Recently on Security Now! they did an entire episode dedicated to embedded RFID tagging. I wrote an email in response to that episode with some thoughts about the security of RFID, and my email was selected for this past week’s Q&A episode! Take a look at the video after the jump to hear my question and Steve’s answer.
I’ve resurrected my use of Tumblr & will be using it from now on to post items of a more random & informal nature. I’m using it with a new domain: cconover.me. I’ll post things that I think are cool, weird, fascinating, exciting, or anything else I feel like sharing, as well as stuff I’m doing & have encountered.
How is this different from the blog on this site? Think of it like the difference between writing a letter & sending a text. The blog on this site is more of the polished, curated side of my personal content publishing. My Tumblr will be the text message-like side of my stuff, where I post up short, quick things I want to share.
In addition to being able to follow it directly through Tumblr, you’ll also see my Tumblr posts show up on my Twitter feed, Facebook fan page & the RSS feed associated with cconover.me. So if you’re already following me in any of those places then you’ll be seeing my Tumblr stuff automatically.
I recently learned of a clever plugin for WordPress that embeds tweets in an attractive, fully functional manner into a WordPress post with just tweet URL. It’s called Blackbird Pie, and it appears to work really well. All you have to do is install the plugin & it adds a button in the native editor in WordPress. Click it, paste the URL to the tweet you want to include, and it does the rest.
As you’ll notice below, any links that were included in the tweet are working, and it pulls in the design of the user’s Twitter background. It’s like having a screenshot, but much easier & more useful. Expect to see a lot more of these on here in the future. Mainly because I can.
Just installed the Blackbird Pie plugin for WordPress http://cnvr.cc/b8emVN on my site.Writing a test post to try it out.
— Christiaan Conover (@cconover) November 6, 2010
Update 03JAN12: I’ve switched to Twitter Embed, since Blackbird Pie was causing issues with my current site theme and Twitter Embed is even simpler to use.
Isn’t technology great? The San Francisco Giants won the World Series tonight, sparking riots all over San Francisco. Obviously I’m nowhere near there, but because of the Internet I can see & hear all the excitement in real time. Here’s how you can too!
I was recently watching an episode of Top Gear that happened to have a feature comparing the E90 M3 to the Lexus IS-F. In it, Jeremy Clarkson says a few different times that the M3 is the best sports saloon in the world. Ok, BMW people (and others too, if they’re honest) know this already so why is this significant?
A new service has shown up online geared entirely towards license plates – or rather, the cars & drivers to whom they belong. The basic premise is that people ought to be able to connect with fellow drivers/human beings through something unique & universally understood: the license plate on our car. BUMP is trying to capitalize on the ubiquity of license plates & cell phones to create a social network & communication platform.
About two months ago I started using a service called LastPass, based in large part on the review and recommendation of Steve Gibson on Security Now. He explained in-depth why LastPass is safe, effective and a much better solution than maintaining passwords yourself. Intrigued by this product that Steve seemed so enthusiastic about (and given that I trust Mr. Gibson’s opinions when it comes to computer security) I created an account & tried it out. In short, LastPass lived up to all the expectations I had for it, and works like a charm for all of my needs. Let me explain how & why.
Recently I got a video camera, a Canon Vixia HF200 to be exact, for use with Conover Media & Wheelspin TV. I’m headed down to Spartanburg, SC this coming week to the BMW Performance Driving School, where I’ll be doing a special episode of RoundelTable as I tear it up around the track & learn better car control techniques. I’ll be filming the whole thing, so I’ve been doing a lot of practice to familiarize myself with the camera & good filming techniques so that I’m prepared to make a great episode.
Here’s the first video I’ve done using the camera. The entire thing was recorded at a 24p frame rate (like you see in films) at 1080p high definition, and then was downcoded to 720p high definition when I exported the final copy. It’s a pretty basic video, but it does a good job of demonstrating this camera’s capabilities & gives me good practice. Enjoy!
This was in the parking lot this morning as I was walking into work, and I couldn’t help but notice that one special word on the trunk lid: “DIESEL”. Is this really a MINI Cooper S convertible with a Diesel engine, here in the U.S.? The only Diesel MINI I know of that’s slated to come to the U.S. is the Countryman Diesel, which isn’t supposed to show up until early next year.
Does anyone know anything about this? Is this a legitimate Diesel MINI, or just somebody’s personalized paint job that coincidentally rings some bells?
Update: turns out it’s just a reference to car being a “tender” for the owner’s boat and is NOT a diesel, as per the comment he left. Case solved.
So, Apple had one of their now-famous events today. They unveiled a bunch of things, including a touch screen iPod Nano, a new iPod Touch with front-facing camera & FaceTime, and a new iPod Shuffle (which doesn’t really look any different from the old one). The thing that everyone was waiting for leading up to the event though, and the thing that’s gotten the most attention, is the new Apple TV.