Incursio

I don't care how much the "industry" tries to tell you that RFID in things like credit cards, passports, or IDs is OK - it is not. RFID is not (by design) secure, and never will be. The companies and lawyers can lie and lie and lie - and most of the population seems to believe them - but RFID systems can be hacked easily, and are hacked regularly. Don't trust RFID. Here I am linking to another blog post, simply because it is easier than reciting the entire story here... But the credit card companies don't want you to know that RFID is insecure. They badly don't want you to know, so much so they bullied Mythbusters into not airing it in an episode. Mythbusters gagged by credit card companies over RFID episode Now, I know I am just a "dude on the internet" and have no real authority. So if you don't want to believe a couple of bloggers, I suggest you Google around a bit and find out for yourself. Just don't whine when something b...

In my previous post about Topographical maps, and other Macintosh GPS utilities - I completely forgot to mention one that is a great tool. Load My Tracks . Using Load My Tracks I can pull my GPS tracks right off my device and save them for use by other applications: GPX files, even KML for use with Google Earth. Load My Tracks supports geocaching and a pretty good range of devices. But while looking into Load My Tracks, I also found some more resources: Here is a list of GPX resources . It is a pretty good list, and covers multiple platforms (Windows, Macintosh, Mobile, and cross-platform). Some other applications that I have not tried, but I am including here in case they might be something you can use: GPS Connect : A Freeware Garmin GPS Connection Tool for Mac OS X. Mac SimpleGPS : a Macintosh application designed to manage waypoints, routes and tracks on your GPSR. Between these links, and my previous post , you should have more than enough to get you started wit...

Since the holidays might have brought someone some GPS type toys, I figured that I would recycle an older post of mine to share some information, and also add to it some new stuff I have found. The Libre Maps project has purchased and made available for free all of the USGS Topographical maps of the USA. All 50 states. The maps have always been free sort-of, there was just no where until now to actually GET them for free. The Libre Maps project raised enough funds to buy the many gigabytes of data and the Internet Archive is hosting them. These are great 24k scale topographical maps folks. The same types you pay for in sporting goods stores. And many applications on your computers can work directly with them and your GPS. You can get water and tear resistant paper and print them out.. All good stuff... For the lazy in the audience, here are Oregon's. I use Apple Macintosh computers, and here are some tools I have found: A commercial software package which ...

These are photos of the inside of my eyes, the back wall of my eyes. This one is a little dark because my pupil was closed a bit. But it still came out OK. This one came out better, my pupil for this eye had opened a bit more. I think these are really cool. Thanks to the fine folks at Moreland Vision Center in SE Portland.

Well, there is an awful lot of hubub on the net today about a certain number that the MPAA does not want people to see. Supposedly this number can be used to decode HD-DVD disks or some such use. Of course I would never condone such things. But I do not condone censorship either, and this kind of behavior shows what the DMCA is really capable of . So, people all over are finding creative ways to share the number. I can't vouch for any of these links. They might be valid for a while, they might not. And if you are worried about "work safe" content - I can't guarantee that either. This post itself has profanity... Here is my favorite so far, by Ludwik Trammer: there were 09 planets in the solar system Fucking 9 planets not 11 and not 02 but exactly 9 Damn planets right in the middle and everyone seemed happy until 74 professors meet on the conference and started to wonder: "we should have Exactly 3 planets in our system" – prop...

Recently I purchased a pair of "Luxeon" 3 watt LED bulb replacements for my motorcycle, a 2006 Kawasaki Concours. The tail lights on my motorcycle are the combo running-light / brake-light that many tail lights are, and use bulb type 1157. There are many reviews of standard LED tail light replacement bulbs, and most of them say that they are just not bright enough. The consensus seems to be that you really need to have LED systems designed for the light from the ground up - as the bulb replacement units simply fall short. The main problem, is that LED lights are very directional, they have a very narrow beam of light. Most tail light enclosures are designed for a regular incandescent bulb which puts light out in all directions. Because of this they use mirrors and lenses to direct the light out of the enclosure. This is the way that tail lights appear to fill up with light when they only have one small bulb in them. LED bulb replacements typically will just shoot...

Damn. Oregon is not included. T-Mobile Gets Sued Over Termination Fees But it is at least a start. If the suit is successful I can see some sweeping changes to mobile phone contracts. In fact, I predict some "pre-emptive" changes possibly coming soon. I have never understood why they charge so much for service cancellation fees. (They being not the magical "They" that is responsible for almost anything, but rather in this case I mean mobile phone providers in general). I mean - at most they are out the cost of the deal you got on the phone. They already usually charge you a setup fee, activation fee or something like that... That covers their manpower needed for the slightly-above-minimum-wage employee to type your name into the computer and open your box and show you the "on" button. Other than that labor involved, they mostly just need to recoup the cost of the phone. Say there is a groovy new Nokia phone that retails for $200 without any p...

The Libre Maps project has purchased and made available for free all of the USGS Topographical maps of the USA. All 50 states. The maps have always been free sort-of, there was just no where until now to actually GET them for free. The Libre Maps project raised enough funds to buy the many gigabytes of data and the Internet Archive is hosting them. These are great 24k scale topographical maps folks. The same types you pay for in sporting goods stores. And many applications on your computers can work directly with them and your GPS. You can get water and tear resistant paper and print them out.. All good stuff... For the lazy in the audience, here are Oregon's.