Advogato blog for andrewmuck

17 May 2010

Mon, 17 May 2010 07:36:48 GMT

PKTP is running for proof of concept and seems to work ok (if looking untidy) now with java based transaction formater

What I really need is some people to test it and see if it breaks. Individuals who can generate pgp/gpg signatures can test very easy. someone with Linux skills can set up franchise servers to test intra vault operations.

Help from programmers to make it more scalable would be welcome.

14 Dec 2009

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 07:47:10 GMT

2 years done, 2 to go....
proof of concept for distributed electronic payments seems to work ok, but does not seem to have a visible market.
Ideally want to squeeze it all into a smartcard. The test server it runs on is not always up as it was supposed to have migrated to a PC104 board board but getting the boot loader to sit happy on a compact flash card is seemingly more difficult than expected.

18 Jan 2009

Sun, 18 Jan 2009 14:01:13 GMT

Well I might be starting to get publicly active again. Yoiu may or may not be aware that ICANN/GNSO is looking at some new constituancy formations so I am pushing for an all inclusive general public one. Global Reach Internet Participation (GRIP). At the moment just a facebook group page to see what level of interest there is. I thourouly recomend *everyone*, yes even *YOU* go join express interest and be active.Get a GRIP

On a more personal note Uni is going remarkably well with commendations for both semesters so far, I am not sure why I am doing so well as I am sure I fluffed exams. I am not going to argue :)

Other projects progressing, although a little slowly.

2 Dec 2008

Tue, 2 Dec 2008 14:52:50 GMT

another year, another entry. I see we have now gone from diaries to blogs.

I recently contemplated coming out of net seclusion to become active again, funny thing I noticed is how many others seem to have disappeared, perhaps all the old timers are watching what the new people do.

Feels like the stakes are going to be much higher this time.

4 Nov 2007

Sun, 4 Nov 2007 12:17:31 GMT

well shorter intervals did not happen :) but my edumacation is going well, uni next year.

Not much else to really report on. Tcl/Tk is cool, if you have not already tried it then you should.

In middle of exams right now, (should be studying), so have not read any books for a couple of weeks, up side is after exams there are some new ones to read available.

I have both myspace and facebook now. Felt funny venturing into such reaches of the internet but did prove usefull in establishing a web of connections to people I have been bumping into, rather than people sharing technical or ideological common grounds.

As a general note on education, I would recomend to others that refreshing those brain cells is a good idea, even if you already seem to know a subject, going through the process of formalising knowledge is very usefull.

Next post, I guess I'll be in uni.

2 Jun 2007

Sat, 2 Jun 2007 10:49:27 GMT

Well you may or may not have heard about the US DOJ Grabing gold and e-golds' response

Some of you might also know I take an interest in privacy and finacial crypto. I also kept a (big enough to hurt) chunk of gold in 1MDC, that was amoung the gold thieved.

Needless to say this does annoy me somewhat, I did not expect such blatent grabbing for some time.

As a side and related note my pktp project on sourceforge has vanished, I suspect due to me not doing anything on it for prolonged time than some vast conspiracy. I of course still have all the code etc.. so if you wish to work on some java crypto money stuff, drop me a line.

Given the failure of busNet, I am now a full time student and that is going well. Another few years and first prototypes should be getting fabbed :)

Still seeking crypto hardware people with VHDL skills!

Anyway I am pleased I got this entry in, in under a year, might be getting into shorter time between posts.

21 Oct 2006

Sat, 21 Oct 2006 13:54:25 GMT

Another year flown past. Hard to belive.

Advogatorites, I have come to make my yearly report.

Operation busNet, concieved as a vast and brilliant plan has totally failed. I knew this after about a year but gave it another six months to be sure. Operation redNose (or blackTooth haven't decided yet) is comencing, but it is the hard work longer time frame version. As part of this transition of projects I am now a full time student in order to gain the requisite knowledge. For those who know what I am up to, I will be in a period of planning over the next few years (while studying) and any input on methodologies to use would be greatly apreciated.

For those who knew about busNet, the reasons for failure were several. First off the hardware was spectacularly bad, much worse than expected and a bit more limited than I would have liked. Hardware reliability was however completely dwarfed by software issues. A requiste for it all going to plan was a certain amount of stability. I kept thinking this would become possible as things settled down, but in the end I had to face it that complete reflashes on a weekly basis precluded the project from continuing.

Moral of the story. When projects are measured in years, trying the quick and dirty method just wastes time. Time lost 18months lost $ (certain missed oppourunity and reduced income) of approx $50k

The bigger project will be better but is looking at 10years before I expect to impress with results. It does however mean big drop in income for several years, that kind of sucks but if your going to get things done, you might as well go the whole way.

Seeking: people with specialised knowledge. Skills required: VLSI design (low power, complex fuctions, DPA aware), maths (cryptosystems pki, threshold), Biological (especially implant systems, bone conduction, nueral interfacing, bio-power), advanced de-centralised trust metrics (come advogato pour forth!), philosphy (morals in technological extremes)

It will not be another year for my next entry, so will see you guys around a bit more.

18 Oct 2005

Tue, 18 Oct 2005 14:09:47 GMT

One year on... well I still can't say much, give it another few months and I might comment

2 Oct 2004

Sat, 2 Oct 2004 14:25:54 GMT

Well it had to happen sooner or later, I have had my first real bad ebay experience.

I have had a few ripoffs on shipping, but finaly hit one where it was delayed, non-comunicative and finaly after 2 months I figure it is never going to turn up.
Not pleasent and not a cheap item either.

In other news, I'm getting my diary entry in a bit prompter than last time ;)

Playing with RFID, comunity WiFi and some other stuff. I would tell you more but that would spoil the surprise!

30 Jul 2003

Wed, 30 Jul 2003 05:01:21 GMT

Forgive me world, it has been 18 months since my last diary entry.

What to say. Many things have happened.

Building whole computers within a single chip, works quite nicely and is fun that I would recomend to anyone with a vauge idea of what a soldering iron is ;)

Fincryp stuff continues to evolve, soon the world will be ready to embrace money in a different way.

The revolution will not be webcast.

My website molders in a corner of the net going years without updates, I am now almost nostalgic for how out of date it is.

I do not think there is anything else I can tell you