Erik Novales

In an effort to reduce clutter at home, we’re trying to get rid of things that we no longer need, or don’t want anymore. For many types of things, this isn’t a problem — box it up and fire it off to Goodwill, the library, e-waste, or other charities. However, certain types of junk require [...]

[Read more →]

I noticed that, at some point last night, my ISP’s DNS servers went down. Sure enough, I tested today for the DNS vulnerability that has set the Internet abuzz, and it appears to be patched now. Now Parallels just needs to get their act together, and I’ll be all set. This whole thing is starting [...]

[Read more →]

The other day a security bulletin was published and patches released for a vulnerability in DNS — essentially the switchboard protocol of the Internet. This is an interesting case because the exact details of the vulnerability have not yet been released (but are scheduled to be in about a month or so). There’s an article [...]

[Read more →]

It’s been awhile since I last posted — I’ve been pretty busy in the interim but I’ll try to get back to a more regular posting schedule. I realized the other day that the reason USB memory stick transfers were so slow on my machine was because my keyboard, a Microsoft Natural Pro, was probably [...]

[Read more →]

My recent experiences in setting up another server and site have served as a reminder that, on the net, it seems like nothing is secure by default. FTP sends your credentials over the wire in plain text. Telnet, of course, isn’t secure for the same reasons. Most ISP mail providers don’t use SSL or secure [...]

[Read more →]

I’m not actually left-handed, but a few years ago, I decided that it might be a good idea for me to learn to use a mouse with my left hand, to give my right hand a much-needed break during the work day. I figured I wasn’t the first person to try this, and a quick [...]

[Read more →]

Yesterday I started having some issues with my cable modem (a nearly 4 year old RCA DCM-305) that resulted in me being unable to access the Internet. In my attempts to resolve the situation, I wound up tethering my trusty phone and its 3G wireless connection to my PC so I could research the problem [...]

[Read more →]

While I was cleaning out and throwing away some old junk, I came across some old promotional stuff for iSmell scent technology which I guess I picked up at the 2000 GDC. I saved it for humor value. The company (Digiscents) met its demise in June 2001, to no one’s surprise. I thought I picked [...]

[Read more →]

I just experienced a stereotypical moment of “tech columnist rage.” I had downloaded a mobile version of the (highly recommended) Keepass password manager, to make sure that I could access my personal information when I’m taking a trip or am otherwise away from my computer. For example, if I uploaded a trip itinerary to TripIt, [...]

[Read more →]

I’ve been trying out Windows Live Writer for a little bit here, because I’ve heard that it’s quite good. While I think the WordPress interface is just fine for writing and editing posts, it is kind of nice to have a better client user interface when composing posts. So far my experience has been pretty [...]

[Read more →]