links for 2009-05-05

"The NoScript Firefox extension faced a major backlash last week when users discovered that it was surreptitiously disrupting the operation of AdBlock Plus. The developers behind the two extensions turned the browser into a battleground as their conflict escalated. Mozilla has responded by proposing a new policy that sets boundaries for appropriate extension behavior." This was interesting watching it play out.

"This evening Google is announcing the upcoming availability of the Google Apps Connector for BlackBerry Enterprise Server, which allows for proper access to Gmail, Calendar, and Contacts through the default, built-in BlackBerry applications." Google just worked their way in closer to the corporate world.

"In terms of big companies with an overall glowing public perception these days, two seem to stand above all others: Apple and Google. And the two share a lot in common — notably, a common enemy in Microsoft, and both share two board members. The latter is apparently the subject of a new FTC investigation into possible antitrust ties, The New York Times has learned." What's going on down there?

"The goal of swpat.org is to catalog and organise information about software patents from around the world to provide a base for campaigns against software patents."

"The Communist Party has always had a surprisingly large role in Japan, the world's second biggest economy. But while it had been fading towards irrelevance, now as the recession bites it is on the rise again"

"Not becoming a victim in the first place is the most ideal situation, however. The researchers concluded that victims of botnets are usually those with poorly maintained machines and who choose "easily guessable" passwords." Really fascinating research, I need to read the whole paper.

"Amazon.comInc. on Wednesday plans to unveil a new version of its Kindle e-book reader with a larger screen and other features designed to appeal to periodical and academic textbook publishers, according to people familiar with the matter."

Leaning back and forth on this one.

"Plunging Nepal into a fresh political crisis after a decade of war, the prime minister resigned Monday in a power struggle over his dismissal of the army chief." One of these days Nepal will be stable, today is not that day.

"So, kids, pay close attention to your physics lessons. Thye may save your life, and put you on the fast track toward a tenured faculty position!" This was a funny read.

"As he went along, Hillebrand counted the number of letters, numbers, punctuation marks and spaces on the page. Each blurb ran on for a line or two and nearly always clocked in under 160 characters." And thus the limit was born.

"Twitter summarily shut down the StatTweets service without any warning. It's been two weeks and I've received nothing but form responses from Twitter Support."

"In his 45th year as mayor, John B. Arnold Jr. picked a fight with the biggest patron and largest landowner in this small town about 40 miles east of Pensacola. In February, he led Valparaiso to sue his former employer, the Defense Department, demanding a better fix for noise from F-35 fighter jets scheduled to start arriving next year at Eglin Air Force Base. Fearing that even a slight delay in the arrival of the F-35s would destroy a regional economy already bruised by the recession, Mr. Arnold’s own county, Okaloosa, has countersued to stop him." WTF?

"In version 3 of the iPhone and in iTunes 8.2 (image below) you can now select parental control for apps and choose the age of the iPhone owner. The choices are 4+, 9+, 12+, 17+. When version 3 of the iPhone is released, Apple will allow more adult-themed applications to go thru the app store, albeit with NC-17 ratings. Nevermind that the average 9-12 year old has a better understanding of their Mac than their parents and could probably enable parental controls on them."

We sorta get back to what Facebook was doing before the new design.

Comcast on a year of Twittering.