Archive for July 2017

The scientific reason you don’t like LED bulbs

http://theconversation.com/the-scientific-reason-you-dont-like-led-bulbs-and-the-simple-way-to-fix-them-81639 Scientists used to think we could see no more than about 90 flashes of light a second but now we know it’s more like 2,000. During the eye movement, the flicker of light creates a pattern that we can see. It could discourage people from using more energy-saving LED lightbulbs. One obvious way of avoiding

Hackers Show Proofs of Concept to Beat Hardware-Based 2FA – Motherboard

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/8xazek/hackers-show-proof-of-concepts-to-beat-hardware-based-2fa “Hardware security devices are an improvement… However, we need to be mindful of our hardware, and just because we say this magic token is secure, we don’t implicitly assume that.” Hardware tokens provide possibly the best way to add an extra lock onto your account. Two-factor authentication sent by SMS can be intercepted. It is probably

Hackers are coming for your jewels with this safe-cracking robot

http://mashable.com/2017/07/28/safe-cracking-robot-defcon/#4DUijhH.lgqL If hackers want what’s on your computer, chances are they can find a way to get it. But what about your non-digital goods you keep in a safe at home? Turns out those aren’t that secure, either.  At the 25th annual DEF CON in Las Vegas professional tinkerer and founder of SparkFun Electronics Nathan

System Administrator Appreciation Day

http://sysadminday.com/ Your network is secure, your computer is up and running, and your printer is jam-free. Why? Because you’ve got an awesome sysadmin (or maybe a whole IT department) keeping your business up and running. So say IT loud; say IT proud … Happy SysAdmin Day!

The quest for a great text editor: A brief intro to Notepad++

https://opensource.com/article/16/12/notepad-text-editor?sc_cid=7016000000127ECAAY Question “Vim or GNU Emacs?”  From those my answer is Emacs. But more and more I use other editors. One of my favourites on Windows is Notepad++. Notepad++ is easy to install, licensed under the GNU Public License (GPL), and the source is available on GitHub.  If you’re comfortable with Windows Notepad or WordPad, the Notepad++ interface will be

Fiber optic testing updates

Few days ago I read The remarkable evolution of modern fiber-optic connector inspection probes article tells about the current state of fiber inspection. Especially with multifiber connectors such as MPO, MT, and MXC microscopic connector endface dirt and debris cause light reflections and attenuation – the enemies of optimal optical signal transmission. Thankfully there now