Telekinesis

requirement 1: brain interface
requirement 2: nano machines that can fly and work together to lift things thousands of times their size

In 40 years, I WILL move things with my mind.

27 Oct 06 | +Permalink+ | Comments (1)

IM threads (concept)

You've been there- you're talking to someone about multiple things at once and having trouble keeping track of the topics. Enter IM threads. A way to physically separate the different things you're talking to someone about so you don't lose track and forget about them.

I'm using the term "threads" in the sense of threads in a forum. A different thread for each topic.

Implementation:

  • Plug-ins for Gaim and Adium and ______
  • A different tab for each thread? Might get messy...
  • Backwords compatible by design..

    Normal client view:

    "(2:01 PM) marv: [halloween] what are you going to be for halloween?"
    "(2:04 PM) marv: [project] the four ducks need to be emphasized more."
    "(2:05 PM) elephantjones: [project] why?"
    "(2:05 PM) elephantjones: [halloween] I dunno"

    Every "halloween" message would be in the same tab, or be color coded, or ___
    Every "project" message would be in a different tab, or different color, or ____

    IM threads view:

    [[halloween]]
    "(2:01 PM) marv: what are you going to be for halloween?"
    "(2:05 PM) elephantjones: I dunno"

    [[project]]
    "(2:04 PM) marv: the four ducks need to be emphasized more."
    "(2:05 PM) elephantjones: why?"


    The beauty of this method of implementation is that it can be manually typed by someone without the proper plug-in. Thus the backwards compatibility.

    17 Oct 06 | +Permalink+ | Comments (3)

    Apple encrypts their free artwork

    As of the latest iTMS update, Apple is sending encrypted copies of their artwork to iTunes when you select "Get Album Artwork". The only people who probably noticed anything happened were those who used means other than iTunes 7 to get free artwork from Apple. This seems to only apply to albums released after the October 3, 2006 iTMS update.

    A path to a cover that used to look like this:

    http://a1.phobos.apple.com/r10/Music/38/39/68/
    mzi.xmzzmbsl.600x600-100.jpg?downloadKey2=1160626777_b69d6ec64a43566af002c1ad7e09c9fd

    now looks like this:

    http://a1.phobos.apple.com/r10/Music/38/39/68/
    mzi.xmzzmbsl.
    enc.jpg?downloadKey2=1160626777_b69d6ec64a43566af002c1ad7e09c9fd

    After downloading the encrypted artwork, it appears that iTunes 7 decodes the image and saves it as usual to an ITC file, unencrypted. What method of encoding is used, I do not yet know.

    [update]
    Here are test files if anyone wants to join me in exploring this further.

    A-encr.jpg - An encrypted cover
    MD5: A724F4A5FCB1094C3F5C218BAAA83624

    B-decr.itc - The cover after iTunes has decoded it and made it into a .ITC
    MD5: 7D8F9C20D3D32678F406E7DDF7F76B54

    C-decr.jpg - The cover changed to a JPG from the unencrypted ITC using this method
    MD5: AAF11FCB75FF930D7367D74EF166ADCA

    The encrypted image is 20 bytes larger than the normal image.

    [update 2 - 10/6]
    Here is another example cover.

    ex2-encr.jpg - Encrypted
    MD5: 458FCE8A1EBE960C7583EA6A8FD6AF3B

    ex2-decr.jpg - Decrypted
    MD5: 998AFC20DAF6A50784447A54D42F2C34

    [update 3 - 10/17]
    A comment reminded me of a finding I forgot to share.

    Any two people's encrypted copies of the same cover will be identical. An encrypted copy of cover X will always be Y no matter who downloads it. To test this, have a friend download an encrypted cover and compare it to your copy of the same encrypted cover. The MD5 hashes should be identical.

    5 Oct 06 | +Permalink+ | Comments (36)