ASCII-art SPAM

September 28, 2008

I got the following spam gem in my email box the other day. It reminds me of the old BASIC language banner program used to produce messages on tractor-feed printers. I love it!

from	Isaac Pina
to	Zmqrqsptwms
date	Sat, Sep 27, 2008 at 11:19 AM
subject	Order:714-7572-167
63    31   16                                              70
50    50                                                  3533     25       58  680814
 48  81                                                  516067  1316     5656  42
 40  42    55    6405     17758   7570    6641           6136      36       34  86
 65  87    26       12   24  47   223        54          0361      43       17  88806
  5635     58    80735   41  77   27      81370   74044   0586     72       70  82  15
  0432     47   14  24   87  34   04     56  41            2223    78       06      88
   12      31   58  74   11  51   24     30  37            7347    26       26      05
   12      15    26356    57145   57      21663          470733    32       31  23  62
                             24                           3326     27  74   25   4246
                         33116                             70                                 

                                                          50
  5035      33              60    04                     1343      58         8335     0524
 12  57                     51                          110186   8406        00  10   40  52
20    32                    02                          4118       61        57  17   17  83
11          03     2615     66    88     266            8084       71        58  75   23  43
42          02        70    03    34    27 08            5236      23        57 242   84 884
03          12     62436    50    48     76      82586    8327     84         80185    66672
34    13    36    67  51    32    85      50              5688     57            22       78
 27  16     15    05  76    06    17    01 02           580026     51        17  83   42  87
  7775      67     16687    76    16     228             6086      01   77    5512     4040
                                                          47 

                                                                    1776             00
                                                                   41  34            35
                                                                       88            33
50  52  41    25  75  11    10  18  68          4060    01   04        05     220    32024     1186    15717          1783     1103    26156 688
26  68  08    47  15  87    52  34  34          202      70 03        34     27 08   523 62   35  72   41  84        77  30   30  16   132 550 38
 66824867      32774781      84666613           40        225        66       50     31  84   58  45   87  46        22       68  16   06  14  04
 65850680      02578015      41178232           76        667       45         71    55  86   75  05   21  75        07       68  17   75  50  24
 03047076      50830232      47822485           14       01 56     41        00 01   76  73   86  80   08  38        52  18   31  82   41  17  51
  57  06        07  73        10  82      26    15      65   78    155708     471    48  75    1333    41016    88    2332     6075    22  62  25
                                                                                                       61
                                                                                                       31

iPhone-friendly Sites: The Update

July 19, 2008

Since I originally posted on some of the top iPhone-friendly web sites, literally thousands of sites have added support for the iPhone. The latest list from Apple shows the follow in the top 20 by popularity. The top 20 contains a variety of web apps from wallpaper and games to news and sports. Apple also has a “staff picks” list which can be found here. And finally, an RSS feed of recent web apps can be found here here.


Autofiends or Photo Thieves?

July 19, 2008

A few days ago I wrote about some test BMWs I spotted while on vacation near California’s Owens Valley. My post included a couple of photos I shot and links to more photos on my flickr page.

Last night, someone was kind enough to alert me to an article on autofiends that used my copyrighted photos without permission or attribution. The contributing “journalist”, Zach Bowman, clearly copied the photos from my flickr page resulting in willful copyright infringement. 

The copied material, since withdrawn after I sent a “cease and desist” letter, is shown here from a screenshot I took:

 

Photo Thieves Love Flickr

Photo Thieves Love Flickr

Here’s the original linked from my flickr page:

 

My Original and Copyrighted Photo

My Original Photo

 

When I took this photo and a couple of others they stole, I didn’t have any expectation that I was going to get rich by selling them. However, I did start shopping them around to some of the car “spy shot” sites in case there was value in them. Unfortunately, they did not sell to the first couple of publications I approached. 

But as it turns out, some publications and “journalists” think that freely exhibited material on flickr is free for the taking and redistribution without reasonable compensation or even attribution. And I am just a bit player in these copyright infringement cases. Serious, high-quality material from flickr has not only been redistributed around the web but has also shown up in print publications without attribution or permission.

So the next time I have a photo to share with my friends and others, I’ll be pasting one of those big, ugly watermarks all over it. Otherwise, infringers like autofiends and Zach Bowman will have too easy a time stealing my work.


New BMW X5 & X6 M-series on Test

July 16, 2008

 

I was cruising around the remote reaches of California yesterday and stumbled across something interesting. In the White Mountains near Owens Valley at an elevation of 9000ft, I found a bevy of pre-production BMWs being tested.

It turns out that many automobile manufacturers head to Death Valley and Owens Valley to do testing during the summer. Fortunately, I had my camera at the ready and took a number of photos of the upcoming BMW X5 and X6. I can’t claim that these “spy shots” are new or novel, but it was fun taking them anyway.

2010 BMW X5?

M-version of the 2009 X5?

The German engineers driving and testing the cars asked me to specifically not snap photos of the X5 above, but I just couldn’t resist. 

2010 BMW X6?

M-version of the 2009 BMW X6

The driver of the X6 left the car unattended in order to take a walk at one of the scenic view points. Inside, the car there appeared to be computer equipment for collecting telemetry data. The German warning label near the air bag locations seemed to warn that they were not active.

More of the BMW photos can be found on my personal flickr page.


The bottom of the blogger dead pool

July 1, 2008

Death is probably the fate of most blogs. Somewhere between leaving my last employer SurfControl, looking for a new job, and joining Yahoo, I definitely lost my blogging mojo.

I think part of the problem is that I don’t have enough energy for writing a daily rant. And anyway, rants aren’t really all that interesting. Secondly, working in parts of Yahoo can be quite inwardly-focused since Yahoo has lots of internal challenges which range from technical to organizational (again leaving little time for contemplation). Finally, after you subtract more time for reading about the latest Yahoo lawsuit|re-org|resignation on Valley Wag, well, there isn’t much time left for blogging.

In any event, I’m going to try to float up from the bottom if I can.


Terms of (Dis)service

October 18, 2007

 I usually only skim Terms of Service notices for sites I use; however, one caught my eye the other day. The satellite television service DirectTV has this little gem as part of their agreement to use electronic billing:

Computer Virus 

You agree that you will be held liable for all damages related to or which flow from any computer virus that is received by DIRECTV through any means, including, but not limited to messages which may contain a virus, from your computer or server.

 I have to question why DirecTV really needs this clause in their agreement. Certainly, they would be within their rights regardless to pursue a legal action if malicious intent is suspected and can be proved. But surely this is the exceptional case and doesn’t warrant the above.  What really makes it fun is that their web site Terms and Conditions state: 

DIRECTV also assumes no responsibility, and shall not be liable for, any damages to, or viruses that may infect, your computer equipment or other property on account of your access to, use of, or browsing in the Site or your downloading of any materials, data, text, images, video, or audio from the Site.  

 Bottom line, they won’t be held responsible for passing a virus to you. But if you pass along a virus to them, even inadvertently, then look out!     


More iPhone Sites

October 12, 2007

Apple has launched a much larger iPhone site list that can be found here.


iPhone-friendly Sites

October 6, 2007

Here’s a list of a handful of sites that either were designed specifically for the iPhone or other wise work well on it.

Amazon

Bloglines

amazon-on-iphone.jpg bloglines-on-iphone.jpg

Currently in beta. Very basic but serviceable interface.

Seems to have a few minor drawing issues but can be quite handy for accessing feeds on the go

Read the rest of this entry »


iPhone Hacking Revisited

October 6, 2007

Aside from unlock hacks, I’m wondering what the potential is for iPhone targeted malware writing is.

Last year I speculated that the install base was too small for virus writers to bother. I still believe this is the case for the iPhone by itself. But when you add the new iPod Touch to the mix, then you have a potentially much larger base to exploit.

The iPhone and iPod Touch now use the same base operating system — a lightweight version of Mac OS X. Like the iPhone, the new iPod has enabling technologies like WiFi and a web browser (but not an email client). As the existing iPod user base of over 100 million upgrades to this new generation of iPods, then the platform becomes far more interesting to exploit.

On the horizon for mobile services are payment systems, banking, and other common targets of criminals. Already many web sites have created iPhone-specifc sites. As services with greater exploit potential are created, malware authors will look to probe weak defenses.

The simplest deceptions involve preying upon users’ inability to sufficiently recognize social engineering, but there may be other weaknesses lurking in the so far untested Mac mobile operating system.

Weighing in users and Apple’s favor is the closed nature of the iPhone and iPods’ operating system. However as can be seen with the unlock hacks, coders are a determined bunch. And given sufficient profit motive, black hat hackers may view the iPhone and iPod as a green field opportunity.


Safely Sharing Family Photos

September 30, 2007

Do you publish your family photos on flickr, photobucket, or similar photo sharing/pubishing services?

Recently, some flickr users have found pictures of their children used in bogus profiles on Orkut. The profiles would worry or even disturb most parents. And though the profiles were eventually removed, it was not before a long campaign by victims.

Orkut, a social networking site owned by Google, has been used in the past by pedophiles and resulted in requests by the Brazilian government for details on user profiles (Orkut is *very* popular in Brazil). This latest dark twist could probably have been anticipated but is nonetheless not a welcome one.

If you publicly share photos of your children on a photo sharing site, then you might want to reconsider that decision. Most services allow photos to be restricted to friends and family. Making this change is not difficult but will perhaps give parents greater peace of mind.

Digg users can help raise awareness on the issue here.