Universal Rule

Book Reviews

Monday, May 31, 2004

-- Comment()
Mac OS X update fails to fix vulnerability: A major revision of Apple's Mac OS X operating system released this week fails to come bundled with a vital, recently-issued security fix. [...] Unless Apple faces up to the security issues its users face, its reputation for making secure operating systems, already damaged by its mishandling of these recently discovered vulnerabilities, will be further tarnished." [The Register]

I agree. This time Apple blew it badly, and needs a lot of work to regain the lost confidence.

Will all mobile phone be like Nokia 6820? -- Comment()
Nokia 6820 messaging phone: "Although this is a very limited device compared to more fully featured smartphones, there's much than it accomplish as both phone and PDA with greater ease than its rivals. Nokia has succeeded in putting a full QWERTY keyboard in a tiny and unobtrusive device. [...] After some time, we were wondering if someday all phones will have a QWERTY keyboard hidden under the cover." [The Register]

I have been using a Nokia 6800 for over a year now, and have been a relatively happy user. There are some inconveniences in key placement, which seem to be fixed in the new 6820 version. And having bluetooth is definetely an improvement.

Easy password to launch nuclear missiles -- Comment()
Keeping Presidents in the Nuclear Dark tells how the nuclear missiles had their password set to four zeros (that is, 00000000): 'Our launch checklist in fact instructed us, the firing crew, to double-check the locking panel in our underground launch bunker to ensure that no digits other than zero had been inadvertently dialed into the panel. SAC remained far less concerned about unauthorized launches than about the potential of these safeguards to interfere with the implementation of wartime launch orders. And so the "secret unlock code" during the height of the nuclear crises of the Cold War remained constant at OOOOOOOO.'

-- Comment()
Mika Hirvensalo was awarded the price of the best dissertation in computer science in Finland. His dissertation studied boolean functions related to quantum computing.

Can a camera phone topple an imperium? -- Comment()
Today appeared my net column on the ban on camera phones in Iraq (in Finnish, Voiko kamerakännykkä horjuttaa maailmanvaltaa?) I think the camera phone should be praised, not banned. The camera phone has shown the rotten core of the US policy in Iraq. More openness is needed, not less.

Experiences of Entourage 2004 vs. Mac OS X Mail -- Comment()
AR commented Entourage 2004 junk mail filtering: 'Entourage 2004 does include a rather sophisticated Junk Mail Filter. You may turn it on under the Tools > Junk E-mail Protection.. menu item. I recommend running under "High."'

At the moment I'm using Mac OS X Mail at work, and test driving Entourage 2004 at home. The Entourage junk filter classified systematically mail sent by me from another account as junk. Have others had similar experiences?

I'm not running under "High" due to this first impression. For me, Mac OS X mail spam filtering seems to be easier to use. At least there are fewer parameters to tune, and filtering works very well (but that may be due to most of my real mail being in Finnish, and most of the junk being in English).

Another problem is that Entourage shows unread messages in the inbox, but there are none visible when I open the inbox. What might cause this problem?