Just in case you missed it, 19 Senators voted unanimously to limit your freedom of speech as it pertains to the Internet with the COICA bill. So what does Tim Berners-Lee, father of the World Wide Web think? Let’s just say he’s less than impressed, and frankly, so am I.
I don’t usually get too political on here, but whenever people start talking about censoring the web, net neutrality, and other frightening things, I have to weigh in a bit. Such things like limiting customer bandwidth and allowing certain websites a speed advantage of others would have a huge impact on my business and your time spent on-line.
Just make sure you keep yourselves updated on this stuff, especially the COICA bill. As I hear more I will pass it on.
Help Net Security reminds us today of the dangers of wireless networks. Ethical hacker Jason Hart’s British experiment on wireless networks found that almost 25% were not secured with any sort of password or encryption.
It’s easy to stop by your local computer store, buy a wireless router, hook it up to your home high-speed Internet connection, and start surfing the web from your recliner. If you don’t go through the process of setting up the security, though, anyone driving by your house can gain access.
If your have never set up your home wireless router to be secure, take the time to do it. If you don’t know how, call your computer geek friend and ask for their help. If they’re a true computer geek (like I am) they will understand the importance of security and come help you out. If they don’t think security is important, let me know, and I’ll revoke their computer geek status.
The W3C, which guides the standard for web development, is urging developers not to use HTML5. At least, not yet.
Development of HTML5 began in 2004. While some of the proposed specifications can already be found on the web, it won’t receive final approval for two to three years. Once ready for prime time, HTML5 should slowly replace Adobe’s Flash.
Until then, however, the W3C still has a lot of work to do, including figuring out what to do for a video codec.
According to StatCounter, Microsoft Internet Explorer’s share of the browser market dropped to 49.87% in the month of September. This should not come as a shock to StatCounter, at least, as they have been watching IE’s share gradually fall over the last several years.
Firefox checked in second in September at a steady 31.5%. Google’s Chrome continued to grow to 11.54%, three times what it was last September.
The Free Software Foundation is 25 years old today. Founded by Richard Stallman, the FSF promotes the creation and distribution of free software, allowing software users four basic freedoms: the freedom to run it, to study, change it, and to redistribute copies with or without changes.
Even if you have never heard of the Free Software Foundation, chances are you have benefited from their work today. The vast majority of websites, this one included, are located on computers running Linux, an operating system that was released under version 2 of the GNU GPL as free software. Another great piece of free software is GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program), an image editor that functionally is, in my opinion, every bit as good as Photoshop with one important difference: GIMP is 100% free and can be downloaded from their website.
Happy 25th Birthday, Free Software Foundation!