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Tag Archive for cyberpunk

Minutae ASSEMBLE!

March 29, 2015 future, Writing Comments Off on Minutae ASSEMBLE!

http://www.nanowerk.com/nanotechnology-news/newsid=39572.php

There are a lot of different lenses you can use to look at nanotechnology.  I personally prefer to use the tightest possible one, to look at machines that are built on a molecular scale (rather than just run of the mill itty bitty machines).

When you get that small, everything becomes chemistry and physics.  The standard model of how to assemble objects, or how to get parts to interact with one another, must be set aside because you are no longer dealing with things can be assembled with a hot-glue-gun and rivets, but things that have to WANT to come together.  You are attaching pieces to other pieces through chemical bonds, rather than just physical attachments.

So I am always delighted when I run across something new in this space.  The article referenced above is looking at ways to assemble nano-molecular machines not by chemistry alone, but rather by the physical shapes and attributes of the proteins that make up different parts.  It’s almost like a very fancy 3d puzzle.

You’re not paranoid… enough

February 23, 2015 future, Writing Comments Off on You’re not paranoid… enough

 

http://arstechnica.com/security/2015/02/superfish-doubles-down-says-https-busting-adware-poses-no-security-risk/

It’s almost a rite of passage.  You buy a shiny new computer (or tablet, or phone) and the very first thing you do (well, many of us anyways) is to start killing bloatware.  Virus checkers, game suites, custom browsers that direct you to a very specific set of stores, you name it, someone has paid the fee to have it sitting right there on your desktop as soon as you boot your machine for the first time.

But you don’t tend to think of these things as malicious.  Opportunistic?  Yes.  Annoying as all h*ll?  Absolutely.  Occasionally useful?  Okay, maybe.  And, while Just about everyone on the planet thinks it’s a P.I.T.A, not a lot of people seem to regard it as a threat.

Until now.

The issue, in this case, is not so much that the company in question is allowing ads to sneak in (that’s total crap, but not beyond the pale for the kinds of bloatware you find).  The real issue is that, in order to do it, they are bypassing security.  They are opening a door that a hacker with enough time and energy can exploit (and, lets face it, if there is a hole, they WILL find it.  period.  It’s not an IF question, it’s a WHEN and what color HAT are they wearing today question).

 

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