D. H. McKee Blog

Scientists claim breakthrough in teleportation

May 10, 2004 D. H. McKee

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Teleportation always used to seem so simple. All it took was a quick call to Mr Scott, and Star Trek's Captain Kirk would be beamed up from the cheap-looking scenery of some alien planet and materialise on the Starship Enterprise.
These days it's all about lasers, subatomic particles and very hard sums, but one Australian research team's world-beating discoveries in the field seem almost as far-fetched as the science fiction version. The multinational group from Canberra's Australian National University (ANU) have become the first on this particular planet to demonstrate the sharing of secrets via teleportation using quantum physics. Who cares? Well, a lot of big businesses, because their discovery has moved unbreakable codes, superfast computers and communications inaccessible to cybercriminals a step closer.

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Can AOL Ever be EhOL?

May 10, 2004 D. H. McKee

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Sci-Tech

Despite the obvious closeness of the two countries, the US and Canada have some big differences.
For example, here in Edmonton, let's check out the local TV news on cable channel KTLA, where hockey is often the last item on the sportscast; right after women's college diving and WWE highlights. Likewise, north of the 49th, we think Karl "the Mailman" Malone was the Canada Post official that Prime Minister Martin just canned. Here hockey rules but in the US, basketball is far more important.
Now let's put some hi-tech spin on this.
Even with a name like AOL Canada Inc. we hosers still believe the company is AMERICA Online. Officially, AOL Canada is a strategic alliance between America Online, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Time Warner, and RBC Royal Bank, the personal and commercial banking division of RBC Financial Group.

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No Hat – No Red

April 30, 2004 D. H. McKee

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Sci-Tech

What is the goal for White Box Linux?
To provide an unencumbered RPM based Linux distribution that retains enough compatibility with Red Hat Linux to allow easy upgrades and to retain compatibility with their Errata srpms. Being based off of RHEL3 means that a machine should be able to avoid the upgrade treadmill until Oct 2008 since RHEL promises Errata availability for five years from date of initial release and RHEL3 shipped in Oct 2003.

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San Fran has most hotspots

April 19, 2004 D. H. McKee

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Sci-Tech

The San Francisco Bay area is the nation's top market for wireless Internet hot spots, according to a new study sponsored by Intel Corp.
The region was followed by Orange County, Calif., Washington, D.C., and Austin, Texas. Last year's "most unwired" area, Portland, Ore., was bumped to No. 5 on the list compiled for the semiconductor giant by "Best Places" author Bert Sperling.
Intel, which has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in marketing its Centrino mobile chip sets, sees the growing popularity of Wi-Fi wireless Internet service as a big driver of microprocessors, particularly those used in laptop and handheld computers.
Wi-Fi is no longer limited to airports, coffee houses and home networks. Hot spots are springing up in tourist spots, truck stops, RV parks and shopping malls. Intel's survey did not say what percentage of the hot spots were paid versus free.

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AOL Auctions off Spammers car

April 19, 2004 D. H. McKee

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Sci-Tech

America Online said its members have submitted more than one million AOL screen names in the Internet company's unorthodox drawing for a spammer's seized sports car.
Last week, AOL announced it had confiscated a red Porsche Boxster S convertible as part of a settlement with a spammer who made more that $1 million from sending unwanted junk e-mail. AOL, a unit of Time Warner Inc., launched a sweepstakes for the car on March 30 as "a gesture of support and thanks" to its members for their help in the fight against spam.

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Google Reads Your Email

April 2, 2004 D. H. McKee

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Sci-Tech

Privacy advocates are up in arms over Google's new free email service, Gmail. Their concern? Google plans to "read" each email and add relevant AdSense advertising.
Google claims that they'll only read incoming mail, though if Gmail users send email to other Gmail users they will effectively read the outgoing mail as well.

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Canadian Court rejects CRIA Suit

March 31, 2004 D. H. McKee

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Sci-Tech

In what analysts are calling a "stunning" decision, the Federal Court has ruled against a motion which would have allowed the music industry to begin suing individuals who make music available online. Justice Konrad von Finckenstein ruled today that the Canadian Recording Industry Association did not prove there was copyright infringement by 29 so-called music uploaders. He said that downloading a song or making files available in shared directories, like those on Kazaa, does not constitute copyright infringement under the current Canadian law. "No evidence was presented that the alleged infringers either distributed or authorized the reproduction of sound recordings," von Finckenstein wrote in his 28-page ruling. "They merely placed personal copies into their shared directories which were accessible by other computer users via a P2P service."
He compared the action to a photocopy machine in a library. "I cannot see a real difference between a library that places a photocopy machine in a room full of copyrighted material and a computer user that places a personal copy on a shared directory linked to a P2P service," he said. The ruling sent shock waves through the industry and surprised copyright analysts. "It raises questions of the viability of suing individual users in Canada under current Canadian copyright law," said Michael Geist, a professor at the University of Ottawa specializing in Internet and e-commerce law and technology counsel with the law firm Osler, Hoskin and Harcourt. Geist, who called the decision "stunning," anticipates it will push the industry to increase its lobbying efforts for copyright reform in Canada.

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Terabyte drive platters by 2010

March 30, 2004 D. H. McKee

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Sci-Tech

Scotts Valley (CA) - Seagate will use a new technology to create the foundation for future harddrives. The company believes that its Heat Assisted Magnetic Recording will allow area densities of up to 50 terabit or more than 700 times the density of today's harddrive platters. Seagate plans to debut HAMR in 2010 with a density of about 1 terabit.

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Exoskeletons!

March 11, 2004 D. H. McKee

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Sci-Tech

Our research activities are focused on the design and control of a class of robotic systems worn or operated by humans to augment human mechanical strength, while the wearer's intellect remains the central control system for manipulating the robot. Human power extenders can be used to maneuver heavy loads with great dexterity, speed, and precision, in factories, shipyards, airports, construction sites, and warehouses.

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Old CNN article on 802.11 weakness

March 8, 2004 D. H. McKee

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Sci-Tech

A University of Maryland professor and his graduate student have apparently uncovered serious weaknesses in the next-generation Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity) security protocol known as 802.1x.
A session hijacking can occur because of the so-called race conditions between the 802.1x and 802.11 state machines. Arbaugh uses the analogy of a thief and a store owner racing for the front door at the same time. If the owner gets there first he locks the thief out, if the thief gets there first he steals everything. Because the client and the AP aren't synchronized, "loose consistency," the thief can tell the owner/client to go away and the AP still thinks he is there.

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