If you are an IT admin, read this post by Richard Bejtlich on incident response. Helpful in case your network/system is attacked. Just a reminder: enforce your security rules always. All it takes is a vulnerable laptop connecting to your network. Or an employee downloading a suspicious file attached to an email.

Trend Micro spells out how Windows’ StickeyKeys can be a potential attack vector. The mitigation method outlined in the post will work, but how about those who use StickeyKeys? Another disadvantage of signature-based detection.

Speaking of Trend Micro, iDefense has reported a vulnerability in the Trend Micro scan engine. When exploited, it causes the operating system to crash. Trend Micro has issued a response here. Trend Micro users are advised to update their scan pattern to at least version 4.335.00.

When I was still teaching, I remarked to my boss (the school director), “How come people get to be idiots when they are promoted to boss positions?” Nope, I was not pertaining to my boss, who is one of the brilliant persons I know. It’s just that in the school system where I taught, I encountered a lot of people who were great when they were peons, but became idiots when they were promoted. Eaten by the system, I guess.

So imagine when I had read this headline:

“If You’re Going To Steal Software, Steal From Us: Microsoft Exec”

Shiver me timbers!

Apparently, this is a marketing strategy to expose individuals to MS products and lead them to buy originals. Makes sense. A bit.

But, add the MS Genuine Advantage (WGA) tool, and it really makes sense. You know, “pirate us and we’ll know, so settle or else.” That nifty spyware will bring lots of cash for MS so it is OK for them to “encourage” piracy. Neat.

Wait. WGA is spyware? Just peruse this Google search and judge for yourself.

Via Technology at Hand (thanks for the heads-up), I found out that this blog was nominated at the 2007 Philippine Blog Awards under the Technology category.

Wow.

I am still in shock, and to whoever nominated this blog, thanks. Just the same, just looking at the nominees is enough for me to concede defeat. It is a great honor to be nominated together with the other great blogs, and that is enough for me.

Congratulations to the other nominees!

So, to continue the “retention application saga” (posted last Saturday), I made a call to Smart Customer Care (888-1111 on landline) last Saturday. The CSR (I forgot her name) took the details (the usual who, when, where) and told me that a customer management representative will contact me in 24 hours.

(I forgot to note down that I sent a text message last Friday to Smart’s Text Hotline 888, detailing the same issue.)

More than 24 hours later, I received this text message:

This in reference to your ff-up on your application to the retention program. Rest assured that we have coordinated with our Customer Management Officer @ Megamall WC. We will provide you feedback for any update. Thank u.

That’s it. Sounds like “don’t call us, we’ll call you” to me.

How long should I wait again?

Next step: drop by Megamall Wireless Center and raise hell. Kidding on the “and” part, of course.

Yesterday, I had received this letter from Smart dated 27 February 2007:

Your SMART family would like to thank you for being our loyal subscriber. As a gesture of our gratitude, we are pleased to inform you that you have qualified to avail of a handset upgrade under SMART’s Retention Program upon renewal of your contract.

It was signed by the head of Postpaid Consumer Sales.

If I would reply, this would be the content:

Thanks for your letter of February 27, 2007.

Just to inform you, in case you don’t know, that I had applied for retention last February 2, 2007 at Smart Wireless Center in SM Megamall. I was told by the customer service representative who had accepted my application to wait for a call within 3-5 weeks.

It has been 5 weeks and a day since I had applied, and your company is decent enough not to even send a text message telling me of the status of the application.

If this is how you treat a loyal subscriber, maybe I should switch?

But since I am a chicken, I won’t send this reply. Instead, I’ll call them up.

Smart, together with MediaQuest, launches Smart Mobile TV.

But, as PinoyTechBlog wondered, are Pinoys ready for mobile TV?

Economically, no. Only several phones support DVB-H, all of them expensive. Heck, Smart is not even offering Nokia N77 and N92 yet.

There is no market for it. Yet. Smart must create the need for it. But Smart must avoid the marketing strategy that it did for 3G. I use Smart 3G, but only for mobile Internet. Smart marketed video calls for 3G, but heck, Pinoys would rather text than call.

What will determine the success of mobile TV?

1. Handsets – must be cheap; not cheap in the midterm
2. Charging – must be cheap; not cheap in the midterm
3. Channels – must get as many popular channels ASAP

And besides, since JackTV’s no longer showing WWE pay-per-views, I don’t watch TV that much anyway. Goodluck, Smart.

(BTW, it is almost five weeks, and my E61’s not yet in sight. Get moving, Smart. Fast. Or I’ll switch.)

Bloggers, beware! Your blogging days are about to be over! Automation will soon conquer the blogsphere!

Trust the Japanese to continue its world conquest.

Japan’s NEC has developed (gasps!) a robot that blogs about anything that you have told it – events, what-nots, etcetera.

PaPeRo – soon to replace bloggers everywhere. Banzai!

Via:
Engadget
Gizmodo
Ubergizmo

The so-called next-gen consoles sport some sort of motion controls, Wiimote and SixAxis to be exact. Wiimote is touted as changing the way we play console games, with players having to move to control the game.

But the Wiimote is today. The future?

The Epoc!

Ha! You cannot beat the Matrix! Beware!

Jason Rockwood made a Gaymer Survey, with the goal of exploring the role of sexual orientation on gaming habits. What’s interesting in the survey is not only the its LGBT orientation – as Joystiq pointed out, it was the first serious study of any gamer group.

While the results presented in this page are incomplete, they are simply interesting.

Gaming-Related Questions
3. Gaming devices (PC followed by PS2)
4. Gaming-related expenses ($0-500)
10. Most favored-genres (RPG, then action/adventure)

LGBT-Related Questions
11. Nintendogs (see author’s note)
31. Orientation spectrum (the reverse bell curve, interesting, this is very rare)
33. Use of the term “gaymer” (neutral)

Go read the survey results.

Users of Trend Micro ServerProtect are advised to update their file server protection software due to several vulnerabilities.

iDefense has issued an advisory regarding a vulnerability in ServerProtect Web user interface. When exploited, an attacker can gain full access to the product. The Linux version of ServerProtect is affected. Download the update from the Trend Micro Update Center here.

SecuriTeam has reported two stack overflow vulnerabilities (eng50.dll and StCommon.dll) for ServerProtect, which affects the Windows version (5.58), EMC (5.58), and Network Appliance Filer (5.61 and 5.62). The said vulnerabilities allow remote code execution using the SYSTEM user privilege.

Trend Micro has issued a response here.

ServerProtect users are advised to update their software. No known exploits in the wild yet.