One of my favorite security magazines is Hakin9 and the latest issue (2/2009 - The Real World Clickjacking) is currently on newsstands so check it out.
Filed under: Computers, Hacking, Security, Technology | Tagged: Computers, Hacking, Hakin9, magazine, Security, Technology | Leave a Comment »
Just what we needed but another reason to question the education our children are getting in our public schools. As reported on OSnews, Slashdot, and the more local Austinist an AISD middle school teacher (“Karen”) in Austin, TX discovered one of her students demoing Linux and passing out free CDs to his fellow classmates. The teacher in question for some reason was so disturbed that she contacted Ken Starks of the HeliOS Project where the Linux CDs came from.
She claimed “putting Linux on these machines is holding our kids back” and “No software is free and spreading that misconception is harmful” then went on to say “I will research this as time allows and I want to assure you, if you are doing anything illegal, I will pursue charges as the law allows.” This is the email from the confused teacher to Mr. Starks as posted on his blog…
Filed under: Computers, Linux, Open Source, Technology | Tagged: Computers, Education, HeliOS Project, Ken Starks, Linux, Open Source, Software, Technology, Windows | 4 Comments »
I always have liked Wikipedia for easy and quick fact look up and information gathering. Yes, you can’t be sure that every entry is 100% accurate and certainly not a complete source for something like drug info. I always have been a fan of the idea that the thousands of contributors to Wikipedia would find errors and continually refine the information in every entry. Now I am not so sure…
Check out the entry in Wikipedia for the actor Wayne Knight best known for playing Newman in Seinfeld. Look at the upper right hand corner where lists his spouses and says Holly Ann Wentlent is his currant wife. This is my girlfriend and no she is not married to him or has the same name as his wife because he is not married as can see in his IMDb entry. The false spouse info in the Wayne Knight entry on Wikipedia was added by a co-worker of my girlfriend as a joke two summers ago! Not sure if this reflects more on the weakness in the Wikipedia system or lack of any interest on the career of Wayne Knight.
This is just more proof can never fully trust everything you read in Wikipedia and should cross reference with another source. Now to be fair Wikipedia has corrected errors that can be found in a well known dead tree encyclopedia. Don’t trust anything…
UPDATE 3/23/09 – Checking up on Wayne Knight’s Wikipedia entry I see the that my girlfriend is no longer married to him. It’s nice to see that errors are corrected on Wikipedia but it did take almost OVER a year so the accuracy issue will not go away anytime soon.
UPDATE 6/28/09 – In my last update I noted that Wayne Knight’s Wikipedia entry was edited to remove my girlfriend’s bogus marriage to him. Doing a google search you can see how wrong information on Wikipedia even when corrected still can effect other sites who may have used the online encyclopedia for their source…
http://www.netglimse.com/celebs/pages/wayne_knight/
Filed under: Computers, Internet, Personal, Technology | Tagged: Computers, Internet, Personal, Seinfeld, Technology, Wayne Knight, Wikipedia, Wikipedia errors | 3 Comments »
I watched the Family Guy episode this video is from the other day and can’t get the song out of my head now. LOL Seth MacFarlane’s Family Guy is the source for pop culture references whether good or bad. Those that don’t know the song Peter Griffin is obsessed with it is Surfin’ Bird by the Trashmen.
Filed under: Entertainment, Video | Tagged: Bird Is The Word, Entertainment, Family Guy, Funny, Humor, pop culture, Seth MacFarlane, Surfin' Bird, television, The Trashmen, TV, Video, YouTube | 1 Comment »
I work at a downtown library in Network Support and we are being hit right now by a virus which seems to be caused by some embedded YouTube videos our patrons are viewing.
Apparently some sort of relatively aggressive virus is affecting certain embedded YouTube videos. Some are saying it affects IE and Firefox users, while others say it’s only going after IE. The virus is called Actns/Swif.T and seems to contain a redirect to a phishing website embedded within a SWF file.
The site apparently installs Antivirus 2009, which is malware. We’ll pull our most recent YouTube embeds, but be careful because this one appears to have just broken out today. If you find yourself being automatically redirected or experience other weird pop-ups, especially for something called Antivirus 2009, don’t click on anything.
Our public PCs can not be infected with the malware but is causing network stoppages and weird error messages. I will update this post when get more information…
UPDATE 12/3 – The YouTube virus appears to be nothing but a false positive caused by CA eTrust AV which we use at the library that seems to flag embedded code used in the videos (CrunchGear link in post is also updated). There has been updated signatures sent out by CA that everyone using their products should download. I don’t have these types of problems at home since don’t use realtime AV software. A properly setup Linux machine with no IE is all you really need.
Filed under: Computers, Internet, Linux, Security, Technology, Video | Tagged: Actns/Swif.T, Antivirus 2009, CA antivirus false positive, Computers, Internet, Linux, malware, phishing, Security, Software, Technology, Video, virus, virus alert, YouTube, YouTube virus | 4 Comments »
The newest release from the Fedora Project is now available for download and the official release notes can be found here.
This is big news for myself since I recently became a full time Linux user which means am Windows free except at work. When I first made the switch tried Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron) but needed a second opinion so then installed Fedora 9. My plan was to wait for the next releases before made a final decision since both were due in the next month and half. Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex) was released and did get positive reviews but I have grown to like my Fedora install. I think Ubuntu is good for the newbie but for someone who has had some past Linux experience like me then Fedora has more options and a less dumbed down feel.
Hoping the promised enhanced webcam support in Fedora 10 means the camera on my notebook works which is the only hardware on my notebook not supported under Linux.
I will wait for and read the more in depth reviews for Fedora 10 to see if any issues need to know about before install myself. There is a chance the reviews may make Ubuntu look like the better choice so never know could change my mind.
Here are some sites around the web where can find first looks and reviews of Fedora 10…
Filed under: Computers, Linux, Open Source, Personal, Technology | Tagged: Computers, Fedora, Fedora 10 download, Fedora 10 released, Fedora 10 reviews, Linux, Linux distribution, Open Source, Personal, Software, Technology, Ubuntu, Windows | 3 Comments »
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