Disqus - Latest Comments for topperge

Re: Sudoku anyone?

manalang — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 20:28:21 -0000

sent

Re: Sudoku anyone?

topperge — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 20:22:46 -0000

Pick me pick me

Re: Taking a Break

jkuramot — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 09:50:50 -0000

Did you think I'd miss your tweet b/c you didn't use my handle?

Re: Taking a Break

topperge — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 18:10:38 -0000

Ah hell, now I'm getting called out publicly. Maybe I can find a bill code to put this under. I haven't filled out last quarter's TPS report yet...I'll get to it, hopefully this weekend!

Re: Geek or Nerd?

jkuramot — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 10:25:44 -0000

It's a tough one to explain, but I think we've done a good job here. Anyway, maybe W3C can codify it or something for us.

Re: Geek or Nerd?

topperge — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 22:55:15 -0000

Sadly Chris and I have actually debated this for hours. We'll throw out a topic and debate its geek / nerdiness.

Re: The Race for Your Identity: Twitter vs Facebook

topperge — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 00:51:20 -0000

I don't know that I trust either of them to hold my identity. Personally I like the wordpress add-ons that allow me to make my personal blog my own provider. It's a domain that I control and own. I just don't think I have the capital to enable all the strong authentication mechanisms I would want in such a service ;-)

I always find it interesting that people in the US have a different perspective on the government that people in Europe. We're very untrusting of what they do with us and our data. I'm not sure where that comes from but based on my work they have our best interest in mind and are the only "company" with the capital to do it safely.

I believe that the US government should provide an OpenID identity provider for their employees. Who needs a "twitter verified" account for the government users, if they can log in with a government provided OpenID service and it shows a symbol that they are government verified I tend to believe them. I think this is critical in the government 2.0 mission to reach out to citizens and gain trust.

Maybe after a few years of a public OpenID provider to employees they can extend it to citizens. Personally I don't care if a government OpenID provider knows what site I log into. I'd prefer it when buying products online or dealing with the IRS / other government sites. The centralized strong authentication would give me a much better piece of mind. It wouldn't prevent me from adding my additional providers and using them for my primary authentication mechanism, but would give me a backup in the cases like Vidoop going belly up and leaving me high and dry from logging into my sites.

I agree with the browser authentication proposition, however, I need it to be synchronized across all my browsers / devices like a XMarks / DropBox. Maybe something could be put together with Gears. I haven't looked into the persistent storage of HTML5 to see if there is any encryption as part of the spec. Obviously something could be implemented in javascript.

Oh, did anyone else notice the new "Hardware Encryption" in the iPhone 3G[S]? I'm still trying to find out what exactly that means, could be something interesting for a portable strong authentication device.

Re: OraTweet Ready for Flight

jkuramot — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 12:03:29 -0000

I hope you're not going on vacation to work on other stuff (i.e. side projects). Thanks for sharing, we could build a nice little community of awesome around OraTweet, including clients, etc.

I should get Noel to add a space for community add-ons and such . . .

Re: OraTweet Ready for Flight

topperge — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 01:52:41 -0000

Nope, I'm keeping it for myself, tough crap. Give me a couple days and I'll get it out there. Going on vacation next week just to catch up on a whole bunch of this stuff.

Re: OraTweet Ready for Flight

jkuramot — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 11:24:05 -0000

Can you share the scripts with us, specifically Noel? I'm sure he can find a home for them on OraTweet, or if not, we can find one somewhere.

Re: OraTweet Ready for Flight

topperge — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 23:20:30 -0000

I can confirm that XE works I've built a couple VMs with it already. The only trick is that you need a script to load the images into the database. I just downloaded the files tonight hopefully I can swing back and write the scripts real quick.

Congrats Noel for getting this out, looking forward to helping out with the adoption.

Re: Oracle People iPhone App Metrics

Tim Armitage — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 01:27:56 -0000

Couldn't agree more - I was stuck in an office last week with only my iPhone and nobody about to give me the guest password.

Re: Oracle People iPhone App Metrics

jkuramot — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 21:44:29 -0000

That would be pretty hard to pull off based on the current way they broadcast that password. I would also categorize that as a separate unit of work, requiring a separate app.

Why do you need wi-fi, I thought 3G was twice as fast :)

Re: Oracle People iPhone App Metrics

topperge — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 20:10:28 -0000

Use it, love it, want some more of it. The only thing I can think of that I would add is a quick way to look up the daily guest wireless password. It would be really handy for meetings sometimes.

Re: Going rogue inside a big company

topperge — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 23:32:50 -0000

Why do you need a DBA to install APEX? Go grab Oracle XE, install it on your desktop and start from there. If its a laptop build something cool, release it to people and they'll get mad that its only online 9-5 the company will be forced to give you a desktop ;-)

Re: Zombies Attack Austin

jkuramot — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 20:01:26 -0000

Guarantee that microprocessor runs an O/S of some kind, bet on a Linux kernel.

Remember LA Story? This was like a scary, 28 Days Later version of that.

Anyway, you're on a frightening road. I have a similar feeling that car viruses are going to plague people in the not-so-distant future. With so much software controlling the car, it's only a matter of time before someone figures out how to disable it or worse.

Think EMP weapon stuff.

Then again, I watch *a lot* of TV and movies.

Re: Zombies Attack Austin

topperge — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 19:32:55 -0000

I'm pretty sure its a microprocessor that doesn't really need an OS to run it, but either way easily hackable.

What scares me is the huge overhead signs you see going down the highway that are permanently fixed. Most of those have a cell or hard wire modem in them. I would bet that 90% of them are using default passwords as well.

I remember the days of running through phone numbers to try and find open BBSes and fax machines. You can bet the numbers are in the same range as the employees of your local DOT ;-)

<tinfoil hat>
I'm just waiting for someone to hack onstar to activate the limp mode (aka we slow your car down to 20 mph for you on the highway) functionality from afar. Imagine doing that to all the GM vehicles with onstar activated on them nice a big metropolitan area during rush hour.
</tinfoil hat>

Re: Zombies Attack Austin

jkuramot — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 19:18:06 -0000

I was thinking that too oddly. Great minds . . . do mischief alike?

You'd need to add wireless to the sign somehow, but after that, it *seems* pretty easy. Unconfirmed reports say those signs run a "proprietary", but who else thinks that's a Linux variant?

This type of attack is only going to get more common. I predict traffic cameras will be compromised next. They do inspire hatred, which is a great way to set off a hacker.

Re: Zombies Attack Austin

topperge — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 18:57:24 -0000

I saw the original Make or Lifehacker post on this and thought how ridiculous that the company designed them this way. 90% of the municipalities don't have locks on the boxes that are attached and think the password will be enough. These are the same orgs that don't change it from the default 'DOTS' password. If thats not enough there is a simple three key reset option in case you forgot what the password is.

Now if only I could figure out how to tweet messages to one of those signs. That would make it fun. Have you seen the articles on how to replicate RFID passports / credit cards with $250 in hardware? Thats the one that should scare everyone.

Re: kthxbai, I just deleted 99 of your twitter friends

jkuramot — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 13:59:43 -0000

Yeah, I know the name. This is good. Twitter isn't alone here; FB probably has a worse predicament on their hands as FB Connect spreads. I'd wager that FB has the lowest level of technical proficiency among its users, making it a prime target for phishing.

It's going to be interesting to see how all this plays out as the shiny, happy API days fade.

Re: kthxbai, I just deleted 99 of your twitter friends

topperge — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 13:17:51 -0000

The twitter and OAuth discussions heat up:
http://simonwillison.net/2009/Jan/2/adactio/
Alex Payne is the chief architect for Twitter.

Re: What’s Your Next Project?

topperge — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 00:58:56 -0000

Agreed that would be an easy solution, but then I'd have to have a machine with iTunes running for my music. I'm also looking at hooking up an LCD display with some minimal buttons to it for local access if the iPhone is on the charger. Along with a local router for my machines in the media cabinet.

Re: What’s Your Next Project?

Chris — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 00:46:47 -0000

If you've got an iPhone then skip the openwrt router and go buy yourself an Airport Express for about $60 on eBay. It connects to your network (ethernet or wired) and provides audio out which streams from iTunes.

And you can use the free Remote application from Apple to control it.

Re: What’s Your Next Project?

jkuramot — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 21:02:16 -0000

Nice, your list has some cool items on it. Is this how startups are born :) We could put all these into a virtual hat and pick out one to work on for giggles.

I agree with the appeal of bringing technology into the physical world; Paul and a friend of his have done some cool stuff with automating the home.

Re: What’s Your Next Project?

topperge — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 19:04:19 -0000

I've got a list and no time to do them in.
#1 finishing my workshop in the basement, I framed the entire room over Thanksgiving and haven't put enough time back in it. Full sound proofing and wiring so that when I get tired of the woodshop and the wife runs out of projects it'll become the home theater
#2 The live USB stick I owe you
#3 I have an RFID reader that I want to make a firefox plugin for to authenticate me to site
#4 A Asus openwrt based router to play music that I can control with my iPhone (much cheaper than the soundbridge and sonos solutions)
#5 Finally getting sports scores to appear on my 42"x8" dot matrix LED display (think train station sign)
#6 ...alright never mind the list is too long already

I love mating the physical world with the interwebs, things like the plants that tweet actually interest me, I'm thinking the Arduino and Xbee aren't too far off in my future. Needless to say my ADD brain has way too many things running through it