Tuesday, October 27, 2009

SSD - Solid State Drive

- replacing the mechanical motor driven hard disk drive for computer storage devices.

What is a Solid State Drive?

Solid state is an electrical term that refers to electronic circuitry that is built entirely out of semiconductors. The term was originally used to define those electronics such as a transistor radio that used semiconductors rather than vacuum tubes in its construction. Most all electronics that we have today are built around semiconductors and chips. In terms of a SSD, it refers to the fact that the primary storage medium is through semiconductors rather than a magnetic media such as a hard drive.

Now, you might say that this type of storage already exists in the form of flash memory drives that plug into the USB port. This is partially true as solid state drives and USB flash drives both use the same type of non-volatile memory chips that retain their information even when they have no power. The difference is in the form factor and capacity of the drives. While a flash drive is designed to be external to the computer system, an SSD is designed to reside inside the computer in place of a more traditional hard drive.

So how exactly do they do this? Well, an SSD on the outside looks almost no different than a traditional hard drive. This design is to allow the SSD drive to put in a notebook or desktop computer in place of a hard drive. To do this, it needs to have the standard dimension as a 1.8, 2.5 or 3.5-inch hard drive. It also will use either the ATA or SATA drive interfaces so that there is a compatible interface.


Why Use a Solid State Drive?


Solid state drives have several advantages over the magnetic hard drives. The majority of this comes from the fact that the drive does not have any moving parts. While a traditional drive has drive motors to spin up the magnetic platters and the drive heads, all the storage on a solid state drive is handled by flash memory chips. This provides three distinct advantages:
Less Power Usage
Faster Data Access
Higher Reliability

The power usage is a key role for the use of solid state drives in portable computers. Because there is no power draw for the motors, the drive uses far less energy than the regular hard drive. Now, the industry has taken steps to address this with drive spin downs and the development of hybrid hard drives, but both of these still use more power. The solid state drive will consistently draw less power then the traditional and hybrid hard drive.

Faster data access will make a number of people happy. Since the drive doesn't have to spin up the drive platter or move drive heads, the data can be read from the drive near instantly. In a recent demo of two similar equipped notebook computers, Fujitsu was able to demonstrate a roughly 20% speed increase in the booting of Windows XP on a SSD over a standard hard drive.

Reliability is also a key factor for portable drives. Hard drive platters are very fragile and sensitive materials. Even small jarring movements from an impact can cause the drive to be completely unreadable. Since the SSD stores all its data in memory chips, there are fewer moving parts to be damaged in any sort of impact.


Why Aren't SSDs Used For All PCs?

As with most computer technologies, the primary limiting factor of using the solid state drives in notebook and desktop computers is cost. These drives have actually been available for some time now, but the cost of the drives is roughly the same as the entire notebook they could be installed into. This is gradually changing as the number of companies producing the drives and the capacity for producing the flash memory chips grows. Drives announced at the 2007 CES were priced at less than half of the drives of the same capacity from the previous year.

The other problem affecting the adoption of the solid state drives is capacity. Current hard drive technology can allow for over 200GB of data in a small 2.5-inch notebook hard drive. Most SSD drives announced at the 2007 CES show are of the 64GB capacity. This means that not only are the drives much more expensive than a traditional hard drive, they only hold a fraction of the data.

All of this is set to change soon though. Several companies that specialize in flash memory have announced upcoming products that look to push the capacities of the solid state drives to be closer to that of a normal hard drive but at even lower prices than the current SSDs. This will have a huge impact for notebook data storage.


RunCore 128GB Pro SATA 70mm Mini PCI-e PCIe SSD for ASUS EEE PC 900 900A 901 and S101  
Part#: RCP-I-S7028-C
Brand Name: RunCore
MB/GB Size: 128GB
Read/Write Speed: 125/95

Monday, October 19, 2009

Future Cellphones - Concepts

Transparent Mobile Phone by Mac

An excellent concept from Mac Funamizu of Tokyo who designed this cell phone concept that has been quite popular online.

flip transparent phone thumb Beautiful Transparent Cell Phones Concept mobile transparent screen thumb Beautiful Transparent Cell Phones Concept

mobile screen glass thumb Beautiful Transparent Cell Phones Concept transparent cellphone thumb Beautiful Transparent Cell Phones Concept

This glass concept transparent phone is a flip open phone made out of fragile glass. Pretty cool! Hope it’s unbreakable as well.

Windows Transparent Cellphone

This is another awesome cell phone which is not only confined to transparent nature, but also includes auto weather mode which switches itself depending on the weather condition. Check out the pics

rainy mobile concept thumb Beautiful Transparent Cell Phones Concept snow mobile phone thumb Beautiful Transparent Cell Phones Concept

This windows mobile phone is made out of thin sheet and once you blow on the screen it will turn into hand writing mode, and use your finger to text message or call.

transparent cell phone thumb Beautiful Transparent Cell Phones Concept transparent blow concept thumb Beautiful Transparent Cell Phones Concept

Synaptics ClearTouch™


Synaptics ClearTouch™ Technology Takes Touch Interfaces to the Next Level
Designers Can Move Beyond Buttons by Integrating Transparent Sensor Controls

SANTA CLARA, Calif.–April 22, 2008 - Synaptics Inc. (NASDAQ: SYNA), a leading developer of human interface solutions for mobile computing, communications, and entertainment devices, announced its ClearTouch™ product portfolio ClearPad™ and ClearArray™ sensors are available for a wide range of consumer electronics that require transparent touch-sensitive user interfaces.

Synaptics’ ClearTouch™ products are designed for durability, low power consumption, and easy integration. They enable attractive and intuitive user interfaces to meet the rigorous needs of consumer electronics. Patented ClearPad technology builds on the capacitive touch sensing technology used in over 400 million TouchPad devices. Synaptics has over a decade of experience in clear, two-dimensional, capacitive touch sensing. All ClearTouch solutions can operate under glass or plastic, resulting in robust devices with slim form factors and sleek industrial designs.

“Next-generation handsets will greatly benefit from touchscreen technology,” said Bill Morelli, research analyst at IMS. “Synaptics ClearTouch sensors provide an ideal solution and are well suited to a wide range of handset styles.”
ClearPad

A ClearPad sensor was the key feature in Synaptics’ pioneering Onyx concept touchscreen phone demonstrated in August 2006. ClearPad provides a robust, intuitive, and high-resolution touchscreen interface solution for today’s mobile devices – including mobile phones, portable music players, and handheld GPS devices.
ClearArray

Synaptics’ ClearArray interface solutions support buttons and scrolling in fixed locations over a display, a cost-optimized touchscreen solution. ClearArray sensors can even be used in monitors and kiosk-style devices as an alternative to mechanical buttons. These transparent sensors enable manufacturers to differentiate their products according to their target price point, industrial design requirements, and the desired end-user experience.
Capacitive vs. Resistive – How to Tell the Difference

Resistive touchscreens respond to pressure. When a user presses the screen, a top layer of flexible material makes contact with the lower layer to indicate the location of the user’s finger or stylus. The mechanical flexing of a resistive sensor reduces its durability and the air gap affects optical quality. Resistive interfaces also require frequent end-user calibration. Capacitive solutions such as Synaptics ClearTouch use a grid of conductive traces implemented on a clear substrate such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET) film or glass to accurately report one or more finger positions and relative pressure on a sensor. Synaptics ClearTouch solutions offer superior optics, are solid state, and require no end-user calibration.

As the number and sophistication of handheld applications proliferate, touchscreen technology is a must have for future devices. With multimedia- and communication-rich functionality, handheld devices require innovative interface technology to make accessing and managing applications and content easy for the end user. ClearTouch solutions unlock the potential of advanced devices with a lot of functionality through an intuitive interface that the average user can use without reading a manual.

"Synaptics' proven capacitive sensing technology has been used in more than 400 million devices,” said Andrew Hsu, strategic and technical marketing manager at Synaptics. “The ClearTouch product family enables users of next-generation data and media-centric handheld devices to enjoy an intuitive, accurate, responsive, and durable touchscreen interface."
Gesture Technology

Synaptics ClearPad solution includes integral detection of gestures such as single-finger Tap, Double Tap, Tap & Hold/Tap & Slide, Press, and Flick, as well as two-finger Pinch.
Availability

Synaptics ClearTouch solutions are available now to device manufacturers. More information on Synaptics’ transparent capacitive touch sensors can be found at http://www.synaptics.com/products/cleartouch.cfm

About Synaptics

Synaptics (NASDAQ: SYNA) is a leading developer of human interface solutions for the mobile computing, communications, and entertainment industries. The company creates interface solutions for a variety of devices including notebook PCs, PC peripherals, digital music players, and mobile phones. The TouchPad™, Synaptics’ flagship product, is integrated into a majority of today's notebook computers. Consumer electronics and computing manufacturers use Synaptics' solutions to enrich the interaction between humans and intelligent devices through improved usability, functionality, and industrial design. The company is headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif. www.synaptics.com

Friday, October 16, 2009

Sun Broadband Wireless prepaid


I'm doing a speedtest using my 3g phone as a modem hooked via USB cable to a laptop and with Sun Broadband Wireless prepaid.

I have here a Sony Ericsson 3G phone with a SUN prepaid SIM, a Pentium(old)4 1.7Ghz on WinXP Pro with Sony ericsson PCsuite installed, and browser such as Firefox, Google chrome and Opera 10. Also installed some add-ons and plugins like Adobe flash player and silverlight....

Here's my first test:

There are 3 tabs open on my gooogle chrome including the speedtest site running.



Fast? Only speedtest was running and no other browsing effect. See some results below.














The speedtest below run while another tab is open on live movie streaming.






















Sun Broadband Wireless can attain much more the speed that I'm getting from my 3g phone if I do have a 3.5g capable phone or rather HSDPA feature. My phone is only capable of 384kbps on 3g network. There are HSDPA phone models that can have up to 3.6Mbps or 7.2Mbps. But I guess maximum of 3.6Mbps HSDPA speed feature will be enough as of the moment. Whereas wireless broadband ISP's are in the top speed of 2Mbps up to 3Mbps(duh!)

Sun offers up to 2Mbps right now within metro manila coverage. I just loaded up SBW100 via XpressLoad(electronic load)

Below is what you get from SBW100 @ Php100;



1. You get 360minutes browsing time.
2. Or 6hours valid for 4 days. (i loaded up 10/16 @ 6pm, and valid up to 10/20)


I just started doing this test about an hour ago.





I am quite contented on the speed, I just ask if Sun Broadband Wireless prepaid could offer something like 24hours for 100pesos witn at least 5 days validity.

For pure browsing, emailing, youtube, movie streaming(need strong 3G signal), social networking and other stuff that do not require too much downloading bandwidth; I say, this can be enough just to get you online and do your web task. If you are torrent or P2P user, this is not for you...

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

WiFi - WEP cr4ck1ng





To successfully crack WEP/WPA,
you first need to be able to set your wireless network card in
"monitor" mode to passively capture packets without being
associated with a network. This NIC mode
is driver-dependent, and only a relatively small number of network cards
support this mode under Windows.

One of the best free utilities for monitoring
wireless traffic and cracking WEP/WPA-PSK keys is the aircrack-ng suite, which we will use
throughout this article. It has both Linux and Windows versions (provided your network
card is supported under Windows). The aircrack-ng site has a comprehensive list
of supported network cards available here: NIC chipset
compatability list.

If your network card is not supported under
Windows, one can use a free Linux Live CD to boot the
system. BackTrack 3
is probably the most commonly used distribution, since it runs from a Live
CD, and has aircrack-ng and a number of related tools already
installed.

I am using aircrack-ng
version 1.0 on a Linux partition (Fedora Core 10, 2.6 32-bit
kernel) on my Sony Vaio SZ-680 laptop, using the built-in Intel
4965agn network card. If you're using the BackTrack 3 CD aircrack-ng is already
installed, with my version of linux it was as simple as finding it with:

yum search aircrack-ng
yum install aircrack-ng

The aircrack-ng suite is a collection of
command-line programs aimed at WEP and WPA-PSK key cracking. The ones we will be
using are:

airmon-ng - script used for switching the
wireless network card to monitor mode
airodump-ng - for WLAN monitoring and capturing network packets
aireplay-ng - used to generate additional traffic on the wireless network
aircrack-ng - used to recover the WEP key, or launch a dictionary attack on
WPA-PSK using the captured data.



1. Setup (airmon-ng)

As mentioned above, to capture network
traffic wihtout being associated with an access point, we need to set the
wireless network card in monitor mode. To do that under linux, in a terminal
window (logged in as root), type:

iwconfig (to find all wireless network interfaces and their
status)
airmon-ng start wlan0 (to set in monitor mode,
you may have to substitute wlan0 for your own interface name)

Note: You can use the su command to
switch to a root account.

Other related Linux commands:

ifconfig (to list available network interfaces, my
network card is listed as wlan0)
ifconfig wlan0 down (to stop the specified network card)
ifconfig wlan0 hw ether 00:11:22:33:44:55 (change the MAC
address of a NIC
- can even simulate the MAC of an associated client. NIC should
be stopped before chaning MAC address)
iwconfig wlan0 mode monitor (to set the network card in monitor mode)
ifconfig wlan0 up (to start the network card)
iwconfig - similar to ifconfig, but dedicated to the wireless
interfaces.



2. Recon Stage (airodump-ng)

This step assumes you've already set your
wireless network interface in monitor mode. It can be checked by executing
the iwconfig command. Next step is finding available wireless
networks, and choosing your target:

airodump-ng mon0 - monitors all channels, listing available access
points and associated clients within range. It is best to select a target
network with strong signal (PWR column), more traffic (Beacons/Data
columns) and associated clients (listed below all access points). Once you've
selected a target, note its Channel and BSSID (MAC
address). Also note any STATION associated with the same BSSID (client MAC
addresses).







WEP is much easier to crack than WPA-PSK, as it only
requires data capturing (between 20k and 40k packets), while WPA-PSK needs a
dictionary attack on a captured handshake between the access point and an
associated client which may or may not work.



3. Capture Data (airodump-ng)

To capture data into a file, we use the
airodump-ng tool again, with some additional switches to target a specific AP
and channel. Most importantly, you should restrict monitoring to a single
channel to speed up data collection, otherwise the wireless card has
to alternate between all channels. Assuming our wireless card
is mon0, and we want to capture packets on channel 6 into a text file
called data:

airodump-ng -c 6
bssid 00:0F:CC:7D:5A:74 -w data mon0 (-c6 switch would capture data on channel 6,
bssid 00:0F:CC:7D:5A:74 is the MAC address of our target access point, -w data
specifies that we want to save captured packets into a file called
"data" in the current directory, mon0 is our wireless network
adapter)




Notes:
You typically need between 20,000 and 40,000 data packets to successfully
recover a WEP key.
One can also use the "--ivs" switch with the airodump-ng command
to capture only IVs, instead of whole packets, reducing the required
disk space. However, this switch can only be used if targeting a
WEP
network, and renders some types of attacks useless.



4. Increase Traffic
(aireplay-ng) - optional step for WEP
cracking

An active network can usually be penetrated
within a few minutes. However, slow networks can take hours, even days to
collect enough data for recovering the WEP key.

This optional step allows a compatible
network interface to inject/generate packets to increase traffic on the
wireless network, therefore greatly reducing the time required for capturing
data. The aireplay-ng command should be executed in a separate
terminal window, concurrent to airodump-ng. It requires a compatible network
card and driver that allows for injection mode.

Assuming your network card is capable of
injecting packets, in a separate terminal window try:

aireplay-ng -3 -b 00:0F:CC:7D:5A:74
-h 00:14:A5:2F:A7:DE -x 50 wlan0
-3 --> this specifies the type of attack, in our case ARP-request
replay
-b ..... --> MAC address of access point
-h ..... --> MAC address of associated client from airodump
-x 50 --> limit to sending 50 packets per second
wlan0 --> our wireless network interface




Notes:
To test whether your nic is able to inject packets, you may want to try:
aireplay-ng -9 wlan0. You may also want to read the information available -here-.
To see all available replay attacks, type just: aireplay-ng



5. Crack WEP
(aircrack-ng)

WEP cracking is a simple process, only requiring
collection of enough data to then extract the key and connect to the network.
You can crack the WEP key while capturing data. In fact, aircrack-ng
will re-attempt cracking the key after every 5000 packets.

To attempt recovering the WEP key,
in a new terminal window, type:

aircrack-ng data*.cap (assuming your capture file is called
data...cap, and is located in the same directory)






Notes:
If your data file contains ivs/packets from different access points, you may be
presented with a list to choose which one to recover.
Usually, between 20k and 40k packets are needed to successfully crack a WEP key.
It may sometimes work with as few as 10,000 packets.



6. Crack WPA or WPA2 PSK
(aircrack-ng)

WPA, unlike WEP rotates
the network key on a per-packet basis, rendering the WEP method
of penetration useless. Cracking a WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK key requires a dictionary
attack on a handshake between an access point and a client. What this means is,
you need to wait until a wireless client associates with the network (or
deassociate an already connected client so they automatically
reconnect). All that needs to be captured is the initial
"four-way-handshake" association between the access point and a
client. WPA
hashes the network key using the wireless access point's SSID as
salt. This prevents the statistical key-grabbing techniques that broke WEP, and
makes hash precomputation more dificult because the specific SSID
needs to be added as salt for the hash.

With all that said, the weakness of WPA-PSK
comes down to the passphrase. A short/weak passphrase makes it vulnerable to
dictionary attacks.

To successfully crack a WPA-PSK network, you
first need a capture file containing handshake data. This can be obtained using
the same technique as with WEP in step 3 above, using airodump-ng.

You may also try to deauthenticate an
associated client to speed up this process of capturing a handshake, using:

aireplay-ng --deauth 3 -a MAC_AP -c
MAC_Client (where MAC_IP
is the MAC
address of the access point, and MAC_Client is the MAC
address of an associated client).

Once you have captured a four-way handshake,
you also need a large/relevant dictinary file with common passphrases. See
related links below for some wordlist links.

You can, then execute the following command
in a linux terminal window (assuming both the dictionary file and captured data
file are in the same directory):

aircrack-ng -w
dictionary_file capture_file

Notes:
Cracking WPA-PSK and WPA2-PSK may take much longer, and will only succeed
with weak passphrases and good dictionary files.

Alternatively, there are tools like coWPAtty
that can use precomputed hash files to speed up dictionary attacks. Those hash
files can be very effective, but quite big in size. The Church of
WiFi has computed hash tables for the 1000 most common SSIDs against a
million common passphrases that are 7Gb and 33Gb in size...



Conclusion

As demonstrated above, WEP cracking
has become increasingly easier over the years, and what used to take hundreds
of thousands packets and days of capturing data can be accomplished
today within 15 minutes with a mere 20k data frames.

WPA/WPA2-PSK encryption
is holding its ground if using a strong, long key. However, weak
passphrases are vulnerable to dictionary attacks.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Opera Mini for WindowsXP - [another version]


Windows Installer

You can download this Windows Installer instead of performing all previous steps manually :)

You just need to make sure Java Runtime Environment (JRE) for Windows installed, then install Opera Mini for Windows, run it for the first time (using the Opera Mini shortcut found in the installation directory), then copy and replace the “config2.xml” file into “C:\Documents and Settings\\.microemulator\” and you’re all set.

You might also want to perform steps 5 and 6 of the first group :)

Note that this installer doesn’t necessary contain the latest versions of MicroEmulator and/or Opera Mini. Version currently included are: 2.0.3 and 4.2.13337-advanced-en respectively.

Text Input

Click the text field, enter the text you want, then use F1 for “Abort” and F2 for “OK”.

I heard that this is fixed in the beta of the next version of MicroEmulator.

Proxy

You can configure Opera Mini to connect through a proxy server, downloading the alternative “config2.xml” file and changing the following lines of it (search for them):



So that “webcache.mydomain.com” would be replaced by your desired HTTP Proxy, and “8080″ would be replaced by it’s corresponding port.

The Benefits

Opera Mini web browser is essentially a user interface. Much of the actual processing is done via Opera’s intermediate servers, with content optimized and compressed on the back-end for delivery over the Internet to the Opera Mini front-end. Which also means that the content can’t be filtered by ISPs (at least without meaning to specifically filter Opera Mini), thus there are no blocked websites.

Despite being designed for smart phones and similar hand held devices, there are a couple of good reasons for deploying Opera Mini on the Windows platform. Most importantly, web developers can verify their code against the Opera Mini rendering engine. Opera Mini can also provide a rather nice alternative web browser in bandwidth-limited situations, such as using a dial-up connection, since Opera’s intermediate servers optimize and compress content. (Credited to Lawand's Blog)

Monday, October 5, 2009

Opera Mini on your PC/Laptop Part 2...

Sucessfully done! I have tested this on my desktop and laptop. I also have the instructions and requirements below. For more details, you can find it here on this blogsite JAVA in the Field

I use this with Suncellular network over socket proxy for free net browsing.



Requirements:
Get the Java SE Development Kit (JDK) from here.
Get the Sun Java Wireless Toolkit 2.5.2 for CLDC from here.
Get the "OperaMiniLargeDevice" for Sun Java Wireless Toolkit from here.

Get Opera Mini Browser 4.2 from here. Be sure to download both the JAD and the JAR to the same directory. The generic advanced version is recommended.
Internet access on the PC
Installation (done for Win XP):
Install the JDK.
Install the Wireless Toolkit.
Unzip your downloaded version of "OperaMiniLargeDevice" (simply extract it, a directory will be created automatically). Copy this directory to Path-to-WTk\wtklib\devices\ . The complete path to OMLD on my machine looks as follows: "C:\WTK2.5.2\wtklib\devices\OperaMiniLargeDevice1024x705".
Then choose "OperaMiniLargeDevice" as the default device, e.g. via "Start->All Programs->Sun WTK->Default Device Selection".
Then use "Start->All Programs->Sun WTK->Run MIDP Application" to start Opera Mini via its JAD file.
The start screen should appear and you should now be able to launch Opera Mini by pressing F2.

Remark:

It might be that you receive the following error on starting Opera Mini:

OTA server emulation started ...
HTTPS server emulation started ...
Error: Reason = 36

The most obvious reason for this error is that the "MIDlet-Jar-URL" in the JAD does not point to the right JAR file. Try to open the JAD with a text editor, locate the property "MIDlet-Jar-URL" and make sure that ONLY the filename of the JAR is left in this entry, e.g. MIDlet-Jar-URL: opera-mini-4.2.13918-advanced-de.jar . You must not use a complete URL to the JAR in the web. And do not forget to put the JAD and the JAR in the same directory.

Navigation:

You can set the link focus and scroll through a site with ARROW keys. The ENTER key selects an action, e.g. a text field. Texts can be entered with the normal keyboard keys. You can copy from and paste text into text fields by pressing STRG+c and STRG+v. The keys F1 and F2 control the menu actions of Opera Mini and the emulator, e.g. security questions for internet access. Since version 0.5 you can use your mouse to control Opera Mini and to click on links.

Hope you find this solution helpful. Any tips to improve this solution are welcome.

Greetings Makube

PS.:

Update to version 0.6 (see this post):
Shortcuts in Opera Mini usable
Speed dial in Opera Mini usable
Special version for netbooks and UMPCs like the Asus EEE or the HTC Shift available
Update to version 0.5 (Major update):
Screensize enlarged to 1200 x 705 from 1024x705
Mouse can be used to control Opera Mini and to click on links
Escape-key does not accidentially close the emulator anymore
Update to version 0.2:

I updated "OperaMiniLargeDevice" to version 0.2 because the first version triggered annoying keyRepeatEvents on some websites, resulting in not being able to focus links. Therefore the property keyRepeatEvents is now set to false. Happy browsing!

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Opera Mini on your PC/Laptop

I've been browsing frequent on my mobile smartphone using Opera Mini browser. I use it mainly for checking my emails, facebook, twitter, browsing stuff and blogging.
For suncellular network, I could browse free using socket proxy connection. I have thought if I could run this browser on my PC, I could be able to connect using that proxy to gain free internet connection.

Ok, google up... and then I find this microemulator running MIDP runtime for Win32. There several apps emulator/simulators just google it up. After having the emulator, I run the JAR/JAD file from opera download site. Then I have it able to run th browser on my PC.

I'll try to update this one. I have this link also from different technique (this is much better) http://java4me.blogspot.com/2008/02/run-opera-mini-on-pc-version-06-also.html

This blog post is done using the microemulator-2.0.3 and operamini 4.2 using socket proxy connection on suncellular network with 4pesos prepaid load. And take note that my 4pesos regular load is not debited. (Testing in progress....)

cyb3rc0n=>10/2009

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Fun IT Pics

Firewall Security?

There are many creative ways that unscrupulous people use to access or abuse unprotected computers:

Remote login - When someone is able to connect to your computer and control it in some form. This can range from being able to view or access your files to actually running programs on your computer.

Application backdoors - Some programs have special features that allow for remote access. Others contain bugs that provide a backdoor, or hidden access, that provides some level of control of the program.

SMTP session hijacking - SMTP is the most common method of sending e-mail over the Internet. By gaining access to a list of e-mail addresses, a person can send unsolicited junk e-mail (spam) to thousands of users. This is done quite often by redirecting the e-mail through the SMTP server of an unsuspecting host, making the actual sender of the spam difficult to trace.

Operating system bugs - Like applications, some operating systems have backdoors. Others provide remote access with insufficient security controls or have bugs that an experienced hacker can take advantage of.

Denial of service - You have probably heard this phrase used in news reports on the attacks on major Web sites. This type of attack is nearly impossible to counter. What happens is that the hacker sends a request to the server to connect to it. When the server responds with an acknowledgement and tries to establish a session, it cannot find the system that made the request. By inundating a server with these unanswerable session requests, a hacker causes the server to slow to a crawl or eventually crash.

E-mail bombs - An e-mail bomb is usually a personal attack. Someone sends you the same e-mail hundreds or thousands of times until your e-mail system cannot accept any more messages.

Macros - To simplify complicated procedures, many applications allow you to create a script of commands that the application can run. This script is known as a macro. Hackers have taken advantage of this to create their own macros that, depending on the application, can destroy your data or crash your computer.

Viruses - Probably the most well-known threat is computer viruses. A virus is a small program that can copy itself to other computers. This way it can spread quickly from one system to the next. Viruses range from harmless messages to erasing all of your data.

Spam - Typically harmless but always annoying, spam is the electronic equivalent of junk mail. Spam can be dangerous though. Quite often it contains links to Web sites. Be careful of clicking on these because you may accidentally accept a cookie that provides a backdoor to your computer.

Redirect bombs - Hackers can use ICMP to change (redirect) the path information takes by sending it to a different router. This is one of the ways that a denial of service attack is set up.

Source routing - In most cases, the path a packet travels over the Internet (or any other network) is determined by the routers along that path. But the source providing the packet can arbitrarily specify the route that the packet should travel. Hackers sometimes take advantage of this to make information appear to come from a trusted source or even from inside the network! Most firewall products disable source routing by default.

Some of the items in the list above are hard, if not impossible, to filter using a firewall. While some firewalls offer virus protection, it is worth the investment to install anti-virus software on each computer. And, even though it is annoying, some spam is going to get through your firewall as long as you accept e-mail.



The level of security you establish will determine how many of these threats can be stopped by your firewall. The highest level of security would be to simply block everything. Obviously that defeats the purpose of having an Internet connection. But a common rule of thumb is to block everything, then begin to select what types of traffic you will allow. You can also restrict traffic that travels through the firewall so that only certain types of information, such as e-mail, can get through. This is a good rule for businesses that have an experienced network administrator that understands what the needs are and knows exactly what traffic to allow through. For most of us, it is probably better to work with the defaults provided by the firewall developer unless there is a specific reason to change it.

One of the best things about a firewall from a security standpoint is that it stops anyone on the outside from logging onto a computer in your private network. While this is a big deal for businesses, most home networks will probably not be threatened in this manner. Still, putting a firewall in place provides some peace of mind.

How Firewalls Work

If you have been using the Internet for any length of time, and especially if you work at a larger company and browse the Web while you are at work, you have probably heard the term firewall used. For example, you often hear people in companies say things like, "I can't use that site because they won't let it through the firewall."

If you have a fast Internet connection into your home (either a DSL connection or a cable modem), you may have found yourself hearing about firewalls for your home network as well. It turns out that a small home network has many of the same security issues that a large corporate network does. You can use a firewall to protect your home network and family from offensive Web sites and potential hackers.


Basically, a firewall is a barrier to keep destructive forces away from your property. In fact, that's why its called a firewall. Its job is similar to a physical firewall that keeps a fire from spreading from one area to the next. As you read through this article, you will learn more about firewalls, how they work and what kinds of threats they can protect you from.

Building a Wireless Network

If you already have several computers networked in your home, you can create a wireless network with a wireless access point. If you have several computers that are not networked, or if you want to replace your Ethernet network, you'll need a wireless router. This is a single unit that contains:

A port to connect to your cable or DSL modem
A router
An Ethernet hub
A firewall
A wireless access point
A wireless router allows you to use wireless signals or Ethernet cables to connect your computers to one another, to a printer and to the Internet. Most routers provide coverage for about 100 feet (30.5 meters) in all directions, although walls and doors can block the signal. If your home is very large, you can buy inexpensive range extenders or repeaters to increase your router's range.



A wireless router uses an antenna to send signals to wireless devices and a wire to send signals to the Internet.
As with wireless adapters, many routers can use more than one 802.11 standard. 802.11b routers are slightly less expensive, but because the standard is older, they're slower than 802.11a, 802.11g and 802.11n routers. Most people select the 802.11g option for its speed and reliability.

Once you plug in your router, it should start working at its default settings. Most routers let you use a Web interface to change your settings. You can select:

The name of the network, known as its service set identifier (SSID) -- The default setting is usually the manufacturer's name.
The channel that the router uses -- Most routers use channel 6 by default. If you live in an apartment and your neighbors are also using channel 6, you may experience interference. Switching to a different channel should eliminate the problem.
Your router's security options -- Many routers use a standard, publicly available sign-on, so it's a good idea to set your own username and password.
Security is an important part of a home wireless network, as well as public WiFi hotspots. If you set your router to create an open hotspot, anyone who has a wireless card will be able to use your signal. Most people would rather keep strangers out of their network, though. Doing so requires you to take a few security precautions.

It's also important to make sure your security precautions are current. The Wired Equivalency Privacy (WEP) security measure was once the standard for WAN security. The idea behind WEP was to create a wireless security platform that would make any wireless network as secure as a traditional wired network. But hackers discovered vulnerabilities in the WEP approach, and today it's easy to find applications and programs that can compromise a WAN running WEP security.

To keep your network private, you can use one of the following methods:

WiFi Protected Access (WPA) is a step up from WEP and is now part of the 802.11i wireless network security protocol. It uses temporal key integrity protocol (TKIP) encryption. As with WEP, WPA security involves signing on with a password. Most public hotspots are either open or use WPA or 128-bit WEP technology, though some still use the vulnerable WEP approach.

Media Access Control (MAC) address filtering is a little different from WEP or WPA. It doesn't use a password to authenticate users -- it uses a computer's physical hardware. Each computer has its own unique MAC address. MAC address filtering allows only machines with specific MAC addresses to access the network. You must specify which addresses are allowed when you set up your router. This method is very secure, but if you buy a new computer or if visitors to your home want to use your network, you'll need to add the new machines' MAC addresses to the list of approved addresses. The system isn't foolproof. A clever hacker can spoof a MAC address -- that is, copy a known MAC address to fool the network that the computer he or she is using belongs on the network.


Wireless networks are easy and inexpensive to set up, and most routers' Web interfaces are virtually self-explanatory. (source:HowStuffWorks)

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Celluon LaserKey CL850 Bluetooth Laser Keyboard



Now compatible with BlackBerry OS 4.1 or above, Symbian, Palm OS, Windows Mobile 5 & 6 and Windows XP or higher.

This revolutionary mobile input device can be used as a mouse as well as a keyboard with its Bluetooth or USB interface. With a full-sized (19mm) standard QWERTY keyboard layout projected on any flat surface, you can use LaserKey CL850 anywhere you go, any time you want.

Projection Keyboard Specification

Interface: - USB v.1.1 (for PC) and Bluetooth (Microsoft Bluetooth Stack and Widcomm Bluetooth Stack)
Keyboard layout: - 19mm sized. Shortcuts: Internet Explorer, incoming e-mails, contacts, note, menu, pop up, mouse function depending on operating system
Detection rate: - Up to 400 characters per minute with automatic key repeat
Projection size: - Approx. 304 x 105 mm
Projection surface - Non-reflective, opaque flat surface
Ambient light: - 1000 – 5000Lux (day light according to DIN 5034-6) on an opaque flat surface
Keystroke Sound - Built in buzzer(Mute on/off the sound)
Power source: - Changeable lithium ion rechargeable battery or USB adaptor
Battery capacity: - Approximately 220min. Continuous use 450min. on standby mode
Dimensions: - Approx. 93 x 39 x 37 mm
Software compatibility: - Windows Mobile 5 & 6, BlackBerry OS 4.1 or above, Symbian or Windows XP or higher

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

GPRS / MMS Setting in Philippines (Globe, Sun,Smart and Red Mobile)






- for GLOBE
Connection Name: myGlobe Inet
APN: http.globe.com.ph
IP:203.177.91.131
Port: 80
Connection Name: myGlobe Connect
APN: http://www.globe.com.ph/
IP: 203.177.042.214
Port: 8080
Connection Name: myGlobe MMS
APN: mms.globe.com.ph
IP: 192.040.100.020
Port: 8080







- for SMART
Connection Name: SmartInternet
Access Point Name(APN):internet
Proxy Server Address(also referred as IP): 10.102.61.46
Proxy Port Number(Port in short): 8080

Connection Name: SmartGPRS
APN: smart1
IP: 10.102.61.46
Port: 8080

Connection Name: SmartMMS
APN: mms
IP: 10.102.61.46
Port: 8080










- for SUN
Connection Name: Sun INTERNET
APN: minternetIP:
nonePort: 0

Connection Name: Sun GPRS
APN: wap
IP: 202.138.159.78
Port: 8080

Connection Name: Sun MMS
APN: mms
IP: 202.138.159.78
Port: 8080












- for RED MOBILE
Connection Name: Redinternet
APN: redinternet
IP: nonePort: 0

Connection Name: Redmms
APN: redmms
IP: 10.138.3.35
Port: 8080

Friday, August 14, 2009

International Submarine Cable Systems

Laying a new cable system can often be a multi-year effort. From business opportunity recognition, to requirements definition, to landing zones, to contract, to cable construction, to implementation, to testing.....you get the idea. It can take a while.

A few companies specialize in undersea cable deployments. Alcatel-Lucent is one. Alcatel-Lucent provides a wide array of hardware, software, facilities, and services to carriers. Alcatel even maintains its own fleet of ships to maintain cable systems for customers. Surprising to think that a telecom company like Alcatel has a fleet of ships.

Companies such as Alcatel can be contracted with to deploy new undersea cable systems. Once the fiber is ready, Alcatel uses its ships to deploy the cable in essentially 6 steps:

Float the cable from the deployment ship to the shore to be connected to the landing station.
Disconnect the cable from the floating buoys and allow it to fall to the ocean floor, typically the continental shelf.
Use a Remote Operated Vehicle (ROV) - essentially an unmanned submarine - to bury the fiber optic cable under the ocean floor. This keeps the sharks, fishing boats, rock slides, and currents from affecting the cable. It also makes it harder for spy agencies - like the CIA, NSA, KGB and other agencies with TLAs - to find the cables and tap into them.
Continue across the ocean, adding repeaters where necessary. The ROV continues to bury the cable.
On the other side of the ocean, repeat step #1 - float the cable from the deployment ship to the shore to be connected to the landing station.
You now have an undersea fiber optic cable deployed. Alcatel has a very nice flash demo which shows this process.


Unfortunately, events often occur that cut undersea fiber optic cables. This can lead to massive outages, particularly in countries with limited and/or restricted Internet access. Carriers have gotten much better in the past few years dealing with undersea cable faults. Service restoration prioritization - for example, private MPLS services over general Internet - is done automatically now by optical mesh clouds based on standards such as GMPLS. Verizon often touts its optical mesh technology for undersea cable systems.

However, when a cable cut occurs, it has to be fixed. Fixing a cable cut is done with the same ships that laid the cable in the first place.

Internet's Undersea World

There is no one map I know of that shows every cable system. THERE ARE JUST TOO MANY OF THEM! Verizon has a simple, interractive map of the systems they use. This is also a good map of the current major intercontinental (always wanted to use that word in a sentence!) cable systems.


The best list of all international undersea cable systems shows - by my best count - 288 individual cable systems. And remember, each system may have multiple cables. And each cable has multiple fibers in it. And each fiber, with Dense Wave Division Multiplexing (DWDM), can transfer many point-to-point connections on different lambdas. This takes the capacity of a single undersea fiber system into the Terabits.

The longest undersea cable system in the world - SEA-ME-WE-3 or South-East Asia - Middle East - Western Europe 3 - can transfer over 960 Gbps, close to 1 Tbps. SEA-ME-WE-3 has 39 landing points from Korea to Germany spanning 24,000 miles.

Optical Branching Units allow SEA-ME-ME-3 to drop off connections into countries along its route; such as India, Pakistan, Turkey, and Greece. SEA-ME-WE-3 has been so successful, SEA-ME-WE-4 has been built.

Source: Network World

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Online Screen Recorder




Do you need to share your screen activity? Do you need to create a tutorial that would require you to show how it's done on screen? Record all your screen activity with ScreenToaster (http://www.screentoaster.com/).

ScreenToaster is a free web-based screen recorder designed to capture screen activity in real-time to rapidly create and share tutorials, demos, training, lectures and more.

You can add audio and an embed webcam while you are recording.

When finished, add subtitles, choose your thumbnail, describe and tag your video so other users can easily find your screencasts. You can also embed your created videos on blogs and webpages or send them by email.

ScreenToaster is compatible with Windows XP, Windows Vista, Mac OS X and Linux. It is also optimized to run on Firefox 2 +, Internet Explorer 7 +, Chrome, Opera 9 and Safari.

source: mb.com.ph

Friday, July 17, 2009

faceBook


(Orihinal na Pamagat: Mukang Libro)
Isa ako sa mga nahuhumaling at na-aadik sa pag-gamit ng bagong
kinababaliwan ng mga pinoy, bata man o matanda, MukangLibro(Facebook).

Sa napakaraming pagpipilian na mga social networking site, ito na ang
mas bagong sumisikat keysa sa dati kong ginagamit na Friendster.
Simple lang ang dahilan, mas simple ito at madaling gamitin dahil sa
disenyo ng kanyang interface. Madali mong makikita at mababasa ang mga
kasalukuyang pahayag ng mga taong kunektado sayo lalo na sa mga
kapamilya mo.

Dalawang bagay lang ang aking masasabi. Una, mahirap at bawal para sa
aking trabaho dahil ako ang humaharang ng website na ito sa network ng
kumpanya. Ang solusyon, facebook sa cellphone gamit ang libreng
internet. Hehehe..
Pangalawa, mahirap pala tagalugin ng buong buo ang pahayag kong ito...grabehh!

Ito'y isinulat para ipaskel sa sapot gamit ang putol na kawad na
telepono na may modelong SE-P1i.

Salamat po!

Thursday, July 16, 2009

New Prepaid Load Validity...

New Prepaid Load Validity

10-or-less load - 3 days
10-20 load - 7 days
20-30 load - 10 days
30-40 load - 14 days
40-P50 load - 17 days
50-60 load - 20 days
60-70 load - 21 days
70-80 load - 24 days
80-90 load - 30 days
100-150 load - 45 days
150-200 load - 60 days
200-300 load - 90 days
300-600 load - 150 days
600 to 1,000 load - 180 days

Cont...part 2 of GUIDELINES ON PREPAID LOADS


3. Public telecommunications entities may offer longer validity or
expiry period for
prepaid loads.
4. For each new load that is purchased, the amount of the unused loads
earlier purchased that are still within the validity period shall be
added to and accumulate to the new load. The new minimum validity or
expiry period shall be based on the sum of the new load plus the
unused load. For purposes of illustration if for example a subscriber
has an unused load of PhP2.00 and a PhP10.00 new load is purchased,
the new validity or expiry period shall be fifteen (15) days.
5. Access to balance inquiry service through text messages shall be
free of charge.
6. Violation of any of the provisions of this
Circular shall be a ground for the imposition of fines and other
appropriate penalties in accordance with law.
7. Any
circular, order, memoranda or parts thereof inconsistent herewith are
deemed repealed or amended accordingly.
8. This
Circular shall take effect fifteen (15) days after publication in a
newspaper of general circulation and three (3) certified true copies
furnished the University of
the Philippines (UP) Law Center.
Quezon City, Philippines 03 July 2009.
RUEL V. CANOBAS
Commissioner
JAIME M. FORTES, JR.
DOUGLAS MICHAEL N. MALLILLIN

Deputy Commissioner

GUIDELINES ON PREPAID LOADS

MEMORANDUM
CIRCULAR
No. 03-07-2009
SUBJECT: GUIDELINES ON
PREPAID LOADS
WHEREAS, the 1987 Constitutionfully recognizes the vital role of
communications in nation building and provides for the emergence of
communications structures suitable to the needs and aspirations of the
nation;
WHEREAS, the promotion of competition in the telecommunications market
is a key objective of Republic Act No. 7925 (RA7925, for brevity),
otherwise known as The Public Telecommunications Policy Act of the
Philippines, which mandates that "a healthy competitive environment
shall be fostered, one in which telecommunications carriers are free
to make business decisions and interact with one another in providing
telecommunications services, with the end in view of encouraging their
financial viability while maintaining affordable rates";
WHEREAS, Sec. 2.4 of NTC Memorandum
Circular (MC) No. 05-06-2007provides that a subscriber can only be
charged according to the rates, terms and conditions he has agreed to;
WHEREAS, Sec. 2.8 of the same MC No. 05-06-2007 further provides that
subscribers of
prepaid
telecommunications services shall be provided with a free mechanism to
verify the remaining balance for his/her subscribed service;
WHEREAS, MC No. 04-06-2007requires public telecommunications entities
to retain the call data records of voice calls and similar records for
non-voice traffic;
NOW, THEREFORE, pursuant to RA7925, Executive Order (EO) No. 546
series of 1979, and in order to protect and promote the interest of
subscribers/end-users of
prepaid
telecommunications services,
the National Telecommunications Commission (Commission) hereby
promulgates the following regulatory guidelines:
1. The expiration or validity of
prepaid loads shall correspond to the amount of loads purchased.
Prepaid loads with higher value shall have longer expiration or
validity period. The minimum validity or expiration period of
prepaid loads shall be as follows:
Amount of Load Purchased Minimum Expiration | Validity Period
PhP10.00 or lower | Three (3) days
More than PhP10.00 to PhP50.00 | Fifteen (15) days
More than 50.00 to PhP100 | Thirty (30) days More than 100.00 to
PhP150.00 | Forty Five (45) days
More than PhP150.00 to PhP250.00 | Sixty (60) days
More than PhP250.00 to PhP300 | Seventy Five (75) days
More than PhP300 | One Hundred Twenty (120) days
2. The validity period of the
prepaid load shall commence upon receipt of confirmation of the
prepaid load purchased.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Wifi Card Booster

This really works on my DLink DWL-G650 wifi card.
Although it cannot boost to typical range dB level, it deliver a bit strenght to my wifi RX signal.



A card board or a CD hard case will do, just make it to form a 45degree shape angle, then cover it with an aluminum foil.




Then attached it on the PCMCIA wifi card inserted on your laptop.




The result is an additional 14% signal level.



Your wifi card and the reflector foil will now have a directivity to which the angled < is faced or pointed to the highest signal level you may recieved.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

What's inside a Canopy Antenna

I have this motorola 5760SMlite canopy antenna from SmartBro-ken. Courtesy of Pareng Neri...

BTW, this is already disconn from SmartBro-ken...

This canopy antenna is powered over ethernet (PoE). I tried to re-flash the firmware to 8.2.4 version using CNUT(canopy network utility tool from motorola).

Still haven't caught free internet access... I have to be patient... and need more experiments...

Here's whats inside: