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Linked List: October 23, 2006

Monday, 23 October 2006

Risky Business 

Cringely on the Internet gambling legislation:

Here’s a law that purports to end Internet gambling but will instead enable it, a law that is intended to make certain types of financial transactions harder to do but will ultimately make them easier, a law that says nothing about terrorism but will ultimately abet it, making us all less secure in the process.

Oh My Goodness Gracious 

Tim Bray, regarding umbrage at his use of the phrase “fucking cool” in a previous entry:

So, to anyone who was offended by my language: I’m sincerely sorry. But that’s really what I’m like.

I enjoyed Norman Walsh’s response.

Fortune Magazine Profiles ‘DVD’ Jon Johansen 

Robert Levine, reporting for Fortune:

Johansen has written programs that get around those restrictions: one that would let other companies sell copy-protected songs that play on the iPod, and another that would let other devices play iTunes songs. Starting this fall, his new company, DoubleTwist, will license them to anyone who wants to get into the digital-music business — and doesn’t mind getting hate mail from Cupertino.

I don’t think “hate mail” is what his company ought to be worried about.

A Raw Deal 

Daniel Davies on the recent anti-online-gambling legislation passed by Republicans in the U.S.:

Basically, in making it impossible to use normal payment systems in order to get something that a lot of Americans want, the effect of the US legislation is going to be to train a whole new generation of money launderers.

(Via Aaron Swartz via email.)

Why You Don’t Buy $10 CF Card Readers 

James Duncan Davidson (who, amazingly, is already shooting another conference in Boston):

Radio Shack rat bastards. It should be criminal to sell 12Mbit USB devices that are supposed to read Compact Flash cards and the like.

ADC on iTunes 

Video from WWDC 2006 is now available via the iTunes Store — but, as with the DVDs from previous years, they’re only available to ADC Select and Premiere members. (Thanks to the now-links-blog-less Daniel Jalkut for the heads-up.)

Skype 2.0 

Mac client hits 2.0.

Bruce Schneier: ‘Renew Your Passport Now’ 

More bad news on the RFID front. Bruce Schneier:

If you have a passport, now is the time to renew it — even if it’s not set to expire anytime soon. If you don’t have a passport and think you might need one, now is the time to get it. In many countries, including the United States, passports will soon be equipped with RFID chips. And you don’t want one of these chips in your passport.

(Via Rich Siegel via AIM.)

Researchers See Privacy Pitfalls in No-Swipe Credit Cards 

John Schwartz reports in The New York Times on the security vulnerabilities of RFID-enabled credit cards:

But in tests on 20 cards from Visa, MasterCard and American Express, the researchers here found that the cardholder’s name and other data was being transmitted without encryption and in plain text. They could skim and store the information from a card with a device the size of a couple of paperback books, which they cobbled together from readily available computer and radio components for $150.

(Via Boing Boing.)

Happy MacBook Owners 

Dan Benjamin on the MacBook “sudden shutdown” problem:

So for the record, I’ve got a MacBook, been using it for 5+ hours a day for many months, it’s currently my primary machine, and it has never, not once shut down unexpectedly. I don’t know anybody personally who has had this happen.

There were a ton of happy MacBook owners at C4, too. I think it’s clearly the case that the shutdown issue is a real problem, but one that’s only plaguing a minority of MacBook owners. It’s just that when nearly a million MacBooks are being sold each quarter, even a small percentage adds up to a lot of people.

Apple KnowledgeBase: Do Not Move, Rename or Delete Backup 3 Files 

Yet another reason not to use Backup. Cf.: