The Philosophy of Nate

Mobile Security

Everyone who owns a computer likely hears about the plethora of latest security issues, viruses and whatnot- and for all those Windows users, may have figured out that Microsoft releases security updates on the second Tuesday of the month. For the most part, that’s outside the scope of this article, although it is relevant. Viruses and hackers are the bane of any computer user and many of us spend seemingly ridiculous amounts of time making sure our virus scanner is up to date, that Windows Security Center reports back that everything is fine, and otherwise being extremely careful with our computers. We set up (hopefully) strong passwords for all of our online accounts, and from there, try to lie low and hope that no hackers come our way; and hope that if they do, all the defenses we threw up for them are strong enough.

It seems that so much effort is put into making sure that computers and Facebook accounts are secure, that the most dangerous devices we have in our lives...

Dropbox and Dropquest 2011

I’m no stranger to online storage, I’ve cycled through Windows Live Skydrive, ADrive, Google Docs, Ubuntu One, and likely a few others that I can’t recall. As far as I’m concerned, I need a secure, reliable place to store my files where I can access them anywhere because I move between computers frequently for various reasons.

Dropbox is, thus so far, my favorite of the online storage sites I’ve used and I seem to keep returning to it. It’s not the biggest; Dropbox only initially gives users 2 gigabytes, but provides opportunities for them to earn more. My account currently is 6.75 gigabytes in size, all of which I’ve earned for free. For some money, users can buy 50 or 100 gigabytes of storage space on Dropbox, or it can be won for free by participating in and winning Dropquest. What it may not give in initial storage allotment, it does make up for in features.

To my knowledge, it’s the most secure of the aforementioned storage services, as everything on the site...

Thoughts on Windows 7

As many of my readers know by now, I’m not a big fan of Windows. I’ve been an avid Linux user since I was in 7th grade, which is 5 years. I’m forced to use Windows at school, however, and often when I borrow computers. It’s an unfortunate fact that the majority of people happen to use Windows. Then the other majority is Mac OS X; which I’m not a fan of either. Then finally, in last place, we have Linux.\

Honestly, I am an operating system snob; I insist on using Linux and I’ve found that if I use Windows enough, I get a headache. I do give each new version of Windows a fair try though, because eventually eventually they may come out with one that I like. Well, that and I need to know my way around. My laptop shipped with Windows 7 and my school is transitioning to 7 as well.

It’s not my favorite, I’ll admit that right off the bat, but once again, I’m a little biased. Actually, I don’t mind dealing with it. Of my experience with Windows, 7 is the best I’ve...

A review of the iPad

I should probably start this off by saying that I’m not much for Apple products. I don’t like them- yes, they are cool, but as an avid computer user accustomed to tweaking every aspect of all his devices, I find them too limiting.

In all honesty, I don’t have much to say about the iPad- to me it wasn’t much more than just another Apple product- cool, but not something I would ever use. That’s not to say I wasn’t impressed, however. The device feels very natural to use and the finger swipes and flicks are exactly as they look in any Apple advertisement for the iPad. It’s very simple to use and doesn’t take long to get used to. The first app I opened was Maps, and admittedly, it was very cool to be able to navigate the map with flicks of the fingers.

Next, I turned to the App store, hoping to download some free apps- and was disappointed when I was informed that I needed an iTunes account. In the end, I used another friend’s iTunes logins to download some free apps ...

The Digital Classroom

Slowly and steadily technology has been trickling into the classroom, starting with calculators and slowly growing to more complex equipment. Schools have, for a fair amount of time, featured computer labs for students and later, computers in classrooms for teacher use with grading software.

In all honesty, the Internet is best kept away from the main part of the curriculum in schools. With the negative side of the Internet forgotten [for the moment] and we forget all the issues with porn and such- which students will always find a way to look at in school despite the best efforts of administrators- there’s simply nothing inherently necessary about bringing the Internet to the classroom.

Society is changing and does focus around the use of a computer or cell phone or other connected gadget- it’s getting harder to stay away from everything (and everyone). Writing with a pencil is starting to fade out as typing takes over, for example- even in schools. I took the SA...

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I dare you to give this a thought

Many of us spend a lot of time online. Or, more accurately, an insane amount of time online. As with everything, there’s the good and bad of that and more so, those who enjoy every moment of it, and those who would like to get as far away from it as possible. Where we belong- be it online or off, depends on the person.

Personally, as someone who does spend an insane amount of time on the computer, and being 17 I have grown up with it, most people would be amazed to know that I don’t intend to go to school for computers, nor do I enjoy spending insane amounts of time online. In actuality, I try to avoid it- I didn’t used to, but it hit me in a rather “epic realization” that the Internet is not my place.

I go running almost every day, usually more than 2 miles. I look forward to the family vacation at a lake-front cottage every summer. Not because I get to spend [more] time with my family, not because I get to go canoing or swimming, but because I don’t have a compu...

What's your legacy?

Any of us who uses the Internet regularly, especially for forums, message boards, and any other social networking have some traces of our activities across the Internet. Some of us have the fortune (or misfortune, as it may be), of showing up in Google results when someone searches for us. I personally have over 300 Google results to my online nickname- various forum posts, user pages, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc, plus should anyone search my full name, the first result also happens to be me. In order to achieve this, I maintain somewhere around 5 blogs, 3 forum profiles, at least 4 OpenID profiles, Twitter, MySpace, Facebook- you get the picture.

After putting some thought into it, however, I realized that I don’t want to be that searchable. I work to build online identities for other businesses on social media and online in general, and I have my own online identity to prove it. Effectively, I’ve carved out my own niche with a unique name, my own set of Google results, and m...

How we should protect our friends' information

We all know by now that our information is somewhere- be it online or off. There’s various contact management sites, such as Google Contacts, Plaxo, and others, and they presumably have appropriate precautions set up in order to protect information that users choose to share about themselves (and their contacts).

However, what about information about us such as email addresses or phone numbers that friends store on their computers? In a disturbing amount of times, this information is stored in an email client’s ‘address book’ on a relatively insecure computer. One of our friends, somewhere, has sensitive data stored about us on their computer- a fact that is inevitable due to the many services provided by software, things such as chat records, contact information, and a number of other things. There’s no real way to know how personal information is being dealt with the second it’s published to the Internet or even simply shared with friends.

Case in point- Chi.mp ...

Electronics in the Classroom

Any modern student carries an array of electronics into school; cell phone, calculator, iPod, and a number of other things. There is a question, however, of what electronics are appropriate for the classroom, and where to draw the line at what is and isn’t allowed.

For example, in my state, Connecticut, state law bans cell phone use in schools by students. Some schools in the state follow this rule to the letter, while others are a bit more lenient, only confiscating them if they’re being used. Granted, phone use will still continue to some degree in school regardless as students repeatedly find methods of getting around the rules.

Banning cell phone use in school is logical; it lowers the possibility of cheating and more or less eliminates a distraction- both for the person using it and others in the class. Any device that is disruptive to the entire class should be banned seeing as there are students in a class who are there to learn and who are interested in th...