Techbadger Claw Marks

On a personal note

I usually don’t post personal stuff on here, I mean I meant to have just a technical blog.
My dad just passed away, not sure why I am posting this but not sure what to do with this experience, feeling, whatever you call it.
It effecting me in ways I never expected…
I am angry, my friends are trying to be there but I really don’t want to be around anyone. I am angry at the universe and don’t want to hurt my friends.
I am not sleeping, a couple hours here, a few mins there.

The sun hurts. I have to remember how to breathe, it’s like I keep forgetting how.
I’ve been going to job interviews lately and it seems so incredibly surreal, like not being experienced but watched.
I had an interview and as long as I kept to my mental script, I didn’t have to think, I didn’t have to remember, I didn’t have to feel but they asked me some technical questions.
And normally I would either admit I didn’t know something but these are things I knew but my memory wouldn’t pull up. It felt like I was being attacked and forgetting how to breathe again.
I was about to lash out at the questioner when the logical part of my brain came back online and reminded me that this was a very knowledgable person who was just sharing knowledge which is a wonderful thing.
I thanked him for the experience.
I know I blew the interview and I think I would have enjoyed the job and working with these people. Perhaps in the future I will get another chance.
After the interview though I felt like I was malfunctioning, thown-away and just curled up in the dark for a few hours trying to remember how to breathe and why it was important because it was hurting so much.

A wise friend said that parents are our barrier against death, your dad made it to this age so you should and he is how you will look, move, function at that age.

Only thought I have at the moment: I really miss you dad.

VPN on Android, OpenVPN seems the only choice.

So you want to have secure email and files while on a suspect network and they are all suspect unless you built, secured and have complete control of them (paranoid I know, but as a CEO of a company I used to work for said “Only the paranoid survive”).

Well when it comes to Android (and iPhone/iPad for that matter) the choices are PPTP, L2TP (with no IPSec and PSK or CRT). There are also OpenVPN clients.

In this comparison of PPTP, L2TP and OpenVPN (a bit outdated that I will explain in a moment), PPTP (the native VPN for iPads and iPhones), though can tunnel, it offers no real security and can easily be compromised by a “Man in the middle attack”.

L2TP is slow, can be hard to set up and doesn’t handle multi-hop networks well. You can combine it with IPSec (though most routers and BSD firewall don’t support L2TP/IPSec combinations) but again that adds even more slowness and complexity.

OpenVPN is wonderfully fast, very secure and can be hardened to the point of NSA approval. It is also open-source so everyone can look at the works and help with issues fixes. Multihop is supported and the clients have made setup a breeze.

Contrary to the chart there are clients for Android: OpenVPN is available but you have to have your device rooted and have Busybox installed.

FeatVPN doesn’t require root as all nor Busybox! There is a free “lite” version that gives you a 1 hour session before disconnecting or the full version for $4.95, but with it’s easy of installation and flawless execution it is well worth the price!

if you are using the “Free WiFi” at your local coffee house or hotel network, having a Roadwarrior OpenVPN setup is a must for those without corporate VPNs to keep them safe.

How to secure your cloud storage

Okay now you have your Skydrive, Google-drive and/or Dropbox, but all of them can access, read and copy your data and some of that data might be private (to you at least).

Enter Cloudfogger; automatic AES encryption for cloud storage with clients for Windowsand Android. iPhone is coming “Soon” according it the site, no word on OSX.

Looks really nice, fast, easy and secure. Only complaint: it isn’t open source.

How to upgrade your MS Skydrive from 7 to 25gbs free!

Unlike Google, MS at least says your data on their skydrive is yours…

Here’s how to get the max amount on Skydrive for Free:
Go to skydrive.live.com, click on Manage storage on the left, then click on “Free Update” select button and you now have 25gbs for free!

Blowing out the dust

It’s spring cleaning time! Especially here in the desert where 80F summertime room temperatures can kill a computer with dust bunny clogged fans.

I usually got though at least 4 to 6 cans of compressed gas (rotating as one freezes into non-use), blowing out computers, servers, UPSes and anything else with vents and usually do that twice a year (about the equinoxes).

3.5oz pairs cans of compressed gas go for about $10s, I go through at least 3 packs and usually more if I am helping our friends, family, friends of family, family of friends, well you get the idea…

That and I am always having to buy a can either because my last one quit just before I have the job done or it went flat waiting for the next blow out.

That’s why the Metro DataVac electric Duster is SO COOL!

It is about the cost of 5 packs but will pay for itself in under a year with me, is always at the ready is more powerful than a can of compressed gas and never freezes up! It is also a lot more green (no can, no gases to hurt the environment and mo car needed to pick on a new one!

I am still going to keep one can of compressed gas around for photo uses when dust is a worry but this is perfect for the computer spring cleaning of most of the time when a can of gas would have been needed.

The Samsung Galaxy Note, the biggest thing in Android

I have been having a blast using a Samsung Galaxy Note. First, Yes It’s big, I’ve gotten that comment from every apple cultist I know. Even the Waitress at my local Red Robin had to make a comment while the local Apple-ite sitting across the tablet from me was insulting my new toy.
Well it isn’t an iPhone, as a matter of fact it is about a 180 from the iPhone philosophy!
It has a stylus (ya, I can hear the Apple ewwweee again), it is big and it isn’t a phone. it’s a phabulet(fabulous phone tablet)!
I have always wanted a replacement for my old beloved Franklin Planner, The Microsoft Courier looked like the right candidate before MS lost its nerve and cancelled the project (Balmer has to be the worst thing that ever happened to MS, no courage at all!),

MS has been a technological coward since 2007: Zune, better than an iPod (better OPLs, better sound) never advertized, killed.

The tablet-PC, I love my Toshiba Portege MS convertible PC laptop/tablet, signing PDFs and Word docs and faxing without having to print and scan? Excellent! MS killed it!

And then there was the Courier, the dual screened tablet concept that closed like a book (beloved Franklin Planner anyone?) with camera, stylus and clamshell design to protect the screens. MS claimed that they couldn’t get the battery life to work but with 2 screens and only one processor and the tegra-2′s sipping of battery, I doubt it. MS just has developed into a pathetic “Me-too” philosophy, they can only make the same product that someone else is.

News to Microsoft: there’s already a great iPad available if someone wants an iPad, it’s called the IPAD! If someone wants something like an iPod, they will probably buy an umm…ya, an iPod. Make something else!

Well, I digress…the Note isn’t like a Franklin Planner, it is more like the Moleskin I always carry around in case I am caught in the hallway with a “hey can you do this?” request that I know will evaporate from my brain before I get to my desk. It uses a stylus (just like real note books), you know that stick like things we liked with our Palm Pilots, iPaqs (still have a hx4700 kicking around) and my PC tablet and it’s a real stylus by Wacom, just like by Cintiq and Inuits on my desktop with pressure sensitivity so it works like a pen or brush. The screen is magnificent at 5.3″, nice for looking things up when caught in a server room, reading Kindle or e-books and for Google Maps….OMG amazing! Nice 8m camera, Oled display that even looks good outside in sunlight!
Minor issues, the screen lock prevents bluetooth headset linking, should be fixed with Ice Cream Sandwich (the new OS coming in a month or so). The stylus (ok s-pen but it is still a stylus) does scrape up my Ghost Armor (which they kindly replace for free every time I am in my local mall but it is an issue). Still recommend the Ghost Armor too, really nice!

Update: One thing I haven’t seen in any reviews: While all current cell phones are WiFi capable, all do 802.11b, some do 802.11n but the note does 802.11n in 5.2ghz, most wifi-n devices only work in the “n” 2.6ghz range! The only other device I have that does 5.2ghz is the laptop I upgraded myself with an Intel AGN card! Nice Samsung! It’s nice to have n in a high frequency so it doesn’t compete with my BG channels and also doesn’t get interference from my microwave and other electronics. the 2.6 is a “dump” frequency for most home appliances and cordless phones.

VMWare 5: New NIC drivers without recompiling!

Ya, ESXi doesn’t allow driver disks during the install. Old ESX did but not i! Instead you have to have an extra linux box lying around and do a recompile to get it to work with the newest Intel and other NICs or it just fails on you!

Well if you use ESXi customizer not only can you add new drivers to your custom build but if you are running ESXi 5 it will even spit out an ISO of the 5 build ready to be burned for your install. Best of all it even runs under Windows! Now you can get that virtual Linux without needing a real Linux box to begin with.

BTW, if you are looking for an ESXi Intel NIC driver (82579 or the like) here it is!

Internet podcasts and radio anywhere.

If you are like me, you’ve become tired of just AM/FM local radio. You want choice. I’ve been adding a Grace Internet Radio to my library Linn Classik (ya, it’s spelled right.) to give me Podcasts and ripped CD from my hone NAS unit.

It is controlled from my Android phone to access podcasts, mp3s, internet radio stations, you name it. It outputs through any audio system with a AUX port. It does have a limited remote that come with the unit but the app offers a lot more control and the ability to choose sources without having to have direct line of site on the Grace.

The control app is also available for iPhone and any Android with 2.3 (Honeycomb). Can’t wait to get it loaded on my tablet (Herotab hasn’t come out with my 2.3 firmware yet.)

A great tablet.

I’ve had my Herotab M8 (bought from Merimobles)for a week now: I am using it as a a note taker, PDF reader (saving me a ton of paper on technical manual), Book reader both for pleasure, travel and class books. This unit also adds a wondeful car GPS unit and even a backup phone (I bought one with 3g slot). Does all wonderfully.

Conclusion (saving you from reading the whole review): I love this tablet, yes it has its issues but I think they are all solvable and it is doing everything I wanted/needed from my tablet.

Positives: great speed. Good Battery life (about 5 hours with WiFi and everything, GPS is about 3 hours, with all wireless turned off I get about 6 or 7 just using it as a reader. Screen size is wonderful for PDFs (8.5X11″ PDFs look great on this 1024X768 8″ display). 3d graphics are speedy and videos are at 30fps. Kindle and standard reader look wonderful and no eye strain over long 3-4 hours of reading.The size is perfect compared to the just too small 7″ tablets and the ipad’s 10…if fits my pockets, backpacks and satchels.

Negatives: Lockups, mostly coming out of stand-by or with screen off. Sometimes it isn’t really a lock up but it takes a few to unlock the screen. Android store has issues figuring out if apps are compatible with this tablet, always have a stylus (my old hp4700 works perfectly) . A few games seem unable to get the tilt to work with them. The GPS takes about an hour to get a lock the first time(seconds after the first time). All these are really minor and probably will be fixed in a firmware or two and 2.3 and 3.0 OSes will probably make these issues a laughable memory. Another annoyance is the lack of a power-lock on the unit and the power button is easily bumpable in a satchel or backpack using valuable battery-life just sitting there with the screen on, hopefully the new slipcase coming out next week will solve this issue.

10 class micro-sds have problems with this unit but that’s not limited to the M8, it’s a problem with Android devices and current crop of class 10s (Wintec, Sandisk and Patriot are all working on this issue and will support and replace cards under warranty).

Looking at the hardware, it looks like the 4gbs internal ram is upgradable for the price of a replacement micro-sd from 4 to 16GB, you will have to get another firmware from Merimobiles to make this happen.

Even better than my experience with this tablet was my experience with Merimobiles, Phillip, Oliver and the rest were wonderful in their fast communication, fast shipping and wonderful support after purchase. I am definitely going to be a long-time customer of this company!

Yes, I am back up and running

Ya, I was gone a little while. The latest wordpress demanded MySQL5, new PHP, and working through chopsticks(parallels) wasn’t the easiest DB upgrade path I’ve had the pleasure of using but I finally had time and determination to get this working again…WOOT!