BHack

Nice event going on on Brazil (and damm cheat too) on one of the most beautiful cities in Brazil too – http://bhack.com.br/ – security, hacks and much more. Keep your linux flash drives up and get your plane tickets.

Date: 14 – 17 June

Don’t miss.

10 Truths about PHP and Web development

Yeah, that is Murphy when he discovered the law

When developing web applications there are some real “insights” that might help you and all of them applicable to PHP developing.

Check them out:

1. “In Science Failure is always a option” – Adam Savage fro MythBusters
2. Take your time and do it right from the 1st time
3. Contradiction and Irony had a case and created the Murphy’s Law which kicks both rules above through space
4. A missing semicolon will break your script
5. There is such thing as error logs and they exist to be checked
6. The only real configuration for error logging in PHP.INI on a development machine is E_ALL
7. The project will be launched before the due time and with a considerable amount of bugs
8. Usability is never considered on project development time
9. So is real testing done by testers and not developers
10. For the last, and the most important of all, when everything fails, stop, grab a coffee, chill for a minute and you will see on the monitor that missing semicolon that you weren’t seeing.

Even knowing that most of these truths I have treated as jokes, in a real project and in the “real world” these actually happens. Just keep in mind the first 5 “truths” while developing a project and all will be good.

Have fun!

Top 10 site down issues

Security hasn’t changed much from the last 3 years till now, but bringing up the top 10 issues that can bring your site down is always a good thing.

Here is the top 10 countdown application security risks:

• Injection
• Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)
• Broken Authentication and Session Management
• Insecure Direct Object References
• Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)
• Security Misconfiguration
• Insecure Cryptographic Storage
• Failure to Restrict URL Access
• Insufficient Transport Layer Protection
• Unvalidated Redirects and Forwards

Want more information about them and how to prevent them? Check it out:

• OWASP Top 10 Project
• OWASP Top 10 Main Application Security Risks

MacBook Pro Charging Meltdown

Today while using my Macbook Pro I noticed that it was hot as a volcano core and for the first time I heard it turning on the fan.

No need to mention that I’m a hard core user when it comes to computers in general. With PC’s (notebooks or not), I usually have huge cooler fans so it can stay cool, but on a Mac, it was a surprise to see the temperature going up to 150F.

After a little search and talking to some peers I have found out that on Macbook’s that have the internal battery heating up bad when charging is something very common. Sad it is true (they don’t do Mac’s as they did  before).

Anyway, after a small search I have found out a good post with a great tool that will help you control the fan settings and monitor the temperature.

Check it out: http://blog.ziggytek.com/2010/01/06/why-your-macbook-macbook-pro-is-overheating/

You can also download the application directly at: http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/23049