Canada sets universal broadband goal.

http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/12/canada-sets-universal-broadband-goal-of-50mbps-and-unlimited-data-for-all/

On another note...how much are these smart devices actually recording?

http://www.theverge.com/2016/12/27/14089836/amazon-echo-privacy-criminal-investigation-data

And just like that, any company that's online can disappear.

Cyanogen shuts down. Frankly, I would not be surprised if a lot of android phones go poof either because one too many lack any updates.
http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/12/cyanogen-inc-shuts-down-cyanogenmod-in-christmas-bloodbath/

https://cyngn.com/blog/cyanogen-services-shutting-down

Here's a new way for wheelchair bound people to stand up.

http://www.matiarobotics.com/index.html

More DNS malware is never a good thing...

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/12/20/new_dnschanger_exploit_kit_goes_after_166_types_of_router/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook

Another security breach, this time the company is Quest Laboratory.

http://www.pcmag.com/news/350280/medical-laboratory-quest-diagnostics-hacked

HGST 12 TB hard drive, yes it's true.

Just when you thought 10TB was big...14TB byte is on its way too.
https://www.wdc.com/about-wd/newsroom/press-room/2016-12-06-western-digital-introduces-advanced-devices-to-manage-evolving-data-center-application-demands.html

200GB micro sd card.

https://patriotmemory.com/product/lx-series-microsdhcmicrosdxc-cards/

Rite Aid Photo possible compromise

I need to get some photos and was looking around at a couple of different stores where you can do this and just ran into this. I guess it happened sometime in 2015 or just before that. As you can see they are still not back up. So be careful when you use these services. Keep in mind that is was PNI that was compromised and not Rite Aid.

Belt clip pin lock...

I've have been using this radio belt clip on the phone case I made a while back. The clips are great and work very well. These are not cheap plastic that will break easy. Unfortunately this one has one big flaw which gets pretty annoying eventually. The pin tends to slide out to the side, specially since I use the phone in my pocket and it's not always vertical but at an angle. The metal piece on the back also tends to slowly bend, but not break as long as I'm careful. Since the printer is finally working, not perfect, but enough to make small parts, I thought I give this a shot. I needed a way to hold the pin in place so I don't have to keep pushing it before it gets lost or I lose it or drop the phone. It is now easy to move with my finger where it was very hard to even move when new. So I came up with this adapter. I wanted to make sure I kept the clip working the same way with this out of the way. I just finished printing the fourth one and I think it's done, if it holds up.

And finally printed and installed. The clip still works the same, but now the pin can't move out much if at all. It can still move a bit within the clip but not beyond it on both sides now.

Dobot M1, now this is a pretty cool robotic arm.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dobot/dobot-m1-pro-robotic-arm-for-makers-and-businesses/description

Air selfie anyone? LOL, yes it's true...

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1733117980/airselfie?token=0a5f565c

China's driverless trucks are coming

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/602854/chinas-driverless-trucks-are-revving-their-engines/?utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_medium=post&utm_source=facebook&set=602871

Backblaze Storage Pod 5.0, the hardware behind B2 Cloud Storage

Do you want to see what 60 hard drives look like in one "Pod" in a rack?

These things are massive.
https://www.backblaze.com/b2/storage-pod.html

"Hard Drive Stats for Q3 2016: Less is More"

https://www.backblaze.com/blog/hard-drive-failure-rates-q3-2016/

Seagate 5TB 2.5 inch portable hard drive

http://blog.seagate.com/consumer/5tb-we-just-launched-the-highest-capacity-small-portable-drive-ever/?cmpid=smc-facebook-seagate-sf50847471&source=smc-amer-facebook-seagate&sf50847471=1

FORPHEUS, Omron Ping-Pong Robot !

What's inside the new nintendo nes classic that was release today?

It's too bad Nintendo dropped the ball. What's with that midget controller cord? They also only released a few so they are all sold out everywhere. Well they knew it would be popular, but they forgot their audience is a lot older now and don't care for that oh we'll make them wait nonsense that they used to do back then too, if I recall. Anyway, I couldn't afford one back then but I always enjoyed the games whenever I could sneak into an arcade close to my house and play a quarter or two. Let's just say playing video games was frowned upon at my place. Thankfully I got all the gaming out of my system when I was younger. So I wanted to check this out and of course no one had it.

I figured what the heck, maybe I'll just make one now since I know many people have done that already with their 3d printers and a few other parts. Well at least I have another good reason to fix  my 3d printer again. One more thing, what's with the proprietary plugs? I guess they haven't learned their lesson yet. I can see why they do that, but it's hard not to hate proprietary plugs nowadays. And not to include a second controller, well that's just wrong. So if you add the 59.99 price to the 10.00 dollar extra controller, plus some extension, and then tax. This thing is getting pretty pricey. But if you can just hook it up to the computer in front of you and you're the only one using it, then that shouldn't be too much. Otherwise it may be a bit misleading at first. I guess I'm older and have to look at everything now.
http://www.polygon.com/2016/11/11/13597620/nes-classic-edition-teardown

"Engineer uses 3D printing to repair his own heart"

https://3dprintingindustry.com/news/engineer-uses-3d-printing-repair-heart-98023/

Internet of things and security

This is a really good article because there are some many things coming out of China that could fit into this category. By this I mean things like cell phones. They come out with very nice hardware too, but unfortunately many of those phones can't even be updated.
http://qz.com/819391/a-collision-of-chinese-manufacturing-globalization-and-consumer-ignorance-could-ruin-the-internet-for-everyone/?utm_source=parRC

Multiple window file manager

Lately I've been having to open two file manager windows side by side. It's not a problem as I am used to it and I'm sure most are too, but I read a comment on a youtube video and I found this page on different file managers. It sounded interesting as I'm having to check more than one document or something from a network drive to copy or move. So if you're interested in something similar here you go. I have yet to test one, but I'll definitely check it out. Oh and what I like about this page is that it covers all three systems. Windows, Mac and Linux so you may find something there. Oh, at times my windows file manager just seems to get stuck so this is the other reason I thought I check these out.

http://www.howtogeek.com/205770/the-best-alternative-file-managers-for-windows-mac-and-linux/

Full windows 10 in a very small board.

http://www.lattepanda.com/

Seagate's new 2.5 inch 15,000 rpm hard drive

http://blog.seagate.com/intelligent/whats-the-worlds-fastest-hard-drive-for-mission-critical-applications/?cmpid=smc-facebook-seagate-sf50485750&source=smc-amer-facebook-seagate&sf50485750=1

LTE can be intercenpted, I guess it's nothing new from what I read.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/10/23/every_lte_call_text_can_be_intercepted_blacked_out_hacker_finds/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook

Company admits some of their products added to the ddos problem

Why am I not surprised, dvr's are like those dime a dozen android Chinese phones that never get any updates. In short, this is a good time as any to say that companies that don't update their software on new or old hardware will just be asking for it. We are more and more dependent on software so this is only going to increase. Any companies that don't bother updating their software will be dropping like flies or will be dropped by the consumers. Well, this is my prediction for now.
http://www.networkworld.com/article/3134035/chinese-firm-admits-its-hacked-products-were-behind-fridays-massive-ddos-attack.html

AT&T wants to buy time warner

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/10/23/business/dealbook/att-agrees-to-buy-time-warner-for-more-than-80-billion.html?_r=0&referer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F

DNS gets DoS

http://arstechnica.com/security/2016/10/dos-attack-on-major-dns-provider-brings-internet-to-morning-crawl/

Linux root hole. Well this can't be good...

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/10/21/linux_privilege_escalation_hole/

Server room wiring getting to you?

I feel your pain buddy.

http://www.techrepublic.com/pictures/real-world-server-room-nightmares/?ftag=ACQ0569dee&nan_pid=1855737232&ttag=tr-fb-316&vndid=1855737232

DVR's and DDoS

Well I'm not surprised with this as I had one and it literally seem to have been destroying itself even when I kept it unplugged. There was just a lot of activity going on and eventually just destroyed the hard drive in it. Not to mention when I asked the manufacturer about any firmware updates they basically said that they didn't have any. Keep an eye on dvr's becuse they are as bad as android phones that don't get any updates. A lot of people and companies used them but they seem to be one of the worst pieces of equipment to get any updates as well.
http://arstechnica.com/security/2016/10/making-a-dvr-join-a-ddos-botnet-is-a-piece-of-cake-and-thats-just-sad/

Here's a smaller motherbord than a mini itx.

This also uses a regular cpu which is what makes it attractive but in an even smaller package.
http://www.asrock.com/news/index.us.asp?id=3207

I stopped by Fry's earlier today and saw these on the shelves...

You can now just pick these up at your local store...

Italian military migrating to LibreOffice

http://www.techdrivein.com/2016/09/italian-militarys-libreoffice-migration.html

Sandisk demos first 1 Terabyte sdxc card

https://www.sandisk.com/about/media-center/press-releases/2016/western-digital-demonstrates-prototype-of-the-worlds-first-1terabyte-SDXC-card

Kidney black market in India was very real

http://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-india-kidney-snap-story.html

Arris cable modems

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/09/15/35000_unpatched_arris_routers_at_risk_from_firmware_dumper_bot/

Pen gun now selling on secret forums

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/09/15/trend_micro_french_underground/

Stingrays and surveillance

http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/235462-leaked-manuals-stingrays-mass-surveillance-bypass-smartphone-security

NAS box distributing malware

This is just what you don't want to hear about your nas box doing.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/09/12/sohopeless_seagate_nas_boxen_become_malware_distributors/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook

More sneaky android banking trojan.

Android seems to be getting worst at stopping these things. Not to mention android apps just working all willy nilly. Which is another reason to keep all those random apps out of your phone as much as possible. If you don't need it, don't install it. Even the basic browsers seem to never want to shut down, so you may want to to do this on your own. Yes it's annoying but unless you like your apps randomly doing their own thing, this is something you have to do yourself.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/09/06/gugi_android_banking_trojan_revamp/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook

ITT technical schools closing

Where have we have not heard about this school. Now they are closing for good.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/itt-technical-institute-to-close-after-government-cuts-off-new-funding-1473163181

Innovators under 35

https://www.technologyreview.com/lists/innovators-under-35/2016/visionary/nora-ayanian/

VW keeps getting knocked down, again...

http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/233468-bugs-in-the-bug-100-million-cars-especially-vw-may-be-at-risk-from-unlock-hacks

Seagate launches 60TB hard drive

http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/233358-seagate-unveils-the-worlds-largest-ssd-60tb

Do you have one of those new smart door locks for your house, you better read this.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/08/08/using_a_smart_bluetooth_lock_to_protect_your_valuables_youre_an_idiot/

Data center problem interrupts delta airlines worldwide

Always remember that no matter how well everything has been implemented, something can always happen that may be beyond anyone's control. In this case, a fire which is probably one of the worst things you want happening in any network. That's not something you can ignore and try to go in and save the data. It looks like the site is up so their IT people are the heroes there today. Most of the time IT doesn't exist until something really bad happens. Although flights got interrupted, and things didn't work, you have to give them credit because we need to remember that things happen and sometimes they happen at the worst possible moments.
http://arstechnica.com/business/2016/08/data-center-disaster-disrupts-delta-airlines/

Qualcomm bugs

http://www.extremetech.com/computing/233177-qualcomm-bugs-expose-nearly-1-billion-android-devices-to-exploits

I was cleaning up some old papers today and found this...

Remember those warranty void stickers...apparently they're illegal

http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/233120-microsoft-sony-and-other-manufacturers-still-use-illegal-warranty-void-if-removed-stickers

Not taking computer security seriously can lead to some hefty fines

http://www.networkworld.com/article/3104866/security/illinois-hospital-chain-to-pay-record-55m-for-exposing-data-about-millions-of-patients.html

Windows 10 anniversary update is now available

http://www.theverge.com/2016/8/2/12350392/microsoft-windows-10-anniversary-update-download-available

 This update must be done manually. I checked.

As you can see I'm not running the latest version even though I have kept my machine updated.

 

And you just have to let it do it's thing since it's going to download whatever huge file this is. This is the part that sucks since you don't know how big the file is. For whatever reason Microsoft decided not to let you know. The installer is 5.5MB but the rest is just a large file. The good thing is that this is all you probably need right now other than maybe a restart when it's done.

 I went out and came back and two hours later it was still going.

 Once it was finally finished the computer needed restarting.

The icons have been moved to the left on the start menu. I prefer the minimalist view so I don't have those large app icons taking all that space. 

I just started on my laptop and noticed that you can upgrade or refresh your system with the latest build. I didn't realize the difference until I did the second one on the laptop. It seems to be the same thing but the windows you get are a bit different. So I did both without thinking about it. This one at least tells me that the file to be downloaded is 3GB. Yes, it's a huge download if you have a very slow internet line.

Warning: Make sure you do the upgrade and not the refresh. They both update to the latest version as I just checked, but the refresh basically wipes out all your apps and data if you want. So all my programs are now gone on my laptop which I have to re-install. The process is very similar so you can actually wipe everything on your computer if you're not careful. I only had the option to keep the data and take out the apps, which I thought was just referring to installed apps and not actual programs I had installed manually and not through the windows app store. So the good thing is that I still have my data, but none of the programs I had installed and the OS is just like when you first installed windows. Which is fine if something funky was going on with windows but I was just trying to upgrade the laptop as well. I hadn't done it so its nice to know.

You can see on the new upgrade that the system at least now shows you what version it is.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

Syrma cocept car

http://www.autoevolution.com/news/2015-ied-syrma-concept-car-is-a-futuristic-mclaren-lookalike-video-photo-gallery-93434.html#

IED Madrid Fab lab

Full color 3D Printer

I was just reading this morning and saw this article about a full color 3D printer. I had never heard of then but apparently it's not their first color 3D Printer.
http://3dprintingindustry.com/news/full-colour-3d-printer-kickstarter-90530/

Tesla's Gigafactory

http://www.theverge.com/2016/7/28/12299202/tesla-model-3-gigafactory-tour-elon-musk-photos-nevada

Website trackers

Have you ever wondered what's tracking you on websites? Take a look, this is just from one site.

Making a copy of a car key

Today I decided to get a key copy for a Miata. For whatever reason my other key just wasn't working right after I picked up my car from the shop. I had made a key before at pepboys, but I looked at it closer and noticed that it didn't have the right notches as the one that actually worked. So I went to home depot and had them make a key. It's been a long time since I had a key made and I found out that they have these new key laser machines which is pretty cool. They just scan your key and the computer does the cutting. Except that I also found out what happens when a database has the wrong information, well at least for what they tried or maybe it was just due to the wrong year. The system didn't have my car year to begin with. Apparently they start around 1995 and my car is a bit older than that.

Anyway, the guy tried it and I guess he just used the earliest year that was on there. Sure enough, the key got cut, but I found out that the key being cut was the key for the trunk. Yup, he used the ignition key, but the machine still cut a trunk key. Needless to say I could not get a new key. So they suggested and old time locksmith. Which brings me to my next problem, apparently they have been disappearing due to all the new boxes replacing them. I guess this is exactly what happened at pepboys and I didn't realized it at the time. Now I got 2 extra trunk keys. Walmart and Lowes uses the same system so I got nowhere no matter where I went. Sometimes new technology just can't cut it. LOL

These are the new machines being used today in case you haven't seen them. They're actually pretty neat.

Data breaches are the new norm apparently.

I just got this in the mail today.

Nikola Motor Company unveils electric truck

https://nikolamotor.com/one

Looking for that Tinder Date? You better watch out for the porn scammers.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/07/25/tinder_smut_sign_up_scam/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook

How they design free games to make money, and you thought it was all just for fun

Of course making money is one thing, but those with ads and all those pop ups, well you better be very careful with just installing random apps. At least now many of them tell you they have ads before you install them, at least on android which is more than you would like.  You can now get who knows what from ads not to mention your battery getting drained because those same apps won't let your phone sleep. Even if they don't have ads, you still need to check what rights they want or have. For example, why would a notepad app need camera access or why would a flashlight app need the camera and mic for?
http://www.vox.com/2016/7/21/12247428/how-free-games-make-money

Facebooks solar power airplane

http://www.recode.net/2016/7/21/12246190/facebook-solar-powered-airplane-video-aquila

Small 3D Printer

I accidentally bumped into this little 3d printer. What I like about it is that it's a metal case and it looks very nice if you just want to print fairly small parts. I noticed from reading that the only problem you may have with it may be the power supply. I don't own one so I really don't know, but it does look pretty nice compared to all the acrylic types that are sold all over the internet.

It looks like monoprice sells this for 199 and they are located here in California. The only down side is that you probably will be on your own as it doesn't look like they themselves support this other than your regular rma for a broken item or whatever the case is. Now this seems to be the same one made by Malyan called the M200. Like I said, many of the other small printers have plastic covers and things like that which just don't look that great since you could run into other issues with broken side panels due to over tightening, etc. They may not be perfect, but they sure look nice. Youtube has some videos you can check about them yourself. I just thought for the price, they looked nice.

http://www.monoprice.com/product?c_id=107&cp_id=10724&cs_id=1072403&p_id=15365&seq=1&format=2

 

I should also note that Malyan has a larger printer too. It actually has a larger print area than my craftbot so that's also something to check out on their site.
http://malyansys.com/en/?page_id=315

Low income internet access

http://arstechnica.com/business/2016/07/comcast-expands-10-low-income-internet-plan/

If you like to play pokemon or have kids, you better take a look at this.

http://arstechnica.com/security/2016/07/fake-pokemon-go-app-on-google-play-infects-phones-with-screenlocker/

I've been slowly organizing my files and as you may know video files just take a lot of space and time to edit.

Well, I saw this video I took a while back and tried editing the file, but as you can see it's 38.8 GB! Try editing a file this large and you'll quickly find out if your old computer can even open it up. My old computer could barely open the file up, so I never bothered to try editing it again. Needless to say I also tried creating a .ogg file but even this file is 4.66 GB in size. It's definitely more manageable, but still about a dvd movie and more. Today I put the file through handbrake and got the file down to 1.67 GB! I am not doing any special video editing or need this to have any special resolution since it was a video from and old camcorder. Needless to say, the new mp4 file is just what I need. If I want to actually edit the file, I rather work with the smaller file since most of what I do is split the video or add to it. I just wanted to add this here because it's possible to do this much easier now. In some high quality videos you may lose a tiny bit of resolution, but I'm no video guru and this works for what I need to do. Now I can go delete the original after I view the mp4 to make sure everything went through okay and get some of my space back.

Nintendo is bringing back the old NES console, sort of.

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2016/07/surprise-nintendos-next-console-is-the-nes/

New 4TB ssd from samsung

This just got real, real big for small drives but very large storage.This also begs the question, why are phones still selling with such tiny storage, yes I know why, but they will need to bump those up or lose out.
http://www.extremetech.com/computing/231541-samsung-introduces-4tb-ssd-for-a-cool-1500

New malware that just deletes your files anyway

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/07/12/file_deleting_ransomware_scam/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook

Android phone having battery discharging

It looks like my android phone has been having some issues. I had to reset the phone due to some odd things happening on it without me doing anything to it. So after the resetting I noticed that android starts updating itself which is odd since I normally do that if I want to. So I installed my two or three apps since I no longer even like to do that any more. You just don't know what apps do and most of them like to take over the phone or prevent it from sleeping. Which is why I started uninstalling all the apps and updates one by one. So my battery was about to die this morning, again. I know the battery is fine, but still can't tell which update or program is causing it so they are all going. Then again there's been some malware going around even though I try not to install anything anymore. It's a shame that these things just want to take over. BUT, there is a way to really take care of this if you really, really want to.

The first thing is not to add an account, which of course won't allow you to download anything. However, I'm starting to go back to that point as a backup. Now the problem with that is that your phone list is on an account if you use gmail for example. So you could download your phone list or any list and make a pdf and any document for example that you can look at in your phone. This would require an app download to read it though. But after installing just what you need you can always just remove the account which is probably the better alternative. The problem with this is if you update or add a number, you can't synch with your account until you add the account again. The other alternative would be a phone app that holds the numbers totally separate from any account that needs to be synchronized anywhere until you decide to do it, say your computer only in this case.

Although not the best way to go around it, I think this is the better way to keep all of these things from really screwing things up like draining the battery in my case. Today, everything wants to be connected, but the truth is, you don't really know what program is doing what. So you really have to be careful. I'm just annoyed that I can't use the phone because the battery is almost dead every time I look at it in the morning even though I charged it the night before. This is what I always did and since it was off, it would still be at 90 something percent charged still. Imagine if someone got all your information, then you wouldn't be annoyed, but really mad, among other things. So the quest to find the balance between using these smart phones and just not using them continues. And yes I know many use their phones for everything, but I really wouldn't recommend that for the many obvious reasons too. I don't really use my phone much, so completely ditching the phone has be something I have been contemplating. Many people can't do that, but I have no problem doing that since I hardly talk to anyone on the phone myself. But it does come in handy for emergency like if you get stuck somewhere, but a simple phone would probably work just as well. But syncing your phone list is much faster than trying to key in a list of name and numbers. Obviously for businesses this wouldn't work unless you want to spend all your days doing this.

Mobius Bionics Prostethic Arm

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160708005511/en

Don't forget about your domain registration

http://arstechnica.com/security/2016/07/tp-link-forgets-to-register-domain-name-leaves-config-pages-open-to-hijack/

Slim power supply case

I didn't like the way the case cover was fitting so I had to do a bit of thinking and redesigning. I also made a couple of minor changes on the case itself. The cover tabs kept breaking on me and the printer just didn't like printing 2 mm walls. Getting this one right has been a challenge but I think I'm there. Cooling is very important as been using the computer case so this is why I decided to make the new larger holes.

Symantec bugs

http://arstechnica.com/security/2016/06/25-symantec-products-open-to-wormable-attack-by-unopened-e-mail-or-links/

CCTV Cameras and malware

Well I'm not surprise about this one. I tried upgrading the firmware on a dvr a while back that had some stuff that wasn't supposed to be on it only to find that the company didn't even update their software and just didn't have anything for it. Way too many dvrs don't have any updates and sometimes come with stuff that shouldn't be there. These things are probably some of the worst out there since you can't really update them.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/06/28/25000_compromised_cctv_cameras/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook

Forum

I decided to add a forum today. I set one up years ago and thought I give this one a go. The other one was from freeforums.org and they were in china. Due to not using it much they basically deleted my forum. This one is supposed to be a little better in that they won't delete it, but I thought I play with it since I like how easy and fast you can get stuff on a forum. Not to mention they are much easier to find information much quicker. I also set up my own on a local machine and that seemed to have been a bit different. I think just changing the theme was a matter of clicking and choosing the right one. I had to do a bit more work on this one. Then again there are so many choices now that it shouldn't be hard to find something that works.

I don't host my own servers so I just used this one being hosted elsewhere and since it's free I am giving it a go again. I just used the forum for my own stuff that I may be working on and I may add more as time goes on.

Changing the 3d printed cover

It's been very hot here and my cd rom which I was using was having a few hiccups.  So I thought I modify the cover a bit more. I'm adding a few more cooling holes on the top to make sure all the hot air has more places to exit. I'm actually using the 3d printed case and keep improving it where I can. That's the neat part about designing and printing my own case. I can make as many or few changes as I need.

New Nissan leaf electric car coming

http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/230550-next-nissan-leaf-ev-will-hit-200-miles-just-like-chevy-bolt-tesla-model-3

Apple airport wireless stations get a firmware update.

http://www.networkworld.com/article/3086296/apple-fixes-serious-flaw-in-airport-wireless-routers.html

Microsoft One Drive

I've been testing the one drive for a little while now. I figure what better time to do a small write up about it.Unfortunately they will be lowering the space given to users so I have decided to stop using it and back up my files so that they don't get deleted as you will see. Apparently I am already over the 5 gig limit that they will be lowering this to.

The pros:
- I found it very convenient to use for backing up my phone pictures. Unfortunately I sometimes forgot to change the size of the pictures so some of them can get pretty big. Not a problem for one drive, but I noticed the problem later when trying to use the files in the blog or download them.
-It uses the same outlook account so it's convenient.

-I like how once I moved the files to the correct folder and got them organized, it was much better to just choose the folders with the organized files and copy them to the right place for storage on my network. The files or folders you choose get zipped into one file and the download begins.

-It was convenient sharing some documents with certain people to view. For example if you just wanted to send or show your resume to someone for a job or maybe a document a bit too large to email that the other person could look at and download from the link. So this was pretty nice to use.

The cons:
-The interface is very weird. I was trying to organize everything like in a file manager, but the system doesn't quite work like that. Everything is sort of put in one place. I tried adding albums which I thought would move the files to it, but no, I had to go back and make different folders for these. I was basically trying to organize the pictures, but it took a bit longer than I would like.

-The other issue is that it is very slow to use to the point where it just takes too long to load. Hence the reason I wanted to just view the files in a file manager text feel for it to go faster. But the icons are like the windows live tiles. They keep changing and that's just annoying to me. Having things load like that probably doesn't help. I usually turn all those off.

-Deleting files takes a bit too. You have to wait for things to load.

-Downloading is also about the same as deleting them.

-There is no way to tell how long the file will take to download. It just says downloading.

 

Here's a screenshot of what I had used at the time I found out they would be lowering the space on there. I was already over that limit of 5 Gigs.

Here's a sample folder I was downloading with pictures to try and get this lowered. I already stopped using it and adding any files, but now it's just slow to get the files out of there so if you use it, I suggest you start backing up your files. I may just use it for some documents and small things like that, but not much else. It's just too slow and the interface could use some more improvements. Like a normal file manager without having to wait for things to load. I just find that annoying if you only want to see the file names and space for example.

Here's a link to their information about these changes.
https://support.office.com/en-us/article/OneDrive-storage-changes-FAQ-ea9a86b6-d78e-42ac-af54-fefa22ce5324?ui=en-US&rs=en-US&ad=US

Cisco small business router flaws

http://www.networkworld.com/article/3085127/flaws-expose-cisco-small-business-routers-firewalls-to-hacking.html

Bluetooth 5 is coming

http://www.extremetech.com/electronics/230369-new-bluetooth-5-spec-will-double-speeds-and-quadruple-range

Another 3D Printed Home

http://3dprintingindustry.com/news/chinese-company-prints-villa-site-82528/

More warehouse robots

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/601690/a-dexterous-warehouse-robot-does-things-amazons-automated-helpers-cant/?set=601693

Chip credit cards still not safe from fraud

Prusa I3 MK2

 The 3D printers just keep improving which is a good thing.

http://www.3ders.org/articles/20160517-prusa-research-unveils-original-prusa-i3-mk2-3d-printer.html

Interesting post about ransomeware

http://insights.dice.com/2016/06/07/a-case-study-in-dealing-with-ransomware/

Alternatives to youtube...

Every time I try to upload a small video and it's just past the 15 minute mark, youtube always says no. Even if the file size is actually small. Since this is getting really annoying without having to give them more access to my phone number for example or having to re-edit the video to be shorter, I thought I look into some alternatives. But instead of making a whole new list, I found one here that you can check out for yourselves. I'm sure there are many more out there. I don't upload many videos, but every now and then, it just so happens that it goes over time a bit and I always run into that problem.
Keep in mind that some of these are more ads than you really want. I just want something that works without being too restrictive and hopefully not as ad filled with so much junk.
http://www.thetoptens.com/best-alternatives-youtube/

Wendy's is the new victim of another data breach.

http://news10.com/2016/06/12/wendys-credit-card-breach-allowed-hackers-to-access-payment-data/

Now this is a pretty neat camera.

http://3dprintingindustry.com/news/zero-zero-robotics-hover-camera-82194/
http://gethover.com/

A new malware version

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/06/10/crysis_ransomware/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook

London stock exchange targetted by hackers

http://www.newsweek.com/anonymous-hackers-london-stock-exchange-icarus-tech-466790?rx=us

Android keyboards and malware?

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/06/07/android_keyboard_needs_to_see_camera_and_log_files/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook

Lan Messenger on windows 10

I wanted to play with messaging on the lan so I was testing this on a vm and my desktop.

Motorola cable modem super bright LED quick fix.

I have this cable modem that's practically pointing at my be and if I look towards my feet, the super bright blue LED's are pretty blinding at night, not to mention they literally light up the room. You would think someone would have caught that by now at the factory and used a slightly darker color so as to not blind you when you look at the front of this thing. I really didn't feel like taking it apart since it also looks like the LED's are smd type and not our old round type which I do have, so here's what I did, but I also found what one other person did.

I have some leftover window tint and just cut a nice rectangle that would cover all the LED's. The reason I did this is because some of the green LED's actually turn yellow, and the blue are also a different color which is why replacing them would not be a simple fix either. This is what it looks like without the paper.

I place the paper on the top just to get an idea of how this would work. I just added water to the back of it, then used a credit card to smooth it all out. It was a bit harder than you would think, just trying to get it straight, but that's where the water helps. Spray the film away from the modem, then apply it to the modem.

Here's the actual finish set up. It's a bit darker even though the light stills bleeds from the sides of the modem case since it has holes all over the case. This is fine since it sits next to a box and the side of the desk, but hopefully the front won't be as bright as before. My tint is the dark version so I know it should help a bit more. The light would be darker but I can still see all the LED's through the tint if I need to trouble shoot it. The first layer was fine, but I decided to put a second layer over the first one to make it even darker. I like it better now. The first layer did cut the room blue light quite a bit, but the second one should keep it even lower. I do like the tint since the icons are even more defined with it and I can put more layers if I really want it darker and still be able to see what each icon is. With this I also don't have to worry about tape falling inside due to heat. So I do like how this turned out.

In any case, people should know how annoying these super bright LED's are on things like these or TV's. It wouldn't be bad if they were dimmer, but they are not. I usually change these to something red that's just easier on the eyes. Then again, many of the new LED's are so bright it doesn't matter what color they are sometimes. So you may want to check the specs first before buying them.

This is the other option if you do decide to open it up. It's a different model, but it's the same annoying LED's.
https://thisdoesnotcompute.org/2013/10/06/fix-for-blindingly-bright-motorola-cable-modem-lights/

Here's another.
http://corylown.com/?p=23

Love your open source, don't forget about the security too.

http://www.csoonline.com/article/3077815/application-security/your-open-source-security-problem-is-worse-than-you-think.html

You need to be even more careful about spam emails now and make sure not to open them.

http://www.csoonline.com/article/3077434/security/93-of-phishing-emails-are-now-ransomware.html

More online ransomware extortions

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/06/01/fbi_extortion_warning/

Timing windows 10 start up and power off.

I thought I time my windows 10 to see how long it actually takes from power to desktop and then the time it takes to turn off. It takes about 50 seconds in total from initial power to login to the desktop. I just still felt slow turning off and I found that it is now taking 1 minute and 15 seconds. Now as fast as you would think.

Another hospital pays ransom, but this time they don't get anything back...

http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/229162-hospital-pays-ransomware-but-doesnt-get-files-decrypted

Keystroke logger or USB charger, in this case both actually...

http://arstechnica.com/security/2016/05/beware-of-keystroke-loggers-disguised-as-usb-phone-chargers-fbi-warns/

Japan ATM Heist

http://arstechnica.com/business/2016/05/japan-atm-heist-reportedly-involved-100-people-who-stole-12-7-million/

New Microsoft update scam...

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/05/20/tech_support_locker_scam/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook

Android Lollipop security...

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/05/19/accessibility_clickjacking_exploit/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook

Check out the new VivoMini VC65R from Asus

https://pcdiy.asus.com/2016/05/the-vivomini-vc65r-squeezes-quad-drive-raid-into-a-mini-pc/

"Compression tool 7-Zip pwned, pain flows to top security, software tools"

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/05/12/popular_zip_tool_7zip_pwned_pain_flows_to_top_security_software_tools/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook

"Popular cache Squid skids as hacker pops lid"

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/05/12/telco_fave_squid_skids_as_hacker_pops_lid/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook

Stronger 3D Printing Nozzles

http://3dprintingindustry.com/2016/05/10/nozzles-last-67x-longer/

The slate

http://www.iskn.co/

Ubuntu Mate 16.04 LTS

I just installed the new Ubuntu Mate 16.04 LTS last night and it went without a hitch as you can see.

  

Mini ITX 3D Printer case

April 18, 2016
I finally sat down and made some updates to my mini itx design. I have now put my old hardware into the case I had laying around and found the front to be a bit on the thin side. It was also a bit tight, just how I designed it, but I decided it was time for a version two. I gave myself another 10 mm on the front of the case. I also made the side walls a bit thicker. Although this will add even more time to the print time, I feel much better about the design now. I managed to break the front trying to fit in one of the buttons and that's just not something I want to happen. So I had to make some changes on all the large parts which is still within the bed size. The width is still under 200 mm which is what my bed is but this is still cutting it close and the length is still way under the 250 mm of the bed. The only problem with these large parts is the lifting of the corners. But glue seems to be working okay. Unfortunately my printer is still not printing so great. I did another two day print and the side walls where not sticking so great not to mention extremely thin in some places. Aside from printer problems and cad software problems, it's slowly getting there. I'm calling this one version 2. I've also made a few other minor changes  to the side panels on the bottom. I'm still working my way up so the bottom needs to be perfect because I'm now also using it as my computer case. I'm hoping these will be the biggest changes I need to make so I can concentrate on other things. If you want to see the video I have on this, just go to youtube and look for 3d printed nas case to get an idea of what it looks like once printed. It's the same case, this one will just be a little longer to give me a tiny bit more space inside. The first one works just fine, but I decided to make all the changes since I wanted to fix the walls anyway.

3D Printed case computer

April 12, 2016

I finally got around to swapping all the internals of my metal case to my 3d printed computer case. Yes that sounds like I'm going backwards a bit, but not really. The old one is a bit thinner and the 3d printed case has room for more air to circulate. Anyway, I wanted to finally get a computer set up in one of these cases to get a better feel for how things would fit. Here's the link to the pictures. Adding pictures to this blog seems to hang at times so this is easier and quicker to do for now.

I noticed it was just a bit tighter up front due to the cables, but once I put the front in first instead of the back I was able to get the whole board in there without much problem. I have made quite a few prints and checked fitment before, so I knew it would fit, but just didn't have all the cables in there yet. Everything seems to work just fine, but a few more tweaks couldn't hurt now that I have finally put together a full pc with it. I need to find two usb ports which are pretty cheap now and the fact that I only need the old usb 2 makes it easier to find. I have not put any buttons on it as you can see because it works just fine without them too! All in all, this is not too bad for a completed computer.

I'm still waiting for some printer parts and since other things need attention for a while I haven't had a chance to design or print much lately and I want to get those parts before I try printing anything again.
https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=DF50100862511FE3!1414&authkey=!AJvudCQTPTlTJCQ&ithint=album%2c

WD PiDrive 314GB Storage Solution

April 11, 2016

There's now a dedicated drive for your rasberry Pi project.

http://www.wdc.com/en/company/pressroom/releases/?release=22d07183-95f4-44de-a170-5c79659e9ddb

200 GB Patriot micro sdhc card

April 11, 2016

Now you can get yourself a really huge tiny card for you phone or wherever you need the space. All those tiny cameras just need to catch up to these since most of those only support up to like 32 GB. Now backing all of that up...that's going to take a while.

https://patriotmemory.com/product/lx-series-microsdhcmicrosdxc-cards/

Power window stopped working on my car.

March 21, 2016

The power window just stopped working on the driver side door of my car. You know how annoying that can be. Well I took the door apart today and found my problem. My brushes were a bit out of whack. I got those pushed in and now it's working again. I had to do the same thing on the other side when I first installed the kit. It just wasn't working. I would use another motor but since this is from an aftermarket kit I bought when I was back in high school and finally used it 20 plus years later, this is what I need to do. Most new kits seem so cheap and I keep reading how they barely get the windows up and down. this set came with nice motors, but they made the brushes a bit small. The good thing is that motor brushes can be found for almost anything on ebay, so if I ever need those I can always get new ones. I just wished I had look there before I took it apart so I could have measured it and got them now so I don't have to wait if I need them. Either way, it is what it is. It works again and that's all that matters.

Adobe flash player, still has extra stuff you don't want

February 6, 2016

I had to install windows 10 on a machine and unfortunately I still need the adobe player in order to watch some videos online. The problem is not the player itself, but the other programs they still add to the player as you can see here. Make sure to uncheck that middle column box before proceeding or you will add another antivirus trial software than just the player. It's amazing how this is still going on, but the truth is that it is. Although, flash is dying, some companies are still using them. Just be aware of this and you can skip one more trial software on your computer.

Taking screenshots of your screen or windows without other programs.

January 31, 2016

I have slowly been trying out more and more of the windows 10 features. Today I wanted to see if there was an easier way to take screenshots without installing any additional programs. The good news is that there still is a way, you just have to remember the shortcut keys. If you use this feature a lot it should be easy to remember since it's usually the same two keys. I've been using screenhunter which works well, but I always had to turn the program on before actually using it. So this is nice to have without any extra program. Just like making a pdf without any other programs except your already installed printer drivers. In any case I found this link that shows you step by step. So all the credit goes to them for posting this up. There are other programs you can also use as well if you really want a bit more control, but this should work for most basic screenshots which is what I do anyway. In short windows 10 does have a few more things you can do without adding any more programs which is nice. One more thing, don't forget to pin the snipping tool to the task bar and you should be all set! This way you don't have to keep searching for it, so it basically works just like my old program. Just make sure you rename the file when you save it or you will be over writing the old one as I just found out with my test. Now I just have then all going to the pictures screenshot folder where I can keep them organized instead of the desktop.

http://www.laptopmag.com/articles/capture-screenshots-windows-10

Checking questionable files online...

I just ran into this and I thought it would make a good post for today.
https://www.virustotal.com/

Firefox slowing down

I have started having problems with Firefox slowing down to a crawl. Then again my whole windows 10 started crawling for no reason. I haven't downloaded or installed anything so I started doing a few things here and there, but it looks like firefox is still in the doghouse.  At least the computer seems to have come back to life for now. I think I have actually turned most things off, but things still seem to get bogged down before I did anything. There's nothing more annoying than that specially when you haven't done anything yourself. I did find a large amount of tracking cookies and things like that which seem to really have bogged things down. So I need to look at those settings a lot closer now. I'm still testing Windows 10 a bit closer to see where things tend to go down hill even with the built-in antivirus which you really can't use much since now it's more hidden. It's there but you can see how that can make things longer to get done.