| Firefox is Getting a Bit Plump |
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When downloading Firefox 3.5 (twice) this morning, I noticed that it’s 10.2 MB, about 33% larger than 3.0.11. I like the New Tab button. I haven’t, as yet, tested the Private Browsing feature. Nor have I tried to see how much speedier this version is. I will, once I get some time. Anyway, here’s a more in-depth review. |
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Submitted by: Dan Giancaterino, Education Services Manager
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Comments (1)| China Cuts PC Makers Some Slack |
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China’s Xinhua News Agency reports that PC makers will not be required to install the “Green Dam-Youth Escort” filtering software on new PCs as of July 1. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said that the “massive installation demanded extra time”. As if 23 days wasn’t enough time. |
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Submitted by: Dan Giancaterino, Education Services Manager
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| The Pirate Bay Goes Legit |
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The Pirate Bay, the notorious file-sharing site, has been acquired by Swedish (woohoo, Sweden again!) software maker Global Gaming Factory X. TPB will clean up its act, come August 2009. According to the press release, “GGF intends to launch new business models that allow compensation to the content providers and copyright owners.” TPB creators aren’t gonna take the money and run, however: “The profits from the sale will go into a foundation that is going to help with projects about freedom of speech, freedom of information and the openess [sic] of the nets. I hope everybody will help out in that and realize that this is the best option for all. Don’t worry – be happy!” Link via TechCrunch. |
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Submitted by: Dan Giancaterino, Education Services Manager
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| I Wish It Was Like This At My House |
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We have 4 different mobile phones at my house. (What better way to express our individuality!) This leads to a rat’s nest of incompatible charger cables by the kitchen electrical outlet. But if we lived in Europe — and I’m voting for Sweden, woohoo! — this vexing problem would be a thing of the past. The EU has convinced mobile handset makers to create a standardized charger using a micro-USB connector. They hope that within 3-4 years all smartphones will be using the standardized charger, which will be sold separately from phones. A tech triumph for the bureaucrats from Brussels! |
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Submitted by: Dan Giancaterino, Education Services Manager
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| “Orderly Shutdown” for Clear |
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Last week I posted about how Clear, the airport VIP service, had ceased operations. Here’s how they are dealing with your personal data and their computer storage so that there aren’t any security oopsies. Your personal data – Plan A is to sell it, if they can. If not, Plan B means they’ll delete it: “The personally identifiable information that customers provided to Clear may not be used for any purpose other than a Registered Traveler program operated by a Transportation Security Administration authorized service provider. Any new service provider would need to maintain personally identifiable information in accordance with the Transportation Security Administration’s privacy and security requirements for Registered Traveler programs. If the information is not used for a Registered Traveler program, it will be deleted.” Their hard drives -Lockheed Martin, Clear’s system integrator, is in the process of wiping them: “Each hard disk at the airport, including the enrollment and verification kiosks, has now been wiped clean of all data and software. The triple wipe process we used automatically and completely overwrites the contents of the entire disk, including the operating system, the data and the file structure. This process also prevents or thoroughly hinders all known techniques of hard disk forensic analysis … The computers that Verified Identity Pass, Inc. [Clear’s parent company] assigned to its former corporate employees are being wiped using the same process described for computers at the airports.” Link via Wired. |
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Submitted by: Dan Giancaterino, Education Services Manager
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June 29, 2009
| Firefox 3.5 Available Tomorrow |
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Firefox 3.5 will be released tomorrow, June 30, reports PC Magazine. According to Mike Beltzner, Director of Firefox at Mozilla Corporation, “the cumulative number of direct from our website Firefox downloads should surpass 1B [that's a billion, folks] shortly after we ship Firefox 3.5.” Link via Lifehacker. |
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Submitted by: Dan Giancaterino, Education Services Manager
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| Silence is Golden |
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Back in 1962, President Kennedy asked members of the press to sit on the story about the discovery of Russian missiles in Cuba. This gave Kennedy about a week to try and defuse the crisis privately with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, without the pressures of intense media scrutiny and public opinion. Though Kennedy ultimately had to go public with the story, we’re all still here, so the 7-day media blackout had to have helped. I’m a big believer in the freedom of the press, but sometimes too much information can be a bad thing. Here’s another example. The NY Times reported yesterday that for seven months it suppressed information about the capture of one of its reporters, David Rohde, by the Taliban. The Times felt that if his situation was made public, Mr. Rohde would become a high-profile case, and his safety would be jeopardized. They asked the Wikipedia’s co-founder Jimmy Wales to delete information about Mr. Rohde’s capture from his page. Apparently, that took a lot of effort, as several contributors repeatedly attempted to add the information to Mr. Rohde’s page. They didn’t appreciate the censorship. One said, “We can [continue to] do this [for] months.” Mr. Wales and his staff recognized that most of the edits appeared to come from one user in Florida. “We had no idea who it was … There was no way to reach out quietly and say ‘Dude, stop and think about this.’” Finally, when the Times itself broke the story of Mr. Rohde’s escape, the citizen-editor finally got to edit the page and vent his spleen with the following comment: “Is that enough proof for you [expletives]? I was right. You were WRONG.” Which reminds me of this comic from xkcd. Someone calls from offstage, “Are you coming to bed?” A guy at the keyboard says, “I can’t. This is important. Someone is wrong on the Internet.” |
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Submitted by: Dan Giancaterino, Education Services Manager
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| American Indian Law in a Nutshell, 5th |
 By William C. Canby, Jr.The book covers the essentials of American Indian law with emphasis on the governmental policies underlying it. It includes chapters on Indian gaming and Alaska native law. The guide does not cover specialized problems of Oklahoma and New York Indians, urban Indians, or native Hawaiians. Library Record • Borrow it • More Titles |
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Submitted by: Malgorzata Pawska, Digital Content Coordinator
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June 26, 2009
| The Barcode Turns 35 today |
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And what was the first item scanned using the device that changed retailing forever? A 10-pack of Juicy Fruit gum. |
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Submitted by: Dan Giancaterino, Education Services Manager
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June 23, 2009
| Flash Coming for Smartphones (Except the iPhone) |
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Adobe has announced that mobile Flash will be coming in October for Android, Symbian, Palm Web OS, and Windows Mobile. Flash on the iPhone? Don’t hold your breath. My “clunky” T-Mobile G1 is lookin’ mighty good right now. |
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Submitted by: Dan Giancaterino, Education Services Manager
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