Category — Internet

The generations of portable storage mediums have changed over the years, and it is interesting to contrast them with current innovations such as cloud computing.

Recall back 10 years ago when floppy disks were still heavily used for day to day portable storage needs. If you are were working on a document that needed to be ‘on your person’ for portability and ease of access, floppy disks, 10 years ago were the thing. Flash forward a few years and although USB Flash drives existed for a few years, they start making a stronger appearance as they become more affordable and more readily accepted. I can still remember the marketing pointing out that the standard 64 MB USB Flash drive was similar to carrying 60+ floppy disks in your pocket!

That being said… we currently are living in interesting times.

• MacBook Air
• Everex Cloudbook
• Increasing Wireless LAN density
• Google Docs
• Zoho

It is easy to find a wireless hotspot. Even rural communities are participating. Mobile devices and networks are also becoming increasingly sophisticated.

Our lives have changed forever. Floppy disks, while they rest in peace, are a good reminder of the humbler beginnings of most technology. The point where we are now, is far from where we will be 1, 2 or 5 years from now.

Email is not secure. Unless you explicitly encrypt your email message and attachments, the content of your email will bounce across servers and the Internet unencrypted, and in readable text.

Most people have a false sense of security when it comes to email. It is common for emails containing sensitive information, to be quickly drafted and sent to the destination address. It serves well to think of an unencrypted email as a postcard being sent through the postal mail. Each letter carrier can potentially read the contents of the postcard. With email, the same basic concept applies because the message, once sent and received, is likely to exist on at least two email servers, after passing through multiple network segments which could be prone to network sniffing. The origin and the destination.

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In a recent article, I introduced OpenDNS as a free service that is out to make your Internet safer, faster, and smarter. OpenDNS has many notable features, and the one focused on in this article is Adult Site Blocking.

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Why Would You Care about DNS?

Anyone using a networked device (computer, smart phone) on a local network or Internet rely on DNS (Domain Name System) to make life a lot easier, whether they know it or not! Could you imagine memorizing hundreds of numbers like 64.233.167.99 ? Not much fun. Well you don’t have to. You can thank those who designed and created DNS. To put it simply, “The URLs you type are translated into computer-readable numbers that take you to websites.” (OpenDNS, “How it Works“)

So, how can OpenDNS benefit you? Allow me to show you.

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