Category Archives: technology

Security? We Don’t Need No Stinking Security!

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As someone who builds web applications, stories like this scare the hell out of me. “Apache.org suffered an attack affecting several services spread across different infrastructure”:http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=6123&tag=nl.e539, all stemming from a single XSS attack. To a sysadmin, the prospect that this could happen to them results in pure terror. At least for this sysadmin.

The guys at Apache are smart. They’re real smart. They’re so smart that if they are “sysadmins”, I should be considered some sort of pre-schooler who happens to know how to shell in to a server and copy/paste some lines of text. Just the fact that they can put together such a detailed account of how the attackers got in shows just how smart they are. I’ve been in charge of systems that were hacked before, and it is _extremely_ difficult to put together a detailed post-mortem like this.

So, the message for today is, watch your back, triple-check your security, and pray to whoever it is you pray to.

John Gruber Gets it Wrong?

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I have tremendous respect for John Gruber — which is a bit like a weekend hobbyist photographer saying they have tremendous respect for Henri Cartier-Bresson; who cares? — but “I think AppleInsider was right”:http://daringfireball.net/linked/2010/04/08/ai-expose. Many consider the app switching panel in OS X to be a component of Exposé. This means that the new app switching mechanism in OS X works very much like “Exposé”, depending upon your definition. It’s also worth noting that AppleInsider used some pretty specific language describing the way it would work:

bq. “Those familiar with the design of iPhone 4.0 said that the user interface will resemble Apple’s desktop Expose feature, in that a key combination — *reportedly hitting the Home button twice — will trigger an expose-like interface that brings up a series of icons representing the currently running apps*, allowing users to quickly select the one they want to switch to directly. When a selection is made, the iPhone OS zooms out of the Expose task manager and transitions to that app.” (Emphasis mine)

The important part there is the bit about the “icons”. John’s implied definition of Exposé would require a description where the applications are tiled on the screen.

Maybe it’s not fair to say John is wrong, but that he has a more strict view of what Exposé encompasses. The current Exposé page on Apple’s website doesn’t show the app switcher any more, but I’m pretty sure it used to back when Leopard was introduced. The app switcher interacts with Exposé in an important way, which is why some people include it.

*OS X App Switcher*

p{text-align: center;}. !http://images.apple.com/findouthow/mac/images/app_switcher_gallery_1.jpg(OS X app switcher)!

3D that I would actually buy

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“HP has a working prototype of an entirely new type of electrical component called the memristor”:http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-04/hewlett-packard-unveils-first-ever-memristor. It’s memory and a transistor bundled in to one. Remember that name, memristor. You’ll tell your kids that you were alive when the memristor was discovered, and you’ll reminisce about your first memristor powered computer. This is serious business!

A better mousetrap… err, battery

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I was pretty excited to hear that the iPad actually delivers on the promised battery life, so you can imagine my excitement when I saw this PopSci article claiming a “five-fold increase in li-ion battery capacity”:http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100315104040.htm by using a graphite anode. WHAT!?

For audience members not wishing to read a lengthy article on a subject matter that is great for those in need of a nap, I’ll break it down. Batteries, as you’ll remember from science class, work by placing an anode and cathode in to an electrolyte. The chemical composition of these components results in a migration of ions from the anode to the cathode. This migration of ions produces the flow of electricity that we expect from a battery — _yes, a gross over-simplification… nerd_.

In a normal lithium ion batteries (the type used in laptops, hybrid cars, cell phones, etc), the anode is composed of graphite. Graphite is good in this application because it is durable. A battery dies when the anode and cathode are destroyed through the chemical reaction that makes a battery work. Graphite is durable, so it makes a good anode. However, silicon allows the ions to flow more quickly, so it not only produces a more powerful battery, but a more efficient one. The trouble is that silicon isn’t nearly as durable.

KAPOW! Enter, nano technology.

bq. …by tapping into self-assembling nanotech, the Georgia Tech team has created a silicon composite material that circumvents the degradation issue…

So, silicon + new self-assembling nanotech = durable silicon anode. Problem solved, If they can manage to industrialize the production of this nano-material, we’ll all be browsing the web on our iPads for days on end.

Don’t believe everything you read/see

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Ever heard of the Nokia N97? It’s Nokia’s super phone, and it runs Symbian. It’s also a feature list orgasm. Seriously, if you look at the spec sheet, it’s every gadget freaks dream come true. Most phone nerds use it as a baseline when babbling on about how much the iPhone sucks. If you’ve seen the promotional video for the N97, you’d be inclined to believe that it really is a contender. Well, Mobile Inc has a nice little comparison video that shows the “N97 promo video vs real life”:http://www.mobileinc.co.uk/2010/03/nokia-n97-promotional-video-vs-real-life/. Oh man, that’s gotta sting when you get that thing out of the package and actually start using it.

Apple invites Vimeo to party, snubs YouTube?

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Apple has posted a web page containing a list of “iPad ready (really just HTML5 ready) websites”:http://www.apple.com/ipad/ready-for-ipad/ to their website. What’s interesting is that YouTube — a Google property — has been omitted from the list, despite the fact that they have an “HTML5 version”:http://www.youtube.com/html5 of the website available for public consumption. Oversight or passive aggressive behavior?

Perspective: this guy has it

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From the Digg file:

!(alignnone size-full wp-image-141)http://www.bradlanders.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/perspective.png!:http://www.bradlanders.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/perspective.png

In reference to a story about “7 people arrested in FBI raids linked to Christian militia group”:http://detnews.com/article/20100328/METRO/3280313/Seven-arrested-in-FBI-raids-linked-to-Christian-militia-group