Symantec, makers of Norton Antivirus, Norton Internet Security (and other Norton related products), as well as pcAnywhere, which allows users to access their work computer from home, have announced that they… wait for it… have been hacked by Anonymous and source code for some or all of these products have been stolen.

In case you don’t know who Anonymous is, it’s a group of infamous “anonymous” hackers that have been in the news because of their take-over of many government websites, including the Justice Department, as well as DOS attacks.

Although hackers could use the information about Norton Antivirus to create viruses to get around the antivirus software, this virus is likely to only work if the user is using Norton, and when the updates comes out for it, the source code will likely not be very useful.

However, what’s more damaging, and probably what Anonymous really wanted, was the source code for pcAnywhere. This product is used by many businesses and the purpose of the product is to allow an user to completely control another computer that has the product installed. If this isn’t a dream for a hacker, I don’t know what is. Normally, hackers are trying to install such viruses on the victims computers. They don’t have to install it, it’s already on millions of computers.

According to Symantec, they “released a patch that eliminates three known vulnerabilities” in pcAnywhere on January 23, but how many people have patched their version? Also note that once a hacker takes control of a business computer, anything that computer is allowed to do will be completely open to the hacker. This would include accessing private files on servers, changing passwords, creating new accounts and of course infecting other computers. All of which could continue to be of use to the hacker years after pcAnywhere is patched.

The big irony of a computer security company being hacked is obvious. What’s not so obvious are the ramifications of this breach, which might not be fully known for months, if ever.

A few months ago, El Pollo Loco stopped making the Classic Chicken Burrito. That was my favorite dish at this fast food joint. I broke down and tried their new burritos. The new ones are bigger, and more expensive but filled with junk I don’t like. I hated the new burritos because it’s too watery and I like simple tasting meals without all the junk they put in these burritos.

So I stopped going to El Pollo Loco.  Then one day, I was complaining to my friend about this and she said, “Why don’t you just ask if they can make the Classic Chicken Burrito for you? They have to have the ingredients there.”

I was shocked. I’ve become so brain washed into being a victim of advertising of these giant companies that I never even thought of asking them to make me what I wanted. I was embarrassed that I never even thought of this option.

Soon after this conversation, I returned for the first time in months to El Pollo Loco and asked if I could get a Classic Chicken Burrito. The man behind the counter politely tells me that they don’t make those any more. Upon which I asked him if he could simply remove the unneeded ingredients from one of their new fancy burritos and I’d gladly still pay the higher price.

At this point, the man behind the counter told me in a sad voice that the ingredients are pre-made at some other far away place and packaged that way and cannot be changed.

So ended my attempt at thinking outside the box. I ended up ordering drumsticks instead.

“Feel the Mexcellence!” indeed. I felt it right up my behind.

There is a Japanese tradition called Tanabata that was celebrated back in August this year in Little Tokyo. People write their wishes on paper (called Tanzaku) and hang it on the branches of a tree, so that they might come true.

Take a look at the green one on the right below. Apparently, being very specific about your wishes makes it more likely to come true. I’m surprised he didn’t put his website address and Facebook on there too.

Tanzaku paper wishes - Click on image to see larger version

There was a Best Buy check in my mailbox yesterday for $1.98.  Apparently, this is another one of those class action lawsuits where Best Buy was forced to return the tax that was charged for their “Ask an Agent” service. I guess they forgot services don’t have sales tax.

What’s interesting is the check date of 7/05/2011. Either the post office is in bigger financial trouble than I thought or Best Buy was earning interest on all this money for months.

With direct deposit, paypal and other high-tech electronic non-paper methods, I rarely have to actually go to the physical bank. Is my time to go to the bank branch worth $1.98? Oh wait. Let me try that cool Chase mobile app.

Readers of this blog know that I’ve been trying to get rid of body hair without much success. Since the laser was too painful for me, I’ve decided to go back to the old fashioned methods of shaving.

In trying to find the best body shaver for me, I picked 2 popular ones. Shown below are the contenders: Norelco Bodygroom Men’s Total Body Grooming System (left – $40 at Best Buy) and Braun Cruzer 5 Body Cruzer 5 Body Shaver (right – $60, $50 on Amazon). Both can be used in the shower and on your body.

Norelco (left) and Braun (right)

As you can see below, the Norelco has 2 trimmers with a flat shaver in the middle. The trimmers are okay but the flat shaver really works well and is the best part of this shaver.

Top of Norelco

Shown below is the top of the Braun shaver. As you can see, the bottom is the trimmer and the top is a traditional multi-blade razor that can be adjusted up or down. The razor is actually the Gillette Fusion, which sells for about $15 on Amazon. In the down position, it does not get used. In the middle position, both the trimmer and the razor are used simultaneously, saving time. In the up position, you can just use the razor without the trimmer.

For body hair of short length, using the trimmer and razor together works best.

Top of Braun

Shown below is the Braun power button and the LED indicating when it’s being charged. The Norelco does not have an indicator when being charged.

Braun - LED

As you can see below, the Norelco’s charger is much larger and has metal contacts, whereas the Braun’s charger is tiny in comparison and uses induction without any contacts. Also, the Norelco is super light and falls over a lot and the cord is unnecessarily long. The Braun is heavy and will not fall over and the cord is the right length.

Chargers - Norelco (left), Braun (right)

After a few months of testing, I’ve come to the following conclusion. Generally, the Braun is a much better designed product. The Norelco retains water inside the head and will leak out and would not be good for traveling, along with all the other design flaws this has.

Basically, it’s a no-brainer in picking which is better. The Braun wins except for one small difference. The flat shaver on the Norelco does work well. This is no different from any other regular flat electric shaver but the Braun does not have it. It only has the trimmer and a traditional razor.

So for now, I’m using the Braun but sometimes I’ll use the Norelco if I really need to be smooth. But if I had to choose only one, the Braun wins hands down.

While trying to record the ESPN WSOP Europe on my Time Warner Motorola cable box, I got the list below.

Software bug in TW cable box

As you can see, the entire page is the same show at 7pm repeated. What you can’t see is there are multiple pages of the same entry, over and over again. There is no way to delete it or change it. It’s just stuck in there and preventing anything else from being recorded during that time.

Hey. Time for a firmware upgrade guys.

Long time readers of this blog knows I canceled my Vonage to switch over to Ooma for free VOIP, saving me tons of money. But at the end, Vonage managed to give me a swift kick in my crotch with their $40 cancellation fee. End of story, right?

Maybe not. Apparently, some money hungry lawyers sued Vonage in a class action lawsuit and won a bunch of money for us ex-Vonage folk. I signed up for it to get my money back from them but I’m not really sure why they’re not allowed to have a cancellation free when just about every wireless phone company lives off of this fee.

Vonage class action lawsuit

Who knows. Maybe this is just a scam to get my name and address. I’ll believe it when I get my check in the mail and it clears.

Since I have nobody to be with for Valentines, I was minding my own business watching “Two and a Half Men” on CBS tonight only to see this Easter Egg at the end of the show.

While I was driving on Pico near Hoover and came across Best Buy Foods. It’s a grocery store. Hmm. Do the words “cease and desist” mean anything?