Regarding Comcast’s New Bandwidth Cap

Rather than addressing the problem by improving the data capacity of their network, they choose to go after the users.  If you’re a baker and you keep running out of doughnuts, you figure out a way to make more doughnuts.  You don’t limit customers to only a dozen each.

From Division by Zero

All I can say is, boy am I glad I have Verizon FiOS!

The New Facebook: People Just Don’t Like Change

The New Facebook

The new Facebook is something that has gotten a lot of press lately, both good and bad.  The majority of the articles written by technology blogs, newspapers, etc. have been positive, however, many of the users of Facebook hate the change and are protesting and finding loopholes to be able to go back to the “old Facebook”.  That’s more than apparent considering all of the new Facebook hatred groups and petitions that have formed, including one group that is encouraging users to join the Facebook developer program so they can choose to use the old Facebook.  Here’s the thing: That’s exactly what the old Facebook is, OLD.  What users are calling the old Facebook was a design that remained largely unchanged from the original design that was released in 2004 when Facebook first launched.  It’s been four years now; it’s time for change (that sounds oddly familiar).  The new Facebook features a beautiful design that really will help solidify Facebook’s stance in the Web 2.0/New Media marketplace.  The site is fast and dynamic.  The bottom line is that people simply don’t like change, even if it’s a positive change that is heavily needed.  People get so caught up in routines and patterns that when something as small as a new website design is released, they freak out and demand compensation.  The new Facebook is beautiful and intuitive.  It’s streamlined , and it just makes more sense than the old layout.  There has been an addition of a lot of white space on the pages as well.  That’s a good thing which improves organization and readability.  If users would just give the new Facebook a chance, they’d discover these things for themselves, and most likely discover that they like the new Facebook equally as much, if nor more, than the old Facebook.

Macworld | iPhone Central | First Look: iPhone 2.1

This is an excellent article that provides some insight into some of the small added features of iPhone 2.1.  For me personally, my phone seems snappier and more solid.  Sounds aren’t randomly going away, contacts load as they should, location services seem to be working, apps aren’t crashing, etc.  Overall, this is how the iPhone 2.0 release should have been.  It took Apple entirely too long to deliver on this one, but, hey, at least it did it eventually, right?

Macworld | iPhone Central | First Look: iPhone 2.1

SuperGenPass – The Only Safe Password Manager

I have a confession to make: I absolutely hate password managers.  In fact, I despise password managers.  Typical password managers, that is.  For example, 1Password is a favorite among Mac users.  Personally, I would never use it.  1Password offers many features such as filling in web forms, generating strong and unique passwords, it’s pretty versatile, there’s an app for the iPhone/iPod Touch, etc.  Granted, 1Password is a beautiful password manager, but again, at heart, it’s just a typical password manager that is entirely proprietary.  If your 1Password database or Mac OS X Keychain ever became corrupted, you’d basically be up shit creek without a paddle.  You’d know none of your passwords, you’d probably have forgotten which username/e-mail you used for any given site, and did I mention you’d be up shit creek…?  That’s why I use SuperGenPass.

SuperGenPass is really nothing more than a very complex piece of JavaScript that disguises itself as a bookmark that one can easily add to a bookmarks menu or bookmarks toolbar.  What advantages does SuperGenPass have over other password managers such as 1Password?  The biggest advantage, and the main reason I use it, is the fact that one’s passwords are generated on the spot, and nothing is ever stored or recorded.  That provides an amazing level of security.  Also, there is never any need to worry about the program crashing, the database becoming corrupt, etc., because again, SuperGenPass is just a bookmark, and one’s passwords are generated on the spot.  If one happens to delete the bookmark, one can just re-add it and they’ll be set to go.  Imagine if one lost one’s 1Password database and had to reinstall the program.  That would be more than painful.

Similar to 1Password, SuperGenPass uses a master password.  It uses it in a slightly different manner, however.  Rather than using it to grant one access to a list of one’s passwords, SuperGenPass uses one’s master password and the domain name of the Web site one is visiting to generate a password based on a one-way hash algorithm.  It works like this:
- Visit the site
- Type the master password
- Click the SuperGenPass Bookmark
- The master password is automatically replaced with the password SuperGenPass generated

It’s really that simple, and it works like a charm.

SuperGenPass still places some responsibility on its users to remember the e-mail/username for any given site.  I think that is important.  Becoming too dependent on any one technology can be disastrous.  [See my cloud computing article for examples.]  SuperGenPass is also more portable.  To use 1Password on an iPod or iPod touch, one has to download 1Password’s proprietary app/browser.  Go figure!  With SuperGenPass, one just needs to add the bookmark in mobile Safari and that’s it.  SuperGenPass also allows one to host a copy of its site on one’s own server, so if one ever needs to re-add the bookmark and SuperGenPass’ site is down, it’s entirely possible to do so.  SuperGenPass works with any modern web browser, and unlike 1Password, it’s completely free, so why not use it?

[SuperGenPass]