Podcasting What Geeks Really Want To Hear

http://virt-dimension.sourceforge.net/

Even though there isn’t any active development on this (last update: 2005-07-09), this is still the best virtual desktop manager I’ve found for Windows. A couple quirks, but so far I’m happy with it. It lets me set up the same keys I use on Mac/Solaris for virtual desktop switching, will switch backgrounds, and even has a text popup of the desktop name when you switch. Its missing some features, but it covers the basics, which is good enough for me.

You have got to be fucking kidding me.

Toshiba has developed a new class of micro size Nuclear Reactors that is designed to power individual apartment buildings or city blocks. The new reactor, which is only 20 feet by 6 feet…can last for up to 40 years, producing electricity for only 5 cents per kilowatt hour, about half the cost of grid energy.

Security boffins unveil BitUnlocker

Word arrives from The Electronic Frontier Foundation that a crack team of researchers – including the Foundation’s own Seth Schoen – have discovered a gaping security flaw in everyday disk encryption technologies, including Microsoft’s BitLocker as well as TrueCrypt, dm-crypt, and Apple’s FileVault.

Granted, it’s possible, but it involves accessing the key from memory during a rather short window.

I came across this a while ago, and thought I’d share: every chapter of The Handbook of Applied Cryptography (regarded as “the standard reference work in technical cryptography”) is now available online for free.
Mmmmmm… math.

From: TrueCrypt – Free Open-Source On-The-Fly Disk Encryption Software for Windows XP/2000 and Linux – News

We are pleased to announce that TrueCrypt 5.0 has been released. Among the new features are the ability to encrypt a system partition or entire system drive (i.e. a drive where Windows is installed) with pre-boot authentication, pipelined operations increasing read/write speed by up to 100%, Mac OS X version, graphical interface for the Linux version, XTS mode, SHA-512, and more.

We use truecrypt at my new job to encrypt our off-site backups (which are portable drives located on-site briefly during backup then taken off-site again). It seems to work fairly well and removes the “what if” factor of having the backup stolen from my apartment.

I’ve been using a mix of TrueCrypt and encrypted DMG images on my flash drives to have portable personal data (and other secure shit). Now, I can get rid of the encrypted DMGs and not worry about having to have access to a Mac in order to read them.

GUIs for the 3 major OSes and full-HD encryption for Windows?  Rock on, TrueCrypt, rock on.