Long-form Reading 2011

Here are some long-form articles I've enjoyed this year.

The Hazards of Nerd Supremacy: The Case of Wikileaks (theatlantic.com)

The Octopus Conspiracy: One Woman's Search for Her Father's Killer (wired.com)

Confessions of a Prep School College Counselor (theatlantic.com)

The Great Rubber Robbery: How Julius Fromm's Condom Empire Fell to the Nazis (berlinbooks.org)

Bursting the Bubble (about David Vetter, the "Bubble Boy", houstonpress.com)

The Stutterer: How He Makes His Voice Heard (slate.com)

The Day The Movies Died (gq.com)

Man vs. Machine on Wall Street: How Computers Beat the Market (theatlantic.com)

Authorities in Awe of Drug Runner's Jungle Build, Kevlar-Coated Supersubs (wired.com)

Kiki Kannibal: The Girl Who Played With Fire (rollingstone.com)

The Battle for Tora Bora (tnr.com)

The Humility Imperative: CEOs Keep Your Arrogance in Check (inc.com)

How to Land Your Kid in Therapy (theatlantic.com)

How One Man Hacked His Way Into the Slot-Machine Industry (wired.com)

Cyber Weapons: The New Arms Race (businessweek.com)

Don't Be Evil (on google's narrowly conceived, yet handicapping motto, tnr.com)

A Few Too Many: Is there any hope for the hung over? (newyorker.com)

The Man With the $16 House (dallasobserver.com)

The Wrestler in Real Life (on Ric Flair's long decline, grantland.com)

Enter the Cyber-dragon (on how China is operating with impunity on America's defense and commercial computer networks, vanityfair.com)

Apple's Supply Chain Secret? Hoard Lasers (business week.com)

50 Years of Stupid Grammar Advice (thechronicle.com)

The Rise and Fall of the Columbia House Record Club -- and How We learned to Steal Music (thephoenix.com)

How a Financial Pro Lost His House (nytimes.com)

When Did the GOP Lose Touch With Reality? (nymag.com)

What is Sony Now? (businessweek.com)

The Pest Who Shames Companies Into Fixing Security Flaws (wired.com)

Thanks to Marco Arment's excellent Instapaper  service and iOS app for helping find and keep track of excellent reading material on the web.

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Reading List 2011

I was using up all of my accumulated credits on Audible.com just now, and realized I've listened to several great audiobooks over the last year. Here's a list of what I've listened to in 2011, along with a link to the book on Audible.com. I recommend them all.

Judas Unchained, Peter F. Hamilton, Part 2 of the Commonwealth Saga (link)
The Gun, C. J. Chivers (link)
The Windup Girl, Paolo Bacigalupi (link)
Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson (link)
Embassytown, China Mieville (link)
Pattern Recognition, William Gibson (link)
Spook Country, William Gibson (link)
Zero History, William Gibson (link)

I'm pretty excited about my reading list for 2012 (and likely beyond--I had 12 credits to use), which I will share soon.

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Multi-page Javascript Bookmarklet

[Disclaimer: I don't know crap about javascript, other than what I pieced together from the 'tubes.]
I read something somewhere (I don't remember where) about having a bookmarklet that automatically opens your favorite sites, each in their own tab, when you click on it. I wanted to set up my own, but the article didn't explain how to do it (just suggested it as an idea). It's actually pretty easy.  Below is commented code:

javascript:(function(){
  /* save a reference to the current window */
  oldWin=window;
  
  /*
   * Replace the current window's or tab's website with this one.
   * If you just want additional windows (or tabs) opened
   * skip this.
   */
  location.href='https://mail.google.com';
  
  /* Each additional window/tab you want opened */
  window.open('https://voice.google.com');
  window.open('http://www.accuweather.com');
   
  /* restore focus to the original tab, since each
   * new window gets focus
   */
  oldWin.focus();
})();

Paste this entire javascript fragment in as the address for your bookmark. It may be easier to bookmark an arbitrary page, then edit that bookmark's title and address.

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On the Mac App Store and Sandbox Restrictions

Update: My friend, Chad, creator of Pear Note, has an interesting perspective that is much more in-depth than what I have written. While I don't agree with his conclusion, he is a successful full-time Mac developer where I have no Mac development experience. Also Chad has more SELinux background that I do.

There has been a lot of gnashing of teeth lately over Apple's forthcoming Sandbox restrictions on software sold through the Mac App Store. In the near future, applications sold through the Mac App Store will be confined by very restrictive security policies. These security policies will make it impossible for applications to do many of the things we are accustomed to applications being able to do, such as interact with other applications. Some have described this change, pejoratively, as the "iOS-ification" of the Mac. I think these people miss some important points.

I used to work at a company where most of my time involved developing either SELinux security policies (a technical mechanism that the operating system uses to restrict applications' behavior) or applications designed to be confined by SELinux policies. Unfortunately, although SELinux is extremely powerful, it isn't used to confine most Linux desktop applications. It exposes users to problems that are beyond their ability (or desire) to troubleshoot and fix. Having spent time working with under-appreciated access control mechanisms, I am really excited to see Sandboxes coming into the mainstream on an operating system known for its ease of use. This is a Good Thing for users.

SELinux is similar in some ways to Mac OS X's (and iOS's) Sandbox mechanism. These mechanisms enforce a system-wide security policy that cannot be overridden through traditional user-based file ownership and permissions. For example, an application executed by you shouldn't be allowed to change or delete all of your data (without asking you first) simply because you own the data. An unconfined application could be tricked into doing just that.

Apple has implemented a trusted process model in OS X Lion to handle risky behaviors. An application confined by a Sandbox profile might not be allowed to write its data to your hard disk. Instead, it has to send its data to a Lion-provided process whose job it is to write the data. That trusted process is only allowed to access data on the hard disk. It is not allowed to receive connections from other computers on the Internet. An attacker on the Internet would have to compromise not only your application, but also the trusted process in order to gain access to your data on your hard disk. Think of a building that requires entry through one door followed by another, and no single person has both keys. You have to co-opt both key holders to gain access.

Many things that applications normally do on their own will now have to be proxied through a trusted interface provided by Lion. Some things, such as adding cover art to iTunes albums, become impossible where no sanctioned interface is provided. In the near term, applications in the Mac App Store will become simpler and less capable because of this. I suspect that over time, though, Apple will provide more robust set of mechanisms that applications will be able to use to do more things. This way, applications will be able to do more on behalf of the user without introducing significant risk.

I like knowing that applications I install through the Mac App Store will be confined by a security mechanism that mitigates mistakes made by the developer. I'm happy with it as long as I can obtain applications from outside the App Store when I'm willing to assume more risk. You have choices. If you want an application that not only won't but can't eat your data (or syphon it off to the Russian mafia) get it from the Mac App Store. If you want an application that has more features--and more risk--buy it elsewhere from Chad's website.

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