Hacker Friendly

There’s an excellent interview on CIO Insight with Alan Kay, one of the fathers of modern computing.
Most of the ideas in that sphere, good ideas that would apply to business, were written down 40 years ago by Engelbart. But in the last few years I’ve been asking computer scientists and programmers whether they’ve ever typed [...]

I’ve been teaching at the ICTP in Trieste, home of one of the best scientific libraries in Europe. The library happens to be in the same building as the cafeteria.
A few nights ago, I arrived a bit early for dinner, so I went to the library to study vectors and quaternions and other 3D [...]

When you stop and look at the hidden costs of proprietary technology, it can be staggering to realize just how hostile some companies can behave against their own customers:

MPAA: Region encoding and CSS for DVDs, lawsuits and intimidation for customers.
TiVo: Mandatory firmware updates that remove features, add advertising, and interfere with legitimate use.
HDMI: Video standard [...]

What does it mean to be hacker friendly? See if you agree with the items on this list:
1. Given enough time and insight, anything can be hacked.
2. Everything is beta. Everyone else needs to get over it.
3. Hackers don’t know when to quit, because they’re never done.
4. “Not allowed” [...]

What do you think of when you hear the word hacker?
Does the word invoke visions of pale-skinned teenagers, crouched over a flickering computer screen in a darkened room, smoking cigarettes and drinking endless cups of coffee while merrily stealing your credit card, running up your phone bill, unleashing viruses on your computer, and mocking your [...]