Bill Cheswick - projects

Farm stuff

• Monitoring the oil tank

  , Keeping an eye on our heating oil tank so we don't have to pay the oil company to do so.

Practicing DSP

• Audio monitoring of an active freight line

  , Recording and processing

Science Exhibits

• The Digital Darkroom

  , a science museum exhibit. Now under development for delivery to science centers in 2004. The previous software has run for over 10 years in several locations. I am working on an upgrade.

• The McCollough Effect (1995):

  An interactive science exhibit.

Security

• Authentication tokens redux (2011)

  . Playing with modern implementations of old challenge/response authentication tokens that didn't have RSA's weaknesses. Also trying to get enough entropy out of passgraphs/passmaps to hide keys from dictionary attacks, while maintaining usability. Logging in should be fun!

• Algorithmic passwords

  (2002). Given this list of challenges, responses, and whether the authentication succeeded, can you figure out this rather simple algorithmic password? I have been thinking that these would be useful for emergency backdoors, robust and inscrutible for, say, a dozen uses.

• A Security Page (1995-2002)

The Internet and Web

• Internet Mapping Project

  (1997-).

• Notes on Security Small Networks

  (2007).
• I have been running a tiny packet telescope since June 2005. Here's a graph of the packet types seen. Every packet captured is available in a tcpdump, upon request.
• Some old web marketing experiments (1999).

• Web Awards

  I didn't win (1996). These were very common in the early days of the web.

Digital House

• MythTV

  (2006): finally have the HDTV working nicely. The normal PVR functions have been working for over a year.

• Home auto-mation

  (2006): Running the furnace off power from a car during a blackout.

Medical Hacks

• Qsymia for weight loss.

  Rimonabant

  , a new prescription drug for treating obesity, is not yet approved by tha FDA. But it is approved in Europe, and I am on it, with the oversight of my doctor. In the first three months I have lost 5% of my body weight (6kg, 13pounds) during the summer, without dieting. My diary contains updates. At this point, the Authorities have decided that the suicide rate is too high, and have discontinued manufacture. This stuff cut my weight a little, and improved my blood sugar. Don't hold your breath for personalized medicine.

  Electric Bike

  for exercise.

  Vision correction options for aging folks (2006-2008)

  . I don't care if I look good, but I care a lot if I see well. How about flip-up reading/intermediate vision correction?

  Hoodia Gordonii (2005)

  . This spam-advertised stuff actually works for weight loss, at least a little. I lost about 1% of my weight, which might be more than the placebo effect. But see rimonabant, above, which is now discontinued.

  Is ethanol good for you (2004)

  ? c.f. hormesis.

  The warrantee runs out at 40 (1997-):

  Posterial tibial tendon insufficiency.

Food

• Popovers

  .

• Frozen custard info

  .

Photographs and movies

• Aperture to web

  , a setup and simple routines (shell bundle) to backup and present a large Aperture database on web pages.

• Time-lapse photography

  . I have hooked a USB camera up to a laptop, and made an assortment of time-lapse movies: Snow On (11 MB), Snow Off (8.5 MB), and Sep 10 (2 MB), a hand-held brief experimental time lapse taken out the window of United Flight 93 on 10 September 2001.

• Some time-lapse and family stop motion

  animation here.

• Some stitched panoramic digital photographs

  of San Francisco from the Fairmont hotel, the Tower of London, and the Thames from the new Globe theater.

• Mouse Cam

  (1998).

• Gorgo Eats Miami

  (29MB) (1996). A thrilling horror movie I made.

• Our tube

  . More family time-lapse and animation experiments.

Abnorma Loquendi

• Previous sponsors

  .

• Coin collection (2002-)

  .

At the Beach

• Children's antipodes

  : an ongoing research project, and you may be able to help out.

• Sand castles (1998-)

  . I like making drop castles. They are as ephemeral as software, in the long run.

Other

Peter!

These 3-D renderings of Peter Weinberger were made from a series of images taken of Peter's live mask as it was slowly immersed in milk. The technique was suggested by Tom Duff, and the kids loved doing it.