crimeware book

finally! worked on this early this year and after much ado, the book is up on Amazon and soon to be available. i am a contributing author, having penned the section on the business of crimeware. i drew on my experience over the past few years dealing with spyware and adware disputes, as well as malware investigative research we've conducted. should be accessible to even the less technical folks out there.

Link to Amazon entry for the book

autumn

just returned from a short trip to vancouver, which is easily one of the most beautiful cities on the face of the planet. there's few places in the world that have their combination of mountains, ocean, cleanliness, cool people, and metropolitan amenities.

anyways, thought i'd make good on my musings tagline and yet again ramble on my latest learnings and mental wanderings. first off, i've already learned a great deal about the retail industry but still have a long ways to go. it's pretty interesting and completely different than the corporate sales stuff i've grown accustomed to over the past 12 years. about the only thing i can say definitively right now is that my longstanding concern that i was getting screwed paying retail prices is absolutely confirmed. i've also learned the number of middlemen that get a cut of the action. note to self: order those new shoes from zappos.com.


we officially sold my old condo last friday. i dropped off my keys and the garage door openers in the early evening as the sun was beginning its dip into the pacific. i'll fully admit i was a little misty-eyed to the leave the place (the final, amazing sunset just punctuated my sentiments, pic to the right). it was the home of the last phase of my bachelorhood, my 30th b-day, many games of dominos, rooftop bbqs, and countless good times. if my old place in huntington was emblematic of my wild, partying days then 2222 was symbolic of an intense time of personal growth and maturity. neither better nor worse, just different. i will miss the place dearly, though our new digs are coming along just fine and already feels like a home. time moves on, all things change.

on the music side, the new radiohead album is in heavy rotation on my ipod. for the life of my i cannot understand what thom yorke is saying but i'm sure it's some weighty statement on the dissasociation of humanity through technology. it could be about gerbils, really doesn't matter, it sounds fantastic. additional faves right now are UNKLE "War Stories" and Underworld "Oblivion With Bells", both of which will be faves for the year. UNKLE's new album is their best in as long a time as i can remember. james lavelle finally learned to rock, god bless ya. underworld has yet to regain the brilliance of beaucoup fish but the album is stellar nonetheless (check out crocodile, the best mamgu ever, and ring road).

random travel thoughts

so i'm in DC today after a short trip from fort lauderdale. missed the beach entirely, which is a real shame but c'est la vie. the one thing i did learn at the convention in fort lauderdale is the difference b/w the crappy enterprise-oriented tradeshows i had been going to and consumer-style tradeshows. i was quickly taught how to barter with software for lots of other goods, everything from dvds to games and music. big win! i'd show up with an armful of norton internet security and i would receive the happy greeting of "you looking to trade?" why yes my friend, i am. it turned out so well that the resulting booty from my bartering forced me to have a small box shipped back with all the goodies. woohoo!!! i'm liking this new job already :-)

what the hell has happened to people's mobile manners? had a cabbie in fort lauderdale that was *texting* while driving me to the hotel. today in d.c., had a female bartender that couldn't be bothered to take my order since she was chatting away on her side kick for 5 mins while i prompted with ever louder "excuse me's". wtf???!!!

if you ever get to D.C., don't miss Georgia Brown's or Zaytinya. very different restaurants but both out of this world food.

one my pet peeves of travel is the airport change-up. that is, when you finish with a formal meeting and only have the trip home on front of you and you want to swap out the suit you're in for the jeans, t-shirt and sneakers you packed for a relaxing trip home. this means an extended stay in a bathroom stall, almost all of which have very convenient and hygenic auto-flush features. the problem is if i'm changing, i'm setting off the auto-flush about 13 times before i can get out of the bathroom. the scenario goes something like this...

dave: open suitcase, shuffling off dress pants and shirt while reaching for jeans and t-shirt
flush #1
dave: oh here we go... (packing dress clothes, reaching for sneakers)
flush #2
dave: sigh. putting on jeans and tshirt.
flush #3
dave: i can nearly visualize the temperature in the arctic rising and some poor penguin passing out from heat exhaustion. clothes on, putting on sneakers, tying shoes...
flush #4
dave: i can hear the ice in greenland cracking at the pressure i'm putting on the
fresh water supply. whales have changed their migratory patterns and PETA
representatives are protesting outside our home for the impact i've had on baby
seal habitats

... I'll spare you the rest of the details, but by the time I'm done the
robot-toilet has flushed no less than 12 times and i've visualized myself
kick-boxing with al gore while eco-armageddon takes place around us. makes me
want to go and recycle something, or get a massage.

overheard in fort lauderdale

police officer to crowd of people in front of jamba juice at 10pm (!?):
"if you are not patrons, leave the area"

person in the crowd:
"what did he say? sumthin' 'bout patriots?"

another person in the crowd:
"he's trying to figger out what country we're from."

hey, i think i figured it out. check please. tomorrow: off to washington DC.

current playlist

subterranean homesick alien - radiohead - ok computer
elementary lover - matthew dear - asa breed
pogo - digitalism - idealism
don't you evah - spoon - ga ga ga ga
seconds - fat freddy's drop - midnight marauders vls
shoot to thrill - acdc - back in black
crocodile - underworld - oblivion with bells
d.a.n.c.e. - justice - cross
you'll find a way (switch & sinden remix) - santogold - single
luz azul - aterciopelados - oye
stairway to heaven - rodrigo y gabriela - rodrigo y gabriela

... and huge kudos to radiohead for offering their new album solely online *for what their fans want to pay*. brilliant! it may or may not work, but a very brave gesture nonetheless. that noise you heard earlier in the week was the record label executives falling off their chairs. via this type of exploration, there's hope that we'll arrive at a reasonable model for paying artist for their work without the burden of money-leeching middle-men spoiling the music industry. onward!