Daniel's shared items in Google Reader

OWASP HTML sanitizer challenge

2011-10-18T20:50:47Z

This challenge is from Mike Samuel, he tried to post himself but registration seems broken. owasp-html-sanitizer ([code.google.com]) is a fast and easy to configure HTML Sanitizer written in Java which lets you include HTML ...

Creativity Spurt

2011-10-21T06:00:01Z

Bill Clinton recently suggested that a good way to stimulate the economy is by allowing homeowners to reduce their mortgages to the actual value of their homes. If I understand the concept, it means giving the banks one swift kick in the nads so we can all move on. In theory, that might be better for everyone, including the banks, assuming it revs up the economic engine in the long run. And it might be better than watching the underwater mortgage holders walk away. I don't know if Clinton's suggestion is a good one, but it's undeniably creative.

Meanwhile, there's a bipartisan bill in congress to grant visas to anyone that can plunk down $500,000 in cash for real estate in the United States. That would prop up the real estate market and attract people that have, in all likelihood, something to add to the country in terms of talent and resources. That's a creative idea. (And it was discussed in this blog, in the comments, some time ago.)

On the other side of the world, Afghanistan is strengthening its ties with India to force Pakistan to compete, for all practical purposes, to be Afghanistan's friend instead of its frenemy. That's creative.

In the Middle East, you have Abbas using political pressure against Israel in the United Nations instead of violence. No matter what you think of that idea, it's creative.

Then you have the Arab Spring, which involves millions of citizens imagining the previously unimaginable - that they can control their own political destinies.

Former Mexican president Fox is publicly calling for the complete legalization of drugs in the United States and Mexico as a way to end the violence and reduce the cost of the war on drugs. He uses the example of prohibition to make his case. We've always had advocates for drug legalization, but I don't recall anyone at that level ever calling for ALL drugs to be legal, and for every part of the process, from growing to selling to consuming, to be legal. No matter what you think of that idea, it strikes me as creative.

Consider the Tea Party. Consider Occupy Wall Street. Consider the calls (including mine) for a constitutional convention.

You'll be tempted to argue the merits of the movements and ideas I mentioned. But hold off on that for just a minute and look at the larger landscape. I think we're experiencing a worldwide creativity boom. I'm not sure I've ever seen anything like it.

Everyone in the entire world - from Libya to Wall Street - just said fuck the system - let's try something new. This is the sort of creative burst you would expect just ahead of an economic boom. And that's my prediction: The next ten years will be incredible.

The Ultimate Peer Pressure

2011-09-26T06:00:01Z

When professional cyclists were told they were racing against their own best times, they tended to match those times, even when the times were faster than they had ever raced. I wonder how useful that sort of influence would be if we applied it to other areas.

In a few years it will be feasible to create a CGI version of yourself - an avatar - that lives a better lifestyle in the digital world than you do in the real world. The avatar would have a healthier diet, exercises more, be less shy in social settings, more assertive at work, and perhaps have a more perfect golf game. If you spent a few minutes every day observing your avatar doing what you wished you could do, would the peer pressure motivate you to higher achievement? I think it might. In a way, this would be the high tech version of writing down your goals every day and visualizing success. The avatar would simply make the visualization easier.

Perhaps calling this effect peer pressure is not doing it justice. It might be more of a case of unlocking your potential in the same way that the first runner to break the four-minute mile unlocked the potential of those who followed. For any given task, we all seem to have a mental switch that is stuck in the "yes you can" or "no you can't" position. Sometimes you need to use mental tricks to flip the switch from no to yes. I wonder if your avatar could help.

I've written before on the topic of how often successful people seem to have had meaningful interactions with other successful people prior to making it big themselves. That could be a case of coincidence or selective reporting, but I suspect causation. When you get to know a famous person, your mind says, "If that idiot can succeed, how hard can it be?" That flips the switch in your mind to "yes I can."

I also wonder if programming your avatar to smile or laugh would immediately put you in a good mood. I think it would. I think your avatar could also improve your table manners, help your posture, and move you in the right direction a hundred different ways.

At some point in the future of humanity our avatars will be so well-programmed with our preferences and memories that they will live on after our deaths and have no idea they are not the real us. And since that future will last forever for the avatar, perhaps in a continuous loop, while your mortal life is limited in years, the statistical reality suggests it already happened and you are an avatar of someone who went before. (Yes, you knew I was going there.)

1955 - 2011

2011-10-06T06:00:01Z

I once thought his success was mostly a matter of luck. Anyone can be at the right place at the right time.

But then he did it again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

He was my only hero.

Android virus receiving orders from encrypted blog

2011-10-08T01:04:00Z

"Researchers from Trend Micro have spotted a piece of malicious software for Android that receives instructions from an encrypted blog, a new method of communication for mobile malware, according to the company. The malware, which can steal information from an Android phone and send it to a remote server, purports to be an ebook application. It has been found on a third party Chinese language application store...."

Why I Quit Primary Care: One Doctor's Story

2011-10-04T12:12:05Z

Why I Quit Primary Care: One Doctor's Story:

Out of Practice is the compelling story of one man’s struggle to retain a close connection with his aging patients, many of whom he began seeing when they were much younger, even as he was squeezed by Medicare. It’s also the story of a doctor beset by rising overhead costs, plagued by liability insurance, exhausted by demented clients, and swamped by faxes that arrived by the pound, awaiting his signature, often for nonmedical matters (“Patient may have her hair done”).

Primary care physicians need to see 30 to 35 clients daily in order to cover a fixed overhead of $250,000 yearly, and that’s impossible when the waiting room is packed with anxious and lonely people with multiple and complex ailments, Barken says.

“A patient who requires meticulous fine-tuning and frequent, lengthy counseling, such as a poorly controlled diabetic with wildly fluctuating blood sugars, takes too much time,” he writes. “… There is, amazingly, no time or room for sick people in the doctor’s office.”

Mobile Security Threats to Double by End of 2011: IBM Study

2011-10-06T13:19:00Z

"There won't be that many new vulnerabilities found in mobile operating systems, but the number of attacks exploiting the known flaws are expected to double by the end of the year, IBM X-Force said. Mobile threats have exploded this year, and researchers believe the number of mobile device exploits will double by the end of the year, according to the latest IBM report. The number of known mobile operating system vulnerabilities will increase only incrementally from 2010 to 2011, but the number of exploits based on those flaws is expected to double from 2010 to 2011, IBM's X-Force research group wrote in the IBM Mid-Year X-Force report released Sept. 29...."

GPU cracks 6 character password in 4 seconds

2011-10-06T17:19:02Z

GPU cracks 6 character password in 4 seconds An nVidia GeForce GT220 graphics card, which costs about £30, is capable of cracking strong passwords in a matter of hours. Security experts were able to crack a 6 character password in 4 seconds, a 7 character password in less than 5 minutes, and 8 character password in four hours. "People have worked out that the processing power of graphics cards,

"Just as capitalism didn’t start its life as the Wealth of Corporations, much less the Wealth..."

2011-10-03T10:31:05Z

“Just as capitalism didn’t start its life as the Wealth of Corporations, much less the Wealth of Billionaires - but instead as the Wealth of Nations, the American Dream was never just a dream of a corporate or personal pursuit of wealth, it was a national pursuit. It was the pursuit of a kind of wealth that was believed could and would eventually be shared by the entire world.”

- Star Trek and the American Dream

"The irony of the Tea Party is that their attitude about liberty has become so overly individualistic..."

2011-10-03T11:26:06Z

“The irony of the Tea Party is that their attitude about liberty has become so overly individualistic that it actually threatens democracy instead of protecting it. By elevating individual liberties so far above the common good — without reference to justice — those who absolutize these virtues unwittingly undermine democracy instead of shoring it up. If you want to ensure personal liberty, pursue justice. If you want to undermine personal liberty, join the movement to abstract individual liberties and freedoms from their essential roots of social obligation and the common good.”

- Tim Suttle

"What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no..."

2011-09-25T21:56:00Z

“What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy. As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny “failed to take into account man’s almost infinite appetite for distractions”. In 1984, Huxley added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us.”

- Neil Postman (via Maxistentialism)

Northeast, Not Bible Belt, Has Lowest Divorce Rate In America

2011-10-01T07:16:06Z

Northeast, Not Bible Belt, Has Lowest Divorce Rate In America:

A recent U.S. Census report shows the Northeast — and New Jersey in particular — has the lowest divorce rate in America, trailed closely by New York.

The Bible Belt, meanwhile, home to Southern hospitality, church telethons and country music, has more “shotgun” weddings and the most divorces.

The 7 Stages of Robot Replacement

2011-10-01T09:46:05Z

The 7 Stages of Robot Replacement:

A robot/computer cannot possibly do what I do.

OK, it can do a lot, but it can’t do everything I do.

OK, it can do everything I do, except it needs me when it breaks down, which is often.

OK, it operates without failure, but I need to train it for new tasks.

Whew, that was a job that no human was meant to do, but what about me?

My new job is more fun and pays more now that robots/computers are doing my old job.

I am so glad a robot cannot possibly do what I do.

"There are studies showing that violence is more common when people are confined to one pecking..."

2011-10-02T11:01:06Z

“There are studies showing that violence is more common when people are confined to one pecking order, and all of their social worth depends on where they are in that hierarchy, whereas if they belong to multiple overlapping groups, they can always seek affirmations of worth elsewhere. For example, if I do something stupid when I’m driving, and someone gives me the finger and calls me an asshole, it’s not the end of the world: I think to myself, I’m a tenured professor at Harvard. On the other hand, if status among men in the street was my only source of worth in life, I might have road rage and pull out a gun. Modernity comprises a lot of things, and it’s hard to tease them apart. But I suspect that when you’re not confined to a village or a clan, and you can seek your fortunes in a wide world, that is a pacifying force for exactly that reason.”

- Steven Pinker

The iPhone 5/4S: The Complete Rumor Rundown

2011-10-03T13:49:41Z

Apple is less than 24 hours away from announcing the next iPhone. Unlike previous announcements, this show will be intimate and small, held at Apple’s HQ rather than a large venue like the Moscone Center. Most important, Steve Jobs isn’t headlining the show; although, if rumors are to be believed, he might make a cameo. Apple’s latest commander and chief, Tim Cook, is expected to lead the charge at what will likely amount to one of the biggest Internet traffic days of the year.

Apple is rather tardy releasing this latest iPhone, missing its traditional summer launch date by a good two months. However, if the rumor mills are to be believed, there, the new iPhone will be very similar to the old iPhone – except where it isn’t. We compiled all of the rumors here along with stating the viability for each. Some are wide-eyed, others are realistic, while some are pure fanboy fantasy.

The iPhone 4S Will Be A Less Expensive iPhone

Argument

Numerous leaked SKU line ups with iPhone prototypes that are made of just plastic rather than glass and aluminum found in Brazil.
Apple would completely disrupt Android and Windows Phone 7 by selling a new iPhone at $100 or less.
The iPhone 4 still packs enough computing power for most users.

Objections:

Unsubstantiated leaks cannot be trusted

Judgment: The stars just seem aligned for this one. The iPhone 4 is still a hot phone despite being over 15 months old. Apple just needs to repackage the current hardware into a less expensive body to completely demolish the competition.

Redesigned, thinner iPhone 5

Argument:

Countless thinner cases have leaked over the previous months all purportedly built for the next iPhone.
Every successive iPhone has been thinner than the previous.
Apple likes to keep design cues constant between products and so the next iPhone will look similar to the iPad.

Objection:

None, it’s a pretty solid claim

Judgment: Apple has never released a product thicker than the previous model and won’t start with the next iPhone.

Larger screen

Argument:

The iPhone 4′s 3.5-inch screen is tiny compared to recent superphones from Motorola, Samsung, and LG.
Leaked cases signal that the next iPhone will be physically longer and wider. A larger screen is logical if the size of the iPhone is increasing.
Our own research has shown that a larger screen is “likely.”

Objections:

Larger screen could mess with apps designed for the smaller screen

Judgment: Apple cannot ignore the current popular trend of larger screen sizes. As long as the phone is thinner, a larger screen will not make the phone feel any bigger.

Edge-to-edge glass

Argument:

Apple has always pushed the limit with its LCD implementation.
Edge-to-edge glass would give Apple something to tout over just using a larger screen.

Objections:

Likely higher manufacturing cost, which would cut into the profit margin
Could lead to more broken screens

Judgment: Not likely just yet. Apple pushes the limit but only as far as its financially viable.

NFC Chip
Argument:

NFC is the next big thing and already a feature on leading Android handsets
An NFC-equipped iPhone would further the advancement of mobile payments

Objection:

Current NFC radios are separate microchips and not integrated into a unified communication chip, which requires PCB real estate and extra battery power
Apple could be waiting until the payment companies make a lucrative offer to them

Judgment: Apple tends to incorporate non-proprietary tech only after its viability is proven. So that’s a “No.”

Dual-core A5 CPU

Argument:

Apple tends to include a faster CPU with each iPhone release
iOS 5 will likely benefit from a faster, dual-core CPU

Objection:

More powerful CPUs tend to decrease battery life

Judgment: It’s very likely the next major iPhone will have the A5 CPU. However, Apple might stick with the A4 for a mid-model refresh like the rumored iPhone 4S

New home button

Argument:

Leaked cases and bezels show an elongated opening/button
Touch-sensitive bezels allows for new controls, multitouch gestures

Objections:

Completely changes Apple’s “Keep It Simple, Stupid” design
Could break current apps

Judgment: Don’t start designing your next Kickstarter iPhone case project around this rumor. Apple will likely stick with its traditional home button.

8MP camera

Argument:

MP count has increased with every new iPhone release
An 8MP photo previously appeared with iPhone 5 metadata
Megapixel counts are unfortunately a comparison point between different phones

Objections:

Higher megapixel counts does not necessarily improve picture quality. Apple knows this. Hopefully.

Judgment: Camera sensors are constantly shrinking in size while increasing in MP count. Expect a higher count sensor but not necessarily an 8MP version.

CDMA/GSM dual-mode radio

Argument:

The next iPhone will use Qualcomm Gobi Baseband and run on both GSM and CDMA networks
Dual-mode phones have shown up in developer’s usage stats
Would allow Apple to makes/sell just one version, decreasing manufacturing costs
Allow Apple to sell a completely unlocked iPhone. Buy one from the Apple Store and activate it however you want
Carrier independence is a huge selling point

Objection:

Dual-mode mobile radios are still very rare
R&D cost could make it financially unfeasible

Judgment: It’s hard to say. The upsides are huge for both Apple and consumers, but dual-mode radios are not widely used. Apple tends to use highly-available and therefore, high margin components.

Extensive voice controls
Argument:

The next iPhone will have powerful voice controls built by Siri called Assistant, which Apple bought last year for $200m
The voice controls would outclass Android’s with more natural navigation paths
These function would need beefy hardware like the rumored A5 CPU, which creates an up-sell point for iPhone 4 owners

Objections

None, really. Seems like a logical step for iOS.

Judgment: It’s hard to predict future iOS features, but more beefy voice controls are probably on the road map.

Crunchbase

APPLE
IPHONE

Company: Apple

Website: apple.com

Launch Date: January 4, 1976

IPO: October 3, 1980, NASDAQ:AAPL

Started by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne, Apple has expanded from computers to consumer electronics over the last 30 years, officially changing their name from Apple Computer, Inc. to Apple, Inc. in January 2007. Among the key offerings from Apple’s product line are: Pro line laptops (MacBook Pro) and desktops (Mac Pro), consumer line laptops (MacBook) and desktops (iMac), servers (Xserve), Apple TV, the Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server operating systems, the iPod (offered with...

Learn more

Product: iPhone

Website: apple.com

Company Apple

Apple’s iPhone was introduced at MacWorld in January 2007 and officially went on sale June 29, 2007, selling 146,000 units within the first weekend of launch. The phone has been hailed as revolutionary with its bundle of advanced mobile web browsing, music and video playback, and touch screen controls. The iPhone is exclusively carried on the networks of both AT&T and Verizon in the U.S. An iPhone can function as a video camera (video recording was not a standard feature...

Learn more

U.S. Cant Track Tons of Weapons-Grade Uranium, Plutonium

2011-09-19T20:31:00Z

"President Obama has repeatedly said his top counterterrorism goal is to prevent terrorists from acquiring the building blocks to make nuclear or dirty bombs. In April of 2009, Obama announced a new international effort to secure all vulnerable nuclear material around the world within four years. Since then, the Department of Energy has dispatched scientists around the globe to collect hundreds of pounds of the stuff...."

Security's Inside Jobs - IT organizations and analysts are now spending more time focusing on technology

2011-08-25T07:17:00Z

"The security market was abuzz last week with reports of another insider threat incident. This time it was a disgruntled ex-employee of a pharmaceutical company creating chaos at his former employers firm by logging in from a McDonalds in Georgia and wiping clean 88 mission-critical servers located in the companys New Jersey data center. In the end this highlights a significant new IT security need that analyst groups are calling superuser privilege management...."

Chinese accidentally show off cyberwar capability

2011-08-24T20:38:00Z

"The Chinese government may have accidentally revealed how it secretly engages in cyber warfare. Despite the fact that it denies that it does launch cyber attacks, a somewhat dull piece of military propaganda was screened on television which showed a Chinese military university engaged in cyberwarfare against the United States. The documentary was meant as praise to the wisdom and judgement of Chinese military strategists and the traditional tar and feathering of the countries' biggest customer, the US...."

Shady RAT Is Not a Botnet

2011-08-20T12:28:00Z

"Speaking of technical arguments, apparently Mr. Kaspersky has gotten it in his head that Shady RAT is a botnet. Really? Unfortunately for Mr. Kaspersky, he is getting botnets and advanced persistent threats confused...."

Analysis: no contest - Mac vs Windows security

2011-08-17T20:31:00Z

"For nearly two decades now, security experts have debated whether Microsoft or Apple offers superior security. The battle heated up again in the wake of news out of Black Hat about a newfound weakness in the Mac platform. However, the question of whether Microsoft or Apple is more secure is no longer even relevant: Security threats of today and tomorrow aren't as tied to specific desktop platforms as they once were...."