11 Trends in Web Logo Design - Fall 2010

Amplify’d from mashable.com

11 Trends in Web Logo Design: The Good, the Bad and the Overused

In this article, we’ve identified 11 trends in web company logo design. Hopefully, you’ll see a few here that apply to the startups and web apps we write about every day. And of course, we’ve included some handy illustrations as a sort of field guide to the logos of the web. Take a look, and let us know what you think of these trends — and what trends we should have included — in the comments.

1. Badges and Buttons We’ve moved away from the once-ubiquitious BETA! button, but location-esque badges, app-like icons, and “play” buttons are still showing up all over the web. These logos tend to be quite “shiny,” thanks to a few carefully-blended white gradient layers. The square logos have rounded corners. Some appear to glow as if lit from within, which is a compelling and trendy effect in itself. All in all, the badge-and-button set look quite touchable. Still, this trend’s days may be numbered, if only due to overuse and association-bordering-on-marriage with the Apple/iPhone brand. See also: Wet floor effect. Unless you’re designing for a pure-play iPhone app shop, sail these seas with caution. 2. Speech Bubbles and Megaphones If social web apps are all about communication, then it stands to reason that many social web company logos are all about talking. We see fewer logos that revolve around listening (if you happen to see a giant ear logo in the wild, do let us know), but megaphones and speech bubbles abound. 3. Fun With Opacity! Remember the first time you discovered Multiply and Overlay blend modes in Photoshop? If that moment changed your life forever, then you probably understand the beauty of a simple, elegant logo that delicately plays with opacity. While this logo treatment won’t work for every web app, it’s a versatile and timeless way to present classic shapes in a new light. We’re seeing this basic effect used simply in MasterCard-reminiscent designs, and we’re seeing much more complex opacity effects used in logos for HTML5 and Microsoft Silverlight, for example. Playing with blending modes, opacity and overlapping shapes can also be a fun way to experiment with analogous color schemes. 4. Kawaii Illustration Calling all woodland creatures: You’re wanted on the Internet. In fact, the only time you’ve been in greater demand than you are now was when Disney was making those saccharine “princess” films. Why are these wide-eyed, adorable critters making their way into logo design? Apps are for adults, right? Especially apps such as Seesmic, a powerful web app dashboard for power users and the enterprise, and GitHub, an industry standard for source code hosting. We don’t know exactly how, when or why kawaii made a comeback into serious-business logo design, but with logos this cute, who are we to complain? 5. Scripts, Slabs and Other Cool Fonts Say it with me: “I will not use Archer for a web company’s logo design.” Archer and its ilk were used to great effect over the past couple years on a number of memorable web company logos. That being said, the Year of the Slab is definitely not over. In fact, it’s more of an epoch than a traditional Gregorian year at this point. Slab serif fonts — if they’re unique fonts — are still a viable alternative to been-there-done-that sans serifs in logos, and the web community still enjoys them. That being said, a good, juicy script can be one of the liveliest, most unexpected logo choices yet, particularly if your logo is solely typographic. Rephoria uses my personal favorite, Candy Script, a swash-heavy number that’s almost too voluptuous for work but which still makes the cut for a single-word logo. Just remember: When using more unusual fonts for logo design, restraint and legibility are key. 6. Verdant and Plant-Inspired Plants and leaves aren’t just for green tech companies, folks. When you’re trying to project growth, one of the most obvious logo choices is flora. A shy set of leaves, a furling bud, a sprouting seed — what could better convey your company’s fresh problem solving and rapid expansion? 7. Quadrangles It’s not a rectangle, it’s not a square, but whatever it is, it’s popping up everywhere. Quadrangles are, if the web is to be believed, the new dots. From rhombuses to parallelograms to indescribable yet angular blobs, these shapes strive for post-modern and consumer-friendly. 8. Retro Game References Perhaps it’s because the newer crop of web designers are also children of the late eighties, but we’ve been seeing a lot of pseudo-retro, video game-inspired logo work lately. While these designs are definitely quirky, geeky and cool, beware using them for a general audience; not everyone feels the same nostalgia we do for an 8-bit, pixelated graphic of a mushroom. 9. Color-Coordinated Compound Words Web startup names and logos are inextricably linked. We’re a couple years past the compound word phase (which was most virulent right before the tragic “missing vowel” phase that gave birth to web companies with names like “Packg” and “Clevrr”), but we haven’t left behind our love for merged-word logos in two snappy, coordinating colors. This trick is one of the oldest in the book. It was notably used for Vignelli Associates’ 1967 rebranding of American Airlines, whose two-word name became a one-word logo in red and blue. 10. Logotypes The big boys of the web, sites such as Google and Facebook, have inspired the logo design of a generation with their utter simplicity. In many cases, those initial logotypes were less legitimate logo design and more “put our startup’s name in a simple font and stick it up on the web, we’ll deal with branding later.” The name-in-a-sans-serif look says your company has nothing to prove and that you focus on product over promotion. If it’s well-executed, it’s a powerful statement to make. However, if poorly executed, it looks hasty, sloppy, juvenile and amateurish. Logotypes can also be a great excuse to play with exciting typefaces and trendy treatments, such as the embossed or letterpress look that’s getting so much play these days, thanks to CSS3. 11. Nodes, Spokes and Hubs Between concepts such as linked data and the synaptic web, you had to see these designs coming. They remind us of molecular structure and K’nex, an updated take on the crop of mid-century modern Sputnik-inspired designs of the 1950s. These logos are usually intended to represent the interconnectedness of people and content on the web, or, in a more literal interpretation, computer hardware circuitry. An excellent study of this concept is Bernard Barry’s designs for the 2010 f8 conference. Read more at mashable.com

 

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5 Ways to Use Google Voice for Your Business

Amplify’d from mashable.com

5 Ways to Use Google Voice for Your Business

Google Voice (), which the search giant introduced in 2009, recently became freely available to everyone in the United States. Even though the service hasn’t dramatically changed since then, it’s still very useful to those that run small businesses, because it can give them an extra edge and make professional life much easier — at least, it can if you know how to use it.

When you register you can choose a virtual phone number in any area code. You can use that number to send and receive text messages, record voicemails and even receive and make calls over the Internet (), but it becomes particularly useful when you attach it to the number associated with your mobile or landline phone. There are some features we’d like to see added, but the current suite is still impressive. Google Voice can forward calls directed at your virtual line to your physical line, record voicemails and calls at both numbers, transcribe voicemails, share those voicemails with other contacts, block callers, apply special rules for individual callers or groups of callers, receive e-mail notifications of calls and text messages, and make unlimited free domestic calls and very cheap international calls. It even enables you to listen in on voicemails as they’re being recorded, giving you the option to pick up if you want to talk to the person who’s leaving the voicemail. Here are our picks for five ways you can use all these features to make your small business more efficient. Add your tips in the comments below. 1. Search and Prioritize Your Calls Most of Google Voice’s features fall into this category, but be aware that you have to actually provide contacts with your Google Voice phone number to use them. You can’t use many of the features we’re listing for calls received at your old number. This is a huge problem for small business owners who have already amassed an extensive list of contacts using their old number(s), but if you’re planning on switching pace and only handing out your Google Voice number, you’re all set. Google () will record voicemails on your behalf, then e-mail or text message you digitally made transcripts of every voicemail you receive. The robot transcripts aren’t perfect, but they’re usually clear enough that you can tell who is calling and what he or she is calling about. More importantly, they’re searchable. Just like you can search your Gmail () inbox or the web using Google, you can search the transcribed text of your voicemails. Voicemails have never been searchable before. If your business gets a high volume of calls, this is a killer feature because it allows you to avoid losing important calls. Since voicemails and text messages are all up on the web for you to search and sort, you can process a lot of calls more efficiently than you would be able to with a regular, call-in voicemail system. 2. Use Different Rules and Greetings for Different Contacts You can assign contacts to user-defined groups when you dig into Google Voice’s settings menu, then adjust behavior for those groups. You can say that certain individuals or groups should be connected to certain numbers when they call, or block some people from contacting you at all should you become harassed by unnecessary calls. For example, you can determine which contacts will be calling to discuss business development deals and which contacts will be calling for product support, and forward those calls to the appropriate team member inboxes automatically. You can also create custom voicemail messages for important clients or to represent certain divisions of your business. For example, the voicemail messages for your customer support and sales divisions could greet callers in different ways and with more relevant information on who to contact. 3. Share Calls with Your Assistant or Partner Because calls, text messages and voicemails are sent to you via e-mail, you can easily forward them to other people working at your business. But that’s not all you can do. You can actually embed the audio recordings of voicemails and share them via e-mail or other communications media with anyone you want. Furthermore, you can press a button while on a call to begin recording that call. The recorded audio will appear on the web, and it will be shareable as well. This can be very helpful for collaboration, or for looping a partner in on an important conference call that he or she couldn’t attend. As we mentioned in the previous point, you can configure calls from certain contacts to go to specific team members, but you can easily transfer a call to a different number once you’ve received it, too. This is of course standard for normal office phone systems, but many of today’s small businesses are operated via mobile phones on the go. This is a welcome feature for business owners in that situation. 4. Set Up Shop Anywhere, or Nowhere At All Google Voice allows you to pick virtually any U.S. area code, and that can be a boon for small businesses in a big world. Do you have a large concentration of clients in Chicago, but you’re based in San Francisco? Set up a Google Voice number in the 773 or 312 area codes so they have a local number to call for support. From your perspective, the area code is completely irrelevant because all your domestic calls through Google Voice are free, but that might not be the case for clients, customers and other important contacts. Let’s say you run a consulting business for Hollywood screenwriters, but you’re actually working from Dallas. Some of your potential clients won’t take you seriously if they feel you’re not connected to the City of Angels, so set up a number in area code 323 — downtown Los Angeles. You can also use Google Voice to make dirt-cheap international calls. That can save you a sizable sum in this age of Internet business and e-commerce, when national borders have little bearing on who you might do business with. 5. Specify When and Where You Want to Receive Calls You can tell Google Voice which times of day you’ll be at which numbers, or recover your sanity by saying you don’t want the phone to ring at all outside of business hours. You can also change these rules for specific contacts or groups, as described above. Let’s say you’re about to go on vacation; you’re leaving the office at 1:00 p.m., then you’ll be in transit until 7:00 p.m. After 7:00, you want to clock out. Just tell Google Voice to connect calls received before 1:00 p.m. to your office landline, to connect calls received between 1:00 and 7:00 p.m. to your mobile phone and to block all calls after 7:00 p.m. And of course, you can make exceptions for important contacts, such as your business partner, who’s holding the fort while you’re gone and who knows what news is important enough to merit an interruption. Specify that his or her number can reach you on your mobile at any time and you’re all set. Read more at mashable.com

 

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Truth About Republican Tactics: Define a Enemy

"Conservatives can do without a god...but they can't get through the day without a devil...

"Their entire model of reality revolves around the existence of an existential enemy who's out to annihilate them. Take that focal point away, and their whole worldview collapses into incoherence. This need is so central to their thinking that if there are no actual enemies around, they'll go to considerable lengths to make some (or just make some up).

"Unfortunately, the past couple of decades have been rough for them on this front. Losing the Communists as the Bad Guys left a big gap in the conservative cosmology, which they've been trying (mostly unsuccessfully) to fill ever since. This void has driven them crazy, forcing them to reveal their inner ugliness in all kinds of ways as they thrash around looking for some likely replacement. The longer this goes on, the more of that ugliness we've all seen -- and the less coherent their politics have become."

Sara Robinson

Social futurist

Amplify’d from www.greencarreports.com

Could Your Car's Body Be Its Battery Too? Volvo Is Trying

The biggest challenge for battery electric vehicles is clearly the cost and the weight of today's lithium-ion battery packs. Now Volvo is experimenting with a new composite material that can store and release energy more quickly than a convention lithium-ion cell and, it says, might one day replace steel for making auto body panels.

European consortium The material is being developed by a consortium of nine European companies and organizations, launched by the Imperial College in London and funded in part by the European Union. Volvo is the sole carmaker in the three-year project. The team will initially focus just on developing the material, composed of carbon fibers and polymer resin. It is said to be both strong and pliant, meaning it can be shaped as necessary--which could allow it to replace steel panels on future cars, lightening the body structure to improve overall efficiency. It could also do double duty for hybrids and plug-in vehicles, cutting the size and weight of the car's lithium battery. Included in the research will be ways to make the material practical for large-scale industrial production. Unlike steel panels, which can be stamped out at thousands of pieces per hour, carbon fiber to date has been largely hand-laid into molds--although many automakers and suppliers are working to overcome this problem.   Dr. Emile Greenhalgh of the Imperial College, London Enlarge Photo Goal: spare-tire well that's also a battery The project's ultimate goal is to replace a test vehicle's steel spare-wheel well stamping with a similar piece made of the new material. It couldn't store a great deal of energy, but it would be enough, Volvo says, to restart the engine of a hybrid vehicle when it needs to move away from a stoplight. Volvo calculated that if the car's steel body panels were replaced by the lighter material, that alone could cut the weight of the vehicle by 15 percent. And that's before the energy storage benefits. Thus far, the sole upcoming production vehicle known to have a carbon-fiber structure is the 2014 BMW MegaCity urban electric vehicle. EV experiments Like most other carmakers, Volvo is experimenting with a small fleet of battery electric vehicles to gain real-world usage data. It will build 50 of its C30 hatchbacks converted to battery power, offering up to 90 miles of range, but does not intend to test them in the United States market. The Imperial College has a number of green vehicle initiatives, both official research projects and associated efforts. Among them is the effort by the Racing Green Endurance team to drive its electric car from Alaska to South America. (Thus far, they've reached Colombia.) For more information on the project, the Imperial College has a  website, offering information about the project and its progress. In the video below, Emile Greenhalgh, of the college's Department of Aeronautics, discusses how the carbon-fiber composite works and its potential in future vehicles.

See more at www.greencarreports.com

 

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Amplify’d from www.msnbc.msn.com

Republican economic proposals "disastrous": Obama

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama hammered Republicans on Saturday over their newly unveiled campaign agenda, calling the opposition party's economic ideas "an echo of a disastrous decade we can't afford to relive."

Republicans, in turn, called Obama's policies disastrous, too, and promised to address "dire" economic conditions more effectively if they take over one or both houses of Congress after the November elections.

Obama continued that critique with his appraisal of the Republicans' "Pledge to America" plan. "It is grounded in (the) same worn out philosophy: cut taxes for millionaires and billionaires; cut the rules for Wall Street and the special interests; and cut the middle class loose to fend for itself," Obama said, according to a text of his address.

"That's not a prescription for a better future. It's an echo of a disastrous decade we can't afford to relive."

"And for all their talk about reining in spending and getting our deficits under control, they want to borrow another $700 billion, and use it to give tax cuts to millionaires and billionaires," he said. Republicans argue that extending the tax cuts would prevent what would otherwise be a tax hike in the midst of a rough economy. Read more at www.msnbc.msn.com

 

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Where is the Gov't Spending Really Going?

Amplify’d from www.businessinsider.com

Here's Where All That Government Spending Is REALLY Going

The Congressional Budget Office is basically projecting $1-trillion dollar annual Federal budget deficits for as far as the eye can see. This will require the country to pile another $1 trillion of debt on top of our existing $13.5 trillion debt load each year, which will quickly drive our national debt-to-GDP ratio over 100% (Greece-like). So, naturally, people are concerned about all that government spending. So where's it going, really? Well, when you dig into the CBO's 10-year estimates for the growth in Federal spending over the period, you find that Federal government spending is expected to increase by about $2 Trillion a year over the next 10 years. Where's that money going? It's basically going to three things: 1. Entitlement programs (Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid) -- +~$1.2 Trillion, or 60% of the increase 2. Interest on our debt -- +~$750 billion, or 37.5% of the increase 3. Everything else -- $50 billion, or 2.5% of the increase Here's a chart that shows this, from Paul Kasriel at Northern Trust: Image: Northern Trust What everyone's fighting about right now, by the way, is that little green bar--"everything else"--the 2.5%. Maybe it's time we turned our attention to the other 97.5%? Paul Kasriel has more: As the chart shows, the largest projected increase in spending by an order of magnitude over these years is for mandatory or entitlement programs - Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Demographics is the primary factor driving up these entitlement expenditures. Millions of baby boomers will become eligible for Social Security and Medicare benefits during the period covered in these projections. The second largest projected increase in federal expenditures is interest on the debt. On a percentage basis, this is the fastest growing category of federal outlays. Why is interest on the public debt growing so rapidly over this period? Partly because of the interest on all of the public debt piled up as a result of the federal budget deficits being incurred in each of the past fiscal years starting in 2002. That relatively small (green) bar in the chart represents the projected increase in all other federal outlays besides entitlement programs and interest on the public debt. The upshot of all this is that if one is serious about slowing the rate of increase in federal government outlays in the "out years," reduce entitlements for baby boomers. Good luck with all that. Read the whole thing > Read more at www.businessinsider.com

 

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Amplify’d from jaredheinrichs.com

How to turn a Windows 7 PC into a Kiosk

Requirements Windows 7 Professional or higher. You can not do this with the home versions. Steps to lock down the Kiosk Computer How to lock down the computer basically leverages local Group Policy (although there is no reason you can’t do this in global group policy on your Windows Small Business Server 2008 machine) to allow users to only run certain applications.  Thus preventing users from getting into trouble and lowering your total cost of ownership on that client PC (or your whole network). If you have a shared or public computer you might want to allow users to use only specified programs. Today we take a look at a setting in Local Group Policy that allows you to set only specified programs to run. First click on Start and enter gpedit.msc into the search box and hit Enter. Navigate to User Configuration Administrative Templates System. Then under Setting scroll down and double click on Run only specified Windows applications. Set it to Enabled, then under the Options section click on the Show button next to List of allowed applications. A Show Contents dialog comes up where you can type in the apps you want to allow users to run. When finished with the list, click OK then close out of Local Group Policy Editor. If a user tries to access an application that is not on the specified list they will receive the following error message. This is a nice feature for limiting what programs users can or cannot access on the computer Read more at jaredheinrichs.com

 

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Sysprep Win7 - Start to Finish

Sysprep a Windows 7 Machine – Start to Finish V2

This is version 2 of a step by step guide on Sysprepping a Windows 7 machine from start to finish. I cannot take full credit on this because my first article had so many helpful comments and discussions that this is simply a combination of all the good advice written into a working guide. (I would especially like to thank George for his input on Cscript for auto activation and Nathan for input on Sysprep Audit Mode). This will guide you through the following: - Audit Mode - Building the unattend.xml file in WSIM - copyprofile=true command to copy the default profile (no manual copy) - Prompt for a computer name - Enable Administrator account - Administrator account logs in first time automatically - Activate windows automatically with Cscript; - Successfully copy over taskbar icons; - Delete unattend.xml file automatically upon completion of re-image. Here is a list of what you will need: - Latest version of WAIK : KB3AIK_EN.iso Version 1.0 - Windows Vista or Windows 7 Machine to build the XML file on - ISO or DVD of Windows 7 Installation (x32 or x64) - WinPE Boot Environment : BrianLeeJackson WinPE 3.0 BootLoader First we are going to walk through building the unattend.xml file (answer file) and then we will walk through the actual Windows 7 imaging process. PART 1 – XML FILE CREATION Step #1 If you have a Windows 7 installation DVD, insert it now. Or if you have an ISO of 7, go ahead and extract it to a folder on your desktop. (I recommend 7-zip). Step #2 Launch Windows System Image Manager. Your start menu should look like the image below: Windows 7 WAIK Version 1 Step #3 Under the “Windows Image” header, right click and select new image. Windows System Image Manager Step #4 You will now want to browse to the .CLG file in your Windows 7 installation (I am using Windows 7 Enterprise x64 in my example). It is located in the sources folder. See Image below. You can select either the .clg file or the install.wim. Both will have the same result. Selecting CLG File - WSIM Step #5 Now we need to create a new answer file. Go to the file menu and select “Create New Answer File.” Right after creating one, go ahead and simply go to file menu and select “Save Answer File.” This will give your XML file a name and save location. I chose to name mine unattend.xml. Now you see we have two category folders, Components and Packages. Under the Components folder you see that we have 7 options: -1 windowsPE -2 offlineServicing -3 generalize -4 specialize -5 auditSystem -6 auditUser -7 oobeSystem Step #6 These are very important as these are the steps in which the unattend.xml file is sequenced. The next part is a little confusing. You are going to add components, from under the “Windows Image” section on the bottom left hand side to the passes on your Answer File. To add a component, you can right click on them and select “add to # pass”. There are many different options you can add, but they have to be done in a certain order and pass otherwise your sysprep might fail. I am simply going to use the one I created as the example. Answer File - Unattend.xml Here is more information about adding options under the passes: 1 windowsPE Nothing required in my example. 2 offlineServicing Nothing required in my example. 3 generalize amd64_Microsoft-Windows-Security-SPP_6.1.7600.16385_neutral Set 1 for SkipRearm to allow up to 8 rearms 4 specialize amd64_Microsoft-Windows-Deployment_6.1.7600.16385_neutral Order: 1 path: net user administrator /active:yes WillReboot: Never RunSynchronousCommand[Order="1"] RunSynchronous amd64_Microsoft-Windows-Security-SPP-UX_6.1.7600.16385_neutral SkipAutoActivation: true amd64_Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup_6.1.7600.16385_neutral Computer Name: Leave blank (we will deal with this at the end) CopyProfile: true Registered Organization: Microsoft (you must leave this in this section) Registered Owner: AutoBVT (you must leave this in this section) ShowWindowsLive: false TimeZone: Pacific Standard Time You can delete other sub-header components if you don’t need them. 5 auditSystem Nothing required in my example. 6 auditUser Nothing required in my example. 7 oobeSystem amd64_Microsoft-Windows-International-Core_6.1.7600.16385_neutral InputLocale: en-us SystemLocale: en-us UILanguage: en-us UserLocale: en-us amd64_Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup_6.1.7600.16385_neutral RegisteredOrganization: Your Company Name RegisteredOwner: Your Name AutoLogon Password: Administrator Password Enabled: true LogonCount: 5 Username: administrator FirstLogonCommands CommandLine: cscript //b c:windowssystem32slmgr.vbs /ipk XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX (windows 7 license key) Order 1 RequiresUserInput: false CommandLine: cscript //b c:windowssystem32slmgr.vbs /ato Order 2 RequiresUserInput: false SynchronousCommand[Order="1"] SynchronousCommand[Order="2"] OOBE HideEULAPage: true NetworkLocation: Home ProtectYourPC: 1 UserAccounts Password: Administrator Password Action: AddListItem Description: Local Administrator DisplayName: Administrator Group: Administrators Name: Administrator LocalAccount[Name="Administrator"] AdministratorPassword: Administrator Password LocalAccounts If you have questions, look at my image above to see full layout of components, it should help. Step #7 K, now go ahead and save your answer file as unattend.xml. Step #8 If you want the sysprep to prompt for a computer name you need to remove a line from your XML file. Open up your XML file you saved with notepad and remove the following line: Unattend.xml Computer Name PART 2 – IMAGING PROCESS / RUNNING SYSPREP Step #9 Install Windows 7 (Enterprise) from CD or USB flash drive, when you arrive at the welcome screen and it asks you to create a username, hit ctrl+shift+f3. This will reboot your machine and put your windows build in ‘audit’ mode. Step #10 On reboot, you’ll automatically be logged in under the built-in Administrator account. A sysprep GUI box will appear, but you can close it and NOW begin to customize your profile. Step #11 Install any software/drivers, make any profile customizations, etc. If you need to reboot, the computer will boot you back into the Administrator account. You will be stuck in this audit mode until you run sysprep with the /oobe parameter. After doing so, sysprep will delete/clean up the Administrator account, but if you have copyprofile=true in your unattended answer file, it will copy the customized Admin account to the default profile before deleting it. Step #12 On the PC you are going to be running sysprep on, you need to create a folder called scripts in this directory: %WINDIR%Setup. Now you are going to create a CMD file within the %WINDIR%SetupScripts directory. Right click and make a new text file called SetupComplete.txt. Remove the .txt extension and replace that with .cmd. You now have a SetupComplete.cmd file which windows will read the first time it boots up from the sysprep. We need to place a script inside the CMD file. Edit the cmd file with notepad and insert this line: del /Q /F c:windowssystem32sysprepunattend.xml. This script will delete your unattend.xml file after it has been used. The unattend.xml file is also copied to the C:WindowsPanther directory, so you will want to add a second line to the CMD file, del /Q /F c:windowspantherunattend.xml. If you have passwords or cd keys stored in that xml file you don’t have to worry about it being left on the computer. UPDATE AS OF JUNE 16TH: Read my Taskbar Icons Tutorial before continuing. Step #13 Once you have everything configured correctly, Copy or move your unattend.xml file to : C:windowssystem32sysprep. Now to run sysprep, navigate to that sysprep folder, hold SHIFT and right click and select “Open New Command Windows Here”. Next, input the following commands: sysprep /generalize /oobe /shutdown /unattend:unattend.xml Step #14 Turn the computer back on and boot to WinPE 3.0 environment (USB stick or CD/DVD). You can use my BrianLeeJackson WinPE3.0 BootLoader to boot up from USB or CD and capture your image. Capture image and save image to network location. A Dell 960 or GX755 is a good standard for capturing when you want a generic image for use with multiple systems. Might require injecting additional drivers for 3rd party brands, HP, etc. Most should work though right out of the box. Step #15 On reboot, Windows will run out of the box, as the /oobe is intended. As long as you put your cd key into the unattend.xml file, windows will be activated automatically in the background, you will be automatically logged into the administrator account, and the unattend.xml file is deleted. You are now ready to use the computer or join it to the domain. Enjoy! Read more at blog.brianleejackson.com

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Latest Malware Weapon

Stuxnet malware is 'weapon' out to destroy ... Iran's Bushehr nuclear plant?

Cyber security experts say they have identified the world's first known cyber super weapon designed specifically to destroy a real-world target – a factory, a refinery, or just maybe a nuclear power plant.

The cyber worm, called Stuxnet, has been the object of intense study since its detection in June. As more has become known about it, alarm about its capabilities and purpose have grown. Some top cyber security experts now say Stuxnet's arrival heralds something blindingly new: a cyber weapon created to cross from the digital realm to the physical world – to destroy something.

At least one expert who has extensively studied the malicious software, or malware, suggests Stuxnet may have already attacked its target – and that it may have been Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant, which much of the world condemns as a nuclear weapons threat.

The appearance of Stuxnet created a ripple of amazement among computer security experts. Too large, too encrypted, too complex to be immediately understood, it employed amazing new tricks, like taking control of a computer system without the user taking any action or clicking any button other than inserting an infected memory stick. Experts say it took a massive expenditure of time, money, and software engineering talent to identify and exploit such vulnerabilities in industrial control software systems.

Unlike most malware, Stuxnet is not intended to help someone make money or steal proprietary data. Industrial control systems experts now have concluded, after nearly four months spent reverse engineering Stuxnet, that the world faces a new breed of malware that could become a template for attackers wishing to launch digital strikes at physical targets worldwide. Internet link not required.

"Until a few days ago, people did not believe a directed attack like this was possible," Ralph Langner, a German cyber-security researcher, told the Monitor in an interview. He was slated to present his findings at a conference of industrial control system security experts Tuesday in Rockville, Md. "What Stuxnet represents is a future in which people with the funds will be able to buy an attack like this on the black market. This is now a valid concern."

A gradual dawning of Stuxnet's purpose

It is a realization that has emerged only gradually.

Stuxnet surfaced in June and, by July, was identified as a hypersophisticated piece of malware probably created by a team working for a nation state, say cyber security experts. Its name is derived from some of the filenames in the malware. It is the first malware known to target and infiltrate industrial supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) software used to run chemical plants and factories as well as electric power plants and transmission systems worldwide. That much the experts discovered right away.

But what was the motive of the people who created it? Was Stuxnet intended to steal industrial secrets – pressure, temperature, valve, or other settings –and communicate that proprietary data over the Internet to cyber thieves?

By August, researchers had found something more disturbing: Stuxnet appeared to be able to take control of the automated factory control systems it had infected – and do whatever it was programmed to do with them. That was mischievous and dangerous.

But it gets worse. Since reverse engineering chunks of Stuxnet's massive code, senior US cyber security experts confirm what Mr. Langner, the German researcher, told the Monitor: Stuxnet is essentially a precision, military-grade cyber missile deployed early last year to seek out and destroy one real-world target of high importance – a target still unknown.

"Stuxnet is a 100-percent-directed cyber attack aimed at destroying an industrial process in the physical world," says Langner, who last week became the first to publicly detail Stuxnet's destructive purpose and its authors' malicious intent. "This is not about espionage, as some have said. This is a 100 percent sabotage attack."

A guided cyber missile

On his website, Langner lays out the Stuxnet code he has dissected. He shows step by step how Stuxnet operates as a guided cyber missile. Three top US industrial control system security experts, each of whom has also independently reverse-engineered portions of Stuxnet, confirmed his findings to the Monitor.

"His technical analysis is good," says a senior US researcher who has analyzed Stuxnet, who asked for anonymity because he is not allowed to speak to the press. "We're also tearing [Stuxnet] apart and are seeing some of the same things."

Other experts who have not themselves reverse-engineered Stuxnet but are familiar with the findings of those who have concur with Langner's analysis.

"What we're seeing with Stuxnet is the first view of something new that doesn't need outside guidance by a human – but can still take control of your infrastructure," says Michael Assante, former chief of industrial control systems cyber security research at the US Department of Energy's Idaho National Laboratory. "This is the first direct example of weaponized software, highly customized and designed to find a particular target."

"I'd agree with the classification of this as a weapon," Jonathan Pollet, CEO of Red Tiger Security and an industrial control system security expert, says in an e-mail.

One researcher's findingsLangner's research, outlined on his website Monday, reveals a key step in the Stuxnet attack that other researchers agree illustrates its destructive purpose. That step, which Langner calls "fingerprinting," qualifies Stuxnet as a targeted weapon, he says.

Langner zeroes in on Stuxnet's ability to "fingerprint" the computer system it infiltrates to determine whether it is the precise machine the attack-ware is looking to destroy. If not, it leaves the industrial computer alone. It is this digital fingerprinting of the control systems that shows Stuxnet to be not spyware, but rather attackware meant to destroy, Langner says.

Stuxnet's ability to autonomously and without human assistance discriminate among industrial computer systems is telling. It means, says Langner, that it is looking for one specific place and time to attack one specific factory or power plant in the entire world.

"Stuxnet is the key for a very specific lock – in fact, there is only one lock in the world that it will open," Langner says in an interview. "The whole attack is not at all about stealing data but about manipulation of a specific industrial process at a specific moment in time. This is not generic. It is about destroying that process."

So far, Stuxnet has infected at least 45,000 industrial control systems around the world, without blowing them up – although some victims in North America have experienced some serious computer problems, Eric Byres, a Canadian expert, told the Monitor. Most of the victim computers, however, are in Iran, Pakistan, India, and Indonesia. Some systems have been hit in Germany, Canada, and the US, too. Once a system is infected, Stuxnet simply sits and waits – checking every five seconds to see if its exact parameters are met on the system. When they are, Stuxnet is programmed to activate a sequence that will cause the industrial process to self-destruct, Langner says.

Langner's analysis also shows, step by step, what happens after Stuxnet finds its target. Once Stuxnet identifies the critical function running on a programmable logic controller, or PLC, made by Siemens, the giant industrial controls company, the malware takes control. One of the last codes Stuxnet sends is an enigmatic "DEADF007." Then the fireworks begin, although the precise function being overridden is not known, Langner says. It may be that the maximum safety setting for RPMs on a turbine is overridden, or that lubrication is shut off, or some other vital function shut down. Whatever it is, Stuxnet overrides it, Langner's analysis shows.

"After the original code [on the PLC] is no longer executed, we can expect that something will blow up soon," Langner writes in his analysis. "Something big."

For those worried about a future cyber attack that takes control of critical computerized infrastructure – in a nuclear power plant, for instance – Stuxnet is a big, loud warning shot across the bow, especially for the utility industry and government overseers of the US power grid.

"The implications of Stuxnet are very large, a lot larger than some thought at first," says Mr. Assante, who until recently was security chief for the North American Electric Reliability Corp. "Stuxnet is a directed attack. It's the type of threat we've been worried about for a long time. It means we have to move more quickly with our defenses – much more quickly."

Has Stuxnet already hit its target?It might be too late for Stuxnet's target, Langner says. He suggests it has already been hit – and destroyed or heavily damaged. But Stuxnet reveals no overt clues within its code to what it is after.

A geographical distribution of computers hit by Stuxnet, which Microsoft produced in July, found Iran to be the apparent epicenter of the Stuxnet infections. That suggests that any enemy of Iran with advanced cyber war capability might be involved, Langner says. The US is acknowledged to have that ability, and Israel is also reported to have a formidable offensive cyber-war-fighting capability.

Could Stuxnet's target be Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant, a facility much of the world condemns as a nuclear weapons threat?

Langner is quick to note that his views on Stuxnet's target is speculation based on suggestive threads he has seen in the media. Still, he suspects that the Bushehr plant may already have been wrecked by Stuxnet. Bushehr's expected startup in late August has been delayed, he notes, for unknown reasons. (One Iranian official blamed the delay on hot weather.)

But if Stuxnet is so targeted, why did it spread to all those countries? Stuxnet might have been spread by the USB memory sticks used by a Russian contractor while building the Bushehr nuclear plant, Langner offers. The same contractor has jobs in several countries where the attackware has been uncovered.

"This will all eventually come out and Stuxnet's target will be known," Langner says. "If Bushehr wasn't the target and it starts up in a few months, well, I was wrong. But somewhere out there, Stuxnet has found its target. We can be fairly certain of that."

Pt 2 - Group Policy Planning Strategies

Group Policy Planning Strategies

Before implementing group policies, you should create a plan to manage them. You can plan your Group Policy settings, GPOs, and administrative control of GPOs to provide the most efficient Group Policy implementation for your organization. This lesson examines Group Policy planning strategies.

After this lesson, you will be able to Plan Group Policy settings Plan administrative control of GPOs Estimated lesson time: 15 minutes

Group Policy Planning Strategies

There are three parts to planning Group Policy:

• Plan the Group Policy settings necessary for computers and users at each level (sites, domains, and OUs).

• Plan the GPOs necessary for computers and users at each level (sites, domains, and OUs).

• Plan administrative control of GPOs.

Document your Group Policy plans. Accurate and organized documentation of the Group Policy settings and GPOs needed by your organization and the administrators who control the GPOs can help when you need to revisit or modify your Group Policy configuration.

Plan Group Policy Settings

There are over 600 Group Policy settings in Windows Server 2003. The best way to familiarize yourself with these settings is to look through them on the Group Policy Object Editor. You must plan the settings necessary for computers and users for each site, domain, and OU in your organization. Plan settings sparinglyjustify the selection of each setting as you would the creation of a domain or OU. Choose settings based on their ability to help you to simplify the administration of computers and users.

Planning GPOs

For each site, domain, and OU, you must determine how Group Policy settings should be arranged into GPOs. Base the arrangement of Group Policy settings on the users and computers that require them. You can arrange Group Policy settings in the following ways in a GPO:

• Single setting GPO Contains a single type of Group Policy settingfor example, a GPO that includes only security settings. This model is best suited for organizations in which administrative responsibilities are task-based and delegated among several individuals.

• Multiple setting GPO Contains multiple types of Group Policy settingsfor example, a GPO that includes both software settings and application deployment, or a GPO that includes security and scripts settings. This model is best suited for organizations in which administrative responsibilities are centralized and an administrator might need to perform all types of Group Policy administration.

• Dedicated setting GPO Contains either computer configuration or user configuration Group Policy settings. This model increases the number of GPOs that must be applied when logging on, thereby lengthening logon time, but it can aid in troubleshooting. For example, if a problem with a computer configuration GPO is suspected, an administrator can log on as a user who has no user configuration GPO assigned so user policy settings can be eliminated as a factor.

Exam Tip

Be able to determine how Group Policy settings should be arranged into GPOs based on the needs and requirements of an organization.

Figure 10-8 illustrates these GPO types.

Figure 10-8. GPO setting types

Because sites and domains are the least restrictive components of Active Directory, it isn't too difficult to plan site and domain GPOs. Just remember that site and domain GPOs are applied to all child objects as a result of Group Policy inheritance, unless Block Policy Inheritance has been set for the child object. The real challenge is determining the OU GPOs. To determine the OU GPOs, you must consider the OU hierarchy set up for the domain. In Chapter 6, "Implementing an OU Structure," you learned that there are three reasons for defining an OU: to delegate administration, to hide objects, and to administer Group Policy. You were advised that because there is only one way to delegate administration and there are multiple ways to administer Group Policy, you must define OU structures to delegate administration first. Recall that the OU hierarchy structure can reflect administration handled by location, business function, object type, or a combination of the three elements. After an OU structure is defined to handle delegation of administration, you can define additional OUs to hide objects and to administer Group Policy. So, if you've defined your OU structure to accurately reflect how your domain is administered, the next step is to determine which Group Policy settings must be applied to which users and computers in each OU. Basically, you can build GPOs by using a decentralized or a centralized design.

Decentralized GPO Design

With a decentralized GPO approach (see Figure 10-9), the goal is to include a specific policy setting in as few GPOs as possible. When a change is required, only one (or a few) GPO(s) have to be changed to enforce the change. Administration is simplified at the expense of a somewhat longer logon time (due to multiple GPO processing).

Figure 10-9. Decentralized and centralized GPO design

To achieve this goal, create a base GPO to be applied to the domain that contains policy settings for as many users and computers in the domain as possible. For example, the base GPO could contain corporate-wide security settings such as account and password restrictions. Next, create additional GPOs tailored to the common requirements of each OU, and apply them to the appropriate OUs.

This model is best suited for environments in which different groups in the organization have common security concerns and changes to Group Policy are frequent.

Centralized GPO Design

With a centralized GPO approach (shown in Figure 10-9), the goal is to use very few GPOs (ideally only one) for any given user or computer. All of the policy settings required for a given site, domain, or OU should be implemented within a single GPO. If the site, domain, or OU has groups of users or computers with different policy requirements, consider subdividing the container into OUs and applying separate GPOs to each OU rather than to the parent. A change to the centralized GPO design involves more administration than the decentralized approach because the settings might need to be changed in multiple GPOs, but logon time is shorter. This model is best suited for environments in which users and computers can be classified into a small number of OUs for policy assignment.

As mentioned in earlier chapters, planning your OU structure is key to the efficient application of Group Policy. Every additional policy that you apply increases the number of settings that the individual computers must evaluate. Planning your organizational structure so that you can apply as few group policies as possible to only those containers that require them is a key to improving startup and logon performance. You might even decide to create OUs for the purpose of applying a specific Group Policy. For example, if you have several computer accounts that require a specific configuration that is unique to only those systems, you may find it more efficient to create a separate OU in order to handle that special configuration.

Planning Administrative Control of GPOs

When you plan the Group Policy settings and GPOs to be used in your organization, you should also plan who will manage them. The appropriate level of administrative control can be delegated by using a centralized, decentralized, or task-based administrative control design.

Centralized Administrative Control Design

In the centralized design, administration of Group Policy is delegated only to top-level OU administrators. In the example shown in Figure 10-10, top-level OU administrators have the ability to manage all GPOs in the domain. Second-level OU administrators do not have the ability to manage GPOs. You can accomplish this by assigning Full Control permission to top-level OU administrators. This design is best suited for organizations that want to consolidate the administration of group policies.

Figure 10-10. A centralized administrative control design

Decentralized Administrative Control Design

In the decentralized design, administration of Group Policy is delegated to top-level and to second-level OU administrators. In the example shown in Figure 10-11, top-level OU administrators have the ability to manage GPOs in the top-level OU. Second-level OU administrators have the ability to manage GPOs in their second-level OUs. You can accomplish this by assigning Full Control permission to top-level OU administrators for the top-level OU GPOs and Full Control permission to second-level OU administrators for their second-level OU GPOs. This design is best suited for organizations that delegate levels of administration.

Figure 10-11. A decentralized administrative control design

Task-Based Administrative Control Design

In the task-based design, administration of specific group policies is delegated to administrators that handle the associated specific tasks, such as security or applications. In this case, the GPOs are designed to contain only a single type of Group Policy setting, as described earlier in this lesson. In the example shown in Figure 10-12, security administrators have the ability to manage security GPOs in all OUs. Applications administrators have the ability to manage applications GPOs in all OUs. You can accomplish this by assigning Full Control permission to the security administrators for the security GPOs, and Full Control permission to the applications administrators for the applications GPOs. This design is best suited for organizations in which administrative responsibilities are task-based and delegated among several individuals.

Figure 10-12. A task-based administrative control design

Lesson Review

The following questions are intended to reinforce key information presented in this lesson. If you are unable to answer a question, review the lesson and then try the question again. Answers to the questions can be found in the "Questions and Answers" section at the end of this chapter.

1.	Describe a decentralized GPO design. ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________
2.	If administrative responsibilities in your organization are task-based and delegated among several administrators, which of the following types of GPOs should you plan to create? GPOs containing only one type of Group Policy setting GPOs containing many types of Group Policy settings GPOs containing only computer configuration settings GPOs containing only user configuration settings

Lesson Summary

• There are three parts to planning Group Policy: plan the Group Policy settings, plan GPOs, and plan administrative control of GPOs.

• Plan Group Policy settings sparinglyjustify the selection of each setting as you would the creation of a domain or OU. Choose settings based on their ability to help you to simplify the administration of computers and users.

• You can build GPOs by using a decentralized or a centralized design. A decentralized design uses a base GPO applied to the domain, which contains policy settings for as many users and computers in the domain as possible. Then this design uses additional GPOs tailored to the common requirements of each OU and applied to the appropriate OUs. A centralized design uses a single GPO containing all policy settings for the associated site, domain, or OU.

• Administrative control of GPOs can be delegated by using a centralized, decentralized, or task-based administrative control design. In the centralized design, administration of Group Policy is delegated only to top-level OU administrators. In the decentralized design, administration of Group Policy is delegated to top-level and to second-level OU administrators. In the task-based design, administration of specific group policies is delegated to administrators that handle the associated specific tasks.