SEO: Passive vs. Active. A lot of search engine optimization writing passes by my desk, and I don't think I've ever seen a simple distinction made. PASSIVE SEO is the idea that you can do things to your site (metatags, phrases, even the articles you choose to write) that will be warmly received by the [...]

Too little, too late. Novell finally ousted Messman. I'm just afraid it's way too little, way too late. [Craig Burton: logs, links, life, and lexicon]

Getting in too-much touch (interruption is not collaboration). I just got back from the Collaborative Technologies Conference in Boston. I was there to talk about some of the ideas behind how we collaborate at 37signals. You can download a PDF of my slides. They’re spartan so they may not make a whole lot of sense [...]

Heading to the BBC. I'll be on the BBC in a little more than an hour as part of its “NewsNight” show. What are we talking about? Bill Gates. What am I going to say? He's the smartest guy I've ever met. Read Joel Spolsky's “BillG review” meeting notes to get a little insight. I've [...]

Falling Short of A+. Dell is trying to bounce back from a bad year and is now willing to question just about anything. By DAMON DARLIN. [NYT > Technology]

Gates to Cede Software Reins. The move, analysts said, points to the changes sweeping the software industry. By JOHN MARKOFF and STEVE LOHR. [NYT > Technology]

NYT: Mixed blessings of workplace tech. Attention- Juggling in the High-Tech Office – New York Times NYT talks with Ed Reilly of the American Management Association on technology’s “double-edged impact in the workplace.” Q. Do all the distractions mean that people don’t have time to think deeply about what they’re doing? A. There is certainly [...]

Hacking Computers Over USB. I've previously written about the risks of small portable computing devices; how more and more data can be stored on them, and then lost or stolen. But there's another risk: if an attacker can convince you to plug his USB device into your computer, he can take it over. . . [...]

On business/education partnership. It says a lot for Ruby, the dynamic language that's giving Perl and Python a run for their money, as well as for Rails, the application framework that made Ruby famous, that such a savvy software veteran [as Graham Glass] would choose to bet his next business on these open source technologies. [...]

Storm damage closes 4 bridges. IPSWICH — Damage from last month's disastrous flooding has forced this quaint seaside town to close four of five bridges over the Ipswich River, snarling traffic in the dense downtown and draining customers from businesses, just as the tourist season is heating up. [Boston Globe -- Front Page]