I’m actually not going to write all that much more than that, but i’ll give you the quick run-down. I’m writing this post much after the fact, so i don’t remember all of the details, but somehow.. we realized that our mail server was sending out massive volumes of email. Email we didn’t authorize. This realization may have happened after i realized mail i tried to send out to someone got blocked, and assumed it was in error, more likely due to our lack of rDNS (our IP address doesn’t reverse, that is, it doesn’t resolve back into a name.. *shakes fist at colo provider!*). Alas, that was not the case.
We had been compromised! Someone was using our system to wildly send out spam emails, to all sort of unsuspecting folks. Aye! My ability to send out legitimate emails is probably going to be permanently affected. We need a change of IP address! (That’s how you solve the problem with someone associating your address with bad news, move, right? heh..) On a serious note, problems with that strategy include.. updating all records to your new address, and what if your whole subnet (think: neighborhood) is identified as bad news! Not only will the neighbors be mad if they knew, but it’d make moving a _much_ more difficult proposition! Let’s hope that’s not the case.

We used a bit of a kludge to make a quick stop to their attempts — they were exploiting a bug in the web server or one of our softwares to send out the spams, so he blocked the user the web server runs under from being able to send out email anymore. Not quite a pretty fix, plus there are legitimate reasons the web server should send out email, but.. it works for now!
I just thought of another problem i have, probably a problem that we all have–spammers sending out emails with our emails (or more commonly in my case, with email addresses from my domain name(s)). In theory the whole SPF records system could address that, but to my untrained eye the SPF system has failed to mount critical mass among ISPs. Maybe it’s because email is such an old system, to properly implement any new change or system on a truly effective scale would require buy-in and cooperation from SO many, and.. well, there are so many gotchas involved too. I always send out email from my @gmail.com address, but rarely do those emails go through google’s servers to reach their destination. (This incidentally, contributes a bit to gmail marking my own emails as spam.. ones that i send out!! I cc all my emails to gmail so that all sent+received mails are stored there, and.. bother! i say..)

In any case, in my internet searching these are some useful webpages I have run across:
Seemingly useful resources:

http://cs.cmu.edu/~help/security/unix_linux_breakins.html

(Followon to The Coroner’s Toolkit): http://sleuthkit.org/
I thought there was a Linux Intrusion detection system, but it seems like LIDS, if its what I Was thinking of, is Kernel-level. Gah. http://www.lids.org/

http://linuxtopia.org/online_books/linux_administrators_security_guide/10_Linux_Attack_Detection.html

In link checking, I realize that there are a lot of items necessary in security. I’m a fan of tools like tripwire, and tiger, which are good for ongoing look-outs. There is also the need for forensics tools (which many of these are), but let’s not forget the most important way to stay safe: protection. Hardened linux distributions really shine in this degree. Hardening tools can’t quite match up, but they’re a good alternate if you don’t want to run a hardened distro.

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So before I get to apps, I have to explain the divide. The webOS ecosystem has this unique advantage of having the ability to “root” it.. or rather, lacking the need to “root,” or rather, use trickery to subvert built-in security mechanisms intended to lock a user in. In common parlance, an example of this would be the “jailbreaking” of iPhones. In that case, there are potentially drastic consequences (from Apple, though legally you are now ok!). Android.. is sort of in the middle. They don’t condone/endorse it, and do allow manufacturers to make it harder to “root” the devices, but i’d like to think they are generally supportive of the practice.
However, Palm has made it so easy to gain “root” access to your webOS device that you need only type the konami code (upupdowndownleftrightleftrightbastart) into the homescreen, and an option will appear allowing you to enable “Developer Mode.” This has allowed an entire “homebrew” catalog of apps to develop. These are apps that, generally speaking, are not able to be in the main Palm App Catalog due to a restriction of some sort or lack of feature/functionality. This community has been sort of led by hacker group “webOS Internals,” corralled by Rod Whitby. Given this nature of open-ness to developers, as well as the web-based roots of the front-end (Luna, which is almost all in CSS/Javascript/HTML, the language of the web), it is extremely easy for the interface to be tweaked to ones liking, without having to install an alternate launcher or other dramatic steps. _very_ cool. I might write more in another post, but for now, I close out, and here’s my list of apps:

Official apps:
AccuWeather
Countdown Timer
Facebook
fileCoaster (not working)
gDial Pro
LED Torch (have been using patch version)
LinkedIn (havent used)
P2GoogleVoice
Pandora
Ping.fm
Preware Alpha
ScummVM
Slacker Radio
Terminal
TimeTracker (havent)
Warranty Manager (havent, want to make sure is porable)
WootOn! (so far useless)
Yelp

Systems Apps:
Sprint Nav stopped working
removed: Amazon MP3
VZ Nav -use that shit all the time!

Preware-installed (These are the “Homebrew” apps):
(Reqs) Linux apps – GNU Patch, lsDiff;
Plugins – Terminal Service Plugin
Service-Package Manager Service, Pre Backup Service, SysToolsMgr
Patches: Ad Blocker
Advanced Reset Options
Call Duration in Call Log
Call Log Styling Mod
Copy URL to Clipboard
Disable Landscape gesture Scroll
Flashlight in Device Menu
gDial Pro Universal Integration
Improved Photo Naming PRE
New Task Auto Details
No Auto Refresh After Idle
No Auto-Off while charging
No Draft Text
No Missed Call Callback
Open to Call Log
Show Download Count
Slider answers to Speaker
SMS Icon for Mobile Tagged Numbers Only
SMS Prepend Fwd When Forwarding
Video ownloads – No truncating
Virtual Keyboard (blech)
Pre Backup Utility

What about SSH? other things installed via ipkg (from novacom)

now trying to figure out how to backup, probably use http://forums.precentral.net/web-os-development/212309-running-bash-sh-scripts-webos-app.html

Backing up is not just about using the “Save+Restore” app to backup settings, i want to backup ALL the files on the phone. And I did..

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It’s been the better part of my month (that i can cancel within and get the payment for the phone back (paid full price for the phone, per JohnT’s recommendation)), and T-Mobile’s supposed to be the cheapest carrier, and Motorola’s supposed to be a wizard at designing cell phones, but I’m not seeing either. My bill looks similar to what I was paying on Sprint, though actually much less clear. Minutes-wise? That’s where Sprint was supreme. Their policy? UNLIMITED mobile-to-mobile calls. OMG. I ended up using something like 100-200 of minutes that were not counted in that, with the bulk of my minutes being placed to others with mobile phones, in retrospect unsurprisingly. I pretty much ran out of minutes w/ my TMo phone and had to use it sparingly in the end. Not a fun feeling. (Might as well be back on prepaid if i want to be worried about per-minute usage.)

This phone also has the much spoken of MotoBLUR technology. It’s .. kinda gross. As I’m just biding time as I wait for the Nexus One to drop, this skinned Android interface finds me.. underwhelmed, and i want to say it’s gross, but i can’t quite substantiate that. And since I’m writing this post way after the fact (like 19 mos , i can’t remember all of what I didn’t enjoy. Its keyboard wasn’t as nice/fun to use (keyboards can be more or less enjoyable? well of course that’s true for physical keyboards too, but i don’t note the differences as starkly in computer keyboards! interesting..), the screen size was smaller.. etc.

Also, I rooted this phone. I didn’t ever get around to trying to root that Samsung Moment from last month, so I had to be sure to do it this time. I looked up the instructions online and.. frankly, they were atrocious. It’s possible I just couldn’t find the right people, but all the links I found required me to use Windoze (eww!) to “root” the phone. How gross is that?! It was much more of a painful and annoying experience than i had expected. This is unbecoming of Android, with its open-source (Linux 4eva! heh..) roots. Maybe Motorola has locked the phone down, and that’s part of the problem. Hopefully it’s not a fundamental android problem. Oh, in retrospect i should have saved the URLs and proper thoughts from doing the rooting/re-ROMing, but alas, I did not. So with that, I think we close.

Little did I know when I wrote my previous (Sprint Samsung Moment) post, that in my http://market.android.com/ account, it listed most (all?) of the apps that I had downloaded. However, it looks like it didn’t record a single of the apps i downloaded during my time on this phone. Ich+. Did I use a different account? No. Then? (UPD’11: My initial install of android (cm7) on the touchpad didn’t show any of my apps either, but my subsequent install (of alpha2) did start showing my apps. Interesting. Weird.. maybe i don’t have to use the Amazon App store after all..) End that aside..
Here’s my list-to-self of apps I had installed:

A Online Radio, Redbox Codes (boo) & dvdplay codes, Craigslist, Facebook, fring, Huffington Post, imeem mobile?, Mobile Banking, Opera Mini 5, Pandora, Pocket Auctions eBay, Recovery Flasher (http://smarterware.org/3189/why-and-how-to-root-your-android-phone), ScanLife, Shazam, Slydial,Terminal Emulator, Tether Petition, Voice Recorder, Waze(?), Weather, WordPress, Yelp
(Same-ATK, androidVNC, AnyPost)
(Sys- Amazon MP3,Audio Postcard, Browser, Calculator, Cal, Cam, Cam)

(I assume same means one from the Sprint, but no, I don’t know what Sys refers to..! pre-installs? Hrmm.. eh!)

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http://silentpcreview.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=56305 (links to utility, non-linux compat even tho its Acronis?)
and

http://community.wdc.com/t5/Desktop/Problem-with-WD-Advanced-Format-drive-in-LINUX-WD15EARS/td-p/6395

So I took the server home, reformatted the drives, ensuring that when i created the sectors, the numbers were divisible by 8. Apparently, these drives use some new (ahead of their time? or is that just marketing speak?) technology, but it works like sh*t in Linux. (Not necessarily just Linux, but that’s the only place wherein we’ve used it, and I am mainly looking for others experience in Linux, though it does appear there are some windoze complaints out there too.)
The drives don’t sync up properly, which caused errors that made me think the drives were bad.

UPDATE’11: We sold the drives on eBay, and bought new drives.. boy, this process was longer than shoulda been, huh? Err.. oops

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Anyways, back to the “present,” i had that cell phone for almost a year, until i got laid-off. Then, I let my parents get me a cell phone. (In retrospect, I wonder how that happened.. did I ask? did I succumb? hmm..) I had that phone from ’01-’04, and cancelled it when i went into the backcountry. I lived life happily without a phone from April’04 til after graduation in ’07. I’m not sure how i managed so easily, but somehow, life made sense and worked out without one. I had my [internet] “land”line in my room (tho it was really problematic that first semester.) While traveling in India in ’07-’08 I had a cell for most of that time, then went back to having no phone. I picked up a prepaid phone when I joined the Nader campaign in ’08, and used it on-and-off, trying to skate the line between not having a phone (and saving money) and being all-in. I just ended up being really cheap and rarely wanting to call or be called by anyone, not quite the best proposition for anyone. So, I finally gave in. I need a cell phone. For work, for pleasure. Whatever, it’s 2010 and I need a phone. These smartphones seem pretty sweet. And anyways, how good is that, the opportunity of having Linux.. on a phone?! So good! I am a techie, so it’s like, so many of my dreams coming true/together. I was waiting for the Nexus One to drop on Verizon, as it was the “clean” android, google’s flagship phone, great specs, etc. Til then (supposed to be June.. update: it never happened) I would jump between all the other carriers, then do a family share with my bro’s gf. (why won’t he do it? pppht!) So here’s that story..

This was a nice phone. A lot larger than phones I’ve used in the past, or in the future. In retrospect I _really_ liked the keyboard. I’m a big fan of the physical keyboard, and don’t see myself ever using a phone that doesn’t have one. I obviously prefer the form factor of the side slider, where the keyboard is the same length as the screen height on its longest side. These phone keyboards.. they’re just too small for me, really. This was a nice phone, I had fun.

The best part of this experience, I later realized, is that Sprint was doing this test-drive promotion. They started advertising it after i had cancelled service. (As a reminder, per California state law you are allowed to purchase cell phones, service, and i think any accessories, with the opportunity to return within 30 days without any penalty of return.) However, I ended up coming up in the world, and was included in the test-drive promotion. What does that mean? I got my month of sprint service (which I already considered a bit of a value) for FREE! Maybe there were some taxes and minor charges i incurred, at the most 5-10$ worth. It was pretty brilliant. For future reference i don’t recommend waiting until EXACTLY 30 days to do cancellation, since it made the billing and returns a bit more complicated in several ways, but hey, i am a believer in using something for the full-extent that you paid for it, after all. (I don’t remember what their policy was on doing pro-rated billing, charging only for the days i actually used the service.)

So, here’s a quick app breakdown.. I wrote this down mainly for my own use, so i know which apps i will want to keep/install on a future Android device.

Use often: TwoTouch Timer Free
Advanced Task Killer
City Caller id (don’t need?)
Quick Settings
Pingdroid (for ping.fm)
Google Voice (crashes on startup, if not more)

Semi-often:
The Weather Channel
Opera Mini
Voice Caller Id (in conjunction with Text-to-Speech Extension)
SyncMyPix
Facebook for Android (MUCH nicer than using it through the web!)

Newly trying: Craigslist Checker; Redbox Code Checker;
Free Dictionary Org
My Coupons (John)
Valpak (John)
fring (John)
wordpress
android-vnc-viewer

Useful utilities don’t use often: Wifi Analyzer, Barcode Scanner
Voice Recorder – trouble with phone screen blanking (stops recording), need to play with some more.
Shazam (Dennis)
Uninstaller?

Need more time with-
AnyStop: BART
FiveOneOneDroid (for 511.org)
Command Executer (couldn’t get a terminal to install)
Metal Detector
Wheres My Droid

Removing: Gps OnOff (Confusing)
Seesmic (never used, meant to use with drytoiletlover)

Barely used: Yelp, flirt SMS, Compass, Pickup Lines

So, i have written a lot of half blog posts. Why? I don’t really know what to tell you about that!

So I’m actually writing this post over a year and a half later, hence, I have little to say, but feel the need to hit ‘publish.’ (Who likes drafts anyways..)

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But, “how/why are they showing up in your blog’s feed?”.  Why Not?  How - I added a “Photo splicer” to my feed, that it would include 1 (new only)  picture tagged “India.” so everytime I upload a batch (usually < 100/time) of pics, it includes one of those new pics.  I’ve been trying to do one batch/day, hence almost 1 pic/day showing up in this feed each day.  But I’ve only got 8 or 9 more days to go before it starts to slow down, so hopefully you’re not getting too bothered.  I rather thought you might enjoy it, since I’ve been so laggard with uploading my pics in any organized fashion to my own, personal website.  There’s a lot of irony here, I won’t go into that..

All for now..

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Well, what to do? I don’t necessarly _have_ to do anything, really. I’m in India, and I wasn’t really planning on using my phone too much while here. It’s been useful for sure while I’ve been here, but.. how much am I really going to use it? Or rather, cost-benefit analysis right, like, is it worth it to me to pay (postpaid as they say in India) for monthly (“rental”) phone service, when I could say, just use skypeOut and pay ~2c/min to call the US when I need? Okay, there has to be a catch/benefit to paying the rental, and that is: my phone #. Ugh! I just cancelled the 707 phone # I’ve had for the last two years earlier this year, and given (most) everyone my new (Sunrocket, ack!) 707 number, plus I’m using this other 408 number that a few people have. My best bet would be to go back to that old 707 number, since I could update everyone that has my new # back to my old easily enough, and those that I didn’t update, would accidentally have a working phone # for me. But that company, BroadVoice, is slightly more expensive (for what I get).  [UPDATE: My account with BroadVoice is permanently closed due to non-payment, I'm a few days late, oops!  Ideal would be if Google's new purchase (GrandCentral) gave some props to the Sunrocket users of the world. (If you haven't heard about GrandCentral, you've GOT to check it out, it'll rock your socks! Makes total sense why da Goog bought 'em..)  [UPDATE: Just found out GC is FREE!  Oh, to receive an invite..]

So, the rest of this post is going to be my research results, like, what to do next, what companies have promotions going on, etc, aka stuff that would probably bore most of ya’ll, you’ve been warned!

Though here’s an interesting thread about disputing a charge with a credit card! (from DSLReports)

So what are the options? First read the news on FatWallet.. then start debating the options. Moving to a new provider.. the first and most-oft mentioned provider is ViaTalk, as they had a good deal.. (yesterday! ) for existing SunRocket users. (Buying out 12 months of their contract, aiee!) They have a similar, $199 upfront for one-year, pricing scheme as Sunrocket had. Hmm, more info on them.. first, from FW: check vtinside apparently, and the coupon code SHIPFREE will work with the 2 for 1 promotion. BOGOF ? Maybe other coupon code

More news on DSL Reports.com.. (Login to my gizmo with: admin/7UprUtew)

Others that have deals are.. Nuvio (1 month free, will match Sunrocket’s plan).. Vonics? (Pre-paid=$8.90/mo, 500 minutes US/CA) allo.com ($199/2 yrs, horribly Cust Svc) Or Inphonex? But I think I will end up going with Vitelity, it’s $1.49/month for an incoming number, and 1.39 cents/minutes for an outgoing call. This’ll be the cheapest way for me to keep my two phone numbers valid. And actually this seems really sweet, since I should be able to use my “Soft Phone” software again, since they are a total BYOD shop! Yowza/huzzah! Hope they can email me my voicemails..

Okay, I called Discover Card and disputed the charge, the rep seemed to think that it would work out well, at least a pro-rated discount. Fingers crossed everyone! And there are rumors of 8×8 (And others) acquiring the customer base, but it wouldn’t make sense for them to honor the ~17 months left in my contract without more $ from me. Hrmm.. I guess I can afford to wait-and-see though. Anywho, it’s 3am here, time for bed.. feel free to comment. Yeah, I probably won’t do anything until next week, enough time on this for this week! eeee.. no 630a run now for sure! -@

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First place to start, the Ars Technica Budget Box System Buying Guide.
Next step: Finding alternatives to their suggested components, that give the best “bang for the buck” (oh, how it hurts to write such a phrase!)

The hardest thing I’m looking for is a new monitor. Something to replace my aging Daewoo 17″ CRT (energy-wasting & radiation emitting) monitor..
First, I found this Samsung 951BW 19″ Wide LCD, 1440×900, 4ms with only 42W max load.
then I found this Sceptre X20WG-Nana Black Wide 20.1″ DVI 1680×1050, 5ms, w/ speakers (2W) but it takes 80W max!?
What a guzzler the Sceptre ^[1] is, how can I justify it?! It’d be cool, only downs are power load, potentially crappy speakers and response time (1 ms higher).
In thinking and searching, I just found a similar monitor to the Samsung, Hanns·G HW-191DPB Black 19″ 5ms DVI Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 700:1 Built in Speakers, also on newegg ^[2] for $185 w/ free 3-day shipping. Hmm, noname. If I get the other two components mentioned below, I’ll be a fully Samsung house. ^[3]

So there’s hard drives, they recommend Seagate (5-year warranty, wow) or Samsung (quiet and cool-running drives, that sounds more sustainable)
So, tigerdirect (liked by many supposedly) has this Seagate 320GB SATA-300 16MB/cache OEM HD for $99-$20 rebate+$7 SH=$86.
vs this Samsung Spinpoint 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB cache SATA 3.0Gb/s from newegg for $89+5.64 S/H=$91

Easier: DVD drive, I’m looking at a (also newegg) Samsung SATA SH-S183L 18X lightscribe with free S/H for $40

Another place to violate morals, in addition to being unsustainable (buying brand-new, energy-wasting ^[4] products), I could buy from amazon.com (violation#2) and open up a credit card with them (viol#3) to get $30 off my order. Hrmm.. Woa, it’s totally time to go to bed, more on this later.. ta! -@

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I have an Internet Phone.

a WHAT? Yes. My phone service runs over the internet. What does that mean? When I’m at my parents house (e.g. NOW), I can plug my phone thingy into the internet, plug the thingy into the walls, and have my same phone as in my room at school here. Unlimited in-state calls for ~$16 from BroadVoice. Can’t beat that price OR the features.
Right now though, there’s a NICE little promotion going on, that Drew, that works at Resnet, advised me of. A Competing internet phone company, who I have been tracking for some time, Sunrocket, has this deal going on where you can get 2, that’s TWO, years of Phone service for $199, with UNLIMITED CALLS in the USA, Canada and Puerto Rico, with $3 in international credit. Check that math, that’s LESS than $8.50/month! No contracts, cancel anytime. SICK! I feel like I’m posting an ad, but, I’m not. I’m going to sign up for this, and the rents might too. SO!

Check out this offer and sign up if that sounds interesting to you, I know it sure does to me! We got the free 2.4 GHz Uniden phones out of them last time, but that’s nothing in comparison price-wise. (And they have an India promotion that’ll allow my parents to call for 8c/minute, they’ll be SO stoked about that! Down with “the new AT&T”!

HTH! Have a good one.. -@

PS: I found this info off of Slickdeals.net.  Thanks Drew
For those that want to make calls for a good rate without monthly fees, check out the Gizmo Project.

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Before we can go watch the fireworks..

Man, I’m having the darnedest time getting g2image to work in Opera (and Single Window FireFox).. Arr..

Okay, I got it to work in FF at least. and I put in a new theme. At some point some random headers will be cool, so check out Ajay’s Reloaded header post later..

(this post is also testing out geocoding..) (More will be added to this post later..?)

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