The Barrel

Happy spamiversary! Spam reaches 30

Thirty years ago next week, Gary Thuerk, a marketer at the now-defunct computer firm Digital Equipment Corporation, sent an email to 393 users of Arpanet, the US government-run computer network that eventually became the internet. It was the first spam email ever.
That commercial message, sent on 3 May 1978, drew a swift and negative reaction. [...]

Posted in News

Programming Languages: Everyone Has a Favorite One

“DDJ: Which language has moved to the top of the heap, so to speak, in terms of popularity, and why do you think this is the case?
“PJ: If we take a look at the top 10 programming languages, not much has happened the last five years. Only Python entered the top [...]

Posted in News, Programming

Bill Gates’ Disdain for Open Source Even in Retirement

Bill Gates steps down as the Chairman of Microsoft on July 1st to transition to full time philanthropic efforts with the Gates Foundation. However, I wonder how effective Bill will be other than writing checks. You see Bill’s never played well with others.
* Microsoft v. United States
* [...]

Posted in News

Yikes Snow Batman

Yes after I bragged up the fine weather of Canada I awoke to this fine kettle of fish today;

Yes folks snow in the flatlands and my old butt is gonna get cold, Baldy
Technorati Tags: Personal

Posted in Personal

Top Ten Cyber Security Menaces for 2008

Twelve cyber security veterans, with significant knowledge about emerging attack patterns, worked together to compile a list of the attacks most likely to cause substantial damage during 2008.
Participants included Stephen Northcutt, Ed Skoudis, Marc Sachs, Johannes Ullrich, Tom Liston, Eric Cole, Eugene Schultz, Rohit Dhamankar, Amit Yoran, Howard Schmidt, Will Pelgrin, and Alan Paller.
Here’s their [...]

Posted in Security

Web criminals fuel big rise in “trojans”

Web criminals fuel big rise in “trojans” - Yahoo! News
LONDON (Reuters) - Cyber-criminals are behind a dramatic rise in stealthy programs called “trojans” that infect computers to sell rogue software, send unwanted email or steal personal data, a study has found.
If you’re reading this blog, it’s very important that you read and understand [...]

Posted in Billyware, Security, Software

Browsing the Web the old-fashioned way

Are you in the mood for some ’90s-style Web browsing with no graphic elements? Or, more realistically, do you work with a Linux console and often need to check something on the Web? If so, get acquainted with text-based Web browsers such as w3m, Lynx, and the similarly named Links.
While browsing the Web without a [...]

Posted in Software

Three Linux HTML editors reviewed

Today’s Web development tools offer capabilities that go beyond basic HTML editing. I compared three Web editors for Linux — Screem 0.16.1, Bluefish 1.0.7, and Quanta Plus 3.5.7 — to determine how well they handle today’s Web editing needs.

The
three programs are similar in many ways. All three are primarily code
editors with syntax highlighting, smart indentation, [...]

Posted in Software

An Apple User Tries Ubuntu

I found this out cruising the web and thought that a few of you folks out there might like to read it also, Baldy.
’m an Apple user.Long time, pure bred, never owned anything else. Oh sure, I’ve usedWindows machines, but it’s never crossed my mind to use one daily.
I mean, Windows? Likemost Apple users, [...]

Posted in Linux

Microsoft finally ships Windows XP SP3

Microsoft finally ships Windows XP SP3 - and here’s how you can get it
Microsoft often simply seems to ignore XP, preferring instead to trumpet Vista - but it looks like Microsoft’s aged, and aging, operating system is wrapping up with the release of its certain-to-be-the-last service pack. Despite the focus on Vista, there have [...]

Posted in Billyware