MegaUpload.com Proof that PIPA and SOPA aren’t necessary
With the recent news about so-called anti-piracy bills that are floating around Congress these days, it’s ironic that after such a loud cry for why SOPA and PIPA are “required” and “necessary” that the Department of Justice shut down file-sharing site MegaUpload.com — using existing laws! I don’t see how anyone could argue that we [...]
Senator Mike Lee on SOPA, PIPA
Thank you for your recent letter to Senator Lee regarding S. 968, the PROTECT IP Act. When the Judiciary Committee first received this bill, Senator Lee raised a number of concerns about portions of the bill that could threaten Internet security and stifle innovation in the online retail market. At the time, Senator Lee pledged [...]
An Introduction to Rich Snippets (Video)
Search engines not only display content, they spider web pages, gathering information from your pages, then re-work all that information into a listing that searchers see when they’re looking for stuff — and the cycle is complete. When a person goes to a search engine they have a good idea of what they’re looking for [...]
The future of monitors… and windows, too?
One of the cool things about liquid crystal displays (LCDs) is how thin they can be. We’ve seen “privacy glass” in the past, with liquid crystals sandwiched inside an otherwise normal window. When power is applied the crystals line up and make the glass clear. When power is removed the crystals return to their random [...]
Stop Internet Censorship, Take Action TODAY
Today hundreds of websites — including Wikipedia, reddit, BoingBoing, FreePress.net and SavetheInternet.com — have gone dark. They’re protesting the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA), bills in the House and Senate that could open the door to widespread Internet censorship.1 Thousands of supporters of the open Internet will soon rally [...]
How does a company like Zappos.com get hacked?
Zappos.com is an Amazon.com company that is well-known for selling shoes online, and recently for getting hacked. According to an email send to affected customers (more than 24 million of them) personally identifiable information “may” have been stolen. The message says customers’ names, e-mail addresses, billing and shipping addresses, phone numbers, “scrambled” passwords, and the [...]
Today’s Songs
Sometimes when I need to focus on code or documentation (or anything where I need to block out the world around me) I put in the headphones and listen to music. Ironically perhaps, later when I’m trying to remember something, I find those songs coming back to me as part of the recollection process. Anyhew… [...]
What is SOPA and why’s it so bad?
SOPA, or the “Stop Online Piracy Act” and its sibling the Protect IP Act are pieces of legislation being considered by the US Congress. They sound like a good idea — after all, who doesn’t want to protect intellectual property and stop piracy, right? Unfortunately, if either (or both) get passed they will drastically change [...]
Why is the mainstream media being so quiet about SOPA?
You’ve probably heard about the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA — a bill in the House that could open the door to widespread Internet censorship. Opposition to the bill has reached a boiling point. Millions of activists, hundreds of startups, social media sites like Tumblr, Reddit and Twitter and even big companies like Google, Yahoo! and eBay have [...]
What does the future of telecommunications hold?
It’s 2012 now, we’re all driving flying cars, wearing reflective clothing, the world is scheduled to end in a few more months, and we’re all carrying around computers (called “smartphones”) in our pockets. With that backdrop, head over to my article on pocketnow.com where I dig into the history of telecommunications (POTS), today’s telephony (including [...]
