Don't click on the link from any email begin with "wow this is crazy you should give it a look"

Recently I got many emails claimed from my friends, my relatives and my family. Their subject line had a simple word such as "hi", "hey", "Fwd:" or "re:". The body had only one sentence begin with these words:

"wow this is crazy you should look into this ..."

"you should check this out ..."

"this is crazy you should give it a look ..."

"check this out wow ..."

"wow this is crazy you should give it a look ..."

Since senders are in my contact list, these spams bypassed spam filter and landed in my inbox. All from Yahoo account and sent from oversea. It looked like these Yahoo emails were hacked. If you are using Yahoo, check your Sent folder to see any unauthorized emails sent out. If your Yahoo was hacked and sent the spam, you should:

1. Changed your password immediately.
2. Scan your computer for virus, trojans. For Windows computer, download Microsoft Security Essentials, a free anti-virus software from Microsoft, at http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/products/security-essentials. For Mac OS computer, download Sophos Anti-Virus for Mac Home Edition at http://www.sophos.com/en-us/products/free-tools/sophos-antivirus-for-mac-home-edition.aspx. For Ubuntu, GNU/Linux get ClamAV,  an open source (GPL) antivirus engine designed for detecting Trojans, viruses, malware and other malicious threats. 

I agreed with James Snider in his blog post:

In today’s world, you just can not click links or open files that people email you. There are no trusted people. Viruses get on their computer and they will never know it.

Not only Yahoo email users had this problem but Hotmail too. Greg Lirette detailed his experience in "Spam sent from my Hotmail account".

That why I'm using Gmail and two-step verification and separate Yahoo, Hotmail accounts for difference tasks: social, testing, mailing list subscription, registration, personal finance, professional ...

For more info:

1. Prevent Sending Spam with my Yahoo Account? (http://superuser.com/questions/413734/prevent-sending-spam-with-my-yahoo-account)
2. The Palantír byjamessnider (http://jamesbsnider.wordpress.com/2012/04/15/the-palantir-8/)
3. Yahoo! Account Help - What to do if your account is sending spam (http://help.yahoo.com/kb/index?locale=en_US&page=content&y=PROD_ACCT&id=SLN3417&impressions=false)

Do not open any attachment in email claimed from Postal Office

This morning I went to US Post Office to send back a laptop battery to the Seller. In the evening, I found an email in Junk folder with subject 'Your parcel is available for pickup‏'. I almost attempted to open it. " Something wrong with my shipping..." I thought. But, I recalled a big red box "ALERT: Customers be aware of fraudulent package delivery messages sent by email or phone." when I was at USPS.com website few minutes prior. Thus, I did not click on the attachment.

The faked email sent from:

Received: from pacifica by dime127.dizinc.com with local (Exim 4.69)
(envelope-from )
id 1SMRM5-0004tD-Qo
for user@example.com; Mon, 23 Apr 2012 18:03:34 -0400

I'm feel I'm lucky. Always be vigilant and be smart… on the Net

Google's Project Glass

I watched Google's Project Glass video few days ago. It's really interesting. But, I'm feeling overwhelmed if I wear this Google Glasses. No, I will not buy this. I don't want my stress level increase. I don't want my life ruined by technology.

“There’s more to life than increasing its speed.” - Mahatma Gandhi

Back to School

Back to school means go to class, listen to teacher, doing homework, take the quiz or test. This time I'm back to school to learn Ruby on Rails and reinforce my knowledge in Software as A Service for free. My school here is not a normal, traditional school but an online school. I work full-time to keep a roof over my head so I prefer to study part-time at my own leisure. Spending more money to get advance degree is not my goal at this time.

The online course Software Engineering for Software as a Service taught by UC Berkeley professors Armando Fox and David Patterson. Every evening and weekend, I watched the video lectures and read the Kindle version of text book "Engineering Long-Lasting Software: An Agile Approach Using SaaS and Cloud Computing". I also did homework and submitted to grade. It was fun but not easy.

I'm really enjoy this class. I'm appreciate the professors and others made this free online course available to more than sixty thousands students. Prior to this class, I'm also follow iPad and iPhone Application Development (HD) by Stanford professor Paul Hegart in iTunes. With the current technology, we can have the best education for free. Gaining a knowledge is more important than the degree or certificate. I love to learn.

We the People on WhiteHouse.gov

I'm usually never sign any online petition due to security and privacy reasons. I don't trust any petition on the internet at all. This time, I signed up with We the People on WhiteHouse.gov.

https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions#!/

Please note the domain name WhiteHouse.GOV and the key or lock pad on the address bar when using the secured protocol (HTTPS). It authenticated the official government web site. To protect my privacy, I just stated my name and state.

Signed up with We the People on WhiteHouse.gov web site did not mean I supported all Obama policies. I support the United States constitution and our government. It means I trust our government. I believe our elected officials listen to us.

Official Google Blog: Don't censor the web

Agree with this post Official Google Blog: Don't censor the web

Other big sites protest SOPA too:

Wikipedia.org: English Wikipedia anti-SOPA blackout

Workpress.com: Join Our Censorship Protest!

2012 New Year Resolution

A few years ago, I learned the phrase "It's complicated" from Facebook. I love these words. Life is not simple. Some problems may not be easily to solve. It's complicated.

When your computer had a problem or ran too slow, buying a new computer was not a simple solution. You need to find out where the problem is, why the problem exists and how to fix it. When you ran a report, it took long time to return the result. To make it faster, you can not simply add more memory, or change to a faster CPU. It's complicated. You need to spend time to review your code, review your SQL, and monitor performance. You need to think before you act. You cannot simply solve the issue today by leaving more issues for tomorrow.

Now, as I am getting older, I tell myself: KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid). Beginning this year, I will try to keep everything in my life and my work as simple as I can. Keep it short.