Recently in English Category

This Installfest at Truman State University, I mentioned about how we liked facebook of two years ago: It's apparent that to many people, facebook is too creepy, because it "knows" too much about you. Some people don't feel secure to share anymore: What does Facebook store? People tried to solve the facebook's problem either by building it on the reputation (google+) which turned out to be disappointing, or doing it by a distributed network (diaspora) which turned out to be too much of a pain in the ass to set up, and isn't feasible to the general public (one has to be really savvy and has a private server to be sure of that).

Recently I have this idea popping up to my mind. Can we make a "social network" that is inherently secure? That is, a crypted social network. That will solve the problem of people worrying about their privacy being invaded. RSA crypto or even better, OTR crypto (might be too overkill). All the (private) messages and status updates being flown on the network will be encrypted and decrypted on the client side so that everything the sever stores is inherently worthless unless "something" is provided to decrypt it at the user's end.

My theory: It may be possible.

I grabbed the microtouch kit by Rossum from adafruits a couple of months ago and thought that I might want to do something meaningful with it. The hard, cold truth that I eventually realized is that I don't have enough time. So I decided it will be a quick fun hack that takes only an afternoon.

I work at Truman State University as a IT student worker and the office where I work in is rather special because it has big blinds behind a huge glass window. Often my boss would decorate it with pictures of her beautiful kids. I decided I can do something better than that: A fancy, interactive picture frame.

Chronos OTP is a custom firmware for the Chronos Watch. It generates time code for the Google Authenticator (Oh so sweet Gmail and SSH logins!).

I have released the universal firmware version for the Chronos watch, what essentially means that you don't have to compile the firmware with your private key anymore, so even if you aren't that familiar with compiling stuff, you can still have some Google Authenticator goodness.

Just flash the firmware with any flasher (Wireless flashing with Chronos Control Center works!), then sync it with the sync.py script (do not use Chronos Control Center to sync time!). You'll have to supply the script with your timezone and private key. Remember to use python3, python2 won't work.

Click here for the firmware download page

I'm not talking about education, or about work. I'm really not. I'm always proud to be a Truman student, and I enjoy every moment that I work for IT Services of Truman. I am sad for a moment that I realized, there is not much time left that I can enjoy here.

Today, from what I can tell, the majority my troubling time is gone for good. I like how many of unfortunate things have changed to wonder, and how fruitful Life is.

Through the shroud of mystery,
Turn a page of history,
Feeling more than you can see,
Down at the Renaissance Faire.
Hear the minstrels play their tunes,
They will play the whole night through,
Special songs for me and for you,
And anyone whose heart is true...

A friend of mine has told me that it is the end of the beginning -- I think it is indeed, today has marked the end of the beginning. Just not for what he said :-). Keep on reading for some Blackmore's Night goodness.

• Computer Science: "It will be a miracle if half of what I teach you today turns out to be true in ten years." -- Robert Matthews. "Make it run, make it right, make it fast, make it small." -- James Coplien and Kent Beck.
• Honesty: "The worst thing you can be is a liar... Okay, fine, yes, the worst thing you can be is a Nazi, but then number two is liar. Nazi one, liar two." -- Shit My Dad Says.
• Your iPad/iPhone/laptop/Android: "Son, no one gives a shit about all the things your cell phone does. You didn't invent it, you just bought it. Anybody can do that." -- Shit My Dad Says.
• Choosing your career: (Oh this one made me switch my major in Truman) "You've got to choose whatever you enjoy doing for the rest of your life." "Don't worry about it. Not knowing anything is why you're in college." -- Robert Matthews.
• Religion: "My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness." - Dalai Lama
• Risky choices: "But there's no sense crying over every mistake/ You just keep on trying till you run out of cake." -- Jonathan Coulton.
• Self confidence: "You have a bright future." -- Minh Duong. "No one wants to lay the man who doesn't want to lay himself." -- Shit My Dad Says.