This is a review of this commit on the master branch.

Functionality added without option to disable: ¶

"open group"/"closed group" indicators appear in the page owner block and beneath where it shows the group owner.    

Under edit group, an added tab allows site admins to have all users auto-join the group.

(the transfer ownership section shown right is NOT there by default)

The groups listing pages have additional tabs added to search for open/closed groups and sort alphabetically.   
The group invitations link is shown (I think our current theme is supposed to hide it).   

After enabling transfer of group ownership ¶

Allows transfer of ownership to a friend or group member   

After enabling group admins ¶

Group admins (if multiple) are shown above the members in the sidebar   
Group admins have the option to allow appointed admins to appoint other admins (by default only the owner can appoint)   
Group owner/admins must use user hover menu to appoint/revoke group admin status   

After enabling group mail function ¶

Available via "Mail Members" link in sidebar   
Default mail form   
Allows removing individuals   

Full default settings ¶

Some Mac and Linux users may experience a problem where they can't click on the "Allow" or "Deny" buttons in Adobe's Flash Player Settings. This is actually a bug in the Flash 11 player. The user is typically presented with a prompt to select one of those options when going to a site that uses Flash and it is trying to do presents a security risk, hence the need to ask the user if it should be allowed or denied. 

Adobe has created a Website Privacy Settings panel tool where a user can select site privacy preferences so as not to be prompted in the future. Supposedly, a user could go to that page, select a site, and indicate whether to ask, allow, or deny when needing privacy permissions. I'm using Chrome on Ubuntu, so I went to Adobe's Privacy Settings Panel tool, but didn't see the site listed that I needed to "always allow." Just to see if Flash was talking with other browsers when I wasn't, I decided to start up Firefox and go to the site in question. I was prompted with the typical security prompt, I selected "Allow," then when back to Chrome and refreshed the Privacy Settings Panel tool page, and oddly enough, the site now appeared in the list and I was able to indicate my preferences for that site. I'm sure there's a logical Flash reason for this, but I don't have the time to find it and this solution worked.

So in this case, I needed Firefox to solve an issue with using Flash in Chrome. 

This executable snippet shows some of the new features in PHP 5.4, including traits, short array syntax, array dereferencing from function calls, and new instance expressions.

With closures and anonymous functions already in 5.3, PHP is looking more like Javascript.

Please check out:

The latest Java bug hit Mac OS pretty hard:

http://m.cnet.com/Article.rbml?nid=57409619&cid=null&bcid=&bid=-83

Malware: it's not just for Windows anymore.

http://infosec.ufl.edu/athome/virus.shtml

To prevent being infected with the Flashback botnet -

1. Make sure the Java update released today by Apple today via software
update is installed. (Java for OS X 2012-001)

2.  Install the Mac version of Mcafee from software.ufl.edu

Flashback botnet removal:
http://www.f-secure.com/v-descs/trojan-downloader_osx_flashback_c.shtml

Composer is a project-level dependency manager for PHP. We'll go into what this is later. Here's how to install it on OSX.

curl -s http://getcomposer.org/installer | php 

This generates composer.phar (a PHP executable). Make sure it will run:

php composer.phar

Usually it'll say you need to add an option to php.ini. Let's do that:

sudo nano /etc/php.ini

It might be empty, which is OK. Add this to it:

detect_unicode = Off

Now composer.phar should run OK. We'll make it easier to call...

sudo mv composer.phar /usr/bin/
nano ~/.bash_profile

And add this:

alias composer="php /usr/bin/composer.phar"

Re-open Terminal and you can now just call "composer":

composer 

image

You've just installed a new OSX update and after the reboot you aren't invited to enter your PGP password and your computer is useless (see right). 

Word on the streets is that core OSX updates commonly break the booting mechanism of machines with PGP Desktop full disk encryption.

Recommended Fix

Follow the instructions here, which lead you to download a CD boot image ( here for PGP 10.2), to burn it to CD and boot to it. You can then enter your PGP password and boot into OSX. Do NOT press "d"; this would start a 10+ hour hard drive decryption.

Alternate Fix

Find your OSX install disk, and follow the instructions in Part 1 of the PDF available here. These are older instructions, but this method apparently still works.

Update!

UF IT maintains a page on PGP, where the latest news is posted ( like this!). It's generally suggested to hold off on installing OSX updates until PGP has issued a fix, which they seldom do quick enough to prevent these problems.

Also, this post was re-written in light of info in Symantec's official announcement.

Your /boot partition is for boot related files and holds the kernels installed on your system. If you haven't removed any older kernels, your /boot partition will likely fill to capacity.

It's safe to remove old kernels, but first determine which kernel your system is currently using:

uname -r

Then determine what other kernels are on your system:

dpkg -l | grep linux-image-2

You must keep your current kernel and should probably retain one or two of the most recent kernels and remove the rest.

Use the following command to remove a kernel image:

sudo aptitude purge linux-image-2.6.32-30-server

Once you're done removing old images, update grub:

sudo update-grub

“lol...OMG!: What Every Student Needs to Know About Online Reputation Management, Digital Citizenship and Cyberbullying” is a quick read and true to its reviews, there is not much to dislike about the book. I found it thorough, current and relevant without wandering aimlessly through loads of academic diatribe. The book is an excellent read for anyone who engages in Web 2.0/3.0, but it is aimed primarily at first year college students. My opinion is that it should be a mandatory read for any students who have unfettered web access, tweens, teens and educators in virtually all grade levels.

It is not that the ideas presented are earth shattering, it is that intelligent, generally good people sometimes do dumb things. On the internet, seemingly innocent jokes may be misconstrued. Drunken rants and the pseudo-anonymity of the internet may rouse the dark side of human nature. Ivester does not state it this way, but his book is basically about perfecting a digital common sense and understanding that online communications are different in that they are discrete (as one cannot append a context) and likely permanent.

Again, the e-book is available at: http://www.lolomgbook.com/#!vstc5=ebook or directly from Amazon through http://amzn.com/B0060FRNNQ

As “call to action” or movement days are as common as green leaves on trees in the summer, I am not a big fan of them.  I feel that if something matters to you, it does not need a special day assigned to it to boost your involvement.

However, I have investigated the subject thoroughly and can say that educators in particular are not well prepared to deal with and discuss online privacy and behaviors.   Educator preparation programs generally do not cover the subject and working educators already have so much on their agenda it is difficult to integrate such subjects into the schedule and or curriculum.

Matt Ivester's book - "lol...OMG! What Every Student Needs to Know About Online Reputation Management, Digital Citizenship, and Cyberbullying" - is available as a free Kindle e-book from Amazon in honor of Data Privacy Day.  

The e-book is available at: http://www.lolomgbook.com/#!vstc5=ebook or directly from Amazon through http://amzn.com/B0060FRNNQ

I have not had the opportunity to read it yet, but as it has all five star reviews and as this offer is only good through January 30^th, I felt compelled to get this posted.  

Matt Ivester will also be participating in a special EDUCAUSE Policy webinar next Monday, January 30, 1-2 pm EST.  See: http://www.educause.edu/policy/dataprivacy 

As you use social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, etc., you have probably given applications permissions to access your personal information.  When you see or use a “Share this on Facebook” link you are likely giving an application access to some amount of your personal data.  Facebook alone has over 34,000 applications available.   The apps may be quite useful, like the Google Picasa app or completely trivial marketing tools such as the Lady Gaga app which appears to allow her marketing folks to post to Facebook as you.

These applications, which are not exclusive to Facebook are potential security/privacy wormholes through which your personal information can pass.  What you may consider personal, Facebook and other social sites may consider public.  In general these applications can access/harvest anything you have set available to “everyone” and anything considered “public.”

Here is what is currently considered “public” by Facebook: 

“What is considered "public information"?

Any content that is available to a public audience is considered public information.

Things you share on your profile (timeline)

Your name, profile picture, gender, networks, username, and user ID (account number), should you choose to provide these details, are available to anyone because this info is essential to helping you connect with your friends and family.

Name and profile picture help friends recognize you.

Gender helps us describe you (for example, "Add her as a friend").

Networks are open to everyone so network members can see who they will be sharing information with before they choose "Friends and Networks" as an audience.

Username and user ID (account number) are in the link to your profile (timeline).

Other things you share

In addition, anything you choose to share with a public audience (designated by in your audience selector) is considered public information. Learn more about using the audience selector to control who you share with each time you post.”

Mypermissions.org is a handy set of links which will take you to the app permission control pages of your accounts.  You do not provide any credentials to Mypermissions.org but you will want to login to the associated service before you click the links.

Spend a few minutes and you may be surprised what has access to your account.  If you do not need the application or you have no idea what it is for, your best course of action is to remove the application.

http://mypermissions.org/