Common web application vulnerabilities and how they can be exploited

Recently one of my colleagues came across this offering from Google code university of an application built with the most common vulnerabilities; and with detailed explanations on how they can be exploited, and how developers can guard their applications against these vulnerabilities. Check it out...

http://google-gruyere.appspot.com/

The following document is a tutor's guide to exercises which can be completed after looking through the concepts in the site;

http://code.google.com/edu/submissions/gruyere/Gruyere_Instructors_Guide.pdf

The following link is to a set of discussions from Niel Daswani on Web Security; worthwhile to update your basics knowledge.

http://code.google.com/edu/submissions/web_security/listing.html

Implementing the IDisposable Pattern (.Net)

The following post is a very good explanation of the recommended way to implement the IDisposable interface in .net;  the poster breaks down the code from scratch and explains why each construct has been used.

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/538060/proper-use-of-the-idisposable-interface

Business Intelligence using MS PowerPivot

A technical talk on MS Power Pivot being delivered next week, just some introductory links to prime for the session, will expand the post once the session is done.

http://blogs.office.com/b/microsoft-excel/archive/2010/10/01/top-5-ways-powerpivot-helps-excel-pros.aspx

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee210692(v=sql.105).aspx

http://www.powerpivotpro.com/what-is-powerpivot/

Edit: [28/02/2013] - Link to expansion http://opinionsonoffer.blogspot.com/2012/07/some-notes-on-ms-powerpivots.html

Cool sharepoint sites with good branding ideas

Was just thinking about the branding aspects and capabilities of SharePoint in internet facing sites; came across these very good examples;

1) Ferrari - http://www.ferrari.com/

2) Goodman - http://www.goodman.com/

3) Cadburies - http://www.cadbury.com/

4) Conservation International - http://www.conservation.org/

5) Swiss Airways - http://www.swiss.com

6) Hyro - http://www.hyro.com

7) Rado - http://www.rado.com

8) 1 by Youth - http://www.1byyouth.com

9) WesternAustralia - http://www.westernaustralia.com/

10) Hyder Consulting - http://www.hyderconsulting.com

I picked some of these up from the sites given below as reference, you could go check them out for more information;

1) pinkpetrol gives you some nice commentary on the sites as well. 

2) wssdemo is an excellent example of the use of silverlight in a site.

3) sharepointjoel gives you some of the sites of the more prominent companies.

References;

http://www.sharepointjoel.com/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=202

http://www.pinkpetrol.com/blog/2010/06/top-20-examples-of-creative-navigation-within-sharepoint/

http://www.wssdemo.com/livepivot/

How could I know if there is Tsunami coming?

The truth is you can't know if there is a tsunami coming as seismologists are still unable to identify the exact factors which would pinpoint a wave, much as they are still unable to pinpoint when an earthquake might hit. However there are warnings that could be looked for;

1) foremost on this is if there have been major earthquakes in the area.

A good place to keep up to date on tsunami warnings in the regions of the Pacific and Indian Oceans is the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center http://ptwc.weather.gov/ maintained by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the United States of America.

The site gives us earth quake occurrences and readings across the globe and also the severity of the occurrence and the likelihood of a tsunami.

It also goes on to further to offer the estimated time that a wave could be expected at a place if in fact there is a tsunami.

All times are expressed in Zulu time that is GMT +0000; so would need to be converted to the time zones of the local regions.

2) Receding Sea Water / Tides often up to about 1 to 2 miles into the sea, you might notice fish flopping belly up in the ocean. This is often a sure fire way to tell that there is a Tsunami on its way. This was something that was noticed in the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami.

3) You might also notice flocks of birds flying inland, and even animals moving further inland; it seems God has given these animals inbuilt seismic meters :)