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Friday Squid Blogging: Cipherlopods

Bruce Schneier's Crypto-gram - Sat, 2010-03-13 08:21

This makes no sense to me, even though -- I suppose -- it's a squid cryptography joke.

Categories: main

Here Come the Linux iPad Clones

Slashdot Linux - Sat, 2010-03-13 07:13
CWmike writes "You can now pre-order an Apple iPad; but do you really want to, asks Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols. 'I mean, I get why you'd want an iPad. I'd like one too,' he writes. 'But,' he says, 'when I consider that there are soon going to be literally dozens of cheaper, Linux-powered iPad devices on the market, I find it a lot easier to resist putting $499 on my credit card. On top of that, Apple will be including DRM on some eBooks and other iPad content. I really, really hate DRM. All that said, I agree the iPad is really cool. I predict with absolute faith that the iPad and its clones are going to kill off single purpose devices like dedicated eReaders such as Amazon's Kindle and GPS devices within the next three years. How can it not work out this way? For the same price as a high-end dedicated device you can get a tablet that will do everything they can do and far more. But, and this is the important bit, you don't have to buy an Apple iPad to get all of the iPad's goodies. ARM, a mobile microprocessor power, is predicting that we'll see no less than 50 ARM-processor-powered iPad clones by year's end. And, what will they be running? These ARM-powered entertainment tablets will all be running Linux.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.


Another Schneier Interview

Bruce Schneier's Crypto-gram - Sat, 2010-03-13 05:19

This one on simple-talk.com.

Categories: main

Why DRM Doesn't Work

Bruce Schneier's Crypto-gram - Sat, 2010-03-13 03:31

Funny comic.

Categories: main

More Hollow Coins

Bruce Schneier's Crypto-gram - Fri, 2010-03-12 22:58

A hollowed-out U.S. nickel can hold a microSD card. Pound and euro coins are also available. I blogged about this about a year ago as well.

Categories: main

The Great Linux Groupware Dilemma

Wiki updates - Fri, 2010-03-12 17:20
ins.insert {background-color:#AFA;color:#080;text-decoration:inherit;} del.delete {background-color:#F88;color:#800;text-decoration:inherit;}
Introduction
... there are a many options,
Other application spaces
In several areas Linux has a clear leader, followed by a number of other less-popular but unique options:
Categories: main

Configuration procedure for HP JetDirect printers

Wiki updates - Fri, 2010-03-12 12:07
ins.insert {background-color:#AFA;color:#080;text-decoration:inherit;} del.delete {background-color:#F88;color:#800;text-decoration:inherit;}
Introduction
These instructions are based on a J7949E "JetDirect Inside" print server, firmware version V.28.63
Procedure
Create a DHCP reservation for the printer's MAC address
Boot the printer
Connect to web interface
Networking -> Configuration -> Network settings
TCP/IP
IP Configuration method: DHCP
Host name: [your hostname]
LPD banner page: disabnle
enable "Send DHCP requests if IP address is Auto IP (169.254.x.x) or Legacy Default IP"
IPX/SPX
IPX/SPX enable: off
AppleTalk
AppleTalk enable: off
DLC/LLC
DLC/LLC enable: off
SNMP
SNMPv1/v2: "Enable SNMPv1/v2 read-only access"
Networking -> Configuration -> Other settings -> Misc Settings
SLP Config: off
Telnet Config: off
mDNS: off
Multicast IPv4: off
FTP Printing: off
Networking -> Security -> Authorization
Admin account:
set password
"Use the Administrator Password as the Set Community Name": on
Certificates:
An appropriate certificate should be installed
Networking -> Security -> Mgmt. Protocols
Web mgmt.
Encryption strength: medium
Encrypt all web communication: on
Categories: main

HP JetDirect printers

Wiki updates - Fri, 2010-03-12 11:12
ins.insert {background-color:#AFA;color:#080;text-decoration:inherit;} del.delete {background-color:#F88;color:#800;text-decoration:inherit;} Configuration procedure for HP JetDirect printers
Categories: main

Non-Linux notes

Wiki updates - Fri, 2010-03-12 11:12
ins.insert {background-color:#AFA;color:#080;text-decoration:inherit;} del.delete {background-color:#F88;color:#800;text-decoration:inherit;} ...HP ProCurve routing
HP ProCurve Manager
HP JetDirect printers
Windows
Windows backups
Categories: main

Wikibooks Cryptography Textbook

Bruce Schneier's Crypto-gram - Fri, 2010-03-12 04:26

Over at Wikibooks, they're trying to write an open source cryptography textbook.

Categories: main

Wanted: Trust Detector

Bruce Schneier's Crypto-gram - Thu, 2010-03-11 22:17

It's good to dream:

IARPA's five-year plan aims to design experiments that can measure trust with high certainty -- a tricky proposition for a psychological study. Developing such experimental protocols could prove very useful for assessing levels of trust within one-on-one talks, or even during group interactions.

A second part of the IARPA proposal might involve using new types of sensors and software to gauge human facial, language or body signals that might help predict trustworthiness. Perhaps facial recognition technology that could deduce emotions or facial tics might help, not to mention better lie detectors.

IARPA is the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity, the U.S. intelligence community's answer to DARPA.

Categories: main

Fedora 13 Alpha Released

Slashdot Linux - Thu, 2010-03-11 12:36
AdamWill writes "The first pre-release of Fedora 13, Fedora 13 Alpha, has been announced and is available here. As always, a new Fedora brings a bundle of new features, including available experimental open source 3D acceleration support for Nvidia graphics adapters, automatic printer driver installation, easy color management on the GNOME desktop, a bundle of improvements to NetworkManager and more. Known issues are here."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.


"Mythical Man-Month" Supposedly Busted By MIT Startup

Slashdot Linux - Thu, 2010-03-11 11:15
An anonymous reader writes "We all know about the Mythical Man-Month, the argument that adding more programmers to a software project just makes it later and later. A Linux startup out of MIT claims to have busted the myth, using an MIT holiday month to hire 20 college student interns to get all their work done and quadrupling its productivity."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.


Nose Biometrics

Bruce Schneier's Crypto-gram - Thu, 2010-03-11 05:47

Really:

Since they are hard to conceal, the study says, noses would work well for identification in covert surveillance.

The researchers say noses have been overlooked in the growing field of biometrics, studies into ways of identifying distinguishing traits in people.

"Noses are prominent facial features and yet their use as a biometric has been largely unexplored," said the University of Bath's Dr Adrian Evans.

"Ears have been looked at in detail, eyes have been looked at in terms of iris recognition but the nose has been neglected."

The researchers used a system called PhotoFace, developed by researchers at the University of the West of England, Bristol and Imperial College, London, for the 3D scans.

Categories: main

The Limits of Identity Cards

Bruce Schneier's Crypto-gram - Wed, 2010-03-10 23:09

Good legal paper on the limits of identity cards: Stephen Mason and Nick Bohm, "Identity and its Verification," in Computer Law & Security Review, Volume 26, Number 1, Jan 2010.

Those faced with the problem of how to verify a person's identity would be well advised to ask themselves the question, 'Identity with what?' An enquirer equipped with the answer to this question is in a position to tackle, on a rational basis, the task of deciding what evidence will be useful for the purpose. Without the answer to the question, the verification of identity becomes a sadly familiar exercise in blind compliance with arbitrary rules.
Categories: main

Linux Takes Over E-Voting In Australian State

Slashdot Linux - Wed, 2010-03-10 20:19
daria42 writes "The Electoral Commission in the Australian state of Victoria has made plans to expand its use of electronic voting kiosks based on Linux in the next state election in November of this year. But it appears to be a little confused: the documentation states it will be using the '2.6 kernel/Gentoo release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux.' Huh?"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.


ProCurve 1810G-8 setup

Technical wiki updates - Wed, 2010-03-10 13:33
ins.insert { background-color: #AFA; color: #080; text-decoration: inherit; } del.delete { background-color: #F88; color: #800; text-decoration: inherit; } ...The switch ships without DHCP enabled, so you must have an IP address on the 192.168.2.0/24 subnet defined. I manually define an additional IP address 192.168.2.12 on my Linux laptop when i want to do this.
Power up and cable the switch into your network.
... 3.5.4 on Windows,Windows and Epiphany 2.28.0 on Linux, but not with Firefox 3.0.17 or
There is no password by default, so just select login.
Navigate to Home -> Setup Network, select DHCP, and apply the settings. The switch will shortly be accessible on its new IP address. Connect to that address with your web browser.

ProCurve 1810G-8 setup

Technical wiki updates - Wed, 2010-03-10 12:39
ins.insert { background-color: #AFA; color: #080; text-decoration: inherit; } del.delete { background-color: #F88; color: #800; text-decoration: inherit; } ...Because we are using the switch with self-signed certificates, a browser warning should pop up. Allow the connection, but be sure not to save the certificate permanently (especially if you're using Firefox), because the self-signed certificate clashes with all other self-signed certificates from the same model of switch.
Set your password in Maintenance -> Password Manager.
Save the switch config in Maintenance -> Save configuration.
Relax - you're done!
Breathe a sigh of relief
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