attribution

When applications are opened in OS X, the system will check for the presence of a quarantine flag on the application file to determine whether the program has been downloaded from the Internet, so it can issue a warning and require confirmation before the program is executed.

This flag will prevent the system's launch services from opening the file until it is removed or the system is otherwise set to allow the program to execute. This is usually done by clicking Open within the warning dialog that appears when you first open the program. But in some instances the … Read more

Here's the simple truth about news on the Internet: Any original article can be (and often is) quickly rewritten and redistributed across the Web--sometimes in ways that credit and direct readers back to the original source, sometimes not.

Now some optimists hope to establish codes of conduct for so-called content aggregation, the NYT's David Carr reports.

Although aggregators can often send a lot of traffic to the site where an article first appeared, that's not always the case.

Last year, for example, writer Simon Dumenco wrote a column for Advertising Age on Steve Jobs' death. Soon after, … Read more

An internal U.S. Department of Homeland Security document indicates that a controversial program designed to predict whether a person will commit a crime is already being tested on some members of the public voluntarily, CNET has learned.

If this sounds a bit like the Tom Cruise movie called "Minority Report," or the CBS drama "Person of Interest," it is. But where "Minority Report" author Philip K. Dick enlisted psychics to predict crimes, DHS is betting on algorithms: it's building a "prototype screening facility" that it hopes will use factors such … Read more

Rimelands: Hammer of Thor is a fantasy dungeon-crawler RPG with turn-based combat, grid-based movement, and charming art and sound.

The first in a planned Rimelands series, Hammer of Thor puts you in the role of Rose Cristo, the heroine of a Norse-themed, fairy-filled, post-apocalyptic steampunk storyline. Using experience points and a system of branching skill trees, you can advance Rose's abilities down three different "paths": Barbarian, Assassin, and Shaman, corresponding to melee, ranged, and magical combat. Each path has its own "talents"--active skills and passive boosts that make you deadlier. The game gives you … Read more

As the name suggests, Attribute Changer allows users to quickly and easily change the attributes of files and folders. Its seamless integration into Windows makes it a good choice for users who frequently need to make these types of changes.

Once installed, the program is accessed by right-clicking on the file or folder in question. From there, the program opens, with its functions organized into tabs for folder properties, file properties, reporting, and settings. The program allows users to change the file type (hidden, compressed, read-only, and so on) and adjust date and time stamps. Although the built-in Help file … Read more

Digital camera owners, music lovers, and those who have lots of files they'd like to organize will like Flash Renamer, a batch file renaming utility that makes it easy to rename large numbers of files at once but that also does much more, such as adding or subtracting spaces, dates, characters, and other identifiers. You can even use it to alter and manage file names as you save them.

A cleanly formatted interface features a prominent preview window that displays the chosen files and folders. You can browse, search, or free select files. Optional thumbnails make it easy to … Read more

Please see the response from Wolfram|Alpha at the bottom of this post.

One thing has become clear: to succeed on the Web and in the next generation of software, you need to invite, not dissuade, outside participation. Tim O'Reilly calls it an "architecture of participation," but whatever you call it, the best software strategies are those that encourage outside contributions, rather than discourage it.

This makes Wolfram Alpha's terms of service mind-boggingly backward at best, and troubling at worst. Some have pointed to the quasi-search engine's sometimes weird results as a reason to give … Read more

File Property Changer offers users a quick, efficient way to change a variety of factors related to files. While this program proved to be effective, it may not appeal to everyday users.

This program provides a clear interface that users can grasp quickly. The left-hand side of the program is dominated by a file tree listing every usable folder and file on the hard drive. Once users have selected the file they wish to toy with, its statistics instantly appear on the right side. There you are shown its file name, what format the file is in, when it was … Read more

I had to stifle a laugh (or was it a yawn?) when reading "So Open It's Closed" on Elias Bizannes's Liako.biz blog. Bizannes is a leader in the data portability movement, which movement seems to be undergoing all the growing pains that open source once had (and still does, I suppose).

Consider Bizannes' plea for true and well-defined openness in data portability standards:

It's time some boundaries were set on what is effectively the brand of open. It's also time the term is defined, because quite frankly, it's lost all meaning now. … Read more