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Editorial

Submission + - Top ten scientific discoveries of 2007 (time.com) 2

Submitted by
Josh Fink
Josh Fink writes: "Time Magazine has a piece about the top 10 scientific discoveries of 2007. While most of the items in the top ten are interesting, I do not know if they hold much value as the best top ten to pick from what has been discovered this year. Items such as "Kryptonite", stem cell research and the brighten supernova on file made it to the list though. Check out the editorial here. Also included in the top 10 editorial are pieces on the top 10 medical breakthroughs, the top 10 man made disasters and the top 10 green "ideas"."
The Internet

Submission + - CSS Pocket Reference

Submitted by
Michael J. Ross
Michael J. Ross writes: "For Web developers who appreciate the value of separating Web content from its presentation, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) has proved a godsend, because it allows all of the styling of a Web site to be organized in CSS files separate from the site's semantic content, in HTML files (possibly dynamically generated). Yet to make this styling power possible, CSS must incorporate a long list of syntax elements, including hundreds of selectors, properties, and values. Thus it can be quite handy for the developer to have on hand a concise summary of CSS, such as the CSS Pocket Reference, authored by Eric A. Meyer.

The book was published by O'Reilly Media on 5 October 2007, under the ISBNs 0596515057 and 978-0596515058. CSS itself has evolved along with other Web technologies, and this book is now in its third edition, having been updated to reflect the ongoing changes in CSS; the book now covers CSS2 and CSS2.1. On the book's Web page, O'Reilly offers an online table of contents, as well as ways for the visitor to view and submit errata (none as of this writing) and reviews for the book. Unlike most technical publishers, O'Reilly now makes available previews of their books' contents, in the form of a table of contents with links to the first few paragraphs of each section, including tables and illustrations.

Despite the growth in the number of elements in CSS, and the attention paid to each one of them by the author of CSS Pocket Reference, the book is still small enough to fit in a pocket, at only 168 pages. The book's material is organized into 18 unnumbered sections, preceded by some notes on the book's typographical conventions, and followed by an essential index. The bulk of the material is found in the Property Reference section. Other sections explain how to add styles to HTML and XHTML pages; CSS rule structure and style precedence, including inheritance and the cascade; element classification and display roles; visual layout; rules on floating and positioning; and table layout. Subsequent sections cover CSS value types and units, and selectors, including some of the newest additions to CSS, such as the adjacent sibling selector and the language attribute selector. Just before getting into the details on properties, Eric Meyer discusses pseudo-classes and pseudo-elements, which have made it possible for Web developers to create rather robust and attractive site navigation using CSS exclusively, without any need to resort to images and JavaScript for rollover effects and other navigation eye candy.

For each element of CSS that is covered in all of the sections mentioned above, the types of information presented to the reader can vary, depending upon the category of element. But they generally include the element's possible values, a default value, what elements it can apply to, whether it is inherited, its computed value, a brief description of the element, at least one example illustrating its usage, what browsers support it, and oftentimes a note on its usage. Consequently, this new edition of the book, like its predecessors, should prove more than adequate for most CSS reference needs.

As with any computer book, there are several ways in which this one could be improved. Any reader using the book to look up a particular element, has two possible ways of doing so: They could first consult the index, and, assuming the element is listed there, go straight to the page indicated. But most readers, knowing that the elements in each section are listed alphabetically, will probably open up the book near the front or the back, and begin flipping backward or forward, respectively, hoping to spot the element of interest as quickly as possible, given its alphabetical ordering. That individual will likely immediately spot an obvious problem with the book: The pages have no running titles (the words that indicate the first element discussed on that page, and typically listed at the very top of each page). Inclusion of such running titles in the next edition of the book, would make it much faster to use.

Another valuable addition would be some sort of table listing all of the CSS elements and their level of support within the most commonly used Web browsers and, in the case of Internet Explorer, the most commonly used versions of the browser. Also, on page 48 of the book, at the beginning of the Property Reference section, it has a subhead of "Visual Media," which suggests that there are other subheads within that section, for other media types; but I was unable to find any.

All of these problems concern the publisher's choice of material. My last criticism concerns the layout of that material in the print version of the book. Because this diminutive volume has narrow pages, and they are tightly glued together in the binding, it is imperative that the publisher of such a book provide plenty of white space in the inner margins (those closest to the binding), so the reader does not have to crack open the book too much in order to read the text closest to the binding. Repeatedly opening up the book far enough to read those inmost words, will over time weaken and eventually destroy the binding. In contrast, a small reference book like this has no need for much outer margin. Sadly, O'Reilly got it backwards with this volume, with relatively wide and useless outer margins, and inadequate inner margins.

Aside from the aforementioned flaws — all of which can be remedied in the future — CSS Pocket Reference is a compact and neatly organized gem of a book, packed with information of value to busy Web programmers.

Michael J. Ross is a Web developer, writer, and freelance editor."
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft shuts down Santa for being naughty (kirotv.com)

Submitted by
Josh Fink
Josh Fink writes: "While Santa might know if you are naughty or nice, but what do you do when Santa is naughty to you over Windows Live Messenger and encourages you to talk about oral sex? Thats right folks. Once again Microsoft has encouraged kids all around the world to speak to Santa again this year via Northpolelive.com, however this time, Santa has had his AI beefed up it seems. From the article: "Microsoft's holiday cheer soured this week when a reader of a United Kingdom-based technology news site, The Register, reported that a chat between Santa and his underage nieces about eating pizza prompted Santa to bring up oral sex." I am beginning to wonder if Microsoft ever bothered to do a QA test, or check words in its Santa response database."
Google

Submission + - Google ruins homepage for iPhone users (informationweek.com)

Submitted by
Josh Fink
Josh Fink writes: "It seems like the folks over at Google have rendered their homepage useless to iPhone users. I found an article at Information Week where blogger Eric Zeman discusses his frustration. "Before, it was the general mobile version of the site, which showed my headlines, weather, Gmail and other content all in a quick glance. Now it is a simple search box and I have to actively choose to view my content. Why did Google make it more difficult to use?""
Security

Submission + - Vista tougher than XP on piracy (efluxmedia.com)

Submitted by
Josh Fink
Josh Fink writes: "The folks over at efluxmedia have an intersting, if one sided piece on how Vista's piracy rates are half that of XP. From the article: "Microsoft announced yesterday that piracy rates for Windows Vista are half those of XP and this proves that the giant software maker really created its toughest operating system up to date....Additionally, Microsoft announced on Monday that it plans to offer an update for WGA that will run the piracy check regularly, without the computer users initiating the process." I do not believe that Vista is 'tougher' I just believe that it has not been accepted yet by the IT/user world yet. As for WGA being updated and running without consent, I think Microsoft might be called out in the world of privacy, just like how it was when WGA was released."
Education

Submission + - Girls make history, win top honors in science (nytimes.com)

Submitted by
Josh Fink
Josh Fink writes: "The New York Times has an interesteing piece about how girls have made history by winning top honors in Math, Science and Technology in one of the nation's most prestigeous science competitions: The Siemens Competition . The event took place at New York University on December 3, 2007. "James Whaley, president of the Siemens Foundation, which oversees the competition for Siemens AG, a global electronics and engineering company, said the competition results send a great message to young women.""
Cellphones

Submission + - AT&T/Apple sued over visual voicemail (news.com)

Submitted by
Josh Fink
Josh Fink writes: "The folks over at C|Net have an article about how Apple/AT&T may have to take a lawsuit seriously over the iPhone's visual voicemail feature. They write, "Klausner Technologies announced Monday that it has filed suit against the company in everyone's favorite rocket docket, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. Klauser is claiming that the visual voice mail feature infringes on two patents that are said to cover the iPhone's method of selectively listening to voice mail messages rather than in the order in which they were received." Klausner has already won cases against Vonage and AOL. Will AT&T/Apple have to finally pay out for one of their features, or is Klausner getting on the bandwagon of other iPhone lawsuits?"
Movies

Submission + - Dragonlance Movie to be Released in January

Submitted by
Josh Fink
Josh Fink writes: ""Many of us have grown up playing Dungeons and Dragons, some of us have read the numerous novels from the various worlds that exist within the rule sets. There have even been two huge disappointments of "movies" released with the namesake by Wizards of the Coast. However, now, there is an official release date for the Dragonlance Themed movie: January 15, 2008. It looks disappointing, being that the animation looks like it is from the early 1980's, and the only hype I have heard about it has been just www.dragonlance-movie.com. Being that I read these wonderful novels during high school and college, I am not really looking forward to this release, as it looks like a let down just like the D&D Movies. You can view all the product info here. Also with D&D 4th edition coming out, why would Wizards endorse such an endeavor into animation? At least it is direct to DVD, I would hate to see someone else lose their red hat over this in a nationwide theatrical release."
Security

Submission + - A Look at Microsoft's Security War Room (news.com)

Submitted by
Josh Fink
Josh Fink writes: "The folks over at C|Net have an interesting piece about Microsoft's Security War Room, or rather, shall I say rooms. This room came about when Microsoft's security chief, Mike Nash, had issues finding open conference rooms. The response; a dedicated room only for him and his staff to handle emergencies. "And while he was at it, why not have two? That way, the folks working on fixing a security crisis could have a little breathing room from those drafting the public and customer communications around the issue. ""
Announcements

Submission + - Motorola's Ed Zander steps aside (zdnet.com)

Submitted by
Josh Fink
Josh Fink writes: "Motorola announced on Friday that CEO Ed Zander has stepped aside and Greg Brown (COO) has moved in to take over. "I believe that the replacement of Ed Zander as CEO is a positive step for Motorola, but that the action of the Board was long past due. As I said at Motorola's shareholder's meeting last year, although I like Ed Zander personally, I never thought that he was the right man for the job at Motorola." said Billionaire Carl Icahn, who has been pushing for Zander's ouster. Will Motorola be turned towards a better business course? One can only hope."
Announcements

Submission + - Most well preserved Mummified dinosaur found (joshfink.net)

Submitted by
Josh Fink
Josh Fink writes: "A teenager in North Dakota may have found the world's most well preserved mummified dinosaur, according to scientists. The 67 million year old mummified hadrosaur even has mummified soft tissue such as muscles and skin fossilized, and weighed close to 35 Tons.

"When you actually look at the detail of the skin, the scales themselves are three-dimensional," the Washington Post quoted Paleontologist Phillip Manning of England's University of Manchester. "The arm is breathtaking. It's a three-dimensional arm, you can shake the dinosaur by the hand. It just defies logic that such a remarkable specimen could preserve."

While this is a wonderful find, I am still awaiting the arrival of Jurassic Park where I can see these creatures in person. However, I am not holding my breath."
Security

Submission + - Teenager arrested in hacker ring (joshfink.net)

Submitted by
Josh Fink
Josh Fink writes: "The Guardian has an interesting piece on "Akill" a teenager from New Zealand who was the ringleader of a hacking ring that totalled £9.7m. 'The teenager was the "head of an international spybot ring that has infiltrated computers around the world with their malicious software', Martin Kleintjes told New Zealand national radio....The FBI estimates that more than 1m computers have been infected, and puts the combined economic losses at more than $20m (£9.7m)." Eight people have been charged, pleaded guilty or have been convicted since June. The FBI really has been putting a crackdown on botnets / spyware recently. Yay."
Space

Submission + - Minor leak being investigated aboard the ISS

Submitted by
Josh Fink
Josh Fink writes: "The folks over at Space.com are reporting on a story that the International Space Station has a minor atmosphere leak. "An inspection of a vestibule bridging the station's new Harmony connecting module and NASA's Destiny laboratory indicated a slight air leak of about three pounds (1.3 kilograms) per day, NASA spokesperson Lynette Madison, of the agency's Johnson Space Center..." While this is yet another technical issue with the ISS, when will this end? I am all for the space program, but there have been some major issues lately, as seen here and here."
Enlightenment

Submission + - Get cancer from work the graveyard shift?

Submitted by
Josh Fink
Josh Fink writes: "CBS, MSNBC, CNN all report that working the graveyard shift may now be a risk for cancer according to the WHO. From CNN:

"Next month, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, the cancer arm of the World Health Organization, will add overnight shift work as a probable carcinogen.

The American Cancer Society says it will likely follow. Up to now, the U.S. organization has considered the work-cancer link to be 'uncertain, controversial or unproven.'"

I guess it is time for all of us working overnight shifts as admins/programmers/monkeys to ask for hazard pay. Does this also mean that an employer should start picking up the tab for medical expenses related to cancer that may have been caused by this? I am thinking not, but it is an interesting concept."
PC Games (Games)

Submission + - Best Games for you and your geeklings (joshfink.net)

Submitted by
Kranfer
Kranfer writes: "MSNBC.com has an interesting holiday article about games and your family. In it, they name a few games that we as geek parents should purchase for our geeklings, and encourages us to play with them. "Playing video games with your kids is a great way to build bonds that can last a lifetime. But choosing the right game for your family can be tricky: You have to find one that's fun and simple enough for kids, but still interesting enough to hold your attention, too." How many of you out there play the games you buy with your children? Are you more bonded with them as MSNBC says will happen, or do you and your child attempt to rule the world from your PS3 Console?"

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