Writing

It has been fairly quiet here lately, but in a couple of days everything should go back to normal. I wrote the exam for “Software Engineering and Security Architecture” two days ago, and on Monday, the exam for “Legal Aspects of Information Security” is due.

There are some cool things coming up, such as the top technology vidcasts or video podcasts as they are sometimes called. Hopefully, I will soon also have time for an urban photo session as well.

Yesterday, I saw the great concert by Depeche Mode from Touring the Angel, and it was really great. Martin L. Gore gave one of his best concerts this far!

Most people think twice before jotting down notes and jots in their books, but maybe that is what creativity is all about?

Bert Webb of Open Loops has written a nice article about how one can take notes in books, and also some pointers on what to note.

“One of the most effective ways to get the most out of a book is to mark it up”

If you are like me, you don’t like the feeling of ruining books when writing in them, there is a cure for you too — Use post-its!

Sweden has just beaten Finland with 3 – 2 in the Olympics ice hockey finals! It’s just wonderful! Get out and celebrate!

Boingboing writer Cory Doctorow recently posted an article about the Starforce copy protection malware. Earlier today he received a threat from Dennis Zhidkov of the company in question.

I just wonder, what happened to free speech? Is it free speech as long as it is not uncomfortable?

I am not sure about the American laws, but is this not just ridiculous? I mean, that a “legit” company throws accusations and threats to anyone not in favor of their cause.

Update: Boycott Starforce (digg it)

The Free Software Magazine has release their 9th PDF issue for free download. Highlights as written on the announcement page are:

In Issue 9 of Free Software Magazine Saqib Ali gives the public a lesson in Private Key management and David Horton shows us ways to attract volunteers for free software projects. John Locke also gives us an intro to RSS news feeds, and much, much more.

So if you have some time over in your schedule, do have a look at the magazine since it contains lots of interesting articles for your reading pleasure.

Note that you need to register to be able do download the whole shebang.

SuSE has finally released their newest and anticipated version!

I have been evaluating the 10.0 RC1 OSS version for a while, and it works like a charm! The difference between the versions is probably minimal, but I will surely install it when it is available. Their FTP server is currently overloaded, but maybe I will have better luck with the torrent files. For some reason the torrent files are hosted on the FTP server, which makes it impossible to download them. If I get a hold of them I will post them here for a while if you want them.

Update: Here are the SuSE 10 torrents. Please share!

• SUSE-10.0-CD-i386-GM.torrent
• SUSE-10.0-EvalDVD-i386-GM.iso.torrent
• SUSE-10.0-EvalDVD-x86_64-GM.iso.torrent
• SUSE-10.0-LiveDVD.iso.torrent

Have you ever been at that point when your calendar is full and your task list is falling apart from all items jotted down? Well, thanks to To-done and the How I learned to stop worrying and love my schedule article I have begun laying out all tasks in the calendar itself.

It may seem like a common thing to do, but when you use it, and I mean really use it, everything seems to fall into place automatically. There is no need to worry about what I am going to do next, or if I am focusing on the correct thing at the moment – Everything is laid out in front of me on my P910i.

I just recently came across the Free Software Magazine which is just as it sounds – A free magazine discussing free and open software. I have not had time to browse though all issues yet, but it looks really nice so far!

I recently discovered a great little Windows application called KeePass which basically is an open source password safe. Featuring a polished look and great features, makes this a very attractive application.

Some of the main feature as stated by the website are the following:

• Highly encrypted databases
• Support of master passwords and key-disks
• Intuitive and secure Windows clipboard handling
• Strong random password generator
• Open-Source

The actual security of the AES implementation is unknown to me, but given that it is open source, it surely will not go by unnoticed if the implementation is flawed.

The people over at 43 folders have written an insightful article on how to write good email messages.

Go ahead, improve your messaging style!

A while ago, Tech preview 3 of the “MODx CMS was released. It features lots of new things, such as the ability to write plugins. There is, for example, a plugin being developed that integrates the SMF forum with “MODx. Definitely some cool stuff!

I will update the Swedish language file to reflect the new strings ASAP. Hopefully this will be done this weekend, when I have some time over.

While I was babbling on about the 3.0 release, the developers just released Technology preview 3.1 to wet your appetite, pending the 1.0 release. They also officially launched their new site, which looks great by the way!