My Weekend is the Opposite of Vegas

Look, nature. And a tiny town.

When in a new place, the first thing I do is get a local paper. Now I know what’s happening, just happened, and get a feel for the type of people and place.

In this paper I found a gun flyer, a train that de-railed and spilled coal everywhere, and above is their annual Summer Fair. See, opposite.

I’m still in America btw, home soon.

It’s been a great, quiet restful weekend. Hope you can say the same.

Got bit by a bee.  And video edited.

Have a great Sunday!

 

 

Apple's First Ever Black Hat Security Talk

(close-up photo credit to Elinor Mills/CNET)

Dallas De Atley, Apple’s platform security team manager, was there to speak about iOS security.  It was the first time ever Apple had presented in the 15 years of the Black Hat security conference.  There was much anticipation.

And did he ever deflate the room, really underwhelmed.  He didn’t take questions either, and took off right after, the opposite of how it’s done.

I summarized below some intereting things, but first two observations:

1 – it wasn’t anything special, at all.  I sat there thinking, “I’m understanding too much, this is Black Hat, more should be going over my head“.  The articles that came out agree: Apple just read from the whitepaper they released in May, how meh.

2 – to my ear, Apple people speak with a similar tone, meter, pace… I wonder if they have a “presentation preparation department” where they’re groomed.

About Apple’s iOS Security

– it’s built from the ground up, fully integrated, and as he said, “security is not something you can sprinkle over the code at the end”

– applications are suspended by default when you hit the home button, increasing performance and battery life

– patching holes and always updating keeps things secure, so Apple’s ‘software update’ was designed to be very easy.  80% of phones are running the latest iOS, they call that success.

– all apps running on the device comes from a known location (iTunes), so this reduces the attack surface for malware (apps distributed through iTunes must first meet Apple’s strict security practices)

– the device is divided into 2 partitions: read only partition, and data. Your data is separated from the OS

– apps go through an Apple API to access user data, therefore the app can’t access your data directly

– direct data sharing between apps is not allowed

– it takes 5.5 years to attempt every combo of a 6 number pass code because you have to do it manually

Further Reading

CNET

NY Times

Cult of Mac

The Register

GPS Tracking a Vegas Saturday Night

The tracker was the size of a pager, carried in a pocket.

It was a good test: a Saturday night in a busy area, everyone on their phones hammering the cell network, plus imagine all the casino’s communications flying around, and when zoomed in you can see small movements were even recorded.

It’s not perfect though, see where it has me in the middle of the fountains at the Bellagio?  Didn’t happen.

The output is a .log file that opens up in Google Earth beautifully.  Test complete, a successful test!

It was a really fun night.

I did it all in 5″ heels, too.  That’s a good CityGirl.

 

Things from My Week in Vegas

Some outfits.

I always visit the jewellery stores, one of my only material weaknesses.

This line is a favourite.

Check out the lineup to see Batman 5 days after it opened BOOM. Had the theatre to myself. Review: I loved it.

It’s the only superhero story I like, because he is a normal human who turns himself into more.

I gamble on only two games: ‘Wheel of Fortune’ slots, and video poker.  Video Poker has maybe the best odds in the casino.

Look at the purple circle first column, the rule is: you want a 9/6 machine, then an 8/5, don’t bother with anything lower.

I’m good at the latter, but really, it’s just pattern recognition.

I have in my head a whole life-strategy-is-like-video-poker-strategy-there’s-many-parrells-video in my head to make, there really are.

One of my favourite nights was Thursday Night #NotSurprising (if we are just meeting, I say it every week because it is: Thursdasy Night is the best night of the week).

That’s right, silence! It’s ridiculously hard to find here.

This is the penthouse of a casino off the strip, where check THIS out :O

How is that even possible at a casino? Where are the insurance people?

Then, oh THEN there was a pool table. I love to play pool.

And I played some of the best pool of my whole life.

I couldn’t miss. Not even being dramatic, it was Hollywood movie shots I was making happen. After one particularly amazing combo I yelled, “you guys are getting this, right?!”.  I was the zone.

And that’s it, Vegas tada the end.

Never been a fan, but I seem to always end up here; that’s 14-ish times now.  Here’s a post from last year.

Vegas, to me, is: over-the-top-over-stimulating, this shiny delusion that brings out the entitled dbag side of people, and just, excess is gross.  But it’s the world’s conference centre.  See you again soon I’m sure.