Based on some images floating around the net, when Steve Ballmer does a presentation, he’s got what looks like a MacBook Pro behind the scenes.
Not the first time Microsoft has been caught using a better OS. Back in 2003 Microsoft fired an employee for blogging about the arrival of some Dual 2GHz Power Mac G5’s.
Firefox has a delay when you install extensions as a security mechanism. This is done because it would otherwise be pretty easy for a website to trick someone into installing an extension before they even realize what they are doing (which is obviously a bad thing). See Bug 162020 for details and even an example.
I’ve seen a few sites publicize how to disable this security feature, though I’d point out this is really not a good idea. It’s 5 seconds people. Even if you have 20 extensions installed, your talking about 100 seconds, less than 2 minutes of your life. Seems like a reasonable compromise for the extra security.
I’ve encountered this bug I just can’t quite figure out, so I figured I’d put it here. Hopefully with a broader audience someone else had encountered it and perhaps this will lead to the root cause being identified.
For some reason Firefox 3 can’t access Webmin on port 10000, which is how it’s setup on a box I have. It worked in Firefox 2.0, but not 3.0. I’m not sure if it’s something to do with Perl’s Net::SSLeay, which Webmin uses for SSL support, or the port number being 10000. I’ve tinkered a little bit with SSL settings, but so far haven’t been able to figure out exactly what’s going on. It seems to be a regression in NSS.
Anyone notice a regression like this using nightly builds somewhere else? This is the only case I’ve personally experienced it. If you have, then visit bug 423499 and let us know.
Edit [5/4/08 @ 11:30 PM EST]: No idea what’s going on here, but apparently nobody else can reproduce, so calling it quits for now.
I for one welcome our new web browsing overlord.
Google announced the project lists for Summer Of Code 2008. Some of the more interesting projects from my perspective:
Southpark last week featured an internet outage as a plot. Pretty clever though I was disappointed to not see 1 reference to the series of tubes. I’m not sure if the reference to Linksys (Cisco) being responsible for the Internet being down was a complement or an insult. Though those Linksys boxes are infamous with just dying like that until you power cycle. Any other brand seems to have figured out how to not have that issue. Linux firmware on a Linksys also seems to remedy it. References to “Independence Day” and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” were clever.
You can watch it online by clicking on the screen grab.
I wonder if Google’s privacy policy applies to the settings on their bathroom gadgets. That said, I still don’t feel comfortable with any toilet that has an oscillating button.
[Photo Credit: Eszter]
Since it seems like everyone else on Planet Mozilla is doing it… My twist: multiple systems. Actually I found it interesting too see the variation based on what I use them for.
$ history | awk '{a[$2]++}END{for(i in a){print a[i] " " i}}' | sort -rn | head
114 ls
91 cd
63 sh
41 ssh
37 sudo
14 pico
13 exit
12 ping
10 ./gl_tail
8 top
$ history | awk '{a[$2]++}END{for(i in a){print a[i] " " i}}' | sort -rn | head
68 ls
64 dig
55 cd
45 whois
27 ps
24 clear
23 sudo
14 pico
12 top
12 exit
$ history | awk '{a[$2]++}END{for(i in a){print a[i] " " i}}' | sort -rn | head
67 top
65 ssh
31 ls
29 sudo
26 dig
23 cd
20 ps
19 svn
17 php
8 ping
Seems everyone who tries Windows Vista comes to at least one of two conclusions (if not both):
It will be interesting to see the fate of XP.
Most appliances sold in the US are now required to ship with the infamous EnergyGuide Label. That yellow label is most associated with major appliances, but it could be utilized beyond that. It’s a pretty simple idea in principle. The label makes it very clear how much power the device consumes, and based on average usage how much it will cost the consumer to operate on a yearly basis.
Perhaps it’s about time to adopt a similar convention for computers, servers, displays, printers, and networking equipment. Doing so would have several benefits:
The real problem is that it’s tough to go to a manufacturer’s website or a store and tell what this device will cost you to operate, and compare to another device. That doesn’t really seem necessary. It should be easy to tell.
I think such a label should include the following:
The data should be made available by easily removable signage attached to the device on shipping, made available on request in stores, and available on the manufacturers website linked from the product page.
By making power consumption more obvious, it would be easier to make a decision based on TCO (total cost of ownership) that accounted for power consumption. The bigger advantage is that it would encourage manufacturers to consider power consumption as a potential way to sell a product, and that means improving power supplies and standby consumption.
It seems like an easy way to spur some innovation and allow for better decisions by consumers. Considering the cost of power is expected to rise, and the need for IT is rising, it seems like a decent proposal. Making the most of the watts available requires knowing consumption. That way keeping servers and desktops powered on is as efficient as possible.
Image from FTC