New Gorge Video

Unknown Worlds posted a new Gorge video! Linky

Smallish Post VIII - Watching for Software Abuse

I don't think software companies spend enough time watching for destructive uses of their products. MMOs could easily detect gaming addicts, but they choose not to. Search engines could add tobacco like warning labels to pornographic searches, but they choose not to. With the horror stories coming out of the Far East, I think that companies will start paying closer attention in the near future. And as BYU graduates, I think we will have an impact on the changes those companies make.

Position Statement

Smallish Blog Post VI - Go ye therefore, and Teach all Nations

It used to be that the Gospel did not reach an area until the LDS Church sent missionaries there. Now anyone with a telephone, cell phone, or internet connection can access Christ's teachings. These technologies have become so cheap they are even connecting the poorer areas of the world. Africa alone has nearly 300 million cell phone subscribers. The time when the Apostles can truly "teach all nations" (Matt. 28:19) may come sooner than anyone expects.

Smallish Blog Post V - Long Live the Borg Queen

Web 2.0 allows people from all over the world to work together on a massive scale. This concept, which I will call Massively Multi-User Online Collaboration (MMOC), is also reflected in the software Web 2.0 is built on. Many of these sites were developed with PHP and then hosted on the Apache Web Server. Both PHP and Apache were built using the GNU Compiler Collection. All three of these tools are open source projects that utilize MMOC. It seems that Web 2.0 is merely a facet of the many MMOCs that make up the software industry.

Book Inspired Post II - Flattening MUD

Globalization has a huge potential for promoting peace. Historically the benefit countries could derive from war was enormous. Alexander the Great and Genghis Khan built massive empires through war. However the advent of nuclear weapons has made war a very expensive proposition[1]. Since the end of the Cold War globalization has further increased the expense of waging war.

Growing superpowers like China and India are so interconnected[2] with the rest of the world that a war would have devastating consequences on their economies. This economic reliance on other countries could make war an intractable prospect in the coming century.


Notes

[1] Mutually assured destruction
[2] Chapter 16 (15 in my version) of The world is Flat (ISBN: 0-374-29279-5) by Thomas L. Friedman discusses a similar thesis.

Smallish Post IV - Embracing Change

I think that the movie and music industries, as represented by the MPAA and RIAA, have long suffered from short sighted executives. These executives are very similar to the ones at Xerox who refused to enter the personal computer market even though they had the means to dominate it. Instead of embracing technology the MPAA and RIAA have actively sought to suppress it. They have tried to kill everything from VCRs to MP3 players. This shortsighted mindset is changing however as companies like Apply and Hulu prove that embracing technology can be profitable. I think that music and video have nowhere to go but up.

Current Event IV - Being Targeted by Hackers

The recent cyber attacks against Google.cn[1] emphasize how important constant vigilance is when using the Internet. Hackers like the ones that attacked Google spend a lot of time and money targeting a specific group of people, a group that could include you. And in case you are thinking that "this won't happen to me" consider the attempts that have recently been made to distribute malware targeted at World of Warcraft users[2]. It is extremely important to know about the security risks incurred when using Internet applications.

Notes

1. Google Attack Linked To Asian Hackers


2. Authenticator Keylogger Source: Fake WoWMatrix Website

Current Events III - Always Room for Improvement

One of the things I like about computer science is that it is constantly evolving. A good example of this evolution is the recent invention of a flip-flop random number generator[1] (RNG). Replacing a pseudo RNG with a real one will drastically improve the reliability of many algorithms[2]. Since flip-flops are cheap to build this invention could become a ubiquitous part of computing in the coming years. If such a basic concept can still be improved upon I wonder what else is waiting to be discovered. I have my eye on you Mr. Halting Problem.




[1] New Approach to Generating Truly Random Numbers May Improve Internet Security, Weather Forecasts
[2] I am using "reliable" as a catch all term for the many improvements that a random number generator can make. [1] has some examples.

Book Inspired Post I - Password Security

Most of the password security issues Mr. Stoll ran across are still relevant today. Hackers can still use flaws in the OS to steal password files. Once the file is acquired a couple of computers can still crack it in a reasonable amount of time. In fact some Computer Security classes have password cracking labs.

Imperva recently released an analysis of 32 million stolen passwords from Rockyou.com and found that at least half the passwords could be easily cracked using brute force or dictionary attacks. It appears that there is only one solution to this problem - alert managers who keep their systems patched and who use password checking programs to force users to choose secure passwords.

Smallish Post III - Online Family History

Social networking sites can be used to further genealogical research. Facebook uses relationship graphs to suggest possible friends and relatives not yet in a person's network. For their capstone last semester some students developed a Facebook application that finds common ancestors among friends by using FamilySearch. With the aid of tools like these distant relatives can come together to share knowledge of common ancestors.

Current Event II - Censorship

I find it interesting that censorship, a concept the Founding Father's attempted to abolish more then 200 years ago, is still rearing its head today. The U.S. Supreme Court recently struck down most of the McCain-Feingold act on first amendment grounds[1] and Twitter is currently developing technology to bypass government censors in China and Iran[2]. The first amendment is not something that should be taken for granted.

Notes

1. "Supreme Court Removes Limits on Corporate, Labor Donations to Campaigns." Fox News. link.
2. "Twitter working to thwart censorship." International Business Times. link.

Smallish Post II - Women in Computer Science

I think more women would enter computer science if it was marketed better. One attractive aspect of computer science is the ability to work or volunteer from home. By spending a few hours a week on a part time job or open source project a mother can keep her skills sharp, drastically increasing her chances of a getting job once the kids leave home.

Current Event I

I am curious if the early pioneers of computers would've succeeded had they lived in today's intellectual property environment. VisiCalc, the first spreadsheet, was never patented[3] while MS-DOS 1.0 was based on a CP/M user manual[3]. Today VisiCalc would've been patented and the owners of CP/M would've sued regardless of whether Microsoft was in the wrong or not. Patents and copyright suits are being used as tools of corporate warfare instead of recourses for wrongdoing[1]. Even more nefarious are patent trolls - companies that file patents for someone else's ideas and then use those patents to sue large companies. A rather disturbing example is a suit against NCsoft fi led by Worlds.com over a patent on Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) games[2]. A cursory reading of this patent reveals that it covers every MMO ever made and that it was filed after the first MMOs were released[4]. One can only image the dampening eff ect this corporate terrorism is having on innovation.

References

• [1] Leslie Katz. Apple Seeks Ban on U.S. Nokia Imports. link.


• [2] Virtual Worlds News. Worlds.com Fi les Suit Against NCsoft for Patent Infringement. link.


• [3] PBS. Triumph of the Nerds. link.


• [4] Dave Leahy et al. System and method for enabling users to interact in a virtual space. link.
  

What is a Gorge Hideout Anyway?

Gorge Hideouts are small rooms hidden within a building's walls where Gorges come to hangout. If the Kharaa (Think the Zerg, with Gorges being the Drones) are defeated while battling over said building Gorges can hide from the human marines and annoy them by spitting acid at them from the ventilation ducts.

Smallish Blog Post I - Why Technology is Worth the Trouble

I found that the assigned articles focused more on technology's downfalls then on where it could take us. For every evil use of technology there is an even greater righteous one, and these righteous uses are part of a greater design. Have you ever thought about how the good things that will happen during the Millennium will come to pass? Will God simply wave his hand and "make it so" or will he make us work for it? I think the promises of technology imply the latter. Increased lifespan? Already happening. Genealogy? Familsearch.org. An understanding of the human mind will allow us to better recognize and control temptations. In the near future I can see us being able to cure addiction by reseting the associated neurons. Could you imagine, one of the Devil's most powerful weapons thrown into the dustbin of history?

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So what is a Gorge? The universe's coolest alien of course! Their homepage is over at Unknown Worlds Entertainment