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Will ARM overtake x86?

Dave Farquhar Hardware August 14, 2015August 2, 2017amd, android, apple, intel, mac os x, os x, x86

Here’s an interesting question I got recently: Will ARM overtake x86?

I think the answer depends on how you define “overtake.”

David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He started his career as a part-time computer technician in 1994, worked his way up to system administrator by 1997, and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He invests in real estate on the side and his hobbies include O gauge trains, baseball cards, and retro computers and video games. A University of Missouri graduate, he holds CISSP and Security+ certifications. He lives in St. Louis with his family.

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Droidpocalypse? Josh Drake says no.

Dave Farquhar Android, security August 1, 2015July 31, 2015android, apple, demonstration, IOS, os x, podcast, samsung, vulnerability, Windows XP

Josh Drake, the researcher who discovered the Stagefright vulnerability in Android that lets an attacker hack into an Android device by sending a specially crafted picture or video in a text message, was on the Risky Business security podcast this week to talk about it. What he had to say was interesting.

Patrick Gray, the host, tends to be a pretty outspoken critic of Android and isn’t shy about talking up Apple. He tried to get Drake to say Android is a trainwreck, security-wise, but Drake wouldn’t say it. Drake actually went as far as to say he thinks Android and IOS are fairly close, security wise.

So why do we see so many more Android bugs? Drake had an answer.

Dave Farquhar

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Women in tech: The forgotten story of Vector Graphic

Dave Farquhar Hardware, Retro Computing July 27, 2015March 13, 20241980s, altair, apple, apple ii, asus, commodore, dell, Gary Kildall, hp, IBM, intel, Michael Dell, Personal Computer, radio shack, Tandy, vector, yahoo

I frequently hear lamentations about the number of women in the technology field–or the lack of them. Although there have been a number of successful women in the field, such as Meg Whitman, CEO of HP and formerly Ebay; Marissa Meyer, CEO of Yahoo; and Carly Fiorina, former CEO of HP, men outnumber women in the field and often by a large margin.

That perhaps makes it even more sad that few remember Vector Graphic today. Last week Fast Company profiled this pioneering computer company that time forgot.

Dave Farquhar

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How the Amiga could have lived to age 30 and beyond

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing July 25, 2015February 18, 20171980s, 1990s, amiga, amiga os, apple, atari, Bill Gates, commodore, commodore 128, commodore 64, IBM, intel, irving gould, jack tramiel, macintosh, Mehdi Ali, Microsoft Basic, MOS, motorola, nbc, os x

It was 30 years ago this week that Commodore released its landmark, long-time-coming Amiga 1000 computer–the first 1990s computer in a field full of 1970s retreads.

Yes, it was a 1990s computer in 1985. It had color and sound built in, not as expensive, clunky, hard-to-configure add-ons. It could address up to 8 megabytes of memory, though it ran admirably on a mere 512 kilobytes. Most importantly, it had fully pre-emptive multitasking, something that previously only existed in commercial workstations that cost five figures.

It was so revolutionary that even NBC is acknowledging the anniversary.

Being a decade or so ahead of its time was only the beginning of its problems, unfortunately.

Dave Farquhar

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Looking for a career change? Consider web app pentesting

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing, security July 24, 2015July 11, 20181980s, 1990s, apple, atari, commodore, Proxy server, radio shack

IT jobs aren’t as easy to come by as they were 20 years ago, but web app pentesting is one subset of the field that I don’t see slowing down any time soon. Unfortunately it’s a poorly understood one.

But if you spent any significant time in the 1980s or early 1990s abusing commercial software, especially Commodore and Apple and Atari and Radio Shack software, I’m looking at you. Even if you don’t know it, you’re uniquely qualified to be a web app pentester.

Dave Farquhar

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Why this latest attempt to resurrect the Commodore brand will probably flop

Dave Farquhar Android, Retro Computing July 16, 2015August 3, 20171980s, 1990s, amiga, android, apple, commodore, dell, lenovo, motorola, Packard Bell

The Commodore brand is back again, this time on an Android smartphone. For a premium price, you get an Android 5.0 phone with the Commodore logo on it, preloaded with VICE and an Amiga emulator, which, between the two of them, emulate just about everything Commodore ever made, except, perhaps, the products that can be emulated with the Android calculator app.

But I don’t expect this attempt to be any more successful than earlier efforts to resurrect the brand.

Dave Farquhar

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Expect a rough road ahead for Flash

Dave Farquhar security July 15, 2015July 14, 2015android, apple, breach, chrome, IOS, ipad, iphone, oracle, os x, Patch Tuesday, yahoo

Adobe has patched Flash twice in two weeks now. The reason for this was due to Hacking Team, an Italian company that sells hacking tools to government agencies, getting hacked. Hacking Team, it turns out, knew of at least three unpatched vulnerabilities (also known as “zero-days” or “0days”) in Flash, and exploits for these vulnerabilities were among the things that got breached.

That’s why Adobe is having a bad month.

Dave Farquhar

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Meet Waze, the crowdsourced GPS

Dave Farquhar Android June 10, 2015June 9, 2015android, apple, motorola, podcast

I’ve read a few things here and there about Waze, a crowdsourced GPS that runs on smartphones, including those that run Android, Apple, and Windows. Its premise is simple: Based on how traffic is moving, it figures out the fastest way to get where you want to go. It adds intelligence to the GPS.

The trade-off, of course, is that it’s tracking you too. The data is anonymized, they promise, but it’s up to you to decide whether it’s a showstopper.

Dave Farquhar

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Build the best, most secure wifi in your neighborhood

Dave Farquhar DD-WRT, Servers and Networking March 24, 2015August 26, 2017AES, android, apple, cat5, DDWRT, lowercase letters, malware, Meraki Wifi Stumbler, Micro Center, netflix, Roku, SSID, TL, wi-fi

My neighbor asked me for advice on setting up wi-fi in his new house. I realized it’s been a while since I’ve written about wi-fi, and it’s never been cheaper or easier to blanket your house and yard with a good signal.

Blanketing your house and yard while remaining secure, though, is still important.

Dave Farquhar

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Tinkering isn’t dead, but it is changing

Dave Farquhar Uncategorized February 12, 2015December 4, 20181980s, apple, apple ii, capacitor, capacitors, IBM, pi, radio shack, raspberry, Raspberry Pi, tinkerer

When Radio Shack announced its bankruptcy, I read more fears that the age of tinkering is dead than I read laments for the store.

I follow the logic, because Radio Shack was the only national store chain that ever tried to cater to tinkerers. But I don’t think people abandoning Radio Shack means tinkering is necessarily dead. I have plenty of indications that it’s still very much alive, but it’s also very different from how it used to be.

Dave Farquhar

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