Last night, YouTube officially announced the change from 4:3 video to 16:9 wide screen video.

Some are saying YouTube waited far too long to make it happen while others hate it and even more feel it should be optional. Personally, I think they should display all existing videos in 4:3 as they were uploaded and new videos should be marked by the uploader as 16:9 where appropriate. I think they should also implement a search option to find only one format or the other if desired.

However you slice it, it’s definitely a noticeable change and says more about our changing technology than it does about YouTube. I’m sure we’ll see a lot more video cameras prepared to output 16:9 video now.

Do you love it? Hate it? Don’t care?

Once in a while, you just stumble into somewhere you’re not supposed to be… and there’s no security to keep you out. This is one of those times.

I was trying to ssh to a client’s server and was unable. I decided to try the IP address I was given in a web browser and was surprised to find myself staring at the configuration page for a TV station’s DTV Decoder/Receiver. These days, I try to stay out of computers I’m not supposed to have access to, but I just has to poke around a little.

The first thing I did was look around the surrounding IP addresses to find out what else was lying around, unguarded. I don’t want anyone getting tempted, so I’m only giving you the tail end of each IP. Below is a list of what I found with just a little snooping:

.3 APC Management console
.4 APC Management console secured by htaccess (”Switched Rack PDU”)
.9 DTV-150E
.10 DTV-150E
.11 DTV-150E
.12 DTV-150E
.13 DTV-150E
.14 DTV-150E
.15 DTV-150E
.20 NetVX Control Interface (htaccess)
.23 Unknown and protected by htaccess

As you can see, we’ve got a number of video decoders, a NetVX (which looks like a lot of fun if I could get into it), a couple APC Management Consoles, and something hidden properly behind htaccess. One of the APC consoles was busy, but when I returned later, I was able to confirm that they were both protected properly by htaccess. It’s just too bad they don’t have everything protected.

There’s a few ways to protect stuff on the web that is only meant for certain eyes. One of the most popular is with a .htaccess file. Essentially, you just throw this file in the directory you would like to protect, put a few lines in the file, and create a password file. Another, more involved, method is to allow only certain IP addresses to access port 80 (the traditional web port). Sometimes, people even skate by, utilizing “security by obscurity”, or just hiding their information in a directory and hoping nobody finds it. None of these methods were used here. Perhaps these are just test hardware, but if they’re not, they are wide open for anyone with a malicious streak.

If you put anything sensitive online, protect it with some form of secure access method. When you do, make sure you use a secure password. Never access anything sensitive from a public computer or on a public network. Above all, don’t leave an array of servers wide open.

TechLasers keeps on giving
First of all, I’d like to thank TechLasers.com again for sending me the laser to review. When I agreed to review, it, I didn’t anticipate having so much fun with it and finding more uses than I wrote about previously. I also never anticipated what came next. If you click the image at right, you’ll get a larger version, where you’ll notice that JoeTech.com and a quote from my review are proudly displayed on the TechLasers home page. I was very excited to see that. Thanks again, TechLasers!

She has Lissajous cruves
Just after my last post, one of my employees told me that he had a Lissajous curve maker at home. I have to admit that I didn’t know the term, but I told him to bring it in and we’d take a few minutes and play with it. You can click the link to find out some detail about Lissajous curves, but I’ve also created a short video for you. We went into the “war room” in the back, set it all up, and shut off the lights. What resulted was the light show below (RSS readers should click through to the site to see it).

How it’s done
To the left is an image of what Andrew brought in. You can click the image to see a larger version, as always. The concept is really fairly simple. You have two small motors with speed controls. Attached to each motor is a small mirror, angled at its base. The motors are mounted at near-45 degree angles, and the laser is mounted on the clothes pin. The black panel is just to block any stray laser beams. To make this thing produce Lissajous curves, you just need to turn it and the laser on, and then adjust the speeds of the motors. The faster the motors are spinning, the more interactive and wild the designs become. I want to build one of these, myself, but I want to have the motor speeds controlled by a digital source. I think it would be pretty cool to control it remotely via the web. I will definitely post whatever I come up with.

When Hack n Mod sent me this link with the message, “Your readers will enjoy this: Absolutely incredible!”, I was apprehensive. After all, I get a lot of links in my email and most of them claim to want to show me something amazing. This one, however, was from a site I recognized and have read and promised that you guys and gals, my readers, would enjoy it. I checked it out, and I think you will enjoy it, indeed.

From Hack n Mod:

Dutch artist Theo Jansen demonstrates his amazingly lifelike kinetic sculptures, built from plastic tubes and lemonade bottles. His “Strandbeasts” (Beach Creatures) are built to move and even survive on their own.

ORLY? Just watch the video below and see for yourself (skip ahead a little).

Now what amazes me almost as much as these kinetic energy devices is that they’ve been around for at least a few years and I’m just now seeing them for the first time.

If you can handle it, here’s some more strandbeest videos.

I know it’s not tech (and I have a tech post coming later), but I am fuming. Watch the video:

I know there’s kids out there (and some adults) who just need a good beating. I know there’s good police officers out there that deserve all the respect we can give them. So many of the good ones have fallen in Phoenix lately. But then you have guys like this tool. His name is Officer Rivieri and if I had my way, three things would happen:

1. He would be fired immediately.
2. He would be charged with assaulting a minor.
3. He would be barred from ever owning a firearm again.

Here’s a guy who’s going on and on about respect, yet he can’t hold his temper long enough to just talk to the kid. If any cop laid a hand on my nephew like this guy did to this kid (not in physical defense), I’d settle it out of court in my own way. Where did this officer get his training? Why are there so many cops out there who feel the need to abuse their authority?