Elvis Montero

Hiatus and good reading

The blogging interlude will probably continue for a few more days. My writing time has become nonexistent since I traveled back to Dominican Republic a week ago.

In the interim, here’s a list containing a few articles I think are worthwhile (I’m not writing as much, but I’m still reading voraciously whenever I happen to have a break from family and friends):

• Cryptography - How to Keep Your Secrets Safe: An excellent and thorough reading about cryptography and its many uses. Once you’re done with this article, you’ll wonder how and why you’ve been blissfully browsing the web without minding how safe you are.
• Making waves in Beijing - Why Speedo’s new swimsuit is a record breaker: Without taking any merit away from Michael Phelps, it’s definitely good to know he had some “extra help” on his way to Olympic immortality. 8 gold medals and 7 world records in Beijing? Spectacular!
• Don’t have your head in the clouds about online services: GMail is down? Amazon’s S3 offline!? We’ve all read the recent headlines. The author puts forward a prospect I find myself in agreement with: the cloud is in no position to entirely supplant desktop applications yet.
• Georgia cuts access to Russian sites, TV news: Cyber-warfare is a very real concern for countries involved in a military conflict nowadays. Georgia’s and Russia’s recent virtual feud provides a superb illustration of contemporary cyberwar to other countries.

I also read Cory Doctorow’s Little Brother. One word came to mind after reading Cory’s captivating work: amazing. I highly recommend this book (you can download the text for free). I guarantee your perception of the post 9-11 world will change after you’re through with Little Brother.