Interrupt19 » Basics for Beginners

What is a Femtocell?

David Balogh — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 12:00:31 +0000

Photo courtesy of AT&T

Femtocells are in the news lately, especially with AT&T’s announcement of an upcoming nationwide rollout, beginning in April. However, they aren’t the only ones in the Femtocell game. Sprint and Verizon are running trials in select US cities and T-Mobile is testing them in Europe.

Let’s explore what exactly is a Femtocell, what does it do, and should you consider one.

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What To Look For In An External Hard Drive

David Balogh — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 12:00:55 +0000

Photo courtesy of DeclanTM

Out of all the accessories for a computer, one of the most useful is an external hard drive. With more and more of your life on your computer’s hard drive, the more files you’ll accumulate. Whether you want extra storage space, an easy way to work with large files on multiple computers, a backup solution, or just a place to keep your data, an external hard drive is a must have.

Shopping for one can be a bit tricky. There’s many brands, sizes, interfaces and price points. Here’s what to look for to determine what you need and what to shop for:

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Securing Your Mobile Device at a Wireless Hotspot

David Balogh — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 12:00:18 +0000

Photo courtesy of Curiouslee

Wireless hotspots are convenient, and with mobile devices such as the iPhone, Blackberry, iPod Touch, Android phones, the iPad and other wireless gadgets, its not just laptops connecting anymore.

With a free and unencrypted connection in a public space, its just as easy and convienient for someone else to monitor your internet traffic.

Here’s what you can do to secure yourself and your mobile device in a free public wireless hotspot.

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What to Look for in a Solid State Drive (SSD)

David Balogh — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 13:00:28 +0000

Photo courtesy of Jeff Wilcox

Current Hard Drives are using the same basic technology that drives used beck in the 1950s. Sure, size, speeds and interfaces have changed but its still a platter spinning with a read/write head hovering over it like a needle on a record.

Solid State Drives (SSDs) are the next wave in Hard Drive technology. With no mechanical parts, no noise, less power requirements and less susceptibility to damage, its a no brainer that they’re better. However, SSD technology is still very much on the cutting edge and not all perform equally well.

Here’s a quick rundown of what you need to know about SSDs in order to purchase one that works well for you.

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Speed up and Secure the Web by Blocking Flash

David Balogh — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 13:00:23 +0000

Photo courtesy of Adobe Flash Player

Adobe’s Flash is everywhere on the internet. Its great, allowing sites to display video content, games, animation, and interactive media. Its also a resource hog, slows down your page loading time, a security risk and can be annoying when you don’t want it. How do you have Flash when you want it, not when you don’t, without having to uninstall it?

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Check up on your Internet Service Provider

David Balogh — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 13:00:40 +0000

Photo courtesy of Curiouslee

In the days where unlimited access doesn’t really mean you can download “all you can eat”, and Verizon and AT&T are at each other’s throats about 3G coverage, it pays to check up on your ISP to see if you really are getting what you’re paying for.

There’s a few ways you can check on your ISP. Speed tests, Ping tests, DNS tests, Shaping / Throttling tests to see if certain protocols (P2P, Voip, Skype, Torrents) are traffic shaped.

What about if you have a bandwidth cap? How can you meter your bandwidth to see if you’re approaching it? Its not just for DSL and Cable – 3G and other mobile data plans are usually capped with heavy overage charges.

Here’s what you can do to give your internet provider a checkup:

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How to Secure Mail, Thunderbird or Gmail

David Balogh — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 13:00:19 +0000

Photo courtesy of Pamhule

In light of the recent Hacking by Google, we’re reminded of how insecure email really is. In a normal email situation, there’s absolutely no encryption and it your emails can easily be read by someone who’s looking to read them.

You’ll notice that banks and other financial firms now send you an email telling you to log in and check your secure messages. That’s one way to get around email insecurity.

If you’re paranoid or just mildly concerned, this two part series will show you how to configure Mail, Thunderbird or Gmail for encryption.

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Why You Should Relax About The New Apple “Tablet”

David Balogh — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 13:00:38 +0000

Photo courtesy of Indi.ca

The internet, blogosphere and every gadget freak is in full fury for January 27th. Steve Jobs is rumored to announce the latest Apple device that’s supposed to change the world. Its a tablet, it’s a slate, it’s an eReader, it’s going to change the way you look at life.

While it’s probably going to be something pretty cool, let’s all take a moment to relax a minute and I’ll tell you why.

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Moving your iTunes Library from an Old iPod to a New One

David Balogh — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 13:00:40 +0000

Photo courtesy of Myuibe

With the holidays approaching, chances are some of you may be getting new iPods, iPhones or iPod Touches. Or perhaps, you may get a new Mac and want to transfer your iTunes Library onto it. Although they make a great gift, some will struggle with getting everything off their old device and onto the new one.

A lot depends on the situation, but for the technically challenged, we’ll look at how to get your music and anything else off your old iPod (or other device) onto the new one.

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Looking to the Future: What’s next for Apple and OS X

David Balogh — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 13:00:20 +0000

Photo courtesy of BotheredByBees

Technology is all about the next step. Improving your existing technologies, creating new ones to solve problems, or coming up with new ways to do things. Apple and OS X are no exception. As you read this, teams of engineers from many different companies are hard at work inventing and working on new and innovative technologies that will show up in Apple hardware, iPhones and future versions of OS X.

Some of the future technologies that are likely to be a part of the next version of OS X and possibly your next Mac are:

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7 Reasons Your Wireless Sucks, and What You Should Do

David Balogh — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 13:00:14 +0000

Photo courtesy of Sciondriver

The faster things become, the quicker we are used to them. Just 10 years ago, we were all using 56k modems. Now with Fios and Cable modems pushing 10mb and higher connections, we’re grown accustomed to our internet being super fast. Although sometimes, its not. Many times a slow connection has nothing to do with Verizon, Cablevision, Comcast or AT&T. Sometimes it’s your wireless router that’s slowing everyone down.

Is it misconfigured? Is it inside a metal vault? Is it nearing the end of it’s lifespan? Or, is it just too far away? Here are 7 reasons why your wireless sucks and what you can do about it.

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How to Transfer Files To/From your Mobile Phone with Bluetooth

David Balogh — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 12:00:58 +0000

Photo courtesy of OS X

Bluetooth isn’t just for headsets, wireless keyboards and mice. You can transfer data over Bluetooth as well. It’s a little slow but it’s an easy way to put your own custom ringtones, wallpapers and other files onto your phone.

In this tutorial, I’ll walk you through pairing your device, navigating the directories and transferring files to (and from) your phone.

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This Connection is Untrusted? What These Browser Warnings Mean

David Balogh — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 12:00:04 +0000

Photo courtesy of Mozilla Firefox

Ever since Firefox 3 came out last summer, it’s been warning users of unsigned, self-signed and invalid secure web pages. Firefox 3.5’s warning gets even more confusing for non-technical users. Safari, Chrome and even Internet Explorer also display similar warnings.

If you’ve ever wondered the following questions: What exactly does this warning mean? Why is it important? Why should you care? Why is your browser even bothering you about this? – This article is for you:

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Reduce your Paper Usage and be Disaster-Free

David Balogh — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 12:00:21 +0000

Photo courtesy of Editor B

One of the easiest ways you can green your home computer is reducing the amount of printing done. Not only is it environmentally friendly, if done right it can be disaster proof. If you are receiving all of your household bills electronically (and you should), then you are halfway there.

Your next step is – instead of printing out all your electronic receipts, order, bills and other paperwork, save it to your computer. With OS X, this is incredibly easy.

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Keep your Privacy by Stopping Flash Cookies

David Balogh — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 12:00:23 +0000

Photo courtesy of Massless

There’s a new trend on the internet of using Locally Stored Objects (LSO’s) to track and monitor internet usage. A better known term is “Flash Cookies”. Think of them like regular internet cookies, except they are for Adobe’s Flash Player.

Flash Cookies are scary because they are persistent, work across multiple websites, can re-spawn cookies you’ve deleted and hold more information. Browser controls such as Private Browsing and History deleting don’t get rid of them and they don’t expire by default.

Getting rid of them and protecting against them isn’t difficult if you know how..

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