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Cancelled my Safari subscription

I cancelled my Safari subscription today. I love the concept, but I found I simply wasn’t using it enough to justify the cost. I also found my typical usage to be a bit strange — what I loved about the service is that it enabled me to do searches over reference materials that I typically already have in print and on my physical bookshelf. For example, I might be writing some code and think, “man, I know I saw an example of this in one of my books.” Well, instead of digging through it, I could use Safari to quickly do a keyword search. Eventually, the realities of this set in: I’m paying $20 a month to have online access to books I already own. That’s just silly. What I need is a different service. I want to purchase at a very low cost, or download for free, PDF versions of books that I buy in print. That way I can have a searchable copy on my laptop, but I don’t incur an ongoing fee to use it. It could work the other way around too, where upon purchasing a physical book online, I’m allowed to download a PDF version right away. (This sounds a lot like the Beta Books concept, which I think is wonderful.)

If anyone has pointers to such a service, I’d love to hear about it.

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How to Own a Continent

I just finished reading “Stealing the Network: How to Own a Continent” and was pleasantly surprised to find the book more enjoyable then I had expected. “How to Own a Continent” is the second book in the “Stealing the Network” series, which are a unique genre of cyber-thriller. The books are fictional stories about computer hacking that use real technology in the exploits. Some of them are a bit of a stretch, but the general idea is that even though the stories are fiction, there’s no reason they couldn’t actually happen. Interestingly, the books are written by actual hackers and security experts, and some of the stories require following snippets of source code and packet logs. It’s great fun if you’re willing to put aside the sometimes simple story lines and just enjoy the technology behind them.

The first in the series, “Stealing the Network: How to Own the Box“, is a collection of short stories written in this style. It’s a good introduction to the genre. The second, “How to Own a Continent”, takes a different approach by telling a single large story, in chapters written by different authors. Each chapter tells a different piece of the collective hack.

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recommended reading

I’ve found I do most of my offline reading while traveling, especially on international trips. Lugging a thick hardback to the opposite side of the globe takes dedication, but it’s worth it to fill the ten-plus hours it takes to cross the pond.

I won’t bore you with lengthy reviews, but instead simply list some recent acquisitions I’ve made for travelling entertainment:

“A Short History of Nearly Everything“, Bill Bryson
I’m still working on this one, but so far it’s amazingly insightful, and very dense. It’s one of those books that makes you wonder why you waited this long to read it. It is a non-fiction re-telling of the evolution of scientific thinking throughout history. Bascially, what do we think we know today, and how did we come to these conclusions.

“Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software“, Charles Petzold
I read this on my trip to Game Developer Conference this year and loved it. It does a great job explaining low level hardware fundamentals in a fun and approachable style. I’m glad I’ve done some Assembly Language programming though, since it made those chapters much easier to read. I’ve always been more of a software guy then hardware, so this book really helped removed some of the mystery behind hardware design.

“Emotional Design: Why We Love (Or Hate) Everyday Things“, Donald A. Norman
I read this one on my trip to E3 this year. The book makes a break from traditional academic views on human centered design by focusing on the emotional reaction products create. If you fancy HCI like I do, this is worth reading as a reminder that design isn’t all science.

“The Zenith Angle“, by Bruce Sterling
A quick read about a computer security professional stepping up to the challenge of protecting his country from cyber-terror. I enjoyed the use of current events with a bias towards geek-dom. A little more cyber-genre then Pattern Recognition, but nothing too challenging for the non-geeks.

“Pattern Recognition“, William Gibson
Another quick read. A great fiction commentary on corporate marketing. It wasn’t too heavy on the cyber/future/geek stuff, but still appealing.

“Game Programming With Python“, Sean Riley
I’m slow starting this one. I was mildly set back after learning that PyUI (a UI library developed by the book’s author and used throughout the book) doesn’t work on OS X, but most of the lessons can be done without it (using just PyGame.) You probably need some experience with PyGame and writing a few games before diving into this one.

“Stealing the Network: How to Own the Box“, Ryan Russell (Author), Ido Dubrawsky (Author), FX (Author), Joe Grand, Tim Mullen
This is a collection of fictional short stories based on real world cracking techniques. It has a few flaws, but it’s enjoyable geek fiction.

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