http://www.syzygytech.com Blog of Bob Sun, 28 Dec 2008 03:23:31 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en A few weeks ago I installed DenyHosts, a small deamon (can also be run as a cron job) that runs on my server to block IP's that make brute force SSH login attempts.  The script has worked great, blocking over 500 hosts on the first day I used it (including ... http://www.syzygytech.com/2008/12/27/deny-hosts-and-ssh-login-attempt-behavior/ A project that a friend of mine wants to complete is to build a small clock type device that can connect to the internet and show something like +/- 10% for the stock market (or a specific stock).  The preliminary concept involves 2 physical devices and a program on the ... http://www.syzygytech.com/2008/12/27/internet-enabled-wireless-stock-clock/ As part of a Robotics class I took as a professional elective, I designed and built two robots with the intent of having them interact with each other. My original idea was to have them play a hide and seek type game, where one robot would chase the other, ... http://www.syzygytech.com/2008/11/15/infrared-robot-detection-with-obstacle-avoidance/ There have been several recent announcements about airlines starting to offer wireless internet on their flights.  I find it interesting that they are trumpeting this as something new and exciting, when, in my mind, they should have offered internet access on planes years ago, when wifi first started to take ... http://www.syzygytech.com/2008/08/18/airplane-wifi/ Now that the weather is nice and the motorcycle is out, I've been noticing a few things that I would like on my bike.  For starters, I want a clock, but upon looking ofr a small LED clock to mount, I was not able to find anything that suited my ... http://www.syzygytech.com/2008/04/21/project-idea/ I recently bought 2 new 500GB hard drives and am in the process of migrating the array to double its size to 2TB. The current 1TB over 3 drives was 100% full, so it was something that had to be done. The expansion took about 26 hours on ... http://www.syzygytech.com/2008/01/21/expand-jfs-filesystem/ I've noticed that the Apple fans have been raving about the announcement of the MacBook Air, so I started looking for information on it, as even non Apple fans seemed to be impressed. In my opinion, although the Air has some nice features and is a nice looking machine, ... http://www.syzygytech.com/2008/01/19/macbook-air-not-impressive/ Nothing like Microsoft putting new security flaws in Windows while claiming its improving security. I don't know why Microsoft would use a random number generator with several known and published flaws, not to mention the issue of its poor performance to other generators available. Perhaps its a standards issue, ... http://www.syzygytech.com/2008/01/15/coming-to-a-windows-vista-near-you/ Through the gracious efforts of a friend, I have managed to come by a Sun Fire V120 server with a 650MHz UltraSPARC IIi processor.  It is in need of a hard drive, but is otherwise in working order.  I'll be getting some cheap 80 pin SCSI drives on ebay in ... http://www.syzygytech.com/2008/01/10/sun-fire-v120/ I've noticed many items in the news recently in regards to restrictions and additional punishments put in place for sex offenders. The more I read about these, the more I think that we are going too far in certain aspects. The latest example that ... http://www.syzygytech.com/2007/12/28/internet-bans/