Nullvariable

Site is Moving!

2008-05-31T18:32:00.004-07:00

Please be aware if you experience any issues connecting that I am changing hosting servers and blogging platforms. All the issues should be resolved soon! Hope to see you on my new site!

A Self Portrait for May

2008-05-31T10:49:00.007-07:00

So I've enjoyed using Google's Web Search History despite the potential privacy implications. I honestly don't do or search for anything that I wouldn't do if someone was looking over my shoulder. And if I did it wouldn't be from my home computer ;). So I was poking around in it today and started checking out my trends. It gives a very interesting look at what I do with my time and how much I use Google. I've been letting Google track (and associate with me) what I search since June 27th, 2005! Heres some quick stats from the last 30 days:

Approximate number of searches: 475
Day of the week with most searches: Wednesday (94 total over 30 days)
Day of the week with least searches: Sunday (32)
The hour of the day with the most searches: 12pm (63)
Hour with the least: 3am and 6am with zero

Top search queries for my last 30 days:

Top visited sites (from search results):

So if you've read this far you're probably curious why I feel that these trends are in effect. All of the sites in the top 10 searches except for YouTube and Wikipedia are work related. I am always checking terms, looking at code samples and seeing if I'm doing things the right way! I think Wikipedia and YouTube are fairly self explanatory. As far as top search queries, I did a lot of searches on the TSA when I wrote my post "The TSA, Digg and the future of the Internet(s)." I've been working a lot on an ecommerce website using the ubercart frame work which explains several of my most searched terms. My brother and I have gone to see Indiana Jones, Iron Man and Prince Caspian this month thus the movie times search! On a side note the ending for Indiana Jones was missing something (still can't put my finger on it), Iron Man is every bit as good as the reviews and Prince Caspian was really good! The slip is a new Nine Inch Nails album, available for free download, several of my friends hadn't heard it and so I eagerly shared the link with them. I'm a big fan of this method of getting music out there! Gravatars! Cool little global avatars, now found built in to WordPress but a new discovery for me. I now have one!

So if you are interested and have Google Search History enabled take a look! You might find out some interesting things. Some things could scare you, some could be enlightening. I found it very interesting to see what times of day and the days of week that I do the most searching and I intend to keep notes on this and examine the trend more.

The Problem With Contextual Advertising

2008-05-22T14:44:00.004-07:00

The advent of contextual advertising has been a great thing. No long are we subjected to ads about unrelated products or services. Or are we? I am always annoyed at having to watch television commercials for stuff I have no interest or need in. I believe in advertising but I don't really need to hear about feminine products. So I'm a fan of more targeted advertising since I'll see less of stuff that I'll hopefully never need to buy. Another plus is that companies will be wasting less cash on customers who'll never buy their products. However contextual and targeted advertising have their pitfalls. Today I was reading Chris Pirillo's blog as I recently rediscovered his site. I wrote several articles for lockergnome a few years ago. As I was reading a recent post I ran into a contextual ad. Sadly Chris' parents were in a car accident today (according to his blog the car is totaled but they'll be ok) and as I began perusing the post to find out more of the details I discovered that I could buy a Car Accident at shopping dot com! Well needless to say I doubt they'll be getting a lot of buyers for that particular service/product! This leads me to wonder how much care is actually being put into some of these advertising products. I would imagine that many of them have words that are filtered from the list but theres certainly some room for improvement.

What are your thoughts on targeted and contextual ads? We live in an advertising powered world, what would you do to make it better? Do you fear the Blade Runner style blimps shoving ads down your throat will be next? Or will we all be like Tom Cruise in Minority Report freaking out because retinal scans at a retailer knew who we were?

Plaxo Aquired by Comcast

2008-05-20T15:13:00.001-07:00

A Letter from the CEO and Founders

Dear Plaxo member,

We are excited to announce some of the biggest news in the history of Plaxo. Plaxo has signed a definitive agreement** to be acquired by Comcast, the nation's leading provider of entertainment, information and communications products and services. We've got at least a few months to go before the acquisition is completed, but we wanted to send you this note to let you know what's coming up and how it affects you and your account.

Plaxo will remain an independent brand, organization and entity. We've been busy at work on our networked address book service and our next-generation social network, Pulse (if it's been a while, please come back and check out all the new features). And, through additional projects with Comcast, we'll be able to take these services to a lot more users and places than we could on our own... including the TV, phone and more.

If you'd like to read more about some of the great new things we're planning, please read our official announcement.

So, what does this mean for current Plaxo members like you? The services you know and enjoy from Plaxo will not only continue to exist, but will also continue to evolve and improve. We will continue to make our basic services free, and we will continue to serve customers in multiple languages across the world. But, we'll now be able to invest even more in our services, and we will enhance them with more users and more content available across a wider array of devices.

We will also continue to protect your privacy and give you control of your information. We will continue to protect your data with one of the strongest privacy policies, which will remain in effect even after the transition. And, we'll continue to be a strong advocate for the open social web.

We've put together a quick Q&A about your privacy, account and your data.

Last, we'd like to extend an enormous thank you. Whether you've been a Plaxo user for a long time or just recently joined Pulse, we'd like to thank you for making Plaxo a vibrant network. We are excited to open a new chapter today and look forward to helping you keep in touch with the people you care about.

Sincerely,

Ben Golub, Chief Executive Officer
Cameron Ring, Founder and Chief Architect
Todd Masonis, Founder and Vice President of Products

**We are not releasing financial details of the transaction. The acquisition is subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals, and is expected to close in the near future.

Is FriendFeed Doomed?

2008-05-20T09:25:00.000-07:00

Is FriendFeed Doomed? | sarahintampa: "Facebook and Google realize that people are tired of filling out profile after profile, uploading user picture after user picture, connecting to friend after friend… on site after site after site. In “the real world”, we have one social graph of our friends and one identity. Both are centrally located in our brain. We block and expose different facets of our identity to different parts of our graph. This is how the web should, and will, work. Google and Facebook want to be our digital, social brains.
And so it is that those two have launched efforts to allow their users to transport the graphs that they’ve built from within their walled gardens onto the wider Internet. If they succeed in this, Facebook and Google (or whichever wins over the other) will have succeeded in becoming the one-stop shops for your online identity. When you visit a website, you’ll no longer have to create your identity — Facebook or Google will load it for you. You’ll be able to concentrate on leveraging your identity in the context of the website you’re visiting and the services it provides."

Charter Customer Pays $71,540 for Lifetime Internet Acces

2008-05-17T17:50:00.001-07:00

Congratulations winning bidder Lawrenceville, GA. This guy is the smartest man alive.

read more | digg story

The TSA, Digg and the future of the Internet(s)

2008-05-13T10:56:00.003-07:00

A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine. -- Thomas Jefferson

I often waste time reading many articles on the social media site, Digg. Recently the user base has greatly increased as more and more people have found the site. Since I joined a couple of years ago the content that makes the front page has changed significantly. Many "old school" Digg users come from a techy/gamer background much like myself, often converts from the even older Slashdot. Recently many of these users have begun to become frustrated with Digg and its common to see comments about how they are "leaving" Digg.

I've also run into an increasing number of interesting and down right scary articles about the TSA. From a woman who was forced to remove her nipple rings with agents snickering to denial of air marshals from being allowed to board, the TSA seems to be in real trouble. Did I mention the man who returned to report he'd accidentally brought a gun through security and was then charged for it? These increasing failures are not dissimilar to the issues being suffered by Digg.

In fact these all seem to be failings of most any system. I watched a fascinating video by Jonathan Zittrain the other day about the Future of the Internet. The basic premise of this eighty-three minute(60 minutes + Q&A) long video was about how the internet (and many systems like it) began as a generative system and how it is now becoming a restrictive system. Examples were how in the beginning when you connected to the internet you were presented with a blank prompt and then how companies like CompuServ began to decide what options you should see and provided pretty buttons with which to guide you. We can see this same sort of progression in nearly any social system. In the beginning the system functions great but as it gains momentum and "users" the system has to put in place more and more structure. Just like in the beginning when there was no such thing as airport security. Another thought that is brought up in the video is how cosmologists are required to have a license...why shouldn't programmers with whom we trust far more valuable things to have a license? I don't exactly have a lot of reasons for or against this idea!

All in all where do we find the balance in our systems being restrictive and controlled and "generative" or open? How do we balance the inevitable problems that come with having a growing system and maintaining that pioneering spirit that creates the greatness of what we all enjoy? Are you happy with having your options controlled for you? Perhaps you can see what I see in all of this, how we progressed from the Wild West to the Wilds of the Internet to where we are today...the days of hacking and phreaking to the days of spam and adware. Do we need to reboot the system like the Matrix? are we living in the Matrix? Is it better to live in the Wild West where everyone needs a gun but everyone has a more equal chance or are we better off in a world where we are spoon fed everything and have become docile sheep? What will be the next "Wild West"? This is the question that will make us all rich if we can spot it...not unlike the gold rush of the wild west, or the dot com age recently past, where will the next hot spot be?

miranda mowbray 2007 or an introduction to HitTail and LongTail

2008-05-10T10:14:00.004-07:00

Aside from the misleading title this post is about a cool service that I've been following for awhile now. Hittail is an interesting service that studies what they term as "long tail" keywords. Long tail is taking advantage of a niche. Longtail is all about targeting niche categories instead of common, popular and hard to target subjects.

"The distribution and inventory costs of these businesses allow them to realize significant profit out of selling small volumes of hard-to-find items to many customers, instead of only selling large volumes of a reduced number of popular items. The group of persons that buy the hard-to-find or "non-hit" items is the customer demographic called the Long Tail." -- Wikipedia

One of the long tail keywords/phrases that they've said my site would benefit from targeting was miranda mowbray 2007. Now while I have no clue why someone would end up on this blog after searching a phrase like that, they have a ton of good information and very likely can help larger, high traffic blogs in building greater organic search results.

Irish data protection chief in leaked report 'hack' | The Register

2008-05-09T04:53:00.000-07:00

Irish data protection chief in leaked report 'hack' | The Register: "There's red faces at the office of the Data Protection Commissioner this morning after a blogger lifted an upcoming official report off its website and published it early.

As a result, data from the Data Protection Commissioner's Annual Report was published on a local blog on Wednesday a day before its official release on Thursday morning, state broadcaster RTE reports."

Ah the perils of CMS. If it's a draft or not yet published then I shouldn't be able to guess the URL!

The blog leaking the information can be found here.

How to avoid getting hooked

2008-04-30T05:48:00.000-07:00

Official Google Blog: How to avoid getting hooked: "What it all comes down to is if someone asks you to share personal or other sensitive information online, take a moment to think through the request carefully. Doing so will help you stay safe online, and help us all put phishers out of business."

Brain-plug weapons could provide war crime immunity

2008-04-23T17:21:00.001-07:00

An American law student has published an analysis of international law regarding war crimes that might be committed using future brain-interface-controlled weapon systems.

read more | digg story

Walmart: Evil Empire or Media made Monster?

2008-03-28T10:12:00.004-07:00

I just read an article on a very sad situation. A woman who used to work for Wal-mart was in a severe car accident several years ago. Her Wal-Mart insurance paid for her medical bills that were a result of this accident. Her family was given an award of $1 million. Many people are outraged that Wal-Mart has sued this family and won the rights to $470,000. While I can't agree with either side I think the true issue here and the real reason that this has ever happened is completely different.

First, Wal-Mart may share the cost of its employees health insurance but I'm pretty sure that every employee pays into this system to receive benefits. That means if you're paying into the health plan, you pay more if Wal-Mart doesn't get any of this money. Second, was the amount of this money in consideration of all of her medical expenses including the ones that Wal-Mart covered? If so then Wal-Mart is fairly entitled to at least a portion of this money.

The next thing that outrages people is that a company that had 90 billion in sales third quarter of last year is suing over such a paltry amount of money. My first issue is that we've stopped talking about the employee funded health plan and now we are talking about sales figures. my second issue is that this great big number is a sales number. A quick look at Wal-Mart's 2007 financial statement shows that they only made about 80 billion last year. They also have 27 billion in debt. That leaves them with on 53 billion in available profits. Wal-Mart has over 1.9 million employees (again according to their 2007 financial report). Now lets keep in mind that Wal-Mart being a good company and wanting to make money for their employees and stock holders (!) will also have money tied up in expansions and inventory. They also have to keep some money around for the many lawsuits that they are and may be facing.

I am not on Wal-Mart's side. I honestly think that the problem here is that the system is flawed. How much money the lawyers took from the family in this case is not given but I'd imagine that it was a significant amount. In addition to that both Wal-Mart and this family have probably spent as much money on legal fees as they have on medical care for the lady involved in the accident. Should Wal-Mart have taken this money? Maybe not but their 1.9 million employees will not have to pay as much for their medical bills if this is done. Once again, I'm not a fan of the greater good, just want to know if this situation is really truly the sob story that it is. Plus I really don't like Wal-Mart, I just want people to think a bit before they react.

A powerful thought

2007-12-11T08:28:00.001-08:00

I was reading the last interview ever given by Kurt Vonnegut and was struck by the following which I quote:

We live in a very visual world today. Do words have any power left?

I was at a symposium some years back with my friends Joseph Heller and William Styron, both dead now, and we were talking about the death of the novel and the death of poetry, and Styron pointed out that the novel has always been an elitist art form. It's an art form for very few people, because only a few can read very well. I've said that to open a novel is to arrive in a music hall and be handed a viola. You have to perform. [Laughs.] To stare at horizontal lines of phonetic symbols and Arabic numbers and to be able to put a show on in your head, it requires the reader to perform. If you can do it, you can go whaling in the South Pacific with Herman Melville, or you can watch Madame Bovary make a mess of her life in Paris. With pictures and movies, all you have to do is sit there and look at them and it happens to you.

Summary of my Last Year on the Computer

2007-11-08T13:19:00.000-08:00

(source unknown)
I must send my thanks to whoever sent me the one about poop in the glue on envelopes because I now have to use a wet towel with every envelope that needs sealing.

Also, now I have to scrub the top of every can I open for the same reason.

I no longer have any savings because I gave it to a sick girl (Penny Brown) who is about to die in the hospital for the 1,387,258th time.

I no longer have any money at all, but that will change once I receive the $15,000 that Bill Gates/Microsoft and AOL are sending me for participating in their special e-mail program.

I no longer worry about my soul because I have 363,214 angels looking out for me, and St. Theresa's novena has granted my every wish.

I no longer eat KFC because their chickens are actually horrible mutant freaks with no eyes or feathers.

I no longer use cancer-causing deodorants even though I smell like a water buffalo on a hot day

Thanks to you, I have learned that my prayers only get answered if I forward an email to seven of my friends and make a wish within five minutes.

Because of your concern I no longer drink Coca Cola because it can remove toilet stains.

I no longer can buy gasoline without taking someone along to watch the car so a serial killer won't crawl in my back seat when I'm pumping gas.

I no longer drink Pepsi or Dr. Pepper since the people who make these products are atheists who refuse to put "Under God" on their cans.

I no longer use Saran wrap in the microwave because it causes cancer.

And thanks for letting me know I can't boil a cup of water in the microwave anymore because it will blow up in my face...disfiguring me for life.

I no longer check the coin return on pay phones because I could be pricked with a needle infected with AIDS.

I no longer go to shopping malls because someone will drug me with a perfume sample and rob me.

I no longer receive packages from UPS or FedEx since they are actually Al Qaeda in disguise.

I no longer shop at Target since they are French and don't support our American troops or the Salvation Army.

I no longer answer the phone because someone will ask me to dial a number for which I will get a phone bill with calls to Jamaica , Uganda, Singapore, and Uzbekistan.

I no longer buy expensive cookies from Neiman Marcus since I now have their recipe.

Thanks to you, I can't use anyone's toilet but mine because a big brown African spider is lurking under the seat to cause me instant death when it bites my butt.

And thanks to your great advice, I can't ever pick up $5.00 I dropped in the parking lot because it probably was placed there by a sex molester waiting underneath my car to grab my leg.

I can no longer drive my car because I can't buy gas from certain gas companies!

If you don't send this e-mail to at least 144,000 people in the next 70 minutes, a large dove with diarrhea will land on your head at 5:00 PM this afternoon and the fleas from 12 camels will infest your back, causing you to grow a hairy hump. I know this will occur because it actually happened to a friend of my next door neighbor's ex-mother-in-law's second husband's cousin's beautician's former dog groomer's brother's football coach's English teacher's father's fiancé ...

Have a wonderful day....

Oh, by the way.....
A South American scientist from Argentina, after a lengthy study, has discovered that people with insufficient brain activity read their e-mail with their hand on the mouse.

Don't bother taking it off now, it's too late.
(for those who can't see it this is sarcasm ;) )

New Greasemonkey script

2007-10-18T21:00:00.000-07:00

I am proud to announce version 0.01 of the KoLA Forums greasemonkey script. This script allows you to load the KoLA forums inside the main KoL screen. See it in action here. The code is very simple and you can view it here. Download it from userscripts.org.

Basically it looks for the link back to the town on the clan hall page and inserts a groovy picture link following it which then loads the forums inside the frame instead of opening in a new tab/window.

There are no future additions planned but we'll see. Please post comments here or on the forum thread and let me know if you like it!

Healthy Tips for a Happy Life

2007-09-25T15:02:00.000-07:00

Q: I've heard that cardiovascular exercise can prolong life; is this
true?

A: Your heart is only good for so many beats, and that's it... don't waste them on exercise. Everything wears out eventually. Speeding up your heart will not make you live longer; that's like saying you can extend the life of your car by driving it faster. Want to live longer? Take a nap.

Q: Should I cut down on meat and eat more fruits and vegetables?

A: You must grasp logistical efficiencies. What does a cow eat? Hay and corn. And what are these? Vegetables. So a steak is nothing more than an efficient mechanism of delivering vegetables to your system. Need grain? Eat chicken. Beef is also a good source of field grass (green leafy vegetable). And a pork chop can give you 100% of your recommended daily allowance of vegetable products.

Q: Should I reduce my alcohol intake?

A: No, not at all. Wine is made from fruit. Brandy is distilled wine, that means they take the water out of the fruity bit so you get even more of the goodness that way. Beer is also made out of grain. Bottoms up!

Q: How can I calculate my body/fat ratio?

A: Well, if you have a body and you have fat, your ratio is one to one. If you have two bodies, your ratio is two to one, etc.

Q: What are some of the advantages of participating in a regular exercise program?

A: Can't think of a single one, sorry. My philosophy is: No Pain...Good!

Q: Aren't fried foods bad for you?

A: YOU'RE NOT LISTENING!!! .... Foods are fried these days in vegetable oil. In fact, they're permeated in it. How could getting more vegetables be bad for you?

Q: Will sit-ups help prevent me from getting a little soft around the middle?

A: Definitely not! When you exercise a muscle, it gets bigger. You should only be doing sit-ups if you want a bigger stomach.

Q: Is chocolate bad for me?

A: Are you crazy? HELLO Cocoa beans! Another vegetable!!! It's the best feel-good food around!

Q: Is swimming good for your figure?

A: If swimming is good for your figure, explain whales to me.

Q: Is getting in-shape important for my lifestyle?

A: Hey! 'Round' is a shape!

Well, I hope this has cleared up any misconceptions you may have had
about food and diets.

AND......

For those of you who watch what you eat, here's the final word on
nutrition and health. It's a relief to know the truth after all those
conflicting nutritional studies.

1. The Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

2. The Mexicans eat a lot of fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

3. The Chinese drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

4. The Italians drink a lot of red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

5. The Germans drink a lot of beers and eat lots of sausages and fats and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

CONCLUSION

Eat and drink what you like.
Speaking English is apparently what kills you. LMAO

A friend is someone who thinks you're a good egg -- even though you're slightly cracked

Please note this is a joke!

Slightly less than a thousand words about me

2007-09-10T07:16:00.000-07:00

I'd like to think of myself as a unique person who is a bit weird. I've done a million things that make me who I am and I regret very few of them.

I've repo'ed cars, been bounty hunting. I've chased people down in my car. I've been chased down in my car. I've hiked Pike's Peak. I've gotten shit-faced on Gold Camp Road. I've 'stolen' a car. I've sold computers, fixed computers, built computers and broken computers. I've shot guns at computers. I've owned a gun. I've owned a few cars and driven a ton more. I've ridden/driven semi-trucks, buses and cars cross country many times. I've been tubing, I've thrown snowballs in July, I've frozen my ass off in a mountain stream. I've jumped in a lake 1 degree above freezing because someone said I wouldn't do it. I've

touched the Atlantic on both sides. I've swum in the Gulf of Mexico.

I've been stung by a jellyfish, chased by a dog and startled by a fish. I've been fresh water fishing, turkey hunting and mountain goat watching. I've been snow skiing, water skiing and had my swimsuit turned inside out by a boat driver. I love water, snow and rain.

I've made friends, I've lost friends, I've gotten some of them back. I've hated myself for my obnoxiousness. I've become nothing like who I thought I wanted to be and wouldn't have it any other way. I love my friends. When I say I would give my life for my friends I mean that in a way that no one can understand. I loved and been hurt, I've loved and been loved back, I've been loved and hurt someone else. I've wanted things I can't have. I've wished I'd opened my mouth and wished I'd kept it closed. I've had things I wasn't supposed to have. I've been certain, confused, lost and found.

I've traveled to Utah, Arizona, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Iowa, Ohio, Tennessee, North Carolina, Florida, Alabama, Missouri, Mississippi, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, New Mexico, Louisiana, and Arkansas. I've lived in Texas, Colorado, Michigan, South Carolina, Nevada, and Georgia. I've been to Mexico twice and Africa once. I want to visit more of Africa, Europe, Alaska, the Caribbean, Hawaii, and most of the rest of the world.

I love my job but I hate having to work. I love watching TV but I hate how I can't focus on other people at the same time. I spend much of my day communicating with people but some days I just want to buy a cabin in the middle of the mountains and disappear. I'm random but I like to plan ahead sometimes. I love to be the center of attention in small groups but I prefer to stand behind the scenes in larger groups. I love to be the goto guy and I love to have an answer for everything. I hate that I interrupt people that I love.

I want to understand this crazy world. Why does bad shit happen to good people? I don't believe in religion. I believe in God. I believe that my relationship with God is whats important, not whether or not I goto church every week. I appreciate the way I grew up but I would never wish it on anyone. I hate the assumptions of the culture I was raised in. I can't stand people who judge me or feel they are better than me. I give everyone a chance to prove who they are instead of making them prove who they are not.

I hate bigots. (which probably makes me a bigot but oh well)

I believe in less government. I hate that candidates I can actually feel 100% behind never even make it into the news media or barely get any coverage. I hate the news media and the sheep who take what they are fed at face value. I support the military.

I'm lazy. I'm out of shape. I'm self righteous. I'm a dork. I'm silly. I'm annoying. I'm a jerk. I'm too nice. I'm an asshole. I'm a best friend. I'm a jackass. I'm a good listener. I'm a good story teller. I'm a lover. I'm a fighter. I'm a smoker. I'm a drinker. I'm a sleepyhead. I'm an insomniac.

And so all that said, if you're my friend, I'm honored that you would put up with my antics and sad because I know I'll hurt you or offend you sooner or later. But I hope you know I love you and you'll never hesitate to ask for anything.

Social Experiment

2007-08-07T12:01:00.001-07:00

Now this is just wrong but so so funny!

Crazed NZ fanboy mows down churchgoer

2007-07-24T05:48:00.000-07:00

Crazy MAC lovers!

Crazed NZ fanboy mows down churchgoer | The Register: "Crazed NZ fanboy mows down churchgoer
'Deliberately drove' at Methodist congregation
By Lester Haines → More by this author
Published Tuesday 24th July 2007 08:49 GMT
Mobile computing: Opportunities and risk - Free whitepaper

A 58-year-old woman is in an Auckland hospital with 'life threatening' injuries after being hit by car as she left the city's Methodist Mission Church, 3 News reports.

The driver of the vehicle reportedly 'deliberately drove' at the church after jumping several red lights at speed, narrowly missing several pedestrians. Witnesses report seeing the car approaching from a distance of half a kilometre on the wrong side of the road before accelerating towards its target.

Jade Andrews said: 'He sped up and I quickly shut my door and jumped out of the way because he nearly clipped me.'

The impact with the church - described as sounding like a bomb going off - sprayed the exiting congregation with broken glass. Survivor Rosa Kim recounted: 'We heard the sounds of the impact of the crashed glass. I got a sore nose. She [the victim] moaned from the pain.'

The driver was 'injured but conscious', and as police attempted to extricate him from his motor, he 'clutched his laptop computer and screamed the name of Apple's CEO Steve Jobs'. A fireman later told 3 News "

Mobiles blamed for cyberbullying, dubbed 'offensive weapons' - Engadget

2007-06-27T13:47:00.000-07:00

Mobiles blamed for cyberbullying, dubbed 'offensive weapons' - Engadget: "As if the UK didn't have enough gadget-related mischievousness going on, here's another liter of fuel for the perpetual fire. NASUWT -- that's the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers for those out of the loop -- is suggesting that mobile phones be classified as 'potentially offensive weapons' and banned from school premises, all because a select few students found it necessary to use their handset to engage in 'cyberbullying.' Apparently, some students have used the camera function in their phones to snap pictures of their instructor, only to then post said images on 'rating websites that can damage teachers' self esteem and careers.' Sheesh, first iPods, now mobiles -- what are kids to do? Study?"

HP Pushes Open Source Grid Computing

2007-06-07T04:43:00.000-07:00

Brazilians go nuts for grid computing | The Register: "Brazilian boffins have developed a peer-to-peer grid computing system called OurGrid, which enables members to freely donate and use spare compute cycles.

Now stable, the open source software been picked up by SegHidro, a government-backed research project in north-west Brazil which is using compute power from OurGrid for tasks such as simulating and managing reservoirs and water-distribution networks, plus weather and climate forecasting.

OurGrid was co-developed by HP Labs and Brazil's UFCG (Federal University of Campina Grande). Although most OurGrid peers are still local, it has begun spreading outside Brazil, with users in other countries downloading the client software and joining as peers, according to HP Labs researcher Miranda Mowbray.

She said that while the consumers of OurGrid power pay nothing, the system includes a resource allocation mechanism which works like an exchange of favours. It resembles a BitTorrent for grid computing, with spare capacity going into a pool for any user - including yourself - to draw upon.

'A P2P grid is a good way of describing it,' she added. 'The donation of your spare computing power happens automatically when you join. Joining OurGrid is a much simpler process than joining traditional grids and doesn't require any negotiations with human beings about your use of OurGrid's resources.'
"

The article goes on but the concept is really pretty cool. I do wonder about the power that is used up as an idle processor draws less power... The cost may be inconsequential to most users but on a large scale it could be a big impact to the environment(?)

Spanish town votes in Elvis flares and nude pool

2007-06-03T14:57:00.000-07:00

Spanish town votes in Elvis flares and nude pool | Oddly Enough | Reuters.com: "MADRID (Reuters) - Council meetings in Reus could take a turn for the bizarre after the northern Spanish town voted in a councillor who promised to turn up dressed as Elvis Presley and wants to turn the square into a nudist pool.

Ariel Santamaria, a former postman, stood for a small independent party dressed in full Elvis regalia complete with sideburns and won enough votes last weekend to take a council seat.

It remains to be seen how other parties will take his proposals for Reus, a town of 100,000 people near Barcelona.

His platform included plans to paint the town hall pink, plant marijuana in the parks and give the town police global positioning systems to find people who might need a light while rolling a joint."

Feeling left out? Get your PC infected today!

2007-05-17T13:30:00.000-07:00

Feeling left out? Get your PC infected today! | The Register: "A spoof ad campaign offering surfers the chance to infect their PCs with malware has drawn plenty of interest.

In an experiment, a security researcher bought a Google ad campaign to promote a site ostensibly offering to infest visitors' Windows PCs with computer viruses. The 'click here to be infected' campaign was displayed 259,723 times and clicked on 409 times, at a click-through rate of 0.16 per cent or around one in 500. The cost of the six-month campaign was $23, or around 5c per chance to infect a PC.

That's the kind of figure that might be recouped by selling access to compromised zombie machines, providing hackers had enough funds up front, although there are undoubtedly cheaper ways to achieve the same objective. 'I'm sure I could get much more traffic with a higher Google Adwords budget and a better designed ad,' Didier Stevens writes.

The ad was pretty unambiguous in its intent:

Drive-By Download Is your PC virus-free? Get it infected here!

Users clicking on the ad were directed to the domain drive-by-download.info domain. Domain featuring .info are notorious for hosting malware. In this case, no malware or scripts were ever hosted on the site, but those visiting the site weren't to know it was just an experiment.

It'd be nice to think that those that clicked on the ads were cyber-savvy types with fully patched systems who were simply curious about the bizarre offer. But we doubt it.

As the SANS' Institute's Internet Storm Centre notes, the experiment provides evidence that some people will "click on anything".

Tricking users into visiting sites contaminated with malicious scripts has begun to outpace malware-infected email as the main means to deliver malware over recent months. Didier Stevens' experiment provides evidence that such malware trickery might be effective even without convoluted redirection chains or elaborate deception schemes, further illustrating how dangerous it is to visit "dodgy" websites. ®

YouTube to remove some clips mocking Thai king

2007-05-13T09:09:00.000-07:00

YouTube to remove some clips mocking Thai king: "Video-sharing Web site YouTube has agreed to block four clips Thailand says insulted its revered king, the latest twist in a spat that has stirred fierce debate about freedom of expression on the Internet.

However, in a letter to Communications Minister Sitthichai Pookaiyaudom, YouTube owner Google said two other videos that had incurred the wrath of Thailand's military government would stay as they did not break lese-majeste laws, which cover insults to the dignity of the king."

Google search by employer not illegal, say judges

2007-05-10T20:26:00.000-07:00

Google search by employer not illegal, say judges: "Does this decision give the green light for employers to start Googling their employees? Possibly. It appears in this particular case that the search only played a tangential part to the overall, much more serious evidence against the employee. However, the judges' decision does seem to say that the Google search was no big deal, leaving the question of whether Capell's decision would have been different had the search been conducted before finding out about Mullins' other infractions unanswered."

Freelancing Part 1, making money online by working

2007-05-09T19:49:00.000-07:00

In this series I will explain how I make a fair bit of cash online. First I will show you several sites that allow those with various skills and talents to offer their services and bid on projects. Later in this series I will provide tips on how to make your profile effective, pleasing clients and more.

oDesk
One of my favorite freelancing sites is oDesk. oDesk handles most projects on an hourly basis. They provide a huge number of ways to build your profile and help you stand out in your area(s) of expertise. Your profile includes not just a resume but allows you to take certification/ability tests on subjects ranging from English skills to PHP skills. If you are looking for longer term projects oDesk is a great place to look. They have tons of projects but their testing system makes it easier to prove your ability. You can view my profile on oDesk. You can read more about oDesk and a trend that Business Week calls homeshoring in this article. Because one of the biggest differences with oDesk is that they pay on an hourly basis for most projects you'll see several things that you won't see with other freelance sites. The largest is that they require you to install a program on your system to track your hours. This program not only tracks what you are working on based on what you tell it, it also takes screenshots of your desktop every few minutes so that the company you're working for can ensure that you really are working on their projects. Many projects on oDesk involve more than one freelancer and so they use a version tracking system for the code called Subversion or SVN.

Stay tuned for more reviews of freelancing sites and my tips.

since 1955

2007-05-04T10:06:00.000-07:00

A crusty old Marine Sergeant Major found himself at a gala event hosted by
a local liberal arts college.
There was no shortage of extremely young idealistic ladies in attendance,
one of whom approached the Sergeant Major for conversation.

"Excuse me, Sergeant Major, but you seem to be a very serious man. Is
something bothering you?"

"Negative, ma'am. Just serious by nature."

The young lady looked at his Awards and Decorations and said, "It looks
like you have seen a lot of action.

" Yes, ma'am, a lot of action."

The young lady, tiring of trying to start up a conversation, said, "You
know, you should lighten up a little. Relax and enjoy yourself."

The Sergeant Major just stared at her in his serious manner.

Finally the young lady said, "You know, I hope you don't take this the
wrong way, but when is the last time you had sex?"

"1955, ma'am."

"Well, there you are. You really need to chill out and quit taking
everything so seriously! I mean, no sex since 1955!

She took his hand and led him to a private room where she proceeded to
"relax" him several times.
Afterwards, panting for breath, she leaned against his bare chest and said,
"Wow, you sure didn't forget much since 1955!"

The Sergeant Major, glancing at his watch, said in his serious voice, "I
hope not, it's only 2130 now."

Drunk deposits horse in bank for night

2007-04-26T13:23:00.000-07:00

Drunk deposits horse in bank for night Reuters.com: "BERLIN (Reuters) - A German man called on his bank for an unusual service when he was too tired and drunk to go home -- he bedded down there for the night with his horse.

The man, identified as Wolfgang H. by German media, went to sleep next to cash machines in the local branch of the Mittelbrandenburgische Sparkasse in Wiesenburg southwest of Berlin after unsaddling his horse Sammy and closing the door.

A spokeswoman for the bank said that aside from an undesirable deposit made by his horse inside the building, the 40-year-old account holder had not breached any house rules.

'The horse was otherwise very well behaved and kept a good watch on his master,' she said Wednesday. 'Perhaps we should have a supply of oats and water on the premises in future.'

Another customer discovered the horse and rider as he slept and informed police, who asked the man to leave.

A police spokesman said that since the horse's droppings had been removed, the matter was now closed."

A letter to Scifi - WTF is with this ECW show?

2007-04-17T00:29:00.000-07:00

Why does Scifi carry this show? Its clearly labeled on your site as "sports-entertainment" a label that I believe is inaccurate. I find this show repulsive and I want to turn the TV off every time a commercial for it comes on. I can't see how the show fits into the Scifi network. It brings down great shows like the new Painkiller Jane series (which is awesome so far), the Stargate shows and Eureka. This show is silly, stupid and pointless. While many might categorize most television as such the truth is that this show is a joke. How does this show fit the Scifi theme? I watch Scifi daily but I refuse to watch this show. Does this show draw a loyal repeat audience for other shows that Scifi carries? I can't see a correlation between ECW and any other programming that Scifi currently carries. It concerns me that the network might be headed in a different direction. Granted Scifi caters to a niche audience who can be difficult read but I feel that this is the type of program that will gain short term viewers but ostracize your primary viewing audience and result in a long term drop in viewer loyalty. If you can, please explain to me why you keep this show on the air.

Thanks.

We'll see if they respond. I'll post the response here. Sent to: feedback@scifi.com

Where Are The Web 2.0 IPOs?

2007-04-11T05:07:00.000-07:00

Where Are The Web 2.0 IPOs? - Forbes.com: "But venture capitalists say that while the boom is back, there is a fundamental change: The era of the overnight IPO, they say, is gone forever. That means that almost all of the Web 2.0 companies that have sprung up in the past few years simply aren't mature enough to go public."

Welch's strategy is par for the course for most Web 2.0 companies. Instead of floating their own IPO, they hope to get hoovered up by a Web 1.0 veteran that's already gone public.

I agree. Many companies are still trying to rush ideas out there but they are looking harder to build a product that attracts Google or another company in order to get bought out. Some companies are easy to spot since this type of business model sucks.

Similarity searches accelerate P2P downloads by 30-70 percent

2007-04-11T02:43:00.001-07:00

Computer researchers report dramatic accelerations in P2P file sharing using a protocol that hunts down similar files and grabs the pieces that are identical.

read more | digg story

Who "owns" the Moon?

2007-04-10T15:50:00.001-07:00

Entrepreneur Dennis Hope exploited a loophole in the 1967 UN Outer Space Treaty and he has been claiming ownership of the Earth's Moon - and seven planets and their moons.

http://www.lunarembassy.com/

read more | digg story

Spell check the bane of bloggers

2007-04-09T17:58:00.000-07:00

I've been reading a lot of different blogs lately. While I enjoy the information and feel that blogging is an excellent way to communicate I've been frustrated by a trend I've noticed recently. This trend involves people posting without re-reading what they post. A blog I just finished reading had phrases like "it will be a good thing to you." and "Talking about Link Exchange, It remains me". In the second phrase I believe from the context that writer meant to say "reminds." Perhaps this is just a result of being raised by an excellent father who happened to be a writer/editor or a result of the many college papers I've written. My frustration is that that with the advent of spell checkers everywhere it has become clear that people no longer read what they write, instead they just run spell check and forget about it. Perhaps this is also because many of the people on the internet speak/write more than one language and English is not their first language. Now I know that my writing is far from perfect but I feel that people should make an effort to use correct grammar not just correct spelling. Ah the perils of modern technology.

Wow! The VoIP blog is looking good

2007-04-06T11:27:00.000-07:00

If you haven't visited my VoIP blog you should now. I've updated and freshened the theme, did some cool AJAX menu stuff and some nice little graphics tweaks. I've also renamed the blog to The Tin Can VoIP Blog. Suggestions? Questions? Problems? I'd like to hear about them. Just drop a line on this post and I'll respond quickly! Now its time to work on the rest of the network.

MediaMaster Take 2

2007-04-05T06:29:00.000-07:00

A couple of days ago I mentioned a new service that I found called MediaMaster. I have since spent some time playing with the service and trying out the features. I've uploaded several albums and decided that it was time for an update. The service responds very quickly and I was very pleased to discover that I could upload a track and play a different track at the same time. Not everyone will think that this is a great feature but I was surprised. I rather expected to have to wait until the track was done. Being as its a 2 hour clip I would have been in for a bit of a wait. The user interface while feeling a bit too much like iTunes is clean and efficient. The organization of the music is somewhat clunky and it took me a minute or two to figure out that you had to drag songs around in order to add them to a playlist. On the whole I found this service to feature top notch quality, my 320kbps tracks still sound top notch and the included freebie tracks are encoded at 192kbps and sound like it too. I believe that this service has tons of potential. One feature that I would like to see and fits well with the intended future concept of being a more social oriented site is the ability to "tag" my music collection. Anyone who spends time blogging or on various social networking sites is very familiar with this process and I have found that it can be a very effective method of organization. I intend to experiment with the embeded and streaming audio features that MediaMaster offers soon.

I intend to keep an eye on this company. If they can find a method to over come the biggest roadblock in their future then I believe that they will have a very bright future indeed. That roadblock is the recording industry. While we all know that the recording industry's current business model is flawed and falling apart it still has much more money and power than a small startup like MediaMaster. It will be interesting to see how this issue is handled in the future especially with the concepts of being able to listen to other users music and such. If MediaMaster were to get some artists or labels on board using the site much like myspace has been able to become a haven for indie bands first and main stream bands later they might just have a good shot. Stay tuned I'm sure the ride will be fun.

APOD: 2007 April 1- Americans Defeat Russians in First Space Quidditch Match

2007-04-04T17:55:00.000-07:00

APOD: 2007 April 1- Americans Defeat Russians in First Space Quidditch Match: "A historic first Space Quidditch match came to a spectacular conclusion last night as astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria caught the Golden Snitch to give the Americans a hard fought victory over the Russians. 'The Russians used brilliant strategy, but only NASA had the T2KQMU (Thunderbolt 2000 Quidditch Maneuvering Unit),' commented Lopez-Alegria, pictured above squeezing the elusive Golden Snitch in his left hand. Happy April Fools Day from the folks at APOD. In reality, Astronauts Jeff Wisoff and Lopez-Alegria are shown space-walking in 2001 October during a space shuttle mission to help build the International Space Station."

Is iTunes changing the way 20-somethings watch TV?

2007-04-04T17:20:00.001-07:00

So why are these shows huge hits on iTunes at $1.99 an episode when many of these shows can’t attract viewers for FREE on broadcast TV? Simple. Younger viewers, college students, largely, are finding iTunes’ “On-Demand” style of television viewing fits their hectic schedule better than appointment TV

I tend to agree. I watch a lot of TV when I have nothing better to do but I often have to find a copy of my favorite shows as I frequently am busy either working or out with friends when prime time hits. If I had the cash and desire a Tivo would be a perfect device for me. I believe that these on-demand models are the future for television. Not only do these models allow the television companies to better track popularity they also allow much more targeted advertising. I personally hate advertising but I understand that it essentially runs our economy and so I accept it. When I can I avoid it and like most people I tune it out. Unless I am looking for a specific product it is very very rare that I ever see an ad or commercial that makes me stop and say "huh" and consider even buying the product.

read more | digg story

Combine Google Maps With Your Photo Album

2007-04-04T04:32:00.001-07:00

This site has a tutorial on using Google Maps with your photo album. Looks awesome. Each album has a latitude and longitude so it shows up as a pin on a map of the world. When you click a pin, up pops the highlight photo for the albums at that location. Makes a great front page to a gallery. Includes a demo with 200 albums.

read more | digg story

So long iPod meet MediaMaster

2007-04-04T00:34:00.000-07:00

I've managed a large amount of my life and my data online for a long time and Google has bolstered this trend with a great number of handy web based applications. My favorites include Gmail, Google Notebook and Google Bookmarks. Not to mention the ever handy Google Docs and Calendar. It just so happens that today I discovered another application that will join this list and is not from Google. Meet MediaMaster.com. I'm still testing out the site but they take uploads of almost any form of digital music and allow you to store, play, organize and stream your music collection. Currently the service has no limit on the amount you can upload but it is still in beta. You can also publish your music. I haven't finished uploading music yet so I'll have to play around with some of the other features and post a final review later but for the office bound computer junkie who is tired of carrying an iPod or can't afford one this appears to be an excellent method of taking your music to any computer no matter where you are. For those of us with more than one PC this is a great option. The social networking implications of this site are very interesting and I have a feeling that if they can monetize the site correctly while keeping it either free or low cost they may become a very major player.

WiFi in the Sky

2007-04-03T21:14:00.000-07:00

The Middle Seat - WSJ.com: "After years of discussion and delay, U.S. airlines will start offering in-flight Internet connections, instant messaging and wireless email within 12 months, turning the cabin into a WiFi 'hotspot.' Carriers are expected to start making announcements around the end of the summer, with service beginning early next year."

Firefox OS: Why My Hard Drive & Software are Obsolete - lifehack.org

2007-04-03T16:08:00.000-07:00

Firefox OS: Why My Hard Drive & Software are Obsolete - lifehack.org: "While the debate of Windows v. Mac v. Linux rages on, at times rising to a roar in certain circles, I meekly raise my hand and offer a newly emerging fourth choice: none of these operating systems really matter anymore."

So its back

2007-04-03T14:29:00.000-07:00

Nullvariable.com is back! It now points to this page on blogger. Enjoy the new enhancements and check back often for updates. I'll be adding many different features and also using my new googlepage to create a unique experience and bring plenty of useful information into one place.

Google vs. Microsoft: Vying for DoubleClick

2007-04-03T12:53:00.001-07:00

Poised to launch a new ad exchange, the online ad company has plenty to offer the winner in the latest contest between these tech titans

read more | digg story

Google: we will anonymize our server logs!!!!

2007-03-14T21:08:00.001-07:00

When you search on Google, we collect information about your search, such as the query itself, IP addresses and cookie details. Previously, we kept this data for as long as it was useful. Today we're pleased to report a change in our privacy policy: Unless we're legally required to retain log data for longer, we will anonymize our server logs.

read more | digg story

nullvariable.com is no more

2007-03-14T20:56:00.000-07:00

Nullvariable.com is no more, this is now the place for all the posts you used to see there. I'll be back to adding stuff soon. Expect lots of fun groovy tech updates and personal interest stories. I'll be combining blogger and my new googlepage to create my own little brain trust :) You'll get the latest on my various projects and loads of hot tips for all kinds of subjects like VoIP, Asterisk, Trixbox, Google, VMware, Linux, MySpace, web design, graphics, and the internet in general. I plan to develop a lot of information that I've found useful into these sites and maybe you'll find it informative too. If you want to check out whats going on in my personal life you'll want to hit my MySpace page.

aaahhh!

2005-06-10T10:16:00.000-07:00

The Null Variable is now www.nullvariable.com !
Look forward to more frequent content updates and an expansion of features!

Ski Trip!

2005-02-14T17:37:00.000-08:00

Shae and I.

Wheee! Its not Colorado but I had a lot of fun!

Ski Beech

Show Desktop Icon missing?

2005-01-02T18:00:00.000-08:00

from the file-for-future-reference-dept
I've been on a couple of computers here and there where I couldnt get it to give me the ever handy show desktop icon. Well today I figured out how to recreate that and I thought I would share how.

First create a text file on your desktop. Open it up and enter the following information:

[Shell]
Command=2
IconFile=explorer.exe,3
[Taskbar]
Command=ToggleDesktop

Save the file as "Show Desktop" (or anything else you want it really doesnt matter.

Now as long as you have hide extentions for known file names turned off you should be able to change the extentsion from .txt to .scf then just move the icon to your quick links toolbar and you are good to go!

Helpful Holiday Hints

2004-12-26T19:45:00.000-08:00

Alright so who hasn't read an article with this title or something similar right? Well I just wanted to share a few cool things that I know about spyware. You know that new PC that you got for Christmas? Well its only a day or so afterwords but I bet that if it didnt have spyware on it when you pulled it out of the box and unless you are very careful like me you've already go some spyware! So heres a couple of great ways to take care of that. First, you'll need a spyware removal tool (SpySweeper or another). Run it through its paces and you should eliminate most all of you problems with that. Now repeat after me, "There is no such thing as a free lunch." My point in saying this well worn phrase is that many software programs are 'free' they are however not without a price tag. Working in retail for many years now I have seen more computers destroyed by spyware than by anything else (kids, lightning strikes, bullet holes, you name it). Be very careful with free software. All those free screen savers come to you at the price of your freedom. If you are content to share system recources with someone else and tell them where you are going and what you are doing so they can sell you stuff than far be it from me to stop you. But if you would rather not share your personal information and habits then I suggest being more vigilant about where you go and what you download. Being careful only helps if you keep your system protected. A decent firewall and antivirus are essential. If you want to keep driving down the internet super highway be sure to change your oil and keep your computer tuned. Windows updates and anti-virus updates are all automatic anymore. If you do not trust automatic updates, set a specific day aside to download them at least once a week. If you keep an anti-spyware program, anti-virus program, and firewall on your computer you will have the best roadside protection for the internet superhighway that money can buy (besides triple A). Don't be click happy! Use care with what you download.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

PS I love email! Send me some!

Shortage of Posts

2004-11-09T22:30:00.000-08:00

Sorry there have been no updates recently. I have been swamped with two new jobs and school work of late. Hopefully I can continue the writting at some future point. Until then feel free to show your support and desire for my return be emailing me. my email address is: nullvariable At gmail dot com.

More IM worms target Microsoft

2004-10-12T03:05:00.000-07:00

iTnews: "A new worm that spreads via Microsoft's instant messaging client began badgering users this week, several security firms said.

Dubbed Funner, the worm propagates by sending itself to all the contacts listed in the user's copy of MSN Messenger, Microsoft's IM client."

Expert: Online extortion growing more common | Tech News on ZDNet

2004-10-11T21:38:00.000-07:00

Expert: Online extortion growing more common | Tech News on ZDNet: "Online extortion is rife and that cybercrime is set to get worse, the SANS Institute's research director said Friday.

'Six or seven thousand organizations are paying online extortion demands,' Alan Paller said at the SANS Institute's Top 20 Vulnerabilities conference in London. 'The epidemic of cybercrime is growing. You don't hear much about it because it's extortion, and people feel embarrassed to talk about it.'"

Understanding Encryption

2004-10-11T21:36:00.000-07:00

US-CERT Cyber Security Tip ST04-019 -- Understanding Encryption: "Understanding Encryption
Encrypting data is a good way to protect sensitive information. It ensures that the data can only be read by the person who is authorized to have access to it.

What is encryption?
In very basic terms, encryption is a way to send a message in code. The only person who can decode the message is the person with the correct key; to anyone else, the message looks like a random series of letters, numbers, and characters.

Encryption is especially important if you are trying to send sensitive information that other people should not be able to access. Because email messages are sent over the internet and might be intercepted by an attacker, it is important to add an additional layer of security to sensitive information."

North Korea to Hack US

2004-10-05T13:50:00.000-07:00

"North Korea has trained more than 500 computer hackers capable of launching cyber warfare against the United States, South Korea's defense ministry says."
...
"The military hackers had been put through a five-year university course training them to penetrate the computer systems of South Korea, the United States and Japan, the report added. Their goal, it said, was to gather intelligence or to launch a cyber attack."

Asia Pacific News

83,422,785 instances of spyware found

2004-10-05T13:06:00.000-07:00

Earthlink and Webroot released a report stating that out of 3.2 million scans by Spy Audit 83 million instances of spyware were found. Of that number, about 65 million were adware related cookies, about 17.5 million were actually adware programs, nearly 488k were system monitors, and 515k + were trojans.

Longhorn to start with virus capability?

2004-10-04T22:12:00.000-07:00

Paul Roberts, IDG News Service says on Yahoo!:

Microsoft Shell, code-named "Monad," is still in development and is planned for release with the next version of Windows, known as "Longhorn." Monad will allow developers or administrators to configure Windows systems using text commands or scripts containing multiple commands. But the flexibility of the new platform and its support for remote execution of commands could spawn a whole new generation of "script viruses," like the "Melissa" script virus of 1999; e-mail worms; and remote attacks, said Eric Chien, a Symantec Corporation researcher.

National ID system? Write your Congressman!

2004-10-04T18:52:00.000-07:00

This isn't the first time that I have read about a national id system (Feb. 2003). However Congressman David Dreier's "Bonner Plan" worries me. Some of the things that it would do (under the guise of protection from illegal imigrants) are:

"Require the Social Security Administration (SSA) to issue Social Security Cards that contain a photo of the cardholder on the card."

"Requires Social Security Cards to contain an electronic signature strip that contains an encrypted electronic identification strip, unique to that individual."

"Requires that the border-patrol fingerprint identification system and the FBI fingerprint-database be integrated no later than 2 years after the date of enactment."

Specifies that nothing in the Act shall be construed to establish a national identification card, and that it is the policy of the U.S. that the social security card not be used as a national identification card.

But in the title of the bill, it specifically creates a database: "To enforce restrictions on employment in the United States of unauthorized aliens through the use of improved Social Security cards and an Employment Eligibility Database, and for other purposes."

The full text of the bill here.

CNet says: "But Dreier would create a back-end database for authentication purposes that could track whenever the ID is swiped. Just as the Social Security Number's uses grew, those readers would appear just about everywhere: banks, office buildings, supermarkets. Such a database would overflow with detailed records of all of our life's activities and create an irresistible temptation for misuse by corrupt officials or electronic intruders."

Phishguard Anti-phishing software released

2004-10-03T19:39:00.000-07:00

According to information provided via email by Steve Klein of phishguard.com,

"Once your computer is protected with PhishGuard, any new phishing scam that is reported is rapidly and automatically added to your computer's database of malicious Internet
sites, effectively "innoculating"[sic] you against that scam."

This is a great concept, free, and worthwhile. Those of us who are savvy enough to recognize phishing scams are not always around to tell our friends and family when they should be careful. Use the link below to email this page to your friends and family so they can start using Phishguard too.

More:

Phishguard

zdnet

Important Security Update for Firefox Available

2004-10-02T13:39:00.000-07:00

FireFox: "October 1, 2004. The Mozilla Foundation releases an important security update for Firefox. All users should upgrade to the latest version of the Firefox Preview Release. A patch is available for current Preview Release users."

Viral movies possible with RealPlayer flaw

2004-10-02T13:34:00.000-07:00

CNET News.com: "A software slipup in RealNetworks' music player means that Windows, Mac and Linux computers could be compromised by a fake movie file, a security company said Friday.

The problem means that fake movie files could be created that, when played by vulnerable Real software, would run a program instead. The flaw appears in RealPlayer 10 for Windows and Mac OS X, the RealOne Player for Windows and Mac OS X and the Real Helix Player for Linux.

'Anyone who has RealPlayer is affected, and there are many people with RealPlayer,' said Marc Maiffret, chief hacking officer at software security company eEye Digital Security, the company that discovered the security issue."

2004-10-01T11:22:00.000-07:00

Image virus spreads via chat
ZDNet Tech News: "A note sent through AOL's popular instant-messaging software directs victims to Web sites that host the dangerous images."

2004-10-01T11:21:00.000-07:00

'Wardriving' conviction is first under Can-Spam
I keep telling people that open wifi is an unacceptable risk...

What are the potentials for a terrorist attack via WiFi? Quite numerous I think...

ZDNet Tech News: "Man pleads guilty to spamming people through unprotected hot spots, again raising concerns about risks of open-access Wi-Fi."

Firewalls - do I need one with XP SP2?

2004-09-30T12:36:00.000-07:00

ZoneAlarm is the only firewall product that I recommend. I is one of the fastest I have seen aswell as offering several features generally restricted to more expensive hardware firewalls. The following is information from ZoneAlarm regarding Windows XP Service Pack 2.

ZoneAlarm products have more robust and comprehensive security features than the Windows Firewall, including monitoring and controlling inbound and outbound Internet activity. Windows Firewall can only monitor and control inbound network traffic.

ZoneAlarm products also provide hijacking protection, expert controls, safe-sharing, spoofing protection, and program control features. Additionally, ZoneAlarm Pro and ZoneAlarm Security Suite offer extensive privacy features for added protection.

Anti-Phishing Working Group

2004-09-29T23:10:00.000-07:00

Everone should be aware of these types of scams. This site offers advice and a way to report scams.

Anti-Phishing Working Group: "What is Phishing?
Phishing attacks use 'spoofed' e-mails and fraudulent websites designed to fool recipients into divulging personal financial data such as credit card numbers, account usernames and passwords, social security numbers, etc. By hijacking the trusted brands of well-known banks, online retailers and credit card companies, phishers are able to convince up to 5% of recipients to respond to them."

Crooks turn profit with: 'zombie' PCs

2004-09-29T22:55:00.000-07:00

Crooks turn profit with: 'zombie' PCs

What is RSS

2004-09-29T20:53:00.000-07:00

RSS? What's that? RSS is fairly new web technology. RSS allows you to make current content avalible to visitors at your website. This webpage offers an RSS feed to keep you up-to-date on the newest posts. Want to know more? Read FeedBurner's "About Syndication, RSS, and Other Web-Altering Chemicals" page.

JPEG Virus...Will this be the next Y2K scare?

2004-09-29T18:34:00.000-07:00

Reports are growing regarding the flaw in Microsoft's Jpeg parsing software. Many people have not even heard about it. The flaw is a bufferoverrun that allows someone to execute code. This means that any image you view could contain a virus Quite a bad problem to have considering that nearly everyone uses some form of Microsoft product that reads Jpeg images. If people will update to service pack 2 for XP and download the updates for Office, they should be fine.

However I would also recommend trying something new out. Try out FireFox. FireFox is a great alternative to Internet Explorer. FireFox does not have the Jpeg vulnerability. It's not perfect but I have really grown to like it over IE. Another cool feature of FireFox is its ability to use RSS/XML feeds. Using FireFox you can add this page (which has an RSS feed) to your bookmarks. Then when you access your bookmarks, you can see the newest topics on this page.

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