10 December 2003

The war on copying
http://www.reed-electronics.com/ednmag/index.asp?layout=article&articleid=CA326913&stt=000&pubdate=10%2F16%2F2003&rid=0&rme=0&cfd=1
"It's easy to lose sight of the true goal of copy protection. It is not about preventing copying. In most cases, a perfect digital copy is unnecessary; many DVD-copying applications make good-enough copies˘copies that users can't tell from the originals˘from analog outputs. Effective copy protection, rather, is about making distribution of pirated material difficult enough that you can turn most nonpaying pirates into paying users. … Of course, you can always try charging a reasonable price and trusting people to be honest. Just think of all the money you'll save not having to implement DRM."

The Worst Jobs in Science
http://www.popsci.com/popsci/science/article/0,12543,484153,00.html
"We at Popular Science are sometimes brought up short by the realization that there are aspects of science—entire jobs, even—that, when you strip away the imposing titles and advanced degrees, sound at best distasteful and at worst unbearable. Having chosen last month our second annual Brilliant 10—a group of dynamic researchers making remarkable discoveries—we turned to this pressing question: For the rest out there, just how bad can a science job get?"

Start here to learn about Linux
http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/library/l-start.html
IBM gives a very basic overview.

Eleven Inherent Rules Of Corporate Behavior
http://dieoff.org/page12.htm
"The following list is an attempt to articulate the obligatory rules by which corporations operate. Some of the rules overlap, but taken together they help reveal why corporations behave as they do and how they have come to dominate their environment and the human beings within it."

The Creation of the UNIX Operating System
http://www.bell-labs.com/history/unix/
"After three decades of use, the UNIX computer operating system from Bell Labs is still regarded as one of the most powerful, versatile, and flexible operating systems (OS) in the computer world. Its popularity is due to many factors, including its ability to run a wide variety of machines, from micros to supercomputers, and its portability—all of which led to its adoption by many manufacturers. … Like another legendary creature whose name also ends in 'x,' UNIX rose from the ashes of a multi-organizational effort in the early 1960s to develop a dependable timesharing operating system."

O'Reilly Network: WebDAV on OS X
http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/network/2000/11/10/osx_webdav/osx_webdav.html
"WebDAV support in Mac OS X … allows for simple remote management of Web content. … DAV provides support for: Editing (creating, updating, deleting), Properties (title, author, publication date, etc.), Collections (analagous to a filesystem's directory or desktop folder), Locking (prevents the confusion and data corruption caused by two [or more] people editing the same content at the same time)."

15 December 2003

Location, Location, Location: Tips for Storing Web Site Files
http://www.macdevcenter.com/pub/a/mac/2003/05/16/web_files.html
"And one of the first things you'll need to figure out is where to store your web site's files. Should they be in the Sites folder? The Documents folder? What are your options? Here are three common approaches—which address the needs of basic, intermediate, and advanced web developers."

Personal Security on Jaguar: The Secure Shell, Part 1
http://www.macdevcenter.com/pub/a/mac/2003/05/01/secure_shell.html
"The purpose of focusing on SSH is that it can be instantly used in Jaguar to secure two of the most common daily work processes: file transfers (FTP) and email. As a web applications developer, I often connect to remote servers to upload files or make changes to sites. Wrapped around this process is a constant buzz of email communication. In the case of email and FTP we want to protect our passwords as well as the information or content that we send. SSH can do both and it costs nothing."

Top Five Open Source Packages for System Administrators: #5: Amanda
http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/onlamp/2002/09/24/essentialsysadmin.html
"Amanda stands for Advanced Maryland Automated Network Disk Archiver. … Amanda is a network-based enterprise backup utility that includes features previously available only in expensive commercial packages."

Top Five Open Source Packages for System Administrators: #4: LDAP
http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/onlamp/2002/10/17/essentialsysadmin.html
"LDAP provides a directory service which can be used for storing and querying information about the individuals in an organization (e.g., employees). The range of information that can be made available in this way is quite broad: traditional telephone or other institutional directory data (office location, phone numbers, and the like), Unix user account data, more personal data such as home telephone numbers and photographs, along with any other site-specific data that may be appropriate."

Top Five Open Source Packages for System Administrators: #3: GRUB
http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/onlamp/2002/11/07/essentialsysadmin.html
"There is a newer, more general and flexible boot loader coming into wide usage. It is named GRUB: the GRand Unified Bootloader."

Top Five Open Source Packages for System Administrators: #2: Nagios
http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/onlamp/2002/12/05/essentialsysadmin.html
"Nagios is a feature-rich network monitoring package. Its displays provide current information about system or resource status across an entire network. In addition, it can also be configured to send alerts and perform other actions when problems are detected."

Top Five Open Source Packages for System Administrators: #1: Cfengine
http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/onlamp/2003/05/29/essentialsysadmin.html
"Cfengine is a wonderful tool for configuring and maintaining Unix computer systems. Cfengine is a stand-alone tool (set of tools), which administers and configures computers according to the instructions in its configuration files. The configuration files describe the desired characteristics of various system components using a high-level language that is easy to learn and use (and involves no programming). In this way, Cfengine can automatically bring one or a large number of systems into line with each one's individually defined configuration specifications. It can also make sure they stay that way by monitoring them and correcting them as needed on an ongoing basis."

18 December 2003

How Open source software works: 'Free' user-to-user assistance
http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/lakhanivonhippelusersupport.pdf
"Research into free and open source software development projects has so far largely focused on how the major tasks of software development are organized and motivated. But a complete project requires the execution of 'mundane but necessary' tasks as well. In this paper, we explore how the mundane but necessary task of field support is organized in the case of Apache web server software, and why some project participants are motivated to provide this service gratis to others."

Taking the Copy Out of Copyright
http://www.cs.yale.edu/homes/jf/MF.pdf
"More important is the fact that copies are not only frequently and continuously made in the computer world but moreover are necessary in order to make use of a work—any use. This is something entirely new in the realm of copyright. Reproduction is not necessary to access a work embodied in a physical artifact. No copying is required to read a book or watch a movie. However, copying is necessary in order to read an e-book or watch a DVD. In the digital world, the right to control copying becomes tantamount to a right to control access to a work for purposes of normal use, such as reading, viewing, and listening. In the digital world, the right to control copying means that actually reading an e-book is presumptively a violation of the copyright owner's rights."

22 December 2003

Continental Divides
http://www.massinc.org/commonwealth/new_map_exclusive/continental_divides.html
"American politics always comes back to geography. One reason for this is the Electoral College, which doesn't award votes based on which candidate was favored by soccer moms or NASCAR dads. On election night, all that matters is who won where, and the 10-region model shows the long-term trends that both parties must take into account in trying to assemble an Electoral College majority."

Dominators and Bloc-heads
http://www.massinc.org/commonwealth/new_map_exclusive/dominators_blocheads.html
"The 10-region model provides a new template for thinking about presidential politics. But that's not all it does. It also deflates many of the clichés that now pass for political analysis, promising explanation but delivering only obfuscation. … Chief among these clichés is the prediction that one of the major parties will not only break the deadlock of the 2000 election, but also dominate American politics for years (or decades!) to come."

The 10 Regions of US Politics
http://www.massinc.org/commonwealth/new_map_exclusive/ten_regions.html
"Northeast Corridor, Southern Lowlands, Upper Coasts, The Farm Belt, Great Lakes, Appalachia, El Norte, Southern Comfort, Big River, Sagebrush"

Software Reviews: Solaris 9 x86
http://www.thejemreport.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=51&mode=thread
"Solaris x86 fits a very small niche. If you need it, you need it—it's not a bad operating system to be stuck with anyway—but if you don't need it, you don't want it."

Q: What will happen when a national political machine can fit on a laptop? A: See below
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58554-2003Dec12.html
"To an economist, the 'trick' of the Internet is that it drives the cost of information down to virtually zero. So according to Coase's theory, smaller information-gathering costs mean smaller organizations. And that's why the Internet has made it easier for small folks, whether small firms or dark-horse candidates such as Howard Dean, to take on the big ones."

Dean's Manager: Inside Savvy and Outsider Edge
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/13/politics/campaigns/13TRIP.html
A profile of Joe Trippi, Howard Dean's campaign manager.

Network Communication with Linux
http://www.8wire.com
"… some of the common and not-so-common networking tools you'll find included with nearly every Linux distribution."

Improve Your Web Site's Security with htpasswd
http://www.8wire.com
A short explanation of htpasswd.

29 December 2003

Introduction to Nessus, a Vulnerability Scanner
http://www.linuxsecurity.com/feature_stories/nessusintro-part1.html
A very basic guide to installing & using Nessus.

Reclaiming the Commons: Why we need to protect our public resources from private encroachment
http://www.bostonreview.net/BR27.3/bollier.html
"A society in which every human transaction is increasingly mediated by the market, in which everything is privately owned and controlled, may come to resemble a network of medieval fiefdoms, in which every minor property-holder demands tribute for the right to cross his land or ford his streams. This balkanization is bound to impede the flow of commerce and ideas—and the sustainability of innovation and democratic culture."

Fighting (with) Hierarchies—Part I: Basics
http://www.sapdesignguild.org/community/design/hierarchies.asp
"Many sets or systems can be mapped to a hierarchy, often simply called a 'tree' (although this term is not quite correct, I will use both terms interchangeably, as is done in most publications). A tree consists of two types of elements, nodes and leaves. Nodes represent hierarchical levels and may contain other elements, such as lower-level nodes and leaves. Leaves do not contain other elements and are the 'items' of a set."

Fighting (with) Hierarchies—Part II: Presentation
http://www.sapdesignguild.org/community/design/hierarchies2.asp
"This article on hierarchies takes a closer look at the presentation of hierarchies. Hierarchies are often huge, complex and abstract. How can this mass of data be efficiently displayed in the restricted amount of space that is available on a computer screen? In this article, I demonstrate that there are many possible answers to this question."