Archive for the ‘Technology’ Category

18 Feb
2012

Configuring BOPM for TorDNSEL

Background

If you have a working BOPM installation, you are trying to prevent abuses of your IRC network effected through anonymity services such as proxies. BOPM has built-in support for scanning for open proxies. It also has support for looking up clients in DNSBLs, which are used to publish lists of misbehaving or malign hosts. One such DNSBL, called TorDNSEL, provides a way to check users connecting through the Tor anonymity service.

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14 Jan
2011

Downloading wget Without wget: Use bash

There are many ways to download and install wget without having wget itself installed. For example, one can use curl, a sort of competitor to wget, or a package manager with libfetch or some other library-level downloader integrated (such as pacman). One may be able to use SSH’s scp or sftp utility or even use netcat to transfer a wget tarball over a network. But these methods of obtaining wget are not always feasible or even possible whereas a bash shell and a few core utilities are often readily available.

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13 Jun
2010

Google Voice and Asterisk

Google Voice & Asterisk

There are numerous guides about setting up Google Voice and an incoming sip number for free outgoing calling. Sadly, all of the guides I found were written for FreePBX or some other Asterisk bundle, and also used a shell script to do much of the work (scary!). I have compiled the minimal amount that you need to put in your asterisk conf files to make things work, GUI-free and variant-independent.

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11 Jun
2010

End of the road for free data on iDen?

It looks like getting free data access on iDen handsets is going to end, likely on or before 6/20/10 according to this Sprint document (credit Engadget). Coincidentally, this is the same day that the Motorola i1 is released, the first Android phone on the iDen network. With this phone, Sprint would needed to lock down iDen data access a bit harder than blocking the phone’s built-in browser (the status quo), so the change will affect all phones on the iDen network (Boost and Nextel).

This also means that getting mobile connectivity for your Arduino will no longer be free. Boost mobile’s data rates run at $.35/day.

Update: 6/20 has passed, and I still have data access.

13 May
2010

Randomly Interesting: The Super-Kamiokande


The Super-Kamiokande is a submerged neutrino (cosmic ray) detector located in Mount Kamiokakō in Japan, 1000 meters underground in an old mineshaft. The enormous apparatus is primarily used for detecting supernovas and cosmic rays. Originally constructed in 1993, the detector allowed researchers to detect proton decay, a feature which previous detectors lacked. The Super-Kamiokande is 15 times larger than its predecessor, giving it unchallenged accuracy at the time.
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9 Oct
2009

Multitouch: Fundamental Feature or Fad?

Popularized with the ever-present  iPhone and expanding into the tablet and desktop sector by companies such as Dell and HP, multitouch is becoming an interesting addition to today’s user interfaces. Overseas companies, such as Asus, are also taking advantage of the technology in new inexpensive tablets; even Gateway is offering a mulititouch tablet these days. Despite the popularity of multitouch, especially on the mobile platform, it seems like a technology with stunted growth and limited applications.

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Gaggia Classic Disassembly and Cleaning

Gaggia Classic Disassembly and Cleaning

I recently purchased a used Gaggia Classic machine on Amazon. After realizing that it was not as “lightly used” as

Arduino Leonardo - Interrupts

Arduino Leonardo – Interrupts

As of Arduino 1.0, interrupts are not supported on the Arduino Leonardo. I’m working on a project using the atmega32u4