Martin Reisch said Tuesday a slightly annoyed U.S. border officer let him cross into the United States from Quebec after he presented a scanned copy of his passport on his Apple iPad. Reisch was a half hour from the border when he decided to try to gain entry rather than turn back and make a two-hour trek back home to Montreal to fetch his passport.

He told the officer he was heading to the U.S. to drop off Christmas gifts for his friend’s kids. He said that true story, the scanned passport and his driver’s license helped him get through last week.

He said the officer seemed mildly annoyed when he handed him the iPad.

“I thought I’d at least give it a try,” Reisch said. “He took the iPad into the little border hut. He was in there a good five, six minutes. It seemed like an eternity. When he came back he took a good long pause before wishing me a Merry Christmas.”

Reisch was able to re-enter Canada on his way home using the same method. Link -via Fark

(Image credit: Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press)

Update: U.S. Customs denies it happened. Link

“The captain has disappeared in the back and, uh, I have someone with a thick foreign accent trying to access the cockpit right now…,” the co-pilot reported.

“What I’m being told is he’s stuck in the lav,” the co-pilot continued.  “Someone with a thick foreign accent is giving me a password to access the cockpit, and I’m not about to let him in.”

Not willing to take any chances themselves, air controllers on the ground ordered the plane, operated by regional carrier Chautauqua Airlines, to make an emergency landing.

Before the co-pilot was forced to make that emergency landing, however, the pilot was able to open the bathroom door, and calm his anxious colleagues.

The plane landed safely and no one was charged in the incident. Link -via The Daily What

Remember the glory days when air stewardesses were pretty much angelic creatures? Okay so it might have been swayed by the fact that we were young and more angelic ourselves then. But after a passenger decided to photograph the name tag of a particularly rude employee, she was confronted and told to delete the photo. Even after she obliged, she was still considered a security risk and thrown off.

Read the other stories at ShortList. Link

A software upgrade that the TSA has been testing in airports in Las Vegas, Atlanta and Washington since February would instead create a generic human form (as shown above) and indicate if the scanner detects a hidden object under the clothing. The technology would also show the TSA agents on what part of the body the object has been found.

As with the current system, if the scanner detects a hidden object, TSA agents will peform additional screening. If nothing is found, the scanner clears the passenger to move on.

“This software upgrade enables us to continue providing a high level of security through advanced imaging technology screening, while improving the passenger experience at checkpoints,” TSA Administrator John Pistole said.

It will take months to complete the tests. Link -via The Daily What Geek

4. Area 51

The famed stories be true or not, this area in the remote deserts of Las Vegas is more than just strange. It is also one of the most secure locations on the planet. It is a United States military base ( a detachment from Edwards Air Force Base in CA) where no one knows what’s occurring, except those that work there and the President. Known by many names (Groom Lake, Dreamland, Paradise Ranch, etc.) Area 51 is believed to be a testing ground for advanced and experimental aircraft.

Can you guess some of the others before you go read the list? Link -via the Presurfer

There’s a reason some sites ask for, or require, a password that contains both letters and numbers. The first column describes passwords. The other columns tell you how long it takes a hacker to figure them out. Don’t make it easy for someone to figure yours out. Link

(Image credit: The Book of Joe)

Professor Nixon and his team tested 252 images of different ears and found the system was able to match each ear to a separate image held in its database with 99 per cent accuracy.[...]

“Fingerprints are one of the best ways we have of identifying an individual at the moment,” said Professor Nixon. “But on some people, even they are not so effective. Bakers and brick layers tend not to have obvious fingerprints as the distinctive whirls rub off.

“It is harder to do that with your ears, but there is one thing that can get in the way of the ears and that is hair. In reality, I expect there won’t be a single approach, but in fact a combination of different biometrics that can be taken simultaneously to identify an individual.”

Link via GearFuse | Photo by Flickr user AdamSelwood used under Creative Commons license

Previously: The REAL Reason Behind Silly Airport Rules

Every time I read of a home invasion robbery, or an in-the-window abduction of a sleeping child, I feel angry and also frustrated. Why should we be so vulnerable in our homes? I’m annoyed with architects. Why aren’t they designing homes in which we can at least relax and feel safe?

If architects won’t do their job, I’ll volunteer to step in and do it for them. Here’s an inverted, upside down single-family home. Do you see a problem with this? Do we really need windows on the first floor? Burglars, rapists and child abductors will not find it easy to get in! The tapered walls on the building shown on the left could even be coated with grease. Not shown are support pillars, embedded deep into the subsoil, that support the building and also afford space for a small basement. In case of fire, occupants either exit from the front door or jump from second-story windows into soft, deeply-tilled soil covered with ice plant or similar soft bedding plants. Note how bushes, potential hiding places, are few and kept trimmed small.

If living in an upside down home seems restricting or strange, there are other design solutions that can at least minimize one’s interaction with strangers, especially ones who might have criminal intent. Just as gas stations and mini-marts provide slide-out trays and bullet-proof glass to protect their employee-attendants at night, so can a Home Solicitor Interrogation Room be added to a single-family residence. A plus feature, not shown in the illustration, is the electronically-lockable front door. The resident, safe inside the home, is able to lock a criminal or criminals inside the tiny entry room, creating a holding cell until police arrive.

Another type of holding cell can be located underground directly in front of a fake front door.  The real front door is located elsewhere, its location known only to friends and family. If the resident doesn’t like the looks of a person, he or she presses a button causing the porch to collapse into the cell below. Not shown is the ample padding that lines in the floor and wall of the brick-lined holding cell.

A deceptively simple yet effective design is the Home Perimeter Dog Run. Rather than setting an alarm when leaving the home for the day, or when retiring to sleep at night, the resident unlocks an interior gate, giving the dog full run of the entire balcony. Dogs are very sensitive to sounds and vibrations, especially those made by strangers. Should a criminally-inclined stranger step anywhere on the metal walkway, a large dog would leap out of its house and attack.

I worked on the problem of home invasion over several decades. The solutions that are shown above, drawn in the mid-1980s, seem silly today, but that was before there existed sophisticated  home security systems with night-vision cameras, body heat detectors, and web cams.

A Swimming Moat would offer an opportunity for residents to relax in their pool, do laps or invite friends and neighbors over for a pool party. But at night, or when homeowners are away from home, the pool becomes a moat. Drawbridges are raised. Unauthorized entry is effectively discouraged, since burglars do not wish to contemplate climbing slippery walls in wet running shoes, balancing delicate electronic appliances overhead. Posted signs suggest the added possibility of serious electric shock.  The sign would be false. If it were not, cats, dogs and squirrels – or drunk revelers who climbed the fence – would be electrocuted.

My favorite solution is the Underground Bedroom. The bedroom, located anywhere on the property, is approached through a secret passageway.  In this example, residents enter at night through the door of a stacked washer-dryer machine (fake) and crawl down a sloped ramp. The bedroom is stocked with food, television, computer, VCR, phone and a very small toilet. This room is the quietest in the house.

The results were stunning: from the sex crimes unit there were detailed domestic violence complaints and a list of wanted sex offenders. On a second machine from the Buffalo Police Narcotics Unit we found a list of targets in a major drug raid.

The third machine, from a New York construction company, spit out design plans for a building near Ground Zero in Manhattan; 95 pages of pay stubs with names, addresses and social security numbers; and $40,000 in copied checks.

But it wasn’t until hitting “print” on the fourth machine – from Affinity Health Plan, a New York insurance company, that we obtained the most disturbing documents: 300 pages of individual medical records.

Photocopy machine hard drives are supposed to be encrypted or wiped before resale, but obviously such is not being done.  And, as CBS notes -

The day we visited the New Jersey warehouse, two shipping containers packed with used copiers were headed overseas – loaded with secrets on their way to unknown buyers in Argentina and Singapore.

In a related story, during the Cold War, the CIA collaborated with the Xerox Corporation to install a camera inside a machine used at the Soviet embassy.  The project was so successful that dozens more such camera were installed in embassies around the world (embassies of friends and foes).   That fascinating story is recounted at Edit International.

Link, via.

The first one was a way to open any locked door just by bumping it, and then this one: how to defeat a chain lock with rubber bands. Link [embedded YouTube clip]

According to Cenzic, Firefox accounted for 44 percent of all browser vulnerabilities reported in the first half of 2009. In contrast, Apple’s Safari had 35 percent of all reported browser vulnerability, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer was third at 15 percent and Opera had just six percent share. [...]

As to why Firefox’s numbers were so high, Cenzic has a few ideas.

"It’s a combination of different things," Lars Ewe, CTO of Cenzic, told InternetNews.com. "They’ve gotten more traction as a browser, which is good for them and the more you get used the more exposure you have. As well a fair amount of the vulnerabilities have come by way of plug-ins."

One key area that Ewe said was responsible for a number of reported Firefox vulnerabilities is with how the browser handles plug-ins.

"The plug-in architecture that they have is a selling fact for the browser and one of the reasons why I love using it," Ewe said. "They can’t control security aspects of all the plug-ins and the vulnerabilities are a side effect of that."

Sean Michael Kerner of the InternetNews explains: Link

Photo: Inscentinel

For a few years, a British company called Inscentinel has been developing chemical-detecting honeybees for security and sanitation purposes. Bees are trained to respond to certain smells and then are loaded into cartridges that suck in air from an object. When they alert, the user knows that the chemical is present in the sample. From the company website:

Our “sniffer bees” are honeybees trained to recognise a specific odour. They are trained using a well known Classical Pavlovian conditioning protocol – a simple association of a smell with a food reward. The insect is exposed to the odour in controlled pulses and simultaneously rewarded with sugar syrup. After three to five presentations and rewards the bee is trained. When the bee detects the odour it expects a food reward and extends its tongue (proboscis). This response is a reflex action (Proboscis extension Reflex, PER) and is not consciously controlled by the bee. A “panel” of bees can be trained in as little as a few hours to remember a particular odour for several days.

Although there are a variety of newspaper articles about this invention, I haven’t found the company’s claims supported by respected scientific periodicals.

Link via CrunchGear

Of course on the other hand that might just make them angry and want to tear up the place a bit, in addition to robbing you.

The anti-burglar mat will be on sale in Japan this fall. Link -via J-walk Blog

… by someone driving by in a car, if those documents have RFID chips installed in them.

A fellow in San Francisco installed an RFID reader in his car, with an antenna, and connected it to his laptop on the front seat. He then drove around the city and was able to pick up the signals from passports and driver’s licenses and have the information downloaded to his computer. He could then upload the data to clone the passport.

The person doing this is one of the "good guys." He’s demonstrating for the world how insanely easy it is to steal information from an RFID chip, and he’s hoping to convince the public (or, more precisely, lawmakers) that RFID should not be used for personal identity tracking as the Department of Homeland Security wants to do.

There is a video at the Engadget link.

Link

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Minnesotastan.

The company refuses to give precise details of how it will perform its primary purpose – protecting the president.

But bulletproof glass and armourplatingare standard throughout and the car is hermetically-sealed to withstand chemical weapons.

As with previous presidential limos it is packed with electronic communication systems to allow Mr Obama to keep in contact with the outside world.

Cadillac One will debut at the inaugural parade on Tuesday. Link -via the Presurfer

1. Disneyland was expected to fail.

Opening day was such a disaster that pretty much every press organization that attended the celebration had predicted the park’s failure within one year.

It opened on a day that was 101 degrees and the street asphalt still wasn’t dry, leading to it sticking to shoes. By the end of the first day, all but 2 of the 48 Autopia cars were crashed and about half the rides were broken.

Despite all that, park visitors loved it and attendance continued to grow day by day.

Source (Photo: ThomasFredrick [Flickr])

2. Need a real drink?

While many Disney fanatics may already know this one, others may find it surprising to know there is exactly one place in the entire park that serves alcoholic beverages.

The place is called Club 33 and it is a very exclusive club to get in. To gain entry, there is a ten year waiting list and admission is at least a thousand dollars. Supposedly, the food is good though.

Source (Photo: emmyboop [Flickr])

3. Tomorrow Land is so outdated.

Or at least, the first version is by now. The only Tomorrow Land ride that still exists in its original state from the opening is Autopia, and even it was changed to fit with Cars the movie. Actually though, there is one major change in Autopia from how it was on opening day -there were originally no guide rail to keep people on track. Sometimes Disney was a little too trusting of the good of humans.

Source (Photo: Frikitiki [Flickr])

4. There’s a Disney Underground.

Photo: lwr [Flickr]

It’s not quite as exciting as it sounds though. Despite rumors, the area under the park isn’t a massive underground city. There are many underground basements though, where cast can relax, change in and out of costumes and eat lunch in peace. Think of it like a few really big break rooms.

Disney World on the other hand, was built late enough that they have a full city underground.

Source

5. Olympic sports anyone?

Photo: Frikitiki [Flickr]

Just walking around the park over and over again is exercise enough for most people, but employees have the option of working out in the Matterhorn. Surely you didn’t think that huge mountain was only used for one little ride did you? No, the Matterhorn is officially classified as a gym and has a full basketball court inside. In 1984, it was even certified as an official Olympic Stadium.

Source

6. It’s safe, but not 100% safe.

Photo: videocrab [Flickr]

Despite persisting urban legends that claim no one ever died in the park, people have. At least 12 people have died there, reports vary as to whether some additional death tales are true or not. All things considered though, 12 deaths in over 50 years isn’t that bad. Keep in mind, aside from dangerous rides, there is also a notable amount of gang violence at other Southern California amusement parks that doesn’t occur as frequently at Disneyland.

Source

7. Ever feel like you’re being watched?

You might be. There are cameras everywhere. Aside from average security brigades, they even have special tasks forces with only a handful of things to focus on.

There are at least two special forces at the park, one dedicated to catching people using drugs at the park, and another dedicated to catching people who flash or flip off the cameras during the photo parts of the rides. If you’ve ever gotten a message saying your photo isn’t available when you got off the ride, there’s a good chance someone either flashed some breast or flipped the bird to the camera.

Source

8. A ghostly Hazmat problem.

Photo: major_clanger [Flickr]

There are many reports of people trying to spill the ashes of loved ones in the Haunted Mansion. As nice of a thought as it is, there are plenty of ghosts in the Mansion already and if everyone dumped their ashes here, then the whole thing would be covered in dust. So, every time it happens, the Mansion needs to be closed and a hazmat team cleans it.

Source

9. A pirate’s life for Jack.

We all know that Johnny Depp is dang sexy, but just the character of Jack Sparrow? Apparently, a lot of women still think he’s just as good as Depp. In Pirate’s Booty, an ex-actor at Disneyland confessed how many women would try to hump him just for playing the character. The stories range from flirting to receiving napkins with naughty offers.



(Photo: Locket479 [Flickr])

10. Words from beyond.

Ever notice the telegraph clicking at the New Orleans’ train station? It’s ticking out the speech Disney gave out on the park’s opening day. Traces of Disney are all over the park, my favorite one though is his old apartment over the fire house on Main Street. They always leave the light on in his memory. Not only is it cute, but it’s also rad that he got to live in the park.

Source (Photo: Mysteryofmaps [Flickr])

A few other fun tidbits:

• Steve Martin used to work in the magic shop here.
• There used to be live girls dressed like mermaids in the 2000 Leagues Under the Sea pool.
• Did your balloon pop? Just show any balloon seller your popped balloon and they’ll give you a new one.
• The Imagineers put special touches everywhere. The Haunted Mansion features faces of a few of the early Imagineers and has tombstones written with inside joke references.
• Coke gives the park free soda to eliminate competition in the park and for the advertising.
• Hidden Mickeys are spread all over the park and there’s at least one in every ride.

Source and Source