Stuxnet Worm Used Against Iran Was Tested in Israel →
More in-depth information from the New York Times on the origin of the Stuxnet virus.
Shortchanging Your Business with User-Hostile Platforms →
Alex Payne on platforms, quality, and user-friendliness, particularly Adobe Air.
A Gadget's Life →
Nice infographic on the average price and sales volumes for phones, computers, televisions, camcorders, MP3 players, etc over time.
How to Get the Respect You Deserve at Work →
Most men aim to like their jobs, and all men want to be respected. But doing a great job and being respected at work aren't always mutually inclusive.
Sometimes you have to play politics, and sometimes you have to shut your mouth; smart, yet common sense pointers for productivity and respect in the workplace.
Algorithms Take Control of Wall Street →
A nice primer from Wired on algorithmic trading on Wall Street.
How your tablet can compete with the iPad →
Everybody's navigating a tricky question: what made the iPad such a smash-hit?
(a) Is it a simple case of Apple making a "good enough" product at the right time, selling it at the right price, and then having the market all to itself for an entire year?
or
(b) Is the iPad the residue of a subtle, profoundly canny, and mostly impossible to duplicate comprehension of slate computers and the ways that the Humans respond to them?
I'm guessing that (a) is more true than Apple would be comfortable to admit. I'm even more confident that that overall, the tech industry will be clueless enough about (b) that Apple will hold on to its lead for a considerable time ... assuming that they ever relinquish it.
I'm a slave to my readers, though, and I want them to have a wide gene pool of terrific hardware to select from. So I'm willing to explain to ASUS, Motorola, HP, RIM, and every other company how to build a slate that can answer the question "But why would I buy this instead of an iPad?"
Z-Type →
Nice little Asteroid-style typing game with all HTML5 and the Impact JS library.
And it gets better in the second five minutes.
In fact, I can't load the 'updates' pane at all. Between that, the ugly toolbar, and the unwanted icon in my dock, it's been a terrific first 5-minute experience.
Obama Eyeing Internet ID for Americans →
President Obama is planning to hand the U.S. Commerce Department authority over a forthcoming cybersecurity effort to create an Internet ID for Americans, a White House official said here today.
"We are not talking about a government-controlled system," U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said.Because specifying how the private sector should implement this program doesn't mean it qualifies as a government-controlled system. Sounds kinda like the logic behind the new health care bill.
This program will run into the same opposition the National ID system (HR 4633) did in 2002. Nobody wants a single point of failure or single point of malicious interest for identity. Until we know the details of the system, however, you can take a look at the EFF's argument against National ID.