Architecture and Airport Security. Good essay by Matt Blaze: Somehow, for all the attention to minutiae in the guidelines, everything ends up just slightly wrong by the time it gets put together at an airport. Even if we accept some form of passenger screening as a necessary evil these days, today's checkpoints seem like case [...]

Tomlinesque. Lilly Tomlin used to do skit about the phone company, back before the breakup. “We don’t care. We don’t have to. We’re the phone company.” Our DSL goes out, periodically. Restarting the modem usually fixes the problem. Sometimes, you need to do that twice. Sometimes, you have to wait ten minutes and recite Matthew [...]

Windows Home Server. As usual when it comes to new Microsoft technology, Paul Thurott has the definitive review of Windows Home Server. Yeah, it just makes me want it more. I especially dig the idea of having my photos be accessible remotely, easy backups, and having a center to my network without having to pay [...]

Wholesale Surveillance. I had an op-ed published in the Arizona Star today: Technology is fundamentally changing the nature of surveillance. Years ago, surveillance meant trench-coated detectives following people down streets. It was laborious and expensive and was used only when there was reasonable suspicion of a crime. Modern surveillance is the policeman with a license-plate [...]

The huge potential downside of the iPhone  For those of you who are salivating over Apple’s newly-announced iPhone, you might want to do a little research on Cingular, the other company you’ll be getting into bed with if you run out and get an iPhone in June. As an example, did you know that Cingular [...]

Is this your year to achieve some major goals?. Then you better plan on changing some things about your life. Why? Because insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. If you are not happy with the way your life, your business, or your health is going, you need [...]

Peter Merholz has some interesting thoughts on why Google Calendar is about to overtake Yahoo Calendar as the top web calendar app. “Here's a product whose very definition was predicated on empathy for true customer needs. And it's succeeding brilliantly.” [kottke.org remaindered links]

OpenID. I followed the instructions here to create an OpenID for myself at MyOpenId, and added the magic bits that associate this weblog with that ID: If you do a View-Source you'll see these two link elements in the section of the HTML. So now I can use any of the services that use OpenID [...]

Jet stream changes bring record temp. Boston set a record high temperature yesterday, and seemed likely to set another one today, as the entire region did an unsettling impression of springtime in January, complete with blooming trees and people picnicking on the Public Garden's emerald green grass. [Boston Globe -- Front Page]

Attack of the Zombie Computers Is a Growing Threat, Experts Say. In their persistent quest to breach the Internet’s defenses, the bad guys are honing their weapons and increasing their firepower. By JOHN MARKOFF. [NYT > Home Page]