Midspot

San Diego, CA, October 30, 2008–UC San Diego computer scientists have built a software program that can perform key duplication without having the key. Instead, the computer scientists only need a photograph of the key.

“We built our key duplication software system to show people that their keys are not inherently secret,” said Stefan Savage, the computer science professor from UC San Diego’s Jacobs School of Engineering who led the student-run project. “Perhaps this was once a reasonable assumption, but advances in digital imaging and optics have made it easy to duplicate someone’s keys from a distance without them even noticing.”

Keys Can be Copied From Afar, Jacobs School Computer Scientists Show [Jacobs School of Engineering: News & Events].

Got tired of the long dropbox url for your public files? It is difficult to remember when you are on IRC and you don’t want to open nautilus and search for that file?

Do this with a htaccess

You just need to follow these two easy steps:

1. Create a new folder on your web server, for example “dropbox”. In my case I’ll have http://cimitan.com/dropbox or http://dropbox.cimitan.com

2. Create this .htaccess file with the dot and place it inside the “dropbox” folder:

RewriteEngine on

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -f

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d

RewriteRule ^.$ http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/012345/$1 [L,QSA]

Of course remember to change “012345? with your dropbox user ID

Result: http://dropbox.cimitan.com/screens/dropbox.gif

You can also play with symlinks in your Public folder For example: inside my Public folder I’ve a subdirectory called Screenshots, which is symlinked to screens and tmp. They will work too

Cimi’s Official Blog » Blog Archive » htaccess to redirect on DropBox’s public folder.

A Hazen boy was cited for being a minor in consumption and curfew violation after reporting he was attacked in south Bismarck.

The boy said he was attacked outside a southwest Bismarck apartment after attending a party there, Lt. Randy Ziegler said.

He said the boy was treated and released at a Bismarck hospital for cuts and a broken nose. The boy told police one of the three assailants used a golf club during the alleged attack, Ziegler said.

Bismarck Tribune – Local News – Boy cited after reporting assault.

Encryption

New to Ubuntu 8.10 is a nifty seamless encryption feature. It’s always been possible to encrypt individual files/folders in Ubuntu but it involved creating a key pair and then individually encrypting files. To view or edit the file, it was necessary to decrypt it and then re-encrypt it again if changes were made. Messy.

The new feature creates an encrypted filestore, mounted in the Private folder in your /home directory. This is automatically locked and unlocked as you log in and out, so accessing it is seamless and transparent. Other users won’t be able to access it, and it isn’t possible to see its contents by booting into rescue mode.

To activate the feature, just type the following two commands:

sudo apt-get install ecryptfs-utils

ecryptfs-setup-private

Follow the prompts shown and then log out and back in again. Once the desktop reappears, you’ll see a new Private directory in your /home folder, where you can save data, as with any other directory.

The rumors are that, if this feature is successful, there will be an option to encrypt the entire /home directory for each user in future Ubuntu releases. And why not? Provided there’s limited performance overhead, and if it is as seamlessly integrated as this, it’s an essential feature.

Also on the security front, ClamAV has been moved into the officially-supported repositories, so Ubuntu now has an effective antivirus program that’s guaranteed to be updated for the 18 month life of Ubuntu 8.10. ClamAV’s inclusion in Ubuntu was previously a little touch-and-go, making it an unreliable choice.

Ubuntu: A User’s Look at Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex.

We all know that spiraling gas prices throughout the world has put a strain on the economy. But instead of becoming melancholic about the whole situation, we should look at the brighter side of things. After all some good samaritan out there would do something to bring some cheer into our lives.

Take for instance CodeWeavers CEO Jeremy White, who was so put off with the state of affairs in his country (USA) that he placed a challenge to the outgoing US president George Bush. And what was the challenge ? Well Jeremy placed six goals (He calls them lame duck

presidential goals) which included the goal of reducing the price of gasoline to below a particular amount. And if any one of his goals were met before George Bush finished his term at office, then Jermey will, for one day, give away his flag ship products Crossover Linux Pro (For Linux and Mac) and CrossOver Games (Linux and Mac) to anyone for free. Guess what, the price of gasoline has indeed fallen to the level set by Jermey and George Bush is still the American President.

So for one day, more specifically October 28, 2008 which happens to be today, you and I get to download the un-crippled full version of the above mentioned Crossover products and get a valid license for the same, with one year support thrown in for free.

All about Linux: Download full version of Codeweavers software for free – One day only.

I will no longer manage money for other people or institutions. I have enough of my own wealth to manage. Some people, who think they have arrived at a reasonable estimate of my net worth, might be surprised that I would call it quits with such a small war chest. That is fine; I am content with my rewards. Moreover, I will let others try to amass nine, ten or eleven figure net worths. Meanwhile, their lives suck. Appointments back to back, booked solid for the next three months, they look forward to their two week vacation in January during which they will likely be glued to their Blackberries or other such devices. What is the point? They will all be forgotten in fifty years anyway. Steve Balmer, Steven Cohen, and Larry Ellison will all be forgotten. I do not understand the legacy thing. Nearly everyone will be forgotten. Give up on leaving your mark. Throw the Blackberry away and enjoy life.

Hedge Fund Manager: Goodbye and F—- You – News Blog – Daily Brief – Portfolio.com.

Dear Pamela—

I realize you’re angry at how Friday night’s Monopoly game ended. I’m writing this note to explain why certain things occurred the way they did, and, hopefully, to chip away at the chilly silence that has characterized our relationship the past few days.

Since we haven’t spoken, I’m not aware of your stance on the causes of our dispute. I believe our major issue was the housing crisis, which began with your properties on Ventnor Avenue and Marvin Gardens. But in order to put that in context it’s important that we first discuss the children’s inflationary habits. I realize Bethany is only 6, and you find it cute that she writes “$5,000” in crayon on the backs of the Chance and Community Chest cards when she runs out of funds and uses them to purchase houses, but, if you recall, that is exactly what led to the inflation that crippled our Friday fun.

McSweeney’s Internet Tendency: The Economic Crisis Hits the Markson Family Monopoly Board..

CHICAGO – The bear market that is ravaging investor portfolios is now one of the worst in modern U.S. history and has wiped out more than $7 trillion in shareholder value, with no bottom clearly in sight.

When it stops and how far it drops, no one can predict with any accuracy — a painful uncertainty underscored by Wall Street’s giddy mood at the moment the steep descent began.

A year ago Thursday, Wall Street was celebrating the fifth anniversary of a bull market that had created $10 trillion in shareholder wealth since 2002. The Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor’s 500 index hit all-time highs on Oct. 9, 2007.

No bottom to stock market clearly in sight – Stocks & economy- msnbc.com.

The son of a prominent Democratic Tennessee state lawmaker was indicted Tuesday on charges of hacking into the Yahoo Web mail account of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

David C. Kernell, 20, of Knoxville, was indicted by a federal grand jury on a single count of accessing Palin’s e-mail without permission. The FBI said Kernell turned himself in to federal authorities and will be arraigned today.

kernell.jpg

Kernell is the son of Tennessee State Representative Mike Kernell, who acknowledged shortly after the incident that authorities had contacted his son in connection with the investigation.

According to the indictment, on Sept. 16, Kernell broke into Palin’s Yahoo account by guessing the answers to her pre-selected “Secret Questions” that must be answered before Yahoo will let users reset e-mail account passwords. Authorities say Kernell read Palin’s e-mail messages and then made and posted online screenshots of the e-mail inbox, along with the new password to her account.

Son of Tenn. Lawmaker Indicted in Palin E-Mail Hack – Security Fix.

OCTOBER 7–Days after federal officials agreed to an $85 billion bailout of American International Group, the insurance firm spent more than $440,000 for a corporate retreat at a swanky California resort. An invoice from the week-long getaway, a copy of which you’ll find below, was obtained by the congressional panel that has been holding hearings this week about Wall Street collapses and executive excess. The late-September AIG gathering at the St. Regis Resort in Monarch Beach cost $443,343, according to the invoice. The six-figure sum covered hotel rooms, banquets, golf fees, and spa services at the resort south of Los Angeles.

Rock Out With Your Bailout – October 7, 2008.