XO Activity

Dangerous Email that’s Hard to Ignore

2013-11-29T12:46:00.000-05:00

It may be tempting but you should take the time to question your Email before you open.
A common way computers are infected or compromised has always been a simple yet well thought out deception. It can happen to anyone and the use of social trickery is nothing new. Understanding the victim is all that’s needed to receive their cooperation.

If you’re thinking it could never happen to me this refreshed couldn’t hurt. You might want to share the examples here with your friends, family and especially your employees. Social engineering has come a long way since the possibility of seeing Anna Kournikova naked.

Here’s a common example that has been used to infect computers with the crippling Cryptolocker extortion attack.

This one and variations are going to get more popular as Santa starts shipping his presents. In this example the “From” email isn’t even disguised which means these guys were really lazy. Don’t bother replying because the Email address belongs to someone who has already been hacked and was probably shut down by the time you receive your Email.

Any Email “bait” like this will appear to be a legitimate message. The attacker linked to text and a graphic located at FedEx. The simple line of code below is all that’s needed to display the FedEx logo

<img src= “https:// catalog.fedex.com/images/external/gsi/hdr_fedex.jpg">

This Email from fake UPS is also tempting because you certainly wouldn’t want to miss anything. We all love packages.

Human Resources Needs You
Here’s one directed at employees designed to be a standard employment request. In this case, it’s to use the company car. It’s very common to see attachments that appear to come from Human Resources.

The “From” address and even filename has been doctored to make it appear to be from within the company. If the company is large or you’re a new employee downloading and filling in this form may not seem suspicious. It’s not unusual for an attack to be targeted since information on officers and HR managers is easy to find.

You’ve Been Reported
I’ve received a few claiming to be from Dun & Bradstreet trying to scare companies into thinking they need to clear their good name.

It’s also common to see fake Emails from the Better Business Bureau. In the U.K. there’s Companies House which registers and keeps track of companies for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

Question Every Email

These phishing expeditions are common and effective in all countries. I generally question every Email even when it comes from someone I know. How many times have you received Email from friends saying they’ve been hacked? If you have any doubts just contact the sender or an official with the company sending the message. My bank has always thanked me for calling. They love to impress customers with their knowledge of security trends.

Curiosity Killed Your Job
It’s not unusual to receive messages which appear to be meant for someone else. More than a few attacks succeed because of human curiosity.

Speaking of curiosity, I’ll end with a newer version of a classic bait and steal scheme.

I’ve worked for companies where discussion of salaries could be cause for immediate termination. An ancient method for infiltrating a company involved dropping an infected floppy disks labeled something like “Employee Salaries” in public places. This “Baiting” is still used but relies on DVD’s, USB Flash drive or SD cards labeled as personal or secure data. Visitors often have access to rest rooms in secure areas. What they leave on top of a towel rack could be more dangerous than high explosives.

I’m sure what I’ve discussed isn’t anything new but you may know someone who would benefit from this lesson. Share these examples along with a healthy dose of paranoia. The data you save may be your own.

In the News:
The Windows Club shares how you monitor changes to ANY registry value in Real-time.

WinPatrol PLUS For Everyone Just $2

2013-08-06T23:40:00.001-04:00

About once a year I go crazy and try to introduce WinPatrol PLUS to the folks who have never heard of WinPatrol or have never experienced this small powerful app. For over 15 years WinPatrol has been recommended by friends and family but I never invested in any kind of expensive PR campaign.

USA Today put it best when it said, “WinPatrol may be one of the best kept secrets in computer protection.”

This recommendation came from Pulitzer Prize author Byron Acohido author of Zero Day Threat:...

No More Secrets
The best kept secret will now be available at such a low price everyone will get the word out and we’re sure to see a world wide increase in the use of WinPatrol PLUS. History has shown once someone understands what Scotty can do WinPatrol becomes the first program they install and one they never do without. You'll never find an offer like this and it comes without any check boxes trying to trick you into installing unwanted toolbars or download managers.

Even if you're using a pirated version of WinPatrol PLUS you can afford $2.00 USD to support its future. Over 30,000 have downloaded our newest version and the more users we have the more effective our new Community Shield data will be to protect you.

For a limited time upgrading to WinPatrol PLUS can be as low as $2.00 USD. In countries where the US dollar isn’t valuable this will be an even better bargain. Due to the extremely low price a 50 cent surcharge will be included on bank credit card orders. This charge will not be applied to PayPal orders or other purchase options. This sale will end August 10th.

WinPatrol helps you understand what's running in your computer and allows you to prevent unwanted changes. It's small, works with other programs and won't slow you down. WinPatrol was the first program to use a behavioral approach to detect new infiltrations and Zero-Day attacks.
WinPatrol continues to add unique features that aren’t found in Anti-Virus programs yet works and plays well with others. It remains the smallest, fastest system monitor of its kind and complements your favorite security suite. Our future really depends on your appreciation of toolbar free software that helps your computer run the way it should.

Click Image for normal size

Startup Programs – Beyond MSConfig

Active Tasks – Multiple Selection Allows Mass Killing

WinPatrol Monitors Any Registry Location You Want
Let WinPatrol warn you or tell it to keep your value safe.

Upgrade your computer now for just $2

Honor Those Who Served Before It’s Too Late

2013-05-25T17:34:00.001-04:00

Reposted from BitsFromBill.com

This weekend I won’t be cooking hamburgers or driving to the beach. Instead, I’ll be spending time reflecting on the true meaning of Memorial Day and encouraging your contribution to a special 501(c)3 called the Honor Flight Network.

Vietnam Veterans Memorial - National Park Service

In honor of those who have served, past and present, I've drastically reduced the cost of a WinPatrol PLUS license. My wish is that any extra funds you might have spent upgrading will be donated to my favorite service for veterans. In 2008 WinPatrol's Memorial Day promotion raised over $1000 that was donated to a local chapter of the Honor Flight Network.

“Honor Flight recognizes American veterans for your sacrifices and achievements by flying you to Washington, DC to see YOUR memorial at no cost. Top priority is given to WW II and terminally ill veterans from all wars. Honor Flights have been expanded in some locations to include Korean and Vietnam veterans. In order for Honor Flight to achieve its goal, guardians fly with the veterans on every flight providing assistance and helping veterans have a safe, memorable and rewarding experience. For further information, please contact us a (937) 521-2400 or visit us at www.honorflight.org”

I will also be thinking of the families who have sacrificed more than anyone knows. While I personally honor all our friends around the world who served their country, my focus this weekend is on our World War II vets who are leaving us at a rate of 800 a day.

To bring more attention to this cause I am reducing the $29.95 upgrade price to WinPatrol PLUS to as little as $5.00. While you have your credit card is handy I ask you give to the Honor Flight Network making someone's dream come true. Family Pack licenses are available for $9.99.

Even if you already have PLUS or have no interest in WinPatrol you'll find a donation to Honor Flight Network very rewarding. Your small gift can bring real pleasure and honor to some one with limited time and opportunity.

Even though I lived outside D.C. for many years it was before the National World War II Memorial was built. After the donation to our local chapter I had planned to accompany my father who served on the island of Saipan. Like many, my dad lied about his age to enlist at 15 but passed away before he was able to visit this tribute to his generation.

The trip to our nations capital is a special day thanks to Southwest Airline discounts and local motorcycle groups who serve as an honor guard escorting our veterans to and from the airport. Men and women who experience this tribute have told me it’s like having a personal ticker tape parade down 5th Avenue.

If you to think about how much you spend on Christmas, Passover, birthdays, Valentine’s Day, Weddings, Mother’s Day it’s not unreasonable to make a meaningful donation on Memorial Day. I promise you’ll feel much better than putting a ribbon decal on your car.

OLPC: My Lack of Activity May Change

2012-03-10T12:47:00.001-05:00

I’d like to apologize to all my early readers and supporters. As you can see from this blog content I haven’t been involved with OLPC in many years.

I still have one of my two XO laptops on display in my office to remind me how important innovation is. Occasionally, someone will ask me about the laptop and I’m proud to show it off.

So why did I drop out of the OLPC community? Well, I found a flaw in the initial premise of providing inexpensive laptops with Sugar running as the operating system. While Sugar is awesome, it’s not Windows.

Sugar

I decided that kids in poor countries were smarter than we thought. They didn’t want a computer that seemed like a toy. They wanted a real computer which in even the farthest parts of the world meant, “Windows”. The youngest users, in the most deprived communities knew about Windows and that’s what they expected.

As it turns out many innovations are ahead of their time. We’re currently witnessing a dramatic change in what we consider a smart device. The “personal computer” is no longer the only device that is available to meet our digital wants and needs.

It still may be to early to predict what OS products will survive the next decade but change is coming. I agree with many who think it’s ok for http://one.laptop.org/ to change as well.

The most popular idea at this time would be a Droid based OLPC. According to news reports XO 3.0 running Droid will soon be available at the original $100 price. This may not be an instant hit but it’s certainly heading in the right direction. A Droid system shouldn’t be the only consideration.

As a fairly new Droid developer any paid apps from BillP Studios will run for free when we detect a XO machine. I hope we can convince other companies to do the same.

So, I am looking forward to a non-Sugar based XO and hope to see a resurgence in the OLPC program.

Favorite Tips for Online Shopping

2010-12-01T12:47:00.001-05:00

While I wrote this article originally for my tech blog it seemed important enough to share on other blogs I maintain.

It’s been five years since media coined the term Cyber-Monday but the truth is everyday is a great shopping day online. I planned on writing an article about the safety of online shopping but noticed everyone was already doing it. Many sites provide the same duplicate tips. So I thought I might include some of the best tips and post them along with my favorites.

Eric Griffith wrote a good article for PC Magazine called
11 Tips for Safe Online Shopping.
One unique tip from Eric was
Don't Tell All
”No online shopping store is going to need your social security number or your birthday to do business. But if a bad-guy gets them, combined with your credit card number for purchases, they can do a lot of damage. When you can, default to giving up the least amount of information.”

It amazes me how many free Email and other password reset schemes still use easy to find information like your high school, pet’s name and birthday. This kind of information is something that you should keep private. When you do answer these questions make up answers that you’ll remember but aren’t accurate.

Corrine at Security Garden wrote her
Online Shopping Safety Tips including,
HTTPS://
”At checkout, the site web address should be https: and there should be a closed padlock there or in the lower right corner of your browser. If not, forget about it. You will be giving away your credit card information!”

Using PayPal with Internet Explorer notice the “https”

Yahoo Online Store using Google Chrome

For years I’ve heard people say they’re afraid to use their credit card online. As long as you see the https your credit card is safer than it is when you give it to the waiter at your favorite restaurant.

Webroot's safety tips for holiday online shopping included a tip that doesn’t just apply to shopping.
"Go straight to the site.
Rather than browse to online retailers through a search engine where you may encounter malicious links, type the store's URL directly in your browser.”

The bad guys are experts at search engine optimization and frequently “poison” search results with web sites you really don’t want to visit. Just because a web site is the first or second listed on Google doesn’t mean it’s safe. In many cases, the opposite it true.

I have some of my own best tips and the following tip was mentioned in all the articles I’ve mentioned so far.

Don’t use Public WiFi
It used to be only a real hacker with proper tools could capture your data when you used a public WiFi connection. Now the tools are available to anyone so shopping or any use of public WiFi comes with a real security danger. One of benefits of smart phone tethering is you can connect your laptop to your phone for a connection instead of using a public WiFi even if it’s free.

Special Check Out Offers
When you order is complete don’t be surprised if you’re offered a survey, free shipping or other offer that promises to take $5.00 or more off your last purchase. If you read the fine print you’ll find this check out offer may actually a membership. By accepting the offer you may be agreeing to being billed regularly for a membership you don’t want or need.

Take your time!
Don’t rush. Be sure to check into the shipping policy of the store and/or item you’re going to purchase.

Shipping Costs
There are some nice comparative shopping sites and even apps for your smart phone so you can find the lowest price available. Price isn’t everything. You’ll want to be sure what the shipping costs are. Some times cost is based on price and not weight. Even if they ship in the same box, ordering multiples of the same item stores will multiply the shipping cost.

Shipping Date
Pay attention and make sure the item is in stock. Be sure your ship date is well before you the date you need to have it wrapped and under the tree.

Return Policies
Lots to consider here but the one to watch out is the dreaded restocking fee.

Three years ago I wrote an article called.
Top Ten Online Shopping Mistakes

Most of those mistakes are still possible including…
False Credentials
”Just because a vendor displays images from the Better Business Bureau or eTrust doesn’t mean they really have been approved. If buying from an unfamiliar store verify they really do have the credentials they claim.”

If you’re looking for a very unique gift to keep you family and friends safe I also recommend the Gift of WinPatrol PLUS. :)

Little Kids on Facebook

2010-03-23T11:01:00.001-04:00

The first time I saw my 12 year old grand daughter on Facebook I wasn’t really concerned until I saw that her birthday implied that she was 18 years old. Thankfully, she wasn’t trying to misrepresent herself. She just knew that Facebook users under 18 have a different experience. It turns out correcting her birth year back to 1996 was a safer experience.

I was actually surprised to see that Facebook took any steps to protect the privacy of 13 to 17 year old kids. Do you think it’s enough? You can guess my answer would be NO! My grand daughter is now legitimately a Facebook member at 13 years old but was still encouraged to access the applications like “Lover of the Day”.

I can’t deny kids and many adults think sharing their private information is the closest thing to becoming a reality TV star. It’s like we’re raising the Share-It-All Generation. Unfortunately, Facebook shares most of this information with companies who have no physical address or stated privacy policy.

Kids need all the help and direction possible. When it comes to your kids I’m all in favor of “My Mom is on Facebook”

While this fun video will make you LYAO, if you’re a parent and you let you young kids on Facebook there are few things you should know. Yes, I know many of you are giving in and allowing kids even under 13 to be online so listen up.

First, not only should be a friend of your child, you should have complete access to their account so you can see who they’re friends with and what they post. Trust me compared to what they might give away on Facebook, you’re not invading their privacy. If they see a screen that says “Allow Access” they should click the little “Leave Application” text and not the big YES button.

If you want to know what happens when they allow an application see my previous post “Who gets your personal information on Facebook”.

Like the video, Facebook is fun and appealing. Full disclosure: when my kids were pre-teens they were running Trivia games in online chat rooms. Our computer was in a common area and they weren’t giving away personal information or sharing photos with strangers. So I can’t tell you what choice to make as a parent but I hope you won’t be afraid to keep your eyes open and teach you kids about what choices they have.

Especially teach your kids to “Think Before You Post” and check out the videos like Everyone.

Thanks to Abby, whose son is a Facebook developer, for the link to the “My Mom is on Facebook” video. :)

Spreadsheet for your G1G1 Laptop

2008-02-11T13:35:00.001-05:00

The OLPC project has received support from a variety of professionals who have been in the industry for years. One such elder is Dan Bricklin who is still best known for bringing the spreadsheet to personal computers.

One of the Activities initially missing from the OLPC project was a spreadsheet so Dan has gone to work porting his online Wiki spreadsheet to run on under Sugar on the XO laptop. Built mostly on Javascript a very early test version is available at http://www.peapodcast.com/sgi/olpc/socialcalc/

Click for More Info

I had heard that Google was also working on making their online spreadsheet available but last I heard it wasn’t able to meet the quality and performance requirements. Meanwhile, others are looking at creating a Python based spreadsheet like the one being tested at http://olivier.friard.free.fr/software/ppss/index.php

Fun XO Camera Trick

2008-01-27T21:51:00.001-05:00

When I ordered my XO laptops I wanted one because they seemed both innovative and fun. I mentioned once how the OLPC project has taken me back to my Commodore 64 days.

OLPC evangelist Mike Lee showed how fun he could be with the creation of a home made viewfinder for XO laptop. It goes to show where there’s a need, someone will find a way to fill it.

Way to go Mike. If you’d like to build one check out Mike’s Flickr Slideshow for complete details.

People Don't Want a Cheap Laptop

2008-01-25T18:28:00.001-05:00

Sorry I haven’t had time to post new information in the last week or so. I was busy putting the final touches on a new version of my WinPatrol program. See “WinPatrol 14 Enhances Keylogging Detection” for more info.

While I haven’t posted in a while I’m still very excited about the OLPC project and my XO laptop. While I’ve been off the OLPC Foundation has had its share of bumps and bruises. They’ve had some shipping and contact problems and may be losing some enthusiastic supporters.

I also keep reading articles that compare the XO laptop to so-called cheap laptops. Robert Scoble even got Lenovo’s CEO Bill Amelio to admit they’re working on cheap laptops. I guess Amelio wasn’t around to remember the IBM PCJr. If I haven’t said it already; “People don’t want a ‘cheap’ laptop. They want Innovation!”.

I’m going to be in D. C. next week and by chance will be in town the same night as a meeting of the local OLPC Learning Club. The meeting is Jan 31^st from 6:30 PM to 9:00 PM at Greater DC Cares on I Street. If you’re interested in attending you can learn more at http://olpclearningclub.org/meetings/next-meeting-date-and-location-set/.

I was also excited to hear that OLPC Austria is working on a new OLPC Activity Handbook for programmers . You can download a draft of the first few chapters at http://www.olpcaustria.org/mediawiki/index.php/Activity_handbook. If you’re interested in knowing more about Sugar and trying your hand at a building an Activity in Python, check it out.

AmigaOS or Windows on the XO Laptop

2008-01-10T10:44:00.001-05:00

In the midst of all the news this week from CES came my favorite story of the week. A group of software developers in Italy have ported an emulated version of the Amiga OS to the XO laptop. Like many, I’m nostalgic for the Amiga and while I don’t expect to run Video Toaster on my XO this is still a cool story.

Dual-Boot Windows on the XO.

In other news, I keep reading stories about how Microsoft is creating a dual-boot system which would allow Windows to run on the OLPC XO laptop. Unfortunately, the folks I know at Microsoft tell me this just isn’t true. True Microsoft has confirmed they are working on a flash based bootable Windows. True, many engineers in Redmond are playing with the XO laptop. Does Microsoft want users to have an easy choice between Windows and Linux. Not so much.

New Name and Color for my XO laptop

2008-01-05T15:59:00.001-05:00

Now that I’ve joined a large neighborhood on xochat.org I realized I want a new name to identify myself to others. I have also noticed that some color selections aren’t easy to see in a chat room.

Your name and color information is stored in a config file which appears easy to edit. I was able to edit my colors but the OLPC Wiki recommends using the commands below so that new keys will be properly generated.

Edit Config file

If you’d like a new name and colors use the steps below.

Launch your Terminal Activity
Type “su” to give yourself permission to remove files.
Type the following remove commands. “rm” is the command to remove a file.
After typing the first command, use the up arrow and bring back the previous command. Then backspace to where you want to start typing again to enter the next command easier.
rm /home/olpc/.sugar/default/config
rm /home/olpc/.sugar/default/owner.key
rm /home/olpc/.sugar/default/owner.key.pub
Reboot the sugar interface by pressing Ctrl-Alt-Erase (sound familiar?)
Enter your new name and then click on the XO logo to select your colors.

The OLPC wiki also points out that this method will cause you to lose any files you have on the “school server” but you’ll still have all the files currently in your journal.

If you’ve used my previous instructions to connect to the xochat.org “Jabber” server you’ll need to repeat those commands as well. The default Jabber server on the first public XO’s will be “ship2.jabber.laptop.org”.

OLPC Chat Activity Scroll Bug Fixed

2008-01-02T10:17:00.001-05:00

The more I use my new OLPC XO laptop the more I find myself using the Terminal Activity to modify and add new features. I’m no Linux guru but with some good examples it’s not hard to understand.

Last week I posted information on how to expand your neighborhood and find others to play with and chat. Unfortunately, the Chat activity suffered from a bit of a scroll bug. You’ll still find many other activities that are shared and can be a lot of fun.

The folks who have been working on the open source programs included with the laptop have been hard at work, even over the holidays. A fix had been posted so you can enjoy chatting with other new XO laptop users.

Close any Chat Activity you have open
Launch your Terminal Activity and enter the commands below.

su

cd /usr/share/activities/Chat.activity/
( Chat.activity is case sensitive )

mv chat.py chat.py.old
( This renames Chat.
If you have problems you can rename the .old one back )

wget http://dev.laptop.org/~morgan/chat.py

No Reboot required. Just look for a shared chat in your neighborhood.

Special thanks to Morgan Collett.

Using the Chat Activity isn’t the only way to chat with other new G1G1 participants. You can also download the xoIRC activity and chat in one of the OLPC support IRC rooms. Go to http://wiki.laptop.org/go/XoIRC for more information.

The main documentation for the OLPC XO laptop continues to be The OLPC Wiki. The information there is dynamic and is being updated daily. I recommend visiting often. If you don’t find an answer to your question today, it may be there tomorrow.

Play Doom on your XO laptop

2008-01-01T10:51:00.001-05:00

A week ago folks were joking in the forums about running Doom on the XO laptop. Sure enough, someone figured it out. Yesterday, OLPC News posted instructions on how to download and install Doom on your XO laptop. Not only does it work, but it runs well.

Playing FreeDoom on the XO laptop

Step 1: Launch the Terminal Activity
Step 2: type “su” to become a super user
Step 3: Type “yum install prboom”
Step 4: Enter “Y” to accept all downloads
Step 5: Type “Exit”
Step 6: Typing “prboom -geom 1200x900” will start the game in full screen mode.
Step 7: To run into the future just go to Terminal and repeat Step 6.

Doom Installation Commands

I’m not sure how I feel about this revelation. It shows that the XO laptop has some real power and can still make me nauseous playing doom. I really hope the kids in Peru or Nigeria don’t read OLPC News or XOActivity.com and learn about this particular tip.

December 2007 Summary

2007-12-31T10:02:00.001-05:00

The introduction of the XO laptop made for a very exciting December. I look forward to posting and learning more tips as the OLPC Foundation ships laptops around the world. The following were this months efforts to share what I learned.

This site was created to help kick start new XO laptop owners, especially those who have little knowledge of Linux. I have no formal connection to the OLPC Foundation.

If you have any specific questions I’ll do my best to research an answer. Email questions should be sent to BillP //at// XOActivity.com. If I find an answer I will post it here so everyone can benefit instead of responding to each Email.

Happy New Year, Bill Pytlovany BillP Studios

Give One Get One While You Can

2007-12-30T11:48:00.001-05:00

Unless a change is announced you only have one more day to Give One to Get One.

“The Give One Get One (“G1G1”) initiative ends on December 31, 2007. In connection with your payment of US$399 to OLPC Foundation, OLPC Foundation will provide you with one XO laptop, and a second XO laptop will be given by OLPC Foundation to a child in one of the least developed countries in the developing world. “

The OLPC Foundation created the G1G1 program to seed interested U.S. XO laptop buyers and supporters. It was a good decision. Originally, this program was due to end in November but its popularity allowed it to be extended under December 31^st.

Will it be extended again? I can’t say but if you’d like to participate I wouldn’t risk it. This is a non-profit foundation so if it is extended it won’t be for the sake of profit. If anything I could see the OLPC Foundation making laptops available to prevent a black market in XO laptops that might prevent them from getting to the kids. Already, we’re seeing scumbags trying to sell XO laptops on eBay at inflated prices.

So if you have $400 cash left over after the holidays you have an opportunity to do something good and be a part of a growing community of new XO laptop users.

Just go to http://laptopgiving.org/en/give-one-get-one.php but don’t wait long.

Expand your Neighborhood and Chat

2007-12-28T12:53:00.001-05:00

My thanks to Tom Hoffman who has created a virtual machine to test the internet share services of the XO laptop and Sugar interface. Thanks also to the good folks at OLPCNews for pointing me to the instructions below. They really make me wish I had jumped on board the XO bandwagon a year ago.

I’m not sure I understand how it all works yet but the result is a great demo of the power of the XO laptop. Even though I have two XO’s myself it’s great to chat with other new supporters of the OLPC project.

My new XO Neighborhood

I’ve only run into the nicest people but obviously I don’t recommend this for unsupervised kids. To expand your neighborhood use the following steps:

Step 1: Launch the Terminal Activity and enter the following commands.
Step 2: sugar-control-panel -g jabber
Step 3: sugar-control-panel -s jabber xochat.org
Step 4: Reboot Sugar with CTRL-ALT-ERASE

If you see an open Activity, just click to join. There is still one problem with the chat activity. The default build has a bug so soon after you start to enjoy your chat the screen scrolls all the way up each time a new chat message is sent. If you want to see everyones chat you’ll need to keep scrolling up. Very annoying but worth it for now. I have already had some experience rebuilding my XO so when a new build is available I’ll provide instructions.

My first XO Chat Experience

A tip to those who haven’t received their XO laptops yet. When you first boot you’ll be asked for a user name. The name will be displayed in the neighborhood so pick something that you want others to see. I like folks who included their location, but if your child will be using it, don’t include their last name.

UPDATE: The following comment was posted on January 7th

Please be aware that the xochat.org server is now very overloaded - I see lots of networking retransmits and people are often not visible. The load is proportional to the product of the number of registrees times the current number of users, for the reasons documented at XMPP_Extensions. So don't connect (and thus automatically register) unless you will really be contributing, and/or set up your own ejabberd server. -Neal McBurnett

Saving XO Screenshots to a USB Drive

2007-12-26T14:12:00.001-05:00

and.. How do I copy XO files to my own computer? It took me a few days to learn how to do screenshots to post here. It’s really simple and this lesson will also teach you how to copy almost anything from the journal to a USB drive connected to your XO laptop.

Step 1: Get the screen you want and just hold down the Alt key and press 1. (Alt+1) This will create a screenshot.

Step 2: Go to back to Home and resume the XO Journal Activity. You’ll see a new “Screenshot”

XO Journal

Step 3: Plug in a USB thumb drive or other supported USB drive into one of the USB ports. You could actually do this at anytime but I wanted to split up the two operations. When your USB drive is plugged in you’ll see a USB icon on the bottom of the screen.

Step 4: Click on the Screenshot; drag it down and drop it on the USB icon. You can also drag down other data objects like photos or files created with Write.

Step 5: Hold the pointer over the USB device icon and wait until you see “Unmount” appear. Be sure to Unmount the device or the the screenshot file may be corrupted.

Step 6: Plug the USB drive into your other computer and use explorer to view your files. You should see “Screenshot.png” followed by “Sceenshot_1.png”,“Sceenshot_1_2.png” and so on. Most photo and imaging programs will read the .png format.

XO Laptops On Their Way

2007-12-24T23:29:00.001-05:00

I’m grateful to PC Worlds’ Harry McCracken for a mention in his blog but was sad to read that Harry and many others have not received their expected XO laptops. Some folks received mail saying their laptop wouldn’t arrive until January 15^th but were still surprised with an early arrival so don’t give up.

Much of the information you’ll read here is available on various official wiki.laptop.org web pages. They have acknowledged that there was a shipping glitch and in an effort to please they have switched to overnight or 2^nd day shipping.

I hope XOActivity.com does whet the appetite of those of you still waiting for your laptops. My intent here is to document my experiences and share what I learn as I figure it out. For now my target remains other OLPC supporters like myself and not necessarily kids in Paraguay and Peru. Hopefully, I can help you all enjoy and take advantage of the XO laptop as quickly as possible. The more I explore, the more I find how powerful this little laptop can be.

Update Flash to Play Games on your XO.

2007-12-23T14:20:00.001-05:00

The new XO laptop comes with a Flash player installed but it doesn’t fully support some of the games I've tried online. Luckily, there's an easy way to update to the latest version of Adobe Flash.

Step 1: Launch the "Terminal" activity which comes pre-installed and allows you to access the Linux command line.

If it’s not installed you can download it from the OLPC Activities page using your XO browser. See my last post for downloading instructions.

Step 2: Click on the Terminal input area and the first thing to type is the Linux command “su” to give yourself the appropriate privileges. “su” stands for Super User. su

Step 3: Type in the following “rpm” command which includes the path to the newest version of Adobe Flash for Linux. “rpm” is a Linux “Packet Manager” command used to install, un-install, query and update software that comes as an .rpm package.

rpm -i http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/get/flashplayer/current/flash-plugin-9.0.115.0-release.i386.rpm

You’ll note that this command is version specific and .115. happens to the newest build today. By the time you read this Adobe may have a newer version or build number so you may want to modify this command line to obtain the latest build.

Click here to check for the current build number from Adobe.

Step 4: Close the Terminal activity and open your XO Browser. Go enjoy your favorite Flash game from sites like http://www.mindjolt.com/. This should work fine for most games although it still may not provide fluid streaming for flash videos.

Update for Opera Users: I have learned that version 115 does not work with Opera. While Opera isn't the default browser used by the XO some folks have installed Opera. Use build # .48 if you expect to switch to Opera. If you need to remove version .115 to install .48 use the following commands.

su - yum remove flash-plugin-9.0.115.0-release

The guys doing the OLPC Wiki have been keeping up on this topic so you can find more into at http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Adobe_Flash.

Download Activities and Games

2007-12-22T11:44:00.001-05:00

The XO Laptop comes with a great number of Activities pre-installed but if you’re like me you want more. There’s so much to explore but I know you all want some games to play on your new laptop.

While you’ve been waiting for your XO Laptops a number of folks have been working to make sure you have something to play with and they’re accessable with just a few clicks.

Open your browser and new Activities are just a click away

Click for download instructions.

Look in the upper right hand corner and you’ll see a Cancel button and a “Continue” button with a download countdown. You don’t have to click continue for the download to complete.

When the download is ready to install, you’ll see “Open” and “OK”. Just click OK and move your cursor to the corner to bring up your frame. Your new download will be available in the Activity launcher.

Worried about new downloads taking up too much space? Stay tuned and next week I’ll be posting everything you need to know about the “Journal File Flash System” used by the XO.

OLPC XO Laptop: Getting Started

2007-12-21T13:31:00.003-05:00

My new XO Laptop is proving to be very controversial. People seem to either love it or hate it. If you’ve never heard of it you’re not alone but you’ll be hearing more. If you’re sick of me writing about it I promise to cover other topics soon.

The target audience for this laptop is not the typical computer geek but we’re all giving one to get one so we can play and learn more. Almost everything about this laptop is new and the excitement I feel is reminiscent of my old Commodore days.

The user interface for the XO is called “Sugar”.

Instead of programs or applications, the XO Laptop has “Activities”. Most Activities are designed to be used in a share mode.
Instead of a Desktop you’ll be “Home” when the laptop starts. Your Home lets you switch between Act ivies. Like the computers I grew up with, only one Activity will run at a time.
Your Local network of friends is called your “Group”. In a classroom environment you’ll see your classmates and can create a buddy list and/or participate in a group bulletin board.
The more familiar “Neighborhood” will show your available Networks.

Home mode with Frame visible Green text was added

Along the top the Places you can access are Neighborhood, Group, Home, and Activity. When you move the cursor into any “hot” corners, the “Frame” will appear and provide an interface to “zoom” to your Places, People, Objects and the “Activity” launcher. Move the cursor back off the frame and it will disappear. There’s also a Frame key in the upper right corner to toggle it back and forth. Most data items in your Activities may be stored in the XO clipboard as an Object. Multiple objects can be stored in the clipboard and hey will be displayed on the left side of the screen. On the right side of the screen you’ll see other People you can share with on the Mesh network.

While many user interface elements are completely new you’ll find some familiar computer concepts.

For instance, Delete and Backspace have been combined into “Erase” which operates like the traditional backspace. Clipboard concepts like Select All and Cut,Copy,Paste are available and so are the familiar shortcut keys of Ctrl+A,X,C,V. You’ll want to know how to use Home, End, Page Up and Down. Hold down the function key and press the arrow key. Like legacy computers holding down the shift will select the text.

For a full description of all the keys Click Here

For all the Linux fans out there with good eyesight here’s what you’re looking for. You can access the Linux command line. by holding down Ctrl+Alt+Fn and press 1. When asked for a Login name, type “root”. To return to the Sugar User Interface hold down Ctrl+Alt+Fn and press 3.

OLPC Evaluation Guide - First Impressions

2007-12-21T13:31:00.001-05:00

I’ve been getting a lot of questions about my new OLPC so I expect to write a lot about my experience with this new XO Laptop. I doubt I’ll be the only one writing about this unique device.

OLPC Evaluation Guide

Rule 1: Forget everything you already know. The target user for this laptop are kids who have never been exposed to a computer before. You’ll need to look at using this computer as if you’ve never used Windows, Mac or even a C64 before. That means forget about double clicking by tapping on the touch pad. The position of OK and Cancel buttons won’t match the Windows interface. You shouldn’t expect File/Edit drop down menus. Instead of Save, you’ll “Keep” your data and access it from your journal. Forget any concept of a folder based file system.

Rule 2: Forget about the price In theory, the kids won’t ever know the market value of the OLPC laptop. It was supposed to be the $100 laptop but that price will have to wait. If you Give One to Get One, you are making a donation. Don’t expect your OLPC laptop to be anything more than a conversation piece or toy.

Rules 3: Take your Time I had thought I could spend a couple days to evaluate the OLPC. I was really wrong. I keep learning more and more and there’s no way I can do justice to this machine until I spend at least a month with it. Nobody should publish any review for this laptop until at least next year.

Tristan playing with the photo/video/audio application.

OLPC First Impression

My first impression was disappointment but that’s already starting to change. The interface is different which is ok and expected. Unfortunately, it’s fragmented. It tries to be different but still tries to teach computer skills. I think there’s always been a gap between the academia and real world. What sounds good in some white paper may not convert well to a real product(::cough:: Ada). Profit is sometimes the best motivation in the creation of great products.

Earlier this month John C. Dvorak wrote an article suggesting it might be better to just give $200 worth of food. John was just being a cranky greek and I still disagree. Giving this laptop is an investment and while risky it’s worth a shot. It’s not like it cound hurt America’s image any more than the Bush Admistration as already done.

What I Like

The browser doesn’t suck: It’s quick enough and while limited, it supports Flash, Javascript, PDF files and Cookies(Yea that can be a good thing)
Applications are plentiful: It even includes a number of programming examples for kids to learn how to create their own programs.
Size: It’s small for kids hands.
Networking: It took a little practice but it now always finds my WiFi network and searches for any available Mesh networks.

What I don’t Like

No power crank: I thought this was the whole point.
Durability: I expected it to be a just little more ruggedized.
Bugs: I’ve had my share of reboots and mouse weirdness. I can’t say if it’s hard,soft or firmware related.
No Popups: Some web apps actually use pop ups.
Sound quality: The quality is similar to my old C64 but the speaker isn’t as good.

One thing for sure, there huge need for some instruction books along with tips and tricks. I have to wonder if David Pogue is already working on “OLPC: The Missing Manual”.

Playing with my OLPC Laptop

2007-12-21T13:30:00.001-05:00

I received an early gift from Santa today and it looks like I’ll be snowed in all weekend so I’ll have plenty of time to play. It doesn’t come with manuals but after a little exploring I’m now connected to my WiFi network and surfing my favorite web sites.

OLPC stands for “One Laptop Per Child” and this is my half of the “Give One, Get One” program from the makers of this unique device. You may also hear it called the XO Laptop.

I really didn’t expect to receive my laptop so soon. Perhaps the folks trying to get out all the Nintendo Wii’s for Christmas could take a lesson from the OLPC Foundation. I have a 2^nd laptop coming so I can play with the wireless mesh network which is integrated into the machine and ideal for classroom usage. As a developer I’m looking forward to creating something useful to do my part.

I’ll be writing more but for now I just wanted to let folks know they’re real and they really work. If you participated in this program hopefully yours may be arriving soon. My only problem so far is, I keep trying to tap on the touch pad to select which isn’t supported. You have to click the left button.

I also took note of my Blog stats to see how accessing web sites is recorded.

Web stats from an OLPC laptop

The Give One, Get One program is curently available but is scheduled to end on December 31^st. The price of the laptop is $200 so your total donation is $400 plus tax. If you’d like to know more go to http://www.laptopgiving.org

XO Activity

Dangerous Email that’s Hard to Ignore

WinPatrol PLUS For Everyone Just $2

Honor Those Who Served Before It’s Too Late

OLPC: My Lack of Activity May Change

Favorite Tips for Online Shopping

Take your time!

Little Kids on Facebook

Spreadsheet for your G1G1 Laptop

Fun XO Camera Trick

People Don't Want a Cheap Laptop

AmigaOS or Windows on the XO Laptop

New Name and Color for my XO laptop

OLPC Chat Activity Scroll Bug Fixed

Play Doom on your XO laptop

December 2007 Summary

OLPC XO Laptop: Getting Started

Download Activities and Games

Update (Adobe)Flash to Play Games on your XO.

XO Laptops On Their Way

Expand your Neighborhood and Chat

Give One Get One While You Can

Expand your Neighborhood and Chat

Saving XO Screenshots to a USB Drive

XO Laptops On Their Way

Update Flash to Play Games on your XO.

Download Activities and Games

OLPC XO Laptop: Getting Started

OLPC Evaluation Guide - First Impressions

Playing with my OLPC Laptop