computing – Page 2 – Geoff Fox: My Permanent Record

The NSA’s On The Wrong Side Of Heartbleed

Since this entry was published the NSA had denied any part in knowing the Heartbleed flaw existed. Their adherence to the truth has been less than exemplary in the past. Let’s let this play out. – Geoff

You’ve probably heard about the Heartbleed bug by now. It’s a flaw introduced to to SSL (Secure Sockets Layer); a mistake as code was updated.

Simply put, Internet data transmissions we thought were secure were not. Things like passwords, financial information, anything private was easily cracked.

The bug languished mostly unknown for years. That’s called security by obscurity. Never a good idea. We’re seeing that now.

As far as I can tell Heartbleed’s never been exploited for nefarious commercial purposes. It has that potential. However, it has been exploited by our government’s spies!

The NSA knew Heartbleed existed. They had a choice, tell the maintainers of the code to fix it or exploit it themselves and leave us vulnerable. They chose the latter.

Now, because the NSA felt their ability to soak up data trumped our collective security, Heartbleed is a big deal! Leaving this security hole open for years is reprehensible.

More and more it seems America’s intelligence agencies, beginning with the NSA, are out-of-control. They have lost sight of their actually mission–protecting us. Instead we are more vulnerable and our international partners know we can’t be trusted with their precious secrets.

This story was broken by Michael Riley at Bloomberg News.

“It flies in the face of the agency’s comments that defense comes first,” said Jason Healey, director of the cyber statecraft initiative at the Atlantic Council and a former Air Force cyber officer. “They are going to be completely shredded by the computer security community for this.”

It’s time we have a come to Jesus meeting with our spies. Is everyone in Washington that scared of them?

It’s Not Lint!

I woke up this morning to a totally discharged phone, though it was on the charge. Obviously my HTC One problem isn’t lint.

I went online and looked for a solution. I tried a battery recalibration, though I’m not sure what that is or what it does!

The phone is taking a charge now, but how long?

I’ve initiated a backup. If (when?) it stops charging again I’ll be in a better position to seamlessly swap phones.

Frustrating.

How To Crap Up Your Computer

Ever get a toolbar, pop-up ads, or search engine change on your computer and wonder how that happened? It’s easier than you think if you click too quickly!

I’m typing on my recently reloaded laptop, Resetting a computer to its day one state solves a variety of problems. This machine is breezing along.

Unfortunately, reformatting removed the good with the bad. One-by-one I’m reinstalling needed software. I just installed Filezilla.

Filezilla is an FTP (File Transfer Protocol) client. It’s used to move files to my web servers. It’s 100% free, licensed under the GPL. However, if you’re not careful, what Filezilla brings makes changes to your computer!

Filezilla comes with a few add-on programs. They’re not part of what I’m trying to download. They’re attached to make some money for the developers and to pay for bandwidth to get the files to me.

You don’t have to install these ancillary programs. In fact, if you think about it, you probably don’t want to install them.

Most people just click through. Too late. Here’s what they’ve agreed to.

“Set MySearchDial as my home page, default search, and as my default new tab.”

The Google entry for “remove MySearchDial from my computer” is long. It’s a question that’s been asked a lot. The MySearch Dial removal process isn’t simple.

Reading the comments from the afflicted is sad. They sound like victims of a drive-by crime.

Of the friends and family tech support calls I get, removing programs like this is the most common request.

Most people think they were hacked. Nope. You gave them permission!

How Facebook And Twitter Differ For Me

I use Twitter and Facebook differently. Facebook has conversations. Twitter is more a shout into the darkness.

I follow interesting people on Twitter. Some are funny. Some are profane. A few are silly.

Each describes himself in a self written mini bio.

@KevinSpacey
Former shoe salesman now making a go at film and theater. Wish me luck…

@TheEllenShow
Comedian, talk show host and ice road trucker. My tweets are real, and they’re spectacular.

@pattonoswalt
Mr. Oswalt is a former wedding deejay from Northern Virginia.

@ElaineStritch
Legend, Hat aficionado, Lady who Lunched

@bobsaget
I like long walks on the beach…and then to be dragged through the sand by an off-road vehicle, and then hurled off a catapult.

@StephenKing
Author

@HillaryClinton
Wife, mom, lawyer, women & kids advocate, FLOAR, FLOTUS, US Senator, SecState, author, dog owner, hair icon, pantsuit aficionado, glass ceiling cracker, TBD…

@jeffgarlin
comedic person of some notoriety

@Jeff_Daniels
Professional Pretender

Not all of them are active tweeters. I just like them in my eclectic mix. Clever people. The world in 140 characters.

Breaking news shows up on Twitter faster than any other source. That’s correct whether the rumor is true or false!

The response I get on Facebook dwarfs what I get from Twitter. Still learning.

Making An Old Computer New

If it seems like computers get slower over time, you’re right. It’s not because they’re wearing out. It’s because we’re inadvertently adding little helper programs every time we install something new. These are the programs that check to see if your software needs updating or get large applications started faster.

All of this happens at the expense of your computer’s performance.

No matter how hard I try to avoid these little vampires, they accumulate. After a while, a fast computer becomes a slow computer.

That’s the story with this Windows 7 laptop I’m typing on. Photo editing became a painful experience. Other chores too.

The disk light was constantly flashing, a sign I’d used all 4Gb RAM and was manipulating data on the much slower hard drive.

This afternoon I pulled off the data and moved it to an external drive. Next, three DVDs with the restore software had to be burned. Then, with the first disk in the drive I hit the power button.

This is not for the faint of heart. The laptop is returned to its original factory state. Everything has to be reinstalled. Passwords must be remembered.

It will take most of the week before this machine has everything it needs. I have all the disks. It’s just the time.

Right now I’m downloading 500Mb of Windows 7 updates! The computer seems a lot peppier. It would be nice if my effort made a difference.

I Am Very Dweeby

My audio studio is taking shape. A mic stand came this morning. Now my MudGuard, Blue Yeti microphone and wind screen are all at eye level.

I am so dweeby. Part of this afternoon was spent getting a cable at Fry’s. I love Fry’s. They have a full aisle of cables! Now there’s an extra ten feet of play for the mic.

A few months ago I got a ShuttleXpress. For guys like me who edited video and audio tape, the ability to ‘jog’ back and forth in the digital age is a big deal. ShuttleXpress brings jogging back.

Tonight I programmed a little script to let it also control my audio recording software, Audacity. Now there’s a remote set of controls for when I’m at the mic.

Finally I’m ‘screencasting’ my computer monitors over my television via a Chromecast dongle. I can see audio levels a little easier while I record now.

All the toys I wanted as a kid exist now.

I’m listening closely, trying to understand this room’s acoustics. The MudGuard has made a huge difference. I might need bass traps. I’ll listen some more first.

My Hacker Spirit Remains Alive

The word ‘hacker’ has acquired a bad reputation. Hackers steal. Hackers deface. Hackers take down.

I’m a hacker. Not that kind.

As a kid I took apart our family’s telephones (and reassembled them) to see what made them work. When computers first arrived I bought one, even though it could do next to nothing. I’m that kind of hacker.

I am fascinated by making things do tasks they weren’t designed to do. Sometimes that means circumventing controls, like jailbreaking a phone.

I did a little hacking this weekend. My Canon 7D camera (aka, “Clicky”) can now be operated remotely from my tablet or cellphone. This all came about after looking at a website posting titled, “TP-LINK TL-MR3040 wireless field monitor with DSLR controller.”

The MR3040 is a neat little wireless router made for road warriors. It gives folks with a USB cell modem the ability to use it with many devices at once.

The hack I found loads new firmware into the modem. Now, instead of a router the little white box becomes a ‘wireless cable,’ attaching my camera to my tablet. From there an Android app, DSLRController, takes over. Most of the controls on the camera now become accessible from the tablet.

Loading unauthorized firmware nearly always voids the warranty. There’s a chance the unit might get ‘bricked.’ The router was $30 with shipping on Amazon. I took a chance.

DSLRController itself is a hack, adding functions Canon left out!

I want to get more involved in using my 7D for video. This seems like an excellent step in that direction.

I Wish I Was At CES

Between the reading tweets and news coverage I’ve become disappointed I’m not at CES, the Consumer Electronics Show. Las Vegas is nearby. CES has all the toys.

Technology is constantly changing. The big deal at this show is how much processing power can be put in how small a space, like Intel’s Edison Development Board.

It’s the same size as an SD card, commonly used in point and shoot cameras. It has a two core processor, with WiFi and Bluetooth already integrated.

Intel says, wear Edison. Here’s their suggestion for a baby monitor.

Start with a computer that really is the size of an SD card.
Attach it to a regular onesie and sensors that monitor the baby’s temperature, breathing, and motion.
Then, set the Intel Edison board to trigger actions on other connected devices, like this automatic bottle warmer or this coffee cup.
Each one of these has the Intel Edison board inside, communicating with the others to deliver amazing solutions to age-old problems.

Helicopter parents, your prayers have been answered.

This baby surveillance system is just a demo. It’s a taste of what the device can do so other developers create more products using it.

There’s lot of talk of 4k video at CES. It’s a new, higher standard for video. 4k video is sharper and more lifelike than HDTV.

I’ve seen 4k. Spectacular. The improvement is immediately noticeable.

Unfortunately, in 2014 having 4k capability is like having a car that can do 160 mph. So? Where can you use it?

Cable, satellite and Internet delivered video are all compressed mercilessly before we see it at home. Modern TVs are capable of much better images than what we see. I’d rather get less compressed HDTV (and hold onto my current hardware) than compressed 4k.

Marissa Mayer of Yahoo! spoke today. Her arrival has been widely applauded among the Technorati. Whether Yahoo! becomes a bigger player, as they once were, is another story. Their stock’s doing well.

1,700 were at the Hilton to see her. Katie Couric talked about her involvement with Yahoo News. David Pogue’s Yahoo! tech site was shown off.

It’s still more smoke than substance. They seem to be moving in the right direction. It’s a company full of smart people who should be able to figure things out.

This is the nerd prom. I need to attend. Maybe next year?

My Fast Drive Gets Slower Then Faster

I’m in love with my new computer. It’s really fast. That was the plan.

I spec’ed out all the components. That doesn’t mean I have a through understanding of all of them.

For instance, my boot and program drive is an SSD (solid-state drive). With no moving parts it’s light years faster than a conventional hard drive. That’s why the system boots in under 20 seconds!

The SSD comes with a companion program, Samsung Magician. I looked at it when the system was first installed, not since. It didn’t seem important. There was no indication the drive would change with age.

I fired it up today and was surprised to see my SSD had slowed in all categories! Random writes went from 70,159 I/O operations per second to 53,047 IOPS.

There are optimization routines listed within Magician. I tried those and installed a waiting firmware update to my drive.

Oh my!

Random write speeds are up over 100%! Other speeds are up too, though not as much.

Will I notice the difference? I’m not sure. Disk i/o is one factor of many, but it’s among the most important.

Computers Make Life Easier And Scarier

I’m very confused. Computers looking over my shoulder have made life easier and scarier. This isn’t a new subject from me, but it hit home last week as we prepared to leave for the weekend.

My phone and tablet both run the Android operating system. That means they both have Google Now, which claims:

“Just the right information at the right time.”

I opened Google Now and saw my flight times listed. I didn’t tell Google I was flying. It figured that out from reading my email.

It figures a lot out from what I do.

There are currently offers to track packages heading my way and links to articles about Comet Ison. It knows about the packages from my email and the comet from my browsing history.

My weather is there too. While in Milwaukee, Google Now posted the local forecast plus a link to the weather at home.

It knows where home is.

Because I often use my cellphone’s GPS there are maps tracking my every move! Actually, I’m tracked when I’m not using the GPS too. The readings just aren’t taken as often.

I assume Google can figure out who my doctor is and where we shop for groceries. It knew I was at Fenway Park June 24th. It can tell when I’ve spent the day at home.

Remember, it’s not just my location they know. Google also knows what’s at those locations.

I can turn most of this off. I don’t. There are two main reasons.

First, if I turn it off I’m the only one deprived of the info. Google and their pals will still know.

Second, it’s valuable to me.

Having my flight information, or weather in a strange city, or sports scores from just the teams I follow are more valuable when easily found.

Having Google Now is like having my own personal assistant. Does it know any less than a flesh and blood personal assistant would?

The downside is this information will be used in ways we can hardly imagine. And it will be used without your knowledge even when it’s wrong!

While we were in Milwaukee my GPS readout briefly shows me at my parents old condo in Florida. Who do I see to correct that glitch?

When the government pushes back against fears of surveillance it’s often stated the information is anonymized. Red herring. My actual name is the least important part of this equation.

I’m truly conflicted about all this. So much power to do good. So much potential to be evil.

I Love My New Computer. I Hate Windows 8.1

I’m typing on the new computer I ‘built’ a few weeks ago. It’s ‘built,’ not built, because I didn’t actually put the components into their slots. That honor went to a tech at Fry’s. It was built with parts I specified after lots of research and angst. It is custom in every sense of the word.

In nearly every respect this box performs better than anticipated. Because its system drive is an SSD, instead of a mechanical hard drive, it boots in under 20 seconds. Photoshop, a major beast of a program, lights up in under three seconds!

The system was built to manipulate stills and videos while being quiet. It does both very well. High def video is often rendered faster than its realtime running length!

Having two 1920×1080 monitors (which I bought at BestBuy) has given me loads of desktop real estate, making nearly everything I do easier. Two, three, four or more programs can be open simultaneously. That’s a web design game changer.

All that being said, Windows 8.1 is the weakest link. For a longtime Windows user this latest Microsoft iteration is non-intuitive while adding extra steps and hoops to jump through.

What were they thinking?

The problem is Windows 8 was built to be used in touchscreen and keyboard scenarios. It comes up short when you are forced to use actions more suitable to a tablet on a keyboard and mouse computer. It is frustrating.

My friend Peter Mokover is in the final stages of building a similar computer. He asked which OS to use, Windows 7 or 8.1?&#185 I’m not sure.

Windows 7 is a better bet right now. But, as a geek, it’s tough to not use the latest operating system which is still in active development. I won’t be surprised if he grits his teeth and goes with Windows 8.1, even knowing it’s bad.

For my purposes (and Peter’s) a Windows alternative is not an option. Too many of the specialized programs we need only run on this platform.

For most general users who basically surf and read email, Microsoft is shooting themselves in the foot! Nowadays web based apps are replacing OS specific programs. This debacle will only push more people to Android or Apple’s OSX and IOS.

Here’s my rundown:

Windows 8.1 (x64) (build 9600)
CPU: 3.50 gigahertz Intel Core i7-4770K
Motherboard: Z87-G45 GAMING (MS-7821) 1.0
RAM: 16328 Megabytes Usable Installed Memory
Drive: Samsung SSD 840 EVO 250GB [Hard drive] (250.06 GB) — drive 0
Drive: WDC WD2002FAEX-007BA0 [Hard drive] (2000.40 GB) — drive 1
Video: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 [Display adapter]
Monitor (2): AOC 2367 [Monitor] (23.1″vis, s/n BEGD89A000462, August 2013)
Case: Thermaltake Soprano

&#185 – Windows 8.1 is a free, service upgrade to Windows 8 after the original cry from users. It is a small, incremental improvement over the original.

Helaine And The Penguin: My Wife’s Linux Laptop

To Helaine Ubuntu and Windows are functionally equivalent. To a hacker or virus planter there’s a huge difference. Their voodoo won’t harm her!

Just a few feet to my left Helaine is sitting with her laptop. I can’t see what she’s doing, but whatever it is she’s doing it without complaint. Her laptop no longer runs Windows. She’s running Ubuntu Linux.

After a few pointed questions I’ve come to the conclusion she doesn’t care. That’s great.

To Helaine Ubuntu and Windows are functionally equivalent. To a hacker or virus planter there’s a huge difference. Their voodoo won’t harm her!

The anticipation of this switchover was more painful than the switch itself. I backed up her critical files, inserted the Ubuntu disk and it just installed. Both the sound and WiFi were recognized and proper drivers installed.

Beyond logging onto our encrypted wireless network there was nothing to do. The laptop just worked on the first try!

That’s not to say there weren’t challenges. The current Linux version of Picasa has a well documented glitch that kept it from running. Of course the well documented glitch wasn’t seen by me until I installed it three times!

Some of what I did wouldn’t be obvious to a new user. That’s a Linux problem, though new Windows installation from scratch would bring some similar concerns.

I understood WINE needed to be installed for a few Windows only programs to run. No problem for me, but it must be frustrating to someone who can’t conceptualize why and just wasn’t expecting it.

Converting Helaine’s email files demanded some scrambling. She’s an Outlook Express user. I set up Thunderbird as her mail client because it’s quite similar.

Unfortunately Thunderbird won’t import Outlook Express files natively. There is a separate command line program that does the conversion. Files then have to be manually renamed. Again, not a big deal, but only if you know you have to do it.

I’m pretty impressed with Thunderbird. I hadn’t configured an email program in a long time, but as soon as I told Thunderbird Helaine’s mail address it went into its database and set all the server parameters automatically. Sweet.

The default Ubuntu look is a little utilitarian and dull. The default type is very small. I reconfigured the fonts and colors and even added Helaine’s desktop background from her Windows machine. It’s a little more finished now.

So far it’s running like a champ. It boots quickly. It’s been stable. All the functionality she wants and needs is there.

By the way, all of this is free! Where have I gone right?

I’m About To Perform The Great Linux Experiment On Helaine’s Laptop

I can reload Windows XP and take the chance of it happening again or just maybe I can switch her to the virtually virus free Ubuntu Linux.

Helaine’s laptop is infected again! Though I’ve removed most of the infection her browser is still being hijacked. Google results bring spammy non-Google ‘search’ sites. There’s surely stuff I can’t find. Other functions like sound are no longer reliable.

This virus is so good it managed to shut off Microsoft’s own Windows Security Essentials program! Thanks Bill.

This is not Helaine’s fault! Considering where I found most of the infected files it looks like she was fed an infected Java jar. It probably came from an otherwise trustworthy website via an infected ad.

A day after the infection Java posted one of their ‘too damn often’ security updates. Come to think of it Microsoft was in the midst of rolling out Security Essentials 2 then too. Coincidence? I think not.

I have two choices. I can reload Windows XP and take the chance of it happening again or just maybe I can switch her to the virtually virus free Ubuntu Linux.

She was at first skeptical. OK, she was skeptical at second too. Linux sounds geeky.

Certainly there will be a different look and different programs to use. Her browser will remain the same. Her email program will change.

Helaine is primarily a web browser. She doesn’t run very many discrete programs. Those she does use have native Linux versions or claim to run through WINE the Windows emulator.

Linux comes with a ‘live’ version allowing a quick try without committing to an installation. I loaded the CD and it works.

Tonight I’ll back up Helaine’s files and install Ubuntu. Wish me luck.

Better still wish Helaine luck.

I Won’t Be Much Later Than 4:00 AM

Our first try was to replace the über fast SAS drive with my plain vanilla IDE. It didn’t work.

I’m a tech guy. I build computers. I code websites. Until Saturday night I’d never heard of a SAS drive. Bad time to find out. Last night was when a SAS drive at work decided to throw a fit!

The first call came at 8:11. The server which parcels out all the data our weather computers use had locked. Rebooting it brought the infamous Blue Screen of Death. The system just wouldn’t properly start.

By 8:30 I knew the problem was serious. I hopped in the car and headed toward New Haven.

Earlier today a co-worker asked, “Shouldn’t that have been an engineering phone call?”

Yes and no. An engineer was working on the problem when I got in. He’s a smart guy, but this is an esoteric setup with the aforementioned weird hardware. He was incredibly helpful as we worked the problem together with a tech back in Madison, Wisconsin.

Beyond that he would have soon run into a roadblock. The WebEx remote access software the equipment’s vendor uses on our equipment spontaneously freezes on our network! No one knows why. It just does.

I drove into New Haven carrying a spare hard drive. Our first try was to replace the über fast SAS drive with my plain vanilla IDE. It didn’t work. No one thought it would, but we were grasping at straws.

The system came up so sluggishly it was as if we were writing on the screen with a crayon! Back to the drawing board, but we’d wasted over an hour.

We took a chance and plugged the dead drive back in. Then we attempted to restore a ‘ghosted’ version of the system. It sounds simple, but it was another 40 minutes before the computer came back. Even then what we had was unusable!

This server is divided into two drives. One contains the system files, things like Windows. The other drive has the data, organized into a complex structure of directories and subdirectories. The system half was back but the data structure, data and any customizations we’d created over the last five or six years was gone!

At least we now had enough computer running to allow Billy in Madison remote access. I configured the network access (this system is decidedly not plug-and-play) and got online. As predicted the WebEx access crashed pretty quickly. I fired up TeamViewer (my current go to remote access software). We were golden.

He was in Wisconsin. I was in Connecticut. We were working in parallel fixing separate but equal problems simultaneously. The phone was on speaker, but we were mainly silent until our paths crossed or one (usually me) of us needed additional guidance. After we finished I noticed this single call ran nearly four hours!

Helaine called my cell around 3:00 AM. She was having trouble sleeping. I told her I wouldn’t be home much later than 4:00 AM… and I wasn’t.

The system isn’t 100% restored yet, but it’s mostly there. I assume the last pieces can be put in the puzzle today. God, I hope so.

This will sound very strange, but the whole process was satisfying even though it took almost a full work day out of the middle of my weekend. We solved a huge problem that didn’t seem solvable. It was a pain and tedious, but it needed to be done and it was.

You know that scene in Apollo 13 where Gene Kranz talks to the crew in Mission Control?

We’ve never lost an American in space, we’re sure as hell not gonna lose one on my watch! Failure is not an option.

I’d like to think I’ve got that same work ethic.

Web Design: Satisfying Accomplishment

Most of you reading this are already lost, right?

I spent most of last night in my office working on a website. It’s a little thing I’m doing for myself, five or six pages with some video. It’s difficult to explain the feeling, but creating a website is really rewarding in a creative way.

The first step was installing WordPress on a webserver. It only takes a few minutes. WordPress is very mature. Ease is built in.

Most of you reading this are already lost, right? Here’s WordPresses own explanation.

WordPress is web software you can use to create a beautiful website or blog. We like to say that WordPress is both free and priceless at the same time.

The core software is built by hundreds of community volunteers, and when you’re ready for more there are thousands of plugins and themes available to transform your site into almost anything you can imagine. Over 25 million people have chosen WordPress to power the place on the web they call “home” — we’d love you to join the family.

This site is built on WordPress too. The new site looks nothing like this!

WordPresses ‘themes’ creates the look. There are thousands of themes I could have used, but I modified the on that comes standard (it’s called Twenty Ten). That’s the most rewarding part!

Reskinning the theme requires a little programming skill in wrangling three languages: php, css and html. I know just enough to be dangerous. That means I’m writing with a few books at the ready because there will be questions! If I did this more I’d be a lot faster.

It’s all so elegant. Within a few minutes what began as an instantly familiar barebones WordPress site began to look like the site I wanted!

I spent five hours working on the site last night. It’s nearly done. Later tonight or tomorrow it will be done.

I have a very satisfying feeling of accomplishment.

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