All Hail Slashdot, WSJ (Nov. 15, 2011)
It's been a good week for having my work mentioned by other outlets.
For starters, my "So You Want To Be A Zero Day Exploit Millionaire?" column for InformationWeek got picked up by Slashdot on Saturday.
Meanwhile, my Monday story on the W3C proposing Do Not Track privacy standards got a nice reference by the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday, and picked up later in the day by Slashdot. Good stuff. Happy editors.
Were Your Personal Details Pwned? (Nov. 2, 2011)
Seems like there's a never-ending stream of announcements about data breaches and personal information being dumped online. Are your personal details amongst the leaked data? Check Pwned.com, a recently launched site that automatically indexes online account dumps and lets you query whether a hack attack has gleaned your email address, username, password, or other personal details.
RAF Leuchars Air Show 2011? (Oct. 5, 2011)
Show of hands: Who doesn't like displays of outright militarism?
If that's your version of fun, the 2011 Royal Air Force (RAF) air show at Leuchars on September 10, 2011, didn't disappoint, with appearances from the country's Red Arrows acrobatic jet team, as well as their French peers, Le Patrouille Acrobatique de France. (Notably, it was the first display by the Red Arrows since one of their number, pilot John Egging, died during a display in August.)
Now, add in a slow-mo circle by a Vulcan, unexpected lashings of rain, various mad F-16 pilots (Netherlands, Belgium), and you have the makings of a solid day out. Especially for what may be one of the final such air shows at Leuchars, which is scheduled to be decommissioned as an air base and handed over to the army.
WikiLeaks Sues Guardian (Sept. 2, 2011)
WikiLeaks
said it will sue media partner the Guardian, which had been helping the whistle-blowing website work through a cache of over 251,000 State Department documents. Interestingly, it's the website's third suit against the newspaper. But behind the war of words, is this anything more than a battle over bragging rights, about who disclosed purloined documents first?
Did Privacy Change After Sept. 11? (Sept. 1, 2011)
How did the events of September 11, 2001, change privacy? Or did they change privacy as we know it, at all? To find out, I put those questions to a number of leading privacy experts:
- Richard Thomas, the former information commissioner for the United Kingdom
- Jim Dempsey, vice president for public policy at the Center for Democracy & Technology
- Jim Harper, director of information policy studies for The Cato Institute
- Alexander W. Joel, the civil liberties protection officer for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), which was created in response to the events of Sept. 11 to lead and integrate the 16 groups that comprise the U.S. intelligence community.
For more, see my story: How 9/11 Changed Privacy.
En route from Edinburgh to Las Vegas to report for InformationWeek on the annual cavalcade of hackers known as Black Hat. On tap: malware, vulnerabilities, briefings galore, and for me, plenty of coffee.
1,000 Feet Over The Forth Bridges (July 27, 2011)
Had the opportunity to take to the skies yesterday with a friend, flying out of Perth, over Edinburgh Airport (with air traffic control permission, of course), as well as the Forth bridges.
Gorgeous day, in an otherwise largely gray and rainy Scottish summer.
Secure Those Passwords (June 28, 2011)
Make your passwords more secure by following a few simple rules: Don't reuse passwords, make them long and random, and don't be afraid to write them down, say security experts.
Hack Du Jour (June 24, 2011)
Interesting days for hacking watchers. The LulzSec group has been hacking and taunting up a storm, with recent exploits against Sony, the U.S. Senate, and FBI affiliate InfraGard.
Photographing Oban, And Model At Tentsmuir (May 31, 2011)
How behind am I with website updates? Slightly, at least. I had another opportunity to go flying last month from Perth to Oban, overflying the Highlands, following various valleys and rivers. Stunning scenery, but many images to now check and edit. Shot lots and lots extra: Moving plane. Presence of wind. Occasional pronounced choppiness at 2,000 feet. Best to make as many exposures as possible.
This past weekend, headed out with a contingent from the St. Andrews Camera Club, to Tentsmuir Beach, for a portraiture workshop. In particular, it gave me a chance to test some running-and-gunning, strobe-based lighting techniques. I've nearly gotten these image selections whittled down, will post them later this week. Then it's time to clean out the photo archives on this website. It's getting to be an image graveyard, what with all of the time I'm spending now on Flickr.
Aerial Photographs Of Perth And Dundee (April 15, 2011)
Gorgeous spring days here in Scotland, often sunny and not too cold -- or warm.
Earlier this week, I got a last-minute opportunity to hit the skies, flying in a Thorp T-18 out of Perth.
While it excels at acrobatics, thankfully a 90-degree bank was about as extreme as we pushed it, aside from pulling a couple of Gs during a beat-up of the airfield.
From Perth's Scone Airport, we headed to over to Errol, Arbroath, down along the Tay River and over the Tay Bridge (pictures). We circled Broughty Ferry Castle waiting for Dundee Airport clearance. Then did a low overfly of the Dundee runway, flew back to Perth, circled the race track, did a beat-up of the field, and landed before dusk.
The adrenaline is still wearing off.
More photos coming soon.
Stateside (March 15, 2011)
Just back from a two-week vacation in the States, visiting Boston, New York and Philadelphia. My "Life Plan" still stands: Earn my first $20 million, then move to New York City or Brooklyn. Amazing food, drinks, sites.
Until then, I'll just have to visit.
Shutdown at Moscow's Red Square (Feb. 20, 2011)
Just back from a business trip to Moscow, where temperatures hovered around a balmy -20 degrees Celcius (-4 degrees Fahrenheit). Interestingly, Red Square was shut down, the day of a planned tour visit.
How do you shut down Red Square? By surrounding it with policeman, of course. Apparently, the previous weekend, someone had the audacity to hold an anti-Putin rally. The nerve.
Apple Armageddon? (Jan. 26, 2011)
Will 2011 be the year that hackers exploit Macs and smartphones en masse? This warning gots trotted out annually, and I'm not convinced.
Happy Burns Day (Jan. 25, 2011)
It's Robert Burns Day here in Scotland, apparently the country's most celebrated holiday -- even more popular than St. Andrew's Day (he being Scotland's patron saint).
Should you find yourself at a Burns Supper, just remember some lines from Burns' "Address To A Haggis":
Ye Pow'rs wha mak mankind your care,
And dish them out their bill o' fare,
Auld Scotland wants nae skinkin ware
That jaups in luggies;
But, if ye wish her gratefu' prayer,
Gie her a haggis!
The Guardian, in today's "buy of the day," suitably recommends a bottle of Talisker 10-year-old whisky ("£32 from all major supermarkets").
So with haggis and Talisker in hand, dig in.
Falkirk Wheel (Jan. 24, 2011)
How to transfer boats between high and low canals in Falkirk, northwest of Edinburgh?
Build a wheel, of course. Cue the Falkirk Wheel, built as part of the Millennium Link, an £84.5 million ($135 million) project to restore the Forth & Clyde Canal and Union Canal through central Scotland.
But the Forth and Clyde Canal laid 35m (115ft) below the level of the Union Canal. Until 1933, 11 locks had provided the necessary interface, across a distance of 1.5km. Since then, however, the link had been broken. What to do? Enter the wheel, which was inaugurated in May 2002. Time for half a wheel revolution? Fifteen minutes.
Top 10 Computer Security Predictions For 2011 (Jan. 18, 2011)
What does the year have in stored? Expect malware, botnets, and mayhem, including online protests and political attacks, according to security experts. My top 10 security predictions for 2011 has more information.