Archive for December 2008
31-12-2008
Apparently, SSL for our website connections is not enough any more.
Guys from the Chaos Computer Club (CCC on wikipedia, here their rocket at the What the Hack 2005 I attended) managed to create a rogue certificate authority, using it to issue valid ssl ceritificates for every website they wanted.
So what they did actually? They found a way, using the CPU horsepower of 200 PS3s, to create a "man in the middle attack" tecnique using SSL certificates, breaking the SSL core.
Below a flow chart to better understand how everything could be used against you. :)
29-12-2008
In italian if someone "e' una pippa" means that he "is an handjob", meaning that he's "poor", not good at doing somewhat. Well, this word "pippa" in italian isn't in any way polite (kinda rude, actually), but ...
In the Corriere della Sera (one of the most important newspaper in Italy) of yesterday (page 51), there is an article in the Sport section about Shaquille O' Neal, everything but a poor basketball player. Any way he reached the ugly record of 5.000 missed free throws (english link on ESPN).
Do you wanna know the word the journalist (Riccardo Romani, author for the Corriere della Sera) used? "handjob"... "pippa", actually.
Last time they didn't know the meaning of an english word (maybe).. but now? Unbelievable.
29-12-2008
Remember the 1440 RPM V8 Engine? Yes, the one build with Lego pieces...
Here we've another one... just bigger.
28-12-2008
Golden Gate Bridge from Fort Point 0953_1_2
Originally uploaded by blee1996
Great picture ! take a look at the whole set!
If you're interested in pictures of San Francisco, here you can find mine on flickr.
28-12-2008
Yes, we all love The Goonies. And this illustration by Sean Clauretie too.
23-12-2008
Thanks dasnake: Buddha Sweetie Boys
21-12-2008
Possibly the dumbest biker ever: please watch the whole video until the end. The last seconds are worth the full 5 minutes. :D
18-12-2008
Yet another good reason to wait finally for a good looking Android phone (and not an horrible one). Lenovo is sticking its fingers with a new phone, actually oriented just for the chinese market.
Of course, it runs Android.
18-12-2008
Horrible title just to point your attention to "2008 in photographs" by "The Big Picture" (part 1, 2 and 3)
Too many great pictures to link (or post) them all; I choose just one, the one makes me actually feel hopeful for the times yet to come.
13-12-2008
Finally after months and months, I did it!
There is this song I really like but I was never able to get artist and song title even if I catch it quite often on Virgin Radio and today... finally!
"Come On" by The Panderers
08-12-2008
Remember last time I talked about organizing your (huge) mp3 collection ?
My first concern was not to get powned when installing a new system or media application. I was thinking about all "those fancy rating and stars" you put using iTunes or similar software and you'll likely to lose if you change application (for example, the brand new Songbird 1.0).
I chose the "phisical way": along with correct and coherent mp3 tagging, I moved (actually, copied) all my favorited songs in a new directory. So, now I have my "music" dir along with a "music_favorites" dir. I also tagged every favorited track with "Favorites" in the field "Composer": doing that way I didnt lose anything important to me (that field is not relevant for my collection) and I can still use the fancy features of media manager applications. I also noted (later) the iPod let you browse your music using the "Composer" tag field.
I'm done with this task: after listening to my whole mp3 collection, I picked up the best tracks, tagged and copied in that "music_favorites" folder.
Amarok now tells me the "music" directory contains 6110 tracks (2 weeks and 5 days) and the "music_favorites" 1981 tracks (6 days 7 hours).
32,42%. cool.
08-12-2008
What's going on?
I was just looking for a tool to monitor directory (and be notified if
something there changes, like a new torrent completed) and...
searching "watch directory" doesnt return any item.
I was already by Uncle_Google and I thought "well, let me try different keywords"
I searched with a "watch folder" and... voila' !
Oh gosh... the old school is dying with that.
07-12-2008
Some time ago the NYTimes wrote about Obama's addition to mobile email, powered by his Blackberry. The reporter wrote actually about the issues the Secret Service is going into because of that: the point is that RIM's software for the Blackberry is closed-source and god-only-knows (along with RIM) how does it work.
Questions like "Who's reading my emails?", "Who can shut off remotely my phone?" or "Am I really sure my emails aren't forwarded to some hidden email account tied to some al-Qaida agent?" are just dumb-paranoid questions for all of us but not for the a President. Well, The President.
So, Fabrizio came up with a smart proposal to the white collars in the Secret Service: use open source software to power Obama's mobile email!
That's the only way you can really be sure there is no trap in the software code you're using. Doing this way, you can note if some line states:
if (user == "Barack Obama") send_email_to("Silvio Berlusconi")
:)
And at the end of the day, are you really sure protecting your own private comunications is important just for Obama?
Think about that.
05-12-2008
Dato che le volte precedenti ho avuto fortuna (per la moto, per la PSP e, sembra, per l'IBM Z50), ci provo ancora.
Metto in vendita il mio Nintendo DS Lite nero, completo di tre giochi: New Super Mario Bros, Mario Kart DS e Animal Crossing: Wild World. Se qualcuno non vuole i giochi se ne puo' parlare. Se qualcuno vuole la M3 Simply da 1GB per usare le immagini dei giochi su file .nds, me lo faccia sapere.
Il prezzo e' di 130 Euro compreso di giochi e spedizione esclusa. Senza giochi, parliamone! Con M3 Simply, parliamone ancora!
Qui sotto metto solo la prima foto del DS: tutto il resto dopo il salto.
