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Archive for January, 2010
iPad from Apple, Just a huge iPhone or the next big thing
Jan 30th
After reading bits and pieces from various sources around the world, its still hard to look into the crystal ball and see how the iPad will do. I personally think it may end up a kindle killer and may even impose into the netbook market which many thought were dead a nd buried. It does look like a large iPhone but with the extra ablities maybe it is the next big thing.
One thing I noted is how can it be used as a phone and wheres the built in video/photo camera?
check out its specs at Apple, http://www.apple.com/ipad/specs/
Further reading shows its not going to be able to be used as a phone, http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/01/27/ipad_comment/
More to come..
Ekahau HeatMapper – Free Wi-Fi Coverage Mapping & Site Survey Tool
Jan 30th
Its very rare to find great software that can map wifi coverage without spending lots of money, well now you can wifi map coverage areas for free… YES free.
You can find out more and download your FREE software from here http://www.ekahau.com/products/heatmapper/overview.html all you need is a laptop that has wifi.
Demo Video available here -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaosqBuU354
RC Drones -Iphone controlled UAV
Jan 28th
Ok, Ive seen a lot of these things over the net lately mainly due to the iraq insurgents getting video access to a US full size drone but now you too can own your very own UAV. Controlled by your iPhone the drone can move around easily, please check out the supplier… http://ardrone.parrot.com/parrot-ar-drone/en
Chatbots, Artificial Intelligence (AI) in computers
Jan 27th
After posting the orignal story and findings not that long back about making a chatbot that can seem human to chatters further testing and coding begun. After several hours here and there and testing and retesting the chatbot was set loose on an unexpecting irc channel again, with the occasional helping hand some persons would chat for over 30 minutes to the chatbot without suspecting that it was in fact an script. With some coaxing questions or open ended questions as some may say, that script was starting to evolve to well over 300 lines.
With more work and a better personality I could see that this script could go undetectable to the average person, after joining a chat chanel it could sit there not chatting waiting for someone to chat to it. Once the conversation started it would continue to chat about a wide variety of subjects. With further coding and research many ideas for this little chatbot come about. While some still tryed to have cyber sex with the chat bot others would have deep and meaningful chats about their lives and what was bothering them.
More to come….
Turing tests, Artificial Intelligence (AI) in computers
Jan 17th
While reading about Artificial Intelligence (AI) in computers, I come accross “The Turing Test” which tests AI in Computers to see if a human would believe that they were communicating with a human or a computer. So I decided to do some further research into what can only be called a wild ride.
It turns out many AI programs have been written that can fool people into believing that they are talking/chatting with a real human. From pychologists to sexbots, all of these work on basic rules in order to look for key words and make a response. Some having very crude and forceful attitudes in order to fool the chatter into believing that they exist.
I had a play with a few scripts that I found by loading them into an irc chat program and letting them run. You would be very surprised in how well they actually work. I thought I could write my own script and see how it went, I decided on using a irc remote script to learn some basics. After loading an irc server onto a computer and using another laptop connect to the main computer with another irc program. With some fiddling getting the basics of these remote scripts to work, I was able to create a very basic 20 line script that would wait for a incoming communication which I will refer to as a CHALLENGE and give back a response which I will refer to as a RESPONSE from now on.
This worked great, for example.
CHALLENGE: hi
RESPONSE: hi, how are you?
CHALLENGE: im great, how about yourself?
RESPONSE: im fine, where do you come from?
I decided that after some expansion that I would do as several others have done in the past and launch this onto a live irc channel. Well within the first 10 minutes of it running there were several people trying to have cyber sex with it. Some of the scripts responses to the comments were so funny, at one stage the script was chatting to over 12 people at once with one of the persons actually talking to it for over 15 minutes before losing interest.
These people were really under the impression that it was a real human. I have decided to do some further research as I have some simulation background but have no pychology training. I shall look at expanding the script and post some further findings at a later date.
Geek Tip #4 – Enable Administrator login on Win 7
Jan 15th
Below is an easy way to allow you to login as Administrator on Windows 7
- Enable the Administrator Account
Start a command prompt with elevated privileges by clicking the Start Button then select All Programs, Now navigate to Accessories, right-click Command Prompt and then select Run as administrator. - At the command prompt type net user administrator /active:yes and then press Enter.
- Restart or log off your computer and log in as Administrator.
Encrypted thumb drives used by governments cracked
Jan 14th
A security firm http://www.syss.de cracked the security on encrypted usb thumb drives, not something you want to hear if you work in government or defence. thousands of products will need to be recalled and updated or exchanged check with your vendors to be sure.
Well even more companies have discovered the faults with these encrypeted drives for more info read http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9143504/More_flash_drive_firms_warn_of_security_flaw_NIST_investigates
Sexbot comes to life, no pun intended
Jan 11th
A robotic girlfriend complete with artificial intelligence and flesh-like synthetic skin has been unveiled in Las Vegas.
She cant clean, cook or walk but you guessed it…. if you have a spare $7500-10000 she is yours.
Source -> http://www.truecompanion.com/home.html
Predator Drone hacked in Iraq
Jan 6th
Iraqi insurgents intercepted live video feeds from US military’s Predator drones using a $25.95 Windows application that allows them to track the pilotless aircraft undetected.
Hackers working with Iraqi militants were able to determine which areas of the country were under surveillance by the US military using SkyGrabber shareware.
This apparent security breach, which had been known in military and intelligence circles to be possible, arose because the Predator unmanned aerial vehicles do not use encryption in the final link to their ground operators.
For more see http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10417247-83.html
GetGeeked ranks top 200 onMersenne
Jan 5th
GetGeeked ranked in the top 200, actually ranked 190 as of today.
Mersenne is searching for the largest prime numbers, come join us all at www.mersenne.org