Technology Blog, Web Design and SEO

Facebook Dislike Button Scam

Kevin — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 11:03:19 +0000

Facebook users beware! A scam making the rounds on Facebook says that one of your friends has downloaded the new Facebook Dislike Button and gives you a link to download it. However, the link will only download the scammer’s personal Facebook application which will give them access to your complete profile and allow them to spam all of your friends by sending messages from your account.
For the record there is no official Dislike button option from Facebook. So don’t fall for it . But, if you really want that function and you use the Firefox web browser, you can install a 3rd party addon from FaceMod which will give you the Dislike button functionality, although I have not personally tested it.
Here is a link to FaceMod’s website where you can get the details.

Symbian Mobile OS Targeted

Anthony — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 12:13:54 +0000

As more and more people opt for SmartPhones, it stands to reason that they will become juicer targets of malware and virus writers. That is apparently what is happening to some smart phones running the Symbian OS.

According to mobile anti-virus company NetQin there are new viruses targeting mobile phones disguised as hot topics like Free World Cup VOD.

Infection scenario: Smart Phone owner downloads an innocent game for their phone (some of those games are soooo cool). The game is infected w/ the ShadowSrv.A, FC.Downsis.A and BIT.NmapPlug.A mobile virus. That virus springs into action by sending SMS to all contacts listed in the phone with an interestingly titled link (Check out this World Cup video). Contact clicks on link in the message and is sent to a website hosting more viruses and then they are infected. And so on.

Right now, the Symbian OS is being targeted (S60 platform 3rd Ed. (Symbian OS 9.1) as well as S60 5th ed. (Symbian OS 9.4) which is used by Samsung, Sony Ericsson and Nokia. If you are using one of those brands, you should consider adding some type of mobile anti-virus (check with your Wireless Carrier for suggestions) and don’t click on any suspicious links you receive.

NASA Updates Website

Anthony — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 13:04:07 +0000

In addition to all the space missions, NASA has been busy with a much needed update to their website. They already had the best website of all the US Government agencies, but the site now has a much better navigational interface and better options for visitors to share information on Social Networks like Facebook.

In a future website update, they will be adding a ‘Like’ button that will directly integrate with Facebook.

You can easily spend a TON of time looking at the hundreds of uber-cool images and videos on the site and now they will be easier to navigate to and view.

If you have not visited their site in a while, you should check it out http://www.nasa.gov/. Good stuff.

Automatically Check Your Level of Privacy on Facebook

Kevin — Wed, 19 May 2010 10:49:01 +0000

Our friend Richard over at Akira Media found a great link to a site that will let you see how much of your personal information is visible to strangers through Facebook.

If you are concerned about your Facebook Privacy, go to the Reclaim Privacy website and follow the steps to check. It is super easy and very enlightening and might just prevent you from letting everyone on the planet know some of your personal information.

YouTube Gives Backlinks to Your Website

Anthony — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 10:54:43 +0000

YouTube has added a new ‘As Seen On’ link that will reward websites that send traffic to YouTube. When a website embeds a video on one of their pages and that sends a high enough amount of traffic to YouTube, the site will get a little recognition and maybe a little traffic as well.

The new backlink feature won’t help your site rank better in Google because it will be nofollow-ed, but it could introduce your web site to a new audience and could help send some traffic love back to you and reward you for your blog readership building efforts.

Animal Planet Hoarders

Anthony — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 12:24:09 +0000

Last year, when we donated the new website for the Carteret County Humane Society Animal Shelter in Newport, NC, we did so because we wanted to give the Shelter a tool they could use to help the animals and Oh, how the community has responded! The shelter has begun receiving regular online donations and lots of offers to volunteer from animal lovers with a little time to spare. Kudos to everyone that is helping out!

Candice sent me an email this week regarding a hoarding situation in Jacksonville, NC. Animal Planet is developing a new documentary program about how hoarding affects the animals and was in Jacksonville to cover an example. A well-meaning individual had taken in so many animals that she was unable to properly care for them and the animals were suffering without food or adequate care. Rescuers from the Humane Society of the United States, Saving Grace Animals for Adoption and Collie Rescue put out a call to local organizations alerting them to the situation and the Carteret Humane Society was one of the organizations to respond by sheltering 7 dogs, 5 puppies, 3 cats and 20 kittens. Now the animals need our help.
Due to the economic issues that many are facing, many owners are turning in their pets and this is causing tremendous challenges for the Shelter. Now, with the addition of 30 animals, the task of finding homes is daunting. If you can help, a page of their website outlines some suggestions ranging from volunteering to making a tax deductible donation right through their website. Anything you can do will be EXTREMELY helpful both to the Shelter and to the animals. Even if you are not in a position to donate or volunteer, alerting others to this situation is a great way you can help.

Commercial Project Interior 3D Rendering Completed

Anthony — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 15:12:53 +0000

We recently wrapped up a 3D interior rendering for a commercial client in Winston Salem, NC. Interior Solutions is an interior design company and a repeat client. We are really glad to work with Emmy and her staff – they are great!
They are proposing the project to their client and we are very appreciative that they chose us again to help them out.
We custom modeled most of the furniture as well as placed custom patterns for the fabrics as well as the floor covering. Thanks again Emmy!

Mozilla Recommends Bing Search Engine for Best Privacy

Anthony — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 13:53:26 +0000

When I saw the CNBC special ‘Inside the Mind of Google‘ I, like a lot of other people, was pretty surprised at Google’s statement about the privacy of users of its Search Engine:

If you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place. If you really need that kind of privacy, the reality is that search engines — including Google — do retain this information for some time…

O…..K. That is one way to answer the question, I… guess. Although that kind of elicits a surprised response similar to the dad that gets hit in the crotch when tossing a baseball for his kid’s batting practice. (Google Bing it – its a hoot ).

Personally, I think it is slightly odd that Google would feel that way, especially when they don’t seem to respond the same way when the privacy tables are turned.

In a response, Mozilla is telling Firefox users to switch to Bing which is also surprising, since Mozilla has an agreement in place with Google through 2011. I think that says a lot about how important Mozilla feels about privacy.

Perform Your Automatic Windows Update

Kevin — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 13:39:55 +0000

If we had a nickel for every time we see the Windows Update Shield icon in the system tray of a client’s computer, we would be retired by now. That little icon means you must take action to protect your computer with the latest updates from Windows.
Microsoft releases security patches on the second Tuesday of each month (called Patch Tuesday) so make sure you are performing Windows updates at that time. A good indication that you need to apply a patch is the little, yellow icon you see in the lower right corner of your screen. If you see that, click it and follow the prompts.
This month’s patch Tuesday sees Microsoft releasing a Security Update addressing 12 vulnerabilities and one of which is a patch for a Zero-Day issue in Internet Explorer. Check it out and if you see the little yellow icon, click it! It is there for a reason
Another step you can take is telling Windows to apply the security updates automatically. Then, you will not even see the Update icon in the system tray. The updates will be applied and you will not even know, which is handy if you have ever said, “Hmm. What does that little Yellow Shield mean? Oh well. It is probably nothing important.”
So, if you are a Microsoft Vista user and want to setup Automatic Updates, here is the information to get you going with that. If you are still on Windows XP, here is the information for checking your Update status.

Fake Firefox Adobe Flash Player

Kevin — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 18:52:51 +0000

File this under the ‘Yikes’ category: According to a post on Sophos website, there is a Firefox plugin masquerading as a legitimate Adobe Flash Player add on.

Recently, Sophos analysts have discovered a piece of malware masquerading itself as a flash player plugin for the Firefox browser (detected by Sophos as Troj/FFSpy-A).
When the file runs, it pretends to install the adobe flash player for your browser.

However, instead of giving you a Flash Player, you get a piece of malware that spies on your Google searches, sends that data to a remote server and then displays ads into what you are viewing based on the keywords you entered.
According to the post on Sophos’ website, this malware seems to be spreading via Internet forums. You probably won’t have to worry about things like this if you download any plugins directly from Mozilla’s website (but you should still be cautious).
On Sophos’ website, there are some screenshots that illustrate the difficulty you would have trying to determine whether or not you were installing a legit plugin versus one containing some type of malware.
If you want to test your installed version of Flash, you can visit the test page setup on Adobe’s website and you can download the current version of Flash from Adobe’s website as well.