FireFox 3

Yes the day has come, download Firefox 3 now today and lets break a record.

in mean time watch Mozilla Air Live

What to do when a hole is found?

Just the other day, i need my old high school GPA and class that i have taken. The school had an on-line system so students could check there grades. Thinking that i could still login to get the information, i gave it several trys, to realize that they no longer kept old student data.

What sparked my interest, is that on failure to login i got a 404 (page not found). I took a deeper look into the source code for the web page and found that there was no real secure authentication. The java script made a simple hash of the student ID, Turning a 5 digit integer to hex. It then tacks on the users 3 digit pin/password to the end of the hex string. It turns out this hex-string is the name of the HTML file on the server that has the students grades.

The flaws in the system are obvious. The only thing they did right was to add the directory with the student data to the robots.txt file so Google would not cache the information.

Should i let this go? Should i bring this up to the school? Would they even listen to me? Should i spend the day to write a program to anonymously brute-force every student's ID and pin, as proof how flawed the system is. I know there is no real personal info available, but why did they add the insecure authentication system.

It get worse since hundreds of schools nation wide use this exact same method, because it is part of a licenced package of software that many schools use, to keep track of students grade.

I also suspect that the pins are not random, but may derive from the student Id of students name. Since they were given, and no person has the power to change it. Hans the software that powers the grading system, generated the pin.

Ops: Windows XP sp3 and DayLight savings time

Doh, some one must be saying at Microsoft. If you know mw, you know I use allot of beta and alpha software that still in development stages. At any one given moment I'm testing about 10 or so application in it's primordial stage. I know and expect problems, butt his problem I have with Service Pack Three for Windows xp was unaccepted. By now you know that George Bush passed an act in an energy saving bill, moving daylight savings date. It was not to big of a deal, there were patches well planed for the changes for both OS and software. There a few hick-ups with some automatic clocks, but no big deal. This patch was a part of SP2, and you would think that in SP3 they also would included it, since it is just a roll-up of all the patches to date. But nope some one for got it. Well not really from what I read they decide to not include it and release it as an extra to SP3. Don't ask me why, but it stupid. What is even worse, that the patches that do fix it in Windows Xp don't work with SP3.

So this what you have to do.

A.) Modify some regs, good for several computers since a bat script could easily be made (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/914387)

B.) Download this GUI based time zone editor for windows.(http://download.microsoft.com/download/5/8/a/58a208b7-7dc7-4bc7-8357-28e29cdac52f/tzedit.exe)

 

I went with B since only one computer is bad, and I only live in one time zone.

Little screen shot of what it looks like, and the changes that has to be made.

Rant :: Proprietary Software as a Standard

This one really bothers me. I'm slowly transferring from proprietary software to GPL and open source software. There for I dropped Microsoft Office for Open Office. Open office has just as much power as it counterpart, and the best part it is free. I'm so use to Ctrl+S to save, that I save every thing in the Open Document standard. This became a problem when I tried to e-mail a professor a paper, and she could not open it. I new the reason, she was using Microsoft Word, that does not fully support or even recognize the odt extension. Now with Open office I do have the power to open and save doc files, but that is not the point. Why should I save it as a doc? I'm using the open stander for documents! it is what should be used for passing files around.

The problem I see, What if Microsoft Office decides to secure and lock down their file format and use some type of encryption. I bet it would only take a few day to break, but that is not the point. In a way it force people to buy software, so they can share and communicate with others.

KDE 4

KDE 4.0 in Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon

I had not had the pleasure to take the new KDE for a test spin yet, but it is on my to-do list. I'm debating if I should add it on top of one of my Ubuntu 7.1 desktop, or update it to Kabuntu 8 Hardy Heron. Either way it will be my first time running KDE installed on a computer. Not to say i never used KDE interface, that's not true. I use KDE all the time in live version of Linux, either in Slax or other bootable restoration tools. I this is because KDE is a little lighter, and more customizable then gnome.

So with said, I hope to test several next Gen graphic interface, either it be gnome, xfce, or kde.

if you cant wait for my review this is a good link:

http://arstechnica.com/reviews/os/kde-40-review.ars

RIP N00b Server

It is sad to say, i think my web server is and down and out. Don't worry it most likely wont effect you, because only a select few people new and had access to my web server. The n00b server project started a few years ago, when i was getting into website design and i needed a web host to practices with. If you know me, you know i can be cheep, therefore i made my own server.

The server was made up of several striped down computer components from old computers. When i say old, there not even breaking the gigahertz mark. To be exact it was running at half of that, at a break neck speed of 500MHz. I was able to squeeze an extra 59 Hz by overclocking it. I was hoping to get more out of it but because i had all miss match memory sticks. Also this was a old mother board and bios with out overvolting or fixing memory speeds. This was all before jumper free clock settings.

The computer was packed tight with hard drives. Four drives ranging in size from 2GB to 10 GB. Each drive had it own purpose. One was used for OS and programs. Another drive was used for was open to the Internet. There was also a drive with a ntfs partition that was mapped out on my local network to act as a small filer server. The last drive was used as the swap partition (page files).

The computer became a server over night, with few installation and configurations. For Os i had a ubuntu 6.06 lts. I opted to use graphic interface, because my Linux skill were not great. Keep in mind this was my first time using Linux on a computer. I was shocked on how smooth every thing went.  The computer ran so well that, at one time it became my main computer! With Apache 2 running in the background i was able to surf the net, down load, install and program.

In later months the server began getting more jobs. Soon it was running SQL for bugzilla, SVN, and TomCat.It was great, and very quick considering what parts i made it from.  The problem came about when i, decided to upgrade to 7.1. The computer locked up in the upgrade. I have a feeling the hard drive died, or just got very corrupt.

The question is what to do with the server. My needs to have my own server has disminition, since i have access to a real web host. I my decommission it, or turn it into a gateway for my network, to ad another security layer. Also it would like be to have a encrypted tunnel to my home network. Other wise, it may become my back end to handle user profiles when i switch completely to Linux with remote profiles. who knows, but I'm up set seeing the server be offline.

Black and White 2

I have been hooked playing a new game. Well its not new new, but new to me. It's called Black and White 2. I never player or heard of it before. I came across this game from watching Discovery Channel Rise of the Video Game show.  The game base is  similar to, Civilization, Age of Empire, and Empire Earth. At the same time it is very unique. The creators emphasise, that player has the power. You play as a god, and you have the power to be either a good, evil or any where between.  Playing as God you have total power, to harvest food, build buildings or have you followers do it them self. Another feature i like is that you can create huge armies. While other similar games limit your civilization to 200 or so people, In Black and White its unlimited.

The graphics are not bad at all, specially when you consider it is a few years old. The game also has a physics engine, to aid in make a realistic world. This is used when you throw objects around like, trees, rocks or even people. Another graphic element is how the world changes dynamically with weather and time. It also changes by how you play; If you a good God the buildings in the town will light up, with flowers and gold trim, But if your a bad or evil god the town will become dark and gloomy. How you place your buildings has allot to do with how the town will look. If they bare to close together the town becomes over crowed, slummy  city. 

The best feature in the game is the navigation and interface. Every thing is controlled by your mouse. The movements around the world is like Google Earth. Scroll wheel acts as a zoom, Holding a down the right mouse button, anchor the your godly hand allowing to push or pull away from that point. To tilt and rotate you use the scroll wheel button to act as an anchor. The left button is the cation button that allows you to rip up trees, build buildings or drag out roads. Building is unique since there is no need to go though a menu since, you can drag the blue print from other buildings.

This game is very cool, the only thing i could do with out is the Creature. In the game you get the animal that you have to train, to be good or evil. It can help build buildings, gather food or even take out small armies. You can also let him run wild, if you wish.

I played the demo two times. The first time as a good god, being as nice as i can. The second time i played as evil as possible, with huge armies conquering other towns. I found it harder to be evil, even though you were allowed to torcher people or sacrifice them. At first it was hard to over come the morality of it all. But after you slapped and threw some people around you become more use to it. Next thing you know your throwing boulders in your own town.

I have two videos to help show the coolness of the game. I don't think neither of then show the total power of the game. The first video is the preview trailer from the creator LionHead. The last one is just a you tube video of some game play and review by IGN.

Hard-Drive upgrade

So where have i been? Why have my post date been screwed? Well my laptop died on me! The hard drive crap ed out on me. I new it was bad, but was just unsure how much i could get out of it.

With that said I'm going to walk you though my experience working with this Dell Inspiron 5150.

• Here is the the belly of the beast. All I'm going to need is my hands and a screw driver you see in the upper right corner.

• Remove the battery and other external connectors before starting.

• I removed two other covers, just to snoop around. The cover in the middle covers the memory. Also note right above the bar code, under the middle cover is a black lever that is used to release the CD-ROM drive. The bottom right is a cover for the the wi-fi.

• In the upper right corner, two screws are used to hold down the hard drive tray.

• The old drive is in the bag. The new drive is already installed in the hard drive tray by four screws. Also note there is an adapter on the IDE connector.

• There it is, the new 60 GB drive. 60 GB may be small, but this not my main computer, and for sure beats the 30 GB drive that it replaced

Final Thoughts:
Over all I'm surprised how easy it is to work with Dell's. In this experience it open my mind to more possibility's, of even upgrading to wi-fi N.

Dell basher No-more

I think in my previous days i might of came off as a dell basher. Lets be honest Dell took over the computer market. Back in the days computers for companies and schools came from computer technicians. They new and had to meet the demands of the company. They were specialist in there own nature. I remember helping out a computer tech to build 12 computers for a private school. Today that will never be the case. Company's like Dell took over the industry and have money to spend to make a dedicated compotes that simple and cheaply made. These components have much tighter requirements, that may sound good at first, but it prevents expandability. With the tighter specification and dedicated components, companies like dell can provide better support since they know what the hardware is capable of doing, it's limitations, and any flaws.

On the the other hand a computer technician would have to rip the computer a part, get the part numbers of each components, get the updated drivers and manuals of each component. After some problem solving, if it seems hardware base you will have to start trading out components to find the faulty or problematic component.

With a Dell computer it is much simpler, for two reasons. First with there priority hardware there is much less that can go wrong. Since it is almost always the case, they have fixed on-board audio and video. They do not have to worry about components conflicting with each other since they have been well tested. Secound Dell has very simple tracking system, Service Tag. The six character string, allows you to track to see what components are installed, the date of purchase, the status of the warenty. More importantly support.dell.com is a one place stop to get manuals and drivers.

No, you cant over clock dell, but surprisingly easy to work with. Back in my hay days, i recall working on an HP computer, and it was the pain in the ass. They have what i called a fix Bios, that would prevent upgrades with out sending it back to the manufacture. I think this was the start of my hatred to big OEM computer manufactures.

This is no longer is the case, After working with the couple Dells i found them to be very easy to trade in and out components. The PC case splits in half, with the ease. Allowing you to see every thing,neatly because they have well designing wire management. This helps to improve airflow, and allows more efficient cooling. It also reduces the needs of additional fans that help reduce noise. Besides having neat wires and a case that split opens, every thing is tool less. Little color code thumb tabs makes it easy to indentifi, how to remove the component. It is almost flawless inside.

Now that was a PC, something i was very familiar with. but what would a laptop be like?

Ubuntu 7.10 on PS3

Over the past few years i been becoming a Linux fan, and even a bigger fan of the Linux community. The community is amazing since they spend hours programing to adapt, for no pay. My first encounter was the ipod Linux, a custom light weight Linux kernel able to run on the ipod. The use may seem limited, because the interface, but you will be surprised. There are allot of games and simple apps. My favorite of at the time was the Wikipedia, which was simple but large dump of the famous encyclopedia.

The open source of Linux allows any one to rebuild it, customize it and adapt it. I just duged up this article, on how to get Ubuntu (a full blown Linux distro) on the PS3. This will practically turns your PS3 into a roaring 3GHz multimedia system. What i like most, it justify the $500 price. Where can you get a complete 3.2GHz computer with a blue-ray drive, and hdmi ports to connect to your HDTV.

"
Here's how you get Ubuntu 7.10 to run on PlayStation 3

read more digg story
"

Wireless keyboard encryption easily broken

This was kind of an interesting story for tonight. From my readings and understanding, the encryption on Microsoft Wireless keyboard has been broken. This is nothing to be alarmed about in my opinion.

First if you ever had a RF wireless keyboard you know the range. There great in the same room but, one room away it works ok, little iffy at times; some keys may not register all the time. Therefore the hacker has to be in within 50 or so feet. So if there some one in your living room, you don't know, you have more things to worry about. Just to cover all areas in this matter, in an office build it would be very useful. If you worked at an insurance company, with hundreds of computers on the same level you’re bound to find someone typing personal information. Only problem it is an office building, wireless keyboards are not standard issued.

Besides the range, the equipment need to scan the 20 MHz frequency is not on every ones Christmas list. It may be possible to hack up an old wireless keyboard receiver, but those who have them know how limited they are. This is not like a wi-fi wep crack, since every laptop now comes with a wireless card, which has mix mode to scan the air space.


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The encryption on Microsoft's wireless keyboards is so simple it only has 256 possible keys. You can guess the key using only 20-50 keystrokes. Someone could potentially create a wireless key logger that captures characters from every keyboard in the office.

read more digg story
"

Video Transfer = BitTorrent?

I was shocked when I heard, what the female contestant on Jeopardy last night (November 26, 2007) answered to a question dealing with i.Link and Video; Bit-Torrent is what she answered with. I was shocked. Shocked that it made me think on why I would be so shocked. First I came up with the bad connotation Bit-Torrent has; The illegal downloading of copyrighted content. Second reason being her, a female in her late 30's, early 40's. What does she know about Bit-Torrent? When would some one of here status come about this word and meaning? This all puzzled me, a great deal. In the end why would she link Bit-Torrent as a means of transferring video?

Has Bit-Torrent saturated are lives enough, that it has became common knowledge? Yes and no. Yes in the sense Bit-Torrent is a practical way to sync data transfer over many users. Those like me, who game and use the Steam platform, may know or not know that it is based off a Bit-Torrent system. Another example that came up in recent debates is that IBM Open Office Lotus Symphony also has torrent built into itself. The no part; The term "Bit-Torrent " is never used in the mass media, most likely they use the term peer to peer and at most P2P. Yes the internet is part of the mass media and defiantly has knowledge of Bit-Torrent, but online it mostly used in the negative form.

So how did this contestant come up with her answer? I have to think she or better yet she knows some one who uses Bit-Torrent for boot legged video. Now that's jumping to conclusions.