Archive for September, 2009

Disaster, Relief Operations Hotlines / Info / Directory

Wednesday, September 30th, 2009

Just got this from the Philippine Science High School PTA Yahoogroups (thanks to Cez Tan). Hopefully this could help in a way by reposting it here both for the current and future calamity/emergencies:

Rescue Operations

*National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) (+632-9125668, +632-9111406, +632-9115061, +632-9122665) Help hotlines: (+65 734-2118, 734-2120)
*Red Cross (143, +632-5270000)
*MMDA (136)
*Coast Guard (+632-5276136)
*AIR FORCE (+63908-1126976, +632-8535023)
*Senator Dick Gordon (+639178997898, +63938-444BOYS, +632-9342118, +632-4338528)
*Senator Manny Villar (+639174226800. +639172414864, +639276751981)
*Bureau of Fire Protection Region III (Central Luzon) Hotline: (+63245-9634376)
*Go to GMA Facebook page & post complete addresses and names of people in need of immediate help.

Rubber Boat Requests, 4×4 Trucks

*NCRPO (+632-8383203, +632-8383354)
*Private citizens who would like to lend their motor boats for rescue
please call emergency nos: +632-9125668, +632-9111406, +632-9122665, +632-9115061)
*You can also text (+632917-4226800 or +632927-6751981) for rescue dump trucks.
*For those who are able to lend 4×4 trucks for rescue: Please send truck to Greenhills Shoppng Center Unimart Grocery to await deployment, Tel No. (+632920-9072902) .

Power Supply

*Meralco (+63917-5592824) If you want service cut off to your area to prevent fires and electrocution.

Relief Aid and Donations

*Victory Fort is opening its doors to those affected by the typhoon. Call 813-FORT.
*Clare Amador (+639285205508) or Jana Vicente at +639285205499) . Drop off for relief donations is at Balay Expo Center across Farmers Market Cubao.
*Miriam Quiambao drop off points: One Orchard Road Building in Eastwood, or messagehttp://www.twitter. com/miriamq for more details.
*Donations for Ondoy Victims to be distributed at the Philippine Army Gym inside Fort Bonifacio or GHQ Gym in Camp Aguinaldo starting now.
*Team Manila stores in Trinoma, Mall of Asia, Jupiter Bel-Air and Rockwell shall be accepting relief goods (Canned Goods, Ready-to-drink Milk,Bottled Water and Clothes) for distribution by Veritas.
*Relief Goods: Caritas Manila Office at Jesus St., Pandacan Manila near Nagtahan Bridge (+632-5639298, +632-5639308) or Radio Veritas at Veritas Tower West Ave. Cor EDSA (+632-9257931- 40)
*Donations of any kind for Payatas communities affected by Ondoy accepted at ARANAZ stores in Rockwell & Greenbelt.
*Simbahang Lingkod ng Bayan Task Force Noah, a disaster response arm of the Jesuits, is accepting donations. Please drop it off sa Ateneo Cervini Dorm.
*Red Cross Load Donations: Right now the easiest way to make donations from the seat of your chair is via mobile phone load. The Red Cross Rescue and Relief Operations. Text: RED [space] AMOUNT to 2899 (Globe) or 4483 (Smart)
*Ateneo is now accepting donations for the victims of Ondoy. Donations can be dropped at MVP Lobby. For those stranded/those who need help: To all students who need help or know of people who need help. Please text the name, location, and contact number to (+6329088877166) .
*Papemelroti stores in 91 Roces Ave. / Ali Mall Cubao / SM City North EDSA / SM Fairview / SM Megamall / Glorietta 3 in Makati / SM Centerpoint / SM Southmall are accepting relief goods (canned goods / milk / bottled water / clothes – NO CASH pls.)
*TXTPower now accepts donations via SmartMoney 5577514418667103, GCash 09179751092 and Paypal http://is..gd/ 3GvuN

Media Outfits

*ABS-CBN Typhoon Ondoy Hotline: (+632-4163641)
*Jam 88.3: (+632- 6318803) or SMS at JAM (space) 883 (space) ur msg to 2968
*People Tracker (using your phones, get your friends and family to turn on their finderservice for you)

FINDERSERVICE. For Smart, text “wis ” to 386.
FINDERSERVICE. For Globe, text “find
to 7000.

*MRT and LRT are open 24 hours today

Event: GNOME Asia Summit

Tuesday, September 29th, 2009

Announcement From: GNOME.Asia

The GNOME.Asia Summit Vietnam Nov.20-22, 2009 in Ho-Chi-Minh-City is one of the top Free and Open Source Software events for developers, enterprises, officials and general users in Vietnam. Please join us!

- Learn more about GNOME, desktop applications and new mobile solutions.
- Take part in a FOSS course and get your own course certificate during the event.
- Participate in the install fest of new programs and make your computer faster and more secure.
- Meet us at the FOSS party and celebrate the fun of getting together with people from all over the world.
- Learn about job opportunities with global and local companies and get in touch with representatives.

The event brings together free and open source software projects from Asia and around the world. More than 500 multipliers from 10 countries are expected to participate in the summit, which is the first international community event of its kind in Vietnam. (more…)

How to donate to Red Cross via SMS to help typhoon victims

Monday, September 28th, 2009

Donate to the Red Cross Rescue and Relief Operations. Text: Red AMOUNT to 2899 (Globe) or 4483 (Smart).

The AMOUNT can be 10, 25, 50 or 100.

Volunteers Needed for DSWD Relief Operations

Monday, September 28th, 2009

Volunteers needed:

You might want to spare your very precious time and energy with DSWD (Department of Social Welfare and Development): THEY URGENTLY NEED REPACKERS OF RELIEF GOODS; OTHER TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE WELCOME TOO; WE CAN ALSO BRING OUR DONATIONS THERE:

NATIONAL RELIEF OPERATIONS CENTER, Chapel Road, Near NAIA 1 and 2. Pasay City.

Ms. Francia Fabian(OIC-NROC) TEL. No.: 852-8081.

Event: Helping others / Mozilla Service Week

Wednesday, September 16th, 2009

Spread Firefox Affiliate ButtonFrom: The SourceForge.net Team

Helping others – it comes naturally to people who write open source
software. Now the Mozilla Foundation is trying to employ the power of the
community in a more direct and hands-on way during Mozilla Service Week
(http://mozillaservice.org/learn_more/volunteer/en_US).

During this week, Mozilla (and SourceForge) encourage you to volunteer in
your community. Tech savvy folks can apply their skills in a variety of
ways. Some ideas from the foundation:

. Teach senior citizens how to use the Web.
. Show a non-profit how to use social networking to grow its base of
supporters.
. Help install a wireless network at a school.
. Create Web how-to materials for a library’s computer cluster.
. Refurbish hardware for a local computer center.
. Update a non-profit organization’s web site.

Organizations and projects that need assistance can also register to get
help.

As a company and as individuals, we at SourceForge will be participating in
Mozilla Service Week. We encourage you to get out there in your own
community and make a difference!

Event: Open your Minds: Software Freedom Day 2009

Tuesday, September 15th, 2009

Open your Minds: Software Freedom Day 2009
Reference: Rick Bahague
Contact: secretariat@cp-union.com / 4134196 / 09178840096
www.cp-union.com/sfd09

Software Freedom Day (SFD), the largest ever grassroots event promoting and educating the public about Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) in the Philippines, will be held on September 19, 2009 with registration starting at 8:00. This international event will be hosted by the University of Santo Tomas in Manila. SFD is an international affair that will be participated in by more than a thousand teams in over 90 countries worldwide, with the Philippine celebration marked by simultaneous events from Luzon to Mindanao that will also be simulcast over the internet.

The morning plenary sessions will introduce what FOSS and SFD is and run participants through its basics, and explain what Free and Open Culture is as the conceptual basis of this software movement. Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casiño will also provide an update on the FOSS Bill that they have sponsored and currently filed in Congress. The Computer Professionals’ Union (CPU), the main organizer of the event, will also be discussing the use of FOSS in social advocacy.

The latest versions of free operating systems and applications can be copied and written on a CD on site. There will also be fun games with exciting prizes as well as software freedom day t-shirts for sale during the event. High quality free software will be available for computers in the office and at home, even be well-polished games for the gaming enthusiasts.

Global participation has relatively doubled since 2008’s record of over 500 participating teams, with over 200 individuals having participated in last year’s celebration. Participants are expected to further increase this year, with more organizations and students from schools such as Adamson University, University of Santo Tomas, Philippine School for Business and Arts, Central Colleges of the Philippines, Asian Academy of Business and Computers and University of the Philippines pledging to participate this year.

The Software Freedom Day 2009 team is composed of CPU, the UST Computer Science Society as the hosts, AdU Computer Science Open Source University Meet-up, AdU Computer Science Society, AdU Web Development Team, Asian Academy of Business and Computers, Blender Users Group, Cybersercurity.Ph, Drupal Users Group, ICAII, Joomla Users Group, LAMP-Pilipinas, PHP Users Group, PUP Taguig Computer Society, Ruby Users Group, TXTPower!, Office of Rep. Teddy Casiño – Bayan Muna Partylist, and the University of the Philippines Linux Users Group.

Those who cannot attend the event but would like to view the live video broadcast may do so visiting http://www.cp-union.com/sfd09. For further information on SFD, visit the international website at http://www.softwarefreedomday.org and http://www.cp-union.com/sfd09 for the details of the local celebration.

Software Freedom Day Philippines 2009: Open your Minds to Free Software. Participate in SFD 2009!

Tuesday, September 8th, 2009

Software Freedom Day aims to educate Filipino people about their rights to software freedom. September 19, 2009 is the day when we are going to celebrate it with the rest of the world. The main event this year would be held at University of Santo Tomas in Manila, 8:00AM – 5:00PM.

ORGANIZER:
Computer Professionals’ Union (CPU)

HOST:
UST Computer Science Society

PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS:
AdU Computer Science Open Source University Meet-up
AdU Computer Science Society
Asian Academy of Business and Computers
Blender Users Group
Drupal Users Group
ICAII
Joomla Users Group
LAMP-Pilipinas
PHP Users Group
PUP Taguig Computer Society
Ruby Users Group
TXTPower!
Office of Rep. Teddy Casiño – Bayan Muna Partylist
University of the Philippines Linux Users Group

Venue:

Plenary Sessions (8:00-12:00) will be held at the Medicine Auditorium, located at the Medicine Building.

Break-out Jam Sessions (1:00-5:00) will be held at the AMV multi-purpose hall, located at the Accountancy Building.

For more details: Tel: 6324134196 Email: secretariat@cp-union.com
Website: Software Freedom Day

Featured Photo: Suria KLCC, KL, Malaysia

Tuesday, September 8th, 2009

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The State of Web Insecurity: 508 percent increase in malicious web links and many more…

Friday, September 4th, 2009

IBM in its X-Force 2009 Mid-Year Trend and Risk Report said that there was a 508 percent increase in the number of new malicious Web links. The report shows an increasing state of Web insecurity as “web client, server and content threats converge to create an untenable risk landscape.”

According to Mark Cox in his article: “State of web insecurity is unprecedented: IBM” published in echannelline.com, “this problem is no longer limited to malicious domains or untrusted Web sites. The X-Force report notes an increase in the presence of malicious content on trusted sites, including popular search engines, blogs, bulletin boards, personal Web sites, online magazines and mainstream news sites. The ability to gain access and manipulate data remains the primary consequence of vulnerability exploitations.”

This means that while more and more people share contents on the web, the threat also increases due to content providers being unmindful of their sites security. The benefits of making knowledge and information easily accessible and shareable due to advances in technology has its negative effects if security is not given primary consideration. Web criminals are taking advantage of this situation especially now that “interoperability between browsers, plugins, content and server applications has dramatically increase the complexity and risk.”

The report also said that PDF vulnerabilities has increased. And that while Phishing attacks has dramatically decreased, analysts believe that banking Trojans are taking its place and are geared toward financial targets. URL spam, according to the report, is still number one.

From: State of web insecurity is unprecedented: IBM” in echannelline.com

Microsoft Lists Top 10 Windows Malware, reminds us we’re better off with Linux

Tuesday, September 1st, 2009

The top 10 Windows Malware listed by Microsoft based on their MSRT, or Malicious Software Removal Tool covers only 1,776,569 machines according to an article: Microsoft Lists Top 10 Windows Malware in Security Watch. The article further states that “The downside to it is that it searches for and removes a list of malware that is small compared to that of a real anti-malware product.”

The country data (also covering only top 10 countries) of 4,057,285 machines makes it clear that there are a lot of machines not counted in the top 10 list. And since this covers only top 10 countries and only those cleaned by MSRT excluding those undetected and unremovable, makes us think that there are a lot more Microsoft Windows machines around the world that are infected. This shows that Microsoft has lot bigger problem when it comes to malware. And yes, we’re better off with Free and Open Source Software especially Linux OS.

More of the article and data including list of top 10 Microsoft Windows Malware and top 10 Countries can be seen here: Microsoft Lists Top 10 Windows Malware in Security Watch