15 replies to this topic

[MkB]

I'm just back from my 3rd viewing of Skyfall, and I picked up a detail which had escaped me so far.

Apologies in advance for the utter geekyness of this factoid...


When Q and Bond are trying to decode Silva's graph on the very large screen, it's finally Bond who finds the key to the enigma, by realizing that if you align the letters GR-AN-BO-RO-UG-H- you get the password.

Well, even if we leave aside that hacking is usually a little more complicated than a game of Scrabble... It can't be!
The code Q is examining is hexadecimal code (I'll spare you the lecture, just check Wikipedia if you want to know the details: http://en.wikipedia....iki/Hexadecimal). The key thing is that hexadecimal code is written with a limited set of 16 characters: the 10 digits, and the 6 first letters of the alphabet: A, B, C, D, E, F.

See where I am going?
You can't have G, R, N, O, R, U, G or H characters in hexadecimal code.


Q.E.D.


OK, OK, I'll get my (lab)coat!

[Trevelyan 006]

Haha, titillating tidbit.

[Vauxhall]

Phew! Nice spot.

[Single-O-Seven]

I think there is an opening in Q Branch for you...

[MarcAngeDraco]

It's not really hex code, and the granborough key was specifically put there by Silva as one of the 'breadcrumbs' for MI6 to find & follow.

At least that's the way I saw it...

[thecasinoroyale]

.....touche!

[MkB]

It's not really hex code, and the granborough key was specifically put there by Silva as one of the 'breadcrumbs' for MI6 to find & follow.

At least that's the way I saw it...

Well, it occurred to me only at the third viewing, but really all the non-highlighted groups of letters seemed to be hexadecimal code (as far as I was able to read), and on the top right corner of the screen I really think I read something like "hex decode", at least there was "hex".

[Dustin]

Splendid observation, wouldn't have noticed this in years!

[Pussfeller]

Well, the computer visuals in SF are a bit romanticized, to put it mildly. But just try creating a visually interesting scene where two guys are hunched over a debugger window.

[MkB]

Well, the computer visuals in SF are a bit romanticized, to put it mildly. But just try creating a visually interesting scene where two guys are hunched over a debugger window.

Quite!
Really I don't have a problem with the glamourization of the computer bits, I was just stressing that out for the sake f discussing all details 'til we're blue in the face
One funny thing, though: I've heard that Mendes has been paying an extraordinary attention to detail on set. For instance, even if they can't be seen on screen, the books in M's flat have been chosen to reflect her personality. So it's a bit odd that when it comes to digital stuff the attention to the detail goes through the window, for the greater benefit of the visuals! Maybe a generational thing?

[Roebuck]

Lowdown on IT security in Skyfall from a proper IT security bod.

http://io9.com/59603...enes-in-skyfall


It’s a relief to know it’s not just us Bond fans who take this stuff far too seriously.

[MkB]

Lowdown on IT security in Skyfall from a proper IT security bod.

http://io9.com/59603...enes-in-skyfall


It’s a relief to know it’s not just us Bond fans who take this stuff far too seriously.

LOL! Thanks Roebuck, interesting article!

C'mon, this is Silva's super computer hacking lab? In a room full of dust, with no climate control, and servers that look like an LED project from MAKE magazine? OK fine — it does look pretty cool. But do not ever do this to your actual servers, unless they really are just blinky lights.

Actually, I brought that up as early as the trailer where we saw a glimpse of the interrogation scene... I even thought that it could NOT be a server room, because not only there is no climate control, but the LED loaded motherboards do not even have mere fans, it seems, since the room is perfectly silent. My theory was that it might be a *former* server room, put out of service by Bond presumably, with only the bare bones left.
Good observation, wrong thinking, I guess

[Roebuck]

C'mon, this is Silva's super computer hacking lab? In a room full of dust, with no climate control, and servers that look like an LED project from MAKE magazine? OK fine — it does look pretty cool. But do not ever do this to your actual servers, unless they really are just blinky lights.

Actually, I brought that up as early as the trailer where we saw a glimpse of the interrogation scene... I even thought that it could NOT be a server room, because not only there is no climate control, but the LED loaded motherboards do not even have mere fans, it seems, since the room is perfectly silent. My theory was that it might be a *former* server room, put out of service by Bond presumably, with only the bare bones left.
Good observation, wrong thinking, I guess

It’s sort of like the communications satellite from TND that's just left standing in a hallway (which for plot purposes didn’t even need to be a real satellite).Technology in a Bond movie is only there to serve the story, and we all appreciate the need for artistic license when it comes to these things, but I think it at least should feel authentic.

[JimmyBond]

I always found it odd they left a very expensive satellite sitting in the open like that where somebody could easily knock it over. And Bond does just that.

[Roebuck]

I always found it odd they left a very expensive satellite sitting in the open like that where somebody could easily knock it over. And Bond does just that.

Somebody once told me these things are meant to be kept in clean rooms atmospherically controlled to limit particles larger than 0.5 microns to less than 10,000 per cubic foot of air. Dust particles are fatal to the sensitive electronics inside a satellite, yet Carver stores a hundred million dollars worth of kit in a newspaper office in Hamburg?

By contrast the design of Professor Metz satellite laboratory in DAF may not have been particularly accurate, but for the time it looked credible.

[Roebuck]

Sort of tying in with all of this is an essay from Adi Tantimedh about hackers as the preeminent movie baddies of the moment. Naturally, Silva gets a look in.

http://www.bleedingc...acker-bogeyman/