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ImageUSB – bit level copying of USB Flash Drives

I love USB flash drives.  I constantly carry two aging Sandisk Cruzers in my pocket (these have been the best in my opinion, one is a 1gb that is at least five years old, the other a 2gb that is at least four years old, very reliable)  and an 8gb PNY Attache (which is my bootable drive containing multiple isos of Linux distros, password crackers, antivirus tools, etc.  I highly recommend YUMI for this btw).  Low cost for a decent amount of storage (Sandisk offers 8gb drivers for around $10 or less) are more than enough reason to ditch optical media, and if you are stuck in the late 80′s or early 90′s, floppy disks (wtf, you are still using these damn things).

I work in the Information Technology dept for a large company.  This means we follow standards for the hardware we purchase and the software we install.  Currently we install an image of the operating system we use from a 16gb flash drive.  This involves a combination of files containing an image file of a customized install of the OS, and batch files, which are copied to the drive and through a process involving the command line, are make bootable.  If you only have one, maybe two drives, this isn’t so bad, but say you have to do this to five, it becomes a hassle.

Last night, that situation arose, where we had one drive with the image and needed to configure five more, and needed them in a hurry.  By the power of Google sometime last year, I came across ImageUSB.  What this software does is let you create an image file of your USB drive, and then write that image to USB drives of equal or greater size than that of the original (you are not going to squeeze 16gb of data onto an 8gb drive, don’t try, I promise, it won’t work).  We were able to write that image to three new drives at the same time (our limit being three USB ports on the laptop being used).

The software is extremely easy to use.  You are either going to create an image from a UFD (USB Flash Drive) or Write to a UFD.  No settings to worry about, nothing to configure, and no software to install (nothing more than an executable).  It is free to use and available at http://www.osforensics.com/tools/write-usb-images.html.

 

 

My New Year’s Resolutions 2012

Normally I tend to reject concepts such as this, but I figure this is a good way to set goals (I guess thats the point of it, but most peoples resolutions c -ome off as lazy and shallow, and I really don’t want that). I figure I should revisit this list every three months and update the status of each ite

  • Work Toward a Healthier Lifestyle - For years I’ve struggle to lose weight, but since the move, I feel a bit more motivated now that I do not spend nearly three hours a day, and work for a company that I actually respect (I still have stress, but not the miserable stress that comes from working for bad employers).  I want to do several things to improve my way of living, everything from eating, sleeping to how I handle stress.
  • Become More Involved With My Art – I’ve sketched and drawn since I was a kid, and over the course of my 20′s, it’s something I moved away from as I started building a career, and feel now is the time to start really working on it again.  Perhaps start a web comic or paint or whatever.
  • Do More Writing – I would like to post one blog entry a week, and perhaps write for another form of media.
  • Drink More Water - This is one I’ve already started on, Drink less soda, Drink More Water.
  • Read More – Right now most of my reading is non fiction, biographical or technical magazines and manuals, so I think I should add some fiction into the mix.
  • Find A Project – Start a side project or become involved in something away from work.
  • Find A New Creative Outlet – Simply try something creative that I have not tried before.
  • Learn New Things – Just go out and find something and read up on it.  To be a free thinker requires you to be a open learner.

Stop Internet Censorship

A Geek’s Christmas Wishlist Part 1: Books

It’s Christmastime again and for so many that means having to brave the streets and stores to shop.  Whether it be for family, friends, or if you are playing Secret Santa at work, chances are there is at least one geek on your gift list.  I figured this would be a good time to compile a list of gift ideas (some old, some new) that may help you out this holiday season.

BOOKS

  • Cooking For Geeks – The best cookbook for a group of people notorious for relying on take out and fast food.  Giving the science of cooking as well as articles from some interesting individuals (Adam Savage from Mythbusters), this book is a fun read with a few recipes to try.  Also gives you a listing of the utensils needed to survive in the kitchen.
  • Good Eats - I am a huge Alton Brown fan, and was sad to see that he had ended production on the TV series “Good Eats”.  Probably the most entertaining cooking show on television, combining cooking, science and somewhat absurd humor, this has been a staple of my DVR for as long as I’ve owned one.  These books recap the show and its recipes by time period (Early, Middle, and Later Years).  Also included in my list is a book published previously called Alton Brown’s Gear for Your Kitchen.
  • Just A Geek – Wil Wheaton’s collection of journal entries and essays showcase the difficulties he suffered as an adult finding work as an actor.  He bears his soul and shares the emotions he felt quite vividly all the while under the shadow of this dark cloud of doubt he casts upon himself over his decision to quit Star Trek:  The Next Generation.  He is an excellent writer and this book is a must read.
  • Phone Losers Of America – I happened across this by accident while searching for some good reading material for the Kindle.  This collection of short stories take place over twenty years, and involves some criminal mischief (phone phreaking, prank calls, harassment, etc) to bizarre humor.  A very interesting look at some of the personalities in this culture.
  • Ghost In The Wires – I’m also a fan of The Art of Deception and The Art of Intrusion, but this book tells the story of Mitnick’s problems with the law, his treatment, and how the myth of Kevin Mitnick turned out to be a curse in a time when he was looked at and treated like a terrorist.
  • Commodork – The sordid tales of a BBS Junkie, another one of those accidental finds ($2.99 for the Kindle copy) that was just a fun read.  The authors love of the Commodore 64, Bulletin Board Systems (including hosting his own) and collecting and sharing software takes you back to a time before Napster and Limewire.

 

Did LivingSocial Sell Out?

With deal sites being so popular, usually promoting deals with smaller businesses (I do enjoy BargainBee for where I live), it came as a shock to many bloggers that LivingSocial offered a deal for McDonalds ($13 for $26 worth of vouchers).

Me personally, I have to wonder if that was the companies goal, to get these major corporations to offer deals through them, or if they were going to keep to the small business formula that most of these sites use.  I also know that in some cases, it has been very harmful to the business offering the deal.

 

Did LivingSocial Sell Out?

 

My Thoughts on Tech: Week of Oct 9 – 15

IOS 5 Upgrade Woes

It seems that the anti-Apple crowd is showing a little compassion for the company in the wake of the death of Steve Jobs.  The errors that some users have experienced this past week would normally be attacked as some type of failure for Apple (remember the iPhone4 antenna issues).  I think also, had this occured a few months from now, then alot of bloggers and fanboys would have proclaimed the downfall of Apple with the loss of Jobs at the helm.

The issues seemed to be centered around the device contacting Apple’s servers for activation, before restoring.  With all the ios devices out there (three generations of iphone and two generations of ipad, thats alot of hardware to upgrade), not to mention users who have multiple devices, thats alot of contact being made with those servers, so be patient.

This backs up something I have always recommended, and that is wait a day or so before doing an upgrade, just to be safe in the event that there are widespread problems.

Big Charges for Celebrity Hacker

I usually ignore most celebrity news, but since Christopher Chaney of Jacksonville, Florida managed to breach the accounts of what is believed to be more than 50 famous people using what amounts to social engineering, my interest has been caught.

Chaney’s manage to attract the attention of law enforcement due to leaked nude photos of Scarlett Johansson.  He managed to access these users email accounts by looking up information about these celebs on the internet, and used that to answer the security questions.  He then set up the accounts to forward everything to a third party account, meaning he did not have to access the celeb accounts directly.

The grand jury indicted Chaney on nine counts of computer hacking, eight counts of aggravated identify theft, and nine counts of illegal wiretapping. If convicted on all counts, he could be sentenced to 121 years in prison, which seems excessive considering that is more than people who murder, rape, etc.

Random Stuff

Barnes & Noble has taken over the website, Facebook and Twitter accounts of the now defunct Borders.  So if you were a Borders shopper and follower, you may see some Barnes & Noble advertising sent your way.

Kindle 3 is getting a software upgrade to take advantage of some of the cloud functionality that the new kindles offer.

I am still working on more posts as time go by.  My goal is to have at least one short post a day, and one large post on Sunday.  Please follow me on twitter @chadklumpp (formally @rd8t)

My Thought’s on Steve Jobs

While I have never been much of an Apple user (I support OS X and my household now has an iPad), I have to admit that the history of Apple Inc  is one of the most interesting and unusual to follow.  It’s the kind of story that almost seems fictional with its twists and turns.  The people involved with founding the company have the feel of characters in a novel, the figment of a writers imagination.

To be perfectly honest, I was always more intrigued with Steve Wozniak more than Steve Jobs.  This is probably because even as a child I was always curious about the electronic components and how they worked.  Many claim that Jobs was a great inventor, but this is not the case.  He inspired, innovated, and marketed probably better than anybody who was in his position.  He didn’t invent portable media players or tablet computers, instead, he found the right people, and worked with them to make these devices appeal to the masses.  Tablet computers have been around for a long time, but they tended to bulky, clunky, and require a stylus.  Also, the operating systems they ran (Windows XP Tablet Ed) were not designed for a touch interface.  The iPod took an existing concept, the portable music player, and made it sleek and easy to use.

I will say that I believe that Steve Jobs was probably one of the greatest marketers and salesmen of the past few decades.  His desire to be different from other computer companies set him apart from the executives at IBM, who in the late 1970′s and 80′s he considered the enemy.  While other companies looked to the business world as their market, Apple went after those who wanted a personal computer in their home, and the education market (One of the first three computers I was able to touch was an Apple II).  Most PC manufacturer’s ads were images of their PC’s being used in an office setting, where Apple would have ads using historical figures, such as Thomas Edison, telling people that while he had several patents, with one Apple, you too could be an inventor.  The best example of how Jobs wanted to differentiate himself from IBM was the commercial for the 1984 Superbowl.

A year later in 1985, Jobs was ousted from Apple by John Sculley, the man he convinced to leave PepsiCo for Apple.  He went on to found NeXT, and purchase Pixar from George Lucas.  Pixar in the mid 90′s became the standard for computer animated feature films (I was 15 when Toy Story was released just before Thanksgiving, and even today am still blow away by it).  While NeXT was not a success (having sold its hardware division to become a software company), its buyout by Apple Computer in 1996 is what brought Steve back into the company, and within a few months he was named interim CEO.  He became the permanent CEO a couple of years later, and during that time announced the iMac, iPod, iTunes, iPhone, iPad, etc.  Btw, the “i” in these products stood for “internet”.  The timing of his return to Apple was at a major transitional period in technology.  Personal Computers were becoming more affordable, and internet access was becoming more and more available.  The rest is history.

Even if you did not like or respect Steve Jobs, his story is one of the most interesting reads out there, and I recommend the following:

Pirates of Silicon Valley

iCon Steve Jobs:  The Greatest Second Act In The History Of Business

Return To The Little Kingdom:  How Apple & Steve Jobs Changed The World

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Interview with John Draper aka “Capn Crunch”

John Draper is an old school programmer and formerly a phone phreak (for more information on what a phone phreak is, please click here.  His nickname came from the use of cheap toy whistles that came in a box of Capn Crunch cereal that were used to manipulate phone company equipment.

TWIT recently did a two part interview with Draper on their show Triangulation.

Part One:

Part Two:

 

Petition to Block H.R. 1981

NPR Interview with 2600 Editor Emmanual Goldstein