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A happy 2012

mark — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 00:21:16 +0000

The Maya people were wrong. This will be your year! Enjoy.

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Say NO to ACTA

mark — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 04:52:50 +0000

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=citzRjwk-sQ]

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I am number 3,986,983,831

mark — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 20:45:20 +0000

Quite interesting. The world's population is expected to hit seven billion in the next few weeks, and the BBC has an interesting site up to illustrate what an enormous number of people that is. Fun too, you can see what your approximate number you were in the long of people at your time or birth. Check which one you are here.

Comments:

Hi, I am currently working with Mint.com and wanted to share their funny 404 Dating Page with you! You can check out the page here: www.mint.com/404 I saw that you posted about other fun 404 pages and thought this would be good for your blog readers or social media contacts. I think this is a great example of literally “putting yourself out there”. Here is some more information on Mint’s Developer Justin - He likes slow cars, sharp crayons, reheated pizza and awkward silence! Feel free to post the link on your website and share on Facebook and Twitter! Thanks PS. Let me know if you have any questions or need any more info about Justin. Thanks, Jonathan West Marketing Director jonathanwest997@gmail.com (913) 837-3055
Jonathan West | link | Thu, 15 Dec 2011 10:36:41 +0000

Generation X Doesn’t Want to Hear It

mark — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 22:27:41 +0000

As an official member of Generation X I found this post by Mat Honan quite brilliant: Generation X Doesn't Want To hear It.

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Miss Jobs, but don't go overboard

mark — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 13:28:04 +0000

The news of Steve Jobs' death last week was sad and, to some, sudden. It generated (and is still generating) a lot of buzz, a veritable outpouring of articles, blogs, columns, talks, speeches and books along the lines of "what a great man we've lost, what are we to do now?" Let me be perfectly frank: I do agree that Jobs was a great innovator, and to some degree a visionary in the computer, on-line and entertainment business. I do not agree that he was the giant almost god-like superman that he is being portrayed as. In these cases it almost feels as if all writers and responders are one-upping each other in the superlatives used to describe the man. Let's not forget the at times abrasive personality and fuck you attitude displayed and the fact that he completely ignored the people and companies that helped Apple through the hard times once Apple had risen again. Yes, I am talking of Adobe, the one major company that kept publishing their products for Apple's waning platform throughout the slow years, but was shafted by Jobs as soon as he thought himself bigger than anyone. What aggravated me was the fact that Jobs slagged off Adobe's products and technology while his real reasons were purely commercial. Jobs was the King of Closed Ecosystem Publishing. Anyway, Steve Jobs' passing is sad, but not world-ending. So please stop writing the weepy drivel that has been pouring out of my RSS reader for the past week, and maybe spend some time remembering some other greats in our business. Dennis Ritchie died yesterday, and with his passing goes a man that has meant more for the computer industry but who has been doing his work in the background for years. Let's not forget that Jobs' OSX runs on a grandchild of Mr. Ritchie's invention UNIX and is programmed using a version of Mr. Ritchie's other invention C. So grieve Jobs but honor Ritchie, publicly and loudly.

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This is why the world ridicules the Belgians

mark — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 18:53:14 +0000

Oh snap, the thing that everybody IN THE WORLD predicted would happen, happened. Some Belgian newspapers sued Google in 2006 because Google was linking to them and the wanted money. Now the courts have ruled in their favor, they got some money and (of course) Google stopped linking to them. And now they're complaining that they are being "unfairly punished" because Google is no longer sending them traffic. Well DUH! Einstein, what did you actually think would happen? You bit the hand that feeds you, i.e. sue the site that is sending you traffic, and now they cut you off and you whine like spanked little children? And you wonder why the whole world thinks you're money-grabbing bungholes who are desperately clinging on to a dying business model? And why Belgians are universally giggled at? As Mike Masnick put it: "So, let me get this straight. When Google links to them, it's 'theft.' But when they don't link to them, it's 'harsh retaliation.' How does that work?" More info at Techdirt. UPDATE: Excellent op-ed piece by Max Smoley at Hyper Om. UPDATE 2: Oh. My. God. Google had "talks" with Copiepresse, and has received "permission" to link to the newspapers after all. If I were Google I'd have spit in their coffee, giggled a lot and then gone home. Full info right here.

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Hackers should target patent trolls, really

mark — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 03:29:11 +0000

There's two news subjects that have been keeping me busy lately, and I'm starting to think that the first subject could greatly help the world by kicking the ass of the second. Maybe then we can get a handle on the third. I guess I should clarify that, before the men in white coats arrive: The two subjects I am talking about are hackers and patent trolls. The third one is the defunct patent system. Patent trolls are greedy, bad people and companies with an (unfortunately non-lethal) deficiency in scruples that use the broken US (and sometimes worldwide) patent system to extort other companies and people. Some examples: - A quite recently formed company named Kooltol is suing tech companies over a patent they don't even completely have yet covering "publishing and sending messages using one way or two way messaging and by subscribing to posts of other users of a network. By indexing each message of each user the system provides real time search capabilities to users of the network in turn creating a unique form of communication." (more info here) Sounds generic? Yeah, that's how these $@&!holes usually operate. - Lodsys, LLC. is suing Apple and a number of small app developers over their claimed patent on in-app purchases, among other things. This one has been dragging on for a while and is especially dastardly because they are going after small entities that do not have the economic means to defend themselves in a lengthy court case. Total douches. - Visual Interactive Phone Concepts, Inc., a "non-practicing entity" (translation: a company that does nothing but own two rather generic patents and sue people to get rich quick) that holds two "videophone mailbox" patents and has previously instigated patent infringement suits, filed lawsuits against Apple, Google, AT&T, and US Cellular.

The current patent system, specifically the way the USPTO works, is inherently flawed and is a great way for these patent trolls to squeeze money out of others. Don't get me wrong, there is no love lost between me and the corporations, but I have a great and fiery hatred of these patent troll saddle sniffers.

Now lately the press, some companies and several governments have been in a huff over a handful of very effective hacker groups. These groups have proven their ability to get the real inside secrets from many organisations and bring down a network or two (my PS3 is still recovering). I agree that their work is undoubtedly illegal, but I do see a trend of "white hattery" in their work, so maybe, just maybe, they should be targeting the patent trolls.

Really, how bad could it be? Here's the pros:

- Patent trolls' networks may be shut down, hindering their work

- The world may become privy to the inner workings of these companies

- They may get some major egg on their faces

Now before I get a shitload of lawyers or government agencies on my back: I do not condone or support illegal activities. I'm just musing here. Really. Look at this honest face, ok?

I'm not so delusional that I actually think any hackers really read my blog anyway, but a man can dream about a world where patent trolls are digitally spanked and maybe even eradicated.

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Best. 404. Page. Ever.

mark — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 16:28:39 +0000

The title says it all, don't it? http://visitsteve.com/404.html

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Wow, another US senator is actually pro-privacy?

mark — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 12:09:24 +0000

I know there are many, many people in the US, and the rest of the world for that matter, that are opposing the basically lawless behaviour of governments when it comes to your digital privacy and rights. In fact, the behaviour is not lawless but really based in draconian and human-rights violating laws which is much worse. Take the 1986 Electronic Communications Privacy Act in the USA for example. This act allows the government to acquire a suspect’s e-mail or other stored content from an internet service provider without showing probable cause that a crime was committed, as long as the content has been stored on a third-party server for 180 days or more. And with other rules ensuring that providers keep your email for longer than that, the US government can look into your email history if they "feel that it is necessary". No due cause, no warrant needed, easy. But, to my great surprise, Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Patrick Leahy has proposed a new bill (PDF here) that would require the government, for the first time, to get a probable-cause warrant to obtain e-mail and other content stored in the cloud. Wow. Another senator stepping up for digital civil rights? Maybe some of the people in power are finally waking up, and even better, daring to stand up for our rights. Amazing. Hold on to your party hats for now though, the bill is still not far-reaching enough. It is a first step, requiring warrants and probably cause for real-time traffic, not for the content stored for a longer time. Still, a step forward is a step forward. By the way, if you care about your digital privacy at all, support the EFF. You should be doing that already. Oh, and don't vote for assholes.

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The Shape of What the Hell?!

mark — Sun, 22 May 2011 23:29:59 +0000

This might be one of the best sleight of hand /card trick performances I've ever seen. Set to Sting's "Shape of My Heart", this is one mesmerising and amazing routine. Enjoy. [youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CMb0Bs6vLg]

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