Tag: google

Oct062011October 6, 2011October 7, 20110Commentby Tony Hunt

Be a good person.

Posted in Randomosity...

This is actually a quote from a really cool guy I met via another cool friend on Facebook. He fairly regularly posts some pretty insightful stuff, and this one really caught me.

So you want to be a good person? Do what’s right? Here’s the deal, you’re going to be hated…Hated for reasons you’ll never fully understand. People are going to say things about you: lies and over exaggerations about your past. People are going to take advantage of you, cheat you, lie to you, steal from you because you know it’s no good to be untrusting. You will be taken for granted. You will not be respected and you will suffer and, yet, you will walk with grace through it all…and grow and grow and you won’t stop…because you made a commitment…and it’s far from the easy path…but you are good person…stay true…do the right thing and, in the end, nothing will stop you. Being good is it’s own reward. It will all make sense in time…and remember, you weren’t always a good person yourself.

-Aaron Manley Smith

He’s right. When you think about it, doing good things IS it’s own reward. There are a tons of people out there that are under the mistaken impression that they will not succeed if they don’t take the time to stop and help others do the same, and I feel bad for them, because in doing good things, you lead by example. You teach others that you should never be reluctant in helping those that need it.

A couple months ago a friend and I were driving back to Dallas from a long trip visiting friends, and the craziest thing happened. We’re on our side of the highway, and the lanes going the other direction we at least 20 yards away, but something was really wrong because I was seeing headlights directly ahead of us and coming fast. I swerved quickly onto the shoulder of the highway as a sports car zoomed by at about 60mph going the wrong direction on the tollway. My friend and I just kindof looked back stunned wondering what the hell just happened. We then called the state troopers and let them know about it. Just as we finished the call and were about to pull back onto the highway, a truck pulled up behind us.

The driver got out and walked up to my window and asked if I needed help. Why? Because I had my blinkers on and it was late at night. He wasn’t some horror figure from a bad movie, he was being a good person. I kick myself when I remember this because THAT is the exact kind of person I like to meet. I wish I had gotten his name so I could invite him over to meet the crew, etc.

If we as a society made sure to impress this behavior as a moral obligation rather than playing the ignorance or indifference cards I think our lives would be quite a bit better. I know I come off as a bit hardcore about this type of perspective though. I still tell people this, “The only divinity you will ever experience is your own.” It’s not meant to discredit anyone’s beliefs, it’s meant to get people to make an effort to make and experience their own miracle. I think walking THAT path affords you a far brighter journey.

Just my .02 😉

-Tony


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Jul292011July 29, 2011July 29, 20119Commentsby Tony Hunt

Don’t be scared, it’s just Google

Posted in Randomosity...

Do monkeys put their info on the net. No They Dont.This is why some people should just go back in their cave.

So I read a couple articles (these are links):
The one from ZDNet
…And then the one from NetworkedWorld.

You see class, the rule is:
No information you present or submit on the internet is private. Ever.

You might be able to hide it, but putting anything on the internet and expecting it to be secure is like sticking your hand on a hot iron and saying you wont get burnt.

This amounts to lame media scare tactics from ZDNet & Microsoft (who later used the linked article to make Office 365 look a little better on the 20th.) Bottom line. Here’s what actually happened.

It’s like putting a cookie in a 6-year-old’s mouth and telling him not to eat it.

A person from the media tries to use a false alias on Google and gets banned from Google+ for it. She complains that Google’s methods of finding her out were shady.

It’s like getting pulled over and offering a donut to get out of a ticket.

This would all be so much easier if people actually read their ULA’s. Free email entitles the provider access to said data as long as no personal information is ever distributed in a manner that would identify that person. In the same manner all the big companies like checking on employee email, Google, while not in the habit of sifting through your dirty laundry, uses the content of the emails to gauge advertizements, they’ve been doing this for YEARS. It’s part of your ULA, which , since the Buzz disaster, and gone edgy and it cuts on both sides, you have to opt out, AND they are starting to keep an eye on user registration information, that you actually gave them the right to do by applying for an account with Google.

It’s like painting a big “L” on your forehead just before a job interview and expecting to get the job.

The bottom line is this. If you don’t want Big Everything to use your personal information in identifying you on the net, stop putting yourself out there. Being involved with the media on the net isn’t exactly the best way to stay anonymous, or guard your identity. Using Google as anyone but yourself is actually a violation of their ULA so in all that complaining, what it comes down to is a large online temper tantrum that Microsoft was able to use in jabbing Google in their war for online Apps dominance.

It’s like telling the neighborhood gossip you’re boinking the next-door neighbor and expecting that the little secret will never get out.

In summation:
Don’t stick your damn hand on a hot iron.
Don’t give 6-year-olds a cookie unless you expect them to eat it.
Don’t offer the police a donut when you get pulled over.
Don’t paint an “L” on your forehead just before a job interview.
Stop boinking the next door neighbor, or at least stop telling people about it.

…and most importantly, never provide ANYONE with information about yourself online and expect it to stay hidden.

Thanks for reading!

-Tony


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Jan162011January 16, 2011July 2, 20110Commentby Tony Hunt

A little tech-ness from Tony…

Posted in Randomosity...

How paranoid are ya?

I know a lot of us are at the very least a little wary of getting hit by a computer virus/malware/generally nasty code.

Before you get incredibly paranoid, or worse, you write it all off as fiction, let me give a little insight:

It exists, it’s incredibly easy to find, and most importantly, it’s incredibly easy to avoid and defend against.

1. Keep your virus scanner up to date.
If you find that some virus scanners are outside your budget, use a free one. AVG & Kapersky are great examples of free scanners. If you want concrete details on which scanners actually pull their weight, I highly suggest you check out av-test.org. They really put scanners to the test and make sure the scanners do what they are meant.

AV-Test.org’s Current Reviews

Know the name of the virus scanner you have installed. Some harmful links and sites will attempt to trick you into scanning your system by creating a popup saying you need to scan your computer immediately. You run the scan, buy their software to remove the incredible number of harmful files on your machine (without realizing that you just downloaded them from the same source), and that’s it…you just paid them $50 for cleaning up all the bad stuff they gave to you in the first place. This is very BIG business for many country’s overseas, so knowing what you scanners name is will keep you from giving these scams a chance to rip you off.

2. Don’t run it unless you know what it is.
I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve watched turbo-trigger-happy people decimate their machine because of their uncontrollable need to double-click everything they see. I don’t need to give examples, we all have done it at some time or another. The bottom line is as a practice, running programs you aren’t familiar with on your machine is asking for fun.

Some of these creepy business applications deliberately create icons and links designed specifically to make you think they are something else. I found one last year that looked like the windows update icon…but it wasn’t, it was a little program that set up a download point on your machine and checked an IRC channel for instructions from people as to what to download to the infected machine.

If you ever have a question about what a program is, Google it. Here are some sites that are really good about telling whats what about a program:
FileInspect.com
ProcessLibrary.com

If you want to scan a file, check out Jotti’s Virus Scan, it will let you scan a file on your machine with a gazillion scanners.

3. Questionable sources.*cough* Torrents *cough*
Some friend or buddy gives you a “freebie” copy of some software hookup they got. You have to be incredibly careful here. In addition to risking your computer, you’re probably breaking a handful of laws by using cracked software. Even worse, it’s estimated that 90% of the intrusions and malware/virus infections come from cracked or illegitimately licensed software. The difference is that you shouldn’t be downloading software that is from a questionable source. Any software you acquire that is deliberately cracked to enable the full use of the product without purchase/registration is asking for trouble, the decision is yours, but an incredible percentage of cracked software out there is wired to to make computer do a lot more than what you’re expecting.

So thats it, simple advice. You can probably get away with the stuff in bold, but I thought it might be good to explain a little bit. Also keep in mind, this is the basics. There are tons more things you can do to tighten things up on your machine and I am sure I will write about those at some point.

Regardless, the guidelines really are this simple folks. If you’re using the above, the odds are distinctly in your favor. Most of the time.

Unless you’re me and happen to actually find malware in a legitimate application and have to alert the vendor that they made me cry when their software came up as toxic on 5 different scanners’ 🙂

-T


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