Category: Web

iWork + Box.net WebDAV = must have for iPad

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I have been searching for a WebDAV compatible cloud storage service since I started playing with Pages on the iPad. 16 GB is plenty for storage if you’re only doing word processing and simple spreadsheets but since Apple gimped the iPad’s file manager (it’s non-existent), I had to resort to some Googling to finally settling on using Box.net. 

<rant>

Apple’s iWork suite for iPad (Pages, Numbers, Keynote) natively support MobileMe’s iDisk function. But a MobileMe subscription costs $99! There are so many free cloud storage services nowadays that charging for $99 a year is just outrageous. If Dropbox can give me 2 GB for free with a dead easy sync app for every platform, why would I pay for MobileMe to get iDisk that’s supported by Apple devices only? That’s stupid, roll out free MobileMe or die. 

</rant>

So if you’re like me and is unwilling to sync with iTunes to get at the files created on your iPad, here’s how to get WebDAV working with Box.net. 

  1. Sign up with Box. 
  2. Setup Box’s WebDAV details with iWork apps. 

Server: http://box.net/dav
Username: your Box username
Password: your Box password

Done. 

PS: Dropbox can be extended with WebDAV functions using a 3rd party called DropDAV. It works relatively well and is painless to setup, but I wrote this for Box because it had native WebDAV support. There is however a problem with Box, there is no Mac desktop client. Kind of silly if you think about it. So if you prefer Dropbox (I always have) then check out DropDAV. 

It may be time to give Netflix Canada another shot

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I signed up for a trial and kept it for 3 months when Netflix first launched in Canada and the content available was horrendous compared to the US. Things have changed in the few months since and now into Q1 of 2011 Netflix is steadily adding more content to the Canadian market daily. 

If this continues I may once again consider subscribing to Netflix and this time probably keep it for good. 

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Posterous vs. Tumblr

So I started trying out Posterous, and it was such a change of pace that I decided to bring my entire blog over from Tumblr. Recently I just switched from WordPress.com because I liked how Tumblr provided the custom domain name support without any extra costs. Well it turns out Posterous also provides this service for free. Like Tumblr, it is also an A Record entry in the DNS, so you don’t have to relinquish DNS management. In my case the change took just a few minutes. 

The import process was much better on Posterous too. Coming from WordPress.com to Tumblr was such a chore. I had to find a script that would use the Tumblr API to do the actual switching. There were many things that I couldn’t keep. I lost the entire tag cloud, categories and pages. Good thing I kept the WordPress account, since it allowed me to mark the blog private. Going from WordPress to Posterous was a much simpler affair. Posterous asks for the XML export file from WordPress, then everything came over. 

I did notice that Posterous doesn’t handle formatting very well. Perhaps it is WordPress’s weird way of utilizing XML, or Posterous’ interpretation engine is buggy. I noticed some of my older posts were plagued with input errors. Oh well, you can’t ask for EVERYTHING right? At least I was able to keep my tag cloud intact. 

Going from Tumblr to Posterous was even easier. I didn’t even need to supply a XML file, or anything like that. Posterous just asks for the Tumblr URL and off it goes. 

Comparing Tumblr to Posterous is a little difficult. It’s hard to judge whether Posterous would scale better than Tumblr in the future as it is still a relative new comer in the blogging scene. It also considers itself a microblog. I thought that is kind of a bad way to advertise its services though. Unless you somehow restrict each posting to 140 characters, you shouldn’t call yourself a microblog. 

Tumblr: 

  • Older, more refined
  • Larger community
  • Disqus comments
  • More layout and theme options
  • Only posts to Twitter
  • No WordPress import, unless you hack together a script and find hosting to run it

Posterous:

  • Autopost
  • Clean
  • New (is this even a feature? but the server seems to scale better)
  • Much better URL shortening. (post.ly vs. tumblr.com)
  • Much better Twitter support, tags are automatically converted into hashtags
  • Twitter, Facebook, and many other services supported
  • Import supports just as many services
  • Theme development at its infancy but a lot of themes available on Tumblr are starting to appear
  • No favicon support, I can modify the markup to accomplish this easily, but come on this isn’t hard to implement

I love how both services have free custom domain support. It made deleting Tumblr after importing my posts a real easy decision to make. 

Web anonymity is impossible in 2011

I blogged about the Evan Ratliff’s story back in 2009. It took amateurs roughly 1 month to discover his whereabouts and catch him physically. How long do you think a professional government agency will take to track down an anonymous person on the web? 

During December 2010, anonymous organized Operation Payback, which were DDoS attacks on websites of companies that opposed WikiLeaks.

An hour ago Ars posted about FBI several simultaneous raids against many anonymous members in relation to Operation Payback. 

You have 1 month leeway if you wish to commit a federal crime on the internet, as of 2011. I guess you should expect a good enough case built against you that can compel a judge for a search warrant in less time than that.