Paypal, Facebook, Twitter, Xbox Live, Dating Sites and Email Account Hacked - JUNE 17

The hacker group Lulz Security is claiming it released log-in information for 62,000 private internet accounts Thursday, including Facebook, PayPal, dating sites, Xbox Live and Twitter.

This internet group hacked along with the email address associated with the accounts and posted all this information online. The good news is that an anti hacking website (go HERE) listed all the email addresses effected. Simply search for a keyword in your email address and see if yours is listed (For your privacy, do not enter your complete email in the search box.). If it is, go change your password! (but the damage has probably already been done).

Thankfully, none of my info was on the list!  Don't EVER post your email addy in a forum nor or on a blog.  If you notice that the majority of blogs have a "Contact Me" button so as to protect the reader, as well as, the blogger from unscrupulous people. 

Full story: CBC

The Flying Motorcycle - Samson Motorworks- Switchblade

What if you owned a vehicle that could take you “down the road” as well as up, up and away, into the friendly skies?
Parked in your home garage, it would await your plans for a road and/or air trip. Just pack, load and go.
Forget about long waiting lines at the airport terminal. No more boarding passes and passing through security. No sitting at the departure gate hoping your plane leaves on time.
You can get above all of that without leaving the comfort of your own vehicle.
The Switchblade™ Multi-mode Vehicle (MMV) is just the ticket to independence and faster travel. No more hassles of commercial flights with the traveling masses.
As pilot of your Switchblade™, you drive to the airport, extend the wings and fly to an airport close to your destination at 160mph. There’s room for one passenger and 50lbs of luggage in the comfort and safety of your Switchblade™.
When you land, retract the wings and drive to your final destination. The scissor-wing design has a retraction system that swings the wings closed like the blade of a pocketknife.
The Switchblade™ will be as exciting on the ground as it is in the air,” said inventor Sam Bousfield. “Past attempts to build a flying car have concentrated on four-wheeled vehicles.”
Airplanes have three.
“The three-wheeled Switchblade™ offers a lighter, more functional and aerodynamic vehicle to achieve stylish, safe and affordable performance,” according to Bousfield. “On the ground and in the air.”
On the ground the Switchblade™ is targeted for 50+mph and in the air is anticipated to achieve 22mpg at up to 150mph.
“It uses unleaded automotive gas, not expensive aviation fuel,” said Bousfield.
The ground test-vehicle was showcased at the recent Golden West Regional Fly-In and Air Show in Yuba City. The full-sized tube frame was used to validate the drivetrain and suspension and to fine-tune ground handling.
Expected in the fourth quarter of 2011.

FACEBOOK Update: June 2011

Facebook’s Secure Browsing (HTTPS) Setting, It’s Problems And A Solution.

Facebook has finally added the ability to access the site via a HTTP Secure (HTTPS) connection, which should drastically increase security for users.

HTTPS provides a combination of the HTTP and SSL protocols, enabling encrypted communication between your computer and a web server. Without it you’re exposed to sniffing attacks on the network; for example, if you’re using a public Wi-Fi to access Facebook via plain HTTP, someone using the Firesheep add-on for Firefox can easily retrieve your data. HTTPS makes it a lot harder to do that.

  

To turn it on use the following steps:

1. Click the Account menu in the top right corner and select Account Settings.
2. Next to the Account Security heading click the Change link.
3. Check the “Browse Facebook on a secure connection (https) whenever possible” checkbox under the Secure Browsing (https) heading.
4. Click the Save button.

Now that you have this setting turned on be prepared for it to be turned off in certain situations. For instance the secure setting is not available in Facebook apps. Every time you enter one of the non secure areas you’ll be prompted that you are leaving the secure connection. I understand this but have gotten very annoyed by prompts.

But the bigger problem is that when you enter an http area after visiting a non https the secure connection is not restored automatically (at least in my experience). I’m sure that as time goes on Facebook apps will more over to https but until then this leaves a hole in the Facebook security system. A way to automatically leave a secure connection but no similar way back to it.

To work around these issues I’ve created my own solution. I’ve added a bookmark to my browser’s bookmark toolbar to go to Facebook under HTTPS. (To do this just add a bookmark for https://www.facebook.com.) Now every time I finish using a non secure area of Facebook I use the bookmark to easily turn the secure connection back on. A simple solution to an annoying problem.