Evilsoft.org

So I use ssh a lot. And this is one damn powerful little program. I decided to write up a log of some of my favorite ssh tricks.

(more…)

A few weeks ago, a video was passed around our office that was about Google interviewing people in Times Square about what a browser is. The results were fairly appalling. For the most part, people responded with various portal and search web sites instead of something like “IE” or “Firefox”. This coincided with a conversation I was having with someone in which I posited the hypothesis that IE as a browser would bias to the political right, and other browsers (specifically firefox) would bias to the political left. My reasoning was:

1. Conservatives would be more comfortable with a browser delivered by a major corporation that has faced antitrust charges over that browser then liberals would.
2. Liberals anecdotally are more prone to counter-cultural choices, and thus would be more likely to seek out an alternative to the default browser.

The Google interviews made me realize one other thing. In testing for this kind of effect, you would need to eliminate people who didn’t know what a browser was. Clearly, a person who doesn’t even know what a browser is is highly unlikely to proactively switch from their system’s default browser. Further, if a person’s political views are correlated at all with their likelihood of understanding what a browser is, not eliminating people who don’t understand could hide real results.

The company I work for, Knewton Inc, is becoming known in certain circles of its clever usage for the vastly underused (IMHO) Amazon Mechanical Turk service. When I mentioned my contention to our guy who’s been pioneering our MTurk usage, Dahn Tamir, he suggested that we build an MTurk task and get some real data to find out whether my hypothesis had any basis in reality. The rest of this post represents my findings.

(more…)

My parents recently visited my aunt and uncle in china, and while there they picked up some rather nice high end watches direct from the factories. Most of the time, my father prefers his digital, and only wants to wear the watch he picked up in china when he’s in more formal dress. Thing is, the watch he bought is autowinding, so it’s always either dead, or at the very least really wrong every time he puts it on. So he asked me to come up with a crazy contraption to wind his watch. This is what I came up with:

You can see some more pics in my flickr photostream. The part I’m most proud of is turning the pipe into a bushing to create a pretty good bearing at the top.

Here’s some video of it in action: (and a second video here)

Materials:

• 2 pipe flanges (1/2″)
• 4 pipe elbows (1/2″)
• 3 pipe tees (1/2″)
• 2 pipe bushing2 (1/2″)
• 4 pipe nipples of various sizes (1/2″) from close to 6″
• 1 solarbotics gm3 motor
• 1 zip tie
• some shapelock (this stuff rocks)
• a couple laser cut parts (the big plastic wheel and the box that holds the watch)
• a power supply for the motor (I used what I had on hand, a uChobby breadboard power supply)

Getting a little breather, so I’m sending out a ctf update. Hopefully I’ll get another one out before more then a month.

Biotech

1. Your Brain Boots Up Like a Computer

Culture

1. We Can Detect Liquid Explosives
2. Did Humans Evolve? No, Say Americans
3. New Cell Can Tell If You’re Drunk

Robotics

1. No sex please, robot, just clean the floor

Science

1. Satellite Data Reveals Gravity Change From Sumatran Earthquake
2. Has string theory tied up better ideas in physics?

Space

1. Earth’s Moon Could Become a Planet
2. Nine Planets Become 12 with Controversial New Definition
3. Pluto: Is It a Planet?
4. Universe Might be Bigger and Older than Expected
5. Moon`s Strange Bulge Finally Explained
6. Crack found in Discovery external tank insulation
7. NASA revives main Hubble telescope camera
8. Enigmatic object baffles supernova team
9. Earth Surrounded by Giant Fizzy Bubbles

Tech

1. Speedy silicon sets world record
2. Man on a Mission – The Skin Sensing Saw
3. Tracking Your Cell Phone for Traffic Reports
4. Giant Robot Imprisons Parked Cars
5. Pigment formulated 225 years ago could be key in emerging technologies
6. Talking Mirror Not Just for Fairy Tales Anymore
7. Plasma needle could replace the dentist’s drill
8. New System Blocks Unwanted Video & Still Photography

Whoops, forgot to release it on friday.
Biotech

1. A Dose Of Genius
2. Researchers grow human heart tissue from stem cells

Culture

1. Proposal to Implant RFID Chips in Immigrants
2. When Escape Seems Just a Mouse-Click Away: Online gaming addiction in Korea
3. Simon Caulkin: Pull the other one … how iPods took over the world

Energy

1. Scientists Resolve 60-Year-Old Plutonium Questions
2. Laser enrichment could cut cost of nuclear power

Environment

1. Good News and a Puzzle

Military

1. Special forces to use strap-on Batwings
2. Numbers Stations Move From Shortwave To VoIP

Robotics

1. Beer pouring robot

Space

1. Jupiter’s Huge Storms Converge
2. Orbiting gas stations key to interplanetary exploration
3. One small breath for man

Tech

1. A Cleaner, Cheaper Route to Titanium
2. Super Battery
3. Ultrawideband Signal Passes Data Through Walls
4. Fuel cells in laptops edge closer
5. Top 10 Strangest Gadgets of the Future(Watch the videos, it’s well worth it)

Now safely nestled in the wilds of New Jersey, the time has come to restart Cool Tech Friday. Enjoy!
Biology

1. Dolphins, like humans, recognize names
2. New animal resembles furry lobster

Biotech

1. A hangover cure that works
2. Pill reverses vegetative state
3. Drug Discovery Team To Explore Newly Discovered Deep-sea Reefs
4. This robot keeps the doctor away
5. Immune System Gone Bad
6. Cure for cancers ‘in five years’

Culture

1. Chicken and egg debate unscrambled
2. The Rise of Crowdsourcing!Dad, read this one!
3. Wired Releases Full Text of AT&T NSA Document
4. Gonzales Says Prosecutions of Journalists For Publishing Leaks Are Possible

Energy

1. Fusion reactor work gets go-ahead
2. Better Fuel Cells Using Bacteria
3. Nuclear fusion plasma problem tackled
4. Hydrogen Fuel Balls
5. Microbes Convert Wastewater into Useable Electricity
6. Algae to rescue on warming, fuel source?

Robotics

1. Honda says brain waves control robot
2. Soldiers bond with battlefield robots
3. Robotic tentacles get to grips with tricky objects

Science

1. Is evolution predictable?

Space

1. Planet shine to aid life search
2. Voyager II detects solar system’s edge
3. Astronomers Use Innovative Technique to Find Extrasolar Planett
4. Unique wide-field telescope will make ’sky movies’
5. NASA hopes shuttle’s next move won’t be its last
6. Smokeless rockets launching soon?
7. Distant ‘Earths’ will only be seen from space
8. Back to the Moon: Uniting Science and Exploration
9. Big Meteorite Creates Big Mysteries
10. Three new planets found around sun-like star
11. Planets Found in Potentially Habitable Setup

Tech

1. The Digital Ink billboard
2. Interactive display system knows users by touch
3. Plan for cloaking device unveiled
4. NASA Wants Your Innovative Ideas
5. The M1 Battery
6. Charge!

Telephony

1. MIT Plans to Convert Cell Phone Users into Podcasters
2. Linksys Launches Wireless-G Phones

Biotech

1. Mind Control by Parasites
2. Stanford neuroscientist wants to implant an electrode in his brain
3. NIH-Created Ebola Vaccine Passes 1st Test
4. Sleeping on it best for complex decisions
5. Alzheimer’s Progresses Faster in Educated People

Culture

1. Egypt offers first look at newly discovered tomb, first saince the tomb of Tutankhamun
2. Love is the drug
3. The Future of Science: A Conversation with Alan Lightman
4. The Politically Incorrect Science Fair

Environment

1. Underwater Ocean Currents Used to Power Bermuda
2. Mazda Plans Dual-Fuel Car in Japan
3. Has World Oil Production Passed Its Peak?
4. Segway Inventor Turns To Environment
5. Greenland’s glaciers losing ice at faster rate
6. The World Oceans Now 70% Shark Free

Physics

1. NY team confirms UCLA tabletop fusion
2. Physicist to Present New Exact Solution of Einstein’s Gravitational Field Equation
3. Quantum computer works best switched off

Space

1. Continued Success for Space Elevator Tests
2. Human spaceflight must come first, argues NASA
3. New group to develop passenger spaceship
4. Astronomers get shortlist of possible ET addresses
5. Solar Sail News and Upcoming JPL Missions
6. NASA plans to park space shuttle Atlantis in 2008
7. Draft Rules for X Prize Lunar Lander Challenge
8. Spaceport Singapore
9. NASA Detects Totally New Mystery Explosion Nearby

Tech

1. New High-Speed Nano Imaging Device
2. US and Canadian skiers get smart armour
3. Moore’s Law Staying Strong Through 30nm
4. Stronger Future for Nuclear Power

Biotech

1. Innovative Hand-Held Insulin Device Effectively Controls Diabetes and Provides Reliable and Easy to Use Insulin Dosing
2. Babies` Cells Linger, May Protect Mothers
3. Skin Stem Cells Made into Bone and Muscle
4. Printable Skin: `Inkjet` Breakthrough Makes Human Tissue
5. Cow-free Beef Proposed
6. Sperm Cells Turned into Eggs
7. Has BYU prof found AIDS cure?
8. New pill increases dreaming sleep

Culture

1. 3 billion people seek basic financial services is Microfinance the answer?
2. NASA Chief Backs Agency Openness
3. NASA Public-Affairs Appointee Resigns in Disgrace
4. A Young Bush Appointee Resigns His Post at NASA

Entertainment

1. Physics students, duct tape extend faded couch’s mileage

Environment

1. Flying Electric Generator (FEG) technology
2. World at its warmest of past 1,200 years, researchers show

Military

1. C-130H Laser Gunship Program begins

Physics

1. Dark matter comes out of the cold
2. SLAC Physicists Develop Test For String Theory
3. No Time Travel, Sorry

Space

1. The solar system no longer has nine planets
2. NASA to divert cash from science into shuttle
3. Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter: Searching For A ‘New Moon’
4. Experts poles apart over Moon landing sites
5. Seeing `Strange` Stars
6. Should We Land on the Moon’s Poles or Equator?

Tech

1. Power Plastics to provide electrical power to packaging and intelligent clothing
2. Reclaiming all that space in the attic – EZ Attic
3. Web 2.0 new tools, amazing functionality, vast opportunities
4. VW and Google team to explore future vehicle navigation systems
5. Stiletto Experimental ship with carbon fiber M-hull design tops 50 knots (60mph)
6. The three-key mini-keyboard with OLED screen on each key
7. Buying, paying bills and transfering money with your mobile phone
8. Nano Technology may make cleaning Toilets a thing of the Past
9. Chip prototype gets under the skin
10. Don’t Bring Home the Bacon, Print It

As was reported here and here back in December, Google searches now provide a lot of nice information for a band. I was checking to see if ColdPlay had a new album in the pipeline, I searched for ColdPlay and got a really nice set of results listing their albums and links for purchase, lyrics, album art, etc. Wow – I love finding new features in Google like that.

Check it out.

The recent firefox 1.5.0.1 release has caused a number of problems for various parties, including extension authors and users. Sadly, many extension authors did not set up their extensions to be able to deal with firefox security updates gracefully. There have been no changes to the extension api, but a surprisingly large number of extensions report that they are Disabled – not compatible with Firefox 1.5.0.1. Well, if the extension is compatible with 1.5, you are in luck, there is a way to fix this that is not too difficult that doesn’t involve the extension author having to release a new version.

(in firefox, go to Tools->Extensions)

First thing you need to do is shut down firefox. Next, open the file “extensions.rdf” from your profile directory (something similar to C:\Documents and Settings\your username\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\default.ugt in windows, ~/.mozilla/firefox/eucals91.default in linux) in a text editor. (it would be a good idea to save off a backup of this file, just in case). Search for every instance of 1.5 in the file. Those cases where the line says NS1:maxVersion=”1.5″ need to be changed:

Editor’s Note: This needs to be a text editor like notepad or textpad or ultraedit. If you use word or wordpad, you will break your extensions.rdf. At least two people have done this, so please, *be careful*. Also, some text editors will append .txt to the rdf file name. ensure that when it’s done, you have the right windows file extension.

  <RDF:Description RDF:about="rdf:#$0Q1PK2"
                   NS1:id="{3550f703-e582-4d05-9a08-453d09bdfdc6}"
                   NS1:minVersion="1.5"
                   NS1:maxVersion="1.5" />

You will want to alter them so that they say NS1:maxVersion=”1.5.0.*” as below:

  <RDF:Description RDF:about="rdf:#$0Q1PK2"
                   NS1:id="{3550f703-e582-4d05-9a08-453d09bdfdc6}"
                   NS1:minVersion="1.5"
                   NS1:maxVersion="1.5.0.*" />

Now, restart firefox, and go to Tools->Extensions:

Right click on the disabled exension, and select Enable from the dropdown. Finally restart firefox. If everything went well, your extensions should be happy again.

Ed: A second solution has come to my attention in the form of the Nightly Tester Tools extension which will allow you to install incompatible extensions via it’s interface. With this installed, in the extensions panel, you can right click on an extension, and select “Make Compatible”. This method may be somewhat riskier, as it makes an extension potentially compatible across larger updates that may have API changes. The original method carries no risk of this, as it only covers security updates to firefox 1.5