March 2010 archive

Unsecured Wi-Fi – Protect Your Privacy

My view of the Melbourne CBD as I blog today

Hello from the club at the Grand Hyatt in Melbourne! Just a quick update today. Included with the cost of our room here at the Grand Hyatt, there is also free WiFi available in the club. Of course, with such an arrangement the WiFi is unsecured and unencrypted which can be a concern as all of …

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Electronic Voting – Where is it?

A couple of days ago, I came across an article at ZDNet about the Victoria Electoral Commission expanding its e-voting deployment through the use of Linux-based computers. It still fascinates me that in this day and age that we still resort to pencil and paper and physically turn up at a designated location to cast …

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Powermat – Wireless Charging Technology

Powermat (Front View)

Before I dive into the subject matter, you might be wondering how something can be recharged without a cable or if it is possible in the first place. Well, yes it is possible. Technology known as inductive charging transfers energy using electromagnetic radiation as the medium as opposed to traditional wire based methods. Of course, …

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Microsoft Security Essentials – No Bloat, No Fuss

Microsoft Security Essentials (Update)

Since I got my first computer back in 1995 (with Windows 95 on it) I’ve gone through several different pieces of antiviral software as well as the incremental upgrades that became more common. As time progressed, the size of the software increased as well as the scope of what was included in an AV package. …

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Windows Home Server – A Great Backup & Storage Solution

Home Server Console (Home Network Health)

In an earlier blog entry, Erratic Electricity – The Silent Killer, I mentioned the fact that I use Windows Home Server in conjunction with offsite backup and a UPS to keep my data safe and sound. Windows Home Server (WHS) is basically a cut down version of Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 and is …

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Melbourne Storm – Mother Nature Style

BOM Radar - 20100306 @ 1t45 hours

Deviating from a pure tech focus for today, the heavy rain, hail and flooding in Melbourne has caught a lot of people unprepared. I do hope that there is a good drop in the catchment areas to top up the reservoirs. It’s been interesting to see what has popped up in the social media so …

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Michael Atkinson – Mr Anti-Bean

A bit late tonight as I was out seeing “The Blind Side” with the missus. It’s actually not a bad film at all so consider putting it on your shortlist when you next go to the cinema! Since we went to Gold Class, there weren’t enough ads to squeeze out a quick entry putting aside …

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Here’s a Laptop, Kid but No Support for You!

Yesterday at work, I bumped into a colleague of mine, Zhivan, while I was deciding what I was going to have for lunch. We got talking about my blog and he thought that the Rudd Government’s roll out of laptops for high school students was a topic worthwhile to cover. I thought so too, so …

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Applications in the Cloud vs Thick Clients

In news that I came across yesterday, Google bought out Picnik which is a photo editor in your web browser. I’ve never heard of it before so I gave it a very quick test drive (which you can do for free and without registration) and was pleasantly surprised by its ease of use and the …

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Cash – Relevance in 2010

Some time over the last couple of days, my wife and I were talking about how annoying it is to go through the ritual of forking over physical money when you purchase food or go down the shops. Of course, once all your money is gone, you need to go visit the hole in the …

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