Microsoft have developed a new technology that can rapidly extract forensic data from laptops, phones, cameras and other electronical devices. Great for helping border control agents in identifying incriminating material - and hopefully preventing the need for them and other law enforcement agencies to seize innocent computers!

The technology is called COFEE (Computer Online Forensic Evidence Extractor), and is software built into a USB drive.  Although it's only just coming to light, it has been in use since last June, having been distributed to 350 different law enforcement agencies. Microsoft have said that they developed the device after an attack of conscience, and not as a way of making even more money.

For more details on how it works, visit http://mashable.com/2008/04/29/microsoft-cofe/

What I Have Today For My Mother?

What You Have Today For Your Mother?

My Mother is:

A Bank providing me money without interest and a storage of unlimited love storage. it's free ;-) I don't have to pay any yearly change or interest to get this free love or bank loan :P

COFEE se conecta en el USB de la PC y en cuestión de segundos corre 150 comandos capaces de desencriptar passwords, analizar las actividades en internet y los datos almacenados en el disco duro.

Microsoft ha diseñado esta aplicación para las policías en el mundo y desde Junio ha empezado a distribuirlo silenciosamente en distintos países para ayudar en el combarte de los crímenes. ¿Ya les habrá llegado a la Policia Cibérnetica de la PFP?

Solo queda una pregunta: ¿Correrá en Mac o Linux?

Enlace: Seattle Times

step 1: brew fresh coffee
setp 2: mix 1 can sweetened condensed milk with coffee
step 3: chill slightly. pour over the rocks and serve, drink, be satisfied!

use 1 regular can of sweetened condensed milk to 10 cups of brewed coffee...note, this really does make a lot of iced coffee, so you may want to make only half, depending on how many people you are serving.

Simple...Tasty...Coffee

Read entire story here.

Segnala link non funzionante

Mine consists of 70% coffee... and 30% what ever.

There are quite  few of these on the web, but this is one of the better ones. Thanks to Jeff Ullian

As you may know, independent coffee shops have long offered wi-fi as an attractant for business people, road warriors, and web workers to get them in the door. For the longest time, many coffee drinkers and wi-fi seekers chose the independent houses because getting online used to cost $6-$10 an hour at Starbucks.

When asked about whether he felt the independents would lose out on business with Starbucks recent announcement, David Blumenfeld of Boingo replied, "Many patrons of the smaller coffeehouses will continue to support their local shop due to loyalty, unique surroundings versus corporate giant, community support, convenience of location, etc.," he said. "Any customer losses may also be offset simply because there continues to be so much more demand for Wi-Fi access in general."

I would agree with Blumenfeld. The people who go to the independents go there because it's in the neighborhood and because it's a part of their routine. These customers are accustomed to their local coffee houses and will continue to patronize the same coffee houses they've been going to for years.

The business traveler, however, is more likely to stop into Starbucks based on familiarity with the national brand and because of Starbucks ubiquitous presence nationwide.

Battling for your breakfast dollars:

Boingo and Wayport, two of the major wi-fi subscription services our readers may be familiar with, made an announcement this week that will allow Boingo subscribers to use Wayports hotspots at McDonald's restaurants. By doing so, Boingo is adding to it's already 100,000 locations. There are 9,000 Wayport enabled McDonald's restaurants, as reported by Computer World.
The battle for your business at breakfast time has been increasingly interesting, namely because Starbucks and McDonald's are in a heated battle to attract your dollars in the morning. McDonalds recently started serving gourmet coffee, prompting Starbucks to respond by serving breakfast items (but just announced they would halt breakfast sandwich services).

Now, with Starbucks card holders getting 2 hours of free wi-fi, the Boingo announcement has McDonald's hoping business customers will stop into McDonalds for their morning cup o' joe and a hot cup of coffee.

(Image credit: Flickr user Dan)

Personally, I'd be more than happy if I found any one of these in my mailbox.

Top left: "Spilled Coffee" print by Red Heather

Bottom left: "Bitches get stuff done" pillow by Artful Artsy Amy

Middle: "The usual subjects" print by Craftonite

Right: "Time to eat" print by CMZ Art

If you’re visiting Chennai, then tasting Filter Coffee is the nice experience for you. South Indian Coffee also known as Madras Filter Coffee is especially popular in the southern states and especially in Tamil Nadu. People of Karnataka are also fond of filter coffee. The credit of popularizing filter coffee or “degree’ coffee must go to South India, especially in the Tamil society. 

The filter coffee is made from dark roasted coffee beans (70%-80%) and chicory (20%-30%). The most commonly used coffee beans are Peaberry, Arabica, Malabar and Robusta grown in the hills of Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

Coffee preparation is an art. First of all the chosen coffee beans is roasted to preserve the original aroma. These roasted beans are powdered and the flavour of rich ground coffee powder is used to make filter coffee. Even at this age there are households who use hand operated coffee grinding machines. Now let us prepare filter coffee. To start with boil the water very hot and bubbly. Coffee maker (filter) is set with the required spoons freshly ground coffee powder. With a gentle tap, boiling water poured in a circular motion. The filter is covered with the lid immediately. The coffee decoction drips slowly. Later fresh milk (not diluted) is boiled. With required sugar coffee decoction is added and then hot milk is poured into davara – tumbler. The aromatic coffee is ready. 

A cup of Filter Coffee is the most refreshing thing for any one.  It should be served too hot with the right amount of sugar and coffee decoction.  Now close your eyes and breath deeply to smell the aroma of the steaming coffee. Slightly sip the coffee and enjoy the taste. What ever may be the spiraling cost, you may not ready to leave the habbit drinking Madras filter coffee.

Now it is our filter coffee time. How about a cup of Filter coffee?

It's Cofee [Computer Online Forensic Evidence Extractor], from Microsoft.

COFEE is a USB drive that allows law enforcement to run more than 150 commands on a live computer system and save the results on the portable drive for later analysis. This preserves valuable information that could be lost if the computer had to be shut down and transported to a lab--files that are stored in active memory would otherwise be lost.

COFEE was developed in 2006 by Ricci Ieong and Anthony Fung, both members of the High Tech Crime Investigators Associate's (HTCIA) Asia South Pacific Chapter. Fung now works for Microsoft's Internet Safety Enforcement team in Hong Kong and used to be on the police force there. Ieong is founder and principal consultant for eWalker Consulting.

COFEE consists of plain text scripts; the data collected from these scripts is routed to a provided USB drive. Although intended for use with a command line, there is also an option for GUI. Raw text captures generate either SH1 or md5 checksums. The results for an acquisition are then presented in either plain text or HTML. Each operation produces its own log file to help investigators.

Although Microsoft would not confirm any specific tools included within COFEE, it did say that all the tools were publicly available.

A law enforcement agent connects the USB drive to a computer at the scene of a crime and it takes a snapshot of important information on the computer. It can save information such as what user was logged on and for how long and what files were running at that time, Fung says. It can be used on a computer using any type of encryption software, not just BitLocker.

"COFEE doesn't break BitLocker or open a back door, it captures live data on the computer"

Similar tools which have been in use and which are also being worked upon are:

RAPIER, SwitchBlade, USBDumper, MacLockPick, WFT.

Microsoft

Nitin Kushwaha

سلام
به تازگی یه طراح چای خور (احتمال 90%) یه ایده بیسار زیبا برای چای خورهای عزیز ارائه کرده ، این لیوان که همراه نعلبکی (!) هست همزمان دارای درپوش هم میباشد و اصولا برای حمل و نقل ساخته شده است به این صورت که طراحی ویژه و فرم خاص لیوان همراه نعلبکی کار رو برای نقل و انتقال چای بسیار راحت و ایمن کرده ، تصاویر به خوبی گویای همه چیز هستند .

(ادامه تصاویر در ادامه)

By Ida Siegal, Reporter

When I was a kid, coffee was one of those grown-up mysteries I never understood. Why on earth would they drink that hot brown stuff that smelled so weird?

I now appreciate the varied aromas and the desire for a jolt of caffeine, but I never developed a taste for the coffee itself. I've been told I'm the better for it; perhaps, perhaps not.

Either way, if you’re like me, when your producer tells you to become an expert in a couple days, you become slightly anxious. Not only did I need to learn about coffee, but also, I needed to find the best bang for the buck. Yes, good, cheap coffee.

It turns out that you don't have to drink coffee to understand that it is like most other things in that you get what you pay for.

While there are plenty of places to get a decent Cup of Joe at a good price, there is a reason Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts do so well.

I found a newsstand on 42nd Street offering a cup for 69 cents. It was the cheapest cup we could find.

The owner said he is loosing money on the coffee, but was new to the block and needed to attract customers. He also offered a 99-cent cup of "café chino," according to his sign.

Though I didn't taste it, it smelled good and people seemed to like it enough. However, they didn't have lattes, whipped cream, special syrups or non-fat soy options. And they didn't have that round, green stamp of brand approval we all know so well.

Thankfully, I didn't need to taste the Starbucks brew to understand why people are willing to pay $4 for a cup. Nor, did I need to taste the 99-cent café chino to understand why these days, brand approval or not, it may very well be the better cup. Non-fat soy is great, but a café chino that is $3 cheaper may be even better.

La prima riguarda Cofee, un programma sviluppato da un programmatore cinese, capace di superare in circa 20 minuti le difese di Windows.

La cosa non desterebbe scalpore, se non fosse che programma e programmatore sono stati entrambi "arruolati" da mamma Microsoft, che in questi giorni sta tenendo una serie di corsi a centinaia di esperti delle forze dell'ordine di circa una trentina di paesi, per insegnargli come violare la privacy assicurata da Windows, alle informazioni contenute sui pc dei vari utenti.

Se gia' ti si sono rizzati i peli sul collo, cosa dire della brillante trovata dell'Agenzia delle Entrate, che ha pubblicato sul web le dichiarazioni dei redditi del 2005, in nome di un malinteso senso di trasparenza?

Alla luce di queste informazioni, emerge in tutta la sua gravita' l'incoerenza di quegli Stati, che se da un lato tartassano le aziende con norme e dispositivi atti a tutelare la privacy dei cittadini, dall'altra si sentono dispensati dal loro rispetto.

Tutto secondo uno scenario da "Far West tecnologico", secondo cui la ragione e' dalla parte del piu' forte!

(※この映画の一般公開は2008年5月31日。以下の内容は、当然ネタバレ(Spoiler)を含みます。観るつもりの人は自己責任で)

映画『おいしいコーヒーの真実』公式サイト
http://www.uplink.co.jp/oishiicoffee/
Black Gold : A Film About Coffee And Trade
http://www.blackgoldmovie.com/

FACTORY | フォレステーション VOL.19 「フェア」
http://www.uplink.co.jp/factory/log/002582.php
「

5月の公開に先駆け、ドキュメンタリー作品「おいしいコーヒーの真実」の先行上映会を行います。上映後、コーヒーにまつわる基礎知識から、国家間貿易モデルのあり方まで、専門家の方々の意見を交え、トークショーを行います。ご来場いただいた皆様と、新しい世界のあり方を考えてみたいと思います。

」

最初に、この映画へのぼくの評価を書いておく。

この映画が直接描いているのは、エチオピアのコーヒー農家の困窮という辛い状況だ。問題への関心を深めることができる点ではよい。が、適切なフレーム・オブ・リファレンス(問題認識の枠組み)を与えてくれるかどうかという点では、ちょっと厳しいんじゃないかと思った。

話は、エチオピアのオロミア州という貧しいコーヒー産地の農協の代表、タデッセ・メスケラ氏がセールスのために欧米をまわる姿と、西欧諸国でコーヒーが嗜好品としていかに愛されているかを交互に紹介しながら進む。

エチオピアはコーヒー発祥の地。アフリカ最大のコーヒー産地であり貿易収入の7割弱をコーヒーに頼っている。が、「コーヒーの価格は悲しいほど安い」。先進国ではコーヒー(トールサイズ)が330円するが、それに占めるコーヒー豆の原価は1～3%だという。

メスケラ氏の話に戻ると、彼が消費国を飛び回る姿はエチオピアの窮状と共にヒロイックに描かれている。が、やや冷めた見方をすれば、どんな国のビジネスパーソンだってこういう苦労をするんじゃないかなぁ、とも思う。

コーヒー豆の価格下落には、背景がある。1989年、「国際コーヒー協定」の破綻だ(と映画内では説明されていたが、調べてみると、国際コーヒー機関による協定の輸出割当制度のみ停止、のち削除という流れ via 国際コーヒー機関 - Wikipedia )。

コーヒーの価格は、ニューヨークとロンドンの先物市場で決まる。特にNYの価格が基準値になっているという(映画には出なかったが、NYはアラビカ種、ロンドンはロブスタ種を扱っているらしい)。
一方で、イタリアのilly社はNY市場が扱う普及品ではこだわりの味は出せないと扱わず、NY市場に従うことは高品質な豆の産地を脅かすという理由で別ルートで調達するロンドンの会社も登場する。

また、コーヒーの製造・焙煎では多国籍企業であるクラフト、ネスレ、プロクター・アンド・ギャンブル、サラ・リーの4社が強い力を持つ(この映画の最後には、4社から取材を拒否された、と出る)。

1971年に開業したシアトルのスターバックス1号店の、誇りに満ちた女性店長へのインタビュー映像の後、そのスターバックスも使うコーヒー豆を生産するエチオピアのシダモ( スターバックス コーヒー | エチオピア シダモ )地区が飢餓に見舞われ、栄養補給センターで子供が泣き叫ぶ姿が映る。
この対比はショッキングだ。これを見たとき強く感じたのは、「世界はフラットになったとかなんとか言うが、全然つながっていないな」ということ。

一方でこのあたりでは、「他の国のコーヒー産地も、エチオピア並みにひどいんだろうか?」という疑問も湧いた。

後半、やや唐突に2003年のWTO(世界貿易機構)閣僚会議(メキシコ・カンクン)の場面に移る。アフリカの代表やNGOは、ECやアメリカの自国農業保護のための補助金をめぐる交渉に臨むが、数の面でまったく太刀打ちできず、不利な交渉を強いられる。
ここでぼくは、「なるほど、先進国の自国農業保護政策のひとつにコーヒーも含まれているから、途上国のコーヒー産業は悲惨なんだな」と思った。コーヒーは南北の貿易不均衡の象徴ということなのか、と。

ラスト、カメラはアフリカのジブチ共和国へ飛ぶ。そこで、アメリカ輸出用の小麦の袋詰め作業の現場をバックに「現在のアフリカは、かつてないほど緊急支援が必要な状況だ」「世界貿易にアフリカが占めるシェアは1%以下。それが1%増えるだけで全援助額の5倍に匹敵する」といったテロップが出る。

ちょっと構成がわかりづらいけど、この映画のメッセージは南北の貿易を公正なものにしろということか。
ただ同時に、この問題を考えるためには少なくとも以下のような点は調べてみたいと思った。

• 他の国に比べ、エチオピアのコーヒー産業だけが困窮しているのか?
• エチオピアでは、コーヒー産業従事者だけが特に困っているのか?
• コーヒー産業では、生産者だけに不利な構造があるのか?

後半は、北澤肯さん( フェアトレードリソースセンター )、川島良彰さん( 日本サステイナブルコーヒー協会 )によるトーク。

このトークライブの、特に川島さんのお話で、納得できたり理解の手がかりが得られたところが多かった。

特に重要だと思った点は以下。

• この映画は2003年から起こった「コーヒー危機(Coffee Crisys)」の時期を描いたもの。同じくコーヒー産地であるニカラグアでも飢饉が起きるなどひどい状況だった。
• が、現在ではコーヒー相場は回復している。価格は1.6ドルまで上がっており、むしろ消費国のコーヒー産業の方が大変な状況。
• 1997年に、NYコーヒー市場にファンド筋の投機が入ったため(注：ここ聞き間違いかも)暴騰した。その反動が2001年になって起きたのがコーヒー危機。コーヒー生産では、シェア3割を握るブラジルの動向が鍵を握ることが多い(例：価格暴騰→増産→ダブつき→価格暴落)。が、2001年の危機はコーヒーが投機対象になったために起こったもので、これまでとは性格が違う。
  (
  注：これのことか?
  アラビカコーヒーのハーベストプレッシャー
  http://www.ecommodity.co.jp/market/gud_050520_2.html
  「1997年にもう一度大暴騰がありましたが、これは霜害の懸念だけで深刻な被害は無く、価格こそ大幅に上昇しましたが、5月には早々に天井となり、相場は下落しています。」
  )
• この映画は生産者に焦点を当てているが、価格や供給が不安定であれば当然輸出業者や消費国も打撃を受ける。生産国は、暴騰すると「ノンデリ」(契約不履行)することなどもある。
• やはりコーヒー協定のような生産国・消費国の取り決めは必要だろう。
• 生産者側も、フェアトレード、スペシャリティ、オーガニックなどオルタナティブな市場との関係を培っておくことは重要。
• WTOの話が出てくるのは理由がわからない。コーヒーは保護品目ではなく、関係ないはず。
  (注：という話だが、「News headline 「コーヒー危機」の理解と解決策の検証(5)」では、米国市場(?)でのアジアやアフリカ産コーヒーをターゲットにした輸出障壁について言及あり)
• エチオピアは植民地化されなかった珍しい国。なのに貧しいのは、部族間対立や支配層による搾取などの原因もある。自助努力も必要。「教育」はその鍵のひとつではないか(映画内、貧しいコーヒー農家たちが学校建設のためにお金を出し合うシーンがある)。

この映画を見る前、「貧しいコーヒー農家を救う切り札はフェアトレード!」と思い込んでいたが、そんな単純な話ではないと思った。

そのフェアトレードについての話もあり、特に納得したのは以下の点。

• フェアトレードコーヒーは、サステイナブル(サスティナブル)コーヒー( 日本サステイナブルコーヒー協会／サステイナブルコーヒーとは？ )のひとつ。
• 「コーヒーが農産物であることを日本人は忘れているのではないか」。サステナブルコーヒーに取り組む団体は、それぞれ独自のスタンスを持っており、それを知った上でコーヒーに接してほしい。
  (注：「日本サステイナブルコーヒー協会／サステイナブルコーヒーの種類」にある、コンサベーション・インターナショナル、レインフォレスト・アライアンス、グッドインサイド、バードフレンドリーのような団体。)

なるほど、フェアトレードは小規模農家を対象とすることが多いが、たとえばブラジルでは大農園も多い。そこで働く小作人の権利保護や、環境破壊も考えなければ、ということか。

(一応言っておくと、トークライブはこのような話ばかりだったわけではなく、ぼくが興味を惹かれた部分をメモっただけもの。)

ともかくこの映画、グローバル化と南北問題、自由市場の問題、生産国同士の対立など、大きな問題のいくつかの部分だけを取り上げている。問題の枠組みをきちんと示すという点で、舌足らずだ。
これを観て「コーヒー農家は(一様に)悲惨だ」「フェアトレードで解決できる」と理解してしまったら、それは短絡的だと思う。

が、このイベントに参加できたことはためになった。こういう映画を日本に紹介するために努力したり、応援したりする人たちにも敬意を表したい。

ぼくはもちろんこの問題の専門家ではなく、理解が浅い点や誤りもあるだろう。
そういう点は、コメント欄で指摘してほしいと思う。

参考になりそうなWebページを挙げておく。

News headline よく練れていないコーヒー産業の計画
http://tmr.or.jp/headline/1052392402.html
News headline 「コーヒー危機」の理解と解決策の検証(1)
http://www.tmr.or.jp/headline/1053410235.html
News headline 「コーヒー危機」の理解と解決策の検証(2)
http://www.tmr.or.jp/headline/1053411271.html
News headline 「コーヒー危機」の理解と解決策の検証(3)
http://www.tmr.or.jp/headline/1053477600.html
News headline 「コーヒー危機」の理解と解決策の検証(4)
http://www.tmr.or.jp/headline/1053478695.html
News headline 「コーヒー危機」の理解と解決策の検証(5)
http://www.tmr.or.jp/headline/1053567524.html

コーヒーから見える政治状況(20051221)
http://www.randdmanagement.com/c_seiji/se_145.htm

歴史的な南北の激突―カンクンWTO閣僚会議報告（その１）―
http://www.jca.apc.org/%7Ekitazawa/wto/wto_cancun_1_2003.htm
カンクンWTO閣僚会議報告（その２）
http://www.jca.apc.org/%7Ekitazawa/wto/wto_cancun_2_2003.htm

//このブログ書くのに半日費やしたー。

*The lineup for the Pitchfork Music Festival has been announced. Also, I am old and poor.

*Countertrend (local): The Mill City Live (free outdoor music) slate has been announced. [switchblade comb]

*More on Grand Theft Auto's music store (and other music ties) from Scientific American. [mediaeater]

*Starbucks and in-store music apparently no longer mix.

*Countertrend: Midlake guitarist launching his own line of coffee. [getty images]

*Madonna's new album, the execrable (surely?) "Hard Candy" is streaming on her MySpace page prior to its official release. [mashable]

*Amy Winehouse was arrested for headbutting a guy outside a London bar, but she was not charged by police. Headbutting. [huff po]

*The Dead are history. (They're donating a bunch of old stuff – not their recordings, though – to a university library in Santa Cruz.

*Add your (or others') twitters to your online calendar with Twistory. What people do with Twitter data is getting more and more interesting. (My relatively boring Twitter stream is here, fwiw.) [techcrunch]

*I will post less boring things soon. Also, this is my 1,000th. In under a year. Lots of stupid videos, but still. Goodbye.

I try to clock in when a message flashes that I am too early see your manager.  I know I am supposed to work here today.  Looking at the schedule I realize that I am an hour early for work.  Perfect.  I really could have used that hour of sleep.  My manager, however, is happy.  The morning is over in a bat of an eye.  I am happy to go to lunch.  My feet need a rest and the noise from my stomach applies that I am long over due for food.  Of course I can not clock out.  My manager says “Yes you can.  I clocked you in.”  I try again with no such luck.  She says “I know I clocked you in,” as she is fixing my time. 

The hour brake feels like ten minutes.  I start my shift laughing with a friend.  The manager separates us even though the work is accomplished.  This always happens.  We try to see how long it will take her.  Today only twenty minutes.  We still manage to cross each others paths.  Yet some how we manage to have a conversation that lasts the rest of my remaining three hours. 

I do not feel like changing in the car so I stop at a Starbucks.  I feel guilty about using their restroom so I buy a cup of coffee.  I should change before I add the cream and sugar.  I place it on the table.  It spills on this man’s shoes.  I want to hide as I feel the heat on my checks.  He laughs and says “Having one of those days?”  I can only nod and shake my head yes.  Contemplating if I should just leave or change he makes me another coffee. 

I am on time for my second job.  Since I am still in training, I find it rather boring.  I keep yawning.  She puts me on computer training.  Of course there is some kind of problem.  She retrieves the manager who says “I clocked you in so what is the problem?”  This is live déjà and it is only Wednesday.  Four more days to go I think as I rub my forehead.