Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2011 August 19

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August 19

Google Street View privacy concerns

Main article: Google Street View privacy concerns

As mentioned not long ago on this page, Google will pixelate out a picture of your house on Street View if you so request. I wonder whether for celebrities they might do more than that. In some internet forum a somewhat naive and silly girl asserted that a certain celebrity lives at a certain address. Despite her seeming airheadedness about some things, she was so specific about some other things that I looked at Google Maps and found out that (1) the address exists; (2) it is pixelated out; (3) if you enter existing addresses of other houses on that street into google (not google maps), information appears; (4) if you enter addresses on that street that don't exist, no information appears; (5) for that address, no information appears, although it does exist. Could item (5) on this list have resulted from Google making the information unavailable as part of their privacy practices? Michael Hardy (talk) 00:13, 19 August 2011 (UTC)

Well, apparently nobody here knows any more than I do about this. (In the mean time the aforementioned girl is getting sillier, and ruder, but seems to have demonstrated that she's privy to some information.) Michael Hardy (talk) 13:14, 20 August 2011 (UTC)

Download special video from youtube?

Hi, my friend was in this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TABqnaQPhns&has_verified=1) , and I wanted to download it for them and give it to them as an embarassing birthday present, as this was filmed a couple of years ago. Is there anyway I can download it? I can't find it as a torrent, and I can't download the video normally of youtube as the video doesn't load like normal videos, but it just streams that particular moment. I can't really describe it as I don't know much about computers. I've tried recording as screen capture, but the quality's not the same. Any help is appreciated. Thanks for reading. 86.161.91.54 (talk) 00:38, 19 August 2011 (UTC)

This is a VERY common question here on the ref desk.Vespine (talk) 01:30, 19 August 2011 (UTC)

the quick solution - Go to www.keepvid.com, type the video's URL into the indicated field, then click Download. Rocketshiporion♫ 13:17, 19 August 2011 (UTC)

No. This isn't like a normal YouTube video, so KeepVid, and other solutions, don't work. 86.161.91.54 (talk) 23:12, 19 August 2011 (UTC)

None of the usual tools I'd use to download from youtube seem to work on it. I've had problems like this myself on some videos. Youtube does something to the rtmp:// stream to disrupt downloading of videos which are licensed for viewing with adverts from tv show networks. I know of no simple solution, but I've had some success with this program in the past. It's complicated, a bit unstable and might crash your computer, so make sure to save any of your work before trying it. 82.43.90.27 (talk) 23:30, 19 August 2011 (UTC)

Have you tried using RealPlayer to download the video? It works consistently for me (at least, for other videos; I'm not sure about this one). —mc10 (t/c) 18:20, 24 August 2011 (UTC)

accurate shut down

I have used free trial version of a software "accurate shut down" .I have uninstalled it but a message box appear whenever i restart my computer ,which is about trial version is over.I have to close it by clicking cross sign on thye box,some time it held my computer.how can i fix it so that it does not appear after every restart. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 119.152.68.6 (talk) 04:00, 19 August 2011 (UTC)

Win+r, msconfig, Startup ¦ Reisio (talk) 18:48, 19 August 2011 (UTC)

Excel number display format

Excel accommodates rounding and truncation with its number formats. E.g., the format code #,##0, causes 12345999 to be displayed as 12,346

Is there a format code that will cause 12345999 to display as 12,346,000  ? (As 12,345,000 would also do.)

Thank you, Wanderer57 (talk) 04:47, 19 August 2011 (UTC)

=round(a1,-3) where a1 is the cell with the number. You'll then have to change the formatting to add the commas. This will of course mean you will have one cell with the full amount, and a second with the rounded. - Akamad (talk) 06:14, 19 August 2011 (UTC)

Thank you. After losing some sleep, I found there is also a format code that does the trick. It is

#,###,",000"

Wanderer57 (talk) 18:16, 19 August 2011 (UTC)

Firesheep for Linux

I would like to install Firesheep on my computer. Now before you run and call your nearest FBI agent: I am doing this for educational purposes and to test out how safe it is to run my Android (2.3.3) phone on a public wireless connection. My guess is "pretty damned unsafe."

Anyway, I have three questions:

• Because I'm running Ubuntu (11.04) with FF 6, I can't just run the Windows executable. I have to compile from source. Is running this code safe? I'm totally unfamiliar with github.com, and the entire git infrastructure for that matter. (I notice nothing important requires root access, but having access to my browser information is pretty unsafe IMHO) PS. I have tried it in VirtualBox WinXP, which doesn't work, presumably because it doesn't have low-level access to my wireless card. PPS. If it isn't safe, would it be safe to downgrade to FF 3 and run the original on my Windows partition?
• Is it safe to run my phone through my cell carrier's connection? I'm not thrilled about my phone screaming out my FB/Google/etc. log-in data loud enough for the phone 5 miles away tower to hear it. Unless it's encrypted.
• If I find out all of this is unsafe, how can I run my computer and phone such that it is safe? Unfortunately, I have 4 other individuals in my household who could snoop my data at any point.

Magog the Ogre (talk) 05:40, 19 August 2011 (UTC)

Strictly speaking, you are about to perform one of the most unsafe operations: installing a kernel extending driver. Specifically, you are installing libpcap/. It will, when properly installed, effectively be "root" - it will have direct unprotected access to your hardware and to your computer's entire physical memory in unprotected mode. Why is this unsafe? 1) An error in pcap can corrupt your system. 2) Malicious code in pcap, or the variant you just downloaded as part of the Firesheep distribution, could trivially siphon data and send it to the network.

Both 1 and 2 are "improbable," because pcap is a widely used and well known tool, but you may not have the technical expertise to verify whether your specific version is unmodified for malicious purposes (or, just in an incompetent way that may crash your machine).

Regarding long range mobile traffic: your GSM traffic is "usually" encrypted. Snooping mobile telephony data requires some specialized equipment, as well. It is hard to get mobile telephone radio gear on the open market, so there are fewer enthusiast hackers toying around on the GSM protocol stack trying to crack it. However, there are security flaws in the mobile telephoney system, and there isn't a whole lot you can do about them - "wait for your carrier's technician to update the operating system and firmware on all the mobile telephone base stations" is the only action you can really take.

If you're interested in technical implementation details of wireless security as it pertains to mobile telephones, I have a few technical papers, let me know and I can dig them out. In the meantime, read our article on SIM and IMEI, the two seed values of a public-key exchange protocol used by your telephone. Your carrier also uses IMEI filtering (sort of a "hardware whitelist" approach), and also validates SIM/IMEI matches, so a hacker will have a hard time attacking a mobile telephone network without broadcasting his own personally-identifiable data. Passive snooping of GSM wireless traffic is "usually" a waste of time, due to the encoding and encryption.

Regarding security of the data you pass to Google and Facebook: the protocol stack only protects your data until it gets to its "endpoint," and once your data is owned by Google or Facebook, they may do what they like with it, including leaking it (intentionally or otherwise). In perspective, this is probably a more serious security risk than any protocol sniffing on a wireless network. You've transferred secure data to an unknown third-party, just because they are "famous." You have done so voluntarily, too - so, you now have zero technical protection, and almost no legal protection, should they misuse your data. Nimur (talk) 13:25, 19 August 2011 (UTC)

Additional information needed That is a very good macro-analysis of the situation, but I'd like to hear from a few other people. Doesn't anyone else have something to offer? Magog the Ogre (talk) 04:56, 21 August 2011 (UTC)

I'm not familiar with that depot or anything, but if you are concerned about whether the code is going to own your Windows partition, why don't you get an external hard disk, install Windows on it, disconnect your main hard disk, and then snoop to your heart's content using the external hard disk? Format it after you're done with your Firesheep work. Comet Tuttle (talk) 16:49, 21 August 2011 (UTC)

Powerpoint Open Side-by-Side?

Resolved

Just as it's possible to have two documents open on the desktop in Word, is it possible to have 2 Powerpoints open? I don't mean actually have two slideshows running, I mean two windows with the editing stages? I have one here in Japanese, and an English translation of the Japanese one. The English translation is only 1/3 done, because I did the first 30 slides by just overwriting the Japanese (and saving as a new .ppt), and since then, 60 extra slides have been added to the original. This means I have to copypaste my work from the 30-slide version of the translation into a new copy of the 90 page version, and continue on from there. Before I do that, though, I have to make sure the original 30 pages have not changed (they have, in some places), meaning I have to compare. However, when I open one, the other closes. Is there any way to have two of them open at once so I can compare the two (or even three) versions? --KägeTorä - (影虎) (TALK) 08:42, 19 August 2011 (UTC)

If I open 2 powerpoint presentations, and do Window... Arrange All I get them both displayed. This is PP 2003. --Phil Holmes (talk) 08:56, 19 August 2011 (UTC)

Cheers! You're a lifesaver timesaver! I have 2007, and just for reference, it's 'View>Arrange All'. --KägeTorä - (影虎) (TALK) 09:30, 19 August 2011 (UTC)

Fibre Channel over Ethernet: Bridging Device

Good Day, fellow RefDeskers!

  I have a 16Gb Fibre Channel Disk Array connected to a 16Gb Fibre Channel SAN Switch, and several blade servers connected to a 10Gb Ethernet LAN Switch. I'm seeking to connect an 16Gb Fibre Channel SAN Switch to the 10Gb Ethernet LAN Switch, in order to have the blade servers access LUNs on the FC disk-array over FCoE. I'm aware that I'll need some kind of 16GFC-to-10GbE bridging device to sit between the LAN and SAN switches, but I'm not exactly sure what it is that's needed - so any pointers would be very helpful. The two switches are the Brocade 6510 16GFC Switch and the Supermicro SBM-XEM-X10SM 10GbE Switch.

  Thanks as always. Rocketshiporion♫ 13:37, 19 August 2011 (UTC)

Now I'm considering using iSCSI instead of FCoe. I found this Qlogic router, which can connect to LUNs on the FC disk-array via 16Gb Fibre Channel switch, and then present those LUNs as iSCSI LUNs to the blade servers via the 10Gb Ethernet Switch. Rocketshiporion♫ 18:35, 22 August 2011 (UTC)

PS2 .STR Audio Files

I've got some audio tracks from a PS2 game copied to my hard drive, and I was wondering if there was a program out there that can play these tracks... and if possible convert them to .wav or .mp3 157.157.39.8 (talk) 23:29, 19 August 2011 (UTC)

FFmpeg should manage it, including its win32 frontends, such as SUPER & WinFF. ¦ Reisio (talk) 04:37, 20 August 2011 (UTC)