The new buzz: Open ID

What is Open ID?

OpenID is a decentralized Single single sign-on system. Using OpenID-enabled sites, web users do not need to remember traditional authentication tokens such as username and password. Instead, they only need to be previously registered on a website with an OpenID "identity provider" (IdP). Since OpenID is decentralized, any website can employ OpenID software as a way for users to sign in; OpenID solves the problem without relying on any centralized website to confirm digital identity.


What Problem Open ID is attempting to solve?

OpenID is attempting to solve web-scale single sign-on. The number of sites which require users to sign in continues to explode, while those same users suffer from a severe case of sign-up fatigue. The most severe consequence of this is poor password management - users re-use the same password on many different sites, but this dramatically increases the chance that their password will be compromised - if just one of those sites has a security problem all of the user's accounts might be stolen.
With OpenID, user's just need to set one password with their OpenID provider. They can securely use that account to sign in to many different sites, without needing to manage many different passwords. Rather than having dozens of potential attack targets, they need only focus on securing their relationship with one site.


How does Open ID work?
Coming Soon.....

What is RSS?

RSS is a family of Web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works such as blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video in a standardized format.^[2] An RSS document (which is called a "feed," "web feed,"^[3] or "channel") includes full or summarized text plus metadata such as publishing dates and authorship. Web feeds benefit publishers by letting them syndicate content quickly and automatically. They benefit readers who want to subscribe to timely updates from favored websites or to aggregate feeds from many sites into one place. RSS feeds can be read using softwarecalled an "RSS reader," "feed reader," or an "aggregator," which can be web-based or desktop-based. A standardized XML file format allows the information to be published once and viewed by many different programs. The user subscribes to a feed by entering the feed's link into the reader or by clicking an RSS icon in a browser that initiates the subscription process. The RSS reader checks the user's subscribed feeds regularly for new work, downloads any updates that it finds, and provides a user interface to monitor and read the feeds.

How to add to Bookmark in IE/FF using javascript?

All the web developers would agree on one point that it has been a challenge to write a code which should behave almost identically in all the browsers. If not all the broweser it should behave consistently in Internet Explorer(IE)/Firefox(FF)/Opera. It takes a few hours to write a code which works on either IE or FF and takes another couple of hours to make that code generic enough so that it works both on IE and FF. I too was caught with this bug when I was trying to add an "Add this site to Bookmark" link to a webpage. The following code should do this desired task of adding the current website to the Bookmark of the browser:


function AddToBookmark()
{

title = "Webpage Title";

if (window.sidebar)
{ // Mozilla Firefox Bookmark
window.sidebar.addPanel(title, url,"");
}
else if( window.external )
{ // IE Favorite
window.external.AddFavorite( url, title);
}
else if(window.opera && window.print)
{ // Opera Hotlist return true;
}

}


The code might need a few settings to be changed on a Firefox browser to behave properly and not open the saved bookmark in the side pannel of the browser.