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Archives for 2015

OwnCloud 8.2.1

I’ve used OwnCloud on and off the last couple of years. Here are my older posts about OwnCloud. I started using OwnCloud again, just the other day out of curiosity. Two years ago, OwnCloud didn’t measure up to the competition. It wasn’t enough to get geeks like me to quit using Dropbox or Google Drive. One thing OwnCloud has going though, you own your own data. It’s very secure knowing you are the only one maintaining your own server. Fast forward two years, OwnCloud has gotten much better. The last version I used was version 6. OwnCloud is now at 8.2.1. There are now desktop clients for the PC, Mac and Linux systems. There are also apps for mobile devices: iOS, Android and Blackberry. The synching features are much better. And most of all, you can easily run your own OwnCloud server at Digital Ocean. They have a ready made image ready just for you.

Google Login With No Password

Google is currently testing a new way to login using no passwords. It sends notifications via smart phones and users can login using push notifications. This is much more secure knowing that some users use really weak passwords. Two factor authentication has been around for a while. It also speeds up logins. Essentially, every time you login to your email, it sends a push notification to your phone. You press yes and it allows you in and read your emails.

Drones That Swin

We’ve all seen it. A drone flies in the air and crashes in the water. There’s a new drone from Rutgers University that flies in the air and swims in the water. The project is funded by the Office of Naval Research. It’s called the Naviator. It’s intended use is aerial reconnaissance or for snooping underwater. It can be deployed to perform ship and bridge inspections. In an oil spill, it can go underwater and see how far the spill goes.