"The future masters of technology will have to be lighthearted and intelligent. The machine easily masters the grim and the dumb." -- Marshall McLuhan, 1969
Dirt Digger Rocketing Toward Mars - washingtonpost.com
Topic: Space
1:19 am EDT, Aug 6, 2007
A robotic dirt and ice digger rocketed toward Mars on Saturday, beginning a 422 million-mile journey that NASA hopes will culminate next spring in the first ever landing within the red planet's Arctic Circle.
The Phoenix Mars Lander blasted off before dawn, precisely on time, hurtling through the clear moonlit sky aboard an unmanned Delta rocket. The rocket looked as though it was heading straight for Mars, a bright reddish dot in the eastern sky.
Not quite six hours later, the Phoenix Mars Lander was already 365,000 miles from Earth and had settled into a cruising speed of more than 12,000 mph. Everything seemed to be working fine, mission officials said.
"Next stop is Mars," exulted Doug McCuistion, director of NASA's Mars exploration program.
Seriously. This is definitely above and beyond the usual. No crazy patterns, no violent blinkingness, no creepy face to spring out at you.
Go to the site, and check out the castle by putting your mouse cursor over the image. Notice that it's entirely black and white. Move your mouse pointer off to one side of the image. Now, just like it says, stare at the dot in the center for about 30 seconds, and don't move your head or look away. Relax your eyes even. Then without looking away, move the mouse pointer back into the image.
VIBRANT COLOR!
When you blink and it goes *pffT!* back to black and white is pretty trippy.
Blackboard, the big Web 2.0 app on campus | CNET News.com
Topic: Computer Security
11:48 pm EDT, Aug 4, 2007
The multimedia or personal stuff that professors may think of as flashy filler is getting students to make an emotional investment in their education. "Sure, the content they offer is not as good as if a faculty member produced it. The content expert is always going to be better at creating the content, but that's not the point," said Knauff.
Some see the advent of Web 2.0-style tools in the classroom heralding a shift in everything from education theory to how schools are built. The bottom line: traditional lecturing may be on its way out, said Claire Schooley, an analyst at Forrester Research who follows learning trends at universities and corporations.
Seton Hall University uses social tools as a way to hook students even before they have officially started. A log-in is mailed to new students along with the acceptance materials, according to Jan Day, senior director of client engagement at Blackboard, an educational software company that worked with the university to implement the site.
"It's one thing to look at a discussion board, wikis and blogs. It's something else completely different to physically act in a 3D environment with others in your class. There is increased engagement and feelings of identity," said Jarrett.
"Just like with hybrids and the car industry a few years ago, I need to start building that car because if I wait three years, I'll miss that curve," Hartman said. "I'm building it now as a prototype, but I don't expect to take it out and race it."
Zac Franken, a DefCon goon (staffer), gave a brilliant presentation at the DefCon hacker conference today involving security access control systems and cards for building entrances that use electromagnetic coupling.
The hack involves exploiting a serious vulnerability inherent in the Wiegand protocol that allows an intruder to trick the system into granting entrance to a building to an unauthorized visitor, to lock out authorized visitors and to collect authorization data about everyone who has entered that door to gain access to other areas in a building secured with Wiegand-based readers.
The Wiegand protocol is a plain-text protocol and is employed in systems that secure not only some office buildings but also some airports. Franken has said that it's used at Heathrow airport. Retina scanners, proximity scanners and other access systems all use the Wiegand protocol so the vulnerability isn't device-specific. It's plain text and easily intercepted and replayed.
This is some straight-up Tilde Jones style physical security hackery. Very cool.
3 Men Arrested in Brief Confusion Over Homemade Submarine!
Topic: Technology
8:34 pm EDT, Aug 4, 2007
Authorities arrested three people Friday after detectives saw a replica of a Revolutionary War submarine floating near the dock of the Queen Mary II.
The vessel is an 8-foot replica of the 1776 submersible known as the Turtle, said Petty Officer Seth Johnson of the U.S. Coast Guard. It was unclear what the people were doing, but there was no indication of any connection to terrorism, he said.
The vessel "is the creative craft of three adventuresome individuals," Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said in a statement, according to WABC-TV. "We can best summarize today's incident as marine mischief."
Initially the men were going to be charged on a number of violations, but as of Friday afternoon, it was unclear if any charges would be brought forward.
The odd-looking submarine appears to be a hobby of one of those arrested -- Philip Riley, 35, of Brooklyn, Johnson said.
Police said one of the men claimed to be a descendant of David Bushnell, the inventor of the original Turtle, WABC reported.
That's pretty cool. I remember reading about the Turtle. The design was originally developed to place explosives on British ships in harbor, and it was close to the QEII, no one can really say the police were not correct in acting on the folks operating it. In the end, this is really funny as hell. :)
Hopefully they just don't move forward with the charges..
Internet Archive: Report to the Congress: Congressional Hearings Online
Topic: Politics and Law
8:19 pm EDT, Aug 4, 2007
By the end of the 110th Congress, the U.S. House of Representatives could achieve the goal of providing broadcast-quality video of all hearings and the floor for download on the Internet.
This is an important and under-recognized victory for the openness of our democracy.
There is still more that needs to be done though. I feel it is also necessary to make searchable transcripts available of committee hearings in the same way as the rest of the congressional record.
NBC Reporter with hidden camera in purse hoping to catch conference attendees committing to crimes (according to Defcon staff) flees Defcon 15 after being outed.
OMG FUCKING LOOOOOOLLLLL!!!!
For more information on this awesome totally ethical NBC program, see this.
I think DT handled that well. The role reversal that took place when the conference attendees were following her to her car was hilarious. "We just want to ask a few questions!"
POP legend Sir Elton John wants the internet CLOSED DOWN.
Never one to keep his opinions to himself, the Rocket Man has waded into cyberspace with all guns blazing.
He claims it is destroying good music, saying: “The internet has stopped people from going out and being with each other, creating stuff.
“Instead they sit at home and make their own records, which is sometimes OK but it doesn’t bode well for long-term artistic vision.
“We’re talking about things that are going to change the world and change the way people listen to music and that’s not going to happen with people blogging on the internet.
“Hopefully the next movement in music will tear down the internet.
“I do think it would be an incredible experiment to shut down the whole internet for five years and see what sort of art is produced over that span.
“There’s too much technology available.
“I’m sure, as far as music goes, it would be much more interesting than it is today.”
The singer also announced earlier this year that his entire back catalogue of albums would be made available for digital download.
Because clearly the Internet was the reason his last album only sold 100,000 units...
