Modern blogging software is so sophisticated that it’s possible to add kinds of features, from elaborate commenting to complex video widgets. While that can make a site more appealing, it can also increase your level of risk. One of the most rapidly growing problem areas in security is malware which attaches itself to otherwise innocuous web pages. Security software developer Sophos estimates that one new page is infected every 4.5 seconds, and interactive sites like blogsare a major part of the problem. As Sophos’ AP head of technology Paul Ducklin explained to me in a recent interview:
If you’ve decided you need a certain level of modern interactive style functionality web site, you should aim to achieve just what they require and no more with the absolute simplest code base you can. The more ancillary features you have lying around, the more things there are to go wrong. Try to restrict yourself to what it actually needs. Look at how you can install the 5% that you need on the grounds that the less you have lying around, the less you’ll need to patch when there’s an update. Let’s not try and impress everybody — let’s impress people by having just as much as they need. That’s an important thing you need to remember when AJAX-ifying your Web presence.
Something to think about the next time you’re working on that new blog idea.
All platforms: Mozilla releases the first beta of Thunderbird 3, the next generation of their desktop email client. Meant only for testers, this beta’s features include:Tab interface for Mail Improvements to IMAP for faster message viewing Improved message reader view New Add-ons Manager Improved Address Book interface Improved import of mail from other Mail clients Integration with Windows Vista search Integration with Mac OS X Address Book
You’ve already seen our screenshot tour of the T-bird 3.0 alpha. The Thunderbird 3 Beta 1 Preview release is a free download for all platforms. Thunderbird 3 Beta 1 Preview Release [Mozilla Messaging]
The previously mentioned Windows 7 Preview’s feature unlocker tool Blue Badge has been updated to enable Aero Peek in the preview build 6801. Win7 Preview testers, the Blue Badge download is available for 32 and 64-bit systems.
No matter how well-meaning your “You should try finding a job online!” or “Oh, I’m sooo sorry” is, chances are neither lines are what your recently laid-off pal needs to hear. Advice site Lemondrop covers some of the do’s and don’ts for supporting laid-off friends and family right now—and we all have a few these days. “Helpful” suggestions about getting back on their feet don’t always come out right. Dale, whose Web site folded, resents the line, “Why don’t you take this opportunity to go back to school?” which he says comes with the unspoken suggestion ” … and incur $40,000 in loans?” at the worst possible time.
Friends or family members also need to know how to support our loved ones. What’s the last thing you want to hear when you’ve been let go from a job? Let loose about insensitive still-employed cads in the comments—and give us some good examples of pals who have come through in your time of need. What to Say to a Friend Who’s Been Laid Off [Lemondrop]
Windows/Mac/Linux: Free application AutoLyrix automatically fetches and displays album artwork and lyrics for the currently playing track in your music player of choice. AutoLyrix is an open-source alternative to previously mentioned EvilLyrics, and like EvilLyrics, it not only downloads lyrics but also advances lyrics karaoke-style with the music when possible. AutoLyrix could use some polish to the interface (though it does transparency and has a few other options), but functionally it’s been working really well. The app works with virtually every popular media player, including iTunes, Winamp, Windows Media Player, foobar2000, Last.fm, MediaMonkey, and more. AutoLyrix is a free download for all platforms, requires .NET 2.0 on Windows and Mono on OS X and Linux.
AutoLyrix [via gHacks]Do-it-yourselfer Chris Connors says that one of the best ways to finish a complex project is to solve the first quick, simple problem—then move onto the next one. While his piece focuses on hardware projects, the concept is applicable to any undertaking. Connors writes: Quick Simple Problems may seem too easy, and may seem like they don’t get you to your destination. What they will do, however is to get you moving. If the problems are truly quick and simple, you will have rapid successes on your project. You won’t be sitting there wondering if it will work, you will know whether it works or not, and what the conditions that cause success are. One of the greatest asset you can create for yourself on a project is to feel good about the likelihood of the outcome. If you feel good about it, and feel like you are moving forward, you will have more ambition to try new experiments, which will also move the project toward success.
What’s the next quick simple problem you’re going to solve today? Tell us about it in the comments. Quick Simple Problems [Make]
Mac user’s who rely on Google’s Picasa Web Albums Uploader to get photos from OS X to Picasa online will be happy to see a new button in the latest release that can also download full albums to your hard drive. The Windows and Linux versions of Picasa have had similar options for a while, but this should be a welcome addition for Mac owners. [via Cnet]
Nothing sullies the effect of a much-needed vacation like an overflowing inbox when you return to reality. For PhD student danah boyd, who is about to undergo the dissertation filing process, that’s a burden that’s not worth shouldering.
For those who are unaware of my approach to vacation… I believe that email eradicates any benefits gained from taking a vacation by collecting mold and spitting it back out at you the moment you return. As such, I’ve trained my beloved INBOX to reject all email during vacation. The effect is very simple. You cannot put anything in my queue while I’m away (however lovingly you intend it) and I come home to a clean INBOX. Don’t worry… if you forget, you’ll get a nice note from my INBOX telling you to shove off, respect danah’s deeply needed vacation time, and try again after January 19.
Google announces that its Book Search engine now includes magazine archives in its results, in full-colour, page-to-page, browseable format. The Googlers write:
Are you a baseball history fanatic? Try a search for [hank aaron catching babe]on Google Book Search. You’ll find a link to a 1973 Ebony article about Hank Aaron, written as he closed in on Babe Ruth’s original record for career home runs. You can read the article in full colour and in its original context, just as you would in the printed magazine. Scroll back a few pages, for example, and you’ll find a two-page spread on 1973′s fall fashions. If you’d like to read further, you can click on “Browse all issues” to view issues from across the decades.
Mac OS X only: The open-source utility that mounts network file systems on your Mac, MacFUSE, has now updated to version 2.0, which adds a sparse Preference pane that checks for program updates and several developer improvements and bug fixes. Got an FTP server, or network share available over SSH? With MacFUSE running, you can access those disks as if they’re native OS X network drives. Here’s our tutorial on how to mount a file system on your Mac over SSH—like your web hosting provider’s account or home SSH server—with MacFUSE. MacFUSE 2.0 is a free download for Mac only.
MacFUSE [Google Code via Macworld]
