A very interesting article on how easy it is to break into all of your accounts if you have lame passwords: http://onemansblog.com/2007/03/26/how-id-hack-your-weak-passwords/
My password for this page would take longer than the lifespan of the solar system to crack, but I have realized that some of my other passwords are deficient. Be sure to check out the link to the Microsoft password strength tester near the bottom of the page.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
The good news or the bad news?
Over the weekend I was able to try out LinuxMCE. It only runs on Ubuntu 6.10, so I had to downgrade. First I tried to install from my Kubuntu 6.10 disc, but it wasn't able to set up the partitions exactly how I wanted them. Next I tried to install from my 6.04 disc, but when I tried to upgrade from 6.04 to 6.10, the upgrade ran afoul and the installation got trashed. Then I decided to download a 6.10 text installer, and this worked just fine. After installing it I ran all of the updates and started the installation of LinuxMCE. The installation itself wasn't too bad, I was just missing one package that it needed, so I downloaded it and it installed just fine. When I ran it for the first time, it took about an hour for it to generate all of the data it needed (the second time it came up quickly). Unfortunately this is where I ran into a road block. When LinuxMCE finally finished loading, it took me to a screen with some scrambled grey boxes. It took me a few hours to figure out that this was because I needed to install the fglrx drivers for my graphics card. It would have been nice if LinuxMCE had told me this, instead of booting to a scrambled screen. After I installed the drivers, I was able to get it running, but the CPU was maxed out at 100%, without letting up. Obviously they have some issues to sort out with ATI graphics cards. They provide multiple user interfaces, so I switched to a less graphically demanding UI, one that didn't use any 3D features of my graphics card. It wasn't terribly pretty like this, but from then on it ran without any serious problems. This is the first release of their software, so hopefully they'll fix all of these bugs in future releases. For the first release of an open source project, they're doing quite well. I was able to fire up a movie, and even in the low graphics mode it had some nifty features. When you're watching a movie, if you click anywhere on the screen, it will bring up a control panel, while allowing the movie to continue playing on the upper part of the screen. Ideally, if my graphics card were working, I would be able to go through all of the menus, and they would just be transparently laid over the playing movie. The solution in the low graphics mode was adequate, but nothing special. One thing that I liked though was if I left the part of the program that was playing the movie, to play around with other things like music, it would remember exactly where the movie was playing so it could be resumed at a later time. It also fetched the DVD cover from the internet and put it onto a screen where you can sort through your collection. LinuxMCE was unable to find the music that I have on my computer as well as my One Piece videos. This was very disappointing because the promotional video for LinuxMCE claimed it could find all of your media without any configuration. So much for that. I haven't taken the time to see if I can tweak it into working, but it's rather disappointing that it doesn't work as advertised. Some of the other features of LinuxMCE that look very promising are the home automation features. This is what really sells me on the idea that this will eventually be a fantastic product. Unfortunately, I don't have any of the hardware necessary to try these features, but I would still like to in the near future. With an IR transmitter attached to the computer, LinuxMCE can control all of your other media devices like televisions, VCRs, DVD players, audio receivers, etc. That way when you insert a DVD for instance, it will turn on your television, set it to the appropriate channel, turn on your receiver and set the correct inputs, and anything else that you may need. With the addition of a bluetooth transmitter, you can use your cell phone as a remote control, and it can detect when you're in the room (when your phone is in the room) if you want to set up systems to activate with proximity. I think it would be cool to have it turn on some music whenever someone walks into the room for example. If you have a light controller, it can also dim the lights when you put a movie in. Very cool. If you have a home security system, it will alert you when someone is at the door, and you can view them on the screen if you have a camera at the door. You can also unlock the door from within the program. I personally won't have need for that any time soon. Our security system consists of a dead bolt and a guard dog. Anyway, major potential in this program, but they need to focus on nailing down the basics like graphics card support and scanning for files. The reason why some of the fancier features work while some of the basics don't is because LinuxMCE is a mashup of several different programs made by other people. Those programs all work great by themselves, but LinuxMCE is trying to integrate them all into one system, and to provide easier setup and more automation. They still have a long way to go, but I'm rooting for them.
In other news, I've decided that I hate the news. In particular, I can't stand Fox, CNN, or MSNBC. I really have no idea what their cable TV broadcasts are like these days, we haven't watched TV since December. I'm talking about their websites. All of the top stories for the past several weeks have been about Anna Nichole Smith. There are British sailors being held hostage by Iran, with the potential to ignite World War III, and that story is relegated to their little side bar. No, they know what's important. Whether or not the step aunt of a dead whore is able to sue her brother-in-law's kitten for ownership of Anna Nichole's stamp collection is likely to have a more profound effect on my life than a trifling thing called nuclear holocaust. Oh, and have you noticed that Fox has permanently devoted a block on their front page to the latest news on Britney Spears' hair? The ramifications that has on how history will be written are nearly unimaginable. Okay, tirade over. I get my news from Slashdot, Digg, and Google.
Now for good news:
Tara wants to help me build a Shelby Cobra from a kit someday
Isaac expressed interest in installing Linux
The semester is almost over
I got A's on my CS252, CS340, and History 201 midterms (still waiting on my other classes)
Nintendo Wii is selling like hotcakes
Vista is not
We rearranged our living room, and it absolutely rocks
Indian food for lunch tomorrow
I found out that I can use Gaim to chat on Google Talk
A hexagon shaped storm on Saturn was found to still be shaped like a hexagon after 15 years
Passed off a program today
Annie's new food made her stomach better
Tara got some new Magic cards
I'm tired and it's bedtime
In other news, I've decided that I hate the news. In particular, I can't stand Fox, CNN, or MSNBC. I really have no idea what their cable TV broadcasts are like these days, we haven't watched TV since December. I'm talking about their websites. All of the top stories for the past several weeks have been about Anna Nichole Smith. There are British sailors being held hostage by Iran, with the potential to ignite World War III, and that story is relegated to their little side bar. No, they know what's important. Whether or not the step aunt of a dead whore is able to sue her brother-in-law's kitten for ownership of Anna Nichole's stamp collection is likely to have a more profound effect on my life than a trifling thing called nuclear holocaust. Oh, and have you noticed that Fox has permanently devoted a block on their front page to the latest news on Britney Spears' hair? The ramifications that has on how history will be written are nearly unimaginable. Okay, tirade over. I get my news from Slashdot, Digg, and Google.
Now for good news:
Tara wants to help me build a Shelby Cobra from a kit someday
Isaac expressed interest in installing Linux
The semester is almost over
I got A's on my CS252, CS340, and History 201 midterms (still waiting on my other classes)
Nintendo Wii is selling like hotcakes
Vista is not
We rearranged our living room, and it absolutely rocks
Indian food for lunch tomorrow
I found out that I can use Gaim to chat on Google Talk
A hexagon shaped storm on Saturn was found to still be shaped like a hexagon after 15 years
Passed off a program today
Annie's new food made her stomach better
Tara got some new Magic cards
I'm tired and it's bedtime
Friday, March 23, 2007
Hum dee dum
Right now I'm putting off studying for my cs252 midterm. I've been working non-stop all week and just finished taking my cs236 midterm that I studied all day for, so I'm finding it difficult to work up the desire to spend my Friday night studying for another midterm.
Now for some blogging!
Ubuntu 7.04 beta was released today. I'm really liking this new version of Ubuntu because it's more compatible with a lot of my hardware, especially the wifi on my laptop. I also like the sleek new glossy theme. In my opinion it is the first professional looking theme that Ubuntu has ever had. Coupled with some slick communist wallpaper I got from interfacelift.com, I have one snappy machine!
I'm really excited about a new program I found out about called LinuxMCE (Linux Media Center Edition). I haven't had a chance to use it yet because their site has been dead ever since digg.com ran a story about it, but the video they have on their site, linuxmce.com, looks absolutely fantastic. Tara and I watch a lot of DVDs, and I listen to a lot of music, so it seems like something that's right up my alley. One of the coolest looking features is the built in home automation. For $60 you can get a controller from home depot to hook up to your computer so LinuxMCE can dim the lights automatically when you insert a DVD. Also, if your computer has a bluetooth adapter, you can use your cell phone as a remote control. If you have multiple computers throughout the house set up with LinuxMCE, you can set it up so that your media will follow you as you walk around the house. For instance, if I'm watching something in the living room and I walk to the kitchen, it will start playing it in the kitchen instead. It does this by detecting which computer your cell phone is nearest to.
Another thing that interests me a lot lately is the topic of ethics in digital duplication. I am not a pirate of movies, games, music, or anything else, but I am repeatedly amazed at how poorly the RIAA and MPAA treat their consumers. I am not surprised to see more people turning to piracy every day. These days, even if you purchase a DVD or a CD, you still don't have rights to the product that you have bought. It doesn't become your property in any way. The media vendors reserve the right to tell you exactly how you are allowed to consume the product. For example, two years ago I bought a Foo Fighters CD that had DRM (digital rights management) software on it that only allowed the music to be played directly from the CD, or in the form of WMA files that could only be played in Windows Media Player. If you wanted to play the music on an iPod, or in my case a PDA, you were out of luck. Why would they do this? They say it's to prevent piracy. However, that argument is absurd because the pirates will always find another way of getting a high quality copy available for download without any DRM. All that the DRM accomplishes is to thwart the paying customer from using the music in the way they would like. Who wins? The pirates! The pirates are the only people who get a copy that is completely portable. The paying customer loses because they can't use the media how they would like, and the media company loses because they drive off customers.
Another thing that concerns me are the random lawsuits being filed by the RIAA. They will sue absolutely anyone, it doesn't matter if the person being sued has ever used a computer or even listened to music, they are a candidate for a lawsuit. What really concerns me is that the government has done nothing to stop this flood of random lawsuits. Apparently, anyone with enough money for the lawyers can file as many lawsuits as they can fund. If it turns into a profitable business for them from the few that they win, then so be it. Statistically, they're likely to win some of them whether or not they're based in fact (most people use computers and most people listen to music), and they also have other financial incentives because the campaign of terror will keep many would-be pirates buying CDs rather than downloading.
Well, like I've said, I'm no pirate, but I also have no love for merchants of greed. I appreciate people like those who contribute to Ubuntu and Linux in general who are willing to allow duplication of digital information without reservation. I understand that artists must be paid, but let's be honest, they're not the ones pocketing most of the money. Some of them make millions of dollars, but considering that they sell multiple-millions of albums, that's a drop in the bucket. I think Linus Torvalds (the founder of Linux) is one of the greatest people of our time, mainly because he established the precedent for truly free information in the main stream.
Alright, time to put that tirade to rest.
I watched a really interesting documentary last night about black hole theory. It was mostly about the information paradox. The example that is used is that if you are an observer, and you watch someone fall into a black hole, you will see them disintegrate at the event horizon (well, actually they'd disintegrate much sooner, but this is just an example). The even horizon is the point of no return where even light won't return from once it has gone beyond that point. From the point of view of the person who is falling into the black hole, however, they will pass beyond the event horizon and nothing will happen, no disintegration. So technically the person would be both dead and alive at the same time, right? Actually, the person never disintegrated at all. It is impossible for information to disappear from the universe, which is what would happen if the person passed beyond the event horizon. The person does pass beyond the horizon, but the information about that person remains in the universe, smeared across the surface of the event horizon. That's the theory anyway, but I'm not going to volunteer to be the one who tries it out.
I've been doing some interesting programming lately. For the first time ever, I've made a program that saves data by serializing it (a better way to save data that just writing it to a text file), and also I've made a program that can launch other programs. In Java, these are both very simple procedures, and I'm surprised that it took me this long to learn how easy it is. Pretty soon I'll be making the program send out e-mails, which is also a simple procedure in Java. Still, it's exciting because I've often wondered how to do these things.
Well, I'm done for now. I think I might be able to get some studying done now that I've had a little time to do something else. School is great, but I'm getting burned out. Good thing the semester will be over soon!
Now for some blogging!
Ubuntu 7.04 beta was released today. I'm really liking this new version of Ubuntu because it's more compatible with a lot of my hardware, especially the wifi on my laptop. I also like the sleek new glossy theme. In my opinion it is the first professional looking theme that Ubuntu has ever had. Coupled with some slick communist wallpaper I got from interfacelift.com, I have one snappy machine!
I'm really excited about a new program I found out about called LinuxMCE (Linux Media Center Edition). I haven't had a chance to use it yet because their site has been dead ever since digg.com ran a story about it, but the video they have on their site, linuxmce.com, looks absolutely fantastic. Tara and I watch a lot of DVDs, and I listen to a lot of music, so it seems like something that's right up my alley. One of the coolest looking features is the built in home automation. For $60 you can get a controller from home depot to hook up to your computer so LinuxMCE can dim the lights automatically when you insert a DVD. Also, if your computer has a bluetooth adapter, you can use your cell phone as a remote control. If you have multiple computers throughout the house set up with LinuxMCE, you can set it up so that your media will follow you as you walk around the house. For instance, if I'm watching something in the living room and I walk to the kitchen, it will start playing it in the kitchen instead. It does this by detecting which computer your cell phone is nearest to.
Another thing that interests me a lot lately is the topic of ethics in digital duplication. I am not a pirate of movies, games, music, or anything else, but I am repeatedly amazed at how poorly the RIAA and MPAA treat their consumers. I am not surprised to see more people turning to piracy every day. These days, even if you purchase a DVD or a CD, you still don't have rights to the product that you have bought. It doesn't become your property in any way. The media vendors reserve the right to tell you exactly how you are allowed to consume the product. For example, two years ago I bought a Foo Fighters CD that had DRM (digital rights management) software on it that only allowed the music to be played directly from the CD, or in the form of WMA files that could only be played in Windows Media Player. If you wanted to play the music on an iPod, or in my case a PDA, you were out of luck. Why would they do this? They say it's to prevent piracy. However, that argument is absurd because the pirates will always find another way of getting a high quality copy available for download without any DRM. All that the DRM accomplishes is to thwart the paying customer from using the music in the way they would like. Who wins? The pirates! The pirates are the only people who get a copy that is completely portable. The paying customer loses because they can't use the media how they would like, and the media company loses because they drive off customers.
Another thing that concerns me are the random lawsuits being filed by the RIAA. They will sue absolutely anyone, it doesn't matter if the person being sued has ever used a computer or even listened to music, they are a candidate for a lawsuit. What really concerns me is that the government has done nothing to stop this flood of random lawsuits. Apparently, anyone with enough money for the lawyers can file as many lawsuits as they can fund. If it turns into a profitable business for them from the few that they win, then so be it. Statistically, they're likely to win some of them whether or not they're based in fact (most people use computers and most people listen to music), and they also have other financial incentives because the campaign of terror will keep many would-be pirates buying CDs rather than downloading.
Well, like I've said, I'm no pirate, but I also have no love for merchants of greed. I appreciate people like those who contribute to Ubuntu and Linux in general who are willing to allow duplication of digital information without reservation. I understand that artists must be paid, but let's be honest, they're not the ones pocketing most of the money. Some of them make millions of dollars, but considering that they sell multiple-millions of albums, that's a drop in the bucket. I think Linus Torvalds (the founder of Linux) is one of the greatest people of our time, mainly because he established the precedent for truly free information in the main stream.
Alright, time to put that tirade to rest.
I watched a really interesting documentary last night about black hole theory. It was mostly about the information paradox. The example that is used is that if you are an observer, and you watch someone fall into a black hole, you will see them disintegrate at the event horizon (well, actually they'd disintegrate much sooner, but this is just an example). The even horizon is the point of no return where even light won't return from once it has gone beyond that point. From the point of view of the person who is falling into the black hole, however, they will pass beyond the event horizon and nothing will happen, no disintegration. So technically the person would be both dead and alive at the same time, right? Actually, the person never disintegrated at all. It is impossible for information to disappear from the universe, which is what would happen if the person passed beyond the event horizon. The person does pass beyond the horizon, but the information about that person remains in the universe, smeared across the surface of the event horizon. That's the theory anyway, but I'm not going to volunteer to be the one who tries it out.
I've been doing some interesting programming lately. For the first time ever, I've made a program that saves data by serializing it (a better way to save data that just writing it to a text file), and also I've made a program that can launch other programs. In Java, these are both very simple procedures, and I'm surprised that it took me this long to learn how easy it is. Pretty soon I'll be making the program send out e-mails, which is also a simple procedure in Java. Still, it's exciting because I've often wondered how to do these things.
Well, I'm done for now. I think I might be able to get some studying done now that I've had a little time to do something else. School is great, but I'm getting burned out. Good thing the semester will be over soon!
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
My Life
What is my life like? I'm glad you asked!
I live in a house in Provo with my wife Tara. It's a green house. It's a good house. We're renting it for $475/month, which is an awesome deal. We have a dog named Annie who is a Maltese. I go to BYU where I am studying Computer Science. I also work at BYU in the Office of Information Technology as a Student Programmer. Tara just got a job at Pinnacle Security as a Scheduling Manager. She is really enjoying her new job.
My daily schedule is something like this:
wake up
shower
take Annie for a walk
ride my bike to work
work for about 2 hours
go to class for 3-5 hours
do homework/programs/tests at school or home until midnight or later
somewhere in the homework time I spend some time with Tara and have dinner
go to bed
repeat
On Fridays I usually ditch homework entirely, unless there's a pressing need, and Tara and I have a date night. On Saturdays we do errands and I do more homework. Sunday is our day for spending some real time together and relaxing after the arduous week. We have church at 11, which is awesome since I've had it at 9 for the past seven years. We also try to have FHE on Mondays, but sometimes my professors don't care if I have time for FHE or not.
For hobbies, I play around with my computer, play Magic the Gathering, and listen to music. My favorite music right now is The Decemberists, Interpol, Final Fantasy 12, and other various video game music.
The classes I'm taking right now are:
CS236 - Discrete Structure
CS252 - Intro to Theory
CS340 - Software Design and Testing
English 316 - Technical Writing
History 201 - World Civ
I really like CS340 because we're working in teams on one semester-long project. It's fun because we actually get to simulate the full design process of a complex program from start to finish.
I want to take Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning courses, but I'm not 100% sure what I want to do with that yet. I've always wanted to make video games, but there are other applications for AI that would also be really cool, especially in the area of robotics.
Let's play favorite things! A game where I spit out a random list of things that make me happy!:
Tara (duh)
pizza
Indian food
weezer
Magic
Civilization 4
compies
lappies
elliott smith
slashdot
ign
annie
our house
my speakers
video game music
hazelnut bread
more Indian food
more pizza
FF12
pell grants
tara's new job
my bicycle
my new keyboard (my hands don't get fatigued from typing so much)
firefox
ubuntu
linux
beryl (when it works)
my shoes
vegetarianism
world history
harry potter
one piece
roots
russian music
cayenne pepper
clear skies on cold nights
summer
church
family
finishing a program
gmail
amarok
x-fi
uccu
jeremy
isaac
staying up late doing compy stuff
my wii jar
fridays
a day without homework
Okay, I've done enough damage for one day. Later!
I live in a house in Provo with my wife Tara. It's a green house. It's a good house. We're renting it for $475/month, which is an awesome deal. We have a dog named Annie who is a Maltese. I go to BYU where I am studying Computer Science. I also work at BYU in the Office of Information Technology as a Student Programmer. Tara just got a job at Pinnacle Security as a Scheduling Manager. She is really enjoying her new job.
My daily schedule is something like this:
wake up
shower
take Annie for a walk
ride my bike to work
work for about 2 hours
go to class for 3-5 hours
do homework/programs/tests at school or home until midnight or later
somewhere in the homework time I spend some time with Tara and have dinner
go to bed
repeat
On Fridays I usually ditch homework entirely, unless there's a pressing need, and Tara and I have a date night. On Saturdays we do errands and I do more homework. Sunday is our day for spending some real time together and relaxing after the arduous week. We have church at 11, which is awesome since I've had it at 9 for the past seven years. We also try to have FHE on Mondays, but sometimes my professors don't care if I have time for FHE or not.
For hobbies, I play around with my computer, play Magic the Gathering, and listen to music. My favorite music right now is The Decemberists, Interpol, Final Fantasy 12, and other various video game music.
The classes I'm taking right now are:
CS236 - Discrete Structure
CS252 - Intro to Theory
CS340 - Software Design and Testing
English 316 - Technical Writing
History 201 - World Civ
I really like CS340 because we're working in teams on one semester-long project. It's fun because we actually get to simulate the full design process of a complex program from start to finish.
I want to take Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning courses, but I'm not 100% sure what I want to do with that yet. I've always wanted to make video games, but there are other applications for AI that would also be really cool, especially in the area of robotics.
Let's play favorite things! A game where I spit out a random list of things that make me happy!:
Tara (duh)
pizza
Indian food
weezer
Magic
Civilization 4
compies
lappies
elliott smith
slashdot
ign
annie
our house
my speakers
video game music
hazelnut bread
more Indian food
more pizza
FF12
pell grants
tara's new job
my bicycle
my new keyboard (my hands don't get fatigued from typing so much)
firefox
ubuntu
linux
beryl (when it works)
my shoes
vegetarianism
world history
harry potter
one piece
roots
russian music
cayenne pepper
clear skies on cold nights
summer
church
family
finishing a program
gmail
amarok
x-fi
uccu
jeremy
isaac
staying up late doing compy stuff
my wii jar
fridays
a day without homework
Okay, I've done enough damage for one day. Later!
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