Friday, 17 August 2007

This Weblog, "Never fails to entertain and inform..."

"...particularly if you're interested in spam, malware and the like"

Blush.

Well, we like Angela Gunn's Tech_Space too. Proof, if proof were needed, that USA Today isn't just for getting slid under the hotel door first thing in the morning.

Hat tip: Joyce Carpenter for finding the Weird Converter in the first place.

Wednesday, 15 August 2007

Kate Bush on The Kenny Everett Video Show

It's 1979 all over again. Simple times...


[Hat tip: k8_fan]

It's hard to believe Kenny's been gone for over 12 years.

Tuesday, 14 August 2007

Spam Causing Email Exodus?

I was asked an interesting question earlier this week. Paraphrased:
With the sheer number of people using semi-proprietary closed systems such as Facebook or Myspace for their personal and business communication, might they be serious contenders for a real spam solution?
Some time ago, I wrote about the, "People are stopping using email" meme. I said then that it's not so much that people are turning their backs on email as a medium, but that they have a wider choice of media available to them now -- such as IM, SMS, and social network websites. They're just more likely to choose the medium best suited to the task. Nothing's changed my mind since then.

Having said that, feel free to poke me, follow me, LinkIn, or whatever.

To paraphrase Meng Weng Wong's recent curry-inspired trendmap, all such media attract spammers if they become sufficiently popular. Lest we forget, spam was first a big problem on USENET -- email came later.

Sunday, 12 August 2007

Radicati Group's website defaced

Oh dear.

Looks like radicati.com got defaced. Or at least that somebody injected a meta redirection tag.

Ooopsy.

Friday, 10 August 2007

IT Blogwatch roundup

As you may know, every day I write the IT Blogwatch column for Computerworld. The idea is to take an IT/tech news story from the past couple of days, and tell the world what bloggers are saying about it.

The column recently won an American Society of Business Press Editors award. Hurrah.

For your delectation, here's a quick roundup of last week's efforts...

Fri 10th: Untangle untangles AV testing mysteries (and ant joke)
Fancy seeing you here. It's Friday's IT Blogwatch: in which we find an interesting test of anti-virus engines at LinuxWorld. And did you hear the one about the ladybug and the ant?..

Thu 9th: Go green: climate change changing data centers (and !bug)
It's an inconvenient Thursday's IT Blogwatch: in which we examine power-saving data centers. Not to mention the classic QA joke, reinterpreted as visual pun...

Wed 8th: New iMacs, iWork, iLife, iEtc. (and pukelight)
Boom! It's Wednesday's IT Blogwatch: in which Steve Jobs unveils a load of new Mac stuff. Not to mention the LED flashlight that makes its victims vomit...

Tues 7th: Linux StinkPads ahoy! (and compendium vol 10)
Strike a light, Mary Poppins, it's only Tuesday's IT Blogwatch: in which ThinkPads are to officially run Linux. Not to mention something for everyone in today's "And Finally"...

Mon 6th: Dateline Las Vegas: hackers whack a mole hack (and outed-FSJ)
Monday's IT Blogwatch: in which an undercover NBC reporter gets busted at DEFCON 15. Not to mention Fake Steve Jobs revealed...