The other day I read about how Go Daddy supports SOPA (and loves Microsoft and kills elephants !). Since there has been a massive move of domains out of GoDaddy, including Wikipedia (still at GoDaddy as I write, c'mon Jimmy, it's been 5 days now!).

Since GoDaddy has changed their mind about SOPA but then it appears they haven't exactly changed their minds.

If you actually use GoDaddy you can pledge to boycott GoDaddy.. . and/or you could just up and leave them, I mean who registers a domain with a company whose name is "Go Daddy" ?

Important note, if you leave, be careful where you go as there are many GoDaddy re-sellers out there.. Just go to Gandi.net or EasyDNS, they both openly oppose SOPA and aren't just doing it for marketing's sake.

Drawing by Rike

Over the past 10 years or so the entertainment industry has been whining about losing money because of the Internet. Of course it is (most probably) false. The crazy thing isn't the bitching, it's the desire to have full control of human communication, over the Internet at least.

I am so tired of them that it is unbelievable, the only reason these people have any power is because people actually buy their products and hence provide them with a neat fortune.

From here on I am going to go out of my way to not purchase anything that provides them with income. I am already not a big client of theirs, however it can happen that I legally watch a movie or buy a movie merchandise, that's done.

I do not support the "Entertainment Industry" (anymore at least), I would like to see them disappear for good. I am not afraid of not being entertained.

The other day I saw this presentation about Convergence, it is a system designed to avoid using your browser's built-in CA (certificate authorities) for authenticating SSL certificates. Marlin talks about how the system is broken and how Comodo fails etc etc. Then goes on about various systems like certificates in DNS (I had a similar idea), but apparently they are vulnerable to DNS attacks..

Of course, I hate commercial CAs, they have no place on the Internet and have done nothing good for anyone, ever. (maybe a bit strong, but still). And of course browser vendors have sold their trust (and souls (if applicable)) to any CA available while still making you freak out when you reach a self signed certificate.. So of course I tried out Convergence, I even set up a notary (of course). After a couple of hours testing I came up with some pros and cons:

Pros

• Remove CAs from the equation

Cons

• Some sites do not seem to work, even Google (Citibank site effect, but for people outside the U.S.A. (yes, they exist)
• Slow. I have to connect to as many notaries as I have configured and compare data retrieved for each.. . slow.
• Problems with LAN sites, or sites protected by IP etc etc (sites that cannot be accessed by notaries)
• If the certificate is compromised and (hence) changed, you could be subject to hijacking as your convergence plugin will not re-query the notaries (unless you un-check the "use cache" option.. extra slow)
• DNS attacks are still possible, because most people will be using the default notaries anyway.. Which if this happens is worse then the average MITM as this would compromise ALL SSL connections !
• Crashes Firefox (but that is easily fixable I am sure)
• The "view certificate" function shows me "Convergence Local CA" and not the actual certificate of the website I am viewing, one has to go somewhere in the options to verify this.. this sucks.
• This is useless if the MITM is happening between the server and the Internet, actually, if everyone was using Convergence MITM attacks on a server's IP would now be easier to do, no need to trick Comodo into selling you certificate for someone else's domain.

As you can guess I stopped using this plugin about a few hours later. I also lost that sense of security when visiting my websites (webmail and all those things) as I have my own CA and/or know my certificates hashes, with Convergence I am lost.

I like the motivation behind Convergence (and Perspectives) but it simply appears to be totally broken. I could be missing something and would be glad to hear about it. After testing convergence I think that SSL without CAs using DNS is still a better option.

I also believe that as far as DNS poisoning goes, I do not understand why everyone doesn't have a local resolver, even and especially on laptops on the go.

Everybody loves Firefox, they are your friends, they are the "resistance", the alternative.. . the Free browser and all that crap. Yet, they somehow have started to annoy me to a point where I almost considered using Google Chrome... heck, I might just. :] (kidding!)

Here are just a couple of #$!%U*&ing things that annoyed me today..

Right Click -> New Tab: Gone

I'm not alone here, there are others annoyed by this as well. Please click on "I have this problem too" (if applicable).

Why remove such a simple ergonomically correct menu item ? People used it, they just broke it. (You can install a plugin that includes that functionality).

64bit ? But You Have to Look for it

Nowadays many computers have 64bit processors, so you can often use 64bit operating systems and enjoy 64bit programs. Cool. Some programs are not available in 64bit mode, that's fine but Firefox is available in 64bits since 4.0 .. However, you cannot easily find it. I've even found some tips on how to get the Firefox to run using ia32-libs, libraries to run 32bit programs on 64bit platforms !!

Funny thing is, while clicking through the "Need Download Help" button I found myself searching for 64 bit Firefox, the first result is "Uninstalling Firefox".

Anyway, if you still don't hate Firefox (or, like me, it's the browser you hate the least), you can get your 64 bit version from the Mozilla FTP site.. (of course this link was found somewhere on some forum or something... maybe some other rant).

I've been helping a friend with some projects of his, mostly websites and email. Very simply put, as I'm trying to host his stuff I need to set things up on my servers, this is supposed to be the "long" part, and then just edit a couple of DNS records... easy peasy.

The difficult part commenced when I tried to simply change an IP and perhaps add an MX record for one of his domains.. I logged in to NameSecure's crappy interface, I edited the record, again and again and nothing changes.. Well, maybe after about 10/15 minutes of trying it did, however the SOA was not aware of any modifications, even 3 days later !

Do this for 3 domains and you start to get a headache.

So I write to their support and ask them to apply the changes I need, to which they reply to my friend that it can take up to 96 hours... of course they are just brushing the ticket away and throwing words about propagation (of course I don't care about propagation, I ask the SOA directly when I'm checking this sort of thing). But still, nothing works anyway. A mess.

Namesecure sucks. You shouldn't take only my word, just search the Interweb and see for yourself. Or worse, register a domain that is critical to you with them.

Solution: Move to a real registrar. Your domain name is important, it should be registered with a real registrar made of real people who know how to actually do things.. One that gives you a real interface in which you can add records, press submit and magically it's there on the screen, it's like you didn't just waste your time. An example of a good company that can manage domain names properly is Gandi.net. It just works. It's quite amazing that there are so many "domain name companies", and I really mean MANY, that simply do not work and/or are totally crappy.

Anyway, the first and most important word on their website is "cheap", that means a lot.

This sink's design is broken in at least 2 ways.

This sink was installed only a few months ago in a high tech low spec building, yet the hot and cold water are distributed in 2 separate faucets. In the year 2011 you still have to chose between burning or freezing your hands every time you wash. Whoever designed this obviously isn't big on post-toilet hygiene.

The other issue, again if you use such a device, is the room left for you to maneuver your hands while washing.. . Actually, just trying to collect water is difficult, you find yourself constantly hitting the back of the sink with your hands.

Today I saw something interesting. An advertisement in the London Underground.

This is what is says:

You Don't Know Me

You don't know anything about me. You don't know
what I'm made of or just how much I'm capable of.
You don't know where I've come from nor where
I'm heading. You know nothing of my highs or my lows.
You don't know how fast I am, how strong I am,
how resilient I am. You haven't got a clue what
breakfast cereal I eat, what fragrance I wear or
who I'm dating. You don't even know my name.

But you will

So I read it, and then think... hmmmmm.. The message, in short is that the games will be around soon and in those games will be new competitors that you do not know of... And they will make so much noise that you will know them.

What actually strikes me is that this person who is able to run fast, jump high or be a precise badminton player has announced their purpose in life very clearly:

• Sell breakfasts
• Promote perfumes
• Feed the gossip industry

Whoever makes the most noise, will be in many adverts ... . . in 2012. I hope they're photogenic.. (of course they will be).

This image reveals something about the motivations.

Apple has revised their App Store terms, now these apps cannot contain any links, like to send users to a web page to then make a purchase outside the i-app. All sales from within the i-app mean 30% to Apple.

Companies like Kobo and the Wall Street Journal have refused to accept the new terms, they now no longer sell content via their i-app. Also, Google has removed their book selling app, they have now put it back in the app-store but without the "buy" function, same for Amazon.

Apple's marketing techniques are just like those of crack dealers... .. . Now that so many people/companies have become captive of the i-App-store it's time to see how much they can squeeze out of it.