Jun. 20, 2006 - Secure your wireless network

I recently found this solid tutorial on CNET by way of their "Download Dispatch" Weekly Newsletter. Since I've become the defacto "computer/network guy" for many of my friends and family, I've setup and secured my share of wireless networks and this is a great start for somebody who might be setting up their first one. Enjoy!

Mar. 30, 2006 - ILM - "The technology behind the scenes"

Another slashdot'ed article that really piqued my interest, about the advanced hardware and facilities at ILM. By the way, I own the domain IndustrialLightAndMagic.com and am completely suprised that I haven't heard from the honorable Mr. Lucas's attorneys yet... all in due time I guess. As many of you know I am a Star Wars geek at heart. My dream as a kid (believe it or not) was to be an extra on one of the prequels, long before anyone knew they were going to be made.

Jan. 30, 2006 - New .com contract w/Verisign

Some very interesting changes are set to be implimented with the heart of the internet, the .com industry. The company which oversees the domain registrations (ICANN) has completed the update to the contract with the vendor which facilitates the registrations (Verisign, formerly and aka Network Solutions).

Some of the highlights are as follows snipped from here:

• Removal of a transaction fee that would have been charged to all companies selling a dotcom domain
• A new direct contribution that VeriSign pays to ICANN direct
• Some limits on VeriSign's price-rising powers
• Reduced scope for VeriSign to sell personalised data to third-parties
• Marginally increased control over VeriSign's ability to introduce changes to the existing dotcom business model

However, the new agreement still provides VeriSign with a presumptive right of renewal - meaning effectively that it is given permanent control of the dotcom registry, and it also allows the company to seize control of all expiring domains - something that has become a large secondary market.

Sep. 22, 2005 - The future of web development - Microsoft?

I was completely enthralled by this video at the MSDN Channel 9 site. As an intermediate web developer (hobby), applications that I currently use: Fireworks, Dreamweaver, SwishMax, Notepad etc. do the job. My requirements from those apps. aren't very stringent, but seeing the way that MS has solved a lot of my problems with their new Expression suite - the realtime rending of Vector, bitmap, 3D all wrapped up and generating C# code - makes a lot of sense. In other words, very impressive.

More information about the Expression suite can be found here: http://www.microsoft.com/products/expression/en/default.aspx

Jun. 29, 2005 - RSS feed built into new Windows OS

Found this link on Slashdot about building RSS (really simple syndication) in to the new version of Windows, code-named "Longhorn".

 Click the image to watch the video live from Gnomedex '05 in Seattle.