Pepipopum – automatically translate PO files with Google Translate
If you’ve ever worked on localizing an application or website, you may be familiar with the .po files used with GNU gettext and compatible tools. I’ve written a script which can take a .po file and translate any untranslated strings with Google Translate. This may not be a ‘release quality’ translation, but does speed up the job of a real translator, who can simply proof read and correct the machine-translated entries. See it in action here: http://pepipopum.dixo.net

Pastebin.com and password lists
In the past few days, pastebin.com has been cited in a wide variety of high-profile news sources

Pastebin.com and the Hotmail password leak
It seems that a list of 10,000 Hotmail usernames and passwords has been posted on pastebin.com in recent days. Pastebin was created as a tool to aid software development, not to distribute this sort of material. As a result of the interest this story is generating, pastebin.com is experiencing huge levels of activity – as a result I took it offline to ensure all the offending material has been removed, and have adjusted the abuse filters prevent re-occurence.

Pastebin, the Ti-89 signing keys, and the DMCA
I’ve had a DMCA takedown request sent in relation to a pastebin post containing the signing keys for a range of Texas Instruments calculators which, if I understand correctly, allow you to digitally sign a replacement operating system so that the hardware will accept it. If you buy a piece of hardware, I firmly believe you should be able to do whatever you like with it, and people installing their own operating systems and *improving the damn product* is something TI should be happy about. There’s a blog over at http://brandonw.net/ which is enthusiastic about this sort thing. So, here is the DMCA takedown request Texas

pastebin.org considered harmful
I run pastebin.com, and maintain it daily. I check for abuses of the service, block IP addresses of serial offenders and try to ensure it provides a speedy and useful service. I make the software available for others to use and improve upon too. pastebin.org is one such site, but I’m starting to get emails from people who’ve used that site and are now infected with the Win32/Alureo trojan virus. In addition, the site seems to have been compromised in other ways, with extra advertising banners and popups. I’m not responsible for that site. I’ve tried to make contact with the registrant listed in whois records,