Universal Rule

Book Reviews

Friday, October 25, 2002

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Why PDF sucks: "[...] I want to address the apologia's author's words on PDF. I wish PDF-for-ebooks would fold up and die, but it won't. [...] I merely note that PDF is inextricably based on a page unit. Unchangeable page boundaries are stupid. They are artifacts of the paper medium, meaningless in themselves, subject to change even among different editions of the same book. Yes, many information-management techniques (e.g. indexing) are based on them, but that doesn't mean the page is an unquestioned good; it means that the techniques need to evolve. No, it isn't the much-touted reading experience that frustrates me about PDF. Partly, it's Adobe successfully creating the widespread illusion (mentioned in the apologia) that PDF is non-proprietary. Of course it's proprietary. It is completely owned by Adobe." [Caveat Lector]

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Critical flaw found in Kerberos: "A critical vulnerability has been discovered in Kerberos which could allow attackers to circumvent the authentication system." [Google Technology News]

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Top Ten Digital Photography Tips: "You have a digital camera and have recorded the typical shots of family and friends. Now what? Here are ten tips to make your next batch of digital images so impressive that people will ask: "Hey, what type of camera do you have?" Guess what? It's not the camera." [Meerkat: An Open Wire Service] [Mac Net Journal]

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Blogger Updates: "If you're looking for information regarding the Blogger hack, http://status.blogger.com is your friend." [megnut]

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My story Unlicensed Thoughts seems to be all too plausible after reading The Palladium Paradox: "Why we have everything to fear about the next operating system out of Redmond. When Microsoft announced its entry into the trusted computing arena in June, the requisite witticism within the IT industry was that putting Microsoft next to trusted is an oxymoron. Four months later, many smirks have disappeared as the plans progress and the true significance of code-name Palladium becomes ever more clear." [Privacy Digest]

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Mac Net Journal writes: "Confirmed: I can edit Radio OPML files with OmniOutliner. This may not be big news if you aren't interested in writing in an outliner, but the new beta of OmniOutliner can read OPML files and then export to OPML with no problems at all. I just used OO to do a little updating to my OS X apps ranked by category ongoing outline."

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Blogger Hacked: " A slashdot reader reported (on slashdot) that "Blogger has been severely hacked into, with users' passwords and e-mail addresses being replaced with 'hacx0redbyme' or 'hax0redbyme.' " Perhaps the most amusing comment in the ensuing discussion says "I'm glad I don't use a blog... I wouldn't want some l337 hax0r coming in and reading everything about my personal life!" But levity aside, is there some serious implication that a widely used web service is hacked? Is Pyra safe to use?" [MetaFilter]

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The death of the Internet: "The Internet's promise as a new medium is said to be "under attack" by big media companies that control the public's 'Net access, according to Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy." [Hypergene MediaBlog]

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IBM Chooses Linux for 'Blue Gene' Supercomputer: "IBM has chosen the open source Linux operating system to run on one of its largest, most powerful supercomputing projects, dubbed Blue Gene. "Linux ... would make the computer look like something people were used to and they could understand, so it would lower the barrier of acceptance," Jose Moreira, IBM Research's software architect for the Blue Gene project, told NewsFactor." [osOpinion]

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Spoofs of Apple Switch campaign: "I've been watching more TechTV in the past few months. Really like their spoofs of Apple's Switch campaign. Favorite so far is Cat Schwartz's funny and knowing "Cat Dating" spot." [JD's New Media Musings]

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Letter: Free Software Hurts U.S.: "Separate missives penned by a handful of congressmen apparently attack the software license that governs Linux -- and one calls for its explicit rejection in the U.S. cybersecurity plan. But authors of the second note say they're misunderstood. By Robert McMillan." [Wired News]