Map of Life. Interactive map based on Google Maps that can display the distribution of animal species.
Archive 21. May 2012
Matasano Security - Matasano Web Security Assessments for Enterprises. Analysis of cryptography in JavaScript. Summary: Cryptography in JavaScript is usually a bad idea, as the JavaScript is loaded from an untrusted source or untrusted network (if you trusted it, cryptography would hardly be necessary) and therefore a chicken-and-egg problem exists. Regarding the previous 0bin project: cryptography was not implemented to secure the user, but to secure the 0bin operator - it is therefore relatively irrelevant to the operator whether users are secure or not, it is only about "plausible deniability" for the operator. The situation is different, however, when a JavaScript encryption is implemented instead of using SSL.
sametmax/0bin. Interesting approach to circumvent the problems of pastebin hosting. With pastebin-like sites, the problem is that users post all kinds of content and the server operator can quickly be held liable. 0bin tries to shift this problem so that the operator cannot know what is in the pastebins, as they are stored encrypted and the encryption is done by the client via JavaScript. This works, of course, only if the judges also accept that the server operator cannot know what is going on - and not, for example, argue that he should then just install different pastebin software where he can know and still hold him responsible. Certainly an interesting approach, especially the idea of putting the key for the encryption in the hash of the URL (i.e., the part after the # in the address) and thus having a functioning URL, but still not providing the server with the key (since the hash of a URL is only used by the client and not communicated to the server).
Panasonic 12-35mm f/2.8 X lens officially announced!. Ok, the lens looks really good now - I think I might be tempted. Because a brighter zoom with a bit more wide-angle could be very good for the GH1.