Archive for February, 2007
02.19.07
Posted in Science, World News at 3:10 am by stark
On Wednesday, scientists in Mexico City discovered a tiny tree frog, completely preserved in amber, that is estimated to have lived approximately 25 million years ago. Mirroring somewhat the story of Jurrasic Park, the frog is entirely preserved by its amber casing, and was discovered by a miner who later sold it to a private collector.
Plans have already been put in motion to extract a sample of the frog’s remains in the hopes of retrieving DNA and identifying the frog’s species. These plans, however, are contingent on the private owners cooperation, which at this point has not been confirmed. A very interesting find for sure with the power to shed some much needed light on the evolutionary process that occurred to reach modern day frogs. Let’s hope the scientists have the opportunity to research it thoroughly.
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02.17.07
Posted in Technology, Web Design, Programming at 7:21 pm by stark
Although you might not know it by the name, a captcha is one of those little boxes you see, more and more lately, that ask you to type in a random code to verify that you are a human being and not a robot. There are many different varieties, but the basic idea is an image that is obscured slightly but readable by a human and used as a passcode for secure entry to a system or task. Something similar to this:
The user is asked to type in the string buried inside the image, and if it matches, they are given access to a specific resource, such as posting a comment or logging into a site.
The 7 step captcha breakdown
The basic idea behind adding a captcha to any website can be summarized by the following 7 steps:
- Generate some random text.
- Add that text to a cookie/session/database so you can retrieve it again from another page.
- Write the text onto an existing image.
- Display the image to the user wanting access to a resource.
- Provide a form, where the user enters the code and submits the form.
- Verify the code against the key you stored in step 2.
- If the codes match, then grant access.
In the next few sections, I’ll step through the code for a very basic example of a captcha script for your own website.
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Posted in Entertainment, Music at 1:27 am by stark
Last month we heard news that Audioslave band members (formerly of Rage Against the Machine) were reuniting for a one time concert with former frontman Zach de la Rocha at this year’s Coachella festival. The story continues to get interesting though as current Audioslave frontman, Chris Cornell, announced today that he will be leaving the group due to “irresolvable personality conflicts as well as musical differences.” This has the rumor mill spinning like a top with speculation that Zach de la Rocha may be rejoining the band permanently after the festival. No official news has been released either way, but with Rage Against the Machine being at the forefront of anti-establishment hard rock in the 90’s, they have millions of fans who would love to see a new project from the band hit the streets. Will it happen? I guess we’ll just have to see if the band still has what it takes to “take the power back.”
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02.16.07
Posted in Science, Healthcare at 12:49 am by stark
The trial testing phase of a new retinal prosthesis is about to begin following the preliminary success of a prototype. The prototype has reportedly enabled six different people to regain their sight where they previously had lost it entirely. Within a few weeks of the new prosthesis, all the patients could detect light, identify objects, and perceive motion. This is indeed promising news for the vision impaired, and I look forward to seeing just how well it works in more wide spread use.
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02.15.07
Posted in Technology, World, World News at 7:34 pm by stark
It seems like every few months an article comes out highlighting the U.S. failure to keep up in the global broadband race. While the same excuses continue to be made for why the problem is happening (country size, lack of need, greedy corporations, to much legacy infrastructure), the fact of the matter is the U.S. is no longer in the top 10 broadband accessible countries and every day falls farther and farther off the pace for new technology to the average consumer. Countries like Korea, The UK, and Japan continue to expand their user base while pushing the limits on technology while the U.S. companies fall farther and farther behind. As this becomes more and more of an issue, the U.S. may find itself unable to compete in the new Web 3.0 or Web 4.0 worlds. Let’s hope the big telecom’s have their wake up call someday soon before it’s too late.
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Posted in Technology, World, World News, Politics at 7:21 pm by stark
A coalition of U.S. software, music, and movie producers has urged the Bush administration to add Canada to the countries blacklist of intellectual property villains. The list is currently populated with countries such as China, Russia, and Belize. Citing Canada’s so-called chronic failure to modernize its copyright regime, the group contends that Canada has developed into an international hub for bootleg movies, software, and video game piracy.
While on one hand, this may seem like a stern warning from the U.S. to their largest trading partner, in reality it is clearly bulling tactics from a country who already feels its dated copyright laws losing ground around the world. Dr. Michael Geist, Canadian Research Chair of Internet and E-Commerce Law, points out that Canadians should not be fooled into thinking their laws are failing in any way to meet some kind of standard. In fact, the U.S. list includes blacklist recommendations for 23 of the world’s 30 most populous countries including Japan, Sweden, Italy, Spain, India, and Switzerland, to name a few. Dr. Geist even points out that this is merely an attempt by the U.S. to enforce a global agenda because it sees it’s own agenda failing both locally and abroad. If the international community is all on the same page, which is not the same one as the U.S., which country really deserves the blacklisting?
Personally, as a Canadian citizen, I am very disappointed in the Globe and Mail article. I expect more from my country and its media resources, and I expect them not to be mere puppets to another countries whims. Their article was very poor, to say the least, failing to mention any of the other large countries also indicated for blacklisting, and instead skewing the article to instill fear in our population. I think they need to step back a bit and look at the country they live in, not the one they apparently wish they did.
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02.14.07
Posted in Technology, Hardware, PC, Science at 10:15 pm by stark
Canadian manufacturer D-Wave Systems Inc., announced today their self proclaimed, “world’s first commercially viable quantum computer.” The rollout event took place at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California and was hailed as a big step toward the age of quantum computing.
The system is only designed to solve Sudoku puzzles and experts say the announcement may be a bit premature. Assuming the machine works perfectly in its current form, it is still at least 1,000 times too small to solve problems that current machines cannot. This is also assuming it can be scaled up that high, which has not been tested at all.
“There are still a lot of ifs and maybes here,” says quantum computing researcher Seth Lloyd of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. But he credits D-Wave for its willingness to test the idea. “From the scientific perspective,” he says, “what they’re doing is very interesting.”
A working quantum computer is the dream of every techno savvy person in the world, even if they don’t realize it yet. While current systems remain restricted to linear calculations (ie. if this, then do this, followed by that), a quantum system has the capability of being in many states simultaneously, which allows for much more complex calculations.
In theory, a quantum computer would be able to solve problems in a fraction of the time it requires today’s systems, and would make even the most complex of encryption algorithm obsolete. A hackers dream. While we can’t pick one up just yet, quantum computing technology seems to be improving by leaps and bounds and is no longer just a pipe dream. I can’t wait to see what the future holds.
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Posted in Movies, Music, Offbeat at 11:00 am by bobbyjoe
Ever wonder about what gifts to give on Valentine’s Day or what things to do? Ever wish you just had a nice list of recommendations? Ever wish you didn’t have to go to 10 different Top 10 Lists just to compile the information your sad un-romantic self needs on this day of the year? Well, your wishes have come true. Without further ado, we now present the Top 10 List of Top 10 Lists for Valentine’s Day…
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