Old News
Old news items are listed here.
Windows code leak 'not a security threat'
Security experts say Microsoft's embarrassing Windows 2000 source code leak is unlikely to have given hackers more ammunition
from ZDnet News-
The future of learning?
The teachers are enthusiastic about it. The pupils are keen on it. Could an interactive spin-off from a hit TV show really be the Holy Grail of educational programming?
from The Guardian More kids want to be hackers than rockers.
What do you want to be when you grow up?
from The Register-
Making the web pay
Ben Hammersley reports on the writers and artists who are earning money through the internet with micropayments
from The Guardian BT ordered to cut internet charges
UK surfers to benefit from lower prices after telecoms regulator Oftel orders BT to cut its wholesale internet charges by 17%.
from The GuardianSecond sight
Who owns your virtual axe in a virtual world?
from The GuardianAOL kills Netscape
The party's over - but who's to blame?
from The RegisterMalaysian minister slams software and music industries
Some blame for piracy should be shouldered by the software and recording industries, who have 'taken their own sweet time' to act
from The RegisterSurfing Cornwall, new style
A scheme to encourage broadband take-up in Cornwall has become a beacon of hope to internet users in remote areas across Europe.
from The GuardianIndustry group urges government to think twice on open source
The UK government is considering dramatically increasing the use of open-source licences for publicly funded software, but an IT industry body says the risks may outweigh the benefits.
from ZDNet NewsBlogging's too good for them
Paul Carr on the recent wrangle about Blogging and its place on the web.
from The GuardianInternet is dying - Prof. Lessig
The Internet is dying, says Lawrence Lessig, a law professor with a cult following amongst technophiles.
from The RegisterA second byte at the cherry
Technology considered defunct a decade ago forms the building blocks of many of today's cutting edge products and services.
from The GuardianWhat David did next
After the furore over data protection last year, SA Mathieson explores the government's designs on our movements in the digital world.
from The GuardianWhere the mobile is killing the PC
In Japan, there is only one gadget that counts.
from The GuardianAdobe updates Acrobat for the XML era
Version 6.0 bridges proprietary PDF to open XML.
from The RegisterDotcom's fishy ending
Why technology is more interesting than ever.
from The GuardianScientists: Internet speed record smashed
Offering a glimpse of a faster digital future, researchers announced they have set a new Internet speed record.
from CNNThe numbers game
Explaining websites' popularity with statistics is like trying to account for a complex social phenomenon such as a city by counting the paving slabs.
from The GuardianEurope threatens to invade ICANN
Internet teetering on brink of war.
from The RegisterEvolution, not revolution
Although the dream of a borderless cyberspace has not come true, the internet has nevertheless evolved into a rich and complex social place.
from The GuardianOpen season
Glyn Moody says that Microsoft may rule desktop PCs today, but a serious rival is now on its way.
from The GuardianGovernment denies it is demonising the Web
The Home Office insists that new guidelines and a £1m campaign will keep children safe without creating a climate of fear
from ZDNet NewsCyber hype
Cyberterrorism is giving governments an opportunity to curb civil liberties, but is it really a lethal weapon? Mike Butcher reports
from The GuardianPlaid Cymru slams eminister Wales broadband claims
A prospective candidate for the National Assembly has attacked its eminister for painting a rosy picture of broadband in Wales.
- from The RegisterBT accused of blocking broadband take-up
BT has been accused of "anti-competitive behaviour" following allegations that it blocked attempts for a customer to subscribe to a rival broadband service.
- from The RegisterW3C rejects net patent tax, avoids web schism
The web standards consortium W3C has agreed on a policy that should prevent nasty royalty surprises for developers in the future.
- from The RegisterRural broadband drive 'hit by fraud'
Someone is submitting false entries to BT's broadband registration scheme in an attempt to get a local exchange ADSL-enabled, and the practice could be widespread
- from ZDNet NewsUK Govt slammed for duff Web sites
They suck
- from The RegisterUK ISPs oppose data retention
UK ISPs are refusing to voluntarily implement the Home Office's controversial data retention scheme.
- from The RegisterS Korea broadband in league of its own
The UK Government has yet to respond to a report which examines South Korea's place as the world's leading broadband nation.
- from The Register US
2003 Archive
[2nd of January 2003 - 21st of August 2003]
Welcome to the kevinbeynon.com archive.
Thursday, 21st of August, 2003
It's nice to see that at least one journalist gets what the whole "music download issue" is about. Read Dorian Lynskey's article (from the Guardian) to see what I mean and why the tables are finally turning.
As much as I always say that companies can switch to open-source software with relative ease, nobody believes me. But, here's the proof. The guitar string makers, Ernie Ball, switched when Microsoft and the Business Software Alliance raided their California offices in 2000.
Now they run on Red Hat Linux, Open Office, Mozilla, Evolution and a slew of other open-source software with a few proprietary pieces thrown in when there's no open-source altenative.
A great example of thinking with your head and your wallet and not just jumping off or hanging on the bandwagon.
Eendar has the most beautiful illustrations I've seen in a while. They're full of spirit and the techniques used are just fantastic.
The site is created in Flash and shows off some great plays on web-interface conventions, such as the animated "plus" symbol in the illustrations section.
Wednesday, 20th of August, 2003
While attempting to whittle down the amount of junk we have to take to Australia I've decided to donate the remainder of my computer equipment to good causes.
Great, you may think. But it ain't easy. Since charity shops , understandably, won't accept electrical goods I just recently got in touch with Extended Life Computers.
ELC take old, redundant or unwanted computer equipment and refurbish them to meet the needs of community organisations or individuals who otherwise would not be able to afford up to date computer technology.
A worthy cause... I just hope they take the stuff off my hands!
Friday, 8th of August, 2003
Now this is scary! Whispering windows? As it mentions in the Guardian article: it's a lot like Minority Report!
Thursday, 7th of August, 2003
Why is it so hot? The general population has finally been exposed to my lilly-white legs! That's how hot it is here!
Not the kind of day to be a desk-bound web designer.
That's why I'd love an Alienware laptop. Plenty of kick, nice to work with, built-in/independent CD player and a funky design make it a worthwhile machine for anyone from designers to gamers.
The only drawback seems to be the short battery life due the power under the bonnet.
Good for sitting on a huge lawn, cold drink in one hand and working on your latest site with the other.
Friday, 1st of August, 2003
We've been busily filtering through our possessions, selling some, giving some to charity, some to friends and family and the rest in the bin.
We've been buying books on our new fields of interest; nutrition and medicine; environmental science and oceanography.
We've had a gent from Pickfords out to survey our abode and its contents for storage and shipping.
We'll be ready to go soon. Starting fresh is a weird feeling. You can almost fix everything that's wrong with your life in one fell swoop. Choosing a new country, a new home, a new career, a new lifestyle... it makes it all worthwhile.
I'm thinking of publishing a book called: "Where's Ashley?". Last thing I knew he was somewhere off the south French coast!?
Might make this a bit of a feature, Indiana Jones maps, the works.
Thursday, 17th of July, 2003
The nice people at Designer Servers have upped the monthly bandwidth on their Virtual Servers. Mine is now at 10Gig a month. Fantastic lot.
They've also introduced quite a few new services and extra features. One such service will be the V Storage server. It's specifically designed as a Hi-Capacity Low-Bandwidth solution for online storage - kind of like a data haven.
Wednesday, 16th of July, 2003
With the news that AOL has dumped Netscape I've decided to add a Browser section to this site.
The Choose a Browser section will let visitors decide on the web browser that best suits their needs and jump straight to the download.
I've recently started using Firebird. I find it VERY fast, very clean and it has none of the rubbish that slows down, bloats out and crashes a few other browsers.
Tuesday, 8th of July, 2003
I remember the days when there weren't any 404 pages to let you know you'd gotten lost on the web. Being constantly bounced to the Cern website was the only clue you received that the page you were looking for was missing.
Well, it's back to Cern for the next iteration of the web. The Grid almost sounds like a giant, intelligent, networked, distributed, supercomputer... but I could be wrong.
As if the Millenium Falcon Mod wasn't enough. We now have the Imperial Star Destroyer Mod. It'll be TIE-Fighter USB Hubs and AT-AT External HDs soon.
Wednesday, 2nd of July, 2003
Modding PC cases is the process of modifying a case or computer to create a more "unique" machine. It usually includes light, a window in the case, sometimes even a fishtank, but now we have the Millenium Falcon mod.
Tuesday, 24th of June, 2003
Anyone remember the Amiga computer?
Well, it's back! Kind of...
The AmigaOS 4 is in development and is nearing completion. There are some screenshots and details on the site.
Time to get my copy of Flashback out of the disk box.
Friday, 20th of June, 2003
"What can you tell us now that you've seen Hayden Christensen act?
He amazes me every time. He has some tricky, tricky scenes...very complicated scenes. The arc that he's creating not only has to go through this film but the next one, and there's a lot of texture to it. And again, the way that this is composed, George writes in these vignettes and you have to really be able to play within a certain scene, but then carry it forth. For an actor who is carrying it forth in one or two films it's very difficult. It's a very emotional balance that Hayden's playing. And he can't really give away too much on this one, because the next one is really when it's going to come into play. He is one of the strongest actors I've come across in a long, long time. And it's not just my opinion. People are constantly coming up to me on set and saying "Do you know how good he is?" Yes, I do. And these are other actors. It's the ultimate compliment when another actor says, "This kid is something!"
You're kidding me, right?
Thursday, 19th of June, 2003
With the ever-increasing use of state-authorised surveillance techniques its important to know your rights and why the information is being gathered. This article in the Guardian compares some of these techniques to George Orwell's 1984 world.
And yet another article discusses the use of RFID tags in everyday consumer products.
Thursday, 12th of June, 2003
Merrill Lynch: "Linux saves money". Nice to hear it from the people who actually use Linux for day-to-work.
There's a lot of talk recently about the state of IE and its place on your PC.
Going back to basics and forgetting the "tied-into-OS problem", if it were any other piece of buggy software it would have been dumped by the computer-using population a long time ago.
So why is it still in use by the majority of the web-going public? The answer lies in the rest of Zeldman's article regarding the issue. Microsoft insist on making it an inextricable part of their OS!
And this will only get worse with the statement from Microsoft that they only intend updating the crappy browser when they release their next version of Windows, codenamed Longhorn. And you'll only be able to use the new browser in the new OS... and it will be tied to the OS... and it will be years behind other browsers out there, such as Opera and Mozilla... - both free I might add.
Is there really any hope? I recently overheard an office colleague of mine - a web designer - ask another designer:
"What's Opera then?"
It seems the hope lies in educating web-users (designers and surfers alike) in the idea of web standards and the browsers that support them.
Rant over, Comments welcomed.
I'm off to learn to surf and make medicinal herbs in Australia, bye!
Wednesday, 11th of June, 2003
Fed up with your photo portraits looking like a cheesy shot in a Danielle Steele movie? Venture look like they may have a solution - really creative portraits. The website is a pleasure to browse too.
Friday, 6th of June, 2003
Impossible to read without a lump in your throat. This Guardian Film article tells the sad story of a young Japanese woman's death while searching for the Fargo treasure.
Wednesday, 4th of June, 2003
Dear Ashley,
I'm not dead, yet.
Regards,
Kevin
I really enjoy David Lanham's style of illustration. The goodies, including award-winning icons, are well worth the download time too.
Not satisfied with your Tolkienesque nom de plume? Try a different approach with the Jedi Name Generator.
Monday, 2nd of June, 2003
Microsoft screws the entire Internet, again. We all know that IE is a seriously out-dated and flawed browser. What we are only just learning is that there's a chance the only way we'll get our hands on a newer IE is to upgrade Windows!
Didn't MS get slapped for doing this kind of rubbish before? Well, it seems they're at it again, and this time in cahoots with AOL. The ISP has decided to drop its Netscape browser division and will use IE as it's browser of choice for the forseeable future.
This raises the question of where are Mozilla users going to find themselves, since AOL funded development of that hi-tech browser.
Not only will things be shaky for the Netscape based browsers, but it also means that many users will be locked-into IE and that designers will have to work around its bugs for years to come. Opera anyone?
Tuesday, 27th of May, 2003
Developments in the elegant and useful applications of CSS always interest me greatly.
The most recent tidbit I've come across is the use of the :hover pseudo-class on a per paragraph level. Rather than having individual words or phrases highlight when hovering over them, how about having them become visible when you hover over the paragraph they occupy? Visit Design Meme for examples.
Why does the Matrix Quiz on the Guardian website have a Littlest Hobo obsession?
Friday, 23rd of May, 2003
"Thank you, thank you, thank you
To all the people who’ve sent congratulations on the upcoming nuptials, our deepest thanks and gratitude. We will write you back as soon as we can. Meanwhile, group hug."
Zeldman
What a nice guy.
What do we get? A couple of hits on KB.com and some farm sex spam!?!
Humph...
I've started using PNH's Developer Toolbar in my browser. It lets web designers and developers view their pages with block elements outlined, it validates your site against the W3C engine, and much, much more.
"I tried to select a good set of tools that would be helpful to page builders who are both trying to learn the ins and outs of page layout as well as those already well versed who want a leg up on debugging problems with existing documents."
An indespensible tool, no question.
Friday, 16th of May, 2003
Ooh, it's been a while.
In the meantime, Zeldman has redesigned his site a few times and released a book. I've been hacking away at the IOM site and it's various projects and decided that CSS layout is the way to go. Used what I've learned and more in a belated spurt on The Globestation.
And I'm getting a new haircut and Eric Meyer on CSS.
Apart from that there's only the second biggest event of my life so far (the first being my marriage to the beautiful Roisín) looming on the Autumnal horizon and there's masses of preperation to be done.
It'll be exciting though, something that I think I really need at this point, before I start getting quagmired in the UK rat-race.
There's a strange time ahead. The world around us is changing. Powerful people are positioning themselves in readiness for what's coming. Preparing to reap the benefits this new world will yield. And we, the people, have no say about our place in this world. That concerns me. And it should concern you.
Thursday, 1st of May, 2003
As if a Hobbit Name Generator wasn't enough, we now have the Elvish Name Generator from Chris Wetherell.
- Amras Telrúnya
Tuesday, 29th of April, 2003
At times being a Welshman is tough... but for crying out loud we don't need people making it tougher. I do like the Register's money-making spin on it though.
Monday, 28th of April, 2003
People who make it this easy to hack a password should be slapped about a bit and then have their computers taken away.
Since I use OpenOffice as my productivity suite of choice I found this article on Microsoft Office 2003 and XML extremely interesting.
Friday, 25th of April, 2003
I've been building accessability into the Knowledge Bank for the IOM. This includes using the <abbr> and the <acronym> tags to further explain some of the jargon involved.
For instance, when mentioning ERP, I always wrap it in abbreviation tags like so:
<p>Incorrect or over-generalised lead times can considerably reduce the effectiveness of an <a href="#" title="Go to: Enterprise Resource Planning">Enterprise Resource Planning <abbr title="Enterprise Resource Planning">ERP</abbr></a> / <a href="#" title="Go to: Manufacturing Resource Planning">Manufacturing Resource Planning <abbr title="Manufacturing Resource Planning">MRP II</abbr></a>system. Lead times are therefore critical data elements.</p>
"Incorrect or over-generalised lead times can considerably reduce the effectiveness of an Enterprise Resource Planning ERP / Manufacturing Resource Planning MRP II system. Lead times are therefore critical data elements."
Doing so means that whenever the pointer hovers over the abbreviation the status bar or alt text will show the full unabbreviated words. The look of the wrapped text can, as always, be changed using style sheets.
Thursday, 24th of April, 2003
It's always a great feeling when you that photo-quality printout streams out on a crisp sheet of top-quality paper and you see your creation turn from virtual to actual in front of your eyes.
But, sometimes, when you're stuck on how to get that image to look just right and you've been struggling with Levels all day... You just have to resort to the professionals and their tutorials.
One site that keeps me coming back is Planet Photoshop. It's wealth of hints, tips an links ensures that my next photo-quality printout will be worth the paper it's printed on.
Thursday, 17th of April, 2003
"Cyberspace. A consensual hallucination experienced daily by billions of legitimate operators, in every nation, by children being taught mathematical concepts... A graphic representation of data abstracted from the banks of every computer in the human system. Unthinkable complexity. Lines of light ranged in the nonspace of the mind, clusters and constellations of data. Like city lights, receding..."
William Gibson, “Neuromancer”
And that was just a preamble for this article on the cinematography of The Matrix Reloaded.
Most of the news here is old, but this special report on Free Speech on the Net sets a whole new tone.
Monday, 14th of April, 2003
When real words just can't cut it. The Pseudodictionary provides us with exactly the right made-up-word for the job.
s-cubed - S^3, from Skanky Sea Smell, something that reminds you of that unsavoury aroma created by a beach full of kelp and dead fish.
e.g., "No way am I eating this paella-it's S-cubed."
Friday, 11th of April, 2003
Computer game websites always impress me.
The latest one to do so is World of Warcraft. A simple layout filled with exquisite details and moody imagery. A notch-up for the genre.
SuSE Linux 8.2, the latest distribution from SuSE, will launch soon. Available in both Personal and Professional versions, it'll be interesting to see how much it stands out above the competition.
Tuesday, 8th of April, 2003
In my search to find a great new desktop image for my repaired PC I came across Toxic.
This Java App let's you “evolve” random images to create just the right abstract picture to suit your needs.
Monday, 7th of April, 2003
Well, I'm finally able to update this site again. Sorry for the unexpected hiatus, but my office machine's hard-drive suffered a head-crash!
I lost a lot of data, but, luckily, the most crucial files were backed up.
Something to calm me I think... Ah yes, Swiss Air. A great, clean, crisp, professional site that perfectly captures the client's style. It was designed by Cuban Council, by the way. The gents responsible for K10k.
Friday, 21st of March, 2003
With my penchant for non-mainstream Operating Systems it was only a matter of time before I tried out BeOS. The company who created it went bust a while ago, but the community carried on and has released new versions of this extremely stable and fast OS.
To get an idea of what it's about visit BeBits, an ever-growing software site for BeOS users.
Tuesday, 18th of March, 2003
Everyone needs clothes... unless you're one of those abominations who happen to look good in nothing more than a paper bag!
I need some nice T-Shirts and have been finding it a tough job around here. Thankfully, there's always Threadless.
Friday, 14th of March, 2003
And he's launched. The new, enhanced Djimm is online.
Check out the great "scanner artwork" in the portfolio.
Thursday, 13th of March, 2003
Djimm will be relaunching soon with a PHP/MySQL enabled, blue beauty of a website. Go ahead and sign his guestbook.
In other news, this Dandelion Coffee is great. And where can I find a good map of Australia?
From Anil Dash:
"A panda walks into a restaurant, sits down, and orders a sandwich. He eats the sandwich, pulls out a gun, and shoots the waiter dead. As the panda stands up to go, the manager shouts, "Hey! Where are you going? You just shot my waiter, and you didn't even pay for your sandwich!""Hey, man, I'm a PANDA!" the panda shouts back. "Look it up!"
The manager opens his dictionary and reads:
Panda: A tree-dwelling marsupial of Asian origin, characterized by distinct black and white coloring. Eats shoots and leaves."
Tuesday, 11th of March, 2003
Boys and girls, I think I've managed it. We're now XHTML compliant, well, this page is at least.
The next step is to convert to CSS layout. That'll give me more control over the positioning and fine-tuning of the individual elements.
Ashley Argile has redesigned his site. Plenty of mountain biking photos and information on some events Ashley might be participating in.
With regards to the latest news item on the left: BT have a lot of catching up to do.
10th of March, 2003
Okay, yes, finally changed the colour scheme. Oh, and a new logo too. Not animated yet though - might leave it static to save on file size.
28th of February, 2003 : 3.55pm
Been thinking a lot about my work recently. Is it really what I want to spend the rest of my life doing? Is it really me?
George Monbiot helped me out. I have a lot of respect for the guy and have been an avid reader of his articles for years.
Visit his site and click on 'Career Advice' in the box on the right for a few words on the modern work ethic.
27th of February, 2003 : 10.17am
Still chugging away here on CSS-only layout designs and debugging.
Working on a Knowledge Base for the Institute of Operations Management. XHTML with all the layout in done in CSS.
The next step is re-designing Distant Shore and then this beast into XHTML and CSS-only layout. What a happy time there is ahead.
Thought for the day:
" They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
Benjamin Franklin
19th of February, 2003 : 10.41am
Opera is fighting back.
After users found that MSN deliberately trashed Opera 7's rendering of the site, Opera fought back with their new, customised, "Bork" version.
Muppet Browsers, here we come.
"The Creative Commons is devoted to expanding the range of creative work available for others to build upon and share."
A great way to protect your work while still allowing others to benefit from it.
14th of February, 2003 : 10.29am
You are shitting me!?
I use Linux for fuck's sake!!!
So as not to end on a sour note. Meyerweb has a great and useful Colo(u)r Blender that will help with developing colo(u)r schemes for your sites.
13th of February, 2003 : 2.07pm
Some great political cartoons by Clay Bennett.
Another topical cartoon, Gulf War II.
Make up your own minds. Mine's made up.
11th of February, 2003 : 12.45pm
I'm all XHTML/CSS happy today!
Working on IOMnet and using Style Sheets to lay out the page as well as determine the aesthetic.
One problem though. Cascading Style Sheets: The Definitive Guide, published in 2000, is getting old now. There's no sign of a new one over at O'Reilly though. Need to find a CSS book, pronto.
4th of February, 2003 : 3.00pm
Zeldman is changing on a daily basis. It's looking cleaner and fresher all the time.
31st of January, 2003 : 1.00pm
This has got to be one of the longest URLs in existence:
www.zodiac-signs-daily-horoscopes-astrology-readings.com
I was, apparently born in the Year of the Dragon. Apt, I think.
"The Chinese Lunar Calendar names each of the twelve years after an animal. Legend has it that the Lord Buddha summoned all the animals to come to him before he departed from earth. Only twelve came to bid him farewell and as a reward he named a year after each one in the order they arrived. The Chinese believe the animal ruling the year in which a person is born has a profound influence on personality, saying: "This is the animal that hides in your heart.""
20th of January, 2003 : 12.48pm
Cute little ladybirds and stuff under a magnifying glass at My Tiny Garden.
8th of January, 2003 : 11.41am
After much pondering, fiddling and googling I've finally found a solution to my pop-ups-not-working-if-I-right-click-and-open-in-a-new-window problem.
The solution it would seem is not to put the pop-up window properties in a piece of javascript, but to write the link out like this:
<a
href="http://www.bearinthebigbluehouse.com"
onclick="window.open(this.href, 'popupwindow', 'width=400,height=400,scrollbars,resizable');
return false;"
>
Which does this.
Thanks to youngpup for the solution.
2nd of January, 2003 : 3.43pm
Happy New Year.
At the end of last year my wife and I treated ourselves and bought a laptop. It's a little Toshiba number. Not the most hi-tech, but just right for our needs.
I was not at all happy with having Windows XP on it, so yes, I've just managed to install Linux.
What technology will you be using in 2003?
