Laura Montgomery discusses the legal and bureaucratic implications.
Category Archives: Technology and Society
WiFi Security
This is wonderful. WPA2 has a critical flaw. One more reason to continue to distrust wireless.
[Update a few minutes later]
Well, apparently, so far Netgear is not on the case, so not clear what the implications are for our Orbi mesh. Guess until our phones get patched, good idea to not use wifi.
[Update a while later]
Here’s more information. My new phone is Android 7, so it’s affected, but I don’t generally use it with wifi. I’ll definitely avoid it, or at least avoid it for anything mission critical (like bank accounts), until it patches.
[Update a while later]
Now wondering about the Sony Blu-Ray player. Does this make it vulnerable to becoming a DDOS attacker? Wonder if there’s any way to patch it, and if there is, or will be a patch?
[Mid-morning update]
Nothing on line about patching the player; I’ve tweeted a request to @SonyElectronics. Meanwhile, here’s more info at Ars Technica.
[Update a few minutes later]
Here is the web site for the attack technique, with a lot of technical detail.
Morgan Stanley
…says that Elon Musk is building an elevator to orbit. Not literally, but certainly functionally.
[Update a while later]
Some news from Blue Origin as well, revealing more details about BE-4 and New Glenn. I found this curious, though:
Becoming a government supplier doesn’t happen overnight. There is a series of certifications one has to go through. Right now having ULA using our engines and qualifying our engines into that supply system is a good thing for us. They will fly a year ahead of us, in 2019. We will come into the market in end of 2020, 2021. And at that point if we choose to go into government contracting, it will imply setting up cost accounting systems that are geared to the government.
I don’t understand what he means, unless they plan to provide launches cost plus. For a fixed price, their accounting is none of the government’s business.
[Update later morning]
Chris Bergin has an update on the SpaceX launch manifest. Among other things, FH launch in December remains a possibility, NASA is OK with a flight-proven rocket for CRS missions, and first landing at Vandenberg will happen with the Iridium 4 mission. Plus, a mystery payload next month.
[Noon update]
Elon revealed more technical (but not financial) details on an AMA Saturday.
Gun Control
No, “feel good” remedies won’t solve the problem. As noted over there, an attempt to confiscate Americans’ guns would be tantamount to the government making war on its own people. It would not end well.
[Update a few minutes later]
No, there were not 273 “mass shootings” by any sane definition. There were nine.
Kale
Is eating it raw bad for you? I always cook it, but now I’m starting to get concerned about other cruciferous veggies. Is cole slaw a problem?
Why We Must Go To The Stars
Thoughts from Sarah Hoyt. Yes, some empires gave colonialism a bad name, but as she says, all life does it.
BFR
Gwynne apparently had some interesting things to say about the plans. They’re going to (as some have surmised) built a production facility at LA Harbor, because transportation from Hawthorne would be too unwieldy. And it also makes sense that they’d use Bolsca Chica as the first launch site. Particularly if they use an off-shore platform that won’t require solidifying the soil at the launch site. Haven’t checked, but I’m pretty sure it will easily fit through the Canal.
[Update a while later]
Meanwhile, in China, a private (?!) company wants to copycat them. I take this more seriously than the government program.
Hearts
…can now survive outside the human body. Of course, this doesn’t solve the problem of where to get the hearts. We need to be able to grow them.
Faster, please.
The Blockchain
What life might be like on it.
Not sure this was the 21st century I was looking forward to.