After a little tweaking, my rule is growing, and proving extremely effective: # bad websites: domains which regularly or overwhelmingly feature spam SecRule REQUEST_HEADERS:REFERER “http://[^/]*(yijiezi|yourhcg|lukejaten|squidoo|answerbag|jvlai|chaohuis|cledit|bait|lukejaten)” “t:lowercase,deny,nolog,status:500” # porn and gambling: they make much cash out of random visitors SecRule REQUEST_HEADERS:REFERER “http://[^/]*(holdem|poker|casino|porn|girlz|pussy|penis|babe|exposed|sex)” “t:lowercase,deny,nolog,status:500” # fake / illegal designer clothing and luxury […]
Monthly Archives: January 2011
I think it is a fantastic and wonderful thing that the complete, detailed, maps of the UK are now free for all commercial and non-commercial use. This is a long way ahead of any other country – these maps are many times more detailed and accurate than e.g. the Google […]
I like computer security to be EASY and SECURE. I hate passwords, and I use them rarely if at all. Instead, I use digital keys as much as possible (i.e. something based on a physical key stored on a removable USB drive that I take with me wherever I go). […]
There’s a growing problem right now with Facebook Connect: it can silently log you in to websites that you *don’t want* to share your private data with. I saw a funny example last month where a porn website had integrated Facebook Connect … so when you visit the site, one […]
Pretty good (shot without tripod, a few days ago): Using this 10-year-old lens (70-300, no image stabilising or anything fancy). I wondered if my old (pretty cheap) lenses from my film camera would work OK with a brand new digital camera. Yes, although I get a lot of chromatic aberration […]
UPDATE: there were several bugs in my original version – by Debian standards, ModSecurity is damn hard to configure correctly, mainly because the Debian packager has left out so much that’s essential! This version is fully tested and working… Mod Security is an awesome, open-source product for Apache that will […]
One of the most useful (and short) posts I’ve ever seen (*) on raising VC money. This post from Mark Suster encapsulates key things that every VC knows and feels is so obvious they wont even mention … But which new entrepreneurs have no way of knowing: http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2011/01/11/going-to-raise-vc-heres-a-primer-on-process-people-deck/ …and if […]
When you switch on your Mac… Click on the network icon (e.g. the wifi icon for most people) and click “Turn Airport off”. Then start Firefox. Click on the network icon and select “Turn Airport on”. You will find that Firefox starts up 10-100 times faster, with fewer crashes, and […]
For this page: http://entity-systems.wikidot.com/start …I want a list of published / self-published games that were built on top of an Entity System. I know a few off the top of my head (I think – I’m going to mail some of the authors and double-check), but mostly I have no […]
Most professional artists don’t pay for their software (their employers do), and PSD files are the main interchange format for high-end graphics. But PSD isn’t always possible to open or edit. Adobe’s crappy copy-protection refuses to run on some of my computers, and CS is far too damn expensive for […]
Despite this week’s PR disaster for Sony Ericsson, their new Android phone (due out soon) looks fantastic: http://blogs.sonyericsson.com/products/2011/01/06/next-step-%e2%80%93-xperia%e2%84%a2-arc/ Personally, I am convinced that Sony Ericsson makes the best Android phones available, bar none. e.g. although many people prefer the X10 full size, I still think the Xperia X10 Mini is […]
Google keeps improving Android. Android version 2.2 is one of the most important releases ever – it speeds up the whole phone (every game, every app, runs noticeably faster), along with bugfixes and new features. Sony Ericsson has caused much hate among consumers by shipping their flagship phones with OS […]
UPDATE: updated August 2011, with more detailed / idiot-proof instructions – and a couple of shortcuts. NB: when you’ve done this install once, and checked the relevant bits into your Source Control, it becomes *very* fast/easy to re-install – it’s only long-winded the first time. I thought I’d blogged this […]
Less than 24 hours after giving Apple my FUBAR’d MBA, it’s back – fixed, working perfectly, and with a whole new screen too. All credit to the local store and/or Apple’s internal repair processes. I’m not sure how much we should praise Apple overall for this, given it’s allegedly their […]
It’s a bit mean to hilight just one culprit here – this isn’t that rare – but it’s something I’ve been meaning to talk about for ages. Sometimes, bad or broken user-interface has a direct, measureable impact on a business, due to increased customer-support costs (usually CS is paid by […]
With only 250 tickets available, I guess a lot of people in Brighton will be getting one of these today: Dear adam martin TEDxBrighton I’m sorry to inform you that your application to attend TEDxBrighton on 21st January has been unsuccessful. As the first TEDxBrighton event, and offering free tickets, […]
Interesting announcement from the UK schools minister, David Willetts: from 2012, UK universities will be legally required to publish their exam blacklists. This is something I desperately hope comes into practice (apparently it’s just an “aim” right now, no telling if it’ll actually happen). It’s especially interesting given the rich […]