Author Archives: Robin

Where the hell is Matt?

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OK, so this guy does a silly dance and gets it on the internet and becomes vaguely famous. He then goes and gets sponsored by some gum brand to do his silly dance all over the world. After this is released, he becomes quite a bit more famous. Now people are writing in telling him they’d like to be in his dance when he next comes over. So the gum brand sponsors him again and he goes to 49 (!) countries to do his silly dance. People love it and join in!
Yes, I realise it sounds silly, but this is a fantastic video, unbelievably all shot on location and it’ll put a total smile on your face. Well worth watching!

So watch it now!

Antivirus programmes tested

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As a result of yesterdays revelation that AVG is flooding the internet with fake traffic, I had a look around to see what’s the best free antivirus solution out there.

I turns out that AV-test.org tests these scanners on a regular basis and has whole loads of white papers out.

Anyway, Security.nl has a synopsis of the march 2008 results and of the free ones, Avira Antivir seems to be the best.

So I got rid of AVG and installed antivir, which seems to be running quite happily now.

EU selling out private data to the US

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It looks like the EU has not learned a thing from the outrage of giving away flight data and swift financial data to the US, and is now agreeing to give all data the US wants as long as it is ‘adequately protected’. What that level of protection is, isn’t defined, so if the US says it’s adequately protected (say, by having it lying about in a taxi on a USB drive), then the EU will automatically have to give the US the data.
Not only that, but it also looks like there is absolutely no safeguard as to what the US government will do to the data once it’s finished with it. Destroy it? Sell it? Apparently the EU is saying: “Whatever”.

Is free will governed by thought?

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Most fysiologists and psychologists know that movements are initiated by the brain some time before the conscious mind thinks about them and ‘decides’ to initiate them.

This article rounds up a little on desicion making in general, showing that the time could be up to 30 seconds before determination when making mistakes and 10 seconds when picking ‘random’ events. Amazingly, ‘random’ desicions can be predicted accurately around 70% of the time!

Become an Astronaut part 2

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So, if you were upset that ESA was hiring astronauts because you’re not a European and couldn’t make it, no problem!

The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center is seeking an astronaut to support the ISS program./a>

Surprisingly the job requirements are way less stringent than for the ESA. You can make do with a batchelor degree (as opposed to two degrees and being a published leader in your field) and good health, or, if you want to fly your way in only 1000 hours in jets (not 3000 in experimental jets). Damnit, I make the qualifications for this one!

Image Fulgurator

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The Image Fulgurator is a device for physically manipulating photographs. It intervenes when a photo is being taken, without the photographer being able to detect anything. It intervenes when a photo is being taken, without the photographer being able to detect anything. The manipulation is only visible on the photo afterwards. The manipulation is only visible on the photo afterwards.

In principle, the Fulgurator can be used anywhere where there is another camera nearby that is being used with a flash. In principle, the Fulgurator can be used anywhere where there is another camera nearby that is being used with a flash. It operates via a kind of reactive flash projection that enables an image to be projected on an object exactly at the moment when someone else is photographing it. It operates via a kind of reactive flash projection that enables an image to be projected on an object at exactly the moment when someone else is photographing it. The intervention is unobtrusive because it takes only a few milliseconds. The intervention is unobtrusive because it takes only a few milliseconds. Every photo another photographer takes of an object at which the Fulgurator is also aimed is affected by the manipulation. Every photographer takes another photo of an object at which the Fulgurator is also aimed is affected by the manipulation. Hence visual information can be smuggled unnoticed into the images of others. Hence visual information can be smuggled unnoticed into the images of others.

Basically it projects ghosts into digital images unnoticeably.