Zed Online

I just ran into what is probably a very new phishing tactic to harvest MSN/Live Messenger accounts. A website at skaq.info directs you to a login page asking for your MSN username and password. It tells you that only those who login can view their friend’s pictures, and even goes far enough to tell you that it isn’t a phishing site.

However, it takes the username and password, and appears to then login to the account and send a link to all the users in the buddy list (http://<username>.pics.skaq.info). In this way, the password harvester uses the information it harvests from one user to get access to more users, similar to an e-mail virus.

I would keep an eye out and ignore messages that come from your IM buddies that include a link to skaq.info.

UPDATE: It seems sites such as Digg, and forums attempting to discuss this particular phishing site are disappearing from Google search results. I am not sure why as of yet.

Once again, I have changed the back-end of the website. The same host and so on, but what was once hosted using bblog, and then Rapid Weaver, is now on WordPress. Honestly, I think I may just be changing it for the sake of changing it, but with some DNS issues as I fixed up the webhost a little bit, there was little stopping me from taking the plunge entirely.

It is treating me well so far, but I still need to configure a few things and customize it.

Well, it has been a little over one month with the Kindle, and I have read through a few full books using it, so here are some thoughts on the device and the service as a whole. The full review after the jump.

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Well, I have had some time to sit down with a variation on Monkey Ninjas and hammer the AI with it… or rather, let the AI hammer me when I play it. Seems that while the deck follows the rules for being a reliable deck, it doesn’t follow the rules for being a strong deck.

Problems

• Wrecked by fieldquake decks, or even one Seer Vizek’s Calamity
• Doesn’t do damage when you need it to
• Tends to have a very weird mana usage that slows you down forcing to you play cards that are only 0, 1, or 3 mana to cast.
• Doesn’t lock fast enough. A deck dropping 1-drops will beat you to 5, and you don’t have the equipment to handle it.

It may be possible to find another set of support cards which helps the deck fend a little better, but for now, I am having to put it to rest because it is really just an average deck that runs smooth, but doesn’t have the oomf to get/keep strong position against a good deck.

In the last two days, I ran across a couple things:

• Someone already has a rather nice web-based card manager and trade finder, with most of the set already input.
• Biolith Bomber occasionally has a bug during online play.

If you want to look at the card manager, head over to www.eojmanager.com and take a look. It is free to sign up, and I haven’t had any problems using it. Very slick AJAX interface too.

Biolith Bomber Bug

This one is infuriating. It seems that Biolith Bomber does not correctly activate its ability while summoned against certain creatures. It is supposed to gain 2 attack whenever attacking a creature with a summoning cost of 2 or less. On certain creatures with a summoning cost of 2 (Elven Beserker Maidens is my usual example), it won’t activate the ability.

Example: Opponent plays EBM on a square, you play BB next to it. The EBM has 3HP when you play the BB. It should kill the EBM, right? I have seen instances where it only does 1 damage when the BB is summoned, but if I activate it the next turn (since the EBM is still alive), it then does the normal 3 damage.

I have reported the bug to SOE, and hope it winds up in the right hands… BB is a really useful card in online play without the bug inflicting randomness to the situation.

Over a couple articles, I will be looking at what I see as the early competitive metagame within Eye of Judgment. This first article will cover what I see as probably one of the first competitive deck types I expect to see online, the Monkey Ninjas. I will talk a little bit about the core of the deck itself, some commentary on what to be careful about, and a sample deck list that uses the core. The rest of this article after the jump. 

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When a new blog comes online, the electronic angels weep. The tears of joy or suffering (depending on the quality of the blog) can be heard around the world. Or, if you don’t buy into this sort of nonsense, then when a blog comes online, it is mostly a bunch of wasted bits until deemed otherwise by its readers. I leave the final determination of this one in your hands.

Since this particular avenue of unproof-read ranting comes online the same day Leopard reaches the geek mobs, it is probably fitting to discuss Leopard a bit once the NDAs come up and the boxes are safely in the hands of people. I intend to be at the Bellevue store at the launch to take in the atmosphere (please let these geeks bathe), and find out what actually happens with one these things. I will update the post with things during the launch itself.

5:37 - Mental note: meetings, traffic and product launches don’t mix.

6:13 - Well, kinda surprised by the crowds, much larger Mac mob than i expected. Dunno, might not get a shirt.

6:36 - Got into the store, and got a shirt, doesn’t look much like what was posted around the ‘net earlier this week.

6:56 - Got it and got out. Pictures later.