The Firehouse

Last night I visited Redmond Fire Department’s Station 12, on 148th NE, as I’m in Seattle this week on business meetings. A few minutes after arriving, and having exchanged a shirt and a patch with the guys, a call came in for medical aid. Paul and Eric, who were on duty with the ambulance, asked me if I wanted to ride along, and the whole evening turned really interesting. The call was for a male who had taken sleeping pills, and I rode back to the hospital with the medics and Paul. In all, it was a really good experience, from which I learned a lot. One is that they are running six studies on ambulances now, one of which is measuring the core temperature of cardiac patients after CPR, and the effects of lowering it with chilled saline. I also saw the “megamover” in action, which is basically a heavy-duty canvas stretcher meant for moving a patient around places where the rigid one won’t fit – a very good idea.

Stay safe brothers, and thank you!

Found the 17″ MacBook Pro slightly tilted on the table today…picking it up revealed the worrying sight of a very bloated battery. This happens when there is a breakdown in the chemistry which causes gases to be generated and built up inside one or more cells, usually due to a short-circuit or charge at higher voltages than rated. The problem is not just the bloating, but that this can end up in the battery venting, catching fire, or even exploding. Don’t believe me? Check out this video:

n. Firm reliance on the integrity, ability, or character of a person or thing.

Google search for “trust”:

Must be a pretty important thing.

Trust is something that can take years to build, but only a second to destroy.

Few things are more painful than someone breaking your trust.

Rummaging through some drawers I found a newspaper from 2002, where I was featured as being part in the first WorldWide Wardrive (WWWD) – the site is now defunct, but here is a link to Chris’ BlackHat presentation on it [PDF]. The article appeared in CiberPais, full version here the technology supplement of the largest newspaper in Spain, El Pais. I actually took the reporter, Merce Molist, on a quick wardrive…well, it was more of a warwalk, as we basically went around two blocks with an iPaq 3660 and an Orinoco Gold. She interviewed me with fairness and without all the crappy journalism that was flying around wardriving at the time. I have scanned the article to preserve it, as the paper was getting damaged by time (click for a larger picture):

After the wardrive was over, one of the participants, DigitalMDX, made a commemorative bronze coin for everyone who took part, and since I also found it in the same drawer, here it is (click for a larger picture):

The good ol’ days

I remember the period between 2000 and 2004 with particular fondness, as it was a thrilling experience to be around, physically or virtually in our #netstumbler IRC channel on EFNet, with people like Blackwave, Alakahil, McHale, Marius, Roamer, RenderMan, and others in the netstumbler.com forums, such as Thorn, beakmyn, wrzwaldo, Audit, and countless more. It almost melts my brain to think of the amount of stuff I learned from all these excellent guys – and makes me sad that some left for greener pastures and are no longer in touch.

One day I met someone with the nickname Dove in one of the wireless-related IRC channels. It happened to be Pete Shipley, considered the inventor of wardriving, and we had a few really good chats. In the end, he posted me some dis.org crew, aka DoC t-shirts and other cool stuff. I sent some wine, but don’t know if it ever reached him.

Have any good wardriving memories to share? Ready to come back to the light after years of hiding? Sound off in the comments!

Just curious, why Apple should again change the icon that represents the current data network attach mode. I now see either the blue square with 3G in it, or this, when in GPRS coverage:

Note that this is GPRS, and not EDGE – it would be interesting to see what the icon for that is now, maybe a squiggle?

Never forget. On a day like this seven years ago 343 brave firefighters gave their lives to save thousands. Here is a link to the FDNY tribute.

Until the keynote a few days ago, the only remote control available on the iPhone over music playing was the microphone button, which could be used to play/pause or advance songs. The new $79 in-hear headphones feature volume up and down, apart from the center button that now adds a three-click function, which goes back one song.

How is all this done over a normal four-pin connector? On the “regular” headphones, two conductors carry the left and right audio, one the microphone input, and the fourth conductor is ground. Since the electret microphone used in the headset is fed a voltage bias, the phone can detect if the microphone line is shorted to ground. In this case, a single digital line into the main microprocessor will detect this short and trigger an interrupt.

If we now want to send more than a single click, such as volume up or down, a series of resistors of different values are placed in series with each button. When you press a button, the voltage drop across the resistor can be measured by the microprocessor, and thus the particular button function executed – with two conditions. The input line must be analog, not digital, thus capable of reading voltage variations, and the microprocessor’s firmware must be adapted to detect changes in voltage, rather than a digital 1 or 0.

Does the iPhone, or first-generation iPods have this arrangement? It’s hard to tell, but my first test on a Touch with firmware 2.1 doesn’t look promising. The center button on my V-Moda headset is not detected at all. This could mean that the firmware has been adapted to detect voltage changes, and so a remote with resistors is now needed. In any case, there either is no input at all in first-generation iPod Touch, or there is but has been configured to detect particular resistance values. I’ll have to wait to get my hands on one to really find out.

It’s strange that nobody has yet analized the reasoning behind Apple’s new Genius feature. The official version is that Genius will recommend you music you may like based on what you are already listening to, and can create playlists of similar music to the one you are currently playing on iTunes or your iPod. This in itself is great, but – I was already getting recommendations for similar music to that I purchased on the iTunes Store.

The Genius license agreement reads thus:

When you opt-in to the Genius feature by checking the box below, Apple will, from time to time, automatically collect information that can be used to identify media in your iTunes library on this computer, such as your play history and play lists.  This includes media purchased through iTunes and media obtained from other sources. This information will be stored anonymously and not associated with your name or iTunes account.

On a first look, it seems that Apple collects your iTunes music collection information, regardless of the source (iTunes Store or ripped CDs, for example), and sends it annonymously to Apple’s servers, where the Genius algorithms do the magic. However, the next line on the agreement is this:

When you use the Genius feature, Apple will use this information and the contents of your iTunes library, as well as other information, to give personalized recommendations to you.

Now…they just said that all Genius collected data is stored anonymously, and not associated to my name or iTunes account, but now I will get personalized recommendations based on this very data – how does this actually work? How is the output of the Genius algorithm sent to me, if the input data is not matched to my iTunes account? It seems at least a bit weird. Tinfoil hats on standby.

On a grander scale, Genius is…well…genius! Apple is now going to collect statistics on what millions of people have ripped or downloaded from P2P networks for free. They can use this data to put pressure on studios – for example, say they see particular songs being sold more on iTunes than downloaded or ripped, they could ask the studio for a bigger cut of the revenue. They can also use this data to orient the music store content based on what people are listening to most.

It took a while, but finally Apple realized it didn’t make sense to -not- have any external volume controls on the iPod Touch, the only iPod you actually need needed to take out of your pocket if you want to change the volume. They have also added a triple-click function to the headphones button, which goes back one song, something I have also wondered why didn’t come earlier. Nice job, Steve!

I don’t like to censor people’s comments, even when they are repeatedly stupid, annonymous, empty in content, or just “why don’t you say your own company is shit” type of crap. Most blogs, particular those widely read, are actually critic, rather than full of praise. They do of course offer some praise when it’s due, but they don’t look like corporate blogs or paid shills. Same goes for this blog – I tend to write mostly when I get pissed off at how something works, or someone acts. I also write positive comments when something is actually done right, or above and beyond the call of duty.

It so happens that some people feel it’s their duty to attack with empty words, without any substance or fact, in defence of what they believe is “right”. They will post a comment, with false names and email addresses, not revealing for who they are actually posting. They are called trolls. Thus, my new policy on troll comments will be this: I will approve the comment, and ask for an explanation to the attack (as in, actual facts), plus a real identity behind the commenter. If either fails to turn up in three days, the comment will be deleted. Let the retard games begin!