I would like to thank Steve from GRC.com and security now from twit.tv for pointing this out to me.
Turns out the all might and all powerfull trustworthy microsoft has sneaked in the .net framework into a windows update, and get this, it installed itself into firefox!.
It installs the .net framework version 3.5 service pack 1, the ".net assistant" which allows for websites to easily and quitely install software!
Just wait thought, it gets worse, it can be installed under any user who can run windows update BUT cannot be removed by a standard user due to it being installed at the "machine level" to "allow use for all users", the uninstall button in forefox in DISABLED.
This IS a security hole, and it's not even their browser, oh and it's installed in the background and YOU can't uninstall it, they purposefully prevented the standard uninstall button.
Although, thank god, there is a KB article on howto re-enable the button although I warn you now, its not pretty.
See here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/963707
I am personally very very appauled at them doing this and I think it's a huge betrayal of our trust by a company that seems to continually push the benefits of enabling windows update, and yet they pull in a sneaky update, without user knowledge, into the biggest competing browser, and make it difficult to remove.
Cheers microsoft.
LONG LIVE FIREFOX.
Monday, June 8, 2009
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Hello world
So lately I have been learning C++ from the excellent tutorial available both online and as a pdf on cplusplus.com and have also been attending a local goju ryu karate class which I am absolutely loving, goju ryu incorporates body conditioning which is something I have never experienced before but I actually enjoy it.
Of course due to me learning C++ I have been slacking off in python and I have yet to find a system where I can use both equally.
Pyminer... at the moment it seems like a lost cause, I still really like the idea but it is one of those things that I am not sure if I can do it the exact way I have been doing so far.
This also means my contributions to the Grub project have ceased for the time being.
At MARS we have decided upon two projects, the one I am involved with is a cane for the visually impaired that will assist in mobility in one way or another, our ideas are currently towards the idea of navigation ie remembering a track / finding its way home and object detection to for mobility assistance in an urban environment.
Life has been quite hectic as of late and thus I have yet again slacked off on my blogging >.<
Of course due to me learning C++ I have been slacking off in python and I have yet to find a system where I can use both equally.
Pyminer... at the moment it seems like a lost cause, I still really like the idea but it is one of those things that I am not sure if I can do it the exact way I have been doing so far.
This also means my contributions to the Grub project have ceased for the time being.
At MARS we have decided upon two projects, the one I am involved with is a cane for the visually impaired that will assist in mobility in one way or another, our ideas are currently towards the idea of navigation ie remembering a track / finding its way home and object detection to for mobility assistance in an urban environment.
Life has been quite hectic as of late and thus I have yet again slacked off on my blogging >.<
Monday, March 2, 2009
No, I have not died.
Well after a far too long break from blogging, I decided(for the 10th+ time) to blog again..
For those not in the know, when I was a young boy (OK, younger) I used to watch some Gundam wing on Toonami on cartoon network, and then I discovered "adults swim" (at the age of say, 12) and stayed up many a countless night to watch the various shows upon it. Shows such as Gundam SEED, Full metal alchemist and cowboy bebop.
Those were good times, but being one not to stick to schedules very well, I missed most episodes, until I discovered a magical device passed down to us from heaven, namely, a DVD recorder with a built in hard rive (basically a Tito), and I never missed a show, well, never missed the last 4 shows as after that they stopped showing them :(
I spent years checking that same store, in hope such a collection would surface. Funnily enough, I went back two days ago, and they have "everything" aka: Neon genesis evangelion, full metal alchemist (part 2 only, have to get part 1 first), deathnote, and code geass. As if my sale had suddenly given them the motivation to suddenly stock up, they have this huge anime section, almost out of nowhere. I hope to purchase ALL the collectors editions for all the anime I enjoy, if not just for the sake of having a pretty box to hold the dvds to help me reminisce over the times.
I also rediscovered my PSP (original, now "fat" version) which has now become a portable media player.
Also, I have noticed I cannot last a day without using python, I write scripts for everything. Differential backup of my anime to an external hard drive, walking my anime directories and finding anime vidoes that I have yet converted into .mp4s (by checking them against the .mp4 directory) and then converting them with the appropriate flags for a psp via ffmpeg.
- Doing some work on the grub project (see grub.org),
- Learning [READ: re-learning] chess, and teaching my girlfriend to play,
- Thinking about how I should really get back into blogging,
- Mastering the way of the mocha using my espresso machine, ahh, mans greatest creation,
- Watching a little bit of anime [READ: ALOT!] namely:
- Gundam SEED - finished
- Gundam SEED Destiny - started
- Code geass - finished
- Code geass r2 - started
- Deathnote - started
- Ghost in the shell: stand alone complex - started
- Full metal alchemist - started
- Neon genesis evangelion - trying to start
For those not in the know, when I was a young boy (OK, younger) I used to watch some Gundam wing on Toonami on cartoon network, and then I discovered "adults swim" (at the age of say, 12) and stayed up many a countless night to watch the various shows upon it. Shows such as Gundam SEED, Full metal alchemist and cowboy bebop.
Those were good times, but being one not to stick to schedules very well, I missed most episodes, until I discovered a magical device passed down to us from heaven, namely, a DVD recorder with a built in hard rive (basically a Tito), and I never missed a show, well, never missed the last 4 shows as after that they stopped showing them :(
I spent years checking that same store, in hope such a collection would surface. Funnily enough, I went back two days ago, and they have "everything" aka: Neon genesis evangelion, full metal alchemist (part 2 only, have to get part 1 first), deathnote, and code geass. As if my sale had suddenly given them the motivation to suddenly stock up, they have this huge anime section, almost out of nowhere. I hope to purchase ALL the collectors editions for all the anime I enjoy, if not just for the sake of having a pretty box to hold the dvds to help me reminisce over the times.
I also rediscovered my PSP (original, now "fat" version) which has now become a portable media player.
Also, I have noticed I cannot last a day without using python, I write scripts for everything. Differential backup of my anime to an external hard drive, walking my anime directories and finding anime vidoes that I have yet converted into .mp4s (by checking them against the .mp4 directory) and then converting them with the appropriate flags for a psp via ffmpeg.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Digg support now in pyminer
Last night I decided I needed to add one of the most important features to pyminer, digg support.
Turns out a module has been written to allow the use of the digg API from within python, saved me ALOT of work. The module can be found here: http://code.google.com/p/pydigg/
The reason why I think the addition of digg support is quite imporant is made up of a few smaller points, digg is the first news-related addition to pyminer, now supported news, forums and email. So it is getting near the desired level of support. Also, the digg community as a whole is very large. Larger than most single communities as the digg community itself is a collection of "everyone" from many different interested fields, and thus supporting digg now offers usefull feautures to a much greater audience.
I hope to also slap in some slashdot support, and maybe find a "general" news site and add that to. But soon I will have to start working on the RSS and GUI side of things, RSS probably coming first.
I'd just like to end this with another thanks to "derekvv" the programmer behind pydigg, his blog can be found here
Turns out a module has been written to allow the use of the digg API from within python, saved me ALOT of work. The module can be found here: http://code.google.com/p/pydigg/
The reason why I think the addition of digg support is quite imporant is made up of a few smaller points, digg is the first news-related addition to pyminer, now supported news, forums and email. So it is getting near the desired level of support. Also, the digg community as a whole is very large. Larger than most single communities as the digg community itself is a collection of "everyone" from many different interested fields, and thus supporting digg now offers usefull feautures to a much greater audience.
I hope to also slap in some slashdot support, and maybe find a "general" news site and add that to. But soon I will have to start working on the RSS and GUI side of things, RSS probably coming first.
I'd just like to end this with another thanks to "derekvv" the programmer behind pydigg, his blog can be found here
Sunday, February 1, 2009
When is, and when is not, the customer always right
A bit of old news, but interesting non-the-less.
It appears a fellow caffeine "lover" (to put it lightly) when ordering his coffee the way he wants it (3 shots of express over ice) was told that his order was inconsistent with store policy and that his order could not be fulfilled. He then proceeded to order a cup of ice and another with his desired espresso shots, he then was told that this was "not okay" as he made his drink his way, himself.
He then did what the modern age consumer would, blog about it. His post can be found here
He even left them a tip, with a not-so-polite message on the bill :)
Photos on his blog post.
The coffee shop owner posted a reply here
And albeit over, this is a great testament to the power of the blogosphere.
It seems as this modern-age war comes to a close, there is a question for all of us.
Is the customer always right when paying top-dollar for a cup of coffee, or should store policy dictate how the customer can drink his drink.
It is obvious the store owner has a right to maintain and defend his store policy, but at the end of the day would it not have been better to make a recommendation along the lines "we highly recommend that you in fact order blah blah because ya ya" as opposed to forcing the customer to come to the same result via somewhat unorthodox means.
The store owner himself expressed a valid concern that if a customer was allowed to order a express over ice, said customer could then add milk available at the dairy bar, thus creating their own iced latte at a under-store price.
Is it possible for both parties, to an extend, to be correct.
For some reason, it turns out that the washington post also got involved... here
More importantly, how many customers went and ordered 3 expresso shots over ice just for laughs?
It appears a fellow caffeine "lover" (to put it lightly) when ordering his coffee the way he wants it (3 shots of express over ice) was told that his order was inconsistent with store policy and that his order could not be fulfilled. He then proceeded to order a cup of ice and another with his desired espresso shots, he then was told that this was "not okay" as he made his drink his way, himself.
He then did what the modern age consumer would, blog about it. His post can be found here
He even left them a tip, with a not-so-polite message on the bill :)
Photos on his blog post.
The coffee shop owner posted a reply here
And albeit over, this is a great testament to the power of the blogosphere.
It seems as this modern-age war comes to a close, there is a question for all of us.
Is the customer always right when paying top-dollar for a cup of coffee, or should store policy dictate how the customer can drink his drink.
It is obvious the store owner has a right to maintain and defend his store policy, but at the end of the day would it not have been better to make a recommendation along the lines "we highly recommend that you in fact order blah blah because ya ya" as opposed to forcing the customer to come to the same result via somewhat unorthodox means.
The store owner himself expressed a valid concern that if a customer was allowed to order a express over ice, said customer could then add milk available at the dairy bar, thus creating their own iced latte at a under-store price.
Is it possible for both parties, to an extend, to be correct.
For some reason, it turns out that the washington post also got involved... here
More importantly, how many customers went and ordered 3 expresso shots over ice just for laughs?
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