Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Microsoft unveils enhanced Xbox 360 Elite

Well this is a very interesting article, it could really give Sony some Trouble with market share, and I really like this idea Internet Protocol-based TV (IPTV), as it could open the doors for a lot of media gaining access to people.

One Thing I know for sure it will be fun to watch what happens, it looks like Microsoft and Sony are heading towards a good fight, and the consumer I think is going to be the winner.

Let me know what you think, will it be Sony or Microsoft that wins the console battle?


Microsoft Corp. on Wednesday took the wraps off of the Xbox 360 Elite, confirming weeks of intense speculation that it would release a new version of its flagship video game console.

The upgraded machine is to launch April 29 in the United States, sporting features not found on the two existing versions of the console, including a 120 gigabyte hard drive, high-definition media interface (HDMI) port and cable, and a black finish instead of the white one on current versions, Microsoft said. It will not include a high-definition HD-DVD hard drive.

The package will also come with a black wireless controller and headset, and sell for about $480 US.

Canada will be included in the initial launch period according to a report in the San Jose Mercury News, but specific dates and pricing were not immediately available.

"Today's games and entertainment enthusiast has an insatiable appetite for digital high-definition content," Peter Moore, corporate vice president for Microsoft's interactive entertainment division said in a written statement. "Xbox 360 Elite's larger hard drive and premium accessories will allow our community to enjoy all that the next generation of entertainment has to offer."

Speculation rampant for weeks
Rumours and photos of the new model have been spurring heavy speculation on internet video game and gadget discussion forums for weeks but Microsoft would not offer direct comment.

"It is our standard policy to not comment on speculation," Jeremy Bartram, a spokesman with Microsoft's public relations agency in Seattle, told CBC News Online when asked for official comment on the rumours. "Microsoft has not announced anything regarding a new Xbox 360."

Microsoft's Canadian spokespeople made a similar statement in response to CBC's inquiries.

Photos of the console and advertising for its 120 GB hard drive had surfaced on the internet in recent days. One set of images on a Chinese-language website depicted units of the new console coming off an assembly line in a Chinese factory. An image published on the Xbox 360 Fanboy website on Monday is apparently a shot of a poster promoting the new hard drive.

Microsoft targeting Sony: experts
The refreshed console is a significant improvement on the existing versions, and surpasses rival Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.'s PlayStation 3 console on some features, according to observers who spoke to CBC News Online.

The current Xbox 360, moulded in white plastic, comes in two versions. The Premium version includes a 20 GB hard drive but no HDMI connector and retails in Canada for about $500. A lower-priced Core version sells without the hard drive and several accessories for about $400.

Sony sells two versions of its PlayStation 3 console, both of which include a high-definition Blu-Ray DVD drive built-in. The premium version of the console, which has a 60 GB hard drive, sells for about $660 in Canada, while a version with a 20 GB hard drive is priced at about $550. Neither includes an HDMI connector cable.

"A 120 [GB] hard drive versus 60 [GB] on the PS3 sounds like penis envy on the part of Microsoft," Michael Pachter, director of research at Wedbush Morgan Securities in Los Angeles, Calif., said ahead of Wednesday's announcement.

Analysts divided
Ruminations about whether the new Xbox unit would come with a HDMI connector cable were clarified by the announcement.

"One thing I'm pretty confident is wrong [about the reports] is that it includes a HDMI cable," he said, explaining he had recently bought one for $300 US. "It's frickin' expensive, which is why the PS3 doesn't come with one, and Microsoft doesn't have the buying power to make it cheap."

Eddie Chan, an analyst with market research firm IDC Canada, disagreed.

"The HDMI cable is a non-issue in my books," he said, explaining that bridging the gap between an analog signal and a superior digital signal is a logical step.

The price is just a function of how "clean" a signal you want, and most people are not going to shell out for a top-quality cable that has low electrical resistance (and therefore a better signal) for what they may see as a marginal improvement on picture quality, he explained.

"Sure, you can pay $300 for a Monster [brand cable] and lower-priced cables have more resistance, but you can get one for cheap — $10 or $20," Chan said.

Device sets stage for IPTV
"It would not surprise me to see a new console come to fruition," he added, noting that Microsoft has been talking about Internet Protocol-based TV (IPTV), which would use internet technology to stream a video signal across a data network such as Microsoft's Xbox Live. "It's probably a good segue in preparation for those rollouts."

In a keynote address at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January, Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Robbie Bach, president of the entertainment and devices division, made remarks that some say hinted at the new console.

"I can play the best next-generation games, download movies and TV shows, connect to my Windows PC, and access my music and my photos, watch HD-DVDs, and now experience next-generation TV programs with IPTV," or Internet Protocol TV, Bach said. "This is everything I want, it's all in one box, it's all on Xbox 360."

"It's pretty self-evident what the strategy is," Sam Punnett, president of Toronto-based FAD Research Inc., said about Microsoft's approach. "It's reminiscent of the walled garden idea — they have a sufficient claim to a captive audience that they can create an environment to sell content."

Punnett, who has been a consultant to federal and provincial governments on developing strategies that would foster new media and video game industries in Canada, noted that Microsoft has a unique advantage over competitors.

"They have that channel into the living room that no one else has," he said. "They can take that captive audience and branch it off … and expand into music services, streaming video. It's one of those [Holy] Grail dreams of the games industry."

Area 419 Sorry the Number You Have Dialed is Not In Service Please Try Again (An Old Scam)

Well this is funny, it's a new twist on the old 419 scams, this one though was traced to Venezuela.

I'm amazed that these still work, though I can only assume they do as they keep making the rounds so there must be a payoff of some sort. Below you will find the trace results along with the scam mail. Please feel free to leave any comments or feedback.

1 319 ms 6 ms 6 ms 10.45.28.1 2 * * *
Request timed out. 3 7 ms 6 ms 5 ms gw03.etob.phub.net.cable.rogers.com

[66.185.93.161] 4 6 ms 7 ms 8 ms gw02-pos1-0.wlfdle.phub.net.cable.rogers.com

[66.185.82.97] 5 7 ms 7 ms 7 ms 66.185.80.42 6 138 ms 7 ms 7 ms

64.71.240.110 7 22 ms 33 ms 23 ms pos-2-0.igw01.ny8th.phub.net.cable.rogers.com

[66.185.81.102] 8 185 ms 60 ms 26 ms GE3-0-1-0-grtnycpt3.red.telefonica-wholesale.net
[213.140.52.201] 9 25 ms 27 ms 56 ms
So2-3-0-0-grtmiana2.red.telefonica-wholesale.net [213.140.36.114]
10 55 ms 86 ms 85 ms CANTV-5-0-0-0-grtmiana2.red.telefonica-wholesale.net [84.16.8.14]
11 601 ms 547 ms 701 ms CANTV-5-0-0-0-grtmiana2.red.telefonica-wholesale.net [84.16.8.14]
12 709 ms 192 ms 378 ms cha-ge-10-0-0-00.dist.cantv.net
[200.44.43.199]
13 * * 93 ms 200-11-184-130.genericrev.cantv.net [200.11.184.130]

14 101 ms * * correo.universia.edu.ve [200.11.183.3]
15 92 ms 104 ms 108 ms correo.universia.edu.ve [200.11.183.3]

Trace complete.

X-YahooFilteredBulk: 200.11.183.3
X-Originating-IP: [200.11.183.3]
Return-Path:
Authentication-Results: mta337.mail.re4.yahoo.com from=universia.edu.ve; domainkeys=neutral (no sig)
Received: from 200.11.183.3 (EHLO soluniver02.universia.edu.ve) (200.11.183.3) by mta337.mail.re4.yahoo.com with SMTP; Wed, 28 Mar 2007 04:50:40 -0700
Received: from universia.edu.ve (soluniver02.universia.edu.ve [200.11.183.3]) by soluniver02.universia.edu.ve (iPlanet Messaging Server 5.1 Patch 1 (built Jun 6 2002)) with ESMTP id <0jfl00cc4s48si@soluniver02.universia.edu.ve>; Wed, 28 Mar 2007 03:43:24 -0400 (VET)
Received: from [80.255.40.250] by soluniver02.universia.edu.ve (mshttpd); Tue, 27 Mar 2007 23:43:20 -0800
Date: Tue, 27 Mar 2007 23:43:20 -0800
From: jjudge@universia.edu.ve Add to Address Book Add Mobile Alert
Subject: ENQUIRY
Bcc:
Reply-to: jjudge10@sify.com
Message-id: <449a6ed1.6ed1449a@universia.edu.ve>
MIME-version: 1.0
X-Mailer: iPlanet Messenger Express 5.1 Patch 1 (built Jun 6 2002)
Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-language: en
Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT
Content-disposition: inline
X-Accept-Language: en
Content-Length: 5207

Good day,

I am John Judge, a staff of ADAM & COMPANY I am contacting you
independently of my investigation and no one is informed of
this communication. I would like to intimate you with certain
facts that I believed would be of interest to you.I Would
respectfully request that you keep the contents of this mail
confidential and respect the integrity of the information you
come by as a result of this mail.


I am contacting you in respect of $10.5 Million USD deposited
with our private bank whose original depositor died in mid
2002,According to practice, The bank will by the end of its
financial year broadcast a request for statements of
claims,failing to receive viable claims they will probably
revert the deposit back to ADAM & COMPANY.This will result in
the money entering the ADAM & COMPANY accounting system,This
will not happen if I have my way, the world of private banking
especially is fraught with huge rewards for those who occupy
certain offices and oversee certain portfolios.As a matter of
fact,In line with our internal processes for account holders
who have passed away,we instituted our own investigations in
good fate to determine who should have right to claim the
estate. This investigation has for the past years been
unfruitful. We have scanned every continent and used our
private investigation affiliate companies to get to the root
of the problem. It is this investigation that resulted in my
being furnished with your details as a possible relative of
the deceased.


My present official capacity as the Head of private banking
sector dictates that I am the only party to supervise the
investigation and the only party to receive the results of the
investigation,leaves me as the only person with the full
picture of what the prevailing situation is in relation to the
deposit and the beneficiary of the deposit.


My proposal:I am prepared to place you in a position to
initiate the release of the deposit to you as the closest
surviving relation,Upon successful delivery of the deposit to
you,I am prepared to share the money with you. That is: I will
simply norminate you as the next of kin and have them release
the deposit to you. We share the proceeds 50/50 %.The
alternative would be for us to have The bank ADAM & COMPANY
direct the funds to another bank with you as account holder.
This way there will be no need for you to think of receiving
the money from The bank. We can fine-tune this based on our
interactions am aware of the consequences of this proposal. I
ask that if you find no interest in this project that you
should discard this mail. I ask that you do not be vindictive
and destructive. If my offer is of no appeal to you, delete
this message and forget I ever contacted you.


My present official capacity as the Head of private banking
sector I assure you that I could have the deposit released to
you within few days. I shall validate the claim, make a
customary writing report that you are the Beneficiary.This
report will validate the bonafide of your claim and confirm
you as the beneficiary and therefore entitled to an allocation
of Control Approval code for the release of the deposit by the
bank .once i validate the claim, the bank is bound to approve
same, this is why i have an unflinching confidence in the
safety of our arrangement.The transaction will be 100% legal.
From the foregoing, you are therefore able to appreciate why i
have hammered on the absolute necessity of our maintenance of
confidentiality of the project and the transfer even after we
have disbursed the money after arrival in your position.


I am not a criminal and what I do, I do not find against good
conscience,this may be hard for you to understand, but the
dynamics of my industry dictates that I make this move. Such
opportunities only come ones' way once in a lifetime. I cannot
let this chance pass me by,I am a family man and this is an
opportunity to provide them with new opportunities.There is a
reward for this project and it is a task well worth
undertaking. I have evaluated the risk and the only risk I
have here is from you refusing to work with me and alerting my
bank. I am the only one who knows of this situation,If you
find yourself able to work with me, contact me through this
email account. If you give me positive signals, I will
initiate this process towards a conclusion. I wish to inform
you that should you contact me via official channels; I will
deny knowing you and about this project.


I repeat, I do not want you contacting me through my official
phone lines nor do I want you contacting me through my
official email account. Contact me only through the numbers I
will provide for you and also through this email address. I do
not want any direct link between you and myself. My official
lines are not secured lines as they are periodically monitored
to access our level of customer care in line with our Total
Quality Management Policy.Please observe this instruction
religiously.

Awaiting your immediate response.

Thanks for your co-operation.

Please to my private email address jjudge10@sify.com

yours faithfully,
John Judge

Thursday, March 22, 2007

The Gozi Strikes Back ( Russian Gozi Trojan powering massive ID-theft ring)

I have just taken two points from the article below "Users state-of-the-art, modularized Trojan code" " Launch attacks through Internet Explorer browser exploits"

Now if you read The article it's rather scary, that all that information was being gathered and put up for sale and even might still be up. When is Microsoft going to take security seriously?

Even with Vista that was delayed a year, has bugs up the gazooo, one reason why a lot of Business are reluctant to jump on board.

My advice stay with XP and try and make sure you can be as secure as you can be. Remember though, even then you could still be prone to attacks as long as Windows chooses to make security a lower priority. Let me know what you think? Are you tired of this? What Should Microsoft Do?


Russian (Gozi) Trojan powering massive ID-theft ring by ZDNet's Ryan Naraine -- Researchers at SecureWorks have stumbled upon what appears to be a massive identity theft ring using state-of-the-art Trojan code to steal confidential data from thousands of infected machines in the U.S. The Trojan, which connects to a server in Russia, has so far pilfered information from more than 5,200 home computers with 10,000 account records. The [...]

Friday, March 16, 2007

Experiments In Photography (Name Me)


I thought since it's Friday I would end the week with an image from the ongoing experiments in Photography series. With this photography I liked the play of light and texture, to me it has a mixture of the everyday with a surreal quality. This presents a problems though, I don't know what to name it. Maybe you can help me, if you like submit names for it in the comments section.
There are some other photos as well that are nameless please feel free to look around, and suggest some names. Have a great weekend everyone.

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Google and Privacy

Google has announced that it will be changing it's policy of data storage about you and your searches. It's a move in the right direction, though much more could be done.

"Under the new policy announced on Wednesday, which Google expects to have fully implemented by the end of the year, the company will anonymize the final eight bits of the IP address and the cookie data after somewhere between 18 months and 24 months, unless legally required to retain the data for longer."

The entire article can be found here http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6167333.html?tag=nl.e539

Now if you are a person that likes having privacy, this could be disturbing and a lot of privacy advocates feel the same way. I'm wary of this, as information is power and could be misused, though perhaps I'm just old fashioned.

I like to think of privacy on the Internet like this, it's just like a telephone conversation, but you are using a computer, the only time your privacy should be invaded, is when you give permission for it, and there should be full disclosure in a transparent manner of what information is being stored and gathered about you. I would also like to stress it should not be in tiny Print ,but stated in a clear manner.

I would like to know your feeling's about privacy, how much should people have? Who should control that information? Who has ownership over it? Who can access it?

My opinion is that the individual should have the final say on their information and privacy. The only time that should be invaded is either when a person commits a crime or they give permission.

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Do You Know Where Your Bananas Come From ?





Do You Know Where Your Bananas Come From ? Well if the allegation's are true, they may have come from groups that the Untied States have on their terrorism list. I guess we will just have to wait for the trial, if there is one, to get all the facts. In The meantime what are your thoughts? My opinion is if the allegation's are true, this could be very damaging to the company, after all do you want to buy bananas from a company that deals with terrorists? I know I don't.


By MATT APUZZO, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - Banana company Chiquita Brands International was charged Wednesday with doing business with a terrorist organization.

Federal prosecutors said the company and several unnamed high-ranking corporate officers did business with the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia. The group is described in court documents as a violent right-wing organization that the U.S. has designated as a terrorist organization.

The company also did business with the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, according to prosecutors.
The payments were approved by senior executives at the Cincinnati-based company, prosecutors wrote in court documents. Corporate books were kept to conceal the deals, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said Chiquita began paying the right-wing AUC after a meeting in 1997.
"No later than in or about September 2000, defendant Chiquita's senior executives knew that the corporation was paying AUC and that the AUC was a violent paramilitary organization," prosecutors wrote in Wednesday's court filing.
The document filed by federal prosecutors is known as an information. Unlike an indictment, it is normally worked out through discussions with prosecutors and is followed by a guilty plea. A plea hearing is scheduled for Monday.
___
On the Net:
Chiquita: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ap/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/storytext/terrorism_bananas/22266840/SIG=10q1588e6/*http://www.chiquita.com/

You-Tube And Copyright

I don't know maybe I'm just dense, though I see this as causing a bit of a commotion given all the talk about it, I'm left with the thought, why not use a copyright that is domain specific? It seems to me, we are seeing basically turf wars over who has what rights to media, it's kind of funny and sad in a way, as the company's talk about their losses, but where does the artist come into play? At the same time the Internet and the media,mediums used, do not have to be seen as enemies of these company's, they can be a artist's or company's friends, just ask any artist who has embraced the Internet.


Digital culturus interruptus: Right here, right now, the almighty copyright finally comes home to roost by ZDNet's David Berlind -- Sooner or later, it was bound to happen. Like teenagers biologically programmed to step across every boundary put in place by their parents, the digerati, equipped with the constantly evolving tools of their trade (everything from YouTube-like video sharing sites to widely available hacks of anti-piracy systems), have been been running a full-court press, brazenly [...]

Elizabeth I (17 Nov 1558 - 24 March 1603) Coinage and History




This is another part in the coinage and history series, I fear I have been somewhat slow with the release of posts with this, though a lot is dependent, on when I purchase new coins. I have also been experimenting with Photographing the coins as opposed to scanning them to get the best image.

The picture above is of a Shilling from Elizabeth I it is from the year 1560-1561 Mintmark-Cross-Spink-2555-A. The Obverse portrait side may look the worse for wear, but it was very common with the larger coins for them to be weakly struck. So this is still a very nice example given that it has not been clipped, another practice that was very common. The practice of clipping is very much what it sounds like, people would clip small potions of the sliver off of the coin, pretty much whatever they felt they could get away with.

This coin is also interesting as it was minted at the start of Elizabeth I great recoinage of the realm, as the coinage under her Brother Edward VI, and Her Father Henry VIII had been debased mostly under Henry VIII, in order for him to finance his wars and household, This is where Henry The VIII received the nickname old Coppernose from, as the silver would wear away on the high points of the coin and reveal the base metal, most offten than not on the nose first.

At this time when Elizabeth, was still very early into her queenship, The Tudor house was not in great financial shape as the spending under her father and mismanagement had sorely pressed the royal coffers. Elizabeth I though had been very good at managing her estates, so she used the funds from them to finance the recoinage, just one other little thing of interest Elizabeth I also used some of the royal households silver service to be melted down and used in the recoinage as well. You will find below some more information on The House Of Tudor. I hope you have enjoyed this and please feel free to leave any comments or feedback you may have.

HOUSE OF TUDOR

Elizabeth I (17 Nov 1558 - 24 March 1603) - born 7th September 1533The Virgin Queen Elizabeth or ‘Gloriana’ un-did Catholic Mary’s work as England reverted to Protestantism and pacified the religious divide. Skilled at politics, she was lucky to be surrounded by talented advisors, but angered them by avoiding the issue of marriage and of course never had children. She assisted Dutch Protestants, and is most famous for defeating her unpopular brother in law, Philip II during the Spanish Armada war of 1588. Her reign is also known for the introduction of the potato and tobacco from the “New World” by Sir Francis Drake.


A long and prosperous reign ended in 1603 when Elizabeth died of old age at 75.A significant reign for coinage as the first machine made pieces were struck from the presses of the Frenchman Eloye Mestrelle in 1561. However they were not popular as production was slow with the horse drawn mill press, though the quality was very good. Mestrelle was dismissed in 1572 and later executed for his collusion with forgers in 1578 some historians believe this may have been engineered by rivals. Elizabeth enjoyed a long reign and this covered many different denominations being issued at various times.


The gold crowns were again issued and it was not till 1600 that the large silver crown was again minted. In 1559 the old debased coins of Edward VI were called in for counter marking at a lower face value and the silver fineness was restored to 0.925 by 1582. A new denomination the three-farthings was introduced to help with small change transactions. The first attempt at international trade coins occurred in 1600-01 with the Portcullis Money for use in the East Indies with weights equivalent to the already popular Spanish trade Reales.

Monday, March 12, 2007

The Stock Market,Spam and Your Money


The Stock Market,Spam and Your Money

I wanted to add a short editorial to this article, as though I found it interesting this is not new. This has been going on for a very long time. The thing that does surprise me though is that people are still falling victim to this old pump it and dump it scheme with stocks. I'm only left with the thought that it work's because there is no accounting for the greed of man.


Some other thoughts arise as well, as the writer points out in his Blog the securities commission has opened up the door for a new crime against company's and stockholders, where the people that now perform the pump and dump Email spam can now extort directly from the company. There is another question that comes to mind as well, it may not just be spammers that are doing this but some company's could also be very well doing it an angle that is not explored fully , in a way it's the ultimate inside trade.


One thing for sure though has me thinking as we have become a worldwide economy, with worldwide trading in stocks and commodities, who and what can possibly track all of it, if some company's or people want to commit these acts. So in the end the message is be careful where you put your money, and don't let greed rule your common sense.

How lucrative is pump-and-dump spam? by ZDNet's Ryan Naraine -- Are pump-and-dump spammers really making money from hyping penny stocks in e-mails? Paul Moriarty has the answer and it's an eyebrow-raising sight. Over the last month, Moriarty, director of product development for Internet Content Security at Trend Micro, has been running a virtual portfolio of selling short on stocks found during spam runs. After [...]

Sunday, March 11, 2007

Blog Of The Day Award (The Medium has become the message)

Blog of The Day Award

I received a Blog Of The Day Award, all I can say is I feel honored. This Blog is not very old, and really is still in the process of evolving. I don't all ways write as often as I would like, but that's because I feel the act of writing should be inspired by a need to communicate an idea, not just for the sake of writing itself.

A Blog to me is a new type of media a melding of writing, editorials, photo's, and film the list could go on. All have the potential of being part of a Blog, This media I think requires one to attempt to think about what they are writing and why. A Blog also allows for you to attempt to engage readers in a way that other media can not. A blog allows for a two way conversation about the media, idea, and Medium.

Marshal McLuhan said "The Medium Is The Message" And Blogging is a New Medium where both the writer and the reader can decide together what the message is. Maybe now The Medium has become the message. Thank You and please feel free to leave your comment's and thoughts.

Friday, March 09, 2007

The Dangers of Becoming

This article I think shows how we must be careful that in our anger ,fear, acts of emotion, we create Laws where we become like those who did us harm. We are a Democracy not a police state, and rights should not be cast aside with ease.

On the Net:

The report is at: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ap/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/storytext/national_security_letters/22207893/SIG=11g7gvn4m/*http://www.usdoj.gov/oig/reports/FBI/index.htm
Justice Department: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ap/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/storytext/national_security_letters/22207893/SIG=10m1k3jtt/*http://www.usdoj.gov
FBI: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ap/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/storytext/national_security_letters/22207893/SIG=10lo5b2hr/*http://www.fbi.gov/

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

E-Bay Article Senior Director of Disruptive Innovation

Don't let the title keep you from reading this article, but as titles go for company directors it is a bit weird when put into context of the story. I thought fellow Bloggers would be interested in it though ,as it talks about some idea's of where E-Bay maybe going in the future. The Talk as well of Third party APIs and Social Commerce is really interesting, just think of social Commerce as The six degrees of separation idea for sales and E-Commerce. I could see this having other uses as well depending on how creative a person can get. I hope you enjoy it. You can link to the full story below.


Video: eBay’s Chief Disruption Officer: UI to eBay’s “commerce operating system” could be left to others by ZDNet's David Berlind -- Meet Max Mancini. Although he's not a newcomer to the eBay family, he does have a new title at the commerce giant: Senior Director of Disruptive Innovation. It's the first time I've ever heard of such a title (although why not just make it CDO: Chief Disruption Officer?) and a couple of weeks ago, Mancini [...]

Monday, March 05, 2007

WordPress Hacked/Cracked


It seems that the servers for Wordpress a popular program for Blog Publishing was Cracked.


An unknown cracker broke into a server hosting downloads of the popular WordPress blogging software and rigged the file with a remotely exploitable code execution vulnerability.
News of the hack comes directly
from WordPress creator Matt Mullenweg:
"If you downloaded WordPress 2.1.1 within the past 3-4 days, your files may include a security exploit that was added by a cracker, and you should upgrade all of your files to 2.1.2 immediately."

Mullenweg described the code planted into the download as "unusual and highly exploitable" and stressed that the 2.1.1 download was the only thing touched during the attack.
"This is the kind of thing you pray never happens, but it did and now we're dealing with it as best we can. Although not all downloads of 2.1.1 were affected, we're declaring the entire version dangerous and have released a new version 2.1.2 that includes minor updates and entirely verified files. We are also taking lots of measures to ensure something like this can't happen again, not the least of which is minutely external verification of the download package so we'll know immediately if something goes wrong for any reason, he added.
He did not say how the attacker was able to breach the server.
Now, WordPress is trying to get the word out to any user who may have downloaded the rigged version 2.1.1.

If your blog is running 2.1.1, please upgrade immediately and do a full overwrite of your old files, especially those in wp-includes. Check out your friends blogs and if any of them are running 2.1.1 drop them a note and, if you can, pitch in and help them with the upgrade.
If you are a web host or network administrator, block access to "theme.php" and "feed.php," and any query string with "ix=" or "iz=" in it.


Saturday, March 03, 2007

WINDOWS THE TWILIGHT ZONE

I have thought about this for about a day, as I did not want this to be just another among endless Windows rants. I finally decided to write about it as some thoughts came to me that I hope people might like to add their opinion too.

I'm using Windows XP SP2, my problem developed yesterday, when I tried to play a game. I received an error message that the driver binkw32.dll could not be found. I thought to myself Ok this should be easy to fix as I had the driver. I put the driver in the locations I thought it should go, I'm no computer expert, though I can find my way around. This is where some fun began, I got an error message saying the driver was in the wrong location and that it had to be located in another location, I can not remember where now as it's probably a side effect of hours spent trouble shooting.

The funny thing is this would have been so simple if the error message said along with it being in the wrong folder the location and how to find the proper folder that it needed to be in. This to me is just common sense why can't Windows get it?

Needless to say I did get the problem fixed, though I had to do a complete system restore, as I could not find where to put the driver, that seemed to be the easiest fix. This though caused me to lose hours of time that I will never get back re-downloading all the security patches and re-installing anti-virus and so on. So I had a thought how many people have lost time and productivity to Windows bugs? This is where things get fun hopefully if you decide to participate in this informal survey. How many Hours Have you lost trying to fix Windows bugs? Please leave your estimate in the comments section.

Also, to get the ball rolling here is my estimate of lost time With Windows, I think I have lost about 400hrs of time to Windows probably more , but I'm trying to be conservative. I started out with Windows 98 SE so I'm including all the time spent with all versions of windows.

So please in ending let me know how much time have you lost to the twilight zone that is called Windows?

Friday, March 02, 2007

Storm Night

Well, as I write this I'm unable to sleep, because there is one great storm going on. The city has battened down the hatches and is waiting to see just like me what the morning brings. I just hope the power stays up.