Valleyschwag Delivers
Valleyschwag has delivered! There for a couple days I was worried as the middle of the month went by without a word, but on Friday, word went out that the schwag shipped. And today, just four days later, it has arrived. I’ll admit, I was a bit unsure about this idea at first, but now that I’ve got my hands on this pile o’ goodies, I’m hooked. Not only is Valleyschwag a great marketing idea, but so far has proved to be a great service.
Read more…Responsibility meets Marketing
While this is probably more about marketing than anything, Anti-Virus vendor Computer Associates is offering a free one year subscription (press release) of it’s EZ Antivirus product to beta testers of Windows Vista. This is the type of responsibility that more vendors should accept, there are thousands of Vista boxes now running, and one can only guess how many have no form of virus protection in place. CA is not only making a great business decision, they are also helping to serve the community by reducing the number of unprotected systems connected to the internet.
Read more…MaskedTextBox Madness
Over the last couple days, most of my time has been devoted to the MaskedTextBox control, and one very annoying bug. The issues revolve around the way the control deals with currency. When provided with a mask such as ‘$999,999,999’ – you’d expect it to exercise some degree of intelligence. That expectation turned out to be quite wrong. If you type the number ‘50’ in a box with that mask, you’ll end up with ‘$500,000,000’ – for a financial application such as the one I’m working on, that could lead to a major issue.
Read more…Internet Explorer 7+
Microsoft has announced the naming of the Windows Vista edition of IE. Internet Explorer 7+ will be the name used to refer to the Vista edition, while 7 (minus the plus) will be used to reference the non-Vista edition. While the name has been changed for Vista, this seems to mostly be about marketing (or communication) as the User-Agent for both edition will contain MSIE 7.0 – no plus.
Read more…Happy (Belated) Birthday VB!
To celebrate 15 years of Visual Basic, a quick glance to the past: Microsoft Announces Visual Basic at Windows World ‘91 General-Purpose, High-Productivity Programming System for Microsoft Windows ATLANTA — May 20, 1991 — Microsoft today announced MicrosoftR Visual BasicTM programming system at the Windows World ‘91 industry trade show. Visual Basic is a graphical application development system for Microsoft WindowsTM graphical environment version 3.0 that combines visual design tools with a powerful, general-purpose programming language and Windows .
Read more…The Schwag Has Shipped
Valleyschwag has shipped the second issue of their bundle o’ schwag to approximately 1,500 subscribers, up from 50 for the first issue. The growth is amazing, and so is the money involved. This month they should have seen somewhere around $21,500 in gross revenue. For a part-time project where you are just mailing out free stuff, $22,000 a month is not bad at all. There are of course a number of expenses, but this is what’s important: this is an innovative business model that really works.
Read more…Web Developer Toolbar & Menu for Opera
I’ve been using the ‘Web Developer Toolbar & Menu for Opera’ for about the last month and after being reminded today about how useful it is, I thought I should probably mention it for those that haven’t heard about it. This is an extremely useful set of toolbar modification to Opera to have a few very nice touches to it. For most of these tasks, there is a Firefox extension available, Web Developer, which does the job quite nicely.
Read more…Extreme Simplicity
_Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to remove. Antoine de Saint-Exupery Such a simple statement; yet one of such power. This statement carries a new impact as the concept of “Extreme Simplicity” gains ground. The idea is that instead of focusing on adding more features (Microsoft), do a few things, and do them very well (Apple). This is a great concept, focus on the user, focus on what the user spends most of their time doing and keep all the rest out-of-the-way.
Read more…A Secure Mentality
My employer recently completed the final audit to confirm ISO 17799 compliance, the process was a real eye opener. In a process that should have been fairly short & painless, the ordeal lasted close to a year, with me joining the company just before the second, and largest audit. That made my first few weeks rather interesting, to say the least. While 17799 does have some complex requirements, most of the issues found had more to do with the overall mentality than with the true technical issues involved.
Read more…Valleyschwag
A few days ago, one of my favorite blogs mentioned this interesting service, Valleyschwag. For $15 a month, will bundle up a package of the best schwag being handed out in silicon valley, and deliver it right to your doorstep. This really is a great idea, for a few reasons. A new twist on Viral Marketing I really like this concept, from both sides of the coin. For companies, they can supply these promotional items at minimal cost to a larger, more targeted audience.
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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.