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700 miles down, 160 miles to go.

I left for Los Angeles, California from Boise, Idaho early this morning. A lot of pictures taken along the way, some are totally unusable, some are fine and some I am really happy with.

The weather was good despite of being cold. It was only as low as 16 degree Fahrenheit.

In the middle of the trip, the Virgin Mobile MiFi stopped working. I had to rely on my phones for Internet access.

Idaho, Oregon and Nevada; I am now back in California. There are 160 more miles to go till I get home. My colleague and I took turns driving. So far we’re pretty much on time.

It’s roughly a 860-mile trip from Idaho to California. Great view along the mountains.

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To Apple Store, Boise Towne Square. Sorry for hogging your bandwidth.

I went to Apple Store, Boise Towne Square to download iOS 5 for my iPhone. I could try downloading iOS 5 through Virgin Mobile Mi-Fi or AT&T 3G, but it would be slow and seriously deplete my data quota. As I arrived, I immediately proceeded to download iOS 5 for the iPhone and iPad 2. While enjoying close to 5Mbps download, my colleague told me that he was having terrible Internet speed on other Mac in the store. Is it possible that I just hogged the bandwidth at the Apple Store? After finishing the download, my colleague told me that the Internet was usable again.

To Apple Store, Boise Towne Square, please accept my apology. I did really download iOS 5 for my iPhone and iPad 2.

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My gear for the road.

I’m on the road again for an assignment in Idaho. Why Idaho? I myself wonder why.

Anyway, here’s what I have in my gear bag:

  • MacBook Pro 15-inch.
  • iPad 2.
  • Canon EOS 60D, obviously I need this for this assignment.
  • Nexus One, don’t tell AT&T about it.
  • An iPhone, which one?
  • Virgin Mobile Mi-Fi, which is useless around Boise area. It was really useful on I-15.
  • A lot of power adapters, one for each device.

It has been snowing in Boise but it doesn’t stick to the ground. I’m looking forward to Saturday for the assignment.

Update:

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Analog and Digital.

Since Monday October 24th, 2011 I’ve been trying to read the Walter Isaacson-penned biography of Steve Jobs which simply titled “Steve Jobs”. After I finished the “Introduction” I put the hardcover book down and took a break from it. I asked myself why I’m having such a hard time reading the book. Is it because the book about Steve Jobs? Is it because of what could be written in the biography? No.

The answer is simpler than I wanted to believe. It is one thick book to hold. I prefer reading the book in digital format. So I downloaded the book on iBooks. On retrospect, I should have downloaded the book on Amazon Kindle. I can read it on more devices.

One analog is replaced by its digital counterpart.

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Persistence of bootkit

Platform: Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7.

Symptoms, but not limited to:

  • Search results using browser search box including Chrome and Internet Explorer 9 Omnibox are redirected to other sites.
  • Internet Explorer is running in the background on login, using large amount of memory.

After long troubleshooting sessions I figured out that a bootkit was present on this computer.

A bootkit hides itself by modifying the master boot record.

The particular bootkit I was dealing with was not detected by Combofix, Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware and many others. The only anti-malware program detected the bootkit was Hitman Pro 3.5.

If you are dealing with a persistent malware infection that redirects search results, try using numbers of anti-malware softwares. In addition to that, search for “Google redirect virus” using an uninfected computer. The malware redirects search result system-wide. On the infected system, search results were redirected on Internet Explorer, Safari, Chrome and Firefox. The malware will redirect search results on any browsers installed on the system.

It is almost 5 o’clock in the morning. I have not had a minute of sleep. I’ll clean up this post later.

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Megadeth – Th1rt3en

First thing that came to my mind was:

Why are there a lot of previously released songs?

  • New World Order
  • Millenium Of The Blind
  • Black Swan

Then there are the also pre-Th1rt3en songs

  • Sudden Death
  • Never Dead

Don’t forget the singles:

  • Public Enemy No. 1
  • Whose Life (Is Is Anyways?)

Right there, 7 out of 13 songs I had somehow heard before the release of the album.

“New World Order” was recorded as a demo back in Countdown To Extinction days. The song was also released by a band called Zoetrope for their album Mind Over Splatter 1n 1993. Megadeth demo was included in Hidden Treasures in 1995 and Youthanasia 2004 Digital Remaster.

“Millenium OFThe Blind” demo was included in Youthanasia 2004 Digital Remaster. The demo included intro riff that later used in “1000 Times Goodbye” off The World Needs A Hero in 2001. The new version of the song is without the intro riff; it is actually something different.

“Black Swan” was originally recorded during United Abominations session in 2007 featuring then guitarist Glen Drover and bassist James LoMenzo. The song was made available for those who pre-ordered United Abominations through Megadeth.com and MegaFanClub. The song was much simpler back then.

I don’t think I need to go on and mention every little thing about this album. Megadeth die-hard fans would enjoy this album. Forget about the remake, re-recorded songs; this album still hits hard.

Roadrunner Records is still selling the CD Deluxe Bundle of Th1rt3en that includes the CD, Digital Downloads and two Picture Discs.

 

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