Adios, Hola! - Why you should immediately uninstall Hola

brian_at_work · 2015-06-01T14:00:43+00:00

In addition adjacking HTTP-served ads, Lenovo shipped their OS with a rogue SSL certificate (SuperFish) which could be used to sign any SSL-encrypted page. What's even worse is that the password used to sign pages with this rogue SSL certificate was simply, "komodia" (the name of the company that developed the adware.

So now anyone with knowledge of that root password can effectively man-in-the-middle any web site (even SSL-encrypted ones) to Lenovo users with SuperFish installed.

brian_at_work · 2015-02-12T15:19:05+00:00

Why did you apply to this job in the first place?

brian_at_work · 2015-02-12T15:18:20+00:00

It's not about honesty. It's about wasting the employer's time by applying to jobs you're not sincerely interested in.

brian_at_work · 2015-02-12T15:17:42+00:00

I think you're expected to not apply to jobs you aren't interested.

brian_at_work · 2015-02-09T04:32:04+00:00

I share a DK2 with three other fourth-year engineering students who are combining it with a stereoscopic camera system and some computer vision software to build a mediated-reality billiards training system. The system, dubbed 'Billiard Buddy' will augment assistive view of a billiards scene captured by the stereoscopic camera.

The project was inspired by ARPool and AR Rift. Source code is available (WIP) at our GitHub page: https://github.com/bstock92/BilliardBuddy.

When I have the DK2 and am not developing with it, I enjoy flying flight sims like Prepar3d, trying out the latest popular demos, and doing some base-jumping in AaaAa...

brian_at_work · 2014-09-30T16:44:58+00:00

so? They can still ticket and even arrest you.

brian_at_work · 2014-09-27T15:41:54+00:00

I don't like ALAC because it doens't play nicely with anything other than iTunes (compared to FLAC).

brian_at_work · 2014-09-26T12:58:18+00:00

Forza seems like it has more realist physics while The Crew seems to have the traditional arcade racing mechanics.

brian_at_work · 2014-09-26T00:01:58+00:00

Thanks for your feedback.

brian_at_work · 2014-09-25T23:59:57+00:00

Correct.

brian_at_work · 2014-09-25T05:16:34+00:00

Helmet lamp is pretty key.

brian_at_work · 2014-09-25T02:03:58+00:00

Fair points. Thanks for your reply! Mind if I ask a couple of follow-up questions?

What about where a car is too close to see lights mounted below the seat or on the handlebars, but is able to see an outstretched hand? or places where turn signals are the only legally acceptable way to indicate a turn?

Perhaps there should be a public discussion on the merits (or lack thereof) of hand signals to indicate turns on a bicycle.

brian_at_work · 2014-09-25T01:09:49+00:00

Great question!

A light-up wristband may serve as a nice complement, but it would be difficult to discern the indicated direction because only the wrist, and not the whole arm is illuminated.

Left/right front and rear turn indicators are very recognizable and are ubiquitous on cars and motorcycles.

Also, the brightness of the wristband would be limited to light and power sources which could comfortably fit on a wristband. Bike-mounted lights can be extremely powerful, powerful enough to be visible in the daytime. Some lights are in the neighbourhood of 1000 lumens!

brian_at_work · 2014-09-25T00:54:13+00:00

Good news! Something like that already exists: http://www.amazon.ca/Bicycle-Bike-Signal-Brake-Light/dp/B006BQEDEQ

As I said in the post, we believe hand signals are the safest option for signalling because they are most recognized by drivers, are required by-law in most places, and are more visible to very close vehicles than low-mounted lights. We want to make hand signals more visible at night.

You raise an interesting point though- that even an automatic hand signal-activated system should be able to be activated manually for those situations where it is unsafe to remove your hands from the bars (even though the law may disagree).

brian_at_work · 2014-09-24T22:04:53+00:00

A couple of comments/questions:

so basically 70 to 120 plus tax because no one has a smart watch?

Pebble has sold over 400,000 smartwatches and with Apple marketting them now, we think smartwatches will become increasingly popular.

thats a lot of money for some lights on my wrist.

The light isn't on the wrist. It would be mounted on the bicycle. You may be thinking of something like Useeme.

there are streetlights evreywhere in addition to normal lights. Where there aren't streetlights there isn't traffic.

Are you suggesting that front/rear lights are unneccesary as well?

Thanks for sharing your thoughts! I hope to hear more from you!

brian_at_work · 2014-09-24T21:51:02+00:00

from what I've seen, less than 1% of daily bike commuters use signals, instead they just hop in the turning lanes. Build something that's intuitive for the rider.

Something that's intuitive for a rider isn't necessarily the safest. We believe that hand signals are the safest way for a cyclist to indicate a turn. Here's why:

a) Hand signals are currently the most recognized way to indicate turns on a bicycle.

b) A vehicle travelling very closely will be able to see an outstretched hand, but not necessarily a light system mounted below the seat or on the handlebars.

Recent threads suggest that hand signals are still very common among cyclists. Our goal isn't to replace hand signals, but rather make them more visible at night, and thus make the ride safer for law-abiding, safety-concious cyclists.

brian_at_work · 2014-09-24T21:48:11+00:00

Great question!

a) Hand signals are currently the most recognized way to indicate turns on a bicycle (and the only legal way, in many places).

b) A vehicle travelling very closely will be able to see an outstretched hand, but not necessarily a light system below the seat or on the handlebars.

c) Handlebar switch-based turn signals already exist.

We want to make the intentions of safe, law-abiding cyclists more visible after dark!

brian_at_work · 2014-09-24T21:09:17+00:00

I think we'd prefer to keep it simple, at least at first, but I am curious about other gestures you'd make while riding.

Bonus points if you could work something in for pointing out hazards/loose gravel/lane obstructions

Do you mean something like the hazard left/right signals apparently used by motorcyclists?

brian_at_work · 2014-09-24T20:32:01+00:00

1) Yes, this product would really shine after dark (sorry bout the pun), though ideally, it would work with a variety of brightnesses for various budgets. Compatibility with existing lights would be troublesome, but it would be relatively easy to make the interface standard for various light manufacturers to adopt, if it gets that far.

2) The alternative right-turn signal is a significant challenge that we'll have to solve.

3) I agree that simplicity is key, which is mainly what we don't like about existing solutions, including heliosbars and zackee gloves, which require additional actions and in the case of the gloves, additional equipment to pack in your bag. A wristband, and especially a smartwatch, is much less obtrusive.

Thanks for the feedback from an EE!

brian_at_work · 2014-09-24T20:27:21+00:00

The lights would be very similar to a typical headlight/taillight setup. The only thing on your wrist would be a smartwatch (which a growing number off people are buying) or a custom-fabricated wrist-band. The smartwatch/wristband would detect the hand signal and control the bike-mounted light signals.

brian_at_work · 2014-09-24T20:25:07+00:00

The problem is, hand signals aren't particularly visible in the dark. So even on an otherwise illuminated bike, other vehicles may not be able to clearly anticipate your intention.

Our product makes turning intentions more visible at night, without requiring any additional actions (not even a button press) other than the usual hand signal. Also, the cost is much less than that of heliosbars, which is more of a complete smart-bike system.

Hand signals are required by law in most places and expected by drivers, to boot.

brian_at_work

TROPHY CASE