Tech Suki

Nice article from the creator of the popular sysinternals apps:

http://blogs.technet.com/markrussinovich/archive/2008/11/17/3155406.aspx

New attack cracks common Wi-Fi encryption in a minute – Network World.

Computer scientists in Japan say they’ve developed a way to break the WPA encryption system used in wireless routers in about one minute.

The attack gives hackers a way to read encrypted traffic sent between computers and certain types of routers that use the WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) encryption system. The attack was developed by Toshihiro Ohigashi of Hiroshima University and Masakatu Morii of Kobe University, who plan to discuss further details at a technical conference set for Sept. 25 in Hiroshima.

2.02 – July 30th 2009

With this little tool you can very easily upload pictures to www.tinypic.com, www.imageshack.us and www.messyshare.com without having to go through their website. You can enable shell link integration and simply Right-click the file and select “Send to TinyPic/Imageshack/MessyShare“ or drag the file to the app. window and it will automatically start uploading.

Features:

• Send multiple files in a queue
• Crop an area of the screen
• Send existing files via context-menu (32-bit only), selecting them from a dialog, or dragging them to the application window
• Capture the active window when you press F11
• Select a window from currently running applications via Aero live thumbs (Vista and W7 only)
• Send your clipboard contents (image)
• Send to either Tinypic, Imageshack or Messyshare, and get the direct link copied to your clipboard automatically
• Auto-resize pictures and/or lower quality automatically if file exceeds a given size, to speed-up uploads on slow connections (like non-Japanese)
• Store captures from cropping or paste etc
• Supports multiple monitors in any configurations (spanned horz/vertically etc)
• Works in Linux via wine libraries
• .net framework is NOT required
• Supports specific Windows 7 features (taskbar progress)
• Store a log with comments and its link about every upload
  

TinyPic Uploader - 2.02 - 2.29 MB - 7669 downloads

Mirror download in Softpedia (might be an older version):

http://www.softpedia.com/get/Internet/File-Sharing/TinyPicUploader.shtml

Single exe file, no installer (also no context-menu available):

TinyPic Uploader single executable - 2.02 - 1.17 MB - 630 downloads

Important for 1.x users:

Disable context-menu in 1.x and uninstall it first before installing 2.x

2.02: fixed upload to tinypic.com

Decided to share a beta of the upcoming new version of tpic uploader.

If you are using the older 1.x version, do this:

* Run 1.x, disable context-menu, then uninstal it. Now you can proceed to install 2.0 beta.

Warning: context-menu for 2.0 beta works only in 32-bit windows.

New stuff:

- Imageshack direct link fixed; new capture modes: clipboard paste, select active window with hotkey, select window from Aero live thumbs preview (Vista or W7 only); support to upload multiple files in a row; new options to optimize upload speed/auto image resizing; option to store captures.

[Download not found]

Major update:

# New in 1.5: GIF support fixed, auto-resize options, paste from clipboard, uploads log.

http://techsuki.net/tinypic-uploader/

TweakWin7.com – Windows 7 Tweaks, Tips and Secrets.

Very good website for Windows 7 tweaks and such.

Tinypic / Imageshack Uploader v1.30 – February 1st 2009

Support TinyPic Uploader by purchasing from our affiliates

With this little tool you can very easily upload pictures to www.tinypic.com, www.imageshack.us and www.messyshare.com without having to go through their website. You can enable shell link integration and simply Right-click the file and select “Send to TinyPic/Imageshack/MessyShare“ and it will automatically run the program and start uploading.

Requirements/Support:
- 32/64 bit windows (95-Windows 7)
- To enable the context menu option, you need admin privileges
- Linux (wine library, limited to manual upload)
- Works with JPG, PNG, BMP, GIF
- .net is NOT REQUIRED

# New in 1.30: hi-res icon, screen capture mode, multi-monitor support, Windows 7 taskbar progress support.
# New in v1.21: Bilinear filtering when resizing for the preview; show filesize; Direct Link for TinyPic
# New in v1.2: added Messyshare support and options to select which sites to add to context menus.
# New in v1.1: added Imageshack support

32/64-bit 9x-Windows 7

TinyPic Uploader - 2.02 - 2.29 MB - 7669 downloads

Mirror download in Softpedia (might be an older version):
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Internet/File-Sharing/TinyPicUploader.shtml

I ran a 3DMark 2006 test today to compare Vista and W7 beta1 (both 64-bit):

Looks like you can link a progressbar of your application to its taskbar button now, looks cool!

If you are thinking of upgrading your Picasa Web Albums service to paid storage, be advised that Google offers no support at all even to paying customers.

All support links in their website turn around and lead you to their lousy “forums” which generate a few hundred messages per day from other customers in desperate need of support. Your only chance at getting any help for your paid services, even for billing matters, is to post in that lousy forum and expect some other user to try and answer you.

This situation hasn’t changed at all 1 year after I signed up for their paid storage plans. The auto-renewal of that service is also suposed to send you an email 30 days prior to expiration. I have 10 days left to meet the renewal and there’s no notification yet in my gmail inbox. If you happen to be charged automatically, you are probably out of luck to request a refund as you can’t contact the company you are paying for the service.

This is a huge point down for Google’s services.

New version up:

# New in v1.21: Bilinear filtering when resizing for the preview; show filesize; Direct Link for TinyPic

Download: http://techsuki.net/tinypic-uploader/

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | IBM to build brain-like computers

IBM has announced it will lead a US government-funded collaboration to make electronic circuits that mimic brains.

The longer-term goal is to create a system with the level of complexity of a cat’s brain.

DailyTech – Update: AVG Virus Scanner Accidentally Removes Critical Windows Component

The world of computer security can be a scary place for friends and foes alike.  This weekend users’ found their AVG software updated with a new virus definition file.  Then they quickly found their computers crashing.

What was discovered was that the new virus definition file mistook user32.dll, a critical Windows component, for a container for the Trojan Horses PSW.Banker4.APSA or Generic9TBN.  When the scanner went active, it deleted this critical file, thinking it contained a virus, causing the system to crash.  AVG recommended users whose definitions auto-updated delete their virus definition file and cancel any scans they have running.

If your computer is affected, it will either stop booting or go into an endless reboot loop.

ea_spouse: EA: The Human Story.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EA_Spouse

Leander Hasty was the main plaintiff in the successful class action suit on behalf of software engineers at EA, which awarded the plaintiffs USD$14.9 million.

“how do you feel about working long hours?” It’s just a part of the game industry — few studios can avoid a crunch as deadlines loom, so we thought nothing of it. When asked for specifics about what “working long hours” meant, the interviewers coughed and glossed on to the next question; now we know why.

Within weeks production had accelerated into a ‘mild’ crunch: eight hours six days a week. Not bad. Months remained until any real crunch would start, and the team was told that this “pre-crunch” was to prevent a big crunch toward the end; at this point any other need for a crunch seemed unlikely, as the project was dead on schedule. I don’t know how many of the developers bought EA’s explanation for the extended hours; we were new and naive so we did. The producers even set a deadline; they gave a specific date for the end of the crunch, which was still months away from the title’s shipping date, so it seemed safe. That date came and went. And went, and went. When the next news came it was not about a reprieve; it was another acceleration: twelve hours six days a week, 9am to 10pm.

Now, it seems, is the “real” crunch, the one that the producers of this title so wisely prepared their team for by running them into the ground ahead of time. The current mandatory hours are 9am to 10pm — seven days a week — with the occasional Saturday evening off for good behavior (at 6:30pm). This averages out to an eighty-five hour work week. Complaints that these once more extended hours combined with the team’s existing fatigue would result in a greater number of mistakes made and an even greater amount of wasted energy were ignored.

And the kicker: for the honor of this treatment EA salaried employees receive a) no overtime; b) no compensation time! (‘comp’ time is the equalization of time off for overtime — any hours spent during a crunch accrue into days off after the product has shipped); c) no additional sick or vacation leave. The time just goes away. Additionally, EA recently announced that, although in the past they have offered essentially a type of comp time in the form of a few weeks off at the end of a project, they no longer wish to do this, and employees shouldn’t expect it.

In its first weekend, Madden 2005 grossed $65 million. EA’s annual revenue is approximately $2.5 billion. This company is not strapped for cash; their labor practices are inexcusable.