::: Friday, September 28 ::: Well, after countless false starts we were finally able to close on our new house this past Monday. Today begins the Long Moving Weekend™. I have to leave work early to pick up the moving truck, so I doubt I'll have a chance to blog much until next Monday. 10:49 AM CST  ::   ::: Thursday, September 27 ::: Sweet: The Stage of the Game A somewhat brief history of computer games from blips on an MIT scope through Final Fantasy and beyond. Worth skimming for the avid gamer if for no other reason than the sheer nostalgia of it. 11:47 AM CST  ::   Sheesh: Klingerman Virus Apparently some fool felt that now was the time to have a revival of the Klingerman Virus hoax. It never ceases to amaze me the sick things some people regard as humorous. 10:51 AM CST  ::   Sigh: "Good Sam" Hacker 'Fesses Up I was really hoping this case would set up some positive case law that could be used against the DCMA. As it stands, the verdict is likely to be used in support of it instead. 10:34 AM CST  ::   Hmm: Sony stands firm on U.S. PlayStation price Sony still seems to believe that Microsoft and Nintendo will fight it out among themselves and leave the Sony console market untouched. I'm not so sure myself. Personally I think the PS2 and the Xbox are much closer to sharing a demographic rather than either one with Nintendo. Then again, I have always bought Nintendo systems for the quality of the gameplay and the characters, not for the glitz. 10:27 AM CST  ::   Interesting: MS moves to head off Linux desktop 'threat' If this turns out to be a genuine e-mail from a 'Softie, it doesn't look good for corporate customers. Microsoft, rather than fighting their battles in the marketplace, looks poised to attack the customers themselves. In fact, I would be willing to wager that a few well-timed Microsoft "inquiries" would likely convince some IT managers to doubt their migration decisions lest they be audited by the software gestapo. 10:16 AM CST  ::   ::: Wednesday, September 26 ::: Ugh: Scooby Movie Just in case you missed them, Ain't It Cool has some pics of how Scooby might appear in the Scooby Doo movie. What I want to know is where the hell is Fred's ascot? If they lose the ascot I'm going to boycott! Psyche. I wouldn't go see this steaming pile of monkey offal if you paid me. The CG work on Scooby looks interesting though. [thanks to Ryan for the link] 2:28 PM CST  ::   Heh: Are you a Goth/Trendy/Alternative? I wonder how fox would score on this one? <snicker> 1:52 PM CST  ::   Damn: Latest AMD snub cuts both ways Given my background I'm not likely to ever purchase an off-the-shelf pc. Even so, I always liked Gateway. It's a shame that they feel compelled to toe Intel's line at their own expense. 9:32 AM CST  ::   Hmm: MS vows rewritten IIS, more patches Microsoft responds to the Garter report which slagged IIS. It appears as if they are considering this a threat after all. 9:05 AM CST  ::   I'm having trouble concentrating now. I was just on the phone when a reasonably large spider (maybe 1.5 to 2 inches in length) fell onto the middle of my keyboard. Had I been typing at the time it would have fallen directly onto my left hand. I've never been any good at identifying incects and such, but I do know this one was hella fast. So fast, in fact, that I chased him around for quite a while before squishing him. Spiders usually don't bother me, but for some reason the sudden drop and the speed of this particular specimen has me really freaked at the moment. I keep checking my hair and glacing upward at the light fixture from whence the nasty bugger decended. Anybody know a site where they use pictures to identify spiders? I found a site, but it used overly technical text descriptions. 8:53 AM CST  ::   ::: Tuesday, September 25 ::: Happy Birthday to me. In honor of such an auspicious occasion, I'm taking the day off. There isn't much going on in the tech world today anyway. Perhaps these folks have something interesting for you to read today. 11:26 AM CST  ::   ::: Monday, September 24 ::: Interesting: Clockless Chips "In 1997, Intel developed an asynchronous, Pentium-compatible test chip that ran three times as fast, on half the power, as its synchronous equivalent." That's pretty impressive. I suppose the problem for Intel is that they have spent twenty years training consumers to buy computers based upon clock speed. Some other benchmark, possibly much more subjective, would be required to sell clockless machines. It should be interesting to see just how 'inevitable' clockless chips really are as Intel, AMD, and Motorola move into new territory. 11:25 AM CST  ::   w00t: Mos Eisley Multiplex While I can't vouch for the quality of all the Star Wars inspired short films archived on this site, they certainly have the plenty to choose from. 10:34 AM CST  ::   Whoa: Another worm, more patches Gartner is recommending that businesses use Apache instead of IIS. It's refreshing to see a company like this show some backbone against Microsoft. 10:01 AM CST  ::   Uh-huh: Pirated XP selling like 'hot cakes' in Malaysia Chan said the greatest threat facing the BSA is end-user piracy, especially among corporations. "This is where companies buy just a handful of licensed software and then illegally copy them for the rest of the computers in the organization," he said. And therein lies the problem. The BSA does care that pirated versions of XP are selling for $6 on the street. They are only concerned with cracking down on the businesses which fill their coffers. The whole thing stinks to high heaven. 9:58 AM CST  ::   ::: Friday, September 21 ::: A rather appropriate musical interlude: The credits roll, the camera pans And in the mist our hero stands He starts to speak, then folds his hands in prayer An awkward pause, then what's my line? There's nothing left to say this time And what would you say to a bad guy who's not there? -- excerpt from "Sell Sell Sell" by the Barenaked Ladies 1:14 PM CST  ::   Imagine that: I, Cringely (9/20/2001) Cringley agrees with me on the "no door" policy for airplanes. Go me. 12:06 PM CST  ::   ::: Thursday, September 20 ::: Okay: incidents.org - NIMDA I guess I was wrong. According to this extremely complete report on Nimda, the attacks aren't completely random. It looks as if the worm tries all addresses in its local zone (i.e. same first three octets) and then steps out one level (i.e. same first two octets) and continues until it has exhausted the full address space. The real kicker is that, according to SANS anyway, the only reliable method of removing the worm is to scrub the machine back to bare metal and reload everything. This, of course, assumes that there are no other infected machines on your network. Otherwise you will be reinfected immediately when the "clean" machine signs on. And so it goes... 9:37 AM CST  ::   Ugh: Yahoo! News hacked This is not good. If this sort of thing is so trivial, it could really cast a pall over internet news in general. After all, no one can rewrite your newspaper after it is printed. 9:14 AM CST  ::   Cool: A 'Tarpit' That Traps Worms Makes sense to me. Even if using this tool is, in the long run, ineffective, being able to do something, anything, to slow down these worms feels like a victory. 8:59 AM CST  ::   Hmm: Nimda worm tails off I'm not so sure. I've had nearly 11,000 attempts on my server by Nimda - 6000 of which came since my post yesterday. I've read conflicting reports, but several virus authorities agree that Nimda scans random IP addresses. If that's the case, then there are a massive number of infected machines out there. 8:46 AM CST  ::   Uhm: Upgrade your MS software before 1 October - Gartner Thanks for clearing that up. Not. 8:36 AM CST  ::   ::: Wednesday, September 19 ::: Damn: walled|city It's like getting a paycheck for being invisible. That just about says everything that needs saying. 2:53 PM CST  ::   w00t: alexmassie.com : welcome Alexis redesigned. I dig it. I particularly like the color scheme. (surprise) 2:26 PM CST  ::   Heh: Poster girl sues makers of videos I wondered how long it would take for this sort of thing to happen. It was inevitable really. 10:49 AM CST  ::   Whoa: "Nimda" worm strikes Net, e-mail Known as "Nimda" or "readme.exe," the worm spreads by sending infected e-mail messages, copying itself to computers on the same network, and compromising Web servers using Microsoft's Internet Information Server (IIS) software. This is one nasty worm. In two days I've logged over 5000 attempts on our web server by Nimda, compared with a mere 600 or so from Code Red II for the entire month. 10:07 AM CST  ::   Hmm: XP memory musing Sounds like everyone is going to have to find out for themselves how much RAM XP will require in their situation. Not that different than NT in that respect I suppose. 9:54 AM CST  ::   Silly: AMD names next Athlon after Windows XP This is just sad. It was bad enough that consumers had to deal with AMD's new performance rating nonsense. AMD seems to be convinced that computer buyers are idiots. Unless you happen to be Howard Stern, insulting your customers is never a good idea. 9:46 AM CST  ::   ::: Monday, September 17 ::: Amen: Body counts and head counts Once again I'm forced to consider how valuable a good local journalism community can be. Our local paper can't hold a candle to this sort of article. Mr. Carroll speaks truth and wisdom and I think we could all do with a dose of both at the moment. [thanks to Ceej for the link] 2:20 PM CST  ::   Crazy: A punitive puppeteer? "You may not use the Software in connection with any site that disparages Microsoft, MSN, MSNBC, Expedia, or their products or services ... " That is reportedly an excerpt from the license agreement for FrontPage 2002. Not that I would use FP anyway, but it is likely a harbinger of things to come. How long before using a pre-loaded Microsoft OS subjects you to displinary action for doubting the wisdom of the great and powerful MS? What saddens me most is that I know the vast majority of programmers in the trenches at Microsoft abhor thick-headed moves such as the above as much as I do, yet are somewhat powerless to prevent them. I wonder how long they can maintain their silence? 10:32 AM CST  ::   Opinion: How to prevent air hijackings I'm not sure I like the idea of taking the plane away from the pilot. Not that I'll likely ever fly again, but given the option I would choose experience over automation any day. 10:19 AM CST  ::   Sigh: Tech could prevent suicide hijackings "That would mean searching for individuals, rather than using computers to find unknowns, which some civil libertarians object to as intrusive. But Colatosi said those concerns have faded since the World Trade Center bombing." That's exactly what I'm afraid of... that the horror of this tragedy will cause us to drop our collective guard and offer a perfect opportunity for political extremists to further their agendas. We must be vigilant lest we blindly accept curtailments to our already fleeting civil liberties. 9:46 AM CST  ::   ::: Friday, September 14 ::: Maybe I'm too logical. It seems to me that the way to avoid hijackings is to restrict access to the cabin of the aircraft. Some are saying we need better and stronger cabin doors. Personally, I say eliminate the door altogether. Construct the passenger/cargo section of the plane separately from the nosecone/cabin. The pilots could literally "drive" the nose of the plane from a heavily secured hangar and connect it with the already loaded passenger section of the plane at the gate. Once in the air it wouldn't matter what heinous acts were being comitted to lure the pilots out of the cockpit. Unless they landed the plane and disconnected from the body of the plane, they would have no way of getting into the passenger compartment. Terrorists would know this and therefore wouldn't bother to try such tactics. But maybe I'm too logical. 2:33 PM CST  ::   ::: Thursday, September 13 ::: Before and After: Space Imaging I wasn't going to blog anything else today, but this feels important enough. 1:55 PM CST  ::   Well, I'm back home finally. My conference was in Chicago this time, but just as easily could have been in NYC. I feel very lucky to be alive and at the same time somewhat guilty because so many others are no longer with us. We had a hard time getting transportation out of Chicago, as you can well imagine, but I am grateful to be awash in the irksome trivialties of modern life. I hate to sound trite, but please take time to appreciate those bright souls who occupy your life. Remind everyone you love them. You never know when a simple conference could end up removing them from your life or you from theirs. 1:45 PM CST  ::   ::: Monday, September 10 ::: I'm going to be out of town for the next two days at an insurance statistics conference. Aren't you jealous? Things should return to normal by Thursday afternoon or so. By the way, how do you like the new site? Drop me a line. 3:44 PM CST  ::   Thppt: New Copyright Bill Heading to DC If I ever met up with an RIAA or MPAA executive, I would be awfully tempted to exercise the "fair-use" clause of my baseball bat. This is getting *way* out of hand. 12:18 PM CST  ::   Heh: Paying More for an Xmas Xbox So much for Microsoft's consumer division being a kinder, gentler Microsoft. It remains to be seen whether such strong-arm tactics will work in such a highly-competitive market. Here's hoping Sony and Nintendo eat Microsoft's lunch. 11:49 AM CST  ::   Perhaps: Most XP upgrade coupons don't come free There have been some rumors floated recently that some OEM versions of XP are shipping without activation. If this is the case, then it would certainly be worth $15 to escape the problems WPA is likely to cause. 9:31 AM CST  ::   Interesting: Slap on the wrist? Salon gathers a group of experts to weigh in on whether Microsoft is getting off easy, or whether the goverment is simply playing aces and discarding treys. Personally, I don't think anything th government does will make any difference to Microsoft. The only remedy that would hurt them at this point is if the DOJ hired a consumer advocate to rewrite Microsoft's licencing agreements. And we all know how likely that is... 9:27 AM CST  ::   Cheeky: VIA sues Intel I suppose this is a simple case of turn-about being fair play, but I can't help but grin when I think about it. To think Intel may have been bitten by its own heavy-handed tactics fills my heart with joy. 9:12 AM CST  ::   Hmm: Mobo makers' shipments shot up 20% last month Perhaps this is the glimmer of hope we've all been waiting for. 9:02 AM CST  ::   Well, here goes nothing. 8:55 AM CST  ::   dinoneil[at]newdream[dot]net