Upgrade Ubuntu with BitTorrent

Every time a new Ubuntu release hits servers, so do thousands of Ubuntu users aching to get their hands on the latest and greatest release. The influx of traffic generally causes server crashes, which means you have to wait that much longer to upgrade. To help you avoid this problem altogether, the TorrentFreak weblog details how to use BitTorrent to upgrade to the newest release—Intrepid Ibex—set to release in a day or two. When everything's all said and done, you can still upgrade using apt-get dist-upgrade—it'll just handle the update over BitTorrent instead of hitting the Ubuntu servers, so your update should run much more smoothly. Want to know what to expect from the upgrade? Check out first look at Intrepid Ibex.

Use BitTorrent to Upgrade to Ubuntu 'Intrepid Ibex'

Need a Mortgage Loan Officer you can count on?

I don't know how we managed it but I do believe we pick the very best Mortgage Loan Officer in the world. Anthony Passe (likes to be called Tony BTW) with Bank of America has stood up for use on several occasions now, and he ceases to amaze me yet. So here's the story...

A little background first. Tony said he is really impressed with how quickly we respond to his request for signed doc.s and everything else required for getting the job done. He said with our quick responses we should have no problem closing on time. He said he all but has to beg people to send the signed docs back to him. So now the story…

We are due to close on our house today Oct. 30th. Last night at 1600+ our realtor calls to let us know that the “selling” realtor forgot to mention that although the seller “Washington Mutual” is paying for the home warranty, we have to buy it and they will reimburse us the cost. “And Oh ya, we are going to need the receipt for this in order to close”.

So I thought no problem right. This is 2008. You can sign up for anything online these days right. I mean heck, you can even take your “Safety Drivers Course” that you have to take for getting a speeding ticket in TX online these days (don’t ask). Well not exactly. Not something you need to get done “Yesterday”. Murphy rears her ugly head yet again. So Heather (my beautiful loving wife) filled out the form to have the warranty company call us the next day. 0830 rolls around the next day and being that we needed this “yesterday” I called them to sign up instead of waiting for someone to call me. So we get to the end of the phone app, and I give the nice lady my CC number and BAM I pop the question, “Can you fax/email me a receipt for this like, right now?” and she politely said “I’m sorry sir, it will take aprx. 24hrs for this to process”. So I proceeded to give her my sob story of how the other realtors office had pretty much screwed us with this and how we are trying to close on the house today and how we need this little piece of paper to complete the massive pile (as if they didn’t have enough paper already) so she said “ Well sir, we normally process these in the order they are received, but I will take your situation to my supervisor and see if we can get it rushed through… … … 2 hours go buy so I call up my realtor to let him know that I did intact buy the warranty but I don’t think they will be getting the receipt to me in time.

Next I call my attorney to find out exactly what our rights are in this situation. I mean, delaying the closing means more $$$$ required for closing. Long story short, he told us that this sounded like hog wash. It is clearly stated in our contract that they will pay for the home warranty. He didn’t understand why something like this would hold things up. So I call my realtor back and ask him the pointed question, “why is this holding things up?” I don’t remember exactly what he said but I know it wasn’t the answer I was seeking. So I said well it is in the contract that they will pay for it so they know they will pay for it, I don’t understand what the problem is. Why can’t I just give them the receipt next week and they can cut me a check then? He said that was an option that he and the other realtor are looking at. So one thing led to another and the other realtor decided we could close tomorrow at 1000hrs. Conveniently after she had learned we had consulted our attorney. However, because the seller is a Corp. and not an individual they very well may not sign the papers until Monday meaning more closing cost owed by us!! So I expressed my concern to our Mortgage Loan Officer Tony and he pulled out the “Full Battle Rattle” and went to war for us. Sent me a message a couple of hours later saying “Carl, I spoke to the powers at be here at BofA and got the papers “back dated” so your closing will not only remain I had quoted you but now it will be 100 $’s less”.

So again, if you are on the market for a house, we Highly recommend that you call No other than:

Tony Passe
Mortgage Loan Officer
Office: 512.338.3220
Fax: 866.740.7512
anthony.passe@bankofamerica.com
Bank of America
9600 North Mopac, Suite 100
Austin, TX 78759
Equal Housing Lender


The End!

I have already spammed this to everyone that I thought I could get with. As you all know, or should know by now, I do not like to spam at all if I can help it. So I thought I should post here for those I didn't spam.


I am very proud of a recent accomplishment of my Wife and I would like to share.

As some of you already know, Heather started an on-line business. She has worked very hard and I am very proud of the end result. She just launched her very first web site ever . She did this all on her own (with the exception of the credit card API which being the wonderful husband I am, gladly wrote for her). The site URL is:
www.alangreyfavors.com
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Corbin Alan Howard..................|
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...............................Cavan Grey Howard

She name the business after our boys. The company is actually call Alan Grey Venture LLC.

The site mostly caters to weddings, but if you know of anyone planning one of the following you could pass her info on if you like.

Weddings
Bridal Party Gifts
Bridal Shower
Bachelorette Party
Anniversary
Baby Shower
Birthday
Prom
Graduation

Here's to Heather. Great job honey...

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Can Windows 7 Recover from Vista?

In total, so far Windows 7 looks like a more polished, better thought out version of Vista. Some features are simply smart updates to the existing features, like:

• You can now connect to a new Wi-Fi network with a couple of system track clicks rather than dealing with an entirely new window.
• Windows 7 can set whether or not system tray apps show up in the system tray and whether or not they can display notifications on a per-app basis.
• The dreaded User Account Control that frustrated so many new Vista users has been drastically improved, giving you more control over what kind of event will justify firing off a UAC prompt.
• Gadgets are no longer limited to your sidebar—they can now live anywhere. UPDATE: As pointed out in the comments, you can already move gadgets around on your desktop in Vista.
• The ribbon interface ushered in by Microsoft Office 2007 has so far been added to WordPad and Paint.

New Features

• Windows 7 has also incorporated several new and—dare I say—innovative features. For example:
• The new Libraries feature aggregates similar content through a single virtual library. So, for example, if you have music scattered all across your hard drive, a Music library folder still provides a single point of access to all of that music. You even have total control over what folders are included in the library.
• Windows Media Player is now also available in a quick-launching lightweight version.
• A new window resize feature automatically resizes windows in a split-screen fashion when you pull Windows to the edge of the screen (check Gizmodo's post for a video of this feature in action).
• The taskbar will be completely refreshed, providing quick-access context menus for the applications and a new look and feel that's oddly Dock-like. Hovering over an icon in the taskbar provides quick preview of all of that app's open windows.

There's a lot more to come with Windows 7, and the Gizmodo post has a much more detailed look at everything the Windows 7 beta has introduced so far, so be sure to check it out.

Gmail Drive

Windows only: Mount more than one Gmail account as a remote disk drive with free utility Gmail Drive Config. It works with Gmail Drive. Yes, it's all very experimental, I did encounter some annoyances, and Google could probably make it all go poof with a few keystrokes from some command line prompt in Mountain View. Rest assured, you'll always be able to access any files added via mounted drives through Gmail proper. But I got two accounts set up and working as network storage in just a few minutes. Here's how.

Install Gmail Drive, if you haven't already. Your Gmail account will show up as a mounted drive under My Computer in Windows Explorer (or whatever Explorer replacement you use. I use xplorer2), categorized as "Other" below any Network Drives.

Set up another Gmail account, if you haven't already. I signed out of my main Gmail account, and clicked Sign up for Gmail under the login box. I simply used my current username plus ".files" to create a Gmail account specifically for file storage. Be sure to set an alternate email address so you get a copy of your login details just in case.

Now download Gmail Drive Config from Convivea. It's a simple executable, so just click "Run" from the browser or double-click the gmail_drive file in your downloads folder.

It should show the initial drive you set up. Simply click Add Drive to add another by entering a new name for the drive and a different Gmail address.

The new drive will also appear under My Computer in Windows Explorer. Double-click it to enter the password. Rinse and repeat to add up 999 Gmail accounts.

Note: I tried to add a Gmail account for a Google Apps for Your Domain address with no luck. Not only did it not work, but even after much fiddling, I couldn't properly Edit or Remove the entry from the list of accounts in Gmail Drive Config. Also, when trying to remove an account, I was prompted with a dialog and system beep to close all instances of Explorer. Not a dealbreaker, just a little annoying. But at the current price, who's complaining? Gmail Drive Config is a free download for Windows.

Hacking: The Corporate Cover-Up

No long ago, a senior executive from one of corporate America’s large bellwether stocks received a telephone call from law enforcement, explaining that the company had a major software vulnerability in its corporate web site. The agent described the vulnerability and its location in great detail and requested that it be fixed immediately. But he refused to disclose how he knew.

At the executive’s request, the organization's chief information security officer (CISO) investigated the matter, confirmed the flaw and fixed it. Through forensics, the CISO discovered that a foreign government had penetrated the organization's applications infrastructure and was in a position to bring it down whenever the time was deemed right.

Cyber security is no longer just the job of IT. As the true story above highlights, cyber crime today is a silent, invisible battlefield. The anonymity and universal access of cyberspace makes cyber crime attractive and easy. If customers, partners and employees can access sensitive systems from anywhere in the world, then the same pathway to the core infrastructure and priceless data exists for hackers as well. Defending against cyber crime is costing billions of dollars. According to Gartner, organizations worldwide spent $288 billion on information security products in 2007. The U.S. Government is allocating $7.9 billion in 2009 for cyber security, which is $103 out of every $1000 requested for IT spending - up 75% from 2004. U.S. companies spent $79 billion in 2007. http://www.itreviewed.co.uk/op.php?id=978

Wi-Fi vulnerable everyone is risking their assets?

The seventh annual Wireless Security Survey from RSA reveals the continued, dramatic growth of wireless networks in the world's major financial centers. The survey of London, New York City and Paris examines the proliferation and inherent security of corporate wireless access points, public hotspots and in-home networks.

Best practices in wireless security have never been more pertinent to businesses and consumers than they are today. In August 2008, an international ring of hackers was indicted in the United States for allegedly exploiting a number of businesses' poorly-secured wireless networks to steal more than 40 million credit card numbers.

Significant increases in the number of wireless networks

Paris broke all the records with a 543% year-over-year increase in the number of wireless access points detected in the city. Growth in London and New York City, while still substantial, was slower than in 2007: in London the number of access points grew 72% (down from 160% last year) and New York City saw a rise of 45% (down from 49%). London retains its position as the 'most wireless city', however, with a total of 12,276 access points detected - exceeding the number we found in New York City by more than 3,000. http://www.net-security.org/secworld.php?id=6678

Cross-site scripting vulnerability @ Yahoo!!

Yahoo techs have fixed a flaw in the online news and advertising company's HotJobs Web site, one of the leading online job sites with thousands of subscribers.

The flaw, a cross-site scripting vulnerability, was discovered by Internet services company Netcraft, which notified Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO) about it on Sunday. Netcraft said it discovered a similar flaw on Yahoo's ychat.help.yahoo.com site earlier this year.

In both cases, the attackers injected malicious JavaScript code, which attempted to steal visitors' authentication cookies. The attackers could use the cookies to access their victims' Yahoo e-mail accounts, and any other account that uses cookies for the Yahoo.com domain, Netcraft said.

JavaScript has a global object that experts have described as the root cause of all cross site scripting attacks. Together with SQL injection attacks, it comprises about 60 percent of all Web site attacks.

Malicious JavaScript can sit dormant in a victim's browser settings and monitor his or her actions until the victim accesses an account that exposes his or her personal data, explained Ryan Barnett, director of application security at Breach Security. At that point, the script steals the personal or banking data and transmits it back to the attacker's Web site.

Our First House

So we are off trying to buy our first house. Finally, as it seems we have been dreaming for ever now to do this. And, as it turns out, it is not much "fun" at all. The whole process is very draining. But with the help of an Outstanding mortgage loan officer from Bank of America, Tony Passe the process was better than it could have been. I have heard horror stories and Tony has but it all to rest. I would recommend his service to everyone. If you're in the market for a house I strongly suggest you give him a call or shot him an email. anthony.passe@bankofamerica.com Office: 512.338.3220