Frank Kargl's Homepage

Informatik an Hamburger Schulen kein Pflichtfach mehr

fkargl — Thu, 30 May 2013 21:20:24 +0000

Informatik spielt in den Schulen wohl keine große Rolle mehr, zumindest schafft es Hamburg gerade als Pflichtfach ab.

http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Hamburg-wertet-Informatik-als-Sch...

Von einem Pflichtfach Informatik können wir in BaWue natürlich nur träumen. Die Leute, die über solche Dinge entscheiden, scheinen dabei nur eingeschrÃ¤nkt Ã¼ber Sachkompetenz zu verfÃ¼gen:

Walter Scheuerl, Vorsitzender des Schulausschusses der Hamburger BÃ¼rgerschaft lÃ¤sst jedenfalls per Twitter verlauten, Informatik wÃ¤re wie Mechanik ein Teil der Physik und brÃ¤uchte deswegen kein eigenes Schulfach:

https://mobile.twitter.com/Walter_Scheuerl/status/339817809183924224

Einige weitere Absonderlichkeiten finden sich dort ebenfalls. Als Informatik Professor fehlen mir ehrlich gesagt ein wenig die Worte, so absurd erscheint mir eine solche These. Genauso kÃ¶nnte man behaupten, Mathematik wÃ¼rde schon im Erdkundeunterricht ausreichend abgedeckt oder man benÃ¶tige keine Biologie mehr, weil die Entstehung der Arten ja schon in Religion diskutiert wÃ¼rde.

Die GrÃ¼nde fÃ¼r ein anhaltend niedriges Interesse am Studiengang Informatik liegen bei einer solchen WertschÃ¤tzung bei Vertretern des Bildungssystems wohl auf der Hand.

Wobei wir hier ein Henne Ei Problem haben: wie soll jemand, der in keiner Weise verstanden hat, was Informatik eigentlich ist, weil er damit nie in Kontakt gekommen ist, Ã¼ber die Relevanz von Informatik im Schulcurriculum entscheiden?

Tuning Mac OS Snow Leopard for SSD

fkargl — Sun, 22 May 2011 13:02:41 +0000

Perform these changes at own risk! You may wreck your system, so make sure to have a current backup!

I just upgraded my mid 2010 15" Macbook Pro with an OCZ Vertex 2 SSD and 8 GB of RAM. Browsing the net for hints how to optimize the system when using an SSD, I applied the following changes to my system:

Installed Trim Enabler from http://www.groths.org/ to activate trim support on Snow Leo with non-Apple SSDs.
Deactivated sudden motion sensor (only if you have no harddisks left in your system). Use pmset -a sms 0. You can even store this in /etc/rc.local to ensure it is not changed.

Mount the SSD filesystem with noatime option set. Write the following to a file /Libary/LaunchDaemons/com.nullvision.noatime.plist:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN"
        "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
    <dict>
        <key>Label</key>
        <string>com.nullvision.noatime</string>
        <key>ProgramArguments</key>
        <array>
            <string>mount</string>
            <string>-vuwo</string>
            <string>noatime</string>
            <string>/</string>
        </array>
        <key>RunAtLoad</key>
        <true/>
    </dict>
</plist>

followed by a

sudo chown root:wheel /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.nullvision.noatime.plist

There are also some things that I haven't tried out yet, but that might also speed up things or that might be beneficial to the lifetime of your SSD:

Remove sleepimage:
```
$ sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 0
$ sudo rm /var/vm/sleepimage
```
Be aware: this may result in data loss if running out of power during sleep as nothing is written persistently to disk.
This blog entry describes in detail, how you can moving temporary dirs into a ramdisk: http://blogs.nullvision.com/?p=357

Most of the tips were taken from http://blogs.nullvision.com/?p=275

Deadline Extension IEEE WIVEC 2011

fkargl — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 14:41:49 +0000

Please note that we have extended the call-for-papers deadline for the IEEE WIVEC 2011 by two weeks. The new deadline is March 14, 2011. For details and submissions, visit http://www.ieeevtc.org/wivec2011/

Drupal 7

fkargl — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 14:24:18 +0000

I recently had a strong need for upgrading my server and I had the strange idea of also going to Drupal 7 when doing so. After some fighting with all the non-ported modules, I think most of my site (and some other sites, too) are running now nicely on the new platform.

Still, I think the Drupal community deserves some criticism. The core Drupal system is really just that: the core. And they made the switch to a new major release without caring that a lot of the important modules (e.g., for inlining pictures, managing bibliography, ...) are more alpha than beta or not available at all. In general, the multitude of different modules (often doing the same things) is quite confusing for newcomers to the platform. IMHO Drupal should define a set of important modules and only do a new release when all those modules are also ready.

27. VDI/VW Gemeinschaftstagung Automotive Security

fkargl — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 14:06:15 +0000

I am member of the program committee of the 27th joint VDI/VW symposium on Automotive Security (27. VDI/VW Gemeinschaftstagung Automotive Security) which is an excellent venue for (German) academics and industry to interface and discuss about the status of automotive security. The call for papers is still ongoing and closes on the 21.03.2011. Please consider if you want to submit a paper there (see website for submission).

Applications

fkargl — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 07:28:40 +0000

You want to send me an application for an internship, PhD, or other position here at the University of Twente?

Here are some things to keep in mind:

All specific job openings that we have are listed on the central vacancies site of UT. You will also have to apply via this portal to any of these positions (not internships).
If you apply for one of these vacancies, I expect you to send in an application that explicitly addresses the needs and requirements described in the job posting. I put a significant effort in creating a good description, so you should do so likewise in creating a good and specific application.
In general, we do not hire people without having an explicit vacancy available. Exceptions may be, if you bring your own funding and/or are an outstanding candidate from an outstanding university with outstanding reference letters from outstanding colleagues. You get the idea? ;-) In both cases, you may send an email and we will discuss your case in detail. The more specifically your email addresses why you are the right candidate for us and we are the right place for you, the higher your chances of being read and considered.
The same is valid for internships.
I receive a lot of applications, most very unspecific, often not even mentioning my name, our University or group, or which position the candidate applies for. I consider this another form of impolite spam and just send you a reply pointing at this webpage. I hope you learn from it to raise your chances for future applications.
If you haven't received an answer after 1 week, you may send an inquiry, but please do not just re-send your application in a second spam wave.

IEEE WiVEC 2011 - CfP

fkargl — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 09:34:47 +0000

I am also TPC Co-Chair of the 4th International Symposium on Wireless Vehicular Communications (IEEE WiVEC 2011). The CfP is just out and you can submit papers until February 28, 2011.

Again, any additional advertisement you do among colleagues is highly appreciated, as is submitting a paper.

Posters and Demos CfP - ACM WiSec 2011

fkargl — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 09:31:35 +0000

As poster and demo chair of the ACM Conference on Wireless Network Security (WiSec 2011), I want to highlight that the CfP is open and if you are working in this area, you should seriously consider submitting a full paper, poster, or demo their. You find all the details on the conference webpage.

You can submit full papers until December 1, 2010 and posters and demos until February 28, 2011.

Please also spread the word as widely as possible.

Resources on good presentation techniques

fkargl — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 08:22:38 +0000

As I regularly speak about this and take a strong personal interest in enhancing my presentation skills, I added a longer page on good presentation techniques to my website.

Privacy in ITS Applications Workshop in Berlin

fkargl — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 13:33:20 +0000

A last-minute notice: I am co-organizer of a Privacy in ITS Applications Workshop that PRECIOSA is presenting on July 20 in Berlin, Germany. The program is very interesting and there is still time to sign up.