This post claims Skype is sending on startup to its server your unique PC indentifier to their server. They send the BIOS content containing some unique informations.

Anonymity on Skype seems something from the past. Since you have bought your PC: those UUID are on a bill or an invoice order somewhere, hence a link to your name and your Skype calls.

There are others UUID in a PC (ie MAC address), so this is clearly to allow identification of a call. In a way this is no surprise and easy to defeat, still sad.

Since I am on Linux, I cannot check. Did someone else found this file?

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Some common ideas, but well written. Too bad the author doesn’t investigate further her analysis.

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WidgetAccelerator is the best way to accelerate the displays of your widgets in a webpage.

My blog uses it. It has two accelerated widgets. The display of the page has been increased of more than 10 times actually.

It caches the JS file and prints its content directly in the HTML page. Therefore, your visitors do not need anymore to gather a lot of different javascript files from a lot of various hosts. The main consequence is a speedier website.

It does not check for cache consistency before displaying the page. This is why it is fast (Most HEAD requests are as slow as a GET.)

This is also why you have to specify which widget to cache. Of course you should not use it for widget with highly dynamic content like a Javascript webstat tracker.

Installation
To use this script, you will need to.

1. Download the script (copy/paste this link and rename the extension of the file to .php)
2. Upload it to your server.
3. Create a writable directory to store the cached widgets.
4. Configure the script: two constants must be defined (at the top of the script). $CACHE_DIR is the path to the cache (ie: $CACHE_DIR="/var/www/cache/";) and $CACHE_TTL is the lifetime in seconds of the cached widget (ie: $CACHE_TTL = 3600;)
5. Include the script in your template or in the page you want to accelerate: $lt;?php include( "/PATH/TO/widget_accelerator.php" ) ?>
6. Accelerate the widgets you like. You have to change for instance this widget
   
   <script defer="defer" id="snap_preview_anywhere" type="text/javascript" src="http://spa.snap.com/snap_preview_anywhere.js?ap=0&etc" ></script>
   
   to
   
   <?php accelerate('<script defer="defer" id="snap_preview_anywhere" type="text/javascript" src=http://spa.snap.com/snap_preview_anywhere.js?ap=0&etc" ' ></script>');?>
   
7. Optional but nice for me add this quote to your template: powered by WidgetAccelerator
   which in html is: <a href="http://www.deviant-abstraction.net/index.php/2007/01/30/widget-accelerator/"> powered by WidgetAccelerator</a>

A little bit further
WidgetAccelerator looks for src=” or src=’ inside accelerate(). Without proper enclosing of this attribute, the accelerate function will print an error. Finally, all URL inside src must be in absolute to be accelerated.

In case of problem, features ideas or contribution, do not hesitate to mail me or leave a comment here.

Legal
Of course, this script is offered AS IS and I withhold all responsability for any damage that might come due to its use.

Next steps
If you like it, I will add support for images and predictive cache (to automatically set up the cache TTL).

For years, this unique creator of absurd and haunting tales denied that he had anything to do with science fiction.

Which science fiction writer are you?

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Here is an interesting link (in French) on mobile predictions. Of course in 2008, I will look at them and laugh/congratulate the winners.

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This interview is quite old but a really interesting read. Reid has understood everything about social networks and entrepreneurship. Since it is his job, it is great for him and for us since he explains most of it in this text.

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For those interested, I just finished this thesis on the querying of XML documents. It is in French, but somehow, some might find it useful.

This document was made for the CNAM’s Probatory Exam, one the two thesis due for an Engineer’s Degree.

Please send me your feedback.

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This interesting post makes good points on how to handle time. This is of course very specific to the funding business but is easy to apply in all fields.

I particularly like his classification of commitment: lead/active/passive.

Extending a little bit his thoughts, one key question is to ask to your team’s member which category are they in.

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A really interesting article from a consumer point of view. It is good to see people still being to step back on AJAX and web apps.

Link (via the wonderful JoeyCoco)

As you know we are in the web 2.0 times. This is why I am asking your help for proofreading/finetuning this thesis on Querying XML Documents. It is in French though.

I need to give it back by Tuesday. All hands are welcome: proofreading, mistakes, suggestions.

Thanks a lot. You are saving my life and helping me get my degree!

Please use track change function under OO or Word so I can aggregate all your helpful remarks.

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“I suspect that if the Cell processor lives up to it’s claims then processing real-time video input from a digital camera will be simple, and that will allow for the display of facial expressions and body language”

Pretty cool non?

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Someone is going to tell you who he is in small things. A 404 page can be used for this purpose. Using the Wayback machine, this post describes the facts and his analysis.

Link and on Google’s core values

I have just received this letter from Free. Supercool!!!

“Chère abonnée, Cher abonné,

Nous sommes heureux de vous compter parmi les abonnés Free Haut Débit dont
l’accès s’effectue à ce jour par les technologies ADSL sur une ligne
téléphonique.

A compter de 2007, l’offre Freebox telle que vous la connaissez va évoluer,
sans aucun surcoût pour vous, vers un accès en fibre optique via un réseau que
nous sommes en train de déployer dans votre ville. En dépassant les limites
de l’ADSL, la technologie optique vous apportera des débits garantis et
plus élevés permettant d’accéder dans le futur à une multitude de nouveaux
services multimedia qui viendront enrichir l’offre Free Haut Débit.

Afin d’optimiser les délais de raccordement de votre immeuble nous avons
besoin du maximum d’informations pertinentes telles que les coordonnées de
votre syndic, la présence éventuelle d’un gardien, de conditions d’accès.
Vous qui connaissez votre immeuble bien mieux que quiconque pouvez apporter
une contribution décisive au processus de raccordement.

Pour cela, il suffit de vous rendre sur votre console de gestion
http://subscribe.free.fr/login/login.pl muni de votre identifiant
(numéro de votre ligne 01XXXXXX) et de votre code d’accès, et de vous
laisser guider.

Nous vous remercions de la confiance que vous nous témoignez en ayant choisi
Free pour votre accès haut débit avec lequel nous vous souhaitons bon surf !

L’Équipe Free

Plus d’informations sur le déploiement de fibre optique de Free :
http://www.iliad.fr/presse/2006/CP_11092006_cp1.pdf
http://www.iliad.fr/presse/2006/CP_11092006_cp2.pdf”

“Nicolas Sarkozy exposait, dans l’auditorium principal tout proche, sa vision de l’avenir d’Internet : “La France que je souhaite va mettre le paquet sur Internet ” a promis le candidat à la présidentielle avant de conclure, devant un auditoire en grande partie étranger et moyennement concerné par ses promesses, “Mesdames, messieurs, vous représentez l’économie de l’avenir”. Loïc Le Meur, organisateur de la conférence, applaudit à tout rompre, tandis que Nicolas Sarkozy quitte la scène sans répondre à la moindre question du public. Des sifflets accompagnent sa sortie.” in Le Monde

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A completely cool blog post on a meeting between Craig Newsmark and bankers discussing Craigslist.

Some things seem to be really changing.

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The PC era is coming to an end according to Greg Papadopoulos, CTO of Sun. He claims only Amazon, Yahoo!, Google and so on would survive as a computer operator and revives infamous Thomas J. Watson misquote.

What can we think of his assertion, especially when you read this mostly from your PC?

• A lot of processes whether computer based or human based are sourced somewhere else from the base company. But a company still needs to create value and cannot do it simply by aggregating different providers. It needs to add something, somewhere, although this can be done from an outsourced data-centers, companies would still need some infrastructure.
• Most companies have already outsourced most of their IT, stored in remote data-center, so this is no news.
• Actually, the number of CPU sold is increasing so stating there will be only 5 computers in the world seems contradictory with the facts.

This annoucements look a big PR event. What is behind is commoditization of those hardware and the emerging of a whole new class of applications to manage and use those CPU. Peer to Peer seems the most relevant abstraction for this next revolution.

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This study cites Buongiorno as an emergent global player

http://www.morganstanley.com/institutional/techresearch/pdfs/Webtwopto2006.pdf

This sounds a lot like Ender’s Game famous videogame.

Link (via Knowing.net)

A few things to add/substract, but most of the points are there.

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