At Christmas, I had an interesting discussion - where should NASA go next - with the recently retired Director of the NASA Astrobiology Institute . One idea put forward was putting an astronaut on a Lagrange point and seeing what happens. Of course, silly me, I should have suggested WebLogging from Space - but perhaps that sounds too much like a Muppet production.

(Oh, I argued for a base on the moon).

Major NTFS Vulnerability via Knoppix. From Lockergnomie David Bott: "Hi Chris, I'm not sure if I'm the first to discover this, but there is an EXTREMELY easy way to bypass the security of the NTFS file system... [Lockergnome's Bits and Bytes]

Not an NTFS vulnerability. Basically, you boot an OS off CDROM and then it can read your hard disk - what ever the format of the HD and assuming the booted OS has drivers to understand the layout of info on the disk. Applies to any format of the HD, not just NTFS. Presumably Macs have bootable CDs as well. Scary.

Looking for whitepapers, presentations & webcasts?. My friend and author of only4gurus.com has enhanced the site with more that one thousand and five hundred whitepapers, presentations and webcasts for IT professionals. This site is extremely usefully for consultants and field support professionals. David [sellsbrothers.com: Windows Developer News]

The trouble is, I hate the very instrusive ads.

TeeGofer. "TeeGofer is a tool designed specifically for the .NET Component writer. Written in 100% native C# code, it works by reflection to read in metadata from .NET Assemblies (.DLLs or .EXEs) to create first class quality online help documentation. The Tool is extremely easy to work with, presenting a tree navigator of the entire structure of any Assemblies selected for the Help Project."

Really Cool! [sellsbrothers.com: Windows Developer News]

Issues Regarding Learning Objects. This article was recommended by Vicky York, "an interesting article 'When is a Learning Object Not an Object: a First Step Towards a Theory of Learning Objects' appeared in the latest issue of International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning." The authors, Mike Sosteric and Susan Hesemeier of Athabasca University, use this definition of learning objects, "A learning object is a digital file (image, movie, etc.,) intended to be used for pedagogical purposes, which includes, either internally or via association, suggestions on the appropriate context within which to utilize the object." [EduResources--Higher Education Resources Online]

Its the trouble with the education world - 6 years down the line and they are still coming up with definitions. I wonder if the BBC will spend £60m on implementation (but heck, theres loads around already anyway) or arguing pedagogical niceties.

Oh my gawd, look at this: DCMS - somehow I feared the text-only version might be even worse.

Digital learning plans approved. The government has given the go-ahead for the BBC's controversial plans for an internet-based "digital curriculum" for schools. [BBC News | Technology | UK Edition] ... The BBC has promised to spend half of the £90m budget for content on services from the private sector.

And given the total budget is £150m what the heck is £60m being spent on, and can I have some please (Mr Tabbera said my efforts were worthy [and would have been/are a darn sight less than £60m).

Later, Mr Clarke says:

"With the funding already announced this provides £100m each year for the next three years to give schools access to online curriculum materials," he said.

There ain't that enough content out there to absorb this money. This govt are daft and profligate with it.

W3C CCS3 spec for layout control of printed output. 1999, so there doesn't seem to be a great impetous for such things. With Safari making a bit of noise, one looks at the browser wars again and sees that really people are still catching up with specs from n years ago. Whatever happened to 'Internet development time'?

Screenweaver MX: Flash Desktop Applications.

Seeing as I always wanted to name my software company The Pink Pig, that this is from Rubber Duck is, err, well nothing - I just like the name. Weird that this is apparently Win32 only, but I would suspect, depending on the interface, that this is serious competion for something like Zeepe.

ping