A little reminder ....Trojan for Mac

Addendum: April 2

Dear Mac People:
I have read many posts about the Conficker Worm treat and its dangers, I also read so many overconfident posts by Mac user claiming they were safe -solely- because they use a Mac: From "I will never get a virus" to "I am safe because I have a Mac". Most of them bragging about a theoretical invincibility based on past performance. So, let me assure you of something: Not only you are wrong, but you will get whacked too; sooner or later you'll be in a bad position. It's not a matter of "IF", just a matter of "When"
If I was a hacker, I would seriously consider tapping this niche market of overconfident users: A user who believes in his (false) supreme invincibility is not only blind, but deaf and deeply asleep.
Mac is gaining some market share, hence it is only normal and very predictable that criminals will follow the trend too. It does not take much to add a keylogger into a free app or to break a WiFi key.
Doubtful? why don't you Google it?
I may sound a little bit paranoid, but I better be on the safe side. So should you too: Keep an eye open. - Just in case....

Original post

"New OSX.RS Plug variant masquerading as media applications"
A little wake up call to overconfident users: It's not because it's a Mac that you can't get a virus or a crapware.
Even if a website looks real, it may not be your best friend.
As example, take a look at the website below, it looks real and friendly, but if you dear using the download button you will get a bug. Precisely a Trojan

The OSX.RS.F Trojan exploits the weakest vulnerability in the system: You!
You are the one that will ultimately give the password for the install

So, as a reminder: Only install from trustworthy sources, Google the App before, and be careful.
Now, let's buzz around: the more you know, the less likely you are likely to be scammed:

"one" of the suspected culprit: www.hdtvxvid.org
(I, me, myself and personally, would avoid it like the plague)

so, I may say under my freedom of speech rights:
-DO NOT DOWNLOAD!!!- - DO NOT INSTALL!!! -



Youtube Video from Sophos

When a server is hosted in Houston, with an Admin contact in Mexico, and a Contact phone number in China for the support, you may want to activate your Scamdar
When you download an exe file for your Mac, the Scamdar should be in the red.

As for the location, admin, whois, etc: it takes 5 seconds to find out

Reverse IP & Whois on www.hdtvxvid.org

IP address 174.132.114.98
Hosting Location: Houston, TX, USA
ISP of this IP : THEPLANET.COM INTERNET SERVICES
Organization: THEPLANET.COM INTERNET SERVICES
Domain ID:**********-LROR
Domain Name:HDTVXVID.ORG
Created On:12-Nov-2008 05:54:46 UTC
Last Updated On:12-Jan-2009 03:52:39 UTC
Expiration Date:12-Nov-2009 05:54:46 UTC
Registrant Name:Carmen ******
Registrant Street1:16 **********
Registrant City:acapulco
Registrant State/Province:Guerrero
Registrant Postal Code:39450
Registrant Country:MX
Registrant Phone:+52.74***************

iStat Pro

iStat Pro is a very nice -and Free- Widget App that let you know what's going on.
From CPU to Memory, Battery Health, Hard Drive, Temp, Fan Speed, etc.
Highly configurable, it's a real pleasure. (nice design too)
So, don't worry & fear no more: It has my blessing: Download it!
http://www.islayer.com/apps/istatpro

Do you speak Swahili? Breton? Klingon?

Unless you enjoy watching Borat in Azerbaijani or are fluent in Swahili, you may not need the 150 different languages installed on your Mac.
“Au Contraire”, you’ll probably find a use for the 3.5 Gigabytes you’ll set free by removing Klingon and all those really useful languages.

Hence, take a look at Monolingual: It will remove languages that you may not use in one easy sweep. Just select carefully what you remove.

Download Monolingual here

Rant of the Month. Steve Ballmer & the $500 logo

That's my rant of the month, and it's not against Windows users, it's against Steve Ballmer. Once again he has proven that he may suffers from a short memory loss syndrome and a blunt overconfidence.
Statements like his last one, are in my personal opinion, misleading to consumers and damageable to his personal credibility.

Quote:
“Paying $500 more to get a logo on it? I think that's a more challenging proposition for the average person than it used to be." Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO

Dear Mr Ballmer,
I spent the vast majority of my life on Windows. After spending countless hours re-installing hypothetical drivers, fixing my friends computers, removing virus and crap, or re-installing Vista because-that-was-the-only-solution-that-your-“Tech”-support-was-able-to-advise-me, I finally took a leap forward and went to look for a Mac.
Since that very day, I do not regret a damn thing or any single cent spent on my Mac.
Trying to compare Vista with OS X Leopard is like comparing a screaming pig to a Mozart Symphony; You can only call Vista “competition” to OS X by an act charity.

Mr Ballmer, you are a sales guy, so you do your job: selling at any cost, whatever crap is available, but how do you feel when you hear that people are downgrading Vista to return to XP? And need to shell out $300 again to do so? You probably feel good: You are a sales guy.

As for the money, my Mac is costing me much less than the previous Windows I owned: I don’t spend hours anymore fixing bugs, re-installing, looking for lost drivers and expecting crashes and disaster at any moment.
Just the hours I spent fixing the -clusterfuck- that you call Vista cost me much more than $500. Do you include that in your $500 calculation?
Do you include the absolute need for Antivirus, AntiSpyware, etc on Windows?
Do you feel proud of your product(s) when your ridiculous IE 7 gets a grade of 13 over a 100 on a acid3 test? Are you happy with IE 6 and 7 and its 284 days per year of unpatched security holes? FYI, Mr Ballmer, Safari 4 got 100. 13 Vs. 100? Firefox with 1/100 of your budget is doing 546% better than you do. (Even the brand new IE 8 fails to pass the test with a 20/100 result. Great progress: IE 8 is Obsolete at launch. I would strongly suggest any Windows user to switch directly to Safari 4 Win, Firefox or Chrome. For you own sake: dump that crap of IE.)

Do you include the high cost of your office suite? No? You should: Apple delivers 5 (Five) iWork licenses for $99 when your suite goes for $400 a piece!
According to my calculator, I may have already saved $1,901. If I include the hours I spent on issues and other associated cost I easily reach $3,000.
So, spending an exaggerated $500 (realistically $300) to end up saving $3000 is a very good deal for me. Maybe not so good for you, but I am all about me. I don’t care about you, because I know that you don’t care about me. Nothing personal, it’s only business.
Furthermore, when I need something, I can call Apple: They answer my questions; they’re polite, nice, efficient and fast. No frustration. I can’t put a price on that.
I must admit that I spent an extra $99 for a “One to One” one-year subscription. Here again, the best $99 I have invested this year so far: one hour per week, face to face, with nice people that answer your questions, solve your problems and teach you all the tricks and tips they know. –And they know a lot-. Investment wise: Priceless. That's maybe why you announced the New Windows Store concept? Another highly innovative concept by Microsoft.

So, Mr. Ballmer, do you remember that day in 2007 when you laughed at the launch of the iPhone? Are you still laughing?
Do you recall Mr. Bill Gates stating that Apple was setting standards in the industry?
Do you recall CNN questioning the “innovative” features of Vista mimicking OS X?
Or your own person trying to persuade the greatness of MS while acting like a dancing monkey?
(this video is really scaring me)

It seems to me that the “$500 logo” was just another Foot-In-The-Mouth comment.
It’s true that Microsoft owns 90% of the market share, but I’ll be careful: if Windows 7 is the same success as Vista, you may have to re-think your strategy and get a pair of heavy duty pliers to remove that foot. Microsoft in the past 5 years has turned from a lynx into a sleepy fat cat. Be sure that the little kitty with only few % of the market share does not turn into a raging tiger: it’s already a mighty leopard.

I can’t force people to dump your pathetic and bug-rigged OS, but I do advise all my friends to do so. When one is taking the advice, I got the same answer: Holly Shit! It Rocks!
So, to anybody reading this post, do yourself a favor: Save yourself much more than 500 bucks : Pay a visit to an Apple store and see for yourself. You’ll decide what’s best for you: $300 upfront to save 3000 or a discount of $300 that will cost you dearly. After all, it’s your money, not mine.


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Cool photo effects : PhotoFunia ( Mac/Windows )

Hey! It’s Friday! Have some fun!
Photofunia is a very cool website that allows you to easily “Photoshop” pictures in a zap.

Just select a setting, upload a picture and Voila!

When the Photofunia needs facial recognition, I would suggest you to use a frontal picture with a neutral background. The small icon on the bottom left of the Icon indicates that “Facial Recognition” is needed.

Go to www.photofunia.com
Select a setting, i.e. Jack Sparrow

Pick a picture, one of you, or the picture of a former friend to be
( Given to you by his wife, see Disclaimer)

Click on "Choose" ...
Select the picture of the subject
<- (subject) Wait 5 Seconds ..... Here We Go!

Jack "A." Sparrow A.K.A The Pirate of Kerala*





Thanks to A.K. for letting me use his gorgeous face without any prior permission whatsoever.
(I shall expect revenge**)

www.photofunia.com

Disclaimer(s)
* "Pirates of Bengarulu" is not a good fit for the title. Not really on the coast.
** I know, next time I'll sleep on the balcony, at best.
This product is meant for educational purposes only. Any resemblance to real persons, living, dead, dead-alive, past, present or future is purely coincidental. Void where prohibited. Some assembly required. Batteries not included. This is not an offer to sell securities. Contents may settle during shipment. Use only as directed. No other warranty expressed or implied. Do not use while operating a motor vehicle or heavy equipment. Apply only to affected area. May be too intense for some viewers. For recreational use only. All models over 18 years of age. If condition persists, consult your physician. Notice: Simulated picture. One size fits all. May contains traces of tobacco ingredients. Slippery when wet. For non-office use only. Do not use for personal Hygiene.

Google it to the max .... Mac/Windows

I recently had a chat with few students from a well-known university near Boston.
To my surprise, I came to realize that they had no idea on how to use Google efficiently.

Everybody knows Google and the vast majority of people think they use it correctly -- they also think that Google does exactly what they want. But does it?

Let me correct you on that one:
Google is a search engine. It searches and ranks its results based on your query or question.
Is that really what you want? To search?
Personally, I want to FIND, not to search. I want a FIND Engine, not a "search" engine

Picture this: You ask a human a simple question and, as an answer, his reply to you is 1,500,000 enumerations of everything he knows that contains a somewhat relation to the words contained in your question.
After 60 seconds, you’ll probably punch him in the face to make him stop.

Ditto for Google. That’s why Google use parameters to refine your question. In short: Ask me a “proper” query

As an example we will search, or try to find, facts about Louis Brandeis, the founder of Brandeis University, in a word document that a friend mentioned to you, which he saw on the Brandeis site.

So, you type Brandeis ....right?
As a bad start, Louis Brandeis returns 250,000 results and Brandeis over 6,000,000
You are going to spend some time searching the right document……

So -- to make your life easier and save you time -- here are some of the parameters you can use with Google to refine the search:

Quotes “ ”
A word or sentence between quotes will be searched exactly as is typed
“Louis Brandeis” only searches in that order, it will not return an answer for Brandeis louis, or Louis D. Brandeis
Results 142,000 Down from 250,000

Plus Sign +
Plus sign added before a word will add a specific parameter to the query
“Louis Brandeis” +Supreme will search everything that contains also the word “supreme”
Results: 69,000 Down from 250,000

Minus Sign -
A minus Sign will subtract a word from a query.
“Louis Brandeis” +Supreme -biography will return all results minus the ones containing “biography”

All the parameters can be added multiple times.

“Louis Brandeis” +Supreme +railroad -biography

Search within a website
Finally, you can search within a specific website.
Just add the parameter site: (website) and Google will only search within a specified website
Example:
site:brandeis.edu “Louis Brandeis” +Supreme +railroad +facts -biography +doc –pdf

This query will search only in www.Brandeis.edu all documents that are “doc” but not PDF, containing “supreme” and “railroad” but do not contain “biography”
Result: 1, down from 6,000,000. You nailed it!

You can also search by date, language, type of document, in a specific region, etc …
The little advanced search on the right of the query box will help you.

So, Anna B, Maia K, Emillio M, & Kelci P. stop searchin’ & start finding!

PS
Google has also a lot of other functions
Try the following: (enter as is)

Define: CPU
1 gallon in centiliter
1*4,5 + 34% /7 +(94^34*3.14)
100 USD in EUR
Flight AF 78

And the best ones (Please, always remember to download music legally)

-inurl:(htm|html|php) intitle:"index of" +"last modified" +"parent directory" +description +size +(wma|mp3) "enter the title of something here, i.e a song"

Translated to human language:
I want to search Wma or Mp3 files, the URL must not contain: HTM, HTML, or PHP pages, with in the title of the page "index of" and "last modified" and "parent directory" , and the title of the file must be " ...."

You can change the parameters to fit your needs, i.e ( jpg|png|gif) for images , ( mov|swf|mpeg|mp4) for video

Reverse Image Search Engine Mac/Windows

Ever wanted to make a reverse search on a picture?


Original and Differentiated results

Well, I did, for a long time…Why?
If you are a photographer, a painter, a parent, a consumer, or if you are just curious, this may help you beyond your expectation: Jump directly to the paragraph(s) that concern you:

I am a photographer, painter or artist:
Ever wondered if someone is using your work on the web without authorization, or selling it without informing you?

I am a parent:
Ever wondered if your kid’s pictures are posted somewhere where they should not be posted? Or used without your knowledge? Have you ever looked at a Facebook, Myspace or Twitter friend that look too good to be true and wondered if it was a real person or a re-used picture of some un-famous P star wannabe?

I am a consumer:
You want to rent that wonderful beach house: the pictures are beautiful and the deposit is only $50. Real? Re-used? Scam?

I am a friend:
You know that beautiful girl that contacted your best friend on the web? she's real? in real life?

If you have answered yes to at least one question, follow the lead… www.tineye.com

That’s it. You’re done!
Either upload a picture, wait 2 seconds, and see the results or use the Firefox Add-on Tool.
The Add on is is my best choice by far: No upload, just click Select Tineye on the drop menu. It cannot be easier than that.

Tineye does not only search the “exact” picture, but it also finds related pictures
such as the example below. You can also try try the widget on side
Example courtesy of TinEye



FireFox Plug in:
Direct access to over a billion images and counting

This picture returned over 990 results

Firefox Plug-in here

So, Bookmark it, Sidebar it, Save it, Download it and forward it, because one day you will need it!

I dedicate my "Wall of Shame" to Tineye
Vivian Chung, my FB friend that wanted me to join your "charity": you've been busted!
Steve: I told you that car collector was a scam: you have saved 25K in 3 seconds! You owe me big time.
Alicia: No I won't marry you! I am married and, beside your fake pictures, I can track an IP: Apalachian Geologist in Nigeria???

Autosave For Pages, Numbers and Keynotes

Yes, I know.... No Autosave options for iWork 08, 09

As I am a dummy, I have yet to teach myself to backup, so I rely heavily on "I'll do that in a minute" and let it go for hours until it's gone or too late.
Autosave is, in my book, a feature that should be mandatory in any type of iWork applications.

Well, it's not there....
What can I say, It will be probably implemented in the next version or update

So, while you are waiting for the update, you can always use 2 different solutions
The first one is the "manual" autosave : Command + S (Not a great tech leap ;-)
The second one is a small soft called "Save Circle" , very cool and free!
Save Circle saves automatically the foremost application every x minutes, and you can easily select options such as timing, on/off, foremost app or a specific one (i.e. save only Pages)



In short, Save Circle is a cool little soft and I highly recommend it
So, Click on the Icon, Download and Enjoy

How To Connect 2 Mac Together

How To Connect 2 Mac Together

Imagine: you have to transfer large files between 2 Mac, either movies, directories or else
A very simple way to do it is to make one Mac as a "Slave" and the other one as a "Master"

You just need a Firewire cable and to follow the instructions...

1) Turn on the "Master", leave the "Slave" off
2) Plug the Firewire cable between the 2 Mac
3) Turn on the "Slave" On while holding the T Key (Target Mode)
4) After few seconds, you'll see the Firewire Symbol appear on the screen of the "Slave". ( The Logo is an example of a Firewire Symbol)
5) It's ready! From Finder on the "Master" Mac, you can access the "Slave" and transfer larges files in a zap!

Happy Birthday!

Hey! I was born today!

So, be cool with me, I just need few hours to awake ...
Thanks