April 25, 2007

There were 6 posts published on April 25, 2007 (this is page 1 of 1).

To Skype Or Not To Skype

I don’t trust Skype. I suspect its doing things to my Linux computer that I did not authorize. Far too often I’ve seen CPU usage spike on Skype for no apparent reason. Today that happened again. I clicked on the close button and Skype dutifully disappeared from my desktop, but the process itself kept running in the background!

I’ve read rumors of things Skype may be doing behind our backs, but didn’t treat them seriously until now. I’m starting to believe any peer-to-peer (or instant messaging) apps deserve close scrutiny, regardless of the reputations of the companies that create them. If a hacker hacked Skype’s main servers, for instance, she could potentially have access to millions of PCs running Skype clients. Don’t you think that’s an inviting target?

If I was in charge of a network with sensitive data, I’d ban Skype in a heartbeat.

Read these papers offering a technical security critique of Skype: Vanilla Skype 1, and Vanilla Skype 2. Also, the obligatory Wikipedia entry: Skype Protocol.

A Gym Near Durant Nature Park?

I just got this note in from Jennifer Smith, who is active in my neighborhood’s events:

To: Windsor Forest Neighborhood
From: Jennifer Smith
Re: Meeting on Wed 5/2 6:00-8:00
re: the 40,000 sq ft gym proposed for Durant Nature Park

I wanted to make sure everyone was aware of the proposal for Durant Nature Park and the meeting for public comment. The City Council is proposing a 40,000 sq ft gym and multi-use courts (no tennis courts or basketball courts as were proposed earlier) be built south of the playground that backs up to Astwell Ct (off the bottom of Hobhouse Circle). The entrance will be from the south (I would assume the South Entrance for Durant Nature Park which comes off of Gresham Lake Road).

I talked with David Shouse, the City of Raleigh contact on the letter that was sent to some WF residents notifying them of the meeting. He stated that the building would be 600 feet (or two football fields) from the houses on Astwell Ct and the bottom of Hobhouse. If you are interested in commenting on this plan, the public meeting will be this Wednesday, May 2nd from 6:00-8:00 PM at Campbell Lodge. It’s an open house format, so you can stop in as you have time and they will show you the plans and answer your questions. If you can’t come, you can email your comments to richard dot lee at arcadis-us.com (the plan developers). Thanks!

When I first learned of the City’s plans, I was a bit concerned. I expected Jessie Taliaferro would be bulldozing over all the trees of our wonderful neighborhood nature park. Fortunately, the law keeps her from doing that: due to the federal and state grants used for its purchase, Durant Park must by law remain natural. However, an adjacent, 15-acre piece of city-owned property has no such restrictions. It is for this site that the proposed park is being discussed.

Folks in Windsor Forest have informally discussed among themselves adding possible common area amenities like a playground or a clubhouse, and this exact piece of city-owned property has been eyed for just this. The discussed plan was to purchase the property from the city and build the clubhouse using homeowners’ fees.

While I was opposed to putting a gym in the middle of our beloved nature park, when I found out that

  • Raleigh may wind up building our rec facilities for us.
  • Our homeowners’ fees won’t be paying for it.
  • The gym will not be in Durant Nature Park, but next to it.
  • The gym will be within easy walking distance to the neighborhood.

…well, now, I’m much more interested in this proposal!

The only real question I have regards the North Wake Landfill. Its long been proposed as a site for recreational facilities once it closes (if it ever does, that is). Does Raleigh need two large recreational facilities right next to each other? Why can’t a Raleigh gym wait to be placed on landfill property? If building a gym at Durant makes a park at the North Wake Landfill redundant, how else will the landfill property be used once it closes?

Food For The Spam Harvesters

I happened to see that a spammer went to my other websites and promptly posted spam. The spammer happened to use bodya@heremail.com and killerspm@runbox.com to validate his accounts.

I would really hate it if his bodya@heremail.com and killerspm@runbox.com email accounts began getting flooded with spam, because that would be poetic justice, y’know. I hear that by posting email addresses like bodya@heremail.com and killerspm@runbox.com on a webpage tend to make those addresses available to email address harvesting programs that then add those addresses to spam lists.

Please, don’t become a spam victim like bodya@heremail.com and killerspm@runbox.com will soon become. Never post your unobfuscated email address on the web or you, too, will receive “killerspm” in your inbox.

(What’s ironic is that the same changes Google implemented to defuse Googlebombs likely also negates the efforts of blog spammers.)
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New Position – Product Manager!

Its past time that I can spill the beans as to what this was all about. I’ve been promoted to Technical Product Manager for the product I’ve been selling for the past four years. Now I get to do something about all those product enhancement requests I’ve submitted over the years: I get to decide which ones to implement!

There’s a lot for me to learn about the role, but I’ve certainly got the right background and experience to take it on. I know the product better than most anyone. I’ve got a unique insight into the market – having done hundreds of sales calls over the years. I’ve got a solid IT background which provides me familiarity with the problems our customers are trying to solve. Lastly, I am known and respected (I think – heh) by our development staff so interacting with them should be productive and fun.

I officially began my new role last week, and knew about it sooner as my earlier post indicated, but I didn’t announce it here because I was waiting for an official announcement. Since I am the primary person for posting announcements on the company’s internal blog, few of my coworkers could post about it there (and I can’t announce my own promotion to the rest of the company – it wouldn’t be right).

Oh, and I won’t be traveling nearly as frequently as I used to, which is a big plus. I’m still the primary contact for product training, though, so there will be occasional trips here and there. Certainly much saner than the kind I’ve been doing.

Wish me luck on my new role!