Christmas time! And you want to buy some presents… ebay could represent a good option to save some money but it needs a lot of time because you want to be sure you are bidding at the right price to the best (used or not) item.
The web is full of websites which help you to discover and follow items on ebay but, in the real world, from the moment you find something to the end of a winning auction many days pass and often you have not time to follow and properly bid for your “catches”.
The software I use and recommend for ebay auctions is AuctionSieve. This software is written in Java and consequently it is multiplatform. In the Download Page you can always find the right version for the OS you are using.
On Linux, download AuctionSieve, extract the file and save it to (e.g.) Home. Open the folder you created and give the permission to execute as program to auctionsieve.jar (right button on the mouse –> Properties –> Permission –> Allow executing file as program”). Then open it with (in my case) -OpenJKD Java 6 Runtime-.
AuctionSieve is intuitive but you have to “play” with it for a couple of hours before dominating all its features. You can save your searches, focus on just one category, filter items using “catch” or “trash” words options, create personal watchlists and evaluate the price of a particular item using the “Price History” tab. If you repeat a specific search you did in the past, you can decide to automatically exclude all the items you have already seen before and you will spare more time examining the results. Moreover, when you begin a “New Sieve”, you can also import the same search criteria you created and selected during a previous search you did.
Let me suggest you to read the AuctionSieve Tour page before using it. In this way you will skip all the most common mistakes that beginners usually make. 
In my experience Firestarter is a effective firewall and, on Linux, it starts automatically every time we boot up Ubuntu. But, when I decided to use a VPN tunnel through openvpn, I had some connection problems. In fact I was able to initialize my VPN services but, after a while, all the internet connections were mysteriously shut down.
The “problem” was Firestarter which cut off the connection as forbidden considering my inbound/outbound Policy.
To solve this matter you have to open a tunnel on Firestarter to allow VPN working:
1- open the configuration file my VPN provider gives to its users (generally its a text file containing all the configuration info used, in my case, by openvpn) and I searched for the IP address of the default starting connection used to authenticate the VPN services (e.g. 177.458.563.25). Save somewhere or memorize this VPN IP address.
2- open a Terminal and type:
sudo nautilus
3- using nautilus go to File System (it’s before home folder) and open etc–>firestarter and open the file user-pre using Gedit (or your preferred text editor)
4- the user-pre file is usually empty so don’t panic and write these lines into it:
iptables -A INPUT -j ACCEPT -s xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx -p esp iptables -A INPUT -j ACCEPT -s xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx -p udp -m multiport -sports isakmp,10000 iptables -A INPUT -j ACCEPT -i tun+ iptables -A OUTPUT -j ACCEPT -d xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx -p esp iptables -A OUTPUT -j ACCEPT -d xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx -p udp -m multiport -dports isakmp,10000 iptables -A OUTPUT -j ACCEPT -o tun+
Now you have to substitute the xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx with the VPN IP address you have found at step 1 (in my example was 177.458.563.25).
5- Save the user-pre file and close Gedit and Nautilus
6- open a new Terminal and restart Firestarter typing:
sudo /etc/init.d/firestarter restart
That’all! Now your VPN works on your Linux computer and Firestarter has accepted a new Routed IP Tunnel into its allowed policies configuration.
The idea is simple but genial: how about saving your Gmail attached files directly into Google Drive without wasting time and doing it manually? Not a bad idea but till now it was not easy to realize.
Today Armit Agarwal did it and explained how to do that!
Moreover, automatically adding a simple label to your incoming emails (e.g. labeling all the email from a predefined account or all the emails containing a particular word in the text) you can be sure that Agarwal script will save a copy of the attachments directly into your Google Drive.
But I don’t want to simply copy Agarwal ideas and tips about this new feature because you can directly visit his website and download the script he created.
Here I also like to focus your attention on the potential features offered by the App Script language by Google. In fact, Agarwal demonstrates how simply could be this Script language and how it can be used to add personalized and useful features to Google services (in this case: Gmail).
Try it and if you want to share new Google App Scripts don’t hesitate to add a comment or send an email to this blog.
“Security by obscurity does not work with inquisitive minds. There are many things that should be changed and some that have. Though our bodies may not be free, our minds are – free to learn, explore, to resist. Hack the world!“, Anonymous Writer, 2600 Magazine, Autumn 2012
It was just a simple system update which dropped off audio on my Ubuntu 12.04. It was really strange to admit that I had experienced a crash (better: an audio crash) on a Linux but the 12.04 Ubuntu actually caused similar problems to a numerous bunch of long-term aficionados around the world.
The real problem with the last Ubuntu versions is that this OS is not supporting properly “old” hardware as it did previously during so many years. Reading some other bug reports on the web I discovered that these audio troubleshooting crashes happen principally to “old” IBM ThinkPad and Dell. I hope Ubuntu developers will consider to solve immediately these kind of issues or many users certainly migrate to other Linux version.
In any case the best and complete guide to solve audio troubleshooting has been developed by Ubuntu itself. The guide is very detailed but, if you want to definitively solve this bug, you have to spend more or less 40 (forty…. sic!) minutes and follow all the 17 (seventeen… sic!) steps.
In my case the audio was back after the first step and I decided not to follow the other instructions but the audio troubleshooting comes back, more or less, every two months. Just to you if you want to spend 40 minutes only one time or a couple of minutes every two/three months.
When I consider all the problems I had with Ubuntu on “old” hardware starting from the 12.04 version, my advice is to start thinking about a migration to another Linux OS. I am testing some Ubuntu alternatives and in the next weeks I will post something about the tests I’m doing on old laptops. Stay connected!
The first Spy Week starts today @Lifehacker with a bunch of interesting stories about topics related to the spy world. During the next days we will have the opportunity to improve our knowledge on different fields as e.g. sharing sensitive information over the internet or taking photographs without being noticed by other people. Moreover Lifehacker will publish some interviews with experts who share some tips and answer to every related question from the readers. For example, now, Steven Santarpia from ICORP Investigation is online and interacting with lifehackers. This week, be sure not to miss any topics about spying (+ hacking + social engineering) and visit the dedicated section into the Lifehacker website!
Today opportunities
During the last two years the number of free online University courses exploded on the web. Today it is possible to attend prestigious courses by important USA and UK Universities and receive a final certification without spending a cent.
The good news are that these courses are interesting, well structured and you have a real possibility to increase your knowledge if approach them in the right way.
The first time you look for the free online University courses you are disoriented by the number and the many different topics they cover. The problem is to make the right selection in order not to waste time and energies for something you (and you career) don’t actually need.
How to select the right courses
1- Make a first selection between courses choosing only that are really interesting for you
2 – Check if you will receive a participation certificate if you complete the course
3 – Honestly evaluate your real, deep, interest for the courses that will not provide any written certification. I mean: “Do you really think that they will increase your knowledge and will be determinant for your career or life?”
4 – Don’t overestimate your capacities. Read very carefully the required background to attend the courses
5 – Don’t underestimate the time you need to attend the courses and do all the “homework” and the suggested readings
6 – Finally, select two (or more) courses and “Create” your free aside University career. Try to choose courses that have logical and “career path” connections between them. The important thing is what you are really learning on particular related topics you consider important for your career, not the number of disordered certification you can write on your resume.
A list of free online University courses in USA and UK
3 – http://gtmooc.com/how-it-works/
6 – https://6002x.mitx.mit.edu/
7 – http://www.powersearchingwithgoogle.com/course
8 – https://code.google.com/edu/security/index.html
Please, add a comment to this post to inform or recommend other courses we have not mentioned here!! Thank you!
Today we post a particular Linux informative video to celebrate the 2012 edition of the Linux Day: a special event dedicate to promote the Linux culture in Italy. The Linux Day 2012, organized under the supervision of the Italian Linux Society, will be carried on today (October, 27) thanks to the active support and the logistic framework offered by the Italian User Groups in more than 100 Italian cities and villages. Akhela (http://www.akhela.com/it) and SUSE Italia (https://www.suse.com/it-it/) are the proud sponsors of this event. 
Source: youtube.com via Galigio on Pinterest
Computer Borders 