Introducing PatB: Hello its me!

Greetings to everyone at Geeks Are Sexy!  The excellent Kiltak has extended an invitation to me to guest blog security issues on this site and I was more than happy to oblige.  This is my first stint at guest blogging for anyone, but I have been blogging about security issues for two years now at BelchSpeak, and I look forward to reaching new readers through [GAS].

As background, I was in a Security Operations Center for a cyber-security company on 9-11.  As the towers fell, portions of our customers’ networks blinked out as major hubs at ground zero went dark.  The remainder of that horrible day was spent speaking to customers, which were major banks, insurance, and trading companies, trying to allay their fears of cyber terrorist attacks that might piggyback on the attacks using planes as missiles.

Since then I have worked with the Federal government in several capacities to help secure the national infrastructure during this time of war.  As a result, I have been given a unique perspective into how government works and their efforts to secure the internet.

Thanks again to Kiltak for the opportunity, and I hope the readers here enjoy my contributions.



Mandriva Linux Pwned by Microsoft

Mandriva LinuxFrancois Bancilhon, French editor of Mandriva Linux, recently published an open letter to Steve Ballmer on Mandriva’s corporate blog.

In his letter, he relates that a few months ago, his corporation won a deal where 17000 PCs destined to Nigerian Schools would be equiped with his Linux distribution.

We recently closed a deal with the Nigerian Government. Maybe you heard about it, Steve. They were looking for an affordable hardware+software solution for their schools. The initial batch was 17,000 machines. We had a good deal to respond to their need: the Classmate PC from Intel, with a customized Mandriva Linux solution. We presented the solution to the local government, they liked the machine, they liked our system, they liked what we offered them, especially the fact that it was open, and that we could customize it for their country and so on.

Strangely, the Nigerian government recently changed its mind and even if they’re still buying Mandriva’s solution, they’ll be replacing the OS on each system with Windows right after receiving them.

We actually closed the deal, we took the order, we qualified the software, we got the machine shipped. To conclude, we did our job. And, the machine are being delivered right now.

Now, we hear a different story from the customer : “we shall pay for the Mandriva Software as agreed, but we shall replace it by Windows afterward.”

Wow! I’m impressed, Steve! What have you done to these guys to make them change their mind like this? It’s quite clear to me, and it will be to everyone. How do you call what you just did Steve? There is various names for it, I’m sure you know them.

Anyone feel like expressing their thoughts on this?

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Introducing the gPhone (Video)

We’ve all heard about the gPhone in the past few months, and up to now, most people were thinking that this Google powered phone was only a myth. Well lo and behold, it’s not!

Yes, the gPhone isn’t really a phone, it’s a software platform for mobiles, which could revolutionize the way people use their cell phone forever.

Interested in learning more? The Open Handset Alliance Website has more details on the subject.

[GAS] “How to” Contest – Full Submission List

Teresa will be drawing the names of the lucky winners in the next few days. Meanwhile, here’s the full list of every entry submitted to our contest. There’s a few gems in there, so please take the time to check them all. If you entry is missing from this list, please let us know as soon as possible.

How To: Build An Image Map with CSS by Douglas Karr
How To Add Your Videos to the Itunes Podcast Directory by Mark
How To Be a Geek and Get Your Sexual Groove On by Adam A. Hirsch
Blog Tip: Create a Link Post in 3 Seconds by engtech
Technical Difficulties? 5 Ways To Cope by Naomi Dunford
How To: Separating Your Author Comments (In WordPress) by Kyle Eslick
Heritage of a geek, or how to run DOS games by Alex Kohler
How to Be a Geek (And Why You’d Want to Be) by CSS
Reinstall Windows and outfit your system with all freeware programs by Fish
HOW TO: Cheap Wireless For Your Xbox 360 by David Peralty
How To: Be prepared for that big presentation, an IT guy’s perspective by Rob
How to Overcome RSS Feed Overload by Karthik Ramadoss
How to keep you data save with Truecrypt by Ingo Flink
How To Convert Tab Delimited Text To HTML Using AWK by J.F.
How to command your iPod Shuffle to play what you want by Jennifer D
How To Export And Import Bookmarks by NimrodJO
How To Get 1261 RSS Subscribers In Less Than 3 Months by J-C. Phillips
How to Read all your Emails from Gmail by Vijay M
How to Get More Google Traffic to Your Blog by Dee
How To Thoroughly Game Alexa by David Wilkinson
How To Enjoy Comic Book Conventions by Great White Snark
How to Have the Worst Blog Contest Ever by The Prize Blog
Custom Halo 3 Emblem in Gimp by KennyD
How to Find a Blogging Job by Yehuda Berlinger
How To Become an Affiliate Marketer by Chris “Egon” Burdick
Turn Your Blog Into a Community by Marcos
How to Structure the Perfect Blog Post by Brett Evans
How To Win Stuff Off The Internet Using Your Blog by Jamie
How to Blog about Contests by Sensei
How to run a viral contest by Monica
How To Switch To a Mac by Jason Scoldes
How to invent something cool this year by John A Ciampa
How to Find and Enter Blog Contests by Contestu
How to connect to IRC using mIRC by fcmk
How To Rent A Domain Name by Bucky
Laptop Batteries : How To Make them Work Even Longer by Fauzi
WordPress Widget Plugin – How to add the additional text-widgets for your sidebar by Michael Sync
How to quickly run frequently used apps without the pesky mouse by Michael Sullivan

In the Spirit of Gutenberg: Blogs and the Democracy of Ideas

By Lyle Bateman
Contributing Writer, [GAS]

Johannes GutenbergFrom a perspective of some six centuries later, it’s pretty easy to see the revolution inherent in the idea of movable type and the printing press. Once a hugely expensive endeavor confined to the scriptoriums of only super-wealthy patrons, book production was suddenly a fraction of the cost.

Books, once highly valued original works of art, could now be copied en-masse… once the valued property only of the rich, the printing press brought books, language, and learning within reach of the masses. The first printing press was to books and literature what the first assembly line was to Ford and automobiles… the means to mass-produce what was once a unique work of art. Through that mass production, the democracy of ideas took a huge step forward.

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Amazon S3 Exceeds 99.99% Uptime

Amazon S3 Web ServiceBy David Peralty
Contributing Writer, [GAS]

As more people look for better hosting and better data services, Amazon’s S3 is the one that everyone continues to buzz about. They recently reported that during October, they were able to maintain more than 99.99 percent uptime, something that most hosting companies would not be able to match.

This exceeds the performance required by their recently introduced service level agreement. Starting in October, Amazon set up a SLA for their service so that users were guaranteed at least 99.9 percent of uptime. If Amazon’s S3 went below that mark, their customers could apply for a service credit of up to 25 percent of their total charges for the month, depending on how much Amazon fell below their 99.9 percent mark.

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