Monthly Archives: October 2014

Snowflake-shaped networks are easiest to mend

Posted on by

They found the best networks are made from partial loops around the units of the grid, with exactly one side of each loop missing. All of these partial loops link together, back to a central source. These have a low repair cost because if a link breaks, the repair simply involves adding back the missing side of a loop. What’s more, they are resistant to multiple breaks over time, as each repair preserves the network’s fundamental design.

via Snowflake-shaped networks are easiest to mend – tech – 03 October 2014 – New Scientist.

Apple will face $350M trial over iPod DRM

Posted on by

Last week, US District Judge Yvonne Gonzales Rogers gave the green light (PDF) to sending a long-running antitrust lawsuit against Apple to trial. Plaintiffs in the case say that Apple used its FairPlay DRM system to “lock in” its customers and make it costly to switch to technology built by competitors, like Real Networks. They describe how Apple kept updating iTunes to make sure songs bought from Real’s competing digital music store couldn’t be used on iPods. As a result of this lock-in, Apple was able to overcharge its customers to the tune of tens of millions of dollars.

via Apple will face $350M trial over iPod DRM | Ars Technica.

Turning USB peripherals into BadUSB

Posted on by

BadUSB – Turning devices evil. Once reprogrammed, benign devices can turn malicious in many ways, including:

  1. A device can emulate a keyboard and issue commands on behalf of the logged-in user, for example to exfiltrate files or install malware. Such malware, in turn, can infect the controller chips of other USB devices connected to the computer.
  2. The device can also spoof a network card and change the computer’s DNS setting to redirect traffic.
  3. A modified thumb drive or external hard disk can – when it detects that the computer is starting up – boot a small virus, which infects the computer’s operating system prior to boot.

via Turning USB peripherals into BadUSB | Security Research Labs.

Robot Arm Will Install New Earth-Facing Cameras On The Space Station

Posted on by

TORONTO, CANADA – Canada’s robotic Canadarm2 will install the next two Urthecast cameras on the International Space Station, removing the need for astronauts to go outside to do the work themselves, the company announced today (Sept. 30).

Urthecast plans to place two Earth-facing cameras on the United States side of the station (on Node 3) to add to the two they already have on the Russian Zvezda module. Technical problems with the cameras forced the Russians to do an extra spacewalk to complete the work earlier this year.

via Robot Arm Will Install New Earth-Facing Cameras On The Space Station.

Gaining experience by doing and then figuring out how to automate that in space is the main reason for having a space station.   This station is a valuable resource for all of mankind.

Bayesian Prediction for The Winds of Winter

Posted on by

Predictions are made for the number of chapters told from the point of view of each character in the next two novels in George R. R. Martin’s \emph{A Song of Ice and Fire} series by fitting a random effects model to a matrix of point-of-view chapters in the earlier novels using Bayesian methods. {\textbf{SPOILER WARNING: readers who have not read all five existing novels in the series should not read further, as major plot points will be spoiled.}}

via [1409.5830] Bayesian Prediction for The Winds of Winter.