I'm not making this up:
I just upgraded my home network (wired & wireless). The equipment that I replaced cost $250 when I bought it in 2001. The new (faster) replacement equipment cost a whopping $10 after rebate.
Amazing.
February 2005 Archives
Back in the late 90's and early 00's (is that what we are calling it?), I had one username and one password for pretty much every web site I frequented. For a brief period of time, I even fell victim to Gator when it first came out.
I soon came to realize just how stupid it really was to follow this practice. If some unscrupulous character determined my password either by watching me type it, sniffing it off the network (especially wireless), or I let it slip somehow, he or she would have access to pretty much everything I did on the web, including on-line banking, eBay, PayPal, and several others.
Fortunately, someone recommended Roboforms to me about two years ago. This program stores usernames and passwords in an encrypted format on your computer's hard drives. When you visit a site to logon to, Roboforms prompts you to fill out the form and then logs you on with one click. Another great thing about the program is that it can create random passwords to use when you register somewhere. So now all of my passwords are generally 10+ characters of random letters, numbers, and special characters. The passwords are stored in an encrypted fashion on the computer that the program is installed on, so if someone should happen to gain access to your PC and copy all of the passwords, they would still need the "master password" to make any sense of them.
Finally, the "Portable Roboform" version of the software lets you copy all of your passwords onto a USB thumbdrive and is used for computers that you may use at work or a friend's PC that don't have the full-blown version of RoboForms installed.
Roboforms does cost about $30 (there is a very functionally limited version for free if you want to test it out) and some people will say that the pricetag is a bit high, but the price is well worth it in my mind. Check it out.
I just completed listening to what was probably my favorite book ever purchased from Audible.com. Wish You Well by David Baldacci is about two children who had to move to the mountains of Virginia to live with their grandmother after a car accident killed their father and put their mother in a coma. The story tells of the hardships living on a farm and how industry after industry would come into the town, strip the land of natural resources, and then move on. The story grows reminiscent of "To Kill a Mockingbird" at the end and is really worth checking out. Baldacci, who generally writes mysterious, is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors as his book Hour Game was also very good (albeit it a totally different genre than Wish You Well).
Yes, this is real money:
My Marketing professor would have loved this one.
Since this blog arrived on the scene 1.5 years ago, I've had the opportunity to use several IT "toys" both professionally and personally. Most of these items don't make a lasting impression on me, but some did. The following are the tech items that have most affected my life over this timeframe:
1, MP3 player - 1.5 years ago, I had well over 300 CDs taking up valuable space in our living room. Colleen got me the Dell DJ for Christmas 2003, and things haven't been the same since. While the Dell DJ is probably not the player I would go with if I had to do it again, the fact that there are several devices out there that can store your ENTIRE music collection on something the size of a deck of cards is amazing. The DJ follows me to work, the gym, and the car almost everywhere I go.
2, Digital Video Recorder - Shortly after I started this Blog, I switched to Dish Network and part of the deal included a DVR. This device totally changed the way we watch TV. No more complicated VCR timers and remembering which tapes had what on them. Pausing live TV while we put the kids to bed combined with the magical 30-second skip button has really changed our viewing habits. We have grown so accustomed to it that when we go to a hotel, we find ourselves looking for the remote to pause the TV.
3, Videoconferencing (VTC) - Granted, I've been using VTC ever since I started my new job, but since we've been connected to Internet2 over the past 2 years, the use of it has grown tremendously. Last Thursday afternoon I had a video call with professors at Holy Cross University in Massachusetts and immediately after that I had an ad-hoc Netmeeting call with a colleague in Puerto Rico. On the drive home, I realized just how amazing yet easy it was to accomplish the hookups.
4, Blogs & RSS - I used to keep up with what's going on in tech, politics, and entertainment through email newsletters and random websurfing. With RSS, I simply specify what content I want to stay up to date with, visit one site (Bloglines) and can read what I'm interested in and quickly discard what I'm not.
5, Gmail - I was never a big fan of web-based email, but Gmail may change all of that.
And the tech that's not quite there yet:
1, My iPaq h5555 PDA - I used to use a Palm OS device, but switched because of the number of applications and functionality of the Pocket PC platform. While I'm probably happier with the iPaq than I was with my Palm, it's not a device that has really changed my life. It's not reliable, and can crash at any moment. Web-Surfing is difficult because most web-sites don't have a version formatted for the web (those that do, such as Bloglines, are hard to find).
2, The Linksys Wireless Media Adapter - I got this device last Christmas and while I'm still happy with how it works, I find that I don't use it as much as I would have originally hoped. I'm not sure if it is because of a lack of time on my part or what, but it sits turned off most of the time.
3, Bluetooth - I tried to buy a Bluetooth cell phone, but found them too expensive. I can sync my PDA using Bluetooth, but why bother because the length of the cord on my cradle is only slightly shorter than the range I get from my Bluetooth adapter. I'm eagerly waiting for UWB.
Devices I hope are going to change lives in the future:
1, Voice over IP (VoIP) - Experiences I've had with Skype combined with the good things I hear about Vonage are going to have me seriously reconsidering my land-line phone once my Dish Network contract runs out (long story).
2, WiMax - I'm hoping for some competition for my broadband dollars from wireless providers once WiMax is commercially available.
3, PDAs with GBs of memory - I haven't heard a lot of talk about this, but once PDAs with iPod size hard drives become available, the whole paradigm of movie delivery is going to change.
4, Podcasting - I guess I just don't get it yet. I'd rather read my content than go through the bother of downloading it to my PDA and then finding the time to sit down
Just upgraded Moveable Type to version 3.15. Hope it works.
Jerome will be replacing the injured Corey Dillon in this year's lineup. The Steelers are also sending their coaching staff and 8 other players.
The fewer Patriots in the game, the better.
Check out Google Maps. Looks a lot better than Mapquest.
