Spain Intelligence Report–September 2012

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Pyramid Research expects the telecom market in Spain to generate a total service revenue of $33.5bn in 2012 and to grow over the next five years to $36.61bn. Due to the economic recession and volatility of the euro exchange rate, the market will contract in dollar terms in 2012 and 2013 before rebounding in 2014.

However, there are a number of telecom sectors that we expect to experience continuous growth over the forecast period, including fixed VoIP and mobile data.

via Spain Intelligence Report–September 2012.

$990 for this report.

NTLM Challenge Response is 100% Broken (Yes, this is still relevant)

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According to the last data from the W3 Schools, 21% of computers are running XP, while NetMarketShare claims it is 39%. Unless someone has hardened these machines (no MS patches do this), these machines are sending LM and NTLM responses! While these lists leave out server OSs, 2003 Server still sends NTLM responses by default. Yes, every MS OS since NT 4.0 SP4 has supported NTLMv2, but NTLM and LM were not excluded by default until Vista.

via Mark Gamache’s Random Blog: NTLM Challenge Response is 100% Broken (Yes, this is still relevant).

Well, here it is: I’VE BROKEN NTLM.

From the wiki definition of NTLM:

Microsoft no longer recommends NTLM in applications:[6]

“Implementers should be aware that NTLM does not support any recent cryptographic methods, such as AES or SHA-256. It uses cyclic redundancy check (CRC) or message digest algorithms (RFC1321) for integrity, and it uses RC4 for encryption. Deriving a key from a password is as specified in RFC1320 and FIPS46-2. Therefore, applications are generally advised not to use NTLM.”

While Kerberos has replaced NTLM as the default authentication protocol in an Active Directory (AD) based single sign-on scheme, NTLM is still widely used in situations where a domain controller is not available or is unreachable. For example, NTLM would be used if a client is not Kerberos capable, the server is not joined to a domain, or the user is remotely authenticating over the web.[1][3]

German Military Laser Destroys Targets Over 1Km Away

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For its finale, the laser’s ability to track a very small ballistic target was demonstrated. It honed in on and destroyed a steel ball 82mm in diameter traveling at 50 meters per second. The small ball was meant to simulate an incoming mortar round. Rheinmetall says their laser will reduce the time required for C-RAM – Counter Rocket, Artillery, and Mortar measures – to a matter of seconds, even in adverse weather conditions. In fact, weather at the Ochsenboden Proving Ground in Switzerland where the demonstration was carried out included ice, rain, snow, and extremely bright sunlight – far from ideal.

via German Military Laser Destroys Targets Over 1Km Away | Singularity Hub.

Netflix Open-Sources ‘Janitor Monkey’ AWS Cleanup Tool

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Janitor Monkey detects AWS instances, EBS volumes, EBS volume snapshots, and auto-scaling groups. Each of these resource types has distinctive rules for marking unused resources. For example, an EBS volume is marked as a cleanup candidate if it has not been attached to any instance for 30 days. Janitor Monkey determines whether a resource should be a cleanup candidate by applying a set of rules on it. If any of the rules determines that the resource is a cleanup candidate, Janitor Monkey marks the resource and schedules a time to clean it up.

via Netflix Open-Sources ‘Janitor Monkey’ AWS Cleanup Tool.

Turkish agency blamed by U.S. companies for intercepted Web pages

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“The logical theory is that the transportation agency was using it to spy on its own employees,” said Chris Soghoian, a former Federal Trade Commission technology expert now working for the American Civil Liberties Union.

Validation authority alone isn’t enough to intercept traffic, the most likely goal of the project. The authenticator would also have to come in contact with the Web user.

via Turkish agency blamed by U.S. companies for intercepted Web pages | Reuters.

What the Dalai Lama can teach us about temperatures below absolute zero

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Here’s the new definition that they came up with. Temperature measures the willingness of an object to give up energy. Actually, I lied. This isn’t how they really define temperature, because physicists speak math, not english. They define it as \frac{1}{T} = \frac{dS}{dE} which says, in words, that the temperature is inversely proportional to the slope of the entropy vs. energy curve.

via What the Dalai Lama can teach us about temperatures below absolute zero | Empirical Zeal.

Why Touch Screens Will Not Take Over

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There are three big differences between these handy touch screens and a PC’s screen: angle, distance and time interval.

The screen of a phone or tablet is generally more or less horizontal. The screen of a desktop (or a laptop on a desk), however, is more or less vertical.

via Why Touch Screens Will Not Take Over: Scientific American.

My belief is that touch screens make sense on mobile computers but not on stationary ones. Microsoft is making a gigantic bet that I’m wrong.

From: Windows 8 — Disappointing Usability for Both Novice and Power Users

With the recent launch of Windows 8 and the Surface tablets, Microsoft has reversed its user interface strategy. From a traditional Gates-driven GUI style that emphasized powerful commands to the point of featuritis, Microsoft has gone soft and now smothers usability with big colorful tiles while hiding needed features.

A wireless router that tracks user activity—but for a good reason

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The optimal policies for each application are then packaged into periodic firmware updates sent back to routers. People who sign up for the cloud service and contribute data will get the updated policies in automatic updates. Even those who want nothing to do with the cloud service can get the benefits by updating their router whenever they’d like.

via A wireless router that tracks user activity—but for a good reason | Ars Technica.

What could possibly go wrong with this plan?  🙂