Encryption, yes or no?

People have a right to privacy and to protect their lives and personal data in any way that does not compromise the lives of others. Does encryption go against that? Not a chance. Yet recently, we've been bombarded with a myriad of news stories regarding how different governments face encryption and their plans for legislation. Should we push for, or against encryption? For the greater part of the most educated people out there without any government or corporate ties, the answer is a resounding "yes" in favor of encryption. You have an undeniable universal right to protect your personal data and whatever information relates to your personal life. Encryption is needed to protect your bank account details, your medical data, your E-Mails and conversations with your friends, family and lovers. Not only that, strong encryption algorithms are a basic component of the authentication schemes that are employed to make sure that you know you are exchanging information with the correct parties, without someone else either eavesdropping on your communications or being able to corrupt them. The Dutch Government seems to understand this, so why do we see governments trying to ban or weaken encryption, under the guise of ensuring "our" protection and to fight terrorism? In two words:

Dishonesty, hypocrisy.

At the very least, incompetence, insufficient knowledge and narrow mindedness. The current trend is to spread propaganda against encryption, stating that using it is a terrorist behaviour, that terrorists use it to plot attacks. Currently, the most active voice against encryption is France, due to the recent terrorist attacks it suffered. Is banning encryption going to change anything? Not even in a million years. First and foremost, the terrorists that caused the most recent attack in France weren't even using encryption, at least, no meaningful form of it. As far as it is now known, the attacks were coordinated through unencrypted SMSs. France is currently pushing for all device manufacturers and software producers to include backdoors into the encryption algorithms so that the authorities may have a way to impose their surveillance in order to "find terrorists". Two essential and pertinent questions:

1. Is this going benefit the citizens and keep them safe?
2. Is this actually going to help catch terrorists and thwart their attempts to hurt us?

No and, well, definitely no. Why?

1. Banning or weakening encryption on any devices or software is not going to do anything at all to prevent crime or terrorist attacks but it will, however, leave citizens more vulnerable to organized crime, identity theft, privacy violations and many more nightmarish scenarios than we can possibly list or (some of them) even imagine to be possible. If there is a backdoor and the government has access to it, so does everyone else with a minimum of determination.
2. Legislating the prohibition or mandating the compromising of encryption schemes is not going to prevent terrorists from using it. Let's face it, if laws could prevent crime or terrorism, we wouldn't even be having this discussion, as all potential criminals or terrorists would be at home with their families, or at their jobs (or, in the current economy, looking for one).

Terrorist cells and organized crime groups have expert members in many fields. They are able to build nuclear bombs if they have the materials, they can be inspired enough to learn how to fly planes and crash them into high buildings - so why wouldn't they be able to build their own encryption software, something which is several orders of magnitude easier than building an A-Bomb? Even if the governments had the means to analyse in real time the contents of communications and understand if they were encrypted (and they have, to some extent), there are always ways to prevent it from being detected. Using digital steganography (or even physical steganography, if they decide to go back to using snail mail), they can hide their actual messages in pictures, music files, videos, e-books, saved games, program source code, digital utility bills, an assortment of transaction types, v-cards, social media profile data, ... if you can imagine it, someone can do it (am I giving anyone new ideas? No... this has all been done before and is still being done with considerable success).

To conclude, is there any ACTUAL, palpable reason to take encryption away from the common citizen?

NO. There is no legitimate reason to take encryption away from the common citizen. So, unless the government's (or its elements) intentions are all but honorable, having nothing to do with protecting citizens, and it is only a way to jump on that bandwagon to take advantage of the climate of fear we currently live in and push some other kind of agenda, there's no reason at all. But that's a subject for a whole other discussion.

[PT] Banha da cobra

Ontem, sábado, estive numa conferência na Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto. Esta conferência, a Talk-a-Bit, teve a participação de várias pessoas, desde algumas mais conhecidas a outras menos conhecidas. No entanto, houve uma que teve especial relevo, não pelo interessante que tenha sido, mas pela baixaria que se revelou. Refiro-me à apresentação do senhor Miguel Gonçalves, nome que já circula por aí, um auto-intitulado mentor. Começou mal. Este cavalheiro, contrariamente aos restantes palestrantes, recusou-se a usar a respectiva coleira (a fita com a credencial de orador) e a subir ao palco. Preferiu ficar mais junto da plateia, numa falsa modéstia gritante. Ora, não o fez pela humildade - que não o assiste, mas para se escudar do temporizador que lhe era apresentado nos monitores existentes em palco, temporizador esse que existia justamente para ajudar cada um dos oradores a conduzir a sua apresentação dentro do tempo reservado. Sem surpresas, mais do que ultrapassou esse tempo, mas também não quis saber. Fez com que o programa tivesse tido que ser alterado. E fugiu antes que lhe pudessem ter feito alguma pergunta, deixando todos para trás, porque tinha "outro compromisso". Bem, se me convidassem para participar num evento destes, não ia ser no próprio dia que ia fazer com que alterassem o programa por outros compromissos. Um outro compromisso é algo que é marcado com antecedência.
E ai dele que me tratasse a mim da forma que tratou outros oradores. Faltas de respeito, é com este senhor.

Não contente com essa situação, a sua apresentação, cujo tema era "Processo de Criação de uma Empresa" foi sobre tudo menos sobre o descrito no título. Toda a sua apresentação não passou de tempo desperdiçado a falar sobre os seus próprios projectos, aquilo em que trabalhava, o facto de facturar "400k€" por ano e uma dose obscena de evangelização das mentes mais influenciáveis da plateia. Evangelização? Sim. O tempo foi gasto entre a sua auto-promoção e o evangelizar dos mais novos e mais inocentes em que deveriam preocupar-se era em ir trabalhar para outros, em como se apresentar em entrevistas, como responder a ofertas de emprego. Muito atento que estive, não ouvi uma única frase sobre o processo de criação de empresas.

Uma das frases que ouvi da boca deste senhor" e que mais me marcou e, reforço, de uma maneira muito negativa, foi algo do género:

- "Antes de criarem a vossa própria empresa, vão trabalhar para a dos outros, porque lá os erros saem baratos que não são vocês que os pagam."

Então este homem está a dizer que se deve primeiro ir estragar o quintal dos outros e manchar o próprio currículo antes de se tentar criar a própria empresa? Mas que pouca vergonha, infantilidade e irresponsabilidade é esta? Este discurso é perigoso, ou mesmo letal. Não, minha gente. Qualquer pessoa de sonhos e desejos, deve acabar a faculdade, fazer o estágio e depois disso, nessa transição entre o estágio e o emprego a tempo inteiro, é que se deve meter na aventura de tentar criar a própria empresa. Porquê? Porque alguém que avance para contrato permanente noutra empresa, não vai ser alguém com grandes hipóteses de se meter em aventuras no futuro. Começando a vida na empresa de outros, vai estar a começar-se uma carreira, a deixar o cheiro numa cadeira. O trabalhador vai começando a ganhar sentido de pertença e de segurança profissional. Vai deixar-se meter noutra aventura que será o deixar a sua família crescer, comprar casa, ter filhos. Vai, então, ter que pagar uma casa, ter que sustentar uma família. Aí é que definitivamente deixa de ter a hipótese de se meter em aventuras. Porque aí, a vida deixou de ser só sua, e deixou de responder só para consigo mesmo. Aí, essa pessoa já está no estado de "agora já não saio, já avancei muito na carreira, estou muito estável, não posso correr o risco de perder tudo.", tenha, ou não, mais bocas para sustentar.

Entrando para outra empresa com a intenção de aprender para não cometer os erros na sua, é a mentalidade retrógrada. Caso as coisas corram mal, fica-se com o currículo manchado e entrevistas subsequentes noutras empresas poderão ter respostas menos do que desejáveis.

Alguém que se queira meter em aventuras, terá que o fazer novo. Antes de ter dependentes. Antes de ter uma casa para pagar, de preferência; antes de correr o risco de manchar o currículo com as asneiras que fez a trabalhar para outros. Porque se a criação da própria empresa correr mal, terá aprendido muito mais. Terá sempre a hipótese de tentar de novo logo de seguida. E se as hipóteses ou o tempo se esgotar e tiver mesmo que ir trabalhar para alguém, então levará muito mais experiência e um currículo muito mais apetecível. Já o oposto, será sempre mentira.

Teve também, este cavalheiro, o descaramento de dizer:

- "Hoje em dia, os patrões já não vêem os recém-licenciados de engenharia como o estagiário para ir tirar cafés, hoje vêem-nos como os gajos das ideias que toda a gente respeita."

Eu imagino que o senhor Miguel Gonçalves possa ser um episódio do Fringe, porque este mundo que ele descreve, a existir, será, sem sombra de dúvida, numa realidade alternativa.

Não compreendo como ainda ninguém denunciou esta pessoa como uma fraude. Compreendo, no entanto, como é que ele faz os tão exibidos "400k€" por ano. Só posso especular que seja pelo patrocínio das empresas contratantes, que adoram o seu discurso evangelizador e destruidor de sonhos, por levar as nossas melhores mentes a deixar de lado as suas ideias e capacidade criadora em troca das falsas sensações de segurança e estabilidade provenientes de um trabalho invariavelmente mal pago, fonte de mutilação mental e frequentemente incapaz de levar alguém a sentir-se profissional ou pessoalmente realizado.

Os nossos melhores sentem-se capados e têm vidas infelizes. Porque se tentarem, podem não conseguir, mas se não tentarem é que definitivamente nunca conseguirão. E este tipo de discurso, se seguido, vai garantir que nunca tentarão.

Depois admiram-se que os melhores emigram.

About the Pitbull Wallet

Today I had the misfortune of comming across the comment that follows regarding the Pitbull Wallet.

"Companies should take a risk and make a crypto startup, not expect us to fund them. We've already taken a risk having our funds in btc, I'm not going to pay them just to start a project on top of it. Startups WILL come that will offer these services, and they will charge for the end product, not for funding."

Without hesitation, it prompted me to reply in a style which is familiar to those who know me:

"From the comment you wrote, I don't quite see if you understand what a crowdfunding campaign is and what you get for contributing.

You are basically getting yourself in line to be one of the first to receive a unit of the product. You are pre-ordering it. You're not giving money away from the goodness of your heart - which, from the comment you wrote, I'm in doubt if you have one.

Besides, without any type of funding, how else are any products at all going to see the light of day? In this case, if we don't reach the $150000 goal, we'll not have enough money to manufacture the initial minimum batch of 6000 units imposed by the manufacturer. This means that no one will receive their units but they will receive their money back.

Putting your money in BTC was your risk to take, nobody actually forced you into it and is not really a reason why you shouldn't help. It's irrelevant to this matter. It only has to do with you.

Also, you are assuming we are crypto-backers and that it is our obligation somehow to do it without any of you contributing. It's not even our obligation at all. And we are not crypto-backers, we're not even involved. As an institution we are - and must remain - totally neutral. Our focus is on creating great projects. We just identified something that could be a necessity in a group - managing passwords easily - and tried to provide a solution and while doing so we discovered it could be applied to another necessity as well - the cold storage of digital wallets. Then we came up with an idea. Then a project. And then, after much work and a lot of back and forth with the manufacturer, a product. You are complaining about investing $10 to $25 when we've already put hundreds of work hours into it and even a lot of money researching and developing. We're not even asking funds for research, the research is done, we're going straight to manufacturing. Manufacturing of a product that will never see the light of day because of people like yourself. It's that kind of comments that make us rethink everything and think about giving up and not helping at all, not contributing to the world with our projects, because you make awful presumptions and make people feel bad just for comming up with an idea. Then, great projects and products like this one end up never coming forward and end up forgotten for all time. Sometimes, someone else thinks of them, sometimes they don't.

Yes startups will come "that will offer these services", but if they do, that means they will have the necessary money that we don't. Money doesn't grow on trees. Now tell me, without any money, how will anyone make a crypto startup? Would you rather have a lot of great projects never see the light of day because of lack of funding? Your comment doesn't make any sense. To build any startup at all it is always necessary to have money. To manufacture a product, you need money. Before you are able to buy a product on the stores, someone has already spent a lot of time and money developing it, manufacturing it, marketing it, money that many times was initially gathered by some rock-age version of crowdfunding from people who believed in whatever product and team that started that fortune.

Would you prefer us to go to sell our souls to the devil by going with a VC or Business Angel to put an inferior product on the street and take a lot longer than it would if we went the crowdfunding route? And most likely end up with a worse quality product by having our decisions constantly questioned and overriden by people who know nothing about the technology involved or the work required to build something like this?

Too bad that we're not in the mood to go to hell and would rather crowdfund a project openly than offering our asses for corporate sodomy.

And your comment shows one more thing, which is that you didn't pay enough attention to understand that this project is from an officially registered non-profit institute, so even if there was the will, it would be impossible to go with a VC or BS funding, pardon me, BA funding. And if you say you took a risk by going with crypto, that could mean that you must have really invested seriously - otherwise, how significant could be the risk be for you to be able to claim such? -, which also means you have deep pockets. Unfortunately, not everyone else in the world has them. The $10 or $25 you're not investing because "you took a risk" is nothing next to the hundreds of work hours and money we already spent developing it, and to the tens of unnerving hours spent discussing it and negotiating it with the manufacturer to drive the price down as much as possible. This is also something that people who make comments like yours usually forget. They think these things come out by magic and are readily available for production, and that the manufacturers gladly retool all their equipment to produce just a few units at a time until the product picks up steam.

So were we expecting people with deep pockets to invest $10 or $25 by pre-ordering something that is a great product? Yes, we were and it totally makes sense. And yes, the product is on pre-order and we are charging for the end product which, at the same time, is our funding. The only thing separating anyone from the end product, is us reaching the goal so we can order the initial batch and start sending the cards to those who backed us by pre-ordering.

If you don't like the product, if it doesn't fit your needs, very well, it's understandable. There is no solution that can fit everyone's needs and we totally understand that. But the arguments you used simply make no sense.

We have no obligation towards you or anyone to just make bitcoin or any crypto happen to you. Having an idea for a product doesn't magically make us responsible for helping your cryptos get stronger. It's not our job or something that we signed up for. We're simply offering something that might be helpful and useful. Our only obligation is to keep our promises and make sure that those who pre-order it, receive as fast as they can, a product as great as technically possible."

Pitbull Wallet

One more post, and one more project! Today we launched the Pitbull Wallet. Have you ever felt the need to have your passwords organized and easily managed and none of the solutions you found seemed quite right? Or have you been trying to find a more secure way to store your digital wallets? Your Bitcoin, Litecoins, etc? Well, then this could be the device for you. The Pitbull Wallet is a credit-card sized solution to manage passwords and digital wallets. If you hurry, you can get it at a special early adopter price of $10. It's on pre-order on IndieGoGo, under crowdfunding stage. Now it's the right time to do so, if we get to the goal, you'll get your perk around August (we hope). If we don't, you automatically get your money back. Take a look!

Have you ordered yours yet? What are you waiting for?

[PT] Curso de C++

Irá decorrer em breve, em horário pós-laboral (19h - 23h) um curso GRATUITO de C++, num total 50h, sendo este o primeiro de um conjunto de módulos.

Serão leccionadas 6 horas por semana (duas aulas de 3 horas, Segundas e Quartas ou Terças e Quintas, a determinar de acordo com o mais conveniente para disponibilidade de todos os inscritos).

O curso só decorrerá se houver um mínimo de 12 inscritos e tem um limite de inscrições ainda a determinar.

Nas inscrições a módulos subsequentes da mesma série, será dada prioridade a quem tenha frequentado os módulos anteriores.

O curso irá ser leccionado nas instalações do CINEL Porto, Centro de Formação Profissional da Indústria Electrónica, Energia, Telecomunicações e Tecnologias da Informação. Tais instalações são na seguinte morada:

Rua de São Rosendo, 377

4300-478 Porto

Quem estiver interessado deverá enviar E-Mail o mais rapidamente possível para o endereço mail [at] ondatechnology.org a indicar o seu interesse e, oportunamente, receberá informações adicionais bem como uma ficha que deverá preencher com os dados necessários à inscrição.

Em alternativa poderá manifestar o seu interesse pela página de Facebook do Instituto em http://www.facebook.com/OndaTechnology.

Mesmo que ainda não tenha a certeza de poder participar, manifeste o seu interesse tão cedo quanto possível. Só assim será possível organizar devidamente o curso e as vagas.

Requirements for being a good programmer

1. Understand, don't memorize.
   A good programmer doesn't try to memorize everything. He, or she, actually learns the logic behind the paradigms and frameworks instead of memorizing them and becomes proficient in consulting references whenever necessary. Memorizing will prevent you from correctly understand the tool and will void the next item.
2. Generalize.
   Understand everything as if there was a Grand Unifying Theory. In the end, everything is the same with slightly, or highly, different presentations. The basic principles are the same, so learn to expand them and to create generalizations. Training your brain to do so, will greatly enhance your learning ability and your versatility.
3. Never assume strict usage.
   Never assume that something is universaly and strictly as presented. Everything you encounter may be used in different ways than you might expect or realize at first sight. The same way Dr. House prescribed Viagra for an octagenarian LADY to treat her blood flow problems, many tools can be used to fix things they were not planned to.
4. Do not assume the infinity of computing resources.
   Higher level programmers and teachers of those frameworks usually have the distressing policy of assuming that the computing resources are infinite and that their applications are the only ones running on a given system. Always assume a worst case scenario for your performance and plan your optimization in advance, even if you don't implement it from the start. Concede to that assumption ONLY when you need to debug something and NEVER on a production system or on a released product.
5. Understand what's underneath.
   Understanding how the platform and frameworks you are using do what you ask them to do, will help you understand how to better make use of them, providing you with enhanced performance and stability.
6. Computers don't make mistakes.
   A computer never makes a mistake. A computer is a matematically perfect machine that follows instructions precisely and to the letter. Mistakes outputted by a computer are nothing more than the result of an incorrect instruction given to it, coming from a) you, b) the hardware developers, c) the developers of the platform and frameworks you are using or d) the user of the application you are developing. If you want your computer to give you the correct results, give it the correct instructions.

How to save a file

Step one, you say you need to talk,
It beeps, you say clock down it's just a talk.

It scrolls politely back at you,
You stare politely right on through.

Some sort of window on the screen,
As you drag left and it slips right

Between the lines of coding shame,
You begin to wonder why you came

[CHORUS]
Where did I go wrong,
I lost a drive,
Somewhere along those forced powerdowns
And I wouldn't have stayed up with this all night,
Had I known how to save my files...

Let it know that you're the root
Coz the shutdown you can press

Try to slip past the scandisk,
Without losing consistency

Lay down a list of broken deps
Apps you removed while alone

And play the logs to audit
And play the logs to audit

[CHORUS]
Where did I go wrong,
I lost a drive,
Somewhere along those forced shutdowns
And I wouldn't have stayed up with this all night,
Had I known how to save my files...

As it begins to overheat,
You grab some ice and give it one last try

Try until the system boots,
Or from scratch reinstall it

It will do one of two things
It will reboot and fix everything
Or it will just say it's just not as safe
And you'll begin to wonder why not a game

[CHORUS]
Where did I go wrong,
I lost a drive,
Somewhere along those forced shutdowns
And I wouldn't have stayed up with this all night,
Had I known how to save my files...

AMD Catalyst / FGLRX on legacy graphics cards (Linux)

So, I had my share of trouble trying to revive an old workstation. The culprit? The graphics adapter, an AMD Radeon HD2600. AMD considers those legacy, as well as anything up to the HD4XXXX. The last supported version of Xorg for the latest release of drivers that support these cards is Xorg 1.12. Also, there was a problem with supporting kernel 3.7.x. Having fixed the problem, I thought it would be nice to put together a simple how to and share it with all of you. Check it out, at the Onda Technology Wiki:

FGLRX on legacy graphics cards

[PT] Nação Descrente e Imoral

Vou, pela primeira vez neste blog, apresentar um texto em Português. Porque isto é, antes de mais, para Portugueses lerem.

Tenho vindo a acompanhar o lento declínio do nosso País no geral, em especial a nossa economia. Tenho assistido - mais de perto do que gostava - ao terror de ver famílias desalojadas e arruinadas, de ver as nossas mentes brilhantes a fugir do País como o Diabo da Cruz. Não estamos a perder só o nosso dinheiro. Estamos a perder a nossa energia, os nossos valores, o nosso valor, a nossa identidade, a nossa cultura, a nossa existência e a expulsar - pela inércia, pela incompetência, pelo medo e pela preguiça - todas as nossas capacidades, entregando-as de bandeja ao estrangeiro.

Não se enganem, meus compatriotas. Portugal tem um potencial imenso por explorar. E, infelizmente, o pouco potencial que já está explorado, está a sê-lo pelo estrangeiro. Todos os dias perdemos um pouco mais de nós próprios e a nossa mesquinhez, a nossa avareza, a nossa inveja, o nosso egoísmo ainda nos torna mais fracos, frágeis e falíveis.

Dirijo uma instituição sem fins lucrativos que se orgulha do trabalho que faz, apesar de apresentar resultados muito lentamente. E porque é que nós apresentamos os resultados tão lentamente? Porque não há dinheiro. Não há dinheiro para um escritório onde nos possamos reunir e trabalhar. Não há dinheiro para equipamento apropriado. Não há dinheiro para todo o material que é necessário usar, gastar e destruir - sim, porque em engenharia, o material é destruído como parte do processo de desenvolvimento, as peças gastam-se, os materiais são usados, cortados, colados, pregados, juntos e transformados numa coisa melhor, ao contrário do nosso País. E, assim, somos "forçados" a trabalhar noutros empregos que não são tão convidativos à nossa vocação ou às nossas capacidades, mas é o que temos disponível. Temos contas para pagar, como toda a gente. E, no fim, retirando o tempo de refeições, de horas de sono num mínimo que se aproxime de saudável (e nem sempre a conseguir-se), do tempo de trabalho, do tempo perdido no trânsito ou à espera dos transportes públicos que, quando não é pelo trânsito, é pela greve que não chegam, sobra-nos um tempo miserável para nós mesmos. Tempo que dedicamos aos projectos que desenvolvemos e que, pela lentidão a que se desenrolam, não são, ainda, viáveis para tornar esta instituição em algo auto-sustentável fazendo com que não precisemos mais de outros empregos. Nós, também, queremos poder dedicar-nos a fazer algo que gostamos - projectos que se converterão em produtos que serão úteis para todos vós. Poderão salvar-vos a vida, a carteira e a paciência. Somos uma instituição com as pessoas, o projecto e a capacidade técnica e humana de criar, neste País, uma infraestrutura que irá criar 2500 novos postos de trabalho e 150 novas empresas a cada três anos e produzir tecnologia de ponta e produtos de indústrias criativas em quantidades mastodonticas. Sim, temos um projecto concreto que nos permite fazer a nossa parte para ajudar esta esquina da Europa. Só não somos uma instituição com dinheiro para tal. E ninguém quer que sejamos.

Nós somos um pequeno reduto de resistentes que se recusa - ainda - a abandonar este lugar que mais parece esquecido até pelos deuses de qualquer religião. Acreditamos no potencial do País. Acreditamos que o País tem os recursos (e os que não tem, pode gerá-los) e tem as pessoas para se tornar melhor. Mas, mais uma vez, são a preguiça, o medo, o egoísmo, a mesquinhez e a incompetência que inviabilizam tudo:

• É a incompetência dos nossos governantes. Não que esteja a tomar partidos e quando digo "governantes", não falo só dos ministros. Falo de toda a pérfida Assembleia da República. Fala-se em deitar abaixo o Governo, demitir os nossos governantes, dissolver a Assembleia. Ridículo. O País não precisa de mais guerras partidárias. Não temos mais capacidade para suster discussões sobre dimensões penianas. A oposição tem que abrir os olhos, crescer, e ajudar o Governo a funcionar, em vez de sabotar todas as tentativas de resolução. O nosso Governo pode não estar a tomar o caminho certo - em muita coisa certamente não o terá tomado - mas a oposição não faz mais que sabotar qualquer hipótese de alguma medida resultar.
• É o egoísmo e o medo de quem tem dinheiro. Não é novidade nenhuma nem é preciso ser-se um génio para saber que é em tempo de crise que mais se deve investir. Pois em tempo de crise cria-se riqueza para quando a salvo se consolidar. Mas é quando menos o fazem. Há quem tenha mais dinheiro do que alguma vez vai ter oportunidade de gastar e mesmo assim continue a amealhar. O dinheiro não desapareceu. A riqueza acumulou-se pontualmente em vez de estar distribuída de uma forma mais moderada e geradora de ainda mais riqueza. Os ricos esquecem-se que se não houver mais ninguém com dinheiro, o dinheiro deles também deixa de valer. E é isso que está a acontecer. É preciso investir. É preciso fazer circular a riqueza. Só assim se gera mais valor.
• Não são as greves que vão ajudar a salvar o País. Cada greve é mais uma facada nas costas desta "Nação Valente e Imortal", que hoje em dia é uma "Nação Descrente e Imoral". As greves prejudicam é todos os outros. Não fazem nem uma dentada nas pessoas que têm que tomar decisões. Querem fazer greves, façam-nas, mas sejam focados. Não prejudiquem o povo, mas sejam assertivos contra quem querem lutar. Se estão contra as medidas tomadas por um determinado poderoso, então façam greve contra esse poderoso. Recusem-se a servi-lo. Recusem-se a negociar com ele. Recusem-se a fornecer-lhe bens, a fornecer-lhe serviços. Façam-no em escala, façam-no aos poderosos que o rodeiam. Mas não deitem mais abaixo o País. As greves, no estado em que o País está, só o vão enfraquecer mais. Infelizmente, esta Nação está tão de tanga que nem greves pode tirar da cartola sem se auto-mutilar. Cada greve nova só tem tido o efeito de nos afundar um pouco mais.
• E é a preguiça e mesquinhez de muitos. É a falta de crença nas nossas capacidades. O nosso País já foi a nação mais poderosa do mundo e hoje está reduzido ao topo de todas as tabelas más e ao fundo de todas as tabelas boas.

Eu estou a ficar sem os meus melhores amigos, porque estão todos a ir embora - cá não têm hipótese de se sustentar. São pessoas, a maior parte delas, altamente qualificadas, ordens de grandeza acima de qualquer média e estamos a perdê-las para o estrangeiro. Isto é um ciclo vicioso. O País não consegue sustentar a nossa massa cinzenta e a nossa massa cinzenta não fica cá para ajudar o País a desenvolver-se e a criar condições para se sustentar. Alguns deles já foram há alguns anos e não pensam em voltar. Outros estão de malas feitas. Eu próprio já tive a minha experiência no estrangeiro.

Há soluções? Sim, há soluções. Subir os impostos não é uma delas. Renovar frotas automóveis das empresas estatais também não. Perder tempo e dinheiro a cada novo Governo eleito ainda menos. E criar fundações de orientação duvidosa certamente que não. Eu não posso salvar o País sozinho. A minha equipa não pode fazê-lo sozinha também. Mas toda a gente pode fazer a sua parte e, quanto a nós, não podendo salvar o País todo, podemos pegar no fio do novelo com o que temos em mãos.

Não se enganem. O nosso País tem a capacidade para criar a sua própria marca de carros utilitários, a sua marca de carros de super luxo, a sua própria marca de carros super desportivos. Tem a capacidade para construir navios de mercadorias, de passageiros, de luxo. De construir aviões de qualidade militar. Este país tem a capacidade criar a mais avançada tecnologia de ponta, de entrar no mercado dos telemóveis e roubar terreno a todas as outras marcas. Tem a capacidade de entrar no mercado do equipamento informático. Tudo de desenvolvimento e fabrico nacional, não anedotas como montagem de computadores fabricados na China ou Turquia que levam o selo de "Produto Português" só porque lhes meteram uma etiqueta cá. Este País tem a capacidade de se tornar uma super-potência de investigação nas áreas de medicina, biologia, engenharia. Tem a capacidade de se tornar um super-exportador.

Mas infelizmente, tendo tudo isto, também tem como decisores aqueles que não têm a capacidade de deixar que tal aconteça.

Another blast from the past

Twelve years ago, back in 2000, when I got into the University, I was having a severe addiction to Half-Life. Mainly, building Half-Life mods and levels. So, I decided to join the two together and this came out: 

  

That was the beginning of it, what I managed to find. The video is old and from a very early stage of the project. I think I may be able to find a more recent version, but a lot of it has been lost when the hard-drive of the server holding the backups died while I was reinstalling the laptop where I designed those maps. Should have known better than to trust that brand, that never failed to... fail me.

Blast from the past 1: Chefax C1

Not many people know it and even less probably remember it, but a few years ago I was on a quest to build a damn awesome operating system (confession: I still am, I just don't have the time or the tools, at the moment). But I started the project and started coding it. Today I was poking around and found an early screenshot of it booting on VMWare.

(Sorry, only in Portuguese)

This was a project I started before enrolling in the university that I migrated to the first attempt I had at creating a project incubator: the Chefax I&D group. Later, when I left the university (and consequentially, Chefax I&D) I took the project with me and brought it to Onda Technology.

Those were fun days. In a time when coding had class instead of swag.

PS: No, "Marta" was not the name of a girlfriend, it was the name of my baby goddaughter.

Beware of the geeks bearing gifts

Have I mentioned how much I like to unpack things?

On the picture: two of the four Xeon processors we received from Intel today.

Package Doctor: Small change

Since the Package Doctor project is of broader visibility and not a simple personal project, I'll stop posting about it on this blog. From now on, all important news about Package Doctor will be published on the Onda Technology Report. Please, refer to that blog for the updates on all the projects.

Package Doctor First Success

Success! Package Doctor has now created its first binary package! This package management system is now able to fully create binary packages ready to install from the source and the corresponding ".pkd" file. This makes it closer to be ready for download for world-wide testing. The system is entirely built on BASH scripts and works quite well, making use of UnionFS-FUSE to keep everything isolated. The next step is to check the performance of the system while compiling over a FUSE-based mount, to determine if the performance loss over building directly over the real filesystem is significant. Stay tuned.

# pkd -b binutils01
[ Package Doctor ] package management system
Copyright 2010-2012 Onda Technology Institute
[ OK ] Downloading binutils-2.20.1.tar.bz2
[ OK ] Preparing build environment for package "binutils" (binutils)
[ OK ] Unpacking binutils 2.20.1
[ OK ] Preparing to compile binutils
[ OK ] Compiling binutils
[ OK ] Installing binutils
[ OK ] Building binary package /System/Data/L0/default.profile/packages/binutils-2.20.1.pkb.tar.bz2
[ OK ] Cleaning up.

The decay of slashdot, Part 1

It breaks my heart when I see stories like this. The first thing that would cross my mind about a website with over a million visitors a day that carries the tagline "News for nerds, stuff that matters", is far from being an obituary for people that, while having their own merit for what they may have done, little have to do with either "news for nerds" or "stuff that matters". I wish my best to the family of the man, but it seems he has lived a long and very productive life and that his time had come. However, I have lost my own brother recently. He was only 25, and while also living a full life and being a very active civil engineer doing his doctorate thesis, the event that took him seems more memorable to a community of geeks than the passing away of the inventor of Doritos. Not because of the horrific situation, but because of the less bad side of that coin being the good that might come from the tribute of a mourning brother wishing to help prevent the same from fate coming to someone else. So, it breaks my heart that Slashdot gladly accepts publishing stories nothing related to what it supposedly stands for, and prefers to reject the publishing of stories helping to spread the word about a potentially lifesaving project to prevent something that could happen to any of them.

New book, maybe?

I've been thinking about writing a new book, this time for people who would like to learn C++ from the beginning. I'm still not sure about going forward with it, and about the details, but it will, without a doubt, already be up to date with the latest revision of C++. My previous book, about good programming practices for C++, has already seen some sales, although not really significant. I'm still unsure if I'm going to merge the subjects of both books or keep them in separate volumes. It will, however, take much more time to release than the first one.

Adsense disabled

For reasons yet to be explained to us, Google has decided to disable Onda Technology's Adsense account. This was one of the sources of income to help with the bills. Because of it, we may have a harder time in the future. For now, it doesn't make a significant difference, as there wasn't yet enough income from it, but with the upcoming website updates and the new information to be published, it would have been an important means to ease the financial burden. I've submitted an appeal, but I'm not very positive about it. I'll stay in touch and let you know if there is any more relevant information.
UPDATE: They reaffirmed the account cancelation without any explanation.

Google+

Since we were already talking about social networks, I thought I could share that today I received an invite to join Google+. I've decided to take it for a spin, see what comes of it and share with you my thoughts. So far it looks to be quite clean and lightweight, very intuitive while also featuring some interesting eye-candy for them masses. Doesn't yet seem to be the typical social networking site clogged with features we'll never use or full of distracting elements. It appears to be something that goes straight to the subject and very focused on what it's designed to do. In the following days I'll report a bit more on this subject.

New project: The Life Bracelet

As some of you already know, my brother Miguel passed away a few days ago, on 25th of May. He was only 25 years old and the details surrounding the accident are yet unknown to us. His lifeless body was found on a public pool which should have been under surveillance. For incomprehensible reasons, no one was watching the pool at the time.

Because of that incident, a new project was created and added to the list of public projects. "The Life Bracelet" is a project to develop and implement a bracelet to monitor life signs of people in sports facilities, amusement parks, nursing homes and hospitals. The bracelet would resemble a small watch and constantly monitor pulse and oxygen saturation, transmitting the data to a central server through specialized access points. Should any problem arise, emergency teams can be dispatched immediately to the site. This way it may be possible to save lives in similar situations and give patients of healthcare institutions much more liberty and independence.

Book launch

My first book, "C++ Programming: Good Principles For Excellent Endings" has now been published.
For a long time I've been asked by numerous people I've worked with to write something like this. I've given some courses on programming best practices before. Eventually, I had the opportunity to do so and I was able to create a simple manual to help beginners getting started with some higher quality software development. This book is part of the internal documentation used at Onda Technology for training new team members. I released this partially reviewed version as an Edition Zero to gather some more input from anyone willing to contribute, so it could be improved for the final version of the first edition. I hope this not only helps a lot of people improve their skills, but also that it will help gather additional funding to support Onda Technology's research and development projects.
This book is about good practices for C++ based projects. The idea is to provide recruits and students, and even current professionals and leaders, with an appropriate manual to further enhance their C++ knowledge. This manual covers a wide range of subjects, not only from the technical point of view, but also topics about social aspects such as hiring, managing employees, working as a team and setting up an appropriate infrastructure. We encourage you to provide us with ideas of topics you would like to see covered in the book or that you believe the future generations of programmers need to be aware of. If you have any ideas, please contact us. This "Edition Zero" is a pre-release version of the final book. It most likely contains errors and requires corrections. With your help, the final result can turn out to be a great product and an indispensable tool for programmers everywhere. From those who buy the Edition Zero of the book and report valid correction suggestions, we will be choosing a few, randomly selected in lottery style, who will be offered the final version of the First Edition of the book. In order to be eligible to enter the contest and receive the gift First Edition, you'll have to provide us with a valid proof of purchase of the Edition Zero. You can acquire your copy here. We are always open to your input and we'll provide you with feedback.
The entire profits from selling this book will be used to fund the research projects being developed at Onda Technology.
You can get your copy here.

Update (06.07.2011):
The book is now available on Amazon both in paperback and Kindle edition.

It is happening

We went forward with it and, now, Onda Technology is a non-profit organization. Bureaucratic details are still being worked on and it seems to be a long process still to take a bit of time. Today we launched the new website, new contents and published preliminary information of the first projects to become public. Check our website for more details. Also, there are more surprises to come.

Changes to come

Onda Technology used to be an embryo for a corporate environment, keeping secretive about its projects and dealing with customers. Being a corporate environment or a company, never served well the purposes for the creation of this institution. Onda Technology was supposed to be a home for research and development instead of blind profiting. Now that's about to change. That's why Onda Technology is now becoming a non-profit R&D institute. Some of our projects which have, so far, been strictly for internal use and developed behind closed doors, are about to be released publicly. This will be a lengthy process, as all of us have other jobs to attend and the preparation process itself is already tedious. We'll also have to take care of the licensing, which, for a lot of reasons, to be explained later, can't be any of the current "standard" licenses. We'll also be releasing documentation and our internal manuals. But the most troublesome part is still all the bureaucracy of officially creating the non-profit Onda Technology Institute.