Category: technology

Like watching a baby playing with a loaded gun…

Baby face closeup

…Is what Miles said about me setting up my own virtual private server on the weekend. Yep I finally took bull by the horns and slapped down my credit card and decided to go with Hub.org for Cubicgarden.com's new resting place. To be fair I didn't really know what I was getting myself into. See I kind of thought Tomcat and Apache would be installed and ready to go. But nope I finally logged into my FreeBSD box and quickly found out that it was a barebones box and I would need to do the configuration of applications, permissions and users. Well trust me, this is no easy thing. I mean there something very different about running unix on the desktop and running it as a server. In a server environment permissions and applications running all need to be kept under tight wraps. I would agree this should be the case for a Desktop environment too, but you can be a little more flexable with the configuration of a desktop machine. Put it this way, being a admin with root access to your own server is certainly compareable to building your first F1 car then racing it along the streets of Monte Carlo. Or as Miles puts it a baby with a loaded gun.

Either way, with thanks to Miles and tons of resources online like this one, I'm almost up, running and hopefully pretty secure. Rather than the usual Apache 2.x and Tomcat 5.5.x type configuration with mod_jk, I've gone for Tomcat 5.5.x with Pen in front for a reverse proxy and load balancer. Miles suggested Pound and Balance but I couldn't get Pound to compile without seriously messing with OpenSSL and Balance didn't seem to forward HTTP traffic without stripping away the header information. Pen is just like Pound it would seem, but also runs on Windows which is good to remember for other projects I may have in mind with my old Windows 2000 box. So yeah its a pretty sweet setup so far and means I loose the overhead of running Apache when all I really want is Tomcat. By the way, I was very close to installing Resin 3.x but decided against it for now.

Compiling Cocoon only took 2 mins once I finally untared and gunzipped the source. Can I just say how much of a nightmare Compression is? This guide was very useful for not only uncompressing files (tar -xvvzf cocoon2.1.8.tar.gz) but also compressing them. It took me a while to work out the correct parameters to compress a directory of files and its contains but keep the permissions and modified dates (which is extreamly useful for moving blojsom blog entries) . tar -cRvzf archive.tar foldertocompress/. Anyway, Cocoon is running happily in Tomcat now and Blojsom is also running fine with everything this blog has up till Feb 26th. So I'll have to do another update just before I swap over to the new server. This will also mean there will be a period of maybe 2 days when the blog and RSS feeds may time out or seem out of date. Don't worry I'll warn you in advance of the exact day.

So what next on the horizon? Well I need to do some more securing and enable Log4J on Tomcat and Cocoon. I've also still got to sort out basic Unix type things. For example while I was setting up the server, the only text editor I had was vi and the only shells were tsch and some other weird ones. Yep thats right no Nano or Bash. I don't know how I managed, but trust me I'll be avoiding vi when ever possible. I've already chpass all the users and made Bash the default shell. Beyond this, I'm considering Hamachi for Linux which would mean I could securely login to Blojsom, Tomcat and anything else from anywhere without setting up that crazy port forwarding in Putty. This sounds over kill but I'm tempted to at least run Hamachi on my Smoothwall Firewall server at home.

In regards to Cocoon, well my next step which I had planned to do if I was not writing this long blog post, would be to install Saxon 8.7 (good to see a .net version btw) in Cocoon using this guide (I know it works, i already installed Saxon 8.4 on the development machine at work). While with Blojsom, I will start trimming down some of the outstanding issues I had.

Oh before I finish, did I say how great Wget and Sudo are? Loaded gun indeed.

Comments [Comments]
Trackbacks [0]

Virtual Private Java Hosting choices

So I almost made my mind up when I thought I'd check out what people were saying about 4java.ca. The first result got my attention, as its someone looking for a private Java servlet hoster too. Erik also decided on 4Java.com but was considering Addr.com which I've honestly never seen before. I was a little put off by there image driven site but quickly found the lighter version which is much easier to navigate and compare prices. However I couldn't really found anything about the actual hosting besides they support Java Servlets. So I checked out the comments to the blog entry. Hub.org gets my vote for worst designed and styled hoster site, but there prices are nice and cheap at only 11.99 dollars for a basic Tomcat VPS setup. They also as standard run Cocoon 2.1.3, OpenLDAP and Jabber! Now thats something worth shouting about. KGBbinternet are simply too expensive for what you get. I mean you have pay 60 dollars a month to get 15gig of bandwidth a month. Cubicgarden.com is currently using about 6gig in webpage access and RSS and I expect that to grow over the coming year. Back to the blog, someone else pointers Erik to eapps which was one I considered a while ago.

Later this evening I spent some time talking to the live help at hub.org and they pointed me to the Cocoon hosters list, but that was not very fruitful. But I have to say the person on the other end did seem to know what they were talking about and seemed to be less sales and more sys op. At one point I did send the link to my blog about being told to leave Interadvantage and remarked it was the first time he's ever seen someone told to leave for such reasons. I also spent some time talking to Miles about Memory usage in Java Servlet containers. He had some great questions to ask any Java hoster. Whats the permanent generation set to on the JVM if at all? What's the command line used to start the JVM? Whats the percentage of customers which go over-bandwidth a month? and Email addresses of 3 customers I can correspond with. I've yet to get any response back from Hub.org but there certainly looking like the right choice if I can keep my bandwidth down to less that 8gig a month. As Miles has remarked already, I'm not using 304's in blojsom and I'm not Gzipping responses. So realisticly it shouldn't be a big problem. Those famous last words…

Comments [Comments]
Trackbacks [0]

Moving cubicgarden.com again

For quite sometime I've been having issues with running Blojsom on a shared Java host. See its possible but not ideal. It would seem Blojsom is best placed in a dedcated servlet container where it can have room to move. So for quite some time I've been holding on to my very cheap shared hosting by Interadvantage. The System Admistrator has been helping me out for quite some time but it just seems Cubicgarden.com is just generally growing in popularity and outgrowing its small plot of internet land. For the last 2 months I've been trying to cut down on system hit by using OSCache and Log4j to solve the errors I might be getting. But it came to a head just recently… here's a slightly edited email I recieved.

I've noticed that whenever your site gets hit hard, our server's load goes way up and other sites become unresponsive. This is particularly a problem in the mornings, from about 8 – 12 AM our time. I assume all the geeks over here who are addicted to your blog get their RSS feed (because you get a lot of RSS traffic then), and then go hit your blog if they see something of interest.

I also took a look at your stats, and about 25% of your page loads come from crawler.bloglines.com.

At any rate, your site is successful, and active, and it depends on Blojsom. When it's getting hit, your site dominates a loaded Dual Xeon server, so I think it's unlikely we can reduce the load to an adequate level just by tweaking Blojsom. Sadly, I again need to encourage you to look for another host. I don't think it's fair for you to try and host your blog in a shared environment; I really think you should put it on a VPS or dedicated server so that Blojsom can't hog CPU and memory that is being shared by other sites.

This came to a head this morning because our company president was trying to do something on your server at 10:00 AM, and he was very upset by the performance. He wants resolution to this situation, and suggested we give you 30 days to find a different host.

It has been fun working with you, and I'm sorry to write this note. I do wish you the best in your future endeavors.

Gratefully,

interAdvantage Administrator

So once again I'm on the look out for a good java hoster which provide virtual private servers for people on tight budgets. So far the cheapest I've found is 4Java.ca's private tomcat at 14.95 candian dollars a month for Tomcat 5 with 600meg of space and 10gig of data transfer. But Daily Razor's RazorBLAZE package attracts me because they also supporting Cocoon cost 19.95 american dollars a month for 5gig of space and 80gig of data transfer which is fantastic in comparision. VPS land seems ok too at 3gig of space and 40gig of bandwidth. One of the things I loved about Interadvantage which seems hard to to come by is, the friendly and knowledgable system administrator. The System admin has been working with me for quite some time and I know for a fact that this email was something he didn't want to write. We tried to get Cocoon working in a shared environment but came to the conclusion that it was not possible with serious security overrides. So please don't blame the ISP for this letter, its my fault for trying to slot a popular blog and amazing blog software in a shared environment. I'm sorry to the other people on the same server and I'll be moving soon.

So if you have any other hosts which do Java servlets, allow for at last 5gig of transfer data a month and cost as little as 10 pounds a month do please recommend them to me in the comments.

Comments [Comments]
Trackbacks [0]

Do you EVDO? No not on this side of the world

If I hear someone say EVDO again, I'm going to scream. I don't know any other country in the world which uses this 2.5g mobile data connetion? Except maybe Canada? Oh and Latin America? don't think so, but maybe someone could confirm this. I'm very sure its not used anywhere else including Russia, Eastern Europe, Africa, Middle East, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Eastern Asia or the Asia Pacific area. it seems to have been made by American mobile carrier to allow them to offer mobile internet type solutions without paying the stupid prices of 3G licences. Ok, Fair enough but now theres a split between the smartphones coming out (IMHO).

Theres a whole range which support GPRS, EDGE and UMTS (3G) which all seem to work together nicely. You can even go from one country to another with these phones and it works. Believe it or not I was able to get GPRS out of my SPV E200 when I last went to the midwest of America in 2004 thanks to Tmobile and AT&T. Then you got the rouge phones which only support EVDO. This would be fine but the rouge ones tend to be the Microsoft PocketPC or Windows Mobile 2005 devices. The type of device I've been looking forward to having one day soon. Thanks EVDO carriers for this split. Thank you very much. I can't really blame Microsoft because America is a bigger market when it comes to Mobile Data it would seem. I'm not only pointing the finger at American Carriers like Cingular but also much closer to home like my own which is Orange. If Orange would provide a more American like data tariff of 20 pounds for 100meg of Mobile data a month we may start to see more mobile data use and that would in turn attract Microsoft and others.

It must be killing Orange and other mobile operators over here that they paid such stupid prices for 3G and its actually better and quicker technology that EVDO but the customers are not using it much. They quote huge take ups of 3G phones but how many of those people actually regularly use 3G and how much data do they transfer? I bet the percentage of data per person is very low. And you can't be suprised when most operators are charging about 1 pound per meg if you don't buy in advance with a bundle. (This post could/should simply be about this really.) I do care that I can't get a 3G phone which runs Windows mobile 2005 in a smaller size than my ipaq. But also mobile data costs in the UK and Europe is stupidly priced and I would have thought in 2006 we would be moving away from these crazy prices. I mean can you blame me for waiting for a phone which supports Wifi? Roll on the Nokia N80 soon please Nokia.

Comments [Comments]
Trackbacks [0]

Should I wait even longer or buy a mobile now?

In my overdue quest to get a new mobile phone I've started to get closer to a decision. Basicly I can even wait for the new range of Nokia Nseries phones or get a Nokia 6280 in a few weeks or even get a Orange SPV M500 for free right now.

So before going into details, my ideal list in order for the phone I want to get next.

  • 3G/GPRS access
  • Bluetooth dialup
  • 2 megapix camera
  • Hot swappable SD or MiniSD support
  • Screen resoultion of 320×240 or over
  • Mpeg4 or 3GP Video recording
  • SVG tiny support
  • Java (MDIP2.0) support
  • Media playback
  • Bluetooth 2.0 support
  • Quadband support (GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz)
  • USB mass storage ability
  • FM radio
  • MMC support
  • EDGE support
  • 3G video calling support

So first up why not the SPV M500 now? I've always liked this device, since the first day I saw one my students with one about 2 years ago but… Well you see its got no 3G only GPRS access. Not even EDGE which would be useful when I go to America or parts of Europe. The problem seem to be that the PocketPC and Windows Mobile range seems to be lacking 3G(UMTS) because the American operators are obsessed with EVDO not UMTS. So there not making many devices which support 3G at this moment. Ok that aside, its runs on PocketPC like my HP Ipaq 5550 but on the positive side the form factor is small enough to fit nicely into my pocket. But then again its exactly like my Ipaq which makes having both a pointless idea. So, oh well say good bye to that mobile. Also for the same reasons, all the SPV range is not suited to me, as they have no 3g or are too much like my ipaq. I was thinking about getting the M500 and simply swapping my sim card in and out of the Sanyo S750 when I need 3G, but its not practical, so on with the next phone…

Nokia 6280

Next phone is the Nokia 6280. Now I saw this phone when I was browsing around the orange store the other day. And its pretty damm sweet. Most of the things I want are in place, even EDGE/USB2 and high rez screen support. Its odd because I only came across this phone because the sales people in MPC kept telling me that the Nokia N70 has a better screen resoultion than the Nokia 6880 which it does not! So why don't I buy this one? Well theres something about the Series 40 operating system which means it won't run Symbian applications. Which means I'll have to run only Java applications. This is ok, but I would like to have Opera and a decent Jabber client on my phone, instead of relying on my ipaq each time. Also this phone feels like a phone which looks like it will be eclipsed by the Nokia NSeries phones (N71, N80, N90, etc). People who read my blog regularly will know I love the Nokia N90 but can not justify the stupid price which it sells at. I've also been thinking its actually too heavy and I'm not a fan of flip phones. I actually prefer Slide phones like my Sanyo S750. What else puts me off the Nokia 6820? well video recording at QCIF resoultion and only to 3GP format not Mpeg4. Specially when you compare it to the Nokia N80.

Nokia N80

And I'm really warming to the N80 now, even more so that the N90. I mean it seems to have everything I need plus the price seems to be about the same as the Nokia 6280. So it should cost between 50-100 pounds on Orange when it finally comes out. Which looks like March now. However maybe its worth it for wireless on a phone. Certainly if Skype and Wifi become a real alternative as Ben suggests. Either way, the Wifi, universial plug n play (geez I hope you can easily turn it on and off) and the 3 megapix camera all seem to be future proof enough for me. I just need to wait or hope the SPV range adds 3G to its smaller range.

Interestingly Infosync has a run down of the top 5 Orange phones.

Why oh why is there no 3G on this new device? Oh yes I remember, because there only interested in a american audience. EVDO and EDGE versions but no 3G anywhere to be seen. Shame because I would instantly buy this phone. i-mate Jamin

Comments [Comments]
Trackbacks [0]

Steve Gibson says Windows Metafile was a backdoor

So while in the shower today I was listening to Leo Laporte and Steve Gibson's Security now number 22. I almost fell in the shower after hearing the possibility that Microsoft maybe covered up a backdoor in Windows. Simply put Steve Gibson is suggesting that Microsoft or some people involved in the code for the Windows Metafile (WMF) put in a backdoor. Aka it was not a flaw or vunerability, a backdoor! If this is true I'm speechless.

Its easy to think of this as a conspiracy and put on your foil hats now but this deadly serious. Even Steve has admitted if he's wrong he will be the first to admit he's wrong but he really doesnt believe this. He's actually put a lot on the line for this. Personally I think this is just a long line of the mainstream lying to us. Think about it Sony and there badly written DRM and worst still badly written Rootkit. Lies and more damm lies. Even when there pants were down they tried to cover it up by saying people didnt even know what a rootkit was so why tell them. I remember quoting Miles in my post about the Rootkit saying Apple and Microsoft must be pissing themselves with laughter. Well its now Microsoft's time and Apple are not getting away clean. Theres lots of talk about iTunes in the context of useage patterns feedback and the reduction of uses of the sharing feature across the versions. So Apple users don't even laugh because Apple are hardly saints either.

But back to this claim of a backdoor in Windows. If it turns out to be true (and honestly Steve's explaining actually makes a lot of sense I have to say). We have to wonder how many more there are? Who put this backdoor there and who actually knows about it? I expect by the time this gets out there it will make the large news sources quickly. I've not looked on Digg, slashdot, boingboing yet because I'm on the 10am train into London Bridge. Tell a lie, I just did a search through Digg on the my aggregator and this came up (which is close but not the same) this came up.. I'll digg it when I get back online in about 20mins. Looking at the date of the Digg story (7:30am) its still too early for most of the Western world and may not have had time to circlate yet. Steve did say this was a exclusive to Security now and he's only known about it for about a day at most. Anyhow, we shall see what happens. By the way the people who came out of this smelling pretty sweet has to be Hackers. If it wasn't for hackers and reverse engineering we would never know. This is critical to remember no matter how it turns out.

Comments [Comments]
Trackbacks [0]

CES covered to death, thankfully its over now

Can I just say CES was so covered, that I actually disabled a few of my RSS subscriptions for a while. Rocketboom did such a great job showing exactly how intense things were. While the coverage by Engadget went so far off the deepend that I had to disable the feed for a while.

Now we just got to see what Steve Jobs reveals at Mac World today. I'm sure to do a little live blogging if possible.

Comments [Comments]
Trackbacks [0]

Windows WMF Metafile Vulnerability fix from reverse engineer

Well is this is a good way to start 2006 Microsoft. A very serious exploit was found in Windows during last week, and this time its a 0day exploit which means there's no patch available from Microsoft yet. Actually Microsoft are advising people to unregister the shimgvw.dll which is not a fix in anyones wildest imagination.

But luckly some reverse engineer called Ilfak Guilfanov has reversed engineer the shimgvw.dll and written a patch which runs on all 32/64bit Windows (aka no 95, 98 or ME support). From what I've read, it sounds like the patch is pretty safe (llfak has actually open sourced the code I believe) so I would recommend you download this patch till Microsoft sort out an official patch. And honestly do it now as there are tons of worms written for this exploit and there coming from many different directions. IM, Email, Browser, etc, etc. Oh by the way theres a checker too.

Pass this information to as many people as you can…

Comments [Comments]
Trackbacks [0]

VPN tunnel your way to safe ground with Hamachi

Hamachi on windows

What is Hamachi?

Hamachi is a UDP-based virtual private networking system. Its peers utilize the help of a 3rd node called mediation server to locate each other and to boot strap the connection between themselves. The connection itself is direct and once it's established no traffic flows through our servers.

Hamachi is not just truly peer-to-peer, it is verifiably secure peer-to-peer.

Believe it or not, but we are able to successfully mediate p2p connections in roughly 97% of all cases we dealt with so far (few tens of thousands as of early March). This includes peers sitting behind different firewalls and/or broadband routers (aka NAT devices).

Oh my goodness, if you have not tried out Hamachi and want access to your home network from elsewhere. You need to try it out! I heard it about it ages ago but dismissed it because I didnt really see the need. Well that was before I learned about how insecure Wifi can be. So during hearing this week's Security Now podcast

I spent a hour checking out Hamachi. At the moment it runs on Windows and Linux but after verison 1.0 (there currently 0.99) it will be developed for the Mac too. I dont see why you cant run the Linux version on a Mac command line but I'm sure there is a reason. So anyhow once you got it installed you can follow the Wizard which is a little too simple but good for those not deeply into networking, its easy to escape at anytime.
Once your setup its just a matter of making a new network or joining another one. You can easily make one and the the security is then all hanged off your stupidly impossible to crack password. GRC recommends some 63 character password string which can be generated here at the High security password generator. I actually went for a stupid 96 ASCII character password with all types of characters. I'll switch it down to 63 because Hamachi uses a 256bit AES crypto for authentication. After setting the password and name of the network you can go to another machine and do the same but this time hit join and enter the same details.

Before you know it your on a new type of network. Actually a 5.x.x.x IP address. I didnt even know you could actually have one of those for a network, I always thought 10.x.x.x was the lowest things went. Ok so once you got two machines on the same p2p network your away. I was able to tunnel out of my work network and on my own computer at home and launch VNC and access the net and machines attached to the same physical network. Everything is accessable and the speed is amazing. Oh yeah by the way, I only had to open one port on Smoothwall for it to work, most firewalls and NAT environments can be traversed without opening ports and port forwarding according to the Hamachi creators. I did nothing to the work network, like Skype it just worked. Crazy but true. I also tried using Hamachi with some of the sniffing tools out there and glad to say it works perfectly. All traffic is secured and even insecure connections like POP3 retrivial can not be discovered as it all looks like normal web traffic. Honestly I cant wait for version 1.0 of Hamachi. Its solved so many of my problems its untrue.

Comments [Comments]
Trackbacks [0]

Nokia I understand, but I would have pimped the N90 too

Loic with a Nokia N90 phone

Nokia you missed a trick here. Yes I understand you wanted to get the N90 out there by bribing certain bloggers with by giving them a shiny Nokia N90. But I've been talking about buying one for quite sometime now, you may have considered sending one this way. Hey I would have wrote a nice long entry about it and maybe influenced some people to buy one. Of course I would have told everyone that it was given to me and that I'm now a temporary pimp for Nokia N90 phones. But thats not really a problem is it? Oh well my Z list status makes its difficult for these things to happen.

But joking aside, there is something I'm a little uneasy about with Nokia and this story. Will it stop me from buying the phone, hummmm maybe not but I cant help bribinginfluencing people is not the best way to get a product out on the web. But hey what do I know, as the story says Microsoft's being doing it for years. I'll have to see the real details of the arrangements, some rumours were saying Nokia are going to take them back at some point in the future, they would take away the phone if you wrote anything negative about it or wrote nothing at all?

I still can not believe its still not available in the UK under contract on Orange or any other network. There's no way I'm paying 430 pounds for a phone full stop. I'm also hearing rumours about a 3g Microsoft Smartphone device coming in January, so might hold off. Too bad Nokia

Comments [Comments]
Trackbacks [0]

The Fall out over the Sony Rootkit/DRM

Sony BMG logo

The backlash against the SonyBMG rootkit and DRM has been one heck of a rollercoaster ride which doesnt seem to be ending anytime soon. Here's some highlights in case you have missed them. interlaced with some Cluetrains.

A couple of lawsuits have been filed against Sony for breaking there EULA.

Then Sony issued a patched which is impossible to find (everything sony is impossible to find on there site to be truthful) and does not actually remove the DRM, well what do you expect?

Talking about the EULA, some very interesting clauses and points to consider when buying your next CD

Sony's Exec, Thomas Hesse (President of Sony's Global Digital Business) replied to the whole issue of Rootkits and DRM by saying What users dont't know cant hurt them… (A must listen by the way!). And echoing Miles thoughts, Apple and Microsoft must be pissing themselves with laughter. Thomas Hesse has some balls saying what he said and the bloggers will have the last say about his ridiculous comment.

#14 Corporations do not speak in the same voice as these new networked conversations. To their intended online audiences, companies sound hollow, flat, literally inhuman.

New virus uses Sony BMG software, yep that very badly written code for the RootKit has been lerverged for a virus which hides via Sony's Rootkit.

The complete list of SonyBMG Rootkit CDs at the EFF

Apple Anti rip software found on the same Sony BMG CDs. Usual discussion on Slashdot about Mac users and will Sony bring DRM to linux too?

The power of the blog outlines what's been already seen by in other areas like the Kryptonite lock. When will the mainstream media actually pay attention to what there children are reading online?

#6 The Internet is enabling conversations among human beings that were simply not possible in the era of mass media.

#94 To traditional corporations, networked conversations may appear confused, may sound confusing. But we are organizing faster than they are. We have better tools, more new ideas, no rules to slow us down.

And of course some fun, Sony I download your music


At long last, Sony halts production of 'rootkit' CDs

Sony BMG Music Entertainment said Friday that it will suspend production of CDs with copy-protection technology that has been exploited by virus writers to try to hide their malicious code on PCs.

The decision by the music label comes after 10 days of controversy around the technology, which is designed to limit the number of copies that can be made of the CD and to prevent a computer user from making unprotected MP3s of the music.

Security experts blasted the technology because it uses “rootkit” techniques to hide itself on hard drives and could be used by virus writers to make their malicious code invisible. The first remote-control Trojan horses that took advantage of the cloak provided by Sony BMG surfaced this week.

“We are aware that a computer virus is circulating that may affect computers with XCP content protection software,” the record label said in a statement Friday. “We stand by content protection technology as an important tool to protect our intellectual property rights and those of our artists. Nonetheless, as a precautionary measure, Sony BMG is temporarily suspending the manufacture of CDs containing XCP technology.”

Lets hope thats the end of XCP and its rootkit. Somehow, I know it wont be.

Comments [Comments]
Trackbacks [0]

My phone is also made of human ass

When I heard Merlin from 43 folders talk about his phone, I instantly knew it was a Panasonic phone before he even said it. Then I looked up the picture of his phone and laughed. Me and Sarah have been generally pissed off about our home phone for the same reasons for about the last 6 months. The rubber keys are a nightmare once they start to wear, I cant tell you how many times I've pressed 5 and its dialed 3 5's. The battery life on the phone is also a nightmare and its about the same weight as my ipaq which is simply wrong.

So anyhow we did change it recently to a philips 5115 phone which was a pile of crap, riddled with bugs and a difficult navigation to boot. Just 2 days ago we bought a couple of NTL DECT phones (would link to picture but Argos.co.uk dont seem to have it, although I bought it there) and according to my wife its really good. The question is now, what do we do with the old panasonic phone? And the only thing which I can think about is to give it to a charity shop as it still works, its just a pain to use.

Hey I didnt know NTL and Telewest merged?

Comments [Comments]
Trackbacks [0]

Are you a self described geek?

…well do you? Why not? Is it because you failed the Geek test or more likely because you dont like the idea of being a geek? Wikipedia takes the sci-fi route but could it be the mainstream view of geeks which is putting you off? There was a short piece in the telegraph recently, which was sent to me by Birch about the fact that the UK Sci-fi Channel now has more Female viewers than Male. Ann McMeekin's quote is perfect if you swap sci-fi for geek, or even nerd, or even techie.

People have an impression of sci-fi fans being small men who sit in the dark watching Star Trek but it's not like that now

Will this perception change? knowing the mainstream media, not anytime soon. But it is certain that the old boys club of geek culture is being slowly taken apart, and I for one think its a good thing. The other day Sarah made a comment to me while I was watching Rocketboom which just celebrated its 1st year anniversary (26th October, which is also shared with me and sarah's anniversary too). Its great to see you watching a great looking geek girl for once. After a brief discussion about what exactly she meant, I got it. Its true all the geek media I watch tends to have a strong male lead and if there are any women at all, there role is usually irrelevent or very small. And shes right, Geek culture is still mainly run by white males. Take for example Nerd TV which still has no female interview after its 8th show now. To be fair Anina is next on the list but shes the only one, not even Molly or Meg Hourihan is on there.

  • Macintosh OS programmer Andy Hertzfeld (9/6)
  • PayPal co-founder Max Levchin (9/13)
  • Sun Microsystems co-founder Bill Joy (9/20)
  • Internet Archive founder Brewster Kahle (9/27)
  • Internet publisher Tim O'Reilly (10/4)
  • Father of RSS Dave Winer (10/11)
  • Autodesk co-founder Dan Drake (10/19)
  • Intel Capital co-founder Avram Miller (10/28)
  • Anina the WAP Queen
  • Computer mouse inventor Doug Engelbart
  • Former Lotus chief scientist Jerry Kaplan
  • Apple Computer co-founder Steve Wozniak
  • Former Apple chief scientist Larry Tesler
  • Google CEO Eric Schmidt
  • The father of Linux, Linus Torvalds
  • TCP/IP inventor Bob Kahn

Yes I know theres many cultural and social reasons for this but you have to wonder how much things have changed. lets not get started on the different cultures and race point of view either, NPR has a few podcasts about this but its American focused, Reversing Technology's Racial Divide and Black Students and the Future of Technology.

Comments [Comments]
Trackbacks [0]

AvantGo finally supports RSS

So funny, I've been hearing rumours about AvantGo supporting RSS like Russell has for quite some time too. Like him I was told not to blog it but I'm sure it wasnt the same person or group of people. Even without the heads-up, it was certain that AvantGo would have to do something at some point to stay relevent with the huge demand for RSS content on mobile devices. Is it enough to make me switch back to using AvantGo over PocketRSS? No. But is it good enough to recommend to others? Your damm right…

Comments [Comments]
Trackbacks [0]