I don’t make it a secret that I’m a geek of many stripes. Every time a new tool comes out, I make a point to give it a try. And I’ve always felt lucky that I work in a field that uses a lot of the same tools I love to play with in my hobby time. So when I bring a recommendation to the table at work, chances are the thing I’m recommending is something I’ve vetted and tinkered with at home as a prosumer.

When I saw MITX’s invitation for guest blogs on “What Technology Do I Love The Most,” I was pumped! Reviews of tech I love, opinions on tools that I use? Perfect, as I, like so many internet denizens, have an opinion or two. But this guest blogging opportunity is only open to MITX members, and I’m nothing but a lurker.

Good thing I have my own blog—I’ll share my picks here with you instead. Here’s what I’ll post on:
#1: General utility sites I love most
#2: UX/design tech picks
#3: Mobile & location-based service picks
#4: Social media picks
#5: Imaging and photography picks
#6: Video tech picks

I’ll update this page with links to the entries as I write them.

P.S.: Are you going to SXSWi this year? I am, and I’d love to connect with you if you’re going to be there (especially since this will be my first SXSW! *gulp*). Drop me a comment or an email if you’d like to meet up.

I took advantage of the Mpix large format print sale recently and ordered a 16 x 24 of this photo I took in India:

I’ve contacted Mpix customer service and I’m sure this will be fixed in some manner at some point. Trust me, this is not a complaint post by any means. I’m actually curious if I can put the Power of the Internets to work and find the rightful owner of this photo.

If this photo is yours, please get in touch – I’d love to know where you took this picture and the story behind it. (And I’m really curious if you got my print instead or if someone ELSE has it!)

I am a huge geek and I will not hide how excited I am for this game to come out (couldn’t hide it if I tried). I’ve been playing Civilization since it first came out in 1991 on DOS. The mods that the Civ fan community created for Civ 4 seriously boggled the mind, they were so ornate and extremely imaginative. From dark fantasy mods to space conquering to alternate Earth histories, people really ran wild with the Civ game engine and gave the game years of replay value. Fan generated! Totally for free! So I am psyched to hear that this newest iteration of my favorite game series builds on all that community contribution.

Also, it looks really cool!

Tonight some colleagues and I went to a book signing by David Meerman Scott and Brian Halligan as they promote their new book Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead. I’m not even close to a Deadhead but I’m always fascinated by a good case study, so I’m looking forward to reading this book.

While we were there, I asked David to sign my copy of The New Rules of Marketing & PR, which is on the bookshelves of most marketers I know. My copy is rather dogeared as I bought it just as I started my marketing career and made the transition from journalism. After giving my brief introduction and background, he echoed something I’ve thought for a while now — getting laid off from my journalism job was one of the best things that has happened to me, as it brought me into a creative and challenging field that I enjoy, even, er, grok. It was encouraging to hear that from the author whose book calmed my nerves as I got started and confirmed ideas I had from my journalism days that I wasn’t sure would really transfer. Thankfully they have, though I had (and still have) a lot to learn in how Good Marketing Is Done. But then again, who doesn’t?

I’ll post a review of Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead when I complete it. (Might not be terribly soon though, as I also bought the unabridged Count of Monte Cristo :P)

This is what I see every time I log in:

Anyone else notice this?

Sure, it beats 24/7 Bieber, and admittedly I’m not much for sports, but I’m having a hard time believing Boston is still only talking about basketball.

Yes, this is going to be a screed against lousy customer service from both of them.

To be blunt, my server was repeatedly hacked, set up to host malware and become a spam zombie — and I got no help from my service host to improve my server’s security. This is point-by-point rundown of the timeline of the last month, since it’s a laundry list of fail:

• Received email from Bluehost saying my account had been suspended as my server was found hosting malware
• Called customer service, was told probably my password wasn’t strong enough. Probably. Maybe. They’re not sure.
• Changed password to something more secure.
• One week later, received the same email from Bluehost, account suspended.
• Called customer service, was told it was probably something insecure with my php. They can’t tell me what specifically, or how my server keeps getting compromised, but they tell me to fix it “or else.” You know, because I’m a server security expert, and I only decided to pay someone else to take care of my server needs (i.e. Bluehost) for shits and giggles.
• Shooting in the dark, I follow best practice guidelines on how to lock down .htaccess, .ini, .inc files, how to make sure all my directories are properly indexed, how to make sure my set php global variables are as secure as possible. This is all uncharted territory for me, but I follow all the best practice articles I can find and implement their suggestions.
• Two days later, same account suspension email comes from Bluehost. This time my site has been blacklisted because it’s a spam zombie and the spams are pointing to malware hosted on my server yet again.
• I call Bluehost support, they can’t tell me how my site keeps getting compromised but wants me to, somehow, fix it. I’ve done the best I can to keep things secure on my end, but what on earth am I paying them for if they expect me to fix all the security holes on the server they’re providing?
• I tear my hair out in frustration.
• Later that day, email from my domain registrar GoDaddy that my site has been blacklisted as serving spam on URIBL and they are terminating my domain UNLESS I pay a fee of $75 or $200. Otherwise they’ll suspend my account until my URL expires. Essentially, GoDaddy holds my domain for ransom.
• BlueHost emails me not long after that they want me to move to another hosting provider as I’ve now had 3 marks against my account. I have 15 days to move my files off their servers before they delete everything.
• My flight for a week-long vacation in Greece leaves 4 hours later. $%&@!!!

I’ve since moved my files to a new host, Surpasshosting, and transferred my domain to NameCheap. I refused to pay GoDaddy’s fine against my account as the compromised server issues were not my fault — again, what on earth am I paying a hosting provider for if they can’t keep the server secure? As an end user, the entire reason I pay for a hosted server is because I am decidedly not a server security expert.

Adding insult to injury, I work for a computer/network security company, so I hear about these kinds of attacks and security issues every single day. And I know what kinds of easy technologies can prevent such attacks (proactive detection, anyone?)

For years I’d had my site hosted with BlueHost with no issues. Lots of WordPress users have their sites on BlueHost because they have easy WordPress installations (though WP is easy to setup regardless). Of course, my site hadn’t been hacked in those years, either. It’s a roulette game — but when your number’s up and you’re hacked, good luck.

You get what you pay for, that I’ve learned. With BlueHost and GoDaddy as cheap as they are, it’s no wonder that instead of providing any basic customer support around security issues, they’re happier to cut you lose or fine you. So I’ve taken my dollars elsewhere, thanks very much. Good riddance to both those services.

]]> http://www.mvarmazis.com/me-n-my-bear/feed/ 0 http://www.mvarmazis.com/new-yarns-and-boye-needles/ http://www.mvarmazis.com/new-yarns-and-boye-needles/#comments Wed, 21 Jan 2009 22:15:06 +0000 Maria Varmazis http://mvarmazis.com/?p=115