Simon Money online.com – The Blog

This Blog is still Active! I currently have plans to give it a bit of revamp so stay alert!

Simon.

Image Source: Dropbox

Hello All,

Recently a friend introduced me to a good bit of freeware called Dropbox. Dropbox is a secure backup up facility which is the answer to those of us who have to carry around a lot of memory sticks!

Dropbox works by first having you create an account. To start of it is free to create an account, and they also give you 2GB to get on with. If you need more, you simply sign up for their paid version and get up to 50GB! Anyway once you have signed up, Dropbox has you install a client on your computer, which is available on all platforms! Once you have installed the client, this is when the fun begins!

In effect (as mentioned), Dropbox first give you a free 2GB storage space. Within this space you have a private area where you securely store your personal files and a public folder. In the public folder (as it sounds), you put files you want anyone to see and simply link them. Also to ensure you are not limited Dropbox let you create other folders within your space which you can keep private or make public to only certain people.

You can install Dropbox on multiple computers, and every time you add a file to your Dropbox area a note of that addition is made. This means when you next turn on a computer where you did not make that previous update – the client on that computer will check your Dropbox area and copy the files down. So as you can see, Dropbox makes the memory stick obsolete. To further the ability of the service even more, you can login online to upload and download files, if you are on a public machine without the Dropbox client.

Dropbox also offer a photo facility which allows you to create slideshows of your pictures.

During the process of my latest group university project (Swimming pool booking system), Dropbox has proven to be invaluable! We have created shared folder amongst ourselves, and we simply add in the bits we are each doing. When a file/folder is added Dropbox even tell you of that update – Brilliant!

Well I hope I have wetted your appetite for using Dropbox! Currently there is a scheme where you can get free extra memory of you refer someone to the service – Give it a go!

Hello All,

Image Source: Stellarium

Today I thought I would tell you about a cool bit of freeware for you star gazers out there called Stellarium! Stellarium is a brilliant planetarium software which allows you to star gze on your computer, from any point in the world. An example can be seen above.

I have only used/found this sfotware quite recently but it is really cool! As bonus to, the data you receive is not static but is dynamically updated. So for example – if you want to see where the stars are from the point of Tower bridge, Stellarium will give you an accurate view of where the stars are at that point!

Stellarium will even go as far as telling you the name and exact position of a particular star! There are loads of other cool things Stellarium offers, and I would encourage you to give it ago!

Hello All,

With Linux distros being an interest of mine; over time I have tried/installed many, and each time liking the ones I have tried. However more recently with new modules I have started at University this semester, I thought I would choose a Linux distro that I felt I could comfortably work with and be easy to use and configure, but at the same time, still letting me get down to the more technical side of the OS. As you can guess for this is chose Ubuntu and there more later version 8.10 Intrepid Ibex.

Among the the previous versions of the distro I have tried, I was really impressed, with 8.10 version. Having not tried Ubuntu since Gutsy Gibbon (but still using other Linux distros :p), I was really impressed, with what had been improved. One key example is the network manager. I remember having real problems with it and having to mess about with things like NDISwrapper due to there being nor WPA support. In 8.10 this is totally different; there is WPA support and I was connected in seconds! Another key improvement I noted was the actual installation, as this was far quicker. Well I better stop, as I could go on for hours, about the big and more subtle changes!

The only thing I did find a pain was, is the NVIDIA driver support. As I came to realise I was not the only one, and issues were common. To me this was important as I did not want a 800×600 resolution, which I would have had without additional drivers. Of course Ubuntu, suggested some restricted Drivers, either versions 173 or 177. For ease these can be downloaded using the application add/remove option in Ubuntu.

Initially I tried both drivers, but on boot up I just got past the login screen, and then everything stopped, and I was presented with a plain screen! I tried many different things, and ended up having to re-install 2-3 times. This was because you could not shut down, but only physically ‘turn-off’, which in turn corrupted GRUB Grrrrrrrrrrrr! However I did find a solution!

Solution:

The NVIDIA 173 driver which I was using was ok, but for two components, called compiz and compiz-core. These are the 3D accelerator, parts of the driver, which are not so good, with older/run of the mill graphics cards. So the only answer was to remove these two components! The way I did it was as follows:

Install the driver you want using the add/remove app – The quick and easy part. Next (once installation is complete), is to remove the two components. For this you will need to go to terminal, and do the following:

sudo apt-get remove compiz

sudo apt-get remove compiz-core

At this point (taking into account both have been removed) you can exit terminal and then restart your computer. When you restart, you should be able to login and configure your graphics card, as well as seeing an instant change in resolution even before configuring!

Well I hopes this helps some of you, as it did me!

*I do not take responsibility for any damages, caused by anything said/expressed in this post or anywhere on this site.**

For a long time now ISP’s have (at times) had the data which could incriminate those who download or upload copyrighted material, without the correct authorisation. With this data again up until now it has been up to the ISP what they do with this it, such as should they contact or warn copyright owners, make users aware of the wrong doing or do nothing etc. This however is all about to change, and what is required of this data/what should be done with it, will be made very clear.

A man by the name of Lord Stephen Carter has drafted a report (i have not read, as they are usually very long!), which in a summary, suggests in which ‘digital britain’ should operate. With regards to UK Internet piracy, this subject is one which is of great importance in the draft.

As an example from the report: ISP’s by law will be required to inform down loaders/up loaders of copyrighted data, that what they are doing, the ISP knows about. For those who do not listen, mass data on the user will be collected and made available to the copyright owners.

The above is just part of this draft report, which was triggered by the MoU – Memorandum of Understanding. This document outlined an agreement between ISP’s and copyright holders, to state how they would deal with piracy. This was done last July. As an example to see how far this MoU has gone, think of this – Did you recieve a letter from your ISP educating you online piracy and such? Well if you did, your ISP suspects you of exchanging copyrighted material or someone else downloading/uploading from your IP address!

Although I feel to uphold copyright law and to protect creators is important, I feel any enforcement will have to be very carefully thought out. A key reason for this is the example above. If you have an un-protected wireless network, anyone could connect, and violate these laws in any number of ways – Any data they exchange will be through your IP address. Of course no one is denying the wireless router should be protected anyway! I believe there was an issue like this, which featured during a watch dog episode. The Link is here: Watchdog Article.

Well anyway that’s about the crux of it! The only other comment I would make is that, we seem to be becoming a “Super Nanny” nation, which now seem to be attempting to censor the Internet. The question I also ask is where does this leave sites like the BBC Iplayer and especially YouTube? Well anyway a move like this should be quite good for us lot with jobs in IT!

To find out more, check out the finacial times article: Internet piracy regulations planned for UK