Roll Your Own Firefox!

Do you use Firefox as your primary Internet browser? Would you like to get more out of it in order to make your Internet browsing easier and more productive? Then what you need are Firefox extensions! What are ‘extensions’ you say? Extensions are add-on for Firefox that can increase its functionality! If you are not using any plugins in your Firefox browser, you are missing out!

Click below to see what extensions I’m using and to find out where you can get your own!

Movie Review: Angels & Demons

There are a lot of great movies hitting theaters this summer and, before I saw it, Angels & Demons did not seem like it would be nearly as good as Star Trek and X-Men Origins: Wolverine. I felt this way because it’s prequel, The Da Vinci Code, was a bit underwhelming, especially after all the hype it recieved before its release in 2006. I am actually happy to say that I was completely wrong in my preconceptions of what will possibly be this years most captivating film.

Click below to continue reading my review of Angels & Demons and to see its trailer!

Project: Major Server Upgrade

Well, it’s time for yet another upgrade to my home server. This time, however, my server is getting a major overhaul. Click the headline to see a list of everything I’ll being doing in order to complete this upgrade process:

OMG!!! Zeus Struck Me Down!

A couple days ago, when I tried to boot into Windows I was unable to since I was one of 100,000 victims of the Zeus botnet attack. At first, I found it strange that I was suddenly getting the dreaded Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) in Windows 7 which, although a beta, had not given me any trouble since I installed it. However, I later read an article on ArsTechnica.com, entitled “Botnet Master Hits the Kill Switch, Takes Down 100,000 PCs,” where I learned that I was only one of many victims of a botnet attack. For those who do not know, a botnet attack is an attack that uses large groups of compromised computers  for malicious purposes. In the case of the Zeus botnet, it used a software kit, known as Zeus or Zbot, to extract personal and financial data from infected machines. Zeus’ most dangerous feature was the kos, or kill operating system, command that was built into the software and, when invoked, triggered the BSOD, making it difficult to boot into the operating system. In my case, I was fortunate that this attack happened when I was already planning on upgrading my operating system from the Windows 7 Beta to the Windows 7 Release Candidate. After the upgrade, any malware that Zeus left on my computer was gone. In order to stay protected from such a threat, make sure you have some type of anti-malware  ( anti-virus, anti-spyware, etc) software running on your computer and ensure that it is kept up-to-date.

For more info check out Ars Technica

I Graduated!

I can’t believe it, but I am now a university graduate! For those not in the know, I graduated from the University of Advancing Technology with a Bachelors of Science degree in Network Security.

Click this articles title to find out about my graduation ceremony, post-graduation celebrations, and to see my graduation pictures!

Movie Review: X-Men Origins: Wolverine

X-Men Origins: Wolverine is a movie that comic book geeks around the world, including myself, have been waiting a long time to see. In my opinion, this movie does not disappoint since it has a great story and all the action one would expect from an X-Men film.What I like most about this movie is that it not only delves into Wolverines past, but it also introduces the audience to a whole team of new mutants such as Gambit, Deadpool, and Wraith. However, X-Men fans have found a number of inconsistencies with this film as it relates to the comic books its derived from. In my opinion, these inconsistencies don’t really take anything away from the movie as whole since it is filled with some great action sequences and tells a great story.

Click this articles title to see my verdict on this movie and to check out some of its secret endings!

I Was Mentioned in the Wall Street Journal!

A few weeks ago, after reading some of the articles I had been posting here regarding netbooks, Wall Street Journal reporter Justin Scheck contacted me. He wanted to know how I personally felt about netbooks and why I chose the Asus EEE PC 1000HE over the rest. What I have found is that netbooks represent a growing market for those who do not want to lug a huge fifteen inch laptop with them everywhere, especially if all they want to do is get on the Internet.

Click this articles title to read an excert from the WSJ article where I am mentioned.

What I’m Playing: Mirrors Edge (PS3)

If you are a fan of action or adventure games, you really should check out Mirror’s Edge since it is such a unique and amazing game. It’s uniqueness comes from its style of gameplay, in that the entire game is played in the first-person perspective. Being a fan of First-Person Shooters (FPS’s), I was already comfortable with this view. However, what I did not expect was the minimal use of guns in this game, and that by no means is a bad thing. In fact, the game encourages the player to disarm enemies, and not shoot them with their own weapons. Another interesting thing about this game is the lack of any type of heads-up display (HUD). The only thing that you see on the screen, other than the surrounding level and enemies, is a tiny reticle. No health meter, no maps, nothing because none of that is even needed in this game. When you get hurt your vision will get blurry. To get around the level, look for objects or items marked in red “runner vision.” When you run into an enemy, you can either avoid them or disarm them if you have good timing. The gameplay is also really fun since it is based on free-running and has you running, jumping, and climbing around huge cities.

Click this articles title to see the games trailer!

Server Upgrade: Drobo

The Drobo from Data Robotics really is an amazing solution for data storage. In fact, I’ll go so far as to say that it may be the LAST solution you’ll EVER need for data storage. As you can see in the above video, the Drobo makes it incredibly easy to increase your hard disk capacity. When you run out of space on the Drobo, all you have to do is pop in a larger capacity hard drive and the unit takes care of the rest. Despite the $499 price point, I am really looking forward to getting one of this things for my server at home. I currently have a single terabyte drive connected to the server which I use to store and serve my media throughout my house. With hard disk prices as low as they are, the Drobo could prove to be a great investment, seeing as how it offers easy unlimited storage, with the keyword there being easy.

Click this articles title to see a demonstration of Drobo’s functionality by Geek Brief host Cali Lewis!

Movie Review: Dragonball Evolution

I just do not want to believe what I just saw. The Dragonball really was as bad as everyone says it is. The main reason for this is because Chow Yun Fat, the Executive Producer, decided to gear it towards the children’s demographic. The whole time I was watching the movie, I felt as though it would have been much better had I been 13 years old again. What’s even worse is that the movie did not seem to have any of the epicness the anime series had. The few fights scenes that were in the film were inappropriately short. In fact, the final battle between Goku and Piccolo ended kind of abruptly with Piccolo just falling over dead. Very disappointing.

Click this articles title to find out exactly how bad this movie really is.