Blogging India

Hello all,

One of my blogging pals forwarded this YouTube video to me, and I thought that it conveyed a very important message, rather than just being hilarious. Go ahead, and watch it, and scroll down for my comments, and after reading, please do add your own comments.

Yes, I know it was damn hilarious. It was fun to relate to most of the stuff said in the video, and glimpse back like baboons and exclaim "Oh my God, thats pretty amazing true!".

But did you get the final point? The video, like many of its predecessors, are questioning whether Web 2.0 is a bubble which could just break like that. From what we’ve seen so far – the rapid expansion – it could certainly be a bubble which could break at any moment. But how could it break?

Either, something major like a 9/11 could happen again, bringing about a paradigm shift of technology and cause the bubble to burst. Or, Web 2.0 might give way for something more radical and dynamic. Or even a massive discovery in terms of hardware could bring about a shift.

What do you think? Is what we see and use everyday, Web 2.0, a bubble? If so, what will cause it to burst – economy? War? Development? Technology? Post in your comments through the comments field.

Adios until ma next

[tags]web 2.0, new media, web 2.0 bubble, video, fun[/tags]

Files missing?
My Computer not opening?
Programs not opening?
Installations not occurring?
Task Manager not opening?
System deadly slow?

If your case can be matched with the conditions given above, in all probability, you’ve got the Autoit.BD worm, better known by a file it deposits in your C:\ drive, Funny UST Scandal.avi.exe. Pretty annoying. Almost nothing you can do. Only NOD32 v3 with updates can detect this trouble maker worm. Kaspersky can detect, but cannot remove. AVG, Norton, Avast! – all don’t even detect the virus.

Wait! Don’t format your system yet! Its a pretty simple virus to remove, and won’t take more than 10 minutes. It is recommended that you start up in Safe Mode before you do the following steps to remove the virus -

[scroll down for a file which automates all this]

1. Download and install TaskKiller (326 KB freeware). We’re doing this because we need to remove a few tasks running, and Windows Task Manager (Alt + Ctrl + Del) gets killed by the virus
2. Run Task Killer, and a red skull icon will appear on the system tray
3. Left click it, and click Processes
4. Select to kill these processes –
   • killer.exe
   • lsass.exe
   • smss.exe
5. Now open up Command Prompt (Start>Run>command). Type each command and press Enter to run it –
   • cd\
   • attrib -h -s smss.exe
   • attrib -h -s autorun.inf
     [NOTE : Type each command exactly as its given here]
6. Open My Computer and go to C:\ or whichever partition in which you’ve installed Windows.
7. Delete the following files –
   • smss.exe
   • autorun.inf
   • Funny UST Scandal.avi.exe
8. Go to Command Prompt again. Run this command –
   • attrib -h -s smss.exe
9. Go to C:\Windows or wherever else you’ve installed Windows, and delete the file smss.exe.
10. Now, go to C:\Documents and Settings\All users\Startmenu\Programs\Startup and delete the file lsass.exe.
11. Open Registry Editor (Start>Run>regedit)
12. Delete the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\
    Microsoft\WindowNT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon=shell(killer.exe
13. Delete the key  HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\
    Microsoft\windows\Currentversion\Run=runonce(c:\windows\smss.exe)
14. You’re done!

OR, you can just download a remover file : Download Autoit.BD remover

• After downloading, unzip, and run the exe file.
• Then, do the steps 11, 12 and 13 as mentioned above.
• You’re done

Thanks to fs6519 for recommending these steps, and making the remover file.

I hope that this post was useful. Cheers

[tags]autoit.bd, worm, funny UST scandal, fs6519, removal, worm removal, virus removal, installation stopping, task manager not opening, smss.exe, Funny UST Scandal.avi.exe [/tags]

Hello all,

I found this rather curious little thing while I was browsing about a week back. I was searching for something in Google, and it was something rather hard to find, so I thought of searching for it in Google Groups and News. So I scrolled to the top of the Google search page, where the little links to Google Images Search, Google News Search, Google Scholar Search and other Google utility searches were displayed.

To my surprise, there was a link to Orkut(Orkut is the social networking website owned by Google)! This particular link took me to an Orkut search page for what I searched. I was logged in to Orkut at that time, and thats why it showed me the search page. When I logged out, and searched, and clicked Orkut again, the usual log in page appeared.

But the interesting point is that, Google either thinks that Orkut has useful material, or it wants to drive traffic to its Social Networking site. It is most probably the latter, since most of the content on Orkut are either highly personal (and useless for a 3rd person, unless he’s studying customer psychology) or extremely spammy. Most of the communities I’ve been to so far, barring a single one on Indian stock exchange updates, are notoriously spam filled, thus presenting nothing search-worthy.

Then we have to question – why is Google going so orkutty?  A few of my observations -

• Information contained in Orkut is highly useless to any person searching for something conrete
• Orkut communities are extremely spam filled – thus leading to incorrect information
• Orkut communities harbour many illegal activities, like hacking/phising attempts
• Thus, presenting Orkut search as an option in Google search destroys the search engine’s credibility by providing highly incorrect search results.
• Google, by putting in the Orkut link, is trying to get more visitors to sign up at Orkut, thereby providing more income to Google

So finally, we have to ask a few questions… Is Google compromising on search quality to drive forward its products? Isn’t Google thus creating an unfair advantage for Orkut over other social networking websites? Isn’t Google misleading people to click on the Orkut search link, and thus making them sign up?

Unfortunately, we do not have answers. Hopefully, a Googler will see this post, and send me a rather flighty email But until then folks, ciao, take care

[tags]orkut, orkut search, google, google search, decreasing google, google standards, orkut information, google news[/tags]

Hello all,

Facebook, the popular social networking website, has introduced a new type human verification system – using phone numbers to verify your "humanness" ( ) permanently, rather than using a CAPTCHA every single time.

Earlier, like in most other websites, you needed to enter a CAPTCHA code (an image verification system) for every single "questionable" action you took. This could get to be quite annoying, as a person will have to strain his eyes to read the scrambled text displayed by the image. And it also takes away precious time. Thus, an alternative had to be brought in soon.

Facebook has seemingly pioneered this alternative. They have introduced verification by phone. i.e. Instead of the CAPTCHA, you can confirm your phone number, and get rid of CAPTCHAs on Facebook for ever.

You’ll be asked to enter your mobile number, along with your country code. A message containing a verification code is SMSed to your mobile phone, which has to be entered in Facebook. And voila, bye bye CAPTCHA!

V

V

I don’t know how long this system has been existence, but it sure wasn’t there a couple of weeks back. This is a pretty good alternative to CAPTCHA, but gives rise to questions about privacy.

Also, the question arises – why can’t CAPTCHA be one time? If phone verification can be one time, why not CAPCTHA? The idea behind CAPTCHA at every step is to prevent bots from being unleashed after a human sign up.  Now, with phone verification, a bot creator (Homo sapien sapien) could sign up, verify using his mobile phone, and let loose the bots of hell! Facebook will have to look into this factor.

Anyway, most of the Facebook users will opt for the mobile verification, since it get rids of CAPTCHA permanently, a great relief while posting URLs or adding friends.

[tags]facebook, captcha, verification, mobile verification, phone verification, sms verification, verification code, captcha alternative[/tags]

Hi all,

I was planning up a few reviews to start off my new blogging spree, but today morning, my curiosity was questioned by a very particular spam mail which formed part of the few hundreds I get every day, thankfully filtered by Gmail. The reason for me checking the mail out before clicking "Delete All" was that it was addressed to my college email id.

On checking it out, I found that the ’spamsters’ were getting better at their trade! Of course, the story line was the usual one – stash of cash found, deposited, want your help to retrieve, 40% of the cash for you… But what was interesting was that they had quoted the BBC for the source of cash, and had given a link to a BBC news report in 2003.

He said that he had found $650million from Late Mr Saddam Hussien’s home. The incident was for real, though BBC hadn’t reported that it came from Hussien’s home (which must be a farce anyway!).

The BBC article quoted was http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2988455.stm .

And the mail is as follows -

Hello, My name is Jean Malik, employed to work in Iraq as a language translator. I am attached to 1st BN, 68th Amour Reg, 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry as an interpreter. As you aware, we were being attacked everyday by insurgents through hostile fire and car bombs.

SOURCE OF FUNDS: In April 2003, I and some other crew members in my team discovered $650M USD in Saddam Hussein’s palace. In the process of cross-checking the funds, I and my unit head managed to move away a total sum of US$12 Million dollars cash out of the $650MUSD, mostly 100-dollar bills and was quickly flown out of the war zone as a military cargo. The cargo was later disguised and declared as personal military effects before it was flown to Europe where it is now deposited in an undisclosed FINANCE, SECURITY & TRUST COMPANY. You can as well click on the site below for more details about the source of the funds. The site will give you a bit of idea of our operation and how I came about the fund though the security & finance company where the cash consignments are deposited is not aware of all this information. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2988455.stm Unfortunately, my colleagues lost their dear life through hostile fire from the wicked Iraqi insurgents.

I therefore seek your partnership in claiming and receiving the cash consignments from the finance and security firm where the cash consignments are deposited for safety for possible investments on viable businesses of mutual beneficial interest. I will take 60% while you are going to be entitled to 40% for your participation and assistance. I wish to inform you also that it is my fervent wish to leave the United Kingdom as soon as we successfully and smoothly conclude the transaction. Upon your response, I will send you the full details of the Security & Trust Company in whose custody the funds are lodged as well as the modalities of claiming and receiving the cash consignments. But you must assure me and demonstrate it that you can be trusted as I need your unwavering assurances. I am presently in the United Kingdom where I am presently receiving treatment due to injuries sustained after our convoy came under heavy fire in a suburb area of Baghdad.

Please reconfirm your full names, address and direct phone number immediately so that I can submit the information to the finance firm where the cash consignments are deposited for change/transfer of ownership in your favour to enable you claim and receive the funds. I promise you that there is no risk on both sides as far as you follow my instructions and take my advice. The transaction will be concluded under a legitimate arrangement. Please reply to ||||TEXThidden|||@yahoo.fr Respectfully yours, Malik

Interesting isn’t it? They thought that by quoting a real BBC article, he could get out of the spam filter and actually force an idiot to send them an email with all his/her details. But the moral of this post is that, we should be more careful. If they can quote reliable sources like BBC, they can very soon change the storyline to something we haven’t yet encountered. And if they use a verified email address, then Gmail won’t be able to track it. Nor will other spam filters. Which means it could reach out inbox, and convince us.

So best thing to do to guard yourself is to not trust anything which does not come from people you know. If strangers ask you for details, never comply. Even if your friends ask you to send your personal information to a unknown email address, without ample reason, refuse to do so, since the friend’s email could very well be the work of a virus or a bot.

Cheers to a great weekend… Uh, Sunday….

[tags]spam, BBC, advanced spam, spam quoting BBC, protection, spam protection[/tags]

Hi all,

This is the age of information. We get all information we require at the click of a few buttons or keys. And this information age lead to the rise of online news portals like Google News, Yahoo! News etc.  These portals enabled live access to news, from anywhere in the world, for free!

Yes, we’ve seen, experienced, and enjoyed the various news services… So when Arun started talking about Taazza during the BarCampBangalore5, held at IIM B, I thought I was in for a boring 1 hour… Boy, way I wrong!!!

Taazza, I found, as did the 30 others in the room, was not just a news portal, but it was a news portal of our dreams! Taazza combined a jazzy, Web 2.0, live look with hard hitting news organised and presented in a refreshingly new manner!

Fresh News, Refreshing Perspective. Their tag line proudly says. And I’ve got to admit, its pretty right! The service is updated as soon as one of the hundreds of news websites are updated. With a unique algorithm, they have taken into consideration several factors which define which story should come first.

The news has been tagged as Places, People and Quotes. This is one of the highlights of Taazza. Its pretty cool to do research! Imagine you have a story with, say, Mr Osama Bin Laden. But you’re a beginner, and you don’t know who Osama is. So, when you’re reading the story on Osama, you see in the People tab, "Osama Bin Laden". Click on that link, and it takes you to a page with background material on the person, previous stories, and pictures. How cool is that?!!

But you’ve think you’ve seen it all? Wait till you experience the Newsmap view! Click on the small icon with two rectangular boxes( ), and experience the master of all views! Experience the joy of reading a newspaper, just as it is, but in a live form, with the most relevant headlines selected automatically and placed according to relevance. You get news accurate to 2 minutes. You get references to blogs, to Wikis, to social networking sites. All mighty fast, thanks to their back end based on Ruby On Rails.

So what do you think? Why don’t you go ahead and check it out? Leave them a few comments as well! They’re planning to introduce new features, include personalisation, and start a web forum. I say, HatsOff to the Taazza team!

[tags]taazza, news, news portal, refreshing perspective, india news[/tags]

Good morning all,

I’m writing this as a continuation to my Domain Name Realtors series. Josh Catone takes it from Associated Press that Whois searches might be soon retired by ICANN. Whois searches, if you don’t already know, enables anyone on the net to search for the details of an owner of a particular website.

I’ve picked out certain statements by Catone -

Privacy advocates in favor of shutting down the database feel that individuals should not be forced to give out private information — which is then potentially available to spammers or scam artists — in order to register a domain name on the Internet. Those who want to keep the Whois database operational, feel that it is a valuable tool for doing business and making sure you know who you are dealing with.

And AP -

Law-enforcement officials and Internet service providers use it to fight fraud and hacking. Lawyers depend on it to chase trademark and copyright violators. Journalists rely on it to reach Web site owners. And spammers mine it to send junk mailings for Web site hosting and other services.

Now lets examine this…

If Whois shuts down, then we’ll be left with no option to find out the details of the owner of a domain name. The privacy of a domain owner will be guaranteed.  But it will also mean that there is now way of tracking down owners of illegal websites. It will be good and bad for domain name realtors. The realtors will not be able to form a pattern of domain names based on the previous ones obtained by a particular person. But it will be good in the sense that no one will be able to track down a particular realtor, who happens to be the owner of many domains. He can deny being a realtor.

Another implication is the complete privacy of anyone starting a website. No one will know the details of the owner, until and unless he/she himself/herself decides to reveal it. Pretty neat eh? Terrorists are going to have a ball

Now what COULD be done, is that the amount of information revealed to public searchers be limited to name and email. Or make Whois a membership device – with only paid members being able to search. A total shut down of the Whois database will mean utter chaos, and heaven knows what.

Lets hope ICANN is reading…

[tags]WHOIS, ICANN, Whois shut down[/tags]

Sequel to :

1) http://www.bloggingindia.net/2007/10/23/domain-realtors-the-doom-of-the-internet/
2) http://www.bloggingindia.net/2007/10/25/domain-name-realtors-part-2-snip-from-washingtonpost-icann-sniffs-into-domain-name-front-running/

Hi all,
In my previous posts, I had mentioned how many establishments were realting domains (domain name front running). I had also examined how ICANN was probing into the issue a few days after my first post. Now today, I decided to focus on why this was happening.

This idea was actually pitched by Chip in his blog Chips Quips.

My anarcho-capitalist side says that the fact they can get more for the domain names means that the standard prices are artifically low — the same principle as scalping tickets.

That is something which we need to examine. Domain names are so underpriced that anyone can buy them these days. They cost only $8 and sometimes, even more cheaper. Anyone with a small Paypal account, or credit card, can buy a domain. It takes only around 1 minute to register a domain.

Thus, anyone can afford to do it. Since there are no explanations required, its pretty easy and uncomplicated. Thus, these so called domain name realtors can afford to buy domains in bulk – maybe around 100 or 200 domains…

Yes, the low cost ensures that anyone with a little tech background and low capital can enter the web market. But it also promotes such unethical activities.

So what can be done?

• Increase the price of the domain. But I don’t think this will be too effective since domains can’t be overpriced. Unless they are priced at around $30, the scam wont stop.
• Increase the investment required. This again will not help out low capital starters. This means that the domain resellers can put in a condition – a domain has to be bought for atleast 3-4 years. Which means a higher capital. Scammers wont be able to afford this.
• The best probable method is to restrict the selling of domains and transferring of owners. i.e. Reselling should be possible only after a specified time period, after buying the domain. The time period can be around 6 months to one year. This will pretty effectively spoil the activities of all domain name realtors and domain name front runners. They buy domains, and quickly resell them. They can’t wait for half a year! Especially front runners, who usually do their unethical business in a few days or a week. Meanwhile, it wont affect the low capital starters, since most of them keep a domain atleast for a year. After all, its just $8. But the domain realtors buy in bulk, and they cant have 1000 domains sitting idle for a year before they can sell them!
• And another possible, or rather add on, way is to introduce Explanations while buying a domain. The buyer should explain why he needs the domain, and for what purpose, and it should be approved by the dealer. Of course, if the buyer uses it for illegal purposes, he/she can be deleted, and if it was with the knowledge of the dealer, the dealer can also be dismissed. This will ensure greater security as well.
• Reviewing of the explanations, buyer address and buyer phone number, and buyer email address should be done.

Well, thats it from my side. ICANN, hope you’re listening out there!

Cheers, and please DIGG this post if you approve of the idea

[tags]domain name, domains, realtors, realting, ICANN, domain name front running[/tags]

Hi all,
    I’m sure that all of us must have, at some time or the other, wanted to download a YouTube video. We were reduced to stupid ad-filled add ons in Firefox which were rather slow, and usually ended up messing downloads. But it was just a matter of time ladies and gentlemen. Now we have a brand new service called KissYouTube which features the easiest and most versatile way to download YouTube videos.

    KissYouTube is different since it has the most userfriendly, easy and stable method of downloading YouTube files. And how exactly do you do it?

• Browse to the clip you want to download in YouTube (eg: The India Pakistan World Twenty20 Bowl Out clip – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wa4m5J6mgm8)
• Append the url with a “kiss” in front of you tube. (in the above example, http://www.kissyoutube.com/watch?v=Wa4m5J6mgm8)
• Click Download Now and save as a .flv file.

                      OR

• Get the URL of the clip you want to download (eg : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wa4m5J6mgm8)
• Go to www.kissyoutube.com and paste the URL into the YouTube URL box and click Go
• Repeat Step 3 in the 1st method

    As simple as that and you have your YouTube video all downloaded and ready Have fun!

[tags]youtube, video, download, kissyoutube, video download, free youtube video download[/tags]

Hello all,
    On Monday, McAfee SiteAdvisor released a research on the the number of risky internet sites shown by the Top 5 search engines, namely, Yahoo, Google, AOL, MSN, and Ask.com. This research was published at ZDnet News and they report that Yahoo turned out to be the riskiest, while AOL, the safest.

    McAfee compiled over 2300 of the most popular keywords, and checked it against these 5 search engines, in both sponsored results and organic(normal search results) results.

    The riskiness of a site is calculated by McAfee using several variables such as, browser exploits, e-mail, downloads, scams, annoyances (such as pop-ups), and links to other such sites. Almost 8.2 million websites were analyzed.

    McAfee reported that while the “riskiness” of Google, Ask and AOL had decreased from 2006, it had increased for MSN and Yahoo.

    And like expected, sponsored results were almost 3 times as unsafe as normal results.

    The meaning is clear. Be on your guard…

[tags]McAfee, risky, yahoo risky, McAfee SiteAdvisor, risky internet sites, McAfee research, website safety, Search engine safety[/tags]