Protected: common carrier
February 26th, 2009fring beams your audio via Israel
February 11th, 2009While evaluating the SIP client fring on the iPhone it came to my attention that they were doing the registration from behind a machine in Israel. This means your authentication credentials are possibly compromised, and your audio stream may go half-way around the world and be subject to intercept by a number of different parties. Not exactly what you want from your VoIP client. Then again, if you’re paranoid about security, you won’t talk about things that really matter over VoIP anyways.
Savings Rate positive
January 6th, 2009Being a news junkie, I read something last week talking about how the savings rate was now positive whereas it has long been negative, and just came across an article with more data surrounding the current change in savings rates at the WSJ.
I know I personally am in this paradox zone, having opened two different savings accounts in the past year and earned more in interest this past year than the past 5 or so combined. Life should be interesting this coming year.
Good malware?
December 31st, 2008I’ve always thought about the idea of “Good” malware as a solution to some of the problems out there. The idea being that you use the same techniques used to compromise systems but to change some settings to a more secure value, but using some of the subversive methods to propogate.
Some of the settings that I consider a good default to change:
* Daily checks for software updates + Auto-Install of these updates
* Disable compromising features (eg: AutoRun)
Things to perhaps change
* Disable ActiveX
* Enable firewall (w/ exception handling)
* Nuke all AutoRun items
* Nuke all MSIE malware/extensions except “safe” plugins, eg: flash, quicktime, silverlight, etc..
The natural problem with this is doing good things with these bad techniques would likely get you classified as a virus/malware, and certainly if you attempt to do some of the network-scanning activities to distribute yourself. Too bad one cannot justify such activities legally.
CSIS Releases report to the president
December 11th, 2008A few days late, but the CSIS released their report to the president on how to secure cyberspace. It’s a bit long but available via their website and worth a review of at least the executive summary, if not a more detailed read.
Make your AppleTV use a Squid Proxy
November 3rd, 2008So, I have started toying around with my AppleTV and realized I wanted to make it a bit more sane for my environment.
1- Make it possible to ssh in to your AppleTV. You can do this with atvusb-creator/ (You can find various guides on how to do this online)
2- ssh appletv.local -l frontrow
3- sudo tcsh
I have a slower internet connection at home so desire to run all my web requests via my proxy-cache. The settings are hidden in /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/preferences.plist . I went ahead and copied the file and made a backup (always a good idea!) then performed a few edits, replacing the section that reads Proxies with the following (naturally updating my IP address accordingly).
<key>Proxies</key> <dict> <key>AppleProxyConfigurationSelected</key> <integer>2</integer> <key>FTPPassive</key> <integer>1</integer> <key>HTTPEnable</key> <integer>1</integer> <key>HTTPPort</key> <integer>3128</integer> <key>HTTPProxy</key> <string>IP.ADD.RE.SS</string> </dict>
Hope these things help you out.
AT&T 3G expansion continues
October 9th, 2008Dexter, MI is the latest area to gain AT&T 3G cellular coverage. Yesterday there was nothing in the downtown area, today there was. Watching how the networks continue to deploy their limited capital resources will be something very interesting over the next several months and years, but in this case, it’s a welcome network upgrade.
Apple quietly revs iTunes to 8.0.1(12)
October 8th, 2008Apple just posted updated iTunes for MacOS revving the software to 8.0.1(12) from 8.0.1(11). The build ID changed to 801A16. You can download the update and install it manually here: http://swcdn.apple.com/content/downloads/27/54/061-5650/Hbk3xVT72JNydq45vrgF669p43QSmCz4nj/iTunesX.tar
McCain’s downward spiral?
September 24th, 2008The political maverick from 2000 has reshaped himself in 2008. His appearances on The Daily Show have declined, and with the current concerns surrounding the fiscal solvency of the USA and corresponding financial system he’s suspended his campaign. There’s numerous bits of analysis, including what I find the most telling article over at The Huffington Post. If a major event like a fiscal crisis where concerns over how to spend up to $700 billion (at once, it could be more than that over the lifespan if some securities are sold) cause him to need a time-out, I’m not sure he’s up for a 4 year rollercoaster ride as President. While action vs a lengthy deliberative process can be harmful if not balanced properly, it sure seems the right debates are happening in DC, including one robo-dialer call today asking me to call my local congressman (including his name and local office phone number). If McCain is unable to get a grasp on the deliberative process on “The Hill”, how has he lasted so long in the Senate? The challenges we face as a country certainly require a long-view. There’s plenty of analysis regarding the bailout package that can be found. We shall see if this is a bright move, or as I believe, a desperate move on his behalf.
Azek Trim Installation
September 1st, 2008After doing some test work with some various types of trim, it turns out that the installation of Azek wood trim is the best thing to do these days. It avoids the challenges of painting and rotting that may happen with wood trim. Personally, I’m in love outside of the expensive nature of the wood trim.