SHODAN for Penetration Testers (The Next Hope) from theprez98 on Vimeo.

I tried to find a Google Calendar format of the schedule for this year’s talks. However I was unable to find such a format. I’ve painstakingly created the following calendar based on my interests and talks that I would like to attend. This is not a complete schedule of the conference. I’m too lazy to turn the whole schedule in to a Google Calendar, however I may do so before the actual conference… we shall see. Use as you will if you wish.

You can view the full schedule by visiting: The Next Hope schedule

Last month I was fortunate enough to attend the George Clinton and P-Funk All Stars concert at the B.B. King Blues Club in midtown Manhattan. It was an early birthday gift from my Fiancé, quite possibly the best birthday gift I’ve received in quite some time (if ever). Because of George Clinton’s policy of allowing fan recordings (much like the Grateful Dead’s policies), I was able to shoot some video at the concert. It isn’t the best video as it was shot on my iPhone 3G, but still not horrible. I figured I would share it for all those true funk fans out there. Already looking forward to my next George Clinton concert (this one was my 5th).

Last week I attended the “computer security” conference HOPE (Hackers on Planet Earth), held every two years in NYC. The title of this year’s event was “The Last Hope”, but it may not be the last. Unfortunately I had to work Friday and was not able to get to the convention until about 4pm, luckily it was being held only 2 avenues away from my workplace. I had never attended HOPE in the past, although I have gone to Las Vegas for DEFCON several times in the past 10 years. HOPE is organized by the crew over at 2600: The Hacker Quarterly.

All told, the event was interesting, and I was glad to attend. However, maybe I’m just getting old but “the scene” just doesn’t hold my attention as it once did. Oh well. The convention took place at the Hotel Pennsylvania, which was scheduled for demolition soon, hence “The Last HOPE”. However by the end of the convention it was announced that plans to demolish the hotel have been put on hold due to the bad economy, so HOPE will take place again at it’s usual spot in 2010.

Some of the sessions I attended were great, others not so great. Amongst the good ones were:

• Bagcam – How Did TSA and/or the Airlines Manage to Do That to Your Luggage? By: algormor
• A Hacker’s View of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) By: Phil Lapsley
• Hacking the Price of Food: An Urban Farming Renaissance By: Bicyclemark
• Methods of Copying High Security Keys By: Barry Wels and Han Fey
• One Last Time: The Hack/Phreak History Primer By: Jason Scott

Looking back at the list of talks, I wish I’d attended more/different ones. Guess I am just getting old. Oh well, there’s always 2010. I spent a good amount of time in the Lockpick Village playing around and picking a couple locks, its always fun to open locks you’ve never touched before. I picked up a copy of Emmanuel Goldstein‘s new book: The Best of 2600: A Hacker Odyssey, this huge tome was well worth the money. It’s jam packed with stories from the past 24 years of 2600 history. I should have gotten it autographed when I saw Emmanuel at the conference, but he was busy. Again, oh well.

Even though I am kind of burned out after being in the scene for the past 15 years or so, I will probably end up attending again in 2010. It’s much easier that traveling to Las Vegas for DEFCON since I now reside in NYC.

Check out Photos from TheLastHOPE over at flickr. Search twitter for #thelasthope for people liveblogging the event. Finally, check out the video below. It was created by the folks at MAKE Magazine, who were in attendance at the conference as vendors. Overall I think the video captured the spirit of the event, good work MAKE folks!

Until 2010, peace.

I’ve made the last minute decision to attend HOPE (Hackers on Planet Earth) in NYC this weekend. I will post some photos and information about the convention sometime soon. To follow the action you can search twitter for #thelastHOPE . If you are at the event, you can track attendees via the RFID tags embedded in the badges. More to follow…

Unfortunately I was too late to get an RFID badge for The Last HOPE. Oh Well.

On Sunday December 16th the champions of freedom and liberty (you, the people) will hold another mass donation day for Ron Paul. December 16th is the anniversary of the Boston Tea Party. From the Tea Party 07 website:

On December 16th, 1773, American colonists dumped tea into the Boston Harbor to protest an
oppressive tax. This December 16th, American citizens will dump millions of dollars into the
Ron Paul presidential campaign to protest the oppressive and unconstitutional inflation tax -
which has enabled a flawed foreign policy, a costly war and the sacrificing
of our liberties here at home.

Please join us this December 16th 2007 for the largest one-day political donation event in
history. Our goal is to bring together 100,000 people to donate $100 each,
creating a one day donation total of $10,000,000.

Please pledge via feedburner below to confirm your commitment to donate.
Each day you’ll receive an email with our total number of subscribers.
In this way we will know exactly where we stand in our efforts.
Our goal is 100,000 subscribers.

Please pledge now. Please spread the word. Thank you.

As I write this Ron Paul’s Q4 donation totals are up to about 11,350,000. The total Q4 goal was set at $12,000,000 and I am hoping it will pass that before the money bomb starts on the 16th (but doubtful). Please spread the word to friends and family about Ron Paul before the 16th. Instead of an xmas gift, ask for a donation to Dr. Paul’s campaign in your name. This holiday season be sure to print up some literature to distribute to your family.

For those who don’t know about Dr. Paul please do some Google searches and find out about what he stands for. The media has been censoring his campaign and it is no surprise if you don’t know about him.

Ron Paul needs your vote in your state’s primary.

I was expecting flashy booths and displays from some of the top electronics companies, however this was not the case. The few major companies with exhibits were showcasing the same stale old technology they’ve been schlepping for a while. Major companies you would expect to be at a show of this type were completely absent or under-represented. As far as “technology” offerings goes, many of the companies represented were “B-Level” companies. The gaming side of the convention was horrible with the notable exception of the Namco and Guitar Hero 3 booths. Virtually no other game producers were on hand to showcase their latest offerings. Entertainment wise, what entertainment? There was an exhibit at the Toshiba booth about HD-DVD and that is about it.

Gateway unveiled its “ONE” product line, an all-in-one computer reminiscent of Apple’s newer iMacs, except black. Gateway tried to hype up this product as revolutionary, as if they just figured out that style is important for consumer products, Hello 1998. Palm introduced the Centro line of phones, a product aimed at the low end cell user. Instead of being revolutionary the products showcased at the event were completely lack luster and the same old fare, very stale.

Companies I would have expected to show up include: Apple, Sony, Google, IBM, Verizon, Sprint, AT&T, NBC, FOX, Rockstar Games and Bungie, to name a few. To top off the disappointment, all the swag sucked. I’m done, I’m running out of adjectives to describe the steaming pile of poo that was DigitalLife. Maybe next year will be different, but I’ll believe it when I see it.

A big part of the reason for my attending DigitalLife is to cover some of the new technologies at the show. You may know from reading my blog that I love gadgets, so I will try and cover any of the revolutionary new items hitting the market soon. DigitalLife also has extensive gaming events and tons of exhibitors.

If there is anything you would like me to try and find out for you, just leave a comment below! I will do my best to find some information and report back in an article or comment! I’m looking forward to hearing some of your suggestions, questions, and comments. And as always, I’m in it for the Swag, and if I get anything really good I will try and find some way to give back to the readers! So lets hear your questions and I may pick you at random for some free stuff!

Any companies that would like to give me some Swag to share with readers, please contact me via the contact page so we can meet up! See you at the show!

Tickets to the event are only $12/person for a 4 day pass, which to be honest is quite a good deal for a tradeshow/convention.

I’m also looking forward to the release of Halo3, Guitar Hero3, and other games that will be premiering at the event. Should be good times for gamers as well as technology geeks. Hope to see you all there. Stay tuned for updates!

I’ve always been a fan of lock picking. Its fun. Below are some links related to the lock picking events this year:
Hackers click locks open at conference in US
White House High-Security Locks Broken: Bumped and Picked at DefCon

Got to love Defcon. 12 year old girl bumping a lock:

Besides all that I haven’t heard too much in the way of other news. It usually takes people a week to sober up and remember all the really important things that went down at Defcon. So I will keep my eyes open and post any more interesting bits that came out of the convention this year. If you know of anything that went down, or would like to share your experiences this year please comment below!

So there is a lot of hype about 7.7.07, so I figured I would chime in with my own notes. Just in case you have been living under a rock, today is the “Live Earth Concert”. The cool thing is that it’s being broadcast live around the world on the internet. Possibly one of the largest streaming events on the internet. While I agree with raising awareness of Environmental issues, I’ve never thought huge concerts were the best way about doing it, but to each his own. Be sure to at least check out the sites as they are interesting. MSN and Microsoft are the sponsors of the technology side, and I do have to admit I am impressed at the level of interactivity and sophistication. Good times indeed.

One of the interesting things on the Live Earth page is that they use “green hosting” for their web site hosting. A small step in the chain but worthwhile, as huge server farms use tremendous amounts of energy. The hosting is provided by AISO.Net which uses solar energy to power their facilities. Besides all of the cool internet based technologies, alternative energy technologies are starting to heat up. Should be an interesting few years as those energy technologies receive more investment.