Inside movie audition

Indiana Jones....And LIfe ??

I have been watching the Indiana Jones movies from the first one, I just finished the Last Crusade.  Upon ending credits, I am left wondering if they are just movies or can  they be applied to life?  The biggest message that is expressed in this movie is inner discovery and the search for truth within yourself.  At one point in the movie, Harrison Ford is hanging on by a finger nail at the edge of a seemingly bottomless crevice, just barely out of reach of the HOLY GRAIL,  His father says " Indiana, let it go".  DO you think that this could be applied to real life?  Could the biggest thing in your life, the single most important discovery really be within yourself?? Leave your comments and spread the word about this blog, we talk about some good topics here.  Or at least we will when I get a bigger audience!!!

Apple needs to learn from Microsoft?

I just read an article about what Apple needs to learn from Microsoft.  It almost made my head snap around.  If i remember my computer history correctly Apple computer had a working GUI a full year before Microsoft did.  The number of viruses for Windows is a mind blowing number when compared to the number of viruses for MAC.  Many people have been under the impression that MAC'S  "Don't get viruses"  This could not be further from the truth.  Any computer system can be infected with a virus.  There is one main factor that contributes to the number of viruses that it gets, this is how many machines are in use.  The vast number of businesses use windows machines as the primary backbone of their computer networks.  This presents itself as a humongous flag that says "ATTACK ME".  The bigger the nail, the quicker it gets "Hammered".  For today this is all that I have about this topic.  More to come in the days to come about MAC and PC.  For now, Keep it real.

AOL ->Bad tech support->Version number confusion

Unless you have been living under a massive rock, you probably noticed the newest advances in technology, either in your daily checklist of tech blogs and sites that get checked on a daily basis. With these advances comes new and better ways to get to the information that we crave on a daily basis. For those of you that don't know AOL is still in business and offering consumers "The newest and best of the internet and email". This is the biggest load of crap i have ever heard. I was providing tech support for members of my family today, ya know being the good guy that I am, among the issues to be looked at was with the AOL desktop software. Simply put, emails were going right into the drafts folder. So your first thought would be that the server settings somehow got tweaked. That was my first thought. When I started digging i found that the server settings were correct. Now, having very little experience with the AOL desktop software i decided to get some assistance. So I fired up Skype and placed a call to AOL. WHen I got the tech support on the line. By the way, the automated menu that AOL has was actually VERY easy to navigate, anyway. I started talking to the tech support "SPECIALIST" HAHA the only thing that he was specialized was reading the instruction from the PDF "How to". Like "OK...Now click the little blue button on the left side that says" click-click-boom!!! It really made me want to kick something. So after talking with the chap for a while and painfully running thru the instructions, he learned that i was using version 10.1 of the software. Now this is where my other gripe comes in. WHen EVERY other software company releases software, their version number goes up. ya know OSX 10.4/10.5/10.6 or anything else. Not the case with AOL, they go down. I was informed that i needed the newest version 9.6. WAIT WHAT?? the newest version has a lower version number? In what universe does that make sense? And here is the icing on the cake, as the "NEWEST" version was being installed, i told him that it was installing, and he HUNG UP ON ME!!! So here it is people GET RID OF AOL!!!!!

Microsoft Buys Skype

So Microsoft jsut recently bought Skype for a cash value amount of of 8 Billion dollars.  Many of you would be wondering why would Microsoft bother with buying Skype?  There are a few VERY good reasons why.  First, the user base is mind boggling. 683 million in Q4 of 2009 and it has only gotten larger since then.  Another big selling point for Microsoft was the accessability to Facebook.  It will allow Microsoft to place even more ads on Facebook, as well as within the actual Skype application.  For many MAC users that use Skype, this merge means that microsoft will have even more access to our cloud of OS X.  I have seen Microsoft compared to SKYNET.  So who knows what the future holds for Skype and MAC in the near future.  Let me know what you think....

The Security Attacks Most People Have Never Heard Of

The Security Attacks Most People Have Never Heard Of

Smishing: Smishing or "SMS phishing" refers to a phishing attack that specifically targets mobile phones. The victim would receive an SMS with a hyperlink wherein a malware automatically finds its way in your phone or leads the user to a phishing site formatted for mobile screens. The term was brought on by David Rayhawk in a McAfee Avert Labs blog.
Botnet (Zombie PCs): A portmanteau of the words "Robot" and "Network," a Botnet is any number of internet computers that inconspicuous to their owners; forward e-mails (any of which include spam, malware, or viruses) to other computers on the internet. These infected computers are also known as "zombies". DoS attacks (Denial of Service) often rely on thousands of zombie PCs.
BlueBugging: A craze originally jumpstarted by a Malaysian IT Professional, bluebugging (not to be confused with bluesnarfing) allows a more skilled person to illegally access a cellular phone via Bluetooth wireless technology. This act often times goes unnoticed without any proper notification or alerting to the phone's user. A vulnerability such as this allows phone calls, SMS messages to be read and sent, phonebook contacts to be erased, phone conversations to be tapped, and other malicious activities. But much to the hacker's dismay [I think the hacker knows the limitations… perhaps the point is that widespread impact is minimized because of the range…], access is only attainable within a 10 meter range of the phone.
Pod Slurping: Coined by US security expert Abe Usher; Pod Slurping is when your iPod or any portable USB storage device begins to surreptitiously copy large amounts of files from your computer to its hard drive, it's engaged in something called "Pod Slurping". Pod slurping is becoming an increasing security risk to companies and government agencies. Typically, access is gained while the computer is unattended, and this process can occur in as little as 65 seconds.
Ransomware: A program that makes a computer near unusable then demands payment in order for the user to regain full access. It "kidnaps" the computer! Ransomware is also commonly referred to as a "cryptovirus" or "cryptotrojan." Examples of Ransomware include Gpcode.AK, Krotten, and Archiveus. Ransomware was originally a with a trojan called PC Cyborg, created by a Dr. Joseph Popp.
Scareware: Scareware is software that tricks people into downloading or purchasing it, under the guise of fixing their computer, when in reality the faux anti-virus program is the real problem. Scareware programs often run a fictitious or careless system scan, and then present the user with a list of malicious programs that must be corrected, always leaving itself off of the list. The scareware then informs that in order to fix these "problems" it will require the user to pay a fee for a "full" or "registered" version of the software. Examples of scareware include: System Security, Anti-Virus 2010, and Registry Cleaner XP.
Sidejacking: Sidejacking is a hacking technique used to gain access to your website specific accounts. Websites typically encrypt your password so it cannot be stolen, but then send you an unencrypted "session-id". The session-id is either some random data in the URL, or more often, random data in a HTTP cookie. A hacker who finds the session-id can then use it to gain access to the respective account. Thus enabling the hacker ability to read your email, look at what you've bought online, or control your social network account, and so on. Robert Graham, who pulled together a variety of known and new vulnerabilities and packaged them into an automated session snatcher, was responsible for this term.
Black Hat: "Black Hat" hackers are those people who specialize in unauthorized breaching of information systems, often times attacking those containing sensitive information. They may use computers to attack systems for profit, for fun, or for political motivations. Attacks often involve modification and/or destruction of data which is done without authorization. They also may distribute computer viruses, internet Worms and deliver spam through the use of botnets.
White Hat: A "White Hat" hacker describes an individual who identifies a security weakness in a computer system or network but, instead of maliciously taking advantage of it, exposes the weakness, and repairs the vulnerability protecting the network from unwarranted intrusions or attacks. The term is taken from old western films, where the white hat cowboy is portrayed as the hero, and the black hat as the villain.

The Attacks Everyone Sort of Understands

Worm: Originating in a Xerox Palo Alto Research Center 1979 by engineers, a "Computer Worm" was originally designed to make programs run more efficiently, then later corrupted to be a destructive computer virus that can alter or erase data on computers. Often times, they leave files irretrievably corrupted or slow the PC down to a crawl.
Trojan Horse: A long time and common infection found amongst even the newest of computers, this destructive program disguises itself as a harmless application. Although Trojans are incapable of self-replication, they are still just as destructive as a computer virus. In an act similar to its Greek origin, often times a Trojan horse opens up a backdoor to your computer enabling potential viral infections and allowing hackers to control the PC. Origins trace back to MIT hacker turned NSA spook, Dan Edwards.
Phishing: Originated by hackers who were stealing America On Line accounts by scamming passwords from unsuspecting users, "phishing" is the age-old crime of taking ownership of sensitive information from third parties (phishing scam victims). Information includes usernames, passwords, banking information, and credit card numbers. This is typically accomplished from sending someone an e-mail fraudulently claiming to be a legitimate company, or redirecting someone to a website that looks legitimate but isn't. More often than not, the direct result of being phished is your identity being stolen.
Script Kiddies: A term originated by Marcus Ranum to describe white hats who had no idea what they were doing, a script kiddy (sometimes plural as kiddies) is a derogative term, used by more skilled hackers of computer security systems, to describe young or less experienced hackers who still can be just as much a threat or annoyance. Utilizing cheap techniques, pre-written scripts and sometimes with assistance, the average script kiddy can exploit a weakness with computer networks. The difference is that these untrained hackers are often unaware of the potential consequences of their actions.
Keylogging: Originally designed by Perry Kivolowitz for a Usenet news group in 1983, Keylogging for the most part has become increasingly common, not to mention dangerous. It involves the recording of any keyboard input via internet connection. Not every instance of keylogging is necessarily illegal. It's sometimes done as a way to monitor teens and children.
Social Engineering: Brought into common knowledge by Kevin Mitnick (a hacker popular back in the day), Social Engineering involves obtaining or attempting to obtain private data by illegally persuading an individual to reveal otherwise secure information. The Information released by victims is often then used to attack a computer network. One common example would be when an employee at a large company is convinced to give out his employee identification, and then it is manipulated to gain further access to the said company's network, often sensitive information.
Crapware: Originally coined and reported by Marc Orchant on his ZDNet blog, Crapware is comprised of programs that use valuable resources on a computer's hard drive, such as memory or RAM, which are not necessary and are unused by the computer owner. Crapware can range from software loaded onto the system prior to sale to programs that are downloaded from the internet without the knowledge or consent of the user. One of the more common examples of Crapware is AOL being installed on PCs by the PC manufacturer.
Got a favorite we did or didn't mention—or a term you've made up yourself? Let's hear it in the comments.

Issues with Ubuntu….but still love it.

Ok so after a long stint of using ONLY Ubuntu Linux I can honestly say that I love it but it still has a bit to go before it can honestly over take Windows for the title of “Primary OS’.  Now I didn’t just run it on a virtual machine for an hour.  I ran it as my main OS for over six months.  During this time, I have compiled a list of points both good and bad.

First and foremost is the factor that Linux(depending on which distribution you use) requires a lot of setup of components, ie: sound card, dvd playback, and audio playback.  Though with a little patience, and some help from the forums. 

The next thing that I noticed is that the flash plugin did not perform as it did on Windows, considering that Windows is a paid software, this is to be expected.  However while navigating various sites I found it to be choppy.  The games on facebook were very choppy also.

On the other side of the coin, All of the software is completely free.  The whole operating system is much faster than Windows.  I would say that it is about 30-40% faster.  It feels much more confortable to work around in.  For now that is all I have for you guys.  Im going to keep  writing about this, and keep you updated in the future.