In The News Today...

Atlanta

Quote: Evenbob

What's ATL?

All airports have 3 letter codes.
Most make sense.
Many do not.
Some airports pick 1st 3 letters of a city they serve such as Atlanta
The convention being held to assign the codes was in Canada.
Therefore Canada went last in picking 3 letter codes for their airports.
Not a lot left so Canada decided to use the letter Y
Every single 3 letter airport code in Canada starts with the letter Y

Quote: terapined

Therefore Canada went last in picking 3 letter codes for their airports.
Not a lot left so Canada decided to use the letter Y
Every single 3 letter airport code in Canada starts with the letter Y

Not true some airports, mostly quite small ones, start with other letters. I am not sure but all major/international airports seem to start with Y.

Anchorage is ANC

well, there are the three letter IATA codes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Air_Transport_Association_airport_code
and the four letter ICAO codes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Civil_Aviation_Organization_airport_code

a lot of the time, the 4 letter code is just the 3 letter code with a country prefix, such as K for the USA and C for Canada.

the IATA page there has a table with both the 3 letter and 4 letter codes.

Chris Roberts, a respected cybersecurity professional with One World Labs, has been complaining about Boeing's crappy in-flight security. Specifically, Roberts was able to hack into a United Airlines 737's Engine Indicator Crew Alert System (EICAS) by exploiting vulnerabilities in the plane's in-flight entertainment system (movies + music). Using Roberts' technique, a hacker could access critical avionics systems by using the plane's passenger Wi-Fi.

I find this really really surprising-- that the entertainment system is in any way connected to the controls in the cockpit. You would think that after 9/11, these 2 computers would be completely separate, in the same way that my dishwasher is completely separate from my toaster. Hacking my toaster will not allow me to access my dishwasher and vice versa.

We all know how the story ends. Despite an impotent Congressional inquiry, Boeing has not patched the security flaws, and neither has Airbus. But don't worry: the FBI has detained and questioned Roberts. That oughtta fix the problem.

Simply take GPS signals.... most systems are NOT taught to think about fraudulent or deceptive signals. Its Just Accept The One You Hear Loudest. How do you isolate a short circuit if you want put out a fire aboard the aircraft? What about ConTroWAltEmpire t

Quote: reno

I find this really really surprising-- that the entertainment system is in any way connected to the controls in the cockpit. You would think that after 9/11, these 2 computers would be completely separate, in the same way that my dishwasher is completely separate from my toaster. Hacking my toaster will not allow me to access my dishwasher and vice versa.

That isn't necessarily true now. With the push to smart appliances your toaster and your dishwasher might both be connected to your local wi-fi router.

Don't piss off your toaster by checking to see if the toast is ready before it pops. The toaster might melt your icecream because you don't respect it's ability.

Quote: kenarman

That isn't necessarily true now. With the push to smart appliances your toaster and your dishwasher might both be connected to your local wi-fi router.

Don't piss off your toaster by checking to see if the toast is ready before it pops. The toaster might melt your icecream because you don't respect it's ability.

But seriously, my Blu-Ray player often needs to install software updates at the least convenient time-- right when I sit down to watch a movie! (And they call these awful things "smart"?)

I'm trying to fathom a scenario whereby I'd want to use an iPhone to remotely operate my toaster, fridge, electric razor, or waffle iron when I'm not home. I can see the benefit of a coffee machine with a timer to start brewing coffee just before you wake up. But why would I want my coffee machine to connect to my Wi-Fi? Just more error messages and password headaches to waste my time fixing. A solution in search of a problem.

The upside is that theoretically a software update could be installed in my toaster without me hiring one of those notoriously expensive toaster repairman to make a housecall. (Thank god that recurring problem is finally solved.) But the downside is that now my toaster can be hacked by a terrorist trying to burn my house down.

I'm told that the very first web cam was at MIT and was focused on the coffee machine so that one could go to the machine when it was known to be full.

The "Internet of Things" envisions your refrigerator notifying you of out of date food items, your air conditioning coming on a few hours early if you happen to leave work and head home early, your phone to ring if your smoke alarms go off at home, your web cam turned on when the kid gets home from school, a message sent to you when an elderly parent has not moved or used an appliance for awhile, a warning on your gas mileage and the fact that you are approaching a cheap gas station, a printer that tells you ahead of time it will soon need paper or toner or anything a witch doctor and that you've left a load of laundry in the washing machine. Presumably these messages are intelligently sorted and timed. So that a reminder that this is your anniversary is sent when you are passing a florist or a vacuum store and a reminder that it is your mistresses birthday is sent when you are passing a jeweler or chocolate maker.