The backbone. This information aesthetics post has an “extremely detailed map of the North American Internet backbone including 134,855 routers.The colors represent who each router is registered to:red is Verizon,blue AT&T,yellow Qwest,green is major backbone players like Level 3 & Sprint Nextel,black is the entire cable industry put together,& gray is everyone else,from small telecommunications… Continue reading The backbone

Essex Image Vault. Prints of rare, historical photos and maps of Essex County and particularly Salem, Mass. Visit site [SimpleBits]

Eating Away From Below. A few months ago, Peter Merholz wrote a post on his blog called “Eating away from below, which was a smart and interesting take on how nimbler, easier, more social software is going to start succeeding in large businesses. Peter is partially responsible (well, actually, it’s all his fault) for coining… Continue reading Eating Away From Below

Your Micro-ISV web site: get the basics right..  It has to be one of the most asked micro-ISV questions: How do I build my web site right? There’s no one right answer, but there are a number of things that if not done mean you don’t get the prize. Here are my top three to… Continue reading Your Micro-ISV web site: get the basics right.

The Software License Question. It's a question we've asked before, but we still haven't heard any good answers. Why do software products come with licenses, when most other types of copyrighted works don't? So where does the idea that software must be licensed come from? The easy answer of course is the software publishers. But… Continue reading The Software License Question

Ever wonder why Windows File Protection doesn't use ACLs to protect files?. Over the years I have cringed at the thought that rogue elements could overwrite system binaries, bypassing Windows File Protection with use of tools like SysInternal's handle.exe. I always wondered WHY they didn't have tighter ACLs on the files, and today Raymond explains… Continue reading Ever wonder why Windows File Protection doesn't use ACLs to protect files?

Understanding Windows Vista's Delay (Yes, Another). It's true. This afternoon, Microsoft delayed Windows Vista. I won't play semantics. Microsoft can technically argue that the operating system will ship in 2006, because it will be ready for some businesses (assuming there are no more delays). But the Windows Vista consumer launch won't be until 2007. No… Continue reading Understanding Windows Vista's Delay (Yes, Another)

Rails 1.1: Release Candidate 1 available. It’s been roughly three months since the release of the big one-oh. That’s obviously an eternity in Rails time, so its about high time we’re getting ready for the release for 1.1. And boy, is this an exciting upgrade! I do believe this is the biggest upgrade to Rails… Continue reading Rails 1.1: Release Candidate 1 available

Interview with Tobias Lutke of Shopify. The decidedly right-brained Amy Hoy sat down for an interview with with core member and Rails old-timer Tobias Lutke. They talk about Jaded Pixel’s greatly anticipated Shopify as well as its theme builder, Vision. Maybe Amy will start doing interviews like this more often… [Riding Rails]

Hardware setup behind the Robot Co-op. The Robot Co-op’s umbrella of Rails apps, including 43 Things and 43 Places, has become one of the poster children of large scale Rails applications in production. For all those wondering how they are scaling to 2.5 million requests/day, Eric Hodel has posted a breakdown of their hardware setup.… Continue reading Hardware setup behind the Robot Co-op