I switched to Dvorak because I switched to a TouchStream keyboard. They use touchpads rather than keys, so there isn't much tactile feedback. This leads to the home row being much more important than on a normal keyboard, because you need to know where the home row is to find anything else.
In the end I modified the Dvorak layout in a few rather specialised ways supported by the TouchStream... it has separate symbol pad layouts that I enable by pressing what would be "QWE" on a Qwerty keyboard. These allow me to get all the symbols I need without ever having to reach for modifiers. And in my opinion that's exactly what a programmer needs.
So... Dvorak helps, yes, but what you really need is a fully customisable keyboard like a TouchStream. The Dvorak layout helps from a comfort point of view, in that it reduces the amount of reaching you have to do, but having a good keyboard in the first place is more important.
(Incidentally, I don't think it's seriously affected my ability to use other setups... although I'm slower with other setups, just because I'm faster with the TouchStream than I used to be...)
A real, physical, password keyring. ThinkGeek has some rather expensive ones, but they'll definitely do the job. I have one of the earlier (cheaper) keyrings from the same company, and it's wonderful. I have strong passwords, I don't have to worry about forgetting them, and they're secure.
The TouchStream. These are amazing devices, and completely customizable. Actually the retail price was something like $350... but Fingerworks was recently bought out and the future of the product range is in doubt. So when two second-hand models were auctioned on ebay recently, they both went for nearly $500.
(One of them to me... I need a second one for work.)
Why are they so good? Well, y'know how when you're coding you avoid the mouse because it's quicker, in the end, to hammer away at the keyboard? Even for awkward things like selecting text? Well, with the TouchStream, there is zero delay between mousing and typing, because you mouse by dropping two fingers on the typing area. It's completely seamless, and it means you can integrate mousing into your typing. Things suddenly get a whole lot quicker and easier.
It doesn't stop there. They recognise gestures in a heavily customizable way. You don't need the arrow keys any more, just drop two fingers of your left hand and slide them. Much quicker, and no reaching.
In fact, it's possible (with some hefty customization) to eliminate reaches completely. That's what I've done... I no longer need to reach for any modifier keys whatsoever. I get the complete range of letters, numbers and symbols without moving my hands from the Q-P A-; Z-/ keys.
Then you have the fact that they're incredibly comfortable and will help to offset any RSI worries you may have.
Downsides? Takes some getting used to for full speed (I learned Dvorak because it means less finger movement and I'm up to 70wpm after several months; I can hit 100 on a normal keyboard). You'll probably never be as fast typing as on QWERTY. This is very definitely offset by the gestures, mousing and comfort, but it's frustrating at first.
I hope a new incarnation arises, because there's no way I'm going back to separate mouse and keyboard and no gestures without a fight. If the ones I have break I'll probably end up paying more and more buying them second hand:(
I have one. It's called a TouchStream, and I have mine configured so that I don't use any reaches at all. I have modifier keys (which are in the place of normal QWERTY keys, not in the place of Shift and friends) that turn the right hand side of the keyboard into various symbol pads. But you can configure it how you want.
Google for them... they're wonderful things (zero force typing, gestures, mousing). Unfortunately the company has been bought out and it looks like they may not be produced... expect to pay about $450 for a second hand one. And it's absolutely worth it.
Actually I have the first version of the keyring, which didn't come with a dock and was a whole lot cheaper ($60 if I remember correctly). The new version sounds better for businesses but not a great improvement for individuals.
Still. These completely solve the problem of creating and remembering secure passwords. What more d'you want?
I haven't come across this idea elsewhere, so, please let me know if you actually do it;)... I would if I had a server handy, it's an easy project.
One centralised server can be used as a central tracker for P2P, or anything else, with no legal implications. The idea is simple. Your server doesn't advertise services, it advertises open ports.
Let's say my awesome new p2p program uses port 23145. On starting up, it sends a packet to central server saying "my port 23145 is open". When someone else asks the server for someone with port 23145 open, there's a chance they get my IP address in return. When I have enough connections, I send a packet asking that I be delisted.
Obviously there need to be controls against spoofing, etc, but the application is so simple that these are pretty easy to do.
Because the central server stores nothing more than IP/port pairs (plus timing and security stuff), there is complete deniability. You have no way to tell which program people are running, either on the server or the client. And you never see any application data whatsoever. It's just as useful for legitimate apps as for legally difficult stuff.
Problem solved. Any program can find other instances of the same program without nasty legal questions being raised. Admittedly they'll have to check the identity of the other program on connection, but they should be doing that anyway...
Just a minor point really, but copyright infringement is typically a civil offence, not a criminal one. So it doesn't make you a criminal unless you do it a lot or make money out of it.
Google for that quote... true or not, there is a fairly widespread allegation that it was sarcastic, used in a letter to a bitter rival.
It's funny you should mention Newton's statement as being positive. I'm currently reading "Science: A History 1534-2001" by John Gribbin which suggests that his comment was in fact a barely disguised personal attack. It written in a letter to a scientific competitor, Robert Hooke, who had complained, correctly, that Newton was not giving him proper credit for his discoveries. Newton's response that he had seen further by "standing on the shoulders of Giants" was intended to rule out Hooke, who was famously short and hunchbacked. This is not 100% accepted history but it does seem to fit in with Newton's general demenour and behaviour.
Apparently other people said it before Newton if you want to quote someone who actually meant it.
If only. Try actually doing what I suggested and looking up a guide on making Windows secure. You need to disable services, remove/disable the guest account, set things up to work with limited account privileges, etc, etc.
A few small changes go a long way, it is true, but stopping 95% of problems isn't as good as stopping 99.9%.
Google for a guide on how to secure Windows. It'll take a couple of hours, at least, but you should be able to make them immune to most problems.
The two most important fixes are disabling IE and using limited accounts wherever possible, IMHO. But there are lots of other things you need to change before the system is secure. Oh, and a little user education is essential.
I can't see anything in the article which says that they're going after spammers in general... just spammers or phishers who hit their sites.
That's still a good thing, but it seems to me that all a spammer has to do to be safe is not spam hotmail addresses. And all a phisher has to do is not impersonate Microsoft.
So, on the whole... not a huge win for internet users. A step in the right direction, nothing more.
It saddens me that a lot of people don't have "whom" in their vocabulary. I use it correctly... and I don't exactly have a privileged upbringing or anything. Nor do I know English in any technical sense, so I couldn't explain where you are supposed to use "whom" using the correct linguistic terms.
Ah well. One of the major strengths of English is that it can change, so I suppose there's no point making a fuss about it. But I'll defend my little patch of English:-)
Oh, and, on topic... this is dumb. There isn't a single system in existence for which you cannot construct examples that'll make it look bad. Indeed, I believe attention has moved away from hand-coding rules with the goal of achieving perfection, and towards statistical techniques. 100% correctness might be impossible but they get the job done with a lot less hassle.
Gentoo on an amd64 is awesome. If you want to run a desktop system on a 64-bit processor... well, I admit I haven't tried the alternatives, but gentoo does the job nicely.
I'm surprised nobody has touched on the economic aspects yet. If they work properly, rebates should benefit everyone. Corrupt rebates don't, as far as I can see...
It's simply another form of price-discrimination. That is, it's a way to get richer people to pay more than everyone else... or, equivalently, it's a way to allow poorer people to pay less. The reasoning being that rebates are a hassle to obtain, so whether people bother with them or not depends on how much the money is worth to them.
There are plenty of other examples of price discrimination. Airline tickets are the classic example. When you buy your budget ticket, are you thankful that everyone in first class is paying ten times what you are? You should be. Student prices are another good example. Students typically have less cash, so they can sensibly be charged less.
The bottom line is, price discrimination both increases profits for the manufacturer and allows people who could not otherwise have afforded the product to buy it at a reduced price.
So, in an ideal world, rebates are far from evil. In the real world... well, see all the other posts:-)
Since when are commercial projects devoted to fulfilling user needs? Maybe slightly moreso than some open source projects, but for the most part all you see is devotion to making money.
Proprietary file formats and tactics to force upgrades are a good example of this.
...what I always post to these stories: EMusic, DRM-free, high quality VBR MP3s from a range of labels. Subscription works out at under 25c/track. Definitely a fan.
Again hmm. Having seen your longer post on the topic, I consent that you know more about this than I do, and will learn more about it before I claim to know what I'm talking about;-)
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I switched to Dvorak because I switched to a TouchStream keyboard. They use touchpads rather than keys, so there isn't much tactile feedback. This leads to the home row being much more important than on a normal keyboard, because you need to know where the home row is to find anything else.
In the end I modified the Dvorak layout in a few rather specialised ways supported by the TouchStream... it has separate symbol pad layouts that I enable by pressing what would be "QWE" on a Qwerty keyboard. These allow me to get all the symbols I need without ever having to reach for modifiers. And in my opinion that's exactly what a programmer needs.
So... Dvorak helps, yes, but what you really need is a fully customisable keyboard like a TouchStream. The Dvorak layout helps from a comfort point of view, in that it reduces the amount of reaching you have to do, but having a good keyboard in the first place is more important.
(Incidentally, I don't think it's seriously affected my ability to use other setups... although I'm slower with other setups, just because I'm faster with the TouchStream than I used to be...)
That's the one. They're still showing up on ebay at the moment... and selling for about $500.
A real, physical, password keyring. ThinkGeek has some rather expensive ones, but they'll definitely do the job. I have one of the earlier (cheaper) keyrings from the same company, and it's wonderful. I have strong passwords, I don't have to worry about forgetting them, and they're secure.
Both keyboard and mouse. As it turns out, being able to use a mouse while you're programming is great... when there's zero switch delay.
Sadly the TouchStream company has been bought out... they're now selling on ebay for $500.
The TouchStream. These are amazing devices, and completely customizable. Actually the retail price was something like $350... but Fingerworks was recently bought out and the future of the product range is in doubt. So when two second-hand models were auctioned on ebay recently, they both went for nearly $500.
(One of them to me... I need a second one for work.)
Why are they so good? Well, y'know how when you're coding you avoid the mouse because it's quicker, in the end, to hammer away at the keyboard? Even for awkward things like selecting text? Well, with the TouchStream, there is zero delay between mousing and typing, because you mouse by dropping two fingers on the typing area. It's completely seamless, and it means you can integrate mousing into your typing. Things suddenly get a whole lot quicker and easier.
It doesn't stop there. They recognise gestures in a heavily customizable way. You don't need the arrow keys any more, just drop two fingers of your left hand and slide them. Much quicker, and no reaching.
In fact, it's possible (with some hefty customization) to eliminate reaches completely. That's what I've done... I no longer need to reach for any modifier keys whatsoever. I get the complete range of letters, numbers and symbols without moving my hands from the Q-P A-; Z-/ keys.
Then you have the fact that they're incredibly comfortable and will help to offset any RSI worries you may have.
Downsides? Takes some getting used to for full speed (I learned Dvorak because it means less finger movement and I'm up to 70wpm after several months; I can hit 100 on a normal keyboard). You'll probably never be as fast typing as on QWERTY. This is very definitely offset by the gestures, mousing and comfort, but it's frustrating at first.
I hope a new incarnation arises, because there's no way I'm going back to separate mouse and keyboard and no gestures without a fight. If the ones I have break I'll probably end up paying more and more buying them second hand :(
I have one. It's called a TouchStream, and I have mine configured so that I don't use any reaches at all. I have modifier keys (which are in the place of normal QWERTY keys, not in the place of Shift and friends) that turn the right hand side of the keyboard into various symbol pads. But you can configure it how you want.
Google for them... they're wonderful things (zero force typing, gestures, mousing). Unfortunately the company has been bought out and it looks like they may not be produced... expect to pay about $450 for a second hand one. And it's absolutely worth it.
You attach it to your keys.
Passwords are much easier to change than keys. Added to which, you will remember any password that you use frequently, strong password or not.
So, no, that isn't a problem.
Get a password keyring and stop worring about it.
Actually I have the first version of the keyring, which didn't come with a dock and was a whole lot cheaper ($60 if I remember correctly). The new version sounds better for businesses but not a great improvement for individuals.
Still. These completely solve the problem of creating and remembering secure passwords. What more d'you want?
Port advertising instead of service advertising.
I haven't come across this idea elsewhere, so, please let me know if you actually do it ;)... I would if I had a server handy, it's an easy project.
One centralised server can be used as a central tracker for P2P, or anything else, with no legal implications. The idea is simple. Your server doesn't advertise services, it advertises open ports.
Let's say my awesome new p2p program uses port 23145. On starting up, it sends a packet to central server saying "my port 23145 is open". When someone else asks the server for someone with port 23145 open, there's a chance they get my IP address in return. When I have enough connections, I send a packet asking that I be delisted.
Obviously there need to be controls against spoofing, etc, but the application is so simple that these are pretty easy to do.
Because the central server stores nothing more than IP/port pairs (plus timing and security stuff), there is complete deniability. You have no way to tell which program people are running, either on the server or the client. And you never see any application data whatsoever. It's just as useful for legitimate apps as for legally difficult stuff.
Problem solved. Any program can find other instances of the same program without nasty legal questions being raised. Admittedly they'll have to check the identity of the other program on connection, but they should be doing that anyway...
Just a minor point really, but copyright infringement is typically a civil offence, not a criminal one. So it doesn't make you a criminal unless you do it a lot or make money out of it.
VHS was better for a number of reasons, the most important being that you could actually fit a movie on one tape.
Really, I wish people would stop using it as an example of something it's not.
Google for that quote... true or not, there is a fairly widespread allegation that it was sarcastic, used in a letter to a bitter rival.
It's funny you should mention Newton's statement as being positive. I'm currently reading "Science: A History 1534-2001" by John Gribbin which suggests that his comment was in fact a barely disguised personal attack. It written in a letter to a scientific competitor, Robert Hooke, who had complained, correctly, that Newton was not giving him proper credit for his discoveries. Newton's response that he had seen further by "standing on the shoulders of Giants" was intended to rule out Hooke, who was famously short and hunchbacked. This is not 100% accepted history but it does seem to fit in with Newton's general demenour and behaviour.
Apparently other people said it before Newton if you want to quote someone who actually meant it.
If only. Try actually doing what I suggested and looking up a guide on making Windows secure. You need to disable services, remove/disable the guest account, set things up to work with limited account privileges, etc, etc.
A few small changes go a long way, it is true, but stopping 95% of problems isn't as good as stopping 99.9%.Google for a guide on how to secure Windows. It'll take a couple of hours, at least, but you should be able to make them immune to most problems.
The two most important fixes are disabling IE and using limited accounts wherever possible, IMHO. But there are lots of other things you need to change before the system is secure. Oh, and a little user education is essential.
I can't see anything in the article which says that they're going after spammers in general... just spammers or phishers who hit their sites.
That's still a good thing, but it seems to me that all a spammer has to do to be safe is not spam hotmail addresses. And all a phisher has to do is not impersonate Microsoft.
So, on the whole... not a huge win for internet users. A step in the right direction, nothing more.
It saddens me that a lot of people don't have "whom" in their vocabulary. I use it correctly... and I don't exactly have a privileged upbringing or anything. Nor do I know English in any technical sense, so I couldn't explain where you are supposed to use "whom" using the correct linguistic terms.
Ah well. One of the major strengths of English is that it can change, so I suppose there's no point making a fuss about it. But I'll defend my little patch of English :-)
Oh, and, on topic... this is dumb. There isn't a single system in existence for which you cannot construct examples that'll make it look bad. Indeed, I believe attention has moved away from hand-coding rules with the goal of achieving perfection, and towards statistical techniques. 100% correctness might be impossible but they get the job done with a lot less hassle.
Gentoo on an amd64 is awesome. If you want to run a desktop system on a 64-bit processor... well, I admit I haven't tried the alternatives, but gentoo does the job nicely.
No. Er. Has anyone?
I'm surprised nobody has touched on the economic aspects yet. If they work properly, rebates should benefit everyone. Corrupt rebates don't, as far as I can see...
It's simply another form of price-discrimination. That is, it's a way to get richer people to pay more than everyone else... or, equivalently, it's a way to allow poorer people to pay less. The reasoning being that rebates are a hassle to obtain, so whether people bother with them or not depends on how much the money is worth to them.
There are plenty of other examples of price discrimination. Airline tickets are the classic example. When you buy your budget ticket, are you thankful that everyone in first class is paying ten times what you are? You should be. Student prices are another good example. Students typically have less cash, so they can sensibly be charged less.
The bottom line is, price discrimination both increases profits for the manufacturer and allows people who could not otherwise have afforded the product to buy it at a reduced price.
So, in an ideal world, rebates are far from evil. In the real world... well, see all the other posts :-)
So they're getting the government to beta-test their patches? Sweet.
Since when are commercial projects devoted to fulfilling user needs? Maybe slightly moreso than some open source projects, but for the most part all you see is devotion to making money.
Proprietary file formats and tactics to force upgrades are a good example of this.
...what I always post to these stories: EMusic, DRM-free, high quality VBR MP3s from a range of labels. Subscription works out at under 25c/track. Definitely a fan.
Heh... how did this get modded informative? It's no use at all for encryption. Maybe 'funny' would be a better moderation...
This is exactly what I was going to post. Although, I was going to post straight rather than sarcastic :-)
There is a huge list of things far more worrying than terrorist attack; and a huge list of terrorist attacks far more worrying than nuclear attack.
So, all in all, not something to lose sleep over.
Again hmm. Having seen your longer post on the topic, I consent that you know more about this than I do, and will learn more about it before I claim to know what I'm talking about ;-)