Warren Webb at EDN.com has posted a nice summary article on the vehicle black box controversy, "Black Boxes Capture Car-crash Data, Controversy": With little fanfare or customer notification, some automobile manufacturers have for years been recording your driving habits. Initially…
Author: Michael Zimmer
Creating a Google-Free Zone
Inside Google provides this report on a growing anti-Google campaign by Dr. Karl-Friedich Lenz, professor at Aoyaman Gakuin University in Tokyo:Citing major reservations about Google related to Autolink and Web Accelerator, Dr. Lenz recently posted a statement, that said in…
Your Identity, Open to All
This Wired News article features a frightening interview with the owners of a privacy-threatening search engine Zaba Search [I'm not going to encourage its use by providing a link]. Zaba Search allows users to uncover an individual's personal information -…
Schneier on Real ID
For those concerned or otherwise interested in the REAL ID Act, which establishes uniform standards for state driver's licenses, effectively creating a national ID card, you must read Bruce Schneier's thought-provoking analysis. Highlights include:It's a bad idea, and is going…
NYT on Grokker
Today's New York Times article "Your Internet Search Results, in the Round" features Grokker, the graphical search engine interface that presents results in a spatial map.Currently, the major search engines have all limited displays to ranked lists of sites. The…
Eliminating Folders: Progress or Hindrance?
Insdie Google points to Lee Gomes's article "Folders That Now Seem So Yesterday May Be Very Handy Tomorrow" in today's The Wall Street Journal arguing that Google and others, revolutionizing individual computing by eliminating folders, are actually making things less…
Google Web Accelerator Privacy Problem Confirmed
Brad Hill reports that Google has reportedly confirmed the privacy concern that GWA enables the displaying of private pages that were cached by another GWA user. This might also better explain why Google has stopped allowing users to download GWA.…
Google Web Accelerator Closed
Philipp Lenssen reports that Google has shut down the download page of their new Web Accelerator, explaining “We have currently reached our maximum capacity of users and are actively working to increase the number of users we can support.” Philipp…
Post-It Notes – 25 Years of Hypertext in Paper
A Minneapolis/St. Paul magazine, The Rake, has a fascinating article revealing the history and development of the humble, ubiquitous Post-It Note. An intriguing tale of a dedicated visionary working the system to bring an innovative product to life in a…
Google Web Accelerator: More (Scary) Problems
Some very scary unintended consequences of using Google Web Accelerator have emerged:GWA's reliance on caching is already showing serious privacy issues, noteably the caching of private login info. People are finding themselves logged in as someone else on pages that…
MichaelZimmer.org 
You must be logged in to post a comment.