web work print design instruction tech journalism Paul Bissex, Chief E-Scribe New Media Box 847 Northampton MA 01061 USA info@e-scribe.com		Wednesday, July 19, 2000 Steve Jobs Unveils New Adjectives, Products At Macworld Expo today, Apple CEO Jobs showed off new stuff. Aforementioned stuff included the expected twiddling of configurations and colors in the iMac line (Indigo! Ruby! Sage! Snow!), three new but not groundbreaking displays, a full-size USB keyboard, and an optical mouse that is oblong rather than circular. Existing G4 desktop models, except the lowest-end one, become dual-processor units that turn 1GHz Pentium III computers to jelly, as demonstrated in a completely objective staged test. And finally, Jobs fawned over a new 8-inch G4 Cube that looks like a Buck Rogers toaster wrapped in plexiglass. The toaster theme is extended with a vertical-loading CD/DVD drive, and a grill, er, vent that should nicely heat any food items placed directly above it. Perhaps Jobs should have given a free new mouse to each trader on Wall Street rather than wasting them on attendees of the keynote; Apple's stock is down significantly. Expecting better colors, maybe? Wednesday, June 28, 2000 The Escalation Path Less Traveled I know it's very old to gripe about tech support. I am lucky I use it so seldom. Today, though, I called for help from a large computer manufacturer who shall remain nameless. My question was a stumper, it turned out, and so I underwent something which I believe the friendly support people referred to as "traveling up the escalation path" -- this means being handed off from someone who knows nothing to someone who knows something, who can in turn present your question to someone who knows a lot and who may be able to get back to you next week sometime. Friday, June 9, 2000 As If Brain Cancer Wasn't Enough to Worry About News reports in recent days have described a "cellphone virus" spreading via e-mail in Spain. The prank is just another Microsoft Outlook worm, one that has been customized to send text messages to random phones in the Spanish Telefonica network via existing email-to-phone gateways. The messages don't "infect" the phones, as the phones have no mechanism for remotely receiving instructions, executing them, or passing them on. Yet the very phrase "cellphone virus" implies the existence of this nonexistent thing. I'll stop saying it right now. The Reuters story on this event is admirably clear. (To further confuse matters, there is also a full-on "cellphone virus" hoax that has been circulating for a while.) Tuesday, June 6, 2000 Hooligan's Island Several high-ranking American crypto geeks recently founded HavenCo, which plans to offer internet-connected data storage safe from national laws banning things like strong cryptography or images of immodestly clothed women. HavenCo's servers will be physically located on the sovereign nation of Sealand, a once-abandoned WWII gun platform six miles off Britain's coast. Internet connectivity will come from satellite and/or microwave links. Sealand's founder and reigning monarch points to a 1968 British court decision affirming his independence, but I expect that a small squadron of well-armed lawyers will be enough to bring Sealand to its knees, should HavenCo's operations seriously ruffle feathers within the G8. Some savvy persons have suggested HavenCo may be as much political stunt as business venture. See Wired News for more background. Tuesday, May 16, 2000 Personal Computers Suck The damage wreaked by the ILOVEYOU virus/worm can be largely blamed on Microsoft's monopoly and their reckless promotion of technologies like Visual Basic scripting. But that's almost incidental; if it weren't Microsoft, it would likely be somone else. The real problem is that when it comes to security, the personal computer is a poor fit for our newly networked world. Multi-user systems like Unix that have been around for decades address at their root the kinds of problems that are still being patched, tweaked, and worked around in our "advanced" desktop operating systems. The strategic intelligence geeks at Stratfor.com offer a more in-depth analysis along these lines. News Archive What this is I've been doing research into automated content management systems, and am now using a simple one called Blogger to update this page. Editable template, timestamps, old stuff automatically archived. Neat-o. Content management has many benefits: consistent and flexible presentation are easier, and updates and archiving can be done by nontechnical staff. Delivering fresh stuff and organizing what's already there is important for any website; content management systems simplify the job. Send comments to pb@e-scribe.com. Back Home P o w e r e d   b y   B l o g g e r