Gusniawan's Blog

Move Out

2007-08-01T22:18:00.000+08:00

This blog is relocated to gusniawan.com.

Please update your bookmark accordingly.

Vidoop: 2-Factor Authentication

2007-07-17T10:16:00.000+08:00

To protect sensitive information, IT systems usually requires the user to enter his user ID and password before he can access to the system.

User ID and password alone are not strong enough to protect confidential data. The reason is very simple: they are the weakest link. No matter how strong the encryption algorithm they use and how complex the authentication system to the backend, it will be the end of the story if the password is leaked out.

To have a better authentication, we can use additional protection mechanism. There are 3 authentication system widely deployed in the market:

1. Something that we know: e.g. password
2. Something that we have: e.g. ATM card, mobile phone
3. Something that we are: e.g. retina, fingerprint

Two factor authentication refers to authentication on no. 1 and no. 2. Besides password, we must also use something that we have. We already use 2-factor authentication daily, for example, in order to withdraw money from an ATM, we need to insert an ATM card (what we have) and key in our PIN (what we know). This mechanism definitely gives you better security.

Now, if you develop a software, how does it apply to your system? There are many 2-factor authentication solutions in the market ranging from costly solutions such as from RSA token to more cost-effective solutions such as custom-made USB stick. Most of solutions use additional hardware.

A vendor called Vidoop developed 2-factor authentication solution. Vidoop uses visual grid as 2nd authentication so that it can eliminate the need of additional hardware.

Since it doesn't need additional hardware, the advantage is that it is less expensive and it can scale better. They still need to improve the image loading speed, though, because if the image loading is too slow, this solutions will fail to pick up. Imagine if you have to wait a few minutes before you can log in to your favourite system!

Another question is how it compares with OpenID? OpenID is more standard and universally adopted by many Web 2.0 such as Digg. We shall wait and see.

Copyright 101

2007-06-29T10:07:00.000+08:00

Copyright is an automatic protection.

Copyright is based on originality and protects expression of an idea, which is written or recorded on a tangile medium. Ideas and facts are not protected.

Terms of protection is life of author plus 70 years.

Works that may be protected include, for example, literary works (program source code) and composite works (web sites, multimedia content as a whole).

Trade Mark 101

2007-06-28T09:58:00.000+08:00

A trade mark (or trademark) is a type of intellectual property and is an identifier or sign used in business to distinguish goods or services. Typically trade mark consists of name, phrases, logo, symbol, design, or combination of these elements.

The owner of trade mark may commence a legal proceedings for trade mark infringement to prevent unauthorized use of that trade mark. However, registration is not compulsory.

Terms of protection has no statutory limit.

10 Reasons You Should Become a Web Designer

2007-06-27T10:27:00.000+08:00

I bumped into 10 reasons you should become a web designer article.

In my opinion, the main satisfaction to be a web designer is that you can showcase your work. You need to be creative, knowledgeable, and hard working to stand out. You will get very excited when the web site you designed has gone live. You will get a warm and fuzzy feeling when people admire your work.

TDM Event: The Next Generation of Digital Convergence

2007-06-26T14:04:00.000+08:00

Great live coverage from The Next Generation of Digital Convergence event, which is held last week in SMU, Singapore.

How to Survive 100,000 Visitors

2007-06-25T13:54:00.000+08:00

Do you think your site can survive Digg-effect if it is hosted on Virtual Private Server with 256 MB RAM?

If you think it is not possible, then you'd better read this article.

What Businesses Want for File Transfer

2007-06-22T14:13:00.000+08:00

There are some methods to transfer files. The most common ways are:

1. Burn files into CD/DVD and send it by courier
2. Send files via email
3. Send and download files via FTP

All of them requires human intervention, effort, and they are not reliable.

Business-class file transfer must have these features.

1. Auditability. The auditor can track and audit the transfer anytime.
2. Non-repudiation. Recipient cannot deny that (s)he never receive the file and vice versa.
3. Secure. The file is transferred in a secured session and optionally, the file can be encrypted at the termination point.
4. Guaranteed delivery.
5. Auto-retry and check-point restart.
6. Back-end integration. Pre-processing and post-processing are equally important for automation of back-end integration.
7. Easy to use. The C-level executive can use the file transfer application without assistance of IT personnel.

Anatomy of the Linux Kernel

2007-06-21T14:22:00.000+08:00

I'm reading this article from DeveloperWorks about the Linux Kernel. Linux has 2 main layers, namely User Space and Kernel Space. They occupy 2 different protected memory space, hence in between there is bridge, GNU C Library (glibc), to connect from the User Space to the Kernel Space.

You can read the rest of the article here.

Web Tool to Create Rounded Corner

2007-06-20T14:49:00.000+08:00

Cornershop is a nice web-based rounded corner generator.

Legal Document Templates

2007-06-20T14:43:00.000+08:00

Writing Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy can be a daunting task. However, it is necessary to have those documents to protect yourself. I stumbled upon some document templates on the Internet that you can start with. It is free to use, but please read their terms and conditions. :)

Legal document templates

You still need to consult a lawyer though to verify the documents.

10 Must-Have JQuery Plug-Ins

2007-06-19T14:55:00.000+08:00

If you do web development using AJAX, you should know JQuery. These is a list of 10 "must-have" plug-ins.

10 Must-Have JQuery Plug-Ins and Extensions

Pure Java Web Browser

2007-06-18T14:59:00.000+08:00

If you need a pure Java web browser, you can try Warrior.

You might ask, why need another web browser and why in Java?

Obviously, it is not solutions for every body. There are some advantages to have pure Java web browser.

It has better security and less vulnerable to buffer overflow attack, thanks to Java sandbox.
It is portable and cross-platform.
It can be an embedded to your application so your application doesn't depend on external browser. Even better, you can customize the browser by yourself, integrate with Eclipse or JEdit, and so on.

Fireworks tutorial

2007-06-17T14:22:00.000+08:00

Fireworks tutorial

NSIS Tutorial

2007-06-15T15:56:00.000+08:00

Do you create applications on Windows platform?

You should have heard NSIS, a free and scripting-based installer for Windows. It has a lot of features and thousands of companies use NSIS to create installer for their products. Its main strength lies at plug-ins that have been contributed by the community over a few years.

The downside of using NSIS is you need a steep learning curve to use its powerful feature. The good news is that there is a tutorial to learn NSIS scripting.

Quick Guide to NSIS

A nice tutorial indeed.

Beanshell Tutorial (part 1)

2007-06-14T14:05:00.000+08:00

Beanshell is a small, free, and embeddeble scripting engine. Beanshell executes standards Java statements and extends Java into the scripting domain.

Download the latest Beanshell JAR file (bsh-2.0b4.jar when this article is written) from http://www.beanshell.org. Put file bsh-2.0b4.jar in your classpath folder. To run Beanshell, you type:

java bsh.Console // run the graphical desktop

java bsh.Interpreter // run as text-only

java bsh.Interpreter filename [args] // the a script file

Basically, Beanshell syntax is very close to Java with some simplification. For example, you don't need to declare a variable, you can just use it. You can type

name = "Gusniawan";
print( name );

In this case, variable name becomes an untype variable.

You also can create a Java object directly from Beanshell.

// Use a hashtable
Hashtable hashtable = new Hashtable();
Date date = new Date();
hashtable.put( "today", date );

Beanshell will import Hashtable automatically from java.util.

You can catch an exception as well like you do in Java.

try
{
int i = 1/0;
}
catch ( ArithmeticException e )
{
print( e );
}

Or even simpler:

try
{
int i = 1/0;
}
catch ( e )
{
print( e );
}

Beanshell Scripting Engine

2007-06-13T13:52:00.000+08:00

I need a robust scripting engine for my project. The scripting engine must fulfill this criteria:

The script is based on Java 1.4/1.5.
The script is asily embedded in an application and easily pass parameter to and from the application.
The script must be able to create Swing UI and most importantly, the Swing UI can be closed without affecting the script container.
The scripting engine must be small (less than 400 KB)

I evaluated a few: Groovy, JudoScript, Sleep, Rhino, and Beanshell. So far, only Beanshell can fulfill the above criteria.

I will write a Beanshell tutorial in the next post. Stay tuned.

Programming and Managing – Can You Do Both?

2007-06-12T17:48:00.000+08:00

As a technical leader, you have to manage people as well as handle technical stuffs. It is not uncommon that you have to wear two, three, or four hats and look your issues from two different perspectives.

I just run across Nick Halstead's excellent article that brings the topic on how to manage yourself and your time.

26 Best Ways to Implement AJAX, CSS and Javascript-based Tabs

2007-06-11T22:47:00.000+08:00

Nowadays, it is common to see tabs for menu and selection in any web site. Tabs is useful when you want to present different categories in neat way. This is a list of 26 collections for AJAX and CSS-based tab.

CSS/Ajax -based tabs

Web Monitoring

2007-06-11T22:45:00.000+08:00

If you operate a web site, it is important to monitor the status of the web site whether your web site is alive all the time (OK, 100% uptime is not easy to achieve, but at least we must know how long and how often our web site is down) and how fast the web page is downloaded.

Pingdom is a service that offers web site monitoring. It can also be used to check how fast your web page is loaded.

Top 25 Most Popular Blogs June 2007

2007-06-11T22:42:00.000+08:00

There are mountains of blogs in the Internet.

If you are like me, you unlikely have enough time to read all interesting blogs. eBizMBA compiles the top 25 most popular blogs in June 2007 based on RSS subscribers from FeedBurner, inbound links from Yahoo, Alexa, and others.

Top 25 Most Popular Blogs June 2007

Have fun!

Essential HTML, CSS, Javascript, PHP, and Miscellaneous Cheatsheets

2007-06-11T22:37:00.000+08:00

Click here to see cheatsheets focusing on HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and PHP.

20 Words You Can Use Instead of AMAZING

2007-06-10T22:36:00.000+08:00

These are 20 alternative words that you can use to describe an amazing web site to Digg, Reddit, Slashdot, etc.

Unimaginable, Unanticipated, Phenomenal, Remarkable
Unbelievable, Breathtaking, Tremendous, Unexpected
Spectacular, Unthinkable, Unforeseen, Significant
Stunning, Startling, Splendid, Wonderful
Overwhelming, Stupefying, Staggering, Unpredicted

10 Best-designed Web Sites in the World

2007-06-09T22:39:00.000+08:00

This article 10 best-designed web sites in the world lists down 10 beautiful web sites according to web design from scratch.

Although I don't agree to all web sites listed down in the article, particularly I really like corkd. Corkd website is for people that appreciate wine to share their experience in tasting wine and it also lists all types all wines. It is so beautiful, perfect, and naturally balanced that makes me to visit to the web site again and again.

Get Inspired

2007-06-08T22:53:00.000+08:00

As a web designer, sometimes you get stuck during designing. Don't worry too much because I can assure you that it is normal. If you look for inspiration, here is an article that compiles a list of design idea, from icon design to web design.

Remember:

Good artists copy, great artists steal

Web Design Handbook

2007-06-07T23:00:00.000+08:00

If you are a web programmer and/or a web designer, you should bookmark this web site for your reference.

Web design handbook

How to Build a Web 2.0 Web Site for $12,109.09

2007-06-06T23:46:00.000+08:00

Another funny blog from Guy Kawasaki on the amount he spent to build his Web 2.0 web site Truemors for $12,109.09.

List of Drupal Web Sites

2007-06-06T23:42:00.001+08:00

If you use Drupal or plan to use Drupal for your web site, click here to browse the collection of web sites powered by Drupal.

Amazingly, the number of web sites surpasses 1000 web sites! Hope it can inspire and motivate you to use Drupal as your CMS.

Smoothbox

2007-06-06T17:58:00.000+08:00

Smoothbox is another interesting free lightbox/thickbox javascript I found today.

It is developed using mootols, my favourite AJAX framework. I will give it a review in the next article.

Apple launched upgraded MacBook Pro laptop

2007-06-06T17:43:00.000+08:00

I read in Cnet that Apple upgraded MacBook Pro. It comes with Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 2 GB memory, depending on the model.

The laptop comes with 3 models: two 15.1-inch versions and 17-inch version.

You can read the complete story here.

First post!

2007-06-05T16:53:00.000+08:00

I will write about SEO, PHP, and making money online. Stay tuned.