Robotic Fly

According to the DeviceGuru Blog, Harvard faculty member Dr. Robert Wood successfully directed a project that created the world's smallest robotic fly. With a wingspan of 1.2 inches (3 cm) and a weight of 0.002 ounces (60 mg), the robotic fly can generate enough thrust to takeoff.

The "Flybot" will be showcased at New York's Museum of Modern Art starting Feb. 24. Funding for this project was awarded to the Harvard University Microbotics Lab from DARPA (the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency). In turn, DARPA hopes to gain access to micro-miniature surveillance technologies.

I figure a picture can say a thousand words. Here's a video of the "Flybot" posted on YouTube: I find this fascinating, yet I'm also reminded of Big Brother in George Orwell's novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four. Specifically, I'm thinking about the potential misuse of technology by individuals and society. Nonetheless there's also countless benefits with such technology that are yet to be realized.

Robotic Fly to Descend on New York [DeviceGuru]
Design and the Elastic Mind [MoMA]
Harvard Microrobotics Lab [link]
DARPA [link]

OpenVPN and DD-WRT on Linksys WRT54GL

I've been running IPCOP as my home firewall for a couple of years. I was also running OpenVPN on my firewall to allow for remote road warrior VPN connections. The combination worked great; protecting my home network while providing secure remote access. Still, the geek in me wanted to consolidate my hardware and experiment with dd-wrt. After a little research I found out that there was OpenVPN support for dd-wrt. However, looking at the documentation and various forums I didn't see anything showing me how to set up a successful road warrior tunnel. After an evening of experimenting got it to work; DD-WRT and OpenVPN running on a Linksys WRT54GL allowing inbound road warrior connections using tunnel mode. Here's what I did.

First, this is what I had setup previously:

• DSL modem which plugged into
• Computer running IPCOP and OpenVPN which plugged into
• Switch and a separate WAP (a Linksys wireless access point)

I wanted to consolidate the last three pieces of hardware (firewall/OpenVPN, switch and WAP). My plan was to have the following:

• DSL modem which plugs into
• Linksys WRT54GL running DD-WRT and OpenVPN (also providing switch ports and a WAP)

So, I began my search through the DD-WRT website [link].

1. Download dd-wrt.v23_sp2_mini.zip
2. Download dd-wrt.v23_sp2_vpn.zip
3. Reset Linksys WRT54GL to factory defaults. The router will have a default IP of 192.168.1.1 with a blank username and password “admin”.
4. Update WRT54GL firmware with dd-wrt.v23_mini_wrt54g.bin (from step 1) using http (not https)
5. Log back into the router via the web console (username will now be 'root' and password remains 'admin') and update the firmware (Administration | Firmware Upgrade) a second time with dd-wrt.v23_vpn_wrt54g.bin (from step 2)
6. Here we run into a minor bug - upon reboot of the router you won't be able to access the web admin pages. No worries. Hold the reset button on the back of the router for five seconds. It'll reboot and you'll be able to access the web console successfully once again.
7. Login to the updated WRT54GL (router) with web browser and configure as needed (e.g., change root password, enable wireless security with WPA or WPA2, DynDNS, enable sshd, disable telnet, etc). Backup the config when done (Administration | Backup).
8. Reboot router (Administration | Management | Reboot Router)
9. Create OpenVPN certificates for server and client. I'm running Ubuntu as my OS and already had OpenVPN installed (`sudo aptitude install openvpn`). Instructions on how to create the certificates can be found here.
10. Log back in to router and go to ADMINISTRATION | COMMANDS
11. Enter the following into the command shell box (the idea for this step was found here). Paste your certificates in where it says “…INSERT YOUR OWN CONTENT HERE…”

cd /tmp

echo "
# Initial Options
daemon
dev tun
tun-mtu 1400
proto udp
port 1194
tls-server
mode server
server 10.5.10.0 255.255.255.0
ifconfig-pool-persist ipp.txt

# Certificates and Keys
ca ca.crt         # Certificate authority (CA) file
dh dh1024.pem     # File containing Diffie Hellman parameters
cert server.crt   # Local peer's signed certificate
key server.key    # Local peer's private key

# Additional Options
keepalive 10 60
status openvpn-status.log
log openvpn.log
comp-lzo
cipher BF-CBC
max-clients 100
persist-key
persist-tun
verb 3
mute 20
" > openvpn.conf

echo "
-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
...INSERT YOUR OWN CONTENT HERE...
-----END CERTIFICATE-----
" > ca.crt
echo "
-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----
...INSERT YOUR OWN CONTENT HERE...
-----END RSA PRIVATE KEY-----
" > server.key
chmod 600 server.key
echo "
-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
...INSERT YOUR OWN CONTENT HERE...
-----END CERTIFICATE-----
" > server.crt
echo "
-----BEGIN DH PARAMETERS-----
...INSERT YOUR OWN CONTENT HERE...
-----END DH PARAMETERS-----
" > dh1024.pem

sleep 5
ln -s /usr/sbin/openvpn /tmp/myvpn
/tmp/myvpn --config openvpn.conf

12. Click on SAVE STARTUP at bottom of webpage.
13. Enter the following into the command shell for box to punch the right firewall holes

/usr/sbin/iptables -I INPUT -p udp --dport 1194 -j ACCEPT
/usr/sbin/iptables -I INPUT -i tun+ -j ACCEPT
/usr/sbin/iptables -I FORWARD -i tun+ -j ACCEPT

14. Click on SAVE FIREWALL at bottom of webpage and then Reboot router (Administration | Management | Reboot Router)
15. Setup OpenVPN clien. Here's a sample openvpn-client.conf file from my laptop:

tls-client
client
dev tun
proto udp
tun-mtu 1400
remote dyndns-hostname-or-ip-of-server 1194
ca /home/username/openvpn/keys/home/ca.crt
cert /home/username/openvpn/keys/home/client1.crt
key /home/userame/openvpn/keys/home/client1.key
cipher BF-CBC
comp-lzo
verb 3
ns-cert-type server
route remote_host 255.255.255.255 net_gateway
route 10.5.1.0 255.255.255.0 vpn_gateway
route 10.5.10.0 255.255.255.0 vpn_gateway
#redirect-gateway

16. From outside of network test the connection

openvpn --config openvpn-client.conf

This is an over simplified explanation, but it should get you where you need to be. For troubleshooting purposes you may need to ssh to the router and look at the running processes to make sure OpenVPN is running (`ps | grep open`). As well, you may want to change the server ip within the server's config file as well as the route entries within the client's config above to match your network.

Now I'm able to VPN to my home network from anywhere and access my systems at home securely using DD-WRT and OpenVPN. I've also setup the Network Manager applet for Gnome on my Ubuntu boxes to establish an OpenVPN connection to my router/firewall as well.

-steve

UPDATE [2/15/2008]: I received a couple of emails asking how to setup dd-wrt with service from Comcast. I personally don't use Comcast, however, I did successfully setup a dd-wrt for a friend who does.

First, you will need to get the MAC address from the computer that you originally setup your Internet connection up with through Comcast. If it's a windows system, get a command shell and type “ipconfig” on that same system. On Linux or a MAC, type 'ifconfig' from a terminal. Write down the MAC (or HWaddr) address. It will look something like 00:16:6F:12::34:56.

Next, go to the web management front-end for your dd-wrt device. Click on SETUP | MAC ADDRESS CLONE. Select “Enable”. Within the “Clone WAN MAC” field enter in the MAC address you jotted down from above. Save settings and reboot for good measure.

That should do the trick for you.

UPDATE [5/13/2008]: A weakness has been discovered in the random number generator used by OpenSSL on Debian and Ubuntu systems. Be sure to patch vulnerable systems. [link to advisory]

Google's Online Flight Status

Google recently released a feature to track the status of a flight. All you have to do is go to Google and type in your airline and flight number into the search box. The search results will let you know if the flight is on schedule, departure location and time and arrival location and estimated time.

Better flight stats results [Official Google Blog]

Time Management - Email

Do you sometimes feel as if you have too much to do, yet not enough time to do it all? You know, where one moment you're working on a critical project, the next dealing with a perceived emergency. Those times when you feel as if you're being pulled in a bunch of different directions. As a result you might sometimes feel as if you're not getting anything done! I came across a blog from New York Times blogger Marci Alboher. She describes the following:

• The system she uses for maintaining emails.
• To eliminate unnecessary meetings.
• To work when most productive.
• To set boundaries when necessary.
• To know when to say "no" at times when a "yes" will be counterproductive.
  

I certainly find the last two most challenging; setting boundaries and knowing when to say "no". What I'd also add to the list is how to delegate and leverage resources. Ultimately, I believe a win/win needs to be reached.

5 Time Management Tricks [NY Times Blog: Shifting Careers]
InBox Zero: Action Based Email [43 Folders]
-steve

Power Nap with Caffeine Boost

Have you ever found yourself starting to fade during an insanely busy day? You know, those days where it feels like you are sleep deprived? I came across an interesting article from Wired's How To Wiki:

Scientists say that a successful midday nap depends on two things: timing and (no kidding) caffeine consumption. Experiments performed at Loughborough University in the UK showed that the sleep-deprived need only a cup of coffee and 15 minutes of shut-eye to feel amazingly refreshed.

1. Right before you crash, down a cup of java. The caffeine has to travel through your gastro-intestinal tract, giving you time to nap before it kicks in.
2. Close your eyes and relax. Even if you only doze, you'll get what's known as effective microsleep, or momentary lapses of wakefulness.
3. Limit your nap to 15 minutes. A half hour can lead to sleep inertia, or the spinning down of the brain's prefrontal cortex, which handles functions like judgment. This gray matter can take 30 minutes to reboot.

I'm looking forward to my next siesta!

On a different note, but still on the subject of sleep, experts at the 2006 National Institute of Health Consensus Conference agreed on the following recommendations for obtaining optimum sleep value:

• Do not take sleeping pills. This includes over-the-counter pills and melatonin.
• Don't go to bed until you're sleepy. If you have trouble sleeping, try going to bed later or getting up earlier.
• Get up at the same time every morning, even after a bad night's sleep. The next night, you'll be sleepy at bedtime.
• If you wake up in the middle of the night and can't fall back to sleep, get out of bed and return only when you are sleepy.
• Avoid worrying, watching TV, reading scary books, and doing other things in bed besides sleeping and sex. If you worry, read thrillers or watch TV, do that in a chair that's not in the bedroom.
• Do not drink or eat anything caffeinated within six hours of bedtime.
• Avoid alcohol. It's relaxing at first but can lead to insomnia when it clears your system.
• Spend time outdoors. People exposed to daylight or bright light therapy sleep better.

Article: [Wired How To Wiki]
-steve

Where's the Human?

Have you ever called a customer service department, only to spend countless minutes on hold and never reaching a human? Put your worries aside - GetHuman.com has a blog with a cheat sheet on how to bypass those annoying phone trees and actually speak with a live person: http://gethuman.com/