WIRED
Science : Discoveries

By Randy Alfred 05.01.08 | 12:00 AM

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1964: In the predawn hours of May Day, two professors at Dartmouth College run the first program in their new language, Basic.

Mathematicians John G. Kemeny and Thomas E. Kurtz had been trying to make computing more accessible to their undergraduate students. One problem was that available computing languages like Fortran and Algol were so complex that you really had to be a professional to use them.

Microsoft device helps police pluck evidence from cyberscene of crime

The Seattle Times

By Benjamin J. Romano
Seattle Times technology reporter

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Microsoft has developed a small plug-in device that investigators can use to quickly extract forensic data from computers that may have been used in crimes.

The researchers damn Windows in current form, urge radical changes

By Gregg Keizer
April 10, 2008 (Computerworld)

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Calling the situation "untenable" and describing Windows as "collapsing," a pair of Gartner analysts yesterday said Microsoft Corp. must make radical changes to its operating system or risk becoming a has-been.

Many Windows Vista users worldwide have been able to use their sound adapters only because of the efforts of Daniel_K, a talented programmer who modified Creative Labs' drivers, enabling many functions that were not compatible with Vista.

Creative looked on, but when Daniel_K began to enable functions that were deliberately blocked, they stepped in and are now trying to shut him down.

In the heavy-handed fashion that is typical for bigger companies they did not contact him directly, but instead published their demands, which was quite detrimental to the company's reputation.

On March 31 Google came up again with a new feature—predated mails. They call it Gmail Custom Time.

Opinions on the morality of this feature differ, and so they allow you only 10 predated emails per year.

How does it work? When you create a mail, you click on Set custom time, and you can enter an earlier time that will become the time stamp of the email.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Article 12.

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.

Security Matters
Commentary by Bruce Schneier
Politics
Security

Mass compromise powers massive drive-by download attack

Invasion of the password snatchers
By John Leyden
Thursday 13th March 2008 12:10 GMT

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More than 10,000 web pages have been booby trapped with malware in one of the largest attacks of its kind to date.

Compromised web pages include travel sites, government websites, and hobbyist sites that have been modified with JavaScript code that silently redirects visitors to a site in China under the control of hackers.

Ballmer Acknowledges Mistakes, Offers Insights on Roadmap at MIX08
2008-03-07

By Jeffrey Schwartz

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In a rare display of contrition, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer yesterday acknowledged frustration with the acceptance of Windows Vista and the company's failure to upgrade its Internet Explorer browser more routinely, as well the questionable decision to pursue separate development paths for Internet Explorer and the .NET Framework.

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IE8 Beta 1: the screenshot tour
Australian Personal Computer, Australia - 9 hours ago
Screenshots are from IE8 Beta 1 running on Vista without SP1; please keep your masochist jokes to yourself. We've ignored weird one-off operational problems ...

Oprah's Webcast: State-of-the-Art, But Not What You Think

Posted March 7, 2008 | 09:57 AM (EST)

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