This is what happen..!

2010 resolutions

This year, I’ll make things simple… As making a list of things I want to achieve is probably one of the worst thing you can do. Last year I only did 3 things out of 9. Maybe 9 was too much. Thinking about it, it should not, cause you have 12 month to do stuff. You could spread it all over evenly and be able to do one thing a month.  But history says it doesn’t work. So let’s do it 3 things on do it great.

1. Loose some weight; (this can be tricky, but achievable)
2. Get one security certification; (work on doing my cissp, I need this for consulting)
3. Work on my consulting cie. (I got my first gig, beginning January 4)

That’s it, 3 things, 3 easy things.

Happy New Year peeps! Be safe.

Looking back on 2009

Let’s have a look back at the big highlights of 2009.

Olivier my second child (last one) was born on the August 31.

I’ve bought a house in Montreal.

I’ve lost a job, but I’ve reinstated my personal company and started to work for myself. This is good as I found a consulting gig 2 weeks down the road. I will now work on stuff that matters to me.

As for my 2009 resolutions, here is what I have achieved out of 9.

• I did start drinking more tea. By the end of the year, I was drinking tea 2 times a day. It feels really good.
• I did de-clutter a bit. This is probably due to buying a house and moving in. The more I packed / unpacked, the more I threw away.
• I worked on a sleeping schedule, but I lost it after my new born got home.

That’s about it for my old resolutions… I did lost some weight, but I got it all back and some more. I’m not proud of it… This will probably be what I need to work on next year. Starting January, I’ll be planning and working on what I eat.

I’ll definitely do a 2010 resolution post, stay tuned!

Haitus

Wow, it’s been a pretty long time since I wrote anything on my blog.

All I can say is that I’ve been busy.  New baby, buying a new house and all. If you want some updates, you can follow me on Twitter.

iPhone 3.0 tethering over bluetooth on Linux Ubuntu 9.04

This is a repost from ubuntuforum.com from Cooperlees.  I’m posting it on my site so I can find it easier and I like to spread the word.

Ubuntu iPhone 3.0 Bluetooth Tethering with uit.sh

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If you would like to use your iPhone 3.0 with your bluetooth capable Ubuntu 9.04 PC then uit.sh (Ubuntu Iphone Thethering) is for you. This script installs all required conf, allows you to enable and disable your iphone tethering and even uninstall the conf if you no longer need it. I do expect NetworkManager to eventually support this out of the box.

Thanks to http://xn—9bi.net/2009/06/17/tether…o-ubuntu-9-04/ blog post which assisted me in knowning what configuration was needed.

Usage:
— Ubuntu iPhone Tethering (uit) Version 0.1 - Cooper Lees <me@cooperlees.com> —
Usage: ./uit.sh options
- This script will install, uninstall, enable and disable iPhone tethering with iPhone 3.0 Software.
- It has been tested on a upto date (patched) box as of 20090623.
- !! Be careful, this script will ask for your password to get root privledges to your system!

OPTIONS:
-h Show this message
-i Install required configuration
-u Uninstall required configuration
-c Connect Tethering
-d Disconnect Tethering
-m [] Set iPhone’s MAC Address (to /home/USERNAME/.uitrc)
-v Verbose

Install Guide:
Avaliable from: http://us.cooperlees.com/download.php?F=uit.sh.gz

- Inital installation requires an active Internet Connection to get required dependancies through apt-get. Current dependancies = ‘bluez-compat’
- Only the install requires you to sudo the script, other areas apropriately sudo where required.

Install Process:

1. Open terminal
2. wget http://us.cooperlees.com/download.php?F=uit.sh.gz
3. gunzip uit.sh.gz
4. chmod 755 uit.sh
5. [OPTIONAL] Move the script into your sbin - ‘sudo mv uit.sh /usr/sbin’ (This will allow it to be in your PATH)
6. Run ‘sudo uit.sh -i’ (You will need to have your iphone in discoverable mode with Bluetooth on)
7. You will be notified if it all sucessfully installs.

Connect Process:
- Ensure Bluetooth is on and paired with your system (use the GNOME Bluetooth tool to pair). Also make sure Internet Tethering is on.

1. uit.sh -c

- Once connected you will see the iPhone come up with a blue bar stating ‘Internet Tethering’ is activated.

Disconnect Process:
One command will disconnect from the iphone tethering - You should see the blue notification text dissapear.

1. uit.sh -d

Uninstall Process:

1. uit.sh -u

- This will remove conf from files and also make backup of files modified.

Hope you enjoy it as much as I am. Finding the bluetooth a little slow. But still very handy and good. Thanks Apple.

Password security

I had a talk lately about password.  People are asking me, what are good password?  Well let me tell you how I create my random password that I use.  I have 3 rules to create them.

1. It needs to be longer than 8 chars.  10 chars is a sweet spot.
2. It needs to contain numbers, extended chars and letters.  All of those!
3. Extended chars and numbers need not to be use to end the password, some of those chars needs to be in the middle of the password.

With those guide lines, you need to make a password.  The best password are those that are not words.  They are easy to crack with a dictionnary attack.  Even if you change some letters for numbers.  Like l33t speeking.  Well I hate to pop your dreams, but now, almost everyone knows that trick.

When I took my CHFI class, we came to conclusion that the best password are made from a phrase.  Something that has a meaning to you but not others.  Lets try this.

Lets say that I ate a KFC at lunch time, it was good, I had a great meal.  My pass phrase could look like this:  “I love kfc, f**k the world!”  With a pass phrase like that, my password would look like this:

i<3kfcftw!

Ok, I got an extended char at the end, but I do have one in the middle, so it doesn’t count.  I got a number, and this password is not a dictionnary word.

It’s easy like that.  Keep in mind that remembering a phrase is quite easier than remembering random letters and numbers.

Safari 4 tabs

I didn’t want to come to this, but Safari’s tabs on top is getting on my nerve.  If you ever miss the X to close the tab and double click, it minimize the browser window.  That happen so many times a day that I stop counting.

Here is what to do to get the old look and feel back.

defaults write com.apple.Safari DebugSafari4TabBarIsOnTop -bool NO

That’s it, problem solved.