Shanktified!

I imagine when the news that Microsoft first signed Jerry Seinfeld for 10 Million dollars to push Vista, that Steve Jobs and Co. at Mac had this “oh, this can’t be good” feeling in theirlower intestinal regions.  Well the ad is out.. and it is just bizarre.

Ad-man-super-genius, Roy Williams, has often said, “know what to leave out.”  But in this case It’s almost like an admission that Vista does suck.

That wind ablowin’ is a collective sigh of releif from Mac.

Cup of Ubuntu anyone?

ZDNet.com reports:

The Register’s Dan Goodin has the scoop on an obvious security vulnerability that’s being ignored by the powers at Facebook.

The issue, as demonstrated by this proof-of-concept, shows how a social network application can be rigged to hijack a Facebook user’s session identification cookies, deliver pop-up messages or change the color of Facebook pages. 

Continue reading »

This is mostly a geek-read, so let me sum it up for you.  The more apps you add to facebook and myspace, the less safe you are.  Don’t add people you don’t know well (ouch, log in my own eye) and use unique passwords for each account. This or this may help.

“A quick (and very much incomplete) hall of shame here includes MySpace, LiveJournal, and Hi5, all of which we’re surprised haven’t sunk into the East Bay under the weight of their own pwnability.”

More here >> The ugly truth: Satan, social networks and security.

If you stop by here often or get my feed, it is probably no secret, I like Ubuntu.  One of the great things about Linux is that it comes in other flavors and even people using the same distribution (”distro”) as you may have loaded a theme or customized it (see my last post) so that it look very little like your own.

If Ubuntu is not your thing, that’s fine.  But don’t give up on Linux because of one experience with one distro.  E-Linux.it has some (4) good Ubuntu alternatives they like along with the pros and cons they saw.

One of the things stopping me from getting an Iphone is what appears to be a lack of secure email (at least in my preliminary research).   For example, I think an OpenPGP is great and I use it often in thunderbird (more on that here).  But If I send a PGP encrypted email to someone who would otherwise be able to open the email with OpenPGP/Enigmail setup on Thunderbird, they won’t be able to read it on thier Iphone.

Any of you have experience with Iphone email security?  Please share your thoughts in the comment section.

I wish someone at skype would fix this.

[#SCL-250] Video not working with Logitech QuickCam Connect - DevZone Jira.

If someone knows of a fix, please let me know. Video works everywhere else.

We thought it might be an AVG false positive, but thanks to a helpful comment from Martyn (here)  we now know that’s not the case.

SHeur.bzpu is a backdoor trojan

http://www.microsoft.com/security/portal/SearchResults.aspx?query=SHeur.bzpu

Backdoor:Win32/Nuwar.gen!D

Aliases: SHeur.BCFX (AVG)

Description: Backdoor:Win32/Nuwar.gen!D is a generic detection for a backdoor trojan that allows unauthorized access to an infected computer. The trojan receives commands indirectly from a remote attacker via its connection to a malicious peer-to-peer network. This trojan also contains advanced stealth…

Published Date: 06/16/2008

Severity Rating: Medium

From across the pond:

Linux reaching a record 2.8 per cent share last month [in the UK] pointed to an increasing appetite for OS alternatives, much like other research has found. Wanna read the full story?

Keep in mind this is up from .1 percent in early 2007.

The main reasons (besides Vista frustration) are Ubuntu has made it easier for people to get started in Linux and it sure helps Dell is pre-loading Ubuntu on some machines.

If you are frustrated with Vista, or just want to give this Linux thing a try, don’t be afraid. You may have to learn a couple new things (like burning an iso image to a CD) but there are some great guides online that make it easy.  Heck, you can even Skype me and I’ll help you if I can.  The biggest question most people have is “can i go back if I don’t like it.”  Absolutely.  Ubuntu (and nearly ever version of Linux) has a “Live CD” where you can put a CD in the drive, reboot and it bypasses (but doesn’t touch) your operating system with Ubuntu running completely from the disk and your memory.  Keep in mind this is much slower than how it will actually run.  But it is a great way to get a peak at it and see if it will work well with your hardware. When you are done, log out, remove the disk, reboot and you are back in Vista (burp - I just threw up in my mouth a little typing that).

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and its partner, the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), have received reports of recent spam e-mails spreading the Storm Worm malicious software, known as malware. These e-mails, which contain the phrase “F.B.I. vs. facebook,” direct e-mail recipients to click on a link to view an article about the FBI and Facebook, a popular social networking website. The Storm Worm virus has also been spread in the past in e-mails advertising a holiday e-card link. Clicking on the link downloads malware onto the Internet connected device, causing it to become infected with the virus and part of the Storm Worm botnet.

“The spammers spreading this virus are preying on Internet users and making their computers an unwitting part of criminal botnet activity. We urge citizens to help prevent the spread of botnets by becoming web-savvy. Following some simple computer security practices will reduce the risk that their computers will be compromised,” said Special Agent Richard Kolko, Chief, FBI National Press Office.

Everyone should consider the following:

* Do not respond to unsolicited (spam) e-mail.

* Be skeptical of individuals representing themselves as officials soliciting personal information via e-mail.

* Do not click on links contained within an unsolicited e-mail.

* Be cautious of e-mail claiming to contain pictures in attached files, as the files may contain viruses. Only open attachments from known senders.

* Validate the legitimacy of the organization by directly accessing the organization’s website rather than following an alleged link to the site.

* Do not provide personal or financial information to anyone who solicits information.

More here: Optimus Media News » FBI Warns of Storm Worm Virus.

With excitement I read Google’s calendar will now support CalDAV. Yeah, now I can sync Lightening (Thunderbird’s Sunbird plugin) with Google, right?  Nope. I can’t. It only works on Apple’s iCal.  From Google help pages:

“While other calendar applications support CalDAV (including Mozilla Sunbird), Google Calendar only supports CalDAV using iCal.”

Bummer.

UPDATE: I have found a solution, another problem and a solution to that problem.

Lightning: It’s a Sunbird plug-in for Thunderbird.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/addon/2313

Provider for Google Calendar
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/addon/4631

I have installed Thunderbird and Lightning from Ubuntu repos (via Synaptic).  But couldn’t get Provider to work or allow me to add a new calendar.  Finally I found a post in a forum that helped.  The issue is you are missing libstdc++ 5. Install that from Synaptic and you are good to go.

This is a hit and run how to. It assumes you know all of the terms used and you have installed add-ons in thunderbird and from Synaptic before. But if you haven’t and need more detail on how to do anything, please feel free to ask.