June 1st, 2008

Posted by Michael Krigsman

Update 6/2/08 7:00PM EDT: Twitter is working well at the moment. Will it last?

Twitter’s problems continue and are not likely to be fixed for months. The system’s fundamental architecture is flawed, management is grasping at straws to figure out what’s wrong, and hiring qualified folks takes time. Regardless of the significant funding raised by the company, solving these problems is always a slow process. Twitter’s issues are no different from any other business in the midst of a management-driven failure situation.

Rescuing a failed project is challenging. As does propecia really work target=”_blank”>jjprojects told me on Twitter, it’s “like changing the tyres of a car and fixing the engine while the car is still driving.” Given this difficulty, I suggest the Twitter team adopt the sensible methodology advocated by Forrester Research. This diagram offers an overview:

Twitter should bear these lessons in mind as they develop their turnaround strategy:

• You don’t have to fix every problem. Get the basic system working and worry about the rest later. I’m sure you’re already thinking this way.
• Users will be patient, but only if you make them love you. Everyone wants Twitter fixed, but communication is everything right now.
• Learn project management. Wings and prayers won’t work. Bring in experienced managers with excellent judgment who have fought these battles before. You need more than tech folks, even though the problems are deeply technical in nature.

While Twitter is repairing self-imposed damage born of poor planning and inexperience, it’s likely competitors will emerge to take advantage of the company’s misfortune. Although any competitor will face similar technical and engineering challenges, they will learn Twitter’s hard-won lessons at a fraction of Twitter’s cost.

Twitter, your repair process will take months. To prevent user defections en masse, hone your communication skills to a perfect, fevered pitch. It’s your only hope.

(Click here to follow me on Twitter.)

Michael Krigsman is CEO of Asuret, Inc., a software and consulting company dedicated to reducing software implementation failures. Click here to follow him on Twitter.

See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.

May 29th, 2008

Posted by Dancho Danchev

For a couple of hours yesterday, Comcast’s Internet Portal (comcast.net) had its DNS records hijacked and a defaced webdo you need a prescription for propecia DNS records hijacked”> page was loading from third-party domains. Further investigation into this incident reveals a connection between the group responsible for Comcast’s DNS hijacking and previous incidents such as the  defacements of Justin Timberlake, Hilary Duff and Tila Tequila’s MySpace profiles. Comcast.net wasn’t hacked, its DNS records got hijacked, so whenever someone visited comcast.net, the defaced page was loading from different servers. Let’s assess the incident by taking a look at the way Comcast’s DNS records changed yesterday, find out who’s behind it, and how a couple of hours later Comcast restored access to its domain.

On 28-May-2008 23:05:43 EDT Comcast.net’s WHOIS records were hijacked, and were returning the following information :

Administrative Contact:
Domain Registrations, Comcast
kryogenicsdefiant@gmail.com
Defiant still raping 2k8 ebk
69 dick tard lane
dildo room
PHILADELPHIA, PA 19103
US
4206661870 fax: 6664200187

During that time, the page used in the defacement was loading from two different locations, namely, freewebs.com /buttpussy69 and freewebs.com /kryogeniks911 which continue returning the message :

KRYOGENIKS EBK and DEFIANT RoXed COMCAST sHouTz To VIRUS Warlock elul21 coll1er seven

Due to the changed DNS records, comcast.net was also unreachable for a  certain period of time, and within the next couple of hours upon Comcast noticing the incident and taking actions to restore access to their domain, a “Web Site Under Construction” message was appearing.

Comcast’s original DNS records returned the their original state on 29-May-2008 01:18:02 EDT :

Administrative Contact:
Domain Registrations, Comcast
domregadmin@comcastonline.com
Comcast Cable Communications Mgmt. LLC
One Comcast Center
40th Fl.
PHILADELPHIA, PA 19103
US
215-286-8665 fax: 6664200187

The hijacking was also picked up by uptime monitoring services, with the longest downtime for the Comcast.net domain for the past three years (98.29%) or 18 minutes :

Tracking down the DNS hijackers using the message left, leads to the well known Kryogeniks group (kryogeniks.org) , elul21 (username.com/tmp) as another web site defacer part of the WINGS Hacking Team, next to CoLL1er.

Investigation is ongoing, details will posted once more data is gathered.

I always say you shouldn't go to Web sites you don't trust, but what if you're not sure if you can trust a certain site or not? What do you do then? This type of problem is pretty common and in the past, it has left me wondering what to do. Well, today, I have a very easy answer to that question!

The answer is a service by Google called Google Safe Browsing Diagnostic. With this tool, you can type a Web address into your browser's address bar and get a report from Google, telling you whether the site is safe or not.

Here's how you do it:

First, you will need this address: http://www.google.com/safebrowsing/diagnostic?site=www.worldstart.com

The address above is what you can use to get a report. If you copy the exact address from above and paste it into your Web browser, you will get a report about www.worldstart.com that looks like this:

Pretty neat, huh?! Now, that's great for seeing a report about WorldStart, but you already know we're safe, so what about a report for another Web site?

To see a report about any other site, simply use the exact same address as above, but change the end of it. See the part at the end that says “www.worldstart.com?” Just erase that and type in any other Web address. For example, if you changed it to: http://www.google.com/safebrowsing/diagnostic?site=www.aol.com, you would get a report for AOL's safety rating.

The Google Safe Browsing Diagnostic is very nice to use for checking a Web site before you visit it. If you want, you can bookmark it and use it whenever you need it. Until next best price propecia time, stay safe out there, my friends!

I can’t begin to tell you how much I love this Web site! A lot of the forums I visit on the Internet have bandwidth issues and they go down whenever it's been exceeded. I’ve also run into a few sites that were having server issues or were shut down for construction. Well, with this viagra reviews site, I can now tell if it’s just me having a problem or if the site is down for everyone!

It’s so easy to use! All you have to do is put in the address of the Web site you’re trying to access. By default, they have google.com there as an example.

So, you could put in www.worldstart.com and see if our site is up or down. If you do it right now, it should tell you we’re up! Another one I check is a game I play that does maintenance on Tuesdays. Now, I'll know as soon as the site comes back up.

If a site is down, you'll see this message: "It’s not just you! (Site’s Name Here) looks down from here!"

If it is just you, you'll see this message: "It’s just you. (Site’s Name Here) is up."

This is such a great tool and I hope you'll get a lot of use out of it!

http://www.downforeveryoneorjustme.com/

[Note: I've placed a link for this site in the yellow bar at the page top.]

Another reader asks: I'm an avid wireless user, but I've been having trouble getting connected to the Internet when I go to a free WiFi hotspot. Do you have any idea what I might be doing wrong?

If you use wireless Internet in your home, you may think it's the easiest thing in the world. I mean, after you get everything connected and hooked up, it's so easy to obtain Internet access. You don't have to worry about any cords, you hardly ever lose connections and it just makes your computer life simple. So, you have mastered using wireless in your house and you think you might as well try it outside of your home too. You go down to the local coffee shop, which is a free WiFi (Wireless Fidelity) hotspot. You turn on your computer and everything is fine until you realize you can't get connected to the Internet. What could possibly be wrong?

Well, there is a difference between home wireless use and public hotspot use. Even if your WiFi card shows that you're attached to an access point, you still might not be connected to the Internet and all you will receive are the dreaded "Page Cannot Be Found" messages.

The viagra patent main thing you should remember when you go to a public hotspot (free or paid) is to open up a new browser window before you do anything. Do it before you open up your e-mail, a chat program or any other Internet functions. The browser window you open will usually have a log in screen (or something similar) so that you can get connected to the Web.

By doing things that way, paid hotspots are able to collect the fee information they need and free places are able to put up their information and disclaimer screens. The process really only takes a couple seconds and it will save you time for the next time you go to that same hotspot. Most of them have you set up an account with a username and password so that you can just log in easily the next time you visit.

You may be wondering what you're supposed to do if the above process still doesn't work. What if you do everything and you still don't get a log in screen? Well, there are a couple of things you can check. Make sure you have your browser homepage set to something. Don't just have it set to a blank page. If it's blank, it won't be able to trigger the needed port opening. You also need to make sure you have the updated Service Packs (at least SP2 for Windows XP). One final thing that may be causing you problems: you might just be too far away from the access point. If you're too far, your signal may be too weak to catch a connection. So, just move a little closer!

If you follow the steps and procedures of the hotspots you like to visit, you will no longer have wireless blues!