I just ran across this article by Scott Granneman from January 2004 about a visit he had to his classroom by an FBI field agent doing community outreach. I never thought computer security would be the subject of a community outreach project, but that doesn't mean I think it's a bad idea. Here are some selected outtakes:

"I have spent a considerable amount in the computer underground and have seen many ways in which clever individuals trick unsuspecting users. I don't think most people have a clue just how bad things are."

"Dave wouldn't name names, but he said several organizations that we would all know have been infiltrated electronically by Eastern Europeans, who then grab customer data. A few days later, the unsuspecting president of the bank gets an email demanding $50,000, or else the media will be told of the break-in. Of course, the break-in is news to the bank. As proof of their exploit, a spreadsheet is attached to the email, with a few hundred rows of client data: bank account numbers, home addreses, balances."

"You'll remember that I said he was using a ThinkPad (running Windows!). I asked him about that, and he told us that many of the computer security folks back at FBI HQ use Macs running OS X, since those machines can do just about anything: run software for Mac, Unix, or Windows, using either a GUI or the command line. And they're secure out of the box. In the field, however, they don't have as much money to spend, so they have to stretch their dollars by buying WinTel-based hardware. Are you listening, Apple? The FBI wants to buy your stuff. Talk to them!"

Things to think about.

Facebook | Twitter | Reddit | Stumble

After a summer of superhero videogames like Superman and Spiderman and outcry against violent games about criminals, two games really stand out. inFamous from Sucker Punch, which sets up the player to "discover and grow extraordinary powers" while leading a city into either salvation or chaos, and The Darkness from 2kgames which puts the player in the position of darkness incarnate, exacting vengeance on the mob.

I downloaded the demo for The Darkness on PS3 this weekend. I'm surprised I haven't heard more noise from the anti-videogame camp yet. Any game that has a button specifically for devouring the heart of an enemy has to merit their attention.

The textures in the game are a little rough, but I expect that will improve for the full version. I'm guessing that the use of dynamic lighting everywhere is a little expensive in the game engine too, so they might have skimped some places to get that working. There's no way they could do without the dynamic lighting though, since all the lights are destroy-able and that's an intimate part of the game-play. I'm torn between "Why would I want to play a criminal who is basically EVIL?" and "Dang, this is an awesome game!"

The weapons in your arsenal are pretty standard pistols-and-shotgun fare, but the Darkness powers are what make the game shine (pun intended). While I was playing, I was reminded of Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones in that the main character's alter-ego is a total bad-ass who lives in shadow. You've got minions, tentacles, and the aforementioned ability to devour hearts (I'm not sure what that gets you, but the game keeps a running tally), you can see in total darkness, act at a distance and basically be a Power of Destruction.

The details of object interaction add some great realism. If you're half around a corner, only one hand can hold a gun out to shoot. There are two reticles, one for your left gun, one for the right. If there's a car in the way of a gate, you can open the gate a little, but then it bounces back off the car. This interaction combined with the Darkness Powers provide an opportunity for unique environmental puzzles that the developers didn't shy away from.

Overall, I'm looking forward to the full release and an opportunity to impale opponents with my tentacles, devour hearts, and feel kinda' dirty.

Facebook | Twitter | Reddit | Stumble

I'm really loving this strobist thing.

This weekend I tried out the first assignment in the Lighting 102 series: Cooking Light. The assignment was to take any reasonably shiny kitchen utensil and take pictures of it while paying particular attention to controlling the specular highlight. That's the direct reflection from the light source. In this case, I used a microplane grater and tried out a couple different specular highlight options. This is my favorite of the group because of its abstract nature. The light is coming from a 540EZ strobe on the right, bounced off of a cardboard box behind the grater.

I'm thinking about doing a basic photography class for some friends and possibly running it as a seminar at some of the local Science Fiction and Fantasy conventions in town. I know general photography isn't really a SciFi thing, but it seems like something the general public needs to have now that digital photography has come to the masses. Since more people are able to take and share photos without thinking about it, the overall quality of published imagery has really gone down. Besides, I think there are enough hungry minds at these conventions that the technical side will really appeal. So anyway, if I do it as a seminar, the title will be "How to Take Pictures that Don't Suck".

Facebook | Twitter | Reddit | Stumble

As some of you will remember from my earlier Katrina rants, I don't tollerate fools lightly. As I spend my second day evicted from my office because of the efforts proceeding adjacent to the 35W bridge, my irritation at some members of our government slowly increases.

A quick search on Flickr shows a great number of rusted steel bridges in the US. This is obviously not a scientific method of determining a replacement schedule; we've done that already. The BBC reports "Experts have estimated the cost of repairing all the nation's bridges at between $55bn (£27.5bn) and $188bn". (more from the BBC) I'd say that's not too bad considering the loss of life, property and moralle that could result from not repairing the nation's bridges. Heck, it's less than we've spet in Iraq by far. I'll throw $627 in to the pot happily.

I know I can't directly blame Tim Pawlenty, the Minnesota Taxpayers League, and the other republicans who pledged not to increase taxes during their terms. It's likely that the decision to replace this bridge in 2020 wasn't decided by the fact that we have no new money coming into the state budget. (In the interests of full disclosure, our state budget also pays my salary.) But I can't help notice that the bridge collapsed on their watch and that they didn't spend the money to fix up a "structurally deficient" part of our state.

On the other hand, maybe we're supposed to get a great sense of community from working together and overcoming adversity. Maybe the government wants the occasional tragedy to show that, if we work together, we can prevail.

I'll take a neighborhood bake sale, thanks.

Facebook | Twitter | Reddit | Stumble

The iPhone is truly a revolutionary device, but not because it plays music, browses the internet, and makes phone calls. Lots of "Smartphones" and even a bunch of dumb phones do that. What makes it revolutionary is the way that it does these things. And, in a nutshell, that's why I don't have one.

My Palm Treo 600 for example can do all of these things and more. I've downloaded TCPMP for media playing, including video and audio, but the 128MB card is a little light for putting any real content on. The iPhone has 8GB of memory for music and video and a pretty sweet multi-touch interface. The Treo has a phone with picture caller ID, SMS messaging and a great, mobile web browser. The iPhone does all this without a keyboard, you know, because of that sweet multi-touch interface. The addition of a la carte voice mail access is pretty clever too.

Overall, I'm really impressed with how slick, intuitive and effective the iPhone is at what it does, but there are some problems that I'll point out in a nice bulleted list that Apple is free to use as a checklist for getting me to buy one.

• Exclusive to Cingular/AT&T: This is a problem, because those two (now one) companies have been at the bottom of the list for quality of service for a while now. Here, I'm holding out for either better service from the existing carrier, or an unlocked iPhone.
• Only 8GB: Current generation iPods have 80GB of storage space, my old 40GB iPod is full to the brim with music and podcasts and I'm supposed to fit music, podcasts and video into 8GB? I don't think that's going to happen. Now maybe if you could stream content from your computer at home...
• No iChat: The only "chat" function on the iPhone is SMS messaging, not even MMS messaging. That great photo you just took of your buddy dropping his iPhone right after taking it out of the box? Yeah, you'll have to email it, not send it through MMS. iChat AV would be a truly "killer app" for the iPhone, but it would cut into the provider's pockets too much if people could use their unlimited data plan to have audio and video conferences rather than their minutes. (Incidentally, this touches on the ridiculousness of paying for minutes in the first place and the disturbing trend of paying for content, not service.)
• No 3G Support: I was all over GSM when it became the world standard and now I'm all over 3G. Everyone else is jumping on this one too. The data rate is just too slow to be really practical for browsing the internet. I use my Treo for web access sometimes, and it's painful. I only do it when I really need to.
• No 3rd Party Apps: Also touted as a great way to circumvent the included minutes in your wireless plan, 3rd party apps are critical for any platform. Without 3rd party access, I couldn't have the OED on my phone. And I like having an OED on my phone. Right now, developers are limited to building web-based applications for the iPhone; but what if I'm on a plane?
• Waaay too expensive: I realize that puts me outside of the iPhone's intended demographic, but I was willing to put up $200 for my Treo. The original price for the Treo 600 was also $599, so I have high hopes for Apple here.

Anyway, do I want an iPhone? Sure, but I'm going to wait. In the mean time, my Treo serves me fairly well despite its age and limitations. I'm also looking forward to some of this technology filtering down to new iPods for those of us not quite ready to replace everything in their pockets

Facebook | Twitter | Reddit | Stumble

So, I got my new Pocket Wizards from Midwest Photo Exchange. My 3rd floor studio is pretty much set up and I shot half a card on Sunday with my hacked-in batteries on my flashes. I'm pretty happy with the results so far.

That brings me to my wish list page. Those Pocket Wizards are still listed because you just can't have enough of them and I don't really expect anyone to spend $200 on me anyway. Steph's wish list is, in theory, at the same location, but I have to get her to keep feeding me the info. It's easy for me to create a shopping wish list for myself, but I have enough trouble figuring out what to get for Steph without giving away all my ideas.

Facebook | Twitter | Reddit | Stumble

I was reading on target.com about the AEM646 espresso maker that they have for $59 and I saw this review

"I bought this for my wife and received it a few days ago. It had a bit of a learning curve to it, but my wife got the hang of it after two attempts. Now her creations really do taste like something from Starbucks."

I guess, if it makes coffee like from Starbucks, I should keep looking for a better model.

...Which I did. The next most expensive one that Target had was the DeLonghi EC140B. Amazon had this "helpful" suggestion at the bottom of their page:

I added up the regular, Amazon-discounted price for both units and it, unsurprisingly, added up to that exact dollar amount. Great Savings!

Facebook | Twitter | Reddit | Stumble

What would Steve Jobs do? I don't know either, I guess that's why I don't run Apple Inc.

Facebook | Twitter | Reddit | Stumble

Way back in December, I went to Mountain View, CA for some training.

Facebook | Twitter | Reddit | Stumble

Quite a while ago, I sent an email to Lifehacker about SearchMash. Today, they posted an article with lots of text from that email. I don't know that calling me an insider is appropriate, but I apreceate it anyway.

Thanks Lifehacker!

Facebook | Twitter | Reddit | Stumble