Sci-Tech Innovation: Robots Compete in Mock Disaster-Response Scenarios at Eurathlon

Roboticists are vying in Europe this week to prove their superiority at blasting device disposal and other unsafe jobs, but the teams are not comprised of infantry or emergency response staff. Instead, unmanned autonomous vehicles and their human operators have accumulated in Berchtesgaden, Germany at the first ever Eurathlon, a affray and conference conceived to impel discovery in intelligent robots that perform jobs that are too risky for humans.

The five mock disaster-response scenarios are motivated by the requiring conclusions and needs of the 2011 Fukushima catastrophe. In supplement to blasting device removal, teams can furthermore compete in scenarios checking reconnaissance and surveillance in built-up organisations, wireless manipulation, seek and rescue in a smoke-filled underground area, and autonomous navigation. Some of the jobs are seemingly amateur or mundane, for demonstration, wireless manipulation for handling hazardous material needs the robot to examine containers, close faucets, and move objects, yet these easy jobs are wholeheartedly critical in an autonomous mission.

Vehicles can contend in three distinct classifications, founded on their level of autonomy and can be supported by the vehicle’s isolated operator and an on-site technical assistant, with human aid acquiring a tally deduction. Some trials are widespread all through all the scenarios and comprise real-life obstacles for UAVs: reduced lightweight, shut doors, need of GPS signal underground, identification of objects of interest, tough terrain, and navigating stairs and obstacles in motion.

groups were step-by-step granted more signs as to what a scenario would entail, including images of equipment, positions, and obstacles. For example, in the blasting device disposal scenario, groups were suggested that their vehicle would need find bombs in three positions: concealed down a stairway and interior something needing an X-ray; interred out-of-doors and needing cutting into; and inside a luggage locker and potentially booby-trapped.

Winners have been very resolute already for some of the scenarios. Though groups weren’t needed to contend in every happening, two German-based robots put in multiple events: PackBot EOD 510 comprising the firm ELP and telemax from the firm telerob.

Germany at the first ever Eurathlon, a affray and conference conceived to impel discovery in intelligent robots that present tasks that are too dodgy for humans.

Eurathlon is open to investigators, commerce professionals, and end users with the goal of carrying connection about the conceive constraints of each group.The affray has been held concurrently with workshops and displays, and ends tomorrow, September 27. Next year the affray is set to focus on ocean founded vehicles, and a combined land, ocean and air happening is planned for 2015.

From: Science & Technology World

SharePoint 2007 Database Migration process

My client was in a position where the entire SharePoint database needed to migrate to a new server or a larger drive. The system drive  was completely full. We had to come up with a solution to move all the data and minimize and potential data loss.

The first step is to use SQL management studio to ensure you have a good back up of all your databases. Once this is done you can easily restore database if need be.

Additionally, to ensure no users are trying to access SharePoint databases, stop all Windows SharePoint services using run  and service.msc. Also all of the application pools should be stopped along with SharePoint web sites in Internet Information Services.

The next step that has to be completed prior to moving databases, taking databases off line and detaching prior to any move sequence. Open SQL management studio and select the database you need to take off line.  (You want to make sure no users are on SharePoint).  Right click database and select detach and drop.

The last step is to physically move the database to a larger drive or another SQL server. This can be accomplished by copying data or restoring to new location.  Repeat step by attaching databases and restarting all SharePoint services and Internet Information Services web site.  Project complete along with happy client.

Wild Ride Technology Forrest

We are now in fall of 2012 and getting close to snow boarding season. I have been giving some thought to getting some new snow boarding gear!  The other night I went out to dinner with the family and did some shopping in the South Shore mall.

We went to North-face to check out snowboarding pants and video cameras. I always thought North-face gear was nice but  kind of expensive. I checked out the snowboarding pants and they seem reasonably priced around $250.   I checked out the Go-pro  video camera and think there pretty cool. After browsing for a little while, we decided to leave. 

While outside the store, I notice the increasingly popular bar code on the entrance window.  I promptly down load Bakodo bar code reader  from App store and  scanned the bar code. I then down loaded The North Face mobile application to my Iphone. I can now easily review all the snow boarding pants, check price,  and user reviews.

I find it amazing how far technology has come.  I plan on purchasing some cool new snow boarding pants and a mobile camera to document my Wild Ride through the technology Forrest. Make each run your best!

A mysterious email beware!

Over the last 10 years we have made the switch from letter and phone correspondence to email overload.

Since email is so prevalent, email administration is critical.

As email has proliferated, spam and spyware has increased. Many email servers have been compromised by the ability of an email server to receive email from an unknown sender and then
sending it on to a recipient or recipients, which could number in the thousands, that are
not users of that email system.

The protocol responsible for relaying is called SMTP or Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. This protocol belongs to the TCP/IP family and is used by email servers to transfer email from the senders email server to the recipient or recipients’ email server or servers.  The default port that it works on is port 25.

 SMTP is used to relay email from the host to the recipient’s email
server.  A company that has an open relay can caused spam related issue,
so closing this loop and controlling relay is critical.  This is done in different ways
depending on the email server platform.   To get a detailed explanation of the SMTP protocol and how it works see the Internet Engineering Task Force’s (IETF) Request for Comments (RFC) 821 and 822
located at www.ietf.org.

You can check for relay by telnet to your email server using the following command:

telnet [server name] [port number]
The server will reply with a 220 message indicating that it is ready.  Other commands
that you can use are HELO, MAIL FROM:, and RCPT TO.
The greatest threat comes in the form of Unsolicited Commercial Email (UCE) or SPAM.
Besides being very annoying SPAM has been and is becoming a very big problem, with
some very serious side effects, for the Internet community.   It has become such a
problem that the IETF released RFC 2505 “Anti-Spam Reco


Sending a large amount of SPAM , it could cause a
Denial of Service (DoS) situation where the server is over loaded and can not process valid email.    Also if the server has  issues processing email, the hard drive can fill up causing server to crash.

One of the side effects of having an open relay and sending spam is getting black listed. The two domains that blacklist companies are Comcast and Barracuda networks. You illegitimate email will not get delivered and subsequent user complaints will follow.  You will have to go through a process of rectifying the SPAM issue then requesting to be removed from domain blacklist.  These blacklist
databases are used by many organizations to block UCE from getting into their email
systems.  Two well-known organizations are Open Relay Behaviour-modification System
(ORBS) and Mail Abuse Prevention System(MAPS).  More information about these two
organizations can be found at www.orbs.org and www.mail-abuse.org respectively. This
can start to cause you as the email administrator some serious problems with your users
as they will be unable to send their email to any of the domains that has your server on
their blacklist.

Another serious issue related to this problem is spam email are generally done to spoof people in to providing confidential information especially credit card numbers. There can be some legal obligations to correct corresponding issue as quickly as possible.  For a good legal reference on UCE in the United States (Federal and State), European Union, as well as many other countries check out www.spamlaws.com.

Reference Security CERT RFQ:
Exchange Server
In this section I will detail the process of configuring Microsoft’s Exchange Server as to
preventing it from being an open relay server.
Exchange Versions
With versions of Exchange Server below 5.0 it is impossible to configure the server to be a secured relay.  If your Exchange Server version is below version 5.0 the recommended
path is to upgrade to at least Exchange server 5.5 Service Pack 2 with the encapsulated
SMTP relay address patch.  If  you are running Exchange Server 5.0 you are able to stop
the open relay function but you have to disable POP3/IMAP.   This version of the software should also © SANS Institute 2003, Author retains full rights

Internet Mail Connector
The Internet Mail Connector (IMC) is the service that is installed to allow your Exchange
Server to act as an SMTP server.  By default this service is not installed during
installation, instead it is installed by running the Internet Mail Wizard after the exchange
installation is complete.  To run the Internet Mail Wizard go to  File ‡ New Other ‡
Internet Mail Service.  By default the wizard does not put any controls on who can use
your Exchange server as a relay.  After you have your Exchange server installed with the
default settings of Internet Mail Connector service your exchange server is vulnerable to
open relay.
Configuring Internet Mail Connector To Stop Open Relay

Since all the configuration changes happen in the IMS, the first step is locating the
properties for the service.  Open your Exchange Administrator program and connect to
the Exchange server that has the IMS service installed.  You will notice that the
Exchange Administrator is set up just like Windows Explorer with Containers on the left
hand side and objects on the right hand side. Once open find the Connections container
located under your \\configuration container in the left hand 
column.   Once highlighted you will notice connector objects on the left hand side, one
should be named Internet Mail Service ().  You can view the IMS 
properties by double clicking on it.  Once open you will see several tabs, locate the
Routing tab and click on it to view the routing properties.
The first thing you notice near the top of the properties sheet is the option of Do not
reroute incoming mail or Reroute incoming SMTP mail (required for POP3/IMAP4
support).  The obvious choice would seem to be the first, but, do not use it for your
system will not relay messages, but will receive them and then send a non-deliverable
message back to the return address of the message.  This is not good because first it put
undo burden on your email system by accepting potentially very large email messages
but could also be used as a reverse UCE attack with your system involved.  The best
selection here is the second selection.
Next you see a box titled Routing.  On the right hand side of the screen select the add
button.  In the ‘email sent to this domain’ enter your domain name.  Next select the
option ‘should be accepted as “inbound”’ indicating that these are the only domains that
the SMTP server will accept mail for.
After you have set all of the domains that your server will be accepting mail for click on
the ‘routing restrictions’ to open your ‘routing restrictions’ properties page.  The first
option is ‘Hosts and Clients that successfully authenticate’ which allows relaying of messages to only users that have accounts on your server or another way to validate who
the user is with the server.  The next option is ‘Host and Clients with these IP
addresses’.  With this option you can specify by IP address who is allowed to relay
through your system or what subnet is allowed to relay through your system.  For
example a single IP address would put in their address and the subnet mask of
255.255.255.255.  For a subnet you would specify the network portion of the IP address
and let 0 represent the client addresses with the subnet mask to match.  The next option is
‘Hosts and Clients connecting to these internal addresses’.  What this does is allows
relaying of clients who can access a specific interface on a multi-homed system.  Do not
check this unless you have reason to do so.  And the last option you have to prevent open
relaying through your Exchange server is ‘Specify the hosts and clients that can NEVER
route mail’.  This option is pretty self-explanatory and works by denying specific IP
address or subnets.
After all the changes have been made to secure your SMTP server you have to stop and
restart the Microsoft Exchange Internet Mail Service located in the services on the
control panel.
This concludes my paper on Open Relay and configuring Exchange server to not being an
open relay system.


References:
Edwards, Mark Joseph. “Who’s Using Your Mail Server?.”  31 Aug 2000
 http://www.windowsitsecurity.com/Articles/Print.cfm?ArticleID=15480  (10 Oct 2000)
Howard, Mark. “Coping with Unsolicited Email” 1 Oct 1999
URL:http//www.exchangeadmin.com/Articles/Print.cfm?ArticleID=6174 (10 Oct 2000)
Microsoft. “Inside Exchange Internet Mail Service” 2000
URL:http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/techinfo/InsideIMS.htm” (10 Oct 2000)
Minasi, Mark. “Untangling Email” 1 Apr 1998
URL:http://www.win2000mag.com/Articles/Print.cfm?ArticleID=3024 (10 Oct 2000).
Reavis, Jim. “Are you an accidental spammer?” 23 Aug 1999
URL:http://www.nwfusion.com/newsletters/sec/0823sec1.html?nf (10 Oct 2000)
Redmond, Tony. “Exchange 2000 and SMTP” 9 Feb 2000
URL:http://www.win2000mag.com/Articles/Print.cfm?ArticleID=8140 (10 Oct 2000)
Toombs, Douglas. “Junk Email – Protect your Exchange Server from Junk Email.” 1 Aug
2000 URL:http://www.winntmag.com/Articles/Print.cfm?ArticleID=3673 (10 Oct 2000)

iPhone Suri sexy librarian

I had my iPhone 4S for about 5 weeks. sure it is nice and Siri is intelligent and I envision her as a sexy librarian. By no means am I blown away by her as opposed to my Android device. I was really bummed out when I was late for an appointment when the GPS sent me to the wrong destination like three times. Wow, I thought; is she really going to let me down like this?

I came to the conclusion that my iPhone was like a new adventure that would eventually please me. Is it the best thing in the world? Not really, but we are going to make the best of it!  Still I am on a learning curve!

Super Intelligence

The age of super intelligence is upon us. The smart devices we carry allow us to have instant access to information anywhere in the world. After completing a review of a new smart phone I am rolling out, I was amazed at the capability at our finger tips.


The new device I am rolling out is a Verizon Pantech 4G which has built in video for face to face communication. The Android platform has applications that allow us to communicate socially to family, friends and business partners. Applications are constantly being written to improve our productivity, entertainment, and communication.

The pace of innovation is amazing as speed and capability increases with each new upgrade and release. High definition video, 4G speed, texting, Facebook all come included while storage increases and the devices become more affordable. The Pantech Breakout is the most affordable 4G device in the Verizon line up. See my initial review of this new high tech device.
My Pantech Breakout review

Targeted Individual - persistent advance threat

The new security treat is advanced persistent threat (ADT) attack when an individual target is researched and the malware program is customized so the threat signature goes undetected. In the crime arena, we would consider this crime of opportunity.

The hacker crafts a malware program allowing back door entry into your computer system allowing theft of property, ideas, drawing, and various building and production plans at the corporate level. Today the targets go behind household zombies, but corporations with significant resource, both financially and technologically.

The latest and most sophisticated attacks involve installing remote administrator tools (RATS) on command and control servers on corporate networks. Many of these attacks are developed over months and years to infiltrate various systems.

To counter these attacks, the Open Information security Foundation (OISF) is building the next generation intrusion detection system / intrusion prevention system (IDS/IPS) engine. One protection strategy is to use a layered security technology in addition to user training and education.

Since hackers often find ways to get around perimeter protections, the focus becomes controlling out bound data and communications used to steal information. We need to use best practices to secure data and control the fact that information cannot leave the network or be off loaded.

Implementing security initiatives by protecting mission critical systems via network segmentation and virtual local networks can limit damage. Additional security can be enhanced by limiting peer to peer sharing.

Prevailing wisdom suggest all networks will be potentially compromised so the appropriate response is critical. Currently it can be difficult to find a compromised system which makes correcting issues difficult. One approach is to analyze logs to look for indicators of an intrusion. This usually take the form of internal traffic being redirected to an unauthorized domain name system (DNS) server.

Security top ten

1. Improve security awareness and training among staff

2. Enforce security controls during concept phase

3. Encrypt data on removable media devices

4. Protect passwords change cycle

5. Develop social media program to enhance and protect assets and reputation

6. Review access to key assets frequently (limit privileged access)

7. Develop application white list for employees who manage sensitive data

8. Conduct risk assessments

9. Engage complex authentication

10. Limit access to sites or warn about potential spyware and malware issues

Future network on my Vizio 48'' HDTV

I purchased my first true flat screen TV which is my new Vizio 48"" HDTV 1080P. I did my research on Plasma, LCD, and LED technology. The LED technology provides a superior picture in all lighting situations. The picture clarity and definition is amazing. The LED technology is a little more expensive, but well worth it.

While doing my product evaluation, I was not sure how much value Wi-Fi and and web applications would provide. After using the web applications, they are definitely worth having. The applications I like the best is Netflix. Watching movies is seamless and you do not experience the drag and disconnects you see on the Xbox. Early morning leisurely movies on the week end are fantastic. After using web applications, you can see how how media is moving towards web content and personal media libraries.

The pre-installed applications that I really like include: Netflix, Twitter, Facebook, Web Videos that include content from Fox, WB, TMZ, SHOWTIME,  4O additional channels.  The is a widget Gallery that includes additional web applications that can be down loaded at any time. Media outlets are writing applications to publish content over the web on a continuous basis. Here is an example of applications available for download: Fox5 Las Vegas, Snap (share your life),  Live Traffic, Movies Demand, etc. I recommend the Vizio LED HDTV. By the way, set up and installation was a breeze.

I am currently interested Vizio the company!

Google maps GPS navigation

Use your Android phone for GPS navigation via Google maps.


Google maps is built into Android devices so the set up is relatively simple. To use Google maps as your GPS, complete the following:

1. Turn on local Stand alone GPS service (settings, locations, security)
2. Select Google maps on home screen
3. Accept Google service agreement
4. Google maps will typically calculate your location based on GPS signal availability
5. Select options button                           
6.       You will be prompted to enter start (my location GPS) and End point (destination)
7.    Google maps will give you directions, miles, time based on traffic (you can switch to transit, walk, bike mode)
8.    Finally you can view directions base on map or navigation (voice and turn navigation)

This can be quite handy if you want to save on purchasing separate GPS system.

Personal justice, pursuit of happiness

As I headed past the Boston financial district heading to serve as a federal juror, I could not help but ponder if justice would been served, would I have to determine someone fate? I hurried past  an unhappy group of occupy Boston people who had obviously felt justice had not been served.  The signs and sentiment was corporate greed and  government mistrust was prevalent in this camp?  This was a big wow, and how did these people get to this point?

There was a distinct feeling of sadness for the unemployed and many hurting people. Still I had to rush to jury duty to complete my civic duty. Once settle among my peers, I walked out to the lobby and viewed a spectacular view of the Boston harbor. I distinctly imagined sitting on the deck of a beautiful boat enjoying a cup of coffee,the sunrise, and simplistic happiness. Hopefully soon rather than later.


Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, after all was what made America great. As I completed my civic duty and headed homeward bound, I realized that each person should try to make the world a better place. Life can become so hectic and the pressure intense, we neglect to enjoy simplistic happiness. May the road to justice lead us to a better place!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Life’s Bucket list review

1.       Be happy -- find a way to achieve happiness and peace. “Money cannot by happiness”
2.        Challenge yourself physically and mentally. Everyone needs a reason to get out of bed.
3.     Strive for perfection, but do not be hard on yourself if you fall short.
4. 
   Find and develop hobbies:    My hobbies and  challenges include: Kite boarding, surfing, wake boarding, sailing, golf, snowboarding , snow mobile in the clouds, landscaping, etc.
5. Travel and see the world and make some friends along the way. Destination list: Hawaii, Miami, Aruba, Bermuda, Hilton Head, new destinations I have not seen yet.
6. Make the world a better place.

American Economics according to the left and right, my solution

American economics and balancing the federal budget  appears to be a distant pipe dream. Regardless of which political ideology you follow:
Left, Right, or Independent, balancing the budget has never been a priority. The financial markets and confidence have diminished as the economy has been shaky and lay offs of USA workers have continued.

The Left has always lived by the motto of raising taxes and spending to support increased social programs to help solve society's issues.  This policy worked great when we had economic growth and subsequent high tax revenues. We were able to make historic reductions in the federal deficit during unprecedented economic growth.

The Right has always lived by the motto of lower taxes, lower spending on social programs, but increased spending on defense and the military. This policy works well during economic growth, but seems to do very little to reduce the federal deficit.  The posturing and political wrangling has usually resulted in congressional gridlock.

Both ideologies do not work well when we are in an economic recession.  The combination of sending USA jobs overseas by many corporatiosn, hand outs and wasteful spending, have caused many hardships for the average American.

Both the Left and Right must move toward the center where we have the correct balance of spending, tax reductions, elimination of hand outs and wasteful spending. It may be time for us to make a run at correcting issues that are important to us. So, who is with me?

Writing applicaions on a modern platform

As cloud computing evolves, developing application interfaces is an emerging niche. The cloud service become a valuable tool when it improve service and decreases cost. This is difficult to accomplish but companies must be able meter usage and charge for services provided.

Some of the more popular cloud offerings are: Google business applications, Microsoft Azure Office 365, connectivity applications for iPad, Playbook, and the many tablets that are being introduced in to the market.

Here is a review of the Platform: iOS SDK and available tools: The tool set to develop on Mac, iPhone, iPad uses Xcode 4.02, iOS SDK 4.3 Integrated developer  Environment. The cost is $99 per year. The developer program allows for writing, testing/debugging, and distributing apps through iTunes App store.

Goal is write first application for iPad solving a business problem.

Once the application is completed Apple must approve placement on App store which is a long time consuming process.

The Apple platform has a unique advantage in applications can run on desktops, notebooks, tablets and smart phone which is great for the customer base you server.

Google business Apps corporate email migration

The corporate cloud email migration to Google business Apps has advantages and disadvantages.

The advantages of Google cloud email are: savings related server builds, email licensing, spam, greater disk space for user inboxes.

There disadvantages to Google email in the cloud are: having to migrate Corporate email to Google cloud, switching DNS servers, Google sync issues (very slow), lost emails, calendars, and contacts to mention a few.

Having Completed a migration, there many challenges, difficulties, and frustrations involved.

One thing to consider when migrating to Google business Apps is mobile Cellular devices. Google Apps connector for Blackberry Enterprise does not work well with Blackberries. Typically mobile users must be migrated to Andriod devices for the solution to work. That being said, good luck if you are considering a move.

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Shell Shocked in honor of the military

I had the honor of doing volunteer work umpiring baseball at Fenway park. The baseball ball game was to raise money for the Boston foundation.

The Boston Foundation helps many service men and women deal with post tramatic syndrome after returning home from war. They cover expenses not covered by insurance such: medication, psychologist, hospitalization for post tramatic syndrome.

We should thank the military service personal for service and dedication in very difficult circumstances. The war on terrorism has subjective people to seeing death and destruction that the mind is not ready to cope with.

I hope the service men and women come home safely and are able to adjust back in to civilian life. To deal with life threatening altering situations, your survival instinct kicks in.

When your are getting bombarded from all sides you become shell shocked. To survive in the most dier situations, you must alter your thinking to survival mode.
A singular postive thought,while removing yourself and compartmentalized your experience, in essence protecting your spiritual being. God bless our military!

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Mobile life

As smart phones have improved technology in many phase to include social media. Most technical savvy users get a good portion of their information from the web including: Face book, Twitter, and many online sources. The ability to choose and run all kinds of applications on Blackberry, Android, and iPhone as made our live truly mobile.






Many people now spend more time on their smart phone, iPads, lap tops than speaking to friends and family. We spend a majority of our time communicating through our mobile devices. We communicate with each other via Facebook, texting, blogging, and occasionally make a phone call.

The mass array applications we can use: Google maps, Facebook, texting means we are constantly in touch. The million dollar questions is, how much will it improve ultimately improve our lives? The answer is ultimately in our hands.

Conscientious consumer

Conscientious consumer -- When and where we, the American consumer, spend our dollars has a huge impact on the global economy.


As we spend more and more dollars on goods made overseas imported into the USA, we see many USA jobs sent and outsourced to foreign lands. To change the way corporate executives conduct business overseas, we need to change our buying habits:

 
 
 
My buying/purchasing matrix:


1. Buy the best product to fit your needs.

2. Where is the product manufactured? Purchase USA products of equal quality first, if possible.

3. Corporate image, does the company ship USA jobs overseas? (Buy else where)

4. Purchase and support companies that our keeping jobs in the USA!

5. Purchase products from companies that provide goodwill (charitable)

6. Purchase products that our environmental friendly (Green).

7. Purchase and support companies that stand against discrimination and corporate greed!

8. An informed consumer is a good consumer!

Alternative Energy source

Over the last few weeks Things in the world really been crazy specially with earthquake in Japan.




I have done an analysis of the Chevy volt looking to go truly electric and think this would save a lot of money in the long run. The Chevy volt is projected to go 40 miles on electric charge, but that number is reduced when running the heating system and electrical systems, true range is around 20 miles. I am considering the Ford hybrid Fusion as an alternative to the Chevy volt just because of the short range on the battery for the Volt.



Due to the nuclear problems in Japan, I also consider going solar to power my house. I am waiting for estimates to come in to install solar electrical system. I'm hoping this solar system is the wave of the future. We need to reduce our carbon footprint and implement new renewable energy sources.


I did use Dragon Dictation to complete this post which save me a little time. Happy spring!

My Favorite iPad applications

 

I have owned my iPad for three months and my favorite applications are:

1. Flipboard which is a magazine style link to Google reader, Facebook,  Flipboard content (tech, photos, style), top men, digital, SI, USA, Car and drive and many more. I probably check out this application every day.

Friendly for Facebook quick way to check and update your status

Ipad notes - who needs paper?

Dragon dictation -- just got a new mic to help dictate notes, still testing and implementing into blog

CNN news

iPad task

The iPad is really convenient,  but can not replace a lap top. (Just saying!)

Lastly, I am testing my Logitech video camera which has some audio bugs I am trying to work out. Check me out on video.