Category: Geek Stuff

“RSS” stands for “Really Simple Syndication”. RSS is a way for websites to “push” data out to their readers. The idea behind RSS is similar in concept to “email updates” you may choose to get from cnn.com or some other site. However, RSS works very differently under the hood. Whereas email updates can only be sent to a single email address, RSS has lots of nifty tricks that make it much more useful than a “CNN Headlines” email.

To understand how RSS works, you need to know that it all begins with a piece of software called an “RSS reader” or “RSS aggregator” (or just “aggregator” for short). In most cases, you’d need to download an RSS reader and install it on your system. Then you enter the names of the RSS feeds you want to subscribe to into the RSS reader. The software will then begin checking a specially formatted page on the website in question. The reader checks that page at a timed interval (usually 1 hour). Any new entries are then copied into your reader software, where you can read them at your leisure.

To put it in simple terms… Have you ever sat at a web page and constantly reloaded it? Maybe you were at ticketmaster.com waiting for concert tickets to go on sale… Maybe you were at fandango.com waiting for Star Wars tickets to go on sale… Maybe you were waiting for a news item to appear on your local TV station’s website… Whatever the case, you were at a site, refreshing the page every 30 seconds or so, waiting for new entires to appear. That’s exactly what an RSS reader does, only it does it automatically, behind the scenes, once an hour (or sooner, if you set that option). The web page that the RSS reader is loading is specially formatted, and when the reader finds a new entry, it copies it to your computer so that you can read it.

Here’s where RSS gets interesting.

First of all, there are several ways to get feeds. If you’d prefer using a standalone program to read feeds, you can download a free program like RSS Bandit or SharpReader. If you’re a big user of Microsoft Outlook, you can upgrade to Office 2007 (which has an integrated RSS reader), or you can install NewsGator, a free plug-in for Outlook 2000\2003 that integrates feeds into Outlook. If you use lots of different computers during the day, you might want to look in to online RSS readers like Google Reader; instead of downloading new feeds to your desktop computer, Google Reader downloads then to your Google Account, so you can check the feeds from multiple computers – just like web mail.

Continue reading “Geek Basics: RSS”

Have you ever wanted to be a DJ? Does the thought of having your own radio station make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside? If so, you’re in luck! There’s this new invention called “the Internet” that allows you to (among other things) broadcast your favorite tunes all day long if you wish! So if you’ve ever felt the jones to be your own broadcaster, check out this article! You’d be amazed at how easy is really is to set up your own Internet radio station.

Here’s what you need to get started:

• The latest version of WinAMP
• The Shoutcast DSP plug-in for WinAMP
• Shoutcast Server
• A stable Windows-based computer
• A broadband Internet connection

The Big Picture

WinAMP was the first MP3 player for the Windows platform. Although it has expanded over the years to include library functions and the ability to play videos, at its core WinAMP is still just a basic MP3 player.

Shoutcast Server was developed by the same people that made WinAMP. Shoutcast is a streaming audio server. It provides audio streams to listeners. Shoutcast server is available for Windows 9x, Windows NT, Windows 2000\2003, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Mac OS X, FreeBSD, Linux and Solaris.

The Shoutcast plug-in for WinAMP connects the output of WinAMP to the input of the Shoutcast server. It takes whatever is playing in WinAMP, converts it to the appropriate bitrate and\or format, then forwards it on to the Shoutcast server. The Shoutcast server then sends this input out to listeners as a stream of data. The Shoutcast plug-in is also where you enter the name of your station or show and any contact information you’d like to add.

Getting It All Set Up

If you’ve never used WinAMP before, download and install it, then spend a couple of days getting familiar with it. You will especially need to be familiar with the playlist functions, as this is how you’re going to get started as a DJ. Basically, an Internet radio station is just a giant playlist of songs. You’ll need to be able to assemble such a playlist on your computer. The playlist can be as long as you want – in fact, it will need to be several days long if you want to have a full-time station, although it can also be just a few hours long if you want to do brief “shows” instead of broadcasting full-time. Also, note how to save your playlists (click LIST OPTS > SAVE LIST in the playlist window). This is important, since you’ll be tweaking several things during the setup process, and there’s the distinct possibility that you might accidentally erase a playlist you’ve spent hours putting together. It’s just better to be safe than sorry, right?

After you’ve gotten acquainted with WinAMP (or if you’re already familiar with WinAMP), you need to do the next step, which is installing the Shoutcast plug-in for WinAMP. Assuming that you’ve already got WinAMP up and running on our system, click here to download the plug-in. Installation should be simple – in most cases, the plug-in installer will detect where WinAMP is installed on your system and it will then install the plug-in in the correct location. So, for most of you, installing the plug-in will means double-clicking on the plug-in installer file, then clicking Next > Next > Finish.

The final step is to install the Shoutcast server. In most cases, you’ll want to install Shoutcast on the same computer that runs WinAMP. However, there may be circumstances where you’d want to install Shoutcast on a different computer. And the reason why you’d want to do that is really important when it comes to broadcasting.

Continue reading “Be a DJ!”

My Dad has a saying about padlocks: “they only keep the honest people out“. His point, of course, is that honest people will see a padlock and keep walking, while a hardcore thief will simply smash the hasp, take the hinges off the door, or shatter a window to break into your house and steal your stuff. I’m sometimes asked what the best way is to secure a wireless network, and when I think about the subject I often think of Dad’s wisdom. Most of the “security measures” in wireless networking only keep the honest people out. Dedicated hackers can find a way to hack in to your network if they choose. So here’s my complete guide to securing a wireless network:

Pick WPA security, and choose a very complex password for it.

Yep, that’s it. My entire guide to wireless security. But since you might ask about some of the other security features available on wireless routers, here’s a point-by-point rebuttal on each one:

Disabling the SSID: Every wireless router has the ability to broadcast its name, or SSID (Service Set IDentifier). Disabling SSID broadcasting means that your wireless network won’t appear in the list of “Available Wireless Networks” on any nearby computer. Theoretically, this makes your network more secure. Since your neighbors won’t be able to see your network, how could they connect to it? Unfortunately, disabling the SSID does nothing to hide your wireless network from hackers using programs that scan the airwaves for wireless networks. In fact, it makes it look like you’ve got something to hide, much like putting an expensive purchase in the back of a hatchback and covering it with a blanket does. Additionally, disabling SSID broadcasting makes it harder to troubleshoot connection problems, and also makes it difficult for your guests to connect to your wireless network. Using WPA with a complex password means your neighbors can see your network, but they can’t access it. And hackers will find your network one way or the other, so let them find yours easily, try to hack it and fail, and move on to the next network.

Changing the SSID: This is actually a good one to do. Most wireless routers have their manufacturer’s name as the SSID by default. If you’ve ever used a wireless network, you’ve almost certainly seen a wireless network called “linksys” at some point or the other. Changing the SSID to something nondescript tells hackers that you’ve at least thought about security enough to do this step. Much like how the automobile security device The Club worked simply by making car thieves move on to another car, changing your SSID just might be enough to make hackers move on to the “linksys” networks.

Enabling MAC filtering: Every networked device – wireless or not – has a unique serial number called a Media Access Control (MAC) address. Most wireless routers have a feature that allows you to enter the MAC addresses of every device you want to connect to the wireless network. So, in theory, only devices that you explicitly approve can connect to your wireless network. The reality is that any hacker that scans your network can find the MAC address of one (or all) of your devices. He or she can then “spoof” the MAC address on their own computer and get full access to your network. Filtering MAC addresses also means that you’ll have to obtain the 12-digit MAC address from any guest that wants to use your network, then enter it into your router’s configuration page. Which is no fun, especially when there’s almost zero payoff from this “security measure” in the first place. Seriously folks – MAC sniffing and spoofing is so easy to do that it’s almost laughable.

Continue reading “Jim’s Guide to Wireless Security”

If you’re willing to sit through a Microsoft product launch, you can snag yourself free copies of Windows Server 2008, Visual Studio 2008 and the CTP (Beta) of SQL Server 2008! Yes friends, Microsoft recently started this product launch site where you can sign up for an event in your area. I’ve been to several Microsoft product launches over the years. And while it’s just a trade show where Microsoft beats into your head how good their products are, I have gone away with useful information about new Microsoft products… “such as Local Continuous Replication in Exchange 2007!”

Anyway, pick your closest venue and check it out. At the end of the day, you’ll get free copies of Windows Server 2008, Visual Studio 2008 and  (sadly) a public beta of SQL Server 2008. Enjoy!

There’s not a lot going on with the site today, so I just wanted to take a couple of minutes to pimp out some cool apps and sites that I enjoy:

I got a new widescreen monitor for Christmas. As soon as I had it hooked up, I went looking for new and groovy wallpapers… but there was a problem. Many “wallpaper websites” are infested with pop-ups and malware. Many other sites are a couple of years behind and only offer standard 4:3 resolution wallpapers. Many wallpaper sites also don’t have any quality control, and are thus overrun with crappy Photoshop collages of swimsuit models. I somehow managed to find InterfaceLift… and boy was I happy!

InterfaceLift offers quality wallpapers at 2560×1600, 1920×1200, 1680×1050, 1440×900, 1280×800, 480×272 and 1600×1200, 1280×1024, 1280×960, 1024×768, 320×240. You can easily browse wallpapers in your preferred resolution simply by clicking on that resolution on InterfaceLift’s homepage. And what wallpapers they are, folks! Although user-submitted, the wallpapers come in a huge variety and most are stunning examples of photography. Sure, they’re a bit on the “artsy” side, and sure, the site skews towards cityscapes, pictures of beaches and still lifes of flowers… but I guarantee that you’ll find something you like there… and in the resolution you need!

By the way… do you like the screen capture of InterfaceLift shown above? You can create thumbnail pictures of almost any website using a free service called websnapr. All you’ve gotta do is go to websnapr’s site, enter a URL and then select the thumbnail size you want (the InterfaceLift thumb is “medium”). You’ll probably then see a “this picture is in the queue” graphic… just wait a couple of minutes and reload the page and PRESTO! you have a free thumbnail of the page in question. It’s quick, it’s easy and I like it!

Lastly, do you do screen captures often? I do, and although I like Windows’ built-in PRINT SCREEN and ALT+PRINT SCREEN process, it does have its limitations. First of all, PRINT SCREEN only copies an image of your screen to the clipboard. This is fine if you’re pasting the images directly into a Word document, but if you want to save them as “standalone” images, you’d need to paste the screen captures into an imaging program like Phot shop or MS Paint. And then you have to save the images. Which isn’t hard, but it’s still a pain in the butt. And then there’s the fact that PRINT SCREEN lacks granular control. PRINT SCREEN captures your entire screen, while ALT+PRINT SCREEN captures the entire active window. What if you only want to capture a part of the active window, or a small portion of two windows side-by-side? If these are common complaints for you, you just might want to check out Cropper, a free program written by Brian Scott, a .Net Application Architect and Developer in Phoenix. Cropper puts an icon in the system tray: just click it, and a transparent blue box appears on your screen. Just move the box to where you want to capture the screen and drag the edges of the box to the size you need…  anything within that box will be captured when you double-click on the box. Images can be copied to the clipboard or copied as BMP, JPG or PNG images to a folder that you define. You can even have Cropper automatically generate thumbnails of your captures, too! All in all, it’s a nifty little program. It’s free (but requires the .NET Framework 2.0). Check it out today!

Last July I posted this article about iTunes Library Updater (iTLU). iTLU solves an annoying (and major) problem with iTunes: when you first install iTunes, the program scans your computer for music. After that, the only way to add music to your iTunes library is to either rip a CD using iTunes or buy music from the iTunes online store. If you prefer to rip your music using some other program, or if you download music from any other source (legal or not), there’s simply no way to add it to your iTunes library. So if you were to buy some music from Amazon’s new online store, you won’t be able to add it to your library… which means that you can’t put it on your iPod. And that’s where iTLU comes in. You just tell it which folders to scan, and it’ll add any music it finds there to your iTunes library.

I’ve used the program for over six months now, and I’ve found it invaluable. It “just works”. And that’s great. But there’s one nifty feature I didn’t mention in my original post that I thought you might want to be aware of: profiles. When you open iTLU, you’re presented with this window:

You then click the small button next to “Locations” to add folders for iTLU to look in. You choose which file types to look for in the “Extensions” box. You then choose which options iTLU should use (“Add new music”, “Clean orphan entries”). When everything’s ready, you click the “Start” button. Here’s what my iTLU window looks like just before I’d click the “Start” button:

It’s not that difficult to get everything ready to go on my computer, but it does take 11 mouse clicks. You see that button named “Save profile”? This is the nifty feature I wanted to tell you about. “Save profile” will save every setting you’ve chosen in the iTLU window. So the next time you open iTLU, you’d only need to click “Open profile” > [choose profile file] > Start. That’s 3 mouse clicks versus 11 clicks, and that’s pretty neat.

What’s even cooler is that you can use the console version of iTLU (ITLUconsole.exe) to load the saved profile and run iTLU from the command-line. Which means that you can have iTLU update your iTunes library with a single click via batch file, or even have Windows Scheduler run the task automatically! The command-line syntax couldn’t be easier:

[path to ITLUconsole.exe] /p:[path to profile settings file]

What’s even cooler is that the profile settings files themselves are simple XML files, so if you’re comfortable with editing XML, you can easily create custom settings files for different situations. For example, iTLU needs to open iTunes itself to update the library. I would normally have iTunes open anyway when I update my library, so the “Close iTunes” setting in my default profile is “false”. However, if I want to have iTLU update iTunes automatically via scheduled task, I wouldn’t want iTunes left open. So I opened the profile settings file with my favorite text editor and changed the “<closeiTunes>” setting to TRUE, and then saved the settings file with a new name. Cool, eh?

Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is one of the oldest forms of “chat room” on the Internet. Developed all the way back in 1988, IRC was just about the only way for people with different ISPs to communicate in real-time until the instant messaging services arrived a few years later. IRC is still going strong, though, and that’s mostly due to the way it works. Chatting on IRC usually requires a client (program); once installed, the user can connect to an IRC server and start chatting in specialized “chat rooms”. Although user-to-user chat is available in IRC, it still uses the “room” paradigm. And in many ways, IRC is superior to instant messaging software, especially when you want to chat with several people (and especially if all those people use different IM programs).

The only downside to IRC is that it’s pretty complex for non-technical users to grasp. Installing an IRC client is pretty easy, but configuring it can be complex. And once the user has signed on to an IRC server, they’ll probably be overwhelmed by the arcane commands IRC uses (for example, to join a chat room, the user has to type /JOIN #CHATROOM; to change their “nickname”, you’d type /NICK NICKNAME).

Wouldn’t it be great if someone offered an easy way to use IRC?

Well, as you might guess, someone has. The site is called ChatMaker, and it couldn’t be easy simpler: just click the link to go to the site, and then enter the name of the chatroom you’d like to create. You’re then given a URL to give to your friends; once they click on the link, they’ll be taken directly to your chat room.

Neither you nor your guests have to register for anything at the site; in fact, there’s no “registration” at all on ChatMaker’s site! And since it’s all done via web browsers, no client is required on anyone’s end. Old-school IRC users might not like that only two IRC commands are supported by: /NICK and /ME. But for a quick and dirty chat room solution, ChatMaker can’t be beat!

The only problem I can see with the site is that you’re using someone else’s server to hold discussions. Although ChatMaker’s privacy policy explicitly states that they do not “collect, read, or document” anything said in their chat rooms, I’d still be a bit wary of giving a friend my credit card number or discussing my plans for world domination on the site.

The Internet is not hurting for ways to share files with friends. Sites like RapidShare, YouSendIt and MailBigFile were the first on the scene, and for a while they were pretty cool. For various reasons, however, those sites decided to put caps on the way people used them. Most of them adopted rules that limited the maximum file size (100 MB, usually), and many of them put limits on how much “non-premium” users could download at once. With RapidShare, for example, “free” users can only download 60MB or so per hour. So if you have a mess of pictures that you want to email someone, you’d probably have to break it up into pieces (which makes it unnecessarily confusing for the end user) and that end user might have to wait several hours before they can download the entire lot of pictures.

Other programs and services came along. Tubes, for example, is a free service. To use it, you (and all your friends) sign up on the site and download a program that looks something like an instant messaging program. You can then create shared folders (called “tubes”) that are copied back and forth between your friends. So you can create a “public” tube and drag and drop files there,  and the files will automatically be downloaded to any of your friends that have “subscribed” to your “public tube”. It actually sounds simpler than it is in practice. In reality, you need to send “invites” to your friends to join your “tube”; these don’t always go through, and sometimes the “tubes” will mysteriously disappear from your friend’s computers. And then there’s permission issues: Tubes tries to allow granular control of your files, so that Friend A can download a file from your public tube but not edit it, while Friend B can open and edit the file, while Friend C can’t download or edit it or anything. It’s all too complicated for the average user, and to make matters worse, it just doesn’t work that well. I tried Tubes for a couple of months, and I’d often find really outdated files on my friend’s computer. As in, files I’d deleted from my Tube weeks ago. Tubes said they were in perfect sync. Yeah right. And Tubes also seems to choke on large files, which is most of what people want to trade these days in the first place.

Continue reading “2 More File Sharing Apps”

As I’m sure you know, every computer connected to the Internet has an IP address, such as 69.73.181.157 (this site’s IP address). As I’m sure you also know, every computer on the Internet communicates with every other computer via IP address. Most web sites have static (unchanging) IP addresses, while most home users have dynamic addresses (addresses that change every day, week or month, depending on how often your ISP decides to change them). If you still use dial-up, for example, you’ll generally get a different IP address every time you connect to the Internet. Some DSL providers change their customer’s IP address several times a day. Many cable providers don’t change their customer’s IP addresses for months at a time.

So why do web sites have static IP addresses, and why do home users have dynamic ones? Well, web sites need static IP addresses so that people can connect to them. If a website’s IP address changed every day, the Internet’s DNS servers – the computers that convert “yahoo.com” into 216.109.112.135 when you type that address into your address bar – simply couldn’t keep up. The web would be in a constant state of flux, and you wouldn’t be able to connect to your favorite web sites on a regular basis. For an ISP, though, keeping track of which home user has which IP address is a monumental pain. It’s much easier for them to run DHCP servers – computers whose sole job is to assign IP addresses when the home user’s cable\DSL modem asks for one. So rather than have a huge database of account numbers and IP addresses, your ISP simply sets up a server that says “here are our available IP addresses. Whenever a customer requests an IP address, give him one of these”.

It might be helpful to think of IP addresses like phone numbers. A Chinese take-out restaurant needs a static phone number so that people can call in and order food. After all, if their phone number changed every week it’d be hard to order from them, no? But in this example, the restaurant’s customers don’t need static phone numbers to call in an order. They can phone their orders in from their home phone, their work phone, their cell phones, or even a pay phone.

Continue reading “Geek Basics: Dynamic DNS”

In the computing world, an “appliance” is a computer that is “dedicated to a single task, and has limited configuration ability”. If you have a router in your home, you have an appliance. If you work for a medium to large-size company, they might have an “anti-spam appliance”: a computer that sits between the Internet and your email server, removing spam. Although appliances are usually dedicated to a single task, what really makes a “computer” an “appliance” is the limited interface. Although your home router is basically a small computer, you cannot click a couple of things and turn it into a file server, or play Solitaire on it.

With the rise of software virtualization, people have started referring to some virtual machines as “appliances”. Although this isn’t, strictly speaking, accurate – most virtual machines run a traditional desktop operating system instead of one dedicated to the task at hand – they can be appliances in the “dedicated to a single task” meaning. In this article, I’ll show you how to create a “Bittorrent appliance”.

But first… why have a “Bittorrent appliance” in the first place? Well, there are several reasons why you might want to run Bittorrent as an appliance:

Compatibility: Many Bittorrent applications don’t work at all in Windows Vista, and many don’t work nearly as well in Vista as they did in XP. By creating an XP-based virtual machine, you can use Vista and still enjoy all of the BT programs that work better in Windows XP. Also, if you have a computer that dual-boots between XP and Vista, you can use the appliance in either OS with minimal disruption. If you’re in XP but need to reboot into Vista and have several downloads going, simply shut down the appliance, reboot into Vista, then restart the appliance! You’ll be back where you left off in seconds!

Portability: The appliance can be installed on (or easily moved to) a portable USB hard drive. So if you have a friend with a crazy fast Internet connection, you can shut down the appliance on your computer, remove the USB drive from your system, drive to your friend’s house, connect the USB drive to his computer, and restart your downloads immediately. Or let’s say you have a desktop computer in your college dorm room, and want to take your downloads home with you to Mom & Dad’s house. Just shut down the appliance, remove the USB drive and hook it up to the desktop PC at your folk’s house – and you’re instantly back where you were at school!

Security: I know that someone’s going to jump on me for this, but I don’t care! Let’s pretend that you’re a heavy downloader. One day you get a letter in the mail from a law firm that states that you’re being sued by the music industry. By having all of your downloading apps on a virtual machine, you’ll necessarily have no downloading apps on your physical machine. If your hard drive were to be seized in a lawsuit, forensics investigators wouldn’t find any evidence of downloading on your computer… because there aren’t any “illicit” programs on your computer!

Continue reading “Bittorrent as an Appliance”