Welcome to my digital home! There are lots of articles you might find helpful buried in this site on topics such as modifying an Alfa Romeo 159, rebuilding a Lotus 7 (Robin Hood 2B), not to mention a ton of stuff on technology in general. It’s all here somewhere, so use the search function or navigate using the menu structure. if you want to talk, reach out via the contact function, I usually do answer!
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LiveMixesA fresh mix for you all – Happy New Year!
Track List:
Albin Myers – Time Like These
Robbie Rivera – New Direction
Oliver Twizt – Yo’re Not Alone
John Dahlback – More than I Wanted
Chris Lake – If You Knew
Doman & Gooding Feat Dru & Lincoln – Runnin
Guetta Angello Gerraud Ingrosso Willis – Everytime We Touch
Steve Angello & Laifdback Luke Feat Robin S – Show Me Love
Planet Funk – Lemonade
Kurd Maverick – Blue Monday
Nari & Milani Feat Max C – Disco Nuff
Kevin Bryant – Who You Wanna Be
Empire of the Sun – Walking on a Dream
https://jabawoki.com/wp-content/mp3/Jabawoki_Sunny_Side_Up_25012010.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadRelated Images: [...]
Alfa 159 / ElectronicsAs part of my quest to replace every single bulb in my Alfa with an LED equivalent, I noticed that the high level brake light utilised small bulbs and not LEDs (strange I know, but that’s Alfa for you!). So me being me, I took it apart and found that it would be very easy to replace the bulbs with LEDs whcih was a result. Of course, this wasn’t enough so I thought, If I had 10 LEDs what could I do with them 🙂
Enter the ATMega328 MCU, or as you may know it, the Arduino 🙂
The ATMega328 has 14 Digital Pins, 6 of which are PWM and an additional 6 x analogue inputs, problem is I needed 10 x PWM pins. The best option in this case is to use a shift register such as a 595 to extend your pins, but as I didn’t have one to hand, I decided to do it the hard way. There is a software library for the arduino SDK called : SoftPWM.h which lets you simulate PWM on any pin, which is quite useful to limit the hardware used and make better use of the processing power of the chip. So 4 hours of “figuring it out” yielded this result:
The basic functional requirement was simple:
When the brake pedal is pressed illuminate as normal
If the pedal is pressed for more than 5 seconds get your cylon on 🙂
You can download the sketch from the downloads section if you want to play with it. There are lots of arduino cyclon sketches around, but most / all of them are 6 LED’s or less due to the hardware PWM limitation, so this one lets you have up to 14 LEDs without moving into shift register world. and the schematic is below for your information:
This is isn’t the finished product btw, juts a learning experience on the way. I have some high powered LED’s on the way from China, and some shift registers in the post, as the main issue with doing this in software is speed and I need some more speed for some additional functions 🙂
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InfoSecI was recently asked to comment on the new Chip & Pin attack created by Prof Ross Anderson from Cambridge University. In my original comment released to the press I make an assertion in relation to a change in process that “breaks the circuit” of this attack – see below:
Jay Abbott, director in charge of Threat & Vulnerability Management, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC), said:“Essentially, what the scientists have come up with is a very effective and simple way of exploiting weaknesses in the system.
However, it is important to bear in mind that the fraud requires a very specific scenario to become effective.
“A simple process change by the retailer of asking for the card holder to hand over the card would break the circuit, although this isn’t always possible as sometimes the card reader is fixed to a point on the other side of the counter.
“At present, the customer is accountable for the fraud as banks argue that PIN verified transactions are secure. Given this attack demonstrates a clear method of bypassing the PIN system, this assertion by the banks stands on shakier ground.”
With the original comment came a caveat, which as you would normally expect, was not quoted by the media, this caveat was that the process change suggested brought with it the opportunity for cards to be skimmed, which was in fact one of the original reasons behind the Chip & Pin changes. In fact, the change works in the favour of the retailer rather than the consumer, however, before you hang me, allow me to demonstrate the rationale behind this.
Consider first that Chip & Pin is in fact “two factor” authentication, which anyone in the security business will explain is more secure than “one factor” authentication. The first factor is the card itself or the “chip” in this instance, the second factor is the “Pin” which in this context operates as a pass code. Given both elements are authenticators in their own right, both are required, and as such any attack must include them both. The attack designed by Prof Ross Anderson targets the Pin aspect of the authentication, and relies on the original card accessed through a series of technology components that have to be connected together in some way. The method shown in this attack makes use of concealment to hide these components on the person of the attacker, and relies on a custom built “attack” card with wires hidden up the sleeve of the attacker, back to the other components involved. The obvious way to therefore detect and prevent this attack at the retailer is by separating the card from the attacker, thus showing the wires and revealing the ruse.
The cloning of cards must be treated separately as the current methods of cloning (that I am aware of at this point in time) only create “yes cards” which would not work in this attack scenario as they are not true copies and would be detected by the PoS equipment as fraudulent. As I understand it, there is no economically viable way of cloning Chip & PIN Cards effectively at this time. Any cloning would still focus on the magnetic stripe data, which can be easily cloned, but is not accepted by the retailers (usually) when a Chip & PIN card is presented. This of course is at the discretion of the retailer and out of the control of the consumer or the banks.
This brings us to the counter argument, specifically in relation to the increased risk of your card getting skimmed/cloned by the retailer when you hand it over. Een if it were viable to clone the chip cards, given that a card skimmed by a retailer would typically not get the pin as well (this of course is not always the case), using the now cloned card would have to make use of Prof Ross Anderson’s attack method, which if the aforementioned process change was implemented, would not work, so in effect increasing the risk of cloning, but decreasing the risk of a successful attack using the cloned card and “breaking the circuit”.
This of course relies on the premise that the use of the cards magnetic strip is in fact not viable, and therefore if anything, reinforces the use of Chip & PIN ironically. Of course in real life the Magstrip is regularly used, but that, again is outside the scope of this discussion and considered irrelevant in the face of the specific discussion around Prof Andersons attack.
There is always of course the argument for using a small form factor wireless transmission device to remove the need for wires, but given the form factor of a credit card and the inability to alter this form factor without raising suspicion, I am personally unsure that significant enough range for a TX/RX comms loop could be achieved given the power that could be implemented into a credit card sized device.
Again, in my original comments to the press I clearly stated that the system needed to be fixed, and that the attack was effective, so this is not me suggesting that we should brush this under the carpet, in fact it is simply looking at what we can potentially do NOW to protect the system, while its eventual upgrade is debated and planned.
Don’t forget, in this context I am just as much of a concerned consumer as you.
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InfoSecThere is often a lot of talk about this concept, specifically in the white hat vs black hat debate that has gone on for what seems like forever now. I have, as you would expect, my own take on this. Lets start with a history lesson and the basics. White Hats are the “good guys” and Black Hats are the “bad guys”, why? because back in the good old days of spaghetti westerns, good guys always wore White Hats and the bad guys wore Black Hats, it’s that simple! Of course, in the scripted world of the western, it was that simple, the bad guy was that easy to spot and the good guys rode off into the sunset, but back in the real world it’s a little more difficult to identify.
The line between Black and White is often understood to be the law itself, i.e. if you’re a hacker, cracker or even a “skidie”, your hat changes colour the minute you go from having permission to do something to not having permission. Â I however wager that if we were to exact that understanding on every security expert in this field of expertise, today, it would be a near 100% perfect sea of Black Hats.
So the question becomes, if that’s the case, are we all really the “bad guys”? I put to you a different concept, I different way of thinking about this that, personally, I think fits much better.
First of all let’s forget about hats and the law and look at a couple of basic concepts. Motivation is the activation or energization of goal-oriented behaviour and  is defined as intrinsic or extrinsic. Intrinsic motivation comes from rewards inherent to a task or activity itself – the enjoyment of a puzzle or the love of playing whereas Extrinsic motivation comes from outside of the performer. Money is the most obvious example, but coercion and threat of punishment are also common extrinsic motivations.
Another point of consideration is Goal orientation, often seen as an aspect of an individual’s motivation. An individual’s goal orientation describes the goals that they choose and the methods used to pursue those goals. One of the most common conceptualizations of goal orientation is the three factor model, that is, individuals can be described in terms of goal orientation based on three factors:
mastery,
performance-approach, and
performance-avoid.
Individuals with a mastery goal orientation seek challenging tasks and value learning. Highly performance-approach oriented individuals seek tasks that allow them to demonstrate the skills they already possess, and highly performance-avoidant tend to avoid tasks where they may fail and thus appear incompetent.
The final aspect to consider in this equation is an agent’s intention in performing an action. In so much as his or her specific purpose in doing so, the end or goal that is aimed at, or intended to accomplish. In recent years, there has been a large amount of work done on the concept of intentional action in experimental philosophy. This work has aimed at illuminating and understanding the factors which influence people’s judgments of whether an action was done intentionally. For instance, research has shown that unintended side-effects are often considered to be done intentionally if the side-effect is considered bad and the person acting knew the side-effect would occur before acting. Yet when the side-effect is considered good, people generally don’t think it was done intentionally, even if the person knew it would occur before acting. The most well-known example involves a chairman who implements a new business program for the sole purpose to make money but ends up affecting the environment in the process. If he implements his business plan and in the process he ends up helping the environment, then people generally say he unintentionally helped the environment; if he implements his business plan and in the process he ends up harming the environment, then people generally say he intentionally harmed the environment. The important point is that in both cases his only goal was to make money. While there have been many explanations proposed for why the “side-effect effect” occurs, researchers on this topic have not yet reached a consensus.
So now we understand a little about motivation, goals & Intentions, what really makes the “bad guy” bad? Well its worth adding into themix that the “good guys” and “bad guys” all have the same level of skill, they all learned it the same way and they all have the same aptitude (loosely speaking of course). In fact during the learning process its probably fair to wager that on occasion everyone ended up, purely through exploration, somewhere they shouldn’t have been. Â Does this make us all “bag guys”?
I certainly do not think so. In my opinion, motivation, goals & intent are what separate the good from the bad, and in this context the “White Hats” from the “Black Hats”. Let’s look at an example. the CERT Coordination Centre came up with an interesting classification matrix, which I have provided below as a diagram:
In the above diagram, we see six types of attacker (as well as a virtual 7th type that could be all 6 in a different context), six types of motivation and four goals. It is assumed in this classification, as insinuated by the word “Attacker”, that we are dealing with the “bag guys” or Black Hats here, however, I would argue that the first type, “Hacker” has a motivation and goal that is not negative or in fact malicious in any way, so should they also be considered a “bad guy”?  Its fair to say, someone hell bent on the quest for knowledge in that particular classification may take a devil may care approach that could have a negative impact on the systems they are exploring, but again, is this malicious intent, or just carelessness?
In summary I put it to you that there are no White Hats, or Black hats in the world today, just Shades of Grey, and that only motivation, goals and intent separate those of us trying to help from those who have a more nefarious purpose.
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Alfa 159 / ElectronicsThis is the final update to the schematics and overall design and concludes the R&D aspects of the project. What I have now is a good mix of design good practice and intelligent thinking that results in a solid architecture for a production run. So far I have just prototyped the design into the car using readily available breadboards, however, the next step is to move to a manufactured circuit board that will give much better longevity and easier assembly.
Content relocated to Project Page
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LiveMixesA multi-part Electro Pop Mix for the masses 🙂
01. David Guetta – Memories (Bingo Players Remix)
02. Klubbheads – Kickin hard (DJ Solovey Remix)
03. Desto – Crazy (Lindberg And William Remix)
04. Snap – The Power (DJ Pomeha Remix 2010)
05. Gubellini vs Pain feat Darook Mc – Shake It Up (Javi Mula Remix)
06. Sabien And Alim – Naughty Feat Jerique (Shahin Remix)
07. Loleatta Holloway – Ride On Time 2010 (Bruno Ramos & HytraxX Mix)
08. DJ Eako & Morelly feat. Omega Brown – I Can’t Stop (Steel Mix)
09. Queen – You Don’t Fool Me (Dj Denis Rublev & Dj Natasha Baccardi Remix 2010)
10. Andrea Paci feat. Michelle Weeks – Big Mama (Elektro Mix)
11. Crookers Feat. Miike Snow – Remedy (Magik Johnson Vocal Remix)
12. Axwell – I Found You (DJ MikeY 2010 Remix)
13. Robbie Rivera feat. Fast Eddie – Let Me Sip My Drink (Chuckie Remix)
14. Topmodelz – Have U Ever Been Mellow (Rekoilz Electro Remix)
15. Niels Van Gogh And Emilio Verdez – Black Is Black (Club Mix)
16. Soul Puncherz – Speakerz Bumpin Loud (Filthy Rehab Remix)
17. Shadow Stars – Desintegration feat. Sergei Khovanksy (Mario Ochoa Remix)
https://jabawoki.com/wp-content/mp3/Jabawoki_Electro_Pop_Part_1_10082010.mp3
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
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LiveMixesAnother Progressive Mix for 2010:
Stefano Noferini – Cool Summer (Original Dirty Mix) + hardrive Deep Inside (Harry Choo Choo Romero Bambossa Remix)
Laidback Luke, Sebastian Ingrosso, Axwell, Steve Angelo feat. Deborah Cox – Leave The World Behind (Original Mix)
Moguai – Lyve (Original Mix)
Pryda – Miami To Atlanta (Original Mix)
Moguai – Imperial (Original Mix)
Sebastian Ingrosso – Kidsos (original Mix)
Young Rebels & Francesco Diaz – 1998 (Original Mix)
Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Heads Will Roll (A-Track Remix) (Club Edit)
Jerry Ropero, Tom Novy Feat. Abigai Bailey – Touch Me (Extended Mix)
Cirez D – On Off (original Mix)
Depeche Mode – Hole to Feed (Proof Vocal Mix)
Deadmau5 Feat Billy Newton – Outta My Life (Touch Mix)
Hoxton Whores – Devil Toy (Original Club Mix)
Wolfgang Gartner – Flashback (Original Mix)
Fedde Le Grand – Praise You (Fatboy Slim Vs. Fedde le Grand Remix Remix)
Jerome Isma-Ae – Hold That Sucker Down (Original Mix)
Pacific Wave – 1998 (Dj Phunk & 3Am Mix)
https://jabawoki.com/wp-content/mp3/Jabawoki_DeepDivin_25032010.mp3
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
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RH2B Build DiaryWhen I collected the car and drove it a few times in the winter was incredibly loud, like TO LOUD, and I like loud! So Something wasn’t quite right with the exhaust, and it needed to be sorted.
I removed the exhaust and bought some acouosti-mat sound deadening material to repack the exhaust only to discover it was not repack-able. Fortunately, a local fabricator said he would cut it open, repack and weld it back up for me, so that averted the crisis!
All that remained of the original packing material.
To say it needed doing was an understatement, it was completely empty of packing so was essentially a straight pipe with an echo chamber!
Once the fabricator sorted the packing for me, I wrapped it in exhaust wrap, reinstalled the heat shield and put it back on the car. The sound was much more palatable. Sporty, throaty but not deafening!
Much better!
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RH2B Build DiaryThe bonnet on the hoody is metal, in two sections, and was bolted together on a centre flange. This left a seam that was filled with filler and then a vinyl stripe laid over the top.
Now this would have been fine except for the fact that the builder then installed a long pneumatic ram (the type that opens a boot on a hatchback) to hold up the bonnet when you lift it. Great for convenience but done in such a way as to cause a long term issue.
Essentially, as the weight of the bonnet and nose cone were pivoting on an M8 bolt attached to the centre flange (2 x 1mm steel), the flange had twisted, bent and caused the bonnet to deform above. This in turn caused the filler to crack and separate from the bonnet, which then caused the vinyl to crack leaving an unsightly jagged line down the centre of the bonnet.
Bonnet damage after removing the vinyl and cracked filler.
Rather than just filling it and applying another vinyl sticker to it, knowing it would just do the same again, I set about designing and printing a better solution to the mounting of the jack point to the bonnet and also reinforcing the flange with several additional M8 bolts!
A few iterations in Fusion 360 and 3 test prints in PLA, I had a final design that met the profile of the bonnet, bolted through the flange, spread the load of the bonnet more evenly and provided a solid anchor point for the jack.
Design iterations
The final design is pretty cool. It spreads the load exactly as I wanted and prevents the centre of the bonnet where the filler is being pushed up. It has also added rigidity to the panel as a side effect.
Finished mount
Once the mount was installed all that was left to do was fill the resulting gap with a flexible filler that wont crack and fall out, sand it smooth(sh) and the re-apply the vinyl. What I learned from this experience is something I was already pretty cognizant of. I cannot do bodywork!!! I dont have the patience for it at all!
Finished article. Its by no means perfect but will do for now!
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GeneralI have decided to plan my new musical platform in advance this time, rather than the usual method of buy something, expand on it, realise its not up to the job and then replace it. This essentially means that I am going to spend a great deal of time on google deciding something, then finding a better version of something and so one, until I eventually bite the bullet and invest.
What I have at this stage is a premise and an outline set of requirements. The premise is simple, go fully digital, but retain analogue controls. The outline components are as follows:
A powerful PC/MAC + Essential Apps such as Ableton Live
A High Quality Multi-channel sound card
A midi trigger device
A Good quality Mixer
A Sampler/Effects Unit
Now, its actually possible to have all of the above in a single box, and in fact, many solutions exist for sub ÂŁ250, but to be honest, its just not going to give me the flexibility and expandability that I desire. What I want is complete fluidity in the solution so that I can expand upon for many years, giving me not only multi-channel mixing, but the real-time remix capability that I desire
So where next?
Well, I already have a decent mixer (DJM600), a powerful PC (Multi-Xeon Monster) and Ableton, so the most important piece and crux of the system is what I need to acquire first. This would be the multi-channel sound card! I have had a look around and found many options, but this one seems to be the best by a mile:
Motu Ultralite MK3
This unit has all the features I could need, from 192Khz sample rates, through to 6 channels of input and 10 channels of output to give me as many feeds as I could possibly deal with! The spec list goes on forever on this thing, which is why it can command a ÂŁ500+ price tag. But if I am going to invest, this is the way forward.
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