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| | Fri, 18 Apr 2008 10:46:16 +0000 | | PayPal could resort to an outright ban of Web browsers that it considers to be old and vulnerable from using its services. Some of the key criteria appears to be the support of the relatively new EV SSL (Extended Validation Secure Sockets Layer) standard as well as some form of anti-phishing protection.
PayPal Chief Information Security Officer Michael Barrett noted:
“In our view, letting users view the PayPal site on one of these [unapproved] browsers is equal to a car manufacturer allowing drivers to buy one of their vehicles without seat belts… At PayPal, we are in the process of reimplementing controls which will first warn our customers when logging in to PayPal of those browsers that we consider unsafe. Later, we plan on blocking customers from accessing the site from the most unsafe—usually the oldest—browsers,” he declared.
EV Certificates are still unproven as it is, though the emphasis is probably on how the green URL bar of an authenticated site will offer a visual cue that users are indeed on the right site.
Both Firefox and Opera have announced their intention to support EV SSL in upcoming releases. There has been no word though, from Apple regarding its Safari Web browser — which has been criticized by PayPal in the past for “lagging behind what it needs to do to protect its customers.” Safari in its current state offers no anti-phishing protection. Left in the quandary would also be the scores of mobile-based Web browser.
Most TechRepublic members will not have any problems, since they are Firefox users, according to our poll on favorite Web browsers just last week. Do you reckon that EV SSL is a step in the right direction, or just another dumbing-down layer waiting for the next phishing hack?
At the same time, I also wonder just how many companies enforce Web browser options for either usability or security reasons.
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| | Thu, 17 Apr 2008 10:58:04 +0000 | | Experts have been talking about IP addresses for several years now, because the current version of IP limits the number of such addresses to a theoretical maximum of 4.7 billion. Though the number of Internet connected devices is much higher than that already, we have not run out of addresses, mostly due to the magic of Network Address Translation, or NAT. However, the experts are now telling us that China will probably run out of IP addresses by 2010, which means that IP version 6 (IPv6) will need to be rolled out in the very near future.
Sound the alarm, IPv6 execs say (Infoworld)
Some companies are already offering various IPv6 services, and although the demand isn’t high yet, those services will be needed over the next few years. The federal government has announced that the backbone of its network will support IPv6 by a June 30th self imposed deadline, but officials admit that making the change over the entire network will be extremely difficult. IPv6 probably won’t increase maintenance fees, but initial rollouts could be expensive as administrators get trained, devices get moved over, and equipment gets upgraded.
The Planet to offer IPv6 hosting services (Infoworld)
U.S. Carriers Quietly Developing IPv6 Services (PC World)
Feds: We will meet June IPv6 deadline (Infoworld)
People have been talking about IPv6 for years, I even delivered training in 1999, during which I told my students that I expected the Internet to be IPv6 only by 2005. Unfortunately, now it is a more critical issue as addresses are running out, which has the potential to create a mass upgrade frenzy like the one we saw in 1999, as people prepared for the now infamous “Y2K bug.” Do you have any plans to test or deploy IPv6?
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| | Thu, 17 Apr 2008 07:01:28 +0000 | | The folks over at Neowin.net have got their hands on the internal schedule for the release of SP3 for the venerable Windows XP operating system. If you have been looking forward to it, do take a minute to check out the milestones.
The Windows XP SP3 release schedule as follows:
- April 14, 2008: Support is available for the release version of Service Pack 3 for Windows XP
- April 21, 2008: Original Equipment Manufacturers, Volume License, Connect, and MSDN and TechNet subscribers
- April 29, 2008: Microsoft Update, Windows Update, Download Center
- June 10, 2008: Automatic Updates
To conclude, automatic patches will not come until June 10th. So, if you are a system administrator, you can rest assured that you do have ample time to fully test the release and prepare for unanticipated issues. You can also find additional details on Windows XP SP3 from Tech ARP.
 Loading … While we’re at it, why not take the above poll and tell us about the number of systems in your company that are still running Windows XP. What is stopping you from upgrading from Windows XP?
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| | Wed, 16 Apr 2008 11:48:57 +0000 | | Starbucks understands that consumers talk in a myriad of ways. And one of them is through feedback. Oh sure, they have had comment cards in their stores forever. Have you ever filled one out? Have you ever seen someone fill one out?
As a Starbucks consumer for many years, I actually DID fill out one of those cards once. I haven’t got a clue if it was followed up and I never wrote another one.
But it seems that Starbucks really DOES care what I think. And they want my input on how they can provide better service.
Launched at the March 2008 board meeting, MyStarbucksIdea.com has been attracting quite a lot of attention from consumers. Want ice cubes made form coffee so that your cold drink isn’t diluted? There are 7,660 others who also think that is a fine idea. Are you annoyed by that hole in the top of the lid that lets coffee slosh out? Over 10,000 other coffee consumers agree. And Starbucks has introduced reusable “splash sticks” in response.
Believing consumers should have a greater voice, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz took a page from Michael Dell’s playbook. Dell’s IdeaStorm.com has been instrumental in helping the company understand what its consumers want. And Dell is listening- the idea of enabling customers to purchase a computer running Linux instead of Windows is an idea that came through the IdeaStorm.com portal.
Both Starbucks and Dell are using the “Ideas” software platform from Salesforce.com. According to Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce.com, “It’s like a focus group that never closes.”
From Business Week:
Schultz intends to use Ideas to change his company-to instill what he calls “a seeing culture.” Chris Bruzzo, Starbucks’ chief technology officer, who oversees MyStarbucksIdea, adds: “It was also to open up a dialogue with customers and build up this muscle inside our company.” He says Starbucks “stood on the shoulders” of Dell’s experience-Dell himself shared his lessons with Schultz. The Starbucks chief added “idea partners”-48 specially trained employees who act as hosts of the discussion. Without them, Bruzzo argues, the conversation could intimidate newcomers. “These are the people at a dinner party who make sure everyone is having a good time.”
The idea partners also act as advocates for customers’ suggestions back at their departments, so that “customers would have a seat at the table when product decisions are being made,” Bruzzo says. “To close that loop in an authentic way,” he argues, the company must make a commitment to “building those ideas together with customers…. We’re truly going to adopt it into our business process, into product development, experience development, and store design.”
Idea partners also view the comments posted online as a laboratory. They push back on ideas, telling customers what has been tried and hasn’t worked. For example, some customers want express lines for brewed coffee orders, as opposed to the half-caf, skinny, extra-foam pumpkin lattes that seem to take longer to order than to make or drink. But the idea partner said that hasn’t worked because of the layout of Starbucks stores. “If it fails,” says Bruzzo, “our customers who are on MyStarbucksIdea ought to participate in being accountable for it.” Whether an idea is accepted or not, customers get only the satisfaction of participating; there are no payments or other tangible rewards.
According to users, MyStarbucksIdea.com has the feel of a social network. Ideas are proposed, voted on, and talked about. There are no profiles and no peer mail. All communication is through the portal itself. But it seems to be, not only working, but working well.
From the Associated Press:
Skeptics have panned MyStarbucksIdea.com, unveiled at the company’s heavily attended annual meeting in mid-March, as an online suggestion box that’s already grown stale. But the heavy traffic it’s drawn and the message Starbucks is sending - that it’s listening, and listening carefully - have impressed corporate marketing experts.
“Most brands do not put out a welcome mat for feedback,” said Pete Blackshaw, executive vice president of strategic services for the market research firm Nielsen Online. “Generally feedback is viewed as a cost of doing business rather than an opportunity. Starbucks is saying this is an opportunity.”
As a heavy coffee drinker, I am all for any way that I can communicate with my favorite coffee provider. But this also shows a shift in corporate thinking that can only be good. While some of the ideas proposed may not be workable, or not workable in the near future, all ideas are at least considered. And the collective group reading and responding to those ideas are able to refine them in a way that a focus group can’t.
So what are your thoughts? Whether you drink Starbucks coffee or not, do you see a business case for opening a dialog with customers to incorporate their ideas? Would you be more or less inclined to do business with a company who does this? Or is the idea just a yawn?
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| | Wed, 16 Apr 2008 10:59:03 +0000 | | A new phishing attack has been circulating lately, but instead of trying to dupe millions of computer users into giving up their financial information, this one is aimed at high level executives. The e-mail scam purports to notify the executive about court proceedings and tries to get them to click a link that installs keylogging software as well as software designed to let a hacker take control of the computer. Unfortunately, social engineering, the process of tricking a user into trusting requests from a hacker, is getting to be a major problem, and if the hackers are successful in their latest attack, they could be holding some valuable passwords.
Larger Prey Are Targets of Phishing (New York Times)
The government is responding by closing thousands of paths from their networks to the Internet as a result of an order by President Bush. At least one security researcher has begun to develop software that will allow him to infect hacking tools with his own malware as security in those tools is lacking.
“Most malware authors are not the most careful programmers,” Eriksson said. “They may be good, but they are not the most careful about security.”
However, security concerns are not all about hackers on the outside getting in. Some of the biggest security breaches are actually committed on the inside of a computer network by its own users and one of the major culprits is unsecured USB flash drives.
Defenseless on the Net (Business Week)
Security Guru Gives Hackers a Taste of Their Own Medicine (Wired)
Flash Drives Threaten Security (PC World)
Many if not most users are used to phishing scams by now. I probably get at least four or five a day, with most pretending to be a bank or other financial institution that needs to “verify your information.” Many speculate that the vast majority of phishing scams originate in China, but the unsettling part of this newest attack is the fact that financial institutions were heavily attacked, in particular one sector that a security researcher declined to identify for security reasons. How do you cope with the rising tide of hacking attempts?
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| | Tue, 15 Apr 2008 10:55:36 +0000 | | Microsoft has a way of rubbing people the wrong way sometimes. In fact, so many people dislike Microsoft because of buggy code, the way it runs over competition, and the fact that it is the biggest player in the industry, that you wouldn’t think that Microsoft would actively attempt to annoy users, but it has. At the RSA Security conference last week, a Microsoft official claimed that annoying users was the actual aim of the User Account Control (UAC) feature in Vista. Microsoft’s goal, he said, was to try to force smaller software vendors to write more secure code.
Microsoft: Vista feature designed to ‘annoy users’ (News.com)
There are plenty of annoying practices in the tech world, from software that expires after a certain date to OEMs who put “crapware” on a new PC. I suspect that if you asked a room of 100 people about the most annoying part of technology, you might get as many as 100 different answers. Microsoft, however, has introduced something that is annoying on purpose in order to try to force vendors to write better code. However, annoying users is far from a security plan, and I truly hope that Microsoft is aware of that.
What Tech Company Practices Annoy You Most? (PC World)
Poll: Technology Annoyances (PC World)
Memo to Microsoft: Annoyance is not a security plan (Computerworld)
I suppose in the grand scheme of things, Microsoft is trying to improve the code that is in the marketplace. However, I am not sure that it should be up to them to police the whole industry, especially when its own software needs security updates on what seems like a weekly basis. Do you think that the annoying purpose of UAC is a good idea?
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| | Tue, 15 Apr 2008 07:01:43 +0000 | | With the increasing emphasis on reducing the negative impact on our environment, you must be wondering if there is anything practical at all that you can contribute. Well, PC World has come up with some tips on how to to minimize your power consumption.
The best part is that you don’t even have to wait for the next purchasing cycle to start evaluating power consumption of the computers. By configuring the various power settings of the PCs under your care, you will be able to reduce power consumption — and save money — immediately.
To spur you on, consider a study on General Electric, conducted by EPA’s Energy Start program:
[The study] showed the effect of employing the power-management functionality of Windows XP and Windows 2000 across 75,000 PCs. By setting monitors to shut down after 15 minutes and PCs to go into sleep mode after 30 minutes and full hibernation mode after 3 hours, the company saved $2.5 million per year in energy costs. The EPA estimates this was enough energy to power 23,000 homes each year. And the reduction in carbon emissions associated with that energy was estimated at 20,000 tons—the equivalent of planting 5,600 trees.
If you intend to tweak the power settings, do allow users — in particular laptop totting ones — to override your settings as necessary. There are also a number of dedicated software management tools to the effect.
The bottom line is clear: You can make a difference even if you’re not the CTO or IT manager. What have you done to reduce power consumption in your company?
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| | Mon, 14 Apr 2008 13:40:31 +0000 | | The associate professor of information systems from Deakin University believes that the popular online encyclopedia promotes an environment of blind trust among users searching for information.
Professor Lichtenstein, who is is co-leading a team of researchers to determine how Wikipedia operates, is not impressed with Wikipedia’s model of relying on “lay citizens” rather than traditional experts. While experts have never been 100% correct, she maintains that “a group of untrained people can be more misleading.”
Excerpt from ComputerWorld:
Professor Lichtenstein says the reliance by students on Wikipedia for finding information, and acceptance of the practice by teachers and academics, was “crowding out” valuable knowledge and creating a generation unable to source “credible expert” views even if desired. “People are unwittingly trusting the information they find on Wikipedia, yet experience has shown it can be wrong, incomplete, biased, or misleading,” she said.
Lichtenstein’s students are not allowed to cite Wikipedia in their work. She elaborates: “If you had to have brain surgery would you prefer someone who has been through medical school, trained and researched in the field, or the student next to you who has read Wikipedia?”
Though I would not dismiss Wikipedia in its entirety, some of Professor Lichtenstein’s arguments do make sense. Would you rely on the information in a Wikipedia article or use it simply as a means to get an initial understanding? Even if you use it as a starting point, do you get tempted not to look further?
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| | Mon, 14 Apr 2008 12:10:47 +0000 | | Swarm intelligence is the theory that there are a set of rules that define behavior and that those rules can be distilled to an algorithm. The algorithm can then be used to find good solutions quickly. According to computational scientist Xiaohul Cui of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, swarm intelligence can yield fast, although frequently approximate, solutions. But an approximate solution is often better than the best possible solution. If you were trying to evacuate a city, for instance, faster is definitely better than perfect. Perfect may not even work.
Working with Jessie St. Charles of University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Cui is using swarm intelligence to assist both the United States Navy and Air Force in document organization. Swarm intelligence allows them to “cluster” information for easier retrieval by linking according to relevance to specifics.
According to St Charles and Cui, there are specific rules that define a swarm or flock, and because those rules can be quantified, they can be linked and applied.
The first rule is the rule of separation. Think of a flock of birds flying together. They fly in close formation but never so close that they collide. Separation not only draws them close but also introduces a repulsion force to insure that. The second rule is cohesion. Back to our flock, the birds in that formation don’t want to get too far from their neighbors. The third rule is alignment. This allows a bird to gauge where everyone is going and align themselves to the group. The fourth rule, one that Cui added a few years ago, is species or type recognition. Our flock of birds are all mallards. A Canada goose would not join that flock.
In terms of the database, documents are stripped of non-meaningful words and word endings then analyzed for frequency of remaining terms. This results in an ID that can be used to assess relatedness. The end result of this is a faster aggregator with more relevant results.
While St Charles and Cui’s work focuses on search, the hive mind or swarm intelligence theory has been with us for some time. Charles Leadbeater points out in “We-Think” that there is an exponential growth in collective thinking and imagining that has been fostered by the information revolution.
In We-Think, Mr. Leadbeater proved his theory by submitting an early draft of his book online and used the responses to his work to draft the final manuscript. He claims that this process is a template for the future — rather than a “top down” in which the writer speaks to the reader. The process is more collaborative, resulting in a final work that is more reflective of the audience’s needs.
In the past three months, we have seen another application of how the hive mind can not only speak but take action. The group “Anonymous” has proven that by using the collective input of all who are willing to speak up, they have managed to mobilize a world wide effort focused on demanding a critical review of the Scientology and asking government leaders to review the tax exempt status that they currently hold. Within a very short time frame, Anonymous was able to organize people world wide for peaceful protests and have managed to hold those protests on a monthly basis. Scientology, meanwhile has tried unsuccessfully to find the leaders so that they could employ the usual tactics of litigation and harassment. Unfortunately for them, a collective mind has no leadership.
It is undeniable that there is power in the collective mind. The question that we need to consider is how we can use that power and use it responsibly.
What business application do you see in this? Is there a value in tossing a question to a wider audience? Isn’t TechRepublic a type of collective mind, after all?
Swarm intelligence inspired by animals (MSNBC)
We-Think better than I-Think (The Telegraph)
Controversial group protests Church of Scientology (The Daily)
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| | Fri, 11 Apr 2008 14:05:57 +0000 | |  “News to know” is a joint venture between TechRepublic and ZDNet. The original post publishes every morning on business days in Between the Lines.
Notable headlines:
Paul Mah: Gartner analysts think that Windows is ‘collapsing’
Larry Dignan: With new support for third party apps, Cisco routers start to look like servers
Tricia Liebert: I found it on Craigslist — an F-14 and night vision goggles
Jason Hiner: Five seismic trends for IT management in 2008
Beth Blakely: TR Out Loud - April 11, 2008
Larry Dignan: Traditional software licensing: Could a customer revolt cook the model?
The week in video:
Matthew Miller: Software that can improve the UI on your Windows Mobile device
QWERTY or T9 text input methods, which do 968 prefer?
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes: Friday Rant - Here’s a perfect example of why DRM sucks
John Morris: Dell is latest to plan a $400 laptop
MGM Mirage’s IT green field: RFID meets alcohol; predictive modeling; bandwidth galore
Michael Krigsman: 7 tips for handling technology failures
ArsTechnica: Report: Microsoft fastest to issue OS patches, Sun slowest
Valleywag: Did you sign Google’s noncompete? Good, you’re fired
Joe McKendrick: When software and politics mix, quality suffers
Christopher Dawson: Can mini-notebooks meet teacher needs, too?
 Images: IBM’s racetrack memory. News.com: IBM’s racetrack memory seeks 100x boost in density
John Carroll: What kind of company would “Micro-hoo” be? Larry Dignan: Yahoo investor doubles down: Is that double dumb? Mary Jo Foley: What if News Corp., MSN and Yahoo were a separate company? Microhoo careens toward closure: Assessing the moving parts
Dealbook: Google C.E.O. Taps Quattrone as Adviser in Yahoo Battle
Dennis Howlett: Google and Salesforce.com: does it make sense?
Fred Wilson: We Need A New Path To Liquidity
Roland Piquepaille: Laser scanning robot 3D-R1 used to map mines
Tom Foremski: If Black is the new search why not branded search?
James Farrar: What is a sustainable business anyway?
Dana Blankenhorn: Whispers will not kill fair use. Astaro calls plain English the open source vendor value-add
 Photos: Orbiter takes closeups of Martian moon Phobos
Richard Koman: Who won CyberStorm II? Cyberwar games test nations’ responses
Hugh Macleod: WHY I DELETED MY TWITTER ACCOUNT
Andrew Nusca: Sony, Sanyo, Panasonic battle for compact camcorder crown
Phil Wainewright: Why Symantec bought Appstream (not)
Heather Clancy: The Planet’s tips for cutting data center power use
Jason O’Grady: iPhone 2.0 to get contact searching; meeting invites
Steve O’Hear: Flickr user revolt; Why I deleted my twitter account
Christopher Dawson: When all the technology in the world won’t help
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| | Fri, 11 Apr 2008 11:12:56 +0000 | | You would think that the military would be careful about how it disposes of old or outdated equipment. And you may be wrong. Or are we blaming the victim of theft?
Rep. Chris Shays (R-Connecticut) pressed a Department of Defense official for answers on how military items are making their way into the marketplace, only to discover that there is a theft problem and officials don’t really know what the scope of that problem might be. Meanwhile, you can shop online for the following items.
From CNN:
- Two F-14 fighter jet components. The United States has retired its fleet of F-14s. Only Iran is currently using them.
- Night vision goggles specially made to military specifications that allow the user to identify U.S. troops at night.
- Army combat uniforms. The military has prohibited the sale of uniforms to non-military personnel since January 2007, when Iraqi Insurgents used U.S. military uniforms to sneak into a base in Karbala and kill five U.S. service members.
- Special “enhanced” body armor vests used by U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, and not available to the general public.
How true is the story? General Accounting Office (GAO) officials have been purchasing this equipment from eBay and Craigslist since January 2007 through March 2008. They received what they paid for, with no questions asked by the sellers.
From The Associated Press:
The Defense Department regards much of the stolen equipment to be on the U.S. Munitions List, meaning there are restrictions on their overseas sales, the Government Accountability Office said Thursday.The equipment could land in international brokers’ hands or be transferred overseas, said the GAO, Congress’ investigative arm.
“Many of the sensitive items we purchased could have been used directly against our troops and allies, or reverse engineered to develop counter measures or equivalent technologies,” investigators said in their report.
Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster defended the sales, claiming that they happened locally with items delivered in person. According to Buckmaster, that reduces the chance that those items went overseas. Hmm. UPS, anyone?
From PC World:
Buckmaster also suggested that online auction and classified sites donate all their profits from the sale of military equipment to charity, although Craigslist has not made any money that way. If other sites commit to giving away 100 percent of their profits from the sale of sensitive or stolen military equipment, Craigslist will make a “sizeable donation” to charity as well, he said.
Craigslist users are often confused about what items are appropriate to sell and what ones aren’t, Buckmaster added. He suggested the U.S. Congress pass a law banning the sale of recent military equipment. “With clear and concise guidelines available, very few of our users will violate them, and those few who do will very quickly find themselves … flagged off of our site,” he said.
I find it difficult to believe that new guidelines will improve the situation much. As it is, the items being offered for sale are either stolen or retained by military personnel inappropriately after active duty. This means that my tax dollars and yours are purchasing these items that could potentially be used against our own troops. But Craigslist needs guidelines in order to keep these items off its site.
The Army started a program in 2006 to account for all of its inventories. Rep. John Tierney (D-Massachusetts), chairman of the subcommittee, said he was startled that “it took the Army and Department of Defense six years to get the system in place that probably should have been in place by 2001.”
So how do we manage a problem like this? The Army is doing what it can, but what else can they be doing? Theft is going to be a problem, even with tighter controls. But what can be done about online retailers that allow these things to be sold? Is it really a case of Congress passing a new law? Or do online sale sites need to be more responsible?
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| | Fri, 11 Apr 2008 07:22:27 +0000 | | Speaking at a Gartner-sponsored conference, two analysts noted that Microsoft’s flagship Windows operating system risks becoming a “has-been” if radical changes are not made. In their presentation, they added that the “situation is untenable.”
Excerpt from Computerworld:
[The analysts] said Microsoft has not responded to the market, is overburdened by nearly two decades of legacy code and decisions, and faces serious competition on a whole host of fronts that will make Windows moot unless the software developer acts.
One of the key problems would be Window’s huge code base, which makes it next to impossible to craft meaningful changes in a short amount of time. If anything, the recently released Windows Vista proved this point. If you recall, prior announced functionalities were either bumped back or simply thrown out the window (no pun intended).
In contrast, Apple was able to introduce its iPhone running on OS X, while Microsoft required a different product on handhelds because Vista was simply too large, they argued.
It is ironic that one of Windows’ most touted “features” — its backwards compatibility — is fast proving to be its Achilles heel. I know that some of us aren’t exactly the most ardent of Microsoft fans, but Windows dead? Just how would that affect you?
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| | Thu, 10 Apr 2008 11:41:47 +0000 | | In yet another case of infected media being sent out direct from a manufacturer, HP’s software security response team has issued a warning on this to AusCERT earlier this week. Affected were some USB flash drives with installation files for a range of Proliant servers. Apparently, they are infected with worms that could allow an attacker to compromise an infected system.
A list of the affected servers has been provided to the security response organization.
Excerpt from ZDNet News:
The worms contained on the 256KB and 1GB USB drives have been identified as W32.Fakerecy and W32.SillyFDC. The worms spread by copying themselves to removable or mapped drives and affect systems running Windows 98, Windows 95, Windows XP, Windows Me, Windows NT and Windows 2000
As the flash drives involved are only used to install optional floppy-disk drives — itself a very low-volume option, the threat from this slip-up is considered to be low by HP. The recommendation by HP is to have the flash drives checked for potential virus infections using an up-to-date anti-virus software and then scanned.
Obviously, it’s no problem if you use an up-to-date anti-virus. However, new servers or workstations needing some sort of installation media to complete a setup might not have anti-virus software installed yet.
Do you make it a habit to manually scan all such media?
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| | Thu, 10 Apr 2008 11:10:30 +0000 | |
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Photos: Eee PC grows two inches
Gallery: Tom Bihn’s Ristretto bag for the MacBook Air
Zune + Yahoo! = Y!Phone
Review: HP Pavilion a6400z Desktop PC (2.6GHz, 320GB HD, 2GB RAM)
Photos (right): San Francisco’s greenest home?
Gallery: Tom Bihn’s Ristretto bag for the MacBook Air (right)
Photos: Installing Charles Babbage’s masterpiece