Droso

As the Leave Comment feature on Skype’s blog does not seem to work in Safari, I’ll leave some comment on this here. Some serious information is incorrect or missing from Skype’s security information for Skype for Mac 5.x (2.x is rerported not to be affected).

Skype released a very terse message on their Mac blot today pointing to an earlier post on their Security blog. The information in this post is either incorrect or there is another vulnerability out there that they haven’t informed their users about yet. The vulnerability described in the blog post explicitly states that a specially crafted, malicious “message would have to come from someone already in your Skype Contact List”. I have seen many crashes over the last few weeks with version 5.1.0.914, none of which caused by messages from people in my contact list, but by contact requests, which for obvious reasons can be sent by people not (yet) in ones contact list.

If these crashes are related to this vulnerability, it would contradict both Skype’s statement that the malicious message has to be sent by an approved contact and that the vulnerability is not exploited in the wild. Hopefully, Skype is right and they are unrelated, but to err on the safe side I would recommend anyone using Skype for Mac 5.x to not wait for Skype to release a new version next week, but to upgrade immediately to the latest release 5.1.0.922 here. This version will not show up via the Check for Updates menu as Skype deemed the hotfix non-critical, exactly because it can only be caused by approved contacts and is not seen in the wild, so their users have to find out and install the update manually themselves.

Update: Skype has released Skype for Mac 5.1.0.935 which includes unspecified Security updates with no further explanation as they wish to “wait for the majority of our users to update before detailing / discussing any of the specific issues that have been fixed”.

Update 2:Legitimate contact requests also crash Skype.

With the lovely spring weather during the Easter holidays, it was time to explore so-called nature around a major city like Copenhagen. Not far from here is the nature reserver Vestamager. As can be seen in the picture below, it’s actually so close to downtown Copenhagen that you can see Town Hall. Even with Copenhagen Airport, modern highrises, and a highway constantly visible and audible in the background, it’s quite a nice outting, especially only with a 15 minute metro ride.

Copenhagen Town Hall and cows

Last week, we saw one of the first days with warm and sunny spring weather. We decided to go for a trip to Frederiksberg Have for ice cream. Of course, we did bring the camera and shoot some of the local city wildlife. The ducks were clearly more interested in the food, but we did manage to get some actions shots. All pictures here.

After sorting through hundreds of pictures, I’ve finally uploaded a selection. In quick succession, Johannesburg/Soweto, Addo Elephant National Park, Knysna, Mosselbay, Cape Town (Table Mountain), and Franschhoek. Enjoy.

To all my dearest facebook friends, I’m sorry you all lost a “friend” today, but don’t despair I did not unfriend you, I unfriended facebook. The whole facebook experience was getting more and more of a nuisance to catch up with that life is much better without it. Highly recommended. So don’t worry and fret, there are plenty of other channels to reach me and I’ll happily share a mug of coffee, a jug of beer or a pot of hot steaming cocoa next time we meet. And to you facebook, goodbye, farewell, and good riddance.