ChristW - Slashdot User

Submission + - Lockpicks by Open LockSport (kickstarter.com)

Submitted by ChristW on Monday September 20, 2010 @02:56AM

ChristW writes: If you've always wanted to own a good set of lockpicks, but haven't been able to get any, here's your chance! There's a project on Kickstarter to fund a project by Schuyler Towne to make sets of lockpicks. As I'm writing this, the project has been funded up to 1100%, but I'd love to see what a Slashdotting can do to a Kickstarter project...

Submission + - OpenMoko inc announces Wikipedia WikiReader (thewikireader.com)

Submitted by ChristW on Tuesday October 13, 2009 @03:44AM

ChristW writes: OpenMoko inc, of FreeRunner fame, proudly presents its new product: The WikiReader. It's a small form factor device that needs no internet connection to show Wikipedia articles. The articles are stored on an internal, removable uSD card. Needs 2 AAA batteries to run. The company claims that it can run up to a year on one set of batteries.

Submission + - Microsoft further reducing MSN Music support

Submitted by ChristW on Thursday April 24, 2008 @10:05AM

ChristW writes: The aricle itself says it better than I can: "In November 2006, Microsoft stopped selling music downloads through its MSN Music site, directing people to the Zune Marketplace instead. But customers who had already purchased tracks through MSN Music have been able to continue getting license keys to transfer and play their songs on additional computers. After Aug. 31, no more will they be able to do that, according to an e-mail notification sent to customers today."

The e-mail that Microsoft sent can be found in the original article

Submission + - Towards more aesthetic forms of cryptography

Submitted by

ChristW

on Monday February 19, 2007 @08:34AM

ChristW writes: "A security expert currently working at the Philips Research lab in Eindhoven has set himself a new challenge, making encryption and decryption more aesthetically pleasing. From the introduction to his paper: "When a scientific or engineering discipline reaches a high level of sophistication, it ceases to be a purely function-oriented endeavour and acquires certain aesthetic qualities. Consider for instance robotics. The elegant and efficient motions of sleek robotic arms are delightful to watch. Another example is fractal art. The difference between a sophisticated and an immature discipline is like hearing a song instead of mere speech, reading poetry instead of mere words, seeing a sculpture instead of mere stone. Cryptography has clearly not yet reached this state of maturity. Not by a long way. Instead of being delightful, it a is messy, painstaking, boring, arduous business for all involved parties, especially for the cryptanalist. I hypothesize that when cryptography reaches a sufficient state of maturity, reading and analyzing ciphertext will be akin to submerging oneself in a profoundly poetic work of art. Cryptanalysis, even if unsuccessful, will fill the practitioner with joy, while the encrypting and decrypting parties will delight in the beautiful relationships between the plaintext and the ciphertext." See the paper on his home page for an example and his conclusion."

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