security
The Ghost In The Browser: Analysis of Web-based Malware (pdf) describes how Google is leveraging their overwhelming search dominance to combat browser malware installations. In a blog entry last summer, Matt Cutts said: Given how much I hate web pages that install malicious software or abuse browser security holes, I’
user experience
Asa Raskin, the son of the late Jef Raskin, recently gave a presentation at Google on the work his company, Humanized, is doing. It’s largely a continuation of the work of his father. One of the most interesting aspects of Jef’s work was zoomable user interfaces. Asa’s
microsoft
Although I am generally platform agnostic, I make no secret of the fact that I am primarily a Microsoft developer. In a way, I grew up with Microsoft – as a teenager, I cut my programming teeth on the early microcomputer implementations of Microsoft BASIC. And I spent much of my
programming languages
My all-time favorite programming quote has to be this Nathaniel Borenstein bon mot: It should be noted that no ethically-trained software engineer would ever consent to write a DestroyBaghdad procedure. Basic professional ethics would instead require him to write a DestroyCity procedure, to which Baghdad could be given as a
phishing
Most of the hacking techniques described in the 1994 book Secrets of a Super-Hacker are now laughably out of date. But not all of them. A few are not only still effective, but far more effective in the current era of ubiquitous internet access. As the author notes early in
blogging
I met Jon Udell this year at MIX. I was reading through his excellent blog to flesh out some of the topics we talked about, when I was struck by the powerful message of this particular entry: When people tell me they’re too busy to blog, I ask them
programming languages
In my previous post, I urged developers to learn a mainstream graphics editing program. This is purely a mechanical skill, so it seemed reasonable for developers to give it a shot. If we can absorb extremely complex development environments, compilers, and databases, why not a graphics editor? But as a
programming languages
One lesson I took from MIX is that software development and graphic design are increasingly interrelated disciplines. Although they are very different skillsets, its important for developers to have some rudimentary design skills, and vice-versa. There’s a lot of useful cross-pollination going on between developers and designers. You can’
statistics
An Intuitive Explanation of Bayesian Reasoning is an extraordinary piece on Bayes’ theorem that starts with this simple puzzle: 1% of women at age forty who participate in routine screening have breast cancer. 80% of women with breast cancer will get positive mammographies. 9.6% of women without breast cancer
microsoft
I'm heading off to MIX07 today. MIX is by far my favorite Microsoft conference, because it "mixes" in a liberal dose of traditionally non-Microsoft folks for a broader range of perspectives. It's probably the only Microsoft conference I'll be attending this year.
javascript
I’ve been troubleshooting a bit of JavaScript lately, so I’ve enabled script debugging in IE7. Whenever the browser encounters a JavaScript error on a web page, instead of the default, unobtrusive little status bar notification... ... I now get one of these glaring, modal error debug notification dialogs: I
podcast
It was my great honor to participate in this week’s episode of .NET Rocks! .NET Rocks! is a long running internet radio talk show for software developers that goes all the way back to 2002. I’ve listened to their shows off and on for years. They’ve interviewed