Blog of UberDragon - Web Development Geek

Not-So-Secret Holiday Hints at Change for Marijuana Advocates

2009-04-20T01:23:00.002-04:00

Happy 4/20 everyone! Today a reprint from the New York times article By JESSE McKINLEY Published: April 19, 2009 SAN FRANCISCO — On Monday, somewhere in New York City, 420 people will gather for High Times magazine’s annual beauty pageant, a secretly located and sold-out event that its sponsor says will “turn the Big Apple into the Baked Apple

Diggbar - Are you for it? Against it? Or just don't care?

2009-04-11T10:28:00.002-04:00

A little over a week ago, digg.com introduced their new Diggbar url shortener service. It was instantly a hit as the internet began instant adoption. The ingenious functionality of simply putting digg.com/ before any URL was a huge hit and gauranteed easy adoption. But within a couple of days their were rumors flying that the diggbar was stealing page rank, valuable SEO was being lost! And

My Letter to CT House Rep: Demetrios

2009-04-10T09:50:00.001-04:00

As we work toward marijuana reform around the country and especially here in Connecticut, I thought I'd share a letter I received and then replied to from CT House Rep Giannaros:Thanks Shane.The bill was voted successfully out of the Judiciary Committee.I am not sure when it will be debated. I am leaning in favor of itdepending on the specific language at the end.However, the Governor seems to be

UberDragon is back! - as a marijuana advocate???

2009-04-09T13:17:00.006-04:00

First, to any of you wondering what in the world happened to me.. I'm still here. I lost my drive to blog regularly as life, family and work simply didn't allow much time for it. To be honest, all of those things still stake claim to the majority of my time.I'm back because I need to be. Recently I was asked by a prospective client if I could help them with their online strategy, specifically

Microsoft Applies For Patent Telling You If A Website Is On A List Of Phishing Sites

2007-02-17T19:01:00.000-05:00

It seems that every few days when new patents are announced there are a few gems from Microsoft. Take, for example, Microsoft's latest patent application on Phishing Detection, Prevention, and Notification. If they truly came up with an innovative way to stop phishing attacks, that would be interesting. Instead, it appears that the patent is for looking at the URLs found in an email or visited by

New Drive-By Attack Taking Over Home Routers

2007-02-16T07:52:00.001-05:00

Researchers at Symantec are warning users that if they haven't changed the default password on their home wireless router, they should finally just DO IT. Symantec's Zulfikar Ramzan issued a warning Thursday that hackers are lacing phony Web sites with malicious code that actually will log into and mess with your home broadband router. He's coined a term for it: Drive-By Pharming. "I believe

Computer Temp Betrays Annonymous Computers

2006-12-30T08:58:00.000-05:00

Wired is carrying a story about a method developed by security researchers to identify computers hiding behind anonymity services. From the article: 'His victim is the Onion Router, or "Tor" — a sophisticated privacy system that lets users surf the web anonymously. Tor encrypts a user's traffic, and bounces it through multiple servers, so the final destination doesn't know where it came from.

Malicious Hackers Sleeping? Or Better At Hiding Their Tracks?

2006-12-18T23:33:00.000-05:00

No wonder various organized online crime gangs are recruiting young hackers to join their ranks. It appears that they're in need of an injection of fresh creativity, according to at least one report. Apparently, there hasn't been much innovation in the malware space in the last few months, as malicious hackers have focused mainly on reusing old scamming code with a few tweaks, rather than coming

Kids Have Discovered Music Swapping Via Mobile Phones

2006-12-08T07:39:00.000-05:00

Sometimes it just takes a little longer for the delusions of the entertainment industry to be proven incorrect. Three and a half years ago, just as the mobile music market was taking off thanks to ringtones, a few of us were suggesting it wouldn't last. What makes mobile content any different than other content? The economics of the content are the same, and it seemed like only a matter of time

Now The Internet Makes You Neglect Family And Chores?

2006-08-03T23:12:00.000-04:00

Over the years, there have been plenty of (usually easily discredited) studies that claimed the internet was bad for you. Perhaps the most famous, was the Carnegie Mellon study done in 1998 that got the NY Times treatment, claiming that people online were lonely and depressed. Of course, it wasn't hard to pick apart the study's methodology (including the fact that they only interviewed people in

"MacBook" Hack Targets Airport Cards

2006-08-02T23:37:00.000-04:00

Washington Post computer security blogger Brian Krebs passes along a new vulnerability showcased at the annual Black Hat conference in Las Vegas. And it's present on MacsThe creators of the exploit, Jon Ellich and David Maynor, have basically discovered a way to get in through the back door of many computers that have wireless cards, because the drivers themselves are not secure. Oh, and they

Google Puts Pressure on Made-for-AdSense Sites

2006-07-27T23:08:00.000-04:00

Have you heard of what's called "click arbitrage"?It works very simply: you buy lots of visitors by bidding the minimum amount per click on AdWords. The visitor ends up at a site that has been developed to display more expensive AdSense ads.So, you spend 10 cents on a click per visitor, and hope that visitor clicks on an ad that generates you more than the 10 cents in income.Google's coming down

The MySpace SWF Hack

2006-07-20T14:54:00.000-04:00

This past weekend, popular social networking site MySpace suffered from a self-propagating virus in its personal profile system. By simply visiting an infected profile, you could have your own MySpace profile overwritten with code that would infect others.Like any high profile site that hosts user-generated content, MySpace must balance the sometimes conflicting requirements of freedom and

They Said "Get It On eBay", I Doubt This Is What They Meant

2006-07-16T23:04:00.000-04:00

The idea of using security exploits to make some cash certainly isn't anything new -- online extortion schemes have been fairly popular, even if script kiddies are killing the margins. But apparently discovering security vulnerabilities and selling them off to the highest bidder is a growth industry, according to one security firm, even being brazen enough to put them up on eBay. It's hardly

Judge Explores Why Telco Mergers Were Allowed

2006-07-11T07:59:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago we noted that famous anti-trust lawyer Gary Reback was pushing the courts to look into whether or not the big telcos broke the law in getting their various mergers approved. It appears those efforts have paid off. Federal District Judge Emmet Sullivan has now asked the Department of Justice for more info, noting that to his untrained eyes, the mergers definitely seem harmful to

How Can The Same Senators Vote Against Net Neutrality, But For Broadcast Flag?

2006-06-28T01:05:00.000-04:00

Those who are against adding any language to the latest Telecom Act on net neutrality keep saying it's important not to regulate the industry -- because government involvement leads to inefficient results that could strangle the technology. That's a defensible position (though, there are reasonable responses to it). However, what makes no sense at all is for a Senator to declare that net

People Like Their iPods On The Toilet (But Not In The Toilet)

2006-06-16T08:21:00.000-04:00

While some are considering laws that would ban driving while iPodding, it seems that iPodding while in the bathroom has at least a few proponents. Unlike talking on your mobile phone, using your iPod from your porcelain potty is a more solitary act -- one less likely to offend others. Apparently, it's become a big enough deal that someone has created a special toilet paper holder that is actually

Microsoft Patches Plug 21 Security Holes

2006-06-14T00:41:00.000-04:00

Microsoft today released a dozen security updates to fix at least 21 vulnerabilities in its Windows operating system and other software, including 12 flaws Redmond labeled "critical," its most severe warning level.Today's patch bundle is the largest yet for 2006, and includes a huge patch rollup that mends at least eight different flaws -- four of them critical -- in nearly all versions of

Don't Just Plug Random Crap Into Your Computer

2006-06-09T13:26:00.000-04:00

There's been a lot of talk about how iPods and other portable devices pose a security risk to companies, as employees may store important company documents of them. Now there's fear that such devices could upload malware and infect corporate systems. A team of security specialists recently demonstrated exactly how such an attack might work. First they collected a bunch of cheap USB drives, the

Another Court Recognizes Site Owners Aren't Liable For Site Comments

2006-06-06T07:45:00.000-04:00

It happens all too often that some website owner in the US is sued with claims of libel over comments on that site in an open forum. We usually point to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, and note that it's pretty clear that service providers of such forums are not liable for content they didn't write themselves. We also like to point to a 9th Circuit ruling, noting that, even when

Da Vinci Game Is Clueless.

2006-05-25T08:03:00.000-04:00

You'll find the puzzles in The Da Vinci Code game to be intricate and challenging. If you have recently sustained a major head injury.The creators of the video-game version (for PlayStation 2, Xbox and PC) of Dan Brown's perennially best-selling thriller did, to their credit, realize that any Da Vinci game should be built around the logic puzzles and cryptic riddles that form the core of the

Mr. Google Goes To Washington

2006-03-28T08:12:00.000-05:00

In Silicon Valley, there's generally a general dislike for the politics of Washington DC -- and the concept that firms should need to hire "lobbyists" is pretty distasteful. Unfortunately, though, it's very much necessary for a larger company these days. The NY Times is the latest to cover Google's efforts on K Street. However, while other industries and large companies have pretty well-defined

Police Use MySpace to ID Suspects

2006-03-26T10:37:00.000-05:00

Associated PressBOULDER, Colorado -- Detectives used profiles posted on the MySpace social networking website to identify six suspects in a rape and robbery that began when a party turned violent, leaving blood "in almost every room of the house," officials said.Six men were arrested in connection with the Feb. 23 rampage, and a seventh suspect was being sought, Detective Ali Bartley said Friday.

Yahoo Messenger Head Fake? It's Not About The Price...

2006-03-22T08:06:00.000-05:00

Funny... I thought that Yahoo had announced their Yahoo-messenger-as-Skype-killer offering back in December. However, today they're getting more life out of the story by launching the beta along pretty much the same lines they had outlined before. As I noted at the time, this shouldn't be about "cheap calls." That's not a differentiation battle that can be won -- it's simply a race to the bottom.

Former Hacker Irks Microsoft in EU Dispute

2006-03-21T07:29:00.000-05:00

Carl Bialik from WSJ writes: "The Wall Street Journal profiles Neil Barrett, 'a former computer hacker who once infiltrated the system controlling a telescope at a Hawaii laboratory' and is now an expert witness causing problems for Microsoft in its antitrust battle with the European Union. Barrett 'has helped put the British glam rocker Gary Glitter behind bars for pedophilia. And he also has