Rupert Murdoch Pwned By Techdirt

Pwn (pronounced “p-own”)

- verb
to be owned, to have your rear kicked,  to be destroyed in a spectacularly manner.

Origin
The is word common among gamers, geeks, and nerds.

Related Forms
Pwned, Pwn3d, and Pwnage

Usage
“Did you see that? I just pwned your ass!”

After crazy Uncle Rupert (Murdoch) claimed that he was contemplating hiding all of his news sites from Google and other news aggregation services (Rupert Murdoch Threatens Seppuku), the Internet was all a-buzz. While everyone was writing about how epicly stupid the idea was, Mike Masnick of Techdirt did some research.

Masnick realized that many of Murdoch’s own sites “parasited” content in exactly the same manner that he endlessly complains about with Google and Microsoft. Prestige sites like The Wall Street Journal and Fox News “steal” stories from blogs, other sources, and even Techdirt itself. Many of Murdoch’s most successful web properties “steal” stories, or have searches powered by Google that allow users to search the broader Internet within a News Corp branded user experience (Techdirt – the original post is worth reading).

Boom head-shot!

Mr. Murdoch, you’ve just been pwned.

The Daemon Turned Back On

Earlier this year I read a novel that captivated and simultaneously scared the shit out of me. It didn’t scare me in a horror movie kind of way… It scared me in a “large portions of this could work” kind of way. The book was Daniel Suarez’s Daemon.

Daemon has it all, crime, technology, compelling characters, unexpected plot twists, and a brutal look at alternate applications of technology.

“Originally self-published, Suarez’s riveting debut would be a perfect gift for a favorite computer geek or anyone who appreciates thrills, chills and cyber suspense. Gaming genius Matthew Sobol, the 34-year-old head of CyberStorm Entertainment, has just died of brain cancer, but death doesn’t stop him from initiating an all-out Internet war against humanity. When the authorities investigate Sobol’s mansion in Thousand Oaks, Calif., they find themselves under attack from his empty house, aided by an unmanned Hummer that tears into the cops with staggering ferocity. Sobol’s weapon is a daemon, a kind of computer process that not only has taken over many of the world’s computer systems but also enlists the help of superintelligent human henchmen willing to carry out his diabolical plan. Complicated jargon abounds, but most complexities are reasonably explained. A final twist that runs counter to expectations will leave readers anxiously awaiting the promised sequel. (Jan.)”

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

To add a spoilerish piece to the description I pulled from Amazon, Sobol’s Daemon works by spidering Internet news sites and looking for events. Once those events transpire, they trigger new ones. The first event was Sobol’s own death; his obituary was published. Then the Daemon murders a couple of people; stories of their deaths trigger more events, and so on. It makes insanely good sense.

One big plus of the book is that it explains a lot of the technology, so you don’t need to be too geeky to understand it.

Most of the technology in the book is incredibly grounded, while the story takes off in fanciful directions. All-in-all, a great and compelling read that I should have written about months ago.

Why am I writing about this now?

Why did I spoil a portion of the early story?

Back when I read the book I subscribed to the Daemon Technology Feed on my Google Reader. The feed linked to interesting tech stories and other geeky things, then it went silent after February 25, 2009. For some reason I never unsubscribed, but yesterday, it started publishing new and cool things again.

I’m sure the Feed turned back on because the Daemon sequel, Freedom is hitting bookstore shelves on January 7, 2010… but after reading the book, I have to admit there was something mildly frightening about seeing it become active again.

You can purchase Daemon, and pre-order Freedom on Amazon.

Happy Belated Birthday Firefox

I missed my favorite browser, Mozilla Firefox’s fifth birthday by one day. I hope it forgives me.

Firefox isn’t perfect, but what is? I’ve been using it for probably 4.5 years because it’s open source, it has tons of fun plug-ins, it doesn’t share my user-data, and it is generally stable (although it certainly has it’s quirks and problems).

Firefox is a model of what the Internet should be, not what media moguls, record producers, and other proponents of dying business models want to make it.

Rupert Murdoch Threatens Seppuku

Seppuku – a ritualized disemboweling that originated among the Japanese Samauri.

Rupert Murdoch, the media mogul chairman and majority shareholder of News Corp (The Wall Street Journal, Fox News, and pile of other news outlets) wants to force his business model back into relevance. According to this recent interview, he wants to put pay-walls up around most of his content, sue fair-use into oblivion, and make his sites invisible to search engines like Google (mUmBRELLA).

I was going to write a full response to Mr. Murdoch’s ideas, but Perry de Havilland of Samizdata really hit the nail on the head:

“Not only will people not be motivated to pay Rupert Murdoch for content if they cannot find it via google, they will not even be aware of the content Murdoch is hiding from them. In short, Murdoch will become completely irreverent irrelevant on-line almost overnight and I am not sure why he thinks all too many people will care one way or the other. This is a bit like threatening someone that if they do not give him their money, Murdoch will cut his own throat. Er, sure Rupert, whatever. I suspect folks at the Guardian (who may not be my favourites ideologically but they certainly ‘get’ the internet better than most) and elsewhere can hardly believe their good luck (From Samizdata Murdoch’s suicide threat).”

Rupert, Rupert, Rupert, Rupert… your plan will fall to pieces if a single online news outlet keeps their content free. No one with half a brain will pay for it. Your best years are behind you. Long behind you.

Ruperts words made me think of a line from last night’s Mad Men Season Finale when Don snapped at his fellow partner Bert Cooper saying, ”And you old men love building golden tombs and sealing the rest of us in with you.” Mr. Murdoch is an old, rich, proud man, the people who will suffer from his decisions are his employees, and their families.

The Legend of Neil

There is a growing number of quality web video series that are mostly target towards geekier audiences, in large part because geeks are the web pioneers, and geeks are also the early adopters of this kind of stuff.

With that in mind, I present to you, The Legend of Neil.

The Legend of Neil is a web series that is based on the classic videogame, The Legend of Zelda. Basically, a loser named Neil is sucked into the videogame where he is the game where he assumes the role of the hero.

The show is ridiculously funny, but it’s one of those things where you probably should have played at least one Zelda game to fully appreciate. For instance, if you don’t know that the hero of the Zelda games is a guy named Link, you most likely won’t have enough background knowledge to completely enjoy the show.

Actress and geek queen bee, Felicia Day shows up to costar in a few of the episodes as the Fairy. All I’ll say is that Ms. Day is usually typcast as the crazy cat girl or the geeky friend by Hollywood… her role here is absolutely not the crazy cat girl or the geeky friend.

Finally, The Legend of Neil is not safe for work. In terms of humor, it takes quite a bit to really shock me. The Legend of Neil made me blush on a number of occasions.

You can watch all 14 (4-9 minute) episodes on the show’s website: http://effinfunny.com/legend-of-neil

This is the Droid You Are Looking For

Let’s add to the hype, shall we?

I’m so excited about the Motorola Droid that I stopped by a local Verizon Store to check and make sure that nothing with my account would prevent me from getting one. No joke. In case you worried for me, I will have no problems attaining one… except for the fact that my friend just has to get married on Droid’s release date (seriously Eric, WTF?).

So on that note, we do have a release date for the Droid, and it’s November 6th. It will cost $199.00 with a contract after a $100.00 mail-in rebate. That’s more good news because I budgeted a bunch more money than I will need.

Engadget got their hands on the Droid, and this is what they had to say:

“* That big screen is killer. Bright, crisp, and tons of room for your icons and widgets.

* Speed is noticeably improved — particularly when moving from app to app. We did notice that some of the home screen scrolling looked laggy.

* Android 2.0 is definitely cleaned up — but it’s most definitely still Android

* The browser seems significantly improved — pages now load up in a fully zoomed-out mode, and the load times and scrolling are way snappier.

* The keyboard takes some getting used to, and it suffers from a similar hand-position issue as the G1, but it’s fairly usable. We think it’ll be second nature once we spend some time with it.

* Facebook is integrated into accounts, which means some of that BLUR functionality is here (though now it’s part of Android 2.0 natively). The good news is that when you add a Facebook account you can choose to pull all Facebook info and contacts, or just info related to your existing contacts — a real clutter buster.”

They also have some video of the phone, if you’re into that sort of thing.

Finally, Droid is going to have free Google Maps GPS Navigation. Score. Again.

my parents were awesome dot com

Oh BoingBoing, you give me the greatest gifts… and now I’m sharing.

Behold! My Parents Were Awesome.

For the record, these people are not my parents.

Yeah, that’s right, people can submit photos of their parents from long forgotten era (perhaps they never remembered in the first place).

~ syndicated by TheGeekWhisperer.com

Droid Cometh (UPDATED)

The first real challenger to the iPhone looks like it will be Droid. I haven’t read anything but great stuff coming from the people who have seen the über smart.

It has an iPhone look complete with touch screen, but it also has a slide out QWERTY keyboard (WIN)

The device is made by Motorola; powered by Google’s mobile operating system, Android; and it will be sold through Verizon, thus it will be on Verizon’s awesome network.

Droid will run the latest version of Android, which looks incredible (see The Boy Genius’s write-up).

If the hardware reports are true, then Droid will have the same processor core as the iPhone, making it far more powerful than previous Android phones (Engadget).

Google CEO Eric Schmidt is decrying Android’s imminent explosion in the marketplace, while analysts’ are talking about Android’s potential for market domination by 2012.

Verizon is also going all out with their marketing. In the lead up to the announcement of Droid, they have been bashing AT&T’s flimsy network with their cleaver, “There’s a map for that” ads.

Then their Droid announcement ad launched a flurry of attacks on the iPhone’s limitations.

“The Droid poses a different and more significant challenge to the iPhone than any other phone to date. The Palm Pre could have been that challenger, but it lacked the Verizon network, and users were unimpressed with the hardware. According to people who’ve handled the device, the Droid is the most sophisticated mobile device to hit the market to date from a hardware standpoint. When you combine that with the Verizon network, you’ve got something that is most definitely a challenger to the Jesus phone” (TechCrunch).

If Droid is everything that Motorola, Google, Verizon, and the tech writers are claiming it should be incredibly exciting (The claims are pretty much confirmed). Better still, Droid should be available within a few weeks.

Pay close attention to the oddly placed umlaut under the "r"

It’s clear to me that Droid means business because it has an unnecessary umlaut in its name.

~ syndicated by TheGeekWhisperer.com

Computer Virus Protection on a Budget

If you are running Windows, you need to have virus protection. It’s just that simple.

I typically recommend McAfee because it hasn’t caused as many headaches for me over the years as some other virus protection has (I really don’t like Norton).

However, virus protection like McAfee can be pretty pricey, sometimes you just need a free alternative. If that’s the case, give AVG a try. It’s a download, and it’s free (so you don’t have an excuse to go online without some form of virus protection… you don’t even have to wear clothes to get AVG). The latest version (which was just released) installed fine for me, and seems user-friendly enough for a virus scan.

In my experience with older versions of AVG, it doesn’t catch as much as McAfee, so this shouldn’t be your first choice, but it is a solid temporary solution if you can’t afford pricey virus protection.

Practice safe computing on a budget by downloading AVG.

Download Microsoft’s Free Security Tool

Microsoft is providing free security software called Microsoft Security Essentials for all Windows XP, Vista, & 7 users. It protects against many viruses, malware, and spyware.

If you are a Windows user, I strongly recommend using this in addition to your regular virus protection (not in place of it).

You can download the software here.

Practice safe computing with good virus protection.

Goooooo stock photography!

10,000 Private Email Accounts on Microsoft Services Compromised

10,000 email accounts on Microsoft services (@hotmail.com, @msn.com and @live.com) were compromised when someone posted the usernames & passwords to a forum. Most of the details don’t matter much, however you can find them on Neowin.

What does matter is if you have an @hotmail.com, @msn.com or @live.com email account, you should change your password immediately. On the outside chance that you are one of the 10,000 people who have compromised accounts, you should take precautions to make sure nothing bad happens with, or to your email.

While you’re at it, you might as well move on over to Gmail. You can learn a ton of fun tricks that Gmail offers at Gmail Ninja Training. Gmail also has “Mail Goggles” (which I wrote about a year ago in my third post… incidentally, it is one of my favorite posts).

Regardless of your email provider, always practice safe computing by protecting your passwords.

One Year of The Geek Whisperer!

And one hell of a year it’s been.

I had been planning to create this very blog last Fall, when one of my master’s professors assigned the class to make a blog. Instead of creating something temporary, I went all in (got an A in the process).

Blogging has been shockingly gratifying. It’s fun to share cool things with the world, answer questions, and on occasion vent some frustration, however the most incredible part is meeting new people.

I’ve gotten to know people from the UK, to South Africa, and the Philippines all through blogging.

The most interesting person I have met is without a doubt is Pocholo Peralta (Plato on-line). He blogs about everything from technology, to religion, public policy, and anything else that floats his boat Poch is always posing interesting questions and fostering dialog, there are days where I am more excited to write a comment on one of his posts than I am to write my own. He’s an interesting guy and has been a pleasure to get to know.

I’ve also become closer to friends from the non-web world through their blogs. Mark Krajnak (JerseyStyle Photography), and my cousin Carl Desberg (Inside Boston Sports) (even though I can’t stand New England sports teams), both come to mind, although there are many more people.

I’ve been far more prolific than I originally expected (I really try to write at least one post a day), and I am reaching far more people than I ever expected. Above all, I’ve done it my way. I write what I want, don’t pay much attention to search engine optimization (Google still seems to like me well enough), and I’m not covering the site with ads. As I look forward and begin planning my move to a private server, alone with a redesign of the look, the heart of this blog won’t be changing.

Thank you for taking the time to read my writing. I work quite hard to keep this going, so I really do appreciate every person who takes the time to read. If you’ve been reading and haven’t reached out, please get in touch; leave a comment or email me… channel doesn’t matter.

A good way to celebrate The Geek Whisperer’s blogiversary is to backup your own computer.

Thank again for reading, and always practice safe computing.

“Did You Know?” Crazy Tech Stats

These videos are wonderful. They do an incredible job of putting our world into perspective:

Re-posted from the Local Wisdom Blog (the company I work for).

“Keep Fucking That Chicken”

Dear Al Gore,

New York News anchor Ernie Anastos made some unexpected and embarrassing statements on the air a few days ago. Before you invented the Internet, that would have been over in a flash.

Those who were watching would have been shocked. Maybe they would question if they heard what they thought they heard. Some would have spoken with their friends. It would have been a tiny local issue.

Now Ernie isn’t just famous in the greater New York City area, he is Internet famous! His statement will never die. Lucky him.

Thanks Al for creating the Internet to preserve and pass on stupidity like this.

Gmail Phishing

Mark from JerseyStyle Photography contacted me this morning about an odd email he received from “Gmail.”

From: Google Email Team
To: Date: Sep 25
Subj: Warning: VX2G99AAJ

Dear Account User,

This Email is from Gmail customer care and we are sending it to every Gmail accounts owner for safety. We are having congestion due to the anonymous registration of Gmail accounts so we are shutting down some Gmail accounts and your account was among those to be deleted. We are sending this email to you so that you can verify and let us know if you still want to use this account. If you are still interested please confirm your account by filling the space below.Your User name, password, date of birth and your country information would be needed to verify your account. Due to the congestion in all Gmail users and removal of all unused Gmail Accounts. Gmail would be shutting down all unused Accounts, you will have to confirm your E-mail by filling out your Login Information below after clicking the reply button or your account will be suspended within 24 hours for security reasons.*

User name: ………………………..*

Password: …………………………..*

Date of Birth: ……………………….*

Country Or Territory: ………………..

Warning!!! Account owner that refuses to update his or her account within Seven days of receiving this warning will lose his or her account permanently.

Thank you for using Gmail !

The Gmail TeamG MAI L BETA

This is absolutely fake. It’s a phishing attack designed to steal your password.

Here are the signs that it’s not real:

1. Google won’t ask you for your password in an email. No legitimate company will. Ever. Don’t give your password to anyone via email.
2. Even if it contained a link to a Google-looking site that asked for your password, I would be skeptical. There are some phishing sites that look very convincing.
3. It’s poorly edited. Take the last line alone, “The Gmail TeamG MAI L BETA.” The spacing is all wrong. Google wouldn’t release that.
4. It doesn’t make sense. Google has a ton of data storage capacity, they won’t be running out of space.

If you ever get an email like this and are unsure if it’s the real deal, send it my way and I will take a look for you.

Practice safe computing with a health skepticism while reading email.