Albert's thoughts manifested in written form...

FB Graph API Login Security Flaw: Facebook Account Merging using identical email address cannot be trusted

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 10:26:00 +0800

Summary of steps:

I created a new Facebook Account using an email address I didn’t have access to.
Facebook asked me to enter my phone number to verify my account. I did.
I successfully logged in to facebook.
I can now log in to other websites using Facebook sign in, and most of the time, immediately gain access to existing regular accounts in that website that use the email address that I used in FB. This is because facebook provides the unconfirmed email, and yet shows my account as “verified: true”.

There was a Stackoverflow question that got me curious and led me to experiment, and my answer is at http://stackoverflow.com/a/15606442/281021

There’s also another question in Stackoverflow that outlines (with screenshots) the steps at http://stackoverflow.com/q/14280535/281021 .

Facebook can easily fix this by providing only email addresses that are actually confirmed through a confirmation link emailed to that address. They haven’t done that yet.

Meanwhile, developers should be cautious about auto-merging accounts based on identical email address (which is the recommended user registration flow of facebook at https://developers.facebook.com/docs/user_registration/flows/ ). Email addresses from facebook graph api cannot be trusted.

Please share this to developers. I hope facebook does something about this soon.

Update:

I was able to login to someone else’s stackoverflow account using the above exploit.

I was not successful in Flowdock, Hootsuite, and Bitbucket. They all ask for the user password before auto-merging accounts. GOOD. :)

Developers should ask for the user password again before auto-merging accounts for security purposes.

Why I'm so excited for Startup Weekend Cebu - Lessons from Startup Weekend Manila

Thu, 03 May 2012 06:34:00 +0800

I had one of the best weekends in my life last week. I met a lot of great people, worked with a great team, and accomplished something great in just one weekend.

I’m so excited for Startup Weekend Cebu! I even invited some people I met in Manila to join the Cebu event, and some of them have confirmed to come! Even one of my teammates is coming over! Woohoo!!

Alright! Here are some of the key insights I got out of Startup Weekend Manila.

1. I need others - and I’m not just talking about a team.

Startups are not just built by teams. They are also built by ecosystems. I totally agree with the statement from Startup Weekend that goes…

It takes a village to raise a startup

That’s very true. The network of people, mentors, and companies present during Startup Weekend gives you a great boost! A boost that we all need.

2. Feedback from anyone is great, but feedback from those who know better is awesome!

Mentors - you can’t have enough of them. They question your ideas. They question your direction. They question everything. They even make you question yourself. Hahaha! But that’s all good, because it makes you realize even further what your idea really is all about, where you are really headed, and if you really are committed to pursuing it.

But what separates mentors from almost everyone else is because they know what kind of questions to ask - usually the questions that you don’t know the answer to or unsure of. Mentors usually ask the important questions, and that makes all the difference.

3. Less Talk, More Action. Talk and decide on what your MVP is and get started on it right away.

I know Startup Weekend is all about “No Talk, All Action”, but in reality, you have to talk a bit. Haha! The trick is to try to limit all your “talk” on that Friday night right after you form your team.

It’s also important to establish from the very beginning what is your Minimum Viable Product (MVP), and create an action plan on how to accomplish it during the weekend.

4. Practice makes perfect

After going through my first Startup Weekend, I quickly realized how much better it would have been for me to have joined something like it before I ventured into doing my own startup. It could have taught me several key lessons, and saved me from a lot of pain.

Startup Weekend is the startup life squeezed into one weekend. That being said, I’d like to do it again and again and again. Practice makes perfect, they say.

See you in Startup Weekend Cebu!

Startup Asia Singapore 2012

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:10:00 +0800

We joined Startup Asia Singapore.

It’s my first time out of the country alone. Well, technically, I wasn’t really alone. I was with my partner, Nicole, and I loved every bit of it. In fact, I’m still loving it here! If I were to pick one thing that I love the most about Singapore, it would be the fact that despite them being very technologically advanced, the air is very breathable! I could even compare the air here to the fresh “bukid” air of Steven’s farm in Bonbon. :)

I learned so much here. :)

Day One

We attended the pitching rehearsals at Singapore Management University.

We arrived a bit late for the rehearsals so we were not able to take that much pictures. But the school was very cool!!! We rehearsed in one of their classrooms that looked exactly like the picture below.

After hearing a few pitches from the other teams, we quickly realized that we were in the same room with founders of companies with also very interesting and innovative ideas. This was going to be a very exciting week!

Day Two

We headed for the final rehearsals at the event venue, Singpost Centre. We pitched on stage, and we were coached by Sir Jeffrey Paine of Founders Institute Singapore and Battle Ventures.

Here are his notes.

We knew we had a lot more to work on. :)

Day Three

This was quite a relaxing day for us. We were pitching on the second day of the event, so we were able to go around and talk with really cool people - founders, media people, investors, and geeks. :)

This was right before the event started. People were at the back checking out the booths. If you notice, the staircase on the upper left of the pic has the word “FAITH” on it. Yup, our venue was in a church. :)

The first set of startups (there were 19 of us in total) pitched today. We quickly realized that the panel of judges were VERY TOUGH. They asked very tough questions, and challenged the ideas of the founders in a very straightforward way. For example, one judge said something like, “I used something similar to your service before, and its just very annoying.” Oooooh…. How would you answer something like that? Oh well. Just smile and wave. :)

After the first day, I was able to talk again with Sir Jeffrey Paine (the one who coached us), and I asked him a few questions on how to raise funds from investors. His answers were just brilliant! Among many other great tips, he told me that the easiest way to get funding is to get users first. So many of his advises made so much sense. I wish I talked to him a long time ago. I even felt that all my expenses for the trip were already worth it after talking with him for about 15 minutes. :)

Day Four

Today is PITCH DAY for us. And we are so glad that we did well. Thank you, Lord! :)

Link to the Startup Asia Article of SpellDial

Teamie won first place. :)

Shivanu from Teamie, Me, Min Ku of Waffle, and Kwangmin of Waffle.

Though we didn’t win any prize, the lessons we learned, the people we met, and the experience we had fully outweighed all the investment we put in for this trip.

To all our friends and family who supported us, thank you so much!

Special shout outs to Willis Wee and the Penn Olson Team, David Cua, Jen Sarmiento, Tito Em and Tita Lollette, Sir Rod, Ate Ana, Pastor Doug and Jonina, our parents, my brothers and sisters, Chuck, and everyone who prayed for us!

We thank you very much!!!

Above all, we thank God for answering our prayers. :)

Now this, is just too awesome… :)

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 19:14:10 +0800

Now this, is just too awesome… :)

"Of course it sucks. It's made of software.": The Unofficial Google App Engine Price Change FAQ

Sat, 10 Sep 2011 14:53:07 +0800

"Of course it sucks. It's made of software.": The Unofficial Google App Engine Price Change FAQ:

jeffschnitzer:

I don’t work for Google, but I read the mailing lists and pay attention. Also, I show up at places where Google buys beer. Here’s what I’ve learned:

What is changing?

Google is changing the way it charges for App Engine. Previously, you were charged for three things:

Bandwidth in/out

Data…

Google AppEngine Workshop 1 - the Aftermath

Sat, 06 Aug 2011 10:07:00 +0800

Last July 9, 2011 we held the first ever (I think) Google App Engine Workshop in Cebu City. Everyone was so excited about it that slot reservations even ran out less than 24 hours after they were released. We held it at Exist’s TechBar at IT Park.

Our really cool venue! Many thanks to Exist who lent us the venue, and Ida Ortiz who made this happen!

The participants! Most were graduating students!

And some were professionals already, as well as teachers in some colleges (Cool!)…

And some of the participants who preferred to stay in the couch (because we ran out of table space)…

That’s my attempt at teaching…

And coaching… :D

And of course, we had snacks! Well, those are just the cups for the participants that our team laboriously labeled by hand… Thanks to the SpellDial Team who supported and helped out! :D

Thank you also all my friends who supported us to make this event a reality!

So how did it go? Well, I heard some of the participants say, “Wow! And I thought 6 hours was going to be pretty long… In fact, I learned so many things that I didn’t notice that the time was flying by so fast…” Cool! I’m happy that you guys learned a lot!

Towards the end of the workshop, we held a mini-hackathon so that they can create their own apps using what they just had learned.

Lo and behold! They created so many awesome apps (for the short time that was allotted), and one even made an app gallery to showcase some of the apps! Not all of them added their apps there… Boo… Nevertheless, I’m proud of all of you guys! Enjoy! :D

Application Gallery: http://application-gallery.appspot.com

Link to Workshop Slides (It’s really only useful when I’m talking alongside it). :D

Special thanks also to DevCon for supporting us! If you notice, I’m wearing the DevCon shirt. :D

Oh, and one more thing! The cool people from Exist are currently hiring. So if you want to join their team, go ahead and click below!

SpellDial: SpellDial at the ON3 Pitching Competition

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 16:44:57 +0800

SpellDial: SpellDial at the ON3 Pitching Competition:

spelldial:

Author: Paola Galan (Business Development)

Manila, July 26-30, 2011

Five of us flew to Manila for the final round of the ON3 pitching competition. Aside from myself, the others who went were Albert Padin (Founder and CEO of SpellDial), and others from the Business Development team: Nicole…

SpellDial: SpellDial shirts - woohoo! :D

Tue, 05 Jul 2011 20:46:15 +0800

SpellDial: SpellDial shirts - woohoo! :D:

spelldial:

Hallooooo friends! To those who inquired for the prices of the T-shirt, it is P300.00. To those who will buy, you are actually supporting SpellDial raise funds to go to Manila to participate in the final round of the On3 Pitching Competition. Winners of that competition will go to Silicon…

"Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square..."

Mon, 27 Jun 2011 11:53:06 +0800

“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”

- Apple Inc. (via spelldial)

Round 2!! Another Google AppEngine Workshop

Sat, 25 Jun 2011 15:31:00 +0800

If you wanted to join the Google AppEngine Workshop, but weren’t able to successfully reserve a slot, don’t worry! There’s no need to sulk. We’re holding another one just for you the Saturday right after the first one.

Topic: Google AppEngine Workshop - A Crash Course

Speaker/Facilitator: Albert Padin, Founder of SpellDial.com

Venue: CEDF-IT Training Room (CEDF-IT is in the North Part of the “E-Office One Bldg” in this Map, Corner of W. Geonzon and Inez Villa Streets, Asiatown I.T. Park)

Date: July 16, 2011 (Saturday)

Time: 2pm - 8pm *Participants are required to arrive on time, and stay until 8pm. If unable, please share to your friends who have sooo much free time. Thanks! :D

Requirements:

Bring your own laptop (and charger) with GAE SDK for Python installed. If you don’t have the GAE SDK for Python installed yet, you can get it thru the GAE Website. Please verify that it is installed properly. We don’t want to waste time in troubleshooting installation issues.
If you have an Internet USB Stick (Smart Bro, Globe Tattoo, and the like), please bring it along so that we won’t congest the internet connection.
Get a Ticket/Register thru our Online Event Registration Page. 25 slots only. (NO NEED TO PRINT THE TICKET. JUST BRING AN ID ON THE EVENT)
Bring some snacks to munch on, and share!! Share some snacks, win a friend! :D

Many thanks to sir Jun Sa-a of CEDF-IT for lending us their Training Room, and Ate Tins and her team from TechTalks.ph for sponsoring the air-conditioning costs, as well as helping us put this together (again. Ate Tins, you are amazing! Thank you!). :D

spelldial: This is our little friend in the office. :) We...

Wed, 22 Jun 2011 18:05:33 +0800

spelldial:

This is our little friend in the office. :)

We bought this little friend of ours a couple of weeks ago from a guy selling it outside the streets.We decided to buy one from him and that really somehow made his day. So we decided to make it like that in the picture. We bought it to make the guy happy and so we decided to use it to make someone else happy.. :)

That little guy still needs a lot more of feeding from us here in the office.. X-D

Lytro's Picture Revolution

Wed, 22 Jun 2011 14:02:20 +0800

You know that feeling you get when you discover something that will really have a big impact? Something that has the potential to really change EVERYTHING? Well, that happened to me today. I discovered Lytro.com, a startup that just launched today. To sum up what they do, it’s this…

They’ve made a camera that lets you… “Shoot first, focus after. That’s right, AFTER.”

I’ve already reserved my camera, maybe you should too. :D

Lytro Website

spelldial: WE ARE PRINTING SPELLDIAL SHIRTS! This is a proposed...

Mon, 20 Jun 2011 18:06:59 +0800

spelldial:

WE ARE PRINTING SPELLDIAL SHIRTS!

This is a proposed SpellDial T-shirt design..

What do you think guys? If you have a better idea, design or statement.. please let us know!

I loved this!!! spelldial: Playing Helium Sticks looks easy...

Mon, 20 Jun 2011 12:25:51 +0800

I loved this!!!

spelldial:

Playing Helium Sticks looks easy huh?

Objective of the game is that by using both the index fingers of each team members, we have to lower the stick down to below our knees without losing touch of the stick

Sounds easy?

It took us almost 20 minutes just to bring it down.. X-D Man.. there’s a reason why they call it helium sticks.. hahaha!

T’was fun and learned a lesson!

Keep doing what you think you should do. When it doesn’t work that means it won’t work even though you think that is the only way..

Try. Stop. Learn. Think. Try Again..

Even though it seems like an ability game but actually it is more of a mental game.. :D

This was during the SpellDial Team get-together/ team building / chill time @ Mountain View last June 11.

It is on!!!! Google AppEngine Workshop July 2011

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 11:55:00 +0800

UPDATE: FULLY BOOKED!!! If you’re interested in another workshop, please let me know.

After a few weeks of planning and trying to get the details together, it looks like everything has finally fallen into place! Woohoo!

Except for one thing! Participants!!! Yup! All we’re lacking right now is a group of 25 people who are eager to learn about developing on the Google AppEngine Platform.

Topic: Google AppEngine Workshop - A Crash Course

Venue: TechBar (many many thanks to the awesome people at Exist for lending us the venue!) TechBar Map

Date: July 09, 2011 (Saturday)

Time: 2pm - 8pm *Participants arerequired to arrive on time, and stay until 8pm. If unable, please share to your friends who have sooo much free time. Thanks! :D

Requirements:

Bring your own laptop with GAE SDK for Python installed. If you don’t have the GAE SDK for Python installed yet, you can get it thru the GAE Website. Please verify that it is installed properly. We don’t want to waste time in troubleshooting installation issues.
Get a Ticket/Register thru our Online Event Registration Page. 25 slots only. (NO NEED TO PRINT THE TICKET. JUST BRING AN ID ON THE EVENT)
Bring some snacks to munch on, and share!! Share some snacks, win a friend! :D

Many thanks to the awesome people at Exist for lending us TechBar, and Ate Tins and her team from TechTalks.ph for helping us put this together. :D

Follow, like, and share the love!

http://twitter.com/existglobal

http://facebook.com/existglobal

http://www.linkedin.com/company/exist-global

IJM's A.C.T. NOW Songwriting Competition Event

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 18:56:56 +0800

Event Details

IJM’s A.C.T. (Against Child Trafficking) NOW Songwriting Competition Event

Grand Finals Night

June 24, 2011 (Friday), 6:30PM

The Terraces, Ayala Center Cebu

Admission is FREE!!!

See you there!

Video

Tue, 07 Jun 2011 11:44:00 +0800

Google AppEngine Workshop

Mon, 06 Jun 2011 20:36:00 +0800

Yesterday, I suddenly (trust me. It was sudden) felt the urge to hold a workshop for Google AppEngine here in my beloved hometown - Cebu City. I’ve been playing around and built apps on the GAE (Google AppEngine) platform for the past three years, and yet I can only count with my fingers the number of other developers that are familiar with GAE.

Well, aside from the fact that I’m not as outgoing as I hope to be, I think there’s not too many people who know about it. And I think one of the main reasons behind this is because they have not been given the chance to see what the platform could do for them. That’s sad. :(

So I’ve decided to hold a workshop, and share what I’ve learned over the past 3 years. I think in doing this I will hit two birds with one stone. First, it might increase the number of GAE enthusiasts in this city. And second, I would be forced to be more outgoing as I really hope to be.

Oh yeah!

P.S. I have no details yet as to the workshop. I will announce it as I get more interest from others. So if you’re interested, don’t hesitate to hit me up! Stay tuned! :D

One of the things that I feel very strongly against is human...

Fri, 20 May 2011 10:51:37 +0800

One of the things that I feel very strongly against is human trafficking, especially for sexual exploitation purposes. The victims of these are mostly children - because they can easily be exploited.

I remember when I was about 12 years old, and I was hanging out with my siblings and some of my friends on the rooftop of our house, my siblings noticed a truck pass by the rough road beside our house (a road that leads into the mountains). Now this truck had no roof, but had really high side and rear barriers (pretty much like a long dump truck. But from above in our rooftop, the view was very clear. In the truck were a few dozen children (ranging from about 5 years old to maybe 15 years old) stripped naked and with their hands tied up behind their back.

My brother even recalls making eye contact with one of the children in the truck as he looked at us with a seemingly bitter stare. I never forgot that day.

I have two sisters, a lovely girlfriend, and several female friends, all of which I could not imagine being taken, kidnapped, brought to a far away place, and then raped continuously until they are ravaged and left to die. It is such a horrible thought that always grips my heart tightly whenever I get to think of the possibility. And yet, everyday, countless numbers of girls are yanked into this horrendously evil world of sex slavery.

One of the organizations that have taken a pro active stance against this is the International Justice Mission, and I am so grateful that today I have learned that they have made some progress in this cause. International Justice Mission head mentions in CNN that sex trafficking in Cebu has been reduced by 80% because the local police has switched sides (from protecting the traffickers to protecting the trafficked victims).

This is great progress, and I look forward to even greater milestones.

WHERE WOULD YOU MOST LIKE TO VISIT ON YOUR PLANET?

Thu, 19 May 2011 13:40:00 +0800

Santorini, Greece. Because that’s one of Nicole’s favorite places. ;D