Blackhat SEO – Esrun

Slingbox sucks

I bought a slingbox early this year. Watch and control your sky/cable box over the internet from anywhere in the world. Great!

After a couple months of using it, it started to play up, not connecting to the network and such like. Usually a reset would fix this.

About 9 months on and the box now refuses to connect to the network and won’t even reset. Before contacting Sling Media for support, I take a look around online and found forums full of people with the same problem. A hardware issue that means replacing the unit. Sigh, not ideal. After leaving it plugged in (not working) for a few weeks, I came back and now no lights come on. The unit is dead.

I call up Sling support but am told that they can’t help me until I register the product online. Why they can’t do it over the phone I don’t know, not a great start. After registering online, I call back and am advised that the product only has a support/warranty period of 90 days. I’ve never bought an electrical product before that didn’t have at least a 1 year warranty! If I want any support now, I need to pay 29.99. Thing is, It’s quite clearly a hardware fault so even if I pay this rip off charge, I won’t get anywhere unless they agree to replace the unit.

If possible, buy an alternative to the Slingbox or other Slingmedia products. Their support is practically non-existent and based on the number of people complaining about the same hardware issues, there’s obviously common faults. If there support had actually made any kind of attempt to help then I’d have considered buying another one, even with its faults. But now there’s no chance I’ll pay out more cash for any Slingmedia product.

Restart OS X Dock

For the last 6 months or so, I’ve run into the same problem across a range of different mac computers. I go to change an application or open a finder window and it just wont work.

I have a second window changer installed which is called witch. I highly recommend using this if you don’t already since it lets you change to a specific window rather than just an application.

I originally thought the issue was with Finder but after a bit of searching, it turns out to be a problem with the Dock. I looked around for apple scripts which could restart Dock but the only one I could find was a bit hit and miss in its success. So I put together my own very simple script.

Simply create a new apple script and put in this:

do shell script "kill -HUP `ps -aux | grep Dock | grep -v grep | awk '{print $2}'`"

Save it to your desktop and next time your system stops letting you change windows and such like, simply run this script and it will restart your dock.

I used to reboot every time this happened so I’m glad I finally got around to putting a proper solution together.

Ubuntu Gateway / Access Point Server

I’ve been wanting to play wifi king for a long time. Providing free wireless internet access to a reasonable sized area. Finally I got to have a play.

The basic idea is to have a server which shares the internet from a standard connection (e.g DSL) to anyone who connects wirelessly. “You mean a wireless access point, why can’t I just buy a £30 wireless AP?”

Well..

Benefits of running our server over buying a standard wireless access point (AP):

Many run of the mill wireless APs fail under high traffic – With our server, we can use a better processor and increase RAM as required.

Caching – If you’re serving a lot of users then you can save on bandwidth and speed up users browsing experience by using a caching proxy like squid. Basically, when one user views a video on youtube (depending on your squid cache file size settings), squid makes a copy of it and then serves its copy to any future requests. This is quicker than downloading it from youtube and serving it to the client again. You can configure file sizes and cache file life time.

Filtering – For bandwidth saving or corporate reasons you can setup a filter with squid to block access to certain sites, certain types of site or content-type. For example you could block access to youtube or block all video files completley.

Advertising – You can incporporate your own advertising into sites that you’re serving. If you wanted to get into the nitty gritty then you could monitor traffic and serve ads based on user behavour (like phorm, I guess)

What do I need?

The great thing is, to do something like this, you don’t need any pricey hardware.

What you need:

1. A computer and operating system (In my case, Ubuntu 9.04)
2. A network card that uses our connection from the ISP
3. A wireless card that supports ‘master mode’ in linux.

1) The box I’m using in this example was originally used as my desktop system and is far more powerful than what you realistically need. I prefer using laptops (especially when going to and from work) so I’ve converted it for this project.

The specs are:

Processor – Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4ghz 8mb L2 cache
Motherboard – Intel BLKDG35EC
RAM – 8gb (4 x 2GB Kingston DDR2 PC800)
HD – Western Digital 320GB 7200RPM SATA
Graphics – Nvidia Inno3d 8600GT PCIE 512mb S-video/DVI/VGA
Network – Onboard gigabit ethernet, TP-LINK TL-WN651g
Case – Basic case
Power – ACBEL INTELLIGENT POWER 610W ACTIVE PFC

I’m running Ubuntu 9.04. For this example, I’ll be assuming that everyone is running Ubuntu 9.04 but it shouldn’t vary that much between different linux distros.

2) I’m using my onboard network card connected to a DSL modem. I actually want to replace this step with an internal PCI modem but I’m having trouble finding a suitable card right now.

3) This one took me a long time! I originally hoped I could use USB wifi adapters since this would make it easier to use many to service a big wireless area. I have tested many usb wifi adapters and had no problem getting them to act as access points/’master mode’ in Windows XP but not in Ubuntu! (For those interested, I had best success with adapters using the r8187 chipset).

It was a bit easier finding a PCI wifi card that would work in master mode. The easiest thing to do is find any card which uses an Atheros chipset and use madwifi drivers (explained later). I loaded a few local computer shop websites and then checked their stock against the madwifi compatibility list. I eventually ended up with a TP-LINK TL-WN651g.
Configuring the server

The first thing to do is install Ubuntu. Download the ISO, burn to DVD and install. I won’t go into detail on this because there’s nothing to do really.

Configure the network card to take connection from our ISP

Open a terminal and edit /etc/network/interfaces by adding the following:

#isp
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet dhcp

This assumes that you’re plugging this network card into a source that’s running a DHCP server such as a standard router/DSL modem. If you run ‘/etc/init.d/networking restart’ you should now be online, great!

Configure DNS

Since we’re going to act as an access point, we need to enter the DNS servers we’re going to use. You can enter your ISPs DNS servers or free ones like those provided by OpenDNS. In this example, I’ll assume you’re going to use OpenDNS.

Open a terminal and edit /etc/resolv.conf so that it reads as the following:
nameserver 208.67.222.222
nameserver 208.67.220.220

Configuring the wireless card with madwifi drivers

To get the wireless card to act as an access point we need special drivers known as madwifi. To set this up I simply plugged my pci wireless card into the server and then (in gnome session) I clicked ’system>administration>hardware drivers’ where it automatically searched for drivers and offered me ‘Alternate Atheros “madwifi” driver. I simply selected and enabled this driver.

After this, I run the following command in a terminal:

apt-get install madwifi-tools

This installs a package of tools we need to configure the card as an access point.

To force the card to always go into AP mode, we’re going to edit file ‘/etc/modprobe.d/madwifi' by adding the following to it:

options ath_pci autocreate=ap

After adding the above, we’ll run ‘modprobe ath_pci'

Configure wireless card to setup access point

Again we’re going to open a terminal and edit our /etc/network/interfaces file by adding the following:

#wifi ap
auto ath0
iface ath0 inet static
wireless-mode master
wireless-essid linksys
address 192.168.1.1
network 192.168.1.0
netmask 255.255.255.0
broadcast 192.168.1.255

If you run ‘/etc/init.d/networking restart’ and scan for wireless access points from another computer, you should now see an access point called ‘linksys’. We’re not done yet though! If you connect, nothing’s going to happen.

Configure the server to route the traffic from the wirless through our ISP connection (eth0)

In terminal run ‘echo boxer > /etc/hostname’

Edit ‘/etc/hosts’ to look the same as:

127.0.0.1       boxer   localhost.localdomain   localhost
192.168.0.100   boxer     server

# The following lines are desirable for IPv6 capable hosts
::1     ip6-localhost ip6-loopback
fe00::0 ip6-localnet
ff00::0 ip6-mcastprefix
ff02::1 ip6-allnodes
ff02::2 ip6-allrouters
ff02::3 ip6-allhosts

Make a new file ‘/etc/init.d/iptables’ and copy the following into it:

#! /bin/sh
echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward
iptables -F
iptables -X
iptables -t nat -F
iptables -t nat -X
iptables -t mangle -F
iptables -t mangle -X
iptables -P INPUT ACCEPT
iptables -P FORWARD ACCEPT
iptables -P OUTPUT ACCEPT
iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o ath0 -j MASQUERADE
iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o eth0 -j MASQUERADE

To make our new file executable, run ‘chmod +x /etc/init.d/iptables’ and then to make it run on startup run ‘update-rc.d iptables defaults ‘

Install DHCP server

We need to install a DHCP server so that when clients connect, they’re given an IP address. To do this, run

apt-get install dhcp3-server

After this is installed, edit ‘/etc/default/dhcp3-server’ so that INTERFACES=”ath0″

Next, add the following to the bottom of file ‘/etc/dhcp3/dhcpd.conf’

authoritative;
subnet 192.168.1.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
range                           192.168.1.100 192.168.1.200;
option domain-name-servers      208.67.222.222,208.67.220.220;
option routers                  192.168.1.1;
default-lease-time              600;
max-lease-time                  7200;
}

Reboot

Everything should now be installed and setup. Now we reboot, cross our fingers and hope everything worked.

Conclusion

I want to update this post with how to install and configure squid as a transparent caching proxy (no need to configure the clients). Right now this just feeds traffic straight through.

I also want to keep working on getting USB wifi adapters working in ‘master/AP’ mode since this would greatly help servicing a large area. Imagine, you can use multiple cheap USB wifi adapters with a different range of antennas connected.

I’m not a linux guru and a lot of this information I’ve learnt/collated from different forums, sites and such like. I can’t see that I’ve missed anything out but let me know if you run into any problems.

Spamming with PHP and the iPhone

If you’re lucky enough to have an iPhone (yes, you’re a lucky guy if you have one) then I hope you’ve jail broken it.

I know there’s a lot of arguments over jail breaking your iPhone. Most are worried that it’s going to affect their warranty if it breaks but after speaking to a few people including chewie, it seems that it’s always possible to recover it by putting it into a special recovery mode and using itunes to install the original firmware… so I don’t consider it a risk. Jail breaking only opens the iPhone up to run unofficial applications, it doesn’t open it up to run on other networks such as vodafone. If putting in for a warranty claim then you simply click ‘restore’ in itunes and it puts the original, un-jailbroken firmware on

If you don’t already know how to jail break the iPhone, well you don’t need to know! Just download the application from Quickpwn, follow the onscreen instructions and you’re done in a matter of minutes… no special hardware of software needed.

Anyway, to the point… Last night I installed the UNIX subsystem using Installer/Cydia (installer comes automatically by jail breaking the phone). This allows you to SSH into the iphone using your standard SSH client (in my case the one bundled with mac os X as standard, via terminal) using the username root and password alpine.

I’ve wanted to code applications for the iPhone but not too worried about pretty interfaces and certainly didn’t wanna learn a new language or way of coding just for that. Once you’re SSH’d into the iPhone you can do all sorts of things and I thought to myself… I wonder if I could install PHP? After all PHP really is my home from home.

I ran this command ‘apt-get install php’ and about 2 minutes later I have php running on the iphone! How cool is that!? So now if I’m out and about and sitting on an unsecured wifi, I can just run a couple of spamming scripts and sit there with the iPhone spamming away in my pocket.

Also you could create some “useful” scripts to backup SMS and phonebook contacts, log your incoming/outgoing call details and whatever else you might like. If you get hold of someones iPhone for 30 mins then you could install a nice backdoor script running on a cron job which sends you data everytime they connect to the internet… you’ll probably goto jail but hey, maybe you’re a spy for mi5

Here’s a step by step guide to install Lighttpd + PHP on the iPhone

Paypal temporary mastercard / gift card

I just found out about a Paypal feature that I never knew existed! I really can’t believe I’d never known about this before..

You can download a plugin for firefox/IE which allows you to generate a temporary mastercard (mastercard gift card). Basically you want to pay for something which cost $50 but the place only takes credit cards, not Paypal.. no problem, this will generate some mastercard credit card details that will use your Paypal balance. Extremely useful!

If however you’re one of the smart people using Mac OS X..

Mac users cannot install the PayPal Plug-In at this time. However, you can still use the Secure Cards feature of the plug-in.
How it works:

* Go to the Secure Cards page.
* Generate a unique MasterCard Secure Card number.
* Note the card number, expiration date, and the CVC2.
* Enter these details at checkout.

McAfee SiteAdvisor equals spammers

I’m absolutely gobsmacked at McAfee SiteAdvisor. I was checking the feedback for one of my sites recently on there and noticed it has a ‘Email tests’ section.

After reading about it, I realised that what they basically do is send a bot to your website and auto fill any form they can fill with email addresses and fake subject/message (hello, chinese spammers!?).

They then base the spam score on the amount of emails they recieve a month from filling out that form and then how spammy their bot thinks the reply was. In this case it’s given a 50% spam score.

I had replied just once and I can see my email address sitting there as the reply. So I’ve wasted my time emailing back this person JUST IN CASE it was a legitmate email and then they have the cheek to call me an email spammer?

WHAT … THE … FUCK!

Number10.. number 404!

Its a depressing time when your countries government website has a “beta” label on it and shows a 404 on the homepage – http://www.number10.gov.uk/

Another Euro Drive

Woooo! Well It looks like I’ll be doing another drive across mainland Europe in January

The first time I did a drive across Europe I didn’t even bother taking a camera but the second time I did a little post on it with some pics.

I actually found an old MP3 which I recorded the night before I went on the drive. At the time I was doing SEO for an insurance company and because I wanted a break and I’m impatient I booked the ferry for the next day! The night before I saw my friend and we had a few drinks and he sang this on the fly.

The great thing about Europe is once you’re in, that’s basically it, no hassle! Just drive anywhere at anytime without any problems.

I’m torn between attempting a long drive to somewhere like Russia or visiting multiple countries. I like the idea of driving to Russia and back because its quite a challenge since its such a distance and you travel through a fair amount of countries but I wouldn’t really have time to do anything in the countries but have a quick nap before moving onto the next.

If however I decide to visit multiple countries then I’m thinking something..

Ferry from Dover(UK) to Dunkirk(France)

Dunkirk to Frankfurt(Germany)

Frankfurt to Zurich(Switzerland)

Zurich to Rome(Italy)

Rome to Geneva (France)

Geneva to Paris(France) or Dunkirk(France)… depending on timing

Not an easy drive to do in a short time (7 or 10 days) but that kinda makes it more challenging

If you have any suggestions on places to visit or changes to the route then feel free to comment! Nothings set in stone.

Quad Core Mac

Well I finally got around to building a quad core mac!

>> SCREENSHOT (kalyway 10.5.2) <<

>> SCREENSHOT (ideneb 10.5.5) <<

I followed the OSx86 hardware compatibility list (HCL) to ensure the parts I bought were compatible with the mac operating system.

The motherboard of my macbook pro died a few months back and I’ve been missing the power ever since. Since it died I’ve been using an MSI wind laptop with mac os x 10.5.4 installed but the processor isn’t huge and its really meant more as a portable device than a daily work machine.

A lot of people still don’t realise that since Apple went over to the Intel platform a couple of years back, its quite easy to install the operating system on a whole range of standard desktop and laptop computers using either a retail disc or a special ‘hacked’ version such as kalyway 10.5.2 or Ideneb 10.5.5.

Because I used the OSx86 HCL, everything worked out of the box for me and was a breeze to setup. The only problem I had was finding a compatible wireless card. I tried a few usb wifi sticks I had laying around but couldn’t get any to work. I even tried buying a PCI wireless card which is meant to be compatible but couldn’t get that to work but to be fair I think this is an issue with the card or motherboard since it didn’t physically fit well in the first place!  Eventually I managed to find a Netgear WG111 (version 3) and installed it using the RTL8187B drivers for Mac.

For those concerned about copyright/pirate etc. I do have a leopard license that currently isn’t being used so bah!

Hardware

Processor – Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4ghz 8mb L2 cache
Motherboard – Intel BLKDG35EC
RAM – 2 x 2GB Kingston DDR2 PC800
HD – Western Digital 320GB 7200RPM SATA
Graphics – Nvidia Inno3d 8600GT PCIE 512mb S-video/DVI/VGA
Case – Basic case
Power – ACBEL INTELLIGENT POWER 610W ACTIVE PFC
Networking – Netgear WG111 (version 3)

Total cost: About £380

Total time putting hardware together and installing OS: 2-3 hours

Moneybookers mayhem

Myself, I’m a fan of Paypal. I don’t think much of their ebay monopoly schemes and don’t feel confident as a seller but as a buyer its great.. widely accepted, easy to use and good buyer protection.

However sometimes you have to pay people who live in the middle of a desert and such like. Not being a fan of scammers union western union, it kind of limits your options. So I decided to use moneybookers (MB) since it’s pretty widely used in those out of the way areas.

However moneybookers have these big warnings about doing a bank transfer to your moneybookers account from a bank account thats not in your name.. It’s a pain in the butt that you have to manually send them the money rather than them debit it like Paypal but hey ho.

So the account was funded but accidentally from an account in a different name to that which the MB accounts was in. Thinking it would be rejected as their site says, another transfer was made from the correct bank account.

Today I login and get a huge rant in red bold letters saying this..

IMPORTANT INFORMATION:
YOUR RECENT MONEYBOOKERS DEPOSIT

No cash or 3rd party deposits!!! You attempted to fund your Moneybookers account from a bank account in someone else’s name:

Amount: GBP XYXYXY
Bank: Lloyds TSB

While obtaining the bank details for your 3rd party you were clearly warned that Moneybookers does not allow 3rd party deposits for funding of E-MONEY accounts.

ALL FUNDS MUST ORIGINATE FROM A BANK ACCOUNT HELD IN YOUR NAME!

You were expressly warned that you will be charged all banking and administrative costs should you attempt a 3rd party deposit to your Moneybookers account. We have therefore credited this deposit to you with a deduction of EUR 10.– administration fee.

WARNING! This is a one-time exception! Should you attempt further 3rd party deposits, you may make yourself suspicious of money laundering activities.

I might make myself suspcious of money laundering activities? Hey, I’m already suspicious but I think it the russians! Seems like some MB employee sitting behind his desk woke up on the wrong side of the bed today!