Big news today in all things tech, and more specifically - the cloud storage arena. After years of rumors, Google Drive has finally been released; but what’s more interesting is just the other day Microsoft (re)released their cloud storage solution: SkyDrive.
Cloud storage and syncing is nothing new - DropBox, Box.net, SugarSync have been doing it for quite some time now. So what’s the big deal with Google and Microsoft jumping into the game? Hell, Apple has been in it for a while as well with iCloud - Steve Jobs even tried to buy out DropBox! Well the “big deal” is exactly that - these guys are big. Microsoft and Google have the potential to really bring cloud storage mainstream and have the rest of the internet jump on this opportunity - and that’s going to really change things.
All of these services have their ups and downs, and that’s exactly what we need - Companies to innovate and bring new features to the table to drive down prices and increase usability.
Personally, I’m an absolute huge fan of Dropbox; I don’t think I could live without it anymore. I have my desktop, netbook, and Android phone all synced up to the service. My pictures, documents, videos, projects, etc are all stored on the cloud and I’ve gotten it to the point where if any of my devices were destroyed, completely obliterated, I’d be alright (Except for the fact that I’d be out a computer/phone…). Currently I don’t pay for the service, but I have 15GB of free space available to me (Thank-you referral links and other bonuses) and I’m only using about half of it, but I’ve looked at Dropbox’s pricing and to be honest - it’s too much, even if I needed the space. Both Microsoft SkyDrive and Google Drive are really undercutting Dropbox’s prices and I’m curious to what Drew Houston is planning to do about that.
Competition is always a good thing - at least from the consumer perspective. To be honest, that’s why I don’t bother participating in iOS vs Android debates anymore - both are pushing each other to become a better product and you should just pick the one that suits you best (And for me, that’s Android).
I’m really looking forward to see what all of these companies are going to push out. I think I’m going to stick with Dropbox regardless though, unless something really blows me out of the water. As much as I love Google, Dropbox is a perfectly viable alternative and switching over to GDrive doesn’t seem to benefit me right now - so I’d prefer to keep some sort of distance between the company, considering they already own every other part of my online life.
I would love to give some reviews on all of the Android apps, but right now Google won’t let me update - their app said they would “notify me” when it was ready.. and SkyDrive is making a bold (And stupid) move of not (currently) supporting Android - and well, iCloud is iOS only. So, not much I can review there.
What does everyone else use for the cloud storage solutions - and if you don’t have one, which would you choose?
Filed under google drive dropbox skydrive box cloud cloud storage
If you haven’t already, check out my original post: “Tightening up Security”.
Over the past couple weeks I’ve really been trying to ensure all my bases are covered (Or at least as covered as I can - unfortunately when the bad guys have the will, they have a way) regarding my computer security. My first post brought up network and data encryption, backups, monitoring software, and making locking down your computer to thwart amateur physical attacks; but I left out a few things that I wanted to come back and touch on.
The first things I want to talk about is 3rd party software:
After years of using computers, most people know what their default go-to software applications are for various computing scenarios. For instance they use Browser X for web browsing, Y reader for PDF files, and Z program for file compression. Unfortunately, as we get into our comfort zone - the bad guys are sneaking in the back door quietly while we’re kicking back and taking a nap.
Time and time again will show that the more popular a program is - the more likely it is to be targeted for exploits and malicious use. Just throw up the Windows vs. OSX debates; yes, OSX is safer since it is Unix based - but it also has a much lower market share, so why should the bad guys bother with it when they can get 3x as many users by targeting an easier and larger user base? Now, just because a program is popular doesn’t automatically mean that it will be bad - but you can be sure that individuals are working to break it.
Anyhow, a few programs that I use as alternatives (Feel free to add to this by reblogging or replying to the question box below - Also keep in mind not all of these are security issues, some I just like to switch out for other reasons):
- Internet Explorer - Chrome or FireFox (I use Chrome)
- Adobe Acrobat Reader - FoxIt Reader (Definitely should switch to this or another alternative PDF Reader, Acrobat Reader is bad news)
- WinRar - 7Zip
- Windows Media Player - VLC Player
- Microsoft Windows Office - Open Office or Libre Office (Actually I still use MS Office since I get it for like $10 on campus, but definitely think these are worth mentioning)
The second item I would like to address is passwords:
Passwords are used for everything - and for good reason, they keep your information safe! But this is an example of a chain is only as strong as it’s weakest link, and guess what - that weakest link is you.
Absolutely everyone needs to follow good password protocol. But what does that mean? It means a lot of different things, I could lecture for hours on end just on very simple things - but I’ll try to knock a few out right here.
Length - For just a single password - this is probably the most important property in a good password. At
DerbyCon last year one of the speakers was demonstrating how to crack every Windows password hash on the computer if an attacker had physical access; during this - we watched as a more complex password (Something like b3nk3n0b1) was cracked insanely quickly while a longer, less complex password, (Something like LolNoOneWillEverGuessThisPass) took incredibly long - if it even was cracked, I can’t remember - but point being that length definitely matters, and if you throw in complexity as well - you’re golden.. which drives me into my next point.
Complexity - People, it’s so simple. Just add a few random symbols, spaces, and capital letters, and for the love of God, stop making your passwords dictionary words or well known facts about yourself. Just a short example here on how much of a difference this can make just by adding one abnormal symbol.
The password “mypassword” would take a desktop PC about 6 days to crack.
The password “mypassword1” would take a desktop PC about 16 years to crack.
The password “mypassword%” would take a desktop PC about 69 years to crack.
Please, please, please keep in mind that this is strictly for informational purposes related to brute forcing a password and this does not take into consideration smarter analyzing - so please do not use “mypassword%” because in reality it would be cracked very quickly when using various techniques if you were sincerely being targeted. The point I want to make here is that using symbols will drastically increase your security - so do it!
Stop using the same password for everything - This is so, so important. Every time you sign up at a website or service and you use the same username/email/password that you always do - you’re digging yourself a deeper grave. It just takes one of these sites to be compromised and then an attacker has access to an entire database of username password combinations in which probably 1/3 - 1/2 of these will be working for many other sites as well. The more you do this as well, the less chance you have of even knowing some of your data was compromised - how often do you go on a website to never do so again? You could come back a year later and find out someone has been posing as you, or worse - using other services as well that you didn’t know about. Not. Fun.
So you think you’ll have a harder time remembering all of your passwords if you stop using the same one? Setup a system for your passwords that allows them to change for each website - but in a way that you’ll easily be able to distinguish the passwords apart from each other, but still have someone not be able to guess what another password is by looking at another. Maybe throw in the name of the site you’re on, or something like that. There’s a world of different combinations - and you best come up with one since this is extremely pivotal point in password security.
Facebook/Twitter/G+/etc Single Sign-On - This one is pretty easy to do. If you’re using Facebook or some other network to register and login for websites - never re-enter your password! The cookies are saved and unless it’s a malicious (Or extremely poorly coded site which you don’t want to be a part of anyways) then never input your sensitive information on the website, they should be making a direct call to XYZ in which if you’re already logged in (If not, go login on XYZ’s site and then refresh the page you’re trying to register/login to) then it should just prompt you if you want to add the website or something - but it should never ask you to input your information unless they’re just trying to steal it.
Whew - *wipes brow*
That turned out to be a bit longer that I expected, but glad I got to it - Actually this post has been sitting in my Tumblr tab for a day now since I got busy and wanted to make sure to come back to this. As I continue to go into lock-down mode to protect myself from the bad guys if I come up with anything else I’ll be sure to write about it and hopefully others can work to protect themselves as well!
As always - if you’d like to, add what you do to increase your security by either reblogging or answering the question below!
What do you do to increase security?
Filed under security passwords hacking netsec
Lately I’ve been trying to be better about following good security protocol, even for things I may think don’t need as much of a lock down. With the increasing influence of the US government infringing on our privacy rights with ACTA, SOPA, and CISPA - it’s becoming more and more prevalent that we really need to take matters into our own hands to ensure that our online anonymity is preserved and our rights not left on the curb.
There are many ways in which to protect your information and I’m trying to (eventually) pull out all the stops. A few things that I’ve added are below:
VPN (Virtual Private Network)
This is probably one of the best things someone can invest in; especially with all the recent crack down on internet traffic privacy. I’ve been meaning to look into getting one for quite some time, and finally am getting around to it. I read a bunch of reviews and noticed a trend among a lot of “popular” VPN services, and that was that they were keeping logs on all of your data! Now that’s a big no-no if the reason you’re getting a VPN is to preserve anonymity. After a bit of research I found a nice article by TorrentFreak that really helped me make a decision in who I would go with (Which I’ve decided on these guys, by the way). A VPN will also, and this is another huge benefit for me, encrypt all of your traffic so if you’re on a public wi-fi you don’t have to worry about having your data be snooped upon.
TrueCrypt (Data Encryption)
Now I’m sure we all have things our computer that are sensitive, such as financial information, that we most definitely would not want prying eyes looking upon. My original reason upon using TrueCrypt (Or just any encryption in general, just TrueCrypt is known for being excellent) is that I use DropBox for everything - and I mean everything - I could throw my netbook and my desktop out the window and still have all my data preserved. Now as far as I know, DropBox only encrypts their data in-transit, and not actually on their hard drives - and I’ve heard a few horror stories of security issues in DropBox’s early days, so definitely doesn’t hurt to be on the safe side; plus now my data is also encrypted from a physical theft or break-in.
BIOS Password
Having a password on your BIOS is just an extra layer of protection from physical theft. I bring my netbook with me just about everywhere, and while I have any sensitive data in TrueCrypt drives - I still don’t like the thought of someone running through my stuff. This will prevent users from re-installing the operating system (Assuming they don’t physically take out the harddrive) as well as from booting up the machine to begin with. It’s not a perfect solution, but I think it would definitely help thwart those who are less tech savvy.
Prey (Or other monitoring software)
Prey is software that you can install on your machine that can do a little bit of extra snooping for you if your computer is stolen. You can check out their website for a full list of features, but in short it can: Take pictures of the thief, lock your computer, play sounds, monitor any changed files, etc.
Personally, I have a non password-protected guest account on my netbook - and then my password protected main account in order to lure the thief into the guest account which has limited privileges. (Yes, I know this is imperfect as well since a tech savvy person can always use a tool to crack the Windows password hash - but regardless, all my sensitive data is stored in TrueCrypt files).
Dropbox (Backup and syncing solution)
This one doesn’t really fall under security - but I think a proper backup routine is absolutely essential since you never know when shit will hit the fan. Read my notes above on TrueCrypt on my setup for this to ensure your data is secure. I live by Dropbox though, I have 3 flash drives on my key-chain and I don’t even use them (Okay, that’s a lie - my 8GB drive has 5/6 of the Star Wars Episodes on it and BT5 was on another, but I think that drive failed anyways - regardless, I don’t use it for working data like most people would). I keep all my pictures, documents, work, code, etc. all backed up onto Dropbox - As well as a folder simply for installation executables that I can’t live without on a new Windows installation, so if I ever reformat - boom, I have all the programs I could possibly want.
Well that’s all I’ve got - for now. What are you doing to help tighten up your own security?
Filed under vpn security networking computers
I’ve been working a couple different apps for a while now - the main wait just being I haven’t had a reason to finish, and I’m a perfectionist. Well, recently I fix both of those reasons by:
1) Now I have a reason since I would like to build my portfolio to kick start my app development freelancing so I can support my move to California.
2) I realized things won’t always be perfect, and I’d rather fix the big bugs that were present and then go ahead and publish - if I noticed something is wrong I’ll fix it right away. The biggest issues I think are graphics, which I plan to have a dedicated graphics artist for future apps and may have them help tweak my previous ones later.
Anyhow - what I’m getting at here is: I finally published my first two “real” (I say real because I had my résumé app published, but that doesn’t really count) apps!
The first app that I released is for a web design company - Vezign Web Design.
Application link.
The app is of course made to help the company stand out from others, but would (again, of course) be completely pointless if it was just a marketing ploy - I mean, who would download that?
So to solve that issue, I added a few neat features that we thought web design companies, as well as client would use - including:
- Google Rank Check - Check where your domain ranks among specific keywords on Google.
- Top Keywords Check - Check what your top search terms are for your domain
- WHOIS - Self explanatory (But for those of you who aren’t webmasters - a WHOIS search gives detailed information about the owner of a domain)
- Domain Check - Checks to see if a domain is available
- Backlink Count - This one isn’t released yet, but will check how many backlinks are available for a site
All in all - I hope it will be a valuable resource to some people, as well as help market towards my client.
My second app I’ve released if for a local business - Puppywood Pet Resort.
Application link.
Puppywood Pet Resort is a business that takes care of your pets (Dogs & Cats) during the day (daycare) so that they get their exercise while you are at work. They also provide pet boarding - so that you can go on vacation and know that your pet is being taken care of!
The app solves a few problems that the business were having:
- Clients needs a quick and easy way to let Puppywood know that they wanted to schedule a day for their pet to come in.
- Contact details were not easily found.
- Webcams did not work on Android’s stock browser
The first problem was solved by having a way to book a reservation from their phone - Just enter in your details and voilà! Also, the app will save some of your previous information (Name, Email, Phone, etc) so that you don’t have to re-enter next time. I’m looking to expand this later as well to make it more design friendly and easier if you have multiple pets.
The second problem was a very simple solution - just have a “Contact Us” page with their application. The page has a phone number, email address, and physical address - all which have intents linked to them so that they do the following, respectfully, when clicked: Call, Open a compose email message, Open up Google Maps to the location.
The third one was a bit trickier - but I was able to find an open source solution to control .mjpeg streams on their website. So - that one is pretty cut and dry, but works great!
All in all I’m really excited to have my applications released and hopefully really start diving head first into the development opportunity.
I’d really appreciate some constructive criticism and feedback - so go wild! ( Oh, and a 5-star review is always nice too if you think I earned it :) )
Filed under android apps development programming
I’ve been saying for months now that I want to move out to California and join my good friend Zach LaGreca in the heart of technology, Silicon Valley. While I was previously waiting on a job offer, or something else to really make me feel comfortable in getting out there - I have come to realize that this is an excuse and if I want to do something, I have to do it!
For that reason, I’m flying out there at the beginning of next month to scope things out (Meaning hang with friends for an extended weekend, shh - I’m trying to sound professional) and then a month after that, once the school quarter is over, I’m packing up and driving across the country!
“But Thomas, what will you do for a job?” If you’ve followed my previous posts, I’ve been working on a few Android Applications - These have been to help me get comfortable with the Android SDK; so I plan to work with others and develop applications for clients on a professional level. I love the Android platform and I think this would be an awesome fit for me, especially since I won’t have to report to anyone else and can truly learn and work on what I want to better improve my abilities!
Wish me luck, world. Time for me to take you on.
Filed under california silicon valley moving
The other day I was watching a comedy show with my Brother and the two comedians mentioned some obscure movies that I had never heard of; this got me thinking - what other great films have I missed out on? Now I’ll be honest, there are some movies that I’m somewhat ashamed to say I’ve never seen, or haven’t finished a series, like the Lord of the Rings films.
Browsing through forums and other sites (Cough, Reddit) it’s not an abnormal occasion that I don’t get a joke because I haven’t seen a movie. For that reason - I’ve decided to build up a good list of movies that every nerdy person (Or if you just like good movies) should see.
And we begin.
- Star Wars Episodes (Order is personal preference)
- Primer
- Matrix (Your choice if you want to watch the full Trilogy)
- Lord of the Rings
- Hackers
- Spaceballs
- Tron (New and Old)
- Planet of the Apes
- Short Circuit
That should last me at least a little while - what else would you add?
Filed under movies nerd star wars matrix lord of the rings
I was working in a 60,000 line file today - all I could think, lol.
I’ve decided to re-do my resume website ( http://ThomasBiddle.info ) - I’m really excited about it. I’m making it interactive and I’m actually having fun writing everything for it, I think it’ll be enjoyable for possible employers to play with also, hopefully it will really make me stand out!
Filed under resume computer science programming
I’ve finally gotten around to updating my LinkedIn profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/thomasbiddle
If anyone would like to connect - feel free to message me!
Over the weekend I’ll probably work on improving some other important aspects of my portfolio. I’m really feeling optimistic about some great opportunities for what lies ahead!
How is everyone else planning on spending their weekend? :)
Filed under linkedin networking
