Leaving GoDaddy
In December 2002 I made my first purchase from GoDaddy, since then I’ve spent $1,200 with them. Over the years I’ve seen them grow up to be a major force both in the registration and web hosting markets; I’ve also seen them go from lean and efficient to annoying and unfriendly. Once upon a time GoDaddy had the best prices and the best search of any registrar; unfortunately things often change, and not always for the best.
Read more…Cancel GoDaddy’s Domain Privacy
While trying to renew a few domain names recently, I found that cancelling the Privacy service that GoDaddy offers (via Domains By Proxy) is much more difficult than I had expected. The $8.99/year service conceals your name, address, and phone number from the public WHOIS listing. Being concerned about privacy as most people are (or at least should be) it seemed a reasonable option but when multiplied by quite a few domains, it gets rather expensive.
Read more…GetSatisfaction: Is it worth it?
While working on the list of tools and services to write about as part of my Start-up Tools series, Get Satisfaction has been the hardest to decide on. After a lot of reading, I decided against recommending it, though I had to write about it because so many companies have opted to use it. Get Satisfaction is a great concept for the most part – what it boils down to is a specialized forum service for your customers to discuss issues and ideas about your products.
Read more…Start-up Tools: Open Atrium
When it comes to small business project management, Basecamp by 37signals has been the king of the hill for some time. Now though, there is an exciting new player in the field: Open Atrium. It’s a Drupal based open source project management system somewhat like Basecamp, though with many more features. Open Atrium is new on the scene, with beta 1 being released just 4 days ago – though it’s already rather polished and seems to work well.
Read more…Start-up Tools: Microsoft BizSpark
Good developers need good tools, it’s simple as that. If you are building software for Windows, the only real option is Visual Studio. The down side to Visual Studio? The $1,200 starting price tag. While Microsoft is now providing the free Express editions, these are aimed more at hobbyists, not serious developers. Microsoft thankfully is here to help: If your company is less than three years old and has less than $1 million in annual revenue, they have a program to give you all that you need.
Read more…Silverlight 3 Tools Available
It looks like the core Silverlight 3 tools are now available: Microsoft Expression Blend 3 + SketchFlow RC Microsoft® Silverlight™ 3 SDK Microsoft® Silverlight™ 3 Tools for Visual Studio 2008 SP1 Deep Zoom Composer Though the tools needed for development seem to be public, I’ve yet to see the end-user run-time; though I imagine we’ll see that in the release anticipated for tomorrow. Time to have some fun. 🙂 Update: Client run-time is now available.
Read more…Lumix DMC-FZ8 & Infrared
After several months of tests and experiments, I have finally determined something: Infrared with the Lumix DMC-FZ8 just doesn’t work. I’ve been trying to use a R72 Near-Infrared filter to filter out the “normal” light that we see, leaving only the infrared light that I wanted to capture. The FZ8 is sensitive to infrared, as can be easily demonstrated by taking a picture of a TV remote control. What you’ll see is a couple of points of light coming from the remote; these are the infrared lights that are used to transmit commands to the TV.
Read more…Avatars – Why roll your own?
I’ve been working on a project recently that uses avatars, while planning out this specific feature it occurred to me – why should we re-invent the wheel? There’s already at least one service that specializes in doing it right: Gravatar. While building something as simple as avatar support takes a relatively small amount of time, when working against a tight deadline or a tight budget every minute counts. In the world of an ISV (especially a young one) the balance of user satisfaction and development time is critical.
Read more…Start-up Tools & Services
Over the next few weeks (and months) I’ll be posting a series of articles on the tools and services that start-ups can use to make their business both more efficient and more profitable. This is aimed at ISVs (both micro and close to micro) though most of this should apply to any technology startup. When you are starting a business, there are many important considerations with anything you use, here are the keys points I’ll be looking at:
Read more…Remember The Milk
I’ve been a fan of Tasks for quite some time, though as time goes on and updates don’t come out, it seems less and less attractive. As most web-based services have fully embraced Web 2.o with all its AJAXy goodness, Tasks remains firmly entrenched in Web 1.0; and I’ve finally given up. We are in a world where instant is no longer a nice-to-have, but an absolute must. Applications and services should; no, must provide immediate feedback and minimize full-page loads whenever possible.
Read more…
About Me
Security researcher, engineer and software developer with more than 20 years of experience.
Work: I primarily focus on application security, usable security, secure communications, and cryptography. I build and lead strong and dynamic teams, who cover all facets of security and privacy.
Writing: I write about my research, security in general, development and software design, and leadership through my blog, essays, and various publications. I also engage in some creating writing when I can.
Photography: I am a purist fine art photographer, working primarily in black & white, and focused on sharing new perspectives of the world. Limited edition prints of my work are available on my online gallery. I also have a background in photojournalism, and volunteer in this field when I can.