Controlling drive mounting dependencies: iTunes example

Make sure iTunes mounts a networked music library is a hint with a clever technique embedded. If you want to require a drive be mounted before an application (such as iTunes) is used, then put an alias on the application on the mounted drive, then put the alias on your Doc. Clicking on the alias will only work if the drive can first mount.

PodCorps, Eventful.com and Meetup.com

Two interesting connections from one Udell post:

1. PodCorps and bring lectures on special needs children to those who cannot attend. (My post based on Udell's PodCorps notice.)
2. Eventful.com: A user generated events calendar, also used to summon the PodCorps. (Pod people?) There have been zillions of these, most famously Meetup.com. I don't know why this one is fashionable, but there you go. I'll try promoting some of the Minnesota Inline Skating Club outings through these two and see what happens.

Google owns my web history

Another thread is tying me to my Google (Gmail) identity and to Firefox. I've given Google the right to track and record every web page I visit using Firefox with the Google toolbar installed and PageRank enabled:

Official Google Blog: Your slice of the web

...Today, we're pleased to announce the launch of Web History, a new feature for Google Account users that makes it easy to view and search across the pages you've visited. If you remember seeing something online, you'll be able to find it faster and from any computer with Web History. Web History lets you look back in time, revisit the sites you've browsed, and search over the full text of pages you've seen. It's your slice of the web, at your fingertips.

To get full value I have to use Firefox and the Google toolbar on every machine, and I have to be logged into Gmail. Quite a powerful connection ...

OS X modifier keys: organized by key type

Another list of Apple's modifier key combinations, this one organized by key: A long list of modifier key tricks

It's not that long really, and must be quite incomplete. On the other hand, cmd-click-dock item to show in Finder was new to me. I'll keep it around.

How does one really hack a system?

CH reviews a book that categorizes software errors: Coding Horror: Sins of Software Security. He then provides a count of how often each has been exploited (over 3,000 times for buffer overflows). If you know a bit of C programming, then it's all very readable and it makes clear why so much software is so vulnerable. Ahh, if only we'd never left Pascal ...

iStock Photo: $2 to $4 per image

I read about iStockphoto.com in an article about globalization and crowdsourcing. These inexpensive photos look like they'd be great for desktop backgrounds (I use black and white images with limited white areas for my wallpaper so I can see icons) or presentations. Sure, you can find photos for free using Google, Flickr, etc -- but these are pretty nice quality. Might be worth a few dollars to save search time.

Ports: a handy reference for firewall work

"Well Known" TCP and UDP Ports Used By Apple Software Products lists the port, protocol and service. A handy reference, even if it's dated in places (Retrospect is no longer Dantz).