March 2011

Mar
31
2011

Diversify to keep your domains safe

A friend asked recently about whether it would be a good idea to move their company domain to the same discount hosting they use for their personal website. My reply was that it was fine to move the hosting of the website but that it was a bad idea to move the domain registration to the same place that hosted the site.

"Can we leave the domain registration at the registrar and still move the hosting? And why is it bad to move the domain registration to the hosting company?" was the response.

The bottom line is you should never, ever, absolutely never, have your domain hosted with the same company that is the registrar for your domain. If you have this today go change it now and then come back to read why you got lucky.

Two centuries ago when the revolutionaries were making themselves into founding fathers of the United States they had the concept that one should keep power and responsibility divided amongst different branches of government. This serves several purposes including making sure that one bad apple doesn't ruin the batch. Even a collection of bad apples need to get the consent of plenty of other actors before they can ruin the batch.

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Mar
30
2011

Failure of crisis communication at the Bronx Zoo

You may have heard there's a snake on the loose at the Bronx Zoo. It garnered brief mention on the evening news last night as it does when a cobra goes missing at a popular zoo.

Unfortunately the Zoo's stoic response to the situation misses a great opportunity to engage with the public and further its mission. This is the end of the last update from the Zoo:

When we discovered the snake was missing on Friday, we immediately secured the building and conducted a search of all accessible areas. Sweeping searches continue on a daily basis. In addition, we implemented a system for tracking any movement by the snake that would help aid in its capture. The difficulty is that the 20-inch, pencil-thin snake, which is months old and weighs less than 3 ounces, has sought out a secure hiding spot within the Reptile House. The holding areas of the Reptile House are extremely complex environments with pumps, motors and other mechanical systems. In this complex environment, she will likely remain in hiding and not move until she feels completely secure. As her comfort level rises, she will begin to move around the building to seek food and water.

As this may take days or even weeks, daily updates should not be expected. As the situation changes we will share any information with you. But now, we need to focus our attention and energy on recovery strategies.
Jim Breheny
SVP for WCS and Bronx Zoo Director
Updated: 3/28/2011

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Mar
19
2011

iPad's greatest flaw

ipad_connect_to_itunes.pngA post on Dave Winer's blog today reminded me that I've been meaning to write about the big flaw in the iPad. Actually it is a flaw in iOS but I notice it most on the iPad.

First a little background. I've had an iPad for as long as they've been around and eagerly stood in line for the iPad 2's new cameras. More than the first iPad the iPad 2 is a transformative device. It is comfortable to hold in bed to read, it has an amazing cover that just works and it's a bright white color instead of the heavy black. (How the color affects the perception of weight is another topic for another day.)

As awesome as the device is for me. It comes with a horrible flaw. This first came to light the very night I picked it up. After the headache of convincing my credit card issuer that yes it really was me staying in a hotel and buying an iPad at an Apple store I met a friend and we headed out for dinner. Being a Drupalcon dinner there were plenty of tech folks. Since the line for Chicago pizza was longer than the line for the iPad 2 we had plenty of time to talk. Eventually I succumbed to peer pressure and opened the box.

While peeling away the shrink wrap on the box (even the box is slightly smaller than the previous iPad) thoughts of taking a few pictures of the group with the new iPad came to mind. With a creative group of smart people what could we do with this new technology while waiting for a dinner with a week's caloric intake? And then all at once it happened.

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