Category Archives: Technology

Enviromentalism, Technology

‘Mystery Ship’ identified – M.V. North Star

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The company I work for, traditionally enjoys an all-hands lunch every Friday.   During the nice weather month in the Puget Sound, we’ll often be found along the Tacoma waterfront, dining on the deck of a few local establishments.

M.V. North Star
M.V. North Star

Not long after joining the company, I noticed a ship that would arrive, during lunch, on any day we were able to take in the good weather.   What is striking about the ship, was the consistency of it’s arrival within an hour or so, as well as the polished look of the bow, while the rest of the ship seems rather, worn.

Last Friday I took a photo of the ship, so that I could zoom in on the ship’s name and learn more about her.   Here is what I found:

M.V. North Star – Totem Ocean Container Express, Inc.

The ship is an Orca class Ro-Ro named the ‘M.V. North Star’

Totem Ocean Trailer Express’ $155 million North Star is one of two new TOTE ships. Each can carry 600 40-foot trailers and 220 automobiles, almost double the capacity of TOTE’s older vessels.

http://www.nassco.com/cdc/tote_galleryNS.html
‘Ro-Ro’, meaning  Roll-On, Roll-Off ship:

M.V. North Star
M.V. North Star

The ship is not a car carrier, but a trailer carrier.  Container Trailers are rolled onto and off the ship, so loading does not require cranes, instead using multiple ramps to extract trailer cargo.

Here is a photo of the M.V. North Star’s sister ship ‘Midnight Sun’

M.V. Midnight Sun
M.V. Midnight Sun

North Star press release:

The Second of TOTE’s Two New Ships Delivered in Tacoma

North Star's Arrival 08/28/2003

TACOMA, WASHINGTON — Totem Ocean Trailer Express greeted the newest vessel to enter the Alaska trade, the M. V. North Star, the morning of August 28, 2003. Her arrival in the Port of Tacoma marks the conclusion of a many-year new ship building and reinvestment program that will benefit the Puget Sound and Alaska for decades to come.

Her sister ship, the M. V. Midnight Sun, entered Alaska service in April this year. Both ships are the first two members of the Orca Class, specifically designed for the rigors of the Alaska trade and built to protect the pristine environments of Washington and Alaska waters.

More photos:
http://www.totemocean.com/np-photogallery.htm

Studying the shipping schedule, the North Star arrives in Tacoma every Friday afternoon, unloads, realoads then heads back to Anchorage early the following morning.  Here is the July 2009 schedule:

Voyage No *Ship **Tacoma
Cutoff		 ETD
Tacoma		 Unload
Anchorage		 Voyage No 2 ***ETD
Anchorage		 Unload
Tacoma
9099 MS 6/24 11:00PM WEDNESDAY 6/25 3:00AM THURSDAY 6/28 7:00AM SUNDAY 9100 6/28 5:00PM SUNDAY 7/1 6:00PM WEDNESDAY
9101 NS 6/26 11:00PM FRIDAY 6/27 3:00AM SATURDAY 6/30 7:00AM TUESDAY 9102 6/30 5:00PM TUESDAY 7/3 6:00PM FRIDAY
9103 MS 7/1 11:00PM WEDNESDAY 7/2 3:00AM THURSDAY 7/5 7:00AM SUNDAY 9104 7/5 5:00PM SUNDAY 7/8 6:00PM SUNDAY
9105 NS 7/3 11:00PM FRIDAY 7/4 3:00AM SATURDAY 7/7 7:00AM TUESDAY 9106 7/7 5:00PM TUESDAY 7/10 6:00PM FRIDAY
9107 MS 7/8 11:00PM WEDNESDAY 7/9 3:00AM THURSDAY 7/12 7:00AM SUNDAY 9108 7/12 5:00PM SUNDAY 7/15 6:00PM WEDNESDAY
9109 NS 7/10 11:00PM FRIDAY 7/11 3:00AM SATURDAY 7/14 7:00AM TUESDAY 9110 7/14 5:00PM TUESDAY 7/17 6:00PM FRIDAY
9111 MS 7/15 11:00PM WEDESDAY 7/16 3:00AM THURSDAY 7/19 7:00AM SUNDAY 9112 7/19 5:00PM SUNDAY 7/22 6:00PM WEDNESDAY
9113 NS 7/17 11:00PM FRIDAY 7/18 3:00AM SATURDAY 7/21 7:00 AM TUESDAY 9114 7/21 5:00PM TUESDAY 7/24 6:00PM FRIDAY
9115 MS 7/22 11:00PM WEDNESDAY 7/23 3:00AM THURSDAY 7/26 8:30AM SUNDAY 9116 7/26 5:00PM SUNDAY 7/29 6:00PM WEDNESDAY
9117 NS 7/24 11:00PM FRIDAY 7/25 3:00AM SATURDAY 7/28 7:00AM TUESDAY 9118 7/28 5:00PM TUESDAY 7/31 6:00PM FRIDAY

*NS — North Star
*MS — Midnight Sun
**Vehicle hours: 8 a.m. – 4 p.m. M-F
***To be determined by Anchorage Operations

Technology

Google Chrome OS to take on Windows

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A LOT of press over the last week has been produced regarding Googles announcement to go head-to-head with Microsoft with is Open Source (LINUX) based OS. They dominate the search market and are now going to go after the 9000 lb. gorilla on the desktop. It’s about time we had another player in the sector.

Google calls time on the Age of Windows

Google announced on Wednesday that it was developing its own computer operating system. It will be secure, fast, lightweight and – most of all – free. And it presents the biggest challenge yet to the long-standing dominance of Windows.

The idea behind Google ChromeOS is nothing new – it’s built on a Linux foundation and will no doubt share many of the features of other open-source operating systems. But Google is the only computing brand with more might than Microsoft: it’s trusted, and has a proven track record of building brilliant, free services, from search to instant messaging.

Trust is the key here.  I don’t know many that trust Microsoft to either do it right, nor do it ethically.  The funny thing is, I don’t know anyone that belives Google will either.   They are the kings of data warehousing, and data reselling.   The big concern in the technical community is,  what will Google do with the data it can aquire, once it ‘owns’ your desktop too?

I know people who simply won’t use Google for searches (I use it exclusivly).  They fear that Google is profiling them (and it is) and will resell their searching patterns (and it dose) to other parties.  Valid concerns, to an extent, but really, anyone that think they are using the web annonymously, unless they are making heavy use of fully annonymizing proxies, is dillusional.    Even those bent on covering their tracks have to be careful what cookies they except, how long they  remain on the system, what they are caching, what proxies they are using (what are those proxies doing with their traffic, are they considering that?).

The internet is a dangerous place for you data.  Either you have to be OK with people warehousing your activities, or you’re going to have to go to some extreme measures to thwart the data transfer.

Now, if you ever want to look at what YOU might be sending to 3rd parties from your own computer, I suggest running a tool like  WireShark.   Now here is a neat little site benefit od doing something like that.  A lot of the most sophisticated malware out there, looks for such tools runing on systems and will modify it’s behavior from malicious, to begnin, to conceal itself.   So, running network profiling tools, perhaps even if you don’t ever LOOK at them, can help prevent some of the worst expoits out there.  It’s like taking a vaccine of sorts.  It’s not going to prevent everything, but some of the worst of the web will simply move onto easier marks.

I for one will be getting ahold of Chrome OS as soon as I can to istall on a laptop for examination.  I have some internet neophytes in the house, and they are a good test of how easy an OS is to use.   Right now I’ve given them a new Acer laptop running Ubuntu.   My house is a Windoze Free Zone.  I look foward to hearing the feedback on Chrome OS when I give them the option to use either.

OTHER RELATED:

SlashDot:   Google Announces Chrome OS, For Release Mid-2010

“After years of speculation, Google has announced Google Chrome OS, which should be available mid-2010. Initially targeting netbooks, its main selling points are speed, simplicity and security — which kind of implies that the current No.1 OS doesn’t deliver in these areas”

CNET: What will Google’s Chrome OS watch you do?

Google has a long history of tracking user activity, and the introduction of its Chrome operating system later this year is sure to follow suit. While we know that it’s being built off of Linux, one big thing we don’t know is how its terms of service will differ from those found in other Google products, and what kinds of user data it will be collecting. Based on the company’s track record of watching and monetizing user data, it could be anything from which applications you’re using, to all the information that’s coming in and out of your computer.

Technology

AT&T and iPhone saga continues

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Starting on Memorial Day (2009) my cool, very functional and reliable iPhone, started to piss me off.

bastards_logoWhile on a motorcycle ride that day, I was unable to receive any signal at all.   My phone kept showing ‘No Service‘.  Traveling with a few other AT&T (non-iPhone users) I found that they had a full 5 bars of AT&T signal.  Great.  My phone is doing something very strange.  Even when I arrived home that evening, the phone was still showing ‘No Service‘.    It was not until the next morning that my phone was showing a signal again.  I wrongfully thought I was out of the woods.

ip392A few weeks later in Canada, the phone did the same thing;   ‘Searching…..‘   and finally   ‘No Service‘.    Yet everyone else in the group had plenty of access to Rodgers Cellular in Canada.   The most unfortunate part of the experience was that my ATM card had been turned off by Bank of America (another sore point) while in the middle of my trip!  Cutting me off from money, and to top it all off, I could not call them with my non-functional phone!!!!

Next morning, phone was showing a full signal, and I was able to get a hold of those jackasses at Band of America and get my ATM card re-enabled.

But signal problems continued back in the US.   Finally,  mid June I got to the AT&T store and explain what’s happening.  This is the same sort where I purchased the phone.   They insisted that the first thing they needed to do was swap out the SIM card.   How that could have any impact on the battery problems I was also having, I was suspicious, but thought maybe it would help with the signal issues.   Didn’t do a damn thing.

Returning to AT&T store a couple of days later, I find out that they *cannot* perform any sort of hardware swap, exchange or, really anything beyond a SIM card swap on the iPhone.   My options were to wait 2 weeks for a phone to be mailed (no go..  my work requires that they be able to contact me 24×7),  -OR-  drive 30 miles from work (Tacoma), to the outskirts of Seattle, to the uber-geek Apple Store, buried in the South Center Mall.   I hate malls.    After a VERY frustrating 3 hours there, I finally had the phone swapped out, got on my motorcycle and headed to the ferry.  It’s then I really noticed that I had not ‘3G‘ network.   :/   Not a big deal, I was certain I would have it when I arrived here, where I always have 5 bars of 3G.   Turns out, it never did.

When I had some time to waste, I headed back to the AT&T store to get my network issue resolved.   After 1 hour in the store, I found that they could do nothing, would not even swap the SIM this time.. and they were sending me.. (ta da..)  BACK to South Center, or wait 2 weeks for yet another phone.

Yesterday I decided to make a day of it, and go out to South Center to swap out he iPhone yet again.    I won’t go into what a cluster it was because nobody told me I needed an appointment the first time, but this time I was prepared, made an appointment at 2:40PM, drove the 70 miles from home to South Center Mall (I hate malls).  I arrived at my 2:40 checking time, and within 5 minutes I was in front of a ‘MAC Genius’  (snicker) and they started the diagnosis process.   This one quickly recognized that I’m not your garden variety tech moron, looked at me and asked in a hushed voice  ‘Well, if you did all the reset tests already, and would just like a new phone, I’ll do that instead of spend 30 minutes doing all the tests’.   Bingo!   I’ll take the phone.    Before it was 3:00PM I was out the door with at FULLY FUNCTIONAL 3G 8GB iPhone.   All covered under the original 1 year warranty on the phone.  Which is good becaue I was have seriously freaked out if the phone I bought last year was not under any sort of warranty!

This morning I finished ‘rebuilding’ my phone.  Upgrading to iPhone version 3.0,  restored all my contacts, bookmarks and photos.  AND the 3G is still working.   I’m now, a happier camper.

But it sure was an odyssey in frustration.  And the AT&T corporate store is as useful as a screen door on a submarine.

Easter Egg Alert:  Every  AT&T hotlink goes to a different non-AT&T website.  There are some interesting stories in there.
Technology

iPhone 3.0 + AT&T == FAIL!

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I was very excited to download and update my iPhone to the latest and greatest version 3.0. It has a lot of great new features in the updated, including cut & paste, network tethering (use your iPhone for mobile 3G internet), and something that is a real pain right now, MMS (Multimedia Message Service — an extension of SMS, which aka ‘texting’).

This would have been all well and good,  IF   AT&T had gotten off their asses and updated their network in time to support them!    What is most unacceptable, is that EVERY other network provider in the world, supporting iPhone equipment, supports these features!

Here is a quote from AT&T:

“We will be offering a tethering plan and MMS for the iPhone,” Mark Siegel, AT&T’s spokesman, said by phone. “But we haven’t announced a date.”

ref: CNET – Why is AT&T delaying rollout of iPhone tethering, MMS?

— and —

“We plan to offer a tethering plan, but don’t have an announcement to make at this time,” the spokesman said. “We absolutely will offer MMS on iPhone 3G S and iPhone 3G with 3.0 upgrades in late summer once we complete some system upgrades that will ensure our customers have the best experience with MMS. These upgrades are unrelated to our 3G network.”

ref: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/06/att-iphone3/

They have quite an excuse fest ramped up.  I don’t buy it.  AT&T has simply, again, shown it’s lack of vision and it’s  “Were the Monoploy – tough **** attitude”.  If only I had a choice for iPhone provider networks, I’d be gone yesterday.

Hey AT&T;   You are lucky you are the only game in town.. for now!

automotive, Economy, Politics, Technology

Can Chrysler survive another merger?

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Follows is an article written by good friend Marc Besso, regarding the proposed merger of Chrysler and Fiat.

Can Chrysler survive another merger?

There was talk that Chrysler couldn’t survive the merger, but it turned out to be completely wrong.  It was American Motors that didn’t survive.  That was in the late ’80s and you’d be hard pressed to find many in the auto industry (outside a few collectors & enthusiasts) that remember much about American Motors these days.

I remember them well.  They were the ones that brought Renault back to the United States.  What’s that you say?  You don’t recall Renault ever returning?  It was as a few, rarely-lamented models that sold under the AMC name for awhile; then as Eagles after the merge. (Alliance, Encore, Premier)  All badges whose mere names promised something the backing corporation couldn’t uphold.

It turns out Chrysler only wanted American Motors because they held the rights to the Jeep name.  Once Chrysler had control of that tasty morsel, the rest no longer interested them.  They did get Francois Castaing–a wily Renault engineer that worked his way up from the race team to head of Product Development…..or some such fancy title.  His replacement was even better.  One Bob Lutz; a man who truly was incredible in almost every role in his career.

Fast forward another decade and it appeared that another merger might create the world’s broadest model line-up and [possibly] the next largest thing in the automotive world.  Chrysler was going to merge with Daimler Benz.  Hallelujah!  Where do I sign up?  It must’ve been a matter of weeks before the running joke was “How do you pronounce Daimler Chrysler? Simple, ‘Chrysler’ is silent!”  Some believed it would bring the level of quality in Chrysler’s product up to the standard of the German companies.  Others, like myself, knew the effect most likely would be a downturn in the quality of Mercedes’ products.  Chrysler scored the equivalent of winning Lotto by getting a number of Mercedes-based chassis to build some very successful models on. (300 C, Charger, Challenger, Crossfire, Sprinter)  Mercedes got…..mostly, screwed.  They had a little fire sale of their own and pedaled Chrysler off to Cerberus a couple of years ago.  Bob Lutz had long since moved onto GM: Think rat & sinking ship. (He bailed on GM just a few months ago for much the same reason)  Bob’s no dummy!

Now the Fiat empire is offering (threatening?) to merge with Chrysler and become the global automotive giant it has always wanted to be.  They’ll instantly have the conduit to sell their Italian products in the American market again. (Fiat cut and ran from the US about the same time Chrysler first went broke and asked the US Government for a loan)  Enthusiasts got momentarily excited because Fiat is the parent company for Ferrari, Maserati, Alfa Romeo and Lancia.  That moment faded fast when they realized Ferrari & Maserati were already sold in this country….and the other companies didn’t really offer much they cared to own anyway. (Save for Alfa, who only want to sell the 8C Competizione @ $250K/ea — we want the Brera @ $25K)  There are already jokers saying things like: “If Fiat were meant to rule the [automotive] world it would be called Toyota.”

So, can Chrysler survive another merger?  Some could argue that’s the only thing they’ve ever done right.  Time will tell, but I don’t see this latest merger offering any long-term benefit to Fiat.  If there’s a benefit to be reaped from this merger it’ll fall to Chrysler.

It’s late and I need to get some sleep.  See me in another few years to find out how this latest merger works out for Chrysler.

~Mark

Cyber Crime, Technology

Conficker – has the chaos started? (it’s April 1 in Melbourne)

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UPDATED:

I recently received a link to the this analysis of the crime-ware.  Pretty sophisticated!!!  The Conficker Cabal is busy trying to measure it’s function and effectivness.  If you have the time, and the stomach for a tech article, I suggest you read this!

SRI International – Techncial Report on Conficker C

— MY PREVIOUS COMMENTS —

Wow, I can’t believe I can still access the web?!?!   It’s already April 1st in Australia (right now :  Melbourne *Wed 4:50 AM)    and the entire internet has not collapsed!

I’m trying my best to act shocked but…   I’m not a trained actor.   Maybe a few hours into April 1st is too early to call it but..  frankly..   I stand by my first post on this..   much ado about NOTHING!

For entertainment factor, here are some more alarmist articles on the ‘threat’

Conficker Worm: Hoax or Genious? — OS News

Companies encouraged to take threat seriously — SC Magazine UK

Conficker Worm: April Fools joke or ? —  NY Times Blog

Technology

Conficker – jolt or joke

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The Conficker threat, is this another Y2K?

There seems to be no lack of technology press on this piece of crime-code, that is set to go off on April 1st.  The largest concern is that nobody seems to know what the Command-and-Control (C&C) computers will instruct the infected systems to do on April 1.

For myself, and the company I work for, we are safe for the technical exploit, since we do not run MicroSoft systems, and non-MS systems by all indications are perfectly safe from becoming part of the botnet.

Conficker is a program that is spread by exploiting several weaknesses in Microsoft’s Windows operating system. Various versions of the software have spread widely around the globe since October, mostly outside the United States because there are more computers overseas running unpatched, pirated Windows. (The program does not infect Macintosh or Linux-based computers.)

New York Times Technology article

The speculation is that the bots will try to access a pool of 50,000 different domains (something we can determine by examining the code) looking for it’s C&C.   The problem is that defensivly registering the 50,000 domain names is something that nobody seems to want to, or capable of doing.

Other crimeware uses similar technolgy to look for different C&C systems based on a predictable algorythm, this is nothing new or groundbreaking.  The size of the pool is by far the largest I have heard of, so that is new.

There are likely man different ways that the nentire network can be thwarted, if the registrars, backbone providers and ISP’s all co-operate (fat chance) to null-route any of the 50,000 domains that might be registered and directed to the C&C systems.     That alone makes me think this is much ado about nothing.

Should people running computers infected with Windows ignore this potential threat.  Obviously they need to take the possiblity their computer is infected, VERY seriously.  If they are unable to switch to a operating system without so many security issues, then they should at least make sure their computer is not exploited.

Later today I will compile a list of reliable links to instructions/software for mitigation the threat on your own computer.  As far as the massivly parallel monster system this botnet might become on April 1st…well..   we won’t have to wait long to find out if this is a boy craying wolf, or the real thing.

Cyber Crime, Technology

Massive Chinese cyber espionage network discovered

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Researchers in Toronto released a report this weekend, regarding the discovery of a massive cyber-espionage and data theft network that appears to have 3 of it’s 4 Command-and-Control (C&C) located in China.

Vast Spy System Loots Computers in 103 Countries
By JOHN MARKOFF
Published: March 28, 2009

TORONTO — A vast electronic spying operation has infiltrated computers and has stolen documents from hundreds of government and private offices around the world, including those of the Dalai Lama, Canadian researchers have concluded.

Link to full New York Times article

Details of the exploit vector are exactly spelled out in the article, but it would appear that this software infection of computers capable of monitoring email and other traffic.  By description, it sounds like the malware/trojan/crimeware employs a network sniffer to watch traffic I/O on the infected machine, sending interesting data back to one (or more) of the C&C systems.  The researchers also indicated that they stumbled upon some of this by accident, and there could be other capabilities of the network not yet exposed.

I plan to look into this further to see what types of systems have been infected.