Kendall Giles

With the summer travel season nigh, here are a few travel tips, especially for those who are more technologically inclined and security conscious.

For general technology travel tips, from wired.com:

Pick up some CD-Rs for backing up your images. If you don't have a laptop with you, make your backups at an internet cafe. Not only do CD backups let you clear out your memory card, they also aren't affected by x-rays at the airport. X-ray machines around the world are often much stronger than those in U.S. terminals. Memory card don't get scrambled often, but it does happen, and optical media has definite advantage.

For tips on making your laptop safe for from customs officials, from news.com:

Turning off your computer is especially important for OS X users, at least until Apple patches a security glitch that keeps account passwords in RAM. In the default configuration, the account password is the keychain password and yields passwords to wireless networks, Web sites, accounts accessed via SSH, network-mounted volumes, etc.

Finally, here are some more security-related technology tips, from the EFF's Jennifer Granick:

Another option is to bring a clean laptop and get the information you need over the internet once you arrive at your destination, send your work product back, and then delete the data before returning to the United States. Historically, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) generally prohibited warrantless interception of this information exchange. However, the Protect America Act amended FISA so that surveillance of people reasonably believed to be located outside the United States no longer requires a warrant. Your email or telnet session can now be intercepted without a warrant. If all you are concerned about is keeping border agents from rummaging through your revealing vacation photos, you may not care. If you are dealing with trade secrets or confidential client data, an encrypted VPN is a better solution.

Travel safely, and securely!

I've just been appointed to a research position with the Human Language Technology Center for Excellence (HTLCOE) at Johns Hopkins University.

The purpose of the Center is to:

focus on advanced technology for automatically analyzing a wide range of speech, text and document image data in multiple languages.

I am looking forward to this!

Technorati Tags: academia, security, technology

The wonderful folks at Synthesize.us have made a Star Trek theme for the Nokia N810, so now it has an LCARS display just like those PADD tablets they use on Enterprise:

Energize!

Technorati Tags: culture, technology

Due to the heavy marketing by Apple and Amazon, you are surely by now familiar with the iPhone and Kindle. Those are very interesting devices, but I recently made a comparison between them and the new Nokia N810 and, in the end, went with the N810.

The iPhone is slick, but I did not want to be hobbled with a long AT&T cell-phone contract -- monthly voice and data charges and fees really was not appealing. I have a cell phone for voice calls, but more and more I find myself using VOIP, especially Skype, for my voice calls. With an Internet connection this means I can make voice calls for free. Currently, making simple, free Skype or other VOIP calls is not possible with the iPhone. In addition, I live in a region with no cell phone service, so the thought of monthly cell phone charges is doubly discouraging. Also, the iPhone currently is a "closed" environment, meaning that the applications you can use on the phone are limited by Apple. Finally, I wanted a device that I could use to read documents, and doing so on a cell phone was really not practical.

The Kindle is really geared for reading ebooks, and its free EVDO connectivity option means that I can easily buy ebooks from Amazon. However, it is not a platform for making voice calls, its computer network and Internet access is limited, and it is also a closed platform for applications. But it is even lacking in the edocument arena, since it does not support the ubiquitous .pdf format. I have thousands of .pdf files, and so a device that does not facilitate reading my own documents is not very useful.

The Nokia N810 is the new Internet Tablet and is the newest generation, building on the N800 and N770. The N810 features a full keyboard, webcam, GPS, and Wi-fi network connectivity. Moreover, the operating system is built on Linux, and the Finnish company takes an "open" approach to developers and new software applications. To me, the N810 offered more features and had less undesirable features than either the iPhone or the Kindle.

The keyboard slides out from under the screen if you need to use it, but it also accepts screen inputs using the stylus or, like the iPhone, your finger. The screen is also larger and has a higher resolution than the iPhone's, meaning images and text are clearer.

The desktop is very customizable - you can run desired applets, like the Google search bar, an Internet radio applet, or an RSS newsfeed applet.

Because the Nokia is taking an open approach with developers, a lot of new and useful applications are being developed for the device. Here is a music player customized for finger input just like on the iPhone.

Having builtin Wi-fi network connectivity means the WWW is just a click away.

The N810 also plays videos, via YouTube or video files on the device.

Other bonuses include a builtin GPS receiver and mapping application, Bluetooth, and memory expandable up to 10GB with an 8GB SD memory card.

Technorati Tags: technology

Andy Ihnatko has a very interesting article on the Amazon Kindle:

So here's what Amazon went and did. Metaphorically, the company invented a humanoid robot capable of autonomous action. Every day at 4 a.m., it gets in your car and drives all over the state, buying fruit, milk, butter, eggs and other staples straight from the farm. By the time you wake up and trudge into the kitchen, there's a steaming plate of waffles waiting for you, made from scratch, and topped with fresh-picked strawberries and whipped cream.

It's one of the most awesome consumer products ever. It might even be a landmark moment in technology. ... and Amazon is promoting it as a $399 waffle maker.

Technorati Tags: book, technology

Amazon has introduced an ebook reader -- the Kindle.

While many people have been longing for a competent ebook reader for some time, to date no one has been able to produce an ebook reader with the right features:

• read files (books, magazines, newspapers, documents, text) in a variety of formats, including open ones, such as .doc, .pdf, .txt, .rft, .html, etc.
• allow the easy addition and deletion of books from the device
• display the books competently
• have an interface suitable for book reading, browsing, searching, and note-taking
• don't overwhelm me with fees and crippled file formats

Is the kindle the iPod of books?

While Amazon seems to have done OK on the display part, and the book reading interface seems to be OK, unfortunately the kindle seems to fail on the other points. The words of Amazon's CEO Jeff Bezos gives you a hint of why the kindle is not the device we have all been waiting for:

This isn't a device, it's a service.

Basically, Amazon is selling you a $400 device that you use to rent digital books from Amazon and then read them on that device. You are not actually buying a digital copy of a book from Amazon. You are renting the book because Amazon encodes the book in a proprietary (DRM) format that does not work with other devices or software. Further, that crippled book can only be read as long as Amazon wants you to be able to read it. From their terms of service:

Your rights under this Agreement will automatically terminate without notice from Amazon if you fail to comply with any term of this Agreement. In case of such termination, you must cease all use of the Software and Amazon may immediately revoke your access to the Service or to Digital Content without notice to you and without refund of any fees. Amazon's failure to insist upon or enforce your strict compliance with this Agreement will not constitute a waiver of any of its rights.

And, unlike real books or digital files that are not crippled (DRM), you cannot share your rented Amazon book with anyone else:

You may not sell, rent, lease, distribute, broadcast, sublicense or otherwise assign any rights to the Digital Content or any portion of it to any third party, and you may not remove any proprietary notices or labels on the Digital Content. In addition, you may not, and you will not encourage, assist or authorize any other person to, bypass, modify, defeat or circumvent security features that protect the Digital Content.

Other deal-breakers include the fact that, while you can read Amazon-selected files with the kindle, you must pay a few dollars per month to do so - you must subscribe to read a blog that you can read for free using your computer. Also, some files can be transferred to the device via USB, but some must be emailed to the device via Amazon - Amazon "converts" the document into a kindle format (applies DRM) and charges you $.10 per document for the privilege.

If Amazon included a digital copy of each book I buy from Amazon, I think the kindle would work. But as it currently is configured, especially without support for at least .pdf files (a really big deal -- I have a lot of .pdf files on my laptop, and I would pay good money for a viable device to read them with) the kindle business model does not make sense to me. I currently do not need an expensive device that basically allows me to read rented books on it, and where I am nickle-and-dimed with monthly fees for the privilege. It seems like a step in the right direction for a useful ebook reader, but Amazon has more work to do. Maybe in version 2.0 they will do better.

Other commentary on the kindle:

dive into mark
boing-boing gadgets
kottke.org
wired
macworld

Technorati Tags: book, review, technology

Michael Yon, who has spent far more time embedded with combat troops in Iraq than any other writer or photographer, has part 1 of an article discussing his recommendations for cameras that can take excellent photographs under extreme conditions.

This dispatch is in response to requests like the ones above. This installment will focus on digital still cameras. My opinions are well-informed on the specific products I describe, but I am no camera expert. My opinions on the cameras described lack a detailed field comparison with other products. Although I conducted careful research, I have not tested dozens of models. I try to select the best gear on the market for the conditions expected. As the saying goes, sometimes the magic works.

Technorati Tags: review, technology

Congratulations to Virginia Tech - in the latest DARPA autonomous robotic vehicle challenge, which required autonomous vehicles to navigate sixty miles in an urban environment, do three-point turns, park, follow the rules of the road, etc., Virginia Tech's vehicle won third place.

The DARPA Urban Challenge is an autonomous vehicle research and development program with the goal of developing technology that will keep warfighters off the battlefield and out of harm's way. The Urban Challenge features autonomous ground vehicles maneuvering in a mock city environment, executing simulated military supply missions while merging into moving traffic, navigating traffic circles, negotiating busy intersections, and avoiding obstacles.

Appropriately - their robot vehicle was named Odin.

Read more about the team and the contest on their blog or the team website.

Technorati Tags: academia, science, technology, virginia

Mike Shea has a really good review of his initial impressions of the new Apple operating system, Leopard.

I never heard of anyone who looked forward to Vista the same way those Apple folks looked forward to Leopard. They made a lot of money at that store yesterday and they did it by building an OS that people wanted, even if it didn't jump way ahead of what OSX could do before. Apple learned that people need to like their computers, not just use them. This is why few people give a damn about Vista or even hate it while Apple fanboys will line up for blocks to buy Leopard.

Technorati Tags: technology

I have put my slides online for a talk I was asked to give at IPAM today. The talk was titled "Scan Statistics on Enron Graphs", work done by Carey Priebe, John Conroy, David Marchette, and Youngser Park.

Technorati Tags: academia, technology

If you are going to be in the L.A. area on October 10, 2007, you might want to drop by the IPAM building at UCLA. Peter Jones has asked me to give a talk on Scan Statistics on Enron Graphs.

Technorati Tags: academia, science, technology

A Viking ship that was built in 1892 and sailed across the Atlantic, down the Erie Canal, through the Great Lakes and to Chicago for the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893, is currently in need of your help. The image above is of this ship moored in front of Manufactures, Chicago, in 1893.

This 76-foot ship, known as The Viking, is currently housed in Geneva at Good Templar Park (near Chicago). Left to neglect, this ship is doomed unless a restoration project receives funds.

From an article by the Norwegian National League:

The "Viking" was built at Framnes Shipyard in Sandefjord, Norway in 1892. It was copied after the ancient Viking ship "Gokstad". Excavated in 1880, the "Gokstad" had been called the most beautiful ship ever built. The "Viking" is approximately 76 feet long, 17 feet wide, and 7 feet high from the bottom of the keel to the gunwale. Clinker built with planking hand split from green logs, the "Viking" made 11 knots and the hull was observed to flex with the waves.

Most importantly, the Viking ship was declared one of ten most endangered historic sites in Illinois by a statewide historic preservation group.

American Express is running a competition for projects to receive funds, and the Viking ship is in the runoff. Some of the other projects and buildings in the competition might be nice things to do, but are not in as imminent danger of being destroyed --- the Viking ship will decay into the water unless we take action now to preserve this important cultural icon.

How can you help?

Go to: the partnership in preservation site, register, and VOTE FOR THE VIKING SHIP - you can vote ONCE A DAY, EVERY DAY, until voting ends on October 10, 2007.

Other links of interest on Vikings and Viking Ships:

• http://www.vikingship.us
• http://www.stigombord.dk/index_uk.html
• http://www.abc.se/~m10354/bld/viking.htm
• http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/vikings/ships.html
• http://sio.midco.net/danstopicalstamps/gokstad.htm
• http://www.cdli.ca/CITE/vikingteacher.htm
• http://www.bullfrogfilms.com/catalog/norse.html

Technorati Tags: academia, culture, living, technology

A recent article by Neal Koblitz in the Notices of the AMS, titled "The Uneasy Relationship Between Mathematics and Cryptography," reminds me of the Leo Breiman paper "Statistical Modeling: The Two Cultures."

Both papers talk about the cultural and practical differences between various academic departments and how they do research. In the Breiman paper, he noted how progress was a bit limited in the field of statistical modeling by "classical" statisticians until computer scientists came along and opened up the field with new approaches, and corresponding new results.

The Koblitz paper discusses the field of cryptography, and describes how mathematicians and computer scientist cryptographers at first worked well together in coming up with various crypto-systems, but how now that relationship is no longer as solid. While the crypto-systems published by the computer scientist cryptographers are often more practical (usable), they also sometimes rush to publish papers with dramatic errors that might have been caught, say, by a more rigorous approach by a mathematician, such as Koblitz.

Technorati Tags: academia, security, technology

I have posted my PageRank and Knowledge Discovery talks I gave at IPAM for the Knowledge and Search Engines workshop online on my presentations page if you would like to have a look.

Technorati Tags: academia, technology

Just a few assorted security items of interest.

I've heard about this before, but here's an article about how the FBI reportedly can remotely turn on the mic of someone's cell phone in order to listen to their conversations.

The technique is called a "roving bug," and was approved by top U.S. Department of Justice officials for use against members of a New York organized crime family who were wary of conventional surveillance techniques such as tailing a suspect or wiretapping him. ... Kaplan's opinion said that the eavesdropping technique "functioned whether the phone was powered on or off." Some handsets can't be fully powered down without removing the battery; for instance, some Nokia models will wake up when turned off if an alarm is set.

And if you wanted more news of security holes companies are building into their products, it seems there is a new system called the Nike+iPod SportKit, where your Nike shoes transmit data to your iPod in order to track your running progress. While this sounds neat at first, Computer Science researchers at the University of Washington itemized several of the security problems with the device.

As noted in Wired:

The first problem is that the RFID in the shoe sensor contains its own on-board power source, essentially turning your running shoe into a small radio station capable of being received from up to 60 feet away, with a signal powerful enough to be picked up from a passing car.

This hole could easily be exploited. One scenario is a stalker or company wanting to track the movements of a target:

Molnar also speculated about how easy it would be for a company to build their own tiny readers and deploy them in a large environment, selling the data stream to those who would track spouses or teens, or collect information about how many people wearing Nikes visit malls or movie theaters. "Given that there are no laws about skimming data in California right now, it would be perfectly legal to do it there," he said.

What to do? Well, companies are starting to market products to help protect people from the security holes in other companies' products. As an example, DFIRwear makes RFID-blocking wallets and passport holders.

Wait---there are RFID chips in passports now? Yes.

Travel safely and securely this Yule season.

Technorati Tags: security, technology

A while back I noted the new Voltaic solar backpack I purchased. Well, after eight months of using and testing this pack, I have concluded that it does not work for me.

I really tried hard to like this pack. The solar panel itself is well-done, and the panel did a very good job of keeping my MP3 player and cell phone charged while I was on the go. It also promotes effective use of technology, which is always a good thing. I also appreciated the wiring of the adapters throughout the pack (down the shoulder strap, for example).

However, there are a few shortcomings that make this system not usable:

• the rechargeable battery is not firmly attached to the pack, and it falls off.
• the backpack zippers on the sides often open by themselves, which is a security risk in that things in those compartments can get lost if the zippers open spontaneously.
• the backpack zippers easily jam when opening and closing; moreover, when zipped, the teeth can easily open with just a little pressure (like when you actually carry something in the bag), causing almost total backpack failure
• the zipper closures are weak and can easily break (like when trying to unjam the zipper, as noted above).
• the shoulder straps can bite into your shoulder.

So, Voltaic had a good idea, but they implemented it on a weak/cheap backpack, that defeats the whole system.

Technorati Tags: review, technology

Perhaps you can say it's because it has something to do with Earth Day (22 April 2005), or perhaps you can say that we just like well-designed products that provide utility with style, but we thought we would try out the Voltaic Backpack.

I haven't yet had much of a chance to take it for a test-drive, but just out of the box, it seems to be made very well. The solar panels ( 10V peak voltage, 400mA peak current, and 4W peak power), which charge a 2200mAh @ 7.2V lithium ion battery pack, are well-integrated into the bag itself. Cabling is provided throughout the bag, and there is even a phone/MP3 player pouch on the right shoulder strap.

In addition to being able to charge the battery by the solar panels, there is also an AC charger as well as a car charger. And a variety of included adapters allow for charging a multitude of electronic gadgets.

Maybe this solar backpack will encourage me to get out more, or at least work on my laptop outside...

Technorati Tags: review, technology