onfocus

Easy-to-install version of GPG for Mac folk.

I just tried Enigmail again after a couple years, and it actually works well. This plugin handles encrypting/decrypting email on the fly. (If you have GnuPG installed.)

"Marine scientists say archaeological remains discovered 36 metres (120 feet) underwater in the Gulf of Cambay off the western coast of India could be over 9,000 years old." [via sterling]

rael and michael's startup has a blog now.

Valid criticism of the official Google Blog's headlines, and good advice for any weblog author. Headlines are insanely important in the age of aggregation.

free VPN application [thanks, mathowie]

now you can talk like Mr. Burns! [via kottke]

This tutorial shows how to flash the drive firmware to remove software-imposed speed and region limitations.

Yet another site you can ping when you update your blog. This one's for Google's Blog Search. Ping!

Nice tutorial that shows how you can saturate the colors in a photo by switching to Lab Color mode and messing with the channels. [via nelson]

search for code in specific languages (except VB?) from across the web.

lectures from UC Berkeley classes online. [via Searchblog]

paper suggesting "decentralized governance and user accountability as a means of governing the Internet." [via craigblog]

Sounds like you can add some Google Homepage modules to any web page now

This talk at Google by Dan Frankowski shows you can identify people based on anonymous movie ratings if you have another non-anonymous set of related data. [via O'Reilly Radar]

"A 2005 report from the Pew Internet and American Life Project called 'Teens and Technology' found that teenagers preferred new technology, like instant messaging or text messaging, for talking to friends and use e-mail to communicate with 'old people.'" [via cameron]

"The Harvest Moon of 2006 rises on October 6th, and if you pay attention, you may notice a few puzzling things."

Judicial oversight is a security mechanism. It prevents the police from incarcerating the wrong person. The point of habeas corpus is that the police need to present their evidence in front of a neutral third party, and not indefinitely detain or torture

"...we are now about to vest in the President the power to order anyone -- U.S. citizen, resident alien or foreign national -- detained indefinitely in a military prison regardless of where they are -- U.S. soil or outside of the country." [via MeFi]

how new media stars like Ze Frank might be using media theory to connect with (manipulate?) audiences [via kottke]

looks like an interesting backup program that doesn't require you to shut down apps

the Bend Bulletin reports that local political coverage is all but dead in Oregon. [via OMI]

Hex the Mac color picker

handy tip for quick access to color picker, especially when combined with the HexColorPicker add-on

buy these geek shirts. !!! sudo buy these geek shirts.

There's a new version of SQL Server client tools that has better query integration (no more moving over to query analyzer). I'm still getting to know it, but so far I'm impressed.

a story about the dark side of ubiquitous computing by Bruce Sterling. "If 'religion is the opiate of the people', then immersive multiplayer 3D virtual worlds are hard-core Afghani heroin."

many, many great talks here about long term thinking. you can subscribe to the podcast, or watch many of the talks at Google Video