Category Archives: Tech

I’m Officially On Feedly

Since Google decided to shutdown Reader the other day, I decided to migrate over to Feedly. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one. Feedly announced today that there over 500,000 users that have migrated over from Reader. Not a bad pickup for a week.

The main reason I went with Feedly was the interface looks modern and clean. I also like the section “You Might Also Like.” It give users access to feeds similar in content. As long as Feedly keeps their end of the bargain by making the pages snappy, I think most Google Reader users will be happy.

Google Reader Shutting Down

In a move that surprised no one, Google announced today that they are taking down Google Reader on July 1, 2013. Google Reader is a RSS (Really Simple Syndication) reader used for subscribing to news, magazines, blogs and websites. Since Google Reader is shutting down in a couple of months, here are some alternatives to Google Reader that you might want to try.

Checking MD5 Hash on a Mac

When you download a file from a website, they usually come with a 128 bit hash the called MD5 hash. The 32 digit hash is used to check for the integrity of the file to make sure the file hasn’t been altered in any way. So, how do you check MD5 hash on the Mac OS? Open up your Terminal and type the following:

md5 linux.iso

The MD5 command will spit out a 12b bit hash that you can compare it with on a website’s download page. If the hash match, then the file’s integrity is intact. If it doesn’t match, then the file has been altered and compromised. Get rid of it. You never know what’s in it.

350 Square Foot Apartment

I once lived on 440 square foot studio. It was small. I can’t imagine living in a 350 square foot apartment, but this is pretty cool. It has 8 functional rooms. The pull down bed, movable divider and guest room are its best features. The solar charger is a great idea. This bit was featured in Gizmodo a couple months back, but it’s still worth a watch.

Setting Up An Internet Radio

Setting up an internet radio is quite easy nowadays. From the Linux perspective, there are two obvious choices. Either go with Icecast or Shoutcast. I went with Icecast because it was the easy option. Shoutcast is probably more popular since it has a better directory listing if you want your internet radio advertised to potential listeners. But I’m not really interesting in listing my internet radio. I just want a proof of concept that it works.

Installing Icecast on the Ubuntu server is quite easy as running “sudo apt-get install icecast2″ from the Terminal. You’ll be asked three different times to supply passwords for admin, relay and source accounts. Once you have Icecast server installed on the Ubuntu. It’s time to open up the port number from the firewall. The default port is 8000. You can change the port number later by editing the Icecast config file. It should be the /etc/icecast2/icecast.xml file.

As far as the broadcast software, I’m using a simple software called Butt, which means “broadcast using this tool.” It’s a funny name if you ask me, but it’s very simple and it works flawlessly. It’s also free. There are other options, but I just want something simple, and Butt serves that purpose. Now, Butt is capable of capturing the sound input of your computer’s microphone and sending it to Icecast. As long as you can play it on your computer, you should be able to broadcast it on your internet radio.

I’m sending out the output of my desktop speaker to an audio mixer, and then sending out the output of the mixer back to to the computer’s microphone line in. This gives me the ability to play anything on the computer and broadcast it. In addition, I can add a microphone to the audio mixer and have the ability to speak to an audience using any dynamic or condenser microphone that you may already have.

That is pretty much the setup in a nutshell without going into the nitty gritty details.

Turning Off Google Two Step Verification

Google created a two step verification process to increase security. The process requires entering some code, typically a six digit number, in addition to the regular user password. The code is normally sent by Google via SMS text message to the user’s phone.

The downside is if you have any applications that use Gmail’s SMTP to send out email messages, it will be rendered useless due to the extra authentication.

I ended up using another SMTP server. Thanks to AT&T. I’m glad I found another option for sending out email messages within applications. Google does give you the option to turn off the two step verification process, which I ended up doing anyways.

I think the two step process is more of annoyance than anything. Clearing your browser’s cache requires you to re-enter a new code. Each time you’ll receive a new code via SMS text from Google. After doing it for about 10 times all within a week, I grew tired of it.

Now, the two step verification is turned off for good. Thank goodness.

Tips For Skype Interviews

Chances are you may have already experienced a Skype interview. Recently, more and more companies are performing interviews online as they recruit more talent globally. Even if you are a local candidate, chances are you may end up with a Skype interview. Six out ten HR managers now conduct online interviews in the US. Online interviews are cost effective, and they save time for both company and potential employee. So, here’s a nice article from BBC offering some valuable tips when interviewed on Skype.

What Happens To GoDaddy Expired Domains

If you have a registered domain that is expiring at GoDaddy, to their credit, they do send out several notices to let you know that your domain is expiring. But the day after your domain expires, your domain is no longer working and it gets parked at GoDaddy. Although you make a payment on the same day. It can take anywhere from 2-24 or even 48 hours for the domain to propagate the DNS entry.

So, in the meantime, your website is screwed. Your customers will see a parked page at GoDaddy. If your website is a critical business website, you can potentially lose money. The delay is more of a DNS issue instead of GoDaddy. Even at this age in time, you would think DNS propagation delay can be resolved in minutes instead of days. Unfortunately, we are still stuck in the horse-and-buggy age when it comes DNS management.

But GoDaddy has to do better in protecting business when it comes to downing websites. Although it’s entirely my fault to not properly pay on time, GoDaddy doesn’t give you much grace time when it comes to missing a payment. Although it their right to do this, I don’t think they are winning any customers. I have other domains registered at other registrars. I missed payments by a couple days, but they give you ample of time of at least a week before redirecting your DNS entry. So, your website is never down.

So with that, GoDaddy policies are not winning me over. I will transfer any remaining domains I own out of GoDaddy as soon as I can.

Converting To AT&T Uverse

A few weeks back, AT&T notified me that they are converting the entire neighborhood from DSL to Uverse. To make the switch, they are sending out a free modem. They told me the download speed is going to be the same, which is 6MB, which is not fast by any means, but it serves my purpose. I could always a higher speed, but it will cost more. The upload speed is 1MB, which is about 3 times faster than the 300kb than I have now. As part of the promotional, they will only charge me $20 per month for 1 year. After that, it goes back to the usual $43 per month. It think it’s a great deal.