The Most Hated Company

Picture this about a laptop

It comes for as low as $299, ie Rs. 12K. Most expensive is $499, ie Rs.20k
Fully-featured laptop costs $69 less than the 16 GB Apple iPod Touch.
It’s $100 less than an Amazon Kindle e-book reader
It runs Linux (Xandros running KDE)- which is $30 less than Amazon.com’s discounted price for Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate
They first in market with flash based storage.

Now thats a laptop that i would buy soon. (Just dont ask how soon ’soon’ is, as i’m known for procrastinating)
This makes ASUS Eee PC hated by, well lets just say every major company. Now that includes - Microsoft, Apple, Dell etc. and Azuztek a.k.a Azuz the most hated IT company as of now.
Intel loves them coz they are running a Celeron processor.
Is this going to hurt OLPC after the Intel back-out? I dont know and frankly i cant just about predict or speculate anything about the OLPC project. Their $100 laptop is now priced at $200 and now without Intel … i just cant make out anything.
[Source of news - http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/]
[Image source - engadget]

Some reasons why you SHOULD use Free Software..

No before i get into the whole thing, by Free Software i mean the programs that follow the 0-3 Freedoms as stated by the Free Software Foundation. Or rather Copy-Left than Copy Right …
Why is that a Free S/w user is so good at fixing a system, trouble shooting software issues and fixes thing without even reading the manual.
Now these are the reasons

1) Free software users expect open licenses and no activation methods
2) Free software users expect regular upgrades and patches
3) Free software users expect to work the way they choose
4) Free software users want control of their own systems
5) Free software users explore
6) Free software users expect to help themselves
7) Free software users don’t fear the command line
Free software users learn software categories, not programs
9) Free software users expect access to developers and other employees

DOMPlayer and the Doom.

Creativity has no limits and the fact that people can go to any extend to infect you machine with malware, let me say comes as a total relief. After people has spend dollars securing their machine with the latest spyware remover, anti-virus, pop-up blocker and all the shit that you can get you hands on, there is no stopping a curious browser who downloads some thing and authorizes it to do some operation and ends ups in a deeper shit that he was before.

We all love torrent. The countless torrent files that you looked up on the net to download your favorite movie, would have at least made you thin, what you would have done with out those torrent sites. Its the same feeling you get when you thank George Bush for the oil that he is bringing in from Iraq and Kuwait.

So when some thought of the idea of infecting your machine with the help of torrent download and get paid $3 for doing so , has to be credited with the ingenuity of the idea. Here is the whole scenario.

You download a movie (most of the reports came up with the latest movies like Hitman, Beowuf, National Treasure : Book of Secrets) or an episode of your favorite series on TV. When you try to play it it says

“This video can only be played in DomPlayer, Visit Download.Domplayer.Com“

Like any other desperate downloader you visit their site :

Pretty neat site of a movie player, compared to VLC Player and Real Player. So you go and download the player, the Download button is right in front of you. So whats the big deal. Go ahead download the file… At this point i got suspicious and thought hey i never heard any of my friends talk about such a player, instead of installing it at the home PC (Windows XP), let me try to get an installer/player for Linux. That way its safe and its my Laptop, if anything gets screwd up i can just install all over again. Big Deal!!!

Web searches got me to couple of forums here and here. They talked about another player 3wPlayer by Wildman Productions(i have no idea who the hell they are).

In fact the real deal here is as reported from Best Security Tips is DOM Player says its clean but you call them up and pay them to activate the attack on your P. If that doesnt work they ask you to download 3wPlayer. Which is another piece of shit and load the malware to the PC free of charge.

Now that is a cool idea. You get paid to get infected like the way you paid to get protected. Over that you download movie files (AVI files) which might be renamed porno movies.

FTP problem in Fedora/RedHat

IF any one using Fedora with vsftpd service for FTP might have come across the issue while connecting via FTP

500 OOPS: cannot change directory:/home/xxxx

Login failed.

Then here is the solution. The problem is with SELinux. Go to System > Administration > SELinux Administration. Left side - Select : Boolean. On right side - FTP, check the box that says - Allow ftp to read/write files in the users home directory.

DONE!!! Close SELinux…

Security of an IT Company and YOU…

Security is still a big issue in India. Since there are terrorists ready to blow up anything here, we must be aware of the fact that we are vulnerable and take all means in avoiding it. Of lately when the security measures in my company was stepped up, many employees expressed dissatisfaction and where highly irritated. Sadly they dont realize the threat. They all complained that the Security at the main gates and buildings scrutinized their belongings and treated them equally like terrorists. To a mail sent by my colleague to the Security in charge, part of the reply went like this

… We (the security and the company) are not bothered about what the employee takes unauthorized from the company(hardware and documents). But more worried about the a much more grave situation… The attack at IISc Bangalore was first planned against IT companies as they (Terrorists) realize that a well planned strike at the heart of the Silicon Valley of India, will send India’s market crashing and the country will be in a chaos in no time. Sadly our company was also in their list. They were outside our gates, looking at every move and they found the security tight even for a normal employee. Thus we were spared. Else the AKs would have gone in any of the leading IT company…

A normal Techie, works from 8-to-8 and is completely oblivious to much of the things shaping up in the outside world, spare may be Bipasha’s curves or SRK’s Abs. He doesnt realize that the Bad Guys have really turned ugly and they are recruiting Graduates and Post Grads, like most IT companies, to do the dirty job (both ways its true for the Terror Organization and IT Company). I was surprised one Monday morning when i was asked to stop at the gates and the security guy checked my ID to verify its me. After 2 years, that day i entered the campus a bit happy, coz i found the Security doing their job properly.

Sadly, the fact is, the Security at majority of the IT Companies are a bit inadequate. They in most of the cases doesn’t realize the force they are up against. Everyday i see the security at all the companies on my way to office and i bet i can breach their physical security. I dont know why i do that. But i like doing it. Every time i face a security at a gate, i think of a way of beating him without raising the slightest suspicion.

Leave alone the physical security, its the Cyber age and are we prepared against an attack via the net. No!!! Network security, if you look at most of the intranets, is getting internally compromised by the employees. Simply coz a fair number of people will click the “You won a million dollars“, flashing ad on a web page. In most of the case, that will lead to a pornographic site, at times they open up the pandora’s box for the network of the company. E-mails in particular can bring a network down. A well placed attachment asking the user to open it is more than required. Remember “I love you” or you dont coz you remember it as what your lover told you.

I have had friends approach me saying “I think my damn system is affected with virus. I have the latest in anti-virus updated everyday, the latest pop-up blocker (how did that ever block a virus), a bazooka and an entire army guarding my system… but still. Damn windows … its all because of Windows.” Let me tell you there is nothing wrong with Windows (may be not entirely and probably this will be the only time i’ll be talking for Windows and Microsoft), what is wrong is YOU. Couldn’t resist visiting the site that flashed “Sexy savvy teens… going dirty…”, or couldnt resist opening the attachment that told you how to increase what ever you have or may be had. Think before what you click on or open. They are out there to make money and they will make it any way possible.

Knowing all this what can you do … if u cant make that out by your self, then how lame are you???

“How lame are you???”, the words that lead the world’s biggest Hacker Kevin Mitnik to his fall.

I’m on Twitter …

After much struggle i’m on Twitter. With the new Reliance ZTE CDMA USB Modem (ZTE CDMA 1X Modem MG880), which almost runs at the speed of the traffic on hosur road, i managed to get an account on Twitter.

I’m available at this link - http://twitter.com/jerrymannel

The last hurdle was to enable my mobile. The Settings page had a short message number that wont work here. Apparently that was my first try. Then i went to the help section, there i find this question - How to verify your phone . Elated, i read through and find this number - +44 778 148 8126 - which apparently is not the number again . Which I realized after sending two messages.

Then i read FAQ, from where i was supposed to start in the first place, when the first number didnt work. Damn It!!!. Finally i get the correct number - +44 762 480 1423. Now that is the correct number… FINALLY!!!!

Barcamp Bangalore - Random Shots - Day1

I’m Speaking too

Getting the WiFi connection

The Mutineers …

E-Governance Session

Post Lunch ..

Barcamp Bangalore - Day 1 - Post Lunch Session

The bloggers collective has started at the L21 room (Cappuccino).

Amit Agarwal - Digital Inspirations, is talking on monetizing blogs. He is having no slides, no laptop, no geeky gadget, just talking. He is the first professional blogger in India.

 

So one advice from him - don’t use TextLinks in you blog as it wont help you in the long run. Rather than reblogging, write an original stuff at least once in a while, coz reblogging and linking will make people leave your site and go after the original stuff.

People are just walking into the collective and the strength is building up.

Now amit is getting swarmed with questions…

And i’m still looking for the 2 guys who approached me b4 lunch for the blog review.

Barcamp Bangalore - It Started

After a lot of confusion, which is apparent to any barcamp, we have kicked off officially. What is barcamp without confusions ….
As on the collectives part, there is a windfall of discussions happening.
Now i’ve the wifi finally up and connected with 2hrs of struggling, heregoes the first post of the day.

Now after a discussion by Swamy on Intro into Blogging for non bloggers. That was a good start.
Now its Gurugeeks by Navjot, he is bringing all the minds together under one community. He calls himself the - crazy eccentric web geek. He is desperately calling for some help in building up the site and the community.

So anyone who is willing to help him.. please go ahead.

I’ll be doing a blog review - through out the day. So if you want you blog to be reviewed and have suggestion, do contact me at 99860 12830

Here is the cool GuruGeeks.

E-mail Stress => STRESS++

As if the whole STRESS thing was not enough stressful, here comes another STRESS that is stretched out to be stressful. Its the new kid in the block- EMAIL STRESS

Daily Mail Reports

According to new research increasing numbers of workers say they are swamped with a never-ending tide of messages.
Trying to keep up with a stream of incoming mail interrupts normal work and leaves staff tired, frustrated and unproductive, it concluded.
Employees also feel under pressure to check and respond quickly to emails, with some checking their inbox up to 40 times an hour.

Well i have my own reasons to agree to that. Ever tried missing out to reply to a mail by your boss, ever missed out to reply to a mail by your client. When everyone is running after money, they what to extract the last bit of juice out of you. Think about the stress that you are under if you miss out a mail, the endless reasonings that you would have to give. So i just keep checking the mails regularly.
But i have to admit, that is not the entire problem. I check my mail box and if i dont get any mails, that too is a cause of worry. Feels like people forgot me.

Read more here
Daily Mail - Workers suffering from ‘email stress’
Psych Central - Email Stress Overwhelming to Some Workers
Ars Technica -E-mail stress slowing down workers, say researchers

Is there anything that we can do to avoid this? Life is already stressed, but not checking mails is not an option too. May be we should have a definite time during the work time called, mail response time, where only a person need to read and reply to mails. Its not a bad idea either.