Watching the Watchers

Haiti and How You Can Help

sensico — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 17:23:05 -0500

As many of you know an earthquake hit Haiti and has caused a collapse of buildings leaving everything in rubble. This already poor country does not have the money or infrastructure to support itself. Though the U.S. and other countries have vowed to help and send aid to the people of Haiti, it's still important to donate even a little money to help those in need. MSNBC has provided a list and information on how you can donate and help.

Google Hacked Via IE Exploit

Rich — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 17:19:59 -0500

There has been considerable coverage in the press over the last few days of Google's claim that its network had been attacked from China, possibly with the connivance or active support of the Chinese government, and Google's threat to withdraw from that market. It has also been reported that several other large technology companies, notably Adobe, were also attacked. Google said that the attackers apparently made of with some of its software, in addition to attempting to access the E-mail accounts of Chinese human rights activists.

EmploymentCrossing Helps Job Seekers

R.M. Yates — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 16:52:28 -0500

The Internet can be a powerful tool when it comes to finding a job. But figuring out which of the dozens of web sites on the vast World Wide Web could best help you land that job is difficult. EmploymentCrossing is a site that provides expertise on everything every other job site has to offer.

EmploymentCrossing finds the jobs posted on every other site and shows them in one spot. No more hopping from site to site to find out what's available. If they've got it, you'll find it at EmploymentCrossing. The site also checks the employment listings on every company web site they can find and displays those jobs too.

While other job-seeking sites are free to job hunters, EmploymentCrossing charges $49.95 for 30 days of access but it does offer a free trial period. This is because the other sites charge the companies by the listing or a fee if the company finds the right employee through their site. The companies have no fee to worry about from EmploymentCrossing.

EmploymentCrossing reviews detail how the site can work from those who found their new job using the site. It's a site for those who are serious about finding the right employment.

What I’m Looking Forward to in 2010

Simon Mackie — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 15:23:48 -0500

I still can't really believe that the ânoughtiesâ have nearly gone; it'll be 2010 in less than a month. I've been thinking about 2010 (what an impossibly futuristic date that sounds!) and what it might hold in store for me as a web worker.

Medical Test Data on Wolfram|Alpha

Bertalan MeskÃ³ — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 15:17:02 -0500

Scienceroll.com readers know well I'm an admirer of WolframAlpha: I use WolframAlpha because sometimes (if I know exactly what I want to find) it saves me plenty of time and clicks. If I want to calculate BMI, Google lists me several calculators. WolframAlpha calculates it itself.

Influenza Virus Growth in Eggs

Vincent Racaniello — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 15:10:18 -0500

Before the development of cell culture, many viruses were propagated in embryonated chicken eggs. Today this method is most commonly used for growth of influenza virus. The excellent yield of virus from chicken eggs has led to their widespread use in research laboratories and for vaccine production. In fact the vast majority of influenza vaccines -- both inactivated and infectious -- are produced in chicken eggs. How is influenza virus propagated in eggs?

The Fair Use Hammer

Derek Bambauer — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 15:09:23 -0500

The Joel Tenenbaum â RIAA case has produced a terrific opinion by Judge Nancy Gertner of the District of Massachusetts. This is the most thoughtful, balanced, and insightful copyright opinion I've read in years.

Hyper Hygiene Increases Allergies, Auto-Immune Conditions

Rich — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 15:01:56 -0500

One of the slightly odd things that emerges when one looks at the history of health problems in the developed world is that, although the incidence and severity of infectious diseases, such as tuberculosis, has steadily declined, the incidence of allergic and auto-immune conditions, such as eczema and asthma, has increased. In some cases the increase is quite significant.

How I Found Design

Fil Salustri — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 14:58:08 -0500

A student of mine, apparently taken by my enthusiasm for design, once asked me how I had come to the field. This gave me pause, because as I tried to formulate an answer, I found myself pushing further and further into my memory. Finally, I told the student, "It's a long story," because I realized it all started when I played in my parents' gravel driveway as a child. I think the story is interesting, not because I love talking about myself, but because of how natural a progression it was.

Priority = Impact + Effort

Fil Salustri — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 14:57:05 -0500

There's many time management systems and software tools that include the concept of priorities. But priorities change with time and circumstance. Priorities can be useful, but not if you're constantly re-evaluating them to keep them accurate. I think we can get around this conundrum with a combination of due dates and measuring one or both of two other characteristics: impact and effort.

Email, Social Media at Work, and the Next Big Thing

Fil Salustri — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 14:55:07 -0500

Recently, on CBC Spark, host Nora Young interviewed Luis Suarez about quitting email at work. You can also see Suarez's Web 2.0 Expo talk at Youtube. It got me thinking about the role of software in our lives -- especially in our work lives, and that regardless of how many new applications and systems are popping up, we're still missing the Next Big Thing -- maybe.

In Defense of Euthanasia

Fil Salustri — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 14:53:21 -0500

My father died in 2008, of colon cancer. He went into hospital April 17th and he died June 8th at the age of 91. For those seven weeks â most of which he spent in the palliative ward -- he showed remarkable grace and dignity, in spite of what was happening to him and around him. There was relatively little physical pain, thanks to the drugs they administered. At first, the doctors held out some hope that they could do something to help him. There was a battery of extensive and conclusive tests conducted immediately upon his admission to hospital. By April 19th, they knew his condition was terminal, because the cancer had spread aggressively to his liver. And that's when my dad started asking, calmly and seriously, for a morphine overdose.

Juries and Fair Use

Derek Bambauer — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 14:35:34 -0500

As copyright folks know, fair use is messy, case-specific, and fact-intensive; it's a muddy standard and not a crystal rule. Thus, it's generally something that ought to be handled by juries, upon which we depend for resolution of tough fact issues. However, I don't think that Boston University graduate student Joel Tenenbaum was correct in arguing that his fair use claim should go before a jury.

14 Days to Seal History’s Judgment on This Generation

transitionwestmarin — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 14:42:06 -0500

Today 56 newspapers in 45 countries take the unprecedented step of speaking with one voice through a common editorial. We do so because humanity faces a profound emergency. Unless we combine to take decisive action, climate change will ravage our planet, and with it our prosperity security. The dangers have been becoming apparent for a generation. Now the facts have started to speak: 11 of the past 14 years have been the warmest on record, the Arctic ice-cap is melting and last yearâs inflamed oil and food prices provide a foretaste of future havoc. In scientific journals the question is no longer whether humans are to blame, but how little time we have got left to limit the damage.

AIDS Drug AZT Inhibits XMRV

Vincent Racaniello — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 14:14:42 -0500

Xenotropic murine leukemia virus related virus (XMRV) has been implicated in prostate cancer and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Because XMRV is a retrovirus, it has been suggested that it might be susceptible to some of the many drugs available for treatment of AIDS. Of ten licensed compounds evaluated for activity against XMRV, just one, AZT (azidothymidine), was found to inhibit viral replication.

If Carbon Cuts Were Wages…

Dave Bath — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 10:36:27 -0500

Imagine if the rules for carbon emissions constraint by different countries were applied to wages and taxation within the community: Those who are poorest would be hardest hit, needing to return to wages of a few years agoâ¦ and as most would be young "developing" workers, that might be before they were working, or working for a pittance as a trainee. Meanwhile, the wealthiest might well be getting more money, based on their income from boom times when they were ripping everyone else off through commissions on dodgy derivatives. There'd be a bloody revolution.

Terrorist Trials in N.Y.C.

wok3 — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 10:32:36 -0500

Many conservatives seem to think that the suspects we have in custody do not deserve a trial, as they are seen as Prisoners of War. POW's do not have a right to trial, and are normally interned for the duration of the particular conflict. And that might pose a problem here, as technically the war on terror will never actually be over, and these prisoners were never soldiers of a particular country. Not to mention the fact that we have already arrested, tortured, and even managed to kill some of those we believed to be our enemies, and the only problem here of course is that we managed to arrest innocent people, and even kill some of them while in custody. So, indefinite detention seems a rather imperfect solution to the problem.

I’m the Poster Child for Public Healthcare

Lara — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:03:30 -0500

I am a poster child for public health. Why do I say this? Because I live in a state where there is a low-income, public healthcare option. When I was diagnosed with breast cancer, I was able to utilize this option for my treatment. It worked, and it worked extremely well.

Broadband on Wheels

R.M. Yates — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 11:05:28 -0500

Wireless broadband has become a common, useful tool for many people. Toyota has recognized this by introducing a 2010 Prius outfitted with wireless built-in broadband connection. It's like having a smart phone on wheels.

Opening the Vote

Rich — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 10:35:03 -0400

Maybe there's something in the air. After the recent news that Microsoft is going to publish the documentation of the PST file format used by Outlook, there is now an article in Wired reporting that Sequoia Voting Systems will publish the source code for their new optical-scan voting system. This is, in its own way, as noteworthy as the announcements of Microsoft's new openness; Sequoia historically has fought tooth and nail to keep its source code and other details of its systems secret.

Russian Ministry Wants ISPs to Filter Internet

Bruce Etling — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:09:22 -0400

Evegeny Morozov over at Foreign Policy recently shared this story from the Russian site InfoX.ru, which reports that Russia is considering technical filtering options. ONI research has not found technical filtering in Russia to date, so if this plan goes through it could be one of the first known instances of technical filtering in Russia.

Defining Network Neutrality

Derek Bambauer — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:04:09 -0400

The net neutrality fight is on, as FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski's proposal for new rules moved on to a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. Now, the two sides are digging in: AT&T, telcos, and unions on one side; Google and content providers on the other. I tend to favor protecting end-to-end in the Internet context, but I'm a bit worried about what the net neutrality rules will look like in practice.

Remote Safety

Rich — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:02:58 -0400

Almost since the first time-sharing computer was accessed with a dumb terminal, a phone line, and a modem, maintaining the security of remote access has been the concern of system administrators. We use passwords, of course, but these suffer from a number of potential problems, as I've discussed before. Two-factor authentication schemes have been used in an attempt to bolster security, but they can be attacked, too.

The Trojan Horse, 2.0

Rich — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:58:45 -0400

I'm sure most readers are familiar with the story of the Trojan Horse, told most notably in Virgil's Latin epic, The Aeneid, in which the Greeks used a clever trick â a giant horse with soldiers hidden inside â to overcome the city of Troy. In the computing world of today, a Trojan Horse is a malicious program disguised as a program that does something useful.

Homelessness and Efficient Breach

Dave Bath — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 17:02:25 -0400

There is a pernicious bit of contract law theory called "efficient breach", beloved of unscrupulous capitalists, "the view that a party should be allowed to breach a contract and pay damages, if doing so would be more economically efficient than performing under the contract". But would they want long-term homeless folk reading Posner, breaching not a contract to supply widgets, but the social contract?

Some Countries Disallow Disinheritance

Joseph William Singer — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 16:54:46 -0400

Both Great Britain and the United States have long traditions of letting individuals write wills to determine who owns their property when they die. However, most other countries in Europe consider it both remarkable and close to barbaric to allow parents to disinherit their children; indeed, in 26 of 27 European Union countries, a large part of the estate of the deceased is reserved in equal shares for surviving children.

Improving Microsoft Outlook

Rich — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 16:50:14 -0400

Rob Pegoraro of the Washington Post has a new blog post about Microsoft's announced intention to publish the specification of the Personal Storage Table (.pst) file format used by its Outlook E-mail and personal information management application. By documenting the workings of Outlook's Personal Storage Table (PST) formatâone of my least-favorite locked formatsâMicrosoft would make it far easier for developers to write Outlook-compatible software to complement or replace that widely used program.

Addiction Treatment Calls for Tough Choices

R.M. Yates — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 16:48:00 -0400

Having a loved one who is struggling with drug addiction or alcoholism can be an overwhelming situation to navigate. Figuring out what kind of help might work, then finding the program that will fit your needs while having to keep in mind your financial budget is difficult.

When News Comes Up from Underground

Doc Searls — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 11:08:19 -0400

Three days ago Jonathan MacDonald witnessed an altercation in the London Underground at the Holborn Station, between -- as Jonathan reports it -- a uniformed Underground staffer an elderly man whose arm had just been released from doors that had closed on it while he was leaving. The staffer was loud and rude, while the passenger was calm and gentlemanly. Jonathan also recorded the last of the event on video â and blogged the event, video and all.

Just Finished Reading: Zeitoun

cbracy — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 10:50:59 -0400

Zeitoun is Dave Eggers' latest about a unique family from New Orleans and their Katrina experience. Abdulrahman Zeitoun is a Syrian immigrant who settles in New Orleans in the mid-80s and builds his own painting and contracting business from the ground up. The book tells the story of how he ends up embroiled in a Kafka-esque nightmare that highlights everything that was wrong with the W. Bush era, and which was so poignantly exposed during the Katrina response.

Home-Grown Goodies Listed on VeggieTrader.com

jessieshires — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 20:40:13 -0400

Veggie Trader (veggietrader.com)envisions becoming a space where folks can share the respective bounty of their yards and gardens, trading with other growers or selling to those without a fertile patch of ground to call their own. Itâs the ultimate in local, that buzzword du jour, and is even a little subversive in its primarily barter-based economy. I like thatâsubversion can be at its most effective when it becomes commonplace, everyday. Policy change still needs to happen, but this is something you can do right now, without waiting for the creaky wheels of bureaucracy to turn.

Unique Gene Mutations Identified in Mesothelioma Tumors

mesothelioma — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 20:15:16 -0400

New DNA sequencing technology at the Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) has identified several new unique genetic mutations in mesothelioma cancer cells that were previously unidentified. The findings serve as promising evidence that the improved sensitivity and effectiveness of DNA sequencing technology is providing more pertinent and rapid results in relation to cancer gene profiling.

Obama Promises $5 Billion for Medical Research

mesothelioma — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 19:57:03 -0400

President Obama announced plans to contribute $5 billion in medical research grants that the White House says will cumulatively provide "cutting-edge medical research in every state across America." The funds will be provided via Obama's $787 billion economic stimulus plan, and will largely be used to aid research into cancer, heart disease and autism. The president made the announcement while visiting the National institutes for Health on September 30.

Banking on Linux

Rich — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 19:51:29 -0400

Back in September, I posted a note about attacks on the two-factor authentication systems used by some online banking sites. One of my recommendations has always been to use a dedicated, carefully configured PC for this function; a PC that is not used for general Web browsing, iTunes, Facebook, and everything else under the sun. I've also suggested that using an OS other than Windows â specifically, Linux â is a useful additional precaution.

Tell Us What You Fear, What You Really Really Fear

Dave Bath — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 19:46:41 -0400

The thing that scares Murdoch and the like into wanting to move web content behind a paywall is not the ABC, nor bloggers, nor aggregators. What scares those moghuls most is firefox, or more accurately, the various browser add-ons that let you control what chews up your bandwidth, most notably AdBlock Plus.

Atlassian Offers Great Deal on Agile Tools

R.M. Yates — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 17:58:00 -0400

One of the most important facets of business software development is for programmers and users to collaborate on the creation of an object model that encapsulates the work being performed, the people who perform it, and the information that's produced. Agile software development is a popular methodology to reach this lofty goal.

Attitudes Toward Minimum Wage

philg — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 17:48:00 -0400

Now that teenage unemployment has reached 25 percent among those still actively seeking work (source), it seems like a good time to look at regulations that might discourage companies from hiring teenagers. Economists have traditionally said that the minimum wage law is the primary weapon wielded by older workers against the young.

Congratulations! You’re Hosed.

Rich — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 11:21:32 -0400

In his "Security Fix" blog at the Washington Post, Brian Krebs has an article about a new service being tested by Comcast, which warns customers that the ISP thinks their PC may be infected with malware, by opening a notification windows while the customer is browsing the Web.

"You Can Rent an Afghan But Never Buy One"

wok3 — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 11:17:45 -0400

That is an old saying about the people from Afghanistan, who have sort of made a habit of switching sides during long conflicts within their country. And with this in mind, and remembering the most successful part of the surge in Iraq, it seems President Obama might just be willing to rent some Afghans who are currently sided with the Taliban. All we have to do is pay more than the Taliban, and presto, we have a much quieter but only slightly less dangerous conflict.

An Ordinary book Made Into an Extraordinary Film

mystic wanderer — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 11:04:23 -0400

In the fifties, Ed McBain wrote a rather nondescript book, a crime thriller which had all the cliches and ingredients of a potboiler â wooden, flat characters mouthing banalities, the stereotype business tycoon, the tough cop etc. etc. There was, however, a distinct complexity to the plot, which though the author could barely leverage, but which the legendary Japanese director Akira Kurosawa recognized and transformed into a far more potent and profound film. King's Ransom, the book, became High and Low, the film.

Greens 4 Schumpeter?

Dave Bath — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 10:47:07 -0400

The financiers and uber-capitalists have long used for self-serving agenda the arguments of Schumpeter, while "Teh Left" has considered them heartless and obnoxious. But is it time greens, even radical greens, took up Schumpeter's most famous catchcry, "creative destruction", so often a philosophical pretext for business attacks on working conditions, to argue against the obscene coddling of Big Carbon by capitalist governments in the name of economic stability?

Fast Internet Available Everywhere

R.M. Yates — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 10:19:24 -0400

While many of us take fast Internet connections for granted, there are many locations in the world where cables have yet to be run. Residents in these areas often find themselves stuck with dial-up connections. (Remember those days when you clicked on a page and had time to make sandwich before it loaded?) Whether you have a cabin on a mountainside or a rural farmhouse, satellite Internet service can have you surfing web sites at blink-of-an-eye speeds, up to 50 times faster than a dial-up connection.

Canada’s Declining Internet Ranking – the Debate

nmboudin — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 10:46:35 -0400

Canada's broadband Internet access ranking slipped from second place to ninth place amongst 30 developed nations in the last 10 years, according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The OECD compares policies of its member countries with respect to environment, economics and social issues. The findings of the organization's surveys are widely accepted by its members to be benchmark data. The Internet access ranking was measured considering broadband availability, pricing, speed, and data caps.

Mail-Jacking Scheme Reported

Rich — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 10:42:27 -0400

On Monday, we began to hear reports that a large number of Microsoft Windows Live / Hotmail Web E-mail accounts had been compromised. This was subsequently confirmed by Microsoft: Over the weekend Microsoft learned that several thousand Windows Live Hotmail customers' credentials were exposed on a third-party site due to a likely phishing scheme. Upon learning of the issue, we immediately requested that the credentials be removed and launched an investigation to determine the impact to customers.

Technology in Africa

Scott Hartley — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 10:34:07 -0400

This week, with the help of Joshua To and Brute Labs, we launched MCHOPA.com. The site features the iconic Masai paintings of Gregory Mchopa, an artist whom Josh and I met in 2007 while consulting for Google.org. Dispatched as Business Development Consultants and lecturers in TechnoServe's "Believe, Begin, Become" national business plan competition, we read scores of business plans and advised entrepreneurs on framing problems, solutions, and market needs. It wasn't until our break, however, that we met Greg, dusty Nokia in hand, pitching deals in mile-a-minute Swahili. We offered web services; he agreed to inventory supply; we promised to return him 100% of the profits.

Death Ray and Filmstar Fold

Sarah — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 10:25:01 -0400

Death Ray and Filmstar magazines have closed, as Blackfish Publishing splits from their parent company Rebellion. According to a press release issued by managing director Matt Bielby, the current issues of both magazines (Death Ray issue 21, and Filmstar issue 5) will be their last.

Optimism About U.S. Economic Prospects

philg — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 10:23:28 -0400

I'm actually very optimistic about U.S. economic prospects in an unfettered market. Here are some reasons for optimismâ¦ The average American worker is better educated and more capable than the average worker worldwide. There are, of course, many excellent workers in countries such as China and Mexico, but on average a U.S. worker is more useful to a business. We have a better-than-average infrastructure of transportation, communications, electric power, and legal system. We have a lot of natural resources, including the basics of land and fresh water.

Online Poker Bill Could Provide Health Care Revenue

Publisher — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 10:06:56 -0400

What do onlinepoker and health care have in common? If an amendment offered by Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon,makes its way into law the profitable business of online gambling could generate revenue to aid health care by funding subsidies provided through the America's Healthy Future Act of 2009. The dollars would be aimed at helping low-income Americans.

Roman Polanski Revisited

zikipediq — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 17:23:49 -0400

A justice that does not spare the powerful and those protected by the powerful? I understand now why a minister of the French Republic --â who has carefully put his president and his ministers safe from justice -- finds that America is frightening.

China at 60: Misunderstood

leftoutside — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 17:20:06 -0400

Mao's China has been annihilated. 60 years on from its founding on the 1st October 1949 there is little recognisable about it. Although some on the left will lament the loss of this slightly more presentable face of state Socialism, this is a cause to celebrate.