What the Matrix would be like if it was running on Windows XP: eat this. I guess this was done by some film students from Hamburg. Very cool.

I am using FileMaker for many years now and although I do appreciate many of its features and do not see any other contender in the area of desktop databases the tool does show first signs that it‘s time has come. Not only that there hasn‘t been any significant update to it‘s user interface and that the integration into OS X is almost non-existent. It‘s programmers seem to lack basic knowledge on security as well.

A BugTraq update today reports on FileMaker handing out complete password lists to any clients connecting via TCP/IP. There is a corresponding article at FileMaker‘s web site as well. But no update. Instead, they recommend „Reducing the scenarios in which the database is shared“ and other helpless tips.

I can only hope someone will soon come up with a cool XML database based desktop database GUI application for the Mac. It can‘t be that complicated and we are going to have it anyway sooner or later.

Does anybody know about any probable alternative to FileMaker?

If your Mac OS X computer is idle most of the time, you might want to install Fluid to get rid of your excess cpu cycles. It looks mar-ve-lous.

While iTunes version 4 was a huge step ahead in terms of publicity for Apple because everybody was talking about their new Music Store, another feature was even more important: the software provided the ability to share software via the Internet (which was a good idea).

But as the files were more or less served „as is“ it was actually more the coming of a new Napster and new tools were emerging making use of its protocol. Apple reacted with a pretty embarrassing move and limited the reachability of it‘s sharing service to the local network.

However, the cat is out of the bag. First, there is a hack called 401ok circumventing this mechanism in iTunes 4.0.1. And – even more interesting – there is free implementation of the sharing protocol used (DAAP). Let‘s see how this develops. At least this thing shows you can‘t take back anything you have put on the Web once.

Shrook is a new contender in the RSS client game. Like NetNewsWire, it sports a simple, Cocoa-based user interface.

It won‘t replace NetNewsWire for me as NNW provides other important features like the Weblog Editor, but Shrook does have some nice features that are still missing from the other program: you can define update times for each channel individually, it has a simple sort view for „new“ news, it marks „opened“ items with an small icon and it allows for more than one level of folders. Best of all: old items get archived when they get kicked off the feed. That way you can follow feeds that fill up fast and that you probably check out not fast enough.

It is so funny to see some things being named years after their birth. Weblogs have been here for so many years, but just since a three or four of them, they are known as such.

I started following the web in 1995 when I moved to Berlin to start working for ART+COM. So I was in the front row somehow as ART+COM has been one of the first ten organizations that set up a web site in Germany and the general nerdyness of the people there was rather high.

However, after the first 100 web sites came out the concept of daily blogging was starting soon. Where? In the Macintosh world. Long before the Windows world learned about editing home pages, creative writers set up nicely designed web sites with daily updates. One of the pioneers was Macintouch which is still a great resource and the format hasn‘t changed within the last five years.

I copied the concept somehow when I was taking over webmastering activity for the Chaos Computer Club. In 1997 I turned the CCC home page into a irregularly updated news portal. The concept was retained when I handed over the web site to a new web team in 2001.

The Macintosh web was really pioneering both web site design as well as the concept of Internet based publishing. Since 1990, the probably best Macintouch news source was TidBITS. First it was a mailing list only (with perfectly formatted mails!), then they extended their reach to the web. If you are into Macintouch, I can only recommend them for their style is very different to rest of the pack. Adam C. Engst won my special sympathy after speaking up in difficult times.

I am already back for a couple of days now. This Helsinki thing was going much too fast to be aware that I really have been there. Maybe I should have been a bit longer, but this was not because of the other thing. However, now I realize there were two other incidents I did not forget immediately. Both are pretty finnish, I guess.

In the area which you might consider the central shopping district I found a sign explaining the current mess of the vicinity: the pavement is about to receive an upgrade: under pavement heating. I am impressed. Of course, Finland surely has a totally different relation to snow and ice and we always wanted to have underpavement heating in our house, didn‘t we? But putting it below a pedestrian area can be considered cool.

The second pretty remarkable thing happened when I returned from Soumenlinna island (a romantic but tourist heavy spot in the Helsinki bay). I left the ferry board and walked the remaining kilometer to the Hotel. On my way, suddenly the earth shook: all the people around me stumbled and lost balance, held each other bumping against walls, no longer masters of their bodies. Unbelievable. Everybody struggeled: young girls, old men – everything out of control.

It took me second to realize that drinking in Finland is in use like mobile phones are.

Hmm. I have probably looked forward to seeing the sequel to this excellent piece of art like almost everybody. When The Matrix showed up it made the Star Wars saga look pale in comparison.

What surprised me is that basically everyone of my friends told me the second part was more than a big disappointment to them and that it was an embarrassment and boring and so on. So I went to the cinema totally prepared to see the worst movie since The Phantom Menace.

What should I say? I liked it. At least, I think I did. I am confused by the loud opinions of my neighbourhood and I couldn‘t match the critique with my impressions. The action clips are pretty impressing although a bit long. Of course, there is a love story. And there is cheering crowds. And so on. I know. But I still think it is good movie.

But before I can form my opinion I guess I have to see it once more. Must focus, must focus…

The final session of READ_ME was a report on The Yes Men which is a loose group of people from New York that do some real world social hacking. Pretending to be the World Trade Organization and running the wto.org and gatt.org domains, they got invited to hold speeches on WTO issues at various locations. And they came.

The presented super-cool and absolutely way-out talks totally confusing the audience. The even more interesting outcome was that most people took their speeches for granted in no way doubted any of the „facts“ that are nothing but invented.

Also check out their „55 Most Wanted“ Card Deck for U.S. Regime Change!

Hooray. For the first time in my life I walked into a nice café and wireless internet was just available (and: free!). The place is called mbar, the coffee is great and I am happy.

Why is this not possible in Berlin? I don‘t get it. Setting up DSL is a no-brainer and a almost-no-cost solution to get people into the café.