD, don't forget that you are shopping for one, generic, PC drive and Apple is trying to find thousands of drives that are all compatible and will work with their cases's form factor. Pricing changes drastically as the number get larger but it's more probably that Apple simply doesn't have enough DVD drives to put in ALL the iMac models whereas they have a surplus of CD drives.
Um, if you think user's confusing CD-ROM trays for cupholders is a bad...wait until you start getting calls from people who think Apple is finally putting floppy drives in iMacs.
I work in an all-Compaq shop and a couple years ago, Compaq used tray-less CD-ROMs in all their Deskpro 2000 models. I loved them because finally I could orient my computer in any position and not have to fiddle with tabs or grooves.
But then I started getting calls from users who would stick pretty much any removable media made after 1982 into the blank, label-less slot and the cost to continually swap out damaged drives just wasn't worth it.
I mean, trays are annoying to some, but to the target audience of the iMac, only a CD/DVD will fit in the 5" depression on a CD/DVD-ROM tray so you only have to worry about it being right side up and the user education is over.
Again, my $1.00 - $0.98 and not necessarily yours...
Graphite...hmm...I never knew the name for that color until now.
I find it amusing that the only color with the odor problem is the only color not named after fruit...I guess they didn't want any "Rotting Apple" nicknames...
I suppose it's okay for minerals to stink, but if that is how grey Graphite smells, I'm gonna run like hell if I ever see a bright-yellow iMac sitting on someone's desk...=\
Business managers sue Microsoft, claiming that they "were forced to spend thousands of dollars searching through box after box of products searching for the rare, bug-free programs Microsoft claims to have produced."
Abuse is common as contractors may dupe unsuspecting IT management into trading their stable, proven *nix technology for what the contractors swear are "newer, cooler" versions.
...lets all go out to our nearest football field and use fertilizer to burn the message:
BIG BROTHER GO AWAY!!!
Seriously...this is too much like Enemy of the State for me. Not that the government can't already spy on me as a sneak a quick nose pick in the backyard but...isn't this a private company?
I don't want some punk kid working at Visual Forensics as a $10/hour contractor getting to surf my life on his lunch hour as easily as I may surf the web...
I'm just thinking...a device like this would make the getaway from a bank robbery very easy.
Police chasing in cars would be stuck if criminal jetted over a building out of their line of sight and helicopters would be in trouble because this thing would be able to move through areas they can't really follow.
Either the police would have to have to keep pace with the average purchasing for these things or thre would have to be some way to track them (portable radar?) so police wouldn't need helicopters for each chase.
Anyway...maybe I'm giving the criminals too much credit but I seem to remember several movies where jewel theives et. al. used jetpacks to completely ellude the police...
I'm interested in any legal or technical experts who might care to comment on how this type of law affects people who run proxy (or other IP routing) services?
Specifically...remember back in the "good old days" that penet.fi was one of the first host to allow some degree of anonymous access? After someone successfully sued in Finish court for the identity of one of the anonymous e-mailers, the service was shut down to prevent other people from having the same breach in privacy.
What if I ran a proxy service that would allow people to surf the web or other TCP/IP services anonymously?
Since I'm not a telecommunications provider receiving some federal funding...does that mean if I throw out my DHCP/DNS/IP logs every night I'm free and clear? Is there any part of this law that says I NEED to keep a backlog of this information so when the FBI comes knocking I can point out the TRUE identity of someone using my service?
I know there are several proxies out there right now but I do not know if any of them keep or toss information like this and I'm very curious to know if there's anything to mandate logging.
Personally...if I do run a proxy service...I'll probably play dumb and if some federal government want to pay for some training classes well then maybe I'll consider learning how to use the logging features of my proxy software.
What an ego. Who would want to work for such an anal-retentive, anti-social software dictator such as yourself?
Anyhoo...Mr Coward has reached the level of throwing personal insults like so much rotten fruit. It's clear he obviously hasn't been able to come up with any evidence to prove my original suggestion was in any way wrong or "theft of service". Thank you, we can now go on with our lives...
Have you even bothered to READ the terms of service at any of the free webspace provider sites? Simply put, if it's not explicitly forbidden by the terms of service then it could NOT possibly be called "theft of service".
If you cannot understand that simple concept, it is because you are either:
a) a strict-constructionalist who believes that anything not explicitly permitted is forbidden.
b) an idiot who cares less about the facts than the chance to throw a hissy-fit.
c) a moron.
As I said before, if any web provider feels "used" for having this kinda of one-time usage they are free to modify their terms of service to ban or restrict it.
How can I explain this concept in a way that even a troll like you can understand...?
Let's say that someone on the street is standing under a sign that says "Free T-Shirts". You go over there an discover that all the T-shirts have advertisements written on them. Well now...if I want to take two or three T-shirts is that theft? I think not. Now if the guy changes he sign to read "Free T-Shirts - One per person" then if I took two or three I could believe that could be considered "wrong".
If you have some tangible (read: cut and paste) proof that my suggestion is breaking a written rule by all means post it. Otherwise, stop being such a troll and take this argument to e-mail. I'm not hiding...I have the guts at least to go get a disposable Hotmail account...
Which by the way...I got the Hotmail account so I could deliberately pass it out in case I receive a high volume response (spam). In a couple months I plan to throw it away and get a new one...unless Hotmail decides I am using too much mail space and they yank the account it for me. Sound familiar? Me using free webspace to offset the slashdot effect is no different than using a free mail account to offset the spam effect.
True, the IIIe was an attempt, but in my opinion a very bad one.
First of all...it isn't really any cheaper. List price for the IIIe is something like $220 and you can find the IIIx listing for $270. For $50 you get an extra 2MB of ram plus the option for cool expansion cards (including an 8MB option). Even just 2MB RAM gives you double the Palm for less than one=quarter of the money.
The Palm IIIe must be for the penny-pinchers that really don't think they'll ever need more than 2MB of RAM and would rather keep the $50. But to those penny-pinchers I say find some of the good close-out bargains on the Palm III. I've seen www.pricewatch.com list them occasionally for less than the $150 you would pay for a Visor.
True, you don't get the newer screen or processor but considering you can find a beta copy of OS 3.3 that works for Palm III (not just IIIe, IIIx and V) it doesn't look like Palm III will really be "obsolete" for at least a couple more years.
Of course, 3Com might hack the ROM to only work on the DragonBall processor and thus put Palm III out to pasture, so if the 2000+ applications availble for OS 3.0 aren't enough for you, you should probably choose Visor over Palm III.
Anyway...I agree...it will be interesting to see how this all ends up but IM-Biased-O anything that says "cheaper" and "more features" is a good idea to me...
First of all...it isn't my "cartoon porn" site. I referenced it to prove that this tactic works (you can have a site run completely from free website providers that looks surprisingly professional)
Your argument (attack, really) that this is cheating is completely untrue. If the response to the URL reaches "abuse" levels there are always automatic safeguards that make the site inaccessable. This falls completely within the user agreement! You are borrowing webspace to promote or advertise your content...understanding that this is free so if it becomes a burden, it will disappear.
You, a small-time webmaster, do not have the ability to implement such safeguards. If you get swapped, you could be offline for days or even weeks until interest in the URL dies. People will keep retrying until they get something. But, if they follow a link to GeoCities and find it is invalid, they will give up or look for another link.
See how that works? Now obviously, this isn't going to be what major corporations do because they cannot tolerate even the risk of downtime, but then again...most website providers ban commercial content anyway.
But for a starving artist who cannot afford the one-time traffic demands of being slashdotted, it is a completely valid and perfectly acceptable solution. If web providers disagree, they are perfectly capable of setting content restrictions. But, if they do, they will probably lose customers and thus advertising revenue. It's their choice.
Oscar the grouch will no longer be visible unless you have your V-chip set to a rating of Y7+ because parents feel he is too much like a homeless person and thus too scary.
Snuffalupagus will also no longer be visible without a TV-14 setting because of the phallic nature of his nasal appendage.
Elmo will not be visible without a setting of TV-MA due to the perverse nature of his tickle fetish.
Nokia already has a cellular phone available in Europe that can do web browsing..the Nokia 9110 series. In fact, Europeans have a way cool version with Indiglo-style backlighting that (as far as I know) will not work in the US.
But if I understand correctly, the Nokia 9110 has a special operating system that allows third-party companies to write wireless applications that use the cellular connection (sorta like the PalmVII in the states but billed by minute per your cell phone contrct and not by KB).
So if they now have this thing...does that mean they are scrapping plans for continuation of 9110 or can the new device also run the programs developed for the 9110?
I doubt anyone here can answer but I thought I would ask. =)
Also...in reference to this "smug superiority" of Europeans for having a better system than US, it is my belief that if you check the dates you'll probably find that development of the digital TV standard in the US began before the EU started investigating their own. So of course whoever is later is going to have the technical advantage. I doubt that anyone working on the digital TV standard back when it was created could have anticipated the boom in wireless activity.
Personally, I think the EU approach is pointless. We are quickly moving to a point where ALL audio and video traffic happens over TCP/IP (like Voice over IP for phone traffic and video conferencing for video traffic). Making a specialized wireless system for JUST digital TV is a waste. Spend the money on improving wireless bandwidths and then you can just broadcast the MPEG-2 video streams from your DVD directly to the wireless devices.
Data is data and I think if that you get broadbast wireless up and running (like the lucky folks in Tuscon, AZ have wireless T1s) the rest of the stuff...like broadcast of digital TV... will be simple.
In answer to several above posts, Handspring is not going to be a "me too" of the existing Palm models. They are specifically targetting students (college and high school) and general consumers who may have been afraid of previous electonic organizers (like Sharp Wizard, etc.)
No self-respecting business person will probably carry around a Visor at work. I haven't seen pictures yet, but I'd be willing to bet that the Visor models will have a decidedly non-business look to them (although hopefully not as bad as what Apple would come up with).
Palm models have been in such high demand that they have been able to sell 4 million+ units even at $250-$400 prices. This can't continue so companies like Handspring are going to have to create a more accessable version...Visors are going to be the "Mercedes C Class" of the PalmOS world while the Palm V will continue to be the "big Mercedes".
Visor's most interesting feature, IMHO, is the idea for hot-swappable modules called Springboards. The idea here is that the PalmOS does not have the memory/batteries to perform certain functions as well as standalone devices (MP3 playback is not possible on a Palm and not really practical on a WinCE). But, by using a serial connection, a Palm is more than qualified to be the interface to control a separate device.
Imagine if you could take the screen/controls off off a Rio and then plug it into the back of your Palm. The PalmOS provides the interface to pick songs, pause, adjust EQ, etc. while the Springboard provides the 32MB memory and extra batteries to provide acceptable sound levels (sort of like the Boostaroo product that amplifies MP3 playback on too-quiet WinCE headphone jacks).
I can think of several different devices that could benefit from a much larger screen, ability to keep history lists, exchange data with PC, and so forth. Pagers are an excellent candidate for Springboard modules. I'm really quite excited; I only hope someone comes up with a Springboard socket adapter for my Palm V.
I fully expect Visor to be the final nail in WindowCE's coffin. I know many people who see Palms that cost $250-$400 retail next to WinCE devices that are $350-$500 dollars. I'm sad to say that many of them instantly buy the WinCE devices because they feel they are getting so much more (color, sound, etc.) for their money.
What the general public has failed to realize thus far is that PalmOS is a tool, and as such does not NEED color or sound to provide information. Now thanks to Visor, the ante into the handheld game is only $150...people might finally understand how all the color and sound in the world doesn't make your address book any more functional.
Slashdot Mirror
Given that the inner sphere must be large enough to hold a person, that meants it must be around six feet in diameter. If I remember my geometry correctly (yeah, sure!) then the volume of the sphere is something like 4/3*pi*r^2. If I remember my biology right (uh huh, right) 20 liters of air can sustain a calm person for an hour...
= -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Oh forget it...someone else can do the math...my point was that the thing looks like it has enough air to last at least a couple hours. If you haven't hit bottom in two hours...well then you are probably in the mafia's "Cement Zorb" on the way to the bottom of the ocean...
- JoeShmoe
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
I'm no expert, but from the pictures it looks like this is constructed in the same manner as an air mattress: several different pockets of plastic that are connected by tiny air conduits.
= -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
When inflating with a slow, steady stream...the air can flow into every single plastic chamber until the entire sphere is inflated. Plus, the plastic walls of each chamber (with sufficient air pressure on both sides) are what actually supports the sphere.
In the case of an extreme puncture, only one of the cells will completely deflate right away, and the surrounding cells will continue to leak air at the same slow, steady rate. Eventually, the entire thing will become rather floppy but hopefully by then you are safe on the ground.
This doesn't mean hurl yourself into a spike pit because if the "extreme puncture" happens to be in the place where your back is, all bets are off.
- JoeShmoe
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Except you are pinned by a harness and the rock is only pinned by centripital force. Which means if the Zorb does anything but roll (like bounce), stuff could fly straight at you.
= -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Everything is fine on water or rolling gently down grassy hills but if this thing is flying down cliffs I see plenty of possibilty for the opening to scuff against something and throw junk inside the sphere. I think the sealed globe is the better idea.
- JoeShmoe
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Ewww...
= -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Suddenly the Zorb becomes one giant salad bowl and you are covered in thousand island dressing.
Seriously...what if this happened at the top of a hill? By the time you reach the bottom, you would probably have passed out from the acrid fumes...that might be dangerous.
Also, what happens if you are bouncing down a hill and a rock gets in the opening? Severe cits or bruises since you are pretty much pinned to the wall and at the mercy of whatever object is flying around with you.
All told, this is still a way cool invention. I just don't think it's something I would try.
- JoeShmoe
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Okay...first of all, the most common reason for reverse-engineering something is to remove or bypass the copy protection scheme. I know this because I see the results float by every day on IRC channels. I bought every game Blizzard ever made, but yet I am extremely glad some talented person reverse-engineered their copy to get rid of the damn CD checks...which I just happened to acquire as a "offsite copy for backup purposes".
/. then you are smart enough to have access to a Windows box or know how to VMWare one.
/. effect) because it is easy to understand.
.BIN files and a file called "yearly.prc.s"
;What is this? ;Successful ;Failed
;Our memory address! ~~~~~ ;Leave 0 or make 1?
= -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
In the interest of education about reverse-engineering, I'm going to discuss a step-by-step process as it relates to the most popular use for it...copy protection. If you want to flame me, or moderate this down to -2, or post hateful comments go ahead...your local library has instuctions on how to make bombs so I see no reason to feel guilty for teaching something that requires at least ten times the brain power of bomb making.
Not to mention, if you seriously think that someone who has never reverse-engineered a program in his or her life is going to somehow magically take the information I post here and never have to pay for software again, get real. Warez are just a search engine away so if someone actually take the time to LEARN a new skill, I say good for them. Okay, here we go...
Required definitions:
1) PRC : Palm Resource File. Like an EXE. Contains app's code, graphics and forms
2) Form (FRM) : A Palm window filled with text, buttons or dropdowns
3) Alert (ALT) : Popup form, often used to comment on the validity of one's reg code
4) String (STR) : ASCII characters like "Registration Successful!"
5) Offset : Location in the PRC file where we will do some editing
6) ID : 2 byte hex code such as 05 DC that identifies a Resource
7) Trap : Palm function to perform a task such as sysTrapStrCompare
Required tools:
Yes, they are all for Windows, but if you are smart enough to read
1) PilotDis to thoroughly break down PRC files
2) Prc2Bin to untangle PRC files into Alerts, Forms and Strings
3) Palm Emulator (POSE)to run PRC's on your Windows machine for testing
4) Hex WorkShop to reach into PRC files and change the most delicate parts of them
5) UltraEdit to quickly find text occurrences in files
Now, you don't need to own a Palm to learn how to reverse engineer a Palm program, but the emulator isn't going to run without a PalmOS ROM file. If you can't figure out how to get a ROM file on the Internet, forget about learning to reverse engineer and instead learn how to use a search engine. Of course, if you own a Palm, or know someone who does, POSE has a button to download the ROM from it.
Fire up the Palm Emulator (POSE) and load the OS ROM to begin a new emulation session. Load up whatever program it is you want to reverse engineer. I recommend starting with a nice simple program like Yearly (stand-by for
Click the menu button and navigate to the Info menu where you'll find an About option. Choose that option and note the text "Unregistered Copy" (write this text down). Now choose the Register option and notice the test "Yearly Registration" (write this down too). Enter a bogus number like 111 and notice the message "Registration Failed: You entered a wrong code!"...yes, you need to write this down too.
Now, let's see where those resources are in the program file. Run PilotDis with the command "dis yearly.prc". Then run PRC2Bin with the command "prc2bin yearly.prc". If everything was done properly then your should have many
We know that the "Registration Failed" window is an Alert because it pops up when we enter the wrong number. If you've installed UltraEdit then right-click on one of the Alert files like "Talt138c.bin" and open it. What do you see inside? It says "Registration Successful!" Check out the other Alerts. Open them one by one. You'll notice that A#138D (Alert ID #138D) contains the text "Registration Failed".
Now, where do these ID's show up in the program? Open up UltraEdit and load "yearly.prc.s". Search for $138D to locate calls to the Failed Alert.
Here is the code nearby the call:
00004a02 4e4fa0c5 TRAP #15,$A0C5 = sysTrapStrCopy
00004a06 6100bcf4 BSR L48
00004a0a defc000c ADDA.W #12!$c,A7
00004a0e 4a6c0028 TST.W 40(A4)
00004a12 6708 BEQ L607
00004a14 3f3c138c MOVE.W #5004!$138c,-(A7)
00004a18 60000006 BRA L608
00004a1c 3f3c138d L607 MOVE.W #5005!$138d,-(A7)
00004a20 4e4fa192 L608 TRAP #15,$A192 = sysTrapFrmAlert
It is called at x4A1C (Address 4A1C), right after the #5005. Right above it is a call to $138C after #5004. This is our Successful Alert. Where does it decide what Alert to branch to? See the instruction 'BEQ'? That means 'branch if the compare or test equals 0'. The TST.W 40(A4) code above it checks memory location 40(A4). Therefore, somewhere in the program, 40(A4) is set to a value and depending on the value, flags either Pass or Fail responses. In this case, a 0 means we've Failed the check. Let's take a look at the the code immediately above it: L48 (label 48), part of the BSR (Branch Subroutine).
Here is truncated routine L48 that you found by searching for 'L48':
0000071e 3e06 MOVE.W D6,D7
00000720 9e40 SUB.W D0,D7
00000722 426c0028 CLR.W 40(A4)
000007fa 4e4fa0c8 TRAP #15,$A0C8 = sysTrapStrCompare
000007fe 4a40 TST.W D0
00000800 6606 BNE L53
00000802 397c00010028 MOVE.W #1,40(A4)
00000808 4cee04f8ffe8 L53 MOVEM.L -24(A6),D3-D7/A2
0000080e 4e5e UNLK A6
00000810 4e75 RTS
Noticed that the instruction CLR.W 40(A4) refers to the key address? This makes the memory location equal to 0 which it remains until another instruction affects 40(A4). The only way around it is at x0802 where 40(A4) may become 1. The BNE instruction above x0802 steers the program from the Pass outcome. Farther up, the instruction sysTrapStrCompare is a big tip-off things are coming to a close in L48. Memory location D0 will hold a 0 if the two compared values are equal and a 1 if they are not. The BNE instruction at x0800 means "branch if the compare or test does not equal 0". So, if we can ensure that the routine always returns a 1, it will always Pass.
Let's take the quickest path and plan to get rid of the BNE instruction, ensuring that we will always MOVE.W #1 into 40(A4). When you want to remove an instruction, the easiest thing to fill it with is a NOP, short for no instruction. The 2 byte opcode for NOP is 4E 71.
"Huh?" Well, unfortuately, Palms use Motorola DragonBall processors and the list of instruction codes is copyrighted material. I can't provide a link to it here. If you are seriously interested in reverse engineering on the Palm platform, you'll have to contact Motorola and request a copy from them. I'm providing the NOP number here so that its possible to learn how a reverse-engineering process works.
Anyway, at x0800 we want to place 4E 71. Because our BNE L53 instruction is also 2 bytes we only need one NOP. Open Hex Workshop or another hex editor and go to address x0800. In UltraEdit, type CTRL+G and type '0x0800'. You should find '66 06' there. Type over it with '4E 71' and save.
Now, reload the modified yearly.prc file into POSE. Try to register with any number. Does it work? Of course it does. Check the About screen. It says "Registered" now.
Thus ends the lesson. You now know why reverse-engineering is such a hot topic on the Internet today.
- JoeShmoe
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Please read my previous posting (same answer)
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- JoeShmoe
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As I mentioned in a previous post, I happen to be using a cable modem...and the mental giants that set up the network decided to name every single host name by it's physical location. Which means if someone does a reverse-DNS lookup on my IP, they will get...
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customer.city.region.state.country.home.com
Plus, my since my customer number is first, if the person has any amount of human engineering skills, they will have my street address in no time. I can't tell you how many times I've had @Home reps read aloud my home address and THEN ask me for my security passcode. Failing that, since they have my city and state, if they get my last name they have a better-than-average chance of finding me listed in a phone directory. =\
Obviously, my complaints fall on deaf ears since @Home is not going to change their idiotic naming scheme any time soon. So, that means I must use the utmost caution when allowing my IP to be posted somewhere online. You people think that only e-mail address are harvested from public discussion groups? Wrong. For several weeks following a posting to a beginners help forum (that listed my IP) I was bombarded with signals on port 31337 and 12345. I actually had to threaten @Home with legal action to get them to change my IP and ever since I haven't let that thing get out of my sight.
If you have a cable modem, especially @Home, I strongly suggest you be just as careful.
- JoeShmoe
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IRC is normally "spoof-proof" because it is a two-way medium. It's pretty hard to spoof something if you need to receive traffic.
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On the other hand, it appears that you haven't heard of a "bounce" which basically runs all your IRC communication through a vhost/shell (or two or three or however secure you want to make it).
So, in theory someone who wants to find you would need to review the IP logs on several different ISPs probably located around the world. That's something even a governement agent would have a hard time doing if the shell was in, say, Singapore and the sys admin didn't answer his phone.
So, in that situation, IRC is as safe as posting through a proxy on the web. It's not bulletproof but at least if the authorites go after the IP, they are not going to be knocking on your door first.
- JoeShmoe
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Some moderator out there is missing his or her sense of humor and/or irony. This was an "anonymous coward" posting a completely "unbiased" view of the President. Note the signature. It's a joke, get it?
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[SARCASM] Maybe Rob Malda needs to fix that "Don't include sig when posting as AC" feature? [/SARCASM]
It's not the most hilarious joke I've ever read but it's certainly not -1:Off-topic...
- JoeShmoe
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I can't stand it when online sites or forums post your IP without first warning you in big flashing bold letters.
/. know how to spoof or masquerade or proxy their real IP...not to mention that Bill Clinton could just get on a AOL account if he wants to look like some average Joe Shmoe.
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First of all...from a security standpoint, it's completely useless since any eight-year-old who reads
All it does is post the IPs of people who probably aren't smart enough to know how to hide them...which pretty much paints a big red bulls eys on them for the BO/NetBus crowd.
Back on my dial-up ISP days, I didn't care if my IP was out there since all I had to do was disconnect to get a new one. But now having a cable modem, the last thing I want is for some bored wanna-be-cr/hacker to port scan me because something about my post leads him to believe I have vast treasure troves of illegal warez just waiting for him on port 2121...
- JoeShmoe
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I honestly saw this move coming. Having these different colors is really impractical. Black and purple are clearly the "in" colors right now yet you hardly seen any products that them. The result is that no one is happy since customers can't get enough purple iMacs and retailers are not selling computers simply based on their style.
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What would be a smarter idea is for Apple et. al. to make cases where the colored parts are removable and made out of a white, permeable plastic. Then, include some dye packs and let the user find the exact shade that pleased them. I know some people suggest spray paint, but that only really works for metal cases that you can sand down and put on a primer. Paint on plastic just peels off so dyeable plastic is really the best solution.
I think eventually Apple will have a color for each major model line and try to stick the most "elite" colors (purple and black) on the most expensive hardware. IE, if you pay toy prices it will look like a toy.
And regarding the CD/DVD, don't forget that you are shopping for one, generic, PC drive and Apple is trying to find thousands of drives that are all compatible and will work with their cases's form factor. Pricing changes drastically as the number get larger but it's more probably that Apple simply doesn't have enough DVD drives to put in ALL the iMac models whereas they have a surplus of CD drives.
- JoeShmoe
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Um, if you think user's confusing CD-ROM trays for cupholders is a bad...wait until you start getting calls from people who think Apple is finally putting floppy drives in iMacs.
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I work in an all-Compaq shop and a couple years ago, Compaq used tray-less CD-ROMs in all their Deskpro 2000 models. I loved them because finally I could orient my computer in any position and not have to fiddle with tabs or grooves.
But then I started getting calls from users who would stick pretty much any removable media made after 1982 into the blank, label-less slot and the cost to continually swap out damaged drives just wasn't worth it.
I mean, trays are annoying to some, but to the target audience of the iMac, only a CD/DVD will fit in the 5" depression on a CD/DVD-ROM tray so you only have to worry about it being right side up and the user education is over.
Again, my $1.00 - $0.98 and not necessarily yours...
- JoeShmoe
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Graphite...hmm...I never knew the name for that color until now.
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I find it amusing that the only color with the odor problem is the only color not named after fruit...I guess they didn't want any "Rotting Apple" nicknames...
I suppose it's okay for minerals to stink, but if that is how grey Graphite smells, I'm gonna run like hell if I ever see a bright-yellow iMac sitting on someone's desk...=\
My $1.00 - $0.98, not necessarily yours.
- JoeShmoe
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News flash!
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Business managers sue Microsoft, claiming that they "were forced to spend thousands of dollars searching through box after box of products searching for the rare, bug-free programs Microsoft claims to have produced."
Abuse is common as contractors may dupe unsuspecting IT management into trading their stable, proven *nix technology for what the contractors swear are "newer, cooler" versions.
- JoeShmoe
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...lets all go out to our nearest football field and use fertilizer to burn the message:
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BIG BROTHER GO AWAY!!!
Seriously...this is too much like Enemy of the State for me. Not that the government can't already spy on me as a sneak a quick nose pick in the backyard but...isn't this a private company?
I don't want some punk kid working at Visual Forensics as a $10/hour contractor getting to surf my life on his lunch hour as easily as I may surf the web...
My $0.02, not necessarily yours...
- JoeShmoe
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I'm just thinking...a device like this would make the getaway from a bank robbery very easy.
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Police chasing in cars would be stuck if criminal jetted over a building out of their line of sight and helicopters would be in trouble because this thing would be able to move through areas they can't really follow.
Either the police would have to have to keep pace with the average purchasing for these things or thre would have to be some way to track them (portable radar?) so police wouldn't need helicopters for each chase.
Anyway...maybe I'm giving the criminals too much credit but I seem to remember several movies where jewel theives et. al. used jetpacks to completely ellude the police...
Just my $0.02...
- JoeShmoe
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I'm interested in any legal or technical experts who might care to comment on how this type of law affects people who run proxy (or other IP routing) services?
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Specifically...remember back in the "good old days" that penet.fi was one of the first host to allow some degree of anonymous access? After someone successfully sued in Finish court for the identity of one of the anonymous e-mailers, the service was shut down to prevent other people from having the same breach in privacy.
What if I ran a proxy service that would allow people to surf the web or other TCP/IP services anonymously?
Since I'm not a telecommunications provider receiving some federal funding...does that mean if I throw out my DHCP/DNS/IP logs every night I'm free and clear? Is there any part of this law that says I NEED to keep a backlog of this information so when the FBI comes knocking I can point out the TRUE identity of someone using my service?
I know there are several proxies out there right now but I do not know if any of them keep or toss information like this and I'm very curious to know if there's anything to mandate logging.
Personally...if I do run a proxy service...I'll probably play dumb and if some federal government want to pay for some training classes well then maybe I'll consider learning how to use the logging features of my proxy software.
- JoeShmoe
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What an ego. Who would want to work for such an anal-retentive, anti-social software dictator such as yourself?
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Anyhoo...Mr Coward has reached the level of throwing personal insults like so much rotten fruit. It's clear he obviously hasn't been able to come up with any evidence to prove my original suggestion was in any way wrong or "theft of service". Thank you, we can now go on with our lives...
- JoeShmoe
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...but you are also a confrontational troll.
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Have you even bothered to READ the terms of service at any of the free webspace provider sites? Simply put, if it's not explicitly forbidden by the terms of service then it could NOT possibly be called "theft of service".
If you cannot understand that simple concept, it is because you are either:
a) a strict-constructionalist who believes that anything not explicitly permitted is forbidden.
b) an idiot who cares less about the facts than the chance to throw a hissy-fit.
c) a moron.
As I said before, if any web provider feels "used" for having this kinda of one-time usage they are free to modify their terms of service to ban or restrict it.
How can I explain this concept in a way that even a troll like you can understand...?
Let's say that someone on the street is standing under a sign that says "Free T-Shirts". You go over there an discover that all the T-shirts have advertisements written on them. Well now...if I want to take two or three T-shirts is that theft? I think not. Now if the guy changes he sign to read "Free T-Shirts - One per person" then if I took two or three I could believe that could be considered "wrong".
If you have some tangible (read: cut and paste) proof that my suggestion is breaking a written rule by all means post it. Otherwise, stop being such a troll and take this argument to e-mail. I'm not hiding...I have the guts at least to go get a disposable Hotmail account...
Which by the way...I got the Hotmail account so I could deliberately pass it out in case I receive a high volume response (spam). In a couple months I plan to throw it away and get a new one...unless Hotmail decides I am using too much mail space and they yank the account it for me. Sound familiar? Me using free webspace to offset the slashdot effect is no different than using a free mail account to offset the spam effect.
Nuff said...end the thread.
- JoeShmoe
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True, the IIIe was an attempt, but in my opinion a very bad one.
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First of all...it isn't really any cheaper. List price for the IIIe is something like $220 and you can find the IIIx listing for $270. For $50 you get an extra 2MB of ram plus the option for cool expansion cards (including an 8MB option). Even just 2MB RAM gives you double the Palm for less than one=quarter of the money.
The Palm IIIe must be for the penny-pinchers that really don't think they'll ever need more than 2MB of RAM and would rather keep the $50. But to those penny-pinchers I say find some of the good close-out bargains on the Palm III. I've seen www.pricewatch.com list them occasionally for less than the $150 you would pay for a Visor.
True, you don't get the newer screen or processor but considering you can find a beta copy of OS 3.3 that works for Palm III (not just IIIe, IIIx and V) it doesn't look like Palm III will really be "obsolete" for at least a couple more years.
Of course, 3Com might hack the ROM to only work on the DragonBall processor and thus put Palm III out to pasture, so if the 2000+ applications availble for OS 3.0 aren't enough for you, you should probably choose Visor over Palm III.
Anyway...I agree...it will be interesting to see how this all ends up but IM-Biased-O anything that says "cheaper" and "more features" is a good idea to me...
- JoeShmoe
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...that books/articles on social grace/etiquette do not get slashdotted...
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Or if they do they get hopelessly bombarded by protests from autistic SlashDot readers?
"Definitely OffTopic...definitely defintitely OffTopic"
- JoeShmoe
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A real mature response from the VP of Geocities.
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First of all...it isn't my "cartoon porn" site. I referenced it to prove that this tactic works (you can have a site run completely from free website providers that looks surprisingly professional)
Your argument (attack, really) that this is cheating is completely untrue. If the response to the URL reaches "abuse" levels there are always automatic safeguards that make the site inaccessable. This falls completely within the user agreement! You are borrowing webspace to promote or advertise your content...understanding that this is free so if it becomes a burden, it will disappear.
You, a small-time webmaster, do not have the ability to implement such safeguards. If you get swapped, you could be offline for days or even weeks until interest in the URL dies. People will keep retrying until they get something. But, if they follow a link to GeoCities and find it is invalid, they will give up or look for another link.
See how that works? Now obviously, this isn't going to be what major corporations do because they cannot tolerate even the risk of downtime, but then again...most website providers ban commercial content anyway.
But for a starving artist who cannot afford the one-time traffic demands of being slashdotted, it is a completely valid and perfectly acceptable solution. If web providers disagree, they are perfectly capable of setting content restrictions. But, if they do, they will probably lose customers and thus advertising revenue. It's their choice.
I stand my by recommendation.
- JoeShmoe
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Kermit also will be annoucing the following:
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Oscar the grouch will no longer be visible unless you have your V-chip set to a rating of Y7+ because parents feel he is too much like a homeless person and thus too scary.
Snuffalupagus will also no longer be visible without a TV-14 setting because of the phallic nature of his nasal appendage.
Elmo will not be visible without a setting of TV-MA due to the perverse nature of his tickle fetish.
Today was brought you by the letter V...
- JoeShmoe
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Nokia already has a cellular phone available in Europe that can do web browsing..the Nokia 9110 series. In fact, Europeans have a way cool version with Indiglo-style backlighting that (as far as I know) will not work in the US.
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But if I understand correctly, the Nokia 9110 has a special operating system that allows third-party companies to write wireless applications that use the cellular connection (sorta like the PalmVII in the states but billed by minute per your cell phone contrct and not by KB).
So if they now have this thing...does that mean they are scrapping plans for continuation of 9110 or can the new device also run the programs developed for the 9110?
I doubt anyone here can answer but I thought I would ask. =)
Also...in reference to this "smug superiority" of Europeans for having a better system than US, it is my belief that if you check the dates you'll probably find that development of the digital TV standard in the US began before the EU started investigating their own. So of course whoever is later is going to have the technical advantage. I doubt that anyone working on the digital TV standard back when it was created could have anticipated the boom in wireless activity.
Personally, I think the EU approach is pointless. We are quickly moving to a point where ALL audio and video traffic happens over TCP/IP (like Voice over IP for phone traffic and video conferencing for video traffic). Making a specialized wireless system for JUST digital TV is a waste. Spend the money on improving wireless bandwidths and then you can just broadcast the MPEG-2 video streams from your DVD directly to the wireless devices.
Data is data and I think if that you get broadbast wireless up and running (like the lucky folks in Tuscon, AZ have wireless T1s) the rest of the stuff...like broadcast of digital TV... will be simple.
My $0.02 and not necessarily yours...
- JoeShmoe
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In answer to several above posts, Handspring is not going to be a "me too" of the existing Palm models. They are specifically targetting students (college and high school) and general consumers who may have been afraid of previous electonic organizers (like Sharp Wizard, etc.)
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No self-respecting business person will probably carry around a Visor at work. I haven't seen pictures yet, but I'd be willing to bet that the Visor models will have a decidedly non-business look to them (although hopefully not as bad as what Apple would come up with).
Palm models have been in such high demand that they have been able to sell 4 million+ units even at $250-$400 prices. This can't continue so companies like Handspring are going to have to create a more accessable version...Visors are going to be the "Mercedes C Class" of the PalmOS world while the Palm V will continue to be the "big Mercedes".
Visor's most interesting feature, IMHO, is the idea for hot-swappable modules called Springboards. The idea here is that the PalmOS does not have the memory/batteries to perform certain functions as well as standalone devices (MP3 playback is not possible on a Palm and not really practical on a WinCE). But, by using a serial connection, a Palm is more than qualified to be the interface to control a separate device.
Imagine if you could take the screen/controls off off a Rio and then plug it into the back of your Palm. The PalmOS provides the interface to pick songs, pause, adjust EQ, etc. while the Springboard provides the 32MB memory and extra batteries to provide acceptable sound levels (sort of like the Boostaroo product that amplifies MP3 playback on too-quiet WinCE headphone jacks).
I can think of several different devices that could benefit from a much larger screen, ability to keep history lists, exchange data with PC, and so forth. Pagers are an excellent candidate for Springboard modules. I'm really quite excited; I only hope someone comes up with a Springboard socket adapter for my Palm V.
I fully expect Visor to be the final nail in WindowCE's coffin. I know many people who see Palms that cost $250-$400 retail next to WinCE devices that are $350-$500 dollars. I'm sad to say that many of them instantly buy the WinCE devices because they feel they are getting so much more (color, sound, etc.) for their money.
What the general public has failed to realize thus far is that PalmOS is a tool, and as such does not NEED color or sound to provide information. Now thanks to Visor, the ante into the handheld game is only $150...people might finally understand how all the color and sound in the world doesn't make your address book any more functional.
My $0.02, not necessarily yours...
- JoeShmoe
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