Like all things in life online presence has its pros and cons but lately I’ve run into more cons than pros. Watching ‘The Net’ the other day, made me realise that although at the time [1995...] this movie was quite progressive it still holds some actual truth in it. I loved it back then, I love it nowadays and not just because they show some decent ‘ol Macs in each ‘computer shot’ Mind the cool 3 1/2-inch floppy discs!!! Aaaah the sound of those when ejected… *got a tad sidetracked there, sorry…*

I guess the fact that more and more info seems to be gathered online is what is causing my concern. So I’ve decided a while ago to adjust the digital breadcrumb trail that I’d left on the net and delete all accounts except for three of them. The pros of these three are the fact that I do get the benefits of networking: mainly work related though. But to me, that’s all there is to it. I don’t share personal info since it’s personal for a reason and I’d like to keep it that way. I realise it will be impossible to move away from it completely but at least I still have some control over what is out there and who has access to it.

Which brings me to the main reason that got me thinking. It was a discussion I had with someone close {family} about the development of networks in general, security issues and the fact that more and more companies are changing to cloud computing. To me that is something I would not take into consideration if I had a choice about whether to introduce it into my personal life or not. Call me paranoid if you like but I think I’m extremely realistic: it would be no option. I’d rather have ten noisy peripherals somewhere stashed away than having to trust someone else with all of my data, whatever data that is.

If I see that my ISP already refuses to do something about the issues I mentioned in a previous post than how am I supposed to trust some virtual server somewhere out there to be safe from attacks? It’s just not realistic believing that it is foolproof, is it? Ignorance is bliss… but in this case I refuse to turn a blind eye. Don’t get me wrong: I’m all for changes and improvement but I do feel some should become more aware of the kind of risks that are involved before making certain decisions. What happened to Sony is a good example and trust me, it ain’t gonna stop there, that’s probably just the start of it.

Mark my words ‘the Cloud’ is going to be the next media hype…

© xkcd #908

There are limits and obviously some were been crossed big time by people who refused to respect each others predilection and fuel the feud. Rumour has it that there has been a Mac trojan (there’s now a second variant) threat lately which is ‘hidden’ in some fake anti-virus software for Mac. It’s using malicious SEO poisoning to attract visitors for downloads. For years Mac users have been free of any potential threats although there have been a few worms in the past that were -at the time- mainly passed on by unformatted Zip discs. Rogueware is commonly seen on Windows computers, but until now has been rarely encountered on the Apple Mac platform. But that -and that is a big but- doesn’t mean one should not be cautious.

Whether to be cautious or not it, shouldn’t depend on what operating system you’re using, Macs are just as vulnerable as any other system. What I didn’t like about this discussion was the mere assumption that Mac users are being ignorant *not me* and arrogant *not me*. And it was ‘payback time’… The discussion turned into entirely childish and immature finger-pointing and word-bashing. I guess I was disappointed that a website owner -who claims to be running a successful geek-blog read and followed by a vast group of people with a diversity of different OS backgrounds- writes a post that fuels an extremely hostile approach, by publishing a title like: ‘Hey Mac users >>> Boo-yah’ .

I normally would’ve put a link up but I refuse to advertise for this website and the fact that they obviously lack some common courtesy… I’m sure though that some of you out there have enough IQ to find the related post on the internet

For those of you who haven’t seen the Roomba yet… < link > totally awesome gadget A friend of mine has one and of course I want one too

© xkcd #413

At the time when I wrote that post, I said that I wasn’t impressed with the constant updates, I still feel the same. Movable Type sits at the other end of the spectrum though, since its vulnerability showed itself to me over the last couple of months. I’ve had a continuing struggle with an overload of traffic mainly coming from China. Their target was a cgi script that I need to run in order to keep Movable Type active. Whilst browsing for solutions I found out that many others had run into the exact same problem and there was no way to avoid this except by moving to a different CMS.

I’ve run Movable Type as my main CMS for at least eight years and never had this issue before. I partly blame Google for this since some seem to think that whenever your website shows up at the toplist in a search, it will automatically generate traffic. Therefore you become a sitting duck to those who wish to do harm. Over the last couple of years everyone running a blog has become a potential target I guess. It’s something that can’t be avoided. I managed to keep the problems away until a few months ago when I was forced to take this website down due to an attack.

The problem is still there but I was hoping to slow it down by blocking IP addresses and moving from one CMS to another. It has become manageable but I’m still not happy about the whole situation. There are other reasons why I’m not happy but those shall remain unmentioned here until I’ve decided whether to take drastic steps or not. It all depends on what is going to happen the next couple of months and if there will be any positive progress related to this issue. In the meantime, if I have to take this website offline again, you’ll know what I’ll be doing in the background…

Who are you? I’m just this guy, you know? I’m a CNU graduate with a degree in physics. Before starting xkcd, I worked on robots at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Virginia. As of June 2007 I live in Massachusetts. In my spare time I climb things, open strange doors, and go to goth clubs dressed as a frat guy so I can stand around and look terribly uncomfortable. At frat parties I do the same thing, but the other way around.

How do I write “xkcd”? There’s nothing in Strunk and White about this. For those of us pedantic enough to want a rule, here it is: The preferred form is “xkcd”, all lower-case. In formal contexts where a lowercase word shouldn’t start a sentence, “XKCD” is an okay alternative. “Xkcd” is frowned upon. XKCD updates without fail every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

© xkcd #149

To quote Coilhouse magazine: “In response to countless questions, pleas, and threats he’s created a digital character after one of his leather and scrap metal sculptures, Monsieur Hublot. There is no word yet on the release date of the eponymous, seven-minute short, but we do know that Mr. Hublot [named thusly as a nod to Jacques Tati’s tragically inept Monsieur Hublot] is a bachelor accountant suffering from a host of obsessive-compulsive ailments. He lives in a small, gadget-packed apartment with his robotic dog, loves his leather trench coat and despises noise.”

Steampunk was influenced by, and often adopts the style of, the 19th century scientific romances of Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, Mark Twain, and Mary Shelley. It’s a sub-genre of science fiction, alternate history, and speculative fiction that came into prominence during the 1980s and early 1990s. Specifically, steampunk involves an era or world where steam power is still widely used—usually the 19th century and often Victorian era Britain—that incorporates prominent elements of either science fiction or fantasy. Works of steampunk are often based on a Victorian perspective on fashion, culture, architectural style, art, etc.

© CollegeHumor

When you receive another email with a million corrections. When you have to tell them again that you can’t use those annoying Word docs and Excel sheets, because you don’t wish to install PC bloatware on your Mac. When your hardware decides to give up on you out of the blue and you accidentally forgot to run a backup. When you’re having a bad hair day in general…

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