I Talk To Machines
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Office Taskbar PWNage!
01 month ago
So I just recently re-installed windows on my desktop and was installing my office365 suite (I’m doing the annual 5 seat license, so far I’m very happy with it other than trying to find the installer for each system, but that’s a different rant).
I happened to pin them to my task-bar and it spelt out “pwn” and I found that funny so I wanted to share. 
(I’m using Powerpoint a lot for my capstone at ITT if you curious why it made it to the task-bar. It won’t be there much longer.)
Vanity Bitcoin Keys
11 month ago
So it’s been a while since I’ve talked about bitcoin and I’ve recently gotten more interested now that the prices have grown significantly. So I started explaining it to some friends at school and have gotten them interested as well. So of course I wanted a nice and custom key to show off, and it’s really quite easy with tools like vanitygen by samr7 over on the bitcoin forums which is the tool that we will be using for this post.
Because it’s actually doing alot of math to figure out (or more correctly guess) at the key, the longer you want your custom key to be, the longer you will have to crunch these numbers so don’t get too crazy with it.
The tool has several options but most of them won’t be used, in fact I only use one of the possible flags below, but there are more, you can view them by running vanitygen.exe with the “-h” flag, or just save this as something like help.bat in the same folder as vanitygen.exe and double-click the .bat file to run the help command for you.
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@echo off vanitygen.exe -h pause |
Now that you have read the options the batch file below might make more sense, we are going to ask you for the pattern you want your custom key to have, and decided if you want it case-sensitive which takes MUCH longer, and might have strings that are not allowed, but it’ll error out if it does so you can try something different.
So save this file as something like vanity.bat in the same folder as vanitygen and run it. (Change the highlighted lines 19 and 23 to reflect the executable you are going to use for your system. (ie: if on a 64 bit system you would use vanitygen64.exe, on a gpu you would use oclvanitygen.exe)
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@echo off echo You can always press ctrl+c to stop this script from running. CALL :GETINPUT GOTO :EOF :GETINPUT set /p Name=Enter your desiered pattern (The leading 1 has been added for you): 1 set /p ConfirmName=Your pattern will be 1%name% Is this correct [y/n]?: if "%ConfirmName%"=="" (GOTO GETINPUT) if "%ConfirmName%"=="y" (GOTO STRICTNESS) else (GOTO EXIT) :STRICTNESS set /p Eieye=Do you require your pattern to be CaSe SenSitvE [y/n]? if "%Eieye%"=="y" (GOTO CASEYES) if "%Eieye%"=="n" (GOTO CASENO) else (GOTO EXIT) :CASEYES vanitygen.exe 1%name% (GOTO EOF) :CASENO vanitygen.exe -i 1%name% (GOTO EOF) :EOF pause :EXIT exit |
Here is what the output of the script does (note, I’ve highlighted the user input for clarity, there is no color in the actual script results, and No this key should NOT be used!):
Then create a shortcut on your desktop for vanity.bat and change the icon to something that you prefer, I’ve added the image I use below for fun, and then just run this anytime you (or a friend) want a custom wallet key!
As for wallet’s, I use the Armory wallet but for most users I would recommend multibit as it’s much faster, and much smaller, but you do give up some freedom and security relying on others where armory can offer a true TNO security standpoint, just my 2 bitcents on that topic, now get mining!
My Five Dollar Raspberry Pi Case Build
110 months ago
So I just posted the pictures to Google+ and of course wanted to post them to my site as well, and of course in much better detail.
I just wanted something easy to take apart, and didn’t cost alot because I knew my friends would want one. (I’ve built 3 now, and more people keep asking..) and was strong, as I do alot of running around, and project fairs.
This has turned out better then I had expected, and am really quite pleased. It starts with a few off the shelf parts (I got mine from Lowes) and consist’s of:
- (2) PVC Romex Handy Box Covers (with the knockout option)
- (4) Nylon 1/4″ x .104 x 1″ spacers (two packs of two)
- (4) 6-32 x 1 1/2″ Pan Head Steel Bolts (one bag of eight, I’ve got extras)
- (optional) Spray Paint, Rounded 6-32 end caps (Pictured at the end)
Let’s start by getting the nylon spacers painted. lightly nail them upright into a scrap of wood, and then paint them.
Next I knocked out the hole on the box cover that was to be the top, and then cleaned up the edges with a razor knife and some sandpaper.
(this is part of the reason to go with PVC covers, it drills and cuts MUCH easier and is softer so it won’t hurt it if you go too tight during assembly or need to clean up an edge with a razor knife.)
You’ll notice I have notched the bottom part. This is to allow room for the SD Card to lay flat. I did this by melting through most of the way (from the back side) with an old soldering iron, and then trimming down the sides with a razor knife. I also melted the flange on the stock holes to allow it to sit as deep as possible in the bottom cover (and yes I did this before painting.)
Here’s the parts, ready for assembly!
(The heat sinks are about ten bucks at Frys and are for RAM if you were wondering)
It’s important that the holes next to the USB ports allow the spacers to sit close to the sides of the USB ports. This case relies on the flange at the end of the USB ports to help hold the Pi in place. Also put this side together first. It’s just easier.
(see how nicely those small flanges will keep the Pi from sliding out! Perfect!)
And that’s about it! Here’s some more pictures of the final product, and a copy of the reciept from Lowes, in case it might help you find the same parts.
New WordPress Base! (And a broken theme)
01 year ago
by Daniel Stinebaugh
in Blah
Sorry for those of you who have visited my site the last few day’s, I updated WordPress and it broke my theme, all of my navigation widget’s have disappeared so I’ll be updating the theme again, but of course the content will still be the same.
I’ve also got a side project, that I can’t say much about, but, if it actually find’s it’s way to making a public showing, you’ll find one very happy Dan, and a new way to……… can’t tell ya that, yet 
