Category: Technology
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Not all Web Sites are Blogs
He has a web site, but he’s not a blogger. It may sound obvious to point that out, but I keep reading news stories and commentaries that discuss, for example, how “blogging” is making traditional media obsolete or something… when in fact they really mean to say “the web” is revolutionizing media and communications. Next…
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Social Networks are Brands
Six Apart, maker of MoveableType and TypePad, has apparently been recalibrating their product development away from targeting professional web developers like me and towards the massive “teen/tween” market. TypePad was the first step in this direction, but now they’ve been working on a new social networking app called Vox which is obviously designed to enter…
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Google Desktop and Full-Focus States
Version 4 of Google’s awesome Desktop Search came out a few weeks ago. It’s great in a lot of ways, but I wanted to focus on one interesting new(ish) feature: Quick Search. (The Quick Search feature has been around since version 3, but since verison 3 only came out in March, I imagine some people…
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My New “Sketchbook”
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The WordPress blog admin “Dashboard”, where I am currently typing these words. If you look closely, maybe you can see what kinds of things I might be posting here in the future. I have what I fancy to be interesting ideas just about all the time, and usually when this happens I like to start…
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NSA Data Mining 4: Total Information Awareness, Resurrected
A slight change of focus… (also check out Part 1 Part 2 and Part 3) You may recall that a nefarious global spying program called “Total Information Awareness”, spearheaded by convicted Iran-Contra criminal Vice Adm. John M. Poindexter, was exposed in 2002 by the New York Times. After this program was made public, there was…
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NSA Data Mining 3: Wiretaps? Maybe not. Stakeouts? Definitely.
I honestly don’t know which is worse. (also check out Part 1 and Part 2) The press and Bush’s supporters make a big deal out of the fact that the NSA’s phone records program does not actually involve wiretaps. I think that’s a red herring. My argument is that the program is effectively a massive…
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NSA Data Mining 2: So you think you have nothing to hide?
(also check out Part 1) Most people who say that they would give up their liberty for temporary safety justify their opinion by saying “innocent people have nothing to hide”. But I wouldn’t be so sure. There are lots of ways a perfectly law-abiding American can get swept up by this program, both accidently and…
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NSA Data Mining 1: If you aren’t against it, then you don’t really understand it.
The NSA phone records program doesn’t seem quite so bad, at least not when it’s described this way. “Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive!” – Sir Walter Scott The NSA’s recently-revealed program to scour through and analyze the phone records of millions of normal and innocent Americans is…