iTunes 11.3.1

iTunes 11.3.1

Apple released iTunes 11.3.1

iTunes 11.3.1 addresses a problem where subscribed podcasts may stop updating with new episodes and resolves an issue where iTunes may become unresponsive while browsing your podcasts episodes in a list.

WordPress 3.9.2

WordPress 3.9.2 is released to address some security issues.

WordPress 3.9.2 is now available as a security release for all previous versions. We strongly encourage you to update your sites immediately.

This release fixes a possible denial of service issue in PHP’s XML processing, reported by Nir Goldshlager of the Salesforce.com Product Security Team. It  was fixed by Michael Adams and Andrew Nacin of the WordPress security team and David Rothstein of the Drupal security team. This is the first time our two projects have coordinated joint security releases.

It is highly imperative to update to WordPress 3.9.2.

WordPress 3.9.2

In July 2014, WordPress plugin MailPoet were found to be vulnerable and affected sites running Joomla and Magento.

Random Pick: NewerTech AdaptaDrive

For the past two days I had been installing SSD on numbers of desktop computer. One thing that would have come handy is a 2.5-inch to 3.5-inch adapter bracket. In the past, I bought several NewerTech AdaptaDrive to accommodate the need for such adapter. Once again I found myself needing such adapter. I have just ordered a few units to finish up the upgrade, properly.

NewerTech-AdaptaDrive

NewerTech AdaptaDrive costs about $15 and can be easily purchased from Other World Computing.

iOS 8.0 beta 5

Apple seeds iOS 8.0 beta 5 build 12A4345d to Developers.

iOS 8.0 beta 5

iOS 8.0 beta 5 now shows indicators when Wi-Fi calling is enabled. This feature is currently available on T-Mobile USA network.

Synology Vulnerability and Ransomware

In the early Sunday morning of August 3, 2014, a tweet by Mike Evangelist was linked on Hacker News.

Lovely. My @Synology NAS has been hacked by ransomware calling itself Synolocker. Not what I wanted to do today. pic.twitter.com/YJ1VLeKqfY

Mike Evangelist Tweet Synology Synolocker

I was somewhat scared by this news as some users at Synology forums reported that they were also victims of  SynoLocker which is a CryptoLocker malware which specifically targets Synology NAS. I am managing numbers of Synology NAS for a few small offices and homes. Granted that none of them are directly connected to the Internet, but I have to make sure none of them would be hacked and crypto-locked.

Make sure your Synology NAS is running the latest DSM Operating System.

Synology Software Update

For now, disable the QuickConnect service.

Synology Disable QuickConnect

Disable all port-forwarding if your Synology DiskStation is behind a NAT Firewall. This is a definite inconvenience; better to be safe than sorry.

More importantly, back-up the content of your Synology NAS. Should anything happen, you still have your data. My colleague has a great advice on backing up:

As always, if you have data on your Synology that you consider irreplaceable, make sure that you have it backed up to. I’d recommend using the built in Amazon S3 client. It’s cheap and fairly easy to set up, and should help you in case of a disaster.

I personally also run a backup to another hard drive locally for rapid recovery.

Enemy Territory: Legacy

ET Legacy

Return to Castle Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory (RTCW:ET or ET)is one of a few games that I regularly play in the past 10 years. Well, I have not been playing ET using my own account for the past 13 months because the binaries are not fully compatible with OS X Mavericks, starting with the Developer Preview 1.

Just a few weeks ago, my colleague told me that new build of Enemy Territory: Legacy is working fine on OS X Mavericks.

Enemy Territory: Legacy is:

Open-source team based FPS game compatible with Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory™

Shortly after I am now back on the game. My colleagues and I can be found at ETForever.com.