HackNBlog @ Salamanteri Server

I believe most here have already read about Google starting up an operating system of their own, Chrome OS to compete with Windows as their next project. I’ll share some of my feelings about good, bad and the futile related to this hopefully neat project.

Google Chrome OS is an open source, lightweight operating system that will initially be targeted at netbooks. Google want’s to provide users with an OS that boots up lightning fast and ready for web in seconds from switching power on. They want the system not to clutter up but always run as fast as anew. They want to provide an OS where there is no fuss and fighting with new hardware, configuring the system (that usually needs knowledge below the average) and no updates that break things or change&confuse the user interface. This all sounds good - and it also already sound familiar.

Gathered not from Chrome OS official blog but from a zdnet blog entry, let’s check some known facts:

• It runs on top of Linux kernel.
• It will boot directly into the Chrome Web browser
• It will be aimed primarily at netbooks
• It will run on both x86 and ARM processors
• It will not be designed to have local storage; all data will be stored in the cloud
• Google will not entice developers to build software to run on the Chrome OS; instead, they want them to build Web apps that will run on any standards-based browser
• The three most important features will be “speed, simplicity and security”, according to Google
• Google will release the software to the open source community before the end of 2009
• Announced Chrome OS hardware partners: Acer, Adobe, ASUS, Freescale, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, and Toshiba.
• Netbooks running Chrome OS will be available in the second half of 2010

I just got some new video files but instead of divx packed inside .avi they came in .mvb files unknown to me. Trying to view them with xine I was surprised that I did not have a correct codec installed and revealed that the format was RealVideo (RV40).

I was so blinded by the thought that I should have almost any possible commonly known codec installed that I spent several apt-cache searches by looking for something else and completely missing on packet - which I then spotted and was humbled by the fact I had forgotten to install it. The command I needed to get it work was simply:
apt-get install w32codecs So never fool yourself, even though your guru mind should know all the switches and gears to make a steampunk computer tick, you might still miss the most obvious package for whatever problem you bump into :)

Last sunday I was at Machinae Supremacy concert. The show was great, but hey, what else than pure awesomeness could result from combining good metal music with niiice SID sounds from good ole Commodore 64?

Machinae Supremacy Elite T-shirt

So go now, you can find some of their songs available for download right from their website at www.machinaesupremacy.com - or you can go to thepiratebay.org and download them via bittorrent. The last option may or may not be legal in you country but what the heck, the guys who make the music not only approve it, they encourage people to do this!

Other than that I also bought a cool T-shirt (the one on the right, linked to Machinae Supremacy online shop catalog). I love it :)

Now there seems to be a similiar new case in Facebook. It seems like te send a fake message from one of your friends showing your firends name and picture and a link to a video. Opening link seems like YouTube but has a message in middle of screen telling that you need to install new version or Adobe Flash Player.

Cliking on install will however not update Flash but instead instead a new version of Koobface worm. This worm is also spread on MySpace and, unlike the last one I posted about, on Friendster.

Koobface will let black hats to run commands on infected computers. Naturally this will only be a problem for Windows users as the worm cant infect other OS’s but according to stast of my blog quite a few visitors I get are using a Windows system so I decided it to be best to warn people again.

There is more information about this on security site TrendMicro and on F-Secure Malware Information Pages.

I decided it best to inform MySpace and/or FaceBook users about a new nasty malware spreading trough messages seeming to come from the users friend. I found this information from another blog, but here’s a quote from there:

The messages look like they contain links to video clips. When clicked on they prompt the recipient to download an executable file that purports to be the latest version of Flash Player. Instead, it is the worm itself, infecting yet another victim.

Go read the whole article from Dan Morrils IT security blog.

Ok, once again I got pissed off by corporate fuckheads… Check this news article out:
Sony BMG’s chief anti-piracy lawyer: “Copying music you own is stealing”

…those greedy bastards wont be satisfied by defining every kid who copies a song or two from a friend a thief - no, the new definition by Jennifer Pariser, “the head of litigation for Sony BMG” is that “When an individual makes a copy of a song for himself, I suppose we can say he stole a song.” Making “a copy” of a purchased song is just “a nice way of saying ’steals just one copy’,”.

So now they are claiming that when you buy a CD, you can’t copy a song from the CD to your MP3 player - if you want to listen a song on your home stereos and in your MP3 player you would have to buy two separate copies of the same song! Of course while making a backups of data you have on your computer you should make sure that you wont make backup copies of the songs you have purchased in MP3 format - in this twats dreams that is!
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