Erik Novales

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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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, [...]

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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 [...]

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A few weeks ago, my cell phone started acting a little flaky. Nothing fatal, but strange things like charging problems, and getting stuck in a strange “not on, but not off” state, which made me think that its time was nigh. I’d had the phone for about three and a half years, so it’s not [...]

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