Today, I release the version 1.0 of ggis-InlinePost. It is available for download from the WP plugin directory. This release fixes the improper newline formatting reported by a few users. Additionally, it adds or enhances the following:
EFF has released an interesting study they have completed on the effectiveness of browser fingerprinting. What they found was that the great majority of browsers are easily and uniquely fingerprinted. In fact, “We identifieded only three groups of browser with comparatively good resistance to fingerprinting: those that block JavaScript, those that use TorButton, and certain types of smartphone.”
There is a new social engineering attack that utilizes the /Launch capability in Acrobat Reader. It is currently being exploited by a particularly nasty trojan named Zeus. It is simple to protect yourself from this exploit some please disable /launch by following the instructions at http://blogs.adobe.com/adobereader/2010/04/didier_stevens_launch_function.html.
For more on Zeus, see this Wikipedia article.
As always; keep your software updated, use anti-malware detection software, use a well-configured firewall when accessing public Internet access point, and use common sense to recognize phishing attempts.
As an avid reader and a IT professional, I am often asked my opinion on digital books. Yes, I do have an opinion but it is sometimes complicated.
The idea of digital books on an electronic reader is great but the books are often encumbered and the electronic readers are not even close to the ideal. Will we ever get there? I think eventually the readers will approach the ideal but I am not as certain about the digital content.
Adobe’s products have received recent scrutiny from the security community. In fact, many have suggested that their products will be the main target for malware in 2010. Why? Well Adobe’s Acrobat Reader and Shockwave are very widely distributed and many vulnerabilities are being discovered which often remain unpatched for a while. Adobe has some improving to do.
In the meantime, you can protect yourself somewhat and still use Acrobat Reader. These steps do not guarantee your safety but do reduce your risk profile.
Occassionally, I need to load an unrealted model into a controller. There are a number of ways to do this but some are better than others. The following is taken from reply by gwoo to a discussion thread.
“You see, one thing is, I can live with doubt and uncertainty and not knowing. I think it’s much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers which might be wrong. I have approximate answers and possible beliefs and different degrees of certainty about different things, but I’m not absolutely sure of anything and there are many things I don’t know anything about, such as whether it means anything to ask why we’re here. . . .
I don’t have to know an answer. I don’t feel frightened by not knowing things, by being lost in a mysterious universe without any purpose, which is the way it really is as far as I can tell. It doesn’t frighten me.”
— Richard Feynman
I think that sums it up quite well.
A number of my clients use Remository within Joomla for document management. The QuickDown plugin, available from the same site, is used to insert document information within an article. While I have been very satified with Remository, I have not found that QuickDown matches my clients’ needs.
QuickDown basically creates a link to the Remository page along with a variety of document information formatted within a table. Instead, I am usually interested in having a direct download link inserted inline with the article’s content.
“Science is a way to teach how something gets to be known, what is not known, to what extent things are known (for nothing is known absolutely), how to handle doubt and uncertainty, what the rules of evidence are, how to think about things so that judgements can be made, how to distinguish truth from fraud, and from show.” — Richard Feynman
As part of a project I am working on, I have added a Sugar CRM help blog to dvector.com. This is specifically designed for my clients but you are welcome to peruse what is there and ask questions.
Every now and then, I recommit myself to actually writing something on a regular basis. Ideally, I would like to post once every two weeks. Sometimes this gets hard, especially when real life interrupts. Some upcoming posts to look forward to include:
Google is the leading search tool and its map service also ranks very highly. It is therefore important that your business appear in Google Maps searches. You may not know it, but your business likely already appears in Google Maps. Not only may it be listed, you also have the ability to adjust your Maps listing information.
It is really a simple process to either add your business or adjust the information that displays. In most cases, it will take you fewer than 15 minutes. This video goes step by step through the process.
