Disappointed to see that this author doesn't really understand the issue he is writing about. The Firesheep tool would actually pick the cookies sent over HTTP

Disappointed to see that this author doesn't really understand the issue he is writing about. The Firesheep tool would actually pick the cookies sent over HTTP rather than the username/password which was sent securely (in most cases). Also, as others have mentioned, it is possible to have an SSL cert installed on Virtual hosts. Dreamhost offers an option for as little as around $3-4 a month to have an SSL cert for a site. Sometimes, I wish I could downvote an article on HN.