Ugh!!’s Greymatter Honeypot

So, I’ve been using PicApp for a couple of weeks now to supply my blog with photos from their massive collection. I still have PhotoDropper installed, but I’m giving this a try. They have access to some great photo libraries but also provide editorial photos that are added to their collection as soon as the event happens.

The great thing about PicApp is that it’s very easy to find relevant photos for any post you want to do. So, if I’m talking about satellite internet services for example, all I have to do is type “satellite” into PicApp, and voila, I have a total of 117 different images to choose from; and I went for this:

I’ve been thinking they might be a bit overpowering on the blog. What do you think? Do you think they enhance of detract from the posts you’re reading?

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There was an interesting write-up this morning on Kaspersi’s blog (the guys who make the antivirus) talking about a rogue Twitter profile that broadcasts links to a site spreading malware pretending to be a Flash player which then downloads and installed up to 10 banker trojans. This is not the first time security issues around Twitter have been discussed, but this one is interesting in that the technology behind it is quite simple, but the social engineering principle are quite scary. First of all, the confidence that people build up using Twitter is exploited as the URLs don’t look suspicious.Then there’s the fact that the malware pretends to be something Adobe created. It’s using the trust that Adobe have built over the years to pry access into the user’s domain.

Twitter themselves promise to be on the lookout for this sort of exploit, but it’s pretty difficult to monitor this sort of thing. They could use automated tools to scan URLs as soon as they are submitted. This itself would need tremendous computing power, but it doesn’t stop someone repointing the URL after it has been scanned. The best defence here is to be vigilant and to treat circumstances where someone promises an unrequested freebie as suspicious. Whether it’s a free supply or best diet pills, or free access to a website you normally need to pay for, the question you should be asking is: why?

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Sherrilynne pointed me at an interesting post today which talks about a report Microsoft issued where they claim that their Messenger statistics validate the theory that everyone is separated from everyone else on the planet by six friends. The post goes into some fallacies of the report namely:

• The sample is skewed: People who use Messenger are a very small group who represent a very skewed population not representative of everyone in the world
• IM connections are not representative of real-world connections. I certainly have a number of people I hardly know on MSN as well as some strangers I spoke to once. I certainly have someone I had a long chat with after posting about discount home theater seating. Doubt if I will ever speak to him again though.

The post concludes that in reality the statistics point to the fact that most people in America are actually separated by 30 degrees and not really 6. Now, I believe that if you work through your friends and their friends friends you’re bound to build a network of thousands and thousands of people, however I pretty sure that the social graph you’ll map out will be a pretty localised and won’t really get very far. So, as the post title suggests, I’m pretty sure I’ll be pretty far of from Mugabe, and probably even Angelina Jolie. Now .. if you give me 30 degrees, I might start getting close.

I found it interesting. Read it and tell me what do you think?

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Thanks to Techmeme, I just came across a great article on Business Week that talks about Cloud Computing, what it’s all about and what it means to all of us. It’s a great place for someone who hasn’t been exposed to all this “computing in the cloud” or “Software as a Service” terminology to get reading and get up to speed on what it’s all about. Here’s how the article defines it:

The term “cloud computing” encompasses many areas of tech, including software as a service, a software distribution method pioneered by Salesforce.com about a decade ago. It also includes newer avenues such as hardware as a service, a way to order storage and server capacity on demand from Amazon and others. What all these cloud computing services have in common, though, is that they’re all delivered over the Internet, on demand, from massive data centers.

It’s interesting to see how the idea has been around for 10 years, but it’s only now that it’s entering into the public space. Innovation always follows the same pattern, where early adopters take advantage of new technology, but eventually it enters the mass market and the playing field evens out again. Cloud computing is currently still in it’s early stages, so the playing field is still quite turbulent. However, you’d be surprised at how many websites and services you use everyday that make use of this concept to offload static files, or call on reserves when they need them.

It will be interesting to watch the market develop and whether Dell will manage to trademark the term!

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I had an interesting today playing with Joomla, an open source content management system. Now, those who know me know that I sing high praises of WordPress, but I always believe that one should never be locked into a particular flavour of any technology, but instead be aware of what’s available on the market and what options are out there. The same applies to anyone involved in technology, being locked into a particular route can be a very dangerous thing and the increased dependence can be an issue in the future.

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have one technology you can implement quicker than others. The more time you spend on something, the more expert you tend to become at it; so by all means, pick your favourite and increase your proficiency. However, never be blinded by that technology and always weigh up the alternatives. It will save you time in the long run.

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Quiet weekend? If you’re bored and have nothing to do, here are some great links I came across over the last few days. Something to read for everyone:

• Join the tribe - Seth Godin has reopened invitations for his online tribe. I’m in. Are you coming to join us?
• Is this the end for tag clounds? - I hope not, what do you think?
• Fancy a brightkite invite? - Leave a comment on my post on Ask Owen and I’ll send one straight back to you.
• Effective client management is an art - Read about an interesting case of managing one’s client.
• How much time does Web 2.0 take? - Brilliant post that talks comes up with some practical advice as to which courses ot action to pursue based on how much time you have available.
• My-FTP WordPress Plugin - A plugin that lets you upload and manage files on your WordPress blog without needed an FTP client.
• Shark Break - There’s nothing more relaxing than watching fish swim around. Oh, and with this one, you even get to control the fish. Much better than playing with a colon cleanser in your time off
• How expensive it poor leadership - Without quality leadership, any form of organisation is doomed to fail. This post outlines some points and uses an example based on recruitment to come up with a hard cost.
• Online Alarm Clock - Designed to wake you up, this is particularly useful if you have your laptop but no alarm clock.
• Social Engineering 101 - What do you do if the feds bung you up in prison for hacking? Take a law course then use your celebrity status. (I’m, a huge Mitnick fan)

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Just came across a great post that goes into some excellent detail about using WordPress as a CMS. It goes into some detail about how you should use Pages and Posts for this purpose but the gem is the checklist at the end. Here’s the advice:

• Is there even a need for a CMS for the client?
• Is WordPress the correct CMS? Will it fit the needs? Is the translations available for the WordPress backend good enough? How will it be upgraded?
• Will I need to extend WordPress using plugins? Are any hacks to the core necessary, because if they are, how will I make sure that these won’t break when the core is upgraded?
• What types of content will there be, and what should be deemed static (i.e. use Pages), and what is flowing updates (i.e. Posts)? How will I present this, and what is the main type of content?
• How will the permalink structure be? Should it really say “category”, why not “view” or “updates” or something else?
• Will the menu be static (i.e. coded into the theme) or controlled by WordPress (i.e. listing using WordPress tags for Pages and categories)? How could this go wrong in the future?
• What hierarchy will the Pages have? This is important for the URL, since it should be coherent with the menu hierarchy after all.
• How will I present sub-pages (i.e. Pages having a mother Page)? Should there be any at all?
• Do I need Page templates for various sections? How will these work with sub-pages?
• What categories will I use? Should the client be allowed to create new categories?
• How will I present Posts content?
• Do I need category templates for the various categories?

It’s a great checklist to work through and can help you structure what you’re about to do. A number of blogs are echoing how successful they’ve been using WordPress in this way, though really it should be a tool you consider rather than jumping straight into it.

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