Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Has CAPTCHA Been "Broken"?

Source: http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/001001.html

Programmers don't seem to understand what makes a CAPTCHA difficult to "break". But it's not difficult to find out. Heck, the hackers themselves will tell you how to do CAPTCHA correctly if you just know where to look. For example, this Chinese hacker's page breaks down a number of common CAPTCHAs , and the price of software he sells to defeat them at a certain percentage success rate:

the9 100% $500
dvbbs 95% $1,000
Shanda 90% $1,500
Baidu 80% $3,000
eBay 70% $4,000
Ticketmaster 50% $6,000
Google (unbreakable)
Hotmail (unbreakable)
Yahoo (unbreakable)

Monday, November 26, 2007

Olympus creates 360-degree HD camera and projector

from Engadget by Joshua Topolsky

Sure, regular HD is nice -- you really get a gander at an anchorman's makeup, and the stars' wrinkles are shocking -- but does it go far enough? Olympus doesn't think so. The camera company -- long known to bring the goods on the picture-takin' end -- has just created the first 360-degree, 1080i camera and projection solution. Utilizing a proprietary system based around an "axisymmetric free-form-surface lens," the camera can shoot video at horizontal and vertical viewing angles of 360-and-50-degrees, respectively; the images can then be projected in the same range by a separate unit. Obviously, you won't see this in the consumer sector any time soon, but it does open some pretty interesting opportunities for installations and security alike.

Rockefeller Center Christmas tree goes LED

from Engadget by Donald Melanson

It looks like the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree will be a considerably smaller energy hog this holiday season than it has been in years past, as New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced yesterday that the tree will be lit up with LED lights for the first time - 30,000 of 'em, to be specific. That'll apparently reduce the tree's energy consumption from 3,510 kilowatt hours per day to just 1,297 -- a savings that, as the AP points out, is roughly equivalent to the amount of electricity consumed by a typical 2,000-square-foot house in a month. While it's not clear if it'll be used for the tree or not, the owners of Rockefeller Center also took the opportunity to show off a new 365-panel solar array on the roof of one of the complex's buildings, which is apparently big enough to lay claim to the title of the largest privately owned solar roof in Manhattan. [Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons]

iPod touch has disabled audio line-in

from Engadget by Ryan Block

Not that it took a lot of convincing for us or anything, but it turns out the audio input pins on the iPod touch are apparently active and able to record audio after all. Unfortunately the site detailing the relatively simple hack has already been demolished by info-hungry touch owners, but this certainly opens an interesting door or two. Next stop: figuring out how to get the headphone jack to do the same. [Via TUAW]

Sarcos' military exoskeleton becomes a frightening reality

from Engadget by Joshua Topolsky

Have you been waiting for a legion of half-man, half-machine storm troopers to descend upon your city and blaze a round of hellfire in all general directions? If you said yes, that's kind of weird. At any rate, you can consider yourself one step closer to cyborg annihilation thanks to a company called Sarcos and its semi-scary exoskeleton -- which will make any regular old soldier into a Terminator-like killing machine (as far as we can tell). Sure, they demo the unit lifting heavy equipment and reducing fatigue of the user, but we know what this thing is really for -- and it doesn't involve food drops. Check the video after the break to have your mind shattered into a million delicious pieces.

Continue reading Sarcos' military exoskeleton becomes a frightening reality

Maglev wind turbines 1000x more efficient than normal windmills

from Engadget by Nilay Patel

We've seen a couple innovative wind power solutions pop up, but none that claim to offer the benefits of maglev wind turbines, which use full-permanent magnets to nearly eliminate friction by "floating" the blades above the base. According to developers, the technology is capable of scaling to massive sizes, with a proposed $53M turbine able enough to replace 1000 traditional windmills and power 750 thousand homes. Additional benefits include the ability to generate power with winds as slow as three miles per hour, operational costs some 50 percent cheaper than windmills, and an estimated lifespan of 500 years. That all sounds great, but the real proof will come when these things get put to use, which may happen sooner than you'd think: Development is proceeding rapidly in both the US and China, with Chinese power company Zhongke Hengyuan Energy Technology currently building a $5M factory to produce the turbines in capacities from 400 to 5,000 watts.

Displaytech FLCOS microdisplays to be used in embeddable pico-projectors

Posted Nov 26th 2007 4:34PM by Darren Murph

We've heard our fair share of promises when it comes to embeddable micro-projectors, but it sounds like the gears may actually be turning in the race to crank out cellphones, PDAs and other handheld gizmos with integrated PJs. Displaytech, best known for its LCOS microdisplays, announced today that it is hooking 13 companies up with Ferroelectric-LCOS (FLCOS) displays that can be used in uber-small projectors within diminutive devices of all flavors. Unfortunately, no word was given on exactly what companies are placing orders, but Displaytech did admit that it expects to see "a number of ultra small projectors containing its FLCOS panels to be demonstrated at CES." We'll be on the lookout. [Image courtesy of Displaytech]

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Apple to Run iPod Touch Ad...Made By a Teen Fanboy

Arn over at Macrumors points out this cool story of an iPod Touch ad being run by Apple. The thing is, it was made by Nick Haley, an 18-year old student, inspired by "Music Is My Hot, Hot Sex" by CSS. Nick was flown in to the LA offices of TBWA/Chiat/Day to do a HD version of the spot. UPDATE: Apparently this was in a Zune ad first. [NYT via Macrumors]

Software Radios Boost Crappy Cellphone Reception Cheap and Easy

Mid-Tex Cellular systems out of De Leon, Texas is currently running both GSM and CDMA network using a software-based radio system on nine of of their cellular towers. Because the Vanu, Inc. designed software can be upgraded easily, there is no need for costly new hardware when supporting new or incompatible networks. If this technology is widely adopted, cellphone carriers will be able to upgrade and adjust to new standards more cheaply and users will see bigger, better, and possibly cheaper coverage.

Currently, Vanu is looking to expand their business outside of Texas with 200 towers set to go up in Alaska. They have also announced a prototype of a "femtocell" device —a base station of sorts for a single house or office. The plan is to use the device with the 700-MHz spectrum band that is coming up for auction from the FCC in January 2008. [Wired]

Monday, November 19, 2007

SiCortex intros SC072 Catapult -- 72 processor cluster for $15000

from Engadget by Darren Murph

Off hand, we can't think of how we'd truly utilize the horsepower generated by a 72-processor cluster shoved into a "whisper-quiet, low-power deskside cabinet," but we'd happily draw up a plan if forced. SiCortex -- the same folks who delivered the bicycle-powered supercomputer -- has introduced its new SO072 Catapult, which features a standard Linux environment, 48GB of RAM and a trio of (optional) PCIExpress slots. This aptly categorized high performance computer (HPC) sucks down less than 200-watts of power, sports a pair of gigabit Ethernet ports and has room for six internal hard drives. Reportedly, each of the 12 SC072 nodes is a multi-core chip with six CPU cores, and while $15,000 may seem steep for your average tower, we'd say this is a pretty good value considering the hardware.

[Via Gadgetopia]

Nanotube batteries could power printed electronics

from Engadget by Nilay Patel

We've seen some interesting nanotech power concepts in the past, but researchers at UCLA have gone back to basics and developed a printable nanotech version of a traditional battery they say could power other printed, flexible nanotech devices. The batteries, which are less than a millimeter thin, feature the same zinc-carbon makeup as traditional rechargables, but are made by depositing thin layers of zinc and manganese oxide over a layer of nanotubes. Sadly, tech isn't producing usable amounts of power yet, but lead scientist George Gruner says the simplicity of the underlying tech should make it easy to solve that problem. Damn straight -- we're not giving up till we get a pair of electric underpants to call our own.

[Image courtesy of CNano]

Gigabyte reveals M704 UMPC

from Engadget by Darren Murph

Call us crazy, but Gigabyte's new M704 looks awfully familiar to the U60, but we'll give the nod to this bugger in the style department. Freshened up with a sleeker, sexier motif, the firm's latest UMPC packs a 1.2GHz VIA Esther ULV C7 processor, a VX-700 chipset, seven-inch 1,024 x 600 LED-backlit touchscreen, your choice of 40GB / 60GB hard drives, a multicard reader, twin USB 2.0 ports and a VGA output. On top of all that, you'll also find 802.11b/g WiFi, a Li-ion battery good for around three hours, a slide out QWERTY keyboard and a 1.3-megapixel CMOS camera. As expected, Gigabyte hasn't bothered to tell us when or where we'll find this machine on sale, and yeah, the price is still a mystery, too.

[Via I4U News]

Friday, November 16, 2007

Three Words: "Sexy," "Washing" and "Machine"

from Gizmodo by Sean Fallon

This is probably the first time the word "sexy" has ever been used to describe a washing machine—but this concept piece from designer Simona Luculano is definitely worthy of such an adjective. Unlike traditional washing machine eyesores that must be hidden in a garage or behind sliding doors, the Flexible Distance washing machine could actually be used as a decorative piece.

Plus, it is as functional as it is attractive, with touch controls on the outer ring of the wash well and an LCD screen on the lid to monitor the progress of your crusty underwear. It even conforms to low power and water consumption standards—or at least it would if it ever made it into production. [Yanko Design]

iPhone Malware Demo Freaking Me Out, Man [Apple]

from Gizmodo by Jason Chen

PopoutMaybe it's the eyes. Don't be too alarmed, but this video shows the iPhone being accessed by terminal using a program installed by a webpage. Since the program, like all unofficial apps, runs as root, they've got access to data stores for mail, call lists, contacts, and voicemail, which are served up via terminal. And no, that guy isn't hacking your ghost with those piercing eyes. I think.

This is why a managed SDK with sandboxed apps like the one Jobs proposes for February is going to be a lot better than opening up the device outright, like it or not. Since this is a hack done via a website, it's likely the 1.1.1 TIFF exploit that can be patched by a) installing Apple's 1.1.2 patch or hacking your 1.1.1 iPhone using the Jailbreakme.com installer website. The guy runs all this on a LAN, knowing IPs, but it wouldn't be hard to have malware ping home, either. Nothing to scoff at, but also not surprising given the unofficial nature of the apps developed so far, and maybe nothing to freak out over. [FC via CrunchHickey]

Take Walmart's $199 PC Operating System for a Test Drive

If Wal-Mart's recently released $200 PC sounds like a potentially great deal but you're not sure about ditching your current operating system for the inexpensive, Linux-based Ubuntu box, head over to the developer's web site and download the bootable gOS LiveCD (or rather DVD, at 728MB). The gOS operating system sports an emphasis on web applications, with desktop shortcuts to tons of Google Apps, Facebook, Wikipedia, and other webapps built directly into the desktop. If you've given gOS a try, let's hear how you like it in the comments.

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