Category Archives: Uncategorized

The Word Board

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The word “corporation” was originally a shipping term – A group of people would pool their resources to fund and form a corporation which was usually an expedition to go out and find treasure, new lands, etc. A famous example of this is the Dutch East India Company.

The term “all aboard” has a similar origin in shipping. The same with “on board”.

So what I’m trying to find out is if the term “board” as in “board of directors” has the same etymological roots. I suspect it does but can’t find anything to back it up… yet.

Anyone know the answer to this? This is kind of stuff my mind creates to occupy itself…

Not Using Twitter? Here Are Some Reasons You Should

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Some great statistics on a new post over at Social Media Today on Twitter.

An excerpt:

Over the last 5 years -

  • There are 200,000,000 registered Twitter users  
  • Almost 88% of people have awareness of Twitter and its existence
  • There are 450,000 new Twitter accounts created everyday
  • Meaning there are 5.2 accounts created every second of everyday

And this one…

  • Up to 85% of companies are using social media as part of their recruitment

I’m a big fan of Twitter and these stats go a long way to debunking the “it’s a tool for geeks and nerds only” myth that still flies around amongst the uninitiated. Twitter really it a cool tool, and you really ought to go check it out.

If you do be sure to say hi – My username is @caseyjohnellis.

Kingcope’s Apache Killer – Is Your Website Vulnerable?

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Over the weekend Kingcope posted an exploit called the “Apache Killer” to a security list. The script has the ability to cause a DOS on a vulnerable Apache webserver. According to Pingdom in 2010 Apache powered 59.4% of the websites they tested. This blog runs on Apache, and yours probably does too (along with a tonne of other sites).

Hacklabs have kindly provided an article explaining the vulnerability and the script, along with a simple script that can be run on any system with “curl” and “grep” (i.e. your OS X or Linux PC should have it) to determine if websites you owned are vulnerable.

curl -H “Range:bytes=1-” -I http://target.com | grep Partial

According to the Hacklabs post 91 of 1000 of Australia’s top sites according to Alexa are vulnerable,along with 29 of the ASX 200′s websites.

Facebook Updates Privacy Settings… Again.

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Overnight Facebook has pushed a bunch of changes that affect the way users can share information. These changes are always pitched as “functionality improvements” but never disappoint to bring with them serious privacy implications. This particular set of changes are mostly around tagging and sharing, and some changes made to privacy controls.

Check it out here.

The main points:

  • You will have the OPTION to approve content which OTHERS tag you in before it shows up on your wall. Marketers and spammers will hate this, but I think it’s a good thing.
  • You will have the OPTION to review and approve or reject any tag someone tries to add you YOUR content. Also a good thing.
  • A feature has been added to let you look at your profile “as someone else”, giving you the ability to test your privacy settings. Another good thing.
  • You will be given the ability to easily remove tags of yourself from OTHER peoples content. I know the ladies in particular will be happy about this one.
  • ANYONE can tags ANYONE in ANYTHING. This one is a little nasty… Granted, if non-friends tag you it will not appear on your profile until you review and approve the post.

As with all Facebook changes one should assume that the new default settings will be the ones which are most permissive with your information (e.g. you have the OPTION to approve content which OTHERS tags you in… but you have to opt-in and turn it one first) so I’d check out the Facebook blog post, get the down-low, and go on a bit of a settings tweak.

Disable Zoom Effect for New Windows in OS X Lion

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There are many things I like about Lion, and a few I don’t. One is the zoom effect when I launch a new window. I’m on a mid-2010 Macbook Pro and the animation is just a teensie bit juttery, which happens to be one of those computer things that drive me completely nuts.

Here’s how I turned off the zoom effect for new windows under OS X Lion…

  • Launch Terminal from the Applications > Utilities folder.
  • Type the following command and hit Return to disable the zoom effects:

defaults write NSGlobalDomain NSAutomaticWindowAnimationsEnabled -bool false

  • Test by opening a new window or a new application. Works? Good!
  • If you decide you want to change it back, open Terminal again, type the following and hit Return:

defaults write NSGlobalDomain NSAutomaticWindowAnimationsEnabled -bool true

That’s all there is to it! It’s that simple and that hard.

Was this helpful? Please leave a comment below!

Barnes & Noble USA Oversells TouchPads

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I ordered a number of TouchPads from B&N yesterday for delivery to a friend in NYC.

This morning I get this email…

Dear Valued Customer,

We are writing to you regarding your recent Barnes & Noble order for “HP TouchPad Tablet with 16GB Memory”.

Due to unexpected customer demand for this item, our inventory was depleted prior to your order being processed so we are unable to fulfill this item as requested. Consequently, we have canceled your order and you will not be billed for this amount.

You may see an authorization on your credit or debit card for the order, but please be assured you will not be charged. The authorization will be released in accordance with your bank’s policies.

We sincerely regret any inconvenience that this may have caused.

Sincerely,

Barnes & Noble

Customer Service

Did anyone else receive this email? Did I get the bum steer because I bought more than one of the things?

Facebook Releases Official “Guide To Facebook Security” – And No, This Is Not A Scam

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Facebook has released a plain-English non-geek “Guide To Facebook Security”. It’s 20 pages long. I haven’t read it in full yet, but what I have seen is practical and useful… I’ll give it a proper read and comment back, but I thought I’d get the news out there ASAP.

Get it here. It’s a PDF.

Let me know your comments on it… Should it be shorter? More technical? Less complicated?

How To Disable AutoCorrect On The iPad & iPhone

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99% of the time I find AutoCorrect on the iPad is more of a hindrance than a help. The keyboard is large enough to be able to type with a fair degree of accuracy and the “no iPad, that’s not the word I am after” logic model can cause trouble (if you disagree you probably haven’t heard about http://damnyouautocorrect.com – well worth the hour you’ll spend laughing if you go there).

So, without further adieu… How to turn AutoCorrect on the iPad off:

  1. Navigate to Settings, then General, then Keyboard.
  2. Touch the AutoCorrect switch and set it to off.
  3. That it, you’re done.

Unfortunately it seems that you can’t keep spellcheck (the little red squiggly lines under suspect words) turned on without autocorrect active. I think apple should change this approach…

One of things I do like about my phone and iPad spelling is the way it learns my unique user dictionary over time. I would be interested to find out if disabling AutoCorrect stops it from learning, or if it goes on in the background.

Does anyone know the answer to this?

Disable iPad and iPhone AutoCorrect In Specific Fields Only

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Web developers can disable AutoCorrect on a given input or form (e.g. for names, street names, cities, etc… the stuff that 99% of the time gets auto corrected to the wrong thing). I honestly wish that more sites has this implemented.

  • <input autocorrect=”off”> will disable AutoCorrect for a given input.
  • <form autocorrect=”off”> will disable AutoCorrect for all fields in a given form.

For more information see: http://developer.apple.com/library/safari/#documentation/AppleApplications/Refer ence/SafariWebContent/DesigningForms/DesigningForms.html

Protip: Use A Nom De Plume

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If you’re like me and have one identity that you use for everything here’s a tip that will save you a bunch of pain…

Any time you go out to market offering work, asking for pricing, jobs on oDesk or Elance, or really anything that will attract marketers or spammers, use a nom de plume instead of your real name.

It seems simple, but it’s something I had to learn the hard way.