You might remember last year in November when six Estonian individuals in their late twenties, early thirties, were charged for the creation and operation of rougue DNS severs that would route users infected with the trojan horse virus known as “RSPlug,” “Puper,” or “Jahlav,” to malicious sites equipped with spyware to copy personal information.
After the culprits were caught there was an estimated of 500,000 users in the United States affected by the malware. The only option for the federal government was to convert their illegal activities to a legitimate service as a temporary fix until people cleaned up their local systems.
Originally the illegitimate DNS servers were to be shut down on March 8th but there were still 450,000 end users who still relied on the service to acess sites because as the analogy goes, DNS servers are the equivalent of a phonebook to the internet. It’s responsible for translating www.google.com to its IP address. 74.125.227.144. Without a running DNS server internet browsers will have difficulty connecting to any site. So what was dubbed “Operation Ghost Click” was pushed back to the approaching date of July 9th.
If your machine has been attacked you should see a message while in Google Search telling you that your DNS server has been changed.
You can also visit sites like this, or this one to see the health status of your DNS servers. If you would like to check locally what those servers are you can do the following:
PC users:
Press WINDOWS+R -or- Start > Run
Type “cmd” and hit enter. This should open the command window.
Type “ipconfig/all”. It’ll give you a lot of data that you probably don’t know how to read.
You’ll have to scroll back up and look for the “DNS Servers” entry. To the right you should then see 1-2 or more entries of numbers that look like IP addresses.
Mac Users:
Open the terminal utilty
Type “networksetup -getdnsservers “Wi-Fi”
That should tell you what DNS servers your Mac is using.
That information alone won’t tell you whether or not it’s malicious. Your ISP oringally assigns your DNS server so you might be able to contact them and ask what that entry should reflect, or follow one of the links above.
If you have been subject to the botnet there are some things you can do:
You’ve already done the first step, checking your current settings.
Step 2 - Make sure your antivirus software is installed and up-to-date.
Step 3 - Run DNS Changer removal tools. Just like traditional antivirus solutions some are solely dedicated to fixing that problem. I can’t recommend you any software because I’ve never used any. But I’ve already done all the hard work for you.
Step 4 - Clear your browser’s cache and keep an eye out to see if it returns. Additionally PC users should also check the following location for tampering. Especially if they are receiving obvious redirects.
Open Internet Explorer
Click the gear icon in the top-right corner.
Internet Options > Connectivity > LAN settings.
Make sure all the boxes are unchecked.
It may not be a bad idea either to flush your DNA cache while you’re at it. If you’re running a PC return back to your command window and type “ipconfig/flushDNS”
If the problem still exists there’s a possibility that your Router or DHCP settings have been modified. You should check the information on your router settings.
If you have been a victim the FBI is looking for information of those attacked. They ask that you fill out the following form.
For more information you can visit the The DNS Changer Working Group’s (DCWG) website.
If you are looking for alternate DNS solutions for a free and uncensored web or f ou are unhappy with your ISPs DNS servers you may want to give Open DNS or Google Public DNS a try.
UPDATE: The FBI has an excellent guide on all the same information.
This past Tuesday twopatents were awarded to Google employees, Maj Isabelle Olsson and Matthew Martin, who are teo designers of Google’s new prototype Augmented Reality glasses.
This isn’t the first time nor the first company that has looked into glasses with a Heads-up-display (HUD). Oakley has been researching optics for 15 years and have accumulated 600 patents. Although Oakley is mainly focused on athletes as seen with their Thump line of MP3 playing glasses, Bloomberg reports that Oakley is not opposed to licencing its patents and working on a model designed for the military.
The project dubbed “Project Glass” comes right out of the same team that brought America the self-driving car, Google Lab X. The new age glasses integrate all of Google’s services (naturally) including events, maps including Google’s new Indoor Maps, to receiving calls (possibly through Bluetooth to your local handset and taking a photograph of exactly what you’re looking at. The glasses can notify you of when you’ve arrived at a ‘Place’ and check you in while also helping you find your way to your friends as long as they’re sharing their location on Google latitude. The demo video is shown below.
In other Google news, reports show that Google will be revealing Android 5.0 to multiple manufacturers, a change in their relationship with Samsung when it comes to making Nexus Brand devices. And no doubt to help quell concerns after Google’s acquisition of Motorola Mobility.
Also Google launched their new Drive service replacing Google Docs and allowing 5GB of free storage.
And as I’m sure you’ve noticed The Marketplace has since become Google Play, synchronizing books, music, apps and more into one easy browsable store. You even purchase the mos recent nexus device direct for $399 unlocked, without a contract, through the Google Play Store.
It is the official position of [Death to the Empire] not to support the current SOPA and PIPA bills making their way through congress. If you are unaware of what they are I highly recommend you continue to research the bills on your own. You’ll see that there is another link in the Sidebar labeled “Stop SOPA”. That is because this country is not being properly informed, Congress even stayed late this year for a Marathon session in attempt to pass the bill before opposition increased. It’s also often watched by foreign countries and reported on in the general media as it has the potential to hurt e-commerce world-wide, also, if the U.S. passes SOPA there will be pressure to accept similar policies around the globe. New York Times calls it the ‘Great Firewall of America’ in spin of the ‘Great Firewall of China’. To see what sights are blocked in China, refer to the following tool: Is this Website Blocked in China?. [Dtte] is blocked.
Major websites like Google Facebook and Twitter have even discussed blacking out their website in protest of SOPA (src). Wikipedia has suggested the same (src).
“This is an example of the anti-SOPA pop-up banners that Web sites were displaying today.” [Nov. 16, 2011] img src: CNET
SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) or H.R. 3261 allows the Government to censor websites that contain, distribute or facilitate copyrighted content. The bill as it is currently defined is very broad in what criminalizing circumstances are. The EFF warns that websites like Etsy, Vimeo and Flickr are likely to be shut down under the new law. The law also has the ability to contradict several already standing laws produced by the DCMA. Among them is the statute of Safe Harbor, which allows websites like YouTube to function under good faith with worry of being the subject of court cases due to the content posted by individuals.
PIPA or the PROTECT IP Act(Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act of 2011) “is a proposed law with the stated goal of giving the US government and copyright holders additional tools to curb access to ‘rogue websites dedicated to infringing or counterfeit goods’, especially those registered outside the U.S.”src: CNET.
These bills are an infringing of what the U.N. has declared as a human right. An an act against the Constitution in defiance of free expression. Whe have already seen ISPs throttling connections for viewing sites which have been accused of harboring illegal content, as well entirely blocking domains like americancensorhip.org. Yes, the website that is informing the public of the bill is blocked under some ISPs.
The ISPs known to block the site are:
Time Warner Cable
Cablevison
Shaw
O2
Bell
Charter
If the site is blocked for you, here is Google’s cached page: cache
For a current list of supporters and those who oppose SOPA please refer to the Open Congress Website. A short list inclides the following:
As the bill stands it is too vague to readily available to abuse. There will be countless years of following court cases to decide it’s legitimacy and whether it applies to certain circumstances and offenders. PROTECT IP would also cost the country $47 Million to train the new staff and agents over the next four years.
Us here at [Death to the Empire] urge our reader to stay informed on the curent state of internet censorship and to contact your congressmen. Links below will provide you with all the tools needed to combat SOPA and PROTECT IP. For more information please click the following links.
Ipredator - masks your IP with an anonymous one, also allows for encrypted VPN
Alternatively you can use web based proxies. For a list of current ones. Click here.
Also you can encrypt your connection through an SHH Tunnel if you’re even more tech savvy. Guide.
Even only visiting sites via HTTPS or running your browser in Incognito mode can also prevent certain statistics and data from being monitored or collected from your computer. Also disabling javascipt and cookies will make your computer more secure, but will also cause webpages not to render fully, cookies are required for sites where you must log-in.
Facebook has already realeased a seperate Messaging App for mobile phones back in August and now they have a stand-alone client for computers running Windows 7.
Originally the application was leaked but Facebook decided not to fight and provided an official release and a link to download it.
While the current version number is unavailable, I’ve detected no problems running mine. When started you’ll be asked to log-in through the browser and then the software will allow you to instant message your friends, check your private messages, notifications and friend requests. It also includes Facebook’s new ticker-feed style updates which is normally found in the top right corner of the desktop site.
The messenger also has the option to dock the messenger permently to the right side of your screen. So it’s like you’re always on Facebook.
A late entry for consideration and by far one the Best this year. AirDroid allows anyone to transfer files, manage apps, send SMS, browse the web, look through and upload photos as well as listen to their music over a local area network connection. AirDroid will also notify you in browser when you receive a text message and will report Wi-Fi and batter strength from your phone.
After running the app for the first time you’re greeting by a short into page and then a selection for what available access point will serve as your local are connection. And that’s all the set-up you’ll need to start syncing files, photos and music. Alternatively, you can choose to select a predefined password as well as different port to communicate on.
Once the app is up and running, grab your favorite browser like Rockmelt, and navigate to the IP displayed on the main screen. It’ll be your local IP address, which means it will specific to the device so the last few numbers will vary among the other devices in your home, plus the port (default is :8888) and your browser will prompt you with password you either defined previously or the one the application generated for you.
When inside [Shown above] you’ll have access to the features like texting your friends and updating their contact info. You’ll have a main navigation bar on right with a few features, then a series of square icons for the different applets Airdriod controls. At bottom is all your running applets, Wi-Fi and Mobile Network strength, as well as your battery strength. Along the top is a Market search for adding more apps and a widget displaying what phone AirDroid is currently hooked up to, it’s OS version (see the ICS?) and it’s current storage status. Clicking more details will break down your storage to what type of media is occupying what space. Lastly there’s a clipboard function to send copied text and media across platforms.
Also, on the phone side, AirDroid has additional home screen shortcuts for Apps, Files, Tasks and your device; form where you can manage running applications and see info like RAM and CPU.
This app couldn’t of come for a better time for me because ICS currently doesn’t support USB Mass Storage and I’ve had difficulty getting DropSync to play nice with my phone. Now those pesky MTP drivers that aren’t working won’t be a problem anymore. Now AirDroid will be able to move all my files back and forth.
Books and Videos applets are coming soon.
And the best thing is that it’s free.
AirDroid is currently in Beta version 1.0.4 but is still available on the Android Market.
I has been having serious issues with a ROM I started using a few months back -I had updated my Gingerbread OS to the New 4.x Ice Cream Sandwich 9 (ICS). The short story is that none of the hardware features like NFC, Bluetooth or the Priximity sensor were working along with an entire slew of software problems. On top of it all my recovery partition had mysteriously vanished, ROM manager wasn’t actuall flashing clockwork recovery mod (In fact. now that it’s fixed ROM manager ERASED my recovery partition when I asked it to flash ClockworkMod because the app said I didn’t have it). Finally got aDB and Fastboot to play nicely and got everything in order to flash [ROM][28.11.2011] Brainmaster’s tweaked ICS v6. Which so far is fantastic. (The only thing missing I’ve noticed is the native screenshot function.) Then I go to playing around with a little ICS.
While changing an on-click function of a Minimalist Text widget and looking through application different intents I ran across one under the name com.android.systemui.Nyandroid. Nyandroid? Surely Google is playing another prank like the /data/dontpanic folder.
Setting the intent as the on-click function of my widget then took me to what is shown as the last step below. A series of Nyandroids flying across the screen.
Later I rooted out this method to invoking the system applicarion:
To get this cute critter flying across your screen you’ll have to:
Open up your settings
Scroll down to ‘About Phone’
Then repeatedly press the Android Version number
Once the single Nyandroid appears, play around with the touch screen until he grows. (I find long-pressing and clockwise strokes works well)
Then watch as the Nyandroids fly!
Edit: I’m also being told than similar features have been in previous versions of Android. In Gingerbread when repeatedly pressing the Version number artwork by Jack Larson appears depicting a Zombie Gingerbread alongside other undead and the Android Robot.
Facebook is changing December 22nd… and it’s going to be big.
Discussed at Facebook’s last F8 conference, It’s called Facebook Timeline and it will be the new layout for Facebook Profiles and the direction the Facebook will be taking in the future.
Timeline is the new Facebook profile. Tell your life story through photos, friendships and personal milestones like graduating or traveling to new places. — Facebook
The premise is, in fact, a timeline. When first navigating to your new Timeline page is a never ‘cover’ image, which is similar to banners, only it’s one wide photo. The below you have immediate access to a person’s profile picture, friends, photos, a new feature called Map and additional social apps like Spotify.
Scrolling down will reveal two columns of status updates, notification and friends messages in boxed bubbles the pull from the center timeline of events.
Continuing the trek will show an earlier this month section and then yearly highlights. Facebook has put focus onto the history of person, where they’ve been, where they are going and the people they met in between. Facebook is achieving this with the following exciting features:
Life Events - Status updates made to handle specific events. Remember when Facebook updated their web app for mobile phones and you could tag people, places and photos all in one post? Well that continues here. There are formulas from going on vacation, to moving, to meeting someone new and quitting a habit. Categories are
Work & Education
Family & Relationships
Home & Living
Health and Wellness
Travel & Experiences
Map - Not for travel directions, Map… well, maps your life. From geotagged statuses, to events you were invited to and went and even your photos. Your life, mapped geographically.
Only your timeline, you’ll also find some new features geared towards this new chronological order. On right, there’ll be a column of dates, ranging from the last few months and then accelerated to the last few years. Or decades I’d imagine in the future. You can also add events and statues and life events to the timeline during yesterday. Just click the timeline where you want to update to go and type away. Additionally, you can feature stories on your timeline by clicking a star icon for things you want your friends to see when immediately going to your page.
Also I have been seeing an increase of focus on occupation, locations an connections. Although LinkedIn is still the professional network, Facebook is giving it their all to be one powerhouse.
With all the previous moves Facebook has made to disappoint it’s users I can Facebook Timeline one major reason for people to stay on its platform. Congratulations Facebook.
As of now, Facebook Timeline is going live December 22nd. You can opt-in early by clicking here.
EDIT: And by the way, the wall has crumbled. Everything on my page refers to it as ‘My Timeline’ or ‘Your Friend’s Timeline’. Just part of this interesting paradigm shift Facebook is undergoing.
This is a continuation of our series covering Google’s iconic doodles that replace the main site logo to honor individuals and others that have contributed to the world at large.
Today Google is celebrating the 84th birthday of the “Mayor of Silicon Valley”. Although he actually died at the age of 62 the effects from his life are still felt throughout the world. He co-founded the Fairchild Semiconductor as well as Intel. Among those feats is also the invention of the integrated circuit, alongside it’s main creator, jack Kilby. He would be honored by three presidents for this invention.
His integrated chip can be found from anything ranging from computers to mobile phones to a plethora of digital mechanisms.
Follow our coverage of the series on Google Doodles by clicking the hashtag #Google Doodles
From cool gadgets and concepts to stock images, tutorials and software you'll discover something new here.
My name is Chris Ringeisen, I'm located near Houston Texas and I'm a freelance designer and full-time student. My love for technology inspired me to start this thread to share what I've found useful as well as give exposure to those services I endorse.
Posts go out at least twice a week.
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