Category: Resources

A Taste Of Computer Security

I’ve only just begun to read through this, but it certainly appears to live up to its billing.

A Taste Of Computer Security. andrew_ps writes “Amit Singh has published on his KernelThread.com a paper (mini book really) on computer security. A Taste of Computer Security is a VERY comprehensive paper in what it covers, but is remarkably easy to read. This is not some list of “sploits” though! Topics covered include popular notions about security, types of mal-ware, viruses & worms, memory attacks/defences, intrusion, sandboxing, review of Solaris 10 security and plenty of others. Most notably it includes probably one of the most fair and intelligent analysis of the Unix-Vs-Windows security issue that I have ever seen.” [Slashdot:]

Strange Attractor

More good insights to follow.

Strange Attractor.

Suw Charman joins Corante blog family with Strange Attractor (RSS feed) exploring patterns in the blogoshpere:

If you could visually represent the ebb and flow of my thoughts, you’d find a lot of swirly folded patterns emerging. The cause? Blogs – my very own strange attractors.

But blogs have a far wider effect than just making me think in swirly folded patterns, they are perturbing the business world as well. A disruptive technology that is more often than not smuggled in through the back door by evangelist employees, blogs are helping to unite previously scattered communities of interest.

Like instant messaging, blogging is gaining such a strong foothold amongst business users that by the time the management realises they have been infiltrated, they no longer have the power to switch it off. The corporate cat has to sit back and watch as the Trojan Mouse struts its stuff.

Loved the title: although there are not many formulas left in my head from my first degree in mathematical modelling, I still think about the world in terms of strange attractors and bifurcation points 🙂

[Mathemagenic]

Transportation Futuristics

You’ve just got to love this stuff! Some engineer is always dreaming up something new and improved. Great lessons in why good engineering doesn’t equate to feasible systems in the real world.

Transportation Futuristics.

heli_alum.jpg image

I would advise not clicking on the Transportation Futuristics link unless you have 30 minute or so to kill, because the Berkeley online exhibit is chock full of yesterday’s future today, and if you’re like me it’s impossible to stop looking at all the kooky ideas. Even better, as much as I love design concepts (like this aluminum commuter helicopter), a lot of the strange devices are actual prototypes that failed to take off (literally or figuratively).

Read – Transportation Futuristics [BerkeleyEDU via BoingBoing]

[Gizmodo]

The Definition of a Great Blog, Example #1

Kudos to Jack for this endorsement from Dennis Kennedy. Jack used to post great comments on my blog and drop me an email from time to time. I kept twisting his arm to start his own blog, which he finally did about a year ago. Now we all benefit from his insights.

The Definition of a Great Blog, Example #1

I am such a fan of Jack Vinson’s blog, Knowledge Jolt with Jack, which covers knowledge management and work practices.

Here’s how good it is.

Jack writes a post called Annual Ammonia Symposium. Not only do I look at it, but I read it, think about how it might have application to me, and now I am blogging about it.

For me, Knowledge Jolt with Jack is a blog that matters. Jack has earned my confidence and trust with his consistently excellent posts and now I’m ready to follow his interests wherever they lead. That’s a pretty damn good blog.

Today’s example: The Information Snowflake and Snowballs.

History of the Automatic Teller

The ATM is one of the now ubiquitous technologies that make up the backstory of our digital lives. If you want to grasp where things are today and where they are likely to go, one excellent way to start is to invest some time and effort in understanding how this backstory fits together.

History of the Automatic Teller. XopherMV writes “The line was long and slow, and he became increasingly irritated as his lunch hour dribbled away. All at once, he had a flash of inspiration. ‘Golly, all the teller does is cash checks, take deposits, answer questions like “What’s my balance?” and transfer money between accounts,’ recalls Wetzel, now 75 and still living in Dallas with his wife. ‘Wow, I think we could build a machine that could do that!’ And with a $4 million go-ahead from Docutel’s parent company, that’s exactly what he and his engineers did. Read more about the story of the ATM.” [Slashdot:]

New O’Reilly magazine: Make

While I have no time for it, sign me up anyway.

New O’Reilly magazine: Make. Make magazine coverToday, at OSCON in Portland, Dale Dougherty and I announced a new O’Reilly magazine called Make. It’ll be a quarterly, full-color magazine filled with fun projects and hardware hacks involving technology. (Dale is the editor and publisher, and I’m the editor-in-chief. Thanks to BB’s own John Battelle for getting me involved!)

Make will have 5-minute tips you can use to improve your gadgets, networks, and computers, as well as much longer projects that might take several days (or weeks) to complete. The first issue is coming out in January. If you’re interested, visit the web site and sign up for the newsletter. I’ll also be running the Make blog on that page. I hope that a lot of BB readers become Make contributors, too. Please send me your ideas for hacks, tips, tricks, workarounds, neat things to build, useful tools, etc. Link [Boing Boing]

Tangled Up in Glue

Redefining the notion of stickiness? Looks like a useful reference to know about

Tangled Up in Glue.

IDFuel has nice introduction to those substance most often needed after dropping a gadget to the floor (as opposed to the substance that caused you to drop it): glue. The trick to glue, of course, is to discover what types of surfaces you will be adhering together; after that, all you need is some deft swearing and some luck. I would also toss in to the mix a favorite link of mine, “This to That.com,” a simple webform that helps you pick what adhesive to use to glue two different (or the same, I guess) surfaces together.
Read – Stuck on You [IDFuel]
Read – This to That (Glue Advice) [ThisToThat]

[Gizmodo]

MBA Student Suvey Project: The Blog as a Meaningful Business Tool

More efforts to dig into the connections between blogs and organizations.

MBA Student Suvey Project: The Blog as a Meaningful Business Tool.

Matthew Lin wrote me and asked to help publicize his survey. If you leave your email addy at the end, he’ll share his report. Here is his email:

Dear Nancy,

My name is Matthew Lin, an MBA candidate at University of New Brunswick at Saint John, Canada. I am currently conducting a research on how weblogs are being used as business tools, and their particular implication for small and medium enterprises. I have designed a questionnaire in order to survey individuals who publish weblogs or can describe the reasoning behind their company’s weblog. The survey will be posted online for one month, starting next week. I am seeking your assistance to promote this survey to your readers, in hope of gathering a good cross-section of business weblogs. Please spread the word!

The survey is available at: http://business.unbsj.ca/bblog/

Additional information about this project (e.g., objectives, hypotheses) are available upon request.

Thank you for your consideration. If you are aware of others who might also be
interested in posting this questionnaire URL, please feel free to forward this email to them.

Sincerely,

Matthew Lin

[Full Circle Associates Online Interaction & Community Blog]

List of wiki engines

Seems writing a wiki tool is another rite of passage for programmers. Quite a remarkable list.

Holy Wiki. (via Tim Wilson) Think wikis are just a passing fad? This is an amazing list of wiki engines that makes me want to play even more. I can’t count the number of times I’ve been showing and talking about Wikipedia lately. The more I think about it, the more I wonder if collaborative construction of content won’t be the rule instead of the exception in the future. [Weblogg-ed News]