This weeks links (2009-06-29)

When too much Fail is not enough …
There, I Fixed It.

Patching problems for home users
Time to update updating on PCs for 3rd party apps (2009-Jul-02) [SANS]
Unpatched Bloatware on new PCs (2009-Jul-02) [SANS]

Another list of crap to read?

If you make Twitter into another list of crap to read, you will be sad. The sooner you realize that Twitter is just a list of crap, the happier you’ll be.
– Twitter: Let the Information Wash Over You
(2009-Jun-29) [Scott Hanselman's ComputerZen.com]

July, The Month of Twitter Bugs
The Month of Twitter Bugs (MoTB) has kicked off.

… July 2009 will be Month of Twitter Bugs.
This blog will be used for posting the vulnerabilities. …
– Month of Twitter Bugs (2009-Jun-15) [twitpwn]

… Today, three years after the “Month of Browser Bugs”, I’ve decided to declare July 2009 as “Month of Twitter Bugs” (MoTB). I’m doing so in order to raise the awareness of the Twitter API issue I recently blogged about. MoTB could have been easily converted to any other “Month of Web2.0 service bugs”, and I hope that Twitter and other Web2.0 API providers will work closely with their API consumers to develop more secure products. …
– Month of Twitter Bugs (2009-Jun-15) [aviv.raffon.net]

Free Music Giveaway

@MSWindows How about 1,000 + songs for #musicmonday – http://bit.ly/1IyS7 ^JT

… Click to download new music, completely free, brought to you by your music loving friends at Windows. You’ll see (but not hear) some ads on your screen in addition to the album’s cover art, which is how we keep your new tunes from costing you a cent. … — http://www.reverbnation.com/windows

Firefox 3.5
Mozilla will release the next major version of Firefox on Tuesday, June 30, Webmonkey has learned. Mozilla confirmed the news Friday afternoon. …
Firefox 3.5 Will Arrive June 30 (2009-Jun-26) [WebMonkey]

June 2009 Web Server Survey
In the June 2009 survey we received responses from 238,027,855 sites, an increase of 2,137,329 on last month. A reduction in activity at Microsoft Live Spaces was responsible for the large drop in the number of Microsoft-IIS sites detected. Apache retains the dominant market share of 47.12%, approximately 112.2 million sites in total, and saw a modest increase in market share of 0.63 percentage points this month. …
June 2009 Web Server Survey (2009-Jun-17) [Netcraft]

gecko’s tails

Biomutalism and interdisciplinary connections

Robert Full: Learning from the gecko’s tail
(from TED)
Biologist Robert Full studies the amazing gecko, with its supersticky feet and tenacious climbing skill. But high-speed footage reveals that the gecko’s tail harbors perhaps the most surprising talents of all.

Security Update available for Shockwave Player

Shockwave version 11.5.0.600 (Windows) has been released. Adobe has categorised this as a critical update as successful exploitation of the vulnerability allows the attacker to take control of the affected system. This issue is remotely exploitable.

Security Update available for Shockwave Player [1]
Release date: June 23, 2009
Vulnerability identifier: APSB09-08
CVE number: CVE-2009-1860
Platform: Windows

Summary
A critical vulnerability has been identified in Adobe Shockwave Player 11.5.0.596 and earlier versions. This vulnerability could allow an attacker who successfully exploits this vulnerability to take control of the affected system. Adobe has provided a solution for the reported vulnerability. It is recommended that users update their installations using the instructions provided below. …

No exploit details made public yet. It should be pointed out that their upgrade instructions recommend uninstalling the old version, rebooting the machine, and then installing the new version. [2]

Analysis: Patch now

LINKS:
[1] Security Update available for Shockwave Player APSB09-08 (2009-Jun-23) [Adobe]
[2] Adobe Shockwave Player Update (2009-Jun-24) [SANS]

CRP09-027

Wake-On-LAN for iMacs?

Last week I completed the “Mac OS X Deployment v10.4″ training in Sydney where the trainer told me that Wake-On-LAN will only work if the Mac in question is in sleep mode -i.e., you can’t wake up a Mac that has been shut down.
– Topic : No Wake-On-LAN for powered-down Macs? (2007-APR-26) [Apple:Support]

Mac hardware (OS X)
Modern Mac hardware features integrated WoL functionality, controlled via the OS X System Preferences Energy Saver panel, in the Options tab. Marking the “Wake for Ethernet network administrator access” checkbox enables WoL.
Apple’s Apple Remote Desktop client management system can be used to send WoL packets, but there are also freeware and shareware Mac OS X applications available.
– Wake-on-LAN [wikipedia]

It would appear that the Mac doesn’t have a “true” WOL functionality as it will only wake from sleep mode. This is surprising as the Intel NIC’s have had this functionality for a very long time

(Need a crash course on WOL? Try Introduction to Wake-On-LAN [activeXperts])

Everybody loves a road trip!

Everybody loves a road trip is an exhibition at the University of Melbourne, celebrating the driving holiday in Australia. I stumbled across this exhibition on the way to a meeting this afternoon, it is well worth a look if you are in the area.

Everybody loves a road trip! [1]
Leigh Scott Gallery, 1st floor, Baillieu Library, 27 May to 7 August 2009

This exhibition showcases the collection of Shell Company of Australia, which the company donated to the University of Melbourne Archives (UMA) in 2008, in addition to other UMA collections and items on loan from the RACV Heritage Collection. From early in the 20th century the Shell Company of Australia placed a great deal of emphasis on community relations and how the general public perceived its products and the company itself. In Australia there has been a long tradition of exploration of our environment and journeys over vast distances. After World War II this tradition was further reinforced by the growing popularity of motor vehicle ownership and the family road trip. The displays include project albums (to house collections of promotional cards) and other merchandise, posters, advertisements, photographs, documents, calendars, touring maps (including a Braille map of Australia) and tips for drivers. The exhibition is curated by Melinda Barrie, Senior Archivist, Rio Tinto and Business, University of Melbourne Archives.

An accompanying publication is available: Everybody loves a road trip! (exhibtion brochure), University of Melbourne Library, 2009.
– Cultural Collections: Current Exhibitions

Photograph taken by a staff member of the Shell Touring Service and Mapping Unit, c.1947–1960 Shell Company Historical Collection, University of Melbourne Archives

LINKS:
[1] Cultural Collections: Current Exhibitions viewed 23-Jun-2009
[2] Are we there yet? Exhibition explores Aussie tradition of the family road trip viewed 23-Jun-2009 [The Melbourne Newsroom]
[3] The family road trip podcast (2009-Jun-04) [ABC: LifeMatters]

Government 2.0: Policy and Practice

Government 2.0: Policy and Practice

Welcome to the 2nd Public Sphere topic – Government 2.0: policy and practice for Australia. An initiative by Senator Kate Lundy.

Government 2.0 is a rising topic of debate across the world. Trends in technology, media and public opinion have made it both more possible and more necessary for governments to reconsider what and how information is made freely available to the public.

This Public Sphere event will gather views on how creating an even more participatory form of government in Australia will improve the effectiveness of public administration, enable communities to better help themselves, promote renewed engagement in the democratic process and enhance our capacity to respond to emerging complex social, geopolitical and environmental challenges. We expect the topic and resulting event to bring together government practitioners and decision-makers, and interested parties outside of government.

What is a Public Sphere? A “Public Sphere” is a space that “…through the vehicle of public opinion it puts the state in touch with the needs of society” [2]. This kind of engagement in public policy is a great way to represent different views and harness a broad range of expertise, particularly on topical issues of the day.
– Public Sphere #2 – Government 2.0: Policy and Practice [Kate Lundy]

LINKS:
* #publicsphere [TweetGrid]
* Government 2.0 Video Feed – Parliament House (Audio only?)
* http://www.katelundy.com.au/live/ Live blogging and feeds
* http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/publicsphere
* http://wiki.katelundy.com.au/

* Kate Lundy: What I do for Open Government YouTube]

This weeks links (2009-06-22)

Magpies Massacre !
COLLINGWOOD 6.3 10.6 16.9 26.13 (169)
FREMANTLE 2.2 7.3 11.5 13.7 (85)

Collingwood then flicked the switch in the fourth quarter as the Dockers tired – booting 10 goals to two to turn what was shaping as a good victory into a demolition. …
Magpies tear Dockers to shreds (2009-06-27) [The AGE]

I’m not dead yet …
Looks like Visible Procrastinations died in New Zealand this morning while filming a movie in New Zealand …. (FakeAWish.com) It’s a pity some of the media didn’t check their facts too closely before reporting Jeff Goldblum dead in the same sort of accident

Geeky (Re)Discoveries
10 Geeky (Re)Discoveries as a GeekDad (2009-Jun-21) [Wired: GeekDad]

Firefox 3.5rc3
Firefox 3.5 Release Notes Release Candidate v.3 (2009-Jun-24)

20 years since the University of Melbourne connected Australia to the Internet

Wednesday marked 20 years since the University of Melbourne connected Australia to the Internet.

On the night of the 23rd/24th of June 1989 Robert Elz, of the Computer Science Department at the University of Melbourne, communicated over the Internet with Torben Nielsen in Hawaii. The first message sent over the Internet to Australia was “Link up …”, sent to Robert on the Sun server named “munnari”.
– 20 Years of Internet in Australia [Whirlpool]

For the first six months or so, the link remained in the care of Melbourne University. Then AARNET took over, but the physical link to the Internet terminated at Melbourne for at least six more years.
– The Network Anniversary (This article was published in The Age on 22 June 1999)

* It started with a ping – Internet marks 20 years in Australia [Unimelb Newsroom]

Students moving away from email?

… I am curious if anyone else in higher education noticed that the last couple of classes of freshman do not use email at an increasing rate. It has been my observation that the spam problems along with the growth of social networking sites like facebook and twitter that this future generation will continue the trend away from traditional email delivery in lieu of other forms of messaging. This seems to be causing some problems within the higher-ed community with how to officially communicate to students without looking like spammers ourself in these other communication venues. Perhaps a new crisis on the way for those of us who must do “official spam” to our organizations. …
– Scott Fendley
Situational Awareness: Spam Crisis and China (2009-Jun-20) [SANS]

Public Sphere #2 – Government 2.0: Policy and Practice

Government 2.0: Policy and Practice moved to it’s own post

Message from Australian Government (scam)

This weeks phishing scam offers you a deal from the tax office; there appear to be two variants at the moment.

Variant 1.
This version was the first to be sent and is the one directly referred to in the warnings published by the ATO and ScamWatch [1,2].

Cut Off Taxes Program
30% Discount for your 2009 taxes

Register now for the The Cut Off Taxes Program (COTP).

This means you could get 30% back from all your 2009 taxes.

Remember to keep your receipt. They will help you calculate your refund and you may be required to show them as proof of purchase.

Learn more about the program

Variant 2.
Is the later version, modified to perhaps get past the descriptions in the current Scam warnings?

You have one new message Australian Taxation Office

INBOX (1)

From: Australian Government
Date: 6/21/2009
Subject:Please submit the tax refund and allow us 3-5 business days in order to process it.

To continue please click here for Tax Refund Online

© Commonwealth of Australia

Tax Commissioner Michael D’Ascenzo said anyone who receives the email should delete it immediately. “The Tax Office never sends emails asking people to provide personal information including credit card details.” [1]

The link in the email points to http://____.opticon.hu/ato.gov.au/refund/index.php A quick visit to the web site and we find a quick and nasty webserver setup to harvest details that you enter into the phishing form.

[1] Warning: tax refund email scam Media release 2009/39 [ATO]
[2] Australian Taxation Office tax refund online! (2009-JUN) [SCAMwatch]

Tour de France 2009 on SBS

Just in via SBS cycling news email:

The Tour is Taking Over!
It’s that time again when the World gears up for 21 gripping days of the most competitive annual road cycling event in history – the Tour de France.
Every stage of the 96th Tour de France will be broadcast LIVE on SBS TWO and for the first time streamed online at sbs.com.au/tdf. From the Grand Départ in Monaco on Saturday 4 July, along 3,500 kilometres of spectacular terrain through to the picturesque final stage along the Champs-Élysées in Paris, cycling fans can enjoy seeing every agonising and glorious stage LIVE on SBS.

Tour on SBS TWO
SBS TWO is SBS’s new digital channel that launched on 1 June. SBS TWO is available on channel 32 via a digital receiver or channel 648 on Foxtel and Austar. …

The man from ICANN (ABC: Future Tense)

From ABC’s Radio National Future Tense program this morning;

The man from ICANN
ICANN stands for the Internet Corporation for Assisted Names and Numbers. It’s the organisation responsible for regulating internet domain names. ICANN is on the verge of significant change. It’s relaxing restrictions on the number of top-level domain names available, including a move to include different languages and scripts. It’s also looking at severing its remaining ties with the US government. We’ll speak with ICANN’s CEO and president, Dr Paul Twomey, about the significance of these changes for the future of the net and the way we use it.
– The man from ICANN

There is also a podcast available of an extended interview with Dr Paul Twomey.