Signs of Intelligence: ICANN Demands Verisign Kill SiteFinder

Good! ICANN finally takes action.

At Morons Dot Org you can find the original article.

Statistics Too

Since it apparently is in fashion to publish data: this blog had 58,155 hits in September with 8,127 visitors who consumed approximately 0.5 GB of traffic. Remarkable. What do they all want here?

Investigations into chancellor's office files discontinued

And once again the big fish gets away

At RP-Online: Politik I found the original article.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ10

Hmm - another alternative to my E-100 RS. If the performance is right, this could actually be a real alternative - the zoom range is already pretty impressive (the E-100RS has 10x zoom). And with image stabilization, the camera is then really usable with that lens. And the light intensity isn't bad either. So I'll wait for the tests. Currently three alternatives for me:

• Fuji F-828 (no image stabilization, but good low-light focusing and 8 megapixels)
• Minolta Dimage A1 (image stabilization, but smaller zoom)
• Panasonic FZ10 (basic features most comparable to the E-100 RS, but only 4 megapixels)

Could I please have a Minolta camera with the focal length range of the Panasonic and the resolution of the Fuji?

At Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com) there's the original article.

PyDS 0.6.0 is out

A little self-promotion: I've just put together version 0.6.0 of the Python Desktop Server. Since it has been in development for over 3 months now, there are quite a few changes. Updates are definitely worthwhile. New installations are also worth it.

Here's the original article.

Replication for PostgreSQL

I didn't even notice: the commercial replication solution eRServer has been open source since the end of August! Although it seems that only one-way replication (from master to slaves) is implemented, but in any case, something like that helps.

Here's the original article.

Security? Or Feature?

Something Old

The linked security report designates the free account creation capability on Radio Community Servers (which applies to all xmlStorageSystem based servers, for example also to Python Community Servers) as a major security hole and recommends all users to shut down their Community Servers. Reading through the whole thing, the problem is as follows: anyone can create a user account via XMLRPC (which is what clients use) through the xmlStorageSystem API on a Community Server and fill it with content. As a result, this obviously means that anyone can place arbitrary files on the Community Server. A nightmare for many system administrators. For me, this is a classic conflict between open systems (not in the technical sense, but in terms of communication) and closed systems. Proponents of closed systems will of course always point out the security problems associated with open systems. Proponents of open systems will of course always point out the communication and usability hurdles associated with closed systems. Both are right.

But what exactly happens when such an open system is abused? In principle, data gets distributed. There are no direct responsible parties, since the data can be falsified during technical registration. The administrator must react afterward - someone points out illegal content, the administrator blocks the corresponding account (and thus all files stored there). Of course, in today's paranoid times, this is not secure enough for many - but is it really as catastrophic as described in the security news?

What about wikis - anyone can write anything there. Some wikis allow file attachments - so anyone can upload files. What about forum systems like Advogato, Kuro5hin or similar - anyone can post anything there, sometimes even anonymously. All wide open barn doors? Or is it not perhaps simply the case that there are systems where openness is just a feature?

Of course, every open system will eventually be abused by clowns who think it's absolutely cool to leave virtual graffiti everywhere - nearly every larger wiki goes through this phase more than once. Then there are appropriate mechanisms to notice such activities in time and take corresponding measures - sometimes you just have to operate the system more restrictively for a while. But should we really do this in the long term only with protective walls and barbed wire?

Do we really only want to open ourselves to the world after presenting our ID cards and police clearance certificates? Somehow that's too boring for me, sorry. So I continue to maintain - contrary to the recommendation in the referenced article - an open Community Server where anyone can set up their own blog. Because that's what the Community Server is for.

Here's the original article.

TIBCO threatens developers over Rendezvous

Ridiculous trademark protection actions definitely don't exist only in Germany ...

You can find the original article at The Macintosh News Network.

Trojan redirects browser to fake sites

People, switch to a different browser. This one is really way too broken - Swiss cheese would be a massive wall compared to it!

At heise online news you'll find the original article.

VIA Boards and Chips for Small, Energy-Efficient Systems

A link for Jutta, who wants to convert her computer to something more energy-efficient. A list of VIA boards and chips with a comparison of their features.

The original article is here.

Department Strange Version Numbers

This is the first stable release. - is listed as an entry at Data Mine 0.0

Here you can find the original article.

graphical operating system with TCP/IP stack for C64

I can only quote Obelix: These Romans are crazy

And then there are also ports for Apple ][ and other strange machines in the works.

Here you can find the original article.

Want to have ...

Yes, I know, it's just a compact camera, but the design alone is absolutely fantastic. Ok, I have a weakness, but I've always had a soft spot for Leica-M anyway, and this compact camera looks like it was cut from the same cloth as the M. Stylish. If it's also smaller than the M (ok, it won't reach the size of my Contax T, but that would be asking too much), it could very well be a camera I'd want to get. Although I wonder what it's actually for. Doesn't matter. Wanting something doesn't need justification Here's the original article.

"Öko-Test": High Radiation in WLAN Networks

Already unfair. Such a WLAN connection could be so practical at home with the notebook. But then you read something like this and don't want to anymore.

I found the original article at RP-Online: Multimedia.

Ransom Love on SCO's Activities

An interesting interview with Ransom Love about the creation of Caldera, the motives behind the SCO purchase, and SCO's current activities. In addition to very diplomatic formulations, this little gem is also in the interview: I, however, no longer have any investments in SCO. When news of the IBM lawsuit broke, I sold the last of my stock. I no longer have any relationship with the company. - everyone may draw their own conclusions from this Here's the original article.

RegTP instead of DENIC? Feedback!

I received a response to my letter to Klaus Brandner. Short version: I can assure you that we have no intention of changing the existing regulations. - the long version then contains only greeting, salutation and closing ... It seems I drew a blank with my letter, Mr. Brandner doesn't seem to be really informed ...

At Wortfeld there's the original article.

ssh for Hires-Palms (Tungsten, Clie)

An SSH client for Palms with higher resolution such as the Tungstens and Clies. However, it can only support SSH protocol v1 - v2 support is still in the works. Unfortunately v1 is quite buggy, which is why they no longer want to make it publicly available. But still better than Telnet or similar. If I ever get a Tungsten T3, it might be quite interesting Here's the original article.

SSH2 Implementation in Python

A complete SSH2 client implementation written entirely in Python. Interesting for understanding the internal structures of the protocol, but also useful for practical purposes (for example, administration scripts that need to access multiple machines). However, Python 2.3 is the minimum requirement, and pycrypto is also needed (so the encryption algorithms are not written in pure Python, only the SSH2 protocol itself).

Here you can find the original article.

Using the Patriot Act to Get Reporters' Records

Does this finally suffice to break Ashcroft and his silly laws? After all, this is actually a clear constitutional violation - and Americans normally take freedom of the press and the ability to keep sources confidential quite seriously.

I found the original article at Warblogs:CC.

How to make money with software bugs ...

... shows BrowserCam. A service that sends a URL to a diverse range of browsers and returns screenshots, so you can test against a whole set of Mac and Windows browsers in one go. Certainly an interesting service, but really it would be unnecessary if all browsers simply implemented HTML and CSS correctly ...

Since the situation is the way it is, you can consider whether the price is worth it for you. I find the price somewhat high, on the other hand I also don't want to be the administrator for the system - the browsers and systems would probably crash more often when people feed them wild URLs

And of course such a service can only test public addresses without context (so for example without the need for cookies), and JavaScript is only statically testable - the dynamic features are obviously not reachable with something like this. The idea is still amusing.

Here's the original article.

Wiki for the Book 'Quicksilver' by Neal Stephenson

Neal Stephenson operates a wiki for explanations related to his new book. In terms of its goal, it's something like a lexicon guided by and oriented toward his book, which takes up connections and questions from the book and elaborates on them further, but can certainly also go beyond that to link in additional content. Actually quite an interesting idea, even though it partially duplicates information from Wikipedia - the approach is simply a different one. Inter-wiki links would probably be appropriate in the long run anyway, unless all content from Wikipedia is supposed to be replicated there permanently. Here's the original article.

The Dumbing Down Continues

Maybe we should have the neurotoxic exposure of the German Federal Council and Parliament tested?

At Telepolis News you can find the original article.

DrawBot: Python, PyObjC, and Cocoa based 2D drawing environment

A complete 2D graphics application IDE in Python for OS X (requires PyObjC). And the whole thing without Project Builder, but everything in Python - even the application creation is done via Python script.

At bbum's rants, code & references you can find the original article.

Promote self-responsibility ...

... will the Herzog Commission. That's why the employee should pay the full cost of dental treatment. Of course, this greatly promotes personal responsibility when people below an income threshold can be recognized by the fact that they only order soup in restaurants ...

File Extension Details Database

I just came across it again while looking up what .cdb means. Very handy, a directory of file extensions - good as a first starting point when dealing with unknown file formats.

Here's the original article.

Linux on the iPod

For the truly hardcore among us

Here you can find the original article.

SCO vs. Linux: Protection Under the Canopy

Pretty cool: grow up with the help of Linux, but then want to rip people off. Great attitude.

At heise online news there's the original article.

Japanese Mass Orgy Angers China

Somehow this incident is a little bit on the absurd side

At tagesschau im Internet you can find the original article.

Besier and Scientology - sueddeutsche.de - Feuilleton

Great. Calling a fascist organization with a totalitarian vision a pioneer of religious pluralism - the director of the Dresden Hannah Arendt Institute for Totalitarianism Research certainly seems to be brimming with expertise.

Here is the original article.

DAX companies hire fewer apprentices

And at the next opportunity, the same companies whine about there being no qualified employees ...

At tagesschau im Internet you can find the original article.

Is there a threat of feminization of school operations?

Oh come on, of course, too many women in vocational training, that's absolutely terrible. Those poor boys, being taught by women. That's certainly a serious blow to their masculinity.

I'm wondering though what kind of role models the boys are actually missing. Probably it's the student-hating person with a doctorate. Or the drunk biology teacher. Or the entertainer without real pedagogical qualifications. All variants I've encountered. All very valuable from a pedagogical standpoint.

Maybe also the type who thought girls couldn't think logically and therefore gave all girls worse grades, which Jutta told me about. That would really put the boys' worldview back in order.

But probably it's just about Busemann and the other Union clowns who spoke up about this wanting boys to keep standing while they pee?

I found the original article at RP-Online: Science.

Number 1 Formula for Men!

These fascinating spam messages are also coming my way lately. Actually quite a witty attempt to bypass spam filters. PopFile was not fooled by it and threw them out anyway ... You can find the original article at INSTANT NIRVANA.

quiz-time

Hmm. According to the test, I'm both a linguistic thinker and a "naturalistic thinker". Weird. Ok, the linguistic thinker description says that these people often think in words and use language to specify and solve problems. That fits me exactly. However, the career directions are missing any mention of programmer - and in my opinion, language is an essential tool precisely in programming. And programming languages are exactly that - nothing more than languages for computers, even if they're somewhat more formal than human languages. Unfortunately, there's still too much of a separation in people's minds between the aesthetic realm and the logical realm - as if these two areas were incompatible. The result is software engineering, where programming is reduced purely to the formal, as if the programmer's intuition and creativity were something disgusting that should be hidden or even eradicated...

At sec.digigeek.net there's the original article.

Robot Controller 1.7b2

For all Geist enthusiasts.

I found the original article at VersionTracker.com - Mac OS X.

A Small Step from Whisky to Chemical Weapon

No way. Bruichladdich a potential chemical weapons factory? Well, alcohol is certainly a dangerous poison, but I can confirm from personal experience that the chemical warfare agents from Islay are absolutely tolerable for humans if the dosage is kept low

At tagesschau im Internet there's the original article.

Freedom of software is recognized by the UN as worth protecting

Ok, who has a bottle of champagne ready? Please pop the cork!

At Markus Kniebes Journal you can find the original article.

Heras inches closer to Nozal with uphill ITT looming

Wow, this is getting really exciting. But somehow I'd wish Nozal would win more than Heras.

At VeloNews: The Journal of Competitive Cycling you can find the original article.

Heras slips into the golden jersey at Spain tour

And Menno, poor Nozal! That's really bitter.

At tagesschau im Internet there's the original article.

IBM Files New Lawsuit Against SCO

Cool, now the tables are turned

At heise online news you can find the original article.

Morons in the News: Banned Book Week: Food for Thought

Another batch of idiots coming right up. Here some people want to have Aldous Huxley's Brave New World banned from schools as pornographic. You can find the original article at Morons Dot Org.

Reader-Submitted: CWA decides that homosexuals are terrorists

If you want to take a look at a horror cabinet, just follow the link provided at http://morons.org/. Extremely fascinating what these idiots from CWA (how else are you supposed to call people who regard homosexuality as a curable disease and the entry of a married homosexual couple as a terrorist act?) have to say - I find the fact especially interesting that no woman is mentioned anywhere in the article. Yet it's supposed to be the Concerned Women for America ... At Morons Dot Org you can find the original article.

SPD dissidents must answer for themselves

This all fits perfectly with my last post on the topic. The Union wants to impose its handwriting on politics - and the SPD will let it happen to them because they no longer have their own profile. And so we keep sliding further into the mess.

I don't want the Union's handwriting in politics. I didn't vote for these idiots. I expect those I did vote for to prevent exactly that - the Union's handwriting appearing there. But I can probably forget about that...

At RP-Online: Politik I found the original article.

Union politicians for Schäuble as Rau's successor

No thanks.

At tagesschau im Internet you can find the original article.

Word field: ICANN and the International Telecommunication Union ITU

Very interesting report about the ITU and its positioning regarding ICANN in the Internet topic at Wortfeld. Worth reading!

Here you can find the original article.

Poor by Official Decree

Well, the fat cats just have the better lobby - no wonder, since most politicians at state and federal level belong to them anyway. And impressing corrupt politicians doesn't work when you don't have the cash to grease them (or their party) ...

And so we're eagerly steering into an increasingly polarized society and letting ourselves be told lies about reforms and minor reforms. At the next election, we get to decide again in which color we'd like to be screwed.

At Der Schockwellenreiter you can find the original article.

Bossi: Christian Democrats Should Be Shot

Like master, like servant ...

At RP-Online: Politik I found the original article.

Herzog Commission: Pension after 45 years

Herzog was already unsympathetic to me as Federal President, but this really takes the cake...

What kind of ridiculous idea does someone like that have about reality? Just because he didn't have to move his ass as a judge doesn't automatically mean everyone can have such a cushy job. How many workers destroy their health so badly that they can't make it through full-time work? How many barely earn enough to keep themselves and their families above water, but definitely not enough to finance additional private pensions from it? How great: work yourself to death your whole life, but then get paid off with scraps in retirement.

At tagesschau on the internet you can find the original article.

Imaginary Python books that I would like to read

Funny suggestions for Python books that you might read if they existed. The 12-volume Zope series in particular would definitely be something I could use sometimes

You can find the original article at Python owns us (the original post).

Motorola separates from chipsets for PowerPCs

It's a shame to see how a manufacturer with truly innovative processors in the past (I'm not just talking about the PowerPCs, but especially things like the 6809 or later the 68000) is gradually disappearing from the CPU sector. Motorola CPUs were always the most interesting processors for me - if you overlook the old Zilog processors. Well, everything comes to an end ...

At heise online news you can find the original article.

Storever Online Backup

An online backup service – that is, data backups via rsync and ssh to a central server. I was particularly struck by the following line in the waiver: Although Storever Online Backup will do the job most of the time, custommers should always consider that they have been lucky whenever they can recover lost data. That's really reassuring – that's how you sell a backup system! So you look at what the Storeever Offline Archive offers, since that's what Storever recommends when the customer wants security. And what do I find there in the waiver? Exactly: Although Storever Offline Archive is a secure and reliable service, it is not 100% reliable and involves risks which we can not control. In particular, custommers should always consider that they have been lucky whenever they can recover lost data. Wow. So with the low-cost product, I should consider myself lucky if I can restore a file. I can then pay even more per month, and I can still consider myself lucky if I can restore a file.

I don't know quite what to say, but somehow I get the impression that this is not a particularly confidence-inspiring product.

Here's the original article.