July 2003

… so you can add this blog to your RSS reader if you like. See the little icon over there in the archives area that says blogrss (all in lowercase)? — that’s the link for the RSS feed. Copy the URL associated with it in to your RSS reader. The feed is courtesy of BlogMatrix. It’s supposed to be updated about every hour so you’ll always be up-to-date; 😀

I’ve been using TPF5 Beta for a while now and, even though it’s a beta and has some rough edges on its UI and it dramatically underdocumented, I’ve gotta say I like it! I think I may actually shell out some $$ for a firewall here in the near future.

OK, the question is, why? The application sandbox is pretty dang comprehensive, allowing me to group apps and give permission to the group as opposed to the apps. Separate permissions apply to registry keys and files as well as the standard networking protocols. I can set permissions to allow but monitor which means it logs the event in its own log and I can set the permissions to always ask me whether I want to allow it or not.

The connections view leaves a lot to be desired but it’s usable. It doesn’t look like I can shut down a connection I don’t like — a feature that I’d really like to have available.

And, of course, there are bugs. For instance, since I can’t find a way to bypass the prompt asking for permission to let IE create HOSTS.TMP in system32\drivers\etc even though I’ve explicitly added a rule to that effect.

The UI is supposedly very customizable butI don’t care a lot about that (yet). Basic feature set and usability is what I like.

See McDWireless. There are locations in Santa Clara, Sunnyvale and San Jose as well as a bunch of others. Cost is $4.95 for 2 hours but you’ll probably get time for buying a combo meal. Here’s a link to a NewsAlert story.

Nominated for “Quote of the Year” is the statement made by (retired)
Texas Congressman Dick Armey when asked, “If you had been in President
Clinton’s place would you have resigned?”

Armey’s reply: “If I had been in the President’s place, I would not have
gotten the chance to resign. I would have been lying in a pool of my own
blood, looking up and listening to my wife ask, ‘How do you reload this
son of a bitch’?”

Microsoft has a new version of their Reader software available for download (for desktops and laptops, a 3.58MB download if you don’t already have it installed, a 1.74MB download if you do — see the site for Tablet and Pocket PC versions).

Reader is Microsoft’s free product to allow you to read eBooks — electronically distributed versions of regular old books … books that you’d buy at a bookstore. You can buy eBooks at Barnes and Noble, Amazon.com, eBooks.com (of course) and a number of other online shops. eBooks are “locked” which means you can’t just loan a copy of an eBook to a friend like you can a paperback but, still, if you don’t mind reading on your PC, it’s a good way to pick up books and not worry about them getting lost or dog-eared. The new Harry Potter book isn’t available but Stephen King’s “Dreamcatcher” is, for $6.99.

To help motivate people to download and use Reader, Microsoft’s offering 3 free eBooks each week from now through November of this year. I heard about this last week but couldn’t find anything about the books on their site until this week. Now they’re on the site and available for download (see this link to the Free eBooks page for a synopsis as well as the download links). You’ll need to have the Reader software installed for the download to work. This week’s titles:

“Candy and Me” by Hillary Liftin
“Last to Die” by James Grippando
“A Short History of Nearly Everything” by Bill Bryson

Both will supposedly generate RSS feeds for sites that don’t have the capability (like Blogger).

In-store only and you need to print out this ad and take it with you. 802.11b router for $30, 802.11b PC card for $30 when purchased with the router, 802.11b USB adapter for $30 when purchased with the router. Then, separate from that router deal, they have an 802.11g PC card for $50, and an 802.11g router for $80.

Boy, this service sounds like it’s a real nothing but, after signing up and playing around just a little, this looks like it’s gonna be a pretty neat-o keen thing. So, here’s the deal: when you sign up you get to create web pages at http://yourname.bloki.com. The account includes a weblog at http://yourname.bloki.com/blog which includes an RSS feed. Take the tour or sign up and play with it.

Oh, yeah, you can allow other named users edit access to your website, too, so you’ve got something like a Wiki in it, too. More when I’ve played with it a bit more.

It’s a privacy concern. Heck, it’s paranoia but remember, just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you.

Anyway, here’s a TechTV article on it.

Apparently they’re kept in /.hidden. I’ll have to check this out!