World Readable: a personal blog about anything that comes to mind for anybody who cares to read it.
More cameras as my replacement project continues! I’ve been using the TRENDnet TV-IP422W cameras inside for the past few years but really hadn’t been using their pan-tilt-zoom features. Rather than replace them with fixed, high-resolution PoE cameras like the TV-IP572PI and continue to possibly overload my ZoneMinder installation, I decided to give the Dropcam Pro a try.
My security camera re-org project continues as I upgrade my old indoor cameras to newer HD (and PoE) versions. I replaced the outside ones earlier this month and next on the list was my four year-old TRENDnet TV-IP121W which I replaced with the very similar, but newer TV-IP572PI.
It’s two years after the Zero Day attacks, and cyber-security analyst Jeff Aiken is reaping the rewards for crippling Al-Qaida’s assault on the computer infrastructure of the Western world. But the West is under its greatest threat yet. A revolutionary, invisible trojan that alters data without leaving a trace – more sophisticated than any virus seen before – has been identified, roiling international politics. As the trojan penetrates Western intelligence, and the terrifying truth about its creator is revealed, Jeff finds himself in a desperate race to reverse it as the fate of both East and West hangs in the balance.
I just finished reading “Trojan Horse,” the sequel to “Zero Day” by Mark Russinovich.
Russinovich’s second techno-thriller reunites security analyst Jeff Aiken and now-girlfriend/business partner Daryl Haugen as they attempt to track down the latest threat to global security: a trojan horse, of unknown origin, that is subtly altering documents at the United Nations. The trojan is only accidentally discovered when it crashes the word processor of a UN employee authoring a critical document regarding Iran’s nuclear weapons program.
The first part of the book, as Jeff and Daryl pick apart the trojan’s code and attempt to trace it back to its authors, is full of the low-level technical details you’d expect from Russinovich after reading “Zero Day.” The second half is an international chase across Europe, the Middle East, and even China, as the depth of the conspiracy is revealed.
The inclusion of recent technological threats, real-world events, and a healthy dose of the Stuxnet trojan make “Trojan Horse” a gripping, if not slightly scary, read.
For Father’s Day this year my wife and daughter got me a cool toy! The Heli-Max 1SQ V-CAM RC quad-copter. I had a Sears Lobo when I was a kid (it’s probably still in my parents’ basement) and loved racing that thing around in the street, especially with Turbo mode. Now I can take to the skies instead!
Now that the wireless network re-design was done, I wanted to replace my aging Foscam outdoor cameras with newer, HD models. Installing the Ubiquiti UniFi AP was my first introduction to power-over-ethernet and I decided to move to PoE (instead of wireless) cameras. I already had TRENDnet cameras in my current setup, along with TRENDnet switches, so I decided to stick with that brand and selected the TV-IP311PI outdoor cameras and TPE-TG44g PoE switch.
My current home wireless setup had been in-place and stable for about two years. And while everything was working fine, my incessant need to tinker was overpowering so I decided to do a little re-design and simplification.
The real reason for the re-org was because I wanted to try out the Ubiquiti UniFi AP, an 802.11n wireless access point with MIMO technology capable of 300Mbps speeds with ranges up to 400 feet. Slightly larger than your average smoke detector, it’s meant for enterprises but for $70 if you know your way around network setup it’s pretty simple to set up as a very robust home access point when paired with your existing router.
Ocyrhoe, a young, cunning fugitive from Rome, safeguards a chalice of subtle but great power. Finding herself in France, she allies with the persecuted, pacifist Cathar sect in their legendary mountaintop stronghold, Montségur. There she resists agents of the Roman Church and its Inquisition, fights off escalating, bloody besiegement by troops of the King of France, and shields the mysterious cup from the designs of many.
Percival, the heroic Shield-Brethren knight from The Mongoliad, consumed by his mystical visions of the Holy Grail, is also drawn to Montségur—where the chalice holds the key to his destiny.
Arrayed against Percival and Ocyrhoe are enemies both old and new who are determined to reveal the secrets of the Shield-Brethren with the hope of destroying the order once and for all.
Wrapping up The Mongoliad Cycle, I finally finished reading “Siege Perilous” by E. D. deBirmingham.
Book Five picks up the Rome/Pope/Grail storyline from Books Two and Three, introducing Ferenc and Ocyrhoe to the Shield-Bretheren knights Raphael and Percival and Shield Maiden Vera. Also making a re-appearance is Dietrich, of the Livonian order of knights whom we last saw at the Circus of Swords outside of Hünern in Book Three. There aren’t any more Mongols (i.e., Gansukh and Lian) in this final installment, as that story was wrapped up at the end of Book Four.
My daughter had to do some filming for a class project and the thought of having to transfer her video off of my old Panasonic PV-GS250 miniDV camcorder (in real-time) just wasn’t appealing. I decided it was time to get an HD camcorder. Since I needed it pretty quickly, I did some brief research on Consumer Reports and then purchased the Sony HDR-CX330 at my local Best Buy (online, with in-store pickup).
Let’s try this again …
I was having way too many problems with my new Buffalo Linkstation LS420 so I sent it back and decided to give a different brand a try. It was slightly more expensive, but I selected the Synology DiskStation DS214 2-bay NAS, populated with two 3TB Western Digital Red NAS hard drives (purchased separately as the NAS itself comes without drives). Wow, am I impressed!
The death of the fearsome Ögedei Khan has brought the Mongol invasion of the West to an abrupt halt. Exhausted, plagued by uncertainty and self-doubt, and reeling from betrayal by one of their own, the surviving Shield-Brethren struggle across a frozen, shattered wasteland to return home after their desperate battle in Mongolia. Their mission is complete—Christendom has been saved—but new and terrible questions haunt each member of the company: Are they heroes or villains? Or just pawns in a larger game, trapped in a world gone mad in the wake of the unspeakable devastation visited upon it by the Mongol horde?
When I started reading “The Mongoliad” last year I thought it was a trilogy, so I was surprised when I reached the end of Book 3 only to find the story hadn’t wrapped up. In fact, this part of the Foreworld Saga is five books and I just finished “Katabasis” by Joseph Brassey, Mark Teppo, Cooper Moo, and Angus Trim (no Neal Stephenson anymore).