X-Geek

Extreme geekiness

There are 699 posts filed in X-Geek (this is page 15 of 70).

Stepson of Stuxnet stalked Kaspersky for months, tapped Iran nuke talks | Ars Technica

A fascinating, in-depth account of how security firm Kaspersky was infected by (and later discovered) one of the world’s most powerful hacking tools.

“These guys are so confident to develop their entire platform based on this zero day it means if they get caught and this zero day is patched they probably have another one they can use, which I would say is a pretty scary thought,” he said. “Nobody develops an entire malware platform based on just one simple assumption that this zero day will work forever, because eventually it will be discovered and patched. And when it is patched your malware is not going to work anymore. I think that’s also very scary and quite impressive.”

Source: Stepson of Stuxnet stalked Kaspersky for months, tapped Iran nuke talks | Ars Technica

Computer Space and the Dawn of the Arcade Video Game

Here’s a fascinating account of the creation of the first commercially-successful video game, Computer Space, and of the men who created it, Ted Dabney and Nolan Bushnell. Bushnell would go on to create Atari and, by extension, modern Silicon Valley.

Computer Space pitted a player-controlled rocket ship against two machine-controlled flying saucers in a space simulation set before a two-dimensional star field. The player controlled the rocket with four buttons: one for fire, which shoots a missile from the front of the rocket ship; two directional rotation buttons (to rotate the ship orientation clockwise or counterclockwise); and one for thrust, which propelled the ship in whichever direction it happened to be pointing. Think of Asteroids without the asteroids, and you should get the picture.

During play, two saucers would appear on the screen and shoot at the player while flying in a zig-zag formation.The player’s goal was to dodge the saucer fire and shoot the saucers.

Considering a game of this complexity playing out on a TV set, you might think that it was created as a sophisticated piece of software running on a computer. You’d think it, but you’d be wrong–and Bushnell wouldn’t blame you for the mistake. How he and Dabney managed to pull it off is a story of audacity, tenacity, and sheer force-of-will worthy of tech legend. This is how it happened.

Source: Computer Space and the Dawn of the Arcade Video Game

Flexing the muscle of my electric vehicle

Our Ford Focus Electric

Our Ford Focus Electric


There are many days when I’m driving my electric vehicle (EV) that I’m focused on economy. I will try hard to accelerate smoothly, drive at the speed limit (or sometimes more slowly), and brake as gradually as I can. The reward is high efficiency driving, saving as much money as I can.

Yesterday was not one of those days! Having many different events to attend, stretched from one end of the city to the other, I decided to flex my EV’s muscles. On our Time Of Use (TOU) plan, weekend electricity is super-cheap, so why not have a little fun?

As I drove down 401 yesterday, I sensed the guy behind me was becoming annoyed with my efficient driving. He shifted over a lane in an attempt to pass me. Not only are EVs cheap to drive, they also have a ton of torque just ready and waiting. I let the guy pass but caught up with him at the next light, where we both were lined up.

You think my EV is slow? I mentally challenged him. Watch this!
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Baltimore Police used secret technology to track cellphones in thousands of cases – Baltimore Sun

"In Baltimore, they’ve been using this since 2007, and it’s only been in the last several months that defense attorneys have learned enough to start asking questions," he said. "Our entire judicial system and constitution is set up to avoid a ‘just trust us’ system where the use of invasive surveillance gear is secret."

via Baltimore Police used secret technology to track cellphones in thousands of cases – Baltimore Sun.

Google View

Sitting in the dentist’s chair, enduring the agony of another teeth cleaning yesterday, I thought of the perfect use for the Google Fiber system coming to Raleigh.

I was being forced to watch Time Warner Cable’s News14 channel in front of me and thinking about how TWC’s local news model works. It didn’t take many minutes of watching the video (thankfully without audio, as the suction hose was often going) to realize how boilerplate it is. The TWC guys have an establishing shot, then zoom in on something dumb like police lights reflecting off the stolen car, then move on to another thing. It was obvious that the video doesn’t really tell the story – in fact, it is repetitive and dull. I could choose not to look up between rinses and feel like I didn’t really miss anything.
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Google Fiber: Kansas City offers Charlotte ‘Digital Divide’ lessons | The Charlotte Observer The Charlotte Observer

CharO talks about Google Fiber and the Digital Divide

In a past job in Kansas City, Julie Porter was part of an intense, door-to-door campaign to get residents in economically challenged, mostly minority neighborhoods to sign up for Google’s high-speed Internet service.

Community organizers didn’t want residents in these areas to face an even wider Digital Divide.

Now the head of a Charlotte housing agency, Porter has urged local leaders here to get an early start encouraging residents to embrace broadband service, long before Google Fiber makes its planned Charlotte debut.

“It was just very, very challenging,” said Porter, president of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Housing Partnership, of the Kansas City situation. “I wanted to make sure that Charlotte didn’t have the same experience.”

via Google Fiber: Kansas City offers Charlotte ‘Digital Divide’ lessons | The Charlotte Observer The Charlotte Observer.

Hillary’s Secret Email Was a Cyberspy’s Dream Weapon – The Daily Beast

Here’s a good, in-depth look at the perils Hillary faced when she opted to run her own mailserver.

The private email address for Hillary Clinton, which became the talk of Washington this week and created her first major speed bump on her road to the White House, has actually been freely available on the Internet for a year, thanks to a colorful Romanian hacker known as Guccifer.

On March 14, 2013, Guccifer—his real name is Marcel-Lehel Lazar—broke into the AOL account of Sidney Blumenthal, a journalist, former White House aide to Bill Clinton, and personal confidante of Hillary Clinton. Lazar crowed about his exploits to journalists, disclosing a set of memos Blumenthal had written to Clinton in 2012, as well as the personal email address and domain she’s now known to have used exclusively for her personal and official correspondence.

Few journalists noticed that at the time, and it caused no ruckus in Washington. But the fact that Clinton’s private email was now public means she was not just putting her own information at risk, but potentially those in the circle of people who knew her private address.

via Hillary’s Secret Email Was a Cyberspy’s Dream Weapon – The Daily Beast.

Apnea hacking

At a follow-up trip to my neurologist I mentioned catching myself not breathing occasionally at night, at which point he ordered up a sleep study. Unlike the previous sleep studies I’d done several years ago, this was a home sleep study. FedEx delivered a sleep study kit to my door Wednesday with instructions on how to use it.

ResMed ApneaLink Air

ResMed ApneaLink Air

We went to the kids’ wonderful Pieces of Gold presentation and got home late. I was in little mood to dig through the paperwork and assemble this thing, and yet I was also tired of being tired all the time. I fumbled through setting up this ResMed ApneaLink Air device that was about the size of a pack of cigarettes and had tiny hoses and wires poking out of it. Surprisingly, it was more comfortable than I thought and soon I was snoozing away.

My directions said to wear it two consecutive nights, so after the second night (last night), I prepared the kit for shipping back. As I wrapped the cables up, I noticed the USB port on the box.

Hmm, I thought. I bet this acts as a USB drive if I plug it into my laptop.
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‘Homebrew’ email servers: Genius as well as sneaky? :: WRAL.com

No, it’s not always a room filled with wires and glowing blue lights. It’s probably not even the size of your furnace. The personal email server used by Hillary Rodham Clinton during her time as secretary of state was probably about the size of your office desktop computer and could have been tucked quietly in a corner somewhere.

She’s come a long way since 1997, when Clinton’s staff bought the then-first lady a copy of the book "E-Mail for Dummies."

Setting up your own email server is something only the geekiest of tech geeks do because of the serious hassles involved, including spending every waking hour fending off spam. Like brewing your own beer, it’s typically done just for fun — a way to challenge your smarts and fill the time. It also appeals to those who fear the government is sniffing around and could compel companies like Google or Yahoo to release customer data.

via 'Homebrew' email servers: Genius as well as sneaky? :: WRAL.com.

Clinton ran own computer system for her official emails :: WRAL.com

Hillz got mad skillz, running her own mailserver. Who knew she was a 7337 hacX0R?

The computer server that transmitted and received Hillary Rodham Clinton’s emails — on a private account she used exclusively for official business when she was secretary of state — traced back to an Internet service registered to her family’s home in Chappaqua, New York, according to Internet records reviewed by The Associated Press.

The highly unusual practice of a Cabinet-level official physically running her own email would have given Clinton, the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate, impressive control over limiting access to her message archives. It also would distinguish Clinton’s secretive email practices as far more sophisticated than some politicians, including Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin, who were caught conducting official business using free email services operated by Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo Inc.

via Clinton ran own computer system for her official emails :: WRAL.com.