Listening to: This Unavoidable Thing Between Us - Evermore

I’m after premisses for my new project. It doesn’t have to be terribly flash or corporate. I need to be able provide a comfortable daily working environment for 3 to 5 warm bodies. It needs to be in central Wellington (Te Aro, City, Mt Vic, Newtown, Thorndon, Kelburn at a push). It also needs to be cheap :-).

Happy to share with the right company.

If you know of a place drop me a line.

Listening to: Peter Fader on the New iPhone and Matching Technology to Consumer Demand - Knowledge@Wharton

For my own notes:

It is a common practice of many companies to focus their attention on grabbing market share from their competitors. But such efforts can actually be detrimental to the firm’s profitability, according to Wharton marketing professor J. Scott Armstrong.

Listening to: Check It Out - John Mellencamp

My new passport arrived today… with a nice little payload:

This puppy has got an RFID tag built into it (that’s what that logo means). In the case of this model of passport it is a thicker (1-2 mm) plastic page at the end of the document. Eeeps! I broadcast enough info as it is!

A phone call to DIA confirms (eventually) that it has shielding built into the cover. Some snooping around the web shows that the security mechanisms have been beefed up since the original spec. The data can only be accessed using a printed key on the inside of the cover that is read by an OCR device. Though I can’t find information about the spec used for NZ passports. Conversely that same line of research shows that the court is still out on whether or not these things are totally secure.

As far as I can tell the time of highest risk is when your passport is open (even partially - ?) so for the tin-foil hats amongst us here are a list of shielding providers (they will enclose your passport completely even when it is partially open):

• RFID Shield
• Emvelope
• ESD Product
• Passport Stronghold

To reduce the number of times that you need to open your passport Kevin Kelly has provided a neat, simple and legal Passport Proxy. This can be used in hotels and other less secure areas.

For a bit more info I recommend checking out Bruce Schneier’s articles on the topic (he’s no fan of the technology, but he does provide a lot detail about the issue):

• RFID Passports - 4th Oct 2004
• RFID Passport Security - 28th April 2005
• RFID Passport Security Revisited - 9th August 2005
• Fatal Flaw Weakens RFID Passports - 3rd of November 2005

What is the real risk? I don’t honestly know… but I do know, as a programmer, that these systems will not be bullet proof and that over the lifetime of my document some young punk will work out a way to cause a bit of havoc.

The other interesting thing that I found was that the RFID holds an image of the document’s owner. The reason that they are now so stringent about the photos that you submit is because it helps the facial recognition software used at borders.

I do wish that DIA provided some more information about the security measures.

Listening to: Beach Chair - Jay-Z Feat. Chris Martin

Deep within the guts of the latest Viridian Note is a reference to Celsias! Geekier than me standing on a Segway and very cool!

Listening to: The Smallest Weird Number - Boards Of Canada

little face

Originally uploaded by origami joel.

Listening to: Shotz To Tha Double Glock - Bone Thugs-N-Harmony

As something of a critic of the Segway it pains me a little to admit that the new versions are actually a hellva lot of fun to ride. Rod has one of the new units in the office. The new LeanSteer technology makes the device a lot more usable and as such your first is experience is far less a “holy-crap-i’m-going-to-die” moment.

It is still seriously geeky… but a lot of fun.

Listening to: All The Things She Said - Simple Minds

RollingStone puts the idea of Gore for president out there and then looks at the various angles.

Above all, Gore has replaced his image as a boring, cautious technocrat with that of a dynamic, plain-spoken visionary. “We’ve seen the real Al Gore,” says Moulitsas of DailyKos. “Not the prepackaged, consultant-muzzled Al Gore, but the actual, this-is-what-Al-Gore-who-doesn’t-give-a-shit-about-winning-elections looks like.” In national polls, Gore’s favorability numbers now rank above Hillary’s.

…

Gore’s biggest challenge, however, may come from within. “He’s kind of a klutzy politician,” says Elaine Kamarck, a Gore confidante. If he has any hope of being president, Gore has to find a way to stay in touch with the looser, more confident side of himself that has emerged in recent years.

src: digg

Listening to: Inn Town - Whiskeytown

src: Geekzone

Listening to: LoopKast80 - loop@loop.co.nz

This is a delightfully funny snippet of the Pixar short Lifted. It’s part of the Oscar Showcase 2007.

src: VNOG Blog

Listening to: 30 Something - Jay-Z

Crooks and Liars have got a segment of Sen Chuck Hagel presenting at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee… Talk about cutting through to the point - an almost perfect pitch of passionate and rational. Just awesome.