The latest version of Ubuntu is a killer OS. I nearly had a heart attack when I installed it and saw the changes!

Do you have an anti-virus program for your phone?

You may not think of it as such, but if you have one of the more modern Smart Phones out there (iPhone, Android) you’re carrying around a small computer with more capacity than a desktop or laptop computer with a few years under the belt.

The threat are definitely real. Hacking a phone would make it possible to read your e-mails, use the phone as a listening device and hear your conversations or make it call a high price number in Bahrain. What you see happening to phones on TV and movies are not really so far fetched – although it usually requires more than just being near the phone like the guys in Person of Interest, before it gets hacked.

Part from these basic actions cracked.com lists the following things that can be done with a hacked phone or how a phone can be hacked:

• The tilt sensor can be used to figure out what you’re typing on your keyboard, if the phone is placed on your desktop.
• Your credit card information can be stolen, if the phone is just near the cards.
• Your phone can be hacked by free charge stations.

So, what to do?

Install anti-virus software

However, think of the following:

• Always install the software from a trusted source (I.e. the app-store, or app-market or Google Play). Do not download an anti-virus program from some website!
• Make sure you get software that does what you want it to do, there are a few variations. Read the specs!
• If you suspect your phone has been hacked, you may not be safe unless you do a total factory reset of the phone before you install any anti-virus software. Services like Gmail, Google Drive, etc might help you keep your important data even after a reset.

I’ve been running Avast Anti-Virus, and Avast Anti-Theft. The anti-virus software scans applications I install (which, in a contrary of the popular depiction in TV series, is the most common way of infection). The anti-theft software makes it possible for me to locate or wipe the phone if it gets stolen (I have linked my phone up with Dropbox, so wiping it on theft is probably a smart thing to do).

Of course, part from having a good anti-virus software installed, you also need to follow a few rules:

• Do not install software from unreliable sources if you can avoid it. Just because you have anti-virus installed you can still get infected simply because your virus definitions may not have been updated. Continue to use caution.
• Bring your own charger.
• Do not leave your phone unattended, or at least put in a lock password or lock pattern. Android has both, I am not sure what iPhone has, but it shouldn’t be too easy to just pick up your phone and install a Nanny-app just before the big board meeting.
• In fact, if you have a really important meeting, you might want to turn off the phone, rip out the battery and leave it in the next room – Belorussian (I think it was) rebels used to do that when the government used the mobile network to spy on them.

If you’re a fan of the TV series Pretty Little Liars, where a mysterious person, or group of persons, called “A” seems to have a magic ability to know everything about the main characters and what they are doing in exact that moment. You might want to think “hacked phones” and “A” may not seem so mysterious anymore…

One can only hope this only happens in TV, but a few irresponsible app installs later you may be monitored by NSA/China/your jealous ex… Or… well… I think we’re monitored by those three entities regardless of a hacked phone, but you get my meaning!

I’m at it again!

After having installed WordPress Multisite I am able to run several blogs without the hassle of having to keep them all up to date!

So now I have moved, or am in the process of moving, some of my posts to other sites:

• aspiemind.com – for the Asperger and ADHD related posts.
• transverbal.com – for the channeling, religion etc related posts.
• mindfulfillment.com (also under construction) – for posts relating to mindfulness and similar.

I hope you’ll enjoy the new blog just as much as the old! 😀

If you feel like your Ubuntu is way to benevolent, you can always go Satanic.

Of course, I thought this was the edition I had installed, given Unity’s behavior, and the fact that my raid-devices are dropping like flies (they passed a badblocks scan, and as far as I can tell they are working again), but alas, perhaps I need more goat blood, hell fires and ritual chants?

The versioning of Ubuntu SE is less time constrained. Instead of using the year and date, like Ubuntu does, the numbering is simple: 666.8, for instance is the version number of “Undead Legion”, followed by 666.9 “Microsoft Massacre”, and 666.10 “Necrophiliac Necromancer”.

On the plus side, I may be able to scare my computer into submission by burning a CD of satanic edition…

OK, seriously. I fear Ubuntu Satanic Edition may be way too old to do anything with… (um although upon closer examination, they seem to have a news item from 27th of uhh January, 2012… that’s a year ago…) but on the other hand… Isn’t the current edition way too satanic? I think I could get a break from all the unholy shit going on if I installed this one with goat heads, flames and blood and everything else that belongs!

Another way to go would be Ubuntu Christian Edition, but unfortunately, I do not think Jesus will be downloading it any time soon…

Hey! If you can read this, the world did not end in 2012! (However, if you cannot read this there may be a bunch of different reasons… like did I pay my ISP? Is my ISP still there? Are your browser working? Is the cable in the … hey… why bother… if you cannot read  this then that’s it…) 😀

Anyway:

Congratulations. The different theories about the world ending was wrong!

Read more about them here.

So, unless the calendar calculations are off (guess what: of course they are… it’s gonna happen 2013, or 2021, or 2102 or 2031, or 1202, uh I mean… 2201…) we’re looking at a whole new year of new possibilities and opportunities. Have at it, knock yourself out, and remember… just because the world did not end in 2012, doesn’t mean you have infinite time. Do something meaningful before your world ends!

It’s been said, probably many times, but I’ll say it again:

There are two things in this world you have to do – everything else is voluntary:

1. There will come a day, hopefully in the far future, when your days on this earth are over and you will die. This is something you can rest assured you must do.
2. However you twist and turn in this world you must make choices. Even refusing to make a choice… is a choice.

Of course there are exceptions to the above two “musts”. Both of the pure biological nature – you must breathe, it’s not a choice. And there’s a bunch of other biological needs you wont be able to control with your will, or even strong drugs. Sleep is another one you won’t really be able to control with your will power.

Then of course theres the socioeconomical… you must pay taxes. I’d like to see you trying no to… or in fact, let’s not go there… just do it… 😀

Everything else (besides dying, making choices, breathing, sleeping and paying taxes) is purely up to you. As long as you know every choice made also implicitly means the consequences have been chosen as well.