Yet another re-install of Radio. When I re-installed the last time I forgot to enter my serial number and at the end of the 30 day trial period Radio threw up a reminder page. I didn't have the serial number immediately to hand so I quit Radio figuring that it would remind me the next time I started it up. Which it duly did, so often in fact that it threw up a new reminder windows in Mozilla before it hade even finished serving the previous one. As a result I never got a chance to enter the serial number. I made the big mistake of going off-line and turning off the server as I thought I'd be able to enter the serial number directly into Radio's ODB. Silly me!

To cut a long story short, I have had to re-install again. This time I entered my serial number right way B-}

Since the beta copy of Conversant expires tomorrow I'll wait until the next version is released by Macrobyte before (re)installing that.

Sigh!

via HtP - Mario Strasser | Smartcard-Netlogin

It allows you to use a rsa smartcard instead of only a password to log into your Linux network. Apart from the necessary changes on your PAM and NSS system, the installation and configuration of a smartcard reader and the M.U.S.C.L.E. PC/SC middleware are also explained. The PAM module and the administration tools were designed for the Schlumberger Cyberflex 16k smartcard but should also work with other ISO-7816 compatible smartcards.

Cool! Somewhat related to a couple of final year projects I have supervised over the past two years.

Also via HtP - The EROS Operating System

EROS is a new operating system originally implemented at the University of Pennsylvania. The project has now migrated to Johns Hopkins University. EROS merges some very old ideas in operating systems with some newer ideas about performance and resource management. The result is a small, secure, real-time operating system that provides orthogonal persistence.

BBC News | SCOTLAND | Scots trip up on kilt style

Few Scotsmen know exactly how to wear their national dress, according to a new book.

Some even commit one of the worst crimes imaginable - by wearing coloured Y-fronts under their kilts...

Very clever! See what Google Sets predicts for the rest of the set that includes as examples 'Free Conversant', 'Radio', and 'Manila'. Not too bad!

via SiT - Weblogg-Ed's Wish list for weblogs in education:

..."I guess I'm seeing this HUGE opportunity to do something with weblogs on a pretty large scale; it's a pretty unique situation, actually. I want to nail the research that I know I'll be presenting. That's why I'm looking for Best Practice ideas, and why I'm so interested in the idea of creating something just for schools."

According to The Scotsman - S2 Thursday - Flying false flags, it looks like the American are trying to rewrite history by rubbishing Scottish inventors. Guess who!?

TCPA / Palladium FAQ

TCPA and Palladium do not so much provide security for the user, but for the PC vendor, the software supplier, and the content industry. They do not add value for the user. Rather, they destroy it, by constraining what you can do with your PC - in order to enable application and service vendors to extract more money from you.

No doubt Palladium will be bundled with new features so that the package as a whole appears to add value in the short term, but the long-term economic, social and legal implications require serious thought.

Apart from the obvious reason that the following report could mark a watershed in the direction and funding of computer sceince research in the UK, there is another reason why it's noteworthy: one of the authors is an ex-student of mine - Prof Tom Rodden - and another is an old friend and ex-colleague, and co-author of Inside the Dragon - Prof Ian Sommerville!

Computer Challenges to emerge from eScience is the (Google) html version of the file http://umbriel.dcs.gla.ac.uk/NeSC/general/news/Vision.pdf which sets out the fundamental computing research challenges that need to be addressed to realise the goals of eScience. In doing so it demonstrates both that eScience can make a major contribution to the scientific agenda of computing research (as well as to the agendas of other sciences) and that all areas of computing research have a role to play in this.

As eScience, eBusiness and eCommerce mature we will see the emergence of a digital infrastructure that is pervasive in nature and accessible through a diverse collection of devices. A future grid will provide a digital fabric to support a broad range of activities and will be open, flexible and heterogeneous in nature. Essentially IT will disappear into the background and those involved in these activities will focus on the work at hand rather than the technology they use.

Realising this future vision questions some of the fundamental assumptions about the nature of computing and requires us to reassess many of the existing theories, concepts and practices at the core of computing. To deliver the e-science vision requires us to answer a number of important questions.

• How can we develop an infrastructure that promotes and supports the management and traceability of knowledge?
• How can we develop an infrastructure that lets people trust ubiquitous computing systems?
• How can we develop techniques to rapidly design, configure and evolve these systems?
• How can we deal with the inherent complexity of these systems and develop infrastructures that help us manage them?
• How can we make these systems usable and what new forms of organisation can be supported?
• How can we understand the broader social and economic impact of these technologies?

Answering these questions outlines a far-reaching research agenda that will require significant progress across many aspects of computing. Issues of heterogeneity, scale, mobility, dependability and privacy pervade all aspects of the research agenda outlined in this document.

If you read the report it will become apparent just how important community building and collaborative working is to the initiative. Hmm!

Lots of good links in IU Technology Architecture Lodge

Random and not so random thoughts from Raymond Yee, mostly relevant to the IU

Raymond writes in the same blogspace as David C-T of SiT fame. Thanks to both for annotating such good stuff.

I, Cringely | The Pulpit - I Told You So

This is diabolical. If Microsoft is successful, Palladium will give Bill Gates a piece of every transaction of any type while at the same time marginalizing the work of any competitor who doesn't choose to be Palladium-compliant. So much for Linux and Open Source, but it goes even further than that. So much for Apple and the Macintosh. It's a militarized network architecture only Dick Cheney could love.

via SiT - RSS Workshop

n this workshop you'll learn how to create, validate, syndicate, and view your own RSS news channel. The emphasis will be the practical application of RSS XML/RDF metadata for dynamically publishing:

WeblogsInEducation(at)SchoolBlogs.com : Collaboration - No Strings Attached

"It is amazing how motivating an activity becomes when students realise they are in some way 'collaborating' with others across the globe."

Jon Udell: Transmeta gadgets and paradigm shift gear grinding

"Transmeta threw a great party last night at the Rockefeller Center. Lots of nifty Crusoe-based gadgets were on display, including the OQO Ultra-Personal Computer. It wants to be a universal engine that powers your desktop, detaches and docks into a notebook, or stands alone as a somewhat portly PDA. Everybody wanted one, including me -- and I'm not known for gadget lust..."

I must remember to regularly read Jon's Radio | Collaboration Category from now on. Interesting stuff.