Year: 2007

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5 Things I hate about Ubuntu

I believe some of you have already read my blog and will summarize that I’m an Ubuntu user and advocator.

However, having said that doesn’t mean that I dont have things that I hate about Ubuntu, and they are :

  1. Windows manager (GNOME) is damn too slow compared with other distro
  2. Eats a lot of memory in desktop mode
  3. It has defective or near unusable packages (ie ffmpeg, scribus)
  4. Depends too much on internet connection for package installations and management
  5. Default installation does not include applications and codecs that I use most. I had to rely to the *internet* to get those apps installed (read above) (a small issue but an issue nevertheless)

Those are the 5 things that crossed my mind when I switched on my computer and use Ubuntu everyday. What’s yours?

[tags]ubuntu,debian,linux,opensource,distro[/tags]

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PPP is the easiest way to make money by blogging

Recently PayPerPost has introduced a new segmentation system to improve their services for bloggers and advertisers alike.

I’ve to admit at first I was scared and skeptical of this move because It sounds as if I will be sidelined by the move that PPP made and loose out all the beefy opportunities to old timers. I don’t put much hope of earning through PPP after the new scheme.

I was wrong.

The latest segmentation system introduced by PPP was fantastic! The number of opportunities high-paying opportunities unbelieavable, previously the highest paid opps that I ever encountered was around USD50-100, but now I see open opportunities offerings up to USD1000!

This is significant because before that the highest opps that I was able to get was only for USD20… once.

But yesterday alone, I was able to earn USD75 just by writing a single review, and I was able to get grab another USD12 opportunity just by writing a 100 word review… easy isn’t it?

Compared to ReviewMe, PPP offerings is much more attractive to bloggers because I can take active roles in grabbing opportunities compared to sit-and-wait-till-we-contact-you method used by ReviewMe.

What’s in for advertisers?
The new segmentation system benefit advertisers too :) as they can decide who should be able to take their opportunities by fine-tuning their requirements.

The cost of posting opps in PPP is attractive to advertisers where PPP only charges 35% service fees compared to ReviewMe which charges 100% markup, the low service fee means that you can use the rest of the money to fund your blog marketing buzz campaign.

PayPerPost helps me to make money blogging.

If you don’t want to be left out, then dont forget to signup with PayPerPost today and start earning by blogging now.

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How to secure your SSH server

I came across this interesting post about how to secure your SSH without changing the SSH listening port.

Things that the post author suggested are :

  1. Enforce the use of secure and hard to guess password
  2. Disable login by password, use Public Key Authentication for greater security.
  3. Allow SSH connection from trusted network only.
  4. Implement Port Knocking – http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/6811
  5. Use iptables RECENT match to filter SSH scanners

Personally I’ve enabled public-key authentication and SSH scanner filter to secure my server at the advice of my friend from a local security firm. Although, I haven’t tried the port knocking method yet, it seems interesting to know that ‘secret port knocking’ pattern also exists in computer security (remember ali baba?)

Hopefully this post will serve as a reminder to myself and those who read them, ah oh, most of this post content are lifted shamelessly from False sense of security

[tags]ssh,iptables,ubuntu,debian,security, port knocking,nmap, security scanners,exploit[/tags]

http://blog.drinsama.de/erich/en/linux/2007021502-false-sense-of-security

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WordPress 2.0.9 (bugfix) release

WordPress 2.0.9 has been release for the 2.0 branch.

Among the bugfixes introduced in this release are :

  • Fixed RSS bug when %category% used in permalinks
  • Eliminate PHP 5.2 error in cache.php
  • fixed random bug in Comment code
  • Eliminate Vulnerability in nonce AYS

Should I upgrade to WordPress 2.0.9?

You should upgrade If you are using WordPress 2.0.7 and below. There are reasons why people wouldn’t upgrade to the latest stable branch WordPress 2.1. One thing is the plugins compatibility and the other thing is the technical restriction such as the the use of older mysql databases (3.23).

Users of WordPress 2.1 need not to worry about this as you use a different branch of stable release.

[tags]wordpress,blogging,opensource,open source[/tags]

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Build your reader list with Zookoda

zookuda.gif

I’ve an opportunity to try Zookoda today, a service which lets you build your subscribers lists with minimal effort.

Built with bloggers in mind, Zookoda combines the power of blog marketing with email marketing by providing tools for bloggers to build and manage their own newsletters through their blog.

The Zookoda newsletter is a very convenient feature as most of us (bloggers) do not have enough time to maintain newsletters and blogging at the same time.

This is because besides of functioning as a normal Newsletter, Zookoda lets you send your post daily, weekly and monthly in a fashionable way.

A great tool for marketing blog, this feature will help you manage your blog subscribers and newsletters at the same time, thus saving your precious time of having different lists for your subscribers.

My Experience
I’ve tried Zookoda first hand for my blog email subscription, so far what I can tell is it surpasses all my expectations from a free service like this, because normally I would have to spend at least USD19.95/mo to get a service comparable to Zookoda and those paid service has no little to no integration with marketing blog that I own.

Now with Zookoda, I can easily coordinate my list building effort on my blog as well as my opt-in pages as opposed to have to have a separate subscribe button for each subscription.

In my calculation, this alone will triple my subscribers and will increase the chances of potential customers among my blog readers to each of my product offerings.

Anti-Spam Policy
As a note, Zookoda respects users privacy and strongly opposed spamming pratice, as a result, each of your email list has to be approved before it will go ‘live’ and you are required to affix your business address at the bottom of your newsletters. The subscribers will also receive subscription confirmation to deter the practice of email spamming.

A Peek at Zookoda Control Panel
Finally, I’d like to share with you the Zookoda Control Panel screenshot, I think you can get a lot of great ideas just by looking at them :)

zookoda_tn.png

Try Zookoda, it’s free and convenient !


~paid post

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Ubuntu apt-get easter egg trick

We may have been familiar with the usual apt-get operations for installing, updating and removing application packages on your Debian-base Linux operating system (Ubuntu is one of it).

But do you know that you can trigger it to show a hidden easter egg?

try typing “apt-get moo” and see it for yourself :)

apt-get moo super cow powers

[tags]apt-get,debian,deb,ubuntu,knoppix[/tags]