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I pwned the FBI Cyphertext challenge in about 45 minutes using a pen and paper.


Monday, December 29, 2008

FBI logo

Each year the FBI has an open encryption challenge:

http://www.fbi.gov/page2/dec08/code_122908.html

Here is the encrypted FBI cyphertext:

VFWTDLCSWV. YD NSLMIJFWEJFD GSW SL NIJNQBLM FOBV EJFDVF DLNIGTFBSL. KBVBF YYY.AHB.MSK/NSCDC.OFZ FS EDF WV QLSY SA GSWI VWNNDVV.

The decrypted cleartext reads:


STUPENDOUS. WE CONGRADULATE YOU ON CRACKING THIS **TEST ENCRYPTION. VISIT WWW.FBI.GOV/CODED.HTM TO LET US KNOW OF YOUR SUCCESS.

Am I the first to crack this? Google seems to think so. Will I be the recipient of an FBI home-invasion tomorrow morning (they now have my IP address)?

~UPDATE. I think I’m the second to crack this and post it for all to see. The other guy beat me by about 12 minutes.

Changing the World = Success!


Saturday, November 22, 2008

Changing the World Gallery

The World’s Premier Conference for Young People

Changing the World brought together the world’s greatest visionaries to inspire young people to innovate and better our world. The topics covered included: technology, science, design, entrepreneurship, philanthropy, and the arts. Among this year’s speakers were:

1 Nobel Peace Prize winner (for stopping nuclear war)

1 Star designer

1 Architect designing Asia’s tallest building

12 Entrepreneurs

1 Giller prize winning author

2 Internet millionaires

1 Engineer who creates $100 laptops for developping nations

1 Girl who was curing Alzheimer’s at age 15

1 Girl who gave British young people the power to vote

1 Scientist who stops human aging

1 Guy who created Mac OS X

9 Technologists

1 Futurist creating blob computers

… and more.

The Format

Each speaker was given 18 minutes to deliver their epic talk. Every attendee had the same experience. One day of rapid fire inspiration.

Innovation for All

As a non-profit organization, we want to provide a world-class conference to all students regardless of their age, financial background, and past leadership experiences. We believe that every student should be given the opportunity to be inspired and to learn from some of the world’s most fascinating people.

Well we did it - the Changing the World conference was a huge success! With over 1300 attendees and 15 amazing speakers we have established ourselves as THE conference for emerging youth leaders in art, science and business. A special thank you goes out to all who helped. Keep an eye out for myself (Connor Dickie), Justin Lee, Sylvia Cheng and Doug Wightman, because we are doing it again next year and it’s going to be even bigger and better!

AfroBin @ Shanghai MoCA Biennial 2007


Thursday, October 25, 2007

I collaborated with Jacky Lee while in Taiwan on this interactive TV project as part of our ongoing research into interactive and emotionally-reactive television. It was installed at the Shanghai Museum of Contemporary Art as part of the Animamix Biennial.

“The Pepsi Machine”


Tuesday, September 4, 2007

The “Community Vending Machine” or simply “Pepsi Machine” was a project that I completed while at the MIT Media Laboratory that was shown at Wired NextFest 2006 in NYC. I don’t have time to go into details now, but just know that it’s an interactive media purveying platform that uses multiple (14) individual spanning screens, computers, microphones and computer-vision to allow people to interact both explicitly and implicitly.

Most interesting for me is the fact that the machine passively generates knowledge about the specific audience that visits it and can then use this data to inform the content creators or even as a commodity to sell to 3rd parties. To this end the Pepsi Machine has expanded possibilities for generating value… I’ll elaborate more later.

small, medium or large video demos available.

I’m in Taiwan…


Thursday, August 16, 2007

Me on a Taiwanese poster

If You don’t see me online or wonder why it’s taking me 12 extra hours to reply to your emails it is because I am in Taiwan giving a series of talks and demos.

Yesterday I spoke at Gamania about the Pepsi Machine, kameraflage and demoed my Motion-Sensing Dog collar concept (Which they totally loved).

Today I was supposed to give a similar talk at ITRI, but there is a category 5 typhoon on the way and it is dangerous to travel… Plus I have serious jet-lag, and need to save my energy for Nightmarket; a 3-day hack-a-thon.

As I am resident technologist/artist/hackist for Nightmarket, I will be helping the participants implement their ideas in addition to building my own installation from scratch with Jacky Lee to be unveiled/installed at the National Taiwan Museume of Fine Art

I’ll be back in Cambridge, MA. the first week of September with serious jetlag and a hankering for a cheeseburger.


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