How I hacked my own life
Inspired by Evan Ratliff's outstanding article, Vanish, in which he tried to hide from an international crew of internet detectives for 30 days, I decided to investigate just how much I could discover about myself using only the free array of services that the web has to offer.
The quest begins ..
I allowed myself only one starting point: my name. My name which is, unfortunately in the Google age, rather unique. Googling myself turns up my LinkedIn account at the top of the pile. In less than 30 seconds we have discovered what I do for a living, where I work and where and when I went to university. So far so good but what about getting some really useful information like my age? Well I don't list my age on LinkedIn but it isn't too hard to figure out from the dates of my education although, without an actual birth date, this information is probably only marginally useful.
So, back to Google and it appears that I've got 2 Twitter accounts. One is locked down (as is the cache) but the account name seems pretty unique and this hunch is proved correct when a bit of Googling brings you to a related website and a quick WHOIS gleefully spits out my home address.
Now I have my name, year of birth, place of employment and home address. Now, apart from my address, I'm not that worried about that information being out there on the web because, really, it seems like the kind of stuff that you could get your hands on in real life without too much effort.
But then I have a terrible thought: I've so far assumed that the key bit of information that was keeping me safe was my birthday. I've always been careful to obscure it from public facing sites, even choosing to fill in a false one on occasion (a move that permanently locked me out of my Flickr account when I forgot my password) but I start to get a sinking feeling that I might have actually tweeted about my birthday. I slavishly scan through my tweets and, sure enough, there it is: a big, flashing, publicly available neon sign that says 'THIS IS MY BIRTHDAY'.
Oh dear. Life = well and truly hacked.
The problem with privacy
Although not as true as it always was, for a long time websites with logins relied on your birthday as the key piece of identifying information that differentiated you from an impostor. Before social media kicked off it was a fairly reliable assumption that only you and a handful of friends and family would know your birthday and enough about you to answer any other security questions. Now that social media has grown up it is relatively simple to find identifying information about people; anyone who picked 'what is the name of your pet' for their security question could probably do with an urgent search through their social media presences to see if they've ever let it slip (handy hint: you have).
Now that we're living our lives online with more and more transparency as well as experiencing more incentives and reminders to share what we're doing, we should revamp the way we protect our online identities. Security achieved through 'secret' personal information is just a comforting daydream in the modern media age. For those of us that spend our lives on the web it is time to start hacking ourselves and seeing just what we discover.
The engineer Claude Shannon famously said of security design that you should assume that "the enemy knows the system". Well, now the system is you and you need to find a better way to protect it.
Next week I'll be sharing my tips on improving data security that I learnt as a result of researching this article. Subscribe via RSS to make sure that you don't miss it.
Lego augmented reality kiosk is AR at its best
Lego, and augmented reality company Metaio, have developed an augmented reality kiosk that will show you an animation of your whatever Lego contraption you wave in front of it. And of course it's better than an animation because it's an animation superimposed in the real world.
Initially this is just going to sell a boat load of Lego but the future applications of this are staggering as a promotional tool. What if Lego develop an app that allows you to overlay Lego sets and pieces over a base in your living room? You can glimpse your Lego creation before you even take the bricks out of the box.
Kids and adults will be enthralled by this kiosk and it is a perfect example of a company doing augmented reality right: the customers love it, the press love it and it'll awaken the imagination of a new generation of tech-savvy Lego block builders.
Music Tech Round Up: April 2009
This article was published in the April 2009 issue of o2 Venue magazine.
Sennheiser remaster an old classic
No doubt spurred on by Apple's release of their own canal earphones Sennheiser have re-vamped and re-issued their best selling CX 300 earphones. The original CX 300's were considered by many to be the premier upgrade choice from the iPod's packaged earbuds and Sennheiser claim the CX 300-II's will be even better with 'improved bass, greater clarity, improved dynamics and more finely balanced sound'.
Weighing in at just 4 grams these earphones are perfect for commuters; not only because of their miniscule weight but also due to their emphasis on blocking outside noise by completely plugging your ear. As an added bonus for long journeys the earphones have been designed with very high efficiency in mind to help reduce the drain on your MP3 player's battery life.
The Sennheiser CX 300-II earphones are available in black, white, silver, red and pink and come with a protective pouch and 3 different sizes of buds to help keep the earphones in place.
Sennheiser CX 300-II earphones, around £40
Take your dream studio on the road
The all-in-one studio is a musician's dream that has only begun to be realized in the last few years and the release of Abelton Live 8 represents a significant leap towards such a mighty software solution. Whether producing tracks using Live's built-in synths or recording an instrument directly Ableton boasts a suite of tools ready to unleash your musical creations on the world.
Core to the Live philosophy is the 'Session View' mode that presents the user with a large grid of cells that can hold anything from a drum beat to a piano sample. These cells can be triggered at any time in any order; emulating the feel of using multiple pieces of MIDI hardware while keeping it all on one screen. This is a god send to performing musicians who wish there was an easier way of launching samples without poking at a mutitude of boxes replete with banks of flashing LEDs and poorly marked switches. Those not wishing to take their musical inventions on tour will also be more than satisfied with Live 8's 'Arrangement View' that sets the elements of a track out in a more traditional timeline view.
A workhorse of a program like Ableton Live 8 has too many features to mention but some of the additions to it's previous incarnation are particularly exciting. Live 8 features a revamped groove engine which allows you to apply groove patterns in real time, a looper for sound-on-sound techniques that function without hardware limitations, a new warping engine for more accurate audio slicing and brand new effects including overdrive, a frequency limiter and the ever popular vocoder.
If you're looking for a bells and whistles software studio you can't go far wrong with Ableton Live 8 and its impressive roster of satisfied customers that include Daft Punk, Nine Inch Nails and Pete Townshend.
Ableton Live 8, from $700
Low-budget rocking from ex-Marshall men
It used to be that high gain tube amps hit their sweet spot for volume long after you'd been lynched by your neighbours so when a team of ex-Marshall Amp employees promised to develop a tube amp that sounded just as sweet at a perfectly respectable bedroom level of 5 Watts, the guitar world began to take notice.
Powered by 10" Celestion speakers the Blackstar HT-5 comes in 3 flavours: a combo, a mini stack and a head for those who want to use one of their existing speaker cabinets. All 3 interpretations offer pretty much the same features including the much talked about 'Infinite Shape Feature' or ISF. This allows unique customization of the amp's tone control network which lets you dial in a boosted-mids American tone, a more 'woody' British sound or anything in between.
For the low price you'd be forgiven for thinking that the Blackstar HT-5's feature list ended at the ISF feature. However, the Blackstar boys also found the cash to include a 3-band EQ, seperate volume controls for the clean and distorted channels and an FX loop so you can use your effects pedal collection to modify the HT-5's sound even further.
Having won several accolades for this amp, including Guitarist Magazine's 'Guitarist Choice' award, there's never been a better time to jump on the HT-5's luscious sounding bandwagon before every man and his slightly deaf dog starts to want one.
Blackstar HT-5, from £299
Express yourself with the new Sony Ericsson W508
Even though some might think that the iPhone has won the war when it comes to music phones Sony Ericsson are hoping to create some serious competition with their newest phone in the popular Walkman series of handsets. The W508 features a unique 'Shake and Gesture' system that allows you to become your own DJ by simply giving your phone a brief shake. This interactive system that recognizes movement can be used to switch tracks, alter volume or turn an alarm off with a swipe of your hand. Ideal for those who just can't seem to find the snooze button in the morning.
Personalization is the key to the W508 and as such it comes with the option to switch between eight different coloured fascias. The phone's music system also embraces its user's individuality with Sony Ericsson's SensMe technology which analyses the mood of a song and groups it into a playlist with other songs with a similar feel. The end result is personal playlists tuned perfectly for anything from a lazy summer afternoon to the build-up to a big night out.
A 3.2 megapixel camera and a 1GB M2 card complete this package which is ideal for anyone who wants to bring their own particular style to their music and their phone.
Sony Ericsson, price TBA
Bang & Olufsen broadcast from the future
The futuristic Beosound 5 is a single panel jukebox that looks like it has come straight from the set of a high budget sci-fi film. It's black and silver trimmings contain an impressive screen and a touch wheel combination. The physical movements of the aluminium selection wheel are perfectly in sync with the screen which displays the music you're browsing in a variety of exciting colour schemes. The Beosound 5 plays tunes from a hidden black box designed to hold up to 500 GB of your music and act as a streaming device for countless internet radio stations.
The killer feature of this Bang & Olufsen system is its intelligent MOTS (More Of The Same) system which profiles your favourite music by it's rhythm and syncopation and creates a personalized musical journey for you. This masterpiece of sonic engineering is a must-try and, if you can afford it, a must-buy too.
Bang & Olufsen, price TBA
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About
Tom Hubbard-Green is the E-marketing Executive at Alzheimer's Society and a freelance technology journalist.
His articles have been published in a variety of magazines and industry publications including Figaro Digital, O2 Venue magazine and City magazine.
Top 5 tips for protecting your data online (and getting an imaginary pet dog)
5. Use your imagination
Image: R Philipson (Flickr)
Lots of sites are still using bad security questions and it's an easy way to get your account swiped. Common questions like 'what is the name of your pet?' and 'what is your mother's maiden name?' are actually pretty easy to get the answers to. Friends with your mum on a social network or like to tweet about your cat? Yeah, you're busted.
The way to get around this is simply to use your imagination. I always pick the 'what is the name of your pet?' question because I don't actually have a pet but I do have an imaginary dog. Only I know his name and since he's not real he never appears in photos on Facebook or does something cute I need share on Twitter. He is my imaginary password recovery dog and you shouldn't wait until Christmas to get one.
4. Use KeePass and go crazy with the long passwords
If you don't have an imagination or you do and your imaginary dog is called "password" you can use the program KeePass to securely hold a list of passwords and even generate random ones for you. KeePass has one master password which allows you to copy and paste your other passwords into your browser. This way you only need to remember one password so you can make the others as complicated and as unhackable as you want.
3. Don't let your online accounts go solo
Where possible, always link a secondary email address to an account. Gmail lets you do it and it's a great idea. Even if your password gets compromised it can be possible to get your account back this way. And since another password secured account is safer than a security question you're better off having it this way. Just don't have the same password for your primary and secondary email addresses.
2. The password is dead! Long live the passphrase!
A password (emphasis on 'word') can be brute forced especially if your password is a word in the dictionary. Far more difficult to get at are passwords that are strings of words put together - passphrases. A string of random words is tricky to remember but if you pick a sentence it's much easier to recall. "ThisIsMyExcellentWorkPassword" with some numbers and punctuation in it is actually a pretty good password.
1. Hack yourself
My recent article, 'How I hacked my own life', showed that there is a staggering array of information available about you on the internet. I found pretty much everything I needed in order to give someone a good shot at cracking open some of my online events.
Only by actively trying to hack your accounts can you really be sure how it easy it is to get into them and only by looking through your public social media presences can you know what information you've divulged that might be used to crack open your online world.
Next week I lay into the 3 most irritating ads of 2009. Subscribe via RSS to make sure that you don't miss out.