The coolest thing in the world July 16, 2008
Posted by erik in : General , 1 comment so far
Anna Elizabeth Peterson, born last week, 8 pounds 5 ounces of pure cuteness.
Let the adventure begin!
Proper use of Internet Protocols May 22, 2008
Posted by erik in : General, Technology, humor , add a commentme: This nonsense makes me want to puch someone in the face
friend: Don’t you wish you could do that over TCP/IP?
me: No, I’d use UDP, because I don’t want the ACK back
friend: Dude, you need help
Unrestricted Warfare December 30, 2007
Posted by erik in : Technology, politics , add a comment
I think about this topic, conflict and unrestricted tactics related to war on and off on a pretty regular basis, there is nothing like the study of conflict and how conflicts are won or lost when it comes to understanding thinking outside the box.
A recent blog post from a friend of mine about a translated Chinese text called “Unrestricted Warfare” got me thinking on the topic again. I found the text pretty interesting and a worthy read for anyone interested in conflict and the “Art” of war in a more modern time.
I however found it very unfortunate that some have developed the belief that the text is directed at Americas destruction. This is likely due to it’s ridiculous and perhaps unauthorized re-publication as a book in 2001 (The original text was published in 1999, and is available for free download). The cover has a picture of the twin towers burning and the tag line “China’s master plan to destroy America” all of which was added by the translator of this specific version. It’s unlikely that the original authors would have written the book as a treatise on the destruction of America but rather on the topic of how one nation might rise up and displace an existing superpower to either take an equal or greater position on the world playing field. It’s no surprise that America is a common subject in the text given the position of the United States today but it could easily be any superpower.
The truth is that at the global political level, there are no laws, ethics or boundaries. There is only a desire to advance your nations power and a willingness to do anything to achieve that goal - anything that you can get away with. There is a strange calculation that occurs at this level, where the needs of your nation outweigh the needs of another and where war, covert action, destruction and death are all justified and acceptable if they further your nations goals.
Billy suggests in his post that the rise in computer network attacks originating from China taken in conjunction with this text seem to suggest that something more direct or organized is in motion. I agree that this is likely, but this shouldn’t be a surprise. China is not the innovator here nor the only nation currently practicing such tactics.
The true innovator (in modern history) on this topic is America itself. The USA has been practicing asymmetrical warfare since the revolution and has continuously honed its tactics over the years. Although from the USA’s point of view it’s not so much asymmetrical as it is unconventional at this point, but the genesis of its methods is clearly a huge influencer in how it approaches conflict and wages war today.
So it should go without saying that America has been practicing the same tactics as the PLA on the Internet for some time now and my guess is that the PLA are now seeking to level the playing field. I see these new challenges from China as ultimately good for the world and the USA. Just as in business the same is true for nations, there is nothing like competition when it comes to keeping people focused and driving innovation.
Which brings me back to thinking outside the box. Unrestricted warfare to me means approaching problems using unconventional methods without the limitations of past thought. The war might be fought for national power or technological innovation, it doesn’t matter, whatever it is, to innovate we all must commit ourselves to waging unrestricted warfare if we are going to move forward.
I do all my own stunts December 17, 2007
Posted by erik in : humor , 2 commentsThis was my final day in the old SPI offices before moving to the new HP offices. While I was on a confernce some folks in the office found a use for the several hundred spare moving boxes we had laying around. Brings new meaning to feeling boxed in 
Direct link
Oh my god, my schedule’s gone to plaid October 4, 2007
Posted by erik in : General , 1 comment so far
My calendar reached a new level of insanity today, achiveing the triple, quadruple and now infamous quintuple booking state that most people were afraid to ask if it were possible. There was a moment where I thought a small black hole had formed inside my schedule and was cosuming all available time before it became a reality.
All I can say is that getting aquired and becoming part of one of the worlds fastest growing software company that happens to exist inside a 100 billion dollar technology company is freaking exciting man. Really. Don’t try this at home. (BTW, if you didn’t know, I used to work for SPI Dynamics, which was aquired by HP a few months ago).
When this is all over i’m going on vacation for a very, very long time. Untill then, I’m hiring. If you are a web security researcher or a product manager and you think you got mad skillz, drop me a note.
Where’s Alice? September 29, 2007
Posted by erik in : General , 3 commentsI’ve gone down the rabbit hole and I can’t find my way out…
No More Drama, lets get back to Innovating August 12, 2007
Posted by erik in : politics, security , 1 comment so far
You know what I don’t like about the security biz? All the Drama. I suppose this isn’t much different than any other line of work, but please I just want to sit in peace and think about the problems and then think about solutions and then make lots of money OK? Ahh right, there is the problem, that whole money thing, damn how could I be so naive? To many, fame is just another form of currency and when people start thinking someone is trying to take that away from them, you get drama.
For example, this little chain of events:
- Timing attacks on web privacy (Billy)
- Putting up, then shutting up (Jeremiah)
- RSnake Puts Up (Robert)
Please, all of you, put all this you stole your research nonsense behind you and move on. We all build our work on the shoulders of the giants who came before us. Half of the “new” ideas in security I read today were first presented in this book by James Martin
New research brings old ideas to life when they are presented in a new context. Often a context that didn’t exist back when the idea first appeared. It’s this context that the researcher brings to the idea which is the real innovation and we should all just sit back and bask in its glory. An idea is timeless and the good ones will get re-invented over and over again through the ages, like say for example ultrawideband wireless which was invented in 1894 or the fuel cell, invented in 1845. (Read: Tuning in to Technologies Past). These guys all invented something amazing, but nobody knows who these people are because they didn’t discover or even have the context that would have allowed their technologies to change the world.
There are also many examples throughout history where completely independent inventors have come up with the same idea nearly simultaneously (Gorman, 1998). These simultaneous inventions happens all the time but why? The explanation I like best is what the historian Thomas Hughes described as a Reverse Salient. “A salient is a protrusion in a geometric figure, a line of battle, or an expanding weather front. As technological systems expand, reverse salients develop. Reverse salients are components in the system that have fallen behind or are out of phase with the others” (Hughes, 1987). I believe that it’s these reverse salients that create an innovation vacuum that the leading researchers almost subconsciously rush to fill independent of each other. Or as John Campbell argues “Scientists and engineers, like everyone else, are influenced by their patrons and customers. The cultures of their communities thus affect the pace and direction of technological change.”
Pheww, well that puts it all in perspective right?
So, Robert (Rsnake), Jeremiah, and Billy, please, all of you, get back to innovating and discovering new context. The world is a better place when you are focused on that.
References and great reading
- Standage, R. (Jan 2005). “Tuning in Technology’s Past“, (MIT Technology Review, Online Article)
- Gorman, M. (1998). Transforming Nature, Chapter 3, Section 2 “Reverse Salients and Simultaneous Inventions“
- Campbell, J. (1996). “Perpetual Uncertainty” (Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, Online Article)
Blackhat 2007 July 29, 2007
Posted by erik in : security , 1 comment so farI’m about 24 hours away from making the yearly pilgramage to Blackhat in Las Vegas. This year is going to be a little different from last year. Yes SPI Dynamics has a booth and we are speaking again on the perils of the Internet but this time around we find ourselves in the middle of making a journey from SPI Dynamics to HP. For those of you who don’t know, HP announced their intention to purchase SPI Dynamics about 30 days ago. Over those past 30 days and well, many weeks before it was public it’s been an exciting journey. For me however it’s also one that started a little over 7 years ago when I learned of a company called Perfecto Technologies. I joined Perfecto shortly aftwards and the web application world has been my entire world since then. It’s now with a new excitement that I look around the corner on what will deffinitly be the start of an entierly new era. We find ourselves on a tipping point now and in the next 12 months this market will go farther than it has in the last 7 years.
So Blackhat is going to special this year, it’s a time to enjoy catching up with customers and friends in the community but also a chance to let loose just a little bit more than usual for me and the entire SPI crew, so if you see us, give us a shout and come join the fun.
See you in Vegas!
iPhone ACTIVATED! July 1, 2007
Posted by erik in : Technology , 1 comment so farWell my friends, 48 hours after starting this journey, I’m thrilled to report that at 9:02 PM (while I was on hold with AT&T business services no less) I received an e-mail from the iTunes store informing me that my iPhone activation was now complete. Wooo Hooo!!! The phone is happily syncing my music right now and I’ll shortly start playing with it. If I can pull myself away from it, I’ll even write up a review.
For now, I’m a happy camper.
Waiting for iPhone Activation
Posted by erik in : Technology , 2 comments
Apple, you have been my friend for so many years now, but I’m going crazy waiting for you or AT&T or both of you to activate my phone. Would it have killed you to at least let me play with the thing while I wait for mobile service to be activated? I’ve been sliding that “Slide for Emergency” button over and over again. Trying to get my iPhone touch screen fix. I feel like a hospital patient pushing the drug button every 5 min. for another shot of morphine. At one point I even considered dialing 911 just so I could experience using the phone.
Please Apple, if you are reading this, activate my phone!
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For those suffering through the same ordeal here is a rough chronology of my events (all times eastern):
Day 1:
~7:00 PM - Leave office with 2 friends and head to AT&T store
~7:15 PM - Arrive at store, discover line of about 30 people
~7:20 PM - AT&T guy is telling us there might not be enough to make it to us in line
~7:35 PM - Caleb pays guy in 3 place for his spot in line, cost 75 dollars. Reason: Just so he can torture me, Arggg!
~7:40 PM - Becca (my wife) arrives after calling me earlier when we just started waiting in line, we are about 20 people from the door now.
~7:42 PM - Becca can’t hold back any longer, opens purse where I am surprised to find a recently purchased iPhone! Becca rocks!!
~7:43 PM - I hold up iPhone to crowd and scream, everyone cheers, Caleb looks angry! Muhahaha!
~7:50 PM - Caleb goes in, comes out 5 min later with iPhone
~8:20 PM - AT&T rep comes and tells us (just 1 person away from the door) that they have run out of Phones, Ray (other friend who came with me) is not happy. We decide to go to the nearest Apple store and check it out.
~8:40 PM - We arrive at Perimeter Mall in Atlanta and head to the Apple store. Short line, tons of iPhones, why the heck didn’t we come here first? Oh right, Becca did, smart girl, should have followed her lead!
~8:50 PM - Becca buys another iPhone for herself, I get a Jawbone Bluetooth headset, Ray gets his iPhone, we all cheer, life is good. (We notice about 35-40 iPhone boxes remaining on our way out but people are coming in and buying them pretty fast)
~9:00 PM - Head to Caleb’s, watch him activate his phone, the process is amazing. Fast simple, straightforward. Exactly what you would expect from Apple. He is up and running in 5 min with a new phone number, wow!
~9:30 PM - Can’t take it any longer, the iPhone is pretty damn cool, must run home to activate mine at once, Becca and I leave for home.
~9:45 PM - Plug in iPhone, fire up iTunes (already upgraded to 7.3 earlier) all is looking well and then “Sorry your account is a business account or is not compatible with iPhone service” Gives me a number to call, which I dial
~9:50 PM - Brief hold time (10 min or so). I get an amazingly friendly AT&T service rep who tries to help but can’t “your account looks like a business account and I can’t pull that up in my system” gives me another number to call and apologizes many many times. The rep is so damn nice it’s scary, I think she must be an Apple rep in disguise. She could have told me that nuclear war was imminent and I would have left the call feeling good. I leave the call feeling good, even though my iPhone is still not activated.
10:00 PM - I call the other number I was given, I get a message “We are experiencing technical difficulties, please try again later” Click. Uh Oh…
~10:05 PM - We decide to rush over the the AT&T store, maybe they are still open, maybe they can work this out in person.
~10:15 PM - Arrive at AT&T store where we were just at 2 hours ago, 1 AT&T rep and a police officer hanging outside the store. They tell us they just closed. I mention that I thought I heard they were open until 12:00 tonight. AT&T rep starts going off “Don’t know why you would think that, we have had signs up for weeks, no we are not open until 12:00″. I’m a little put off but whatever. I explain my issue anyway she tells me that the systems are all clogged by all the activations and I just need to keep trying. I tell her about the conversation I had with AT&T and how they said it was an account issue. She denies all of that says it’s just the backlog because of so much demand. I tell her fine, what time do you open, I’ll be back tomorrow so we can look up my account and figure it out. She tells me they open at 9:00 AM but if I come back all she is going to do is give me a phone number to call, there is nothing she can do. I ask for the phone number and this is where I loose it: “I can’t give that to you, I’m off the clock” she says. WHAT? You are off the clock? You are standing in front of the store and you can’t give me a phone number? You are going to make me come back here tomorrow just so you can give me a phone number, what kind of nonsense is that? I’m yelling, she starts yelling telling me she can’t be bothered it’s not her problem, they don’t pay her to work past 10:00. Forget it I’m outta here. Cop tells me “Dude, why are you trippin? Don’t be like that” I tell them both it’s stupid that she can’t give me a phone number and we walk away. I suddenly remember why I hate phone companies,memories of amazingly bad customer service float into my head and it just pushes me over the edge, I’m now very pissed at AT&T, still hanging on to hope for Apple however.
~10:30 PM - Get home, try activation again, same result. Go on to other things, start reading work e-mails to drown out my frustration.
~11:00 PM - I call that number I was given before again, this time it works, in 8 min I’m talking to a rep. She explains that they just found out about this issue, that they are working on it, they don’t have a solution to it, they didn’t realize there were so many people who would have this problem and she promises to call me the moment they have it resolved. I give her my cell phone number, it’s the best place to reach me right?
~2:00 AM - Going to head for bed, decide to try activation one more time. This time something different happens! iTunes tells me that my account will have to be converted, that I may loose any special discounts I had since my line was a business line (which I had no idea it was) and that if I’m OK with all that, I should proceed. I’m good with that, so I carry forward, fill out some forms, enter my mac account and everything is looking good! My mind is racing, I’m anticipating taking my iPhone up stairs and playing with it until I fall asleep with it in my hands, woo hoo! Alas, it was not to be. “You activation requires additional time to complete”. I’m told I’ll receive an e-mail when it’s ready.
DAY 2:
~10:00 AM - I’m out of bed in a flash, I race downstairs. Could it be? Will my iPhone be activated? What excitement awaits me?
~10:00:03 AM - No e-mail, but I try activation again, no luck. Ugh…
~10:15 AM - I decide to play with my new Bluetooth headset, I go looking for my old phone. “Inactive SIM” is displayed on my cell phones screen. Uh oh…wait, didn’t I ask them to call me on that number when they fix the system? Crap!
~10:25 AM - I call AT&T, after a brief hold time I speak to another super nice person. She explains that my account is now showing up in the right system, that all looks correct and that she can see that there is one final step that needs to be completed. She explains that this final step is taking a super long time, about 11 hours, and that around 1:00 PM things should be taken care of. She apologizes a ton, tinkers with my account and re-enters my order which she says will sometime make things go faster and we end the call. Arggg! 1:00 PM? I do the only thing I can do - actually get some work done around the house like I’m supposed to this weekend. Sigh.
~1:00 PM - No e-mail, try to activate again, same response. Ugh.
~3:32 PM - I receive an e-mail from do_not_reply@att.com, my order is being processed, here is your order number, we will send you another e-mail soon explaining how to activate. Could this be it?! I’m so close!
~6:50 PM - We are heading out to dinner with friends, I check one last time before we leave. Still no service, still a dead cell phone and no activation instructions.
~11:00 PM - We come home, I zip downstairs. No e-mail, no working phone, iTunes still says the same things when I try to activate. Ugh!
~1:00 AM - One last check before bed, no luck.
DAY 3:
~10:00 AM - Repeat of day 2, rush downstairs, no e-mail, no luck, I’m thinking of crying
~11:00 AM - I call AT&T, short hold time, very friendly person again, this time I’m told that the process they thought was taking 11 hours, is now taking even longer and that they honestly don’t know anymore how much time it will take. She explains they are being crushed under the load of new activations. I suggest that this must be a good thing overall for AT&T, I hear nervous laughter. Hmmm…
~3:00 PM - I’m cruising the message boards, looks like a lot of people are having this problem, no phone service, no activation, trapped in limbo. I feel good to know I’m not alone, but not sure I like knowing that there are so many people out there with the same issue. I selfishly wonder what my place in line is regarding all these other people, oh the humanity! I post a brief synopsis of my experience thus far on David Pogue’s blog on New York Times and then I decide to blog about my experience on my own blog.
~4:09 PM - Still waiting…help…
—UPDATE—
~7:07 PM - Still no activation. Called AT&T, asked them if it’s normal for me to be 2 days without service now, she said yes! One interesting thing however, she told me to remove the SIM card from my iPhone and place it in my old phone which I did. I now have a working cell phone (yea!), just not an iPhone. I did get some funky text messages however, one looked like some programing codes which I assume were meant for my iPhone. Hope those were not important…yikes…
—UPDATE—
~8:41 PM - Still no activation. I decided to put the SIM card back in my iPhone, now there is a new message on the phone “Insert an unlocked and valid SIM to activate the iPhone”. Somehow putting the SIM in my other phone has changed something. Not sure if this is good or bad. Hopefully the advice I received from that last AT&T rep isn’t going to ruin my chances of getting this thing activated anytime soon…
–UPDATE–
~9:02 PM - Got my activation e-mail! After over 48 hours, I’m finally ACTIVATED!