13 Sep 2008 (Sat) 8pm @ Singapore Expo Hall 1
Her Everything is one of my favourite.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Monday, July 28, 2008
D-Wave’s Orion: The First Commercial Quantum Computer?
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/super-cooled-quantum-computing,1976.html
Just to reiterate: quantum computing is not quantum cryptography.
Just to reiterate: quantum computing is not quantum cryptography.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Web-based Personal Finance Tools
I was looking for a free web-based personal finance tool to manage my household account. A web-based tool will allow my wife and I to access anywhere, anytime.
After doing some research and testing, I've finally settled on Buxfer.
Pros:
Cons:
After doing some research and testing, I've finally settled on Buxfer.
Pros:
- Can sign in using existing Google account
- Exportable to a variety of formats e.g. PDF
Cons:
- Does not support auto-sync with my banks. Even the CSV import has problems
- No auto-update of currency exchange rates
- Hierarchical arrangement of accounts not possible
F-Secure Rescue CD
http://www.f-secure.com/linux-weblog/2008/06/19/f-secure-rescue-cd-300-released/
Looks useful but has the following limitations:
Looks useful but has the following limitations:
- Must be able to boot from CD
- Target drives cannot be encrypted
Saturday, July 26, 2008
The unbreakable code: Is this the lock?
July 26, 2008
Use of quantum properties ensures unauthorised attempts to access encoded information do not go undetected
By Artur Ekert
ACCORDING to a popular story, when the Mongols ruled China in the 14th century, the success of an uprising against them hinged on secret messages hidden in mooncakes.
Use of quantum properties ensures unauthorised attempts to access encoded information do not go undetected
By Artur Ekert
ACCORDING to a popular story, when the Mongols ruled China in the 14th century, the success of an uprising against them hinged on secret messages hidden in mooncakes.
The successful revolution depended on keeping the method of communication secret.
Not such a good idea. No matter how creative we are in hiding messages, our tricks will be found out sooner or later.
Can we reveal our methods of secret communication without compromising secrecy? Yes. Modern methods of secret communication can be described as sending messages in locked boxes.
The sender locks his message in a box and sends it to his ally, who unlocks the box and reads it.
Everybody knows how the boxes are constructed but only the sender and recipient hold the keys. If an eavesdropper got hold of the key, he could open the boxes in transit and read the messages undetected. The legitimate users know about this risk, and try to change their keys frequently because the security relies entirely on keeping them secret.
Here, boxes are mathematical methods of disguising messages. Locking a box is called encryption, and real cryptographic keys are secret sequences of numbers used by senders and recipients to encrypt and decrypt their messages. Ultimate security is possible, but only if each message is encrypted with its own unique key that is truly random and never reused. This method is known as the one-time pad and requires as many keys as messages.
The snag is, users may be miles apart, so how do they exchange keys? The problem of getting the key from sender to recipient without an eavesdropper intercepting it - the 'key distribution problem' - has become an expensive logistical issue for banks, governments and the military.
If the same key is used for too long, encryption can be broken in many ingenious ways.
Physicists relate the key distribution problem to eavesdropping abilities. Suppose an eavesdropper is tapping a telephone line used for key distribution. Any measurement on the signal in the line may disturb it and leave traces. However, any eavesdropper with superior technology can escape detection.
The way around this problem involves quantum physics - physics that describes the world of elementary particles such as photons and atoms.
If, for example, some quantum properties of photons are used to carry the information, then, according to quantum principles, one cannot pick up all the encoded information and go undetected. No matter how complex and subtle the advanced technology and computing power available to the eavesdropper, the 'quantum noise' caused will expose each attempt to gain even partial information about the key. This is the basic idea behind quantum key distribution.
One approach, which I proposed in 1991 during my student days in Oxford, involves entanglement, a quantum property which implies that two separated objects behave as if they were two parts of the same entity.
That this behaviour has not been 'pre-programmed' is one of the most surprising and profound things we have learnt about the physical reality in the past few decades.
This is also what protects the entanglement-based key distribution. With no pre-determined outcome of a measurement, no eavesdropper may know the outcome.
Convincing the world of academia was easy, but it took a bit longer for quantum entanglement to enter the banking sector. In 2004, Bank Austria Creditanstalt finally put some trust into quantum theory by allowing Austrian researchers to carry out the first demonstration of a bank transfer protected by entangled photons.
Singapore is not lagging behind; on the contrary, many of the most advanced quantum experiments have been performed here, on our small 'Quantum Island'.
Research in quantum technology here goes back to 1998, when local researchers Lai Choy Heng, Oh Choo Hiap, Kwek Leong Chuan, Kuldip Singh and, subsequently, Dagomir Kaszlikowski, decided to meet after hours to discuss weird quantum phenomena and their possible applications in computing.
They formed a vibrant group, which I remember fondly from my first visits to Singapore in 2000.
A few years later, support from A*Star's consolidated research efforts in the field and the National University of Singapore faculty appointments of professors Berge Englert, Christian Kurtsiefer, and Antia Lamas Linares strengthened the group. The last two deserve a special mention - over the past four years they managed to put Singapore at the frontiers of experimental research in quantum technologies.
It was their team of local young researchers that developed excellent sources of entangled photons and demonstrated very stable free-space quantum key distribution between buildings on the NUS campus. These and many other exciting experiments are now carried out at the Centre for Quantum Technologies (CQT), which is the first Research Centre of Excellence here, funded jointly by the National Research Foundation and Ministry of Education, and hosted by NUS.
One truly remarkable feature of the entanglement-based key distribution is that there is no need for sender or recipient to control the source of entangled photons.
It does not have to be protected at all.
One can imagine sources of entangled photons in public places such as rooftops, to which any two parties willing to establish cryptographic keys can just tune in.
Indeed, a team of European researchers, with the European Space Agency, is working on the possibility of distributing quantum keys worldwide by satellite.
An even more puzzling feature of entanglement-based quantum cryptography was recently demonstrated here. CQT's Valerio Scarani, together with European colleagues, showed that the entanglement-based key distribution scheme is far more general and much more powerful than I originally anticipated; it works even with devices of dubious provenance.
This means that you and your friend may purchase cryptographic equipment from any company, even from your competitors or enemies, and still be able to establish a secret key.
This amazing feat has just been demonstrated by CQT's quantum optics group. The experiment opens a new chapter of modern cryptography.
Quantum information technology is a fundamentally new way of harnessing nature. It is too early to say how important this will eventually be, but we can reasonably speculate about its impact on data security - the future of secure military and commercial communication will probably go quantum.
The writer is the director of the Centre for Quantum Technologies at the National University of Singapore, the first Research Centre of Excellence here. He is one of the inventors of quantum cryptography and has made a number of contributions to quantum information science.Friday, July 25, 2008
Alt+Enter to Open a Typed URL in a New Tab
http://lifehacker.com/399252/alt%252Benter-to-open-a-typed-url-in-a-new-tab
Great tip! I always find myself doing the 3-step combo; now I can just do with 2.
Great tip! I always find myself doing the 3-step combo; now I can just do with 2.
Acapela HQ TTS Interactive Demo
http://www.acapela-group.com/text-to-speech-interactive-demo.html
Useful site to hear pronunciation of different languages e.g. English, French and German.
Useful site to hear pronunciation of different languages e.g. English, French and German.
Removing duplicate files
One way to save space is to find those duplicate files on the storage media and remove them. I tried out both Easy Duplicate File Finder and DoubleKiller but they don't seem to support non-English languages like Japanese. CloneSpy works like a charm, though.
All three can be downloaded free-of-charge from their respective websites and run without installation.
All three can be downloaded free-of-charge from their respective websites and run without installation.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Rechargeable Batteries
Hotline for S'poreans to call when in trouble in Johor
July 18, 2008
JOHOR police have set up a hotline for Singaporeans to call if they run into trouble or fall victim to crime in the Malaysian state across the Causeway. The 24-hour line - 07-2212999 - will be manned by staff who can handle calls in English, Malay, Mandarin and Tamil. Johor police have promised to respond to a call for help within 15 minutes. The hotline was set up following a recent dialogue between the Malaysian High Commissioner to Singapore, Mr N. Parameswaran and Johor police chief Mokhtar Shariff. They discussed various steps to take to counter crimes in Johor and to create a safe environment for both Malaysians and foreign visitors. 'The High Commission hopes that the serious efforts being continuously undertaken by the Johor Police authorities would help reduce the incidence of crimes in Johor state and would also create conditions conducive to the easier movement of people and goods between Malaysia and Singapore,' said a statement from the Malaysian High Commission here on Friday.
JOHOR police have set up a hotline for Singaporeans to call if they run into trouble or fall victim to crime in the Malaysian state across the Causeway. The 24-hour line - 07-2212999 - will be manned by staff who can handle calls in English, Malay, Mandarin and Tamil. Johor police have promised to respond to a call for help within 15 minutes. The hotline was set up following a recent dialogue between the Malaysian High Commissioner to Singapore, Mr N. Parameswaran and Johor police chief Mokhtar Shariff. They discussed various steps to take to counter crimes in Johor and to create a safe environment for both Malaysians and foreign visitors. 'The High Commission hopes that the serious efforts being continuously undertaken by the Johor Police authorities would help reduce the incidence of crimes in Johor state and would also create conditions conducive to the easier movement of people and goods between Malaysia and Singapore,' said a statement from the Malaysian High Commission here on Friday.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
选对床单 甜蜜入眠
● 林方伟
李白娟（摄影）
新一代屋主为打造品味个性空间，添置设计师家具、床架、高档床褥，可是毫不手软。你也许叫得出许多设计师及其家具作品的名字，但来到夜夜肌肤之亲的床单，你又认识多少？
是的，买床单也大有学问，你总不成买了高档的床，但仍用回孩童时代的卡通印花薄床单吧？即使没有添置设计师家具的预算，但换一换高品质的床单，其实就是让房间焕然一新，夜晚甜蜜入梦的最佳捷径。
本地高档床单品牌Friven & Co.集团市销总监卢玥庈，在布料行业有20年经验，可说是床饰达人。她认为，买床单得从质感、手感到光泽及立体感着手，而确定床单品质的，就是以下的三大要素：
1 支数（Counts）
＊线条支数（Thread Counts）：
阅读高级床单标签，总会看到线条支数的说明，这指的是编织布料时所用的线条数量，用线越多，布料就越柔软，手感越佳。
高品质床单每平方米约有300以上的线条支线，玥庈说，据她所见，目前最顶级的床单有1200线条支数。放眼Friven & Co.产品，目前许多大众化中价码床单配套大约从79元至149元，而最高档的可跳到400元至600元以上。
＊棉纱支数（Yarn Counts）：
要更有学问的话，看线条支数是不够的，还要懂得棉纱支数。支数越多也就表示床布越精细。
纺织厂也可以把2、3、4条细棉纱扭成一条线，再纺织成棉布。然而，床单的柔软度也得靠棉纱的细度，有的厂商会把较粗的棉纱扭成线来编织，试图增加线条支数，但整体手感却也变得较为逊色。
2 构造／编织法
布料的素质靠其构造，也就是编织的方法。目前全世界通用的有以下三种：
＊Plain Weave：
这是最直接与传统的直与横交错织法，织出的布料通称为Percale，非常耐用，也最常用来制作床单的布料。
＊Twill Weave：
这样的编织法在直、横之余，也会加入对角斜线织法，编织整体上更为紧密，因此，摸在手上比Percale更为柔软，也更有光泽。
＊Satin Weave：
这样的缎子编织法在直、横之余，也会刻意让一些线条“浮”在紧密的横直线上，是三种编织法中最为柔软与光鲜的。这样的编织法织出的布，正面充满光泽，背面较为黯淡。
传统上，这种缎子编织法都用在丝绸上，然而，现在也有人改用高级棉线，织出相似的柔软度与光泽的棉缎（Sateen），但也比丝缎更加强韧耐用，更能吸汗。棉缎床单等级非常高档，但耐用、持久度，却不比其他两种编织法。
3 布匹原料
用丝绸制成的缎子被单，仍是床单界中的极品，然而跟所有矜贵极品一样，它也是最脆弱的，需要小心翼翼地照料。好比，丝绸被单很容易在睡梦中被指甲“刮伤”。另外，这样的被单只能干洗，即使干洗却也容易缩小。
玥庈说，有的人还会穿上丝绸睡衣，以确保睡衣不会刮坏床单。难怪只有豪门贵族才睡得起。
基本上，床单还是棉制的最容易照料，也最耐久。棉布也分不同等级，其中以埃及棉最为矜贵，质地也最上乘。一听名，就飘散着古老贵族异国情怀，因此，埃及棉床单与丝绸被单能够相提并论，售价可高达600元至700元。
买了贵的床单，清洗时就得格外小心。除了洗时选用“轻柔”（delicate）及“轻微搅干”（low tumble dry）之外，玥庈也建议，床单被搅得半干时就拿出来晾干，因为少了皱褶，床单就越持久耐用。
另外，在倒入洗衣剂时，也得确保洗衣剂均匀融入水中，要不床单就可能会留下洗衣剂的斑迹。
热带地区
床单怎么选？
＊除非你天天睡冷气房，保暖的丝绸床单不适合热带国家。另外，丝绸也容易会有静电，通电大王／王后们每转一次身就被电一次，你消受得了？
＊要贵气，又要凉爽，棉缎Sateen最为适合，这是因为它的质感最柔软，编织法让布更易透气。
＊以为黑色的床单耐脏？其实不然，黑色面让尘埃更显而易见。
＊暗色在心理上，让人觉得更加燥热。
＊而且，暗色的染料让布更粗糙，减少床布的轻柔手感。
Friday, July 18, 2008
TrueCrypt's Deniable File System
http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2008/07/truecrypts_deni.html
Due to potential leakage, full media encryption is usually best.
Due to potential leakage, full media encryption is usually best.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Finding the name behind the gmail address
http://blogs.securiteam.com/index.php/archives/1113
Interesting. No silver bullet, but may be useful in some situations.
Interesting. No silver bullet, but may be useful in some situations.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Monday, July 14, 2008
Changi's T3 offers choice of 'body scanner' or physical searches
CHANGI Airport is testing a new screening machine which can better detect weapons, explosives, drugs and other contraband items concealed on the body.
The problem, at least for some travellers, is that the millimetre wave scanner also produces images that outline body contours too clearly for comfort.
On trial at gate-hold rooms A1-A8 at Terminal 3 from July to September, the equipment produces three-dimensional images in grey, white and black by using harmless radio waves that bounce off a passenger.
The new technique is an alternative for those who do not wish to be physically searched, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore and police said in response to queries from The Straits Times. Body scanning is not compulsory, the authorities stressed.
'We understand that some passengers may feel uncomfortable having their images analysed by a stranger,' said the two agencies yesterday.
The technology is already being used at several airports in the United States and Canada - also subject to passenger approval.
Those who opt for the procedure walk into the cabin of the scanner and remain still for up to five seconds.
The scanned image is analysed by an officer in a separate room in another part of the airport. If something is amiss, the security officer at the gate-hold room is alerted.
While the scanning is not compulsory, some groups overseas have likened it to a virtual strip search.
In Singapore, care has been taken to ensure that privacy is not compromised. The passenger's face and sensitive body parts such as breasts and genitals are blurred. Images cannot be downloaded or saved, and are automatically deleted.
They are viewed by women officers only. When on duty, they cannot carry cameras and other photographic equipment.
Balancing security needs with individual privacy is a challenge, said aviation security expert John Harrison of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies.
With advances in technology, 'the conflict is between what we can do and what we should do', he said.
With aviation security high on the agenda of many countries, Mr Harrison believes 'body image machines' will become more popular.
The onus is on the authorities to reassure passengers concerned about privacy invasion. Singapore has taken 'reasonable steps' to do so, he added.
Businessman S.S. Sandhu, 43, a frequent traveller to the US who has been regularly body-searched, would much prefer to walk through a body-scanning machine. 'The machine can look at me in all my fine glory but at least it is less intrusive and humiliating than a pat-down or a frisk.'
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Saturday, July 12, 2008
裕廊东转换站将新增轨道和候车月台
日期 ： 11 July 2008 2206 hrs
新传媒新闻报道，为了缩短候车时间，裕廊东地铁转换站将增设新的轨道和候车月台。陆路交通管理局也会给南北和东西线增加多17列地铁。当改善工程在2012年完成后，繁忙时段的候车时间预计将从目前的4.5分钟，缩短到只有两分钟。
目前，往来裕廊东和武吉巴督的地铁，共用同样的轨道。如果有列车从裕廊东出发到武吉巴督，必须等从武吉巴督来的列车进站后才可以出发。这就拉长搭客的候车时间。
在政府年初公布的陆路交通改革的系列计划下，路管局将在这里增设新的轨道和候车月台，供南北线列车和搭客使用。与此同时，路管局也将购买更多地铁列车。到了2012年，南北线和东西线将增多17列地铁。
整个工程完成后，载客量将增加15%，繁忙时段的候车时间，也会从目前的2.5到4.5分钟，缩短到两分钟。
改善工程将在明年第一季展开，当局将采取措施减少工程对搭客和附近居民带来的干扰。
新传媒新闻报道，为了缩短候车时间，裕廊东地铁转换站将增设新的轨道和候车月台。陆路交通管理局也会给南北和东西线增加多17列地铁。当改善工程在2012年完成后，繁忙时段的候车时间预计将从目前的4.5分钟，缩短到只有两分钟。
目前，往来裕廊东和武吉巴督的地铁，共用同样的轨道。如果有列车从裕廊东出发到武吉巴督，必须等从武吉巴督来的列车进站后才可以出发。这就拉长搭客的候车时间。
在政府年初公布的陆路交通改革的系列计划下，路管局将在这里增设新的轨道和候车月台，供南北线列车和搭客使用。与此同时，路管局也将购买更多地铁列车。到了2012年，南北线和东西线将增多17列地铁。
整个工程完成后，载客量将增加15%，繁忙时段的候车时间，也会从目前的2.5到4.5分钟，缩短到两分钟。
改善工程将在明年第一季展开，当局将采取措施减少工程对搭客和附近居民带来的干扰。
Friday, July 11, 2008
Comfort to impose diesel surcharge
Business Times - 11 Jul 2008
SINGAPORE - Singapore taxi and bus firm ComfortDelGro said on Friday it will impose a diesel surcharge on taxi rides from July 17 to offset the higher cost of fuel.
It said the $0.30 (US$0.22) charge for every trip was temporary and would be removed should diesel prices fall back to $1.19 a litre, which was the market price on Dec 17, 2007.
The country's biggest petroleum firm, Singapore Petroleum, charges $2.03 for a litre of diesel, according to its website.
Singapore, like many Asian countries, is struggling with rising inflation which hit a 26-year high of 7.5 per cent in May. -- REUTERS
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Guidelines on Cell Phone and PDA Security
Draft SP 800-124, Guidelines on Cell Phone and PDA Security, is available for public comment. It provides an overview of cell phone and personal digital assistant (PDA) devices in use today and offers insights for making informed information technology security decisions regarding their treatment. SP 800-124 gives details about the threats, technology risks, and safeguards for these devices. NIST requests comments on draft SP 800-124 by August 8, 2008. Please submit comments to 800-124comments@nist.gov with "Comments SP 800-124" in the subject line.
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
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