A new site, A new Future!
Written on 19:31 by Nemesis
I will be posting new updates over at http://cvoid.wordpress.com/ from now on. wordpress seems to be alot better than blogger and this way I get more control over the content of my site.
Another Reason To Not Buy A Zune
Written on 08:39 by Nemesis
Hmm very strange... is this the start of something or just another opportunity to laugh at Microsoft. Also, how do you go about fixing it?
Right, so this is a weird one: we're getting tons of reports—tons—about
failing Zune 30s. Apparently, the players began freezing at about midnight last
night, becoming totally unresponsive and practically useless.
The crisis has been dubbed by Zune users 'Z2K9', due to the apparently synchronized faceplantings across the country. According to tipster Michael, the Zune users experienced something like this:
"Apparently, around 2:00 AM today, the Zune models either reset, or were
already off. Upon when turning on, the thing loads up and... freezes with a full
loading bar (as pictured above). I thought my brother was the only one with it,
but then it happened to my Zune. Then I checked out the forums and it seems
everyone with a 30GB HDD model has had this happen to them"
This report is consistently corroborated by literally hundreds of
others across the various Zune support and fan forums.
What hasn't emerged yet, largely due to the fact that MS's support lines aren't yet
open for the day, is why these devices are failing. The evidence seems to point
to a software glitch, but simple resets aren't providing any relief. Some
reports indicate that only Zunes with the latest firmware are affected, but this
hasn't yet been confirmed.
The proximity of the events to the New Year, which
inspired the Y2K9 moniker, provides little more than a colorful backdrop; it's
unlikely that the switching of years in the Zune's internal calendar has
anything to do with the failures (besides, it hasn't even happened yet).
Source
The Digg Community Has Spoken.
Written on 07:40 by Nemesis
It seems the people of Digg want change.
danielrh9 makes is point in this article.
Just as an exemplary anecdote, I've been a user on here for nearly three years now. I read digg on a casual basis further back than that prior to signing up. In the first two years after I joined, I submitted stuff fairly regularly. Maybe once or twice a week or so. In those two years, I think maybe three to four submissions made it to the front page.
Back around February or March of this year, I submitted something I thought was pretty cool that had a decent chance of making the front page. I did it on break at work and checked digg when I got home to see how it did. The story made it to the front page allright, but it was a submission made after mine from MrBabyMan that used the same exact story with a slightly different URL.
I realized there was no point.
If a long time user has stopped submiting articles then where is the motivation for new people to add stuff to digg? Speaking as a new user, I can confirm that with few friends on digg you will find your submissions get very few diggs. It seems that with few friends you get little exposure.
Well, people have had enough, the evidence being quite clear -
Kevin Rose admits that Digg has flaws but urges us to keep Digging stuff while the team releases fixes and new features. Lets hope they sort the balance out otherwise, I dare say, people might start leaving Digg.
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7 Things Google Chrome Needs - Now That It’s Out of Beta
Written on 21:34 by Nemesis
Fantastic artcle I found on digg. I agree with all of the points made....
I want to start out by saying, I LOVE Google Chrome. Recently I went away from Flock and made Chrome my primary browswer. Going out and saying it’s the “best browser I’ve ever used” would be a bit much, but it’s definitely in the top teir. This article isn’t abouthow great Chrome is, though.
A little while ago, Google announced the removal of the “Beta” tag from their brand new browser. Now, I have heard speculation that this is due to the fact that computer manufacturers won’t bundle software with “Beta” hanging around its neck. Normally Google applications stay in Beta for a very long time (see: Gmail), but after only a few months, Chrome is out in the wild with no reservations.
While this may be more of a marketing stunt than anything else, a “Gold” version of Chrome (that’s ironic!) must now assume the same responsibilities of the other browsers that have taken off their training wheels. Note that in this list I’m excluding most (but not all) of the things Google has explicitly promised to fix. These are in NO particular order.
Ignorant Teacher Threatens to Call Cops over Linux Distro
Written on 14:13 by Nemesis
Link to HeliOS Project blog. which contains the full response.
A teacher has thrown a student into detention and threatened to call the police for using Linux in her classroom.
The teacher spotted one of her students giving a demonstration of the HeliOS distro to other students. In a somewhat over-the-top reaction, she confiscated the CDs, put the student on detention and whipped off a letter to the HeliOS Project threatening to report it to the police for distributing illegal software.
"I am sure you strongly believe in what you are doing but I cannot either support your efforts or allow them to happen in my classroom," writes the teacher, identified only as Karen.
"At this point, I am not sure what you are doing is legal. No software is free and spreading that misconception is harmful. 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.
"I along with many others tried Linux during college and I assure you, the claims you make are grossly over-stated and hinge on falsehoods. I admire your attempts in getting computers in the hands of disadvantaged people but putting Linux on these machines is holding our kids back," she writes.
Not content with completely missing the point of Linux, Karen concluded by throwing down the ultimate insult to the Linux advocates: "This is a world where Windows runs on virtually every computer and putting on a carnival show for an operating system is not helping these children at all.
"I am sure if you contacted Microsoft, they would be more than happy to supply you with copies of an older verison of Windows and that way, your computers would actually be of service to those receiving them..."
The HeliOS project members were understandably upset, and quickly fired off a reply.
"Please...investigate to your heart's content. Linux is a free as-in-cost and free as-in-license operating system. It was designed specifically for those purposes...
"I don't know when you attended college Karen but the Linux of even two years ago pales in feature and ability to what there is available now... and that in turn will pale in a year's time. Linux is superior to Microsoft Windows in so many ways, they are too numerous to mention here."
This annoys me so much! "No software is free" WHAT?! Have you never heard of open source or freeware? How can you be so ignorant. Has she never heard of Mozilla Firefox or even MSN? Yes MSN is free to download. Or even itunes for Christ sake. You know what, I think people like this should be made to sit through a lesson that explains these things to stop this kind of thing for happening.
Well atleast Ken Starks will do something about it.
Now. You give that boy his disks back. Aaron is a brilliant kid and he's learned more using Linux than he ever did using Windows. Those disks and their distribution are perfectly legal and even if he was "disruptive", you cannot keep his property. I have placed a call to the AISD Superintendent and cc'd him a complete copy of your email. It looks like we will get to meet in his office when School starts again after the holiday. I am anxious to meet a person who is this uninformed and still holds a position of authority and learnedness over our children.
A new look.
Written on 14:09 by Nemesis
I thought the blog looked a bit bland a bit boring and well from a design standpoint it was just terrible. I had a quick look on the web and found this one. Its seems to be ok. I have designed a new one but coding it is a pain in the butt... If anyone would like to code it for me, that would be appreciated.
Using actions in photoshop.
Written on 03:55 by Nemesis
A quick tutorial I made for a friend.
Hope you found it useful.
Kernel vulnerability found in Vista
Written on 05:41 by Nemesis
A flaw in Vista's networking has been found that can crash the system, but no fix is expected until the next service pack
A flaw has been found in Windows Vista that could allow rootkits to be hidden or denial-of-service attacks to be executed on computers using the operating system.
The vulnerability was found by Thomas Unterleitner of Austrian security company Phion and was announced Friday. Unterleitner told ZDNet UK on Friday that Phion told Microsoft about the flaw in October but that he understood a fix would only be issued in the next Vista service pack.
According to Unterleitner's disclosure of the flaw, the issue lies in the network input/output subsystem of Vista. Certain requests sent to the iphlpapi.dll API can cause a buffer overflow that corrupts the Vista kernel memory, resulting in a blue-screen-of-death crash.
"This buffer overflow could (also) be exploited to inject code, hence compromising client security," Unterleitner said.
Unterleitner told ZDNet UK via e-mail that the "exploit can be used to turn off the computer using a (denial-of-service) attack." He also suggested that, because the exploit occurs in the Netio.sys component of Vista, it may make it possible to hide rootkits.
Using a sample program, Unterleitner and his colleagues ascertained that Vista Enterprise and Vista Ultimate were definitely affected by the flaw, with other versions of Microsoft's operating system "very likely" to be affected as well. Both 32-bit and 64-bit versions are vulnerable. Windows XP is not affected.
Asked about the severity of the flaw, Unterleitner pointed out that administrative rights were needed to execute a program calling the function that would cause the buffer overflow. However, he also said it was possible--but not yet confirmed--that someone could use a malformed DCHP packet to "take advantage of the exploit without administrative rights."
"We have worked together with Microsoft Security Response Center in Redmond since October 2008 to locate, classify and fix this bug," Unterleitner wrote. "Microsoft will ship a fix for this exploit with the next Vista service pack."
Microsoft told ZDNet UK on Friday that it had investigated the issue, but was "currently unaware of any attacks trying to use the vulnerability or of customer impact." It could not, however, confirm the inclusion of a fix for the problem in the next as-yet-unreleased service pack for Vista, nor give the release date for that service pack.
Ubuntu Usplash Smooth
Written on 04:36 by Nemesis
Ubuntu Usplash Smooth
This is the original Ubuntu Usplash for Intrepid Ibex with an exciting twist!
Now the progress bar is time-based!
What does it means?
Well...
The original Ubuntu Usplash progress bar didn't tell you much information.
It moves in small/huge increments, and sometimes stands still for a few seconds.
This Ubuntu Usplash Smooth does it different!
It remembers the time of your previous boot/shutdown, and will smoothly increase the bar according to this time. Since the boot/shutdown times change very little, you will get a very precise bar with a very smooth animation showing exactly how much time is left!
Check it for yourself!
Modesty aside(!), this is how the usplash progress bar should have been done from the beginning!
Easily packaged in a DEB file, you just have to install it, and boot your computer a couple times. The first boot/shutdown will be quite off the mark, of course, since the Usplash Ubuntu Smooth still don't know how much time it will take to complete. But from the second boot/shutdown onwards, you will simply fall in love!
If you hate it for any reason... just uninstall it, and your system will return to the original configuration.
Enjoy!
-----
Ok, marketing is over!
Let's talk seriously now.
This is a personal project of mine to make the usplash progress bar time-based.
Besides making ubuntu boot look nicer, it also gives you accurate time of the boot process.
This kind of bar is already used in MacOSX, and I admit it was from there that I took the idea!
It was an ugly fight with usplash, because I didn't want to modify it in any way.
I wanted to do this using the technology already implemented in Ubuntu,
and achieve this using just a simple theme.
Anyway, check it out, and give your opinions below!
Thank you!
Direct Download:
Ubuntu Usplash Smooth (Hosted at gnome-look.org)
Ubuntu Usplash Smooth (Hosted at ubuntu-art.org)
Ubuntu PPA:
https://launchpad.net/~usplash-smooth/+archive
Ubuntu WIKI:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UsplashSmooth
Ubuntu Brainstorm:
http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/15741/
Sounds cool to me.
Intergrated Web Browser For Games Released
Written on 13:59 by Nemesis
For all their mesmerizing graphics and adrenaline fueled gameplay, it might come as a surprise to non-gamers that many of today’s most popular computer games are bogged down by downtime (I should know - I spent the better part of 1999 mining virtual ore in Ultima Online to become a master blacksmith, and enjoyed about 10 minutes of it). MMOs like World of Warcraft see epic battles punctuated by hours of wandering mostly empty wilderness, while FPS games often punish gamers for dying by making them sit out and watch their comrades go at it until the beginning of the next round.Today GotGame is giving these gamers something to do during these bouts of boredom. The company has released Rogue, a web browser based on WebKit and Adobe’s AIR platform that integrates directly into most of today’s popular gamers, allowing users to swap between their game and the web with a single hotkey. Gamers will be able to check their Email, listen to Pandora, watch Hulu videos, or casually browse the web at their leisure, jumping back into the game within seconds whenever they need to (the browser supports opacity, so it’s easy to tell when you need to swap your attention).
It’s possible to accomplish similar multitasking by placing games in ‘Windowed’ mode (which doesn’t make them take up the full screen), but this makes games prone to crashing and poor performance. Conversely GotGame says that Rogue should run perfectly fine with most games, and should only slightly affect performance (though the effect will increase significantly if you watch Flash-based movies like Hulu).
While it may seem counterintuitive to non-gamers, GotGame Rogue is a great idea - I would have loved to have had it during my gaming years (instead I was forced to sit a TV next to my computer monitor). Provided the app is as stable as GotGame claims, it will probably do very well. Other players in this space include Xfire, which offers an in-game application for socializing with other gamers.
Damn, deffinately worth a try.
Tennessee Adopts $9.5 Million University Piracy Measure Despite School Layoffs
Written on 13:24 by Nemesis
Combating music piracy at Tennessee's public university system is more important than hiring teachers and keeping down tuition costs.Just-signed legislation requires the 222,000-student system to spend an estimated $9.5 million (.pdf) for file sharing "monitoring software," "monitoring hardware" and an additional "recurring cost of $1,575,000 for 21 staff positions and benefits (@75,000 each) to monitor network traffic" of its students.
Tennessee's measure, (.pdf) approved Wednesday by Gov. Phil Bredesen, was the nation's first in a bid to combat online file sharing within state-funded universities. The law, similar versions of which the Recording Industry Association of America wants throughout the United States, comes as the Tennessee public university system is increasing tuition, laying off teachers and leaving unfilled vacant instructor positions to battle a $43.7 million shortfall.
"This bill, the first of its kind in the nation, addressed the issue of campus music theft in a state where the impact is felt more harshly than most," said Mitch Bainwol, the RIAA's chairman and CEO.
Bredesen, governor of the nation's country music capital, said "The illegal downloading of music has a profoundly negative effect on the music industry. As home to so many record companies, music publishers, writers and artists, I am proud that Tennessee is taking action to prevent it."
The governor signed the bill the same day the Country Music Association doled out its annual music awards in Tennessee.
Cara Duckworth, an RIAA spokeswoman, said in an e-mail that the music companies' lobbying and litigation arm would be "happy to talk to any policymaker about these issues. It's up to them to decide appropriate action. "
Tennessee's law demands the state's public universities "implement a policy" that "prohibits the infringement of copyrighted works over the school's computer and network resources."
Still, it's likely the state's output of public resources for the anti-piracy program could end up a boondoggle if students move to encrypted (.pdf) file sharing programs. The Electronic Frontier Foundation added that, even if the filtering technology "magically" worked, students are gonna swap music.
The students may have more time to pilfer copyrighted works because their classes might be canceled for lack of funding. Using conservative estimates, the piracy measure is equal to the price of about 100 Tennessee professors' wages and benefits.
Source
Themes come to Gmail
Written on 13:10 by Nemesis
Gmail fans have been building unofficial extensions to spice up their inboxes for a while, but up til now themes haven't been an integral part of Gmail. We wanted to go beyond simple color customization, so out of the 30 odd themes we're launching today, there's a shiny theme with chrome styling, another one that turns your inbox into a retro notepad, nature themes that change scenery over time, weather driven themes that can rain on your mailbox, and fun characters to keep you in good company. There's even an old school ascii theme (Terminal) which was the result of a bet between two engineers -- it's not exactly practical, but it's great for testing out your geek cred. We've also done a minor facelift to Gmail's default look to make it crisper and cleaner -- you might notice a few colors and pixels shifted around here and there.To customize your inbox, go to the Themes tab under Settings. We'll be rolling out themes to everyone over the next couple of days, so if you don't see them yet, check back soon. As for which theme to choose, don't ask us. We're neutral ;)
Source - Official Gmail Blog
My personal favourite is the 'Desk' theme.
Adobe answers cries for 64-bit Flash on Linux
Written on 15:25 by Nemesis
Starting to answer the clamorous demand from open-source fans, Adobe Systems plans to release an alpha version of its Flash Player technology on Monday for those using 64-bit Linux software.Linux has moved more rapidly than Windows or Mac OS X to support 64-bit processors, in part because the developer-friendly compile-your-own-software ethos that prevails makes it easier for the technically savvy to make the switch. But one of the obstacles in the switch is that people could only use the 32-bit Flash plug-in, which meant that they only could use the 32-bit version of Firefox.
The company plans to release the software at its Adobe Max conference in San Francisco.
The 64-bit support will arrive on other operating systems later, Adobe said, but Linux fans get it first because they were the most vocal in their desire for it.
"Release of this alpha version of 64-bit Flash Player on Linux is the first step in delivering on Adobe's plans to make Flash Player native 64-bit across platforms," Adobe said in a statement. "We chose Linux as our initial platform in response to numerous requests in our public Flash Player bug and issue management system and the fact that Linux distributions do not ship with a 32-bit browser or a comprehensive 32-bit emulation layer by default. With this prelease, Flash Player 10 is now a full native participant on 64-bit Linux distributions. We are committed to bringing native 64-bit Flash Player to Windows and Mac in future releases. We expect to provide native support for 64-bit platforms in an upcoming major release of Flash Player. Windows, Macintosh and Linux players are expected to ship simultaneously moving forward."
Geek Pillow
Written on 15:04 by Nemesis
I'm a sucker for things like this, anyone know where I can get one?
3 More Tools to Bring Power to the Right Click Menu (Windows)
Written on 09:16 by Nemesis
A nice article I found. A look at how to customise your right click menu.
Who doesn’t love a shortcut? Thanks to the guy who programmed in the right click menu, we get to take some of them while working or browsing on the computer. Here at MakeUseOf we have looked at some of the ways to add more power to the right click menu.Earlier we have looked at ways to customize the right click menu on your own or use the free ‘Mmm’ to do it for you. We have also looked at ways to clean up all the rubble from the right click context menu here. But here I am back again looking at three more ways to give my right click menu a booster shot.
Folder Guide
As the name says, navigating through the folders and directories of your hard-drive with the right click becomes easier with this freeware. You can set up your frequently used folders and access them. Also, you can set up some separators to categorize the Folder Guide entries.
Of course, you can set it up through manual additions in the send to folder too but ‘Folder Guide’ just does it a bit more neatly saving you some clicks.
Access the ‘Folder Guide’ menu by right clicking on file, folder background, Windows Explorer, Open/Save dialog boxes, Desktop, or Start Button. Add your favorite folders, sort them in your own order, arrange them with separators and you’ll have quick access at the click of a right button. With a small imprint of just 1.6 MB, Folder Guide is worth a try.
Moo0 RightClicker
Nope, cows don’t take shortcuts. Moo0 RightClicker is just a handy set of improvements for our right click menus. The 4.2 MB free software has a free version and a more feature laden paid counterpart. The free version is a good help as it gives the right click menu some useful add-ons and also allows the user to manage the ones already there.
The program opens with a notice mentioning a bug in Win XP which causes CPU utilization to spike to 100% temporarily (though, I did not catch any…) under certain usage conditions. It gives the option to turn off some ‘Effects’ in Display Properties. The functions are simple to understand. The free version gives two interface options - Simple and Basic.
Here’s a feature list -
- Copy and move files and folders to bookmarked or standard system folders. Bookmarking often used folders is a nice touch.
- Intelligent copying - using the name, path, or contents of an actual file.
- Sort folder contents by numerous attributes.
- Create a duplicate window. (Access it from the File menu of a folder)
- Preview images.
- Arrange neatly with quick-collapsing menus.
- Delete items permanently bypassing the recycle bin.
Moo0 doesn’t remove any of your earlier customizations but lets you add some more. So it integrates the earlier shell entries you might have made. Un-installation is also safe. The only thing I wish is that could have given me a bit more choice against its default lime green color.
FileMenu Tools
The powerhouse for the last mention. FileMenu Tools goes further than the previous two mentioned. It takes the context menu out of the box and literally makes it a file manager. It allows you to either clean up the clutter or throw in a few more options for handling files and folders. Over and above, add your own choice of programs, folders and paths. Also, add your own icons and names through the properties dialog.
Do more with features like -
- Configure built in commands or add customized commands according to the file types you right click on.
- Configure the ‘Send to Menu’ within the FileMenu program.
- A very handy advanced renamer lets you batch rename all files in a folder.
- Synchronize two folders from within Windows Explorer.
- Split-join files and also compresses the parts.
- Find or replace a text for all the files that a selected folder contains.
- Delete only files of a specific type. For example, delete only the ‘.log’ files from the temporary folder.
- Mark locked files (files which are being used by other programs) for deletion with the next system boot.
- Securely shred your files and make them unrecoverable.
- Get a view of folder size through a pie chart.
- Send selected contents as email attachments.
- Add separators and demarcate your right click shortcuts.
These are just some of the utilities packaged inside FileMenu Tools. The greatest advantage beyond the ease of configuration is that the software bundles a lot of disparate utilities in an accessible collection. At an installed size of 6.4 MB and a freeware it’s click worthy.
The choice of decking up your right click menu depends on the kind of power you want to give it. But it’s a certainty that you will be spoilt for choice with the free software available.
The Infinity Bookcase
Written on 09:08 by Nemesis
Made by Dutch artist Job Koelewijn. Cool looking bookcase, bit big for my house though.
Sweden's Ultra-Modern Underground Data Center
Written on 09:04 by Nemesis
Underneath Stockholm, deep in the bedrock exists a data center better than any high tech lair Hollywood could probably dream up. Bahnhof, one of Sweden's largest ISP's has created a bunker of high tech goodness that is surely to astound.Source
The facility is called Pionen and once you get past the 16 inch thick entrance doors into the once nuclear bunker now converted to a data center, the spectacular sights that await are simply breathtaking. Replete with waterfalls, greenhouses, German submarine backup engines, and simulated daylight this facility has the added benefit of being able to withstand an almost direct hit by a hydrogen bomb.
The space Pionen now occupies was originally built during the Cold War era as a nuclear shelter. Located below 30 meters of solid bedrock the space was completely redesigned during 2007-2008. Now Boasting 11,950 sq ft of space it houses the Network Operations Center (NOC) for all of Bahnhof's operations. One of five data centers, it is the largest and is manned by a 15 member team of senior technical staff.
Backup power is generated by two Maybach MTU diesel engines that produce 1.5 Megawatts of power and were originally designed for submarines. The cooling is handled by "Baltimore Aircoil fans producing a cooling effect of 1.5 megawatts" which is enough to cool several hundred rack-mounted servers.
Triple redundant internet backbone pipes are split across fiber and copper and delivered via multiple physical paths into the mountain.When asked the motivation behind Pionen, Jon Karlung, CEO of Bahnhof said “Rather than just concentrating on technical hardware we decided to put humans in focus. Of course, the security, power, cooling, network, etc, are all top notch, but the people designing data centers often (always!) forget about the humans that are supposed to work with the stuff.”
“Since we got hold of this unique nuclear bunker in central Stockholm deep below the rock, we just couldn't’t build it like a traditional – more boring – hosting center,” he said. “We wanted to make something different. The place itself needed something far out in design and science fiction was the natural source of inspiration in this case – plus of course some solid experience from having been a hosting provider for more than a decade.”
Regarding the design of the facility, he said “I’m personally a big fan of old science fiction movies. Especially ones from the 70s like Logan’s Run, Silent Running, Star Wars (especially The Empire Strikes Back) so these were an influence,“ said Karlung. “James Bond movies have also had an impact on the design. I was actually looking for the same outfit as the villain ‘Blofeld’ in Bond and even considered getting a white cat, but that might have been going a bit far!”
60 Beautiful Examples Of Night Photography
Written on 21:30 by Nemesis
Really cool article I found. Heres some examples. A link to the article can be found after the images.
A link to the article.
Hackers tap into Obamamania
Written on 12:47 by Nemesis
Hackers seeking to exploit the global interest in Barack Obama’s sweeping election victory have bought their way to the top of the Google results page.
For most of this afternoon, searches involving the keyword Obama generated a sponsored link reading “Download Now” at the top of the results page. People who clicked on the link would reach a web page infected with malicious software.
Security experts confirmed that the site could compromise PC users’ security.
“The website is infected with a malicious i-frame,” Graham Cluley, the senior technology consultant at the online security company Sophos, said. “This code then downloads further malware onto your PC, including something called Mal/Pdfex-B.
“Ultimately this code is designed to compromise your computer and allow hackers to have remote control over your PC.”
Unlike early virus writers, who were motivated mainly by the desire for notoriety, today’s hackers work for profit.
Once they have gained access to a computer, they will search for potentially lucrative data such as banking passwords and credit card numbers. They may also use the network of PCs they control to launch co-ordinated attacks on web businesses that refuse to co-operate with extortion demands.
Hackers often seek to trick people into infecting their PCs by playing on human curiosity. Commonly used tactics include the use headlines referring to terrorist attack or celebrity scandal to lure people in, but security companies have noticed a recent surge in the use of Obama’s name as bait.
“We are also seeing a major malicious spam campaign featuring Obama at the moment, which points to a malware download,” Mr Cluley said. “We’re gathering information about that right now.”
Google declined to comment on individual adverts, but said that harmful links were swiftly removed.
“It’s difficult to talk about security without giving away what we do,” a spokesman said. “We do have a very sophisticated manual and automatic system for removing adverts that may be suspicious.”
The spokesman said that although advertisers were checked against a blacklist of companies that have previously generated complaints, Google did not pre-vet adverts. To do so would slow down the process of getting a campaign online, he said, and speed was one of the system’s key advantages.
At the time of writing, the sponsored link is no longer appearing on searches for Obama.
The moment surfer takes on 41-foot monster wave... and lives to tell the tale
Written on 08:20 by Nemesis
A daredevil surfer is pictured tackling a giant 41 foot wave in a bid to win himself a prestigious award. Kerby Brown took on the monster during a session at a top secret reef, and nearly didn't live to tell the tale.Moments after these pictures were taken, he suffered a devastating wipeout which nearly killed him.SourceHe said: 'Usually the wave never steps out or goes evil like that one, but it just went dry - the hardest wave I've ever had to surf.'I went straight over the lip and did about 10 backflips and then pulled a muscle in my shoulder.
'It felt like I ripped my arm out of its socket, my leggie snapped and then I felt like I was the deepest I'd ever been.'The unbelievable pictures have been entered into the prestigious Oakley Surfing Life Big Wave Awards, which rewards the riders of the biggest waves in Australasian waters.
Posted just for the pics. They look awesome.
SMule: Ocarina for iPhone [Stairway To Heaven]
Written on 07:09 by Nemesis
Ocarina is the first true musical instrument created for the iPhone. Both experts and beginners will be amazed by this innovative player. Ocarina is sensitive to your breath, touch and movements, making it even more versatile than the original. Unlike other musical applications, there are no pre-compiled riffs so musicians will find unlimited opportunities for self-expression. Advanced options allow you to choose between diatonic, minor and harmonic scales. Or channel your favorite video game adventurer with Smule's Zeldarian mode.
Cool App, I would buy it if I had an iPhone.
The Most Brilliant Computer Virus Ever!
Written on 06:33 by Nemesis
Well, i was surfing the net at college yesterday on my laptop, im allowed to use it in lessons to take notes etc.
I shut it down after my free period and went to physics, switched my laptop on, and upon start-up it started some EXTREMELY annoying music
I looked at it, tried to put some headphones in (sadly my headphones jack appears to no longer be working) and my sound panel is blanked out, so i cant control the volume (MUTE IT!)
eventually i gave in that physics lesson and just used pen and paper.
so i got home and tried to mess about a bit with it, it appears to have a strange virus.
It plays "Miley Cyrus - See You Again" upon start-up, each and every time, and just repeats at full volume, it wont accept headphones (just sees them as not there and continues to play)
I found miley.exe as a process, and I'm assuming that's what controlling it, but when i close it, its just reopens itself and starts playing again
anyone have any ideas? As I absolutely hate pop music, and this takes the biscuit -.-
Check out the rest of the replies here!
To understand the pain he went through check this out.
Something i found on Digg
Written on 03:24 by Nemesis
Something i found on Digg.... Not sure if I agree with it but lets see what you make of it.
Click on image to make it bigger
Vending Machines Selling PlayStation 3 Games Coming to U.K.
Written on 12:41 by Nemesis
Interesting concept?
You're hungry, you see a vending machine, and you reach in your pocket for that last crumpled dollar. After much fussing, the machine takes it. C7 -- some delicious Fritos sound appetizing. The bag jostles, begins to move forward, and then... gets stuck against the glass. Annoying? Now imagine instead of chips, it was a $60 game.As Stuff.tv reports (via VideoGamer), Universal Pictures and Sony have signed a deal to manufacture and distribute "PoP Instant Entertainment 24/7" vending machines across the U.K., where patrons will be able to purchase DVDs, Blu-rays, various media downloads, and yes, also PS3 games. That's a whole lot of quarters you're going to need to feed.
The plan is to have 150 movies available when these machines are rolled out, including recent movies like Hellboy II and Mama Mia -- you'll even be able to view trailers on the machine's screen before purchasing some of them. What (and how many) games will be available wasn't specified, but people will also be able to purchase and download movies and music directly to MP3 and MP4 players, or to an SD card. What kind of security these things will have wasn't detailed, but we imagine no less than a cage built around them with a tiger inside will be needed to stave off would be thieves. (Obviously, a complicated rig of levers and pulleys will be used to safely insert money and retrieve your items from a distance.)
The vending machines will appear in theaters, gyms, universities, and travel stations. Will we ever see them here in the U.S.? No word on that, but probably not. We never get cool vending machines in the U.S.
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Amazon takes a stand to eliminate wasteful, hard-to-open gadget packaging
Written on 10:50 by Nemesis
Finally, no more cut up fingers trying to pry open that damn plastic!
Come on folks, say it in unison with us: "Finally!" At long last, a company with a little clout has stood up and questioned the necessity of those ridiculous hard plastic containers that hold minuscule flash cards and the like (along with plastic twist-ties), and better still, it's already doing something about it. Beginning today, consumers who are tired of borrowing the fire department's Jaws of Life to rescue their new USB drive can opt for products in Amazon's "Frustration-Free Packaging," which utilizes streamlined packaging that often includes recyclable cardboard. 19 products from the likes of Fisher-Price, Mattel, Microsoft and Transcend are currently available in the new containers, and the firm's CEO has a vision of offering its "entire catalog of products in Frustration-Free Packaging" within a few years. Hey, everyone else in the gadget world -- care to hop on a meaningful bandwagon for once?
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A Look at the BlackBerry Curve 8900
Written on 21:58 by Nemesis
Cool little article i found.
What’s that? Thought we were holding out on you? Never! The BlackBerry Curve 8900, also known to the BlackBerry faithful as the BlackBerry Javelin, is the much-awaited BlackBerry Curve replacement. It’s definitely been covered in depth so we won’t bore you and nitpick the handset. Instead, we’ll give you some of our very first impressions and let you decide the next steps. The size is awesome — totally small enough to be pocketable, but not too small where sacrifices on the keyboard had to be made. Unlike the Bold where some people had trouble hitting the right convenience key since it was too low, on the Curve 8900, it’s located perfectly.The screen, as we’re getting accustomed to now with RIM, is flawless! It’s smaller than the Bold as you know, and that’s an even denser, crisper, and sharper display in our books. Really a job well done. What about the keyboard? Even better than the first Curve. The keys feel more “fuller” and not hollow like the original 8300 did. They’re also decently spaced, and even after using a Bold for 5 months, the second we picked this up, we were off to the races. Another great execution by RIM.It might just be us, but the fake chrome bezel around the 8900 actually seems like it’s more equipped to handle rough usage than the Bold is. We could be wrong, but at first glance it looks like a tougher material or finish. You know how our original Bold fared…
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6 Great Android Tips for the T-Mobile G1
Written on 15:18 by Nemesis
Some tips I found for all you G1 users.
After months of hype, the first Android phone finally hits stores today. We've already had a few weeks to play with the T-Mobile G1 (see our full review here), and we've stumbled upon a number of tips and shortcuts that make the Android experience even easier. Here are six of our favorites.
1. Replace the Bundled Music Player With TuneWiki
Android's bundled Music program is fairly weak and clunky. Our suggestion: Ditch it and pick up TuneWiki off the Android Market. It's easier to use than the bundled Music program, and has a lot more features (such as a fun karaoke function that searches for lyrics online and runs them with your song as it plays). Of course, you can download TuneWiki to any iPhone, but only if it is jailbroken and unlocked (which would void its warranty). This difference is emblematic of one of the key distinctions between Android and the iPhone—Android doesn't ban applications that compete with or replace its own programs.
2. Use "Any Cut" To Put a Shortcut to Goog-411 On Your Home Screen
One of our favorite downloadable Android applications is a little program called Any Cut, which allows you to litter your home screen with shortcuts to any program, phone number, text-message recipient or menu setting. Use this program to create a home-screen speed dial to Goog-411—Google's free directory assistance number—to cut the number of clicks it takes to get your digits-on-demand down to one. Bonus tip: Create a shortcut to text message GOOGLE (466453) for when calling's just not convenient.
3. Play VIdeos in MPEG-4 H.264
The G1 has no built-in video player. That's what the Android Market is for. When we were testing the phone, there was only one true video playback program available: Video Player. And while this program can only play MPEG-4 movie files, we should soon see other video-playing programs that will be able to handle all sorts of codecs. However, even when these options become available, you'll still want to play your movies in MPEG-4 H.264 compression whenever possible. This is because the G1 has built-in hardware acceleration that makes this specific video format run extra smooth. Future programs will probably run Divx and Xvid and all those great files you've collected from Bittorrent, but the programs' on-the-fly decryption and viewing will be far more taxing on the software, which could mean lags.
4. Search Google Maps From Front Page Widget
The G1's default home screen features a Google search widget. While this obviously makes Google Web searches quicker, it is also is a quick way to tap into Google Maps. When you type the name of a place or location, you are given a typical Google search results page, with a map location at the top. Click this result, and the phone asks you whether you want to switch out of the browser and into the Maps program to finish your query.
5. Use the Hard Search Key
If there's one company that understands the value of search, it's Google. And one of the best parts of the G1's physical keyboard is its hard search key (the one that looks like a little magnifying glass.) Pressing it from the home screen brings up the Google search bar. This is great, but what's more interesting is its use within individual Google-made programs like YouTube and Maps, where pressing it brings up a search bar specific to that program, allowing you to find what you're looking for in an app easily and quickly.
6. Focus Before Shooting
Camera phones are notorious for their blurry shots. The G1's autofocus tries to change this: When you half-press the camera button on the side of the phone, it engages the autofocus (anybody who has autofocused with a stand-alone camera will find this familiar). When it's done focusing, a green circle pops up in the corner of the screen, letting you know it's time to take the shot by completely depressing the button. So remember when shooting to wait for the green circle for better, Facebook-worthy results.
Source
The Making of the Geekiest Tattoo Ever!
Written on 15:03 by Nemesis
It says:
---------------------------------------
absinthe@havoc:~$
who | grep -i "brunette" | talk; cd ~; wine;
talk; touch; unzip; touch; strip; gasp; finger;
gasp; mount; fsck; more; yes; gasp;
umount; make clean; sleep
Code is art
-----------------------------------------
Some people.....
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Trojan virus steals banking info
Written on 13:08 by Nemesis
The details of about 500,000 online bank accounts and credit and debit cards have been stolen by a virus described as "one of the most advanced pieces of crimeware ever created".
The Sinowal trojan has been tracked by RSA, which helps to secure networks in Fortune 500 companies.
RSA said the trojan virus has infected computers all over the planet.
"The effect has been really global with over 2000 domains compromised," said Sean Brady of RSA's security division.
He told the BBC: "This is a serious incident on a very noticeable scale and we have seen an increase in the number of trojans and their variants, particularly in the States and Canada."
The RSA's Fraud Action Research Lab said it first detected the Windows Sinowal trojan in Feb 2006.
Since then, Mr Brady said, more than 270,000 banking accounts and 240,000 credit and debit cards have been compromised from financial institutions in countries including the US, UK, Australia and Poland.
The lab said no Russian accounts were hit by Sinowal.
"Drive-by downloads"
RSA described the Sinowal as "one of the most serious threats to anyone with an internet connection" because it works behind the scenes using a common infection method known as "drive-by downloads"."
Sinowal has been constantly updated with new variantsUsers can get infected without knowing if they visit a website that has been booby-trapped with the Sinowal malicious code.
Mr Brady said the worrying aspect about Sinowal, which is also known as Torpig and Mebroot, is that it has been operating for so long.
"One of the key points of interest about this particular trojan is that it has existed for two and a half years quietly collecting information," he said. "Any IT professional will tell you it costs a lot to maintain and to store the information it is gathering.
"The group behind it have made sure to invest in the infrastructure no doubt because the return and the potential return is so great."
RSA's researchers said the trojan's creators periodically release new variants to ensure it stays ahead of detection and maintain "its uninterrupted grip on infected computers."
While RSA's lab has been tracking the trojan since 2006, Mr Brady admitted that they know a lot about its design and infrastructure but little about who is behind Sinowal.
"There is a lot of talk about where it comes from and anecdotal evidence points to Russia and Eastern Europe. Historically there have been connections with an online gang connected to the Russian Business Network but in reality no one knows for sure."
That he said is because the group is able to use the web to cloak its identity.
Infection
In April 2007, researchers at Google discovered hundreds of thousands of web pages that initiated drive-by downloads. It estimated that one in ten of the 4.5 million pages it analysed were suspect.
Sophos researchers reported in 2008 it was finding more than 6,000 newly infected web pages every day, or about one every 14 seconds.
Since May, Sinowal has compromised over 100,000 online bank accountsRSA's fraud action team said it noticed a spike in attacks from March through to September this year.
That is backed up by another online security company called Fortinet. It said from July 2008 to September 2008 the number of reported attacks rose from 10m to 30m. This included trojans, viruses, malware, phishing and mass mailings.
"The explosion in the number of attacks is alarming," said Derek Manky of Fortinet.
"But trojans are just one of the players in the game wreaking havoc in cyberspace."
Remedies
While attacks are on the increase, there are some simple steps that users can take to protect their information besides using security software.
"We have a saying here which is 'think before you link,'" said Mr Manky.
"That just means observe where you are going on the web. Be wary of clicking on anything in a high traffic site like social networks.
"A lot of traffic in the eyes of cyber criminals means these sites are a target because to these people more traffic means more money," he said.
The rate at which Sinowal has been compromising online bank accountsRSA also urged users to be wary if their bank started asking for different forms of authentication such as a social security number or other details.
"People think not clicking on a pop up or an attachment means they are safe. What people don't realise now is that just visiting a website is good enough to infect them."
RSA said it is co-operating with banks and financial institutions the world over to tell them about Sinowal. It has passed information about the virus to law enforcement agencies.
Source
Its times like this im glad I'm not old enough to own a bank account.
iPhone Getting Final Fantasy Game
Written on 11:39 by Nemesis
All you RPG fans and tactics folk may be excited to know that Square Enix, the company behind the world-conquering, Final Fantasy series of games is making its first title for the iPhone.Called Crystal Defenders, the title is going to launch first in Japan but will involve you using the iPhone's touch screen to move characters and make strategic ass-whuppin' decisions.
From the first screens here [after the jump], it looks somewhat like the FF: Tactics series and is described as a map-based "defence simulation".
What's more is that it's expected to go on sale at the Japanese App Store by Christmas. With any luck we should see it in, say, 2010. OK, that's cynical, but I'd appreciate it arriving in the first half of next year.
While I'm not convinced that even a Final Fantasy game can help bolster Apple's claims that the iPhone can be a gaming platform, it's a step in the right direction.-Martin Lynch
New blogger... smells of fresh paint.
Written on 03:48 by Nemesis
First post on my first blog. I have a long ticklist of things to do before i am ready to start posting technical information. Number one on my list is to give my blog a fresh lick of paint. I have started a blog because I am constantly coming across lots of little 'tid bits' of information and have found no where to post them. The blog wil mostly contain technical information and news but also have some funny things for you to laugh at.
/end of first blog post.
-Ralph
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