Then, there are those who are able to fly under the radar, whether it’s because they focus on a specific niche or they are simply satisfied with their current market share.  Here are five website providers who fall into that category: great websites but not a ton of press about them.  If they choose to, the press will be coming soon.

ForeScene Creative Solutions

It isn’t easy to take a diner website and make it look exceptionally professional while keeping it as functional as it needs to be.  ForeScene has achieved this with many of their websites, including Rockaways Diner.

TK Carsites

The automotive industry is ripe with complex websites that are difficult to navigate and even more difficult to find on the search engines.  TK Carsites and their Power of 5 SEO platform has turned one website into 5 with an innovative marketing technique.  Instead of dealers getting one domain, they actually get 5 - one for each of their profit centers.  From a navigation and search engine optimization perspective, it doesn’t get any better, as Burnsville Toyota in Minneapolis has found out.

In2Media

You would normally think that desks are boring.  Not Milk.  The desk itself is extraordinary and the website is done in a way that truly does it justice.  When you can build a website that can people busy for extended periods of time looking at a desk, you know you’ve done your job.

Pearse Street

There are several free platforms out there for people and organizations to build social networks.  There are also many social network website providers out there that charge a lot.  Pearse Street falls right in the middle - affordable but effective. Just take a look at what they did with Craten Fire - very effective.

Barbara Carneiro

Minimalism.  Nobody does it better.  For those who need a simple, super-fast, easy to use website, Barbara Carneiro is the pro.  There is nothing on the websites that will make anybody say “Wow” but there is nothing ont he websites that will make them say “Bleh” either.  Minimalism.  Enough said.  Take a peak at Bartley Capital.

Researchers in Madagascar report remarkable fearlessness in the Aye-aye; some accounts tell of individual animals strolling nonchalantly in village streets or even walking right up to naturalists in the rainforest and sniffing their shoes. Therefore, it is no wonder that displaced animals often raid coconut plantations or steal food in villages. It is not unlike the Common Raccoon in this regard.

However, public contempt goes beyond this. The Aye-aye is often viewed as a harbinger of evil and killed on sight. Others believe that should one point its long middle finger at you, you were condemned to death. Some say the appearance of an Aye-aye in a village predicts the death of a villager, and the only way to prevent this is to kill the Aye-aye. The Sakalava people go so far as to claim Aye-ayes sneak into houses through the thatched roofs and murder the sleeping occupants by using their middle finger to puncture the victim’s aorta.[6]

Incidents of Aye-aye killings increase every year as its forest habitats are destroyed and it is forced to raid plantations and villages. Because of the superstition surrounding it, this often ends in death. Fortunately, the superstition can prevent people from hunting them for food.

This rare specie may not look like it at first glance but they are related to chimpanzees, apes, and humans.

Aye-ayes are black or dark brown in color and are known by their bushy tail that is larger than their body. They also feature big eyes, slender fingers, and large, sensitive ears. Aye-ayes have pointed claws on all their fingers and toes except for their opposable big toes, which enable them to dangle from branches.

Aye-ayes spend their lives in rain forest trees and avoid coming down to the ground. They are nocturnal, and spend the day curled up in a ball-like nest of leaves and branches. The nests appear as closed spheres with single entry holes, situated in the forks of large trees.

While perched aloft, the aye-aye taps on trees with its long middle finger and listens for wood-boring insect larvae moving under the bark. It employs the same middle finger to fish them out. The digit is also useful for scooping the flesh out of coconuts and other fruits that supplement the animal’s insect diet.

Many people native to Madagascar still consider the aye-aye an omen of ill luck. For this reason they often have been killed on sight. Such hunting, coupled with habitat destruction, have made the aye-aye critically endangered. Today they are protected by law.

The holidays are considered by many to be the best time of the year. For others, the traffic, hassle, and competitive nature of the season makes enjoying it nearly impossible. Thankfully, the Internet has resources for those of us who would choose to chop off a toe if it meant avoiding the holiday turmoil. Here are some ways to make it all easier:

Arrange Travel Online

Everyone knows where to get plane tickets online.  Expedia, Orbitz, PriceLine - with clever advertising and well-searched websites, they have the best prices available, right? Not necessarily.  Your first stop should always be:

Kayak

While they definitely aren’t the biggest name in the crowded online travel segment, they are considered by many to be the best.  Instead of working with one batch of prices, Kayak compiles from 140 different sources.  Reviews on sites such as ConsumerSearch, Kiplinger, PC World, and Washington Post seem to agree that Kayak is the way to travel.

Greeting Cards that Don’t Blend

Let’s consider the facts.  If you’re reading this article (and possibly taking notes) then you are probably one who doesn’t mind a little sarcasm with your holiday cards.  Most holiday cards are nice, sentimental, and rather boring.  They blend.  You - you’re a trend setter.  You want to be noticed, to stand out from the green and red, from the silver and gold.  For you, we offer…

SomeCards

Rather than describe it, you’ll get the idea from some of the text:

• You’re a hard person to half-assedly shop for
• Just wanted to help spread hope, peace, joy, and other marketing buzzwords
• There’s nothing like holiday cheer to offset devastating seasonal affective disorder

You get the picture.

Why Cook? Have it Delivered

It’s definitely less expensive to go to the store, pick out a turkey, ham, duck, or whatever suits your holiday fancy, then go home, prepare the food, cook it all up, make the side dishes, and present it in a beautiful.  Then again, you can just order it online and have it delivered.  DONE!

Impromptu Gourmet

With high marks from a few different sources, we gave the ordering process at Impromptu Gourmet a try.  We selected a dinner for 10 and took these choices:

• Gourmet Canape Assortment for starters
• Cajun Turkey as our Entree
• Red-Skinned Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Maple Glazed Carrots as our sides
• Multi-Grain Boule for bread
• Rocky Mountain Mudslide Cake for desert
• Holiday Celebration CD as our dinner music (yep, it comes with dinner music)

…all for $199.95.  Okay, before you run to the store, remember.  It’s once a year. Is the hassle really worth saving money?  If so, at least have the food delivered instead of going to the store:

Schwan’s

The selection is strong, the prices are reasonable, and the quality is as good if not better than what you can get at your average grocery store.  You’ll have to cook it, but at least you don’t have to get out and buy it.

Not in the US? Here is a resource for the UK as well as one for Australia.

Shop Online

One would think that this is the easy part with just about every retailer in the world (who wants to stay in business) offering some way to order and have products delivered.  While that may be the case, it doesn’t change the fact that some sites are made better than others and offer innovative ways to make it happen.

CheapCheapCheap

Did we mention “cheap”?  That’s the name of the site, and it definitely fits.  Rather than search for the best deals and specials on the various home sites of your favorite shopping places, CheapCheapCheap brings the specials to you.  They find the specials and post them, allowing consumers to search for and even rate the specials.  It’s a great concept, regardless of the mundane design of the site.

10 Best Online Wine Shops

Wine is a classy gift that is normally “put to use” shortly after it has been received and/or chilled.  Still, it’s a matter of taste and preference.  Rather than list dozens of sites, we’ll list one.  This article on FoodandWine.com breaks down the 10 best places to order.

eDivvy.com

Group gifting - great in theory, tough to make it happen.  At least it used to be.  Now, eDivvy.com gives people a way to select gifts from several online vendors and have the group gifting coordinated for you.  Instead of several little gifts, family, friends, or co-workers can pitch in the funds to get a great gift for someone.  eDivvy.com has an innovative interface that handles the email contacts, money collection, and sending of the gift to the recipient or the organizer.  It’s time to return the $15 CD’s and get your loved ones an iPod.

Hot Holiday Gifts, 2008

Bizrate has always been one of the best places to find items and compare the prices.  It’s huge database is comprehensive and the items are competitive.  This year’s guide to “Hot in ‘08″ is a nice way to get a wide assortment of gifts for different people all in one place.

Installation and Getting Started

1. Introduction to Linux - A Hands on Guide

2. Linux From Scratch

3. The Easiest Linux Guide You’ll Ever Read - An Introduction to Linux for Windows users

4. Linux Installation and Getting Started by Matt Welsh

5. Comprehensive Linux Textbook by Muayyad Saleh Al-Sadi

6. Pocket Linux Guide

7. Linux+ Study Guide

8. The Linux Cookbook: Tips and Techniques for Everyday Use by Michael Stutz

9. Beyond Linux from Scratch

10. Brian and Tom’s Linux Book

11. Everyday Linux

12. Linux Dictionary

13. Learning the Unix Operating System

14. Slackware Linux Essentials by Alan Hicks, Chris Lumens, David Cantrell, and Logan Johnson

Security

1. Linux Admins Security Guide

2. Linux Security Howto

3. Linux Firewall Configuration, Packet Filtering & netfilter/iptables

4. Securing and Optimizing Linux by Gerhard Mourani

System Administration

1. The Book of Webmin Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love UNIX

2. Linux Network Administrator’s Guide by Olaf Kirch and Terry Dawson

3. Self-Service Linux: Mastering the Art of Problem Determination by Dan Behman and Mark Wilding

4. SUSE Linux Administration Guide

5. Bash Guide for Beginners

6. In The Beginning Was The Command Line

7. Vi iMproved (VIM)

Programming

1. The Art of Unix Programming

2. Advanced Linux Programming by CodeSourcery LLC

3. Java Application Development on Linux by Carl Albing and Michael Schwarz(PDF)

4. Writing GNOME Applications

5. Advanced Linux Programming

6. Secure Programming for Linux and Unix

7. The Art of Unix Programming

8. The Linux Development Platform

9. Secure Programming for Linux and Unix HOWTO

10. C++ GUI Programming With Qt 3

11. Linux Kernel Module Programming Guide by Ori Pomerantz

12. KDE 2.0 Development

13. GTK+/Gnome Application Development

14. GNU Autoconf, Automake and Libtool

15. The Linux Kernel Module Programming Guide

16. PHP Essentials

17. Javascript Essentials

18. Visual Basic Essentials

Migration

1. Linux Client Migration Cookbook

2. Linux Client Migration Cookbook, Version 2: A Practical Planning and Implementation Guide for Migrating to Desktop Linux by Chris Almond

Kernel

1. The Linux kernel

2. Linux Kernel 2.4 Internals

Ubuntu

1. Unofficial Ubuntu Guide

2. Ubuntu Linux Essentials

Red Hat

1. Red Hat Enterprise Linux Installation Guide

2. Red Hat Enterprise Linux Reference Guide

3. Red Hat Enterprise Linux Step By Step Guide

4. Maximum RPM, Taking the Red Hat Package Manager to the Limit

Fedora Core

1. Red Hat Fedora Core 7 Installation Guide

2. Fedora Core 7 Desktop Guide

3. Fedora Linux Essentials

Knoppix

1. Knowing Knoppix

Debian

1. Debian GNU/Linux Desktop Survival Guide

2. Debian GNU/Linux System Administrator’s Manual

3. Linux Compute Clusters by Chander Kant

4. Linux Device Drivers, Third Edition

5. GNU Bash Reference Manual

6. GNU Emacs manual

FBI Agent Robert Eringer has served his country well not only pursuing and gaining the confidence of the CIA traitor, Edward Lee Howard, who defected to the Soviet Union in 1985 giving up important US secrets to the KGB, but also serving as the Prince of Monaco’s (Dis)Information Chief for three years. Here Robert gained first-hand knowledge of Putin’s abuse and wrote about it in his book, Ruse.

Mr. Eringer has enjoyed a wide-ranging career as a undercover FBI operative, journalist, novelist, and private intelligence consultant.

As an investigative reporter, Mr. Eringer’s specialty was infiltrating extremist groups, including violent anarchists, neo-Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan.

Robert now writes for the Santa Barbara News-Press  where the article below was first featured on Putin’s corrupt dealings. The Santa Barbara News-Press provides access to subscribers only. We feel this article is newsworthy and should be seen by the masses. With that in mind, Mr. Eringer has given Daily Artisan his blessing to run his article.

By early 2005, Western intelligence services knew that Vladimir Putin was scheming to remain in absolute control of Russia beyond his second four-year term as president, which would expire in May 2008. Some thought he would attempt to amend the Russian Constitution by quashing term limits. But more likely, analysts predicted, Mr. Putin would contrive to become prime minister and transfer presidential powers to the prime minister’s portfolio. That, of course, is precisely what transpired.

And thus, the New Russia has provided its people — and the world — with their New Stalin: a megalomaniac autocrat determined to hold onto power at any cost, to include the beating and shooting to death of journalists who dare criticize his dictatorial rule — under which local elections have been obliterated and the media placed under strict control.

A self-admitted thug as a youth who desired to join the KGB from age 16, Mr. Putin was last month depicted in Vanity Fair as “the only small-time crook to become the president of Russia.”

A position he has abused to become a big-time crook.

Analysts at several Western intelligence services believe Mr. Putin has squirreled away a minimum of $15 billion — though some authoritative sources believe the real figure could be as high as $40 billion. Considerable cash is understood to be divided among German bank accounts (Mr. Putin served in East Germany as a KGB officer and speaks German), but much of this grafter’s booty has been laundered into real estate around Western Europe through a network of shady oil and gas distribution companies, including a Monaco-based S.A.M. called Sotrama, and several companies registered in Liechtenstein, including Oil Terminal, Horizon International Trading, and Petroruss, Inc.

Mr. Putin has also forged friendships with leaders of the European microstates — particularly Monaco and Luxembourg — for the purpose of creating new ciphered accounts through trusted cutouts to disguise ill-gotten gains in tax havens where bank secrecy is sacrosanct. Last year Mr. Putin vacationed with Monaco’s Prince Albert II, and in a peculiar display of machismo bared his naked chest for Kremlin cameramen. (Even more bizarre, to celebrate his 56th birthday four days ago, the Russian PM released “Let’s Learn Judo with Vladimir Putin,” a DVD that became an immediate big hit with Russia’s gay community.)

A senior officer with Russia’s FSB, successor to the KGB, told The Investigator that London-based oligarch Roman Abramovich was forced by President Putin to sell Sibneft — the fifth largest oil producing and refining company — to the Russian state, and then to disburse $13 billion in proceeds to a select group: Mr. Abramovich received only $4 billion, with the balance divided between Mr. Putin (at least $1 billion, probably as much as $5 billion), several of his Kremlin cronies, and former President Boris Yeltsin — part of a deal struck in 1999 when Mr. Yeltsin appointed Mr. Putin acting president.

The FSB officer expressed disillusionment with Mr. Putin because of how he has enabled his St. Petersburg pack to get fabulously rich — and now the Russian premier is trapped by the leverage these corrupt cronies have on him. Mr. Putin frets about finding himself out of power without immunity from prosecution for theft and corruption, hence his incentive, and determination, to remain in control. That’s another reason he ingratiates himself with European microstates — he may one day need safe haven.

It caused Mr. Putin a bad patch in late 2005, when he brooded over an affair with a pretty female Russian gymnast less than half his age named Alina Kabayeva. He met the agile Ms. Kabayeva in August 2004 when she took part in the Athens Olympics. Mr. Putin began to drink too much vodka, alone. In early 2006, feeling bullish as head of the G8 Summit, he got a grip and suspended his extramarital relationship. But earlier this year Mr. Putin left Ludmila, his wife of 25 years, to resume a liaison with the gymnast.

He tools around Moscow in a customized Audi with “007″ car tags. Yet when Mr. Putin worked in the KGB he was no James Bond. His spook skills were so lackluster he was stationed not in Berlin, to which he aspired, but Dresden. Yuri Shvets, a defector who attended KGB school with Mr. Putin, remembers him as a lowly, despised snitch.

Intelligence analysts told The Investigator Mr. Putin is extremely secretive and possesses a bullying nature. He has few friends and trusts no one; he respects those who stand up to him, and is contemptuous of those who easily concede to his wishes. He can be charming and supremely self-confident. In negotiations he is focused and tenacious; success brings out his arrogance. He strives to have something on everyone — and has directed his intelligence services to perform accordingly.

Mr. Putin’s corruption dates back to the early 1990s when he ditched a KGB career and got appointed deputy mayor of his native St. Petersburg — allowing that city’s powerful Tambov organized crime group to flourish. The Putin-Tambov relationship led to the creation, in 1995, of Petersburg Oil Terminal, which soon became the nucleus of satellite distribution companies benefiting Mr. Putin and Guennadi Timchenko, a leading figure in Mr. Putin’s illicit financial structures. The Geneva-based Mr. Timchenko is thought to be Mr. Putin’s childhood pal in addition to former KGB colleague.
Perhaps Mr. Putin’s most revealing characteristic is how he spends his spare time: watching brutal videos of military reprisals against Chechen nationalists. The more barbaric the imagery played out on his TV screen, including Chechen teenage boys being shot in the head, the greater is said to be Mr. Putin’s enjoyment.

His public relations adviser, Marina Litvinovich, said this about Mr. Putin after quitting in disgust: “It seemed he had no human feelings, no compassion.”

Needless to say, Ms. Litvinovich was later attacked on a Moscow street and severely beaten.

So how will Mr. Putin react to Russia’s new Independent Democratic Party, created 10 days ago by “Mr. Perestroika” himself, Mikhail Gorbachev? Will Gorby, now 77, suddenly contract food poisoning? Given that Mr. Putin’s popularity rating has fallen from 80 to 33 percent in recent months, perhaps he will move to a beachfront duplex in Monte Carlo, where he can play Tarzan with Prince Albert year-round.

Image Source 1, 2, 3

Robert Eringer worked as a spy for the FBI for 10 years beginning in 1993. Robert was responsible for bringing American CIA Traitor Edward Lee Howard to capture which he wrote about in his book, Ruse. Robert now writes for the Santa Barbara News-Press  where the article below was first featured on the Manchurian Microchip.

The Santa Barbara News-Press provides access to subscribers only. We feel this article is newsworthy and should be seen by the masses. With that in mind, Mr. Eringer has given Daily Artisan his blessing to run his article.

The geniuses at Homeland Security who brought you hare-brained procedures at airports (which inconvenience travelers without snagging terrorists) have decreed that October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month. This means The Investigator — at the risk of compromising national insecurities — would be remiss not to make you aware of the hottest topic in U.S. counterintelligence circles: rogue microchips. This threat emanates from China (PRC) — and it is hugely significant.

The myth: Chinese intelligence services have concealed a microchip in every computer everywhere, programmed to “call home” if and when activated.

The reality: It may actually be true.

All computers on the market today — be they Dell, Toshiba, Sony, Apple or especially IBM — are assembled with components manufactured inside the PRC. Each component produced by the Chinese, according to a reliable source within the intelligence community, is secretly equipped with a hidden microchip that can be activated any time by China’s military intelligence services, the PLA.

“It is there, deep inside your computer, if they decide to call it up,” the security chief of a multinational corporation told The Investigator. “It is capable of providing Chinese intelligence with everything stored on your system — on everyone’s system — from e- mail to documents. I call it Call Home Technology. It doesn’t mean to say they’re sucking data from everyone’s computer today, it means the Chinese think ahead — and they now have the potential to do it when it suits their purposes.”

Discussed theoretically in high-tech security circles as “Trojan Horse on a Chip” or “The Manchurian Chip,” Call Home Technology came to light after the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) launched a security program in December 2007 called Trust in Integrated Circuits. DARPA awarded almost $25 million in contracts to six companies and university research labs to test foreign-made microchips for hardware Trojans, back doors and kill switches — techie-speak for bugs and gremlins — with a view toward microchip verification.

Raytheon, a defense contractor, was granted almost half of these funds for hardware and software testing.

Its findings, which are classified, have apparently sent shockwaves through the counterintelligence community.

“It is the hottest topic concerning the FBI and the Pentagon,” a retired intelligence official told The Investigator. “They don’t know quite what to do about it. The Chinese have even been able to hack into the computer system that handles our Intercontinental Ballistic Missile system.”

Another senior intelligence source told The Investigator, “Our military is aware of this and has had to take some protective measures. The problem includes defective chips that don’t reach military specs — as well as probable Trojans.”

A little context: In 2005 the Lenovo Group in China paid $1.75 billion for IBM’s PC unit, even though that unit had lost $965 million the previous four years. Three congressmen, including the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, tried to block this sale because of national security concerns, to no avail. (The PRC embassy in Washington, D.C., maintains a large lobbying presence to influence congressmen and their staffs through direct contact.)

In June 2007, a Pentagon computer network utilized by the U.S. defense secretary’s office was hacked into — and traced directly back to the Chinese PLA.

A report presented to Congress late last year characterized PRC espionage as “the single greatest risk to the security of American technologies.” Almost simultaneously, Jonathan Evans, director- general of MI5, Britain’s domestic security and counterintelligence service, sent a confidential letter to CEOs and security chiefs at 300 UK companies to warn that they were under attack by “Chinese state organizations” whose purpose, said Mr. Evans, was to defeat their computer security systems and steal confidential commercial information.

The Chinese had specifically targeted Rolls-Royce and Shell Oil.

The key to unlocking computer secrets through rogue microchips is uncovering (or stealing) source codes, without which such microchips would be useless. This is why Chinese espionage is so heavily focused upon the U.S. computer industry.

Four main computer operating systems exist. Two of them, Unix and Linux, utilize open-source codes. Apple’s operating system is Unix- based.

Which leaves only Microsoft as the source code worth cracking. But in early 2004, Microsoft announced that its security had been breached and that its source code was “lost or stolen.”

“As technology evolves, each new program has a new source code,” a computer forensics expert told The Investigator. “So the Chinese would need ongoing access to new Microsoft source codes for maintaining their ability to activate any microchips they may have installed, along with the expertise to utilize new hardware technology.”

No surprise then that the FBI expends much of its counterintelligence resources these days on Chinese high-tech espionage within the United States. Timothy Bereznay, while still serving as assistant director of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division, told USA Today, “Foreign collectors don’t wait until something is classified — they’re targeting it at the research and development stage.” Mr. Bereznay now heads Raytheon’s Intelligence and Information Systems division.

The PRC’s intelligence services use tourists, exchange students and trade show attendees to gather strategic data, mostly from open sources. They have also created over 3,500 front companies in the United States — including several based in Palo Alto to focus on computer technology.

Back in 2005, when the Chinese espionage problem was thought to be focused on military technology, then-FBI counterintelligence operations chief Dave Szady said, “I think the problem is huge, and it’s something we’re just getting our arms around.” Little did he know just how huge, as it currently applies to computer network security.

The FBI is reported to have arrested more than 25 Chinese nationals and Chinese-Americans on suspicion of conspiracy to commit espionage between 2004 and 2006. The Investigator endeavored to update this figure, but was told by FBI spokesman William Carter, “We do not track cases by ethnicity.”

Excuse us for asking. We may be losing secrets, but at least the dignity of our political correctness remains intact.

Oh, and Homeland Security snagged comic icon Jerry Lewis, 82, trying to board a plane in Las Vegas with a gun — no joke.

Guest post by Rami Taibah.  Rami is a Linux advocate.  He blogs at Royal HeHe2-ness.

During my years of Linux advocacy, I am usually asked a very basic question “what makes Linux better than [insert OS here].” The answer is a result of years of developing and honing the perfect answer to a non-technical person. I usually start with explaining that there are two fundamental schools of thought in the programming world. One that conceals and forbids any changes in functionality, while the other is open and encourages customization to fit ones needs. The conversation naturally goes from there to giving examples of Open Source programs this person might be using unwittingly. Here are 7 programs that the whole Open Source community is very proud of.

VLC

VLC media player is an open source player, encoder, and streamer that supports a wide variety of audio and video codecs in addition to DVD support. This little piece of heaven is almost fully platform independent, boasting a portfolio of supported OSes such as Windows, Mac, Linux, BeOS, BSD, and Solaris. It is almost the answer to any codec woes. “X file is not working”, a quick “install VLC” would probably be the answer. I discovered VLC back in my dial-up days (not very far away 2003), when I wanted to view incomplete e-mule files. Someone in the e-Mule IRC channel recommended it to me. I swear by it since then!

Firefox

No Open Source app list would be complete without the mention of Firefox! I believe that this browser was instrumental in the development of the Internet. Without Firefox you would probably have 20 instances of Internet Explorer in your taskbar right now (although Firefox weren’t the first, they popularized the concept of tab browsing.)

With the rise of the new millennium, and after the Internet bubble burst, web development grew stagnant and Microsoft sat on their laurels with Internet Explorer. Firefox served as a catalyst in advancing the wheel of Internet development. The geekerati flocked to Firefox, in only 5 years Firefox captured 20% of the web browser market!

Honestly, ones “geek-cred” would take serious dent if they aren’t using Firefox. Oh and I also feel mentally distressed when I see someone using IE. Ya I know I am a fanatic!

Wordpress

Non-techies probably use Wordpress on a daily basis, and to them they are not even using a “program” in it’s conventional sense. To them it’s just a “website”. Wordpress has developed into the premiere and the “go-to” platform for blogging. In less than two years it has bypassed other known blogging platforms on Google trends, 34% of the Technocrati top 100 blogs are using it (making it the most used), and currently claims a huge percentage of the total blog market! Quite a feat!

“Code is Poetry” is Wordpress’s mantra, it effectively reflects the Open Source community’s enthusiasm about programming. Keep up the good work guys, we are proud of you!

Apache

We heard this a million times, “this is the year of the desktop”, forgetting an even more important market. Apache has locked the server market in to the Open Source camp for years. Virtually anybody who uses the Internet will undoubtly use Apache on a Linux server unwittingly. And about that we brag! Hell even Google is proud of you, their search engine front end is based on a modified version of Apache, named Google Web Server (GWS). According to the latest Netcraft numbers, Apache dominates 50% of the server market. Even though Apache slipped in the recent years, it is still a testament to the viability of Open Source. Apache, you will always be the poster child in our eyes

Amarok

Amarok is a music player I simply adore! I don’t think I ever felt so passionately about an application as much as Amarok (yes even Firefox). I am so entangled with it that I don’t even know whats out there anymore. All I know that it fetches my covers, lyrics, and bios from Wikipedia. Amarok is also extendable via user scripts, giving you flexibility to say, control it from your mobile phone through bluetooth, blacklist certain tracks, or search youtube for the music video. The possibilities are endless to pimp your Amarok ! I don’t really know if these capabilities are now available in other players, nor do I care, Amarok got me locked in!

Jabber

All you Gtalk users, you are on Open Source turf (just like E-mail, POP, DHCP…etc, the way codes should be; OPEN!). Jabber is basically an instant messaging application that depends on the open standard Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP).

OpenOffice

I must admit, OpenOffice is still not up there with Microsoft Office. However, just the fact that OpenOffice gives you 95% of Microsoft Office capabilities without losing an arm and a leg gives us bragging rights. After all why should I pay over $300 for 10% of the features I actually need? It just sounds a bit unfair if you ask me.

There you have it. 7 apps that you can brag about or just to prove a point about Open Source. Of course this list is not exhuastive at all! Open Source has lots up it’s sleeve. Thunderbird, Gimp, OpenSSH, Laconica, MythTV…etc all are beaming examples of our great culture. Open Source FTW!

* * *

Read more open source articles on Daily Artisan.

If you ask your average Internet surfer what Google does, they’ll tell you that “it helps you find stuff, silly.” Some may even mention that it’s good for email, maps, and maybe a couple of other things. What many do not realize is that Google has some excellent functions that aren’t always easy to find. Here is a guide to 14 of the most innovative functions that many will find useful and most will find cool.

1. Weather updates from the Google search box

Visiting a place and want to know what’s the weather there like? Open up Google and type in “weather+Your place” for a live update. Simple and easy.

Example: Vienna Weather

2. Get Local Time For Anywhere

If you want to know the time local time at anyplace worldwide all you have to do is type “What’s the time in ______”. Fill the blank with the city’s name and the local time there will be displayed.

Example: What’s the time in London?

3. When is the plane arriving or departing?

Just enter the name of airline and the flight number and Google will show you the arrival and departure times. A snappy way to check the status.

Example: American Airlines 293

4. Book your flight

Type in “city1+city2” to get links for booking your flight.

Example: Atlanta+Chicago

5. How many feet in a meter?

Trust Google to know. It will not only convert metrics, but you can get currency conversions, your bytes and bits right, among others. All you have to do is, type in the question.

Example: How many feet in a meter?

6. Google’s proxy

You can’t use Google as a proxy server but you can use Google’s cache to look at websites that are not available due to traffic congestion or blocked. Type in “cache:thewebsitetoview.com” to have a look what’s on the site.

7. Interested in music?

You can use Google as a personal music search engine.  Though a bit longer to type, but considering the results it gives, you can type -inurl:(htm|html|php) intitle:”index of” +”last modified” +”parent directory” +description +size +(mp3) “Your Band” to get the search results for music.

Example: Music Search for Radio Head

8. Google for searching faces?

If you are searching for images of celebrities or famous persons whose name can have other meanings, you can try adding &imgtype=face at the end of your URL. Note: for this to work you will need to add that at the end of URL instead of putting it in your actual search.

Example: Paris

9. Is your stock up or down?

If you want to keep up with the latest stock market conditions, type “stocks:+nameofcompany” for the results.

Example: stock goog

10. Movie Ratings

And if you are interested in finding reviews about movies just type “movie:+your movie“. Google provides a meta parameter “movie” for finding details of movies. For example, if you want to search for the details of the movie The Matrix then you would have to use “movie:The Matrix”.

This would give you the information on the release year of the movie and also would show you the ratings which the movie has got from well known critic web sites. The interesting part of these reviews is that it even shows the number of positive reviews, neutral reviews and negative reviews, sorting by relevance, date and rating.

Example: movie:The Matrix

11. Find Free Stuff from Large Sites

If you want to find free stuff life wallpapers, website templates and images, Google search box gives you access to do it quickly through social bookmarking sites.

Example 1: site:delicious.com free “wallpaper”.

Example 2: site:digg.com free “wordpress templates”

12. Where’s the phonebook?

If you want to look up phonebook listing all you have to do is phonebook:CompanyName+Place or for personal listing rphonebook:NameofPerson+Place

Example for Business Phonebook: Disney CA

13. Range Search

You can search for terms withing a range by using “SearchTerm+2000..2008“.

14. Get some statistics

You can find some statistics like population of a place by just typing “population of Your Country“.

Example: Population of United States

Yahoo Tip:

Search for cheap gas on yahoo by doing a query for “cheap gas yourcity”.

Example: Cheap Gas Los Angeles

For those who want change that we can believe in, here are wallpapers that say more than any article, any speech, or any debate.

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This is an excerpt from an interview Obama gave in Rolling Stones Magazine.  It captures Obama’s message for change in a very powerful way.

“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” - Obama

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“Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. Because it’s only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential.” - Obama

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“I don’t oppose all wars. What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war.” - Obama

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“I know my country has not perfected itself. At times, we’ve struggled to keep the promise of liberty and equality for all of our people. We’ve made our share of mistakes, and there are times when our actions around the world have not lived up to our best intentions.“ - Obama

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“If the people cannot trust their government to do the job for which it exists - to protect them and to promote their common welfare - all else is lost.” - Obama

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“If you’re walking down the right path and you’re willing to keep walking, eventually you’ll make progress.” - Obama

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“In the end, that’s what this election is about. Do we participate in a politics of cynicism or a politics of hope?“ - Obama

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“Issues are never simple. One thing I’m proud of is that very rarely will you hear me simplify the issues.” - Obama

wallpaperforobama.blogspot.com

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“It took a lot of blood, sweat and tears to get to where we are today, but we have just begun. Today we begin in earnest the work of making sure that the world we leave our children is just a little bit better than the one we inhabit today.” - Obama

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“It’s not surprising, then, they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.“ - Obama

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“My job is not to represent Washington to you, but to represent you to Washington.“ - Obama

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“My parents shared not only an improbable love, they shared an abiding faith in the possibilities of this nation. They would give me an African name, Barack, or blessed, believing that in a tolerant America your name is no barrier to success.” - Obama

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“People of Berlin - people of the world - this is our moment. This is our time.” - Obama

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“There is not a liberal America and a conservative America - there is the United States of America. There is not a black America and a white America and latino America and asian America - there’s the United States of America.” - Obama

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“This is the moment when we must come together to save this planet. Let us resolve that we will not leave our children a world where the oceans rise and famine spreads and terrible storms devastate our lands.“ - Obama

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“Today we are engaged in a deadly global struggle for those who would intimidate, torture, and murder people for exercising the most basic freedoms. If we are to win this struggle and spread those freedoms, we must keep our own moral compass pointed in a true direction.“ - Obama

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“Tonight, we gather to affirm the greatness of our nation - not because of the height of our skyscrapers, or the power of our military, or the size of our economy. Our pride is based on a very simple premise, summed up in a declaration made over two hundred years ago.“ - Obama

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“We need somebody who’s got the heart, the empathy, to recognize what it’s like to be a young teenage mom, the empathy to understand what it’s like to be poor or African-American or gay or disabled or old - and that’s the criterion by which I’ll be selecting my judges.“ - Obama

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“We need to steer clear of this poverty of ambition, where people want to drive fancy cars and wear nice clothes and live in nice apartments but don’t want to work hard to accomplish these things. Everyone should try to realize their full potential.” - Obama

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“We’re not going to baby sit a civil war. What Washington needs is adult supervision.“ - Obama

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“Where the stakes are the highest, in the war on terror, we cannot possibly succeed without extraordinary international cooperation. Effective international police actions require the highest degree of intelligence sharing, planning and collaborative enforcement.“ - Obama

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“We’ve got a tragic history when it comes to race in this country. We’ve got a lot of pent-up anger and bitterness and misunderstanding. … This country wants to move beyond these kinds of things.” - Obama

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“In Africa, you often see that the difference between a village where everybody eats and a village where people starve is government. One has a functioning government, and the other does not. Which is why it bothers me when I hear people say that government is the enemy. They don’t understand its fundamental role.” - Obama

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“You know, my faith is one that admits some doubt.” - Obama

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“America, this is our moment. This is our time. Our time to turn the page of the policies of the past.” - Obama

1. John the Ripper:

Prevention is better than cure. Strong passwords are the first step in securing your web server. Many web servers get exploited just because of weak passwords. John the Ripper is a password auditing tool that can be used to detect weak passwords on web servers. It checks the passwords against a list of words commonly used and their variants. If the passwords on your web server get cracked by this tool, you have a red alert. Change your password to some uncommon mix of alphanumeric characters.

2. NMap:

Next on your checklist should be if any ports have been left open accidentally on your web server. NMap is the just the right tool help you detect port vulnerabilities and prevent your web server from being exploited. If you find any unwanted ports close them. It’s better to run nmap from another server.

3. Firestarter:

How do you close an open unwanted port? Firewall is the answer to your problem here. Linux uses iptables to secure and close unwanted ports. You can use Firestarter which is front end tool for iptables if you find handling iptables tough from the command line. Firestarter is not only easy to use, but you can even implement the firewall rules with immediate effect from the program itself.

4. Chkrootkit:

What if you feel that the security of  your web server has been compromised from the inside? Chkrootkit is the tool to detect the presence of these trojan horses. Root kits are small pieces of software that a hacker might have left hidden on your web server which might be used to gain access to your machine in the future. It should be run from a rescue disk like a live CD.

5. GPG:

You can keep data on your web server confidential even if it gets exploited. To prevent hackers from getting away with your data, you can use encryption tools. GPG is one such tool that uses public key encryption which makes the data in encrypted files inaccessible to an intruder. There are two sets of keys one on the disk an one privately held like on a removable medium. This makes it tough to get the contents even if the encryption key stored on the disk is known.

6. OpenSSh:

For remote maintenance of your web server never use telnet. It sends your login information in a way that can easily be sniffed. OpenSSh is the tool that you can use to remotely login. It uses username and password based authentication to provide a secure encrypted connection over an insecure network like the Internet.

7. Tripwire:

Files on a Linux web server are arranged in their respective directories with the configuration files being under /etc. To verify that the system configuration files have not been manipulated or compromised, an intrusion detection system is used to monitor and report the changes about such files. Tripwire is one such tool that performs this action and sends alerts whenever a file change security breach is detected.

8. Wireshark:

You can analyze live network data or from an existing file with Wireshark. It can reconstruct a TCP session with support for hundreds of protocols.  It is widely used to capture packets across a network and give a detailed visual report. You can use it to sniff packets for troubleshooting and analyzing  network problems.

9. Hping:

To audit security and test firewalls you can use Hping to generate packets over TCP/IP protocol. It can be used in  traceroute mode and has the ability to send files between a covered channel. You can use it for remote OS fingerprinting and uptime guessing.

10. Socat:

Based on netcat, you can use socat to read and write data over network  connections on TCP and UDP. It can also be used as a network debugger and analyzing tool, as it create many types of connections. It supports SSL encryption and proxies.

In addition to using these tools to secure your web server, you can do basic things like stopping unused services, deleting unwanted CGI applications. Run periodic scans and tests to keep your web server healthy and secure.

You can get all these tools from the repositories of your Linux distro. Live rescue and penetration detection CDs also come with these and many more tools to help you secure your Linux web server.

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