time to live :: technology

Ode to an MD5 Checksum

noreply@blogger.com (Scott) — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 17:50:00 +0000

Before I made my hash
I forgot to add the salt.
Now you've become so predictable
and it's really all my fault.

Bathed in white noise
from some foreign sector,
Is this the dubious voice
of an alien initialization vector?

Pay heed to the conductor
don't sully the notation.
Every bit dances through
their left-bit rotation.

One step forward
one step back.
I should have seen this coming -
a surprise birthday attack!

A torpor of smoke and confusion
amid flashing lights and double-vision,
the message is beset with peril
after a harrowing hash collision

The message must get through
if the cipher is somehow able -
to navigate his way
to an elusive rainbow table.

AntiVirus Update

noreply@blogger.com (Scott) — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 15:26:00 +0000

One of the most crucial programs on anyone's computer is the antivirus program. When this is combined with a behavior that minimizes the chance of contracting a virus there is a good chance you won't have to reformat your hard drive and start all over again.

It's important to keep up with what antivirus software is out there. Last year's editor's choice may be outdated or passed by in a year or two. It wasn't that long ago Norton Antivirus was the best choice - now it's the worst solution out there. Other solutions are emerging, some of them freeware or open source.

There are independent sites that evaluate antivirus software, such as AV-Comparatives. Cnet.com does an annual review of antivirus software that can be useful. Lifehacker.com did a recent survey or poll of five popular antivirus packages - the comments were especially insightful.

There are also a number of factors to consider when choosing antivirus software. Cost is one factor - open source or freeware is always nice, but is it effective enough? Another big factor is performance. Does my email or browser run slower now? Does the antivirus software consume a lot of resources or does it have a small footprint?

I have used Norton and Trend Micro and will never go back. I recently used the open-source Clamwin with some success, but may have some performance issues. Based on the results and comments in the lifehacker post, I am going to give NOD32 a try.

Key Scrambler

noreply@blogger.com (Scott) — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 18:06:00 +0000

In order to protect against keystroke loggers stealing sensitive information while you surf the web, Key Scrambler has a solution for you. There is a free version which will encrypt your key strokes while you type in webmail or enter your credit card information onto a web form. What the keystroke logger gets is a useless encryption of your keystrokes. What you get is peace of mind.

RSS Tutorial

noreply@blogger.com (Scott) — Tue, 06 May 2008 16:01:00 +0000

RSS currently stands for Really Simple Syndication and is a simple technology which allows websites to notify readers of new content without having to visit the site. Here is a very useful and comprehensive tutorial for setting up RSS technology for your website.

Do you use the Verdana font?

noreply@blogger.com (Scott) — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 20:44:00 +0000

I use it in certain cases, but you want to use the Verdana font judiciously and with care. Here's an article on Why you should avoid the Verdana font.

Scheme some colors

noreply@blogger.com (Scott) — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 18:48:00 +0000

There is usually a mixture of creativity, intuition, science, and technology when coming up with color schemes for web sites or pages. For help in the technical area try Color Scheme Generator 2, a useful tool for generating color schemes. You can quickly generate triads, tetrads, or just a simple contrast.

When you're done playing with the tool, check out the parent site: Well-styled.com . I found some interesting hacks and articles.

Web Design: Positioning

noreply@blogger.com (Scott) — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 20:22:00 +0000

The title of this article, Web Design 101: Positioning, is a bit misleading. I have been using css positioning for years, but some of the concepts continued to elude me. When I looked at different layouts their behavior seemed a bit mysterious and unpredictable.

This article clarified more than one concept that perhaps web designers took for granted, but should have stated explicitly. It might have saved myself and others from a lot of grief. But I would have to say I managed to find a little more room in my heart for hating Microsoft, when all was said and done.

This was a useful and concise article. There is also a nice example of css positioning to go with it.

Mail Big File

noreply@blogger.com (Scott) — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 19:09:00 +0000

If you are trying to move or send big files over the Internet, FTP is really the way to go. But sometimes, for whatever reason, it is handy to get it done with email. Now, if only you could get past the filters that typically lop off any attachment over 5 MB.

The next time you're in a pinch, try MailBigFile.com . They have a free service that allows attachments up to 100 MB.

Color for the Web

noreply@blogger.com (Scott) — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 18:38:00 +0000

There are many ways colors can be defined when doing web design. Let's see, is it color, bgcolor, or background-color for a tr element? Here's a handy compilation of most, if not all, of the ways to define color for various elements of a web page. While you're there, check out VisiBone's Color Charts.

Resources For Web Design

noreply@blogger.com (Scott) — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 21:19:00 +0000

Here's a list of Resources For Web Design. It seems to be well laid out and covers a lot of topics concisely on one page. I ought to do something like this with my own list of resources.

The War of the Hard Drives

noreply@blogger.com (Scott) — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 21:05:00 +0000

Solid State Drives (SSD's) perform better than Hard Disk Drives (HDD's), in general, but cost more. Usually considerably more. But as the price comes down, one would except to see SSD's become more prevalent.

It looks as though we may be at the point where it's worth considering SSD as a choice. StorageSearch has information to help make the choice as well as resources on where to buy your next SSD.

Controlling Div Heights

noreply@blogger.com (Scott) — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 15:18:00 +0000

This one had puzzled me for some time. I would create a div container on a web page, then assign a height to be 100%. Sometimes it would work, other times not.

The reason is because the height based on % is determined by the parent object. If the parent object doesn't have a defined height, the child setting degrades to auto. For a fuller explanation and examples read papabaer's CSS 100% Height DIV's tutorial.

HTML Playground

noreply@blogger.com (Scott) — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 19:43:00 +0000

htmlPlayground is an XHTML and CSS Reference. If you click on a list of tags(xhtml) or properties(css) you get a description, a coded example, and a view of how it looks when rendered. It's currently in beta and requires some polishing, but I still found it useful in ways that other references couldn't deliver.

CSS Cheat Sheet

noreply@blogger.com (Scott) — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 15:39:00 +0000

I like this CSS Cheat Sheet because it is concise and useful. The properties for each selector are in the order they should appear when using shorthand notation. It also looks nice.
As a geek, I have two mottos:

Reading the instructions is cheating.
Whenever possible, cheat.

Test your web design in different browsers

noreply@blogger.com (Scott) — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 15:24:00 +0000

The website browsershot.org allows you to test your web design in different browsers without having any sort of test environment. This site has an impressive array of choices of browsers on either the Linux, Windows, or Mac platform. Just check which ones you want and send your request to one of their servers. After a short time your screen shots will come back and you can view them.

Stumble Upon It

noreply@blogger.com (Scott) — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 15:01:00 +0000

My experience with the website StumbleUpon was similar to that with Google. The first glance shows nothing new or dazzling. The simplicity of the site is deceptive - there doesn't seem to be much to it.

It was only after using it for a short time that I realized this was a powerful tool that did one thing, but did it well. It also became apparent I was using it all the time.

StumpleUpon will find sites in a category you choose. The sites it finds are based on voting by other StumbleUpon members. That's it. Sounds too simple, until you use it.

I found one amazing site after another.

Wow.

FAT vs. NTFS

noreply@blogger.com (Scott) — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 20:19:00 +0000

Here is an article from Microsoft explaining the Pros and Cons of FAT and NTFS. Despite it's age, it is still pertinent in the discussion of which file system to use when partitioning in Windows.

Social Wallpapering

noreply@blogger.com (Scott) — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 03:23:00 +0000

Social Wallpapering is a community effort to classify, rank, and distribute high resolution images for use as computer wallpaper. You can save the images or easily set their image as your desktop background without downloading anything. As you rank items you like or dislike the site learns your preferences and recommends new images based on what it has learned.

If you like fine art you will find some there, like this fine Kandinsky that now adorns my laptop. If you're still looking for more try here.

Download Utility for Firefox

noreply@blogger.com (Scott) — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 15:17:00 +0000

Download Statusbar is a Firefox extension that allows you to keep track of ongoing and completed downloads in a hide-away statusbar. This is especially handy when running multiple downloads. No more searching for popups and it's easy to run a subsequent installer or unzip and install on the fly.

Cookies, Security, and your Right to Privacy

noreply@blogger.com (Scott) — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 00:11:00 +0000

First, a little bit about cookies. They are not bad or evil in and of themselves. They can be used for good or bad intentions, depending on how they are implemented.

What are cookies? (Viktor Mayer-Schönberger) When you visit a website a small file may be downloaded to your computer to keep track of data and events. It could be a login name and password, things you recently purchased, or certain preferences when you use that site. The site will inform you a cookie is being invoked. These types of cookies are usually fairly legitimate and unobtrusive.

Where cookies go bad is when they track your surfing habits - which sites you are visiting or things you are purchasing. And they do this without informing you. Perhaps they are sending it to a third party you don't know and would never authorize. These practices are not legitimate and invade your privacy.

The abuse of cookies has been on the rise in the last five years. So what can you do about it?

First of all, switch to Firefox. For some time it has carried a cookie manager. Set it to deny all cookies. Then add sites that you wish to enable with the exception list. This takes a little getting used to, and I still get stymied when I try to register with a site and it doesn't work. Then I remember to go in and add this site to the exception list of sites which will accept cookies. I believe Internet Explorer 7.0 also has a cookie manager.

This may seem like a lot of trouble to go through, just because of a few stupid cookies. However, I think this is the best security practice to keep your pc safe, at work or at home. I use the web a lot, and since I started this practice, the number of problems I encountered dropped dramatically.

As companies and organized crime find new ways to use cookies in a devious or malevolent fashion, it is more imperative than ever to be aware of the risks and have a strategy.

Managing Your Online Identity

noreply@blogger.com (Scott) — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 17:43:00 +0000

Having a hard time remembering your passwords? I know I do. I've got close to fifty to keep track of. From a security perspective you're not supposed to write them down anywhere, certainly not in your pda, like I have. But how else can you manage so many identities?

One strategy is to use the same password for all of your low-risk websites or applications, such as news services. Even if someone figures out your password there is not much damage they can do with your access.

For higher risk applications, like your online bank account, you want to use a stronger password. Stronger passwords contain some special characters, numbers and capital letters. They are also at least 8 characters in length. Although there are mnemonic strategies for building strong passwords, each one should still be unique. In this scenario, even a small number of passwords are difficult to remember.

Despite the constant harping from security experts that you should not write down your passwords, I recommend you write them on a small slip of paper and keep it safely in your wallet or purse. Now they are securely stored with all the other things used to identify you.

Another option is to store your identities in an application like KeePass. It stores an encrypted password that you can paste into your login form, instead of writing it down or storing it in clear text. The coolest thing about KeePass is it is so lightweight. And it's free. I guess that's two things. ;)

I put it on my usb drive and can open it anywhere. Of course it's password protected. There are some additional features to promote stronger passwords. Overall, a very useful tool.