First Trial

I haven't updated my blog in such a long time, so I should mention that my original summer program to study abroad was canceled due to unforeseen circumstances on behalf of my university. However, I was fortunate to have a friend in Jordan who suggested an alternate program.

Thanks to the Gilman Scholarship I am able to study abroad in Jordan. I am taking 80 hours of Arabic and so far it has been really interesting. The scholarship requires a follow-up program. I've decided to stream online via Ustream. I haven't started streaming anything yet, but plan to do so soon.

This past weekend I visited the Dead Sea, the Citadel, and the Roman Theatre. I will create a slideshow for my stream soon with pictures and short clips. Also, most memorable moment of this past weekend: a cab ride with the oldest taxi driver in Amman. Here's the story:

A very nice man, full of joy, who claims his true job is making people smile. We get a brief Arabic lesson, with a hesitance to teach the colloquial and strictly stick to الفصحى (Standard Arabic). The conversation began with the Mexico vs. South Africa game. My friend mentions my Mexican ancestry and this sparks the most memorable story of all.

He admitted his support for Mexico and the sweetest story ever told follows.

In Arabic, "when I was 25 years old, I fell in love with a Mexican woman but she refused me because I was not educated. Having wealth at the time didn't suffice. Today, I am married to another woman, I have a daughter and two sons. I have always loved this woman, I will always love her, and my wife is aware of this. She is now married to another man, has a daughter and two sons and named them after my children."

He said it was true love, for he never kissed or disrespected this woman.

I can't recall the entire conversation verbatim, but it was the best experience in Jordan so far. It was more than a genuine welcome.

Enjoy.

I finally bought one on Sunday, April 11, 2010.


Enjoy.

The mobile Safari attack was particularly impressive, since running code on the iPhone requires a valid digital signature. By rearranging bits of pre-signed code, Halvar Flake of Zynamics was able to deliver a malicious payload via Safari and force the iPhone to cough up its complete SMS database. Contacts and messages were laid bare -- including deleted ones.

While most (if not all) of these exploits aren't being used in the wild, it's still an indication of just how scary the landscape of the Internet is right now. How do you stay safe? Google Chrome looks like a good choice, obviously, but there's another option: Opera.

As one participant put it, "I use Opera, but that's basically because it has a tiny market share and as far as I know, nobody is really interested in creating a drive-by download for Opera."

Gotta love security by obscurity -- am I right, Apple fans?

^{via Download Squad}


...but we all know, security through obscurity is always a bad idea.

By the way, I wish I could have managed to get my boyfriend's phone to cough up his SMS database a few months ago!

Enjoy.

I just installed jolicloud on my AA1.

So far, it's suitable for the netbook. I still haven't tried the Ubuntu remix, but I have a feeling it's very similar. I wish I wasn't so clumsy, I would try to take my AA1 apart and do the touchscreen hack.

Some of the apps are just links to the websites. For example, Facebook, Myspace, Windows Live Hotmail (I don't even know why I installed this one, I confused it with MSN), Justin.tv, etc...

Anyhow, the interface is lovely.

Enjoy.

I am so upset!

Why would they combine my Google Reader shared posts with Buzz? They did this assuming everyone would want to use Buzz, because that's the only way it makes sense. What about those, like myself, who do not choose to "Buzz"?

I have this huge pet-peeve of displaying my full name and although I have managed to overcome this with Facebook, I still do not want Google to index it. I don't know what to do. Should I just give in and start posting my full name everywhere? I am pretty sure that anyone who is really interested can already find my name on the web, however, I still want to feel some anonymity.

Either Google allows the option to change your display name on Buzz posts or I take back what I said about Google reader being so great. I already have enough with it displaying my email within the Google profile URL.

I will not be sharing posts via Google Reader until this is fixed. Or unless I decide to give in.