Life After Coffee

Modern electronic locks are getting more complicated but it’s amazing how vulnerable they can be. The video below shows how a high end electronic lock can be bypassed with a combination of induction and magnetic force.

If you’re not familiar with this type of locks it may not be clear, but the lock is actually being unlocked by spinning a disc with embedded magnets near the motor that actuates the lock. Barry at blackbag offers a far more detailed explanation of the device.

This is a good reminder that if a lock can be opened then it can be picked. The manufacturer will undoubtedly correct this vulnerability but there will always be another way to get in.

via Zach

Why do content owners and distributors continue to make consumers jump through hoops to buy their content? Are they really protecting their content or just pushing people to illegal sources? My article Content Owners Make a Hash of Online Distribution takes a quick look at the current status of online content distribution.

Online content distribution has exploded over the past 10 years, but the entertainment industry has been slow to embrace this new means of doing business. Even now, as the music industry is finally starting to adopt the new model, they continue to apply artificial restrictions to content distribution, making it harder for people to purchase and use their content legitimately.

Check out the full article on Internet Evolution.

With gas prices skyrocketing and the temperature not far behind (at least here in New England) there is always talk about how to save money on gas. One topic which seems to have solidly hit the mainstream lately is the notion that you can save money by buying your gas when it’s cold. This has herds of people buying their gas on cold days or in the wee hours, but is it worth it? Well, consider the following:

Gasoline, like most things, does expand when it’s warm. According to this study performed by a House committee last year the ratio is around 0.069% per degree Fahrenheit. That means if you are paying $3.75 per gallon you may be paying a full 7.7625 cents more per gallon for gas at 90 degree than you would at 60 degrees. That adds up to about 93 cents on a 12 gallon fill up if the gas is a full 30 degrees warmer.

Now, before you run off in the middle of the night to save your scant dollar on a fill up, consider this: Gas is stored in very large tanks, and often under ground. Next time you’re filling up on a warm day feel the temperature of the hose or the metal parts of the nozzle… You’ll probably find that they’re much cooler than the ambient temperature, so the swing in the temperature of gas will vary much less than the temperature of the air.

So for my money, instead of getting up early and wasting gas with a special trip to the station, consider combining some errands, carpooling, or slowing down a couple MPH on the highway. These changes will not only save you money, but also save gas and reduce emissions.

Recently I have been asked to become a contributor to the Internet Evolution blog. My first article there, Making Your Online Presence Speak for You discusses how things like forum contributions, an online resume and a personal website (like this one) can have act as an extension of your resume.

In a Web 2.0 era where a prospective employer is more likely to Google your name than to check your references, what is your online presence saying about you?

A surprising number of people still seem to fall into one of two categories when it comes to posting their profiles online: they either indiscriminately post everything about their lives, blissfully ignorant of how it may affect them in the future, or they avoid putting their name on anything online, blissfully ignorant of how an online presence could help them. If you fall into either of these categories it may be time for a change.

Check out the full article on www.internetevolution.com and join in the great discussion on the topic.

Since the contents of variables will, well, vary it is often useful to be able to make decisions based on them. Strings and numbers can be easily compared to explicit values or other variables. Here is a simple example:

$ i=107
$ if [ $i -gt 100 ]
> then
> echo “Wow, i got all the way up to $i”
> else
> echo “i is only up to $i”
> fi
Wow, i got all the way up to 107
$ i=22
$ if [ $i -gt 100 ]
> then
> echo “Wow, i got all the way up to $i”
> else
> echo “i is only up to $i”
> fi
i is only up to 22

Here we see a simple if statement. When executed the expression within the brackets is evaluated to either true or false. If the expression is found to be true the commands after the then will be executed, otherwise the commands after the else are executed.

The expression shown here is the greater than expression (>). The symbols we typically use for greater than and less than have specific significance in the UNIX shell, so to compare values we use -gt for greater than and -lt for less than. Comparisons can also be made between strings of text. More information about comparing text and numbers can be found in my book.

For more information like this check out my book Oracle Shell Scripting, only $34.95 from Rampant TechPress.

Buy it now!