piblog

Semantic data extractor

I found a link to the W3C's Semantic data extractor from a post by Adrian Holovaty. Very cool.

CSS Crib Sheet

Thanks to Dave Shea for creating this CSS crib sheet.

FireFox keyboard shortcuts

From Nick Bradbury's blog, this handy chart of keyboard shortcuts for FireFox.

Money Grab - Reloaded

Several tech news sites including Infoworld are reporting that Microsoft is considering releasing an interim version of Windows prior to Longhorn being released dubbed Windows XP Reloaded. Can you say money grab (aka Windows ME)?

Hackers exploit Windows patches

The BBC News has a report that states most viruses that exploit flaws in the Microsoft OS or applications occur after a patch has been released. The man in charge of Microsoft's security business and technology unit, claims that he knows of only one instance where there was hole being exploited before a patched was released.

They must be following the same logic where, in the past, they have said that Windows is more secure because more people use it and find holes which then get patched. I never understood this new math thing.

FireFox Extensions

I have switched over to FireFox as my default browser. Now at version 0.8, it is a very capable and stable browser, and with its available extensions, I do not miss any features I had with the full-blown Mozilla.

My favorite browser extensions are Live HTTP Headers, editCSS and Link Toolbar. I especially enjoy the Link Toolbar because it adds the Site Navigation bar that I had with Mozilla and I can't seem to navigate without now.

Ted on Tour

I first saw this idea on Eric Meyer's web page. You can generate your own here. Maryland is my home state and colored in green. I had to pick a bright color because the state is so small, it was difficult for it to stand out with any darker color. The dark blue states are states that I have at least spent one night. The lighter blue states are states that I have only driven through.

Back in the BLOG

It has been way too long since I lasted posted. A lot has happened over the past six months and I have been pretty busy, but it is no excuse for the dearth of posting. My apologies.

Eroding foundation

"[W]here is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation deserts the oaths...?" --George Washington

WCAG 2.0 Working Draft Published

The WCAG Working Group has published the working draft of Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0. Its continuing purpose is to develop checkpoints that make Web content accessible to people with disabilities and to users of a variety of Web-enabled devices such as phones, handhelds, kiosks and network appliances.

IBM starts disability services team

IBM has started a new team within its Global Services division dedicated to making hardware and software accessible to people with disabilities. The team will consist of 40 consultants and 100 IT professionals.

US Patent Office 508 Compliant

News that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is the first agency to make all of its electronic information accessible to those with disabilities strikes me both as exciting and disappointing. The fact that they see the value of making their information available to the widest possible audience is very encouraging. However, it is disappointing that US Sec 508 became law on June 21, 2001 and it has taken almost two years for the first agency to become compliant. (via Anitra Pavka)

Reloaded finally!

Since I was the only geek left in North America not to have seen The Matrix Reloaded, I went to see it last night.

Meta-distro Gentoo

My favorite columnist (most of the time), Nicholas Petreley, has written a review of Gentoo Linux, which happens to be my current Linux distro. He too loved it and is even switching to Gentoo from Debian.

SCO FUD

More FUD from the dying SCO Group. This time they are warning commercial end users of Linux that we may be at legal risk, since we are using Linux which they claim contains their IP. They believe this so much, that they have suspended the distribution of their Linux (not that anyone was using it). Rubbish! I think that their lawyers just realized that they were limited by the GPL covering Linux and that they could not restrict the rights of its users. RIP SCO.