The Codebelay Blog

Month: February 2010

  • How Secure Are iPhone Apps?

    I looked at the Linkedin, Flickr, and Facebook iPhone apps to see how secure they were.

    When you log-in your password is safe and protected with SSL:

    No. Time Source Destination Protocol Info
    1 0.000000 192.168.0.102 8.17.171.32 TCP 49891 > https [SYN] Seq=0 Win=65535 Len=0 MSS=1460 WS=2 TSV=840468191 TSER=0

    Frame 1 (78 bytes on wire, 78 bytes captured)
    Ethernet II, Src: AppleCom_94:9e:c2 (00:16:cb:94:9e:c2), Dst: D-Link_4a:41:9c (00:0f:3d:4a:41:9c)
    Internet Protocol, Src: 192.168.0.102 (192.168.0.102), Dst: 8.17.171.32 (8.17.171.32)
    Transmission Control Protocol, Src Port: 49891 (49891), Dst Port: https (443), Seq: 0, Len: 0

    However, let’s say that you view your list of contacts on the LinkedIn iPhone app:

    Exposed Email Redacted

    You’re basically giving away your contacts to the hacker at the cafe who is taking advantage of the fact that you’re using WiFi.

    Here’s the scoop on the iPhone Apps.

    Your data is not secure with these apps:

    Flickr: Password Secure, Data not
    Facebook: Password Secure, Data not
    Linkedin: Password Secure, Data not

    All your data is secure with these apps:

    Gmail: Password Secure, Data Secure
    Hushmail: Password Secure, Data Secure

    Hushmail even has an option to turn off security, but why would you? 🙂

  • Tweets You’ll Most Likely Read at SxSW 2010

    Here’s a list of tweets you’ll most likely read at SxSW 2010:

    • OMFG, landed! (Ya, you and 12,000 other people.)
    • OMFG, I’m @crowdedplace hanging out with my new BFFs @socialmediadouche1 and @socialmediadouche2.
    • I’m sick of folks tweeting who they’ll be hanging out with. I don’t care. Turning the twitter fire hose off.
    • OMFG, I’m just telling people who I’m hanging out with because my boss needs to know.
    • My hotel room is #69. Just bring yourself.
    • OMFG, That DM you sent?!!! That actually went public.
    • Big line in front of @crowdedplace.
    • No line @emptyplace.

    I think SxSW Interactive is an awesome event. It’s one of those few tech conferences where if you make a friend there they stay your IRL friend for quite a long time.

    Also it’s a great place for making complex deals in a really easy way. Think of the pieces that it takes to launch a major Internet app with mobile, web and video pieces. You can get those stake holders in one place at SxSW, and hammer out a huge deal with 2 days of face time.

  • Install Script For Rails on Debian

    The following works great on Rackspace’s Debian Virtual Servers and within 5 minutes you got a running rails instance.

    #!/bin/bash

    apt-get update -y
    apt-get upgrade -y
    apt-get install dlocate -y
    apt-get install build-essential libssl-dev libreadline5-dev zlib1g-dev -y
    apt-get install sqlite3 -y
    cd /usr/local/src
    wget ftp://ftp.ruby-lang.org/pub/ruby/stable-snapshot.tar.gz
    tar zxvf stable-snapshot.tar.gz
    cd ruby
    ./configure && make && make install
    ruby -v
    ruby -ropenssl -rzlib -rreadline -e “puts :Hello”
    cd /usr/local/src
    wget http://rubyforge.org/frs/download.php/60718/rubygems-1.3.5.tgz
    tar zxvf rubygems-1.3.5.tgz
    cd rubygems-1.3.5
    ruby setup.rb
    gem install rails
    apt-get install mysql-server mysql-client -y
    apt-get install libmysql-ruby libmysqlclient15-dev -y
    gem install mysql — –with-mysql-include=/usr/include –with-mysql-lib=/usr/lib
    gem install mongrel –include-dependencies
    apt-get install git -y

  • Tweets I Liked

    Wow, I’ve just finished some work for a creative technology agency I work for, and am taking a break.

    Today was a pretty awesome day in tweeting.

    Here are tweets I liked: