August 2008 Archives

Finally, I bought Wii Fit With Balance Board from Bestbuy Burnaby store.
Gary, my co-worker, told me that Bestbuy has Wii Fit 11 o'clock last Friday. We check the Bestbuy website. It looks they still have some.

I drove there and ask the Bestbuy staff in the entrance of the store. He pointed to the Return and Service counter. We headed there, saw about 15 Wii Fit on the floor behind the counter.

I bought one, Gary bought one.
It costed me $111.99 including tax.

I use D-Link WBR-1310 as a sample to show you the 6 steps to protect your home wireless network.

1. Enable Encryption

* WEP (Wired Equivalent Protection) 64-bit and 128-bit: WEP is an old wireless encryption standard. Never use WEP encryption, which can be hacked within seconds.
* WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access): WPA-PSK is also refered as WPA-Personal. This is a new version of wireless encryption standard and more secure than WEP. Most of the wireless adapters on your laptop will support WPA.
* WPA2: This is the latest wireless encryption standard that provides the best encryption. Always use WPA2, if both your wireless router and laptop wireless adapter supports it.
SETUP > WIRELESS SETTINGS >, WEP part. It has WPA2 too.

2. Change the SSID name

SSID (Service Set Identifier) refers to the name of your wireless connection, that you see on the "Available Wireless Connections" list from your laptop while connecting.
SETUP > WIRELESS SETTINGS >, Wireless Network Settings part.

3. Disable SSID broadcast

You can avoid your wireless name from getting displayed on "Available Wireless Connections" on all your neighbors laptop.
Check the picture above. You can choose the "Enable Hidden Wireless".

To upgrade Webmin, you need a webmin installation on the Linux first. :)

Say, from your desktop browser, enter https://yourlinuxbox:10000
It is security connection.

Then, do if as below:
To have updates installed automatically, go to the Webmin Configuration module, click on Upgrade Webmin and use the form in the Update Modules section.

The latest version of Webmin is 1.430

I have a Shaw Cable High Speed Internet at home.

It has following features.
# Up to 5 Mbps download speed
# Up to 512 Kbps upload speed
# 60 GB/month data transfer
# 10 Personal email accounts
# 7 No Cost Extras
# Up to two IP addresses**
# 24/7/365 technical assistance

I tested the speed with my D-Link WUA-1340 Wireless G USB 2.0 Adapter.
Download Speed 4.7Mbps,
Upload Speed 449kbps,
Ping 92ms.

Sounds OK with Shaw's commitment.
The test tools is provided by Shaw Cable.

To have a more fair speed test results, I tried the third party online tool.

To improve my home network and let the cable simple, I bought a D-Link WUA-1340 Wireless G USB 2.0 Adapter yesterday.
It took me $30.00 plus tax from Staples.

If is WIFI certified.

It includs cradle.

The setup steps below:
1) Install Driver first.

2) Plug the WUA-1340 adapter in any USB 2.0 port.
If the Found New Hardware Wizard appears, click Cancel.

3) Enter the SSID, or network name.

4) Enter the WEP key.

5) Finish and the wireless connection established.

Note: If every thing is correct, the network connection does not work, please check the WEP key type. You have to choose Open or Share, depands on your wireless router setting.

A lot of people receive the marketing phone call at dinner time. It is un-welcome.
So they apply for the Do Not Call service.

Do Not Call registers are lists of people who do not wish to receive telephone calls from telemarketing organizations. They have been set up under government acts which provide for breaching penalties and are administered and maintained by government bodies.

From Sep. 30, 2008, Canada has this service too.

Let's go through the countries with Do Not Call List services.
Canada: National Do Not Call List (DNCL)
USA: National Do Not Call Registry
Australian: Do Not Call Register
UK: Telephone Preference Service (TPS)
New Zealand: Name Removal Service

In advance of a major showdown with Intel over the next generation of computing that will pit AMD's "Shanghai" processor architecture against a rival "Nehalem" offering that Intel has begun touting this week in earnest, AMD is letting it be known that it plans to create its first server platform, code-
named Fiorano, for its processors in 2009. Obviously, Intel currently holds the upper hand, but as the noise level around Shanghai continues to build, it's clear that AMD is not ready to roll over and play dead just yet, especially when you consider the fact that AMD is now partnering with IBM to
build 22-nanometer technologies.

I have never try AMD server. Maybe 2009, or later.

Do you know how to print a book 60 years ago? Watch this video of printing a Book, which was produced in 1947.

I bought a wireless router July.

I watched this video, and shocked by it. Something I knew. When they all put together, I am still be touched.

Version 1

Google Reader can let users share the post with the friends.
Actually, it is not the friends list. It shares to all the contacts you have.

But, not all contacts are your friends. OK
Google fix this bug now.

User can pick the friends from the contact list.

People that you add to the Friends list will be able to automatically see your shared items in Reader (remember, shared items always have a public URL).

Joomla! 1.5.6 released
It is a security patch, to fix an important bug.

SECURITY [HIGH] Fixed security hole in reset logic to check for proper token length.

To upgrade from 1.5.5, you just need to replace following files.

/components/com_user/models/reset.php
/changelog.php
/includes/framework.php
/administrator/includes/framework.php
/libraries/joomla/version.php
/libraries/joomla/environment/uri.php

1.5.6 full package

Received a mail from Canadian Blood Services last Thursday.
It is confirm I have joined One Match stem cell and marrow network. They begin the process of adding my name and HLA typing results to the Network.

It is so wonderful, if I can give the most important thing to other people. Just like share my vitality.

SixApart releases MovableType 4.14 for some security upgrade.

* Release Type: Security Release. None of the fixed vulnerabilities has been exploited in the wild.
* Mandatory? This is a mandatory update for all users of Movable Type 3.36 and later.
* Performance Implications: None.
* Plugins Affected: None.
* Templates Affected: No changes in your templates are required.
* System Requirements: This release has no new or additional system requirements.
* Licensing considerations: None. MT 3.37, MT 4.01c and MT 4.13 are free updates for users of any version of MT3 and MT4 respectively.
* Upgrade Fatigue: No updates are scheduled until the release of MT 4.2, which is currently in the final stages of release. There will be no further releases before MT 4.2 unless significant security issues are found which require additional 4.x releases. It has been 46 days since the last recommended update to MT4.

Backup
I use a simple backup.
SSH to the Dreamhost.
Use tar command to backup all related files.

tar czvf backup.tar.gz ~/yinfor.com/mtcgi

Upgrade
1) SSH to Dreamhost

cd ~/temp/
wget http://www.movabletype.org/downloads/betas/security/MT-4.14-en.tar.gz

2) Decompress the package

tar xvzf MT-4.14-en.tar.gz

3) Copy the decompressed files into the mt cgi folder. I use mtcgi as the system folder.

cd ~/temp/MTP-4.14-en/
cp -r -f . ~/yinfor.com/mtcgi/

4) Now launch Firefox.
Enter http://www.yinfor.com/mtcgi/

5) Login and click upgrade.

6) All done.

I received a Blackberry 8820 locked by AT&T. To use it in Canada with other carriers, I need to unlock it.

First I Google it, and got a bunch of sites.
I order one from Wireless Unlocking. It is cheapest. Only $7.99. I sent my payment with IMEI code. After two days waiting, they told me they can not get the unlock code for me. Then I got the refund in a week.

The second unlocking service I used is HorizonWirelessOnline

It is very fast. I got the code in 48 hours.

They all accept Paypal or credit card.

The procedure to enter the code and unlock shown as below.