Noteworthy on the Web- The Register: Remote code execution vuln appears in PuppetBig trouble in automated clouds Puppet Labs has blasted out a security advisory about a vulnerability in the popular infrastructure management tool Puppet.… […]The Register
- The Consumerist: Is Verizon Deliberately Slowing Down Netflix Streaming To Customers?(Maulleigh)One of the companies that provides bandwidth to Netflix claims that Verizon is allowing a traffic jam of data to build up at its connection points to the huge telecom company, resulting in a degraded connection for customers. Cogent Communications is one of the nation’s largest bandwidth... […]Chris Morran
- The Register: Apple's screw-up leaves tethered iPhones easily crackable24 seconds from pickup to pwned iPhones being used as Wi-Fi hotspots are open to attack because of lax security protocols in the automatic password generation system Apple has in place, according to new research from the University of Erlangen in Germany.… […]The Register
- Marginal Revolution: India to send the world’s last telegram on July 14thAt the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), India‘s state-owned telecom company, a message emerges from a dot matrix printer addressing a soldier’s Army unit in Delhi. ”GRANDMOTHER SERIOUS. 15 DAYS LEAVE EXTENSION,” it reads. It’s one of about 5,000 such missives still being sent every day by telegram –... […]Tyler Cowen
- The Register: Google Brain king slashes cost of AI gearAnything CPU can do GPU can do better The architect behind some of Google's mammoth machine-learning systems has figured out a way to dramatically reduce the cost of the infrastructure needed for weak artificial intelligence programs, making it easier for cash-strapped companies and institutions to perform research into this crucial... […]The Register
- Daemonic Dispatches: Cryptography is a science, not engineeringThomas Ptacek tweeted yesterday that "If you're not learning crypto by coding attacks, you might not actually be learning crypto." Judging by the number of twitter "favourites" and "retweets" of this comment, it seems to have struck a chord; but with all respect to Thomas, I absolutely disagree.... […]Daemonic Dispatches
- The Consumerist: How To Not Kill Every Rechargeable Battery You Own(poopoorama)It seems like every device we use, from toothbrushes to mobile phones, has some kind of rechargeable battery in it now. I mean, seriously, toothbrushes? Prolonging the battery life means prolonging the useful life of your gadget. Are there things you can do that would wreak havoc... […]Laura Northrup
- Geek.com: Kone’s lightweight UltraRope to make 1km high elevators a realityFinnish company Kone is set to double the height elavators inside skyscrapers can travel with a revolutionary new rope that is up to 90 percent lighter than the existing industry standard. Look at… […]Matthew Humphries
- Lifehacker: Dump Your Luggage on Your Bed to Prevent Unpacking ProcrastinationThe last thing you want to do when you get home from vacation is unpack, even though you probably should. Give yourself motivation by putting your stuff between you and sleep.Read more... […]Eric Ravenscraft
- High Performance Web Sites: Browser Busy IndicatorsI’m doing research on the perception of speed for my Ignite Velocity talk. The perception of website speed is obviously fueled by what the user sees in the browser. While the content of a website is controlled by the website owner, the browser also provides feedback to the user. This... […]Steve Souders
- Charlie's Diary: Short Story: Bit RotNeptune's Brood is due on bookshelves in just over two weeks' time. (And some of you lucky people will probably be able to get your hands on paper copies of it a bit earlier.) It's set in the same universe as Saturn's Children, but a whole lot later. That... […]Charlie Stross
- CNET News.com: NSA admits listening to U.S. phone calls without warrantsNational Security Agency discloses in secret Capitol Hill briefing that thousands of analysts can listen to domestic phone calls. That authorization appears to extend to e-mail and text messages too. [Read more] […]Declan McCullagh
- Everything USB: Centech's USB Power Meter Tells You Which Gadget is Most Power Hungry[…]newstips@everythingusb.com
- Image Sensors World: All About CMOS Sensors in 75 SlidesTaiwan National Chiao Tung University published a nice CMOS image sensor course materials covering pretty much all important things in just 75 slides, written by Chia-Ming Tsai. There is also 58-slide long CCD course on the same page. […]Vladimir Koifman (noreply@blogger.com)
- The Tao of Mac: Automating iOS: How Pythonista Changed My WorkflowFrom November last year, but still awesome.☯ […]Rui Carmo
- LE FIGARO - Une: Calimero, un héros très françaisAlors que le petit poussin fête ses 50 ans au festival d'Annecy, Gaumont animation produit 104 nouveaux épisodes de ses aventures pour une diffusion sur TF1 en 2014. Plus actuel que jamais, Calimero ? […]Maxime Pargaud
- DPReview News: Accessory Review: GigaPan Epic ProThe GigaPan EPIC Pro is an affordable motorized panorama head for DSLRs, built to create high-resolution images from multiple frames. In this article, Ireland-based landscape photographer Carsten Krieger takes the device out into the field to put it through its paces. Click through for a link to the full review. […]DPReview News
- SecurITeam.com: nginx ngx_http_close_connection Function Crafted rcount Value HTTP Request Handling Remote Integer Overflow Vulnerabilitynginx ngx_http_close_connection Function Crafted r->count Value HTTP Request Handling suffers from remote integer overflow vulnerability. […]support@beyondsecurity.com
- Geek.com: Noctua creates world’s first CPU cooler with active noise cancellationUnless you opt for one of the very low-power CPUs on the market today, chances are the processor inside your desktop PC has a fan attached to keep it cool. The higher performance… […]Matthew Humphries
- Ars Technica: NSA gets early access to zero-day data from Microsoft, othersThe National Security Agency (NSA) has used sensitive data on network threats and other classified information as a carrot to gain unprecedented access to information from thousands of companies in technology, telecommunications, financial, and manufacturing companies, according to a report by Michael Riley of Bloomberg. And that data includes... […]Sean Gallagher
- The Register: Remote code execution vuln appears in Puppet
Category Archives: Book reviews
Why I will never buy a Kindle
One of my bosses got a Kindle 2 a few months ago, and was wondering how an avowed gadget lover such as myself did not have one already. I am perfectly comfortable reading books in electronic form on the small … Continue reading
Posted in Book reviews, Economics, Soapbox, Stuff
3 Comments
Wittgenstein’s Poker
The Story of a Ten-Minute Argument Between Two Great Philosophers David Edmonds, John Eidinow Harper Perennial, ISBN 0060936649, Publisher, Buy online Plato is one of the sacred cows of the philosophy establishment. Whitehead famously wrote: “The safest general characterization of the … Continue reading
A book signing with Steven Erikson
I reviewed the Malazan Book of the Fallen last year — it is one of the very finest Fantasy series, in my opinion. I met Steven Erikson today during a book signing at Borderlands Books in San Francisco. Sadly, there … Continue reading
The Algebraist
Iain M. Banks Penguin (UK), ISBN 1841492396, Author’s site, Much like the great Fredric Brown, Scottish author Iain Banks’ work straddles the worlds of science-fiction and mystery. His SF books are signed Iain M. Banks (the others drop the middle … Continue reading
The Malazan Book of the Fallen
Steven Erikson Bantam Press (UK), ISBN 0553812173/0765310015, 0553813110, 0553813129, 0553813137, 0593046285, Publisher, Buy online: , , , , , , , , Fantasy, like Science Fiction, is a genre that gets scant respect, in spite of (and perhaps due to) … Continue reading
Shutterbabe
Deborah Copaken Kogan Random House, ISBN: 0375758682 Publisher, I picked up the hardcover edition of this book from the sale bin at Stacey’s Booksellers, as the Leica on the cover just beckoned to me. This is an autobiography by an American … Continue reading
Archival photography
Henry Wilhelm is a well-known authority on preserving photographs. He pretty much wrote the on the subject, and it is now downloadable for free in PDF format from his website. In a nutshell: No widespread color process is really archival, … Continue reading
The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint
Edward Tufte Graphics Press, ISBN: 0-9613921-5-0 Publisher Edward Tufte is probably the single most influential authority on communicating complex information graphically. He pretty much wrote the book(s) on the subject in his classic series The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, Envisioning Information … Continue reading
Holy War
Karen Armstrong Anchor Books (Random House), ISBN: 0385721404 Publisher, British theologian Karen Armstrong entered a convent at seventeen to become a Catholic nun. She defrocked in 1969 (this caused a great scandal among British Catholics, many have not forgiven her to … Continue reading
Mountain Light
Galen Rowell Sierra Club, ISBN: 0871563673 Publisher, Galen Rowell was a world-class mountaineer and photographer. He passed away with his wife in an airplane crash on August 11, 2002. He was a master of color landscapes and had the knack of catching … Continue reading