Kind: Articles
Traditional long form content: a post with an explicit title and body.
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Physical Device Fingerprinting Over TCP
A PhD student in San Deigo has written a fascinating paper which will spook internet anonymity freaks - Remote Physical Device Fingerprinting - which describes how a physical computer can be uniquely identified on the internet, regardless of operating system, IP address, or data sent, just by looking carefully at it's TCP packets (which contain …
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Things Bots Shouldn’t Learn
This afternoon, I've taught Iggy, the robot who looks after the RockMonkey ChatRoom:
How to play The Game. Damn - I'm out. He's not very good at it, and, by proxy, neither am I. Comprehension of facts expressed as "concept ARE fact", rather than "concept IS fact", and about knowing "who" people are (ask "Iggy, … -
Opera 8’s Solution To IDN Exploit
I'm sure you've all seen the recent Internationalized Domain Name exploit, which affects most web browsers (except for Internet Explorer - shocker! - because it doesn't yet have the power to support internationalized domain names): if you haven't, why not visit paypal.com - looks just like the real thing; doesn't it: the browser bar says …
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MEng Dissertation - Hamster Music
No, I'm not talking about that god-awful de-da-de-da-de-do-do-do de-da-de-do do thingy: I'm talking about this ingenious MEng dissertation project, in which the student hooked up six hamsters to a MIDI device and, with some clever hardware and software, used their movements to compose music. If you look at the site, be sure to download the …
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Now That’s Customer Service
Do you remember in the middle of last week I finally discovered that I could make Firefox have all the features I loved in Opera, using plugins? Well; I'm honoured to report that my comments haven't gone un-noticed: I've recieved a comment on that post from Jonny Axelsson, dude who does standards-related stuff for Opera. …
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Photopia, Again
I wrote the other day about Photopia, one of the most brilliant and unusual pieces of interactive fiction I've ever experienced. Finally, JTA gave it a go, and loved it too - and he and I have been spending the last few days discussing some of the really, really clever bits and putting our own …
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Rejected Crayons
You won't find these from Crayola...
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Stop… Think… Listen…
What the fuck.
People are stressed. People are angry. People are being complete bastards to one another.
Well, shit... worse things honestly do happen at sea.
I feel sorry for everybody who's on the recieving end of any of this glasspaper-buggery-of-the-mind; and I've heard more than enough already to get a pretty clear picture. And the thing I … -
Fire On The Beach
This is what makes Aber great: that somebody can suggest a fire and a couple of hours later there are over a dozen people huddled round a pile of wood, separating burgers.
We had some difficulty getting the fire lit to begin with - perhaps something to do with the fact that it had been snowing … -
Table For Sale
The photograph, above, appeared on an eBay auction: the item for sale was the table and chairs - a full dining set (not including the things on the table, of course). However, there's something about the photo that suggests that the seller is a man. Can you tell what it is?
Don't read the comments until … -
Star Wars: Episode III Pictures
Geekiness ahead. Some folks have been posting stills from the upcoming Star Wars film, Episode 3, to the web. Most of the mirrors are getting shot down by too-much traffic, but I've managed to get the pictures and they're hosted here (in a way that only my friends will be able to access). About 80 …
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Igneous bMotion
I've set up a chatbot called Igneous on the RockMonkey ChatRoom. I installed bMotion 0.09: emotions for bots, and some conversation topics (based on the RockMonkey site itself)... and it's coming up with some classic lines. I lifted this exchange between Sian and Igneous from the log:
<chocorifi> Are you accusing me of sexual harassment Iggy?
<Igneous> … -
Photopia
Ever played a text-based adventure (interactive fiction) before? If so, this is a must-see. If not, now's the time to start. I've just finished playing a short IF called Photopia, which won two prestigious (in IF circles) XYZZYnews awards back in 1998.
It's not... great as an adventure game, but it's amazing as a story. It's... … -
A Weekend Of Lockpicking
Following up the arrival of my new lockpicks, I've spent the weekend picking pretty much every lock I've come across (and helping to teach JTA and Bryn how to do it for themselves). The result: six of nine attempted locks picked, feeling significantly more well-practiced, and very, very sore fingers. I need to get some …
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I Can Still Do It
My new lockpick set arrived today. I haven't played with picks in years and years, and so, when I started clumsily fooling around inside a chunky padlock that Claire found behind some furniture yesterday, it felt like I was about to have another half-hour of footing around before I could even count the number of …