Toys
I’m going to do it again and I make no apologies for it. It’s Software/Technology recommendation time. Each of these items deserves it’s own post, but hey – time is of the essence.
| Technology: | |
| URL: | www.twitter.com |
| What it is: | Microblogging |
Twitter is the latest celebrity endorsed social networking craze. For those of you who use Facebook (yup that’s most of my team & probably most of our readers too), Twitter is like a site purely for status updates but each update is limited to 140 characters. Why? Becuase Twitter is true Web 2.0 and you can interface with it directly from your cellphone. Yup – you can text an update to it.
And why would you wanna use it? Well if yer the type who reads girly magazines because your into the whole celeb watching thing then Twitter is definitely for you. You can follow people without their permission (unless they have a locked profile), and there are BUCKET loads of celebs Tweeting. I’m currently following pro-skateboarder Tony Hawk, actor Stephen Fry, musician John Mayer, the Mythbusters team and of course, Mr. Twitter himself, Ashton Kutcher. Why? Mostly it’s a laugh. It get’s you up to the second updates on things like upcoming albums/episodes/movies. But also because it helps you to realise these celebs are people just like you.
I can fully recommend Tweetdeck to help you out in Twitterhood.
| Technology: | Keepass |
| URL: | www.keepass.info |
| What it is: | Password managing software |
If you’re anything like me you have to remember about a zillion passwords. My computer, internet banking, ATC computer, ATC website, webmail, clients X, Y and Z’s website, business banking, work computer (multiplied by about 50 by the time you count all the servers and external clients)… the list is endless. So what do you do? You get Keepass. It’s a freebie and fits on a flash drive so is portable. Start a Keepass file (one for work, one for home for me) and store CRAPLOADS of info on each username/password combo. Each Keepass file is password protected and can be locked down with a key file giving two factor authentication. It even generates passwords for you. The best bit is you can store website addresses in it so its like having a portable favourites/bookmarks list on steroids. Example?
Internet banking. I have a 16 character, randomly generated password. Something like habvL0UhhgeQ6kBJ. I don’t have ANY clue what it is. But that doesn’t matter. Because I can whip out my flash drive, open my file, key in my password, double click on Internet banking and I’m at the right site. Another fancy key combo and my username AND password are typed in and I’m logged in. BINGO! What’s safer than a password even YOU don’t know? Keepass can also keep expiry dates on passwords, reminding you when you need to renew your password.
I just LOVE it and it’s in my must have, can’t do without toolkit.
| Technology: | Imation Atom 8GB |
| URL: | www.imation.com |
| What it is: | USB Flash Drive |
Yeah, yeah… it’s a flash drive, so what? Where do I start?
8GB of storage: WIN! I can fit a whole single-layer DVD on this thing and still have space.
Size: This thing is literally as tall as a paperclip (see the link up top there for an image) and fits on my keyring no trouble.
Encryption: This is what REALLY sells it for me. It comes with some software called Imation Lock. This software partitions the flash drive and locks down part of it by password. The cool thing is when you chuck it in the USB slot in your PC the only thing you’ll see for starters is your unprotected partition (F drive in my case). Boot the software and put in your password and now you have access to the hidden partition, which shows up as F drive again. This means your unprotected stuff is now hidden. Log out and you get your unprotected partition again. For all intents and purposes it’s not even VISIBLE so unless someone knows that you are using the software they can’t even SEE that you’ve locked part of the drive down. So guess where I keep my Keepass software and databases?
A big thumbs up on this little beast. And at $50 I’ve just scored another must have tool!
Okay I’m done. Honest.
18
May
Mr Geek himself, at it again.
Ohh, I’ll definitely have to look into Keepass. Thanks for the tip!
See, Baldrick… if I’ve helped just ONE person I win
I changed my work password yesterday… and predictably forgot about it this morning. Fortunately I could remember it though as I made semi-human pronounceable password, generated by Keepass.
Good on ya mate!