Caffeine Boost Your WIFI

I love coming across cheap, effective inventions that allow me to gain more productivity and usefulness out of the appliances and products that I fork over ridiculous amounts of money to own. Finding ways to do this for less than the amount of spare change I have sitting next to my bed is even better.

Enter the soda can range booster for WiFi signals. For the (ever increasing) cost of a Coca-Cola you can increase the range of your wireless antennas. Honestly, I haven't tried this out (yet) to see how much efficiency increase you get with the aluminum can modification, but as soon as I try it out I'll write a follow-up post with the details and results.

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Top Ten Hottest Girl Gamers of 2007

Well, I know this blog is supposed to be centered around the IT industry, and new software and technology.. but this is close enough. It's only a few degrees of separation, and I think we can all agree that looking at beautiful women is always a welcome distraction.

Listed here are a group of the top ten hottest gamer girls of 2007, complete with pictures of each of the girls. Some of them are average, while some are incredibly attractive. I think they might have this list mixed up a little bit.

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Demonoid Down!

Recently the superb torrent hosting site Demonoid.com received a letter from the CRIA (Canadian Recording Industry Association) asking the site to quit supplying access to its Canadian users. Now, they have gone a step further by threatening the hosting site that keeps Demonoid running.

I, personally, have been a long time user of the Demonoid site with roughly 35GB worth of uploads in the few years that I've been using this site. Keep in mind that this has all been from a 28.8Kbps dialup modem. I've always had wonderful, intuitive experience with Demonoid. It is always my first choice when I'm looking for programs and other forms of media that I want to test before purchasing.

Yes, I buy my software, music, and videos. I think of torrents as a 'trial' period, unlike most users who use torrents as their sole source of resources. If I like a program, or I think a particular movie is good, or even if I just like a few songs off of a music album, I'll go purchase it and support the creator/artist/director that provided the material. I don't see any reason not to. If you promote a piece of software but you received it free of charge, you're doing more harm than good to its developer.

In fact, studies conducted by independent marketing firms have confirmed that the impact that downloading music has had on the music industry has been positive, and could help the industry from going completely under. In an age where children as young as 6 are on their mobile phones, on the internet, and downloading their favorite tunes from places like iTunes, it's difficult to imagine that the RIAA could possibly fathom that offering music for download would be a detriment to their profits.

As a self-taught whitehat, with a CEH course - soon to be certification - under my belt, I will always be in support of the freedom of information. However, I do not support individuals who download programs and information just for the benefit of personal gain. If you download a program, or you download a music album, and you like what you get, support the developer or artist. Support the actors and directors of the movie that you like, whether you feel they need the money or not.



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How Hackers Work

It's not often that I'll touch on the topic of hacking, simply because it's a taboo subject that many people have skewed opinions and beliefs over. There are many things that the media will teach you that are completely biased or horribly inaccurate about people in the world known as "hackers."

A key bit of information that you often wont hear: The people that protect your business assets from being broken into digitally, the people who build your firewalls, even the government that you support, are all filled with elite, top-class hackers. While there are scores of elitist hackers across the world stuck in the dingy confines of their parent's basement, typing away on a dialup modem at a NASA server, there are also exponentially more "hackers" being paid six figure salaries to watch over your information stored on remote servers in the middle of the desert and inside large corporate buildings in metropolitan cities. Lets segregate the two communities.

Blackhat: These sort of hackers are the kind that are after your credit card information, the kind that want to see what websites you're visiting, or just want to see a picture that you made private on your Facebook. Contrary to popular belief, not all Blackhat hackers are out to cause malicious damage, or steal your credit card information. Most Blackhat hackers are simply in the persuit of information.

Whitehat: These hackers are the lesser known of the two. These are the people that you pay every day to look out for your personal information. If you've ever talked to anyone who worked in a security related field of networking, you have talked to a 'whitehat hacker.' Although they may not be certified with their CEH (Certified Ethical Hacker certification), they are still a part of the infamous group of individuals known as hackers. They work in every level of your life, from the telecommunications company that you're subscribed to for your internet connection, to the highest level of FBI, CIA, and government facilities. Even the military has their own elite teams of hackers that monitor, protect, and break into systems.

So the next time you hear about a 'hacker' and start looking down your nose at the person, remember that a "hacker" is the one sitting behind a computer terminal making sure that your credit card information stays securely locked in the servers hosting the company you are subscribed to.

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Opera Mini 4 released

After three beta releases Opera Mini 4 is finally here!

For years I've been using the Opera Mini web browser on my (less than high-tech) phones. It wasn't until recently, when I aquired my BlackBerry Pearl, that I was able to use the Opera Mini browser to it's full functionality. The browser offers a multitude of options and configurations that even the most basic users can understand. It offers full web page views, or mobile format, with RSS feeds as well as opening screen bookmarks. You can also dynamically add search fields to the opening screen as well as view brief history of your visitation.

Although it does not have the ability to actively download files OTA (over the air), you can view large, high-resolution pictures, as well as scroll across web pages with a newly introduced mouse scrolling icon. You can zoom out and zoom into specific portions of the web pages, as well as view links that normally wouldn't be available to regular media browsers on mobile phones.

You'll experience problems occasionally when you're browsing sites with CGI, Javascript, and PHP ( such as Facebook) that prevent you from staying logged into the services or using certain controls on the page itself. You also will not be able to load Flash applications (yet) but I'm assuming that the development of a mobile version of Flash should be somewhere in the (near or distant) future.

All in all, I sincerely promote the use of Opera Mini and Opera Mobile. I am not a fan of the Desktop browser (read my post on Flock), you cannot go wrong with their mobile translations of the product.

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Flock 1.0

Recently I came across an old* development called Flock.

Flock is a Firefox based web browser that is integrated into the entire social networking scheme that the general populous of the internet has shifted over to. In just a few minutes, my entire network of websites, feeds, and media files were available to me with just a few clicks of the mouse. Needless to say, I am enamored.

Anyone who has ever used an instance of Firefox will feel right at home with the features and controls available in this web browser. However, you'll find that there are quite a few features that you're not quite used to having, that are more than welcome to those of us who are completely integrated int our various social networking and information websites.

Being able to drag and drop into my photobucket, while blogging, and viewing a media feed from a friend's Facebook has left me stunned to say the least. I highly suggest anyone who has a need to stay connected go download this browser immediately.

* The newest instance was just released, however the project itself has been around for some time.

Welcome!

Welcome, one and all, to my little corner of the web. This blog more than likely won't contain a lot of useful information or worthwhile links, however it will contain the day to day adventures of an aspiring Information Technology administrator. I'll start this off with an introduction.

My name is Theo Pickering, and I live in Tallahassee, FL. I'm not the average thin, pasty, nerdy geek you see hacking away at monsters on World of Warcraft while furiously pleasuring myself to furry porn and arguments about the superiority of Apple/Microsoft. I am however, short, reserved when faced with social situations, and particularly attractive for my choice in career paths.

With the pleasantries out of the way, this blog is going to start off with the basics of the basics. I'm currently re-visiting my Microsoft Certified System Administrator classes before I begin taking my exams. Currently I am taking my Network + course at Computer Tutors, USA here in good ole' Tallahassee, with one of the most wonderful instructors I've ever been graced with; Bob Serico.

I'll update this from time to time with random or useful information, or possibly just a rant of some form about the condition of technology and information in the world. If you have a lot of free time, and don't mind reading one person's views and opinions, then feel free to bookmark me and check back. :)