Did a quick post on some thoughts surrounding Diaspora and Facebook/iPhone integration.

Thought you should know.

This is where I solve all the “iPad can’t” complaints regarding software limitations. Granted, it does assume network access, so those of you on flights that don’t have WiFi are SOL. There is this neat thing Microsoft has been pushing for ages called RDP. There is at least one app available. It also does VNC, which means, if you are like me and prefer OS X to Windows, you can have it all, too. Yes, you, the one with the penguin tattoo and the funny hair, VNC will work for you, too. On a side note, you might want to look into getting a cover up for that tattoo, maybe a blowfish?

Oh, wait, what’s that you’re saying? You want something local, but for some reason the Apple App Store cannot be used to distribute your app? What are you trying to do? Could a web application fill that void? Google has done some pretty spectacular things in that arena. With HTML5, CSS3, and Javascript all being supported, there are very few applications that can’t be designed to work on this platform. The added benefit is that if your Android, Blackberry, or even desktop browser supports those web standards, aside from possibly some tweaking for various screen sizes and maybe UI touches to match the platform, your app can work anywhere. You can give it away, you can charge for it, anything you like without Apple interfering at all.

The iPad is not perfect, but then nothing is. Where any tool is concerned, look at your needs, look at what the available tools are, and then look at what can be modified to most closely fit your needs.

So, if I hear “can’t”, it immediately becomes “you can’t”, because, quite frankly, I can, and probably will.

BTW – We are available to perform miracles and minor exorcisms.

Question number 1: How do you sort out the good posts from the bad? Apparently Iranian security forces have created Twitter accounts and are posting false information. I have noticed an increase in the number of spammers using the #IranElection hash as well. In addition to that, requests have been made to all Twitter users to change their profile information to show they are in Tehran and their timezone is +3:30GMT. This is supposed to create additional noise so it is more difficult to determine who is actually in Iran.

Question number 2: Where is the SSL in the 3rd party apps? Twitter and Facebook offer the option for SSL login. I haven’t looked into the API, but I’m not sure if Twitter allows 3rd parties to connect via SSL. Even if they do, how often is the feature used? One of the ways people are filtering noise vs data in the Twitter feed is by looking at when the account was created. If Iran owns the backbone leaving the country, what’s to stop them from sniffing the traffic and hijacking known, trusted accounts? I have some concerns posting this, but, honestly, we don’t get a lot of traffic here. Also, if the Iranian security folks haven’t figured this out yet, then they have way bigger problems on their hands.

Question number 3: Why are major news sources publishing account names when quoting Twitter? I can understand wanting to document where the information came from, and perhaps even keeping records of all the details, but do you need to publish names?

Lots of people are outraged by the bonuses and perks the executives at AIG have been getting. From what I’ve read, it looks like the AIG execs are getting $165 million in bonuses. Considering they were able to wrangle $170 billion in financing with another $30 billion pending, a .1% reward doesn’t seem like such a bad deal. Really, these guys were able to get effectively $200 billion dollars for a company they had driven into the ground. Who are we to say a commission isn’t in order?

Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley has the right idea, though. He’s suggested the AIG execs resign or commit suicide.

We need to fundamentally change the way we develop software.

During the panel, I tried to raise the point that the issue is realistically just a people problem. Now it seems that I’m not the only one saying it. This article tackles the issue from an angle that argues that the issue is an age old one: we don’t learn from our history of mistakes.

Something to think about.

The Fed has chosen 4 firms to manage $500 billion. One of them is Goldman Sachs. Yep, they dug this hole and are now expected to blow more money filling it.

On top of that, they are only allowed to purchase loans insured by 3 agencies. One of them being Fannie Mae. Didn’t we already run into trouble here?

Two big strikes. The stipulation that they only purchase fixed rate mortgages is good, although it will still leave a lot of bad paper out there.

It turns out, while a number of Georgian sites were attacked, there is no proof that it was an offical Russian act, or even that the government had anything to do with it. It started out as an ordinary DDOS, but spread with scripts being distributed en masse. Lots of propaganda type stuff feeding off of people’s patriotic tendencies.

This lead me to the idea that it would be very easy for someone to put together a DDOS app for Facebook, MySpace, etc and distribute it very quickly. Things already spread fast there, even without exploiting the undocumented features. If scripts were included to “punish wrongdoers”, what would the implications be?

This could go way beyond nation/state patriotism. It could be used for political, social, or even hoax reasons.

Let me be the first to introduce Script Kiddies to the Facebook Generation.

The feature they do need to add is the ability to sort on posts from oldest to new. This is key when trying to follow certain feeds and is probably the reason I will continue to actively choose to use the desktop for now.

Today we have neat things like Knoppix. My thought is, where is the Windows Washer distribution of Knoppix? Maybe it’s out there and I’ve missed it. Seems to me the perfect thing for dealing with all the rootkits, spambots, and zombie armies out there.

This article reminded me that there is still a need for these things.