Doctor Steel

The Kind Doctor.

Doctor Steel.

I happened upon him, as so many people did, because of 'Lulz Sec' linking to him. And what a great thing that turned out to be!

Bank Of Melbourne Terminals

That are used for Ticket/Queue dispensing:
Are running windows XP.
Automatically log in when booted
Prompt for re-boot when you plug in new hardware.
Down the entire system 'queue' system when you reboot them ;)

If you know anything more about them, let me know.

Transhumans

What do the following have in common?

Deus Ex - Human Revolution

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deus_Ex

"The Outlands Trilogy" - By Jackie French

 http://www.goodreads.com/series/42547-outlands-trilogy

"Machine man" - By Max Barry

http://maxbarry.com/machineman/

New Parking Technology

Damn.

Now the parking goons have some more advanced tech up their sleeves, fine-giving-efficiency is up 100%.
General niceness is now down 99%. 1% margin of error.

I was actually under the assumption that ALL parking spaces in the city were already decked out with these. So the 'revelation' that they are only now being rolled out is a bit surprising (you thought the parking goons were efficient before? Just wait!).
http://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/ParkingTransportandRoads/Parking/Pages/InGroundSensors.aspx

I hack therefore I am.

Using biometrics seems like a good idea at first. Unique physical characteristics that only one person can ever have.
Its flawless in theory. But in practice, biometrics are a long way off perfect.

Using biometrics, such as fingerprint technology (currently the most common kind), is kind of like saying, "I'm not going to tell you my password, but if you look carefully at every item i've touched in this room you'll notice that i've actually written it everywhere."

It just doesn't work yet.

MD5+SALT

Q: Can you generate a hash collision for MD5 (with a pre-known Salt) and have it CUDA accelerated/Multi-core capable?
A: Shit yes you can! http://durandal-project.org/download.html
A2: Haven't run it up yet, but feedback looks good.

Kevin Mitnick

While a lot of the people in the security world (underground especially) think of Kevin Mitnick (once the world's most wanted hacker) as a joke these days, I've always enjoyed reading his books which usually feature amazing hacks and more. The make for great reads, even if you aren't really into security. Download them, buy them or (gasp) check out a library.
His newest book, Ghost in the Wires, is out now. I've ordered a copy. I'll let you know how it goes.

After reading his first two books: The art of Intrusion, and The Art of Deception as a child, these books fueled the fire that inspired my hacking-quest that's lasted the past 9 years!

Happy hacking!

GIF Images to SCR Screensavers

Does anyone know any way to convert a .GIF file to a .SCR screensaver? I haven't managed to find one yet. Rather annoying...
Do please let me know if you find a way.

AHCI, IDE, SSD, BIOS and other Acronymns

Since most people don't use SATA 6GB/s Solid State drives there isn't as much doco on em as there are other technologies. Alas, I forgot to chuck my SSD in AHCI mode (even though AHCI mode is set in the BIOS (ASUS Rampage Gene III motherboard)). The Marvell SATA 6Gb/s controller is a seperate chip that appears after the initial POST set-up. As a result it needs to be configured independently.

Audiophiles.

I am not an audiophile.

Audiophiles love audio and equipment, but rarely the music itself.

An audiophile is someone who can't listen for more than a few minutes before stopping to modify the setup, to swap cables or adjust amplifiers.
An Audiophile will spend more money gear than they'd spend on actual music and concerts.
An Audiophile will own stacks of different components, speakers, headphones and amplifiers and will receive their pleasure from fiddling with all this gear.
Audiophiles listen to their harware, instead of listening to what matters, the music.
Audiophiles just as often are listening to sample recordings to test the theoretical responsiveness of their setups.

On Encrypted USB's

I've got a few shiny new security toys...

1x Checkpoint ABRA Key
1x McAfee Encrypted USB
2x Enterprise IronKeys

First thoughts.
1) IronKeys are the 'gold standard' which all other "Secure" USBs are compared to.
2) I don't have the passwords for the IronKeys at the moment. I'm looking at getting them from the previous owner which may or may not happen.
3) IronKeys and Abra keys Look and FEEL serious. The McAfee USB feels like a toy.
4) The Abra key (hopefully an old version) does not work on Windows 7 x64. 'Does not support 64 bit computers'
5) McAfee seems to work flawlessly and I'm using it day to day at the moment.
6) While I appreciate the thought of having a 'recover password feature for enterprise users' i wouldn't personally use it on my IronKey. Spending a few hundred bucks on a USB stick is good motivation NOT to loose the password.
7) IronKeys seem to get scratched and generally worn looking even after a short time. The metal appears to be very soft and scratch prone. Abra keys seem tough. McAfee is plastic.
8) Only the IronKeys are waterproof which is always handy
9) IronKeys self destruct. TOTAL-BAD-ASS factor right there.
10) Abra keys are not technically removable storage, rather a kind of 'Live CD that you can run inside 'any' OS'. Cool idea.

Relevant Links (featuring Pictures)
https://www.checkpoint.com/products/abra/
https://www.ironkey.com/
http://www.mcafee.com/us/products/encrypted-usb.aspx

Amazon Kindle

If you like reading books. And will read text off a laptop or PC screen. 
Get an E-Reader like the Kindle. 
Save your eyes some strain and enjoy one of the most interesting devices I've had the pleasure of playing with recently. 
I'm using a Kindle I've acquired through work for 'Training and Development' which turns out to be not only a great idea (since we're basically training ourselves for free) but good fun, because I can read non-work-related things at leisure while I'm on the train/when travelling without lugging around stacks of books. 
Find one. Try one, and if you like it (and can use it) buy one.