TheOneCubed » Tech Rant

GMail SSL Feature

Jason — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 13:34:11 +0000

My friend John shot this article: Why You Should Turn Gmail’s SSL Feature On Now over to me this morning about GMail’s new SSL feature. SSL is a level of security that encrypts communication over the internet. It is most easily identified by the https:// in the browser URL as opposed to http://. This SSL feature is important especially on open wireless networks (Starbucks, Random open location, NCSU’s wireless network, etc) where anyone could be sniffing your traffic.

To TURN ON SSL Encryption for the GMail Webapp:

Sign in to Gmail
Click Setting at the top of any Gmail page
Set ‘Browser Connection to ‘Always use https.’
Click Save Changes
Reload Gmail

Firefox 3 Download Day

Jason — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 04:08:24 +0000

This Tuesday, June 17th, Mozilla is attempting to set a world record by having the most downloads of a piece of software in a single day. What is that software you might ask? Firefox 3. If you are still running Internet Explorer or Netscape, please oh please click the button below on Tuesday and get Firefox!

How Do I know if I’m using Internet Explorer?

If you click a giant “e” on your desktop or in your task bar to get to the internet, then you are using IE. Please stop internet abuse and get a better browser!

IE 8 and the DOCTYPE Switch

Jason — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 21:24:01 +0000

Today, an excellent article was published by Aaron Gustafson at A List Apart. His article discusses the ever changing practice of developing in a standards based word for the World Wide Web. Now I know for some of my readers out there this will matter very little – however for those of you interested, I encourage you to take in just a little of the discussions that surround the web.

Camera for Sale

Jason — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 01:53:15 +0000

Well, last week I got a wild hair and bought a new digital camera. I purchased the new Canon 30D and absolutely love it! As such, I’m putting my Canon Digital Rebel up for sale.

Max resolution	3072 x 2048
Low resolution	2048 x 1360, 1536 x 1024
Image ratio w:h	3:2
Effective pixels	6.3 million
Sensor photo detectors	6.3 million
Sensor size	22.7 x 15.1 mm
Sensor type	CMOS
Colour filter array	RGB
Sensor manufacturer	Canon
ISO rating	100, 200, 400, 800, 1600
Zoom wide (W)	n/a
Zoom tele (T)	n/a
Digital zoom	No
Image stabilization	No
Auto Focus	Yes
Manual Focus	Yes
Auto focus type	Multi-BASIS TTL, 7 focus points (EOS 30 AF)
Normal focus range	n/a
Macro focus range	n/a
White balance override	6 positions & manual preset
Aperture range	n/a
Min shutter	30 sec + Bulb
Max shutter	1/4000 sec
Built-in Flash	Yes, pop-up
Flash guide no.	12 m (39.3 ft) @ ISO 100
External flash	Yes, hot-shoe, E-TTL
Flash modes	Auto, On, Red-eye reduction, Off
Exposure compensation	-2 EV to +2 EV in 1/3 EV steps
Metering	Auto
Aperture priority	Yes
Shutter priority	Yes
Focal length multiplier	1.6
Lens thread	Canon EOS EF, EF-S mount
Continuous Drive	Yes, 2.5 fps max 4 images
Movie Clips	No
Remote control	E3 connector, InfraRed
Tripod mount	Yes
Self-timer	10 sec
Time-lapse recording	Yes, by USB cable and PC
Orientation sensor	Yes
Storage types	Compact Flash (Type I or II)
Storage included	None
Uncompressed format	RAW
Compressed format	JPEG (EXIF 2.2)
Quality Levels	Fine, Normal, RAW
Viewfinder	TTL
LCD	1.8 “
LCD Pixels	118,000
Video out	Yes
USB	Yes
Firewire (IEEE 1394)	No
Battery / Charger	Yes
Battery	Canon 1100mAh Li-Ion & Charger
Weight (inc. batteries)	645 g (22.8 oz)
Dimensions	142 x 99 x 72 mm (5.6 x 3.9 x 2.8 in)

The camera comes with all original equipment which includes a battery, a Canon 18-55mm lens, strap, software, manuals, etc (all in the original box). I’m also including a 256 MB Compact Flash card. I’m asking $550 for all of this. If you are interested, please send me an email or IM.

Google Analytics

Jason — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 14:48:40 +0000

Google Analytics rocks my socks off! A few months ago, Google bought up Urchin, a company known for their sophisticated web site traffic analytics tool. Urchin sold for hundreds of dollars a license and people paid it because it gave you some of the most accurate information as to the visitors on your site.

I have been pining for some time to get my hands on an invitation to try Google Analytics (which is still in official beta testing). Well, I received that invitation early last week and immediatly began to implement the code on my website. In 5 min., data was being collected and within a few days I could begin to see trends on my site.

Google isn’t currently accepting open requests for the service but you can request an invitation as they become available: http://analytics.google.com

Favorite OS X Software

Jason — Wed, 24 May 2006 15:21:58 +0000

For most people that read my blog, they know I’m an avid Mac user. I’m not going to get into a Windows vs. OS X debate here but I wanted to start sharing a few of my favorite OS X software packages for those readers who are also Mac users. I know there are a lot of sites out there that do this sort of thing but I’ve decided to take my own stab at things. Thus starts the Apple category of my site!

Get a Mac Commercials

Jason — Tue, 02 May 2006 13:39:18 +0000

Apple has released a new set of Get a Mac commercials comparing a PC to a Mac. They talk about several of the issues surrounding the advantages that Macs have over PCs. Now before I start getting flamed – I just think these are funny. I’m not touting Mac superiority, I think PCs have their place in the world but if you ask my choice of machines – it’ll be a Mac every time.

View Get a Mac Commercials

Boot Camp

Jason — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 18:25:24 +0000

Some of my more tech savvy readers may have heard last week about Apple’s Boot Camp announcement. This beta software provided by Apple allows an owner of one of the new Intel based Mac computers to repartition their harddrive, install Windows XP, and successfully offer a dual-boot environment on one machine. You can have your cake and eat it too!

With all that said I found the following article today quite funny in regards to all of the Boot Camp hype going on. I must say however, great marketing move on the part of Apple who’s stock soared 10% after the Boot Camp announcement.

Switched On: Boot Camp – The Miffing Manual

New Addiction

Jason — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 15:43:06 +0000

Ok – I felt that I had to come clean to all my readers (all 2 of you). I have a new addiction and the only thing I can hope to do is feed this addiction. I’ve tried to ween myself off to no avail. I just can’t help it anymore . . . I have to come clean!

I’m . . . .

I’m addicted . . . .

I’m addicted to RSS feeds! Ok for some of you that makes no sense! Some of you are thinking what in the heck is an RSS feed? We’ll let’s take a moment to educate those less addicted O:-). RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication (among other things). It is a technology that is used to push information to people as opposed to people making a request and pulling information themselves. What does that mean exactly? When you visit a webpage you are requesting information from it thus pulling the information. RSS feeds are used to automatically deliver content when a site is updated. This allows individuals to avoid the constant click of the refresh button on a news site or favorite blog whilst waiting for new content.

Thus my addiction. I don’t have to scour tons of website hoping for new content, instead – that content is delivered to me by a Feed Reader. Now cool browsers like Firefox, Opera, and Safari (sorry Internet Explorer doesn’t fit into this category) all have built in functionality to auto read news feeds for you and let you know when new content is available. I choose to use an actual application on my computer (NetNewsWire by Ranchero for OS X users). This affords me the ability of a one stop shop for all of my news and information; thus further feeding my addiction.

Now here is my charge to those faithful (all 2 of you) readers. At least once or twice a week, we go out and scour each others blogs for the latest bit of information. It is our way of peering into someone else’s life without actually being involved. It helps us to know, understand, and appreciate one another more. Thus, if you have a blog, enable RSS feeds. All of you that use Blogger service – it is already built in, you just have to click the box to enable the service! I must praise several people out there (Nick and Mark) who already use RSS and allow me to more easily keep up with their lives. Now I encourage (with strong internet hypnotic suggestions) for you all to do the same.

If Microsoft Redesigned the iPod Packaging

Jason — Mon, 20 Mar 2006 19:05:07 +0000

You can call me an Apple elitest if you’d like – but Apple does have a way of making a strong statement with their packaging.