A teenager invents a handheld radiation detector, Dropbox not so private, and the public’s password foibles, today on Geek Speak with Lyle, Miles, and Lindsey.
“When parents pass their genes down to their children, an average of 60 errors are introduced to the genetic code in the process, according to a new study. Any of those five dozen mutations could be the source of major differences in a person’s appearance or behavior as compared to his or her parents — and altogether, the mistakes are the driving force of evolution.”
“A couple of days ago, LulzSec published a batch of 62K random logins (emails and passwords). At first, I grabbed it in order to make sure that neither me nor anyone on my contacts had his passwords revealed. Later I decided to run a few stats on this rare dump of data.”
“The problem of poor passwords is not confined to computer use, and the fact was discovered by an app developer who has added code to capture user passcodes to one of its applications.”
Things That Happen On Internet Every Sixty Seconds
“Taylor Wilson built a functioning device that can detect nuclear weapons smuggled in cargo containers. He’s 17. It works via a nuclear fusion reactor that he also built. When he was 14.”
A filed FTC complaint charges Dropbox (.pdf) with telling users that their files were totally encrypted and even Dropbox employees could not see the contents of the file. Ph.D. student Christopher Soghoian published data last month showing that Dropbox could indeed see the contents of files, putting users at risk of government searches, rogue Dropbox employees, and even companies trying to bring mass copyright-infringement suits.
The Obama administration is leading a global effort to deploy “shadow” Internet and mobile phone systems that dissidents can use to undermine repressive governments that seek to silence them by censoring or shutting down telecommunications networks.
Meet Daniil Kulchenko. He was an HTML programmer at age six. He was a freelance Linux systems administrator at 11. And at 15, he founded his first business: Phenona, a platform-as-a-service for building and hosting Perl applications.
Now, Kulchenko has sold Phenona to dynamic language specialist ActiveState for an undisclosed sum.
Lyle used this as a maker example…. making your dog write words in the park.
“In this project i am sewing a Lilypad wearable Arduino board and five LEDs with conductive thread on my dog’s shirt. She (Ianto) is a Miniature Pinscher running very fast for fun. In curves fast enough for Persitence of Vision. And she likes running in large circles in the park! Light writing.”
Given our other protections in 1Password, plus the arguments presented by Dropbox in defense of their design, we do not believe that this posses a significant risk to 1Password users syncing with Dropbox. However we are paying close attention to developments and discussion as well as looking for ways to make your 1Password data even more securely protected than it already is.
Started in San Mateo, California in 2006, and also being held in Detroit and New York, Maker Faire is the premier event for grassroots American innovation. As the World’s Largest DIY Festival, this two-day family friendly Faire has something for everyone – a showcase of invention, creativity and resourcefulness and a celebration of the Maker mindset.
