Universal Rule

Book Reviews

Friday, November 29, 2002

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Identity Theft Highlights Serious Security Flaws: "Much attention has been focused on high-tech solutions, but this week's bust points out the simple problems with passwords." [Google Technology News]

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That Finder Thing: "UI design decisions at Apple are now in the hands of people who do not understand good UI design. What makes it sad is not just that Apple[base ']s standards used to be so much higher, but that there are still so many talented designers working there." (Daring Fireball via MyAppleMenu) [MyAppleMenu]

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Ceramics: Hope for Old Hip Bones: "NASA-sponsored scientists are developing a way to mold custom ceramic hip joints for those in need of replacement. That's good news for the 300,000 Americans a year who need artificial hips. By Louise Knapp." [Wired News]

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Viruses, anti-viruses and the law of the land: "This story talks about DMCA, and how to make an argument for a class of work to be exempt from its anticircumvention section. It has occured to me that there's a case for exempting a class of works called "computer programs" for security reasons. Briefly, an anti-virus cannot operate on encrypted program files if it is not allowed to try and decrypt them, hence program files should be exempt from the prohibition to decrypt. The case, I reasoned, is probably not strong enough to win, but worth trying anyway. So I began thinking in this direction. Something else has occurred to me in process, and that's a different story." [kuro5hin.org]

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The Great Anonymity Debate: "The technological architecture of the internet has not (to this point) allowed for any real sense of identification. It would seem that the societal pressures to change that are mounting, and I'd argue that the technology world is *going* to have to deal with this change head on. The anonymous realm of the internet is going to be, at the very least, cordoned off into some identifiable areas." [Digital Identity World]