The French company Meccano is developing a robot that communicates through WiFi. You can use this hobby robot as a webcam, manage over the internet, digital camera, alarm/sentry, mp3 player or communicate via phone over the internet. Roughly $375.00? Available Fall 2008 Link
Get Yours Here for Free Here!
Many users have complained about Windows Vista. I have noticed that this is because of the lack of sufficient hardware and users NOT wanting to change. As time goes by, Operating Systems will not wait for us (the end-user).
Several websites have theories on Windows 7 (the next OS). From all of the screenshots, it appears to be much like Windows Vista and it will offer touch screeen capabilities.
You will have to change. Whether it is Windows Vista, Windows 7 or (Linux) Ubuntu. With Web 2.0- Wiki, RSS, PodCasts, blogging and changes here, you will change. Are you blogging yet?
We are at a transitional stage where change is becoming more frequent. You can ride the XP bus until 2014, but in this world, to stay competitive, you will change or fade away….technology will not wait.
You can fight with Microsoft, deny Linux or ignore Web 2.0, but you will be lost. Linux is coming up, Microsoft is changing and the World Wide Web is not waiting for you. You will have to educate yourself. You will have to change or, you can be a lamer.
It’s amazing what you can find with Google. Most people don’t know it is a calculator, conversion tool, dictionary, or weather source. Here’s some examples.
Calculator
| + – * / | basic arithmetic | 12 + 34 - 56 * 7 / 8 | ||
| % of | percentage of | 45% of 39 | ||
| ^ or ** | raise to a power | 2^5 or 2**5 | ||
| the nth root of | nth root | 4th root of 16 | ||
| old units in new units | convert units | 300 Euros in USD, 130 lbs in kg, or 31 in hex |
Weather
weather Seattle WA, weather 81612
(Show the current weather and forecast.
Note: No colon after weather.)
Dictionary
define:kerning
(Find definitions for kerning from the Web.)
For a full list:
http://www.googleguide.com/advanced_operators_reference.html
Live Search Maps is a great alternative to Google Maps.
You can also download a Microsoft Outlook Add-In (Live Maps.)
Ever wanted to visit the inside of your computer but you were too scared? Link This virtual computer tour not only takes you through your computer, but gives you a small video on what the inner workings do. Go check it out.
Jon Ward recently invited me to Namyz. Go check it out
In today’s global economy, you have to network yourself.
From Namyz:
There is little that is as important as your good name. The importance of your name and online reputation is steadily increasing as more and more people flock to the Web. Naymz is an innovative Reputation Network that lets you establish and promote your good name online.
After reading an article on CNN, it has always been obvious that utility companies can be compromised through cyberattacks. Managed stations that use computers to control utilities are the most vulnerable. With firewalls misconfigured, weak passwords, missing patches and other key security items, hackers can compromise these systems and possibly shutdown power grids.
CNN’s article on TVA (The Tennessee Valley Authority) explored the findings of the GAO (Government Accounting Office); findings that make 9 million customers vulnerable. With TVA operating more than 50 nuclear reactors and other forms of power, the protection of this part of the nation’s critical infrastructure is key to the nation’s security. With our dependence on oil and prices reaching record highs, the U.S. population is nervous about the current recession, energy and the weak American dollar. A Power grid failing because of cyber terrorism would create a lack of trust in the government and an uneasy feeling of impending doom. (terrorism)
I have discussed the protection of the nation’s infrastructure with other Infragard members and often look at SCADA and power systems. We’ve talked about this for years. These findings are good. Why? So other agencies and private industries can tighten their own security. Hopefully everyone is listening and doing something about their own networks.
Several times we have released our Internet Security Whitepaper. Many of you have asked us for the powerpoint version to ‘cut down’ on reading and to use in training. This whitepaper has been published nationally.
Powerpoint - network-security
Whitepaper - networksecurity (Word Format)
There is an excellent article in a TechRepublic blog. The 10 biggest laws that can affect you personally or businesses is highlighted.
Working with students and teaching ethical hacking leaves us on the border of legal vs. illegal. Giving tools out - tools that are known to be used by hackers and finding the trust in students so these future Information Technology Professionals can protect their networks draws a line down the legal/illegal fence. ECCouncil’s CEH teaches the necessary foundation of preventing hackers from stealing data. Here are the laws highlighted at TechRepublic.
Read the full blog at TechRepublic
Ironkey makes one of the most incredible usb drives on the market. The strong encryption helps to keep your data safe. For more information, click on their picture above.
From Ironkey:
The encryption keys used to protect your data are generated in hardware by a FIPS 140-2 compliant True Random Number Generator on the IronKey Cryptochip. This ensures maximum protection via the encryption ciphers. The keys are generated in the Cryptochip when you initialize your IronKey, and they never leave the secure hardware to be placed in flash memory or on your computer.
You have to look at humans today. We are always on the go and if we don’t have our PDA’s or thumbdrives with us, we often forget files. With Live Mesh, we can synchronize files on multiple computers through live desktop. To learn more, visit www.mesh.com
Great, very functional idea. Excellent, Excellent, Excellent. Downside, security…we have to look at who gets access and who doesn’t (from work). Files could walk away from your company if misused (IT Managers need to manage this).
In the near future, other devices that will be supported include the MAC. Great idea Microsoft.
Somedays, it’s hard to enjoy the Internet. Tonight my wife got another phishing email. This one ironically ‘comes’ from the FBI. The irony behind it all is I look into these type of crimes and report them if I have greater detail than the FBI.
Remember, if you get anything from a bank, financial institution, government agency or anywhere that wants critical data, don’t give your personal information to the individual, website or email. Report the information to the websites below.
www.cybercrime.gov Great information and documents.
The FBI’s site is http://www.fbi.gov/cyberinvest/escams.htm
Remember, threats are a crime, report them for your safety (local law enforcement) and so this information can be investigated.
The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) was established as a partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C) to serve as a means to receive Internet related criminal complaints and to further research, develop, and refer the criminal complaints to federal, state, local, or international law enforcement and/or regulatory agencies for any investigation they deem to be appropriate. http://www.ic3.gov/
Report the Scams you receive.
Yes, even another one. Amazingly we use to pay for these. Cool tool. Powerful. Link
RegToy is a collection of useful utilities : tweaking, window manager, shell context menu, registry cleaner, file renamer, screen capture, memory cleaner , disk cleaner , much more. It also is available in some languages.
