I have to shred XML movie data from IMDb into a relational structure, for a project at work. I whipped up something using Perl's XML::Simple, because it's a simple problem, but then I figured it would be nicer if I could use standards to translate from the XML to the insert statements, especially if I could use a stream-based parser to keep memory ( Read more... )

I originally posted this on the Freedom To Tinker blog article titled Nuts and Bolts of Net Discrimination, Part 2, but I figured some of you guys might want to read it as well. It's referring to the currently big hullabaloo regarding some ISP's wanting to discriminate levels of quality for different types of network traffic -- that is, make ( Read more... )

So, I wanted to install Gaim 2.0.0beta2 on my ubuntu laptop. But, I wanted to do it all package-manager like, because I'm pretty sure I'll want to yank it out and install beta3 sometime fairly soon -- like, when it's released. The putzes running Gaim are apparently Redhat-inclined folk, because they offer .rpm's but no .deb's. So, after a few ( Read more... )

Has anyone else been following the SonyBMG DRM fiasco(s)? The rootkit that is XCP, the spyware that is MediaMax ( Read more... )

I've found that I have a hard time thinking in Microsoft. I can think in C, C++, Smalltalk, Java, Bourne, BASIC, Perl, LISP, and any kind of scripting you could care to name. But, hand me C#, VB, J, or any of the other language Microsoft has designed in the last ten years, and I just can't hack it. Well, I can, but it just seems ... the long way ( Read more... )

History: Back in 1982, when personal computers were just becoming a reality in the form of Commodore64's and TI99/4A's (16K of ram, woo!), there was a huge schism between two philosophies. The first philosophy, put forth by numerous magazines containing printouts of programs you could type in yourself, was that everyone who used computers was ( Read more... )

Remember the guy who wrote The DaVinci Code, Dan Brown? He also wrote a book called Digital Fortress, which is a thriller about crypto. Spoilers ahead, but it was a shitty book anyway, so don't read it.

It stank. I mean, the story was okay -- it was actually pretty good. But everything, and I mean damn near everything he said about crypto is ( Read more... )