New Internet Explorer vulnerability affecting all versions of IE

The article New Internet Explorer vulnerability affecting all versions of IE goes to show Microsoft still has not learned from it's past mistakes. Although Internet Explorer 7 and 8 are based on Mozilla Firefox 0.9 and 2.0 respectively, they still manage to inject the original Microsoft security issues into them.

10 Ways to Grow Your Facebook Page Following

The article 10 Ways to Grow Your Facebook Page Following, by Ching Ya, is very informative and should work with any web site. The main principals are entice, engage, and reward.

failure notice - How the Saudi handle email abuse by their users

The Saudi has a really stupid way of handling spamming by their email users - handle all complaints as spam and reject them. Recently we created a few new email accounts to handle our future online marketing plans. These email accounts have never been used or provided to the public but we have been receiving emails from accounting@becometheboss.net which we never created and does not exist.

Technology Review: Augmented Reality Apps For Your Cell Phone

Technology Review´s article Augmented Reality Apps For Your Cell Phone is an interesting read as it provides examples on how Augmented Reality, or AR, is being used now.

Beyond Foursquare: The Next Generation of Customer Loyalty - an interesting read

Beyond Foursquare: The Next Generation of Customer Loyalty is an interesting article on how location based services may be used to promote your products and services. However, the article did not mention Google's AdWords, AdSense, Friend Connect or Facebook or Twitter.

Get the latest news from Canada Business, Canada Revenue Agency's Media Room and GST/HST Harmonization

BecomeTheBoss.net has been moved to new servers run by NetFirms.ca and has been updated. The new location is www.becomethebossonline.ca. With the latest update a new section has been added - Government Of Canada RSS Feeds - where you will find the latest news Feeds from Canada Business and Canada Revenue Agency's Media Room and GST/HST Harmonization. Although only the five latest articles are displayed from each feed, many more articles are available from each feed's web site.

Google eyes more government deals for online apps

The article "Google eyes more government deals for online apps" is good news for Google share holders, open source advocates and the American people. It is also bad news for Microsoft, cyber-terrorists and the Department of Homeland Security's IT department.

Blogging with Zemanta

This my first post using Zemanta as a plug-in.Unfortunately, Google has redesigned the Blogger interface to put the accessories tools below the text input interface. This means I do not see the suggestions that Zemanta is offering unless I scroll down the page which results in me not being able to see what I am typing. However, this is just a minor inconvenience.

World's cheapest laptop to cost $35

The article World's cheapest laptop to cost $35 is an interesting read. However, it must give the biggest name in computing major nightmares especially Microsoft and the top computer manufacturers like Dell, HP and the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) Foundation. Microsoft should be worried as this new laptop will be using Linux not Windows. The hardware manufacturers will find it difficult to compete on price.

CSI:Internet Episode 1: Alarm at the pizza service by Thorsten Holz

This article CSI:Internet Episode 1: Alarm at the pizza service goes a long way in explaining how the use of iFrames (a technology developed by Microsoft for inserting a web page into another web page) may be used to compromise web sites using SQL injection.

JP FOR MAYOR: Man With the Vision Claims Chinese Consulate Shows Its True Bias in Mayoral Race

JP FOR MAYOR: Man With the Vision Claims Chinese Consulate Shows Its True Bias in Mayoral Race

I think the title should be "China chooses Mayor of Toronto". JP already has an up hill battle as a disabled (JP became blind due to an illness as a young adult) candidate. To also have to contend with a foreign government deciding for Toronto residents who our Mayor should be is down-right outrageous. The last time I checked, Canada is a sovereign nation and Toronto is still part of Canada. Who does the Chinese think they are?

Is Yahoo serious about internet security? Are they run by Russian Mafia and/or Chinese agents? You be the judge!

The computer located at IP 81.185.219.127 is being used by Russian Mafia
and the Chinese to access a "closed" email account on Yahoo.ca
(irinatorina@yahoo.ca) to direct phishing targets to a Google.com
(http://sites.google.com/site/davyskyca/adwptflw) that redirects
visitors to pillsrxtabletscheap.net which is hosted by China Unicom
Guizhou province network.

Fwd: Re: (KMM111305530V2626L0KM)

-------- Original Message --------

Subject:	Re: (KMM111305530V2626L0KM)
Date:	Wed, 30 Jun 2010 05:57:58 -0700
From:	Yahoo! Mail <abuse@yahoo.com>
Reply-To:	Yahoo! Mail <abuse@yahoo.com>
To:	philip <*****@gmail.com>

Hello, Thank you for writing to Yahoo! Mail.

Re: (KMM111019225V93920L0KM)

This is the third time this year that Yahoo! has claimed to have
"closed/disabled" this account that was "closed" last year. Irina Torina
was told her account was closed because she moved and her Rogers account
was closed because of the move summer last year. She had linked her
Yahoo.ca email to her Rogers internet service.

Hello, world! This is my Gift Wish List project!

Recently I received a newsletter from Netbeans.org notifying me of the latest version of Netbeans IDE, Netbeans v. 6.9. Over the past few years I tried Netbeans without success as my computer was either not compatible, powerful enough or I just could not make heads or tails of the software. Most of these issues were solved when I switched to openSuSE (oS) Linux. Since most of my computers are powered by oS 11.2, I have found I am able to do a lot more with my ageing computers so first I checked with YAST oS version of Windows Control Panel. oS had Netbeans v. 6.5 available for installation. I decided to install the older version on my Dell Inspiron 1501 (AMD Turion dual core) and was experimenting with Netbeans in no time.

WIPmania - WorldIP free geolocation database, service and tools

WIPmania - WorldIP free geolocation database, service and tools provides a group of useful tools and plug-ins for Mozilla based browsers like Firefox, Seamonkey and Safari as well as plug-ins for web services. The most notable service is the physical geographical location of web servers and their database servers of visited sites.

Google researcher gives Microsoft 5 days to fix XP zero-day bug

It is really fascinating to read this article on the latest Windows XP zero-day bug. It appears to be ok for Microsoft cohorts to slam Linux and Open Source Software and paint it as insecure and buggy. But when people from the Linux/Open Source Software/Google community point out security issues with Microsoft products, we become the bad guys for doing so. Many of the security software providers, whose industry would not exist if Microsoft were to implement proper security procedures in the development of the Windows O/S, says it is ok for Windows users to wait at least a month for a patch to be developed and tested before it is made available to the user.

ScribeFire blogging tool

As a user of Netscape/Mozilla Internet Suite/Seamonkey web browser and email software since 1994, I have seen many enhancements in security, stability and features. Then came Firefox whose popularity threatened the demise of Mozilla/Seamonkey package. However, Firefox user's profile are significantly different to the Netscape/Mozilla/Seamonkey user's profile as Firefox is based originally on Mosaic while Netscape/Mozilla/Seamonkey is based on Gecko.

My experiences in getting openSUSE 11.2 (x_64) working on my Dell Inspiron 1501 (part 2)

As luck would have it the openSUSE Linux 11.2 x_64 installation on my Dell Inspiron 1501 eventually stopped working. There was no real support for ATI Radeon Xpress 200 graphics card at the time of the first install. Eventually this caused the installation to become corrupted.

Technology Review: Corporations, agencies infiltrated by 'botnet'

This article on Technology Review paints a scary picture of the consequences of using computers in an insecure fashion. Almost all these malware infections could easily be avoided if Microsoft were to educate Windows users on proper security procedures, write code with security as the #1 concern and encourage security practices. For instance, Windows XP Home edition, is impossible to make secure as the Administrator account has no password, is hidden from the user and is not accessible to local users but is accessible from the internet. Microsoft also allows users accounts to be created without a password. On Windows XP, the default for new user accounts is being a member of the administrator group. Windows Vista and 7 has implemented a security feature that has been a part of Linux for many years - only one user created user account may be a member of the administrator group.

My experiences in getting openSUSE 11.2 (x_64) working on my Dell Inspiron 1501 (part 1)

My 64 bit Dell Inspiron 1501 has served me well for the past few years with very few minor issues once I got all the required drivers and necessary software installed. From the get go, I dumped Windows Vista and installed openSUSE Linux x_64. I started off with openSUSE 10.2 then migrated to oS 10.3. Like I said, it served me well.

7 Points Of Contact In The World Of Online Marketing ~ Web Developers

This article 7 Points Of Contact In The World Of Online Marketing is an interesting read. All businesses and self-employed persons that want to succeed needs to know and understand how online marketing works.

Financial Consumer Agency of Canada www.moneytools.ca

FCAC - Money Tools You may find this web site helpful if you are looking for a credit card, mortgage, best bank account to suit your needs or just want to manage your money better. Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) is an agency of the Government of Canada.

Powered by ScribeFire.

China says it shut down online academy for hackers

China says it shut down online academy for hackers - latimes.com

China says it shut down online academy for hackers

Report Details Hacks Targeting Google, Others

This article on Wired.com sheds more light on the Google hack attack. It also reveals that thousands of corporations and government agencies has been successfully breached. I, too, have been targeted since Christmas for some reason. In my case the hackers have been forging my Gmail address to spam me with phishing attacks (I guess this is called spear phishing). In all incidents the web addresses that supposedly selling Viagra at deep discounts without a prescription (in Canada it is sold by prescription only) is registered with a registrar in China called China Springboard. Another similarity in all the attacks on me is the fact the messages and web sites uses remote graphics hosted on Flickr.com that creates the impression the web site is a "Canadian Pharmacy" site.

Just an observation - seniors are more comfortable with Linux

Recently, an elderly friend called to say she forgot her password and wondered if I could help. It turns our her computer it over 12 years old - it has an Intel Celeron 400 MHz chip with 384 MB of RAM and running Windows 2000. I tried searching for instructions for resetting Administrator password as that was also set. All the search results involved buying software or using the original installation CD. To me, spending money for software that I will use only once on an old computer did not make sense and the original W2K installation CD is not available.

TR Editors' blog: Get Paid to Install Malware

In the Emerging Technologies Wednesday Update (02/03/2010) newsletter there is this article Get Paid to Install Malware that highlights the new techniques used bot.net administrators to gain control of more machines. These techniques explains why it is so difficult to identify the malware infections as well as the infections keep increasing.

Microsoft looking into Windows 7 battery life failures

In this article Microsoft looking into Windows 7 battery life failures we see Microsoft is still having issues with their latest operating system running on laptops/netbooks. Back in 2007 one of my friends bought a Toshiba laptop with Windows Vista Home Premium. A few months I bought a Dell laptop with Windows Vista Home Basic. Because I could not get my new Dell laptop to communicate with my other computers on my home network, I reformatted the hard drive aand installed openSUSE Linux 10.3. It took me about a day to configure everything to work - networking with my other computers, printer on the Win XP/Linux box, 3D graphics card, sound and the power management system to provide the longest possible battery life - 4 hours. It would take about another month to get the wireless card working.

I thought as much - Microsoft sued over XP's "spyware" copy protection

In this article Microsoft sued over XP's "spyware" copy protection we hear that someone is suing Microsoft for, among other things, installing spyware in Windows XP as "security update". The software in question is Windows Genuine Authentication (WGA). According to Microsoft the purpose of this software is ensure the user's copy of Windows XP and Vista are genuine and claimed no personal information is collected.

Internet Explorer Flaw Implicated in Chinese Attacks

Recently, Google announced that they have stopped censoring search results on Google.cn in response to because of cyber attacks originating from within China. Google also announced there were 20 other companies targeted. A few hours later, Adobe announced they too were targeted. In a Technology Review Editors Blog George Kurtz, CTO of McAfee Security, revealed these attacks were made possible because of a flaw in Internet Explorer web browser. Apparently, all versions of I.E. running on all versions of Windows are affected.

Google vs China - Googles response to attacks by China

In a search to verify a "Notice of Proposed Class Action Settlement involving Skype Credits" settlement I came across this article Google Web Blog News - A new approach to China 1/12/2010 03:00:00 PM Since Christmas I have been receiving phishing emails that forges my email address. All the phishing emails had two things in common - my email address is forged and they all lead to sites in China supposedly selling prescription drugs via "Canadian Pharmacy". All the Chinese "Canadian Pharmacy" sites have one thing in common - they use the same graphics hosted on Flickr.com. Flickr.com is owned by Yahoo! Inc.

Just completed the Business Fair project

The Business Fair project is now complete. I wanted to make it a database powered site but it required too much research and work. Since the Fair will be held on January 27, there is not enough time to create a database powered site in time. However, I intend to continue doing research into making the site database powered so it wll be easy to update in the future.

Finally got the dynamic links on the site map working on BecomeTheBoss.net

It took me a while to find how to create dynamic links in a dynamic list of dynamic pages to work on the site map page of BecomeTheBoss.net This was achieved using PHP and MySQL. To see my completed work visit philipramsey.is-a-geek.net/jilian/sitemap.php.

Just when we thought the Payment Card system is safe ....

An article published by SecurityFocus, dated 2009-12-10 "Scammers Scrape RAM For Bank Card Data" talks about a technique used to steal bank card information from POS (Point of Sale) equipment commonly used in stores. The article describes basically how it is accomplished and references a Verizon Business 2009 security data breach supplemental (32 page pdf) report that goes into greater detail of how the malware gets installed. In one of cases the laptop belonging to the service technician servicing the POS device got infected with the malware.

Having difficulty with two sites ...

Am having difficulty with the prototype site I'm working on for a business fair. Decided to work on another issue with BecomeTheBoss.net site related to the dynamic links on the "site map" page. Managed to solve the major portion of the linking issue. Just need to figure out the last part - link to the actual dynamically generated page.

Oh well, that's life. It will come to me eventually.

Currently working on a new project: Biz Fair web site

I am currently working on a web site for a business fair that will be held on January 27. The hardest part is designing a database to power the site. A prototype site may be found at here.

2010 - The Future is Now

Hi everyone, this is my second attempt at setting up a blog. I find it a bit intimidating because of the options available.

My primary reason for creating this blog is to learn how to activate and use the features that are built into it. This way I will be able to advise clients on how to use their blogs to promote their business and events more effectively as well as to create an on-line income.

That is all for now.