Jason Hook's shiny new blog......

Tags: Hoping-2009-is-kind-to-you

Hopefully by the time you read this you will have already seen the new year in

There are lots of predictions for 2009 very few of them very good. I hope 2009 is not as bad as the pundits would have it. 2008 has been a mixed year for me some ups and some downs but I continue to be blessed with a wonderful wife, children and a job so nothing to complain about I also got to present at Lotusphere 2008!!!

It's traditional to make some resolutions at this time so....

Resolutions:

• I'm abandoning my beloved news/talk radio for the new year as it's too gloomy and will turn to podcasts and TED more and more instead
• I'm going to really adopt "Getting Things Done" and be more organised (I'll be going to Eric Macks session at LS)
• I'm going to sleep more (yeah right), continue to avoid having my impacted wisdom teeth removed and laugh more
• Get certified for R8
• Most importantly be a better Dad, Husband, friend and colleague

For you

In 2009 I hope you enjoy good friends, family life (in whatever shape), health, happiness, continued employment and prosperity.

Catch you in the new year!

Posted by Jason Hook At 10:56 PM Location | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: Mobile Blogging

I received a mail just before Christmas asking about BBMetaBlog. If you're not familiar with the name, which I always meant to replace with a proper one, it's a little mobile blogging program I wrote for the BlackBerry. It peaked at version 1.2.2 and then disapeared off my radar. I thought I could count the number of people using it on the fingers of one hand, look I can name them:

• * Bill Buchan - and only because I bullied him!
• * Julian Woodward
• * Terri Sciolla-Lynch

There, I could be Django Reinhardt and not run out of digits

BBMetaBlog was written to work with Declan's Blogshere but the chap that mailed me is using it with a Wordpress blog and wanted to know if I planned anymore development. I hadn't really mostly because I thought no one used it. The mail made me a little curious so I googled: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=safari&rls=en-us&q=BBMetablog&start=10&sa=N and it looks like there is a little market for mobile blogging with the BlackBerry.

It's new year and I'm getting ready to celebrate the new year in the time honoured fashion of going to bed before midnight and falling asleep listening to music r watching Horton hears a Hoo on my iPod (exciting huh?) so I only read a couple of results of the search but interestingly there had been a little chatter about the program:

Christina Warren talking about using it with Wordpress (http://www.christinawarren.com/2008/08/08/blackberry-wordpress-client/)

No.6 In a list of 10 Awesome BlackBerry Apps (http://www.iconocast.com/B000000000000037/J2/News1.htm)

There's a little evidence that it may have been overtaken by a thing called postmaster which seems to be an email based plugin which handles attachments but I don't know much about it. And there are some posts from people not having much luck with it for example: http://www.johnkeegan.org/2008/01/30/bb-meta-blog-blackberry-client/comment-page-1/

I always intended to Open Source it, assuming I can find the source I guess I should make good on that intention. I'm not sure that I personally want to develop it some more, might feel differently after I look at the source.

What I'm wondering is:

• * Should I find the source, blow the dust off it? Not much point if it's been superceded....
• * Do you use still it? If not why not?
• * Do you have any things that you'd like to see added or want to contribute to it's development (you'd have to be a Java programmer)?

Jason

BTW The latest version is downloadable from here: http://www.opencod.org/opencod/ls2007party.nsf/bbMetablog.html There's a tiny bit of documentation here: http://blog.jasonhookonline.com/2007/12/21/.aspx and here: http://blog.jasonhookonline.com/2008/01/07/bbmetablog-v12-for-download.aspx

Posted by Jason Hook At 12:41 PM Location | Permalink | Comments (3)

Tags: Coffee Grins

Bad News

I've wanted to have a decent coffee maker at home for an age. So far I've tried two pod style machines including the Phillips Senseo. The other coffee maker is so old I've forgotten who made it. Both machines have been a disapointment, both could make a fuss free cup of what would pass for coffee but I didn't like the raw material. It's probably possible to source pods which would work with either machine but I couldn't be bothered. Both machines are currently in storage but are unlikely to be used again.

Good News

Whilst shopping yesterday I picked up a Delonghi EC710 in a supermarket sale. I ummed and ahhed for while whilst looking up reviews via the BlackBerry (I use the browser on it most when shopping for toys). The reviews were good and I took a leap of faith and bought the last one in the shop.

The EC710 is a very simple machine that has a 15 Bar pump, can use pods or ground coffee. It has a built in steam generating thingy for frothing milk for Cappucino's. There are two filters 1 small and 1 large and comes with a bunch of illy pods. The machine has an on/off switch, and produce coffee and steam buttons. On the downside there a no customisation options such a strength or temperature. On the upside the learning curve isn't very steep.

Making an expresso with the illy pods is easy, slightly more trouble than making an instant but not much more. The coffee is a bit weak/watery which I'm putting down the pods again. I've bought some ground decaff to use when the pods run out.

Going one step further I imagined making a cappucino would be painful, thankfully it isn't and there's very little clearing up afterward. A rotary switch on the side controls the amount of steam. The end result despite the slightly watery base is relatively decent coffee.

I didn't have a cup small enough to fit under the filter, fortunately the drip tray comes out to allow for bigger cups. The build quality is OK and about what you'd expect for a relatively inexpensive machine, neither good or bad enought to let the machine down.

I'm so happy I can't tell you. I've now got a machine I can play with and I've got coffee shop quality cappucino at home. I'm sure I'll move up to a more complex machine in time but for now the EC710 seems like a great introduction to proper coffee at home.

Posted by Jason Hook At 9:02 PM Location | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: AJAJ DHTML iPhone Mobile Development LS09

I've been preparing another small demo for the Best Practice Session I'm doing with Rob Wunderlich of DominoUnplugged.com. Having prepared the Demo (at least to the stage where it's working) I realise that we won't have enough time to cover it in a lot of detail. That's where this post comes in

What's the demo? It's a 1 or 2 page browser/micro-browser based application using Ben Langhinrich's Lotusphere Sessions Database. It's specifically intended for browsers and Micro-Browsers that support the XMLHTTPREQUEST (XHR) object, for example the iPhone. There's a reference to AJAX below and a link to a Wikipedia article here if you want more information about the XHR object.

Standing on the shoulders of giants I borrowed a couple of ideas from Scott Good and Henry Newberry's Lotusphere 2007 AJAX sessions (particularly the way they use the eval function and for a hint about how to read multi-value Notes fields when they are encapsulated by JSON). Also I based the application to some extent on the Apple article Optimizing AJAX for the iPhone.

Here's a couple of screenshots to give you an idea of the user experience:

Image: A simple table (I know) with a link to a form for a given session.

Image: Click the + button to reveal more information about the session.

Image: Navigate Pages with << and >> buttons and choose the days with Mo, Tu, We and Th buttons. There's some debug info at the end.

Image: The Complete session information, with a link to feedback form.

The URL for the application is currently: http://www.opencod.org/opencod/ls08.nsf/ipdemo.html

The techniques and technologies used include JavaScript, HTML, some DHTML (DOM manipulation and CSS), the data is produced by Domino in JSON format using the readviewentries URL command with the outputformat option.

You might be familiar with the acronym AJAX: Asynchronous JavaScript and XML. There are other flavours too: AJAH and AJAJ when the data is in HTML or JSON format. We're using AJAJ here.

Unless there's a demand for a really detailed look at the code we'll keep it relatively high level. What's important to know is that fetching chunks or pages of data is done without reloading the whole page. This is done by creating a little JavaScript object that can make HTTP requests and injecting the response into page elements like DIV's. This keeps the application more responsive (this point is IMHO debatable particularly if the AJA* call is slow) and more like a desktop application.

Rather than paste big bits of source code here, you can simply access the page using the above URL and view the source from within your browser. At this stage the code is a bit unrefined but works reliably in FireFox & Safari.

Now to deconstruct the application step by step...

The Page

Image: This image shows a form though the application currently uses a page

You can use a Notes form or Page with it's content type set to HTML. In this case a page is better as it allows us to simplify the URL and we have no particular need for Notes fields on the form.

The page structure:HEAD

A style tag defines a number of inline styles for the various page elements nothing terribly exciting, the detail of each session is hidden using display: none. The HEAD defines a few JavaScript functions:

addItem(..)	Manipulates the DOM to add a row and cells within the row to a table. The cells contain which information about each session and a button that allows the row to be expanded or collapsed
changeInnerHTML(..)	I borrowed this function from http://www.webdeveloper.com/forum/showthread.php?t=84708 after having problems replacing hyperlink content in Safari and have them work
loadXMLDoc(..)	Creates an XHR object and sets processReqChange as the function that will handle any data returned when the HTTP request completes. Also calls parseQSintoPairs to get the right parameters and values, since all calls for data should pass through this function.
processReqChange()	When the HTTP request is complete and the server returns the code 200 (OK) this function creates a JavaScript object out of the JSON text returned by Domino. For better security we should use a JSON parser before the eval call in this function but for simplicity I chose not to. The object is then parsed and for each item (document in the view) the function addItem is called to add a row to the table. This function also maintains the previous and next buttons, which are only displayed if there is content to see in either direction.
parseQSintoPairs(..)	Gathers querystring name-value pairs and stores them in an array which can be used by the getValueByKey function
getValueByKey(..)	Can be used after calling parseQSintoPairs or will call parseQSintoPairs if necessary. Given a key/parameter value like 'start' will return the value for that parameter e.g. 1
toggleDisplay(..)	This function serves two purposes. Firstly, it toggles the visibility of the session detail and secondly displays the correct button graphic depending on the visibility of the detail.

Within a script tag there's a call to loadXMLDoc with this url to load the initial dataset:
http://www.opencod.org/openCOD/ls08.nsf/(luJSONSessionsByDay)?readviewentries&restricttocategory=monday&start=1&count=10&outputformat=JSON

We will cover the view (luJSONSessionsByDay) in a sec but for now it's a view categorised by day of the conference. The above URL will get the first 10 documents using the start and count parameters and finally ask for the content in JSON format. I like JSON format because it's less verbose (smaller downloads) and easier to parse (kinder on the battery) than XML. We could optmise the JSON a little more by using an agent to generate the JSON rather than the readviewentries command but I think we'd only be talking about a little bit less text to download.

The << and >> buttons manipulate the start parameter of the URL and the Mo::Tu::We::Th buttons manipulate the restricttocategory parameter of the URL.

The page structure:BODY

The body of the page is really really simple, consisting of three tables. One for the session data, one for the previous, next and day navigation buttons and finally a table for debug information. Tables are generally regarded as bad in mobile circles but in my defence Apple use them in their example and the are very simple with no nesting of tables within tables.

The NotesView (luJSONSessionsByDay)

The view is fairly straightforward, there are a couple of hidden columns to sort by day and time of sessions. Data is read from the view using the readviewentries URL command.

Some other settings of the view include:

1. * First Column is hidden and categorised by day of conference
2. * The programmatic name of the column determines the name of that element in the JSON object
3. * No hierachy so docs are NOT displayed in a hierachy
4. * Treat the view contents as HTML

Making it better

If I get a chance I'd like to:

• * Make the JavaScript more robust
• * Remove the unecessary hard coding which in my laziness I reverted to
• * Add |< and >| buttons to quickly get to the first and last pages
• * Simplify the CSS even more
• * Add-in some graceful degradation features to cope with a device that has JS turned off)
• * Make it work with IE (but since I'm aiming for iPhone it's not a priority)
• * It would also be nice to add a AJAJ search page also

Finally

I'll update the ongoing application tomorrow and paste a link to it below here.
TTFN Jason.

Posted by Jason Hook At 7:51 PM Location | Permalink | Comments (1)

Tags: Life

Hanging about in NHS Hospitals.

I got the Norovirus at the beginning of the week along with the rest of the humans in the house. During a final bout of unpleasantness I passed out. Unconscious and propelled by 16 stone of accumulated chocolate my head hit the shower tray in the bathroom. When I woke up I discovered I'd left a respectable amount of the skin from my ear behind, and banged my face up a bit. Hence the hanging about in Hospitals

During the week I met some really excellent NHS staff, working in very trying circumstances. Morale is pretty low I think.

One Indian Doctor who'd had a rough night of patients "kicking off" said that he'd come to the UK thinking it was the cradle of civilisation.

"You were obviously very disapointed then...." I said "Yes really" he said

Everybody I spoke to seems to have the same opinion. Many people have forgotten their sense of personal responsibility and restraint (shame). They're aware of their "rights" and don't give a toss about their responsibilities. Many of the same people like a drink too much.

If people had to make a contribution to the cost of their care at the point of use would it make them use the NHS more responsibly? Not sure. Time passes very slowly in the NHS, and the information given to me during the week was often contradictory or non-existent I'm sure that doesn't help people with less patience than me.

I had some plastic surgery on my ear yesterday to try and make me look less like Doctor Spock The surgeon and nurses were fantastic (we had a long chat during the proceedure). We'll have to wait and see how things turn out, but I'm very grateful for the NHS and for the good people that work in it despite the huge challenges they face. I made a point of telling them so

Posted by Jason Hook At 9:42 AM Location | Permalink | Comments (63)

Tags: Mobile Domino Redirect

Whilst preparing sessions for Lotusphere I considered whether or not to include a section about redirecting mobile users based on their User-Agent and other headers. I prepared lots of slides but they didn't make it into either presentation. Despite this it's worth discussing and since I haven't posted anything technical for a while here goes....



If you visit http://news.bbc.co.uk or YouTube with a micro-browser the chances are you'll be offered the chance to use the corresponding mobile site. Both will be using some kind of device detection using headers (name-value pairs) sent by the device or gateway with the request. If a mobile device is detected then a redirection allows the user to easily access device appropriate content.



In an ideal world the redirection would be performed on the server



 1. The mobile client requests page http://host.yourdomain.com
2. The Web Server considers the request and the headers provided and tries to work out if the client is constrained (micro-browser)
3. If the server can be sure it's a micro-browser then it issues a 301 or 302 (see http://www.somacon.com/p145.php) response with details of the new page location
4. The Micro-Browser follows the redirect and requests the new page with minimal download of additional data



Using this method the client doesn't need to download a whole page only to be redirected to something more appropriate. Unfortunately without resorting to a complicated IBM HTTP Server, PHP and Websphere Plug-in setup I can't think of a way to do this natively with Domino. If you do please let me know.....



If we accept then, that we have to perform the redirect on the device we have a couple of options:



Option One: Recognising the User-Agent string using the WURFL resource file



Option Two: Sniffing the client using the User-Agent string and other headers with a relatively simple formula



Option One: Using the WURFL resource:



The WURFL (http://wurfl.sourceforge.net/) is a big configuration file (XML) recording in varying detail the capabilities of more than 9000 devices. Although I'm talking about using the file to match the User-Agent string, the potential uses of the file go beyond that. 


Because we're Notes people and we understand Views Documents and Fields the attached database wurfl.nsf contains the data in the XML file in documents presented in a view. It also has an agent to import the main file. I haven't got round to writing something to import the patches yet, they look more complicated. I may improve the database but for now the important design elements are the (luUserAgent) view which indexes all documents by User-Agent, and the documents themselves which contain an info about the capabilities of each device.







Having imported the data and created the view what we need now is a little form or page to capture the User-Agent string when user points a browser at the db, do a lookup on the view and redirect the client if necessary. For simplicity I've made the form part of wurfl.nsf. I've chosen to do this with a Navigator (which is left deliberately blank) and a $$NavigatorTemplateDefault form.







The $$Navigator form has a field called "HTTP_USER_AGENT" which is computed and has a default value of the USER-AGENT header. The field isMobile uses the HTTP_USER_AGENT value to perform a lookup on the luUserAgent view and return 0 for not matched and 1 for matched.



The redirect is performed in the HTML Head of the form: 



@If(isMobile=1;"";"")



If we detected a mobile we use a META tag to redirect the user. We could use JavaScript too (belt and braces) but we can't rely on it being enabled so we'll stick with the META tag.



Just in case the refresh doesn't work we provide a link to the mobile version of the site:







Finally we implement the $$NavigatorTemplate using the database properties. First we turn off the "Use JavaScript" flag and then in the database launch option choose Navigator and home.










In the attached database the page we redirect to (mobile.html) is a little form that we ask the user to submit:







When submitting the form action "posts" to an agent which captures the answer plus the headers submitted with the form. After submission we present a little thank you page.



If you want to see it in action: http://www/opencod.org/opencod/test/wurfl.nsf



Option Two: Using the User-Agent string and other headers:



This solution though similar to the previous solution replaces the WURFL information with a simple formula in the isMobile field. The formula has it's roots in work published by Andy Moore (www.andymoore.info) which is mentioned in Cameron Moll's book: http://mobilewebbook.com/



The Navigator and $$Template method is identical and I copied the original elements. The new Navigator in WURFL.nsf is called home1 and the "$$NavigatorTemplate For home1" is used. 







If you want to see it in action: http://www/opencod.org/opencod/test/wurfl.nsf/home1?opennavigator



The $$NavigatorTemplate for home1 form captures a few extra headers, the values of which are used in the isMobile formula.



Here's the formula for the isMobile field:



FirstFourList :=
"acs-":"alav":"alca":"amoi":"audi":"aste":"avan":"benq":"bird":"blac":"blaz":"brew":"cell":"cldc":"cmd-":"dang":"doco":"eric":"hipt":
"inno":"ipaq":"ipho":"java":"jigs":"kddi":"keji":"leno":"lg-c":"lg-d":"lge-":"maui":"maxo":"midp":"mits":"mmef":"mobi":"mot-":"moto":"mwbp":
"nec-":"newt":"noki":"opwv":"palm":"pana":"pant":"pdxg":"phil":"play":"pluc":"port":"prox":"qtek":"qwap":"sage":"sams":"sany":"sch-":
"sec-":"send":"seri":"sgh-":"shar":"sie-":"siem":"smal":"smar":"sony":"sph-":"symb":"t-mo":"teli":"tim-":"tosh":"tsm-":"upg1":"upsi":
"vk-v":"voda":"w3c":"wap-":"wapa":"wapi":"wapp":"wapr":"webc":"winw":"xda":"xda-";



FirstFour := @Left(@LowerCase(HTTP_USER_AGENT);4);



@If(@Contains(@LowerCase(HTTP_User_Agent);"windows ce");
@Return("Mobile");
@If(@Contains(@LowerCase(HTTP_User_Agent);"iphone");
@Return("Mobile");
@Contains(HTTP_ACCEPT;"application/vnd.wap.xhtml+xml");
@Return("Mobile");
@Contains(HTTP_ACCEPT;"text/vnd.wap.wml");
@Return("Mobile");
@Trim(HTTP_X_WAP_PROFILE)!="";
@Return("Mobile");
@Trim(HTTP_PROFILE)!="";
@Return("Mobile");
@Trim(HTTP_X_OPERAMINI_FEATURES)!="";
@Return("Mobile");
@IsMember(FirstFour;FirstFourList);
@Return("Mobile");
@Return("Desktop")))




Once again we use the HTML Head to perform a redirect if necessary:



@If(@LowerCase(isMobile)="mobile";"";"")



The rest of the workflow is the same as the previous approach.




Testing the options:
It would be nice to test both options to see which works best. Over the next week I hope register a short domain and point it at WURFL.NSF which will then present links to the two methods of detection. At that point I'll invite people to visit with their devices and we'll see how each holds up and what kind of devices are in use.



If you want to play in the meantime you can use these two URLs:



http://www.opencod.org/opencod/test/wurfl.nsf
http://www.opencod.org/opencod/test/wurfl.nsf/home1?opennavigator



If you are using a desktop browser like Firefox you can still play with the USER-AGENT header. To do that first download the User Agent switcher Addon:



https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/59



Once installed you can add and then switch between USER-AGENT strings. To get the strings you can either copy from the database or search on the web for sites that offer lists of them.



Alternatively you can use one of the many desktop tools out there including iPhoney, BlackBerry, Symbian and Nokia emulators or a real device 



Using WURFL.nsf:
The database is zipped and is close to 3MB and you can download it from this URL:



http://weblog.jasonhookonline.com/jho/blog.nsf/downloads/JHOK-7MBHAF/$file/wurfl.nsf.zip



It contains documents created using the importer agent and data from the WURFL file which you can get from http://wurfl.sourceforge.net. I used the ExportFieldNames agent to help me generate tables of fields which I could use to build a DXL form to view the device definitions. 



The main form was created using DXL and imported using Andre Guirard's agent which appears in the Db as DXLImporter.



If you put the database on the server please review the ACL agent code and sign it.




TODO TO DO:
If I were to do more work on this database I'd be inclined to:



Look at the forms and style with some CSS;
Provide a 'home' page with links to both types of detection;
Have the "Thank You" form return some statistics about results and browsers used;
Have an agent that can import WURFL patches.



That's it then. If you find any bugs, or have any comments I be glad to hear from you.

Posted by Jason Hook At 9:39 AM Location | Permalink | Comments (2)

Tags: Mobile Security

Do you subscribe to the Secunia advsories? We do.   If you own an iPhone this might be useful information for you....

Jason

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Do you need accurate and reliable IDS / IPS / AV detection rules?

Get in-depth vulnerability details:
http://secunia.com/binary_analysis/sample_analysis/

----------------------------------------------------------------------

TITLE:
Apple iPhone / iPod touch Multiple Vulnerabilities

SECUNIA ADVISORY ID:
SA32756

VERIFY ADVISORY:
http://secunia.com/advisories/32756/

CRITICAL:
Highly critical

IMPACT:
Security Bypass, Spoofing, Exposure of sensitive information, DoS,
System access

WHERE:
From remote

OPERATING SYSTEM:
Apple iPod touch
http://secunia.com/advisories/product/16074/
Apple iPhone
http://secunia.com/advisories/product/15128/

DESCRIPTION:
Some weaknesses, security issues, and vulnerabilities have been
reported in Apple iPhone and iPod touch, which can be exploited by
malicious people to bypass certain security restrictions, disclose
potential sensitive information, conduct spoofing attacks, to cause a
DoS (Denial of Service), or potentially compromise a user's system.

1) A vulnerability in CoreGraphics can potentially be exploited to
compromise a vulnerable system.

For more information see vulnerability #3 in:
SA31326

2) Several vulnerabilities in the processing of TIFF images can
potentially be exploited to execute arbitrary code.

For more information:
SA31610

3) An error in the processing of TIFF images can cause a device
reset.

4) An unspecified error can result in the encryption level for PPTP
VPN connections to be lower than expected.

5) A signedness error in the Office Viewer component can potentially
be exploited to execute arbitrary code via a specially crafted
Microsoft Excel file.

This is related to vulnerability #10 in:
SA32222

6) A weakness exists in the handling of emergency calls, which can be
exploited to bypass the Passcode lock and call arbitrary numbers when
physical access to the device is provided.

7) A weakness causes the Passcode lock not to be restored properly.

8) A security issue can result in the content of an SMS message being
displayed when the message arrives while the emergency call screen is
shown.

9) An error in Safari when handling HTML table elements can be
exploited to cause a memory corruption and potentially execute
arbitrary code when a user visits a specially crafted web site.

10) An error in Safari when handling embedded iframe elements can be
exploited to spoof the user interface via content being displayed
outside its boundaries.

11) An error exists in Safari when launching an application while a
call approval dialog is shown. This can be exploited to call an
arbitrary number without user interaction. It is also possible to
block the user's ability to cancel the call.

12) An error in Webkit can be exploited to disclose potentially
sensitive data from form fields, although the "Autocomplete" feature
is disabled.

This is related to vulnerability #8 in:
SA32706

SOLUTION:
Update to iPhone OS 2.2 or iPhone OS for iPod touch 2.2 (downloadable
and installable via iTunes).

PROVIDED AND/OR DISCOVERED BY:
The vendor credits:
1) Michal Zalewski, Google
3) Sergio 'shadown' Alvarez, n.runs AG
4) Stephen Butler, University of Illinois
7) Nolen Scaife
9) Haifei Li of Fortinet's FortiGuard Global Security Research Team
10) John Resig, Mozilla Corporation
11) Collin Mulliner, Fraunhofer SIT
12) an anonymous researcher

ORIGINAL ADVISORY:
Apple:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3318

OTHER REFERENCES:
SA31326:
http://secunia.com/advisories/31326/

SA31610:
http://secunia.com/advisories/31610/

SA32222:
http://secunia.com/advisories/32222/

SA32706:
http://secunia.com/advisories/32706/

----------------------------------------------------------------------

About:
This Advisory was delivered by Secunia as a free service to help
everybody keeping their systems up to date against the latest
vulnerabilities.

Subscribe:
http://secunia.com/advisories/secunia_security_advisories/

Definitions: (Criticality, Where etc.)
http://secunia.com/advisories/about_secunia_advisories/


Please Note:
Secunia recommends that you verify all advisories you receive by
clicking the link.
Secunia NEVER sends attached files with advisories.
Secunia does not advise people to install third party patches, only
use those supplied by the vendor.

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Unsubscribe: Secunia Security Advisories

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Posted by Jason Hook At 6:50 PM Location | Permalink | Comments (3)

Tags: MAC Networking

I've been using a ZyXEL wireless G modem and router for a while and it's been driving me mad.  The wireless LAN seems to have an "oh you want to actually use me for something? No, that won't do" feature that causes the WLAN to drop out whenever it's called upon.  On top of that the WAN would also drop out sporadically obviously as some sort of redundant system just in case the WLAN hadn't already gone down.

Very frustrating.

Half the problem lies I think in the overcrowded 2.4 ghz frequency here.  Normally we've got five wireless DECT Telephones and there are two XBOX 360's nearby Not much I can do about that stuff so I'm hoping I'll have better luck with the 5Ghz range offered by the Extreme.

The Airport was a doddle to set up.  To configure the router you need to install software, I'd prefer a Web Interface.  The Airport Utility works well but the Airport seems less configurable than the ZeXEL.  There are no parental controls, bandwidth management, or content filtering for example.  The good news is I don't care about those things

Within a couple of minutes of plugging the Airport in it's up and running and doing useful work downloading the WordPress Jumpbox VM Ware appliance.  It seems fast much faster than the wireless G, that's to be expected.

The Airport doesn't have a built in modem so it's plugged into the ZyXEL still, but so far so good. If the random disconnection goblins have been banished then the AE wil be worth every penny of the £120 paid.

Next job is to plug in an external USB disk and start using Time Machine.

Posted by Jason Hook At 10:25 PM Location | Permalink | Comments (3)

Tags: Non-Technology

Disclaimer:  If you stop by this blog only for it's technology content (believe it not some people would prefer that we fit ourselves neatly into boxes of clearly defined categories of content). STOP. NOW.  You have missed the clue in the tag.  You know who you are.  So go on shoo, more technology posts later.

Still here? OK.  Welcome.

A colleague pointed out that a gently provocative campaign starts in London today.  Across the capital 30 red buses will bear a sign saying:

"THERE'S PROBABLY NO GOD.
NOW STOP WORRYING AND ENJOY YOUR LIFE."

The ad will look like this:

http://weblog.jasonhookonline.com/jho/blog.nsf/images/JHOK-7KMERB/$File/bus-home.jpg" alt="bus-home.jpg" />

Their web site, for more information and donations can be found here:  http://www.atheistcampaign.org/

I like this quote from their site:

"With your help, we can brighten people’s days on the way to work, help raise awareness of atheism in the UK, and hopefully encourage more people to come out as atheists. We can also counter the religious adverts which are currently running on London buses, and help people think for themselves."

And this:

"Atheism is a non-prophet organisation" - George Carlin

Much as I'd I'd like to show solidarity with them I can't. I'm just not hardcore enough.  Instead I'm publicly "coming out" as an agnostic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnosticism).  

Placing the ads is an inspired idea, more power to them.  If they decide to expand their campaign across the country I will surely donate something.

TTFN

Posted by Jason Hook At 11:33 AM Location | Permalink | Comments (47)