For PHP developers using PEAR beware! Download a new copy of the PHP PEAR Package Manager (go-pear.phar) from GitHub right away and compare it against your copy to see if it's infected.
Beware! If you have downloaded PHP PEAR package manager from its official website in the past 6 months, we are sorry to say that your server might have been compromised.
Last week, the maintainers at PEAR took down the official website of the PEAR (pear.php.net) after they found that someone has replaced the original PHP PEAR package manager (go-pear.phar) with a modified version in the core PEAR file system.
Though the PEAR developers are still in the process of analyzing the malicious package, a security announcement published on January 19, 2019, confirmed that the allegedly hacked website had been serving the installation file contaminated with the malicious code to download for at least half a year.
Source: The Hacker News
I'm running MacOS Mojave on one of my personal machines. Apple now has a security feature called Gatekeeper that enforces code signing and verifies downloaded applications before allowing them to run, thereby reducing the likelihood of inadvertently executing malware. However, if you're a power user, you will want to install apps from outside sources from time to time. To re-enable this you can open up your terminal and run the following,
sudo spctl --master-disable
Now you can head back in to System Settings > Security & Privacy and allow apps downloaded from anywhere.
I started collecting Star Wars toys and memorabilia in 1995 with the re-release of Star Wars in the theaters. Hard to believe that was 23 years ago already. Over the years my collecting has branched off in many different directions and it's time to get rid of some stuff.
I decided to start, Ephantmon.com. I have listed over 300 items so far and I am just beginning. I've been going through boxes upon boxes of stuff to sell. So if you're a collector of toys from the 70's, 80's and 90's, go check it out. I will be adding items often.
I started watching videos of lectures on SVG with HTML5 yesterday. I'm hooked. I can't believe what people are doing with it. It's really cool!
This Gooey Menu by Lucas Bebber is one to check out. He has four different variations of it.
One of the lectures on YouTube that I enjoyed was by Sarah Drasner. Check out her projects on CodePen.
Another person worth mentioning is Sara Souedian. If you're at all interested in learning about SVG, look her lectures up on YouTube. I clearly need to dedicate some time to learn SVG and implement it for more than just charting.
Here's an interesting comparison of HTML5 Canvas vs SVG
It's important to note that Canvas requires JavaScript to display. So if a user has it turned off you've got a problem.
In my quest to solve DNS caching issues last week, I forgot to mention another handy tool. The tool is called, GeoPeeker. GeoPeeker allows you to load a website from 6 different geographic locations. Those locations include Singapore, Brazil, Virginia, California, Ireland, and Australia. The free version does limit your usage but they do offer a premium account if the free tool isn't enough for you.
This tool helped to rule out the server the site was hosted on and to focus my attention on the route from my ISP to that server. GeoPeeker is a great service that saved me a lot of time and I hope it can help you too.
