Hacked iPhone users, Get Over It!

Why are hacked iPhone users upset that their iphone no longer works? You had a legitimate iPhone with legitimate software. You took your software and hacked it to run a different network. Apple updated their LEGITIMATE software so their LEGITIMATE software would work better, and your phone got "Bricked". Where is the problem here? Don't blame Apple for your fancy new paperweight. Blame the hackers that tried to make a quick buck at Apple's expense.

China Blog Voting! YAY!

While I'm on this posting kick today, I'll add one more quickie to the blogosphere. Head on over to Chinalyst and check out the voting for blogs. You won't find Colourwolf there, but there's a few blogs there that could use a Plus Sign clicked; namely, Yellow Wings, My Laowai & Sinocidal (who's already far ahead of the pack!)

"Why no ColourWolf?" you may ask. It's quite simple. I'd rather be playing Civilization 4.


Sid Meier! My hero!

Denial of Service Attack

The Hong Kong server has been under heavy fire from hackers using a Denial of Service attack. This basically means that someone somewhere managed to flood the server with useless packets, thereby filling it & rendering the computer useless. If you want to see YOUR packets, click on "Local Area Connections" while connected, and you can see how many packets your computer picked up while on the internet.

For more, read the links below.

http://www.cert.org/tech_tips/denial_of_service.html
http://anonymouse.org/cgi-bin/anon-www.cgi/http://en.wikipedia.org/wik i/Denial-of-service_attack

What does this mean for my new company? Nothing aside from I can't access the Server Control Panel to remove the newest SPAM attacks on JinanLIVE (that's a different story). So far, we've steered clear of the DoS attack, thankfully. However, not all sites have. I know of two companies in particular who are probably seriously sweating things now.

My new server company (www.terascape.net - not yet started) is running from one of those companies in Hong Kong. However, this doesn't mean I'm not going through them for service. If anything after the latest round of DoS attacks (also hitting GoDaddy.com & a few other major companies) the attacks will probably get them in gear for future attacks.

If you're a geek, you'll know what I'm going on about. As a geek, even I know only HALF of what I'm going about. The more technology advances, the more of a pain in the arse it becomes.

China Internet and Communications Crash

Well, there you have it. Those of us stuck inside the Great Firewall are now even more stuck, as the Taiwan strait that linked China's internet to the outside world has been severed by a massive earthquake. Shanghai Daily & CCTV (Central China Television) reported that it could be down for up to three weeks. This is NOT good for China nor it's aspirations to be a world power.

Billions of dollars have been spent by foreign companies & investors to locate to here in Shanghai and other parts of China, using it as their gateway to the west. These businesses rely on access to the outside world, whether it be their massive customer databases or communications with offices in other countries. What should happen if they're suddenly stricken with no means of internet communication? Let's just say these investors won't be too happy, and the market is bound to show.

IT people (including myself) have been scrambling for ways to get around this new blockage, but so far little to nothing has reared its head in hope. Places like anonymouse.org are out of reach. Other proxies are slow (including the one I'm using just to post this.) My own sites are now inaccessible from China for the time being, and I've suddenly dropped from 200 spam mails to about 5 per day. Though that last bit may not be so bad.

Shanghai Daily is offering this bit of hope now. Though with any news from China, consider the source. Note the quote, "China's Taiwan Island".

The article also mentions "Parallelism" being important in communications routes into China & the rest of Asia.

"People will start to say we can't let this happen again," according to Frank Dzubeck, president of Communications Networks Architects, a DC consultancy. "The issue here is parallelism, you've really got to have multiple paths. You can't lay all the cables in the same place." What I think old Frank is really trying to say is, "Duh! I told you this would happen!"

So for the time being, if you want to say "hi" until this mess is fixed, the one email that IS working but still has no guarantee that your message will get through, is ejones@astonschool.com. This server is based out of Hong Kong and has yet to be affected inside China. Everything else, most likely your emails will be received in about 3 weeks or so, if the amount of spam doesn't crash my entire server.

Welcome to China!!! Happy Everyday!!!

Linux

Today marks my first step toward migrating to Linux. I've tried a few times to download/burn a copy of Ubuntu but to no avail (basically because Chinese blank disks are no better than frisbees.) This weekend, Greg got me a copy and I did my install today on the D-drive of my desktop computer. First time in, and I'm completely lost! But that's the fun part... learning a whole new program, while at the same time, getting ready for the future.

"Future?" you ask. "Well..." I respond. From what this techie hears, even the microsoft programmers aren't too thrilled with Windows Vista. Several Blogs mention this (sorry no links yet) and with the usual tearing apart of Windows in general that goes on in the press, I can only imagine their days are numbered.

Here in China, that won't be the case for awhile. People here still believe that ASP is far superior to PHP. Some Chinese web designers "claim" and I stress the word "claim" that PHP simply doesn't work with Chinese. I got 7 words for them... www dot yahoo dot com dot cn. Looks pretty Chinese to me and it's based on PHP.

Regardless, it's time for a slow migration over to Linux, if only to learn. "Prometheus" my laptop & primary computer isn't switching anytime soon. However, "Epimetheus" is now sporting the latest Ubuntu, Edgy!