Thursday, December 27, 2007

DKIM might identify the Sender

From Investor's Business Daily: Tech Center Exec Q & A:

"IBD: Why is adding a special domain name important in identifying whether an e-mail message is wanted or not?

Crocker: Existing 'reputation' based e-mail screening systems are based on very low-level addressing numbers that say where a server is attached to the Internet, rather than what organization is sending the message. DKIM will identify the sender."

I work for an ESP (that's shorthand for email service provider). I've been following DKIM and added my 2 cents here and there on the IETF mailing list for DKIM. I hope Dave was misquoted. DKIM could identify the sender, but it could also not. It can identify an Author, or an Author's domain, or something else completely. This is because DKIM isn't tied to any previous email identity. It can create an entirely new one.

It will be interesting to see what Terry Zink comes up with when he continues his series on Authentication.

Friday, December 21, 2007

Techdirt: Amazon Patents Blurbs; Google Patents Snippets

Techdirt: Amazon Patents Blurbs; Google Patents Snippets: "All it's really doing is creating personalized blogs based on a combination of external blog content, catalog content and user reviews. In other words, it's aggregating a personal feed of content from a variety of sources."

A very timely posting. Yesterday I was talking with our new VP at work were we agreed to disagree about patents. To me, patents slow down innovation. This blog pretty much seems to be an implementation of Amazon's patent.

Saturday, December 15, 2007

inside looking out » What You Need To Know About Amazon SimpleDB

inside looking out » What You Need To Know About Amazon SimpleDB
says SimpleDB is built with Erlang. Very cool. I've signed up for the beta and can't wait to try it out.

Monday, December 10, 2007

VIA ARTiGO Pico-ITX Builder Kit A1000 - VIA Technologies, Inc.

VIA ARTiGO Pico-ITX Builder Kit A1000 - VIA Technologies, Inc.: "Have fun building your own portable PC. The VIA ARTiGO Pico-ITX Builder Kit is designed to help DIY enthusiasts utilize all the features of the ultra compact, versatile VIA Pico-ITX mainboard."

Hmmm... something else to tinker with.

Asus sez Eee PC warranty still valid if you break seals - Engadget

Asus sez Eee PC warranty still valid if you break seals - Engadget: "In a warranty update posted to the firm's website, it plainly states that 'merely breaking or removing this kind of seal will not void the Asus Limited Warranty,'"

Cool, I'll be sneaking a peek tonight.

Saturday, December 01, 2007

Slashdot | U.S. House Says the Internet is Terrorist Threat

Slashdot | U.S. House Says the Internet is Terrorist Threat: 'The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill (H.R. 1955) last month, by a vote of 404 to 6, that says the Internet is a terrorist tool and that Congress needs to develop and implement methods to combat it.'

Shouldn't the bill include transportation, communications and other things required for a modern civilization?

Slashdot | DJB Releases All Source to Public Domain

Slashdot | DJB Releases All Source to Public Domain: "Bernstein declared that all of his past and future code would be released to the public domain. This includes qmail, primegen, and a number of other projects."

Interesting.

AOL to Suspend Paid Downloads, Replace with Amazon Unbox « NewTeeVee

Om Malik writes:
AOL to Suspend Paid Downloads, Replace with Amazon Unbox « NewTeeVee: "For Amazon, this could prove to be a big shot in the arm. Even though Unbox is available via TiVo (TIVO), the service can be described, at best, as a forgettable success. AOL’s audience could help boost its download sales."

I don't understand why folks don't realize video downloads (and streaming) are no what they should be until the content is accessible via a TV. As a recent HDTV convert, I would also want my content in HD format too. So, I wouldn't discount HD content via the Internet just yet. As a TiVo owner (I have 3), I have plenty of content to watch. I suppose there is a segment of the population that wants something they haven't thought of the instant they think of it. I think Verizon, with their 20-MBit fiber service could satisfy those individuals.

Finally, the killer feature that Amazon Unbox provides is content that is purchased instead of rented can be downloaded from Amazon over and over again for no additional charge. No need to store it locally.

(and yes, $3/month is a steal for Comcast/TiVo combo)

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Google Plans to Produce a Gigawatt of Clean Energy, Cheaper Than Coal « Earth2Tech

Google Plans to Produce a Gigawatt of Clean Energy, Cheaper Than Coal « Earth2Tech: "Leave it to Google to try to tackle an industry as seemingly out of their realm as energy. Of course, Google is a massive power consumer, so the connection is easy to make, and the feel-good Google execs haven’t likely felt right about their data center’s contribution to dirty-power generation. But if Google can actually successfully develop clean energy sources that are cheaper than coal and create a business around licensing them (through their investments or their own technology), it would do nothing short of revolutionizing the energy industry. Much like the situation the telecom world is facing with Google’s wireless plans, here’s to the old-world, slow-moving energy industry getting a kickstart from that 20 percent time!"

Wow.

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Saturday, November 24, 2007

Ad supported games

GigaOM » Blog Archive “Father of Videogames” Nolan Bushnell Joins Game Ad Network Frenzy «

I had just finished watching 'Rise of the Videogame: Level One' last night which prominently featured Nolan Bushnell only to find Om announcing this today. Ad supported games sounds like an interesting idea. I'd first take all the legacy games (the ones that were played in arcades) and target my age group. :)

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Asus' Eee PC 4G Surf now available to order - Engadget

Asus' Eee PC 4G Surf now available to order - Engadget

Jeez, I just ordered the Eee PC 4G, the 7" and not the 10". Although I do notice that NewEgg says it is only 7".

Saturday, November 17, 2007

Linux is inside our new HD TV

On Monday, Melissa and her Dad came home with a HD TV, a Sharp Aquos to complement the HD TiVo that was to arrive that day too. An early family Christmas gift. This isn't a huge TV, but it is the biggest I've ever owned at 32". I finally got to reading the entire manual and on page 54 it has a section labeled "Software developed by Sharp and open source software". They list a link to were the software can be downloaded. So not only is the TiVo powered by Linux, so is the TV. :)

Saturday, November 10, 2007

Reboot

I'm a software engineer who likes building email systems. So this blog is a collection of ramblings of a technical nature.