Tech Scamps

Johnson Family Road Test

Michael Johnson — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 02:13:01 +0000

Vacation, digital entertainment and my experience this week. I thought I should write about my families trip and our technology gear experience. We are not frequent long-distant travelers but we wanted to take our digital entertainment along the way. Music, movies, books, etc. It was a big trip for us. We drove 625 miles from [...]

DDOS security with Barrett Lyon

Michael Johnson — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 23:46:45 +0000

Live.TWiT.tv had a great discussion this week between Barrett Lyon and Richard Stiennon on the topic of the recent Denial-of-Service attack on several U.S. Government websites and South Korean websites. You can find the video of this discussion on OdTV.me. Other related links: Barrett Lyon on Wikipedia Barrett Lyon’s website Richard Stiennon’s website Denial of Service attack explained on Wikipedia

Backup your Google Docs

Michael Johnson — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 02:33:40 +0000

You do backup, right? Do you backup everything and maintain an offsite copy? Excellant! I keep meaning to write up my backup routine. But in the mean time, one area that I am weak in is backing up my Google Docs documents. There does’nt seem to be an automated way at this time. But there is [...]

WiFi over 500 feet

Michael Johnson — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 00:26:47 +0000

For 31 days now, I’ve been running a wireless distribution system between two Linksys WRT54GL routers over 500 feet apart through a wooded area. I’m using the Tomato Firmware on the WRT54GL’s. So far it’s been rock solid and very stable. It will be interesting to see if the network stays as stable and reliable [...]

I am a Geek!

Michael Johnson — Mon, 11 May 2009 22:57:57 +0000

I AM A GEEK! by The Society for Geek Advancement What can I say, I’m a geek!

Macrium Reflect discussed at AppScout

Michael Johnson — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 00:45:53 +0000

I’ve been playing with Macrium Reflect for the last few weeks as part of a new backup scheme for my laptop and my wife’s computer. I’m still not settled with my scheme but I love Macrium Reflect and highly recommend it for anyone looking for an easy way to backup and recover from a complete [...]

Conficker Eye Chart

Michael Johnson — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 23:11:31 +0000

The Conficker Working Group, a group of companies, agencies and organizations with an interest in putting a stop to the Conficker Worm, has a great little tool for quickly testing weather you have one of the three versions of Conficker. Click on the image of the Conficker Eye Chart and it will present a page with [...]

Fair use or not?

Michael Johnson — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 13:00:27 +0000

The questionable “fair use” of Common Craft’s video, “Twitter in Plain English“, by the mainstream media is an interesting discussion. Common Craft raises some interesting questions in their blog post Our Twitter Video Used in Mainstream Media – Thoughts. Common Craft is a company that makes educational videos for a living. They offer a number [...]

Texas Bans Vista

Michael Johnson — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 12:14:42 +0000

Computer World is reporting that “Texas state Senate bans Vista from use in government agencies“. “We are not in any way, shape or form trying to pick on Microsoft, but the problems with this particular [operating] system are known nationwide,” Sen. Juan Hinojosa said during a Senate session debating the rider Wednesday evening. “And the XP [...]

Federalization Cybersecurity

Michael Johnson — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 12:03:22 +0000

I hope this is an April Fools joke! A bill has been proposed in the U.S. Senate that would empower the government to set and enforce security standards for private industry. From the Washington Post: “Senate Legislation Would Federalize Cybersecurity” The proposals, in Senate legislation that could be introduced as early as today, would broaden the focus [...]

Conficker links

Michael Johnson — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 23:55:58 +0000

Unless you have been living under a rock, then you’ve heard about the Conficker worm and that it’s expected to start communicating with other computers on the Internet on April 1, 2009. Tomorrow! It’s not clear what to expect but the hype is growing. The following is a list of links if you are looking [...]

Wanted: Linux Outlaws

Michael Johnson — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 02:00:17 +0000

Linux Outlaws now has a Wanted: Dead or Alive poster for those that want to spread the word of this great podcast. It’s an easy way to support the show and spread some love for Linux and the open source movement in general. Dan Lynch posted a request to the Linux Outlaws blog and I [...]

Dan Lynch on UNetBootin

Michael Johnson — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 01:51:07 +0000

Dan Lynch of Linux Outlaws fame wrote an article about UNetBootin that makes me want to try it out. UNetbootin allows you to create bootable live USB drives for a variety of Linux distributions. I always have a live CD around for troubleshooting and testing. But this looks to easy to do and much more convenient. [...]

Dvorak on why E-mail is Dead

Michael Johnson — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 02:21:47 +0000

John C. Dvorak has a nice piece in PC Magazine called “9 Reasons E-Mail Is Dead“. He has composed a list of behaviors or features of e-mail that has all but killed it as an efficient tool of communication. I have sort of written on his first complaint, “The ever-changing address”, previously at Useless Nexus [...]

Files app from OliveToast

Michael Johnson — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 12:52:12 +0000

My new favorite iPod Touch app is Files from OliveToast Software. I have always wanted to use my iPod Touch as a mobile storage device. This app allows you to connect to the iPhone or Touch as a WebDav server and copy files and folders to it. Super easy to use and very convenient [...]

Graham Cluley on Passwords

Michael Johnson — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 02:54:28 +0000

I recently discovered Graham Cluley’s blog and am enjoying his informative and personable style. According to his profile, “Graham Cluley is one of the world’s leading experts in viruses and spam, and works as Senior Technology Consultant at Sophos.” He released a video today on Vimeo giving his secret password. Not really, but he does reveal [...]

Fake Anti-Virus list

Michael Johnson — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 03:43:25 +0000

CA has a nice webpage of all the fake anti-virus garbage that is out on the ‘net. I’ve known people who have been duped into installing some of these. It’s amazing how good these things look. It’s also difficult for some people to know when a warning it legit or not. Social engineering has become [...]

Facebook “Error Check System” is Fake

Michael Johnson — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 02:47:59 +0000

CNET reports of a fake Facbook app going around. The rogue application, dubbed “Error Check System,” displays an error message in the notifications section that reads “(Friend’s name) has faced some errors when checking your profile View The Errors Message.” Much of the CNET article’s details come from Graham Cluley’s blog. There doesn’t seem to be anything [...]

Nuclear Grade Duct Tape

Michael Johnson — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 01:28:25 +0000

No self respecting person I know is without Duct Tape in their house. In fact, many people have a roll in the garage and a roll in each vehicle. You just never know when or where you will need Duct Tape. Now I read on Uneasy Silence, found via Lifehacker, that 3M has a Nuclear Grade [...]

Facebook Privacy Tips

Michael Johnson — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 23:38:27 +0000

There is a decent article over at All Facebook that is worth reading. 10 Privacy Settings Every Facebook User Should Know The title explains it all. My favorite is #6, “Prevent Stories From Showing Up in Your Friends’ News Feeds”. Nothing gets people asking question like a change in someone’s relationship status. If you are on Facebook, then [...]

Google Map’s Local Business Center

Michael Johnson — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 00:31:03 +0000

If you own a business then you need to be sure you visit Google Map’s Local Business Center. Once you add your business to your account then you can do some pretty cool things to how your business appears on Google Maps or what it says on the bubble when people click on the pin [...]

TinyChat for Ease

Michael Johnson — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 02:16:11 +0000

I discovered TinyChat today. TinyChat is a web-based chat room creator. It returns a short URL that you can share with your friends, family, team mates, or whoever or whatever group you want to have in chat. It’s dead simple! If you send the link to someone who can open a web browser then they can [...]

Finding Tech Scamps voice

Michael Johnson — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 01:14:24 +0000

It’s been a couple of weeks since I’ve posted. I’m just not happy with how my voice sounds here. My posts have been too serious. I want things to be lighter and more fun! So I hope to figure out how to achieve that soon. I’d love some feed back as I try to figure [...]

Time has been tight

Michael Johnson — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 03:50:52 +0000

I haven’t forgotten about Tech Scamps. Family and life has gotten in the way. I’ll get back to posting here soon, I hope. I’m over due for an audio recording. Look for something from me here soon.

Protect the Admin area of WordPress

Michael Johnson — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 00:08:44 +0000

Smashing Magazine has a great article today, 10 Steps To Protect The Admin Area In WordPress. If you run your own WordPress installation then you might want to consider some of these suggestions for imrpoving the security of your blog. I’ll be working on adding a couple of these tips to my blogs. But one easy one [...]