More malware

While I would like RIM to ship some new products -- on time -- I am not willing to move to an Android device where I will have the constant worry about viruses and trojan horse software. Note that I wrote a similar post a few months ago.

Smartphone viruses & trojan horses

A friend spammed me yesterday because "his account was hacked". I doubt that someone spent a bunch of time manually guessing his password. If he is lucky it is an email-initiating virus, but I would not be surprised if his PC has a trojan horse quietly logging his keystrokes every time it detects an SSL connection being established. It bundles the information up and sends it somewhere to be automatically analyzed and then another computer attempts to access the site. If success happens, then someone starts to see what can be accessed. What else may he have lost and how long before the same folks find a way into his bank account?

Today I also read an LA Times article about smartphone hacking which makes me happy the problem would seem to be for Android and Apple users not my BlackBerry.

Brain stimulation research

There is a four minute video on the NSF site that explains some research called decoded neurofeedback that essentially can insert data into a subject's brain. It is extremely primitive, but so was ENIAC. Someday, perhaps, some aspects of movies like The Matrix or Brainstorm will be possible.

Cellular carriers lie

Telus is my cellular service provider and I recently called them before I went to Europe to ask about the cost of using my BlackBerry while I was traveling. I was told that I would pay $10 per MB for data and based upon my daily usage in Canada, I was able to predict my cost because I wouldn't be using the browser like I might here in Canada. Perhaps I would get about 20 emails per day, and each email might be at most 5K so I might expect to consume 100K per day, or about a dollar per day.

What they don't explain is that every hour I would be billed 20K to maintain the convenience of a real-time data connection. Back in Canada, that connection is maintained for just 1K per hour. So I was billed an extra 450K (24 hours x 19K), or $4.50, per day in unexpected data!! Telus claim that they are billed the 20K from the foreign carrier, but those networks are running modern 3G networks and they would have as advanced billing capabilities as any carrier here and the data usage would be the same. Therefore, the carriers are charging a HUGE premium, perhaps in Europe, but perhaps by agreement between carriers on both sides.

If you want the convenience of having email arrive immediately while you are in Europe, then you are forced to pay $0.20 per hour and it would be advisable to turn off the device when you sleep which I never do here in Canada. Telus may not have told a direct lie, but they do misrepresent the cost of operating their devices outside their network.

Hubble movies

Normally we think of images made by the Hubble Space Telescope as being static views of galaxies or stars far away. But 14 years of images stitched together into short video clips provide a very interesting view of how stars form.

TEDx Waterloo

TEDx Waterloo was over a month ago and it was an excellent event. My favourite speaker was probably the long-distance swimmer Vicky Keith. The open science topic was interesting; Edwin Outwater from the KW Symphony was far more interesting than I expected and Abby Sunderland, the kid who was lucky to survive her attempt to sail around the planet isn't a super polished speakers, but has an incredible story. TEDx isn't TED, but it was a fun event.

Ecovative TED talk

I posted a message about Ecovative a couple years ago when I first saw these guys at a Rensselaer business plan competition. It was obvious they were the best of the lot, had a great intellectual property position, an enormous market to work within, great timing and had the desire to make it happen. They were ranked 3rd of 3 by the brain-trust panelists and "VCs"! Now they have a contract with Steelcase (office furniture) and are featured at TED:

http://www.ted.com/talks/eben_bayer_are_mushrooms_the_new_plastic.html

Sent from my BlackBerry smartphone

Hawking at Perimeter

Stephen Hawking gave a presentation at Waterloo's Perimeter Institute yesterday, chronicling his life's work in theoretical physics. He has been a leader in joining the physics of the very large (cosmology) and the very small (quantum mechanics). How a black hole leaks off energy is a little beyond my ability to properly articulate, but it fundamentally changed how physicists understand the universe.

Hawking is known for his sense of humor and while his ALS condition make the delivery of jokes somewhat a function of context (and the quality of his text-to-voice computer) the slides shown above are examples: the first showing what he wants on his grave stone and the second a comment about life in the universe while being featured on an episode of the Simpsons.

First self-replicating artificial life

Yesterday the researchers at the Craig Venter Institute announced something extraordinary -- a bacteria cell that was in part designed using a computer without using any pieces of natural DNA. If you happen to have an at-home DNA sequencer and get some of these cells, the designers inserted various watermarks in their new life form as well as an email address to contact - sort of bacterial easter eggs or dog tags.

Venter is frequently sited as a leading researcher in synthetic bio-fuels, was a leader of the human genome project and his Institute operate the Global Ocean Sampling Expedition.

Canadian Science Policy Conference

I recently attended an excellent Science Policy Conference in Toronto. Session summaries, session audio recordings and keynote videos are on the conference website. There were many excellent presentations including Preston Manning who highlights the importance of (a) getting science-literate politicians elected and (b) making sure that scientists understand how to present their concepts and opinions in a language that is easily understood by politicians and the public.

I highly recommend watching the 5 minute interviews. One of note is Peter Singer who notes that through science, Canada can help solve global challenges, both directly and by helping developing countries. With reference to Canada's creation of the U.N. Peacekeeping Force, he suggests that Canada should evolve its international reputation from Blue Helmets to White Lab Coats. You can also watch Canada's Minister of Anti-Science Gary Goodyear read a speech and then be the only speaker to not take questions.

Do Real Science at Home

This is fun - help sort through images of galaxies. Ordinary people have already helped discover new things.

Hacking the grid

Read this article about some security consultants who used a little phishing email to take over SCADA control of an un-named electricity utility. The problem is said to be pervasive with in the power industry. Great.

Canadian copyright crud coming ?

Canadian MPs might soon attempt to mess with our current copyright act. Stealing music has fueled the fight. Some people think it is OK to copy a friend's CD or trade mp3s. I don't. If I think the music is worth listening to, and if I don't like the price, then I will listen to something else.

If you want to learn more about digital copyrights and freedom to information from a Canadian perspective I recommend the blog of Prof. Michael Geist. He is Canada Research Chair of Internet and E-commerce Law at the University of Ottawa. In May 2006 TVO's Big Ideas published a very good talk he gave on the subject. Youtube also has a few of his talks.

Want to make change happen? Consider doing some letter writing - Geist has a list.

Paper battery

Researchers at Rensselaer have developed a new energy storage device that is 90% cellulose making it flexible and infused with aligned carbon nanotubes which act as electrodes.