Monthly Archives: September 2014


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I received an email today from a friend and fellow Linux sysadmin, Todd Lyons, informing me of a very sneaky way to exploit the Shellshock vulnerability under what he calls “just the wrong conditions.” Here’s how his email starts out: With your recent blog post, you might also want to […]

Shellshock Warning: Even after patching, your old vulnerable bash binary ...


Setting up multiple WLANs in DD-WRT 3
Because I publish a lot of articles on DD-WRT router firmware, and I also recently published an article on patching the Shellshock bug on older Fedora-based Linux systems, I’ve been receiving a lot of emails asking if DD-WRT firmware is affected by the Shellshock Bash bug. The answer is… maybe. By default, the […]

Is DD-WRT Vulnerable to the Shellshock Bash Bug?


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With the announcement of the Shellshock Bash Bug, Linux admins around the world have been scrambling to patch their Bash shells so that they’re no longer vulnerable to the exploit. If you have a Fedora, RHEL, or CentOS system that hasn’t reached End-Of-Life, then updating to a patched version of […]

How to Manually Update Bash to Patch Shellshock Bug on ...



Proper ecobee3 wiring for PEK users 73
So you got your hands on an ecobee3 smart thermostat, and instead of reading through the installation manual (which is actually pretty good), you came to the Internet to figure out how to install your ecobee3. OK, fine… I’ll help you. 🙂 This how-to guide for installing your ecobee3 covers a […]

How to Install an ecobee3 Smart Thermostat


The new ecobee3 136
In 2009, Toronto-based ecobee released the very first “smart” thermostat  and called it, not surprisingly, the “ecobee Smart” (see my original review of the Smart from 2010). Since then, they’ve followed up with the ecobee Si (which I call the Smart’s “little brother”), along with a handful of firmware and mobile app updates for […]

ecobee 3 Review




The new ecobee3 1
While the Nest smart thermostat has fans of Apple-inspired designs swooning, it wasn’t the first smart thermostat. Toronto-based ecobee is actually the pioneer in this industry, and had two iterations of smart thermostats (the original “Smart” and the “Si”) on the market well before Nest (and now Honeywell) jumped into […]

New ecobee3 thinks it’s time to leave the Nest


There is no such thing as privacy 4
Another day, another story about nude photos of celebrities being hacked and posted online. I won’t mention the names of the celebrities in this most recent round, because it really doesn’t matter… and I really don’t want to accidentally show up in web searches of people looking for the photos. […]

What Hacked Nude Celebrity Photos Can Teach Us About Privacy ...


Stomping the mole hills doesn't work 10
Like a lot of guys, I take great pride in my lawn. I like it green, flat, fertilized, and weed-free. Because I have an irrigation well, I’m able to water my lawn all summer long and keep the soil moist. But wherever you have moist soil, you have earthworms. And wherever you […]

Getting Rid of Moles: What Works, and What Doesn’t