Ars Aranea » IT today

Hacking and the real world

Skippy — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 12:06:26 +0000

I was reading an article by Adrian Spinei and, not for the first time, it made me think about how our society likes to consider computer hacking similar to physical aggression, invasion of personal space or privacy violations.

It wouldn’t be so bad if just the uninformed masses had the wrong idea. But it doesn’t seem [...]

Agregarea de trafic: furt sau practică acceptată?

Skippy — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 12:39:32 +0000

Se dau două site-uri: unul nou, unul vechi şi cu trafic mare. Cele două îşi comasează traficul în sistemele de tracking. Este un furt sau o practică perfect normală?

Sclavul IT român: mic ghid de supravieţuire (I)

Skippy — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 09:09:05 +0000

Acest ghid intenţionează să prezinte o serie de realităţi relevante pentru industria IT în România, din punctul de vedere al celor ce formează marea masă de lucrători IT. Această primă parte enumeră o serie de lucruri esenţiale pe care cei care activează în domeniu ar trebui să le ştie şi să nu le uite niciodată.

The elusive blogosphere

Skippy — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 21:08:59 +0000

Blogging seems to have reached a new level of awareness in Romania. It's in the news, it's cool, and recently it's in the sights of advertising people. So it looks like a good time to debunk some of the myths surrounding the ever elusive "blogosphere".

If you build it, they will come

Skippy — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 08:11:24 +0000

Lots of websites built for a small investment become huge names with millions of users and get bought for many millions of dollars. What makes these sites so good? I think I can tell you.

The $100 laptop not good enough for Romania

Skippy — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 09:36:44 +0000

The Romanian IT Minister, Zsolt Nagy, has advised negatively a project meant to bring the $100 laptop to every school kid and teacher in the country. His blatantly misinformed statement claims that the laptop's low hardware specs make it unsuitable for any real work and that it hasn't yet been "tested" in a practical environment.

Romanian copyright enforcement: level 2

Skippy — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 07:41:53 +0000

In the light of the recent copyright enforcement operations in Romania, a counterfeiting and piracy international Congress suddenly apears in a grim, hopefully misguided, posture. Intention or incompetence?

Romanians learn about copyright

Skippy — Fri, 26 May 2006 09:59:20 +0000

After having swept the rug from under the feet of legitimate IT businesses in Romania, the ever resourceful Romanian government now tackles another long standing IT-related problem: software and music or movie piracy among end-users. By force, naturally.

.ro gov stabs own software industry in the back

Skippy — Wed, 15 Mar 2006 08:56:03 +0000

The Romanian government recently passed a law which makes it mandatory for anybody selling or producing software in Romania to register a copy of said software with a national registry. Additionaly, the entire text of the law is riddled with confusing and downright stupid regulations. At this very moment, large numbers of Romanian software makers and dealers are exposed to legal action and serious consequences.

Big Brother wants search engine data

Skippy — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 09:32:39 +0000

Completely out of the blue, the USA Department of Justice demanded hefty chunks of search logs from several big search engines. The request is not connected to any ongoing criminal investigation. Allegedly, they need it to substantiate a would-be anti-pornography law.

First quantum processor built

Skippy — Fri, 13 Jan 2006 14:25:18 +0000

University of Michigan has announced the creation of an actual quantum processor using everyday semiconductor technology. The processor is built around an artizanal ion trap and can compute exactly one qubit. The implications of practical quantum computing for domains like cryptography are staggering.

European sex, the way God meant it

Skippy — Tue, 13 Dec 2005 13:09:33 +0000

A Dutch church missed getting sex.eu by a small margin, coming in second in the registration process.