A few weeks ago, someone hijacked the domain name of New York’s oldest ISP, Panix. During the resulting outage, Panix switched its customers to another domain (panix.net) and recommended they change Web site passwords, especially for accounts with an “e-mail me my password” feature. The security steps were necessary because any mail sent to an @panix.com address was diverted to the attackers.

Fortunately for Panix and its customers, they rectified the situation within a few days. But even so, I hope many of those customers are considering adopting encryption.

It’s true that the huge majority of people don’t bother with encrypting their e-mail, and I think that’s unfortunate. With the rise in un-/poorly-secured wireless networks, employers with questionable ethics, and shared computers, I think there are cases when encryption is worth the hassle. And really, when we’re talking about “the hassle”, we’re talking about just a few things: complicated setup, being forced to enter the passphrase to send/read mail, a lack of Webmail support, and an inability to search saved messages.

Most of these can be overcome. I use Enigmail+GnuPG with my Thunderbird installations, all of which are free and work like a charm on both my XP and Linux machines. As for Webmail, I’m keeping an eye on the Portable Thunderbird project, which makes it possible to carry an entire e-mail program on a USB key (bonus geek points: future plans include multi-platform support, so you can jump on a Mac, Linux, or Windows machine without a hitch.) Why bother with Squirrelmail when you can use a full client?

I don’t have any solutions for the search problem yet, though. But even so, crypto is getting easier, and I encourage people to give it a go. Feel free to use me as your guinea pig: here’s my public key, and y’all know the address.

No pithy comments today, just a quick note to say that if you’re using Adobe Acrobat Reader (they’ve actually renamed it Adobe Reader, but see if I care) as well as Windows 2000 or XP, you really should upgrade to version 7 (download — this direct link bypasses the lame Adobe Download Mgr. and Y! Toolbar.)

Where version 6 was a bloated, slow mover that had me scrambling for extensions that allowed me to avoid PDFs entirely, the new 7 is actually… quick. As in, surprisingly, noticeably, definitely quick.

After being conditioned by software companies to expect updates that just make the program marginally more secure, or theoretically more useful (or even reduce its function!) I find something that actually improves the experience to be a nice (and all-too-rare) surprise.

Bonus nerd note: they’re even releasing a Linux version soon-ish, so we’ll see how that stacks up against ggv.

Anyone else think the Second Audio Program (SAP) service on TV could be better used? Sure, sure, the “SAP en Espanol (where available)” thing is nice, but let’s go further. I suggest:

• SAP in English (cuando sea disponible). Ever flipped through the channels and stopped at a movie you want to see again, only to discover it’s on Telemundo? Spanish broadcasters could use SAP for the original dialogue, or even translate original programming (not that “Super Sabado Sensacional” can really be conveyed in English…)
• SAP swearing. Is there anything more annoying than watching movies on TV? Yes: watching movies where the character says “fucking” but on-screen a different voice says “freaking”, complete with weird emphasis. Why not use SAP for the true dialogue? Your kids probably have no idea what the button does anyway.
• SAP disclaimers. I’m so tired of commercials with tiny disclaimers speeding through the lower third of the screen. Why not devote the SAP to the catch? Then Consumer Reports-type people could figure out the catch without TiVo.

Boy, they should really have let me design the next generation of TV…

In lieu of actually writing anything, I’ve decided to switch this site to a new publishing system.

That is, if I can stand to dedicate the time to the task. I’m getting more than a little sick of computer screens — especially now that the weather is starting to suck less.

Today the Mozilla Foundation announced the new 0.8 version of Firefox (formerly Firebird), their next generation Web browser. If you haven’t looked at it, it’s time. Firefox is a free open source program for Windows, Macintosh, and Linux. It allows you to:

• Automatically block pop-ups! (You can allow some/all through if you want.)
• Search with the box integrated right into the upper corner. (Pick the search engine(s) you want. My choices: Google, Yahoo, IMDb, Dictionary.com and Amazon.com.)
• Browse with tabs. Sound unnecessary? Try this: install it, then click a link with your mouse’s scroll wheel. The new page quietly opens in a background tab, allowing you to finish reading the first while your next page loads. Slick.
• Use Flash, Quicktime, Java and (most of) the rest… just like that other browser.

The campaign calls for “taking back” the web because major operating system vendors, such as Microsoft and even Apple (whose own excellent Safari browser is based on the open-source Konqueror) are no longer treating the browser as separate programs available for all, but instead as just another component of the operating system. Inevitably, this could lead back to Web pages that only work for the latest (expensive) versions of those systems.

Firefox offers a better choice. It’s small, fast, multi-platform, and it’s being updated far more frequently than the ancient IE. I’ve used Firefox as my primary browser for almost as long as it’s been available, and I never want to go back to pop-up/ActiveX/security hole hell.

So try it out. You’ll like it. And if you don’t, well, hell: it’s free anyway. (Note the servers are really busy today, so you might want to download from here.)

Would you pay a penny for every e-mail you send? If so, then Yahoo! is working on something that will be right up your alley.

The system, developed by a company called Goodmail, uses a coded string in each e-mail as a sort of electronic postage stamp. Senders are charged for every message, regardless of whether it is opened. Such a charge would quickly add up for the millions of e-mails the big spammers send each day, likely driving them out of business.

Bill Gates is on board, though he didn’t specifically back the Goodmail system. No doubt he wants a different company to cash in from the costs associated with the software upgrades needed to retrofit the countless mail servers on the Internet, to say nothing of collecting the ongoing fees from running an operation to validate the codes.

Let’s hope they don’t get their chance, because Gates, Goodmail and the rest misunderstand the nature of the problem they’re trying to correct. A Yahoo manager best illustrates this clueness when he opines: “The fundamental problem with spam is there is not enough friction in sending e-mail.” “Friction” is a buzzword, and like all buzzwords should serve as a warning of a simplistic thinking.

Consider that what this manager proposes is no less than the hobbling of a quick, seamless global communication system by saddling it with technology that is untested, patented and proprietary. For example, the e-postage idea has substantial currency complications (What is a penny in yen? Can I use servers in other countries if they’re cheaper?) but even more worrying are the potential security flaws: what happens when nefarious parties try a DDoS attack against the postage server? Worse, what if the next MyDoom virus manages to take over PCs and send thousands of messages, leaving the owner on the hook for the expense?

E-postage will not solve these problems, as Yahoo! and the others will well recognize once their vision is no longer clouded by dollar signs. Smarter solutions exist, and I’ll discuss a leading one in my next post.

From an NY Times article (Led by Intel, True Believers in Wi-Fi Say It Will Endure):

“The argument that free wireless Internet services will undercut the growth of providers such as Wayport, Cometa and T-Mobile is not supported by consumer behavior. … I can get free coffee at my office,” he said, “but I still go to Starbucks.”

It seems that Dave (Vucina, CEO of Wayport) has had a little too much coffee. Sure, it’s fun to cite companies such as Starbucks or Evian as sellers of things available for (near) free. But the comparison doesn’t hold here.

Wayport sells access, nothing more — and that makes them just the same as the (wonderful, blessed) free IP providers. Worse, with Wayport it’s less convenient to use (option A: power up. option B: power up and provide authentication/payment information for your time-limited session.)

Unless it’s strikingly speedier (difficult — it’s commodity equipment), Dave better just stick to saying that he’s poised to succeed because only his company is invited to the hotels and airports it services. If the free guys get in there, they’ll eat his lunch.

* plus, I’m poor.

I think this just might be a glitch. When I updated the drivers for an Intel 100Mbps network card, I got a message that said a network cable was unplugged. Then, as the install completed, it said:

Wouldn’t that be sweet?

In the movie Bed of Roses, (which I actually rented in exchange for a free Alanis Morissette CD — don’t ask) Christian Slater decides to become a flower deliveryman, as then everyone would always be happy to see him.

I can’t remember a time I’ve ever gotten flowers, but I feel the same way towards package companies. If my slumber must be disturbed at some unholy hour (*cough* 11:10 *cough*) then at least I get a big box out of the deal. (In this case it was a computer peripheral, so double nerd bonus.)

The problem: the Googlebot, though a frequent visitor to my site, still trails behind this site’s daily updates.

The symptoms: users who come from Google may find the search terms Google said were on this page have been swept off to the archives.

The prescription: a nifty little bit of code now intercepts search queries from Google and more than 200 other search engines, directing those surfers to the final resting place of the query.

For a demo, go to Google and search for "dick defragging" (note quotes.) Ignore the first listing — that’s the permanent page — and click the second. Note what happens. Cool, huh? (OK. Cool [if you’re a total nerd], huh?)

Permit me to go all geek for a moment.

I’ve never owned a Mac but wow do I want one of the new 17″ PowerBooks. A huge screen, built-in wireless (802.11g and Bluetooth!), IEEE 1394b (finally!) plus that cool-as-hell slot-loading DVD burner.

The new backlit (via fiber-optic strands) keyboard and auto-dimming screen (see QuickTime clip, 250K) are also lovely.

Now if they’d just work on the processor speed…

Yesterday I received a spam (image) purporting to come from support@icq.com. It asked me to specify my ICQ username and password, in order to verify that I was still an active user.

The e-mail originated from an IP address in Turkey, and uses a Canadian Web to e-mail gateway provider to send the information to who knows where.

Obviously the whole procedure is suspect, and there were tip-offs (“the ICQ Inc.”, “you confirm us”, “filling the empty spaces”) in the text that cast further doubt, but even I did a double-take because I do have a lapsed ICQ account.

It makes me wonder: how many people were ensnared by this approach? Just what does the sender intend to do with that information? Will we have better trust mechanisms (and user education) before single sign-on programs like MS Passport and Liberty Alliance get off the ground?

The overwhelming majority of this site’s visitors break down into two groups: people who know me and people who type in the URL on speculation that it has something to do with a certain Web technology that will continue to remain nameless.

I don’t get too many visitors from search engines. I run an analysis program every now and again to keep track, and up until 24 Dec the only Google queries used by visitors were “www.jsp.org”, “jsp.org”, and “jsperkins”.

Then came a surprise: an AOL user clicked through 7 pages of results for the phrase “tanned boys” and then picked my site. (It occurs here, but Google actually served up the archive for the month.)

I’m sure (s)he was disappointed.

It all reminds me of summer 1999, when I did my original site with daily updates and Infoseek threw up a warning for some of my pages. The offending item then was my use of the phrase “emotional pornography.”

A postscript: If I note that B-don‘s latest e-m to me carried the subject line “Suckee-suckee,” I wonder if I’ll eventually find a search for that in my logs…

Yesterday I noticed a few surprising titles in my cousin Josh‘s movie collection. When I asked, he explained for those titles a purchase was just a few dollars more, so why not just buy?

A good point, and one Lieberfarb would agree with. But Josh did have one beef with buying over renting: as a man who owns hundreds of CDs, he’s tired of all the silver discs he has to manage. Yet you only get the ability to control your viewing with ownership. (Does anyone believe video-on-demand, which otherwise sounds like the perfect solution to this problem, won’t eventually denigrate into pay to play — each time, every time?)

The solution seems to be a home entertainment server, tucked somewhere out of sight. Copy all your discs to this central machine, and then put them in storage. Pioneer seems to be working on this very product.

Of course, some hairy copyright issues are raised. But that’s for another post.

Minority Report‘s personalized billboards are almost here.

Fascinating technology. The system “listens” to radio signals leaked from passing cars and determines what station the majority of drivers are listening to. Then it selects an appeal based upon the demographics of those listeners. (The charmingly clichéd examples in the article suggest casinos for country fans and gourmet groceries for NPR devotees.)

Good thing there are no safety implications for, oh, fucking huge video screens on the side of the highway.