Jeff Atwood has a great analysis of javascript performance in the four main browsers. He used the new Sunspider benchmark that the webkit.org folks released recently.
I’m curious how Firefox 3 compares – Firefox 2′s numbers are only so-so.
the problem with the kindle
Mark Pilgrim has a really nice writeup on the problems with DRM and the Amazon Kindle in particular, written out as a play in 6 acts. He references RMS’s Right to read, as well as George Orwell’s 1984.
Posted in DRM
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djb to release all his software into the public domain
Dan Bernstein aka djb writes brilliant software. He has a reputation for being a little difficult but his software is really, really well written and some of the most secure code out there. I used qmail for a long time, and I still think that it is hands down the best choice for an outgoing mail relay, particularly if you need to process large volumes of mail (it’s not flexible enough for my taste to be a good incoming mail router these days – too many smart tricks are necessary to deal with spam).
However, I still swear by djbdns, which does all that I need my nameservers to do, without all the bloat and history of security issues that come with Bind (though admittedly bind 9 is a heck of a lot better than its predecessors when it comes to being secure).
From my perspective, the biggest problem with djb’s software has been the licensing. Djb did not put his software under a standard free software license; he rolled his own license(s) that were not entirely compatible with free software. See a copy of the djb distributors page from August 2007 for more details.
So what’s the news? Djb has announced that he is to release all his software into the public domain (video). The qmail distribution page has already been updated, stating that qmail has been put into the public domain (compare with a copy from last August at archive.org).
I hope the main djb distribution page gets updated soon; I can’t wait to see djbdns, daemontools and the like officially packaged in Debian. Thank you, Dan!
UPDATE 2008-01-02: Dan’s distributors page has now been updated; daemontools, djbdns, primegen and ucspi-tcp are now all listed as public domain software.
optimizing a home office for energy consumption
Great article over at computerworld.com on reducing the energy consumption of a home office.
Posted in Environment
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trade deficits
CNN has an excellent article by Warren Buffett on the worrying US trade deficit.
He wrote it four YEARS ago.
Posted in Finance/SRI
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Lessig at TED
Larry Lessig‘s excellent talk at TED titled ‘how creativity is stranged by the law’ is now online. Recommended viewing – 19 minutes long.
Posted in Copyright, patents, and trademarks
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rail
There is an interesting blog post at carectomy.com about the state of the US rail transportation system. The article mentions the “Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act” of 2007 (S.294) that cleared the Senate at the end of October with a $10 billion provision for building a high-speed rail network throughout the nation.
I suspect that amount is way too low to achieve all that much, at least if the idea is to build high speed rail in densely populated areas: consider the cost of the inevitable eminent domain to improve tracks and/or build high-speed tracks. I’d like to see rail funding on par with airline subsidies – but at least this is a start.
I do worry about the definition of high-speed. Amtrak’s Acela Express is as good as it gets in this country, but it’s a far cry from what is considered high-speed rail in Europe and Japan. As the wikipedia article explains, this is mostly due to track quality and the fact that the Acela does not run on tracks that have been purpose-built for high-speed rail. Seems like there is lots of room for improvement by upgrading sections of track – but Amtrak does not actually own some of the slowest parts of the track…
At least the increases in (Acela) ridership are promising – the monthly performance reports show rising ridership for Amtrak as a whole, and the Acela in particular. I suspect that trend will continue in the foreseeable future as flying is such a hassle these days.
Posted in Environment
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testing smtp auth from the command line
Testing smtp auth can be a bit of a pain sometimes, particularly if SSL or TLS is involved. Mail clients often don’t really show what they are doing and/or don’t allow you to set all variables, like which authentication mechanism to use.
John M. Simpson has a nice page that describes how to do AUTH PLAIN by hand, but it does not cover AUTH LOGIN or CRAM-MD5.
Enter this really nice tool: mailsend. It compiles cleanly, is fast, and allows you to test AUTH PLAIN, AUTH LOGIN and AUTH CRAM-MD5 quickly and easily. Thank you, Muhammad A Muquit!
Posted in Sysadmin
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Soviet ministries
Walt Mossberg gets it, too: he likens wireless carriers in the US to Soviet ministries. I would go further and include most incumbent telcos, but hey, this is a good start.
I think things are going to change in broadband-land.
Posted in Broadband
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hear, hear
Great article in the New York Times’ business section on the upcoming 700 MHz auctions and the White Spaces Coalition. Here’s to hoping that the FCC will take up professor Judith Chevalier on her advice; we desperately need more competition in the broadband market.
Posted in Broadband
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