Whenever I see unproven fear-based reports like this one, I’m reminded of all the fear-inducing reports in my childhood. Comic books were warping our fragile little minds, so when I was six, my mother threw away a huge collection of Bugs Bunny comic books that I’d been given by our neighbors before I could read [...]
Archive of entries posted on April 2009
“3D-based Captchas become reality”
Interesting idea. I can see how this would be a lot harder for hackers to work around, at least for the moment. But it won’t do anything against spambots that use other people to get around the problem, directly or by trickery.
The Learning Curve
Have you ever heard about MessagEase, the extremely fast and efficient text-entry method for small devices? Probably not, even though it’s been around for a long time. And why not? I firmly believe that it’s because of the learning curve — it takes at least a few hours of practice to see any real speed [...]
“Ragdoll Metaphysics”
I found the “Gaming the Pirates” section of this software developer interview completely fascinating. Piracy is a major problem in nearly all commercial software pursuits, but especially in games; these guys accepted it, planned for it in advance, and turned it to their advantage.
“Boffins invent automatic net-hookup roboffinry machines”
(For the British-challenged in the audience, “boffin” seems to mean “scientist.”) Why, when I read this, do I get a mental picture of a modern-day Paul Revere, buzzing through the streets on a moped, yelling “The Singularity is coming!”? Despite the rather alarmist tone of the article, I really don’t think it’s going to be [...]
“Scientists use virus to build a better battery”
When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. When life gives you a virus… enslave it to build things for you.
“U2 song whacked my hard drive”
Wow, I didn’t realize that today’s hardware was already intelligent enough to dislike U2. (I happen to like U2′s work, at least the stuff I’ve heard, but the joke was too good to pass up.)
“Exercises That Protect Against Carpal Tunnel Syndrome”
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. My mother has had operations for it; I’ve had precursors of it myself a few times. Hopefully these exercises will work to protect against it.
“French Reject ‘Three-Strikes’ Piracy Measure”
Uh-oh, looks like french fries are about to become “freedom fries” again.
“Conficker Doomsday Worm Sells Out For $49.95″
All that fear and hype, and it turns out to be nothing more than a spam-generator and password stealer? The author(s) really ought to be ashamed of themselves. An amusing bit from the end of the article: I’m personally grateful that it brought to mind a moment from the original Die Hard film. “You want [...]