Geek Stuff category archive

Giving new meaning to the term “vaporware” . . . .

A report on social news site Reddit suggests that at least one “vaper” has suffered the downside of trusting their cigarette manufacturer. “One particular executive had a malware infection on his computer from which the source could not be determined,” the user writes. “After all traditional means of infection were covered, IT started looking into other possibilities.

“The made in China e-cigarette had malware hardcoded into the charger, and when plugged into a computer’s USB port the malware phoned home and infected the system.”

Rik Ferguson, a security consultant for Trend Micro, says the story is entirely plausible. “Production line malware has been around for a few years, infecting photo frames, MP3 players and more,” he says. In 2008, for instance, a photo frame produced by Samsung shipped with malware on the product’s install disc.

Psychology Today investigates the subtle dehumanizations of the surveillance society. Give it a read. Here’s a bit:

In the modern surveillance environment, with so much personal information accessible by others—especially those with whom we have not chosen to share that information—our sense of self is threatened, as is our ability to manage the impression others have of us, says Ian Brown, senior research fellow at the Oxford Internet Institute.

If people treat us differently based on what they have discovered online, if the volume of data available about us eradicates our ability to make a first impression on a date or a job interview, the result, Brown believes, is reduced trust, increased conformity, and even diminished civic participation. The impact can be especially powerful when we know that our information was collected and shared without our consent.

To be sure, we are responsible for much of this. We’re active participants in creating our surveillance record.

Then think twice before you decide to run naked through Facebook and G+.

Most persons seem to be a-skeered of installing a computer operating system. Even First Son, who is master gamer, once said to me, “I won’t mess with the OS.” Really, though, it’s quite easy. Remember, it’s just ones and zeros.

Over the years, I’ve installed several flavors of DOS and Windows and more versions of Linux than you can shake a mouse at.

In this video, Linux Voice demonstrates how to get started with Linux by installing Linux Mint. Mint is not my favorite distro (that would be Slackware), but it is a fine distro and one configured to have an interface friendly to persons used to Windows–I have it running on two boxes right now, including my primary laptop.

If installing a new OS frightens you, just watch this. Installing an OS is much easier than you think:

Full Disclosure:

I contributed to Linux Voice’s Indiegogo campaign to start their magazine and have a print subscription. It’s worth every penny.

Their podcast absolutely rocks. It’s not only full of news and information, it’s full of laughter.

Facebook is mucking about with its privacy policy and settings interface again. If you are a Facebook Frolicker, you need to read this.

Edward Wasserman finds the trend for persons to get news via Facebook rather disturbing. A snippet:

Facebook was aiming to become the Macy’s window on the Internet for the news biz, offering fully modern functionality, visual pizzazz, and, above all, an unbeatable storefront on the same network that was fast becoming the choice online meeting space for about a fifth of humanity.

That seems to be what now has happened. By throwing in with Facebook, news sites rent space in a virtual metropolis teeming with enthusiasts, who send traffic their way, and permeated by commercial vendors.

That’s the good part of the story. The rest of the story is that their readers’ online comings and goings, likes and dislikes, are noted, rummaged, inventoried, and harvested for data to be acted on and resold by Facebook and its collaborators.

Read the rest, then go buy a newspaper.

In United States, TV watches you.

Via Noz.

A New York prosecutor says the federal government has brought its first bitcoin securities fraud case, accusing a 32-year-old Texas man of engineering a bitcoin Ponzi scheme.

And this surprises you how?

Learn about the wonderful world of free and open source. Learn how to use computers to do what you want, not what someone else wants you to do.

It’s not hard; it’s just different.

What: Monthly TWUUG Meeting.

Who: Everyone in TideWater/Hampton Roads with interest in any/all flavors of Unix/Linux. There are no dues or signup requirements. All are welcome.

Where: Lake Taylor Transitional Care Hospital in Norfolk Training Room. See directions below. (Wireless and wired internet connection available.) Turn right upon entering, then left at the last corridor and look for the open meeting room.

When: 7:30 PM till whenever (usually 9:30ish) on Thursday, November 6.

Directions:
Lake Taylor Hospital
1309 Kempsville Road
Norfolk, Va. 23502 (Map)

Pre-Meeting Dinner at 6:00 PM (separate checks)
Uno Chicago Grill
Virginia Beach Blvd. & Military Highway (Janaf Shopping Center). (Map)

John McCarron is fed up with “paperless.”

For starters, vendors will keep urging us to “go paperless” so they can save on postage and pay themselves sooner rather than later. Consumers save on postage, too, while we rack up our precious airline miles and rewards. Sounds great. But until some young genius comes up with an app for easily switching card numbers, or for protecting those numbers in the first place, I’d go easy on auto-pay.

Even though I spend my days deep inside geekdom, I still write paper checks for routine household bills. Business’s inability to keep confidential information confidential has nothing to do with it.

I fear that, if I automated too many payments, I’d lose track of my bank balance, and I don’t like bouncing checks, paper or electronic.

Too old for Facebook.

Now 114 and reportedly Minnesota’s oldest resident, Stoehr is a lifelong fan of learning new things who, with the help of a friend, went to sign up for Facebook this month.

According to CNN affiliate KARE-TV in Minneapolis-St. Paul, when she found the earliest birth year Facebook’s sign-up page provides is 1905, she claimed to be a spry 99 years old.

Voice of the tattle.

The caller said her home had burned down and her husband had been badly hurt in the blaze. On the telephone with her bank, she pleaded for a replacement credit card at her new address.

“We lost everything,” she said. “Can you send me a card to where we’re staying now?”

The card nearly was sent. But as the woman poured out her story, a computer compared the biometric features of her voice against a database of suspected fraudsters. Not only was the caller not the person she claimed to be, “she” wasn’t even a woman. The program identified the caller as a male impostor trying to steal the woman’s identity.

Via PoliticalProf.

Persons at the Zuckerborg are not always what they seem.

In related news, water is wet.

Withdrawal symptoms.

Comment spammers come up with comments that look as if they mean something, until you read them closely. Here’s how they do it.

Posted below the fold is a comment I received in which the spammer posted his entire spam comment without editing it. I put it below the fold because it’s almost 3000 lines long. Read the first few lines and you’ll get the idea.

The comment itself was caught by Akismet and has now been deleted.

Read more »

You name it.

Really, folks, all you need are free weights and a bicycle.