WordPress Security Threat

It’s been posted all over the internet as of late, but I’d like to remind everyone of the security threat to WordPress blogs:

WordPress 2.8.4: Security Release

How to Keep WordPress Secure

From the above links, the way to keep yourself safe from this attack is by upgrading.  Make sure you back your DB beforehand.  The easiest way to backup your DB is via this plugin:

wp-db-backup

The sooner you upgrade, the sooner you are safe from this exploit.

UPDATE Sep 7, 2009 – I found a good article from John Gruber of the Daring Fireball on Security and WordPress:

Regarding WordPress and Security

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Northern Spain

Pictures from our long weekend in Bilbao and San Sebastion with Matt and Jamie:

Northern Spain

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iPhone OS 3.0 battery life is terrible.

After upgrading my iPhone 3G to OS 3.0, I was really exited to start playing with all of the new features.  Some of my favorites include spotlight, cut/copy/paste and push notifications.

Unfortunately, immediately after installing the update, my battery life was terrible at best.  I use my iPhone for work and receive over a hundred emails per day through our exchange server.  Before the 3.0 upgrade, I could easily get through a day on 1 charge.  On occasion I would even skip the usual overnight charge and still have plenty of battery to get me through lunch the following day without a charge.  After the update, I’m lucky to make it through the day before my iPhone battery dies completely.

A quick internet search yielded numerous claims of this issue:

I hope that Apple recognizes that this is a problem and does something about it soon.  Maybe in OS 3.1?

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Apple Hardware Problems

Apple products have not been kind to me over the past couple of months…

For starters, about 2 months ago, the plastic on my iPhone’s back cracked right at the mute switch.  This is a common problem that has been documented all over the internet (link1, link2).  Here’s a picture of mine:

iphonecasecracked

Soon after this happened, I purchased a second battery from the Apple store.  Good thing I did, because the very next day, my original battery wouldn’t charge.  I tried swapping it back and forth with the new one, reseating it, resetting the PRAM (to Apple’s instructions), all to no avail.  Later that day, I looked at the bad battery and noticed that it had swelled considerably.  I went to the internet and found that this was not uncommon either (link1, link2).  Here’s a picture of my battery:

mbpbatteryswollen

The last problem happened in the last couple of weeks, this time with my MagSafe power adapter for my Macbook Pro.  First, the end, right near the connector, started to fray.  Then, it turned brown and started not working consistently.  Last night, when I was sitting on the couch and browsing the web, it actually started to smoke.  I immediately unplugged it and have stopped using it.  Again, this is a common complaint on the internet (link1, link2), this one to the point of a lawsuit.  Here’s the connector on mine:

magsafeburnt

Now that I’ve let problems pile up, I finally setup an appointment at the Apple store genius bar.  We’ll see how it goes…

UPDATE  Sep 10, 2009 – I went to the Apple Store with all of these problems and they were happy to replace all of these components, even though the battery and power adapter were no longer under warranty.  The only questions that were asked were around the iPhone cracking.  This was in the form of a survey and only intended to gather information to improve this in the future.

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Faye & Jenny in Paris

When Jenny was in London visiting, Faye and Jenny took a short trip to Paris:

Faye & Jenny in Paris

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Wimbledon

Faye was lucky enough to get center court tickets to Wimbledon for work:

Faye at Wimbledon

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Killers Concert

We saw the Killers in concert at Hyde Park for the Hard Rock Calling festival:

The Killers Concert

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Barcelona

We went to Barcelona for a Wilco concert and had a great time.  Any trip to Barcelona wouldn’t be complete without a trip to La Champagneria.  Here are the pics:

Barcelona Pictures

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New Picture Page Layout

With the new blog format for my homepage, I’ve changed the picture page.  The new picture page can be found via both the category and tag ‘Pictures’ in the navigation bar.  Here’s the direct link:

New Picture Page

The old link still exists, but I’m going to be transitioning everything to the new picture page.  Until that time, I’ve added it to the links in the navigation bar.  Here’s the direct link:

Old Picture Page

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Lake District

Last weekend, there was a bank holiday in England.  Also, we are coming up on our second wedding anniversary.  To celibrate, we took a trip to the north of England to the lake district for some hiking and relaxation:

Lake District Pictures

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