iPhone 5 and jailbreak difficulties

Breaking the iPhone 5 is going to be tougher than ever but perhaps not impossible. Old attack vectors have been strengthened.

Using the kernel’s debugger through a serial port (this is only accessible via a serial connection) will be difficult. Access to the older iPhone devices was possible by piggy-backing the 30-pin connecter as that had 2 pins set aside for serial Communication.

I’m almost certain now that the new Apple Lightning connector will not have the dedicated serial pins. This will need to be reverse engineered.

Even if iOS 6 has vulnerabilities (and we don’t yet know if it does) entry points into the A6 SoC will have been checked and checked again by Comex in the last year.

A tipsy debate about little green men

A Friday night miles away with friends after a very difficult week mightn’t be the best setting to debate the existence of extraterrestrials – you know ET’s, little green men, etc. But it’s exactly where the often giggly and tipsy conversation went.

Here’s me saying we are alone. Despite the size and age of the universe, we are still all alone. There are no extraterrestrials. You can imagine the criticism one will receive with such a single minded, non-compromising and egocentric belief.

I wanted to write this up with a slightly clearer head. Here goes…

There are two parts to this. The first: is it possible that there are others out their in the vast universe (or multiverse) and secondly, if there are others out there can we find them, communicate with them, etc…

First movement

I for one believe we are alone. More so, everything about the universe, the laws of nature, the constants, the parameters we “discover” take on values that are consistent with conditions supporting a conscious mind. Many will see this as the anthropic principle. I probably would go on to insist on the strong form of the anthropic principle, the universe (and hence the fundamental parameters on which it depends) must be such as to admit the creation of observers within it at some stage.

Second movement

If there are others out there will we find them? Will they find us? Again I think not. This is a little like the idea of a man searching diligently under lamp-post at night. The man explains to a passer-by that he has lost his keys. “Did you lose them under the lamp-post?” “No.” “Then why are you looking under the lamp-post?” “Because there’s no light anywhere else.”

The search for extra-terrestrial intelligence (SETI) is running a long-term program that searches through radio telescope data for signals that could have been produced by extra-terrestrial intelligent sources. SETI is the collective name for a number of activities people are undertaking to search for intelligent extraterrestrial life. Some of the most well known projects are run by Harvard University, the University of California, Berkeley and the SETI Institute.

Suffice to say SETI hasn’t heard a boo from whoever and whatever is out there for 50 years. The problem is the assumption that alien beings will be something like us. Biologist J. B. S. Haldane, remarked “the universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose.”

To search for radio signals, sent intentionally or not, from what may be a very advanced civilization is a little wacky because even our own radio output is already beginning to fade. Radio signals are outdated technology, nearly as sun-bleached as an old issue of Playboy magazine. And because even a nearby alien civilization would probably be some 1,000 light-years away, conversation is just about impossible. Even if this distant civilization could spy on us, here’s what they’d see right now: Earth about 1010, long before the Industrial Revolution.

Sun, Sex and Suspicious Parents

So today I find out about yet another Reality TV show - Sun, Sex and Suspicious Parents which is a documentary and/or reality television series first aired in the United Kingdom in early 2011 on BBC Three.

The concept of the program is that teenagers go on their first holiday abroad (aka schoolies here down under) under the belief that they are getting away from their parents - however their parents are also sent to the holiday destination and secretly watch footage of their children on video screens, and also often spy in their hotel rooms and at nightclub locations.

The parents then reveal themselves on the last night of the holiday, to the dismay of the children, and tell them what they've seen and what they've learnt.

But while reality TV may seem like a harmless form of entertainment, the damage (perhaps in a subtle way) is powerful and I’m sure I’m not the first to say it deserves closer inspection on the long term affects on participants and viewers.

Reality TV, which is in the business of making us feel good rather than be good, actually contributes to the growing problems in our society by celebrating human weakness rather than human excellence.

It’s very possible that these shows can leave us feeling insecure, inadequate, less fulfilled, isolated and confused by virtue of the promotion of anti-social behaviour, excessive self-indulgence, self-entitlement, greed, compromised integrity, and obsession with winning at all costs.

The Australian Unity Wellbeing Index - Satisfaction with Relationships

The Australian Unity Wellbeing Index monitors the subjective wellbeing of the Australian population. The survey was first conducted in 2001 with the latest survey undertaken in April 2012 (survey 27). The intervening period is marked by an increasing apprehension at the unstable international financial situation, with serious problems in Europe. The Australian economy, however, appeared stable.

Each survey involves a telephone interview with a new sample of 2,000 Australians, selected to represent the geographic distribution of the national population. These surveys comprise the Personal Wellbeing Index, which measures people’s satisfaction with their own lives, and the National Wellbeing Index, which measures how satisfied people are with life in Australia.

Other items include a standard set of demographic questions and other survey-specific questions. The specific topic for Survey 27 was the consequence of sleep patterns on wellbeing.

The Theory

The theoretical framework for the interpretation of data is the theory of Subjective Wellbeing Homeostasis. This proposes that each person has a ‘set-point’ for personal wellbeing that is internally maintained and defended. This set-point is genetically determined and, on average, causes personal wellbeing to be held at 75 points on a 0-100 scale.

The normal level of individual set-point variation is between about 60-90 percentage points. The provision of personal resources, such as money or relationships, cannot normally increase the set-point on a long term basis due to the genetic ceiling. However, they can strengthen defences against negative experience. Moreover, for someone who is suffering homeostatic defeat, the provision of additional resources may allow them to regain control of the wellbeing. In this case the provision of resources will cause personal wellbeing to rise until the set-point is achieved.

It’s proposed that low levels of personal resources, such as occasioned by low income or absence of a partner, weakens homeostasis. If personal challenges such as stress or pain exceed resources, homeostasis is defeated, and subjective wellbeing decreases below its normal range.

The Personal Wellbeing index includes standard of living, health, achieving, how safe we feel, community connection, future security, spiritual fulfillment as well as  Satisfaction with Relationships. Below is the survey outcomes for Satisfaction with Relationships

Satisfaction with Relationships

Satisfaction with Relationships, has not changed over the past 12 months, falling by a non-significant 0.5 points to 79.4. It is at a level no different than it was in survey 1 (78.2 points). The most sustained trend of increasing satisfaction for this domain began with the lowest level (77.2 points) in February 2008 and peaked at 81.5 points in April 2010, an overall rise of +4.3 points.