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  • 1 min read

“Why are our politicians so full of themselves?”

Another excellent Peggy Noonan column:

"How exactly does it work? How does legitimate self-confidence become wildly inflated self-regard? How does self respect become unblinking conceit? How exactly does one's character become destabilized in Washington? …" "…What is wrong with them? This is not a rhetorical question. I think it is unspoken question No. 1 as Americans look at so many of the individuals in our government. What is wrong with them? " (from Peggy Noonan in the Wall Street Journal)

I always love her stuff!

  • 2 min read

The myth of the safety of signed code

This is commonly accepted wisdom : When I download and install an application on my computer (any platform) it is a accepted wisdom that if the application is signed with a recognized and valid certificate, I am practicing safe download and my computer isn't going to be damaged. This belief is so entrenched that I will probably be labelled as "just doesn't get it" by the cognecenti for saying that the emperor has no clothes. In many cases for most users, there's no additional safety. When users download an application that is not validly signed, they get various forms of ominous warnings about their computer being exposed to grave danger. So far so good. However if the certificate is valid, the speed bump is removed, they are happily told that the application was signed by for example "Microsoft Corporation." and if they trust Microsoft they can download in comfort. That's the myth. There's the flaw. Why? Two reasons: first , many people use software from lesser known companies… Let's say the message is "… if you trust software from Matrix Software in Madrid Spain" then you can download in comfort. Even if you think you know Matrix Software, you certainly don't know whether in Madrid has other companies called Matrix Technology, or Matrix Inc., or Matrix Systems, each of which could be a malware producer. Second, related reason: Let's say the message is "… if you trust software from Sun in London, U.K. …" then you can download in comfort. How do you know if this is _the _Sun Microsystems that you thin it's about? The myth is promulgated every time a user is reminded that it's dangerous to run unsigned or not validly certified software and that it's perfectly safe to run certified software. As you can see, it's pretty easy for a malware provider to sign their software with a valid certificate and get the help from the OS vendors in gaining undeserved trust from end users. Why has no one called out this myth for what it is? The emperor has no clothes!

  • 1 min read

What’s the best Blogging client on Windows?

You can do your blogging by typing into a web browser form provided by the Movable Type service. But boy is that clumsy and awful. So for a while now I've used so-called " blogging clients" which provide a nice rich interface to write and edit the posts, and then use the server's APIs to actually send the update or change up to the server. On Mac, I use the fairly wonderful Ecto for OS X - Recommended! On Windows, I tried all the free ones that I found recommended, and only w.bloggar was stable enough to actually use, although I didn't like the user interface. I also tried tried ShartMT and Ecto for Windows. Despite my best efforts, neither one was stable enough to use. In the end, I found and am now using the BlogJet - Clean and simple.

  • 1 min read

[JAVAONE] Worldwide gathering of the Java faithful

47385231_153147920_0[1].jpg What a difference this conference is from the ones I usually go to. Ten thousand or so fairly hard-core Java programmers, more or less around the clock, learning about Java in all it's mysterious variety. 47390844_153169275_0[1].jpg

  • We get to learn how Sun thinks about its stewardship of Java

  • We get to see the latest new features, concepts, directions of all the multitude of parts of the java universe

  • We get to dive deep, really, really deep, into many nooks and crannies of the technology platform

  • 1 min read

Amusing junk mail story

About 3 months ago I subscribed to Atlantic Magazine, which I really like, by the way. On a lark, I gave my name as "Pito Atlantic Salas" because, well, it amused me. It's taken about 3 months and I've received my first bit of Atlantic generated junk mail today: Pitoatlantic Technorati Tags: funny, junkmail, spam

  • 1 min read

Yahoo IM Spam

I have IM accounts on Yahoo, AOL and MSN. Actually I use the AOL by far the most, but I have an occasional correspondent on Yahoo and MSN. By the way, on Mac OS X, I use the terrific client "Adium" which talks all those protocols, and is free. It is a nice UI on to the well known GAIM (GNU AIM) open source project. Almost daily I get one or two new IM pings from unknown people, or more likely, robots, with some kind of a spam element, which I have to block to stop. The weird thing is, the IM Spamis always from Yahoo , never from AOL or MSN. Are they doing something different? Technorati Tags: IM, spam

  • 1 min read

Distributed philanthropy network

I came across a good story about ModestNeeds.org from Deborah Finn's blog, where she says:

"In other words, although philanthropy no longer looks like it did in the time when most people lived in small towns and interacted on a face-to-face basis, it is an activity and a spirit that is alive and well. I would love to see John and Paul deploying their skills as researchers to document the ModestNeeds phenomenon and its implications." (from Deborah Finn)

Check it out: ModestNeeds.org Technorati Tags: philantropy

  • 1 min read

What if we all vote on the truth, part 3

Just a final follow up on this interesting story (actually more of an event than a story because it was over so quickly:) Jeff Jarvis of Buzzmachine has an interesting view on why the Wikitorial experiment (seems to have) failed, and how to do it differently:

"The LA Times didn't understand what it was doing and made three criticial mistakes. […] 1. Collaboration vs. argument […], 2. Care and feeding […], 3. Newspaper ego […]" (from Buzzmachine)

Technorati Tags: wiki, wikipedia