Godspeed, De.icio.us
According to this post over at Gizmodo, Yahoo has decided to pull the plug on the once-popular social bookmarking site del.icio.us. Still no word from Yahoo on when, exactly, this will take place.
Fortunately, there’s a link in this post that will show you how to export any links you may have saved through the site. My suggestion for a replacement is a service called XMarks. A previous entry on this blog reported rumors that site too would be shut down. Since then, however, XMarks has been bought and enjoys stable financial footing.
Podcast awards
If you like podcasts, you probably already know that one of the most difficult things about them is finding the good ones. There are literally hundreds of thousands of shows available. The list of good ones however, is, shall we say, a wee bit shorter. Also, as many of the best rely solely on word-of-mouth advertising, the process of discovery can be vexing.
There is, however, a pretty well recognized annual award for podcasts. The Podcast Awards give some needed recognition to shows in a variety of genres. Even if you don’t care to vote for a winner, perusing the nominees can be a great way to find a new favorite show.
Check it out at http://podcastawards.com/
Free stuff!
Everybody likes free software. Here’s PC World’s list of 15 quick and easy tools. Applications represented run from programs to manage what things autostart when you boot Windows, to filesharing and synching tools. There are some really good ones in here!
Barnes and Noble color Nook can be made into a tablet
If you’re following the e-reader wars, you’ll have heard about the new Barnes & Noble Color Nook. It’s an LCD e-reader with built-in wifi and a touchscreen. The only thing really separating it from a more full-featured tablet is its operating system. The Nook uses a specialized version of the Android OS, but that version is by default unable to install Android apps.
Here’s an article from the excellent blog Lifehacker detailing just how to fix that. Bear in mind, this involves hacking your Nook, which pretty much voids the warranty and can result in unpleasantness. But if you’re the adventurous sort, there’s much to be gained. For example, you can run most of the apps available via the Android Market.
And if you read library materials in electronic format, here’s a bonus. Overdrive, the company through which the library offers its e-reader titles, has said it plans to release an Android app early next year. That means you can download and read an ePub file on your Android device without having to run it through Overdrive Media Console on your computer.
Sales reps at Overdrive told me in November that the app won’t work on the color Nook out of the box, as it can’t install .apk applications. The full Android OS can, however, and so, in theory, should the rooted Nook. But be warned: this is speculation and can’t be tested until a) the app releases, and b) someone is brave enough to try it with their Nook.
Comic Art Propaganda, by Fredrik Stromberg
This is a history of comics used as, well, propaganda. The author uses the term propaganda in its loosest sense. Screeds on religion, morality shorts on race relations, and other topics are included as well. Pretty interesting if you like comics history.
Handling the Undead, by John Ajvide Lindqvist
Yes, it is yet another zombie novel, and no, there certainly hasn’t been a shortage of those lately. But this one stands out. Lindqvist (this novel was translated from the original Swedish) manages to put a really unique spin on the undead in a surprisingly literary fashion.
The recently dead begin to awaken in Stockholm. To the dismay of their loved ones, they’re drastically different, though. Not in an evil, Pet Semetary kind of way, but just … off. Lindqvist, who also wrote what became the excellent (at least the Swedish version; I’ve heard mixed things about the American) film Let the Right One In, handles the human elements of the undead with grace and subtlety. This has a lot more in common with literary fiction than horror fiction. Highly recommended.
NYT bestseller list goes high tech
We all knew it would happen eventually. But I, for one, am a little surprised it’s happening this soon.
The venerable New York Times bestseller list is getting an update. Specifically, a separate listing of bestsellers in electronic format. Here’s the paper’s announcement:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/11/books/11list.html?_r=1
Also, if you haven’t seen it, check out TPL’s holiday guide to e-book readers. It covers the major brands and how they operate in a library environment. Grab it here!
OpenOffice changes
Sad news for fans of OpenOffice. That’s an open source productivity suite of software that’s compatible with Microsoft Office applications. Here at the library, we’ve long distributed that suite as part of our popular Cool Free Stuff class.
According to this news report, OpenOffice suffered a mass exodus of staff after recently being acquired by the tech company Oracle. Apparently there were some schisms between that new corporate owner and the idealism behind so much of the open source software community.
All is not lost, however. Many of the folks behind OpenOffice are working on a new open source productivity suite, LibreOffice. And if you’re truly attached to the older software, OpenOffice is still available here.
Have you tried LibreOffice? If so, post your thoughts!
The Tiger, by John Vaillant
It’s odd that it’s such a little-known fact that Siberian tigers live in Siberia. The Russian far east has had an uneasy truce with the largest land predators for eons, but political and economic changes in the region have left the Siberian tiger extremely vulnerable.
This book traces the fallout after a would-be poacher wounds a tiger, which then seemingly declares vendatta against the local populace.
It’s interesting reading, if a bit dry at points, and a keen insight into how the tiger came to play such a huge role in myth and symbolism.
Halloween tech scare fun
Wanna see something scary? Meet Firesheep. It’s a simple, straightforward Firefox extension that sniffs out packets of information on open networks.
Here's a list of sites included in the default Firesheep setup
What that means, in English, is that anytime someone on your network (for example, the guy sitting next to you in Starbucks with his shiny new iPad), goes to a Web site, you can collect his login name and see it right there at the side of your Firefox browser window.
Before you rage at the creator of this extension, there is a motive here that’s not really as nefarious as it looks at first blush. Many of the Web sites we so cavalierly feed our sensitive data – including e-mail addresses, credit card numbers and more – to use an unsecure Internet protocol (http – you can see it at the beginning of any Web address). There is a secure option out there; it’s the https protocol. Gmail is one example of a service that uses that more secure method. The creator of this extension is trying to send a message to Web services that they need to pay more attention to security. After all, while Firesheep just came out last week, packet sniffing has been around for ages. All the extension does is make it easy for people who haven’t really looked into cracking this kind of information to see just how easy it is to gather user data.
Also, it’s worth pointing out that this extension only gathers information sent via browser cookies. While that often includes user names, it typically doesn’t include passwords or credit card numbers. Sites vulnerable to this exploit – and indeed included as standard options in the extension – include Facebook, Twitter, Amazon and more.
This is what Firesheep looks like as it snoops on your network neighbors.
Finally, it really needs to be reiterated that this isn’t a problem caused by the network host. It’s the type of setup used by the affected Web site itself. So, for example, while Firesheep does find information on the library’s wireless network, it’s not a security hole on our end.
Here’s an excellent article on the Firefox extension and the background story over at PCWorld.
And some notes from our systems administrator here at TPL:
So what can you do to protect yourself from exploits such as this?
• Always be aware if the website you are visiting is loaded in HTTP (unsecured) or HTTPS (secured) mode. HTTPS mode is signified by the https:// prefix, or by a gold lock icon in your browser.
• Visit the HTTPS version of the website you are accessing, if provided. A Firefox extension, HTTP Everywhere, will automatically switch you to an HTTPS version of sites and offer the option.
• Whenever you are on an untrusted or unsecured network, NEVER provide secure personal information such as credit card or other financial information, addresses, phone numbers, etc. if the website you are visiting does not use HTTPS.
• When at home or at work, always use an encrypted wireless network. When in public, most wireless networks are unsecured, but if an encrypted network is available, take advantage of it. Remember though, a public network is still untrusted, and you should always use HTTPS to transfer personal information.
• If you find yourself on a public network, using a site that does not offer HTTPS access, think twice before transmitting any personal information or even about logging into the site at all. If you must, make sure you use a username and/or password that is different than your others. This is good practice anyhow.
