A problem with microtransactions

One corollary of Internet scale security is topoint out a lurking issue with microtransactions (one of the perennialInternet enthusiasms in some quarters). The problem is how you handleauthorizing microtransactions.

If you prompt the user every time they spend a cent, I think it's verylike that people will rapidly find this far too annoying and stop usingmicrotransactions at all. If you do not require the user to authorizetransactions you open yourself (and the user) up to attacks wherethe user's browser or other


香港 Punch Party 後感

首個 Hong Kong Punch Party 終於完滿結束,謝謝各籌委的努力!這次 Punch Party 的氣氛很歡樂,七分鐘演講發揮了它的威力,歡眾反應也很熱烈。

是次演講主題是「職業‧Blogger」,我認為「職業」成份比較重。演講嘉賓談到自己職業的細節,是很有趣


請廣傳:字花讀者調查

(各位!對於旋起旋滅的文學雜誌來說, 計劃做讀者調查是多麼難得!請各位讀者花點時間去做一下!)

《字花》一路走來,已經站在第四年的路口了。我們很想知道,你對《字花》的過去和將來究竟有何想法,以下是對《字花

Bollywood經典六人行《Amar Akbar Anthony》


怎樣形容《 Amar Akbar Anthony 》(下稱《AAA》, 1977) 這套Bollywood經典呢? 一個A已經夠厲害, 三個A又如何? 除了是個賺人熱淚的親情故事外, 影片還奉送三段美滿良緣, 任君選擇. 當中要先過五關斬六將, 對付一黨麻煩的無良奸人, 撥
Continue reading...

Internet scale security: the impact of cheapness

Ten years ago or so, mass login and password guessing attacks wereessentially a non-issue; old news, an attack whose time had passed notonly because everyone knew how to counter them but because they had sucha low payoff that no one bothered doing the tedious work (and if someonedid, you pitied them).

Then the Internet happened and everything changed. Suddenly masspassword guessing attacks were not a theoretical issue; instead, theywere cluttering up your logs every day .This happened not because mass password


回顧《我不是股神》預測

2009年01月05日 星期一寫道:

2009年預測

黃金: 三個月內見$1000,在高位持續增長 (現時:US$870) --->到價:上星期五收$1002

油價: 短期(3個月內)回落至$34左右,年底前會升至$6

金融海嘯何時完結

忽發奇想

當黃金升到某個水平,美國捨得將8000噸黃金儲備慢慢套現,救銀行、樓市、債市、救自己fiscal deficit(視乎當時要救什麽),就是金融海嘯完結之時。

黃金在未來2年將會以倍數升。

出發啦 不要問那路在哪?


最近最喜歡聽的歌
是羅大佑,李宗盛,周華健,張震嶽組成的"縱貫線"唱的"亡命之徒"
喜歡歌詞的樂觀
喜歡幾個男人合唱的豪邁
更喜歡其中一句:"出發啦 不要問那路在哪? 迎風向前 是唯一的方法"
過去幾個月我都停留在周

Remember

Yesterday morning, my students asked me reasons for the way certain diseases behave. "This is the way it is," I answered. "All that is ever asked of you is that you have to remember it."

This is my mantra – one I seldom follow.

Despite my teaching others to memorize this and that, I have to admit that my own memory is in decline. There is no question that creativity declines throughout all those years in the medical school. Hey, decline in creativity after rote learning

有關 Acid3 測試

最近看電腦雜誌都開始用 Acid3 測試的瀏覽器對未來 Web 技術的支持度,但要留意 Acid3 的這麼一句:

To pass the test, a browser must use its default settings, the animation has to be smooth, the score has to end on 100/100, and the final page has to look exactly, pixel for pixel, like this reference rendering .

意思就是說,