Ronald's ScribblingsPosts
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pwqgen.rb—A Pronouncable Passphrase Generator
The fantastic pwqgen from the passwdqc package is a one-of-a-kind implementation of a pronounceable random passphrase / password generator. I’ve been searched around the net for something similar but there were none.
The passphrase generator that I want needs to be pronounceable, easy to read and type, and most importantly still secure. Of course, passwords are the most secure with a random string of characters, but they are hardly useable. More readable ones need to be longer but given their readability, the slight increase in length is a well-worth tradeoff. xkcd: Password Strength illustrates this concept succinctly.
So here it is, announcing pwqgen.rb: a Ruby implementation of passwdqc’s pwqgen, a random pronouncable password generator. Available on [RubyGems] and [Source].
It comes as a Ruby module/class and an accompanying command line tool.
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Anandtech Reviews the Retina Display MacBook Pro
Apple has done an incredible job with the next-gen MacBook Pro. It brings a level of portability to the 15-inch chassis that we’ve never seen before from Apple, all while getting a good handle on some of the thermal and noise issues from last year’s model.
The credit Apple deserves for the display extends beyond simply pushing LG to get a panel out on time and in large enough quantities. There’s a tremendous amount of software work that Apple put into making the Retina experience work under OS X. The OS and several key applications have been updated to properly support the MacBook Pro’s Retina Display, and things can only get better from here. Mountain Lion will improve performance and I would expect at least a few key app updates over the next year to bring increased Retina awareness.
There’s also the behind the scenes work Apple put in to make all of this happen. The pressure on the GPU vendors, as well as taking matters into its own hands with writing scaling and filtering routines to deliver a good experience are all noteworthy.
A rather detailed review as usual. If you’re looking to buy the new MBP with Retina Display, you might want to click-through the link to learn about some of its issues.
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Vi in the Cloud
Vi in your browser!
An awesome web-based Vi editor, with Filepicker.io support, which brings Vi-editing to web-services like Dropbox.
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Windows Phone 8 Announcement
On Wednesday, Microsoft announced Windows Phone 8, the next generation of their Windows Phone platform. New product announcements are all well and good, Apple does the same too, but with one striking difference.
Never pre-announce any product or software that will render current shipping products obsolete without having successor products ready and shipping. The negative outcome from this is called the Osborne effect.
What Microsoft essentially did was to announce that Windows Phone 8 will not run on current generation hardware, including Nokia’s flagship Lumia 900, which are still being sold in stores. Apps written for the WP8 platform will not run on the older hardware either. Microsoft has just single-handedly killed Nokia’s current flagship product.
Given Nokia’s already poor performing financials, this couldn’t have come at a worse time—They just don’t have a profitable product from now till WP8 is launched. If this goes on, it wouldn’t be long before Nokia runs out of cash.
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