Keep it Covered: Wi-Fi Security
June 30, 2008Checking office notebooks for any potential software or virus issues is part of my job as an IT engineer. As I was checking the laptop of a close colleague named Marcus (which, for the purpose of anonimity we shall call Dillbert), a unique icon labeled Data 3.5G had caught my attention. Turns out that Dillbert’s new apartment building does not yet have any internet infrastructure so he had to sign up for this service which basically lets his laptop transmit data via GPRS network. For 195 aed (roughly $55) a month, he could surf the web anywhere using a 3.5G wireless data card. The only downside is that the package he chose provides him with data download limit of up to 120mb. Which, for a man of his age, should be enough for him to be able to check his email from time to time.
His first month’s bill was for 25,000 aed ( $7142).
What the fuck, I thought. That’s ludicruously batshit crazy!
“What the fuck”, I exclaimed. “That’s ludicruously batshit crazy!”
Turns out that someone was able to leech off his connection for some reason, probably by cracking the encryption of his 3.5G card. That, or it just sucks to be him at the moment.
We hear loads of stories like this. A person opens his window pane, turns on his laptop’s wi-fi card, and basks in the chockful amount of delicious bandwidth and invisible data streming through his room from the neighbors’. It’s not that these people make a concious decision to become leechers, but unsecured wireless networks more often than not gives them a hard time not to become leechers.
After hearing Dillbert’s dilemma, I decided to post some ideas that can help ease your mind with your wi-fi’s security standpoint.
1. As unnecessary to point out as it may be, use a password. And a strong one at that. A sufficiently strong password which comprises of numbers and letters, both uppercase and lowercase, will most likely make password cracking impossible. Regularly changing your password is as good as choosing a strong one. (more…)
Utilizing Google: Link, Define, Currency Conversion, etc.
June 25, 2008About two years ago, I published an item on The Man Blog that listed several customization procedures in Google. While these fun features seem downright cool, many people are yet to discover the vast potential of the world’s most famous search engine. That said, I give you Google advanced operators (or other things Google is good for besides doing Olivia Munn image search).
Thanks to Google, the government found the whereabouts of the suppressive leader just by hitting “I’m Feeling Lucky”.
- Define - Need to know what Antidisestablishmentarianism is? Google can immediately provide definitions if you key define: antidisestablishmentarianism in the search bar. (more…)
Killer Product: Corsair Flash Survivor GT
June 16, 2008My 4Gb flash drive has this unusual habit of getting into the strangest places where it shouldn’t be – in between a sandwich, in my shoes, in a car compartment (I don’t even own a car). Yesterday, it somehow managed to find its way to the washing machine. How it got there was completely beyond me. I guess while I was too darn wasted last Friday night, the damn thing crawled out of my shirt pocket and jumped right into the washer. With my shirt!
I was so eager to plug said flash disc into my laptop to check if my precious files were still present, but I decided to let it dry. The chance of the flash disc getting fried will rise up to 80 percent if electrical current gets into the wet internal circuitry. After waiting while cursing and cursing some more, I plugged the flash drive into my laptop and LO AND BEHOLD! It’s still in one piece! It was as if the two-hour long period of getting tumble-washed, bleached, and spin-dried did nothing to it, except perhaps getting rid of a Trojan virus or two. I have no clue about its manufacturer, nor from which country it was made (I got it on sale from CD-R King), but I bet the letters i, b, and d inscribed on its surface stand for “Invincible Badass Device”.
It swam through a puddle of beer, laundry detergent, and probably vomit, got spin-dried, and all it said afterwards was “Whatever.”
Software Highlight: GoneIn60s
June 12, 2008So you were working on a 500-word blog entry about the rise and fall of communism and its effect on global warming, right? Your ideas were so vivid that words just flowed naturally from your mind to the keyboard. Must be because of the separate browser window that showed hot damn scantily-clad photos of Olivia Munn in it. Awesome.
Then you instinctively felt two holes burning on your back. Turns out your boss, who sprung out of nowhere and somehow managed to ninjically appear right behind your back, has been staring at your screen for minutes. You did what can only be described as a reflex action: you X’d out your blog window (instead of that of Olivia Munn) with your near complete article unsaved. Zomgrite?
Ninja boss is watching you work
Fortunately, thanks to a special freeware called Gonein60s, there’s a chance to recover recently-closed applications within a specified timeframe (60 seconds, by default). When running in the background, this software just hides the window until it completely closes after 60 seconds. This means if you accidentally shut down an app by mistake, you can still recover it by double-clicking the GoneIn60s system tray icon. What’s more, you won’t have to go through a rigorous setup process to run this application. Just save the exe file anywhere in your hard drive, then double-click to activvate it. You can even alter the settings to any number of seconds you prefer. Apparently, not only stealing cars can be achieved in 60 seconds time.
Double-click on the blue bathroom-tiles exe file to activate GoneIn60s. Right: Recovering a closed app from the system tray
Settings options
You can download GoneIn60s from here.
Killer Product: VAIO TP VGX-TP1G
June 10, 2008Next to cars and Olivia Munn, HDMI flatscreen TVs are the sexiest thing to ever come into being. With the introduction of DVI/HDCP and HDMI technology, the overall viewing experience on DLP, Plasma, and LCD televisions was never the same.
While shopping around my favorite Sony outlet, I got stunned by a super-sexy 40-inch Bravia HDMI television. And before I could get back to my senses, I noticed a round-shaped peripheral attached to the set that made me very weak at the knees.
The VAIO VGX-TP1G Vaio desktop allows your plasma TV to double as a computer monitor. Now that doesn’t sound impressive at all since most HDMI TVs allow connections to PCs through its DVI port. What fascinated me the most is the long range wireless keyboard which will let you switch from your favorite TV show to your favorite website without moving an inch away from your sofa. Not to mention the adorable and hip rig that boasts of its 1.66Ghz T5500 Intel Core2 Duo processor, 1 Gb RAM (upgradeable to 2Gb), a colossal 500Gb hard drive, dual layer DVD-writer, wi-fi capability, and a nifty Remote Commander. Hardcore users might not find the abovementioned specs lavish but it is guaranteed to blow minds when teamed up with a monster HDMI Bravia TV.
With this super-sweet rig combo’d with your box, you can always check your email without missing your favorite TV show, and you can always toggle from the painfully unfunny local sitcoms to YouTube for your daily comedy fix.
Killer feature(s): The super cute white cylindrical rig with minimal wire connections.
FTW Website: Weird converter
June 7, 2008Have you ever wondered how much dead Shaquille O’ Neals far you are from home? Or how many kegs it will take to fill your bathtub with beer? Or how heavy your eyeballs are (amount of last night’s sleep notwithstanding)? Then wonder no more, my mathematically challenged friend, for WeirdConverter can help you in your daily conversion needs.
As the site author simply claims, WeirdConverter is just like a normal currency converter, but with dump trucks, rhino ejaculate, and human saliva production among others as measurement units.
A couple of new things I found out through this site:
- Urine produced by an average person will fill 4 cans of beer.
- Tom Cruise is equivalent to 453 average bowel movement (sometimes more)
- A giraffe’s neck is as long as 19 flaccid penis (although in my case the ratio is 1:1 whenever I watch a Jenna Haze video)
Click to enlarge
So go ahead and amaze your friends with your mad conversion skillz! Because 5 out of 4 people are just not very good in Math.
Next Windows version due in 2010
June 5, 2008Although no specific release date for
Softpedia quoted the Microsoft spokesperson saying, “The specific release date will be determined once the company meets its quality bar for release”. If by “quality bar” they mean, “eye candy enough to entice users to switch in spite of the sheer frustration its bugs could bring”, then I’m so into it.
This leak follows earlier details on the OS, which were sent to select Microsoft pertners in January 2008, suggested that windows 7 – having just reached the Milestone 1, or simply M1 stage (which refers to a first-version software build) – would be completed by the end of 2009. By then people, God forbid, would be advised to stop buying new computers for fear that desktop defenestration incidents would reach a new high.
Windows 7 is thought to include
Screenshot of Windows 7 M1 Build 6519 desktop - served on banana leaf
Just Another Tech Blog
Sure there are a million tech sites out there that cover the most mundane computer issues to the geekiest topics known to even frighten the living daylights out of your mother who once poured bleach on your CPU for fear that it might be infected with a virus. Well this blog is one of those geek blogs, except that it’s mother-friendly.
In here you won’t find no puzzling jargons, futuristic hypercentral coding system of the primary flux capacitor, nor bits and pieces that only existed in Doc Emmett Brown’s imagination. It will just be you, me, and your computer running on Windows platform, with some little tips and tricks, product highlights, and some weird websites thrown in every now and then for a well-balanced week. And, if I don’t feel quite lazy, I might break down a couple of reasons as to why you should avoid Mac at any cost. (more…)
