1 min read
Today's must read - "The Scientists who Make Apps Addictive" from 1843 Magazine
When your industry calls the most profitable users "Whales" you know there's a problem. I keep a copy of Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion[1] around just to inoculate myself from these black arts.
[1] https://amzn.com/006124189X
Original Post: http://www.1500wordmtu.com/2016/todays-must-read---the-scientists-who-make-apps-addictive
1 min read
Did someone say DNS DDoS Attack? Remembering PharmaMaster vs Blue Security, 2006
Yeah, I was there... Back in May of 2006 Typepad, LiveJournal and TuCows got taken down by a massive (at the time) DDoS. I recall it was 2-4 GBps of reflective DNS traffic. Scott Berinato covered it pretty well in the Wired article Attack of the Bots[1].
For the record we were able to get back up using Akamai DNS Hosting, MCI/UUNet DDoS mitigations, and a cleverly placed GRE tunnel. Oh and a bunch of great Ops work from Lisa Phillips , Matt Peterson, Peter Wohlers and others. I think I still have the commemorative t-shirt we did with TuCows.
And here we are 10 years later. Same stuff, yet in many ways worse.
It's high time we get to fixing the underlying protocols and infrastructure to make these types of attacks a thing of the past. It's time to Redecentralize[2].
[1] https://www.wired.com/2006/11/botnet/
1 min read
Tech Industry: upgrade thyself -- How do we reform tech? by Anil Dash
The industrial scale of todays technology causes tech to become alienated from the very users they are supposed to serve. (Never mind that we should be talking about People, not "Users").
original: http://www.1500wordmtu.com/2016/tech-industry-upgrade-thyself----how-do-we-reform-tech
1 min read
Code Next Opens in Oakland, creating diversity through Constructionism
"From a design point of view it is a truly unique experience that very much leans on an educational theory known as constructionism. This codified curriculum will soon be available to the entire world as an open source."
1 min read
I love how this succinctly captures the values I hold dear. Delightful design based on open principles with recognition of human effort. I have a copy printed out at my desk.
original: http://www.1500wordmtu.com/2016/ethical-design-manifesto
2 min read
Reading this passage from Ready Player One I was reminded of a major influence that I had all but forgotten:
""It was a Friday night, and I was spending another solitary evening doing research, working my way through every episode of Whiz Kids , an early-’80s TV show about a teenage hacker who uses his computer skills to solve mysteries. Ready Player One, Ernest Cline, Chapter 18.""
So I was prepared when I was recently asked "What brought you here?" (in relation to technology). My answer? ... The Whiz Kids. I can directly trace my interest in online services to that white-hat hacking, war dialing, speech synthesizing, BASIC programming gang of kids2. I can only hope that today's teens have something as good or better.
Trying to find the video also made me realize that Youtube is providing a vital preservation service. You see the Whiz Kids episodes were never released, not on DVD, not even on VHS. You won't find them in any library. Anywhere. But there it is, in 10 minutes chunks3, captured and uploaded off a grainy, noisy videotape recording.
Cultural Artifacts, preserved... for now.
1 min read
Attending the Long Now Member Summit today #longnow20
Original: http://www.1500wordmtu.com/2016/attending-the-long-now-member-summit-today-longnow20-events02016oct0...
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A reminder from Vint Cerf about the importance of digital preservation
It seems inescapable that our society will need to find its own formula for underwriting the cost of preserving knowledge in media that will have some permanence. - vinton cerf - We're Going Backward
I've seen this firsthand. Albums from some lesser known bands I listened to in the 90s are not available in digital format. When the CDs finally bit rot the music will be gone forever unless someone rips and uploads them. Some content never made the jump from VHS, also at risk of loss when the tapes degrade.
Support the Internet Archive and other efforts if you value this. Also work towards a future self-archiving decentralized web where content can live beyond the data silos they currently occupy.
1 min read
My new favorite way to manage home directories with git
And you can avoid merge conflicts by adding entries to your .gitattributes file:
.bash_history merge=union
Original: http://www.1500wordmtu.com/2016/my-new-favorite-way-to-manage-home-directories-with-git
