Posts by NZ Journey Man

My life as a criminal cookie clearer: Register vulture writes Chrome extension, realizes it probably breaks US law

Any site that doesn't easily let me opt out of targeted advertising, or are bitchy about it, gets instantly closed. They track this stuff, so will know that some of us are voting with our feet. Some of those sites have seen the error of their ways and now allow an easy opt out

Re: My computer, my rules.

Unfortunately there are US laws that apply to everybody on the planet. However you'll only find out when you visit/transit through the US and they toss you in jail for unknowingly breaking a US law from your home country

eBay users spot the online auction house port-scanning their PCs. Um... is that OK?

Re: Lots of issues here

Lots of web pages pull information from sites other than the one that served up the web page. A good example is the javascript libraries themselves are often served up by Content Delivery Networks.

Another trivial example is any website that includes a weather report is probably pulling that data in from an api on a weather site. While they *could* do this at the server, they save themselves a lot of CPU and network bandwidth by getting the browser to do that work.

A big trend in web pages is the single page application. The web page itself only loads once, and everything else is done in Javascript and websocket calls. Turning off Javascript will completely kill this kind of webpage.

Naked and afraid: that's how Telstra's Wi-Fi security makes you feel

Re: Is this technically accurate?

It is accurate. I just setup an unprotected wifi in my home then logged into something on my media server using basic auth over http while capturing using wifi on my laptop. My laptop caught the lot, including username and password.

re: Is this technically accurate?

Wifi with no password is completely open, using something like Wireshark you can see everything. Go and get the Firesheep module for Firefox, if it is still available, and you will be gobsmacked at what you can see. But only do it on your own network... :)

Virgin Media's latest throttling rules

Are Steam downloads affected?

A quick question to the Steam users out there. Have any of you been limited when you have been downloading games? The VM Traffic Management Policy says it only targets p2p downloads (ie torrents). As far as I can see Steam uses http and port 27033 so Steam downloads should not be affected.

Has anyone been limited when downloading Steam Games?

Vulture 2 trigger triggers serious head-scratching

Super simple and about as low tech as you can get...

Measure the circumference of the balloon. A possible way to do this is:

Find the burst radius of the balloon. Subtract a safety margin to get the launch circumference. Attach a number of eyes around the circumference of the balloon then tie fishing line to the first eye. Thread the fishing line through the rest of the eyes, once you get back to the first eye take the line down to the launch platform. Add extra line for the difference between the launch circumference and the current circumference. Put a big knot in the line at the launch point. Run the line through a switch arm with another eye on it. As the balloon gets bigger the line gets pulled through the eye on the switch, when the knot snags in the eye the pull on the the switch arm will activate the switch. Boom! (or is that whoosh?).

An even simpler version would be to attach the line to the top of the balloon and run it straight down to the launch platform via an eye on the launch pad attachment rod/rope(s). No eyes on the balloon at all.

The excess line could be put on a reel with a light spring to keep tension on the system to prevent tangling - fishing line needs to be controlled.

This should work pretty well, the force of the expanding balloon will be quite high so you wont need to make the line system too sensitive or friction free. It also doesn't require any calibration like the condom/second balloon version would require. Also easily tested in a commercial freezer by over inflating the balloon.

Issues I see:

o Attaching the eyes to the balloon in a way that allows for the expansion.

o Making sure the line will slide freely when it get super cold.

o Making sure the storage & tensioning reel still turns freely in the cold.

o Tangling, especially in any wind, also as the line gets stiffer due to the cold.

o Keeping the line away from the launch path

o The launch platform must not rotate independently of the balloon or the fishing line may tangle with the main line.

o I have assumed that the burst circumference is known and doesn't have much deviation.