Simon.

Image Source: Dropbox

Hello All,

Recently a friend introduced me to a good bit of freeware called Dropbox. Dropbox is a secure backup up facility which is the answer to those of us who have to carry around a lot of memory sticks!

Dropbox works by first having you create an account. To start of it is free to create an account, and they also give you 2GB to get on with. If you need more, you simply sign up for their paid version and get up to 50GB! Anyway once you have signed up, Dropbox has you install a client on your computer, which is available on all platforms! Once you have installed the client, this is when the fun begins!

In effect (as mentioned), Dropbox first give you a free 2GB storage space. Within this space you have a private area where you securely store your personal files and a public folder. In the public folder (as it sounds), you put files you want anyone to see and simply link them. Also to ensure you are not limited Dropbox let you create other folders within your space which you can keep private or make public to only certain people.

You can install Dropbox on multiple computers, and every time you add a file to your Dropbox area a note of that addition is made. This means when you next turn on a computer where you did not make that previous update – the client on that computer will check your Dropbox area and copy the files down. So as you can see, Dropbox makes the memory stick obsolete. To further the ability of the service even more, you can login online to upload and download files, if you are on a public machine without the Dropbox client.

Dropbox also offer a photo facility which allows you to create slideshows of your pictures.

During the process of my latest group university project (Swimming pool booking system), Dropbox has proven to be invaluable! We have created shared folder amongst ourselves, and we simply add in the bits we are each doing. When a file/folder is added Dropbox even tell you of that update – Brilliant!

Well I hope I have wetted your appetite for using Dropbox! Currently there is a scheme where you can get free extra memory of you refer someone to the service – Give it a go!

Image Source: Stellarium

Today I thought I would tell you about a cool bit of freeware for you star gazers out there called Stellarium! Stellarium is a brilliant planetarium software which allows you to star gze on your computer, from any point in the world. An example can be seen above.

I have only used/found this sfotware quite recently but it is really cool! As bonus to, the data you receive is not static but is dynamically updated. So for example – if you want to see where the stars are from the point of Tower bridge, Stellarium will give you an accurate view of where the stars are at that point!

Stellarium will even go as far as telling you the name and exact position of a particular star! There are loads of other cool things Stellarium offers, and I would encourage you to give it ago!

With Linux distros being an interest of mine; over time I have tried/installed many, and each time liking the ones I have tried. However more recently with new modules I have started at University this semester, I thought I would choose a Linux distro that I felt I could comfortably work with and be easy to use and configure, but at the same time, still letting me get down to the more technical side of the OS. As you can guess for this is chose Ubuntu and there more later version 8.10 Intrepid Ibex.

Among the the previous versions of the distro I have tried, I was really impressed, with 8.10 version. Having not tried Ubuntu since Gutsy Gibbon (but still using other Linux distros :p), I was really impressed, with what had been improved. One key example is the network manager. I remember having real problems with it and having to mess about with things like NDISwrapper due to there being nor WPA support. In 8.10 this is totally different; there is WPA support and I was connected in seconds! Another key improvement I noted was the actual installation, as this was far quicker. Well I better stop, as I could go on for hours, about the big and more subtle changes!

The only thing I did find a pain was, is the NVIDIA driver support. As I came to realise I was not the only one, and issues were common. To me this was important as I did not want a 800×600 resolution, which I would have had without additional drivers. Of course Ubuntu, suggested some restricted Drivers, either versions 173 or 177. For ease these can be downloaded using the application add/remove option in Ubuntu.

Initially I tried both drivers, but on boot up I just got past the login screen, and then everything stopped, and I was presented with a plain screen! I tried many different things, and ended up having to re-install 2-3 times. This was because you could not shut down, but only physically ‘turn-off’, which in turn corrupted GRUB Grrrrrrrrrrrr! However I did find a solution!

Solution:

The NVIDIA 173 driver which I was using was ok, but for two components, called compiz and compiz-core. These are the 3D accelerator, parts of the driver, which are not so good, with older/run of the mill graphics cards. So the only answer was to remove these two components! The way I did it was as follows:

Install the driver you want using the add/remove app – The quick and easy part. Next (once installation is complete), is to remove the two components. For this you will need to go to terminal, and do the following:

sudo apt-get remove compiz

sudo apt-get remove compiz-core

At this point (taking into account both have been removed) you can exit terminal and then restart your computer. When you restart, you should be able to login and configure your graphics card, as well as seeing an instant change in resolution even before configuring!

Well I hopes this helps some of you, as it did me!

*I do not take responsibility for any damages, caused by anything said/expressed in this post or anywhere on this site.**

A man by the name of Lord Stephen Carter has drafted a report (i have not read, as they are usually very long!), which in a summary, suggests in which ‘digital britain’ should operate. With regards to UK Internet piracy, this subject is one which is of great importance in the draft.

As an example from the report: ISP’s by law will be required to inform down loaders/up loaders of copyrighted data, that what they are doing, the ISP knows about. For those who do not listen, mass data on the user will be collected and made available to the copyright owners.

The above is just part of this draft report, which was triggered by the MoU – Memorandum of Understanding. This document outlined an agreement between ISP’s and copyright holders, to state how they would deal with piracy. This was done last July. As an example to see how far this MoU has gone, think of this – Did you recieve a letter from your ISP educating you online piracy and such? Well if you did, your ISP suspects you of exchanging copyrighted material or someone else downloading/uploading from your IP address!

Although I feel to uphold copyright law and to protect creators is important, I feel any enforcement will have to be very carefully thought out. A key reason for this is the example above. If you have an un-protected wireless network, anyone could connect, and violate these laws in any number of ways – Any data they exchange will be through your IP address. Of course no one is denying the wireless router should be protected anyway! I believe there was an issue like this, which featured during a watch dog episode. The Link is here: Watchdog Article.

Well anyway that’s about the crux of it! The only other comment I would make is that, we seem to be becoming a “Super Nanny” nation, which now seem to be attempting to censor the Internet. The question I also ask is where does this leave sites like the BBC Iplayer and especially YouTube? Well anyway a move like this should be quite good for us lot with jobs in IT!

To find out more, check out the finacial times article: Internet piracy regulations planned for UK

To kick off the first post of the year, I thought I would briefly go into the background of Ethical hacking which is part of a key subject area and interest of mine – IT Security.

When casually chatting amongst friends, about hacking it can very quickly, be seen as a negative aspect of computing, and only something, that people with malicious intentions practice. In fact although the negative aspects of hacking are partly true, there are some good sides to it as well!

As basic start you have two main types of hacker – Black Hat and White Hat. A Black hat hacker, is a person, who attacks a system with malicious intent, where as a white hat hacker, is a person with a more positive, or exploratory purpose.

Also without steering to far off the subject of network and IT security, the term ‘Hack’ could be used, in the form of a short cut someone has found for a system. As you can see another positive side, to the work Hacking.

Anyway getting back to the main point, of Ethical hacking. As you can see from above, there are two main forms of hacker. As you may have already, guessed, we can associate a Ethical hacker with a White hat hacker. So what makes a Ethical hacker different apart from the points already mentioned? Also why is it justified for them to ‘hack’ a system?

In general an Ethical hacker is usually employed by someone else to test a system for vulnerabilities, a less reputable person (black hat), may exploit. Usually using the same tools and procedures(none of which i will name :p ), a Ethical hacker can identify holes in a system, and generate a report, to give to the owner of the system, listing the vulnerabilities, and possible solutions. This process in the business world, usually is called penetration testing or intrusion testing.

So in response to our two main questions – It is justified for an ethical hacker to attempt an attack or compromise, as they would have the permission of the owner and be doing it for a good purpose. This reason also goes in hand with what makes an ethical hacker different.

In this age when technology is at its height, and we use it to store and manipulate, so much of our personal details, the services a Ethical hacker provides are very much important to each and every organisation, dealing in information. A good report from a penetration test can really help an organisations ‘Plan-Protect-Repond’ cycle.

As you have most likely gathered, how certain tools and procedures are used, is really put down to the discretion and morals of that user.

Well as you can see this is a basic background into Ethical hacking and I intend build on this in new posts!

That’s it for now!

As you can see from the last post date, it has been quite a while, since a new post has been created, but I have still been monitoring emails!

Well what’s new? – Its clearly 2009 and since September I have been in my second year (Level 5) at Kingston University, still studying Computer Science.

What can you expect? Well having just completed my first semester, you will be sure to find lots of interesting sections, of what I and others have been up to in various modules. Also within a week or so, I will be starting my second semester. Again there is lots of interesting content here, from Network Software, to information project managment.

As well as Uni stuff, there will still be lots other intesting content from IT security to problem solving! I will aim to do a post most weeks, with something new or fresh.

Well thats it for now, but you will find a short post following this.

On browsing around the net I have found another interesting project concerning Google. Now nearly everyone reading this will have certainly of heard or used Google Maps, Earth, street etc. Well as of the early part of this month Google and the US defense department have launched a new satellite called the GeoEye-1.

This is a commercial satellite (Although controlled by the US Defense department), which Google has sole ownership of any images produced by it. Due to how popular such applications as Google maps and Earth have been, this satellite I feel, will be of great use in producing better quality maps/images, for all to use.

Although this satellite is mainly for commercai use, it is certainly able to take fairly high resolution images, considering its distance. However I believe there are limits to what Google can actually access, as there is US legislation, stopping them from accessing, the very high resolution images.

Still I will look foward to the further development of Google Maps and Earth etc. and also to see what else they can come up with/include in these web apps.

Check out the site below for more info on the Satellite:

Google Military-Controlled Satellite Reaches Orbit, We Don’t Feel Lucky

Also see the video below of the launch:

Bye

Pic – T-Mobile G1 announced – Live Photos & Video

Hello All,

It has been announced that Google and T-Mobile will be bringing a new phone out called the T-Mobile G1. From what I have seen the actual device is made by HTC, and from the experince I have had with HTC, their products are pretty reliable and high spec!

The OS is made by a company called Android, and is also in fact named Android! The phone is packed full of features, and is designed to take full advantage of Google products, such as GMail and Google Maps etc.

The device itself has Quadband and is also 3G ready offering both EDGE and HSDPA. The phone also comes complete with WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth, 3.2mp camera and MicroSD card slot supporting up to 8GB. The phone is fully touch screen and also comes complete with a QWERTY keyboard and tracker ball etc.

The G1 I feel is a great development, following the IPhone’s way of thinking, but at the same time, able to rival the IPhone, with its vast array of features. As well as this it looks pretty cool to!

Check out the Android site (Link Below), for more information, pics and videos:

Android – T-Mobile G1 announced – Live Photos & Video

Bye

Yes I know I did a post yesterday, but as the Hadron Collider is such an interesting topic, I thought I would write about it and also focus on ‘the grid’ section of it.

Now as I would expect, due to the large media coverage on the collider, you should know what it does, and a basic idea of how it works. If not I will say what I understood from it:

The genereal purpose of the collider is to firstly get a more detailed view into physics and to understand better such events as the ‘Big Bang’. The collider is a circular machine covering a distance of 27km, passing through both Switzerland and France, but also involving overe 100 different countries in its development.

The collider works by firing particles into acclerators, which bring them to almost light speed. By doing this the particles are ‘boosted’ to hold massive amounts of energy. Once powerful enough and fast enough, two beams of partcicles are fired into the 27km tunnel at opposite directions, and are then forced to collide.

Well what you have just read is a basic understanding I found whilst reading about the collider.

Anyway, focussing more on the grid. When these particles collide they produce massive amounts of data which need to be collected. This is done by detectors placed around the tunnel, searching for various different things, such as the ‘God Particle’ and ‘anti-matter’. Naturally each detector has been given a name to suit its purpose!

For this a new computer system known as ‘The Grid’, the largest on the planet has been created. This system has been designed to cope with and collect around 700MB of data a second and millions of GB’s a year! Even with a system like this, it is expected not all the data will be able to be dealt with. To get over this, and how this system got its name (‘The Grid’), scientists are sharing the data collected so that it can also processed by others. The data is only being shared with a handful of institutes, for many reasons, but one main one being, you need a Super Computer to process the data!

Where the start of the Grid is held in Geneva, where it is said the WWW was born, some also say due to the development of The Grid, a new age of computing has begun. If you think of the storage and the processing power that is required to fuel a project like this, it certainly could look like a change in computing. One example could be the steering away from the traditional magnetic storage, and the incresead development of holographic storage perhaps.

Well anyway as you would have found this is an exciting subject and I will look forward to seeing what it brings us both in science and technology!

Finally to finish off check out the link below to find out more about the collider. Also see the video for more of a ‘different’ way to learn about the collider:

BBC – ‘Big Bang’ experiment starts well

Bye

In this post I thought i would bring a little comedy, as we all like to laugh! Now most of you reading this would remember the Back to the Future movie series etc. Well on browsing around the web I found a Microsoft Keynote/Tech Ed/Comedy sketch event that Microsoft held some time ago. Although it is sometime ago, I still think its funny!

The sketch (as you will see), basically makes a point about all of Micrsosft’s previous visions, such as web storage, and how they now concentrate on real world issues and how they tackle IT in the current day. As well as this, there is (as mentioned) the back to the future comedy element, with all the characters, you know and love (except not all the original actors)!

Here’s the video – Enjoy:

Hope you enjoyed it!