centre{source}
INTERACTIVE AGENCY
Archives Jun 2005
dh-make-perl
My friend Chris (no relation) has a good post on the problem with CPAN for Perl modules, and other systems like it: namely, that they are a packaging system on top of the OS’s existing packaging system. I have frequently been annoyed by this, and I feel silly now, because his post also points out the obvious solution that has been in Debian the whole time: dh-make-perl:
Description: Create debian packages from perl modules dh-make-perl will create the files required to build a debian source package out of a perl package. This works for most simple packages and is also useful for getting started with packaging perl modules. Given a perl package name, it can also automatically download it from CPAN.
How to increase your website traffic…
Given the sheer volume of websites, it’s understandable why gaining visitors to your website is so difficult. According to Google’s 2004 statistics, you’re competing with 8 billion other web pages that want visitors as much as you do. If this makes you feel helpless (and that your website is worthless), take hope! There are two very popular methods for increasing traffic to your website: Pay-per-click and Search Engine Optimization.
Mobile phone Trojan poses as Virus App
Will the fun ever end? I continue to marvel at the extent to which security (or lack thereof) affects our lives. Now our mobile phones are not safe…
eWeek’s writeup states:
The latest mutant, identified as Skulls.L, pretends to be a pirated copy of the F-Secure Mobile Anti-Virus application, a sign that virus writers targeting cell-phone users are borrowing well-known replication tactics from computer viruses.
According to an advisory from F-Secure, Skulls.L provides a new twist on previous versions by masquerading as a mobile protection installation package. The Trojan, which arrives as a SIS file, also displays dialog text that reads: “F-Secure Antivirus protect you against the virus. And don’t forget to update this!”
Microsoft plans summer ‘05 for first Longhorn beta release…
Tester’s get ready! An interview with Bog Muglia reveals some interesting facts about the upcoming Windows release, dubbed Longhorn.
[Bob] Muglia reconfirmed that Longhorn Server Beta 1 will ship this summer, around the same time as Longhorn client Beta 1. And based on a comment from one of the Microsoft chat moderators, it sounds as if the current plan is to have code in testers’ hands by August.
Spam: Social Engineering is the most Dangerous Factor
A piece of spam made it through Swirbo, so I naturally inspected it to determine its intention, layout, etc. You can view the message (in PDF format) here. The most disturbing part of this email was that I couldn’t tell it was immediately fake. The legal jargon, combined with a direct reference to my domain, topped off with its overall style - all contributed to my initial impression that it could be legitimate.
Employees getting fired for Blogs
Yahoo (via USA Today) had a great article about the far reaching effects of the Blogosphere - and how the active commentary of employees are putting their jobs at risk. As a result, companies far and wide are implementing policies specifically related to blogging - and breaking these rules could result in losing your job!
The best part is that this issue is just starting and touches on all sorts of interesting topics such as Freedom of Speech, Whistle Blowers, Discrimination, Trade Secret Leaks, etc.
One of the fired employees put it nicely:
IM worms and HTML
Some interesting commentary over at Kaspersky about the effectiveness of IM worms:
This effectiveness worked in several ways. By uploading to several sites the attackers still had one or more places left to turn to when measures were taken to take a site down.
Additionally, different messages were used to convince the recipient to click on the link. Among those messages was a one with a link to a .wmv file on a popular humor site. The link, of course, was fake, and it led to the malware.
We actually found a spelling mistake in MS Excel 2002
One of our team members actually found a misspelled word in Microsoft Excel 2002 (version 10.2627.2625). Check it out and be amazed that even the baddest boy of them all makes spelling mistakes!
LinkedIn and SimplyHired: Match made in heaven
LinkedIn and SimplyHired are teaming up to make a powerful service (as described by Dave Taylor):
It’s great to learn, therefore, that the two companies have jointly released a job networking system that uses the power of SimplyHired’s database and the social networking (really, if it’s business-related, I feel that “social networking” is a misnomer, but that’s the big buzz word) of LinkedIn to produce a powerful and fascinating hybrid.
As Josh Elman of LinkedIn describes it: “We have launched a partnership with our friends at SimplyHired so that users can find over four million jobs now on LinkedIn. With each job, we’ll show you how you are connected to the company.”
linux on PS3?
Ken Kutaragi drops some tantalizing, if vague, hints about Sony’s new PS3:
Kutaragi is miffed that the likes of Nintendo and Microsoft won’t call their consoles computers. Nintendo, he complains to Japanese site Impress PC Watch, “keeps telling the world their consoles are ‘toys’,” while Microsoft keeps calling the Xbox a “game machine”.
“We’re positioning the PS3 as a supercomputer”, he says, “But people won’t recognize it as a computer unless we call it a computer, so we’re going to run an OS on it. In fact, the Cell can run multiple OSes. In order to run the OSes, we need a hard disk. So in order to declare that the PS3 is a computer, I think we’ll have [the hard disk] preinstalled with Linux as a bonus.
