I wish I spent more time in Stockholm and went up North a bit.
What is Bandee?
I spoke with John, and hope he can meet me at the train station, he might not be able to since he has class at the Academy.  I don’t speak any Norwegian, and this could be interesting.  I hope they speak english
I wish I had an iPod touch.  Just being able to take advantage of the free WiFi would be worth the price
I’m trying not to seem too American, and have been told I don’t seem like one, whatever that means…
The top Swedish hockey league is finished.  I wish I could have gone to a game here, but even the 2nd tier league isn’t playing in Stockholm.  That stinks…
Swedes recycle paper cups at McDonalds.  There is a seperate bin to dumb the used ice in too.  Why don’t we do that here?
I met a really nice lady in the Stockholm Train Station who translated my ticket.  I was close on my translation, but she was a big help.  She told me about how her daughter did a similar trip after she was an Au Pair in New Zealand.  I think that’s a pretty awesome job.
Hostel having bad internet connections is not a bad thing after all, it does force me to go outside more!  And who really wants to check in on work anyway!

Tags: Hostel,Internet,Stockholm,Sweden,Train
Categories: Travel
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There’s lots of innovation going on in security – we’re inundated with a steady stream of new stuff and it all sounds like it works just great. Every couple of months I’m invited to a new computer security conference, or I’m asked to write a foreword for a new computer security book. And, thanks to the fact that it’s a topic of public concern and a “safe issue” for politicians, we can expect a flood of computer security-related legislation from lawmakers. So: computer security is definitely still a “hot topic.” But why are we spending all this time and money and still having problems?

via The Six Dumbest Ideas in Computer Security.

This is a very high level list of security concepts that no programmer should be without.  While it is extremely important for programmers and software engineers, it is probably more important for management.  Since they have the final say in funding and project approval, it is important for managers to understand these concepts and require their implementation.

Tags: Internet,security,software engineering
Categories: Technology, Work
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Today, we live in a world of rapidly diminishing privacy. If you use your employer’s email system, it is possible that every message you send or receive is logged and intercepted without your knowledge. This may have unintended or even disastrous consequences if an intercepted email message contains sensitive personal information. Unless your email goes through Secure Socket Layer (SSL) protected connections, your email is vulnerable to what is known in the IT security field as man-in-the-middle attacks, where an attacker can intercept your message as it flies to its intended recipient.

Email is sent in a format that is easily readable if an attacker can grab and reconstruct enough pieces (packets) from the data transmission with packet sniffing software. Technologies like deep packet inspection make it theoretically possible that any given message that goes over the internet can be sniffed and read by third parties who have the right software and know-how. (the feds, your ISP, etc.) While no one may have a real reason to spy on you, relying solely on security through obscurity has always been a poor policy to live by. Because of this, encryption is the only real option you can trust. We teach you how to put your emails in a lockbox before sending them off to their destinations.

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Tags: encryption,Internet,privacy,security
Categories: Technology
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Hackers in Grand Forks, North Dakota of all places have hit on a clever Trojan Horse: using a fraudulent parking ticket to direct unsuspecting motorists to their virus laden websites.

via Offbeat News: Hackers Using Parking Tickets As Trojan Horses.

Tags: Internet,Parking Ticket,Virus
Categories: Technology
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Our User Experience Research team has found that people evaluate the search results page so quickly that they make most of their decisions unconsciously. To help us get some insight into this split-second decision-making process, we use eye-tracking equipment in our usability labs. This lets us see how our study participants scan the search results page, and is the next best thing to actually being able to read their minds. Of course, eye-tracking does not really tell us what they are thinking, but it gives us a good idea of which parts of the page they are thinking about.

via Official Google Blog: Eye-tracking studies: more than meets the eye.

Tags: Google,Internet,Search
Categories: Technology
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