Blackmoor Vituperative

The response time of a Web page is critical to an application being fully utilized since users will quickly navigate to another site when/if load times are unacceptable. In this article, Tony Patton examines ways to optimize Web applications.

Optimize Web applications with reduced page size

There is nothing earth-shattering in this article, but it offers good, solid advice.

The US Department of Homeland Security has warned that attackers are exploiting an unpatched flaw in Windows to compromise systems via malicious websites.

Microsoft on Friday said it was investigating reports of a newly discovered, unpatched bug in the XMLHTTP 4.0 ActiveX control, which it confirmed was being exploited on malicious sites. The bug has the potential to infect a large number of systems. Since it doesn’t require any user interaction, a user must merely use Internet Explorer to visit a site containing the exploit.

(from TechWorld, Windows hit by zero-day flaw)

Does a house have to fall on you people for you to get the message?

1. Don’t use Internet Explorer!
2. Don’t use or enable ActiveX!

The Oracle move may give Linux a little more credibility in enterprise shops, but realistically its credibility is pretty high already. Expect Red Hat to feel some pressure to reduce prices, make more frequent releases, and try to out-innovate Oracle in ways that are not easily copied. Customers will benefit no matter who comes out on top.

(from ZDNet, Red Hat: Unfakeable Linux)

David Berlind, for one, is suffering from a recurring DRM nightmare, and it keeps getting worse. Depending on your point of view, DRM stands for Digital Rights Management or Digital Restrictions Management. David calls it C.R.A.P. — and warns that we should all be very afraid.

The bogeyman that haunts Ed Bott and so many other Windows users has been Microsoft’s Windows Genuine Advantage. In Vista, this anti-piracy program will only get worse, warns Ed. “Technically, it’s not a kill switch, but it’s arguably a near-death experience for your PC.”

What other terrors has technology wrought? Ten troubling examples:

1. Malware tricks
2. 64-bit drivers
3. Web 2.0 insecurity
4. Honest consumers driven to piracy
5. Virtualized SOA
6. Microsoft Zune
7. Floating nuclear plant
8. The DMCA
9. Electronic voting
10. Traceable ‘PattyMail’

And there’s plenty more scary tech here….

(from ZDNet, Technology that gives us the creeps)

I call “DRM” the “Digital Rights Mafia”, because that’s just what the DRM-pushers are: corrupt sleazeballs who use force to control, coerce, and rip off honest citizens while subverting our legal system in order to line their own pockets. RIAA, MPAA, and legislators who vote for abominations like the DMCA are the new Tammany Hall. Voters and consumers need to wake up and get rid of these scumbags.

The bottom line: Mozilla Firefox 2 is a winner, beating Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 on security, features, and overall cool factor and deserving our Editors’ Choice award.

(from ZDNet, Firefox 2 Review & Comparison)

Not all of the extensions (now called “add-ons”) which I used with Firefox 1.5 are available for Firefox 2.0. On the other hand, not all of them are needed anymore. Here is what I am using now:

1. Adblock
2. Adblock Filterset.G Updater
3. ColorZilla
4. CSS Validator
5. DictionarySearch
6. DOM Inspector
7. DownThemAll!
8. Duplicate Tab
9. Forecastfox
10. Google Browser Sync
11. gTranslate
12. Html Validator
13. IE Tab
14. Tabbrowser Preferences
15. ViewSourceWith

Oct 19, 2006

SpamCop and others are monitoring a huge global increase in spam volumes that started late last week. Networks are reporting anywhere from 30-50% increases in spam volume. On our system, this is causing occasional mail delays as our filtering systems struggle with the load. We’re working on installing more systems in the filters to increase our capacity but this won’t be finished for around a week. In the meantime, we may have delays during the middle of the day. We’re aware of the problem and doing what we can to mitigate it until all the new systems are operational.

(from SpamCop Email System News)

I have been getting swamped with spam over the last few days. Most of it has subject lines like “Momentous letter. You must to read.”

We really need a replacement for SMTP. Like, five years ago.

Apple Computer has reported that a small number of its popular video iPods were infected with a virus that targets Windows PCs before they were sold to consumers.

According to a statement issued by the hardware maker on Oct. 17, roughly 1 percent of the iPod Video devices it has shipped since Sept. 12 were loaded with the RavMonE.exe Windows Trojan during manufacturing.

(from eWeek, Apple Shipped iPods Carrying Windows Virus)

I don’t have a comment. I just think it’s funny.

The Department of Homeland Security redesigned its website over the weekend, and now all of the existing links to DHS documknts across the entire WWW are broken.

404 : Page can not be found
We recently redesigned our site and most pages have moved.

Here is a clue for would-be web designers out there. Never break hyperlinks.

As the Buggles told us, new technology kills old technology. Thanks to the DMCA and the media robber barons — aka the Digital Rights Mafia — DRM is killing innovation. In the latest death to functionality, the TiVo To Go is no more. TiVo Series 3 HD is Defective By Design.

If you want to help fight the Digital Rights Mafia, please also tell Congress to reform the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which limits unlocking DRM even to make legitimate uses, like moving recorded content to your portable video player.

You know you’re visiting a different kind of trade show when the signs for the new GUI on a product refer to an automatic weapon. You get a better idea when you find yourself standing beneath the main gun of the new Stryker mobile weapons system. But it really hits home when you visit the usually benign world of iRobot and find not Roombas, but instead autonomous killing machines.

(from eWeek, War Robots Invade Washington)

I want one. 🙂