Xavi Alonso style

This is a one-more post on the football topic. I know I've put already a few posts about this but... it's the first time I score a goal in a real game from the half of the field. It was also the goal that probably confirmed our victory on the league.

Just a few comments on that game:

"Omar spotted their keeper off his line and launched an exquisite looping 45-yard shot towards goal, which dipped at the last minute to leave their goalie with no hope. You could also describe it as a hoof from the half way line, but the result was the same - 2-0"

"Not forgetting Omar's 'I must break you' moment which resulted in his

sending off..." (that happened as well... but just trying to protect the score :D).

"Just as well he scored the winning goal Xavi Alonso style, from our own half."

Chip and PIN is broken

Be very careful about your credit/debit cards. In case you loose them, don't rely on the fact that an attacker cannot use your card.

Check the following video, to see what my colleagues in the security group have found:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPAX32lgkrw

If you want to know all the details, check the full article:
http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/research/security/banking/nopin/oakland10chipbroken.pdf

PS3 on LCD/CRT VGA monitor

I want to share a trick to use a PS3 on an LCD/CRT VGA monitor.

When I moved from France to UK I didn't bring the TV with me. However I did bring my PS3 as we were very attached to all the funny games we had for it. We didn't want to buy a TV because in the UK you need to pay around 150 £ for the annual TV license. So what to do?

Well... fortunately there is a VGA cable (not produced by SONY), called HDFury which makes a hack to transform the HDMI signal (from the PS3) into the VGA signal used by an ordinary LCD monitor (if you don't have DVI). The cable is at the link below and works great:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B001IZK0AQ/ref=ox_ya_oh_product

I know it is quite expensive but after reading many posts it is quite clear this will be the only solution guaranteed to work.

Now what about the sound? Clearly you won't get any sound from your LCD monitor. So the solution is to use the composite output of the PS3. Normally you get this cable with the PS3. If you had lost it, like me, no problem. Again, amazon solves the issue:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000SEU92W/ref=ox_ya_oh_product

Now all you need is to plug the composite audio signals to some speakers and you're done :)