Daily Cup of Tech

Some things you do for the money. Like keeping a job. Most people that I know have a very strong likeness for eating and being warm.

Other things you do for the experience. Like bungee jumping into the Grand Canyon. You will pay good money to put yourself at risk just so that you can say you’ve done it.

Well, the second category is where make your own MP3 player firmly sits. When you can but a cheap MP3 player these days for under $50, many people would say that you are crazy to dish out $115 for a pile of parts that you still need to put together and get working.

The kit is and open source kit from Make Magazine called the Daisy. Of course, if you do not want to pay for the kit and you can source the parts by yourself, you can build everything from information at the designer’s website.

I think that this would be a great learning experience, especially when my soldering skills are pretty limited at this point. I also like the fact that you can download the code that runs the MP3 player and then modify it to work the way you want it to work. The ability to fine tune something to my specifications has always been a big plus.

I don’t know if I will be doing anything with this in the near future but I will be definitely keeping it in the back of my mind.

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I have previously written about some of the interesting USB mods that people have come up with in an attempt to personalize their USB drives. But, when Guido Ooms of Oooms Design Studio talks about USB sticks, he is talking a bit more literal.

According to the New York Times article, Ooms first got the idea when he was trying to think of a way to get computer systems to look less like science fiction. He believes that:

The computer stuff that is coming out right now, it is all plastic and symmetrical and aerodynamic in shape, like “Star Trek” stuff! I think there’s no reason for that, really, other than that it looks like it works properly.

And it appears that he’s not the only one. He has sold over 3,000 sticks and is looking at potentially outsourcing production.

Personally, I really don’t care what my USB drives look like. It just has to work. But, then again, the color of my car is also not a significant factor for me either. So, what do you think?

Is this a good idea?

Would you buy one?

What do you think should be made into a USB drive?

Let everyone know in the comments!

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I was once talking with a friend of mine about wireless networking and I indicated that my company had no plans to deploy it within the company. He looked me square in the eye and said a sentence that chilled me to the bone:

“Either prepare to deploy this technology for your company’s employees or they will deploy it for you!”

The truth of the matter is that he is right, and not just about wireless networking. There is a history of technologies gaining popularity out side the enterprise and then creeping into the corporation. A good example is e-mail.

This is why it is so important to not only know and understand new technology but be in control of it in your enterprise. Arguably, the most critical component to this is the sandbox. According to Wikipedia, a sandbox is:

… a testing (or virtual) environment that isolates untested code changes and outright experimentation from the production environment or repository, in the context of software development including web development and revision control, and by extension in web-based editing environments including wikis.

Nemertes Research has written an excellent article entitled Build an Open Source and Web 2.0 Sandbox. It talks about the importance of the sandbox as part of your testing and control management process along with some important considerations when setting up a sandbox.

I believe that it is important for every company, regardless of how small it is, to have access to a sandbox. This can be something as small as an old desktop no longer in use or as large as an entire server room running several virtual servers. Regardless of the size, make sure that you are segregating the sanctioned from the unsanctioned to protect your company’s IT assets.

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In the past number of years, the term “hacker” has been spun by the media to mean someone who illegally breaks into computer systems for selfish gain or needless destruction. They are cold and ruthless people who think of no one but themselves. So, it usually shocks people when I tell them that I consider myself to be a hacker.

When I talk about being a hacker, I am referring to the original usage of the term. I recently found an excellent article entitled How To Become A Hacker by Eric Steven Raymond which talks about the true spirit of being a hacker.

How To Become A Hacker addresses some of the fundamental misconceptions about hackers. For example, there is a belief that hackers are misfits who are socially inept. Raymond writes:

Contrary to popular myth, you don’t have to be a nerd to be a hacker. It does help, however, and many hackers are in fact nerds. Being something a social outcast helps you stay concentrated on the really important things, like thinking and hacking.

For this reason, many hackers have adopted the label ‘geek’ as a badge of pride — it’s a way of declaring their independence from normal social expectations (as well as a fondness for other things like science fiction and strategy games that often go with being a hacker). The term ‘nerd’ used to be used this way back in the 1990s, back when ‘nerd’ was a mild pejorative and ‘geek’ a rather harsher one; sometime after 2000 they switched places, at least in U.S. popular culture, and there is now even a significant geek-pride culture among people who aren’t techies.

If you can manage to concentrate enough on hacking to be good at it and still have a life, that’s fine. This is a lot easier today than it was when I was a newbie in the 1970s; mainstream culture is much friendlier to techno-nerds now. There are even growing numbers of people who realize that hackers are often high-quality lover and spouse material.

If you’re attracted to hacking because you don’t have a life, that’s OK too — at least you won’t have trouble concentrating. Maybe you’ll get a life later on.

Another myth is that hackers are all math wizards. Raymond disagrees.

Hacking uses very little formal mathematics or arithmetic. In particular, you won’t usually need trigonometry, calculus or analysis (there are exceptions to this in a handful of specific application areas like 3-D computer graphics). Knowing some formal logic and Boolean algebra is good. Some grounding in finite mathematics (including finite-set theory, combinatorics, and graph theory) can be helpful.

Much more importantly: you need to be able to think logically and follow chains of exact reasoning, the way mathematicians do. While the content of most mathematics won’t help you, you will need the discipline and intelligence to handle mathematics. If you lack the intelligence, there is little hope for you as a hacker; if you lack the discipline, you’d better grow it.

When Raymond is asked by people to help them break into systems, he responds as a true hacker would:

Anyone who can still ask such a question after reading this FAQ is too stupid to be educable even if I had the time for tutoring. Any emailed requests of this kind that I get will be ignored or answered with extreme rudeness.

These people Raymond correctly identifies as crackers:

There is another group of people who loudly call themselves hackers, but aren’t. These are people (mainly adolescent males) who get a kick out of breaking into computers and phreaking the phone system. Real hackers call these people ‘crackers’ and want nothing to do with them. Real hackers mostly think crackers are lazy, irresponsible, and not very bright, and object that being able to break security doesn’t make you a hacker any more than being able to hotwire cars makes you an automotive engineer. Unfortunately, many journalists and writers have been fooled into using the word ‘hacker’ to describe crackers; this irritates real hackers no end.

The basic difference is this: hackers build things, crackers break them.

I urge you to spend some time education yourself in the true culture of hacking. It can be a very rewarding and satisfying lifestyle.

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Network administrators spend all kinds of money and effort keeping their systems secure for all sorts of online nasties. Yet, they may have a gaping security hole sitting right under their noses and not even be aware of it.

I am referring to USB storage devices that come and go on the network without a second thought. Yet, they can bring viruses, spyware, trojans, etc. into the network and carry important corporate secrets out of the network.

In Reducing the USB Threat, I look at the risks that USB storage devices pose to networks and computer systems along with some practical solutions to issues such as podslurping and lost USB drives.

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OK. I admit it. DCoT Menu hasn’t even been out for a full week and I’ve already updated it. So, like most upgrades, there is good news and bad news.

The good news is that version 1.1.0.4 it is backward compatible with the older versions of configuration files so there is no need to rebuild those files.

There are three new options that are available. In your application configuration file, you can now use WorkingDirectory (sets the applications working directory) and Parameters (command line parameters that the application accepts) as key works.

The upgrade path is also very simple. Just copy DCoTMenu.exe from the archive to your USB drive and you are ready to go.

The bad news? You need to upgrade all your DCoT enabled USB drives!

I’m still working on this application and am planning to continue to add new functionality as time permits.

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Wireless networking has been one of the best innovations to the IT industry, both at home and at the office. It provides a great amount of freedom to the user while still giving reasonable speeds. And the cost has dropped so much in the past number of years that it is generally in the price range for the majority of computer users.

Now, one of the issues that has always been in the back of my mind about WiFi and other wireless devices such as cordless phones is the fact that they run in the unlicensed wireless spectrum. This means that pretty much anyone and his dog can put together a low wattage device that runs in that specific frequency range without having to ask anyone’s permission first. This means that if you and your neighbor each have a wireless network set up and you both are running in the same channel and frequency, you can easy cause each other networking problems all quite innocently.

But, what if I wasn’t so innocent? Take, for example, the Wave Bubble. Here are complete plans and instructions for building a low frequency signal jammer. It is small enough to fit in a package of cigarettes, runs of batteries that can be recharged from a USB port, and it is capable of knocking out any wireless signal within a 20 ft radius.

“So what? A 20 ft radius isn’t that big. My server room is larger than that!” This may be but let’s consider the following:

So, let’s say that you are running a small network as depicted in the diagram.

Each access point is connected to the previous access point via the wireless backhaul with the first access point connected wirelessly to the server room. Several systems are accessing each access point, represented in this diagram by the laptops and workstations.

Now, let’s assume that someone were to fire up this WiFi jammer under the desk of an individual user. We would see one user lose connectivity. Not really a big deal.

But, what if they were to run the jammer beside the bottom access point? We would then see all systems that rely on that access point lose connectivity. Starting to get worried, yet?

What if I were to put the jammer beside the middle access point? Now we have three access points and all of the system that rely on them without connectivity.

And if I wanted to be particularly nasty, I’d set up the jammer right in the server room, plugged into the server’s USB port. This would jam all wireless access to the server room along with constantly charging the batteries from the USB port so that the jammer would continue to run indefinitely.

So, now that we are all suitably scared, what can we do to help protect ourselves? Here are a few tips:

1. Always wire your access points. This way, you cannot be jammed from the server.
2. Wire access points directly back to the central switch and try to avoid bridging your connections. This will help prevent a cascade effect.
3. Do periodic audits of your “air space”.
4. Don’t broadcast that you are using wireless technology. Turn off your SSID on your wireless systems.
5. Do not place server rooms on an external wall. This could allow someone to jam your wireless link without even entering your office.
6. Catalog and label all server room hardware. Periodically audit your hardware lists.
7. Tightly restrict physical access to your server rooms.
8. Train all employees to immediately questions unaccompanied strangers in the office.

It is very important that you keep your wireless network safe and secure. Having your network ripped out from under you is almost as bad as having someone access it without proper authorization.

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I’ve always been impressed by people who know enough about the Linux operating system to build their own distribution or LiveCD. I have been struggling through building Linux from scratch but I haven’t had the time to work on it as of late. I think it would be cool to have your own customized distribution or at least version of a Linux distribution.

Well, I just happened to stumble upon Reconstructor today. It give you the ability to create a custom distribution of Ubuntu so that it runs the way you want it to out of the box.

From their website:

Reconstructor is a Live CD creator for Ubuntu Linux.

It uses the Ubuntu Linux Live CD as a base, and then allows customization of boot screens (usplash), gnome settings, and software (you can also use the chroot environment to make other changes before creating the live cd).

Reconstructor uses the solid Ubuntu foundation, and allows for extensive customization. For example, create a custom Live CD with blender, inkscape, etc. included for a friend in graphics, or simply use econstructor to re-brand your environment (wallpaper, fonts).

It’s a pretty simple program to use. The screenshots tell you exactly what to expect.

The current version of Reconstructor is 2.1-1 and there are several modules available for it.

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The Birth of Jesus

¹In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. ²(This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) ³And everyone went to his own town to register.

⁴So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. ⁵He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. ⁶While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, ⁷and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

The Shepherds and the Angels

⁸And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. ⁹An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. ¹¹Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. ¹²This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

¹³Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
¹⁴“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”

¹⁵When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

¹⁶So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. ¹⁷When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, ¹⁸and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. ¹⁹But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. ²⁰The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

Luke 2:1-20 (NIV)

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As you may have noticed already, things are slowing down a bit on DCoT. With family commitments and all the hustle and bustle of the season, I find that my spare time to keep the blog up is dwindling. I will also be on the road for a few days, away from my precious systems and the only internet connection that I will have is (GASP!) dial-up, making it even more difficult to update the blog.

So, with that in mind, I want to wish everyone all the best of season to you and yours. I hope that you find peace and happiness in the coming year.

Now, if you are not as tightly schedules as I am over the next week or so and you are looking at some tech projects to tackle, here are a few suggestions:

• Build a FreeNAS server
• Learn a scripting language
• Play around with some USB drives
• Build a 3D printer
• Perform a Christmas tech miracle
• Engineer a cool Lego device
• Give Grandma e-mail
• Build a PVR
• Install Ubuntu
• Or just dig around DCoT for other cool project ideas

I’ll try to post a couple of times over the next week just to touch base (but no promises).

Let me know what you are doing during the holidays (tech or otherwise) in the comments.

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