JDPFu.com 2025

I saw this story from the BBC today. The headline was Hacker renews extradition fight. After reading the story, I got that he’s afraid to come to the USA.

Gee, I wonder why?

Charges

He allegedly broke into 97 computer systems at NASA and US Navy in 2001-2002 causing $800,000 worth of damage. He claims to have been looking for information on UFOs. British police arrested him in 2002. If convicted, he could face 70 years of imprisonment.

I’m sorry for that

Ship the guy here, put him on trial and, if guilty, send him to prison. Simple. His, “I am sorry for that” doesn’t cover the damages. The fact that he can’t work in IT anymore isn’t anyone’s problem, but his. If he did the crimes, he needs to be punished by incarceration, IMHO. His apology makes me believe he actually did the crime, unless there were circumstances we don’t know about (which is likely).

He claims that being taken from his family is a psychological hardship. Yes, it is. He’s going to be in prison where you have to do what you are told and normal freedoms are removed. Isn’t that the point? He should be happier that the time would be spent in lush federal prisons, not cheap state prisons.

Actions have consequences.

At age 42, he should have learned that already. If I hacked into a British military system, I would expect to be caught, extradited, tried, and, if found guilty, serve a sentence in a prison. Duh. Hackers should know by now that you always jump through systems in countries that aren’t friendly to your target system/country. Don’t do any damage to the middle systems. If you don’t know how to accomplish that, you have no business attempting the break in.

Reporters in North Korea

This article is about the reporters who were convicted of entering North Korea illegally while filming at the Chinese border in March 2009. I have to assume they did this act. Entering any country illegally has consequences. They knew that. Both Ms Ling and Ms Lee had to know they were doing something illegal (though ignorance is no excuse). The article says they would be sentenced to 12 years of “reform through labour”. This seems an excessive time to me, but I don’t make the laws of North Korea. If that is the normal penalty, they should serve it. I’m disappointed that the USA government is asking for their release. Laws need to be followed regardless of who you are or who you know.

I read an article today that said willpower and money are the reasons humanity hasn’t launched men towards the stars.

The barrier between us and the stars is not some insurmountable technology one, its a matter of money and willpower.

This is just 1 of the misconceptions that the average person has related to scientific items. Some things can’t be solved with enough effort and money in a given timeframe.

Fastest Man-Made Object

The fastest man-made item reached 150,000 mph (41.67 mi/sec). Voyager 1, launched in 1977, is going only 38,500 mph as it leaves our solar system.

Distance

The closest star to our solar system is about 4 light years away (5,800,000,000,000,000 miles away).

How Long is That Trip?

That works out to about 3,941 years to travel there at 150,000 mi/hr.

Remaining Problems To Be Solved

We definitely do not have the technology to accomplish or even begin that goal. We’d need a multi-generational ship, capable of growing food without sunlight. It would need to survive longer than any culture or nation has by far. There are thousands of other issues that would need to be solved too. Gravity, bone loss, fuel exhaustion, genetic diversity, long term power, …

So perhaps everyone can better understand why we aren’t planning to visit other stars at all?

Did I make any simple math mistakes?

Another big misconception is the fact that there are more stars in our universe than there are grains of sand on the entire planet Earth. Average humans don’t understand this. Large numbers and distances cannot truly be understood by our human brains.

I didn’t create this list, but since getting a new Hauppauge 950Q HD receiver, the search for the best PVR solution has been ongoing.

• http://gbpvr.com Home
• http://gbpvr.com/pmwiki Wiki & downloads
• http://forums.gbpvr.com/ Forums

Navigation Keyboard Shortcuts

• Power F12
• Return to main/ previous menu HOME (or) ESCAPE
• Accept the selection ENTER
• Go to pictures F5
• Go to radio F6
• Go F11

Audio Control Keyboard Shortcuts

• Turn down volume CONTROL+Z
• Turn up volume CONTROL+X

Music Library Keyboard Shortcuts

• Go to music F4
• Play an audio file or song CONTROL+P
• Stop music CONTROL+S
• Skip to the next song CONTROL+RIGHT ARROW
• Fast forward a song CONTROL+LEFT ARROW
• Toggle b/w icon & list view while navigating library CONTROL+B

Control the TV Keyboard Shortcuts

• Go to Recorded TV/Videos F3
• Go to the Guide F1
• Go to live TV F2
• Record a TV show CTRL+K
• Pause or resume live TV or recorded TV CTRL+Q
• Fast forward xx minutes # MINS +CTRL+RIGHT ARROW
• Rewind xx minutes # OF MINS +CTRL+LEFT ARROW
• Catch up CTRL+O
• Display the context menu CTRL+B
• Aspect Ratio F7
• Return to main menu with Video inset ESCAPE
• Go to the last channel viewed CTRL+W

Control the TV Guide Keyboard Shortcuts

• Go to/ view TV guide F1
• View TV Guide During Playback/LiveTV CTRL+G
• Scroll right, left, up down in guide ARROW KEYS
• Skip Back one day in guide CTRL+LEFT ARROW
• Skip Forward one day in guide CTRL+RIGHT ARROW
• Move page up in guide PAGE UP
• Move page down in guide PAGE DOWN
• Move forward one page CTRL+F
• Move backward one page CTRL+D
• Move to specific channel NUMBER KEYS 0-9 (then) ENTER
• Watch highlighted show CTRL+P

Video/TV Playback Keyboard Shortcuts

• Go to Recorded TVVideos F7
• Play CONTROL+P
• Pause CONTROL+Q
• Stop CONTROL+S (or) ESCAPE
• Rewind CONTROL+D
• Fast forward CONTROL+F
• Skip commercial (w/Comskip add-on) CONTROL+P (or) 0+CONTROL+RIGHT ARROW
• Skip back xx seconds # SECS+CONTROL+RIGHT ARROW
• Skip forward xx seconds # SECS+CONTROL+LEFT ARROW
• Skip back 60 seconds CONTROL+LEFT ARROW
• Skip forward 60 seconds CONTROL+RIGHT ARROW
• Show progress bar CONTROL+B
• Quick jump to side menu (while navigating library) CONTROL+LEFT ARROW
• Toggle icon/list view (while navigating library) CONTROL+B

Play DVD’s Keyboard Shortcuts

• Go to the DVD menu ESCAPE
• Play CONTROL+P
• Pause CONTROL+Q
• Stop CONTROL+S (or) ESCAPE
• Rewind CONTROL+D
• Fast forward CONTROL+F
• Skip forward 60 seconds CONTROL+RIGHT ARROW
• Skip backward 60 seconds CONTROL+LEFT ARROW
• Skip forward xx seconds # SECS +CONTROL+RIGHT ARROW
• Skip backward xx seconds # SECS +CONTROL+LEFT ARROW
• Skip to chapter xx CHAPTER# +ENTER
• Show progress bar CONTROL+B
• Change Aspect ratio F7
• Change the DVD audio track CONTROL+G
• Change the DVD subtitles selection CONTROL+Y

INAL, but as an enterprise architect, here are a few key things I can think of that law offices need to add to their existing network and computer security practices.

• Truecrypt – encryption is critical. Use it on all laptops and any data transferred off site.
• par2 – parity to ensure the data isn’t corrupted. If it is important enough to write to a CDR or DVD, then it is important enough to include 10% parity files.
• Encrypt all backups at the time of backup.
• Don’t store data off-site unless it has strong encryption and the service provider doesn’t have access to the keys.
• RAID-10 – For critical data, it isn’t worth anything less. That includes backups.
• Physical security for your data and backups. Lock the server room and lock the rack access to servers and storage.
• Consider partnering with another law office to hold each others backup data securely, assuming you don’t have multiple locations 50+ miles apart.
• ssh with keys (not passwords) for file transfer of all data between the 2 locations.
• VPN for all remote access. No exceptions.
• No Wifi in the office. No exceptions. Use a cable. If wifi is mandatory, so is using the VPN when you are on it.
• Setup and use HTTPS protected web access for legal document transfers with clients. Don’t email them unless you and they setup GPG or PGP encryption. Your clients will appreciate this level of paranoia. Also, it is the only way to ensure they don’t accidentally transmit sensitive data via an open, unencrypted email by accident if all documents have to be uploaded.
• Only use Blackberry remote email devices due to security concerns and require a complex password and auto lockout. Avoid iPhone, WM6x, Google Android, and smart phones as the security of those devices is harder to enforce and maintain. If the lawyers are serious about security, deploy a BES, Blackberry Enterprise Server, so there’s no question about policy control and enforcement. Avoid Android like it is THE PLAGUE if you care about privacy.
• Keep all systems that access your network patched. Be aggressive about anti-virus use. There are routers/switches that verify compliance every time a device is connected. These may be a good option in offices with 100 or fewer devices. They also VLAN off unapproved devices from the rest of your network.
• Thinking about using Cloud Computing? See what Seyfarth Shaw Law Firm says. about the risks.

We’ve all worked with lawyers and have seen some items that perhaps could be improved. Wouldn’t you rather have a paranoid lawyer over an uninformed-about-security one?

There’s a new competitor to Blackberry, Windows Mobile and Smartphones available, the Peek Pronto.

It looks like the RIM 957 with color. No phone or web browser, just email and texting. This is great for companies that want their people connected, but not with a cell phone ripe for abuse.

I’m concerned when an email-only device doesn’t clearly state the security features. A lack of network and data encryption and remote wiping is discouraging. At a minimum, HTTPS and IMAPS and POP3S need to be clearly supported. A device password lock with encrypted file system would be easy to add, IME. In that way, even if the device were lost, the data on it would be protected provided the password wasn’t hacked. Of course, real security goes beyond a “password” and complex passwords, autolocking, mandatory change periods, no password reuse, etc. are needed too.

But keeping it simple is a good thing. The Pronto seems to do this.

• email (5 acnts),
• texting,
• view images,
• view DOCs and PDFs.
• No web.
• No cell phone.

4/2009

• $80 for the device.
• $20/month for nationwide GSM service

There is an older device that is cheaper, has the same monthly plan costs, but doesn’t support text or anything other than email.

Blackberry Still Wins

Blackberry security still beats all the hand held devices, that hasn’t changed. Windows Mobile devices win on flexibility. Both cost significantly more than the Peek-Pronto.

Netbooks are becoming more and more viable to replace all these devices for those who need to get work done while on the road, not just check email.

Nokia Internet Tablets

Anyone who knows me, knows that I love the Nokia N800/N810 Internet Tablets. These devices should be on any list that a Peek Pronto is on and any list that an iTouch, WM6, Blackberry or Netbook is on too. Both the N800 and iTouch use WiFi and Bluetooth for connectivity – no data plan is required, therefore, no monthly data plan is required. This is a major plus.

Summary

The Peek Pronto is a low end email device that requires a monthly data plan to be useful. Security may or may not meet your requirements. We can’t tell based on the advertising.

This page was written without actually touching or seeing the device ourselves. It is based on what the getpeek website says (and doesn’t say). Without touching the device, it is impossible to determine whether the keyboard feel is good or not. That can be a critical decision factor for hand held devices.

Step 1 – backup your data.
Step 2 – recover your data as a test from a friends home or business.

The stuff you learn in step 2 is critical. We don’t backup data just to see it complete. We intend to get that data back at some point.

• Do you have access to the encryption keys used during backup? No encryption? – WHAT!? ARE YOU CRAZY?
• Do you have enough of the backup software (or can you down load it) to recover your data from bare metal, if needed?

Testing is critical to know what does and what doesn’t work. Don’t forget to fix the uncovered restore issues.

Everything is fine. No news. Both of them are just working.

VirtualBox 2.0.6 was released this week. I haven’t updated.

Xen on Ubuntu 8 LTS is working better and better. Performance is fine. Networking is fine. I have 6 VMs running on a single box. Most are 64-bit images. The list:

1. Zimbra
2. Alfresco, Apache, mediaWiki, dotProject, samba, mySQL
3. Typo (32-bit)
4. SugarCRM
5. PKI
6. Monitoring

Automatic full backups happen nightly and get mirrored to 2 other disk subsystems. The total size of the TGZ files are under 9GB, so network traffic is fairly trivial on our GB network.

Most of the full VM backups take 6-8 minutes. Zimbra takes about 25 minutes. That’s a full VM shutdown, copy to another disk, VM startup. rsync of the VM files should get this to just a few seconds for each. That’s the next phase to improve our backup system.

As far as VirtualBox goes. I boot WinXP once a week to get patches and run a few WinXP only apps. The rest of the time, it runs Ubuntu 8 desktop – very happily. Video transcoding, rsync, testing new software before deploying into the Xen infra, open office, surfing, rss, email … all the normal stuff we use computers for.

Anyway, everything is fine. Nothing to see here. Move along.

So, I’ve had a TiVo series 2 with lifetime support since 2003-ish. When wireless support became useful – TTG – I bought a supported D-Link USB 122 adapter. I’ve been using that adapter until today. It still works, but doesn’t support WPA and is only 802.11b – WEP. It was kinda slow too. 350kbps – uh, on a wireless network that should have a REAL speed of about 2500kbps.

Anyway, I broke down and ordered the TiVo branded G device a few weeks ago. It arrived today. I didn’t believe the instructions.

1. Plug it into the USB port.

That’s it.

Damn, if it didn’t work. No reboot. No reconfigure of wifi settings.
Most impressive – my download speed has doubled to 650kbps. Oh, and that’s with a connect to TiVo test going.

The other scary thing is that my signal has gone from 85%-good to 100%-excellent. All I did was unplug the old USB wifi adapter and plug in the new. That’s it.

Happy. If I knew how easy this was, I would have changed years ago.
Later, after my current download finishes, I’ll change my wifi network from WEP to WPA. My network-mooching-neighbors are gonna hate me.

So, we are finally shown the new Chevy Volt last week. The key differences between it and all the prior cars are:

• electric drive train
• charging is performed by
  • power outlet in your home
  • on-board gasoline engine (1.6L turbo)

Why is this smart?

• The on-board charging method can be swapped out later with different technologies like solar, hydrogen, CNG, whatever.
• Electric motors have extremely long timetimes; basically, they don’t break and don’t require any maintenance
• Short trips are 100% electric
• The look of the Volt is nice, unlike other competitors. The Opal/Saturn version is interesting too. Opal uses a turbo diesel engine for charging.

I’ve written previously on car, home and hydrogen power solutions … a few times:

• THCE e + H2 Car
• “THCE Components”:
• Total Home and Car Energy
• Home Energy Station
• Thoughts On Energy

See google is evil …. or just doesn’t want any hassles over what they index going forward.

Basically, google wants to not be sued over any content they come across – however they come across it.
Like lambs to the slaughter, we are.

I’ve pointed out how google wants to know their customers previously