I love those scenes in sci-fi movies where a goggle or robotic eye prints out a set of data. And I vaguely remember something about an MIT student who was able to get his notes to appear on a portable screen when he attended class (using geolocation and time calculations his “wearable” computer knew which class he was in and when). Only a matter of time before someone tried to squeeze Wikipedia into our view:
one site plots geotagged Wikipedia entries on to Google Earth (www.webkuehn.de/hobbys/wikipedia/geokoordinaten/index_en.htm). If these Wikipedia entries could be sent to us as we passed through the corresponding areas, it would be like having a tour guide in our mobile phone
Mobile phone? Handhelds are so Star Trek. I’m thinking Robocop Visor or Terminator Sunglasses. Talk about the emerging struggle for control over eyeballs…
…as opposed to recruiting illegals. From a letter by Senator Boxer sent to Francis J. Harvey, Secretary of the Army on November 3rd:
According to an ABC News report, nearly half of the recruiters profiled in an undercover investigation knowingly provided misleading information to potential recruits about the risks of enlisting in the U.S. Army. In one particularly shocking clip of the investigation, a recruiter is seen telling a recruit that the United States is “not at war,� and that the “war ended a long time ago.� Another is seen telling a recruit that “we are bringing people back� from Iraq.
The war ended a long time ago? I have not seen the report, but the only thing worse that I can imagine is a recruiter telling a recruit “don’t worry, we’re only at alert level orange”.
Sorry I do not have more details to point to online, but all I have is a copy of the letter sent to me via email.
Kakvi to glasovi cuju se u mraku,
Nad nocnim poljem, visoko u zraku?
Ko li to pjeva? Ah, nista, sitnica:
Jedna u letu poludjela ptica.
Nadlijece sebe i oblake trome,
S vjetrom se igra i pjeva o tome.
Svu svoju vjeru u krilima noseci,
Kuda to leti, sto bi htjela doseci?
Nije li vrijeme da gnijezdo vije?
Kad bude hladno da se u njem grije.
Ko li te posla pjevati u tminu?
Sleti u nizu, u bolju sudbinu.
Ne mari za to poludjela ptica.
Pjeva o vjetru sto je svu golica.
A kad je umor jednom bude srvo,
Nece za odmor nac nijedno drvo.
Who is it that sings in the night
Above the dark fields, high out of sight?
Who is it calling? Ah, it’s nothing,
Just a crazy bird flying.
It soars above lazy clouds,
Playing with the wind, so loud.
All its faith in a wing,
Where does it go, what will it bring?
Should not it be in its nest now?
Wintertime is for settling down.
Who allowed you out into the gloom?
Return to earth now, safe from doom.
It worries not, this crazy bird aflight.
It still sings as it soars through the night.
When it tires from flying, that will be it,
Not a single tree, nothing left upon to sit.
CSO online has posted some detail on the state of online banking and two-factor authentication in America:
More than 90 percent of the participants in several focus groups said they didn’t want to use a token to access accounts online or by phone.
“The response we got was, ‘Don’t tell me I have to carry something to get access to my money. It’s your job to protect my money, and if you don’t do your job I’ll find someone who will,'” says Cullinane, who is CISO of Washington Mutual, the nation’s largest savings bank. “It was rather startling to get that from them.”
I’ll say. They already carry a credit card that gives them “access” to their money, so perhaps Cullinane is not accurately processing the feedback. In fact, many people apparently refused to carry credit cards in their early days so perhaps what is needed is a phased approach. If WaMu gave me the option to use a token to access my accounts, I would not only adopt it, I would try to switch my family and friends to their services.
a blog about the poetry of information security, since 1995