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| Notice: GeekPress is back up and running, thanks to Paul! It's still a not-so-serious tech news blog, but the format is significantly looser. Diana, having given up programming for philosophy, has her own philosophical blog NoodleFood. More of her work can be found at DianaHsieh.com. |
| Russians have more fun than Brits |
| 12:19:35 am mst / 21 March 2001 found by paul / filed in inventions / source ABC News 53 hits / 0 comments / 2 e-mails |
| A Russian engineer has invented a novelty talking vodka bottle. When the drinker first opens the bottle, the cap tells the user to pour, and then it provides toasts and encouragement to drink more. As a nice touch of realism, the words become rowdier and drunker with each succeeding drink as the night wears on. The inventor says, "When you have no one to drink with, it will serve as your drinking companion". (Link via GMSV.) |
| Meanwhile, what have the prudish British done? Instead of encouraging vice, their killjoy talking cigarette pack warns the user of dire health consequences everytime he or she opens it... |
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| Hi, I'm in Bangalore (but I Dare Not Tell) |
| 1:38:37 am mst / 21 March 2001 found by paul / filed in business / source NY Times 94 hits / 0 comments / 2 e-mails |
| As many tech companies outsource their telephone help lines to subcontractors in India, some Indian call center staffers are devising realistic-but-fake American personas to help them communicate better with their customers. The savviest ones speak flawless English and even watch "Friends" and "Ally McBeal" to stay current on American pop cultural references. |
| Maybe the way to test them is to ask if they can imitate the accent of Apu from "The Simpsons". If they can't pull off the sound of an American trying to mimic badly an Indian accent, then they're probably real Indians... |
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| Cryptologists Discover Flaw in PGP |
| 3:25:00 am mst / 21 March 2001 found by paul / filed in cryptography / source NY Times 105 hits / 0 comments / 0 e-mails |
| Two Czech cryptologists have announced a serious flaw in the PGP encryption system. They'll publish the details on their website on Friday. |
| You know this is serious when Bruce Schneier acknowledges, "This is probably real". |
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| Mac OS Review is Gobbledygook |
| 5:41:44 am mst / 21 March 2001 found by diana / filed in operating systems / source Wired 23 hits / 0 comments / 0 e-mails |
| An Australian man apparently has gotten his hands on the final Mac OS X, to be released this Saturday. He's reviewed it already, but due to worries about legal threats from Apple, he has encrypted the review with PGP pending the release. |
| His website now reveals the passphrase (One sunny day in March some - but not all - of our wishes came true...) Decrypt away -- or just look here and here! |
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| RFC1149 |
| 6:59:32 am mst / 21 March 2001 found by diana / filed in humor / source RFC Archives 62 hits / 0 comments / 0 e-mails |
| A tongue-in-cheek request for comment on "an experimental method for the encapsulation of IP datagrams in avian carriers" for use in "Metropolitan Area Networks" -- i.e. homing pigeon. |
| Personally, I'm waiting for the RFC on using German Shepherds for packet sniffing. |
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| Salon? With or Without Ads? |
| 9:20:49 am mst / 21 March 2001 found by diana / filed in business / source Wired 33 hits / 0 comments / 0 e-mails |
| Salon will soon be giving readers a choice: either pay a $30 for a year of banner-free reading or read around those big CNet-style ads. The letter from the editor explains Salon's perspective. |
| Given the general quality of the articles on Salon, $30 isn't a bad price to pay for advertising-free surfing. |
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| More on the PGP security hole |
| 12:07:27 pm mst / 21 March 2001 found by paul / filed in cryptography / source Wired 76 hits / 0 comments / 0 e-mails |
| Declan McCullagh provides more information about the security hole in PGP that was recently announced by two Czech researchers. Reportedly, the vulnerability affects digital signatures for people using the openPGP format (such as Gnu Privacy Guard). Phil Zimmerman and an associate have confirmed the hole, but point out that it only applies in certain limited circumstances and does not affect the encrypted message itself, just the digital signature. |
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| Dot-Net: Hailstorm or Firestorm? |
| 12:55:43 pm mst / 21 March 2001 found by diana / filed in business / source Wired 51 hits / 0 comments / 0 e-mails |
| Microsoft's first steps in its dot-net strategy indicate that it is continuing the strategy of consumer envelopment that got it into so much anti-trust trouble. |
| Since I'm opposed to anti-trust, I do think that MS should be able to integrate and develop however the company sees fit. However, any consumer who thinks that MS will provide them with any modicum of privacy or security is pretty seriously deluded. |
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| Mouse phone |
| 4:15:50 pm mst / 21 March 2001 found by paul / filed in inventions / source The Times 60 hits / 0 comments / 0 e-mails |
| Next in the Useless Inventions category is the MousePhone -- a small telephone built into a computer mouse. |
| I have no idea why someone would want one. |
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| Illegal cell phone jammers popular |
| 8:17:45 pm mst / 21 March 2001 found by paul / filed in communications / source MSNBC 92 hits / 1 comment / 0 e-mails |
| Although it is illegal to operate equipment that jams cell phone signals, more people are buying or building these devices in order to stop annoying phones from ringing inside their businesses. |
| This means a future growing market for devices to detect the presence of jammers, devices to shield the existence of jammers from such detectors, etc... |
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