Life in the Fishtank

Twittergate Schmittergate!

2009-07-17T08:46:00.005-05:00

When reading about the recent leak of documents and TechCrunch's plan to make them public, you can see that there's many sides to the debate. Some think it's perfectly normal and ethical to show the plans of a company. Others think it's highly unethical, and a breach of privacy.

This "Twittergate", as some people are calling it, pretty much likens this leak to the whistleblowing of Nixon in the scandal of Watergate in the 1970s by William Felt, then known as "DeepThroat". Felt was an associate director of the FBI at the time, however he felt the need that this information must be shared for the sake of keeping democracy in the country. He gave information to writers at the Washington Post under this pseudonym and prevented a serious abuse of power to continue under the presidency of Nixon, who until his resignation tried to point Judical committees, as well as the country, away from his crimes.

Why is this important however to this present day issue? Because unlike Watergate, Twitter is doing nothing wrong or undemocratic. They're doing legal business, and they're biggest concern is keeping that business through privacy. The person who leaked the accounts was not seeking justice - he was seeking fame and to pique his own curiosity about this increasingly popular company. What's more, this cracker(or "hacker", as the media incorrectly calls it) is being encouraged to continue his illegal and unethical acts through TechCrunch's obvious proposal of releasing of the leaked files. Did the founder of TechCrunch ever think of the implications this might hold on any future internet sites/applications? If they don't condone these acts just for the sake of more traffic from visitors on their site , what's to say that they won't get hit with such a leak themselves?

Interesting though it might be to look into the lives of the Elite Company of the Day, I think people need to understand how this is still a serious breach of security, not the whistleblowing of a company doing something illegal. This should not be welcomed by other places of the internet with open arms, but condoned. If not, TechCrunch would be as bad as Nixon by following the abuse of power shown through this hacker, and should even be implicated to be an accomplice.

Scam-Spam Sites

2008-12-19T16:18:00.002-06:00

So, earlier I posted another something that about Facebook vulnurabilities, and how simple social engineering can really cause some big problems to users, and their friends. However, I'm never ceased to be surprised really at how many things people will genuinely believe before it's seen as the scam it is.

For example, a few months back, a relative of mine got an email about a baby picture voting site, giving the incentive of possibly winning thousands of dollars if they posted their baby's picture and got people to vote for their child as the winning photo. Now, even though that seems like you could even see the scam, this relative, actually a mother of a 1 year old at the time, really saw this as a great oppurtunity. So, she signed up for the site, and sent out emails to everyone she thought would be interested, including myself.

Lo and behold, I immediately smell a bad fish after poking around the site(not the good fish, like I am, with cleaned water). Popups, an endless cycle of registering for services from other companies, and more, just to vote for a picture.

I immediately told the relative what was going on, just to make sure people would notice the same thing I did, but not press on for the sake of pleasing my relative.

Even if there's money at stake, it is not worth the email/mail boxes full of spam(cause not everything is caught, and they can still take you by the wonderful Postal Service). Most importantly, it definitely isn't worth sharing your information with somebody you don't know.

Facebook Phising - A Lesson in Security Awareness

2008-12-19T12:28:00.003-06:00

Hey People,

Something has happened recently to many of my friends on Facebook, so I thought I'd put out an alert for those in the know. "Phising", or spam sent with the intention of hijacking your personal information(for email, credit cards and address), has reached the realm of Facebook. Luckily, the Facebook Security team is dealing with the issue:

http://www.facebook.com/help.php?page=420

This and other hijacking(what they call the Koobface worm), starts with a hijacker using a friends account and posting on your wall to see a video or go to a site. This site will have requirements in order to see said info that your friend posted(cool video, your picture, or how cool the site is) and have you install software or register. Do Not do this if you run into this, as most have ended up having their Facebook account hijacked, or their computer getting a virus!

If you have not ran into such a situation, please, and I'm being serious, note these things when seeing wall posting.

Site has an odd name like "darnwicked" "nutdope" and others.
You do not see information on the site. The share link capability is on Facebook so you can know what you're going to see before hand if a friend posts an address. When you get a site that is NOT giving you a website preview, and just plain text, Be wary, and be smart...do a Google search. If it isn't in their search engine, then...
Message your friend via non-Internet communication(or, if this is a friend only on Facebook, message him...its ok, I the same thing to a friend this morning). If they don't remember sending it, tell them to change their password to a new one and report that they're account has been hijacked to Facebook.

Under any circumstances, do not go to the site. If you already have, and have not signed up for anything, still, just to be on the cautious side, change your password anyways.

Though you might not think of this as a serious matter, it is. I've gotten a great share of spam from many friends, and just recently it's gotten to close relatives whom I'm linked to on Facebook. So please, combine some common sense with Security Sense...and think before you type that address.

Oh...and also, share with Friends...the more who know about this, the better the Security for all of us!!

I'm Back! Sort've....

2008-12-16T10:52:00.000-06:00

Hey All(or those that can still read),

I've been out of the picture lately, simply because of a lot of things:

1) School
2) Google Internship
3) More School/Work

So, yeah, theres the list in a nutshell. I hope to maybe give more insight to this blog, but, you'll just have to wait and see.

Xubuntu Finally Gets A Review and Kernel Work

2008-04-04T00:40:00.004-05:00

Note To Self: When testing different versions of Ubuntu (ie, Alpha, and Beta), remember to always format before re-installing!

Yes, after many hours, I finally realized that somehow, someway, Alpha Ubuntu's bootloader did not like any new installs....soo...I wrote zeros to the drive with KillDisk, and reinstalled Xubuntu 8.04 for the final time(don't remember this time whether it was beta or alpha).

Through the desktop, you can really see why this flavor of Ubuntu is really popular with cloudbookers. The layout is very customizable for giving the most space, with bars at the top and bottom able to be resized in width down to 16 pixels (only get down to 21 in Gnome, I've tried). Also, the colors and desktop scheme are extremely pleasing to the eye, and not at all bad to look at or resize to get smaller, yet still very clear images.

However, we all know what you guys are looking for...the internet! Sported with Firefox 2 and 3 Beta 4 (which makes me suspect I installed the Alpha version), I tried both and got some pretty decent results, though at times they both had their laggy moments, which brings me to think the kernel might be to blame....but more on this later.

Sound, was overall okay, but, one thing that lost it's audio was the external jack. I could get sound from the speakers, but nothing from the outside jack, which sort've had me miffed, but, again, I'm sure it's a problem that will be fixed in the final release.

Kernel Hacking Time!

If you can tell, sometimes, I really don't appreciate the fine arts of lag in a system. From earlier on, cloudbooker forum user mikez noted how much of the Cloudbook's sluggish performance was due to a ill configured kernel, specifically in the processor choice - the kernel was built for a generic x86, mostly based on Intel, not that VIA-C7 Processor that is in the Cloudbook. So, when I saw that another user, austinr, had posted the links for his specially configured kernel of the cloud, I had to take a look at it.

And look at it I did, as I installed from his conveniently made Debian packages. So far, from the first minutes of usage, I noticed a BIG difference in performance as far as startup times and loading various programs(I'll give a time on how long startup is compared to the 2+ minutes in the old kernel). Though after this I did run into a few module issues with hardware, things are definitely starting to have a silver lining in my journey with the Cloudbook.

So, in the end, if you need a system that's lightweight, and makes great use of space, I now recommend getting the Xubuntu 8.04 release (installed in safe mode, of course) when it comes out on the 24th of April.

Now, on to installing BackTrack.....

So Many Distros, so little Time!

2008-04-02T16:40:00.002-05:00

Hey all!

Yes, I have returned! Fresh from my winter finals, I've shaken off enough of the cold to give some updates. Since my imaging of my gOS, I've been through quite a few distros, some giving excellent results, and some leaving me with a little bit more work to figure out. Though I don't have a full sypnosis on each, I'll give you a bit of descriptions of what's happened with the ones I have tried.

Foresight

This is one I was rearing to try on the cloudbook after having on my destkop, and fully decked out in green and conary packages. The install was pretty awesome, having no problems with the screen being too small to fit for loading, at least from the text-based install (if anybody tries the graphical, contact me).

After the full install, the fun began. Upon loading, everything booted semi-smoothly, with my only gripe being the Splash screen failing to load(starting to become the central part of every linux distro, it pained me to see the screen instead of the pretty Foresight Loading Logo on my desktop).

Destkop wise, things were pretty solid in viewing quality. THough I did meet with some screen cut-offs (which is usual for a OS not suited for smaller desktops) in applications, it was overally pretty nice in getting things to view like firefox and such. However, when it came to hardware compatibility, I ran into some issues that were gOS-like. I had some trouble getting my sound to come up, even though it was being recognized on the system. I tried everything to get it to work, even using the PulseAudio manager, but alas, no sound from speakers from external.

The wifi I didn't test internally, however I did try to at least get the button working. By copying the /usr/bin/wifid binary from the original file, then copying a few lines from the original gOS configuration file rc.local in /etc, the wifi button should work(more on the sucesses later). Foresight didn't do much with this, as I found out not reaction came after doing this in this distribution.

So, though I love the Foresight guys, I couldn't keep it on my system due to the sound problems being just too much to handle during finals week; and with a bus ride home, I needed my multimedia fix. I put gOS back on my system for the easter weekend home, care of Clonezilla.

Sidenote: Hopefully when I get more of a grasp on the system(or, maybe another free one falls into my lap), I probably may start tuning Foresight for the Cloudbook. However, for now, schoolwork takes a bit of priority.

The Ubuntu Family Tests

Preface to the -buntu Distros: The following distributions are testing releases...unless you know a bit about linux, or at least want to learn, I'd wait until the 24th when the final release comes out.

Ubuntu 8.04 Alpha

My next install was Ubuntu 8.04, since it was raved about on the Cloudbooker forums as being sucessful to work "out of the box." Though it is a bit true, you still do have to do a little bit of tweaking. After getting a couple purple screens at startup, I looked into our forums and found something that I was looking for: safe-graphics mode! If you get a purple screen on your cloud, be sure to press F4 and select it, or else....you'll get more purple screen loving.

After that, the Ubuntu install was overall smooth. Everything fit the screen during the install setup, and the loading screen was there the entire time(also, love the Heron background!).

Destkop was awesome as well, though at some points, the loading times for some apps were a bit long for me. This is not the fault of the Cloudbook directly, but just that it's Gnome, which, with my experience on systems with 512MB of memory, can be a bit of a resource hog (even on my old laptop it got put through the runnings!).

Hardware compatibility was excellent for this distro, as it gave no problems with splash screen, working with the wifi button, or my external wireless usb adapter. Even the internal suddenly was working with my wireless router in my apartment!

Sidenote: Though working in my apartment, I still have issues with it connecting to DePaul's wireless, or connections that are far away (such as in hotels). I'm thinking that this definitely might have to do with the placement of this thing, so I'm going to see if I can hack at it in the upcoming weeks.

Overall, Ubuntu was really made me excited for the Hardy Heron final release later at the end of this month, and I give it a big two thumbs for anybody wanting to upgrade from gOS if it's glitchy.

Xubuntu 8.04 Beta

Now this is my current install project. As I said above, I really like less lag in my loads of programs, and though Ubuntu suffices, Xubuntu is a little bit more lightweight, yet still has the Gnome-like flair that doesn't bog down resources. Xubuntu was also talked about in the forums as being a winner, at least in Alpha. So, upon finding the Beta version being released, I had to become a guinea pig.

Upon installing, I applied the same "safe graphics mode" by using F4. Upon entering setup, not much problems...again, quite similar to Ubuntu in terms of look and feel (with the exception of Xubuntu-esque dark blue window bars). I went to sleep anticipating a brand new system, and let the install run over night.

Upon seeing the install completed upon waking up, I restarted the machine to await the Xubuntu grub loader. The next moment was quite a shocker: I came up with an error after my Cloudbook tried to boot with networking...."Operating System Not Found."

Immediately scratching my head, I got a boot disk, and through that got the hard drive to boot. Since earlier this morning, before class, and even before I started typing, I've been trying to revive it with SuperGrub, but, always meeting with freezes. I've even reinstalled it with the bootloader pointing to the drive, but to no avail.

Since this is testing of Xubuntu, and not the final release, I really can't complain though. The Beta version, which works with a bootdisk, comes up fine and pretty. However, I'm going to have to see how to get around this issue, and maybe see how I can pass it on to the Ubuntu team.

Future Distros

Backtrack

I have my partition setup for it, so I might possibly do that this weekend, and see what works out of the box and what doesn't. My biggest hurdles with this distro is getting the dual boot to work with Xubuntu (once it boots, that is), and trying to test the capabilities of aircrack. Within aircrack though, my card requires a special driver, which I hope to be included, and if not, at least a good set of compiler software to get the modules going.

Any Other Distros In Mind?
====================
If you have any others in mind that you think I'd like to try, email me at JamFish728 - at - gmail dot com.

Well, That's All Folks....time to get ready for the evening and buckling down on homework!

Blog Updates: Kernels, OSes, and Finals, Oh My!

2008-03-13T13:26:00.008-05:00

I've been gone for a while, but trust that my tinkering with Cloudbook, or community involvement has not stopped.

I've gotten the distro to be pretty happy with what I want, but, with any peice of computer hardware that's been linux-ed, you always HAVE to tinker. Yesterday I successfully compiled a linux kernel for the first time, to test with the cloudbook's gOS. Hopefully everything goes to plan...if so, then I might start to tweak on systems from now on.

Speaking of which, though I've given it a try, right now it stands that other operating systems(OS) work better on the cloudbook than gOS. This is one of the reasons I actually bought the cloud, as I wanted to try different systems on a computer that was a little bit smaller and lightweight than my 5lbs broken Compaq. For the people that have Cloudbook, but are having a hard time the OS, fear not! Like any computer system, and especially with this small beauty, a new OS might be your answer.

Within the community of Cloudbooker.com, many users have changed their OS to something more to their liking. Some of the Users have installed Windows XP and used the drivers provided through Everex with plenty success and more options. Others have just stuck with the linux vibe, and I'm happy to say some have found great results with other distros. One user found that a copy of the Xubuntu Alpha(the latest test-release for Xubuntu 8.04 coming out in April) runs smoothly and even corrects the wireless problems found in gOS. Another user is finding OpenSuse is running smoothly(with the exception of the sound...but he's not a quitter, so he's finding a way to make it work).

Then, after all those, there's me. This week or the next, I hope to finally get an external drive, and do some installs later on of some linux flavors that you may not have heard of:

Foresight Linux

I got turned on by this system by a friend, who saw that I have a liking for Gnome. Not only having the latest Gnome, it also has everything else, including plugins and java(fyi, what everybody wants for the internet). The distro is based off rPath Linux, which uses a packaging system, called Conary, that I think is pretty nifty. One best features I feel the option to rollback package changes in their packaging system(great when something breaks!). I've used it before on my dearly departed laptop, and currently have it running on my dual-boot desktop as well.

Ubuntu Mobile

Now this one I got turned onto just last night, but think it's very promising for those who want something a little more intuitive and fitting for your UMPC. Geared towards small screens and systems, Ubuntu Mobile has a very nice interface from what's seen in the screenshots, and is backed by a very well-rounded Ubuntu core. I hope to try this and see how it fares, especially for those who have a case of buyer's regret because of software woes.

EDIT: Just read that it's still in development.....currently slated for the future release after 8.04.

BackTrack

Being a security enthusiast, this is a must for any to try, especially on something so lightweight. A Penetration OS all it's own, it allows Security minded users to take a peek at how good their system might be. Though it won't be a full install, the liveCD should be fun. I've also used this distro before in Version 2, but I've heard version 3 has a little more cowbell.

Anyways, thats whats up today in the Cloudbook blogosphere...now, back to finals!

-Jam

Gamers -- The Cloudbook can Play Vice City!!

2008-02-24T21:44:00.002-06:00

This will probably scour the internet like fire, but a cloudbook owner installed Windows XP, giving Grand Theft Auto: Vice City a try. If you see the results, they're quite nice! We had some members of cloudbooker.com ask about this game in particular, and you bet that they're happy with having a bit of gameplay on this UMPC.

The Blog(With Video!)

Cracking Cloudbook's Wireless: Take 2

2008-02-22T20:44:00.004-06:00

A few weeks before the second release, a member of cloudbooker.com started a thread asking would anybody be afraid of getting the first shipment of cloudbooks, knowing full and well the possibility of the flaws. Me personally, and a couple others, said yes. Though, you're a ginuea pig for the product, you get excited about getting in the process of making a system better.

This is no less with the open source community backing the Cloudbook. Though, currently, I've been through drivers out the wazoo, tonight the guys from gOS and Everex are showing up on our forums and jabber chat, and answering many questions to the plight of the wireless glitches, as well as other topics we can dish to them. Though I wasn't there for the chat, it seems like there might be light at the end of the tunnel as far as the connectivity in wireless.

For now though, I've resorted to other means for my wireless fix. Since I'm a Information Assurance and Security Engineering major, and have a taste for a more powerful antenna, my friend reeled me in to getting a Hawking HWUG1 wireless USB adapter. After compiling drivers for the chipset(compiling is great on this machine, and goes pretty fast with the driver's code), I got it up and running within terminal (the gnome wifi manager still needs a bit work).

Skype 2.0 Beta: Webcam Works in Options Test!

2008-02-22T02:20:00.004-06:00

Another night, another postive review.

Though not able to test the full capabilities of it within an actualy skype conversation, the cloudbook's webcam works flawlessy while testing it in options for the latest release of skype 2.0 beta. Again, picture is pretty decent, having the quality of my roomate's eyetoy, which she uses for her skype conversations (and which I used to take pictures of my cloudbook, unboxed). I probably figure out at Chicago Linux's Programming Time what else I can do with this camera, as, this is the first time I've actually had my own webcam.

As a sidenote: A question that many people have asked me, is what I should name my cloudbook. My mom, members in my Linux group, and personal friends, have asked me about it So, I would like to announce the name, after quite some deliberation.

.....I'm calling my Cloudbook Johannes.

Yes, I know, it's probably of of the weirdest names to give a machine, but, it just seemed really cool(and for this machine, coolness is it's core...with exception of a few bugs ~_^).

As another sidenote, still having many issues with the wireless. However, I'll give the full story on it tomorrow....it's too late to give a full run down(I know, I know, but, a college girl does need sleep!).

Cracking Cloudbook's Wireless

2008-02-21T01:49:00.000-06:00

It's 2am, and I just got off Chicago-Linux's IRC, now having a plan on how to tackle a huge issue with the Cloudbook - it's shoddy wireless. It seems as if something is up with the driver/module. Right now I'm trying to get something to run on the Realtek 8187 wireless chipset with gOS, but, if push comes to shove, I might just toss it and use ndiswrapper.

More details later....I'll keep you informed.

Ubuntu 8.10 - Subnotebook OS for the Masses?

2008-02-20T18:25:00.000-06:00

After my review of the cloudbook yesterday, as well as seeing friends installing other systems on their eeePCs, I beamed when I found that Ubuntu started to take notice of the subnotebook users.

Caught today from digg, I found out about Ubuntu, after finishing 8.04 is already gearing up for 8.10. One the visions for next version that I intriguing is this:

"Our desktop offering will once again be a focal point as we re-engineer the user interaction model so that Ubuntu works as well on a high-end workstation as it does on a feisty little subnotebook."

I think that it's awesome that a big name in the open source community is putting more focus on the many platforms that are out there, especially with all the eeeusers and cloudbookers looking and trying other distros to make the most with their machines. I wonder though how others will follow suit. Though I've already re-skinned the gOS to my liking, I may push to another distro I think is pretty awesome, Foresight Linux, and see how it does on the cloudbook. For now though, I'm going to play with the gOS and at least enjoy people ogling my cloudbook for the rest of the week.

Highlights...First 24 Hours with The Cloudbook

2008-02-19T21:02:00.000-06:00

Notice: This is the first review I've done on something, so, it might be a little bit ranty, and with slight mispelling. Other than that, enjoy!

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of recieveing something that for weeks has seemed to be a mystery on the market. Everex's cloudbook caught my eye with it's large storage and ubuntu friendly distro. So, I bought it through the friendly, awesome, company of ZaReason(a good I'll definitely buy from again). After almost a 24 hours of it being in my possesion, here's my highlights:

Unboxing and First Boot
=========================
Unboxing the machine, I found that there was little content. Being apart of cloudbooker.com, I found that everex has most of the materials available online. However, I was a little bit miffed at the fact that they didn't include much documentation, as well as an install/driver CD for gOS, or a way to revive the system. It would've really been helpful instead of me scowering the gOS site for a refresher copy.

Powering for the first time was magic. Contrary to Popular Belief, not everybody cries about their system not booting in less than a minute. Though not as quick, every boot time coming from the Cloudbook was bearable for me, and much like any other regular OS.

Look at the Desktop!!
==============================
While using the desktop, I had the impression that gOS lacked engineering within the space that it has. I ran into snafus with the system as the windows extended past the 7 inch screen. Luckily, if you can't resize windows with alt+click like others, such as in startup, you can tab until you get to the unseen buttons, and press enter. By doing that, you should be able to navigate through the screens and edit later. Also....fyi, use a less complicated password for startup, especially if it's your first time using a UMPC(it'll save u a lot of time looking up single user mode to reset it from console), remember, you can change it later. Once getting into the system, most of the settings fit the screen with the exception of a few options in preferences. The dock, while helpful, I feel takes up space that could be used for windows at the bottom. However, users can make do by putting the top menu bar to the sides and auto-hiding it(right click a blank space on the menu bar an click on properties).

Internet - Firefox
==================

First thing after boot I connected to wired ethernet(worked lovely, btw), and loaded firefox. Took the normal loading time on my desktop, however I then ran into pop-up asking me to add Google Toolbar(also with buttons extending to the bottom of the screen). Though it felt annoying, I allowed it to install, but immediately went to Tools-> Add-ons, disabled it(you can uninstall too), and restarted firefox. After that, the fun began, as I was able to surf with ease. After moving the bar to the side, I really took advantage of the space provided, and, didn't have any problem checking a bit of my email. I also ran some youtube videos(after using F11 to go to full screen). Looking at pictures from the display were great, and sound was quite crisp.

Video, Sound, Pictures, and Webcam
====================================
Speaking of multi-media, I decided to go into the Video capabilities. I started to play some various videos, a few seconds of each video one by one, from my connected USB drive(fyi: gOS has no problems mounting USB drives!). Though at times shaky, all the the avi videos played in Totem Movie Player, with quality that though isn't HD-TV, is enough to enjoy a movie or two on the bus rides home. Also, unlike eee in some states, some videos will play at full screen. I also listened to a couple of MP3s, which, were playable, and had great sound. Testing the card reader with the Memory Stick, it immediately was picked up the system(again, great with mounting) and I was able to view pictures very clearly.

Webcam was actually pretty nice! You'll get a yellow sheet on how to setup the camera in Ekiga, but once you set them, test out the camera, and you'll get a cool view of yourself! Though on the side of the screen, if you look closely, you'll see that the lense is pointed to the left, allowing for a very centered picture. I can't wait to try this out on skype!

Wireless
===========

One of the big things that many eeeusers from my college ran into was the tunnel module being unsupported on Xandros' Kernel. That meant that none could use the VPN clients provided to use depaulblue, the primary wirless on our campus. With gOS being based of ubuntu, I felt that this would be no problem, as tunnel modules are included in the ubuntu kernel. I installed the client without unusual problems(needing java, etc). However, when connecting and viewing internet, the wireless could not hold a connection for too long. As a linux user, I tried all ways to get the wireless to stay up longer than a minute, using GUI and console to connect, then even going onto the older wireless system using only WEP. I wasn't even able to keep an IP! I didn't figure that I'd be running into connectivity problems with the device. However, since others are having problems, hopefully somebody will find a fix.

EDIT: From posting a dmesg to the forums, a fellow member of Cloudbooker.com, Mikez, has found that the problems might originate from the kernel. For more information, go to this thread: http://forum.cloudbooker.com/viewtopic.php?id=179&p=1

Conclusion....so far
====================
I'm enjoying my Cloudbook. Though rough around the edges, I like the portability of the machine, and that I can have an easier handle on it than most laptops(the hole is actually more helpful for holding than people might think!). It has a very clear screen, touchpad is actually a fun convinience, and I'm learning to type faster on this thing by the hour. The gOS(like on any developing Operating Systems), could use some tweaking, but, hasn't given me too many problems that I can't handle. Developers, or future Linux Developers for UMPC systems, should take notice of space. The Webcam is very sweet, and the videos,pictures, and sound easy to view and hear on the system. Wireless, could use a little work, but maybe that's just my system.

This is just the starting point, but I'm hoping to gain more ground in the coming days as I continue to dive more into the system. It's been a blast being one of the first few owners of such a tiny wonder!