I just signed the petition to stop warrantless online spying at http://www.StopSpying.ca and you should too!

Here’s some background:

The government is trying to push through a set of electronic surveillance laws that will invade your privacy and cost you money. The plan is to force every phone and Internet provider to allow “authorities to collect the private information of any Canadian, at any time, without a warrant.

This bizarre legislation will create Internet surveillance that is:

- Warrantless: A range of “authorities” will have the ability to invade the private lives of law-abiding Canadians and our families using wired Internet and mobile devices, without justification.

- Invasive: The laws leave our personal and financial information less secure and more susceptible to cybercrime.

- Costly: Internet services providers may be forced to install millions of dollars worth of spying technology and the cost will be passed down to YOU.

If enough of us speak out now the government will have no choice but to stop this mandatory online spying scheme. Sign the Stop Online Spying petition now, and forward it to everyone you know.

http://www.StopSpying.ca

Full screen @ http://file.qip.ru/embed/111226964/dfc05946

Showcasing the following tricks:

• 6 Setting Throw
• 5 Cherry Flip
• 30Ft Braces Shaker Shot
• 12 Lime Slices in 2 Seconds
• 7 Flaming Sambucas in 8 Seconds

Thanks Iouri!

• Over 20 minutes of footage spanning five videos
• 480p maximum resolution
• Recorded on a Google Nexus S
• http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL39310F892533CE2E

See the CBC article “Facebook, PayPal users urged to check logins after hacking“:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2011/06/17/pei-lulzsec-personal-internet-accounts-584.html

There is a link to a Dazzlepod page referenced in the above article, which lists email addresses of hacked accounts; check to see if your accounts are on the list!

Even though we updated everything WordPress related a month or two ago, just signing into the WordPress Admin/Dashboard triggered update notices. WordPress version 3.0.5 is out. Of course, the WordPress anti-spam plug-in Akismet has been updated, now on version 2.5.3. Even the WordPress theme named Pixel, used here, has also been updated to version 2.0.2. Well, Shak upgraded everything using the automated facilities, and everything looks to be working well (as accustomed & expected).

Aside from all that website related stuff, we use the free virtualization software VirtualBox in daily business activity. It too has a new version released, 4.0.4, just four days ago. On top of an openSUSE 11.1 Linux host (KDE for Desktop/GUI), we run our accounting system (QuickBooks on Windows XP) in a virtual machine, and also an openSUSE 11.3 workstation environment (GNOME) communications (GNOME/Novell Evolution), web development (Quanta Plus), and other web-administrative activities (Firefox). Everything is up-to-date, of course

I hope everyone has had a great Family Day! Shak’s now going to go enjoy what’s left of his…

People are freaking out over Facebook being inaccessible. At this moment, there are thousands of Tweets on Twitter posted every minute, remarking upon the failure!

From some brief Googling of WordPress Twitter Widget, we opted to read a couple best/top lists:

1. 10 Best Twitter Tools, Plugins, Widgets for WordPress Blogs
2. Top Twitter WordPress Widgets

From there and some further research of compatibility and rating on the WordPress Plugin Directory the following two plugins have been selected and implemented into the right sidebar:

1. Twitter Widget Pro
2. TwitterCounter by TwitterCounter[.com]

Sign into my TwitterRemote on http://twittercounter.com/DaShak?t=t so I know when you check my stats!

This year it’s time to move forward! Daniel Shakhmundes actually wants to hear from you now, and this fact is exemplified in the return of a contact page! While we’ve routinely implemented such things on clients’ websites, it’s been years since one was available here. We used the cformsII plug-in by delicious:days, which provides anti-spam verification, robust field checking, and many more features that no form (contact or otherwise) should be without.

We’ve also fixed & improved the Photos page, which bears content from Daniel Shakhmundes’ Facebook profile.  Like the web in general, the Facebook system is changing & updating periodically.  A new Fotobook plug-in for WordPress was finally released, accounting for the functional/API changes while also providing new functionality itself.

In keeping up with WordPress updates, we also upgraded to the latest stable version (2.9.1), which was a breeze as always.  It’s a great feeling to know you have the cutting-edge functionality expected in a website, while having no known security vulnerabilities, and a world-wide community keeping things that way!

Cheers,
D.Shak & associates

Along with today’s post, we upgraded to WordPress 2.9 – so far so good!