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Until I saw this clip, I never really considered the art of image manipulation all that big of a deal.

My first thought when I saw IRT was this – if the expanding function increased the pixels by inserting an average of the two on either side, what would the image look like after doing an accordion type movement where you successively reduce and enlarge multiple times? If it preserves the image – or could be made to – then I see a huge application for this in cryptology. If the removal algorithm can be subjected to some kind of key exchange, then you’d effectively be able to completely remove sections of an image – or certainly some text – just by typing in a password and then sizing it out of the media.

If you have some basic Photoshop skills, you’ll really appreciate continuous resizing where “images are resized in a non-uniform manner”. Seeing continuous resizing and specifically the weighted energy protection/removal algorithms explained in action is just wicked.

I saw this the other day and said to myself, “Now THERE’S a good alternative to biometrics for high security applications!”.

And here we go. Security rant on.

If you go to a grocery store that is trying to make you think that paying for your milk and peanut butter by placing your thumb on a reader is a good thing, please keep reading. The problem with these biometric security mechanisms isn’t that they’re insecure. The also problem is not what Hollywood would have us believe – that retinal scans can be compromised by cutting someones eye out and holding it in front of the sensor (ridiculous). The problem is a personal one. The problem actually lies in how good the security of these devices really are. If I’m getting off on a tangent, let me bring it back a little. Your fingerprint or retinal pattern is indeed capable of identifying you, and only you, out of the six billion other people on the planet. The problem is that the information *representing* your fingerprint or retina is probably stored as an algorithm somewhere. Stored as 0′s and 1′s, just like any other data file. Encrypted or not, it doesn’t matter. Now here’s the point of my rant… stored data can be compromised. Compromised and stolen. Stolen and decrypted. So now there’s a theif out there that has something *way* better than a credit card number that can be cancelled. They’ve got YOU. They have something that indelibly represents you and only you. Something that cannot be cancelled or re-ordered. Your most precious representation of your individualism has been compromised.

Security rant off.

If this line of discussion interests you, I highly suggest you head over to Bruce Schneier’s site and start reading. Bruce has written some of the most prolific dissertations on modern security that are in print today. Highly recommended and encouraged reading.

So the reason I thought that this was such a good idea, is because it’s:

A) not a hard coded security algorithm like your fingerprint or retina are, and

B) common methods of compromise – like looking over someone’s shoulder while they type – won’t work.

Only the most exotic methods of compromise – like van Eck phreaking or TEMPEST – would remain viable… and that is a good thing, as most people don’t know how to build an eckbox.

So anyway, just remember not to let anyone scan your retina or thumbprint into a database, please… it’s bad for all of us.

One of the most common misunderstandings regarding cosmology is that people think of the universe as being extremely large and empty, with intermittent pockets of matter in the form of galaxies. Not true at all, and actually the exact opposite is closer to the truth.

From what we’ve been able to tell, the universe is actually *packed* with matter in the form of galaxies, dust clouds, and dark matter (the quantity of dark matter being a relatively recent discovery). So it was quite a suprise when NASA’s Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) satellite was running it’s study on the cosmic microwave background, and came up with a region nearly a BILLION light years across that was emitting almost no microwave heat – which means that simply nothing’s there.

I’m not sure yet what to make of this, but I’m sure there will be several thesis papers written on this topic in the coming year. Here’s the story from Dailytech.

Aww, forget it…

Check it out. A testament to the power of adolescent hormones. Not sure what’s up with the Austrailian government trying something this foolish in the first place though.

Signs to look for in the Geek choice for President

11. They offer amnesty to Han Solo for killing Greedo without provocation.
10. They say your administration will work together with the efficiency of the Borg.
9. They have a passing familiarity with the scientific method.
8. They legally change their name to Pedro, so everyone can keep wearing their Vote for Pedro shirts.
7. They avoid the suit and tie look, and go for the T-shirt with pithy saying look.
6. They mention victories in Civilization (or BF2) as part of their experience in international relations.
5. They find ways to quote Holy Grail in their stump speech.
4. They promise to appoint a Klingon in the Department of Defense.
3. They choose Weird Al to create their campaign song.
2. They refuse donations from the RIAA and MPAA.
1. They suggest that they favor Net Neutrality as well as Net Lawful Neutrality and Net Chaotic Neutrality.

OK, some of these things are really nerdy instead of geeky, but I promise not to split hairs if ANY of the candidates does ANY of these.

A couple of guys at Case Western think they’ve solved the Black Hole Information Loss Paradox.

So what’s the black hole information loss paradox? Well, think about it like this – there’s two fields of physics that describe most everything we’ve observed in the universe – quantum physics and the physics of general relativity. The problem with these two fellows is that each describes a couple of situations that cannot exist within the confines of the other. Quantum physics works well when you’re describing very small things, like subatomic particles. Relativity works well when you’re describing very big things, like galaxies. The “paradox” lies in trying to apply things that happen in one to how they apply in another. Gravity in particular gets very messy.

So, here’s the gist of the article:
According to Dejan Stojkovic, one of the papers authors, “An outside observer will never lose an object down a black hole. If you are sitting outside and throwing something into the black hole, it will never pass over but will stay outside the event horizon even if one considers the effects of quantum mechanics. In fact, since in quantum mechanics the observer plays an important role in measurement, the question of formation of an event horizon is much more subtle to consider.” What does this have to do with the information paradox? Since the outside observer never sees the formation of the event horizon in a finite time, the radiation that they can measure is not fully thermal, and can still carry information about the object that was tossed towards the black hole. Thus, information has not been lost, only changed; which is fine by all physical laws.

I can’t even begin to imagine the work that went into proving that…

This little item just hijacked it’s way to the top of my must have list. They say it’ll be released next month at about $180. Now, just to set the record straight – I’m a security freak, plain and simple. I have more security built into my home network than most of the enterprise networks I come into contact with on a daily basis. Not a little more, much more. Why do I love thee, little Yoggie Pico? Let me count the ways:

- Anti-Spam
- Anti-phishing
- Antispyware
- Antivirus
- Parent control system
- Transparent email proxies (POP3; SMTP)
- Transparent web proxies (HTTP; FTP)
- Intrusion detection system
- Intrusion prevention system
- Firewall
- Adaptive security policy (ok, this is kind of double counting IPS)
- Multi-layer security agent (Patent pending)
- “Layer-8″ security engine (Patent pending)

And to top it off – it’s been graced with my other geek passion… speed. This device would be totally unremarkable if it tried to do all of the above using the CPU that I’m simultaneously using to whip your butt with in BF2. Instead, it offloads almost all security-related processes from your PC to it’s own dedicated Intel 520MHz PXA270 processor.

Since I pay $30/yr to ESET for my NOD32 subscription, the cost of the annual sub to this guy pays for itself. Since it does AV plus a whole lot more… there’s several other apps I can ditch too.

Now my only question left is this – what can I sell on eBay to rummage up the cash to get myself one? I just sold all of my good stuff to get my 22″ LCD and my 8800GTS. Might have to break down and sell the old Cisco router and switch… don’t really use them anymore anyway.

I got home from work a couple of weeks ago and saw this on the fridge:

I almost fell down laughing… Not sure what this means? Well then the bottom line is you don’t game enough. OK, now I feel sorry for you – here’s the answer. Noob…

3D Printers are gaining steam…

Three dimensional fabrication machines have been around for a while, but they’re typically owned by really large companies and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Here’s how it works – you use a CAD program to create a digital three dimensional object, and the fabricator creates that object, typically using a plastic polymer. It’s like a printer for three dimensional objects.

So the barrier with fabrication machines has always been cost – until now. Evan Malone, a grad student at Cornell, has created a 3D fab machine that an enthusiastic hobbyist can create for less than $2500.

Personally, I think this has *much* larger ramifications than just being cool. This is no less of a revolution than was printed paper. This makes *object creation* within the typical person’s reach. This particular fab machine can not only use plastics, but can use just about anything to create it’s objects – chocolate, for instance.Sit back for a moment and consider where this could go…

Thanks again Ars…