Software

Funny:

http://phpadvent.org/2009/unmaintainable-php-by-stoyan-stefanov

I think you could probably do something pretty interesting with these unofficial google voice api's. You could control things on your computer using sms on your phone.

http://code.google.com/p/google-voice-java/

http://github.com/aaronpk/Google-Voice-PHP-API

Anyone have any ideas?

This is really interesting. These researchers used mathematics to prove that the seL4 kernel works exactly as intended and nothing more. Here is their proof statement:

"The C code of the seL4 microkernel correctly implements the behaviour described in
its abstract specification and nothing more."

They made several assumptions, which they talk about.

Also, as a result of the proof they have proven that no buffer overflows, memory leaks, and several other common stability and security issues are impossible with this kernel.

Valve has started a beta program for Team Fortress 2 for several competitive teams to test out new stuff.

First question: Didn't they test stuff before?

Apparently testers right now are testing:

• Heavy gloves that when equipped allow the heavy to run faster, however he does less damage
• Fire resistant suit for the Spy. Apparently it just reduces fire damage by something like 90% however takes the place of his revolver.

I have known about Imgburn for a while, however traditionally it has been pretty much just for burning and creating iso files. They have updated it now with new features. Looks like you can use it for pretty much everything you would want for disk burning.

I think we all use Foxit PDF Reader, but Sumatra appears to be even more lightweight. The zip version is a single, portable executable file. It pretty much just reads files with no frills.

Lately there have been several white papers released on new AES attacks. The first brought 11 round AES 256 to 2^119th complexity, and the newest down to 2^70 (although AES256 specifies 14 rounds). They are classified as related-key attacks meaning that attackers must have copies of the plaintext encrypted with related, but separate keys. It's not to a level where there should be any panic - nothing is outright broken, but a cryptanalyst has gotten easier. Bruce Schneier recommends using AES128 instead of 256.

http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2009/07/new_attack_on_a.html

Well, I reformatted and installed windows 7 RC. Things went pretty well at first, I was amazed that win7 had all of my drivers already. The only driver I installed was graphics, even though I was able to get full resolution out of the defaults. Installed all of my apps, everything ran pretty smoothly. First problem I ran into was that for some reason media player classic wouldn't load vsfilter for subtitles. It was a bit weird because I fired up windows media player, and that worked fine. I decided to just download my games from steam, rather than fuss with disks.

Found a neat little boot cd that simply bypasses windows login passwords. You stick in the disk, boot from it, then it loads up Windows from the hard disk. Then you can get into any of the user accounts on the box without entering a password.

It also works for linux, giving you root access without password.

http://www.piotrbania.com/all/kon-boot/

Ubuntu 9.04, Jaunty Jackalope is out today. The servers are hammered pretty bad, I suggest downloading via bittorrent. I also wouldn't count on apt-get this weekend.

w00t! L4D is finally getting a decent content patch which is going to add Survival Mode. This new mode sets your team in a locked down area and spawns waves of infected. As the horde and specials continue rampaging through the level they will open up new rooms that have items and weapons. Apparently this new mode is going to be very difficult and Valve expects short games of massive epic pwnage. awesome! Check the link below for all the details:

L4D Blog