The Internet at 40
Not really a milestone, but I find it worth celebrating 40 years of the internet today with maybe giving my computer a rest after a month of continued online surfing. It all started in 1969 not in the name we know it today, but as Arpanet – the networking project funded by the Pentagon.
The Guardian came out with an interactive history about the internet essaying how it all started and interviewing some of its founders. Charles Kline and Bill Duvall – the very first people who communicated over it between Stanford Research Institute and the University of California.
They were in the interviews, as well as the pioneers of online gaming, social networking, and bulletin boards to mention some.
Apple OS X Corrects Bug in its Latest Update
Sporting from the embarrassment, Apple has quickly released the second updates to its Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard and, as indicated on the accompanying note to its 6.2 release says: provides “for an issue that caused data to be deleted when using a guest account.”
The bug was noticed sometime in early September which deletes both the guest and administrator data when a guest logs of. The guest account is cool as it allows the administrator to create one that allows a guest to use the Mac temporarily. But once the guest logs of, all the data created in the temporary session gets erased, wiping out the administrator’s data as well.
But now that’s history and the new release gets a host of security updates as well. Perhaps someone can update us if the bug has indeed been fixed.
Twitter to Link with LinkedIn
Social networking site Twitter and business networking sites LinkedIn have recently announced a business partnership that will allow their users to cross-post their respective status updates. They have about 50 million registered users between them.
LinkedIn VP for Product Strategy and co-founder announced the partnership in its blog site. The link-up is simple as you can post updates on one or the other and update both. You may wonder why Twitter chose LinkedIn to partner with when the much more popular Facebook is very much compatible with its feeds. Well, the CEOs of each, Twitter’s Biz Stone and Linkedin Reid Hoffman are close friends.
Looking For the Next Bill Gates
Well, it’s not about looking for the next billionaire entrepreneur, but more about the next whiz kid who just might bring us to the next wave of technology as what Bill Gates and Steve Jobs did a good 30 years ago.
There’s a competition sponsored by IT supplier XMA called “The Next Bill Gates.” If your planning to enter a university next year on a technology or science course, all you need is explain in 100 words or create a one-minute video on why you can be the next Bill gates. The contest will be judged by Doug Richard, Dragon’s Den investor and Guy Bates, director of the XMA. Visit the TheNextBillGates.co.uk for competition rules and application.
R.I.M.’s Blackberry Wants More App Developers
Research In Motion, Blackberry’s maker, seems to be getting green with envy at iPhone’s App Store carrying more than 100,000 apps to date. Its own online store only has a few thousands but that could change soon. Just last Monday, RIM set in motion its aim to get more interesting apps for its phones with a conference of blackberry developers in San Francisco.
There are innovations that RIM hopes will put one over what iPhone has. It’s deploying servers that provide push-email servers to do the same push technology to alert users that a new app is available. RIM is also making it easier for developers to write new 3D graphic apps with easier programming toolkits that should speed up writing blackberry apps. With this, perhaps in a year’s time, RIM’s app store can get up to speed with a quarter of what the iPhone store has.
Whew! 100,000 Apps for a cell Phone!
If you’re an Apple iPhone user, it looks like your smartphone won’t ever become obsolete. At least not when it comes to phone application software. The hardware is sure to get better but with 100,000 applications in the Apple App Store, you can download a new app everyday of your life and your handset will have new features everyday.
Now whether that new feature is going to be useful is another matter altogether. When Timothy Cook, Apple’s Chief Operating Officer, announced last week that its company has achieved a milestone in mobile telephony, few people were surprised as anyone who has visited the App Store can attest to the dizzying variety and numbers of apps on it, more than a hundred thousand and growing. The stats are quite impressive: 2 billion downloads and growing. Apple has clearly outpaced the competition; the nearest is 10,000 apps for Android phones.
Shutting Down the Internet?
If President Obama and his Democrat senators have their way, a bill currently under legislative agenda could be approved so that the Internet can be shut down and private networks seized on suspicion that there’s terrorist activity taking place in cyberspace.
Misleadingly titled “Cybersecurity Act of 2009,” the bill would empower the President to declare a state of emergency and cause free speech on the internet to be curtailed. The bill’s sponsor, Jay Rockefeller, declares “I know the threats we face. Our enemies are real. They are sophisticated, they are determined and they will not rest.” On that alone, our beloved free speech on the internet could be threatened. Moreover, the bill will required licensing of any person seeking employment as a cyber security professional.