FROM:
“Tory Swan”
DATE: Sun, 28 Nov 2004 18:56:34 -0400
SUBJECT: Kimputer Need software? Click here
It’s sad. But they’re on to me. Even though I never mentioned my email address (during last my post, I urged everybody to mail me at nickname @ gmail . com, which, again, sadly, no one did. So either I’m a sad loner, or the spammers solved this oh so hard puzzle before you did).
Oh, one more thing. I don’t need software.
Are you ready for the next step ? Every single one of you, of course, has a mobile phone by now. First there was SMS for text, then there was MMS for pictures. Now that those markets are overcrowded, it’s time to move on to the next step. Mobile TV/Video !
First there’s Vodafone. With new UMTS phones, bandwidths of 384/64 kbps are reality. Hence the push of video to the phone is just as easy. With just a few bucks an hour, you get special content. Vodafone already ordered special episodes of the hit-series 24. The spin-off series called 24: Conspiracy will be packaged in 24 mobisodes of 60 seconds.
Then there are the new mobile phones featuring real TV chips and a special antenna. More resembling old fashioned TV set (as UMTS is an all digital two-way communications network), Nokia’s handsets will be able to access some 20 to 50 TV channels. No pricing is available yet. But a small price to pay is the bulkier apparatus.
As you can see, tons of new revenue possibilities (subcriptions and new hardware sales) for the coming years. Which one will you choose ?
It’s been a while, and I usually take them from TV or the movies. But this time it’s different. When I was in dire need of help, she came along and saved my butt. Yes, I’m talking about the newly released Halflife 2 game, and the woman in question is a lady called Alyx.
Yeah, look at those high-polygon-count curves. Should I start an Alyx is Hot website now ?
Another edition of the World Tour series, this time we’re touching down in Italy. Again, it’s a subtle taste. If you compare the tomato part with the Lays Heinz Tomato Ketchup flavored Superchips, you can say it’s toned down by a factor 2. The mozzerella part however, is almost not noticable. Combined though, it’s still as addictive as the other favorite flavors, as I just finished a whole can in one day. Definitely a must-taste.7½.
With the previous post, you might actually think I do nothing else than watching TV. But keeping a weblog spam-free is actually an intense task. So here’s something for the more tech-savvy:
How to keep your WordPress Weblog Spam-free
Some of you might have seen one or two spam messages (about online poker and about cheap medicine) in the comments, which mostly happens overnight, and I don’t have time to delete it. It’s quite simple really, just one well directed URL is enough. It’s actually so easy, millions of zombie PC’s roaming the internet (usually for email spam) have this routine built-in nowadays.
The first step of course, would be to deny the IP addresses access to your webserver. This is done through the .htaccess file (using Apache of course). Till now, it’s kept quite short.
Then came yesterday. I already saw a small increase in this type of abuse, but had to leave for the movies. When I came home, I was bombarded with no less than 620 of these messages. With the attack continuing, filling the .htaccess would prove time consuming and in the end, probably worthless.
On to analyzing the exact spam messages and their methods it is (assuming I’m smarter than a botnet level spam engine):
– This new spam engine is quite effective. It distributes the post commands to other zombie PC’s, and each will post a spam message on another post, nicely increasing from 1 to, in my case, 600+)
– uniform posting reveals: 1. no http referrer 2. same url 3. spam contains URL
Actually, this is all I need to effectively block the messages. While using only one of the above would be enough, I built in all three.
1. build in code where the posting will stop and give an error message if the referrer is empty (use getenv(“HTTP_REFERER”))
2. rename the post.php file, and edit the originating (popup.php) to redirect to the renamed file. The static bots will keep hammering on the original post file which does not exist anymore.
3. build in code where the posting will stop and give an error message if the comment contains “http” (use strpos($comment, ‘http’))
By now, it’s already 2.00 am, but with a grin on my face I see all the return error messages fly by. Waiting for the next leap of intelligence of the bots then. (Actually, 3 leaps, which will probably take some time)
Who says I can’t teach you anything ?
It was like a proto-after-nightmare. You know I didn’t stay up for this. So I got up in the morning, and with half closed eyes I surf to cnn.com. Then I see this:
My heart sinks in, and I cursed half of all the US citizens. Four more years of that stammering unprepared pausing moron, with his silly 4th grade jokes.
I found out a bit later there’s still one more day to go before the counts are in. Anywayz, TOLDYASO you didn’t have to stay up all night for excitement !
A strange one, but it will be explained later.
1. Can you distinguish a Canadian accent if your life depended on it ?
2. Try it. Pick the correct one out of these short mp3’s 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6
3. Watching which movie would’ve taught you this trick ?
This icon will indicate if I have answered the K-uestions yet 
Look what I found on my doorsteps !
As you can see in the picture below, I got a response on my earlier post.
Find the full letter here.
That’s not all, actually. Attached to the letter was a 39 cents stamp ! Talk about full compensation.
Anyways, another clear case of “The truth, will get you something free”. Of course, my angel-like innocent face helps a lot too.
That’s the new slogan for the test phase of storing two biometric measurements for official ID and travel documents (hence the 2B, for 2 fingerprints and a facial scan). As my fak… rephrase… as my current passport is about to expire, I’ve been given the chance to participate. And as scary as it sounds (my extreme beautiful facial features stored digitally !), the 10 euro discount for this project is of course, the tipping point. What about you guyz, you up for it ?
It’s almost everyday news. From movie stars to royalties. Jude Law begging for more privacy, and the latest headlines have Prince Harry striking a few physical blows to the picture hungry bloodhounds. After that, you usually get a “no it’s your fault” “no it’s part of the job” discussion. But wouldn’t life be more exciting if all physical contact from the photographed towards the photographer would be legally allowed ? That way, there would never be lawsuits, and the photographers would have more exciting lives. Imagine a life where you’ll sit on your ass mostly all day, and when the star comes or leaves home and you’re too close, you risk getting punched in the face, and you’ll just have to accept it as part of your occupational hazards.
Geachte Spar Klantenservice,
u moet weten, ‘s ochtends word ik moeilijk wakker. Om mijn ochtendritueel te verspoedigen, heb ik uiteraard een Philips Senseo gekocht. En om mijn duiten extra te laten klinken (en om monopolie te voorkomen), koop ik mijn Coffee Pads niet van Douwe Egberts, maar van jullie gerespecteerde huismerk (jullie zijn namelijk een van de weinigen die de pads individueel heeft vepakt). Tot vanochtend dan.
Vanochtend pak ik dus de laatste coffee pad. En half-wakker als ik dan altijd ben, laat ik het per ongeluk uit mijn handen vallen. Tot mijn verbazing dwarrelt het geheel langzaam naar beneden, als een droom. Het heeft even in moeten werken, maar na 5 minuten had ik het door. De verpakking was niet gevuld met een coffee pad, maar slechts met lucht.
Zo is het dus gekomen dat ik vandaag een uur te laat op mijn werk ben gekomen. Immers, dezelfde hoeveelheid caffeine die ik normaal met een kop koffie binnen krijg, moest ik dit keer hebben van 4 geleende zakjes bosvruchten-thee van de boven-buurvrouw.
Bijgesloten bij deze brief de bron van deze rampendag, de onaangetaste lege verpakking.
Met veel chagrijnige groeten (helaas, ik heb de thee waarschijnlijk niet lang genoeg laten trekken, en heb dus nog steeds last van caffeine-tekort),
KaNam Ung
(Actually. it’s just here at work, but for the slight dramatization, I used my cozy home as the backdrop of this story)
Usually, I don’t have that much faith in quizes and their conclusions. But actually, this one is right on the target. It’s the Daily Show with Jon Stewart that I’ve been watching the most these last few years.
… or does it ?
The first half, is of course the new tagline from Philip’s new Sense and Simplicity worldwide ad campaign, dropping the decade old Let’s Make Things Better. Apparently, all is better and can’t be made any better. That’s a good sign.
But the ad campaign itself is somewhat puzzling. We have the TV sets, the DVD recorders, and the tooth brushes. Then you have a 3D Ultrasound (the size of a bulky PC from the eighties), and a CT scanner which would fill a small living room. Who are they trying to impress ? The already tight health care budget ? The consumer sure as hell won’t buy one.
Then there’s one last item I’m wondering about. The Heart Start Home Defribillator. If the price was suitable, would you buy one ? So you can shock the ones in need when a cardiac arrest arrises ? (In my case, I’d have to shock myself when I’m down. If that’s possible, then it must be true, Philips really can’t make it any better).