News

Me with a exclamation markWhat's new? What's got my attention? What do I find interesting?
 

This is the place those and other questions are answered. If I think it is newsworthy and fit to print, then this is where you will find it.

 



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Handgun as a Medical Device?

link to blog post Palm pistol being held

I think I have stumbled across my WTF moment for the month.

Constitution Arms (how's that for a name) claims that they have received federal approval to market a handgun as a medical device - because it has been designed to be used by the disabled and by seniors.

Stop YouTube (s.ytimg.com) Video Camera Spying

link to blog post

Did you know that your camera enabled computer can spy on you? Did you know that by watching that video or playing that cute game you may be allowing a site to watch you? Did you know that YouTube (via s.ytimg.com) seems to be one such site?

Lean how stop this here.

Arthur W. Burks, early computer theorist, dies.

link to blog post

Ah dammit, how did I miss this?

19-May-2008 - Arthur W. Burks, Early Computer Theorist, dies.  Burks worked on Eniac, (amongst other things) and wasn't one of the "old guard" so much as he was part of the "original guard".  I guess there aren't many left.

"s.ytimg.com wants to set a cookie" - Err... who?

link to blog post I was in Wikipedia today and and got a cookie request (from Firefox) for s.ytimg.com - of course I blocked it, third party cookies for cryptic domains are usually questionable. But the fact that it turned up while I was in Wikipedia made me wonder what it was.

So I looked into it...  then I unblocked it.

King Arthur is no longer a legend - according to the UK Home Office

link to blog post

The second edition of the United Kingdom's own study guide for immigrants on life in Britain states that the legendary King Arthur did exist, and that he led the British against invaders during the sixth century. Despite whatever pesky historians and encyclopedias might say.

Usability of the iPhone mobile phones in general

link to blog post

Over the past few days have been looking into the iPhone and its baby brother the iTouch, and I have to say that they are both becoming very interesting.

Previously I haven't had much interest in either of them - particularly the iPhone - because while I am a big fan of PDAs (I would be lost without my LifeDrive), I have never been a fan of smart phones - the segment that the iPhone is pitched at. Every smart phone I have tried to date has made me feel like they were trying to do too much, with the result that they felt both clunky and oddly incapable.

New Windows vulnerability may be the worst yet

link to blog post Hold on to your hats everyone, it's happening again...

A new, remotely executable, exploit for XP and Vista has been demonstrated and depending on upon how a worm will use it (a worm is sure to be developed for this), this could make Slammer and Sapphire look like cake-walks. I hope I'm wrong (but I'm probably not).

How to telnet to a POP server that requires SSL

link to blog post If you are anything like me, then every now and then you want to access a mail (POP3) server directly to sort out a problem without having a "helpful" email client get in the way. In these cases connecting to port 110 with telnet is the way to go.

But what about when the mail server has been set up to not allow plan-text connections (i.e. an SSL connection must be used)?

EFF guidelines attempt to relax copyright fair use

link to blog post

The EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) has formed a coalition with a number of universities and law schools who are attempting to clarify the concept of fair use in our remix age.

Leopards can't change their spots

link to blog post

As both a Mac user and industry "interested party" I have been watching the ongoing problems with Leopard (v10.5) with a great deal of interest, and I am struck by three feelings: