A Scientist Infects Himself With a Computer Virus

Dr. Mark Gasson from the University of Reading has become the first person to be infected with a computer virus. All jokes aside he is using RFID technology in a chip that he had implanted in his hand to accomplish the feat. A more practical use of the chip is a simple security device to authenticate himself to the building and his cell phone. These are some pretty simple examples of the technology but very powerful. These show just the surface of what this technology is capable of doing. RFID technology is popping up in more places that you would think. Most car keys have RFID chips that will only allow the car to start if they are within 15 feet or less. The retail stores have been using them for years driving down the price of RFID tags.

Dr. Mark Gasson is not the first person to have malicious intent with RFID technology either there have been numerous stories about using RFID tags to ruin pacemakers and other medical devices implanted into patients. The proof of concept shows by Dr. Mark Gasson is a nice warning to future developers of the technology and the security that needs to be inherently built into the system.

Dr. Mark Gasson from the University of Reading has become the first person to be infected with a computer virus. All jokes aside he is using RFID technology in a chip that he had implanted in his hand to accomplish the feat. A more practical use of the chip is a simple security device to authenticate himself to the building and his cell phone. These are some pretty simple examples of the technology but very powerful. These show just the surface of what this technology is capable of doing. RFID technology is popping up in more places that you would think. Most car keys have RFID chips that will only allow the car to start if they are within 15 feet or less. The retail stores have been using them for years driving down the price of RFID tags.

Dr. Mark Gasson is not the first person to have malicious intent with RFID technology either there have been numerous stories about using RFID tags to ruin pacemakers and other medical devices implanted into patients. The proof of concept shows by Dr. Mark Gasson is a nice warning to future developers of the technology and the security that needs to be inherently built into the system.

Watch the video for more information.

Top 10 Largest Databases in the World

Most of these database will be no surprise but the top database was a surprise to me. I knew they had a large database but I did not know it was that big. The size of some of these data centers that house this equipment must be huge. I can not even imagine their back up solutions either. This is a very interesting article and I am glad they included the calculation on the guess work that they did.

Read more here: http://www.focus.com/fyi/operations/10-largest-databases-in-the-world/

Most of these database will be no surprise but the top database was a surprise to me. I knew they had a large database but I did not know it was that big. The size of some of these data centers that house this equipment must be huge. I can not even imagine their back up solutions either. This is a very interesting article and I am glad they included the calculation on the guess work that they did.

Read more here: http://www.focus.com/fyi/operations/10-largest-databases-in-the-world/

Linux makes my ice cream

I love ice cream and I love linux. I can now have the combination and it is even sweeter then you can imagine. I wish I could buy one of these machines made by MooBella but I do not think it is very practical to put in my kitchen. I will have to wait for the home version of the machine. Hopefully that comes sooner then later.
Read a little bit more about linux as an ice maker and vending machine here: http://www.handlewithlinux.com/linux-ice-machine

Here is Forbes profile of MooBella

The MooBella Nod

I love this idea and can not wait to sample it myself.

I love ice cream and I love linux. I can now have the combination and it is even sweeter then you can imagine. I wish I could buy one of these machines made by MooBella but I do not think it is very practical to put in my kitchen. I will have to wait for the home version of the machine. Hopefully that comes sooner then later.
Read a little bit more about linux as an ice maker and vending machine here: http://www.handlewithlinux.com/linux-ice-machine

Here is Forbes profile of MooBella

The MooBella Nod

I love this idea and can not wait to sample it myself.

Public Comments on the U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Joint Strategic Plan

Here is where you can review the public comments on the U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Joint Strategic Plan. You can submit your own opinions as well. All public comments are supposed to be reviewed and taken into consideration on new legislation. I have reviewed several of these and it is amazing how like minded most people are about IP laws and how far behind the legislators are on IP laws. I hope they look at these and consider them over big piles of money.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/intellectualproperty/frn_comments/

Here is where you can review the public comments on the U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Joint Strategic Plan. You can submit your own opinions as well. All public comments are supposed to be reviewed and taken into consideration on new legislation. I have reviewed several of these and it is amazing how like minded most people are about IP laws and how far behind the legislators are on IP laws. I hope they look at these and consider them over big piles of money.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/intellectualproperty/frn_comments/

EMC launches VPlex, eyes teleporting petabytes globally

EMC is looking to do for storage what VMware did for servers: Make assets easier to pool and move around.

At EMC World Monday, the company outlined its plans and products for virtual storage infrastructure. In a nutshell, the movement is on to be able to pool storage, share it over distance and cut through the physical limitations of data (having it stored in one location over another).

To that end EMC is rolling out a portfolio of products dubbed VPlex, which an effort to pool storage across multiple data centers and swap information across long distances. This model would fall under the private cloud model where data is pooled and shared across a company. For instance, a backup data center in Oregon could take over batch processing for its sister site in Secaucus, N.J.

Read more: http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/emc-launches-vplex-eyes-teleporting-petabytes-globally/34231

EMC is looking to do for storage what VMware did for servers: Make assets easier to pool and move around.

At EMC World Monday, the company outlined its plans and products for virtual storage infrastructure. In a nutshell, the movement is on to be able to pool storage, share it over distance and cut through the physical limitations of data (having it stored in one location over another).

To that end EMC is rolling out a portfolio of products dubbed VPlex, which an effort to pool storage across multiple data centers and swap information across long distances. This model would fall under the private cloud model where data is pooled and shared across a company. For instance, a backup data center in Oregon could take over batch processing for its sister site in Secaucus, N.J.

Read more: http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/emc-launches-vplex-eyes-teleporting-petabytes-globally/34231

A Brief, Incomplete, and Mostly Wrong History of Programming Languages

This is a humorous take on the history of programming languages. If you do not know the people involved with creating programming languages and some of the history about them you may not find this very funny. It is a quite comical way to present the history outline of the event that happened. Take a look at this and maybe look up some of the names. All of the names in the article were involved with creating programming languages but premise on how they created them is creative at the least. It would be like me getting heart burn and developing the heart-ache language.

Read it here: http://james-iry.blogspot.com/2009/05/brief-incomplete-and-mostly-wrong.html

This is a humorous take on the history of programming languages. If you do not know the people involved with creating programming languages and some of the history about them you may not find this very funny. It is a quite comical way to present the history outline of the event that happened. Take a look at this and maybe look up some of the names. All of the names in the article were involved with creating programming languages but premise on how they created them is creative at the least. It would be like me getting heart burn and developing the heart-ache language.

Read it here: http://james-iry.blogspot.com/2009/05/brief-incomplete-and-mostly-wrong.html

The Five Worst Tech Ads and Five Who Got It Right

Switched.com has a neat article about the five best and five worst tech ads. I like the Xerox one the best, it is simple and to the point and a very creative way to sell Xerox products. I am surprised that the Apple 1984 Superbowl ad is not on the list. It is amazing how far technology has come and how it has changed advertising.

Read more: http://www.switched.com/2010/05/10/bad-men-the-five-worst-tech-ads-and-five-who-got-it-right/

Switched.com has a neat article about the five best and five worst tech ads. I like the Xerox one the best, it is simple and to the point and a very creative way to sell Xerox products. I am surprised that the Apple 1984 Superbowl ad is not on the list. It is amazing how far technology has come and how it has changed advertising.

Read more: http://www.switched.com/2010/05/10/bad-men-the-five-worst-tech-ads-and-five-who-got-it-right/