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Saturday, August 15, 2009

Rapidfire Whitewater SUP


This is a Standup Paddleboard I've wanted to work on for sometime... since I started the Cayuco project for Dragorossi, I've wanted to do a "whitewater SUP" that is targeted less to "river running" and more on surfing "river waves with the ability to run rivers".
While this board will not even be close to the Cayuco in ease and forgiveness for running hard whitewater, it has the flipside advantage of being closer to ocean style boards for wave surfing.
That being said, this board has a lot of the "hull design" features that I was developing back in the late 1990's for kayaking - boats like the Glide and Disco with the "anti trip" rails through the center and the nose of the board.
But the tail is all surfboard. Thruster fin set-up tops off the double barrel concave through the boards center into a shallow V release in the tail.
The volume of the board in the center through the nose is as high as could be made, with "fat" sidewalls offering maximum secondary stability, while the tail is cut down as radically as possible so it'll slice and dice the waves.
I've added footstraps in the center of the board to offer better control so edgiong can be accomplished much like a kayak thigh brace or snowboard - push and pull.
I've capped this off by making the board out of Kevlar so its resistant to the rocky environment of rivers. It'll never be even close to plastic in this reguard... but its better than nothing.
This board is 9'6" x 29" x 6".

Guillaume Larouche tears up Chambly







Near the end of last season, Guillaume came to me and said "I think I need to get a board for river waves". He had been using a Webber Afterburner and had tried his brothers little "Maverick", and wanted one. He then said:"I wasn't entirely convinced that a board desinged for the river wave would be better, but now I'm sorry to say this: Corran, you are the only man ever to have given me pleasure!"

Luckilly he was talking about his new Maverick 5'11". He's been riding the board all winter now and has a handle on it, and this spring he has been "going off" at Chambly.
So I whipped put the camera, and got a few shots of him carving and launching, and launching... and launching...
I took all these photos only over two rides... he was doing this all afternoon, but I wanted to surf too...

Friday, August 14, 2009

Something old & something new

Over time, it’s easy to become a bit out of touch with security tools. With new tools arriving on the scene daily, and updates to established tools occurring frequently, the deluge of information can be overwhelming; not to mention all of the other security fodder we process.

That said, I find it encouraging to revisit some of the really established tools to see what changes and improvements are in place. Nmap is without a doubt the classic security tool in every aspect, from quality, to longevity, to street credibility. Even Hollywood has clue when it comes to Nmap, as evidenced in Matrix, Bourne, and Die Hard films with Nmap showing up on someone’s computer screen!

One of my favorite Nmap features is the OS Identification and Application Fingerprinting capabilities. In part, this type of identification relies on the Nmap community scanning known devices and submitting signatures to be added to the Nmap databases (service probes, OS, etc.).
As of 21 July, 2009, the Nmap OS database has the following VoIP device
Fingerprints:
Fingerprint Alcatel 4035 VoIP phone
Fingerprint Sirio by Alice VoIP phone
Fingerprint AudioCodes Mediant 1000 VoIP gateway
Fingerprint Audiocodes MP-114 or MP-118 VoIP gateway
Fingerprint Avaya G350 Media Gateway (VoIP gateway)
Fingerprint Avaya Office IP403 VoIP gateway
Fingerprint Avaya Office IP500 VoIP gateway
Fingerprint Aastra 480i GT or 9133i IP phone
Fingerprint Inter-tel 8662 VoIP phone
Fingerprint Comtrend CT-800 VoIP gateway
Fingerprint D-Link DVG-4022S VoIP gateway
Fingerprint Grandstream HandyTone HT-488 analog VoIP adapter
Fingerprint Grandstream BudgeTone 100 VoIP phone
Fingerprint Grandstream BudgeTone 100 VoIP phone
Fingerprint Grandstream GXP2000 VoIP phone
Fingerprint Grandstream GXP2020 VoIP phone
Fingerprint Thomson ST 2020 or 2030 VoIP phone
Fingerprint Interbell IB-305 VoIP phone
Fingerprint Linksys PAP2T VoIP router
Fingerprint Linksys SPA901 or SPA921 SIP VoIP phone
Fingerprint Linksys SPA942, SPA962, or SPA9000 VoIP phone; SPA3102 VoIP gateway; or Sipura SPA-2100 or SPA-2101 VoIP adapter
Fingerprint Mitel 3300 CXi VoIP PBX
Fingerprint Netcomm V300 VoIP gateway
Fingerprint Neuf Box Trio3D DSL modem/router/VoIP/TV
Fingerprint Nortel CS1000M VoIP PBX or Xerox Phaser 8560DT printer
Fingerprint Patton SmartNode 4960 VoIP gateway (SmartWare 4.2)
Fingerprint Perfectone IP-301 VoIP phone
Fingerprint Planet VIP-154T VoIP phone (MicroC/OS-II)
Fingerprint Polycom SoundPoint IP 301 VoIP phone
Fingerprint Polycom SoundPoint IP 301 VoIP phone
Fingerprint Polycom SoundPoint IP 430 VoIP phone
Fingerprint PORTech GSM VoIP gateway
Fingerprint PORTech MV-374 GSM-SIP VoIP gateway
Fingerprint Samsung OfficeServ 7200 VoIP gateway
Fingerprint ShoreTel ShoreGear-T1 VoIP switch
Fingerprint Siemens HiPath optiPoint 400 VoIP phone
Fingerprint Sipura SPA-1001 or SPA-3000 VoIP adapter
Fingerprint Sipura SPA-3000 VoIP adapter
Fingerprint Thomson Symbio VoIP phone
Fingerprint Vegastream Vega 400 VoIP Gateway
Also, it’s well worth taking a look at the VoIP devices identified in the Nmap Service Probes database as services that identify a VoIP device do not necessarily mean that the VoIP device has a fingerprint. In other words, there are VoIP devices in the Service Probes database that are not in the OS Fingerprint database, so look carefully!

For even more coolness, be sure to check out the NSE.
Wrapping-up, I’ve nothing less than mad props for Fyodor and all of the other folks who’ve contributed to this fantastic tool. Nmap was one of the first tools I used 10 years ago when first cutting my teeth in security, and remarkably, is a tool that I continue to use almost daily.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Money from Blogging

Idea for making money:

1) Pick a topic that you love. Of course, it's best if you love something other people also love, such as motherhood, politics, or celebrities. "All blogs have the potential to create revenue, but the more popular ones are tech and product-focused, versus ones that are just a 'day in the life of,'" says Farnoosh Torabi, You're So Money author and senior correspondent for TheStreet.com.
Steve Pavlina, who blogs at his eponymous website, cautions against being overly narrow in focus. "Instead of picking a niche like diet tips, where there's only so much you can write, instead pick a general way of looking at life or an area of interest that you're passionate about," he says. He writes about personal growth, which encompasses relationships, finances, career development, and spirituality.

2) Build up traffic. Strategies on gaining readers could fill an entire book, but the basics involve reaching out to other bloggers, writing quality content, and updating that content daily. Advertisers usually pay a rate based on every 1,000 page views, explains Torabi. Joining a blog network, creating a great title, and gaining a strong following are all ways to build those views, she says.
Pavlina experienced his first spike in traffic in May 2005 when he wrote an article on how to become an early riser. He credits his success to continuing to publish unique articles that help people change their lives for the better. He says he now gets around 2 million visitors a month and his monthly revenue is in the five figures.

3) Wait to monetize. Or start immediately. When to start placing ads on your site is a subject of debate among bloggers. Lynnae McCoy, blogger at Being Frugal, recommends placing ads from the start so readers get used to the look and don't complain when you add them later. But Pavlina suggests waiting until you have 100,000 page views a month (no easy feat), because before that, any monetization will just make "coffee money."

4) Temper your expectations. Blogging is not exactly a get-rich scheme, as many bloggers point out. According to a survey by Darren Rowse of Problogger, who earns over six figures a year off his blog, most bloggers earn less than a dollar per day. "It's like any 'pro' thing," he says, adding that as with sports, most people do it for fun. A smaller subset makes a small amount of money from winning competitions, then an even smaller group makes a full-time living from it. And a very small group makes a lot of money, like Tiger Woods.
His survey also found that about half of the 3,000 respondents earned over $100 from their blogging, with most of those earnings in the $100 to $1,000 per month range.
Many of the bloggers who do earn money are working full-time hours, or longer. Silicon Valley Blogger at Digerati Life works at least 40 hours a week and earns between $3,000 and $5,000 a month, which means she earns around $25 an hour—a rate she hopes to improve in the future.
5) Start strong. Many successful bloggers say the first six months are key, not because they made much money as they were starting out, but because it was essential for them to market and optimize their new blogs in order to stand out in a crowded field. "The first six months are the hardest because you have to work hard to get your blog noticed," says McCoy.