The hotel’s Internet service was secretly injecting lines of code into every page he visited, code that could allow it to insert ads into any Web page without the knowledge of the site visitor or the page’s creator.
Reason #5 to not use hotel wifi. Luckily, we aren’t traveling much this year. However, next year I may have to get an iPad with a Verizon antenna.
Update your software.
No wonder why this was hilarious, it was written by a Daily Show alum.
While there’s no need for widespread panic, the fact that this latest version of the malware can install itself without the user’s password is enough of a reason for concern that some precautions are necessary. Disabling Java is a good step, but the first line of defense is, as always, to be cognizant of the websites you visit and use common sense.
These are rare, but it’s worth taking precautions nonetheless.
Another state who’s legislature thinks ignorance of science is something that should be taught in schools. To children.
The question of providing high resolution images and graphics in magazines and on websites may seem like a good one today. But, a year or two from now, I think we’ll look back and laugh. Screen resolutions aren’t getting smaller. Starting with the iPhone 4, now the third generation iPad, and sooner or later, computer screens and TVs, resolution keeps getting better (read higher). As bandwidth and storage become cheaper and more easily accessible, this becomes less of a problem from those perspectives. One perspective that isn’t as easy for some has to do with protecting your work from unauthorized use.
In a blog post, Brooks Jensen, Editor, LensWork Publishing, asks,
As consumers and as photographers, what are your thoughts about the balance between getting your work out there to be seen and the needs to protect your copyrighted images from unauthorized use?
And,
Should photographers downscale their images for protection — thereby making them look worse on high resolution displays? Should photographers watermark their high resolution images — thereby marring them? Should photographers just hope for the best with a wink and a nod? What are your thoughts?
I’m not a professional photographer, so I’ll let Scott Bourne and Trey Ratcliff handle the questions from that perspective.
There are a couple of other facts to note. Even though Trey uses this open sharing / CC approach, he still registers his images with the Library of Congress. He has in fact gone after some of the big infringers who have the ability to pay. I too register my images and just like Trey, I’ll continue to go after the big fish who use my work in a commercial environment without permission. But I’m not going to worry about the small stuff.
If sharing more openly can both help grow my business and at the same time make some people happy, that’s great.
I do take photos, however, and consume them via my computer screen, iPhone4, and iPad (3rd generation). I agree with the stance these guys have taken. The crooks will always find a way to get your photos. You can’t change that short of making your work unavailable to anyone digitally. If you don’t want anyone to see your work, that’s fine. If you want people to see your work, then you have to make a decision. Do you want them to see a tiny version of your work, or do you want them to really see your work.
In the case of people who pay to see great photography and read Brooks’ essays by subscribing to Lens Work, it seems like a no-brainer to me to provide high resolution images.
I’ll end with a wonderful quote from Trey that stuck out for me.
Choosing to switch-off innovation is a fool’s errand
No other trend has done more harm to the U.S. than this one.
I couldn’t agree more.
Interesting debate. Schneider has interviewed Hawley before. I’m looking forward to reading the entire debate, especially considering the recent news of Schneier being un-invited to speak to Congress about the effectiveness of the TSA.
I was supposed to testify today about the TSA in front of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. I was informally invited a couple of weeks ago, and formally invited last Tuesday […] On Friday, at the request of the TSA, I was removed from the witness list. The excuse was that I am involved in a lawsuit against the TSA, trying to get them to suspend their full-body scanner program. But it’s pretty clear that the TSA is afraid of public testimony on the topic, and especially of being challenged in front of Congress.
Seriously TSA? Seriously? You demand to see and/or feel our most intimate body parts. The least you could do is withstand a little scrutiny.
Mine seems to last a long time despite never leaving my hands.
From the tweets of Duncan Davidson:
Homemade almond milk FTW. Milking an almond sounds weird, but the results are excellent.
soak a lb of nuts 24hrs, put in vitamix, fill to slightly cover nuts with cold water, blend a minute or so, filter through cloth
flavor with a vanilla bean, sweeten with agave or a date in blender before engage. Get a nut milk bag for best filtering.
I’m looking forward to trying this recipe out. If you’re into photography, technology, and the intersection of the two, read Duncan’s blog.
According to Margolis, the new Apple TV UI was not only on the table at Apple years ago, but Steve Jobs allegedly shot it down because he didn’t like it at the time.
I’ve been meaning to write about this ever since I updated our black, 720p Apple TV. I like the previous view/design better, but I’m not sure it scales well. Even if Margolis’s tweets are a lie, this is one UI change I’d really like Apple to change. I tried to convince myself that the new design, which could be 5 years old, is better, but I can’t.
Every time the new Apple TV view is displayed on screen, I don’t know which app is selected. The only visual indications of which app currently has focus are:
The first thing I do nearly every time I use the Apple TV is press one of the directional buttons on the remote to see where the thin, blue, outline box moves. It’s the fastest way to determine which app is selected. Of course, by doing this, I’ve selected another app.
I like the clean, easy to scan view of the previous version. It’s very easy to determine which activity is selected, and the the menus only expand as the cursor is moved over them, thus reducing unnecessary clutter. The problem with the old view, however, is that it quickly becomes unusable as more apps are added because it lists them horizontally across the top. As more apps are added, the grid design proves easier to navigate than the horizontal list. The previous view sacrifices the ability to display many apps and quickly navigate, in favor of readability and simplicity. By comparison, the new interface is jarring. Each time I fire it up it seems as though someone has sprayed graffiti on my TV. It’s loud and busy. I’m still hoping this is something I need to get used to. It looks so natural on my iPhone and iPad to have a grid of multicolor apps displayed. Why does it look so jarring on my TV? Why doesn’t the new design work well?
It could be that the iOS view/design is also the interface (well, that and your finger). Perhaps, when I see the iOS-like icons on my HDTV, I associate that more with being able to quickly scroll through a list of apps and touch the app I want to launch. This doesn’t seem to translate well to the Apple TV’s main interface, the aluminum remote control, with its directional pad and center button. The controller itself has its own issues (as John Sircusa has described at length).
Another problem I have with the new view is that apps can neither be added nor removed. If you aren’t a baseball fan, and want to remove the MLB app to help de-clutter your Apple TV, tough. I realize this product is still a hobby, but it’s been on the market for five years. The iOS-ification of Apple TV is a couple of years old. I was hoping Apple would have come up with something better than what they did. The new view feels like one step forward, two steps back. I hope Apple figures out a better solution soon.
UPDATE 1: Changed wording to use view instead of interface. Added a paragraph attempting to answer my own question of why the new design fails on the Apple TV, but works on iPhones and iPads.
A few days ago I posted Top Ten Apps for the iPad listing Macworld’s top ten and mine. One of mine, however, was a TBD since I hadn’t spent as much time exploring apps on the new iPad as those employed to write for Macworld.
I recently broke out an app I hadn’t played for several months, while demoing the new iPad for friends. The app, Osmos for iPad, has won numerous awards. Even though it hasn’t been updated for a while, and certainly doesn’t have retina graphics support, the graphics aren’t bad, unlike many other great iPad games, eg., Plants vs. Zombies. Osmos for iPad still looks good on the new iPad. And the game play is as mesmerizing as ever.
Highly recommended.
