Thursday, November 24, 2005

roadkill


Flicked this one from http://cluetrain.com.
Certainly not a pleasant sight. But couldnt suppress a smile.

If you find time, do read "The Cluetrain Manifesto".
They have the whole book online.
I just started reading it and it sounds interesting.
Hopefully i will not burn out reading the full book online.

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Be afraid. Be really afraid!! But of who?

Just read this long one by Doc Searls. Interesting points and views all through.

http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/8673

But what i am wondering now is how US legislations and rules impact technology worldwide. This is scarier for me (a non-US) than what Doc has to say. The kind of control that US is exercising (not intentionally evil ofcourse) may be because most of the content and means for content distribution originates from US. And again i wonder why countries like Japan and Korea, who seem to be taking technology (mostly mobile related) to dizzying heights, are not into proposing and formulating rules for mobile space. Maybe they will, someday, when the so called "villian" equivalent of SBC, Verizon start to act. Now that may lead to another problem if there are conflicting opinions on say new content delivery systems. Maybe there would be cross country lobbying and maybe there will be an international organisation that would decide what is best for the whole world.

Monday, November 21, 2005

software torts

The Sony BMG "rootkit" has caused a lot of fury among people who feel that their digital freedom has been questioned. It looks like the trouble for sony has just started. The update they provided to fix the rootkit problem also seem to be vulnerable. And to add to the protests by affected people, Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has gone ahead and filed a class action suite agains Sony BMG. Check the details here ..
http://www.eff.org/news/archives/2005_11.php
http://www.eff.org/IP/DRM/Sony-BMG/?f=open-letter-2005-11-14.html

Another lawsuit was filed by a Texas attorney...
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1891501,00.asp


To me, this may be just the start of legal moves against vulnerable software. A sort of software torts.
Wonder why no one has filed an action suit against Microsoft for IE?? Here is one more to add to IE bug list:
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1891749,00.asp?kc=EWRSS03119TX1K0000594

Thursday, November 17, 2005

web metamorphosis

The major problem with web based application is the time taken to load pages from web servers and the lack of dynamic capabilities. Now this is changing with the wide usage of technologies (rather a group of technologies) like AJAX. Making use of DHTML, Javascript etc web pages require only delta updation which makes loading faster. Web applications that make use of technologies like AJAX also provide users more desktop like functionalities like changing the look and feel of a website or dragging a mail into trash folder as in the case of desktop email client.
The web is also becoming more like a platform where developers can combine various web based applications into a totally different,bizzare application... like a website that provides information on the cheapest stripclub in paris using googlemaps. Check out this site for google maps based mash-ups.

The web is slowly transforming into what many people call web2.0 with Google as the vanguard.
Maybe its time again to witness another dotcom boom with many new startups coming up with some interesting ideas for the web.

The desktop PC should get ready for a massive redefinition from software perspective.

Thursday, November 10, 2005

drop and charge

Is a neat idea to charge compatible devices like phones,portable players etc with a
charge pad.

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn6891

Apple woes

Looks like Apple is having a tough time this year. Bugs are being encountered in their software products lately that they might soon end up competing with Microsoft on bug counts/year. The latest i heard is the iTunes one...

http://wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,48149,00.html

I guess as more people start using Apple products, inevitably, bugs are going to be discovered as was the case with Windows and internet explorer.

whats up bug?

Bugs are so common that almost all software code around will have atleast one bug, may not be a critical one luckily. It is a little comforting for me that i dont write software code that goes into critical products otherwise i would easily be responsible for human lives.

Check out Wired's list of 10 worst software bugs:

http://wired.com/news/technology/bugs/0,2924,69355,00.html