At first I was the only one using the public WiFi and no security problems crossed my mind, but as there came in more people I started wondering. How safe is my data on the public network. Anyone who is connected and using a packet sniffer can monitor the network. So later when I was back home I searched for how to secure your data in a public network. As I might be in public networks more often in the future.

As I see it you have to divide the problem in two ways. One problem is the sharing of data on your harddrive on the network. On the other hand there is the personal information you transmit while browsing secure websites. These are different problems which need different countermeasures.

For protecting you shared data on your computer you can do a couple of things. For instance you can disable the sharing of files temporarily in your operating system settings. You can also install a firewall for protection against intruders, which can be quite effective.

The problem of the personal data being transmitted acros the public network is more difficult. The most effective way to secure the transmitted data is to use a Virtual Private Network. If you don’t have one at your office or home you can always use one provided by FreeVPN. In this way you use a tunnel connection to an other network, so the packets can not be sniffed. When this is too complicated you might try to use https instead of http. A lot of websites are using this to make secure connections, for example gmail. When you are using https your data will be encrypted before transmitted and will be secure for eavesdroppers on the network.

Boolean operators
Between search terms you can place the two boolean operators, AND and OR. Be carefull because they have to be in capital letters, otherwise it just process the words in the phrase. With those little words the search result can be influenced in a good way.
+ and – operators
You can also annotate search terms with + or – like this: +term or -term. The + sign indicating that that term has to be in the resultset of your search. On the contrary to the – sign which indicates that the term may not be in the resultset.
Using ” “
When you use double quotes you can state an exact phrase. It will try to match the exact expression between the double quotes. “How to search” will search for the exact phrase how to search.
~ and * operators
These two special operators may also come in handy. Annotating a term with ~ means that the search enige also searches for synonyms of the term. On the other hand the * is used as a wildcard in search terms to match anything.
Combinations and other annotations
To make your searches the most effective you can combine all these techniques. It might seem cumbersome but once you are used to it. You’ll find that the results will be more accurate. For really specialized searches you can use some other annotations like filetype:, site:, info:, intitle:, inurl:, …

I hope the information was usefull and will make you more efficient in searching the world wide web.

Extra
Are you also annoyed when you have to answer questions you have to google too, but people ask them because you work alot with computers? Now you can answer with the appropriate site, Let me google that for you. Which will redirect the search you were to launch to get to the results.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1zySeNpW20

Via Nepherte

In the pauses of my study scheme I tried something new. Since I bought my samsung wave I am eager to develop some apps for the device. Due to my limited time I tried to develop some small widgets instead of apps. Which I will get back to when my exams are finished. Both widget and application software development kits are available on samsung’s website.

The widget I am working on at the moment is to check my remaining data limit and free text messages. The information is provided by an API from my mobile operator, Mobile Vikings. For retrieving the information I have to make a XMLHttpRequest in javascript to the API because samsung widgets are webbased.

Nevertheless my efforts were a waste of time. It seems that the samsung widgets with the current development environment aren’t capable of making XMLHttpRequest to HTTPS URLs. It does work when you make a XMLHttpRequest to a standard HTTP website, but the API requires HTTPS.

So I am currently looking for solutions to this problem. I already posted a thread on the discussion board on the developers site, but the reactions are minimal and do not work. I have now mailed the support of samsung to ask if they know a workaround for this problem. I’ll let you know when I have a solution for this problem.

Edit: seems like you have to be a core member (read company related) in order to get a respons from the technical staff of samsung. I think it is ashame because lots of students and non core members could provide some usefull information and questions too aswell as apps and widgets.

I am really excited about the job and hope I will be recruited for a month. The competition is though tough. A girl applied and wrote an ode about the summer job. Which I find quiet creative and I can only applaud such initiatives. I hope I have an edge with my current studies and technical background. The selection is tomorrow so fingers crossed!

I made a choice and preordered a Samsung Wave. Which combined the organizing aspects and great multimedia specs with a 1 Ghz processor and a super amoled display. Thanks to the preordering I am one of the first proud owners.

But it is not all a bed of roses as an early adopter. The new operating system Bada requires conform applications, but the varity in the app store is still quite limited. Therefore there is no application that synchronises your calendar with iCal. Furthermore you cannot find handy information of prior users. That’s the reason for this current post.

I found a way to sync your calendar on a Samsung Wave with iCal on Mac OS. The solution uses a detour instead of syncing directly. The first step is to sync your iCal with google calendar.

1. Select preferences in iCal
2. Accounts
3. Insert username and password
4. Server: www.google.com & path: /calendar/dav/YOUR@EMAIL.COM/user/
5. Use SSL

Now you can sync in two ways to the google calendar. The next step is to sync your Samsung Wave with the google calendar.

1. Go to calendar app
2. Settings -> Calendar sync
3. Add -> Exchange ActiveSync
4. Username & password
5. Domain: google
6. Server URL: m.google.com & use SSL

Now you are all set to sync your events from your phone to laptop and vice versa. Happy syncing!

Edit: below you can find the transition of screens you are suppose to see.

1                                     2                                     3                                       4                                  5

Edit 2: New firmware is released. With this update you normally all can sync google calendar now.

The problem can be solved, but depends on type of MacBook you own. The audio card in your MacBook varies with the type. There are three different drivers for the different audio card vendors:

1. Realtek
2. Cirrus
3. IDT SigmaTel

All drivers can be found on the installation disc of Mac OS under the directory bootcamp/drivers. Depending on the audio card that is in your MacBook you have to install the correct driver.

The setups of the drivers might give a problem. This is due to the compatibility on Windows 7. You can solve this by a right click on the setup and select compatibility troubleshoot. Then you have to select Windows Vista as compatible version. After installing the right driver everything should work fine.

A step towards that direction is to search people on the internet. A friend of showed me a dutch website where you can find people in a way you normally search the internet. They list all hits on different kinds of social networks. Furthermore they also search for different types of media and list normal relevant search results. While the world became smaller when you read this, it was surely nice to meet you!

One of the videos I found really amusing and cool is the video below. The concept is called siftables, but the video will explain everything.

The slides of professor Duval are also publicly shared on slideshare.