Internet topics
Does Google’s search algorithm rule the Web?
That’s the thesis of a Wired Magazine article by Steven Levy. Before Google, there were many search engines. But the search algorithms of Google made a difference. Somehow Google searches were faster and more accurate. And Google grew and grew. The search algorithms also change constantly. As Google amassed greater and greater databases, it kept [...]
FCC plan to increase broadband coverage in US
The US Federal Communications Commission wants to increase high-speed Internet in America. The New York Times reports:
The Federal Communications Commission is proposing an ambitious 10-year plan that will reimagine the nation’s media and technology priorities by establishing high-speed Internet as the country’s dominant communication network.
The plan, which will be submitted to Congress on Tuesday, is [...]
The Internet of things
The Bits Blog at the New York Times discusses the possibilities of more than just computers being connected to the Internet. With microprocessors and sensors, all sorts of things might be “online”. The blog reports on an article from McKinsey & Company that begins:
More objects are becoming embedded with sensors and gaining the ability to [...]
Creating strong passwords
One of the first lines of defense against hackers is the use of strong passwords for Internet logins. However, as numerous posts have noted, many continue to use really weak combinations that are no barrier whatever to hackers. The temptation to use easily remembered passwords is understandable but perilous and there are schemes to help [...]
A view of advertising from the other side
The Internet is not free. All those Web sites that you read have to be paid for by somebody, somehow. But, since nobody wants to pay for viewing Web content, ads provide the funds to finance most Web sites. (Or, as is the case for this blog, it comes out of the site owner’s pocket.) [...]
The state of the Internet
Here’s a video with some interesting facts about the Internet. The statistics are a few months old but it’s a quick and easy way to see where things are going.
JESS3 / The State of The Internet from Jesse Thomas on Vimeo.
Too many patches
The present way of dealing with security on the Internet just doesn’t work. A major flaw is that the system is predicated on an assumption that the average PC user is savvy about how Windows and the Internet work and is conscientious about keeping his or her computer up to date. This is patently [...]
IE8 still incompatible with many Web sites
When Microsoft made Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) more compatible with Web standards, it ran into problems caused by its own past attempts to impose non-standard software on the Internet. As I wrote when IE8 was new:
It has always been Microsoft’s strategy to impose proprietary software and methods wherever possible. This may have worked on the [...]
Federal government releases some details of cybersecurity
The Wall Street Journal reports:
The Obama administration lifted the veil Tuesday on a highly-secretive set of policies to defend the U.S. from cyber attacks.
It was an open secret that the National Security Agency was bolstering a Homeland Security program to detect and respond to cyber attacks on government systems, but a summary of that [...]
Microsoft proposes quarantine and tax to fight botnets
There’s been a big meeting on security going on in San Francisco. It’s the RSA Security Conference and Microsoft Vice-President Scott Charney gave a keynote address with some new proposals for increasing security on the Internet. CNET reports on a quarantine suggestion:
–In his keynote at the RSA security conference on Tuesday, Scott Charney, Microsoft’s corporate [...]
Protecting privacy on the Internet
The Internet had already greatly reduced personal privacy and the social networks have now made privacy almost extinct for many. Various privacy policies have been used on the Internet from the beginning but the more recent developments have made new approaches necessary. At the New York Times, Steve Lohr writes about changing privacy policies:
On the [...]
