psyb0t Worm Infects DSL Modems & Routers
It was only a matter of time until the DSL modems and home (consumer) routers we all felt so safe about were the targets of attack. If you own a DSL modem or home router that uses Linux Mipsel as its firmware operating system, check out this PCMag.com item...
New Botnet Runs on DSL Modems and Routers
So, which routers use this Linux Mipsel? PCMag.com's article doesn't mention any. But, it looks like one of them might be the popular Linksys WRT54G wireless router based on this info:
Updating Adobe AIR in Linux
I don't use my dedicated Linux PC (running Fedora 10) as much as I used to a year or two ago. So, when I fired it up today to update Fedora and install Seesmic for Facebook, I found I also needed to update Adobe AIR from version 1.5 to 1.5.1. However, since I was logged in as an unpowered user (not root), AIR wouldn't auto update even if I su-ed to root and tried to run twhirl or Seesmic for Facebook to start the process. Here's what I ended up doing.
- Manually downloaded Adobe AIR 1.5.1 for Linux from the Get Adobe Air download page
- Open a terminal window
- su - to root (sudo on other Linux distros)
- cd (change directory) to where the AIR installer was downloaded
- chmod u+x AdobeAIRInstaller.bin
- Run the installer from the shell -> ./AdobeAIRInstaller.bin
The Adobe AIR installer detected the older version and asked if I wanted to install it. I clicked OK and the installation proceeded as expected.
Old GeForce FX 5200 Says Bye Bye
The old GeForce FX 5200 graphics board in my even older but reliable PC running Windows XP became unusable after years of service. You can see the first problem during the BIOS boot process where the GeForce boot info characters looks odd. Windows XP begins the boot process with its splash screen. But, it soon switches to a blank screen. Sometimes a screen of noise fills it up with an arrow cursor from XP. Other times, the screen just remains blank the LCD goes into sleep mode because it doesn't detect any signal. My guess is that corrosion of the solder points of one of the two graphic memory chips caused a short circuit. You can see the suspected culprit in the photo above.
I used the on-board graphics output to keep the PC running. However, after years of looking at the GeForce provided display, Windows XP looks horribly aliased and slow using the graphics chipset provided on the system board.
Video Demo: Microsoft Surface Table in Seattle Sheraton Lobby
The Seattle Sheraton Hotel has three Microsoft Surface tables in its lobby. They are configured to display visitor related information and are not as general purpose computers. I recorded the brief video above to demonstrate how information is displayed on manipulated on the Surface tables there.