IPCop is a Linux distribution that is designed with the specific purpose of acting as a firewall/gateway to improve your security. It is loaded with features to accomplish this, yet IPCop does this in as straight forward a way as I can imagine. OK, now what the heck can you do with this you may be asking. The answer is simple. In fact, the IPCop FAQ says it best:
IPCop lets you take an old PC and convert it into an appliance that will.
1. Secure your home network from the internet.
2. Improve the performance of web browsers (by keeping frequently used information)
Te get IPCop working, all you need is an old(or new) PC, a few supported network cards, and a switch if you plan on protecting more than one PC with it. It supports some wireless configurations as well. The ISO is only around a 40MB download, and once you boot from it, it is very easy to install and configure.
The main configuration is done from an intuitive web interface. You simply go to a specific web address, log in, and you are greeted with a host of options to set it up. There are some samples of the interface at the IPCop site. From this interface you can configure openings to your PC for gaming or file sharing, logging of security events, set up Snort for added security, monitor traffic and hardware statistics, and a horde of other settings.
Security updates are as simple as downloading a small file, then using the IPCop web interface to install the update. After this, you may have to reboot the machine. Backing up your configuration is just as simple. You can choose to save the configuration to a floppy stored in the IPCop computer itself, or downloading a backup to your PC.
This could also be a good option for people who are looking into learning Linux administration. Since it is so easy to install on an old PC, darn near anyone could do it. Once installed, configure SSH access, log in via SSH and start learning with any number of information sites on the internet. Since it is open source, everything is available for you to examine and learn from.
I’ve been using IPCop for years to take care of my home network. It is one of those things that works so well that you forget it is even there. It just works. IPCop is, IMHO, one of those gems that is produced by an enthusiastic and professional open source community.
Google’s latest offering, Google Gears, is making quite the buzz, and deservedly so. Much of the talk is centered around the technology itself. Google Gears is an open sourced framework for creating off-line web applications. Basically, it is a plug-in to web browsers which will allow the sharing and storing of local and remote data. You could create a text document in your web browser, and it will save on your computer and on the internet, at Google Docs for example. Now, you may be saying “big deal”, well it is a big deal. Before this, if you were to create a document at Google Docs and have your internet connection die before you saved your data, you could lose your data. With Google Gears, your document can be stored locally and be shared automatically with Google Docs.
Google Gears manages to offer this feature by a combination of javascript, a local database, and other technology. What you create in the browser can be stored automatically in the database. Now, the example of Google Docs isn’t implemented yet, it was only an example. However, you get the idea of what the technology offers. Since it is open source, we can expect plenty of people to start developing for it.
You may still be saying “big deal!”. Now comes the area that Google is downplaying. Since so many people that have bought and use Microsoft’s cash cow only use the more basic features, they may finally figure out that they don’t need to pay hundreds of dollars for something that they can get for free. Not only is it free, it has the intrinsic ability to provide a local copy of your files and one available over the internet from anywhere in the world. This ability to have an automatic back-up of your files available from anywhere in the world with internet access can’t be stressed enough. If people finally figure this out and start making the switch, we may see a dramatic drop in the price of Microsoft Office.
Google Gears is available for Firefox 1.5+ and IE6+. It is still and early beta, and doesn’t offer too many uses yet. We will see if the web responds by taking this technology and running with it.
Mozilla is funding Democracy Player to the tune of $100,000. This is a nice boost for the open source streaming media player.
Democracy Player, soon to be “Miro”, is a media player with many uses. It plays many file types, allows you to subscribe to an play video blog and podcasts, supports downloading and storing videos from YouTube and similar sources, supports Hi-Def in full screen, and doubles as a BitTorrent application. You can, of course, organize your media into your own library. All this in an open source program, from a non-profit organization.
Democracy Player already uses some Mozilla technology under the hood, but also has a similar mission as Mozilla. Democracy Player is intended “to promotes choice and innovation on the Internet.”
It didn’t take long for the new Street View feature of Google Maps to cause a stir. A user at Boing-Boing has posted that she managed to find her apartment. In fact, if provides a rather clear look into her window, and shows her cat minding its own business. She mentions that she is concerned about her privacy, and will look into getting her apartment window shot removed from Google Maps.
As others have pointed out, it seems rather strange for someone to post the exact location to the shot. Presumably, one could get her location on the planet with this, and take more photos of her cat.
Hey, with any luck Google Maps will be able to turn up Jimmy Hoffa.
Information on the Palm Foleo, dubbed a “Smartphone companion” is coming out. The Palm Foleo is a product that appears to be aimed at people interested in a device that falls somewhere between a Palmtop and a Laptop. It offers a “full sized keyboard” and a large screen while keeping the size and weight down. It weighs a light 2.5 pounds, partly thanks to using only solid state technology. There is no bulky components with moving parts, such as a a hard drive. The charger is compared to a Cellphone size, not a Laptop brick. The battery provides up to 5 hours of “usable time”.
The utility of the Palm Foleo is designed around email, and the contact information can be synced with a Smartphone. Email is certainly an area that a fill sized keyboard would come in handy. Communication is accomplished through the built-in Wi-Fi, or connection through a Smartphone when outside a Wi-Fi zone.
The Palm Foleo operating system is based on Linux, which seems to making more and more headway into computers and devices these days. It should be available for around $500.
Google Maps has released the new “Street View” feature to the wild. With this, you can access a street level view of certain areas within the US. Apparently the Silicon Valley, Las Vegas, Miami, Denver and New York are available with this new feature. It appears to be a series of still images that are blurred together as you move around.
Check out the video below for a demo of it in action.
Note: People outside the US need to include “&gl=us” at the end of a search URL for the feature to show up. Americans get all the fun. Here is a formatted URL for San Francisco, courtesy of Google Blogoscoped.
FireUploader is a Firefox add-on that can make managing uploads to certain accounts much easier. It works similar to many FTP applications, but does so within Firefox. It is compatible with many popular file hosting services such as Flickr, Picasa, Box.net, and YouTube. Since you can browse your own computer and queue up a bunch of uploads, it is far easier to use than the web interfaces the those sites.
As seen in the screen shot, the interface is very much like your typical FTP application.
Using FireUploader is quite easy. I’ll show you how using Flickr as an example. This tutorial assumes you set up your accounts at the various sites in advance from their web page. First, make sure Flickr is selected from the drop-down list and hit the “Manage Accounts” button right beside it. Up will pop a box like the one displayed below.
Then, select the “Add Account” button and a window will pop up. Depending on whether you are currently logged into your Flickr account or not, you will get one of two options. If you are not logged in, the screen shot below will show. Simply log in to your account to progress. Once you are logged in, you will be prompted to allow FireUploader access to your account. Select the “OK, I’ll allow it” if you agree to the terms. After that, select the “I am done authorizing” then “Close” on the account window. There, that was painless.
The listing on the left side is your computer, the listing on the right is the Flickr Account. You can browse your computer using the “Browse” button just above the left panel. Chose a directory with some photos you wish to upload, and hit “OK”. You can select one or more pictures from your computer, then click the little orange arrow in the middle of the screen pointing to your flicker account. In the screen below, I have chosen to upload to a new album, which FireUploader will create for me. Select a name for your new album, and away you go.
Now, your files will automatically upload one after the other. This is much easier than using the interfaces at the web sites.
There, you can check your Flickr account in Firefox and confirm that the files have been uploaded to a new album.
It is even easier for the Box.net storage. Simply select Box.net from the drop-down list this time, and add your previously created account from Box.net website to FireUploader as you did for the Flickr account. See the screen below for my backup of my Firefox bookmarks. 1GB of file storage is pretty handy when you can access it this easy.
FireUploader is fully compatible with the Picasa utilities found in the Google Pack.
FireUploader can be installed from the Firefox add-on site. Feel free to bookmark this page so you can easily return, then install the add-on and restart Firefox, and return here from the bookmark to help you get set up if you need.
There are plenty of sites on the Internet that will provide their services to help you find the right product to fit your needs. Let us see how the PMC Telecom web site can do at helping me find a Cordless Phone.
The Cordless Phone section of their site greets you with a list of choices, including DECT Cordless Phones, DECT Cordless Phones with Answering Machine, etc. It is fairly easy to recognize what the choices are as they are accompanied with a picture and text. Clicking on your choice quickly loads up a nice selection of Cordless Phones in your category. They are listed top down with quick links to add one to you cart, or view more information. You can also customize the way they are sorted by price or manufacturer as well as the number of results to display per page.
Selecting more information on a product quickly loads up a page that gives very detailed information regarding the product, including a “printer” icon for easy printing should you desire, and a list of compatible products near the bottom which may also interest you. There the product image links to a pop-up which will load a more detailed image so yo can check it out better.
Over all, the Cordless Phone section PMC Telecom site does what it should. It gives straight forward access to finding products, as well as detailed information if you are interested. Everything loaded quickly in my browser, and the layout is clean and attractive.
As mentioned in the Firefox security related post, there is an expected update for Firefox this Wednesday May 30, 2007. The update fixes numerous bugs, as well as addressing security issues including an issue where a non-secure connection could fool Firefox into displaying it like a secured SSL connection complete with gold address bar and lock icon.
Microsoft has managed to sell 1 million Zune media players. Microsoft had announced at the end of last year that they expected to ship more than 1 million of the Zune players by the end of June of 2007. This recent announcement puts them ahead of their projections by a month. Apparently, the Zune now sits at about 10% of the hard drive based players in the market. This is a decent accomplishment given the Zune has only been available for 9 months.
We will see if Microsoft manages to duplicate the success with the Zune that it has with the XBox and XBox 360 line of gaming consoles.
