This week, another issue came up. I've been using absolute URLS on my site and when I moved them, they were referring back to the page on the NMI server where I used to have it. I had to change all of the URLs in my links to be relative ones so that they work even if all the files are moved. I didn't figure this out until I deleted the pages off the NMI server and the links no longer worked.

The products pages are now done. An issue that I am having with them is that when I create an image map, I can't really do any rollover effects with the individual sections (areas) in the map. I am looking into this.
I figured out the problem I had last week in Dreamweaver. I just had to check a box for "Update"
Next week, I will meet again with the owner of the hardware store to see if he likes the things I have done.

I learned a little more about the color handling that photoshop does. When designing for the web, you really have to be caresful to use a web-safe palette. Photoshop makes this easy by giving you an option to "Save for web", which gives you an image that is completely web-safe. I used this on the Ace images and I don't think they look any different but they do load a lot quicker.

Another thing is that the way Dreamweaver lays out your files for your site is really confusing. I can't figure out where it is storing them exactly and when it automatically FTPs them, it sometimes doesn't update files that it should be. I will ask for some help on this next week.

Audit Report

The state of Texas had an audit performed of its health and human services agencies, and found that they do not adequately protect the confidential client information that is located on their networks. The state found that there are numerous weaknesses in their controls and that individuals from outside the firewall could have access to or delete confidential documents.
This lack of protection is serious because the network is widespread. While the lack of protection violates the Texas Administrative Code, it is not properly enforced in most cases. Cost and organizational support are likely to hamper security improvements. The lesson to be learned from this audit is that it is especially important for large government organizations to keep their security up to standards.

Now, the page is coming along nicely. I am now hosting the Ace page on my personal website, garrettvonk.com.
I read a little about dropdown menus on a tutorial on the internet. I would like to incorporate them in my site but I don't know if I will have time. The problem is that dropdown menus are not incorporated into HTML, and not even into Dreamweaver. They have to be built manually using CSS (cascading style sheets) and some rollover effects.
This week, I added some text and started working on the product pages for the site.

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/12/17/1039656378113.html
Most large organizations have a fleet of laptop computers. Most have medium, limited security for the data on these computers. Walk away from an operating laptop for a few moments and interlopers can help themselves, even if the computer has a cryptographic file system to keep sensitive information secure. That is because once the owner has supplied the initial decryption key, typically when logging in, anyone using the laptop has access to data stored on the disk. Brian Noble believes he has the answer to this.
The system requires laptop owners to wear a small device or token - in this case a wristwatch equipped with a processor and short-range wireless link to communicate with the laptop. When the token moves out of range, ZIA re-encrypts information on the laptop within five seconds, before someone else can gain access to it. When the laptop detects that the token has come back within range, the system decrypts the information within six seconds.

Spring break.
I am updating from the road as I brought my laptop. All I can show you right now is that I did upload some pictures from our trip!
Check them out!

We had a mandatory meeting to go to and we got to see a lot of projects from other groups. We talked about WebCT also and this is a new thing, having class completely on the web. I like it and hope to see it used more in other classes. Spring break will put a halt to development for me.

Missing Computer Data...

Identify theft is a crime where a criminal steals someone else's personal information and uses it to run up credit card bills or access that person's financial records. A hard drive was stolen in Canada, something that all the technical knowledge in the world cannot prevent. As long as humans are handling computer hardware, it cannot be guaranteed that it will not fall into the wrong hands.
If the hard drive has been stolen, the identity thief would have to piece things together and decode files. That's very difficult, but not impossible. If this is a case of identity theft, it is the biggest case of such a crime in Canada. The hard drive is also believed to contain medical billing records, government pension statements and financial information from the provincial energy and telephone utilities.
This case is similar to one in Las Vegas last year and another case where a hospital sold a computer still containing sensitive data.

This week, I started looking at browser compatibility. Since the visitors to the site could be using any browser, from AOL to Opera to IE to Netscape and back, I had to look up some browser compatibility information. The fact is, Netscape doesn't support dynamic html the same way that Internet Explorer does. It's a shame, but I really like the IE way better.
I am looking into some ways to make these problems disappear, but some involve Javascript and I don't know if i need to go that in-depth. Maybe I will just make the site IE-compatible only.
This week, I updated the menu system a little on the site.

Lawsuit challenges software licensing

A woman in California is suing Microsoft claiming that the company concocted a scheme to mislead customers by requiring them to consent to software licenses before being able to read them. The End User License Agreement, or EULA, that is present on most software products, dictates what a customer can and cannot do with the product. This agreement is at times located inside a box that, once opens, is not returnable.
The complainant is claiming that the people who do not accept the terms of the agreement cannot return software to the stores. End-user license agreements have become a hot-button issue in the tech industry as more and more companies try to forge increasingly restrictive contracts. Some companies have tried to ban class-action lawsuits, damages or reverse engineering of their products.

This week, I used some of both my Photoshop skills and my Dreamweaver skills that I have picked up. I made some graphics for my home page at garrettvonk.com.
If you visit there, you can see the layer swap technique I used, the images I created, and the basic page layout I started with the navigation.

This week I participated in a photoshop contest on Fark.com. This may take a little explaining. The good people at fark.com put up pictures that they want everyone to manipulate using Photoshop or other programs, and then they vote on whose was the funniest.
This week’s subject was this photo:

My entry is here:

I am currently in second place!

What did I do for this image? A lot of things. A lot of lasso selection and cutting and pasting. A lot of clone stamp work to replace his missing arm and make his shorts pink. All in all, it was fun and very educational, surprisingly.

This week, I worked on photomanipulation of an image I took of the front of the hardware store. First of all, it was a cloudy day. I have learned from my photography book (The Nikon Field Guide) that when the entire sky is completely washed out with white, you lose contrast on the rest of the image. Second of all, there is a lot of corrosion and brown stains coming off of the brand new sign that the owner purchased (he’s not happy.) So, I did a few things. I first adjusted the brightness and contrast on the image to bring up the features of the building. Then, I selected the whole sky and removed all of it. Using the [Render > Clouds] Filter in Photoshop, I rendered white clouds against a bright blue sky. I then proceeded to use the clone stamp to remove the stains on the wall.

Here’s the original.
Here’s my modified version.

Protocol promises faster Web services

A new protocol has been proposed, one which could radically change the efficiency of collaborative applications. Collaborative applications are those which cull resources from many different locations or sources. Distributed computing applications support web services and high-powered grid computing. This protocol promises to speed up collaborative applications up to 10 times.
The protocol, called the Order-based Deadlock Prevention Protocol, works with greater efficiency for time-critical applications.
There are still some problems: the current protocol will lack the power to allow efficient coordination between Internet applications as they grow larger in scale, according to the researcher. Two other problems likely to become even bigger hindrances as Web services and Internet collaborative computing become widespread are livelock and deadlock. Livelock occurs when two or more processes keep shifting their requests in response to the changes occurring in the other--with neither process succeeding in carrying out any productive work. Deadlock occurs when two or more processes get bogged down waiting for the other to make a move.

Sex.com case heralds end of Internet – NSI
The Register

Summary:

The legal environment of the digital age is vastly different from that of a few decades ago. The speed with which information moves and the relatively huge breadth of such information have both simplified and made more complex many different issues. One such issue at hand is the question of whether property rights extend to concepts that are purely digital. This question is the central issue in a case currently before the California Supreme Court.
Back in 1995, when the Internet was a virtual toddler, domain names began to be sold at a rapid pace. Network Solutions was the sole awarder of domain names, an ability that gave the company great power and control over the structure of the web. Simple, one word domain names began to be perceived as worth millions of dollars by businesses with an internet presence-- and rightly so. A simple domain such as business.com or sex.com makes a web site not just attractive, but memorable.
Sex.com was originally the property of Gary Kremen, who works for Online Classifieds (OCI). The domain was valued at millions of dollars at the time. In 1995, Michael Cohen sent a fax to NSI authorizing the transfer of the domain name to himself under the pretext that Gary Kremen had been fired from the company. This was a completely untrue statement which was unfortunately accepted part and parcel by NSI, who transferred the domain without blinking an eye.
This was only the beginning of the problem for Kremen, however. When NSI refused to reward him the domain, he took them to court, in what became a five-year legal battle over it. Kremen won, and Cohen promptly fled the country, leaving a $65 million settlement in his wake.
The actual filing before the Supreme Court is a much simpler legal question than the original one. The case deals with the question of whether digital property is still within the scope of standard property law and concepts such as the tort of conversion. NSI claims that the services provided for domain names (DNS) are intangible and are thus not subject to the same laws. Kremen, however, cites law pertaining to other intangible items such as bonds, recorded performances, and e-tickets.
In the end, the case is about more than just a man who claims to have lost $100 million dollars because of this issue. The judges who make a decision will speak very strongly about the future of the Internet and the legal and regulatory environment around it.

Today, I started to work a little more on actual images for the hardware store web site. A little background info: The hardware store is owned by Matt Dewhurst, a businessman in Dunwoody, GA. It is an Ace Hardware affiliate called Ace Homeplace. They bought an old Harris Teeter store and converted it. The place is huge! I’ve been a few times and had the grand tour, and I am still impressed each time I go.
I took several rolls of pictures, and, using my scanning techniques, loaded them one-by-one into my computer.

From The Post-Standard
Privacy is paramount to online security today. With numerous reputable third-party licensing and trust organizations in business today, it’s not difficult to provide adequate privacy on your web site if you know where to look.

Parker Jennings, a fraudulent investment company, capitalized on this trust by setting up a site that mimicked the Better Business Bureau’s site. The Better Business Bureau, or BBB, has for years been the source for consumers to get information on a company with whom the consumer is unfamiliar. When a visitor initiates a search on the BBB site, the company name is linked to a database of nearly every company in the nation. Along with the simple business information, the site reports any customer experiences that people have relayed to the BBB. Based on bad reports, the visitor to the site can then decide not to do business with the company or just to be wary of any potential hazards.

The fraudulent web site was built to match the original Bureau web site exactly, with one exception: Instead of the current report for Parker Jennings(which warns consumers of the firm’s misdeeds, the fake web site listed the company as a member with a satisfactory record and no registered complaints. The company then “urged” consumers to invest between $5,000 and $20,000 using the Parker Jennings advising services. And many did invest in the fraudulent company.

Since the time and effort involved in setting up the fake web site are quite extensive, it is not a problem that could easily become widespread. Domain names are quite hard to come by nowadays, and Parker Jennings’ inventive use of “thebbb.us” would be difficult to duplicate with such a small pool of names remaining. However, this case shows the vulnerability that any company with established trust must deal with. That trust can be leveraged against them by scammers who bilk innocent people out of their money on the notion that they can be trusted. These malicious acts hurt not only the parties defrauded, but also the general component of trust necessary for the BBB and other licensing organizations to survive.

At this point, the fraudulent web site has been taken down. The state Attorney General and the Federal Trade Commission both got involved and quickly brought down Parker Jennings and are investigating fraud charges against the company. The Better Business Bureau urges consumers to visit their web site before making a decision about an unknown company.

I combined my Photoshop and Dreamweaver skills by putting together a “Hot or Not” page of some people in the MIT program. First, I combined all of their images in the masthead image here, aligned at the top using a frame.

Dreamweaver is much easier than I thought it would be. I suppose knowing a little HTML goes a long way toward knowing Dreamweaver. The MX version seems to be really easy. I have been told that previous versions are not so easy. I have redone my home page this week slightly to show that I have learned a little bit of Dreamweaver, at least. The book I am using is called creative html design 2 and it has a great color chart in the front that is just what I have been looking for.
This week, I practiced tables, placing an image on a page, and making links (admittedly, I knew how to do these things in HTML) in Dreamweaver. I have been talking to a few students who are working in Premiere. That program looks cool; I may have to do a side projects in it for fun just to learn it.