Your Fingerprint Can Be Hacked For $5. Here’s How. - Kraken Blog

https://blog.kraken.com/post/11905/your-fingerprint-can-be-hacked-for-5-heres-how/

How to learn a new language (by using flashcards for gratis).

How to learn a new language (by using flashcards for gratis).

Say you are a (almost) native English speaker. And assume you would like to learn one of the continental European languages, say Dutch, for free. How would one go about this?

One piece of advice you will consistently find is:

1. Learn a couple of new words per day. Don't overdo this. Start small.
2. Use Flashcards.
3. Use them every day.
4. That is it… just 1,2,3….

Okay, how can we do this on the cheap. Like for gratis?

A guide…..

Step 1.

We need to find free and high quality text files, or AZW3 or ePUB format. It so happens that www.jw.org has articles in more then a thousand (no joke!) languages, and quite a bunch of publications to download for free as well.

Download a publication in the target language of your choice. As an English speaker who want's to learn Dutch I will download the "Bestudeer dagelijks de Schrift 2022" booklet.

• From this web address: https://www.jw.org/nl/bibliotheek/boeken/Bestudeer-dagelijks-de-Schrift-2022/ 
• And an English version for reference here: https://www.jw.org/en/library/books/Examining-the-Scriptures-Daily-2022/   

Save those files on your Pc/Mac at a location where you can find them back later.

Step 2.

This enitre post is really about one thing: how and where do I find a free to use flashcard application? Amazon.com is where. Or, more speciffically, just the free to download Kindle app.

For our next trick: find the "kindle" app in you App Store of choice and download it.

Now go to www.amazon.com and create a free account.

Use that account to log into the Kindle app (no need to buy any books at this point).

Step 3.

Alright. We have found some free literature that is of high translation quality (and on a more personal note: also of a high quality go content). ✅ We have found a sort—of-free-to-use flashcards app. ✅ Now we need a way to open epub files in an application that has NOT been build for this job. We need to convert our ePub files to the MOBI or AZW3 file format. 

• If you found AZW3 files you can skip this, if not:
• Go to https://calibre-ebook.com/download and get whatever version will work on your device. 
• Install it. 
• Now open the Calibre app. Click on the [Add Books] button and add the EPUB files we downloaded. 
• In the top right corner, choose the MOBI or AZW3 format.

• Now, click on the [convert book] button. In the right bottom corner you will see a spinning wheel, signifying the conversion process is working. Click it if you get impatient so you can look at a status-bar instead (mine seemed to be stuck at 47% for a while 🤔) : 

• If using Calibre is not for you you van try this instead: Find the location where you saved the English and Dutch ePUB files that we just downloaded, and use upload those files now to the free converter too on this website: https://convertio.co/nl/epub-azw3/ It will give you back AZW3 files for the EPUB's that you uploaded.
• Now our MOBI or AZW3 files are created. Save the files at a location that you can find later. 

Step 4. 

Okay. We have high quality MOBI files in a target language of choise. ✅

We have a free account for a free to use app that knows how to do flashcards.  ✅

We are giddy with excitement!  Less go-go-go ….

Look up the MOBI or AZW3 files that you just created. 

Now open those files in the Kindle app.

Click on the [table of content button] on the top left corner and navigate to Januari.

For each day of the year you'll find a short piece of text. Read it and look up every word you don't know.

Mark these words and add the proper translation to the markings. 

Step 5. 

Practise makes perfect. After you have made some notes you can now use these notes in the Kindle app to practise your language skills.

Open the Kindle app and the book we picked earlier.

Now press the [show notebook] button in the top right corner.

We now see a list of the flash cards we ourselves created earlier by translation difficult words. 

Press the [+ Flashcards] button to create your own set of flash cards.

Congratulations: you can now start to practise a new language with free self made slash cards 😊 🥳

Go to "http://vscode.dev" and start coding with Visual Studio Code entirely in your browser.

Wanna see something cool? Go to "http://vscode.dev" and start coding with Visual Studio Code entirely in your browser. Anywhere, anytime, on any device and tablet, with no install required.

Read the announcement https://aka.ms/vscode-dev-blog

Planetary - Social media for humans, not algorithms.

https://www.planetary.social/

‎Highlighted: book highlighter

Ik lees nog steeds graag boeken op papier.

Sommige boeken (naslagwerken maar ook gewoon fictie) lees ik soms zelfs vaker, bijvoorbeeld na een paar jaar weer eens opnieuw.

Soms lees ik een boek opnieuw omdat er veel informatie in staat die ik weer vergeten ben maar super interessant vond, of zelfs nodig heb. Zo las ik recent een boek over de oude Perzen (ter voorbereiding op een museum tour over het Medo-Perzische rijk) en besloot meteen de belangrijkste stukjes te arceren en er boekenleggers bij te plakken om ze makkelijk terug te vinden. Dat boek zag er dan naderhand zo uit:

Best handig om de belangrijkste bladzijdes terug te vinden… maar ook super onhandig, want niet snel doorzoekbaar natuurlijk. Laat ik nu heel toevallig vandaag in de Apple App Store zitten zoeken op een andere app (om je hele bibliotheek in te scannen) en nadat in dit vage sub genre belandde kreeg ik dan natuurlijk App Store aanbevelingen van apps die hier enigszins op lijken.

Tot mijn grote vreugde zat er een erg bruikbare en bovendien gratis app bij, namelijk "Highlited: book highlighter". De naam van deze app geeft ook goed aan wat hij doet.

Wanneer je de app opent begin je in een leeg scherm, stap 1 is om een boek op te geven waarin je wilt gaan highlighten (dus aantekeningen wilt maken). Veel boeken hebben op de achterkant een barcode die aan het ISBN gekoppeld is en deze app haalt dan meteen de auteur, titel en kaft op en zet deze in het scherm. 

De volgende stap is om dat boek aan te tikken en een highlight te maken. Je maakt hiervoor een foto van een bladzijde, en daarna markeer je de tekst op je scherm. Deze tekst wordt nu opgeslagen als een quotering van dat boek. Je kunt hier als laatste nog eigen tags aan toevoegen, en een eigen commentaar bij schrijven.

Dit plaatje heb ik dus gejat uit de App Store zelf… Ik had even geen screenshot bij de hand, mijn telefoon is nu naar iOS 15 aan het updaten dus ik wacht er ook niet op om er zelf een te nemen nu. 

Wat deze app zelfs nog bruikbaarder maakt is dat je dit archief dat je zo begint op te bouwen ook weer makkelijk kunt exporteren, onder andere naar het zo door mij geliefde PDF formaat. Immers, ik zet deze PDF dan weer op mijn laptop weg waarna ik er snel ik kan zoeken met de beroemde sneltoets ⌘ + Spatiebalk commando.

Na het ontdekken van deze app ben ik dan ook van plan om vanaf nu al mijn aantekeningen te digitaliseren. 😃 

Nu vraag je je af: is Jan commercieel gegaan? Waarom deze advertorial? Nou nee hoor, de app is gratis, ik krijg hier niets voor (behalve her warme gevoel van binnen wanneer je iets leuks deelt dan), en ik ken de maker ervan niet, en ik heb hem pas sinds deze namiddag gebruikt, maar ik ben er gewoon echt enthousiast over… vandaar. 

Veel annoteer plezier 😉 

 

The Framework is the most exciting laptop I've ever used

https://pluralistic.net/2021/09/21/monica-byrne/#think-different

natural gas mining

For years, oil and gas companies have struggled with the problem of what to do when they accidentally hit a natural gas formation while drilling for oil. Whereas oil can easily be trucked out to a remote destination, gas delivery requires a pipeline.  

If a drilling site is right next door to a pipeline, they chuck the gas in and take whatever cash the buyer on the other end is willing to pay that day. "There's no choice. There's no middle finger. Whatever gas comes out that day has to be sold," explained Haby. But if it's 20 miles from a pipeline, things start to get more complicated. 

More often than not, the gas well won't be big enough to warrant the time and expense of building an entirely new pipeline. If a driller can't immediately find a way to sell the stash of natural gas, most look to dispose of it on site.

One method is to vent it, which releases methane directly into the air – a poor choice for the environment, as its greenhouse effects are shown to be much stronger than carbon dioxide. A more environmentally friendly option is to flare it, which means actually lighting the gas on fire. 

"Chemistry is amazing," explained Adam Ortolf, who heads up business development in the U.S. for Upstream Data, a company that manufactures and supplies portable mining solutions for oil and gas facilities. "When CH4, or methane, combusts, the only exhaust is CO2 and H2O vapor. That's literally the same thing that comes out of my mouth when I exhale," continued Ortolf. But Ortolf points out, flares are only 75 to 90% efficient. "Even with a flare, some of the methane is being vented without being combusted," he said.

This is when on-site bitcoin mining can prove to be especially impactful. When the methane is run into an engine or generator, 100% of the methane is combusted and none of it leaks or vents into the air, according to Ortolf. 

Bitcoin makes it economically sustainable for oil and gas companies to combust their methane rather than externally combust it with a flare. 

"There is no such thing as stranded gas anymore," said Haby. But Ortolf has taken years to convince people that parking a trailer full of ASICs on an oil and gas field is a smart and financially sound idea.

"In 2018, I got laughed out of the room when I talked about mining bitcoin on flared gas," said Ortolf. "The concept of bringing hydrocarbons to market without a counter-party was laughable." Fast forward three years, and business at Upstream, a company founded by lead engineer Steve Barbour, is booming. It now works with 140 bitcoin mines across North America.

It is also helping to curtail the overall carbon footprint of some of these oil and gas sites. Recent production stats show that in the U.S. alone about 1.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas is wasted on a daily basis. And these are just the reported numbers, so the actual figures are likely higher.

• https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2021/09/04/bitcoin-miners-oil-and-gas-execs-talk-about-natural-gas-mining.html 

Start9 - Sovereign Computing

https://start9.com/

q - Text as Data

q - Run SQL directly on CSV or TSV files

http://harelba.github.io/q/

Groet,

Jan

Sent from my mobile device on the go, apologies for brevity and typos. 

Sequencing a human genome at home

http://blog.booleanbiotech.com/human-genome-at-home.html

Immersed - Work Faster in VR Than in Real Life

https://immersed.com/

LeetCode - The World's Leading Online Programming Learning Platform

https://leetcode.com/

Crowdfund: $ESSAY — Mirror

https://j.mirror.xyz/uVGCCwwm3k341lPpxaJmHTZROESVse9Pe_rmbiuUAC0

Bitcoin Security Guide: Zero To Hero | Keep It Simple Bitcoin

https://www.keepitsimplebitcoin.com/bitcoin-security-guide/

How they spy on us.

I'm back from a week at my mom's house and now I'm getting ads for her toothpaste brand, the brand I've been putting in my mouth for a week. We never talked about this brand or googled it or anything like that.

As a privacy tech worker, let me explain why this is happening. 🧵

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1397032784703655938.html

schappim/macOCR: Get any text on your screen into your clipboard.

OCR from the command line:  https://github.com/schappim/macOCR

Hyundai Nexo breaks world record for longest distance travelled in a FCEV

https://www.h2-view.com/story/hyundai-nexo-breaks-world-record-for-longest-distance-travelled-in-a-fcev/

Apple AirTag hacked again – free internet with no mobile data plan! – Naked Security

https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2021/05/14/apple-airtags-hacked-again-free-internet-with-no-mobile-data-plan/

Apple AirTag hacked again – free internet with no mobile data plan! – Naked Security

https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2021/05/14/apple-airtags-hacked-again-free-internet-with-no-mobile-data-plan/

Bitcoin | Transaction: 124a1169b44fb52d198a83eebcd4f060e7d8f1acae8b657544d4e982aa50b643

https://learnmeabitcoin.com/explorer/transaction/124a1169b44fb52d198a83eebcd4f060e7d8f1acae8b657544d4e982aa50b643

Podping Watcher - Recently Updated Podcast Feeds

https://podping-watcher.web.app/

DOSBox SVN, CPU speed: 3000 cycles, Frameskip 0, Program: SPACESIM

https://archive.org/details/msdos_Microsoft_Space_Simulator_1994

Corporate Memphis — Are.na

https://www.are.na/claire-l-evans/corporate-memphis

Humaaans: Mix-&-Match illustration library

https://humaaans.com/

Amazon Fake Reviews Scam Exposed in Data Breach

https://www.safetydetectives.com/blog/amazon-reviews-leak-report

Hardening macOS - Ricard Bejarano

https://blog.bejarano.io/hardening-macos/

How?

Install a fresh copy of macOS

Note: this step is optional, but highly recommended, it's best to start off with a clean system to avoid possible misconfiguration.

1. Boot into Recovery Mode (hold command + R during boot)

2. (Optional) Go to the Utilities > Firmware Password Utility and consider setting up a firmware password to protect your data should it be lost or stolen

3. Format the boot drive and install macOS from scratch (Warning: this step will permanently delete the contents of the boot drive)

First boot

1. Clear the NVRAM (hold command + P + R during boot) (skip if you set up a Firmware Password previously)

2. Create an administrator user account with a strong password and no hint. This user is for administration purposes only.

3. Go to System Preferences > Users & Groups and create an unprivileged user account for day-to-day use, it is considered best practice by Apple itself

4. Go to System Preferences > Users & Groups > Guest User and uncheck Allow guests to log in to this computer

5. Go to System Preferences > Software Update and consider enabling automatic updates (if you are not comfortable enabling this, consider at least turning on security updates by going into Advanced… and checking Install system data files and security updates)

6. Go to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > General and set Require password after sleep to immediately or 5 seconds

7. Go to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > General and set Allow apps downloaded from to App Store or App Store and identified developers

8. Go to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Firewall and turn on the firewall

9. Go to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Firewall > Firewall Options… and check Block all incoming connections

10. Go to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy > Location and uncheck Enable Location Services

11. Go to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy > Analytics and uncheck Share Mac Analytics

12. Go to System Preferences > Sharing and anonymize the computer's name, this name can be see by those connected to the same network as yours

13. Go to System Preferences > Sharing and turn off every service (turn on only when using it and disable afterwards)

14. Go to System Preferences > Network > Advanced > DNS, add two entries to DNS Servers for 1.1.1.1 and 1.0.0.1 and remove any other server

15. Go to System Preferences > Spotlight > Search Results and uncheck Spotlight Suggestions and Allow Spotlight Suggestions in Look up

16. Go to System Preferences > General and uncheck Allow Handoff between this Mac and your iCloud devices

17. Go to System Preferences > Bluetooth and turn off Bluetooth (turn on only when using it and disable afterwards)

18. Go to Finder > Preferences > Advanced and check Show all filename extensions

19. Disable Captive Portal (use your browser instead):

    sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.captive.control Active -bool false

20. Disable Crash Reporter:

    sudo defaults write com.apple.CrashReporter DialogType none

21. Block malicious domain names using the /etc/hosts file (see StevenBlack/hosts)

22. Consider running an outbound firewall such as Little Snitch (proprietary, full-featured) or LuLu (open-source, very basic)

23. Consider doing binary whitelisting with google/santa

24. Go to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > FileVault and turn on FileVault (note: may take some time)

25. Secure FileVault when on sleep:

    sudo sh -c 'pmset -a destroyfvkeyonstandby 1; pmset -a hibernatemode 25; pmset -a powernap 0; pmset -a standby 0; pmset -a standbydelay 0; pmset -a autopoweroff 0'

26. If you plan on using ssh with ssh-agent, add a safe timeout parameter to ssh-agent to protect your credentials:

    	# make a copy of com.openssh.ssh-agent.plist:
    	sudo cp -p /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.openssh.ssh-agent.plist /Library/LaunchAgents/local.com.openssh.ssh-agent.plist
    	# edit the file
    	sudo vim /Library/LaunchAgents/local.com.openssh.ssh-agent.plist

    	<!-- add the missing lines to the file -->
    	<key>ProgramArguments</key>
    	<array>
    	<string>/usr/bin/ssh-agent</string>
    	<string>-l</string>
    	<string>-t</string>
    	<string>8h</string>
    	</array>

    	# apply the changes
    	sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.openssh.ssh-agent.plist
    	sudo launchctl load /Library/LaunchAgents/local.com.openssh.ssh-agent.plist

27. Edit /etc/auto_master as root and comment the line beginning with /net (note: this is a workaround to an unpatched vulnerability)

28. Reboot and log back in as the unprivileged user

Second boot (user)

1. Go to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy > Contacts/Calendars/Reminders/Photos and remove any apps that shouldn't have access to any of those folders, if any

2. Go to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy > Camera/Microphoneand remove any app you don't want to have access to the camera or microphone, if any

3. Go to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy > Full Disk Access and remove any app you don't want to have full-disk access, if any

4. Go to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy > Advertising, check Limit Ad Tracking and click Reset Advertising Identifier

5. Carefully assess and install a web browser. Regardless of your browser…

   • …block third-party cookies
   • …disable DNS preloading
   • …disable Flash support
   • …install an ad blocker
   • …enable Do Not Track
   • …opt-out of telemetry
   • …consider using a privacy-respecting search engine in lieu of Google
   • …consider a whitelist approach to JavaScript execution

   Note: if using Safari, go to Safari > Preferences > Search and uncheck "Include Safari Suggestions" and to Safari > Preferences > General and uncheck "Open"safe" files after downloading"

6. Consider tunneling your traffic through a VPN when connected to untrusted networks (see ThatOnePrivacyGuy's VPN comparison or roll your own)

7. Consider using a privacy-respecting email service provider (see ThatOnePrivacyGuy's email comparison or roll your own)

8. Consider setting up PGP/GPG encryption for email regardless of your email service provider

That's it?

No.

Again, you don't have a "100% secure system", you are just a lot harder to screw with than everyone else in the city.

Keep in mind that securing a system is not a one-time job, you must actively backup your data, patch your system, look out for new vulnerabilities… Some general best practices are:

1. Keep your system up-to-date, both macOS and installed software

2. Prevent unattended physical access to the device from anyone but yourself

3. Encrypt sensitive data on rest and on transit

4. Backup your data, multiple, encrypted (of course) copies of your data in different physical locations

5. Keep your guard up, you are your system's last line of defense

1.