Would be nicer to actually be there, but for those of us who can’t, this live stream is the closest we can get: Aurora Sky Station live camera
Northern lights
January 22nd, 2012New OV-Chipkaart site online
August 8th, 2011Just noticed someone has put up a new website with all previous info and much more: OV-Chipkaart.me
TLS, I’ve got only 1 thing to say; suck it up you incompetent bastards!
Be sure to checkout the internals of the hardware (and save a copy because I have a feeling this wasn’t obtained through official channels LOL :D)
Dynatek 6080RS serial spec
August 3rd, 2011Since the readme.doc of the Dynatek 6080RS multimeter came on a diskette (yes the thing is ancient) and its serial communication protocol is non existent on the net, I thought I’d make a little contribution to humanity ;) I’ve been searching for months and only today ran into the diskette again (and to my surprise the diskette was still functioning perfectly! Should have bought a lottery ticket instead =)). Made a quick pdf with layout and corrected spelling. Who knows it’s useful to anyone else.
Close encounter
June 26th, 2011Impossible to spot with the naked eye, but exciting enough to make you want to look up at the sky tomorrow. To give you an idea on how close to earth this is, it will pass through the zone of geosynchronous satellites!
Paper on hardware security attacks
June 25th, 2011Interesting and extensive read. A very short abstract:
This thesis presents a wide range of attacks on hardware security in microcontrollers and smartcards. This includes already known non-invasive attacks, such as power analysis and glitching, and invasive attacks, such as reverse engineering and microprobing. A new class of attacks – semi-invasive attacks – is introduced. Like invasive attacks, they require depackaging the chip to get access to its surface. But the passivation layer remains intact, as these methods do not require electrical contact to internal lines. Semi-invasive attacks stand between non-invasive and invasive attacks. They represent a greater threat to hardware security, as they are almost as effective as invasive attacks but can be low-cost like non-invasive attacks.
The paper is already 6 years old, but well worth a look; Semi-invasive attacks – A new approach to hardware security analysis
June 22nd, 2011
Make a radical change in your lifestyle and begin to boldly do things which you may previously never have thought of doing, or been too hesitant to attempt. So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservation, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun. If you want to get more out of life, you must lose your inclination for monotonous security and adopt a helter-skelter style of life that will at first appear to you to be crazy. But once you become accustomed to such a life you will see its full meaning and its incredible beauty.
— Jon Krakauer
May 29th, 2011
Just wow…
Via popsci
Grimsvotn Volcanic Eruption
May 24th, 2011Group import LED matrices?
May 20th, 2011
If you love LEDs as much as I do, you might find this blog post interesting. From the comments:
The P4 (the 64*32 indoor one, 4mm pitch made of 8*8 elements) costs around 160 dollars and the p6 (32*16 outdoor one, 6mm pitch made of SMD leds) around 40 , and it is just for fun! Note that I’m also able to get 32*32 6mm pitch SMD led matrices for around 70
Oooooh, seriously tempting :D I’ve been wanting these things for years, but always stayed away due to the high pricetag. But this thing changes that. Here’s a quick comparison. You might have heard of those 8×8 LEDsee RGB modules for 7 euro (or 10 dollar or so). Those are the cheapest RGB modules I’ve run across available to mere mortals. Now imagine a 128×64 matrix. That’s 128 modules aka 896 euro! With the group import you’d need 4 panels to get the same resolution. Smaller dimensions, but at roughly 460 euro. And a crapload less work because the factory has already done all the LED soldering for you :D
1 day remaining
May 17th, 2011As long as can remember Microsoft has never gotten anywhere near a decent file copy remaining time. A day for a 5GB copy (on a SSD!)…. how on Earth do they come up with these numbers!? Fascinating :)
