While testing WordPress 2.6 on my other blog earlier today I found a small bug in the media uploader. While trying to submit a support request I came across this rather funny error message/page:

More on the error/bug is posted here. I’ll do a follow-up shortly when I get around to update this blog as well…

Feel free to share below if you’ve encountered anything out of the ordinary when updating to WordPress 2.6.

A screen name once connected to animated TV dad Homer Simpson is being used to spread malware.

In a 2003 episode of The Simpsons, writers revealed that Homer’s e-mail address was chunkylover53@aol.com. Prior to the episode’s airing, the address was registered by one of the show’s writers, who used it to answer hundreds of e-mails from Simpsons fans. Years later, the chunkylover53 screen name has resurfaced, and it’s now being used to distribute a trojan disguised as a Simpsons movie file.

According to FaceTime malware research director Chris Boyd, chunkylover53 is sending out auto-reply messages to users which promises a special exclusive episode of the show available for download. The link in the message leads to an executable file. Upon launching the trojan, the user is presented with a fake error message which is followed by several real error messages and, finally, a blank screen. Upon restarting, the system will run noticeable slower and be prone to crashes.

So again, it’s not a good idea to blindly click links in emails without verifying the authenticity of the sender. We should know better by now don’t you think?

Source: vnunet.com

The Linkscanner feature in Grisoft’s free anti virus solution, AVG 8, has been way too active for some. Linkscanner is meant to assist users to see whether their results in Google (among others) leads to safe or unsafe websites.

In order to do so the software scans the site before the user actually visits it. It’s done by a component called Search-Shield.

Until recently this feature was only available in the full (paid) version, but after being included in the free version as well several websites experienced a massive increase in traffic.

Smaller websites would be lead to believe that it was a DOS attack (Denial Of Service) as the traffic from AVG’s Search-Shield would exceed normal traffic. In some cases the servers were reported to go down. An in-depth analysis is available at AVG Linkscanner Watch.

The server logs clearly shows the massive increase in traffic is caused by Grisoft. Multiple complaints has been forwarded and a fix is now being “shipped” in order to solve the problem.

With 70 million potential users I’m glad I’m running this site off a powerful server with no bandwidth restrictions to worry about. What about you, have you been noticing any changes in traffic recently?

All surfers are waiting for THE wave. Maybe this one is a bit more than he asked for…

Messing with mother nature, and especially when she throws a Tsunami your way, isn’t normally something you would do

Researchers led by Brown geologist Alberto Saal analyzed lunar volcanic glasses, such these gathered by the Apollo 15 mission, and used a new analytic technique to detect water. The discovery strongly suggests that water has been a part of the Moon since its early existence – and perhaps since it was first created.

The discovery may force scientists to rethink the lunar past and future, although uncertainty remains about how much water exists and whether future explorers could extract it.

The water was found inside volcanic glass beads, which represent solidified magma from the early moon’s interior. The news swept through much of the scientific community even before being detailed in the journal Nature this week.

Read the full article at LiveScience or search the NASA website.