Windows Event Logs to Syslog – Update
I came across this site earlier, seems to have a good amount of resources linked for anyone looking to… [more]
iPhone Data Recovery
iPhone needs to be jailbroken to do this (tested on my iPhone 4, with iOS 4.0.1 using the www.jailbreakme.com… [more]
There’s always a better way – Windows Fixes
It really annoys me when people say, "oh, why don't you just re-install Windows" or "do a repair install".… [more]
Windows Event Logs to Syslog – Update
I came across this site earlier, seems to have a good amount of resources linked for anyone looking to implement Windows event log to syslog.
http://www.loganalysis.org/windows-to-syslog/
There’s not much in terms of documentation, but it lists a number of tools which may help people in implementing this. Good luck!
iPhone Data Recovery
iPhone needs to be jailbroken to do this (tested on my iPhone 4, with iOS 4.0.1 using the www.jailbreakme.com jailbreaker). You don’t need OpenSSH installed, but I prefer it. If you install OpenSSH, connect using root@iphoneipaddress, password ‘alpine’ – I suggest changing this using the `passwd` command while you’re at it. MobileTerminal currently doesn’t work on iOS 4.0.1, atleast on the iPhone 4.
Pull image off iPhone using the following commands.
aknowles-mac:~ aknowles$ nc -l 30001 | dd of=iphone.img
iPhone:~ root# dd if=/dev/rdisk0s2s1 bs=1M | nc 192.168.1.1 30001
The `nc` command, aka netcat, opens a port up and listens using the -l switch. You run this on your destination computer, and pipe the output to the disk image file, iphone.img (filename unimportant).
On the iPhone itself, you point `nc` to the destination computer after it has been setup to listen. Pipe the output of `dd` reading the iPhone disk to the `nc` command and it will transfer. Note: I found the iPhone would not read the disk without the bs=1M switch.
The process can take a while. It’s taken about 20 minutes for 2.5gb to transfer over the wireless link I’ve setup between my laptop and my iPhone… For a 32gb iPhone, this will obviously take a while!!!
Once complete, analyse iphone.img with Scalpel or whichever forensics software you prefer.
Reference Links:
www.sinfuliphone.com/showthread.php?t=22588
log.ijulien.com/post/182804914/iphone-3gs-data-recovery
modmyi.com/forums/file-mods/237321-how-iphone-data-recovery.html
There’s always a better way – Windows Fixes
It really annoys me when people say, “oh, why don’t you just re-install Windows” or “do a repair install”. Over the past few years I had numerous machines come in that plain wouldn’t boot in to Windows, and even other technical colleagues would comment that it needed Windows reinstalled or repaired.
To me this is just a complete waste of time. Consider this. Reinstalling or repairing Windows (XP or Vista in the majority of cases), takes an hour or so. If you are reinstalling from a factory disk, the process of getting everything up and running is alot less tedious, and thus alot quicker. However, if you do a clean install from legitimate Windows media, you generally have to go and dig out drivers for everything possible. This is more time you don’t want to be spending whilst working on a machine.
Sure, the client might be paying by the hour, but what if you could reduce all this time to say, a 15 minute fix, and still charge for an hour? I’d call that efficiency.
And so there is my case.
For me, the most common non-boot problems can be quickly and easily solved by using bootable CD’s to manipulate the Windows registry and drivers.
For instance, any non-boot error message pertaining to the registry, including the common “\windows\system32\config\system” file being corrupt or missing, can be fixed using the “Registry Restore Wizard” tool from my favorite boot CD, the Ultimate Boot CD for Windows. Simply restoring to the last known good date can fix this issue immediately. Of course, there may be an underlying hardware or virus issue in addition, so you’d want to check that as well, but hey, you just saved yourself 2 hours of stuffing around reinstalling/repairing Windows.
Another good one is “stop” errors when booting, that is, the infamous “blue screen of death”. When booting the machine, by default, the blue screen will leave you in a reboot loop, unless you disable the auto-reboot by pushing F8 right after the BIOS screen disappears. Once this has been disabled, you can get an understanding of what is causing the stop to occur. In most cases, this is a file system or device driver error. Again, this can be fixed using a boot CD or even loading into Safe Mode (sometimes even using the Last Known Good Configuration boot option will work, but keep in mind this must be the first option as logging in under Safe Mode will discredit this option).
Without going into too much detail, just keep these in mind next time someone comes to you with a Windows problem. Increasing your own productivity by knowing which tools to use and when should be a given, yet most people still live by the reinstall mindset. It certainly has to be quashed if you have customers lining up machines to be fixed right before their eyes (as is the expectations of people).
HTTP Referrer Spam
My web stats for one of my larger websites is full of referrers which look to be spam… Today’s brief stats below shows the highest referral counts coming from a page titled “how to open an offshore company”… Cause I need to know how to do that…
Quick search:
- http://underscorebleach.net/jotsheet/2005/01/referrer-spam-proposal
- http://chris.quietlife.net/2005/01/16/referrer-b-gone/ – BAHHH DEBIAN… need to find adjust this for CentOS
Totally on my to-do list now, to implement mod_access_rbl for my Apache install. Idea is to point it some of the general spam related blacklists, as in theory, these would be perfect examples of IP’s purporting to create this nuisance traffic.
Links supply details. Watch this space.
My Facebook Idea
…. was implemented!!!
As per pic below. I filled out the suggestion form last week asking to see a pop up box when you roll over someone’s name, showing a picture of the person, and an indication of mutual friends, and an Add Friends button if they aren’t your friend… Tonight, I jumped on Facebook, and ZOMG, it’s been implemented!
DIY Nuclear Fusion Reactor
Sauce: Extreme DIY: Building a homemade nuclear reactor in NYC
This guy is a genius. $40k to create something similar to what governments and scientific organisations spend millions & billions of dollars on.
When I saw the headlines, “New Yorker builds nuclear reactor”, I was expecting to read of a man coming under fire for terrorist like acts… I was surprised to read otherwise.
Of course, this is all around about 2 days old in news terms, and it has allegedly already gone viral, as self proclaimed by the Fusor website here
Reading this got me onto reading up on nuclear fusion, and how it is used to generate power. The concept is simple, create heat, use heat to create steam from water, use steam to propel generator turbine.
I ask, however, is the turbine generator the most efficient method of generating electricity? It got me thinking back to my senior-physics classes. How else can you generate power?
Maybe a dumb idea, maybe the smartest, but what if the reactor produced electromagnetic waves or radiation? Could this be harnessed in some way, in addition to the heat generated by the reactor?
Generator theory is that an electromagnetic force inside of an induction coil (I’m not 100% sure on the terminology, or the theory, this is just off the top of my head), can produce electrons to flow through the induction coil, thus producing electricity. Or thereabouts.
Can this theory be applied to electromagnetic radiation? Would a big a$$ induction coil looped around the reactor produce an electrical current?
If I had the money, and the answers, I’d be testing this for myself…
Road Safety (inspired by Mark Skaife)
- News.com.au - V8 race ace Mark Skaife says parents pass on bad driving habits
- CarAdvice.com.au - Mark Skaife’s European approach to road safety falls on deaf ears
- CruisingBrisbane.com Discussion
It’s been an interesting week or so of discussion since Mark Skaife’s scathing report on Australia’s road safety report on Channel 7′s “Sunday Night” on 13th June 2010. At the dinner table, amongst friends, and on web communities alike, everyone has their own bit to chip in on the subject.
Personally, I couldn’t agree more with Mark Skaife on a number of the issues he raised, and ideas he proposed. Some of his points:
- Variable speed limits (i.e. from 70 to 80, to 60, to 80 all on the same road)
- Raising the speed limit of our “high quality” highways (not to be mistaken for sarcasm, more so, our one or two highways that are actually pretty good) from a ridiculous 80-100km/hr to a reasonable and safe speed for that surface – 140km/hr
- Banning parents from teaching their kids how to drive
- Better driver training – “reverse parks and 3 point turns don’t save lives” – teach kids how to handle the cars!
- Instead of “wasting money on pink batts and solar heating”, do as Germany do, give rebates for people to buy new cars, instead of old bombs.
These are just the highlights of Skaife’s report. Of course, the media/government picked it apart, and what resulted was everyone having a jump on the bandwagon free-for-all at Skaife for suggesting our speed limits should be 140km/hr. Ridiculous. He was quick to set the books right, and reminded the media and the government of the real issues at hand.
Despite boasting the statistics to back the common-sense initiatives he proposes, Skaife’s words have fallen on deaf ears with the majority adhering to the ’speed kills’ mantra and immediately condemning his suggestions.
- caradvice.com.au
I really commend Mark Skaife’s bold move to suggest how our roads and cars should be operated for the better future.
Additionally, I have some points of my own that I put together in discussion over at Cruising Brisbane. This post below written by myself was sparked by an article posted on CarAdvice.com.au regarding proposed P-plate laws changing for Queenslander’s, allowing you to gain an unrestricted open license in return for completing advanced driver training courses.
ECS, ABS, blah. These don’t teach you anything.
Don’t blame the car. Blame the driver.
If I had of rolled my Daihatsu Charade when I was 18, doing say 120km on a suburban street, would you blame the car for my death? Or me for being a complete #@$#head?
1. Experience pays – no one can really teach you how retarded other drivers are – and how to handle retarded situations
2. Know how to handle the car in all conditions – including when its out of control
3. Teach kids how dangerous cars can be, make sure they are held responsible and accountable for their actions – news/media/Police can’t show you this – in this day and age where kids play video games and kill each other with no remorse, some shocking pictures on the news means shit all. Driving should not be “scary”.
4. Driver confidence NEEDS to be evaluated. Unconfident drivers should be banned or be forced to return to their learners. Over confident drivers need to be woken up and shown they are not invincible.Maybe some contradictory points there… but food for thought nevertheless
It will be interesting to see how far the ideas, comments and suggestions of the Australian public are interpreted by the government(s) and how this will shape the future of our roads. It’s sure to remain an active topic in my corner of the internet at Cruising Brisbane, that’s for sure.
S15 Update
After just over 2 long years of having my S15 off the road, it’s slowly getting closer!
A few weeks ago I decided I would get stuck into it, and got everything all setup and ready to turn over. Put the key in the ignition, and nothing. Damn!
I’ve been doing a bit of research to figure out what could be causing it, and at the moment I’m siding towards the following scenarios:
- The base timing is off – my Haltech PS1000 ECU has trigger angle set at 42 on the base map supplied by Haltech, yet the real tune map from a mate’s SR20 powered car with the same ECU was running 35 (now 38). Neither of these settings appear to work – so I’m curious as to whether the timing is completely out. Time to pull out the timing light.
- In addition to the timing issues, the car doesn’t give a spark. After chatting with Haltech, and a number of other people, it seems the MSD DIS4 ignition I’m using is just one of those things that works for some, doesn’t for others – I tried a bunch of different things, but no luck, but have since set the settings again exactly as Haltech recommends – yet to test, but I’m sure I already did it their way… Failing this, I need a new ignitor.
- Starter motor is stuffed. It really is stuffed now, but I’m wondering if it was on the way out to begin with, and just wasn’t cranking hard enough?
On a brighter note, the S15 now has a comfier seat to cuddle up around me!
Cold War Reading Material
I read an article, maybe 2 years ago, regarding the Cold War, and Russia (or the USSR, whichever), having built a doomsday system. I somehow raised this in conversation the other day with one of my colleagues, and searched for the article again…
I’ve started to take a bit of interest in the Cold War, and the whole nuclear doomsday thoereticals that go with – Chernobyl etc is also a big reading item for me. A bit of my reading material below on the subjects is below:
- The Return of the Doomsday Machine? by Ron Rosenbaum
- Nuclear Recollections by Bruce Blair
** 7th June 2010 ** Just read this on SlashDot, read up on UVB-76 and there’s some speculation whether this could be related to the “Dead Hand” system mentioned in the previously linked articles…
Tinfoil hatters around the world are abuzz that UVB-76, the Russian shortwave radio station that has been broadcasting its monotonous tone almost uninterrupted since 1982, has suddenly gone offline. Of course no one knows what the significance of this is, but best brush up on your drills just in case.
Read more about UVB-76 on Wikipedia.
It all sounds a bit like Lost to me… Push the button, or the world will end!!!