Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Anonymouse - using the Internet anonymously


Seen in logs 31 Jan 2012 - Anonymous web browsing and email
 
 
 
Making a request for this website using Anonymouse:
  
 
The URL (modified to remove preamble): anonymouse.org/cgi-bin/anon-www.cgi/____://tempusfugit.ca - displays my home page:

This appears in the server log so:



As can be seen (or rather not) as the images on my site will not display as I have a server directive that displays another image that just says: "www.tempusfugit.ca". This is to prevent images being linked from other websites and if they do any vistor to that linking site will see my web URL.

The Anonymouse website claims that you are completely anonymous and those (like me) who are monitoring your access to their websites will not be able to tell anything about you is not totally true. It is true that you cannot be identified by your IP address but the website owner can see what pages you have accessed and what you are interested in. The fact that you are visiting their website using such a service is an indication that you are of the persuasion that a service such as Anonymouse.

It is more of an interest to me what pages you havve visited rather than where you are located.

Sending an anonymouse email

This appears something like this:




This was an experiment using the anonymouse.org services
 

 
From: Nomen Nescio 
Comments: This message did not originate from the Sender address above.
 It was remailed automatically by anonymizing remailer software.
 Please report problems or inappropriate use to the
 remailer administrator at abuse@dizum.com.
To: unspecified@tempusfugit.ca
Subject: An Anonymous test
Message-ID: <6d712bd827e8aa3b2ce7162665fbb82a@dizum.com>
Date: Mon, 28 May 2012 20:34:46 +0200 (CEST)

Just to see what is actually in the header of the email
 
Links: 

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Turbo Tax 2011 Canada - Bonus Software

Not only is Turbo Tax Standard overkill (w.r.t. Turbo Tax Basic - half the price) the bonus software is likely to be useless.

TurboTax 2010 shown - 2011 is similar


How come that Futureshop and BestBuy (Canada) do not appear to stock the Basic package?

Although I think that the product is òver-sold`  Ì do not consider it to be a `scam

Links:

Friday, January 20, 2012

TurboTax Basic 2011 (Canada)

Turbo Tax Basic is NOT just for "simple taxes" - all the forms that are part of the T1 General return are included in the software.

The package says "(T4s & donations)" - this implies that you cannot enter such things as business income and deductions, Flow-Through (T5013A slips), RSP contributions and Foreign Tax deductions.

I have used the "basic" package for a number of years and I have filed what I would consider "complex" returns with all of the above entries.

The only thing that is missing from the "basic" package is the stupid "interview" data entry method and some of the support video instructions. So if you know what you are doing don't bother with the Standard and above versions. Even if you run a business you don't need the more expensive packages. The only thing you might need another package for is if you are incorporated and you need to file a T2. In this case the T1 TurboTax software would be no good - even if you do file a T2 you will also need to file a T1 on your personal taxes (from the income you are taking from your business)

  • no tax form t5013a on turbo tax - 9 April 2012 - Yes there are - I have used QuickTax/TurboTax to file returns with "Flow-Through" investment deductions and other investments that trigger the issuance of a T5013  (not T5013A)  for a number of years.

xraider seocopysoftware.com

Xraider SEOcopysofware is an example of the nonsense that those that think that they have a way of fooling Google:


Xraider is NOT a way to "Ethically Steal Top Google Rankings". If you exchange links with this organization then Google will know and penalize your ranking. 

Links:

Thursday, January 19, 2012

The issue of IP rights - 2012

With the debate on SOPA and PIPA and the reactions from WikiP, Google and others - the issue of where we stand with respect to copyright enforcement is one that is going to be with us for a while.

It is very unlikely that you are going to find this page, but that does not mean that I do not feel compelled to write it.

I have studied the DMCA and the ACTA in the past and also the responses that countries such as Canada, the UK and Europe have made to these US initiatives. The role that the media industry plays in all this and their attempts to control what they see as "piracy"

Using the Playbook for Google Analytics

Not as good as a 10" tablet but at least it runs Flash It is strange that Google persist with Adobe - I guess that HTML5 is not up to the task yet?

Murdoch, SOPA and PIPA

Has no-one else seen the irony here?

The state of Google in 2012

cutts_2012.html

Monday, January 16, 2012

Glimpse - News aggregator for the Playbook


Glimpse is similar to Zite for the iPad  


In someways I prefer Glimpse for its simplicity. There are fewer things displayed at once and therefore it is not as overwhelming.

I also have used the aggregator application that came with my Acer Aspire AO722-0465, (name goes here). Again, there is a lot more information displayed and I find that a lot of it is too old and I also find that I end up reading the same article over again not realizing that it is a week old.

Friday, January 13, 2012

Playbook O/S 2.0

My definition of a Scam

Please follow the links in the examples below.

I have posted many times on my website about this.I am using the term "scam" in an emotive manner. I know that Internet users will search for whatever they are interested in and add the word "scam" to it so they can see what others are claiming.

In the past I have managed to upset a few of the people that I have accused of scamming. That was my intention.

It became clear that this was not understood when I tried to interpret and answer some of the comments on my blog and communications with me to this website.

 In a lot of cases the "scam" translates into a dubious marketing technique. Something that the Internet is rife with!

Some examples from my website:

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Using the Playbook for Google Analytics

Web site administration

The playbook proved to be impracticable for the purposes of running Google Analytics.  This was mainly due to the deficiencies in the Browser navigation and the smallness of the screen. These two features made navigation around the Analytics screen pretty laborious.

It was very difficult to use the date selection device in Analytics as the date numbers were too small and when the screen was expanded the AJAX element would close before a date could be selected, the screen then needed to be zoomed out so that the date selection element could be opened again. Also the selection of the menu options, such as "Pages" from the "Content" section were also "hit and miss" (to be fair the same was found with the Asus Prime - the iPad was not usable due to the lack of Flash)

Tablet Discussion

Sir Timothy John "Tim" Berners-Lee

The inventor of the World Wide Web

It is amazing how little and how much has changed over the last 31 years. When Tim Berners-Lee was tinkering with the WWW at CERN in 1991 he configured what could have been the first webserver. 30 years later I have something not too different in the basement of my house.




DRM and circumvention

The circumvention of DRM systems. A wide range of issues from the backup of digital media to the access of material from outside specific geographic locations.



DRM - Digital Rights management (Restriction) is the general term given to the techniques used to restrict the copying and access to digital media in situations where the rights holder does not want you to.

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Playbook native email

I guess this is Blackberry's first attempt at bringing native email to the PB, however, I thought seeing as they have much experience on the BB phone it would be a little better.

You do get the option to access ANY email account (presumably on a POP server). In my case I tried it on my GMail account as  that is my main email. This was probably not fair as the web-based email (including as it turns out, the GMail App) work reasonably well.

Actually, I setup my GMail account the wrong way on the Playbook. Maybe it was in my haste or the fact that I though I knew better, but I didn't bother checking out the "Advanced" settings. If I had done I would have seen that there was a specific setting for GMail accounts.




Friday, January 6, 2012

Determining who you are from your IP address

With the proposed changes to the IP addressing scheme used for Internet routing it will theoretically be possible to identify individual communications devices even if they are located behind a firewall or a NAT (Network Address Translator). This is accomplished using a process called "tunneling". The term "tunneling" is used here in a very generic manner as "Tunneling Protocols" can take on many forms and are beyond  the scope of this page.

The main discussion that you here when IPv6 is discussed is with regard to the fact that IPv4 addresses are going to run out and whether particular networking equipment and services are IPv6 ready. This is a minor issue in this debate.

The implications of this increased address-ability is that if you are participating  in an activity that you do not want traced an interested party may be able to pin-point your location. At the present time, under IPv4 addressing, your IP address will only revealed to the outside world as the one assigned to your modem or gateway by your ISP. Devices located behind a router or Network Address Translator cannot be identified unless there is some other interim process at play.

An Internet user can be connected to that server from anywhere in the world using numerous IP obscuring techniques. But, if IPv6 is used, the routing to your individual device can be determined irrespective if what proxy you are connecting through.


If you run the ipconfig command on a Windows 7 computer you get a listing of the Windows IP Configuration. At the present time it is not known whether the information so generated is visible, or is possible to be so, to the outside world. Or the Tunnel Adapter at the ISP. The listing that I get when connected at home reveals not only the local IP address assigned by my router by DHCP but also the Link-Local IPv6 address.

Operating Systems

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Anti Virus

My findings with various A-V products.

In addition to my evaluations of these various products there are other pages on this blog that refer to other analysis of offerings from other companies.

In my opinion the importance of the value of A-V products is rather "over-blown". It would appear that there is much FUD spread by both the vendors of the software solutions and those that review them. I see this as a business to itself and is just a business opportunity.

I have used many A-V solutions over the years and I am currently using Microsoft's own solution. I am also of  the opinion that security should be part of an operating system and there should be no need for a 3rd party solution.

Linux on the Technology Muse

My experiences with different distributions of Linux.

I have a lot more information on Linux that was on my website, www.tempusfugit.ca. I am in the process of migrating it to this blog.

Due to some actions taken by an insignificant 3rd party, who was of the opinion that my website only existed to "out" him and his company's antics, I had to shut the server down.

The configuration of of the webserver along with that of a LAMP and other Linux specifics were all on the website and they will eventually be here as well. The website may re-launch sometime in the future. In the meantime I am finding that I can do pretty much what I want to do with a Blogger blog. 

I still have some computers that are configured with Ubuntu Linux and I have the ability to host a webserver. If you require assistance with a venture such as this I am available for consultation.

Comet and Microsoft suit

I think this is hillarious.

Is UK retail giant Comet really a Windows pirate?

I don't really need to comment further. Does anyone who knows how to make copies of Windows and clean installs (activating multiple copies of Windows) really care? Backup DVDs for retailed computers are more than useless due to all the "crap-ware" that is installed along with the operating system.

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Windows pages on the Technology Muse

The start page for various topics related to Microsoft Windows.
There are many other operating systems and techniques discussed on this website.

Google Blogger

This is a start page for my notes on Google Blogger.

Google have made significant changes to the Blogger interface circa 2012. Initially I was a little disappointed in the format of the "blog format" in that posts had to be in a chronological manner. Not only is this no longer the case as you can have "stand-alone" pages, you can also add pages and date them in the past (along with other related topics) and they the don't appear to be the thing that is currently on your mind.

You can also make links between then chronological pages (like in the mini-menu at the top of this post) and therefore have a navigation similar to a regular website format. Having had to reconsider my website I started re-looking at the Blogger offering and so far I like what I see. I see that I could probably move away from Microsoft Windows and use Apple OSX or even Linux. Having also rebuilt one of my Linux boxes I have found that I can update this (and my new tempusfugit blog/website) from there.
I also played around a little with some tablets to see it that would be a suitable platform for website administration. While that has fallen a bit by the wayside, I did look at the Blogger app for Android. The lack of keyboard is the biggest stumbling block and the netbook or possibly a Mac Book Air may be in my future.

Links:

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

MakerBot

No I am not going to CES and I don't respond well to Blog Spam.

Twitter

Twitter notes

I don't really "get" Twitter. I see that it is very popular but I cannot really see a use for it. I guess if I particularly interested in a particular person that Tweets I might be more interested. Likewise, I were interesting people might want to follow me.

Using Twitter for business

Having a Twitter feed when you are a business can be a valuable tool. You can get feedback directly from your customers and provide them and their followers with instant feedback. You can even feed them targeted ads in the form of t.co (or other short URLs).

The trouble is, if you screw-up, the world will know about it in quick time.

A prime example of this is ZoneEdit.

Profile Views

This is really a note to self.

Visits to the "View my complete profile" page are registered in spite of the fact that I have told Blogger to ignore visits from myself. As such I cannot visit this page too many  times as it will slew the results.

I keep a record of the number of visits on my website's source memory key.

Monday, January 2, 2012

Facebook

My thoughts on Facebook

I don't really "get" Facebook! I do have a Facebook account but it is under a pseudonym. I use the account to be able to log-on and see what other Facebook users have posted. 

I think Facebook is an invasion of privacy that I am unwilling to compromise my anonymity.

Links to other posts on Social Networking:
Links to Facebook in particular:

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Social Networking

These are my observations on Social Networking and Social Media in general.

Whereas I realize that Social Media is extremely popular at the moment (2012), I remain to understand the true value of the phenomenon to the public at large. My assessment is that although Social Networking has become very much part of popular culture I think that it, like most fads, will eventually pass into just another "in" thing.

With the Facebook IPO it would seem that the general public, or at least the ones with the investment dollar, are expressing the notion that they are not so sure.

Some of the pages that I have featured:

Systems

Pages relating to the construction and configuration of computer systems.
---------------------------------
April 2012
The pages on this Blog are being re-posted as my website had been threatened by a person that thought that I was engaging in a vendetta against him and his company. This was not the case, however, the hosting of a website has been superseded by the migration of the information to the Blogger format.

Content so posted on the Google platform will be far more difficult to have removed by idle threats.

Popular pages found by external searches:

Home page for www.tempusfugit.ca

Menu


This is the new main menu for pages that were previously on www.tempusfugit.ca:
You can also search for tempusfugit.ca and you will find the actual website.