The latest trend just might be Pod Casting. A combination apparently of the word i-Pod (question can we use that without getting sued?) and broadcasting. The concept is that you put your thoughts, an article, or whatever you want into a digital format, like mp3, and then people interested in what you have to say — literally — can hear you say it, as opposed to themselve having to read it. I personally think the idea is kind of stupid — but it is catching on, so maybe it is me who is stupid.

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I never thought of it that way before. But today I had a chance to read this article at Wired about the band Wilco. Stanford Law Professor Laurence Lessig, one of the first law professors to break the digital sound barrier with his use of it, quotes band member Jeff Tweedy as saying: “The audience is our collaborator. We should be encouraging their collaboration, not treating them like thieves.” Wilco has apparently made it’s very name by encouraging usage under some circumstances on the net. Perhaps other bands should follow the model and learn from what was and is being done.

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Apparently one quarter of respondents in a survey have indicated that they scaled back their online shopping for fear of security issues. A further 21 percent of respondents refuse to use online banking for the same reasons. Those are not even the most worrying statistics. That same survey revealed that 65% of people use 5 or less passwords for all their electronic access, and 15% used one password for everything.

Folks, bad passwords are like locking your house using a key with a flat featureless shank, anyone with the time and inclination can get in. My passwords are all 12 characters or more long, and I change them regularly. Long passwords are not that hard to use, think of a song you like, and take the first or last letter from each word in one of the verses. Sing the verse in your head when you enter your password and you’ll have no problems. Most of all, NEVER use dictionary words, because brute force attacks will make that worthless in a jiffy. (don’t use your kids names, your pets name or anything else that someone researching you would be able to find out.)

Thus far, nearly all cases where people have lost money from online banking, is from Phishing attacks, or Viruses/Trojans/Worms, in other words, it is their own habits and PC that are the cause, not the banks. That’s why we wrote tips.littlehosting.com where we list a heap of free software that will help secure your PC and information on why you need to use it.
Read this for more on the survey results.

This issue of homeless children is significant in America. We watch advertisements on the television for poor starving children in far off lands. Most of us, however, need look no further than our nearest city. Children from broken and abusive homes, victims of divorcing parents, children of substance abusers, and yes even childred coming from fine “All-American” homes fall victim to homelessness after running away from home. I am sure it is similiar around the world.

So what does this have to do with web design? Nothing. But Bob Parsons over at Godaddy.com posted about his support of Homebase Youth Services from Arizona. We have been long time supporters of Covenant House, a program that originated in New York, but now is throughout many major cities in the US and several other countries. Wherever you may be, there is an organization like this you could and perhaps should consider supporting.

Bob’s article focuses on a ficticious family where a divorce occurs and the child takes the blame for it. That happens every day. A post on the Domestic Diversions Blog focuses on the SMILE program, an effective set of recommendations for how to break the news of a divorce to your children.

Apparently big Bill has had a change of heart, not that long ago he practically swore there would be no new feature updates to Internet Explorer until the next Windows is released (dubbed Longhorn, or Longwait by some and not due out till late 2006 or early 2007.) He has changed his tune and indicated that a beta of IE7 will be out this summer.

Bill claims that the reason is security, analysts credited the growing popularity of the Firefox web browser (which has a ton of features that IE does not, and a much better security record to boot) as the reason for Microsoft’s change of heart. The update will only run on PC’s with Windows XP service pack 2, so anyone with 2000 or 98/ME should not get excited. I’m hoping that all the smart folk are using Firefox by then, and anyone that isn’t deserves what they get. It should be noted that if they really were updating IE only to improve security, then there is no reason to only update IE for XP SP2 users, there are still a large number of people using older versions of Windows. That fact alone indicates this is more about countering Firefox and their own bad security record then it is about helping their customers.

See Cnet for all the details.

Recently there has been much speculation that Google would be releasing a Google branded version of the Firefox web browser. Well that speculation can now grow to include the “Ask Jeeves” search engine as well. Ask Jeeves went a step further then just a re-badged browser, and are apparently in talks to Open Source their desktop search software under the Mozilla foundation’s care. Ask Jeeves spokesman Jim Lanzone described Mozilla as “open-minded but non-committal”. I imagine Mozilla’s reluctance could at least in some part be attributed to not wishing to upset the good relationship they have developed with Google. This news comes less then a week after Yahoo released a tool bar for Firefox.
It seems that most of the big search engines enjoy the freedom of having a browser that isn’t tied to their opposition in the search market, (like Internet Explorer is tied to MSN). Don’t expect MSN to join the fray unless Internet Explorer becomes the under dog (we can hope can’t we?)

Read the full Ask Jeeves story here.

Bill Gates is apparently getting alittle upset that the European Union are not falling into line by adopting the same software patent laws that have so filled the US court system with stupid cases.

To make his intention clear, big Bill has threatened to move his Denmark software unit to the US unless the EU agree’s to software patents.

IT magnate Bill Gates plans to move Microsoft’s Denmark-based Navision business software unit to the United States if the European Union blocks his attempts to secure Microsoft’s intellectual property rights in Europe.

Well, now it begins to become clear why the unpopular directive keeps getting put back on the table even though it has been shot down several times now. There is money behind the push folks, and now you see where some of it is coming from. What Microsoft probably doesn’t understand though, is that the EU isn’t likely to drop their pants for a US company, because competing with the US was one of the reasons for starting the EU in the first place. Many big software companies already have registered software patents in the EU, and anything that changes the rules in a way that makes those patents less valid is not something the huge software companies want to accept as it removes one of their tools for crushing smaller opposition. (like Open Source for example).

Read the full story here or here.
INSERT: Microsoft have denied that they are in any way blackmailing Denmark.