All Google accounts could end up compromised by a clever replay attack on Gmail users abusing Google infrastructure.
Cybercriminals are abusing Google’s infrastructure, creating emails that appear to come from Google in order to persuade people into handing over their Google account credentials.
This attack, first flagged by Nick Johnson, the lead developer of the Ethereum Name Service (ENS), a blockchain equivalent of the popular internet naming convention known as the Domain Name System (DNS).
Nick received a very official looking security alert about a subpoena allegedly issued to Google by law enforcement to information contained in Nick’s Google account. A URL in the email pointed Nick to a sites.google.com page that looked like an exact copy of the official Google support portal.
As a computer savvy person, Nick spotted that the official site should have been hosted on accounts.google.com and not sites.google.com. The difference is that anyone with a Google account can create a website on sites.google.com. And that is exactly what the cybercriminals did.
Attackers increasingly use Google Sites to host phishing pages because the domain appears trustworthy to most users and can bypass many security filters. One of those filters is DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail), an email authentication protocol that allows the sending server to attach a digital signature to an email.
If the target clicked either “Upload additional documents” or “View case”, they were redirected to an exact copy of the Google sign-in page designed to steal their login credentials.
Your Google credentials are coveted prey, because they give access to core Google services like Gmail, Google Drive, Google Photos, Google Calendar, Google Contacts, Google Maps, Google Play, and YouTube, but also any third-party apps and services you have chosen to log in with your Google account.
The signs to recognize this scam are the pages hosted at sites.google.com which should have been support.google.com and accounts.google.com and the sender address in the email header. Although it was signed by accounts.google.com, it was emailed by another address. If a person had all these accounts compromised in one go, this could easily lead to identity theft.
How to avoid scams like this
Don’t follow links in unsolicited emails or on unexpected websites.
Carefully look at the email headers when you receive an unexpected mail.
Verify the legitimacy of such emails through another, independent method.
Don’t use your Google account (or Facebook for that matter) to log in at other sites and services. Instead create an account on the service itself.
Technical details
Analyzing the URL used in the attack on Nick, (https://sites.google.com[/]u/17918456/d/1W4M_jFajsC8YKeRJn6tt_b1Ja9Puh6_v/edit) where /u/17918456/ is a user or account identifier and /d/1W4M_jFajsC8YKeRJn6tt_b1Ja9Puh6_v/ identifies the exact page, the /edit part stands out like a sore thumb.
DKIM-signed messages keep the signature during replays as long as the body remains unchanged. So if a malicious actor gets access to a previously legitimate DKIM-signed email, they can resend that exact message at any time, and it will still pass authentication.
So, what the cybercriminals did was:
Set up a Gmail account starting with me@ so the visible email would look as if it was addressed to “me.”
Register an OAuth app and set the app name to match the phishing link
Grant the OAuth app access to their Google account which triggers a legitimate security warning from [email protected]
This alert has a valid DKIM signature, with the content of the phishing email embedded in the body as the app name.
Forward the message untouched which keeps the DKIM signature valid.
Creating the application containing the entire text of the phishing message for its name, and preparing the landing page and fake login site may seem a lot of work. But once the criminals have completed the initial work, the procedure is easy enough to repeat once a page gets reported, which is not easy on sites.google.com.
Nick submitted a bug report to Google about this. Google originally closed the report as ‘Working as Intended,’ but later Google got back to him and said it had reconsidered the matter and it will fix the OAuth bug.
If you are interested in picking up Linux not as a "I want to be a technical user" thing but rather as a "I want a computer that will handle the average person's daily tasks and not spy on me" I think you should really look at an Atomic desktop system.
I highly recommend Fedora Kinoite, it's a very user friendly but still customisable desktop setup that can do just about anything you want without you ever having to dig into the command line.
I run a variant of this on the computer I keep hooked up to my TV and I have not once been required to go into the command line from the second I installed it.
Atomic desktops like this are high reliability: if an update breaks the system, it'll automatically roll back to the last good version. You can install a huge number of useful programs from the app catalogue and it includes most things you could want: browsers, document editors, ebook managers, art tools, even Steam and Heroic for playing games. Basically, anything on Flathub:
Find and install hundreds of apps and games for Linux. Enjoy Firefox, Telegram, RetroArch, GIMP and many more!
If you're a programmer or otherwise need access to command line tools, the way to do that is Distrobox, which runs almost any other distribution containerized with high intergration and minimal restrictions. Almost indistinguishable from a native system, very low overhead, if you install a GUI application in a Distrobox and launch it it'll appear seamlessly in your workspace with full access to your directory tree. I currently use this to develop my embedded stuff because a lot of that targets Ubuntu and gets mad when your python and compiler versions start deviating (ESP-IDF, ROS2, etc.)
Use any linux distribution inside your terminal.
This is a sort of necessarily locked down system, but it's distinct from, say, an iPad. The locks are not firm, if you really want to you can switch to root and modify the system and tear into the root tree and make any changes you want, BUT you will give up the specific benefits you chose an atomic system for. You can't really use general purpose Linux help for these systems because they'll suggest editing root config files or tweaking your packages but in general I've found in haven't needed to do those things unless I'm doing power user shit.
Using an app library interface can feel bad because it reminds you of smartphones but it's really quite different.
If you do go this route I recommend not trying to fuck with the root stuff, unless you are specifically trying to learn about immutable systems. This is a great choice for computers you want to just work, and the suite of stuff you can get in FlatPak is more than enough for most people, especially if all you do is web browsing, digital art, or gaming.
If you're really into gaming on Linux specifically, another good shout here is Bazzite, which is what I run on my handheld. It's a gaming focused build based on Fedora that has good hardware compatibility, even if you've heard horror stories about Nvidia on Linux from people like me.
Bazzite makes gaming and everyday use smoother and simpler across desktop PCs, handhelds, tablets, and home theater PCs.
Hear me out, Dottore, experiment with everything once, make an experiment out of sex and not tell you till you see a document with a hypothesis and conclusion after he asked you to try something out with him or his segments, Dottore who I believe whole heartedly that if his partner had a chronic illness would use and experiment on the limits of it.
Say chronic fatigue, a partner that sleeps and sleeps, deep and long no matter how long or short they have been awake, leading him to experiment and mayyyybe development a sleeping beauty kink.
This is about somnophilia and technically CNC as he asks but your already half into sleep, so if someone getting down and dirty with a sleeping person is not your thing don't click the read more.
This is your ⚠️ warning ⚠️.
The cool wood of the desk next to the observation area of Dottore, segments coming and going between the sterile zone and the small area that holds sheets of paper and other documentation for whatever was going on in the room at that small window looked into.
Prime, your partner and lover is standing next to you watching the experiment with a cold indifference that some might take for displeasure if they didn't know him, but as you blink sluggishly at him you can see the curiosity and eager attention to the experiment clear as day.
When he turns to look at you, sliding his mask off and pushing his hair back out of his face, that curiosity becomes all about you, the sleepy, slumped over human that was covered by his harbinger cloak, the fluffy collar almost swallowing your head and cushions you from the hard wood.
The sight brews an idea, just how far could be push when you fell asleep...
He had asked you if he could test something as you were dozing off and the muffled response was affirmative sounding, so once you were down and out he had his segments end the experiment and ran a full sanitation of the lab, it was loud, unbearably loud and yet you didn't even react more than a flinch and mumble before nuzzling into the fluff of his coat.
Following the full sanitation he had one of his segments move you into the lab area, making sure to keep the coat you had wrapped around yourself under your head as he had you laid out on the examination slab.
There are multiple hands tugging and pulling clothes out of the way, there are stops and starts as he thinks sometimes you will wake, making internal notes of what makes you mumble or twitch as his segments finally get you naked and somewhat in position on the slab.
He has each segment run a different task, one is pinching and rolling your nipples with his bare hands, another is kissing and gently gnawing on your neck, the third and final is kneeling on the slab between your legs fingers lubed up and working to slowly open you up.
It's fascinating to watch as his segments manage to get your sleeping form so worked up, lube only being added periodically in small amounts instead of larger more consistent applications, the segment playing with your chest is almost as fervent in marking your chest and collarbones as the one that had changed to kissing and tugging on your earlobes?
Regardless of his segments own proclivities, all of them were still unsuccessful at waking you, your sleep seemed so deep and peaceful that even as he orders the segment that is four fingers deep in you to pull away and find something else to test on your body you do not wake.
Taking the place of his segment, he settles on his knees between your legs, grunting about his coats clasps and the need to undo them for this, once he is able to free himself it's simple to get a segment to lube him up and hold your legs apart as he shuffled closer and eases himself in, sighing happily as his head tilts back and his hips jerk as you tighten around him.
It's a good few minutes into what had devolved into a mess of segments pushing each other out of the way to grope at you, and Dottore prime fucking away between your legs, already having cum twice but downed a small experiment that he had saved for a rainy day to keep himself going, that you begin to wake.
Mouth full of one of the segments and hands cupping one segment each, your neck a mess of bites, hickies, saliva and bruises that lead down to a just as marked up chest, it's disorienting to come back too waking as you groan around the cock in your mouth, swallowing thickly and breathing through your nose as you can barely hear Dottore prime speak up his hips still snapping against yours with a filthy wet squelching sound.
"well now that you're awake, it's time to put some more theories to the test... Now be a good dear and just keep still."
Asexual reproduction in Octolings and the unique morphology of severed tentacles
In Octarian societies, one of the most culturally significant parts of Octoling functions is the ability to create life from one's own limbs. The budding of a severed tentacle (resulting in what we will refer to generically as Octotroopers for the sake of convenience; there are countless types of budded life forms) has been a trait that existed in Octolings for at least 4,000 years, likely having evolved as a way to increase numbers whilst using fewer resources than one would producing offspring sexually and raising them to adulthood. While most modern day civilizations rarely practice Octotrooper budding, the behavior is still prevalent in underground dome communities* and communities that recently emerged from the domes. In the social hierarchy of dome-dwelling Octarians, Octotroopers are usually seen performing manual labor and fighting in the front lines during military operations, along with any other jobs that are high in risk, but low in technical skill.
*In Octo Valley, especially; there, Octotroopers outnumber Octolings 8 to 1!
The Test of Applicable Knowledge in Octarians (a.k.a, the TAKO test) is an evaluation of intellectual capability in octo-based organisms, originally used by Great Turf War engineers to predict the efficacy of the Great Octoweapons in complex combat situations. To this day, Octarian researchers utilize the TAKO test to evaluate potential performance in educational and military settings. In 2021, the average TAKO score for a single-tentacle Octotrooper was comparable to that of a seven-year-old Octoling*.
*Note: The accuracy and applicability of the TAKO model is currently being contested and may soon be replaced in a few years, and there is a lot of controversy as to whether it is even ethical to use the TAKO test to determine or predict intelligence. I only mention it due to how limited documentation on Octotroopers is outside of the Octarian domes.
So how do Octotroopers even function on a physiological level? How is one made? I already mentioned that they are produced via budding from Octoling tentacles, but the process itself has more going on beneath the surface than the layperson may think.
1. Tentacle removal: A limb is removed from the hair of an Octoling. In emergency situations, the tentacle may be cut, but the standard procedure involves constricting the tentacle until it comes off by itself to minimize pain and bleeding. Either way, the limb must be removed at the very base so as to include the neuron clusters that will become the Octotrooper's nucleus.
2. Inkubation: Contrary to popular belief, an Octoling tentacle does not spontaneously come to life all by itself. It needs to be bathed in ink for a prolonged period of time in order to develop its own organ structures. Various environmental factors go into how an Octotrooper develops during the inkubation process, including temperature, number of tentacles (i.e., multiple tentacles fuse into a single entity), salinity in ink, and time. These factors are manipulated based on what type of Octotrooper is needed for a given task. For example, the more time an Octotrooper spends "cooking," the bigger it grows, allowing it to wield heavier weapons.
3. Maturity: Once the Octotrooper starts opening its eyes, it can be removed from the ink bath. It is considered "fully grown" as soon as it comes out and usually only lives for about 3-8 years, depending on the size and tentacle number. Octotroopers cannot reproduce themselves, but tentacle tissue can be synthesized in a lab setting to create clones. These clones tend to have even shorter life spans due to their immune systems being weaker than "naturally"-grown Octotroopers.
The internal workings of an Octotrooper are commonly described by the Squid Research Lab as similar to a single-celled organism in the sense that instructions transferred from the chemical makeup of the ink they were incubated in are encoded into a nucleus of readable messages sent through the entire body. I personally propose that the Octotrooper is more comparable to an individual cell within a more sophisticated organism, using those instructions to carry out tasks for the benefit of the eusocial collective (come to think of it, they're more like ants or bees than cells, actually!)
A. Tentacle structure: An Octotrooper's body lacks the cartilage skeleton present in most inkfish, instead relying completely on the contractions of hydraulic muscles to move around. Most energy consumption goes into maintaining the stability of these muscles.
A1: Like the Octolings they sprouted from, an Octotrooper's default tentacle color does not necessarily match its ink color, as Octarian hair color is used to denote military ranking (the darker the shade, the higher the rank) rather than the color of one's ink. In many domes, it is illegal to deviate from the standard "Octarian purple" outside of designated training programs.
A2: The sanitization process uses a unique mixture of preservatives to fortify the flesh against common injuries. Aging is also halted, allowing sanitized Octarians to live longer than their unaffected counterparts.
A3: One of the most obvious effects of Fuzzy Ooze is the growth of keratin-based papillae known as fur on the outer tentacle. While the pigments within the fur generally keep it some shade of brown, most mammalians still retain some control over tentacle color, which can be seen between individual hairs and often appear as a more muted version of their rank or ink color from a distance.
B. Eyes: An Octotrooper's vision is usually about the same as an Octoling's, though this can change depending on how much time the Octotrooper spent in inkubation. Maximum distance tends to increase with the length of inkubation time, so slow-cooked Octotroopers tend to be made into Octosnipers or Octocommanders. The eyes are the second-to-last organ developed during inkubation, followed by the legs.
B1: The green sclera is generally used as a signifier of loyalty to the Octarian cause. Most Octarians actively serving in the army take on this eye color at some point, though the only Octolings who appear to have been born with it are members of the imperial Takowasa family (e.g., DJ Octavio and his descendants).
B2: The eyes are considered a window into the soul, and the distinctive black sclera in a sanitized inkfish is often associated with a complete overwrite. Those who have successfully completed the reconfiguration of their palettes in the Memverse recover the eye color they had pre-sanitization, supporting the idea that the condition of one's eyes (barring unrelated damage or vision problems) can be an indicator of soul health.
B3: Likewise, mammalian eyes take on the qualities of the Fuzzy Ooze inside their bodies. This doesn't seem to have a direct effect on one's vision, but many inkfish affected by Fuzzy Ooze report hallucinating extinct animals. More data is needed on this topic.
C. Nervous system: Note the giant cluster of neurons that form a rudimentary brain-like structure within an Octotrooper. This "brain" is called the nucleus. Despite how basic the structure may seem, it is great at learning, remembering, and problem-solving. The nucleus is what makes Octotrooper budding possible to begin with; other inkfish tentacles such as those on Inklings lack the neuron count necessary to create an independent nervous system.
C1: The sophistication of an Octotrooper's central nervous system is directly tied to the number of tentacles fused together during inkubation. This is why Twintacle Octotroopers are trusted with more complex machinery than single-tentacled Octotroopers, and possibly why pseudo-humanoid Octotroopers formed from eight tentacles (e.g., Octo Samurai) have souls that are nearly identical to those of standard Octolings.
C2: Acute sanitization, while removing higher decision-making capabilities, retains motor function and at least some sensory input (anecdotal reports and reflex tests denote that being sanitized limits sensitivity to touch, and in some cases, smell and taste). Many sanitized inkfish report having a higher pain tolerance compared to their non-sanitized peers. In spite of the limited senses, sanitized Octotroopers seem to have better night vision than other Octotroopers.
C3: The nuclei of Fuzzy Octotroopers have a higher nerve density than non-mammalian Octotroopers. Their senses and reflexes are more reactive, especially in late stage mammalization. In addition, responses to known soul triggers such as the Calamari Inkantation are more noticeable in mammalian Octotroopers than in their non-fuzzy counterparts.
D. Gastrointestinal system: Early into the inkubation process, space within the tentacle is cleared to form a digestive tract, starting with the mouth forming on the ventral side of the tentacle, and ending with the anus at the base where the tentacle was initially severed, where all waste matter is excreted.
D1: Octotroopers thrive on foods that are high in protein and fat. The typical Octotrooper diet consists of tofu, nuts, wasabi, and sometimes Power Eggs (eating Power Eggs is often restricted due to their use as fuel for weapons).
D2: The gut of a sanitized Octotrooper is filled with chemosynthetic bacteria that feeds on metals found within one's own blood and blended ink. You can read more on the subject here.
D3: Fuzzy Octotroopers, like other mammalian inkfish, have increased appetites and will often seek out more fruit and fish in their diets. A malnourished mammalian will often have split ends and a more wiry texture to their fur than they should. With a balanced diet, the fur is soft and shiny.
E. Chromavascular system: Like the digestive tract, an Octotrooper's ink sac is developed during inkubation, rather than already being present in the tentacle. Most Octotroopers have a low ink capacity and run out more quickly than complete inkfish, though some Octotrooper types are specialized in such a way that they can hold more ink in their bodies, such as Octobombers and Oversized Octopods.
E1: With lower ink capacities comes a lower osmotic pressure, so most ink-based attacks fired by an Octotrooper rely more on blunt force trauma than toxicity, hence the large globs seen in standard Octotrooper weaponry. It is virtually impossible for most Octotroopers to produce special charge; Octotroopers designed to wield special weapons like the Octostriker and Missile Octocopter instead use large quantities of regular ink as ammunition.
E2: Much of what little biological functionality present in a sanitized Octotrooper relies on blended ink. Very few sanitized Octotroopers are able to survive outside of the Deepsea Metro as a result. This makes collecting data on them extremely difficult. Most of what I could gather on them for this post in particular is just me extrapolating from information on sanitized Octolings, so please take any of my conjecture with a healthy dose of scientific skepticism!
E3: Mammalian ink contains highly concentrated amounts of Alternian crystals, which reacts strongly to ink-based organisms. Consumption or absorption of large quantities may cause similar symptoms to coming into contact with Fuzzy Ooze. Handle with extreme care.
F. Cardiovascular system: Blood circulation is facilitated by a heart-like structure inside the nucleus, consisting of two arteries and a single valve connecting them. Oxygen is taken in from the skin and distributed to the organs.
F1: When stressed, an Octotrooper's blood flow is localized to the tip of the tentacle and to the legs, and away from the ink sac. Perhaps they are more hardwired for the flight response than the fight response... Octarian bio-engineers were shocked when they found out about this, as it would put the idea that Octotroopers are biologically determined to act as the perfect footsoldiers into question.
F2: Sanitized inkfish lack heartbeats. Because of this, any wound that breaks the skin does not bleed, allowing them to take more damage without the risk of serious injury. However, the lack of blood flow also means that wounds take longer to heal, and they are more likely to form scars.
F3: Mammalian blood, along with other bodily fluids, contains traces of Alternian crystals, meaning there is a risk of Fuzzy Ooze contamination when coming into contact with it. It also contains more iron, allowing for more efficient oxygen transfer.
Also, because I didn't really have any good place to put this note, G. Toenails: Fuzzy Octotroopers grow keratin-based claws on their toes. Do not let them kick or scratch you; it will hurt. I have firsthand experience and the scars to prove it!
Hi, I have a question about Heartfall if thats okay
Ive read through your staff section and I saw that your Game Design Document is already complete
I have not seen any UI/UX Designers tho and I didnt see any open spots either, since I studied Game Dev with a focus on Programming and UI I was wondering if you considered that part of the game and if I could apply for something in that area/if its covered by any of the spots that are open for application?
Hope you have a great day :)
Hello!
Yes, User Interface/User Experience is a very important field - though, we indeed don't have any exclusive spots for it since it is covered by the developer already.
Two of the contributor roles are UX adjacent (since most creatives are unaware of the field of UX, an explanation is in the technical information tab).
The route writers are going to work with UX writing principles in their dialogue, and the level designers will have to keep UX in mind when designing the level flows. Both these roles are not expected to have any experience in UX, but having it ahead of time will certainly be helpful!
He was a pioneer of ecological architecture: Frei Otto, architect, engineer and inventor of lightweight structures like the German Pavilion at the Expo in Montreal 1967 and the roofs for the Olympic games in Munich 1972. To mark his centennial in 2025, Prestel recently published the present volume as both tribute to his achievement and a reminder of his topicality for a present in the wake of a climate crisis: „Frei Otto - Bauen mit der Natur“, edited by Anna-Maria Meister and Joaquín Medina Warmburg, brings together Otto’s most important works and new expert essays.
At the heart of the book lies the overall development of his innovative tensile structures and the application of principles observed in nature. Accordingly, the book is organized along the themes nature, technics and, interestingly, society. The latter aspect has received significantly less attention in the context of Frei Otto’s Gesamtwerk but indeed is an integral part of his architectural concept. This becomes clear in Georg Vrachliotis’ essay in which the author proceeds from the brochure „Wohn-Be-Reiche im Garten“, published in preparation for the 1987 IBA building exhibition in Berlin, and demonstrates how Otto connected questions of cohabitation with living in the green and lightweight constructions. It was an ongoing research that, in various guises, sought for ecological ways of life for the future. With the brochure, after all 150 pages long, Frei Otto presented a complex, multi-layered reflection of his own research and references that proved his prismatic thinking: depending on the viewing angle different theoretical approaches, ideas and concepts come to the fore and document his ability to capture and reflect the challenges posed by ecology and architecture alike.
This intellectual versatility characterized Frei Otto and it is the presentation of it that makes the book such a compelling read: by juxtaposing built work and theoretical considerations it documents that his open thinking and ability to synthesize various aspects of architecture, technology and nature are core aspects of his continuing relevance and a glowing example of how to tackle contemporary problems in architecture!
Ms. Mlem, I would like to ask: hypothetically, if one wanted to learn how to avoid ninateka's drm, how one would go about doing that?
This is an area I've barely dipped into, but basically what you're searching for is "Encrypted Media Extensions", "Content Decryption Modules" and "Widevine DRM" (the specific CDM used in case of Chrome and Firefox, there are others).
You need N_m3u8DL-RE, mp4decrypt, mkvmerge (or ffmpeg) and CDRM-Project. This post is going to be long, technical, the procedure is complicated, and may be difficult to generalize to other services.
Also it's very likely there is a simpler or better way of doing this.
DRM
Fundamentally the purpose of DRM is copy protection and guarding the publishers' ~precious copyrights~, but in the wider scope of things, it is an instance of rent seeking behaviour.
My wider stance on ~intellectual property~ is generally known, so let's move on.
The usual approach is using cryptography in order to encrypt the media. Then, in order to actually access the media (view the movie, read the ebook, play the song), you then need the key. Now, the problem for the rent seekers intellectual property holders is that the same device that accesses the media needs the key in order to be able to play it, and therefore if we are able to perform the same steps as the device does, and then "leak" the key, we can break DRM. As a result, the practical implementation of DRM try to make it as obnoxious as possible, and possibly uses hardware features that are designed to make it hard to extract the key from.
In short, it's a constant conflict between them building the tallest wall, and us building the tallest ladder.
Internet streaming
After the introduction of native video and audio playback in HTML5, an internet browser is capable of playing some multimedia formats without needing to install an external program (like Adobe Flash Player), so basically anyone can just put up a file, point a <video> tag at the URL and let it play. This however, introduces some problems because people sometimes want to skip to in the middle of the video without needing to download, say, 40 minutes of footage to be able to get to the 40th minute. Also sometimes people are on their phones with a 3G connection and are not able to stream your 1080p video, but they would be willing to watch it even in shit quality, if it means they get to see it at all. Also you know, data caps.
This is where adaptive streaming comes in, like DASH (Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP) or HLS (HTTP Live Streaming).
While they're both different, the general principle of how they work is the same. Separate the movie into video (for different resolutions or encodings) and audio streams (say, for different languages or audiodescription versions). Divide the streams into tiny chunks. The playlist then describes where to get each chunk of a stream, given that we know the timestamp, and which stream we want.
yt-dlp can do the job of downloading each chunk and merging them into a single stream, but DRM decryption is by design out of its scope and bails out when detects encrypted streams.
Command Line 101
A command line is something which Linux users use to scare wider Tumblr population. Or so I heard.
Unfortunately for them
- making a GUI application with a ~nice~ interface is 10-100x more effort, and most open source projects are woefully understaffed (usually done by a single person, as opposed to average software company which has backend developers, frontend developers, technical writers, testers, QA department, product owners, technical analysts, documentation writers, UI/UX designers and they are all employed full time)
- Windows also has a command line (in fact, two: cmd.exe and PowerShell)
A command line interpreter takes in a user-typed command, runs it, and then produces a result to the user. You can type in a command and then press Enter to run it. When the interpreter is ready to accept new command, it will display the current directory, and then a character like ">", "$", or "#", depending on context. The current directory is where the user is operating on. Relative paths like "../directory" are resolved relative to current directory. Relative path "../directory" means "go to a parent directory, and then from there, to a directory named "directory". A command has a form of PROGRAM PARAMETER1 PARAMETER2 PARAMETER3. On Windows, you can change to a different directory with cd /d C:\your\path\goes\here. Linux doesn't have a concept of drive letters so you don't need a /d to change to a different drive like on Windows's cmd.exe.
"okay so I want my own program to be runnable with myprogram C:\myfile, how do I make it so I can do it." You need to set the PATH environment variable (Windows guide, Linux guide) which lists all the directories in which programs runnable by just typing the name of the program can be run from. Put your programs in your own directory, and then add the path to that directory to PATH environment variable.
"okay so I did it. still nothing." the PATH environment variable is loaded at the interpreter startup. Close it and start a new interpreter.
"mlem, why is your current directory displayed with yen symbols and not backslashes" Japanese locale.
"why did I need this half-assed explanation" so you can put all the programs in the directory and run them as needed from the command line.
Ninateka
Quoting the "About us" page of Ninateka (translation mine)
Ninateka is a video-on-demand service of National Cinematheque – Audiovisual Institute that offers narrative films, documentary films, animated films, conference recordings, meetings with authors, lectures, performances, music shows, audiobooks and audio dramas. It's over 4000 audio and video files, which consists the record of Polish culture and history of movie art. Access does not require log in. All materials shared on the site are payment-free and completely ad-free. It's here where you can see the collection of FINA [National Cinematheque Audiovisual Institute] after digitalization and digital reconstruction.
What do we have to do
Find the underlying stream
Get the key
Download it the chunks and merge them
Decrypt the streams
Merge the streams into a single container file
Finding the underlying stream
In the past, when you wanted to see how a web page displayed a specific element of the web page, or how did the author made it so snowflakes were falling from cursor down below, you right clicked it and selected "view page source". Nowadays the web pages can be interactive and JavaScript can download data from the server, and the tools involved are way more complex. Pretty much every browser offers Developer Tools, accessible either through the user interface, or by pressing F12. They have slight differences between the browsers, but for the most part they're pretty similar, as they have been directly or indirectly inspired by a 2006 Firefox extension named Firebug
In this case we want to navigate to the website, go to developer tools and select the Network tab. This displays all the relevant HTTP requests that the browser had to issue so far.
Here we can see a browser request pertaining to different stream methods: Smooth Streaming, DASH and HLS, and also handling three Content Decryption Modules: FairPlay, PlayReady, and Widevine. Take note of the URLs involved there, so you can recognize them later on.
Looking at two requests done below, we can see a request with type "dash". This is the actual stream playlist.
Let's copy the URL of it.
We also want to copy the entire request from which the web video player does in order to get the key that deciphers the streams.
You can recognize "widevine" in the URL, as it appeared earlier on, in the first screenshot, in the response. Right click -> Copy Value -> Copy as Fetch.
("fetch" is a name of a JavaScript function that sends a HTTP request. The important part is that it has all the information needed to "replay" the request later on.)
Get the key
CDRM-Project is capable of extracting a key to decrypt the stream (for some sites, at least). It also happens to provide a way to extract all the relevant DRM information given a "fetch" call, which is what we copied in step 1.
Click "Paste from fetch". A dropdown with a single option "Paste" will appear. Click it after a few seconds when it becomes selectable.
Click submit. If sucessful, you will get a key in the form of two hexadecimal numbers separated by a colon.
Download it the chunks and merge them
We use the N_m3u8DL-RE commandline application. We can do steps 3-5 in a single execution of the application, but we can also do them separately, if we want to do extra processing in between (like adding in extra subtitles in step 5)
Upon running it with the URL we got in step 1, we are then asked to select which streams we want.
In theory we could download them all if we wanted, in practice we only want the one of the highest quality, and this is the one that is selected by default. We can press Enter to proceed. Otherwise we can move the ">" cursor up and down with "Up" and "Down" arrows, and select each stream with a space.
By default it saves those under the file name derived from the address and current time/date, which are most likely not very useful. We can use the --save-name option to name them with something else.
Because there were two streams, we are going to get two files from it. Also because we didn't provide the key, both of those streams are still encrypted.
Decrypt the streams
mp4decrypt can decrypt the streams, either by running it manually, or making N_m3u8DL-RE run it.
We can do the latter with the --key THE-KEY-FROM-STEP-2 option.
If you get an error like this, it means N_m3u8DL-RE can't find mp4decrypt. Check your setup.
Merge the streams into a single container file
mkvmerge can merge (mux) video, audio and subtitle tracks into a single .mkv container file.
Again, we can make N_m3u8DL do it too, with --mux-after-done format=mkv:muxer=mkvmerge
Or we can run mkvmerge manually with mkvmerge -o FILENAME.mkv FILENAME.mp4 FILENAME.m4a ...
More than meet the eyes part 3/8 Shameless, Gallavich.
ab. 1300w. Cyberpunk A.U
(and a link to the first part because it’s been 2 years...)
(it’s been 2 years and I still don’t speak a proper English. don‘t hesitate to point ou my language mistakes, I’ll try to fix them)
3. Meet the needs
Ian woke up sore, knuckles still bruised by the previous night's expedition. It was getting hard to keep his different activities separated. Southside was not that big, and everybody was shady there. That cop who cuffed you for indecency was the same guy who had bought forbidden weapon enhancements two days before, and the gang leader who was spitting homophobic slurs when Mickey beat him down Tuesday evening was moaning Jesus’ name on all fours, hard dick deep up his ass, by Friday night.
Ian sat down on his bed and opened his messages. First, the encrypted app—a terse “ASAP” from Mickey, Lip’s friends' usual political discourse, and tips about the cop’s next raid—and then the generic one—spams, a few messages from the hook-up application, reminders about the unpaid bills, and official announcements from the government that Ian did not read.
He took a shower, making the most of water day, and dressed quickly. In the kitchen, the AC was on, despite coughing a little, and there were toasts left.
Lip was gone already. He had found a job in some consulting firm, up in town. They would make him review AI-generated law or science reports that his natural genius brain could understand and fix some mistakes and machine hallucinations. Technical knowledge, like foreign languages, in-depth regulations, or scientific data, would be provided by an external device plugged directly into the side of his head, on a dedicated cybit. Lip’s job brought in most of their income these days, and it was slowly eating him from the inside.
On the kitchen table, Debbie was altering coupons' QR codes to increase their values or create new ones for products they needed.
Fiona was drinking her second coffee, already dressed up for her job, and looking at the pamphlet link she had received from Liam’s school.
"That’s bullshit! They'll make the CSR mandatory next year. That shit costs 50 credits at least! a year!»
Ian sat down, munching his toast.
"That’s parental control on children’s core, right?»
Fiona shrugged.
«Not parental. ”Children Security Restriction," developed by the state.»
She started reading the document open on her internal screen out loud for Ian to listen.
«Blah blah blah, the Cautious Parents Association’s choice is to support the global implementation of CSR blah blah the public schools of Chicago…ah. To protect the children from dangerous influences. To prevent minors from accessing online out-of-age material. To restrict the fantasy program from using violence, drugs, and sexual material. To avoid deviant, illegal, or seditious inclinations.»
Ian swallowed his bite with difficulty.
«Deviant as in gay?»
Fiona nodded tersely, nose in her coffee.
Carl’s hand stole Ian's half-eaten toast from above his shoulder.
«They really can’t let people think in peace...»
When Ian arrived at the Shop, the atmosphere was not lighter. Derek, a big guy covered with huge scars from the time when the cybits were bigger and more invasive, scanned him from head to toe instead of letting him enter with a bored wave of the hand.
Inside, people were gloomy and silent, gathered in the break room.
Mickey had been plugged into the building's central unit, eyeballs moving fast under his closed eyelids, his fingers twitching, an almost empty e-cig hanging limply from his lips. Even his tattoos had stopped moving.
Ian entered the room slowly. Without a hello, Francis stood up and pointed his gun at his head. Mickey barked an order, and Francis lowered his hand but did not step back. Mickey stood up, his cord slowly winding up in his chest, and stepped in between them, poking at Francis’ chest.
«What the fuck is wrong with you?»
«Well, we got a new pup, and a few weeks after, we got raided? coincidence?»
Mickey rolled his eyes.
«Shut up! Red did not know the hide. He did not know where the stuff was. Or that it existed in the first place.»
Ian winced at the lack of trust. Francis shrugged and sat down on the couch but kept staring. Ian leaned back against the wall, just near the exit door.
Mickey plugged a refill into his cig and messed up his hair a little more. His shoulders were tense, his eyes unfocused, and the horned viper was wrapped around his neck, her head nested on his jugular, dark blue rings undulating like a rope on the pale skin. The guys, twice his age or twice his size, were waiting in silence for his instructions.
After a few more paces, Mickey sat down on a couch backrest and started talking.
«They knew both entrances and our schedule. Two of our people are dead. They scrambled the CTV and ransacked the whole building and the lab, but the hidden safes were carefully searched. That means outside surveillance,access to the blueprints, and access codes.»
He looked around him. The guys glanced at each other; the implication was clear. Francis' eyes had not left Ian, who refrained from waving to him.
Mickey clicked his tongue and stood up, visibly unable to stay put.
«Ok, let's try to fix this mess. You go out there, gather everything you can : data, names, movements, money transfers, anything—and send it back to me. I'll set up a new channel.»
On those words, people start to get up and leave. For a few of them, Ian knew where they were heading. His eyes followed Jen, the dirty cop, voice enhancer, the red spark of the smart targeting in her gray eyes, and her polymer baton nested in her forearm, as she left for the precinct to check what the Police knew. He knew that Lenny would go back to the City Hall, where he had unrestricted access to the Municipal archive.
The others were scattered in all the levels of the city, where they had contact, from the Chinese district to the high school teacher's lounge.
«Red, you stay with me. I'll need you here to process the data.»
Ian frowned before realizing that Mickey was talking about his Core.
Mickey gave him a removable cord, and Ian plugged himself into the central unit. At first, it was pretty slow, even if slightly uncomfortable. Mickey set up a few automated surveys on the stolen stuff appearing on black markets, sellers, police surveillances, and even hacked a few accounts to have real-time feedback from hideout reports.
Soon, the data influx rushed in, and Ian lost track of all the programs, databases, and resources that Mickey had opened.
Mickey was sending inquiries, and Ian was spitting out answers at rates that his own mind could not comprehend. It was a weird sensation, the flow bypassing his brain, feeling estranged from his own head as his whole core was diverted to support the calculations. Eventually, the main unit kicked him out of his Core. Ian got back into his own organic brain, a maelstrom of images, sounds, random thoughts vaguely shaped, and beginnings of ideas. Funny how often Mickey would take the central place there.
He felt like he spoke, too, half-mumbled words that would escape his mouth, and he would hear himself babble nonsense. Mickey was casting him worried glances but kept going until all the data had been downloaded, sorted, and analyzed.
After a few hours churning out analysis and probabilities, Ian was feeling dizzy and exhausted, just back from a powerful acid trip, and his core was burning hot. He had to sit down on the floor at some point, stretching the cord to its max, without realizing it.
Eventually, Mickey stood up and cracked his neck joints. The sun had set. A few of the guys had been back at the shop, and they were talking in low voices.
