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Show of 03-08-2014

Tech Talk

March 8, 2014

Email and Forum Questions

  • Email from John in Dale City: Dear Tech Talk. I don’t have installation media for Windows. What happens if my hard drive fails and I have to reinstall Windows. How can I prepare for disaster? Thanks John in Dale City
  • Tech Talk Responds: Many computer manufacturers are pre-installing Windows without giving you the actual installation media to go with it. When you purchase a new computer, pay a few bucks extra to get the full copies of the installation media that would allow you to reinstall Windows on a completely empty hard drive.
  • Be mindful that many of the recovery discs that come with your system are not installation discs. Instead, they assume that the original hard disk is still in place and simply use a hidden partition to perform a reinstallation or restoration. Many manufacturers include installation media as an option. If you did not (or cannot) get an official Windows installation disc from your computer manufacturer, then the only true alternative is to purchase a retail copy. You can try eBay for older versions of Windows or purchase one from other legitimate online vendors. But be careful. Each OEM copy is tailored to the computer manufacturer that originally sold it. If you have a computer from a different manufacturer, the disc may simply not work.
  • If you cannot get installation media from your computer manufacturer, then my recommendation is that you instead use a system backup and imaging program like Macrium Reflect (the free edition will do for this) to take a complete image of all of the partitions on the machine and save that. I’d also do it as soon as possible after receiving that new machine. That backup image takes the place of installation media in the case of system failures. If you ever need to reinstall from scratch, then you can simply restore that backup image and your machine will be exactly as it was when you took that backup, including any hidden recovery partition because you’ll have backed that up as well.
  • If you ever need to reinstall from scratch, a retail copy will work. After that, you would presumably download and install any manufacturer-specific device drivers if you decide that you need them.
  • Many computers are no longer including optical disc (CD/DVD/Blu-Ray) drives, relying completely on on-board firmware and other techniques for system restoration. My recommendation is to make sure that the machine can boot from USB (which most can) and then purchase an inexpensive external DVD drive. They’re perfect as data drives.
  • Email for Brian in Kansas: Dear Doc and Jim. Can someone install something on my computer when it’s not logged in? My roommate at school has a copy of spy software on his desk.  I don’t mind if he uses it on his machine, but not on mine. Can this be installed on other personal computers (which are usually password locked)? I’m worried. Love the show, Brian
  • Tech Talk Responds: You should be worried. If someone can physically access your computer, then your computer is not secure. Password locks only go so far. If you’re away from the machine for any length of time while you are logged in, the door is wide open. Anyone can walk up to your computer and do whatever they want, including downloading spyware or doing much worse.
  • Anyone walking by your machine with a boot disc or bootable USB drive could reboot the machine, boot from their disc, and get access to everything on your machine. And just like leaving it unlocked in the first place, that person can also do anything, including installing spyware, reading your data, messing up your files, and doing whatever else they want.
  • Here are your only options:
    • Keep the machine in a locked cabinet or room when not in use.
    • Add a BIOS password that’s required to boot the machine in any way.
    • Add a hard-disk password or using whole-disk encryption that restricts access to the hard drive completely unless the passphrase is specified.
    • Get more trustworthy roommates.
  • Email from Alicia in Reston: Dear Tech Talk. I have heard about software that lets someone take over my webcam and record images. Should I cover my webcam when not in use? What are my options to protect myself. Thanks, Alice
  • Tech Talk Responds: Webcam infections, like many other malware infections, can occur if you download a program that contains a Trojan. Trojans, unlike viruses, do not spread through replication. Instead, they’re hidden within programs that you install on purpose. When a webcam hack occurs, Trojan malware finds a way to activate cameras and control them without the owner’s knowledge. If you don’t want a webcam infection, avoid questionable websites and do not install applications from sources you do not trust.
  • It is a bigger problem. Your camera can only be manipulated if the hackers are able to put malicious software on your computer. Malicious software then controls the camera and does whatever it wants with the resulting images. We already have a term for that kind of software: it’s called “malware”. In fact, we already have tools to deal with that. They’re called anti-malware software.
  • It could record your keystrokes. It could corrupt your data, encrypt your data, or delete your data; it could send spam or do any of a thousand other things you don’t want to have happen.
  • Keep your system up to date, run anti-malware tools and keep them up to date, get behind a firewall, and use common sense. Don’t open attachments or downloads that you aren’t 100% sure are absolutely legitimate.
  • Email from Arnie McKechnie: Dr. Shurtz, Looks like the FAA isn’t going after you after all. A National Transportation Safety Board judge ruled that the Federal Aviation Administration could not fine anybody for using small, hobby-plane-sized commercial drones use because it hadn’t made any legally binding rules against them. That went against everything the FAA had ever claimed with regard to commercial drones. The FAA today appealed this decision. But for now, you are safe. Arnie, Davidsonville, MD
  • Tech Talk Responds: Thanks Arnie for keep me informed about the legality of my hobby.

Profiles in IT: Jan Koum

  • Jan Koum is CEO and co-founder of WhatsApp, a mobile messaging application which was acquired by Facebook. in February 2014 for US$19 Billion.
  • Jan Koum was born on February 24, 1976 Fastiv, Ukraine, just outside Kiev.
  • He moved with his mother and grandmother to Mountain View, CA in 1992,
  • Social support helped the family to get a small two-bedroom apartment.
  • At first his mother worked as a babysitter, while he worked at a grocery store.
  • In 1994, he became interested in programming and enrolled at San Jose State U. While in school he worked at E & Y as a security tester, where he me Brian Action.
  • In 1997, he was hired by Yahoo as an infrastructure engineer.
  • His mother died in 2000 in the US of cancer and his father died in Ukraine in 1997.
  • In September 2007 Koum and Acton took a year off, traveling around South America and playing ultimate Frisbee.  In 2008, they applied and were rejected by Facebook.
  • In January 2009, he bought an iPhone and realized that the apps were big.
  • He had an idea for a cross-platform instant messaging subscription service app.
  • Koum chose the name WhatsApp because it sounded like “what’s up” and on Feb. 24, 2009, he incorporated WhatsApp Inc. in CA.
  • Early WhatsApp, installed only by a handful of his friends, kept crashing.
  • The next month he decided to look for a job. Brian Acton persuaded him to continue.
  • In June 2009, Apple launched push notifications, letting developers ping users.
  • Koum updated WhatsApp so that it would ping everyone when status was changed. When messaging was added, active users reached 250,000.
  • In October Acton persuaded five ex-Yahoo friends to invest $250K and was granted co-founder status and given a stake. He joined on November 1. 2009
  • Koum hired an LA friend, Chris Peiffer, to make the BlackBerry version.
  • WhatsApp was switched from a free to paid service to avoid growing too fast, mainly because the primary cost was sending verification texts to users.
  • WhatsApp uses Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP)
  • It is supported on Android, BlackBerry, iPhone, Nokia, and Windows smartphones.
  • In December 2009 WhatsApp for the iPhone was updated to send photos.
  • By early 2011, WhatsApp was in the top 20 of all apps in the U.S. App Store.
  • The founders agreed to take an additional $8 million from Sequoia Capital to scale.
  • By Feb. 2013, WhatsApp’s user base had grown to about 200 million active users with a staff of 50. Sequoia invested another $50M, valuing WhatsApp at $1.5B.
  • On Feb. 19, 2014, Facebook acquired WhatsApp for $19 billion.
  • Jan Koum was part of a group of hackers called w00w00, where he met the future founders of Napster Shawn Fanning and Jordan Ritter.
  • Although the elite group was not well known outside hacking circles, its members have spawned more than a dozen companies, mainly in security.

Surprise Visit: David Burd

  • Drone talk concerning regulations
  • Meditation as a path to mindfulness
  • Bitcoin creator may be revealed
  • More tech banter

DARPA’s Open-Source Catalog Available

  • The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has opened up some of the open-source code in its collection for downloading and improving.
  • DARPA’s Open Catalog “organizes publically releasable material from DARPA programs, beginning with the XDATA program in the Information Innovation Office (I2O). “XDATA is developing an open source software library for big data. DARPA has an open source strategy through XDATA and other I2O programs to help increase the impact of government investments.”
  • DARPA went on to claim that it was interested in building new groups and communities on the basis of its software and research; if those communities show enough interest, the agency promises to open up more software, publications, data, and even experimental results.
  • DARPA’s open-source software could prove useful to firms that deal in data analytics and power computing; downloads include Numba, an open-source optimizing compiler for Python, and WINGS, a semantic workflow system designed to help scientists and researchers map out computational experiments. There’s also Shark, a large-scale data warehouse system for Spark, as well as Tachyon, a fault-tolerant distributed file system designed to work at speed across cluster frameworks.
  • The initial open-source dump includes dozens of software platforms, funded by DARPA and designed in collaboration with either companies such as Boeing, universities, or open-source developers.
  • Link: http://www.darpa.mil/opencatalog/

Meditation and Mindfulness in Silicon Valley

  • Google is conducting meditation classes in Silicon Valley as part of an internal course called Search Inside Yourself. And this is part of a broad trend in Silicon Valley.
  • It’s designed to teach people to manage their emotions, ideally making them better workers in the process.
  • More than a thousand Googlers have been through Search Inside Yourself training.
  • Another 400 or so are on the waiting list and take classes like Neural Self-Hacking and Managing Your Energy.
  • Then there is the company’s bimonthly series of “mindful lunches,” conducted in complete silence except for the ringing of prayer bells.
  • Google recently built a labyrinth for walking meditations.
  • Across the Valley, quiet contemplation is seen as the new caffeine, the fuel that allegedly unlocks productivity and creative bursts.
  • There’s a Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute now teaching the Google meditation method to whoever wants it.
  • The cofounders of Twitter and Facebook have made contemplative practices key features of their new enterprises, holding regular in-office meditation sessions and arranging for work routines that maximize mindfulness.
  • This is not new the Valley. Steve Jobs spent months searching for gurus in India and was married by a Zen priest.
  • Meditation here isn’t an opportunity to reflect upon the impermanence of existence but a tool to better oneself and improve productivity.  Silicon Valley wants ROI.
  • Repeated studies have demonstrated that meditation can rewire how the brain responds to stress. Boston University researchers showed that after as little as three and a half hours of meditation training, subjects tend to react less to emotionally charged images.
  •  Other research suggests that meditation improves working memory and executive function. And several studies of long-term practitioners show an increased ability to concentrate on fast-changing stimuli.
  • Chade-Meng Tan, who leads Googles program, has been with Google since 2000 and is employee 107. His initial attempts to bring meditation into the office met with limited success. It was only in 2007, when he packaged contemplative practices in the wrapper of emotional intelligence, that he saw demand spike. Now there are dozens of employee development programs at Google that incorporate some aspect of meditation or mindfulness. Meng is a hero inside Google. He was inspired to meditation and Buddhism by an American Buddhist nun.
  • Soren Gordhamer wrote a book—Wisdom 2.0: Ancient Secrets for the Creative and Constantly Connected—that offered tips for using technology in a mindful manner. He believes we must disconnect to connect.
  • The book wasn’t exactly a best seller. Then he got the idea to host a conference where the technology and contemplative communities could hash out the best ways to incorporate these tools into our lives—and keep them from taking over.
  • The event, billed as Wisdom 2.0, was held in April 2010 and drew a couple hundred people.
  • That was three years ago; since then attendance at the now annual conference has shot up 500 percent. In 2013 nearly 1,700 signed up to hear headliners like Arianna Huffington, LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner, Twitter cofounder Evan Williams, and, of course, Meng talk about how they run their enterprises mindfully.

Bitcoin’s Creator Reported Discovered

  • There have been many theories bandied about as to the true identity of Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin.
  • Nothing conclusive has married the name to an individual or group, but now Newsweek claims to have found the Nakamoto, a 64-year-old Japanese-American man of the same name residing in California.
  • Allegedly living an understated life, Nakamoto’s said to no longer be connected to the digital currency he’s implicated in making.
  • Whether this truly is the father of Bitcoin is still up for discussion.
  • After an eventful day of dodging reporters and engaging in a multi-car chase through Los Angeles, Nakamoto has sat down with the Associated Press to strongly deny he has anything to do with the digital currency.
  •  Indeed, he told the AP that he’s never even heard of Bitcoin until three weeks ago when his son told him a reporter called to ask questions about it.
  • However, the Newsweek article itself quotes Nakamoto’s brother as saying that “he’ll never admit to starting Bitcoin” and that “he’ll deny everything.”
  •  All of which is to say the true identity of Bitcoin’s founder remains very much unconfirmed.
  • Apparently the genuine Satoshi Nakamoto has just posted on to the P2P Foundation (a forum for peer to peer currency) stating that he is not Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto, the person whom Newsweek fingered as Bitcoin’s founder.