WiFi tracking – any RF tracking

Points and counterpoints on WiFi (or Bluetooth or NF) tracking (aka locating, aka harvesting – depending on what data you collect).

Washington Post – WiFi tracking basics

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2013/10/19/how-stores-use-your-phones-wifi-to-track-your-shopping-habits/

Schneier context

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2013/11/close-in_survei.html

Google WiFi harvesting

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9226418/Why_Google_should_be_allowed_to_harvest_your_Wi_Fi_data

Other Wifi harvesting

http://www.storyleak.com/wi-fi-trashcans-tracking-your-smartphone-data/

WiFi locating

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wi-Fi_positioning_system

Apple iBeacon

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9242393/Why_Apple_s_indoor_GPS_plan_is_brilliant

And an independent

http://arstechnica.com/security/2013/08/diy-stalker-boxes-spy-on-wi-fi-users-cheaply-and-with-maximum-creep-value/

  

All very technically straightforward. Even somewhat legally straightforward. But somewhat questionable morally.

Moral question aside, it would be nice to be able to turn off endpoint WiFi, Bluetooth and other RF signals with assurance. For me that always points to being able to physically remove the radio (on USB) or its power source (radio power has a physical switch) or an RF cap over antenna port if one is not worried about the radio energy drain. And switch should be instant (under a second on and off) at any time (even if not logged in or authenticated). Basically points to USB dongles.

Firefighters - Melrose

My wife and our two small children did a Melrose firehouse visit a few weekends back. http://www.melrose-firefighters.org/

The fire fighters were great. Gave a good presentation. Let the kids climb a bit.

Memories from childhood were there: Call 911 (911 was not universal in my childhood), Get safely to a nearby assembly point. Also remember “stop, drop, and roll”, avoid standing up in a smoke filled room, and test doors for heat before exiting. Smoke detectors seem to have largely prevented those problems.

A few things we had not thought of…

When one is leaving/assembling turn the porch light on. Make your house stand out from the others nearby so that the first responders have an extra few seconds.

The real kicker:

The firefighters did a demo of how they put on their gear. At first this seemed like entertainment. But the demo was about getting the little ones to realize that there is a person under all that protective gear – a person who is there to help. The little ones got more apprehensive as the gear was donned, and warning beeps started coming from radios and breathing gear, and the fire fighter started to look increasingly inhuman. It took some encouragement to get them to come up for a high five and/or a photo. The point being made was to not run away from the firefighter. The firefighters made special note to enjoin the kids to not hide when there was a fire – especially from the first responders.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefighter

Moving Storage - Melrose, Malden, Medford

Had very positive experience with recent storage and move. Happened to rent a new larger warehouse space and was in no way dissatisfied with previous storage spots. Would use again and recommend to others:

http://www.melrosestoragefacility.com/

If you need close to Melrose (and the Malden Orange Line MBTA) and you are flexible about climate control (though it was fine for what it was where I stored in old carriage house space) then this is your space. Bob, Julie, Pedro and others are great. Family feel.

http://www.cubesmart.com/massachusetts-self-storage/medford-self-storage/180.html

If you want climate control, good access hours and close to Malden/Medford (and the Wellington Orange Line MBTA) then this is great. Staff always friendly and helpful.

Have had nothing but good luck with BCb movers in Malden.

http://bcbmoving.com/

BCb did an apartment to home move for me two years ago, and just recently moved me from the above spaces to new warehouse space.

• Four fellows and two trucks (with the owner and a spare truck on backup).
• Very quick, efficient and straightforward.
• Great upfront statement of work and responsibilities.
• Easy going, helpful…

Not sure what else I can say *grin*. If they have a slot available, BCb is a great pick.

Friends of Malden River Festival 2013 - Saturday September 21

Friends of Malden River Festival 2013 - Saturday September 21
http://malden.patch.com/groups/events/p/4th-annual-malden-river-festival
http://tri-cap.org/2013/08/26/fourth-annual-malden-river-festival-september-21-2013-11-am-3-pm-at-200-rivers-edge-drive/

And there is more along the Mystic banks.
http://www.assemblyrow.com/events/
http://www.yelp.com/events/somerville-6th-annual-riverfest-at-assembly-row-in-somerville

About the Malden River itself...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malden_River

Open Hardware Summit 2013 at MIT

Open Hardware Summit 2013 at MIT.
http://2013.oshwa.org/
http://2013.oshwa.org/schedule/
http://2013.oshwa.org/archives/

OHS people.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eben_Moglen
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Addie_Wagenknecht
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limor_Fried

How a 1974 Sinclair Scientific calculator works

Found 1974 Sinclair Scientific calculator workings link.
http://hackaday.com/2013/08/30/ken-shirriff-completely-reverse-engineers-the-1974-sinclair-scientific-calculator/

Article here. Hackaday says - Read it now. http://files.righto.com/calculator/sinclair_scientific_simulator.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinclair_Scientific

Great stuff with history, schematics and code. Reading the stuff in the article about how multiplication worked in the TI TMS 080x
http://datamath.org/Chips/TMS0803.htm ,
realized it was like a mechanical calculator,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanical_calculator ,
and it struck that it might be an interesting project to actually make a mechanical scientific calculator. Never thought about possibility before.

Starting point would be some common manual mechanical calculator like -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odhner_Arithmometer
Interestingly the most commonly produced of these are so common - though unseen in the modern era of electronic calculators - as to have practically no antique value - and can be obtained for little money (unless you want to start with a rare Curta). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curta

Arithmometer pretty much works like the ALU math http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arithmetic_logic_unit in the TMS0803/Sinclair... with a little help from the user during shifting. A Monroe has capability for automatically doing the shifts for multiply and divide... making it a four function mechanical calculator
http://www.hpmuseum.org/ffhand.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monroe_Calculator_Company

The relation of the TI chip to four function mechanicals may not really be an accident. Note the connection to Busicom http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Busicom
- who was making arithmometers when they partnered with Intel to make the 4004 microprocessor.

So then one needs registers (there are only two in most mechanicals - not counting a "check" counter in some) and an instruction cache of some sort (to get the micro code for shifts and such). And some glue/flow mechanisms to stick the whole thing together. Of course one might consider these solved problems if one considers a pad and pencil to be RAM and a calculator manual (or other paper documented process) to be ROM, but part of the point of a calculator is to automate or mechanize as much as possible, to take human error out of the process.

Homographs and Search

One of the biggest problems for search is homographs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homograph

Especially problematic are IT domain homographs, when one actually wants to find the real world item.

Examples:
Ethernet switch - where the term switch means things with sets of contacts with a mechanical actuator to change the set of contact positions http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switch – and where instead one gets the IT term related to protocol switching (hubs, repeaters, bridges and routers). My best attempts were to replace Ethernet with RJ45 or TCP/IP and to add the term “selector”, “rotary” or “contact” or other physical specifier. The same problem largely applies to any “network-type” switch (optical, packet, etc.) when one is looking for an on/off, disconnect, or manual selector for that media.

Big data for mining – where the term mining means the mining (coal, precious metals) industry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mining – and where instead one gets the IT term for data mining. My best attempts were to search for physical/resource mining and then use their search engines to back into big data. http://www.mining.com/

3D model – where one means physical (real world instantiated) model http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_model – and one instead gets the IT terms related to computer aided design (CAD) and virtual 3D modeling. Even refining and adding 2D from 3D or “physical” gets many of the same references to CAD. And there is an additional “fashion model” ambiguity as well. The real and virtual model discussion are now so closely connected that there does not seem a good way to differentiate. Discussions related to 3D printing seem to have a good way of segmenting the topic by materials used. But if a 3D model is made of /paper/ then the world of CAD printing gets mixed with the world of real 3D physical models made of paper/card.

Interestingly enough:

Search – where one means looking in the real world for a person/place or thing (Oddly Wikipedia does not even have a page for old-school “search” as in search and rescue or finding lost people/places/things) – and one instead gets the IT terms related to web or Internet search. Searching for the problem of homograph search is itself a homograph search problem.