I heard about Bitcoins last year. Thought “could be interesting one dayâ€, checked the Debian repository for a version of the client (it wasn’t packaged yet), not finding it, I moved on. Then Slashdot mentioned that trading in Bitcoins had (temporarily) reached dollar parity. One Bitcoin was worth one dollar, but dropped back to about… Read More »
The continuing saga of the bitcoins. So far, it’s looking like a viable technology to me. The next step is to get a real address. I could sign up for an eWallet account, which has certain appeal for the anonymity it would provide (and simplicity). Possibly that would be the best first step for a… Read More »
I’m still interested in Bitcoins, and I am continuing my experiments and investigation. I have downloaded the beta Bitcoin Wallet for Android app, which is simplistic for now, and only works on the Bitcoin test network; but it is enough to see the potential of the system. Bitcoin Wallet App When it runs you are… Read More »
Another good justification for my continued insistence on wiping all my new laptops and installing Linux on them, is that manufacturers can’t be trusted. Apart from all the bloatware and advertising crap they fill them with; apart from the fact that Windows is an appalling beast of an operating system with more security vulnerabilities than… Read More »
You have a set of balance scales and some weights. You need to be able to measure every whole number weight from 1 to 40 kilograms of (say) flour. What is the smallest number of weights you need and what are their values? The first trick is of course that you can put weights on… Read More »
You want a photograph for an ID. You own a DSLR (or other controllable) camera, and it’s easy to get photographs printed online. Why then should you pay over five pounds for four photographs, when you could pay 5p (at best)? The answer is that it needs a little bit of effort. This tutorial is… Read More »
GnuPG is the premier open source public key encryption software. It’s compatible with Pretty Good Privacy, but has mostly supplanted PGP’s use by those who care about encryption. It includes key management, encryption and digital signature facilities. For those of us with a healthy distrust of government — you need all of these things. Introduction… Read More »
This article explains how to get a stacked encrypted directory using the ecryptfs Linux kernel driver, and to transparently automount that directory using the ecryptfs PAM module. Being “stacked†means that the real storage is provided by your existing file system in a nominated directory. That directory is decrypted on the fly once the ecryptfs… Read More »
The IPocalypse is upon us. It’s not as bad as the media makes out, but neither is it the nothing problem that Y2K was. Here’s the problem: IPv4 is the protocol upon which the vast majority of the Internet runs. IP addresses for each broadband connection, and for any publicly contactable server must be globally… Read More »
Here’s an idea. Credit/debit card transactions are now verified online (that is to say, contact is made with some centralised authorising authority). Here’s how to stop fraud. I don’t even need a chip-and-pin terminal to do it. However, I do need a mobile phone. I tell the bank/credit card company my mobile phone number. They… Read More »