UK gov £50 million site is useless crock
Its a Microsoft .Net based site (no surprise there so)
Tuesday, November 30, 2004
More UK Gov I.T. woes
Lamppix
Lamppix is a Live CD based on Knoppix and Damn Small Linux with Apache,MySQL,PHP,Perl installed. It allows you to easily run your PHP driven web pages off a bootable CD.
Linkdump
Sea Level Rise simulator
interesting...
Isle of Man goes Microsoft
Mixed environment to go totally Microsoft by 2006.
Cold War game due out
And on Linux too.
Korea: email dying out
Only used formally or by less tech savvy people - blogs, IMs and SMS replacing it
Finnish gov says dont use IE
IFRAME flaw worries
FBI seek Nmap logs
NMap creator asked repeatedly for his web server logs
Freemind
Mind mapping software.
Monday, November 29, 2004
Handy commands
lspcidrake [list]
lspci -v [in depth pci device list]
lsmod [list]
ps -ef [dump process list to screen, like 'top' but not continuous]
fuser -v /dev/* [list]
ifconfig -a [same as 'ipconfig' under Windows]
service -s [show current service status]
apropos net [search man pages, in this case for all commands]
netstat -p
netstat -t
ls /proc
more /proc/meminfo
lsof [list open files]
ldd [print shared library dependencies e.g. ldd /usr/bin/perl ]
lshw [list hardware]
cal [ calendar]
modinfo [what kernel modules are listed]
IE Exploit code
XP SP2 Security Bypass
Circumvent SP2 security by using simple javascript.
Internet Explorer IFRAME tag exploit
Full disclosure code.
Cartoon - Life before the Internet
SANS point out that Target are
selling marijuana and hookers
Target is using the Amazon database - Marijuana is a book title, and Hooker is a VHS video
Saturday, November 27, 2004
Ukrainian orange revolution
Ð?айдан Ð?езалежноÑ?Ñ?Ñ?. Ukrainian orange revolution
Originally uploaded by Vladimir Ivshin.
Friday, November 26, 2004
Massive IT failure at UK gov
The Register and Slashdot have picked up on that UK gov outage story. 80,000 machines got the BSOD - the biggest I.T. failure in UK government history. Bet the UK government is regretting awarding the £500 million contract to EDS/Microsoft.
Friday Linkdump
Lives - Linux video editing
Open source VJing
Deutsche Bahn migrating servers to Linux
Full steam ahead
Reg: Social Engineering
User is the weakest link.
EDS and Microsoft cock up
Windoze upgrade knocks out big UK gov department. Bofra worm attack maybe?
Thursday, November 25, 2004
Bash prompt tips
From IBM, great article about the bash prompt and how to configure it - very handy.
Slashdot - Westerners Migrating to India for Jobs
Slashdot:Westerners Migrating to India for Jobs
Pay sucks , but living costs are ultra-cheap.
Linux Today: Good News to be thankful for
Firefox on the rise, Linux server sales increasing exponentially.
Mandrake 10.1 Kwin Shadow Hack
Mdk 10.1 Kwin drop shadow hack
KDE 3.2.3 , Mandrake 10.1 only RPMs - adds a shadow effect on open KDE windows.
OS X Fonts
Zipfile containing Lucida Grande and Apple Garamond fonts. In KDE , open up the zip in Konqueror, and drag the fonts to font:/Personal in another Konqueror window.
Bofra exploit tied to 'massive botnet'
The Register reports that an attack on ad-serving company Falk that redirected some Reg readers on Saturday towards a site running malicious code may be part of a much bigger attack.
Vital Security report that "a group of hackers (perhaps even a criminal gang) is hacking web servers all over the Net and installing root kits that dynamically inject code into the pages served from the compromised web servers".
It is "similar to Download_Ject, only this time it works on Apache Servers rather than Windows.Using Iframes, a number of sites install anything up to 8MB worth of exploits on a users machine - viruses, trojans, scripts, malware packages - you name it, you'll end up with it."
Spyware warrior: Major exploit underway
South African TV show evangelises open source
First ever TV show entirely dedicated to open source.Slashdot mention it too
Feeeds
Selection of rss news sources presented in html , from Blogoscoped
Here's my RSS feed page
Something i rustled up earlier - it uses MagpieRSS
Reg: Don't Offshore , Pay us instead
Knoppix Hacks
O'Reilly hack book
MyAKDC for Mandrake
New windeco for Mdk 10 and 10.1
Wednesday, November 24, 2004
The Power of Blogs Inverted
Or how blogs can make one persons name completely toast.
It all started with myself coming across a posting about the first ever Google news bomb on the excellent Google Blogoscoped this morning. Blogoscoped picked up on this posting by John Batelle about how the rants of the owner of msmobile.com about Russell Beattie had turned up when you searched for Russell Beattie on Google News.
Turns out that Google news had inadvertently accepted a disparaging and personally insulting article about Russell Beattie (of Yahoo Mobile) posted by the the owner of msmobiles.com , Jacek Rutkowski. Then I noticed a Threadwatch link about it popping up on Jeremy Zadwodny's blog - looked like the story was spreading, rapidly. So, over to the man himself, Russell Beattie, to explain the whole sorry situation
Turns out that this Jacek character is an ex-Nokia engineer , fired from Nokia for divulging trade secrets, then turned rabidly anti-Nokia and pro-Microsoft, but then pissed off Microsoft by giving Microsoft employees points on their "pro-Microsoft" quotients.
According to Russell Beattie, "he's done much to have me dislike him, starting back in 2000 when I had the displeasure of being on a Sun email list called KVM-Interest where he would rant and use racial slurs attacking people who disagreed with him. Yes, he was once a Java fan, now he's this rabid Microsoft guy. But don't let this reflect badly on Microsoft, they don't like him either and won't invite him to their Mobius conferences any more since he went to one of the first ones, took pictures of everyone and did dosiers on their Pro Microsoft quotient."
It's gotten so weird that this guy has even called Russell at home. No joke.
I wonder if Jacek will do a counter-attack?
Doubtful - he's deleted those stories that are linked to from Google News. Yup - that's the power of the interweb, coming home to roost.
STOP PRESS:
Here's the Jacek commentary that made it into Google news captured by another blog.
Morsel of Links
Wish-lists added to Froogle
All you want for Christmas
The first Google news bomb
Personal attacks get into Google news.
Google news RSS feed
Third party hack that turns your Google news search term into an RSS feed - VERY useful.
Link Dump
Wired : Newspapers should really worry
Tired:dead-tree news wired: digital news
Linux server sales hit new high
$1 billion of Tux in the 3rd quarter of 2004
OpenOffice & Firefox coming to retail stores
Linspired...
BBC - On This Day
1963: Kennedy 'assassin' murdered
Lee Harvey Oswald, the man accused of murdering President Kennedy, is himself shot dead in a Dallas police station.
1989: New era for Czechoslovakia
The entire leadership of the Communist Party in Czechoslovakia resigns to make way for democratic changes.
1991: Giant of rock dies
Freddie Mercury dies aged 45, just one day after he publicly admitted he was HIV positive.
1974: Six charged over Birmingham pub bombs
Police charge six men in connection with the Birmingham pub bombings three days ago.
1998: Queen's speech spells end for peers
Under new proposals hereditary peers will lose their right to sit and vote in the UK Parliament's upper chamber.
Perfect fonts on Mandrake 10.1
Great guide here on how to tweak Mandrake 10.1 to get the best font display. I had font problems after upgrading from 10.0, and i found this guide very helpful.
Software patents "a deceptive, dangerous and democratically illegitimate proposal"
Torvalds, Widenius,Lerdorf say no to software patents
Linux Torvalds (Linux creator), Rasmus Lerdorf (PHP) and Michael Widenius (MySQL) have posted a statement addressed to the EU Council regarding their opposition to the proposed software patents directive, calling it undemocratic and against the interests of the European economy.
Tuesday, November 23, 2004
Spanish eBayers go on strike
The Register reports that a revolt by Spanish eBayers has spread with solidarity messages from Belgium,Germany and the U.S.
Monday, November 22, 2004
Rasmus Lerdorf Laptop Stolen
The creator of PHP has had his laptop stolen from a PHP conference in Paris. What makes it worse is that there was hardly any "non-geek" traffic at it. It's an IBM T42 with Debian installed - if anyone has any info on it mail me , leave a comment here or leave a comment on Ramus's blog.
Iframe Exploit write up by LURHQ
Detailed technical writeup on the IFrame IE exploit that is doing the rounds
Netcraft : The Register amongst many sites affected by banner ad Iframe exploit
Register apologises
Their ad serving company Falk AG infected with Bofra/Iframe exploit.
Who profits from security holes?
Visiting just one site resulted in 16 pieces of spyware being installed.
LinkDump
Quantum Astronomy: The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle (SPACE.com)
NASA Launches Black Hole Hunter (AP)
A Year of Firsts for the ISS (SPACE.com)
Bofra exploit hits our ad serving supplier
Judge dismisses keylogger case
UK boffins sniff for Higgs boson
230mph Electric Car
Worm Exploit Distributed by Advertising Network
Author of Linux Patent Study Contradicts Ballmer
My workstation OS: Mepis Linux
K3b?Easy CD Burning Program for Linux
Ease of use, nice look: Mandrake 10.1
Russell will be Yahooing Soon
Yahoo RSS Intentions Are No Secret
Friday, November 19, 2004
That funny Steve Ballmer video thing
Developers developers developers
Mandrake 10.1 upgrade - crappy fonts solved
After tweaking my Xorg config , certain sites like The Register were being displayed with blocky fonts.
Here's the solution - obviously , your mileage may vary.
1. remove the xorg-x11-100dpi and xorg-x11-75dpi packages (they have crappy helvetica and serif fonts)
2. download and install the ms-font rpms from http://webperf.org/msfonts/
urpmi msfonts-1.2.1-1.noarch.rpm
urpmi msfonts-style-1.2.1-1.noarch.rpm
3. edit /etc/fonts/local.cf - add all of your font directories
here's mine:
/usr/share/fonts/msfonts
/usr/share/fonts/msfonts-style
/usr/share/fonts/default/ghostscript
/usr/share/fonts/ttf
/usr/share/fonts/ttf/western
/usr/share/fonts/freefont
/usr/share/fonts/Dustismo
/usr/share/fonts/ttf/decoratives
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/msttcorefonts
/usr/local/share/fonts
/usr/share/fonts
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts
4. fc-cache -f -v
5. restart your window manager (ctrl+alt+backspace )
Voila! No more crappy fonts when looking at The Register in Konqueror:
Microsoft, IP and the WTO
Commentary from the Register - well worth reading.
Thursday, November 18, 2004
HP nx5000 laptop review
Comes with SuSe preloaded.
dot.KDE : HP delivers KDE on laptops
Interview with HP and lots of commentary
IBM - Inertia holding back Linux adoption in government
Zdnet report that senior IBM execs "have signalled that a few key government departments moving to Linux on the desktop will have a domino-like effect on the rest of the (UK) public sector."
The best place in the world to live is....
Ireland
"Ireland is the best place to live in the world, according to a quality of life assessment by Economist magazine."
The U.S. came 13th, while the UK languished at 29th.
Wednesday, November 17, 2004
2.6 and the ide-scsi module
Article on background behind the ide-scsi module debate.
Mandrake 10.1 - Gimp 2
Mandrake 10.1 has the Gimp 2.0 in its package repository. However, if you upgrade from 10.0 using urpmi --auto-select, the old version 1.x of the Gimp is NOT upgraded to version 2
The solution is to first remove Gimp version 1.x ("Remove Software" or urpme gimp), and then install Gimp version 2 (urpmi gimp2 or "Install Software")
Gimp 2 in menudrake will be pointing at "gimp-remote-2.0" - change this to /usr/bin/gimp-2.0 . Save your menu, and you'll be able to start Gimp 2.
If you have a Gimp icon on one of your kicker panels, you'll find that this has also changed to "gimp-remote-2.0" - again, just change this to "/usr/bin/gimp-2.0"
Mandrake 10.1 upgrade - fuzzy font problem
Yesterday I upgraded my work desktop from Mandrake 10.0 to Mandrake 10.1 using Easy URPMI. Mandrake 10.1 has dropped the XFree X server and replaced it with the GPL'ed XOrg server. The problem with this is that after the upgrade , my fonts looked slightly fuzzy.
Konsole output with fuzzy fonts - note how the letter "o" isn't very crisp.
The solution was to edit /etc/fonts/local.cf
Konsole output after editing local.cf and restarting X. Note how the letter "o" in "isos" is much crisper in definition.
There's more information about tweaking XOrg on this ArchLinux wiki page
Tuesday, November 16, 2004
Blogger internationalisation underway
French,German,Korean,Japanese,Italian,Spanish,Brazillian Portugeuse ,Chinese traditional & simplified
1 in 30,000 people fall for spam pitches
Trial shows how spammers operate
"As one of the world's most prolific spammers, Jeremy Jaynes pumped out at least 10 million e-mails a day with the help of 16 high-speed lines, the kind of Internet capacity a 1,000-employee company would need.
In a typical month, prosecutors said during the trial, Jaynes might receive 10,000 to 17,000 credit card orders, thus making money on perhaps only one of every 30,000 e-mails he sent out. But he earned $40 a pop, and the undertaking was so vast that Jaynes could still pull in $400,000 to $750,000 a month, while spending perhaps $50,000 on bandwidth and other overhead."
Monday, November 15, 2004
Mysterious Titan
Titan befuddles scientists
No methane oceans on Titan - could turn out to be a giant slurpee instead.
IP Whoring
Ex Microsoft employee sets up Intellectual Property company
This company doesnt make anything - only patent attorneys roam the hallways.Slashdot mention it.
Dow Jones buys Marketwatch website for $500 million
dot-com boom part 2?
NASA prepares scramjet for launch
7000 mph speed target.
Friday, November 12, 2004
MSN Search arrives with a "whuh?"
El Reg : Microsoft search arrives with a whuh?
Google's executives might be sleeping a little easier this weekend after Microsoft unveiled its much-hyped new search engine. It's fast, slick, and comes with a raft of interesting new features: confounding some expectations as surely as it confirms others. In short, Microsoft has produced a search engine that's better in almost every way than Google, except for one: its search results are terrible
Mandrake 10.1 stuff
From the Mandrake 10.1 release notes:
"You now have the possibility to add extra media (CD or network) during the installation. This means that you can download only the disc 1 or the new mini disc 1 and add a network source to complete your packages list."
Mandrake 10.1 review
Mandrake 10.1 official review
Lots of screenshots. Quote:
The Drake family has been expanded, for instance with drakroam, a tool for laptop users on the move to keep track of
different networks. Numerous draktools have improved, for instance the Mandrakelinux Control Center has a new (actually,
more or less reverted to the old) look, and the Software Management tools are now integrated into MCC instead of being
opened in their separate window. A new appearance is made by the network monitor on the system tray, for easy network
connectivity management, along with an applet for Mandrakeonline, a new Mandrakesoft (paid) service
XP SP2 - ten holes discovered
10 security holes found in Windows XP Service Pack 2
Internet Explorer at fault - time to switch to Firefox.
Thursday, November 11, 2004
Onion story
Nation's Poor win Election For Nation's Rich
Big thanks from Karl Rove and the ultra-rich of America.
Bye bye Nullsoft
Death knell for WinAmp
Nullsoft all but finished off by AOL.
Register - Aol Axes Nullsoft
Slashdot mention it too
Linux Certified Thinkpads
IBM Thinkpads certified for Linux
A list by IBM showing what Thinkpad models are certified for Redhat and Suse.
Wednesday, November 10, 2004
Adwords Professionals
Google has launched the Adwords Professional programme , which is "Designed for professionals who currently manage or want to manage multiple AdWords client accounts, the Google Advertising Professionals programme can help you become a more successful ad manager – for free"
BBC - On This Day
1995: Nigeria hangs human rights activists
The writer and human rights activist, Ken Saro-Wiwa, has been executed in Nigeria despite worldwide pleas for clemency.
1997: British au pair freed after appeal
A British child-minder is freed from jail in the United States after her conviction for murdering a baby is reduced to manslaughter.
1982: Brezhnev rumours sweep Moscow
Speculation is growing that Leonid Brezhnev, who has ruled the Soviet Union for the past two decades, has died.
1960: Lady Chatterley's Lover sold out
Penguin's first run of the DH Lawrence's sexually explicit novel banned for more than 30 years sells out.
Linkdump
Mandrake make a profit
French Linux company is on the mend.
AOL four way split
Subscriber numbers in decline
Bofra worm on the loose
Targets Internet Explorer users - exploits new IFRAME vulnerability
Using Netstat
How to keep an eye on your Linux networking.
Bastille Linux 2.1.6-1.0 released
Makes your box uber-secure.
Katalog CD Organizer
Organise your CDs in KDE.
Prime Number curios
Prime number curios
A dictionary of the strange and curious properties of some prime numbers.
Prime number algorithms
Fun with prime numbers
Algorithms, programs to calculate primes on a bog standard PC.
Tuesday, November 09, 2004
BBC on Firefox launch
Google Firefox page
Mozilla Europe mirror site
The U.S. mozilla.org is currently being slash-dotted.
Firefox is here!
Firefox 1.0 released
Milestone release for the IE killer.
One standard , One Microsoft
Very worrying article on the Register on how the UK Health system has been locked into Microsoft for 9 years.
Monday, November 08, 2004
Novell release Linux desktop
Based on Suse and aimed at the corporate market.
LinkDump
Titan hangs on to its secrets
Pub landlord secures Vulcan for £15k
One standard, one Microsoft - how the NHS sold its choice
BT shells out £520m for Infonet
Reach out and sneer: Dem radicals speak to the Red States
Google Image Index Just Not Updated
A look at Sun
LinuxCertified LC2430 Laptop Review
Google Image Search has that \"not so fresh\"feeling?
Sunday, November 07, 2004
BBC - On This Day
1989: Protests force out East German rulers
East German leader Egon Krenz prepares to choose a new government after mass resignations of Communist ministers.
1974: Police hunt Lord Lucan after murder
Detectives are searching for British aristocrat Lord Lucan following the death of his children's nanny last night.
1984: Four more years for Reagan
Ronald Reagan wins a second term as US President in the biggest landslide since George Washington in 1792.
1972: Nixon takes second term by landslide
President Richard Nixon wins an overwhelming victory in the US presidential elections for a second term in the White House.
1956: Eisenhower re-elected with record vote
Eisenhower is returned to the White House with the biggest share of votes for 100 years.
1975: IRA kidnappers release industrialist
Dr Tiede Herrema, a Dutch industrialist kidnapped by the IRA more than a month ago, is freed.
1998: Oldest astronaut back on Earth
Senator John Glenn, the world's oldest astronaut, lands back on Earth after his historic nine-day mission.
2001: Billionaire mayor for New York
Republican billionaire Michael Bloomberg is elected mayor of New York in the most expensive mayoral contest in US history.
Saturday, November 06, 2004
BBC - On This Day
1956: Allied forces take control of Suez
British and French troops protecting allied interests in the Suez Canal battle with Egyptian soldiers in the Canal Zone.
1996: 'Comeback Kid' wins second term
Democratic President Bill Clinton crushes Bob Dole but Republicans retain control of both Houses.
1999: Australia rejects republic
Australians reject a proposal to break ties with the British monarchy and become a republic.
1968: Nixon wins close contest for president
Richard Nixon finally emerges as the next president of the US narrowly beating Hubert Humphrey.
1986: Oil workers die in helicopter crash
A Chinook helicopter carrying oil rig workers plunges into the North Sea off the coast of Scotland.
1972: Pay and price freeze aims to curb inflation
The British Government impose controversial measures to try and halt spiralling inflation.
Friday, November 05, 2004
BBC - On This Day
1952: Landslide victory for Eisenhower
General Dwight D Eisenhower sweeps to victory in the American presidential elections with the largest number of popular votes ever recorded for a presidential candidate.
1991: Publisher Robert Maxwell dies at sea
The body of the millionaire newspaper publisher, Robert Maxwell, is found in the sea off the coast of Tenerife.
1967: Forty die in Hither Green rail crash
At least 40 people are killed and 80 hurt after a train derails in south-east London.
1984: Sandinistas claim election victory
Nicaragua's ruling Sandinista Front claims a decisive victory in the country's first elections since the revolution five years ago.
1978: Iran's PM steps down amid riots
Iran's Prime Minister Jaffer Sharif-Emani resigns after two days of virtual mob rule.
Burning up the network
Kottke on election day overload.
Adobe forming a Linux strategy?
Flickr desktop shots
Search to speech results
Feeeds
Thursday, November 04, 2004
BBC - On This Day
1956: Soviet troops overrun Hungary
The Soviet air force bombs the Hungarian capital of Budapest and troops pour into the city in a massive dawn offensive.
1995: Israeli PM shot dead
The Israeli Prime Minister, Yitzhak Rabin, is assassinated at a peace rally in Tel Aviv.
1979: Militants storm US embassy in Tehran
Militant Islamic students in Iran storm the US embassy in Tehran taking 90 people hostage.
1942: Rommel goes on the run at El Alamein
The German army in North Africa is in full retreat as the Eighth Army triumphs at the Egyptian town of El Alamein.
1992: Clinton beats Bush to the White House
Democrat Bill Clinton becomes the first baby-boomer United States president after he beats rival George Bush to the White House.
1980: Reagan beats Carter in landslide
Former Hollywood actor and Republican Ronald Reagan wins the US presidential elections by a huge majority.
1974: M62 bomber jailed for life
Judith Ward is convicted of an army coach bombing in which 12 people died.
Her conviction was quashed 18 years later.
1987: Millionaire's big plans for English landmark
Land's End in Cornwall has been sold for nearly £7m to the property tycoon, Peter de Savary.
Tuesday, November 02, 2004
Results
Here's a bunch of websites and blogs that'll give you rolling info as the results come in. Some are partisan , some aren't.
Resultron
Live updates from the DCCC (Democrat)
CNN Election 2004
CNN Balance of Power
CNN Election Scorecard
MyDD poll watcher
Howard Dean - Blog for America
NY Times
Real Clear Politics
The Nation
Blog The Vote
Electoral Vote Predictor
Daily Kos
Andrew Sullivan
Matt Drudge
Atrios
Guardian (UK) - US Election 2004
BBC Vote USA 2004
Yahoo Full Coverage
Yahoo - Blog roundup
Wonkette
BBC - On This Day
1986: US hostage freed in Beirut
David Jacobsen, an American held hostage in Beirut by Muslim fundamentalists, is released after 17 months in captivity.
1995: Ex-minister charged with apartheid murders
The former South African defence minister, General Magnus Malan, is arrested and charged with murder.
2000: Schools watchdog Woodhead resigns
The controversial chief inspector of schools in England, Chris Woodhead, steps down, to the delight of teachers' unions.
1951: 6,000 British troops flown into Egypt
The final phase of the largest troop airlift since the war brings reinforcements in to quell unrest in the Canal Zone.
Monday, November 01, 2004
Electoral-vote.com webmaster revealed
Turns out its none other than Minix inventor, Andrew Tannenbaum!
BBC - On This Day
1984: Violence follows Gandhi killing
Rioting breaks out in parts of India following yesterday's assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
1966: Viet Cong bombs Saigon
At least eight people are killed including an American officer when Viet Cong artillery shells the South Vietnamese capital.
1970: Nightclub inferno 'wipes out generation'
A fire at a nightclub in France has killed 142 people, most of them teenagers.
1990: Howe resigns over Europe policy
The UK's deputy Prime Minister, Sir Geoffrey Howe, has resigned after disagreements over the government's Europe policy.
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