PixelGrinch | Bert Austin - Blog

9. You Might Be a Redneck if ...

PixelGrinch — 2009-11-14T17:30:13+00:00

Every time there’s a knock on your door you flush something down the toilet.

Using Only the External Display When Working with The MacBook

PixelGrinch — 2009-11-10T16:44:59+00:00

I was facing the following problem with my 13 inch aluminum unibody MacBook:

On the go the 13 inch MacBook screen is quite convenient. At home, on the other hand, I would prefer to use one of my larger external displays I have available. What I am trying to accomplish is to use the external larger display as the primary and only display when working with my MacBook. Working with the small MacBook display and the large external display for me was quite uncomfortable due to the large size difference.

First I had to run out and get the optional Mini DVI Adapter for the MacBook in order to connect my external display to the MacBook. The question was which of the two Mini DVI Adapters to choose. The one is for VGA displays and the other one for DVI displays.
At first I took the one for DVI displays since I had a mix of VGA and DVI displays, from which I had DVI adapters for all my VGA displays. Turned out the DVI adapters for VGA monitors that you attach to your VGA display cable (even the adapters supplied by Apple) are NOT compatible with the Mini-DVI to DVI adapter for the MacBook.
Needless to say I went back and Apple swapped the Mini-DVI to DVI Adapter with the Mini-DVI to VGA Adapter without any problems. The only pain was the total driving duration of 1 hour and 20 minutes to and from the Apple store.

Ok at this point the monitor was connected to the MacBook and responded immediately. Through 'System Preferences > Displays' you can setup the external monitor in a way to extend or mirror the MacBook display. You can even define the external monitor as the primary monitor by dragging the menu bar within 'Displays > Arrangement' by simply dragging the menu bar to the external display. All this is awesome but how does someone use the external display as the only display while working with the MacBook?

This is what I figured out to accomplish what I needed to do, which was to use the external display as the primary and only display using my MacBook:

Within 'System Preferences > Displays' setup the external display to 'Mirror' the MacBook display. Close the lid of the MacBook to put it into sleep mode. Now we have to wake up the MacBook by leaving the lid closed. I do this by simply moving/mouse clicking my BlueTooth mouse. If you do not have a BlueTooth mouse you can use pretty much anything that plugs into the USB port of the MacBook, like a memory stick for example.
This wakes up the MacBook while leaving the lid closed. You will see that the external monitor is responding and Mac OS will even resize the display screen resolution to match your external display resolution. I recommend as the next step to open the lid for proper circulation and avoiding excessive heat build up within the MacBook. Even if you open up the lid at this point the MacBook display will stay blank.

This is the only solution I have found so far and seems a bit of an overkill compared to the software solution within BootCamp :).

8. You Might Be a Redneck if ...

PixelGrinch — 2009-11-09T17:30:13+00:00

Your kids think “final notice” is part of your address.

MacHeist nanoBundle !!!

PixelGrinch — 2009-11-09T04:33:05+00:00

MacHeist is running just another AMAZING heist! The MacHeist nanoBundle!

Pretty much for the next three days get the following applications for Mac, FREE !!!!

ShoveBox

ShoveBox catches all those little scraps of information that you can't act on now but would rather not forget. It sits up in your menubar, waiting for you to drag in text, images, URLs, and more.
It also provides a sensible interface to sort everything you shoved. It's all about spending less time processing and more time actually working on the things that matter.

WriteRoom

For people who enjoy the simplicity of a typewriter, but live in the digital world. WriteRoom is a distraction free writing environment. Unlike the cluttered word processors you're used to, WriteRoom lets you focus on writing.

Twitterrific

Twitterrific is a fun application that lets you both read and publish posts or "tweets" to the Twitter community website. The application's user interface is clean, concise and designed to take up a minimum of real estate on your Mac's desktop.

TinyGrab

TinyGrab is a simple yet extremely powerful utility for Mac OS X and Windows. Harnessing the power of pre-existing and new OS screenshot taking capabilities, TinyGrab instantly uploads and allows you to share with a small URL— all in under thirty-seconds.

Hordes of Orcs

Hordes of Orcs is a “Tower Defense” game in which you must build walls and lethal towers to defend your village from the Orcs emerging from, what the village elders call, “The Glowing Portal of Really Bad Things That We Should Have Bricked-Up a Long Time Ago.” Sadly, the Portal is un-bricked and the Orcs are very, very hungry. If 20 Orcs make it to your village, you’re toast.

Mariner Write

Mariner Write is a powerful, yet streamlined word processor for Mac OS X. Boasting an elegant interface, as well as hundreds of intuitive features such as the ability to read Microsoft Word documents and produce customizable headers, footers, endnotes, and footnotes, Mariner Write has everything you need to turn out great-looking documents.
Whether you're a professional writer, educator, student, or an average user, Mariner Write has the functionality to be your go-to writing tool.

7.You Might Be a Redneck if ...

PixelGrinch — 2009-11-04T17:30:13+00:00

You’ve ever rubbed Miracle-Gro onto any body part.

Zen Cart Security Nightmare! I say NO to Zen Cart!

PixelGrinch — 2009-11-03T21:43:26+00:00

I am currently working on the eCommerce integration for a client website. The bank recommended to use Zen Cart as one of their compatible shopping carts. I associate piece with the word Zen, unfortunately not even close to what I experienced in the following blog entry.

I never worked with Zen Cart before so I went ahead and downloaded and installed the most recent version from their website. I followed the install instructions to every detail as I do with every script I install.

A couple days later I have received this message by email:

Dear Sirs:

RSA, an anti-fraud and security company, is engaged in contract to assist Poste Italiane S.p.A. and its related entities "(Gruppo PosteItaliane)" in preventing or terminating online activities that target or may potentially target Poste Italiane/Gruppo Poste Italiane clients as potential fraud victims.

Poste Italiane S.p.A. is one of the largest Italian companies and operates mainly in the postal and banking/financial sectors. Poste Italiane official sites (www.posteitaliane.it and www.poste.it) are among the most famous Italian sites and are registered by the competent Italian authority on Italian top-level domain (.it).

RSA has been made aware that you appear to be providing Internet Services to a fraudulent Web site, which is part of a phishing attack* and/or other fraudulent scams against Poste Italiane/Gruppo Poste Italiane and/or Poste Italiane/Gruppo PosteItaliane clients. These activities violate Poste Italiane/Gruppo Poste Italiane's copyright, trademark and other intellectual property rights and may violate the criminal laws of the United States and other nations.

E-mail fraudulent messages have been broadly distributed to individuals by a person or entity pretending to be Poste Italiane. These e-mails use Poste Italiane name and identity (including trademarks) without authorization. The e-mails request recipients to verify and submit sensitive details related to their Poste Italiane accounts. The fraudulent website is located at the following URL address http://xxxxxxxx to which you provide services and which is under your control.

The fraudulent website not only represents a misuse of Poste Italiane intellectual property; its purpose is to improperly obtain personal information of Poste Italiane customers in order to fraudulently access their bank accounts. The owners of those websites typically perpetrate identity-theft related activities, such as using customer's credit cards or bank accounts without authorization. In addition, since the vast majority of all of the e-mails are not being sent to actual Poste Italiane customers, the actions serve to damage the reputation and image of Poste Italiane.

We understand that you may not be aware of this improper use of your services and we appreciate your cooperation.

Please take all necessary steps to immediately shut down the fraudulent website, terminate its availability to the Internet and discontinue the transmission of any e-mails associated with this website.

We specifically would ask that you also take the following actions (if relevant or possible):

- Please provide us with a tar/zip file of the source code for this site, so that we may analyze it to help prevent further attacks.
- If any customer data that has been captured is stored on your systems or equipment, please send us that data so that the customers to whom that data relates can be notified and steps can be taken to protect their credit.
- Please provide a copy of any records you maintain that indicate the name, contact information, method of payment or similar information that may be useful in helping to learn the identity and location of the customer for whom the website has been operated.

Moreover, we specifically would ask that you also provide us with a copy of any records you maintain that indicate the name, contact information, method of payment or similar information that may be useful in helping to learn the identity and location of the customer for whom the website has been operated.

Thank you for your cooperation in preventing and terminating these fraudulent activities.

Sincerely,
RSA Anti-Fraud Command Centre
Poste Italiane - Security & Safety - BSI

Tel: +44 (0)800-032-7751 (UK)
Name: Maurizio Alfonsi

Tel: +1-866-408-7525 (US)
Address: V.le Europa, 175, 00144 Rome (IT)

EU Fax: +972-9-9728101
Tel: +39 06 59582527

US Fax: +1-212-208-4644
Fax: +39 06 59585785

E-mail afcc@rsasecurity.com
E-mail: alfonsim@posteitaliane.it

http://www.rsa.com

For more information about RSA's AFCC http://www.rsa.com/node.aspx?id=3348

* Generally speaking, "phishing" is an e-mail scam that attempts to trick consumers into revealing personal information - such as their credit or debit account numbers, checking account information, Social Security numbers, or banking account passwords - through fake Web sites or in a reply e-mail. As described in the letter above, the fake web-site through which the fraudster is attempting to collect Poste Italiane's customer data is under your responsibility.

Ok I thought well another of those pesky spam emails. Then the same day I received this email from the data center I rent my server from:

We have been contacted by representatives of Poste Italiane about a phishing site that was hosted in your VPS on the site iceriverdiamonds.com. Below is a portion of the received email report:
---
E-mail fraudulent messages have been broadly distributed to individuals by a person or entity pretending to be Poste Italiane. These e-mails use Poste Italiane name and identity (including trademarks) without authorization. The e-mails request recipients to verify and submit sensitive details related to their Poste Italiane accounts. The fraudulent website is located at the following URL address http://xxxxxxxxxxxxx to which you provide services and which is under your control.

The fraudulent website not only represents a misuse of Poste Italiane intellectual property; its purpose is to improperly obtain personal information of Poste Italiane customers in order to fraudulently access their bank accounts. The owners of those websites typically perpetrate identity-theft related activities, such as using customer's credit cards or bank accounts without authorization. In addition, since the vast majority of all of the e-mails are not being sent to actual Poste Italiane customers, the actions serve to damage the reputation and image of Poste Italiane.
---
The offending files were removed from the xxxxxxxxx.com web directory already. Our admins have determined that they were placed there by the apache web server user 'nobody'. These files were uploaded to the account iceriver by a hacker taking advantage of a vulnerability in the shopping cart script installation on that website. Please make sure that the proper measures are taken to update the shopping card script to a secure version or perform any changes necessary to ensure that the website does not get compromised again.

Please let us know if you have any questions.

Thanks,
Joel

WOW what just happen? I have turned into a criminal without even knowing it. Basically what happened is somebody, a hacker, used a security vulnerability of the Zen Shopping Cart to create a full blown phishing site on my server. Putting me in a situation that looks like I am creating a phishing site trying to steal customer names and passwords.
Being put in a situation like this is really a bad thing. I am fortunate enough that the admins of the data center took the time to fully investigated this case and found out that this was in fact a hack attack. What would have happened if they wouldn't even have made that attempt? One possibility the whole site could have been shut down. I don't even want to think about how the law would have treated me. Thinking about it what an easy way to frame somebody.
I also have to say that I am happy this happened before the site went live and before I put in any work into the customization of the Zen Cart Shopping cart. I have yet to understand how the hacker/s found this site at all. It is not advertised, nor listed on any search engine, etc.
One thing is for sure after this nightmare I will never be able to look at the Zen Shopping Cart. It seems you ge what you pay for it. Zen Cart is free!

Email Spam Virus/Spyware Alert: Facebook

PixelGrinch — 2009-11-02T15:07:12+00:00

I just got a view of these and thought to share it with you. Somebody sending out emails pretending to be the Facebook team, containing an attachment with a virus/spyware. Windows users should just erase this message and not open the attached ZIP file, which contains an EXE file. Once you launch the EXE file you will have a virus/spyware installed on your computer.
I personally will never understand people that enjoy destroying/crippling information stored on computers from people they don't even know.

Details:

Email: The Facebook Team (service@facebook.com)
Subject: Facebook Password Reset Confirmation.
Attachment: Zip File
Message:
Hey,

Because of the measures taken to provide safety to our clients, your password has been changed.
You can find your new password in attached document.

Thanks,
The Facebook Team

6. You Might Be a Redneck if ...

PixelGrinch — 2009-10-30T17:30:13+00:00

Your false teeth have cavities.

5. You Might Be a Redneck if ...

PixelGrinch — 2009-10-25T17:30:13+00:00

Your Grandma’s walker used to be a folding chair.

4. You Might Be a Redneck if ...

PixelGrinch — 2009-10-20T17:30:13+00:00

You’ve used dynamite to scare a dog from under your trailer.

3. You Might Be a Redneck if ...

PixelGrinch — 2009-10-15T17:30:13+00:00

You can eat a whole McDonald’s hamburger in one bite.

Opening animated GIF files in Adobe Photoshop

PixelGrinch — 2009-10-13T21:46:07+00:00

With the event of Adobe Photoshop CS3, Adobe ImageReady has been merged into Adobe Photoshop CS3. Well not quite! Adobe took out the ability to open animated GIF files within Adobe Photoshop CS3. All you will be able to get is the first frame of the animation.
I figured out a way to import animated GIF files under Windows but not on a Mac.
For Windows you just click on the FILE menu then IMPORT -> VIDEO FRAMES TO LAYERS ... Photoshop CS3 doesn't give you the option to select GIF files, a workaround is to define the following as file name: *.* and you will be able to select animated GIF files as well.
For Mac, this solution does not work. So I tried to rename the GIF extension to one that is supported for import, ex. MOV, but to no avail.
Why put full blown animation capabilities and animated GIF creation into Adobe Photoshop CS3 if you can not open animated GIF files? Other than monetary reasons I have no idea why Adobe did this.
Adobe offers Adobe Fireworks CS3 to open animated GIF files. What is the hook you might ask? Adobe Fireworks comes with a price tag of $299. Paying $299 just to open animated GIF files is a bit hefty in my opinion. The process of creating animated GIF files within Adobe Photoshop is quite intuitive and fun. Creating animated GIF files within Adobe Fireworks is quite frustrating. Adobe Photoshop CS4 is out for quite some time now but it acts identical to Adobe Photoshop CS3 in regards of animated GIF files.
Personally, I am quite disappointed about this and hope Adobe is going to shape up and fix this issue.

2. You Might Be a Redneck if ...

PixelGrinch — 2009-10-10T17:30:13+00:00

You’ve ever given a false name to a park ranger.

My 2 Cents on the Movie: The Chaos Experiment

PixelGrinch — 2009-10-09T02:33:44+00:00

I just received the DVD, 'The Chaos Experiment'. I thought why not take some time, get pizza and wings to relax a bit and enjoy this movie.
I thought with great actors I can't possibly go wrong and will have a nice evening. Instead I watched what definitely qualifies as the worst movie of 2009.
The beginning based on the global warming issue which in the end had nothing to do with the movie at all other than possibly symbolic value. A boobies scene stretched awfully long compared to the regular scene flow of this movie. It turned out to be quite a turn off already at that stage. It seemed like I was waiting for something that surprisingly turns the movie around. Something along the line of a longer build up to something interesting. This was not the case with this movie. The end just followed along and just topped off an all around bad movie.
Well there had to be something positive about this evening! Ahhh I know, the pizza and wings saved the night. YUM!

Speeding Ticket and Fined in New York State

PixelGrinch — 2009-10-06T19:06:05+00:00

I have about as clean of a driving record as it gets. I am a safe and defensive driver, never had an accident and never hurt anybody as a driver. The only tickets I have received are 4 parking tickets in about 20 years as a driver.
I followed 2 other cars in front of me in the left lane of a 55 MPH highway stretch. I have been pulled over 22 MPH over speed limit. I knew I was going faster than speed limit but not that fast. There is no excuse for this and I have to take responsibility for my actions. This is what happened after the state trooper flashed his red lights.
He served me the speeding ticket. This process took 25 minutes. I had to go to court at the date listed on the ticket.
I went to court on the appointed date. Everybody has to go through security and besides the obvious they also didn’t allow cell phones and computers. I plead not guilty. I have been offered a plea and the attorney was talking so fast that I had no idea what the plea was about. At that point I already stood in line for 30 minutes. He sent me to the court room where I was waiting with other traffic violators for the judge to appear. The court room was filled it must have been 300-400 people. The judge was over 30 minutes late, which was “nice”. Sitting in a tiny chair crunched up for about 45 minutes, with nothing to kill the time, is pure fun. Well I guess after what I did I probably deserved that :) .
Finally the judge came out and called the people in order they have been processed by the attorney. Another hour went by and I have finally been called. The judge gave me two points on the license, a fee of $235 and I had to go to driving school which was an additional $25. I guess even though I got the plea I got it quite hefty.
I asked if there is any way to negotiate about removing the 2 points on the drivers license considering my clean driving record. He said no and called the next traffic violator. SWEEEET.
I went to driving school and the instructor was awesome. It took 4 hours and I was finished with the course.
Today I went to pay the fee and they told me they have not been notified that I have been to driving school. I said I was at the driving school already, and they called the driving school location. Another 15 minutes and they confirmed that I was at the driving school the date I was scheduled.
I paid up my 235$ and that was it.
Not only do I feel bad about the speeding I also wasted a lot of money, got points on my drivers license and first of all wasted a lot of time worth a whole working day. I probably will be getting an increase of my insurance premium as well.