SpamLookup progress report

I’m impressed.
I haven’t had one comment or trackback spam get through since I installed SpamLookup on the Movable Type blogging platform I use.
I don’t want to say the problems are over but a look at the logs shows more than 200 comment and trackback spam posts that were blocked by the plug-in just yesterday. This is the first morning in a long time that I have been able to login and not waste 10 or 15 minutes clearing out the junk. That’s a huge benefit.
Congrats to the author of then plug-in, Brad Choate. He’s da man!

Chinese censorship aided by US tech companies

It’s amazing to me how the rest of the Internet world is so silent and accepting of China’s fear over words like “democracy” and “human rights.” In a greedy rush to make money there, the biggest tech companies in the U.S. are cooperating with the paranoid Chinese Internet police in blocking those words from Chinese search sites.
China’s totalitarian government thinks it can prevent people from striving for freedom by banning politically sensitive speech. Microsoft joins Yahoo!, Google in censoring China’s web.
It is so sad, and so inevitably futile. You can’t stop people from wanting to be free. And money-hungry outfits like Microsoft, Yahoo and Google ought to be widely condemned by all of us for their cooperation with such repressive tactics.

Another MT comment spam-fighting tool

Following the suggestion of Anil Dash from Movable Type and others, I’ve installed the Spam Lookup plug-in for this blog.
It has been getting lots of good buzz so we’ll see how it does in blocking junk posts and trackbacks.

Apple and Windows and Intel

I’m intrigued by all the possibilities of Apple’s planned move to Intel chips, especially that “it could allow Apple systems to run Windows - and its universe of programs- at full speed,” according to this AP story
I’m wondering if the Apple faithful see this as a sellout… or a brilliant move.

No more Movable Type for me

I’m dumping Movable Type.
I’m at the Jacksonville, FL airport waiting to board the flight home and cleaning out more comment and trackback spam on a Verizon EV-DO card connection. But this vacation has convinced me the task of managing this blog and removing the spam posts from the creeps and con men is too time comsuming.
In the week I have been on vacation, more than 400 of these slimeballs have tried to clutter up this blog with their junk.
I’m looking at Word Press as a possible replacement.
Any feedback?

Spam casts pall over a vacation

I’ve just spent the last half hour clearing out spam from my e-mail acounts and spam filed as comments and trackbacks to this blog.
I’m either going to switch to a new blogging platform or just give this up - that’s how much of a pain comment and trackback spam has become. Even though I have filters and backlists, I still have to delete and add the constantly-changing spam addresses to the lists.
As for e-mail spam, it would simply crash my servers if I didn’t find a way to delete it.
I located a resort here on Jekyll Island - the Buccaneer Beach - that has free wi-fi in the lobby, from where I am grumpily but gratefully cleaning out the trash as I post.

Unwired and on vacation

I’m on vacation this week on Jekyll Island, Ga., staying in a rental unit with no broadband, only dial-up. How I’ve taken high speed access for granted. But then again, it will do me good not to be so plugged in. I’ll sniff around and see if I can find a wi-fi hotspot but I suspect posting will be light. This really is getting away from it all. And that’s what a vacation is all about. Check out my bike blog for what I’m doing down here.

Inside Personal Technology Podcast

With two colleagues from Knight-Ridder Newspapers - Mike Langberg of the San Jose Mercury News and Julio Ojeda-Zapata of the St. Paul Pioneer Press - I’ve just put together a special podcast called Inside Personal Tech: What’s new from the Personal Technology Experts at Knight-Ridder Newspapers.
Among other things talk about Microsoft’s Longhorn upgrade for Windows XP, Apple’s Tiger operating system, the new LifeDrive from PalmOne and VoIP Internet services.

Drunk driving sensor

If the car doesn’t start, you are too drunk to drive. That is the premise behind a $600 sensor that can be installed in a steering wheel or in gloves and will test a driver’s skin to determine alcohol consumption.

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