Archive of posts tagged Technology

Tracking Web browsers

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What’s the latest security issue with Web browsers? Knowing where you’ve been. And telling.

You know how on a Web browser, you can hit the back button and it’ll take you to the page you were just on. And how you can do that over and over? For a bit, anyway?

Well, the browser can do it because it keeps up with where you’ve been. And, some Websites can have code that tracks where you’ve been.

Lot of browsers report where you just came from. Suppose you clicked a link to come to this Website, your browser probably included the page you were on in the HTTP_REFERER header (yes, it’s correctly misspelled as “referer”). But this security issue isn’t that. It’s the actual reading of the Web browser history.

Didn’t know they could do that? Yeah, well they can. For lots of browsers anyway. LikeInternet Explorer and Firefox. And older version of Chrome and Safari.

The report adds to growing worry about surreptitious surveillance by Internet companies and comes as federal regulators in the U.S. are proposing a “Do Not Track” tool that would prevent advertisers from following consumers around online to sell them more products.

The researchers found 46 sites, ranging from smutty to staid, that tried to pry loose their visitors browsing histories using this technique, sometimes with homegrown tracking code. Nearly half of the 46 sites, including financial research site Morningstar.com and news site Newsmax.com, used an ad-targeting company, Interclick, which says its code was responsible for the tracking.

Oh, and I’m not saying we have any of that kind of tracking code here, but some of you people are freaks. Seriously. I can’t believe the places some of you go.

I do wonder, though, what would happen if WikiLeaks got hold of this information for, say, the president? Or some of his cabinet? So, I did some digging. And here’s what I found.

Obama’s most-visited Websites?

Joe Biden’s most-visited Websites?

  • Trick question. His computer is an Etch-A-Sketch.

I’m sort of afraid to ask, but … what do you think are the most-visited Websites by some high-profile people? Oh, and you may not want to include a link. Or I may not want you to.

Don’t forget your towel!

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Did you see that NASA is planning to send a ship on a one-way trip to another planet?

According to news reports, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is funding a NASA project to send some people on a one-way trip:

In a talk at San Francisco’s Long Conversation conference, Simon “Pete” Worden said DARPA has $1M to spend, plus another $100,000 from NASA itself, for the program, which will initially develop a new kind of propulsion engine that will take us to Mars or beyond.

There’s only one problem: The astronauts won’t come back.

The 100-year ship would leave Earth with the intention of colonizing a planet, but it would likely be a one-way trip because of the time it takes to travel 35 million miles

Who would make the trip?

  • hairdressers
  • tired TV producers
  • insurance salesmen
  • personnel officers
  • security guards
  • public relations executives
  • management consultants
  • telephone sanitizers

Well, actually, I’m not sure about that list. That may be a list from somewhere else entirely.

But, as long as NASA is sending a ship on a one-way trip, why not use that list? Or something like it? Why not turn the 100-Year Starship into a B-Ark and include the useless third of society? I think we could include:

  • Democrats
  • MSNBC anchors
  • daytime TV talk show hosts
  • moderates
  • liberals
  • bloggers
  • community organizers

Any other suggestions?

The new iPhone gets fixed by increasing suckage on the old iPhones

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That whole iPhone 4 signal issue? They figured out what the problem is. And, yes, there was a problem.

Turns out, though, that the problem isn’t with the iPhone 4. It’s with every iPhone before the iPhone 4.

“What the what?” you say…

Read what Apple now says:

Upon investigation, we were stunned to find that the formula we use to calculate how many bars of signal strength to display is totally wrong. Our formula, in many instances, mistakenly displays 2 more bars than it should for a given signal strength. For example, we sometimes display 4 bars when we should be displaying as few as 2 bars. Users observing a drop of several bars when they grip their iPhone in a certain way are most likely in an area with very weak signal strength, but they don’t know it because we are erroneously displaying 4 or 5 bars. Their big drop in bars is because their high bars were never real in the first place.

To fix this, we are adopting AT&T’s recently recommended formula for calculating how many bars to display for a given signal strength. The real signal strength remains the same, but the iPhone’s bars will report it far more accurately, providing users a much better indication of the reception they will get in a given area. We are also making bars 1, 2 and 3 a bit taller so they will be easier to see.

Steve Jobs first response was “Non issue. Just avoid holding it in that way.” Really. Then, Apple admitted there was an issue.

Now, it’s not an issue again. Not with the iPhone 4, anyway. Just with every iPhone ever sold before the iPhone 4.

Apple is saying that their phones sucked all along. Now, they’re fixing the software on their phones so you can tell just how bad they suck.

Boy, I can’t wait for the iPhone to come to Verizon. Then, I’ll be able to unload my BlackBerry and get a phone that sucks, too.

Undo

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You’ve done it.

I’ve done it.

We’ve all done it.

Sent an email that we wish we could immediately take back, I mean. For example, hit “Reply to all” instead of just “Reply.” Or noticed a mistake … a big one … right after sending. Or forgetting an attachment.

Google has added an “Undo” button to their Gmail application:

My theory (which others shared) was that even just five seconds would be enough time to catch most of those regrettable emails.

And now you can do just that. Turn on Undo Send in Gmail Labs under Settings, and you’ll see a new “Undo” link on every sent mail confirmation. Click “Undo,” and we’ll grab the message before it’s sent and take you right back to compose.
undo_send
This feature can’t pull back an email that’s already gone; it just holds your message for five seconds so you have a chance to hit the panic button. And don’t worry – if you close Gmail or your browser crashes in those few seconds, we’ll still send your message.

Five seconds is a help. Might save me some embarrassment. Lord knows, I could use all the help I can get.

If only we could get an “Undo” button on the presidential election. I’m wondering how many people would hit it now?

And where else could we use an “Undo” button?

Lord of the Flies

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Beelzebub (n): Beelzebub, prince of devils, from Latin, from Greek Beelzeboub, from Hebrew Baʽal zĕbhūbh, a Philistine god, literally, lord of flies

If you needed more proof that Bill Gates is the Devil, then you now have it.

As a Mac user, I can’t say that I’m surprised.

On the other hand, Steve Jobs is the Anti-Christ, so either way, we’re all screwed.