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Big Blue may know what you did last summer. Or at least who you called. In a move out of the NSA's playbook, IBM Research has been scrutinizing the call-detail records of 'one of the largest mobile operators in the world' (PDF). By analyzing who calls whom, and for how long, IBM claims its patent-pending snooping software can now identify circles of 'friends' who tend to exhibit the same profit-threatening behavior. 'We believe that our analysis is a first of its kind that exploits the underlying social network in a telecom call graph,' boasted a team of IBM researchers and a UMD prof. For now, IBM seems to have focused on using the info to see if your friends are churners, so you can be dealt with pro-actively lest you follow their lead and bolt. However, IBM suggests its SNAzzy data mining technology (Social Network Analysis for Telecom Business Intelligence) has a bright future, noting it 'is also capable of analyzing any kind of social network or graph, not just telecom networks.'

Case study with lots of tips on making an iPhone app launch faster, plus tricks to make it seem even faster. A large portion of launch speed is psychological; displaying a loading indicator or an actual app screen instead of a splash screen makes it 'feel' faster.

useful quick reference cards for programming languages, markup, xml, etc.

In June, the Obama campaign released a digitally scanned image of his birth certificate to quell speculative charges that he might not be a natural-born citizen. But the image prompted more blog-based skepticism about the document's authenticity. And recently, author Jerome Corsi, whose book attacks Obama, said in a TV interview that the birth certificate the campaign has is "fake."

We beg to differ. FactCheck.org staffers have now seen, touched, examined and photographed the original birth certificate. We conclude that it meets all of the requirements from the State Department for proving U.S. citizenship. Claims that the document lacks a raised seal or a signature are false. We have posted high-resolution photographs of the document as "supporting documents" to this article. Our conclusion: Obama was born in the U.S.A. just as he has always said.

Source code for Apollo 11's control software

Some of you may have seen recently that Apple added a content rating system to the store. Unfortunately, they’ve decided to consider all applications that have access to 3rd party content, as a potential loophole and therefore must all be rated 17+.

“According to Apple, apps that feature an embedded web browser or provide access to 3rd party content also automatically require the 17+ rating”

In this particular case though, Postie does not allow access to 3rd party content. Postie only connects to our backend servers to access the content that the user themselves added to the system. What’s that content? Their e-mail settings. That’s it. Nothing more, nothing less.

How to install OS X 10.5.7 on an HP Mini

Good tips for anyone moving to San Francisco