Bag of Beans

This in-depth article has some recommendations for which media to use for archival purposes. It explains why DVD+R is superior to DVD-R for data, and prefers Taiyo Yuden as only media worth buying.

As I said earlier, DVD-R sucks for data preservation for three reasons: inferior error correction, inferior ‘wobble’ tracking, and the fact its data writing methods look like an un-needed halfway point between CD-R and DVD+R. The wobble tracking I shall explain first, then the error corrections method, then the specifics of ATIP/pre-pit/ADIP optimum power settings.

• Link (via Slashdot)

Related:

• Blank DVD Media Quality Guide

This is an invaluable site that reviews numerous freeware apps.

My mission: To replace as many retail/shareware software as I can with first rate FREEWARE alternatives, such that one day every installed program that I use will be FREE.

But this site will not list every single free program on the planet. Sometimes less is more!

I assume that for every category there are one or two programs that anybody would want to use. This site will present you with these handful of options, filtered and picked out.

If you have better things to do than scour the web for cracks, serials, and hacked copies of the software you use, then this site is for you, because the free software that is presented here is in most cases BETTER than anything you could pay for.

• Link (via DonationCoder)

This is an impressive feat: designing and building your own processor.

I’ve been a software guy all my life. However, I was always fascinated by electronics, and part of my success as a programmer was due to my thorough understanding of how computers work.

Back in 1999, I put that understanding to the ultimate test: I actually designed, and built, a simple but functional 4-bit computer from low-level electronic components (TTL logic gates.) Although this machine has less then one tenth of a percent of the speed and one millionth of the memory of a modern Pentium system, not to mention that its “user interface” is just a set of miniature switches and blinking LED lights, I still consider this a proud accomplishment.

• Link (via MAKE: Blog)

Related:

• Programmable Z80 Microcomputer

The latest update to the TrueCrypt encryption utility is now available.

We are pleased to announce that TrueCrypt 4.3 has been released. Among the new features is full compatibility with 32-bit and 64-bit Windows Vista, support for devices and file systems that use a sector size other than 512 bytes (such as new hard drives, USB flash drives, DVD-RAM, MP3 players, etc.), auto-dismount when a host device (e.g., a USB flash drive) is inadvertently removed, and many more. In addition to new features, there are many significant improvements. Some portions of the TrueCrypt device driver have been completely redesigned and several bugs have been fixed. For a comprehensive list of changes, please see http://www.truecrypt.org/docs/?s=version-history

• Link

Use this handy site to calculate how much caffeine you’ve had.

• Link (via Lifehacker)

Engadget has a fascinating series of articles on lock security and lock picking.

The most popular locking mechanism in the world utilizes the pin tumbler design, first developed 4000 years ago in Egypt and then rediscovered and perfected a century and a half ago by Linus Yale. There are billions of these locks in the world and they come in all sizes, configurations, and security ratings. Some are secure; most are not, and even some high security rated cylinders can be easily compromised. All that is required to open many times of pin tumbler cylinders — the kind of lock that probably keeps the bad guys out of your home — is a bump key and a tool for creating a bit of force. The bump key shown above opens an extremely popular five pin lock, and the plastic bumping tool is produced by Peterson manufacturing, although many others are now being offered for sale. With these two cheap implements, anyone — and I do mean anyone — can get into your home or business in a matter of seconds.

• The Lockdown: Locked, but not secure (Part I)
• The Lockdown: Locked, but not secure (Part 2)
• The Lockdown: Locked, but maybe secure (part 1)
• The Lockdown: Locked, but maybe secure (part 2)

Related:

• Locksport International Guide to Lock Picking
• The Document Which Used To Be Called The MIT Guide to Lock Picking

Engadget has posted a great how-to for building an A/V switch box.

While “solid state” may bring bring to mind electronics from the 60s (or, in some cases, yet-unreleased flash hard drives), but in this case it simply means the actual switching is done with circuitry, not mechanically. Ironically, the circuits are activated with a mechanical switch, but they could be controlled electronically if you were so inclined.

In this How-To we’ll show you how to wire up your own A/V switcher which you can expand and use any way you’d like, for composite, S-Sideo, component, even VGA signals. Sure, you can buy a newer, really expensive TV’s with multiple inputs (even component), but for those of us whose credit cards aren’t quite up to that challenge, more inputs for less cash would be rather desirable. Let’s get started!

• Link

A new tool has been announced in the piracy arms race. This tool can be deployed by network administrators to monitor network traffic in order to identify people using P2P services, and can automatically boot them off the network. The question is whether or not it can distinguish legitimate uses of those P2P technologies. The price: “$1 million price tag for installation and $250,000 yearly operation costs.”

Red Lambda says that cGrid monitors “a large variety of different P2P clients, in addition to other avenues of file-sharing including Windows file sharing, FTP, IM, and others,” and that cGrid does not perform content inspection but instead focuses on the behavior of the protocols being monitored. But the company does not expand on how it differentiates between legitimate uses of those technologies and illegal ones, raising questions of its effectiveness in an academic setting where students may be using P2P and other services potentially flagged by the system for legitimate, academic reasons.

• Link (via Digg)

Can a cat parasite infect humans as well? An article on Discover suggests that Toxoplasma gondii is altering the behaviour of its human hosts, and can even cause a shift in the sex ratio of their babies in favour of males.

Five years ago, Oxford University zoologists showed that the parasite Toxoplasma gondii alters the brain chemistry of rats so that they are more likely to seek out cats. Infection thus makes a rat more likely to be killed and the parasite more likely to end up in a cat—the only host in which it can complete the reproductive step of its life cycle. The parasite also lives in the brain cells of thousands of species, including about 60 million supposedly symptom-free Americans. Studies over the past few years have suggested that toxoplasmosis infections in humans, too, may cause behavioral changes—from subtle shifts to outright schizophrenia. Two studies this year add even weirder twists.

• Link (via Boing Boing)
• Parasites on the Brain [damninteresting.com]

This is an amusing piece that claims that the destruction of the Death Star may have been part of a massive conspiracy!

Presented here are some of the results of my soul-searching regarding this painful event. Like many citizens, I have many questions that I would like answered: was the mighty Imperial government really too incompetent to prevent a handful of untrained nerf-herders from destroying one of their most prized assets? Or are they hiding something from us? Who was really behind the attack? Why did they want the Death Star destroyed? No matter what the answers, we have a problem.

• Link (via reddit)

This looks like an interesting documentary that examines the reality of piracy. You can watch and even download the documentary for free.

Each day, millions of youths from Canada and around the world download music and movies off of the Internet. This epidemic of “unauthorized” downloading has been cited by the record and film industries as being the prime cause for billions in losses. Politicians have come under tremendous pressure to pass legislation on the issue.

But despite all the media frenzy on the piracy crackdowns, there’s been very little attention to the topic itself. At the very best, news reporters regurgitated the contents of an industry press release. There was nothing of substance, which is where this documentary fits in: we wanted to cover the issue in-depth. We interviewed industry execs, copyright lawyers, pirates, consumers, artists, and everyone we could think of - and made you this film.

• Link (via Digg)
• The official website of the documentary is here
• View on Google Video: Part 1, Part 2
• Download the DVD ISO image torrent from The Pirate Bay

TaskList.org can tell you whether or not a process in your Windows task list is spyware.

• Link (via Lifehacker)

This is quite an outrageous project posting at GetACoder.com. The budget is $1000-$3000! Good luck.

Hi,

So I’m posting for a rather large project. I need someone to program me a new OS (Operasting System) that looks different than Ms Windows XP etc. but has the same style. It does not need to run on a mac but all the other PCs. It’s supposed to have a stylish look with clear edges etc. And ITS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE JUST A REDESIGNED WINDOWS as I’m going to sell that operating system later on. It’s going to be called BlueOrb.

These are some important points :

It should have ALL THE FEATURES that Windows Xp Professional has.
ALL the files that run on Windows XP ust also run on the BlueOrb OS.
It must have a very user-friendly interface (like MS WINDOWS XP)
When it gets Installed, the user needs to insert a serial number.
It HAS to be HACKER SAFE!
It must be quick and good looking.

Note that I only accept quality work and do not want any quickly done BS.

greetz,

M.Reinhardt

Some of the followup comments are rather funny as well. allencolmes writes:

Hi. I can do this for you next week, when I plan on taking a break from a nonotech based / atomic fission driven search engine thats going to make larry page wet his pants. 6 days to code, 1 to rest. It will be written from scratch and completely original in design, so don’t worry about copyright bs. I plan to write the entire OS in C, and blindfolded, if its all the same to you. 100% secure will not be a problem either…In fact the OS will be designed to leverage jedi mind tricks to kill anyone that even thinks about breaking in. (i was thinking maybe make them chop off their feet and jump up and down until their empty would be fair). Anyways, I’m gonna smoke some more crack, maybe you should do the same. Thanks!

• Link (via UNEASYsilence)