Simple Thoughts (Technology) – Weekly Newsletter for December 6-13, 2010

Conman posing as Prince Harry steals from Diana charity

LONDON – A conman posing as Prince Harry on social media website Facebook has diverted donations from a charity the prince had created in memory of his late mother Princess Diana.

The identity theft has cost the prince thousands of pounds intended to help African orphans, reports the Daily Star.

The fraudster is understood to have tricked … Read the original article on Gaea Times at : Conman posing as Prince Harry steals from Diana charity.

Invalid Java 7 API: Attributes.readAttributes()

Update: It appears JDK 7 API has drasctially changed over several iterations. The current javadoc doesn’t contain the mentioned method.

In my over a decade of Java experience, I have never found a fully documented API in Java docs which doesn’t exist even in the latest builds!
Attributes.readAttributes() is a very well documented API:
public static Map<String,?> readAttributes(FileRef??file,
…. Source article on Gaea Times at  : Invalid Java 7 API: Attributes.readAttributes().

How to fully backup hard drive on Linux intelligently without using dd

dd, while an excellent tool to back drive / partition images, copies entire hard drive including unused blocks and even bad blocks (where possible). I have found another way to backup which not only creates an exact duplicate as far as operating system is concerned but also allows you to elongate and extract the remaining … Read the original article on Gaea Times at : How to fully backup hard drive on Linux intelligently without using dd.

How to reduce space required by (Linux utility) dd created drive image

a. Use gzip
An example command:
dd if=/dev/hda1 bs=1k conv=sync,noerror | gzip -c | ssh -c blowfish user@hostname “dd of=filename.gz bs=1k”

Notes:
1. gzip ensures less storage requirement for the image
2. blowfish algorithm is used while transferring the data because it reduces overhead, which leads to faster transfer, for the SSL connection

b. Reduce storage space by zeroing unused blocks
dd …. Original source  : How to reduce space required by (Linux utility) dd created drive image.

How to add a new partition to RAID array in Linux using mdadm

Behold the wonders of mdadm:
mdadm –manage /dev/md1 –add /dev/sdb2
Notes:
1. Replace md1 with the name of the raid array
2. Replace sdb2 with the name of the drive
… Read the original article on Gaea Times at : How to add a new partition to RAID array in Linux using mdadm.

How to remove a drive from RAID array in Linux using mdadm

Sometimes a little code is worth a thousand words, no?
mdadm –manage /dev/md1 –remove /dev/sdb2

Notes:
1. Replace md1 with the name of the raid array
2. Replace sdb2 with the name of the drive
… Read more »».

Delhi BPO rape case: Fourth accused arrested

NEW DELHI – Delhi Police have arrested the fourth accused from Haryana’s Sohna district in connection with the rape of a 30-year-old call centre employee here last week.

Iqbal, alias ‘Bada Billi’, was apprehended from Fatehpur Beri in Sohna district by a team of Delhi Police, which had gone there in search of him.

Two accused-Shamsad and … Original article on : Delhi BPO rape case: Fourth accused arrested.

How to check symbolic link in Java and why Apache common.io.FileUtils implementation is wrong

Checking for symbolic link (in supported platform) is a long time requirement of Java developers.
Patrick @ onyxbits solved the problem using JNI which is a legitimate approach. However it is platform dependent and consequently you will have to provide precompiled binary for every supported platform.

Apache commons project used an interesting approach in an attempt … Read more >>.

Facebook won’t block Wikileaks page for now

WASHINGTON – Facebook, the social networking giant, has no plans to ban content from a ‘fan page’ associated with Wikileaks-at least, as of now, say bosses.

“The Wikileaks Facebook Page does not violate our content standards nor have we encountered any material posted … Read : Facebook won’t block Wikileaks page for now.

Delhi BPO rape case: Fifth accused arrested

NEW DELHI – The leader of a five-member gang which had allegedly abducted and raped a 30 year-old call centre employee here, was arrested last night from Haryana.

Kamru alias Mobile (25) was arrested from Lakhuwas village in Sohna police station area of Gurgaon.ith this, police claimed it has arrested all the five youths.

Delhi Police had … Read more >>>.

Tumblr Down For Hours Now

SAN FRANCISCO (GaeaTimes.com)- Micro-blogging website Tumblr has been down for several hours and the users seem to be getting restless. The site has taken to Twitter to get the message across to the users that it is working hard on the restoration of the site and is incredible sorry for the inconvenience. Tumblr has … Read more : Tumblr Down For Hours Now.

Pak investigating hacking of govt. websites by ‘Indian Cyber Army’

ISLAMABAD – The Pakistan government has reportedly formed a high-level investigation team to check the hacking of several government websites allegedly by the ‘Indian Cyber Army’.

According to the Dawn, the team headed by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA)’s Additional Director has collected data from National Telecommunication Corporation (NTC) to trace the hackers.

A senior FIA official …. Source article  : Pak investigating hacking of govt. websites by ‘Indian Cyber Army’.

Google’s Cash Reserve Attracts Cautious Glares

Analysts are speculating that the cash heaps that Google are currently sitting on have to be used wisely, else its investors will be given the hard end of a stick. The leading search engine’s $33 billion in cash and short term investments is probably being followed more than Wall Street Indices at the moment.
Google’s … Original source on Gaea Times at : Google’s Cash Reserve Attracts Cautious Glares.

Vodafone Introduces HTC Desire Z at ??35/Month

Telecom giant Vodafone has decided to bring a smile to it’s customers face as they plan to give out HTC Desire Z for only 35. They are also planning to introduce various tariffs that will be available with the phone.
HTC Desire Z is the hottest new phone introduced by HTC this year. It … Read this article on Gaea Times at : Vodafone Introduces HTC Desire Z at £35/Month.

How to monitor NFS, Lustre File System Performance using Collectl

What makes Collectl, a performance monitor for benchmarking, monitoring a system’s general heath different from other monitoring tools is that unlike most tools that focus on a small set of statistics and runs either in an iterative manner or a daemon it tries to do it all. The user is free to choose any … Read more »»».

SAS hit squads move to protect UK malls

LONDON – With Christmas just 18 days away, Britain’s SAS hit squads have been deployed in packed shopping centers to protect visitors and shoppers from terrorists.

According to The Sun, they have been given orders to shoot to kill in the event of a Mumbai-style carnage on Christmas crowds.

The … Read more : SAS hit squads move to protect UK malls.

Google eBooks Makes Waves

SAN FRANCISCO (GaeaTimes.com)- The famous web giant Google has launched its new application Google eBooks. This service would enable the readers a more convenient experience of online virtual reading. Backed with a cloud based technology, Google eBooks can be accessible from any given browser and would not need any dedicated devices to read …. Source article on Gaea Times at  : Google eBooks Makes Waves.

Wikileaks sympathizers behind website, credit card info cyber attack: Palin

WASHINGTON – Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin has claimed that Wikileaks supporters are behind the cyber attack of her website and credit card information.

Hackers associated with the group “Operation Payback”, an organization comprised of individuals who support Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, have reportedly tried to shut down the SarahPAC Web site and infiltrate hers and … Read the original article on Gaea Times at : Wikileaks sympathizers behind website, credit card info cyber attack: Palin.

‘India Telecom 2010??? kicks off today

NEW DELHI – Union Minister for Communications and Information Technology Kapil Sibal will inaugurate the fifth edition of ‘India Telecom 2010′, which begins here today.

Ministers of State for Communications and Information Technology Gurudas Kamat and Sachin Pilot will also be present during the inaugural ceremony.

Finland Communications Minister Suvi Linden, who has come with a delegation …. Source  : Gaea News Network.

Waze, real Time Traffic App Raises $25 Million in Fundings

One of the few exciting startups with a killer product Waze, that monitors traffic in real time has announced a $25million Series B. The most recent in the long list of investors like Vertex Venture Capital, Magma Venture Partners being Qualcomm Ventures. The last funding it received was a $12 million last march. The …. Source  : Waze, real Time Traffic App Raises $25 Million in Fundings.

How to Get Rid Of Unwanted Options From “Open With” Contextual Menu in Mac

The Mac may be a pinnacle of utility and usability. But even the most veteran Mac lover admits that the open with contextual menu may get be a little too crowded thanks to duplicates doing the rounds. Well that is were we come in.
When you have this sort of problems it generally means that … Read more >>>.

Foursquare Registers 5 Million Users

FourSquare the popular Android service has passed yet another milestone. The userbase of this service has swollen upto 5 million users. IT has managed to show an astounding growth by almost 10 times in the past nine months.
Co-Founder and CEO of FourSquare, Denis Crowley revealed the data on stage of the LeWeb conference. the … Read more »».

4Chan Attcks Visa, But It Recovers

4Chan is definitely the wild west of the Internet. In a shocking development a group of hackers somehow connected with the imageboard had launched an attack on the MasterCard and the PayPal sites under the flag of “Operation Payback”. But as I write this report the group has handed another premier transaction site, Visa.com.
The …. Source  : 4Chan Attcks Visa, But It Recovers.

Salesforce Aims Big, Unleashes 5 New Platforms for Cloud App Development

The Dreamforce conference that is being organized this year has become the platform of yet another of the CRM Giant, SalesForce’s exciting announcements. For starters they have announced information’s on its features like Database.com, Chatter Free and its acquisition of Ruby platform for an estimated 212 million dollars. It is further pushing its endeavor …. Original article on Gaea Times at  : Salesforce Aims Big, Unleashes 5 New Platforms for Cloud App Development.

Dell Takes Veil Of Social Media Listening Command Center

Dell’s CEO and CMO Karen Quintos have launched something really big. As reported in mashable The Electronics giant is going to officially launch the company’s Social Media Listening Command Center. Dell’s VP of the Social Media and Community, Manish Mehta commented that the program is planned for launch at Altimeter’s Rise of Social Commerce [..] Read the original article: here.

Government is not interfering in probe on 2G spectrum scam: Sibal

NEW DELHI – Union Minister for Communications and Information Technology Kapil Sibal on Wednesday said the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is probing the 2G spectrum scam is an independent body and maintained that the Government of India is not involved in the investigations.

Commenting on the raids being carried out by the CBI, Sibal … Read more : Government is not interfering in probe on 2G spectrum scam: Sibal.

Dutch police arrest teenager over pro-WikiLeaks hacking incidents

AMSTERDAM – Dutch authorities have reportedly arrested a 16-year-old teenager over his alleged involvement in the pro-WikiLeaks hacking attacks on the Visa and MasterCard websites.

The Wall Street Journal quoted a spokesman for the Dutch prosecution office as saying that police have arrested the suspect at his home in The Hague late Wednesday night, adding … Original article on : Dutch police arrest teenager over pro-WikiLeaks hacking incidents.

SalesForce Buys Ruby Based Platform For $212 million

SalesForce has announced the acquisition of Heroku, which is a very popular cloud platform for the development of Ruby Web apps. They reportedly paid $212 million by cash purchases.
Marc Benioff the CEO of SalesForce said
The next era of cloud computing is social, mobile and real-time. I call it Cloud 2. Ruby is the language [..] Read the original article: here.

You Tube Increases Upload Time For User Videos

The annoying videos of You Tube may get even longer. The premier video channel has increased its upload time limit.
The YouTube blog says that the users who have a previous and presumably long history of complying with the guidelines set by the community will not be limited to the draconian 15 minutes upload limit. …. Source article on Gaea Times at  : You Tube Increases Upload Time For User Videos.

Google Announces Tools That Backs up Email with Gmail

Google has announced the launch of the Message Community, a cloud based enterprise to enable them to back up corporate email in the case Microsoft Exchange goes down. The product is being powered by Google’s 2007 acquisition of Postni. This focuses on providing the companies another access point of their email accounts.
This new solution [..] Read the original article: here.

Foursquare Launches New API

We reported Yesterday that Foursquare had surpassed 5 million subscribers. Today it has made its new API and now the developers have access to it. The new version “APIv2″ has been fine tuned by the start ups. The focus is on speed, consistency and clarity.
However the new API drops the support of XML so … Original article on : Foursquare Launches New API.

Facebook Founder Gives Away Half Of His Wealth To Charity

Mark Zuckerberg is known around the world as the youngest Billionaire in the world. This time he wants to be in the news by giving a portion of his immense wealth to charity. He is the latest in the line of billionaires to join Bill Gates and Warren Buffets initiative known as “Giving Pledge”.
The …. Original article  : Facebook Founder Gives Away Half Of His Wealth To Charity.

Gingerbread Keyboard Comes Knocking in Android 2.2

One of the most improved section of the Android’s Gingerbread update, the incredibly intuitive and elegant keyboard is getting a release on the current generation of Android based phones.
The stock keyboard of the Android was widely criticized for being a bit messy to used. The Gingerbread upgrade saw a complete overhaul and now the … Read this article on Gaea Times at : Gingerbread Keyboard Comes Knocking in Android 2.2.

US acting like ‘retrogressive Pak’ in its attempts to censor WikiLeaks: Pak editorial

ISLAMABAD – The WikiLeaks-Assange episode indicates that the ‘backwardness’ of underdeveloped countries like Pakistan, which was called ‘retrogressive’ for banning social networking site ‘Facebook’, has now spread to the developed world, an editorial in a …. Source article  : US acting like ‘retrogressive Pak’ in its attempts to censor WikiLeaks: Pak editorial.

Twitter-mad Brit mum sends 104 live updates during son’s birth!

LONDON – A British mother is so obsessed with Twitter that she delivered a live account of her entire labour to her friends.

Rachael Ince, 29, sent 104 tweets detailing every step of the birth of her son until she was discharged nearly three days later, reports the Daily Mail.

The tweets began on December 3 evening … Read more >>>.

How To Clean Your Linux Boot Menu With Automated Bash Files

The Ubintu/Linux boot menu after using the same installation for many times would look incredibly messy with entries of older Linux kernels remaining active. One way to get rid of them is by manually uninstalling the older kernels. Understandably that process can lead to huge complications and if any thing goes wrong? Well you … Original source on Gaea Times at : How To Clean Your Linux Boot Menu With Automated Bash Files.

How To remove Restriction From Sites Like Megavideo, Megaupload or Veoh

If you are tired of the draconian limitations of the popular video sharing sites like Megavideo, Megaupload or Veoh we have got just the hack for you. A program that serves as Browser Extension like Illimitux is going to be the ray of light for the annoyed souls.
The software will play more than the …. Source article on Gaea Times at  : How To remove Restriction From Sites Like Megavideo, Megaupload or Veoh.

“Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue” Now Flipboard Style on iPad

Flipboard which was the proud winner of the iPad app of the year, a title given by none other than Apple has one more trick up its sleeve. The app has recently integrated Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition feed to the app.
The feed finds itself as a part of Sports Illustrated Everywhere strategy by which …. Original article on Gaea Times at  : “Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue” Now Flipboard Style on iPad.

How To Use Google Goggles to Find a Wallpaper You Like

Tired of searching or that one picture that caught your fancy? Well then you will be able to search any picture directly with the help of Google Goggles. The popular search by sight mobile app will allow you to browse the web by using the Android or iOS camera feature.
The app is popular for … Read more >>.

Pummelvision Lets You Catch Life in a Flash

How would you like your life to flash by within a blink of the eyelids? If you are affirmative of the idea, you might be interested in checking out Pummel vision. The enticing software takes all the photograph from your Social or Photo sharing accounts like Facebook, Flickr,Tumblr to form a very rapid …. Source  : Pummelvision Lets You Catch Life in a Flash.

Are terrorists using Facebook to exchange bomb recipes?

WASHINGTON – According to a new report from the Department of Homeland Security, terrorists may be using Facebook to share operational information and to target.

According to the November report, terrorists and jihadists use Facebook as:

a way to share operational and tactical information, including bomb recipes and weapons maintenance; a gateway to extremist forums; … Read : Are terrorists using Facebook to exchange bomb recipes?.

Meet the Facebook couple who tied the knot at 82 and 77!

LONDON – Who says Facebook is only for the young? Even, the not-so-young can find love and happiness on the social networking site.

Barbara Moore and Laurence Brocklesby, a couple from Shipley, West Yorkshire, who are set to celebrate their first Christmas together as man and wife, found love on Facebook.

Moore, 77, began using a computer … Original article on : Meet the Facebook couple who tied the knot at 82 and 77!.