Review A Distant Soil Books 1 4

I first reviewed A Distant Soil in 2005 here on this blog. I recently noticed that the library had books 1-4, and hoping that the story had since been finished, I checked the books out of the library and read them all.

The books were particularly slow going for me, and I realized after a bit why: while many pundits are contented to talk about how you should have graphic novels appeal to girls, Colleen Doran actually went out and did it. The books are full of talking heads, and heavy on text balloons. While theres a "saving the world" plot going on, characters take the time out to worry about their hair. The character oriented pacing essentially led to long sections where characters were flirting, bantering, or teasing each other, rather than the usual sequence of action event after action event.

The book revolves around a brother-sister pair who escaped from a lab where they were confined, only to discover their origins. Theyre separated and kidnapped by two factions of an alien race, and they learn about the alien race and the power structure from two different directions, neither of which are telling the complete truth, and neither of which have the complete picture.

The result is a plot and story thats slow, long and drawn out, and action that drags. But the artwork is gorgeous. The men are beautiful, the women a good diverse lot, not all of whom served as love interests for the male characters, and the aliens unfortunately all too human (which given the nature of the story, makes sense). Theres no science at all in this story, so its not properly science fiction, but rather fantasy. Theres a significant amount of sex in this story, so this isnt something you would hand to your 12 year old. (If youre looking for something for that 12-year old, please try Jeff Smiths delightful Bone)

I was wondering why the story line hadnt been completed yet, so I checked on Colleen Dorans web-site: it seems that shes still trying to finish the story. Im not sure I can recommend this book to everyone: its hyper-targeted towards girls, and I had to make myself read it. Check the first book out of your local library and if it grabs you read the rest of it and be prepared for a long wait to the finish. Thats one of the problems with the independent artists, with no commercial pressure to push to finish the story, theres no way to tell when itll finish, if ever. (Im looking at you, Mark Oakley)

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OpenWrt on TL MR3020 controlling Arduino

After bricking one router i decided not to try to increase the storage and go with the capabilities which it already have.
TL-MR3020 from TP-LINK have a UART but the problem with interconnection was  TL-MR3020 out puts 3.3v and Arduino UNO is 5v. So after trying couple for methods trying to level the serial data voltage, finally 74LS04 is used the step up the TX from router to 5v and it was success and Arduino see the data.
Then tried to run a shell script from a webpage run in web server inside the router.
After couple of frustrations i manage to run with html+javascript...thats a long story...
Anyways it works perfectly and more mods will be done soon.

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Retrospective How Nintendo lost me as a customer

Golden Abyss got me to start playing Drakes Deception on the PS3, which is pretty remarkable. (Im certainly enjoying the game and how pretty it is) Looking back at the review of the Nintendo Wii that I wrote in 2007, this is quite a reversal of the turn of events that I expected. The Nintendo Wii is gathering dust, while the PS3 sees almost daily use, if not as a game machine, as a portal for Amazon instant video, blu ray player at times, and YouTube living room, where it serves as a better Google TV than the various Google TV demos Ive tried over the years. I havent even considered a Chromecast because the PS3 has been working so well.

How did this happen? I think the biggest deal was the advent of HDTV. With a big 1080p screen in the living room, the Nintendo Wiis graphics looked old. For a while, it still saw plenty of use as an avenue for Rock Band, but even then, the jaggies started looking more and more glaring compared to the PS3s 720p output for games and 1080p output for movies. For games where a motion controller was preferred, I ended up with a Playstation Move instead.

For the next generation of consoles, the difference is even bigger. Both the XBox One and the Playstation 4 will play Blu-rays and DVDs, while the Wii U, despite having a disc reader, wont even play DVDs. From a performance point of view, the Wii U is so much less powerful than either of the bigger consoles that its likely to only get games that are coming out for the previous generation of consoles.

But by far the most important reason is the games. While it seems as though Ive become an Uncharted addict, I noticed that I never did finish a single Wii game that had a "finish". To be fair, the Wii has many games that dont end. For me, that means that Id rather pick up a PS 4 when the next Uncharted game comes out rather than getting another Nintendo console that gathers dust.

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Review Tampopo

Someone once told me that Tampopo is a great movie for foodies. It definitely has a lot about food, especially Ramen.

The plot revolves around Tampopo, a widow struggling to learn the true art of making good ramen, so she support her child. The camera does pick up and follow random side-plots, however, some of which are good, and some of which are distracting and take away from the movies theme. Most of them are never fully exposited, which makes you have to fill in the blanks yourself, though one of them is ridiculously far fetched.

There are fabulous food scenes in the movie, one of which involves food as foreplay. However, these scenes arent as common as I was led to believe. I think the movie could have been far more tightly edited and plotted, which would have kept it from dragging in places. Mildly recommended.

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PSA 30 off any printed book at Amazon Expires Dec 1st

Until December 1st, if you enter the coupon code BOOKDEAL while buying any printed book at Amazon.com, you get 30% off the highest price book. The blatant self-promoter in me obviously wants you to buy any or all of my books, but another high priced item would be The Complete Calvin and Hobbes. Amazon says that that collection normally requires a shipping charge but gets free shipping today. Theres an upper limit of $10 for the discount, so the $50 collection would still cost you $40.

Note that to qualify, the books must be on paper, rather than in electronic format, so unfortunately, Kindle versions of my book dont qualify for this deal.

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Reclaim your online privacy Thinking you’re being watched is no longer a simple case of you being paranoid

The documents leaked by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden illustrated the startling reach of the world’s largest intelligence agencies. We learned that the agencies collaborated with technology companies to make it easier to spy on the public.

It’s no longer safe to assume anything about the security of your data – except that you’re not the only one who has access to it. Whether or not you’re on their radar, your activity may be indiscriminately sucked up by intelligence services, who have made it their right to know what you know.

One consequence is that average users are increasingly turning to open-source privacy tools. Much more transparent and often independently audited, they can’t be subverted as easily as a proprietary tool, making them the best means of retaining privacy in your online activities.

Encryption

We know the NSA and GCHQ have collaborated with technology companies to install backdoors into security products, so it’s reasonably safe to assume proprietary encryption solutions are compromised.

That means no more BitLocker, even though it’s highly convenient as it comes with some versions of Windows. Instead, we recommend you use the open-source TrueCrypt to encrypt your data.

It’s a powerful tool, offering volume-, partition- and drive encryption, plus the ability to set up hidden volumes or an entire OS. If you’re compelled to reveal your main encryption password for whatever reason, a hidden volume will remain safely encrypted and undetectable inside the visible volume. Think of it as a saferoom within a saferoom.

Download TrueCrypt from truecrypt.org and install it on your PC. To set up an encrypted area in which to store your most important files, first launch TrueCrypt, then click Create Volume and choose ‘Create an encrypted file container’.

You’ll be offered the option of making a hidden volume, but these must be created inside an existing volume, so choose Standard.

Click Select File and choose a location and a file name for your TrueCrypt container (don’t use an existing file name or it will be overwritten by the container). Choose your encryption and hash algorithm – novices can safely stick to the defaults – then choose the size of your container and a strong password. When prompted, randomly move your mouse around the TrueCrypt window for at least 30 seconds – the longer you move, the stronger the encryption.

To access your container, open TrueCrypt, choose any spare drive letter, select your container file from the Volume drop-down menu, then click Mount. Enter your password and the volume will appear in Windows Explorer. Drag a file on to this and it will be automatically encrypted and added to the container; open an encrypted file and it will temporarily be decrypted in your PC’s RAM. When you’re done with your container, just click Dismount and it will disappear.

There’s lots more you can do from there. You could create a hidden volume inside your standard volume, and you can encrypt a partition or OS using similar steps to creating a container. It’s all well documented both in the software and on the TrueCrypt website.

Web browsing

Tor is a free and open virtual network that bounces communications around the world to prevent sites from learning your physical location. It forms the basis of a range of security applications, the most common of which is the increasingly popular Tor browser. It’s based on a modified Firefox release, and if you follow some simple precautions it will grant you a level of anonymity online.

To set it up, go to torproject.org and download the Tor Browser Bundle. Run the downloaded file, choose an extraction location, then open the folder and click ‘Start Tor Browser’. The Vidalia Control Panel will automatically handle the randomised network setup and, when Tor is ready, the browser will open; close it to disconnect from the network.

It won’t be browsing as usual, as the Tor browser is necessarily stripped of many of Firefox’s modern trimmings. Plug-ins, such as Flash and QuickTime, are by default blocked as they can reveal your non-Tor IP address, as can opening any downloaded document that’s handled by an external application such as Word. The makers strongly advise against using BitTorrent over Tor, too.

Don’t go switching to Chrome, though: Tor is not protecting your PC’s internet traffic, only the traffic that goes via the Tor Browser, so it’s no good just having Tor running in the background.

Because of these restrictions, not to mention the reduced speed of browsing as data flies around the world en route to your PC, it’s not practical to use Tor for everything online. It’s fine to keep using your current browser for everyday online activities – if you want things a bit more private, search with DuckDuckGo.com rather than Google – but try to at least get into the habit of switching to Tor when it’s time to do your banking, shopping or any other sensitive tasks.

Messaging

Public key cryptography is no longer only for IT experts, as more and more people are using tools such as OpenPGP to keep their communications private.

In very simple terms, with PGP you generate two unique keys. Your public key is what you give to others, and they can use it to encrypt any messages meant for your attention. Your private key is what you keep secret and safe, as it works in conjunction with your public key to unlock those messages when they arrive. The public key alone can never decrypt a message, which means you’re safe to hand it out even to people you’ve never met.

The most popular implementation of OpenPGP is the free GnuPG (gnupg.org). Unless you’re skilled with the command line, scroll down to the Binaries section on the Downloads page to find the special setup files for each OS. Note that both sender and recipient need the software installed.

For Windows that’s Gpg4win, a suite that contains GnuPG plus a few other useful tools and extensions, as well as a PDF of the excellent ‘Gpg4win Compendium’. The ‘For Novices’ chapter is a great place to start learning about PGP.

Gpg4win includes everything you need: there are plug-ins for Outlook 2003 and 2007, and a standalone email client called Claws Mail that works with the keys you generate in Kleopatra.

To generate your own pair of keys, run Kleopatra (it’s installed with Gpg4win), then click File, New Certificate. Choose the first option that pops up, enter your name and email address, then click Create Key. Your chosen passphrase is important, as it determines the strength of your encryption; try to use a phrase at least four- or five-words long, but be sure you’ll remember it. Back up your newly created key pair, then Export the certificate to your PC. Opening that file will give you your public key in text form.

That’s the very basic setup, but there’s an awful lot more to it. The Gpg4win Compendium document has walkthroughs for everything, so the best thing you can do is work through the examples until you’re confident enough to start using OpenPGP with your friends, relatives and colleagues.

One area of messaging that Gpg4win doesn’t cover is instant messaging. Skype uses industry-standard encryption to keep private your conversations. However, if you don’t want to put your trust in a mainstream app, you might like to try Off-the-record (otr.cypherpunks.ca). This encryption toolkit works with the Pidgin IM client (pidgin.im).

Disk cleaning

The final tool in your privacy arsenal is a vital one: a good disk cleaner. BleachBit is a simple piece of software that can shred files to prevent recovery, and overwrite free disk space to hide traces of old files. It also automatically hunts down and deletes unnecessary files on your hard disk, from caches and cookies to the temporary folders of thousands of applications.

Head to bleachbit.sourceforge.net to download and install the software. The interface will show you any supported applications installed on your PC on the left, along with information on what will be deleted for each on the right. Just tick what you want to clean, leave anything you’re unsure of, and click Preview to see how much room you’ll free up. Then tap Clean.

The extra privacy tools are all in the File menu. Shred Files and Shred Folders will delete and overwrite your selected data. Wipe Free Space will go through a drive or partition and overwrite files previously deleted by any software, so they can’t be easily recovered. After doing this, BleachBit will also attempt to wipe metadata about those files by filling Windows’ Master File Table.

Tails

If you want a bit of everything we’ve covered in one package, try Tails. It’s a live Debian-based OS that you can run on any PC from a DVD or USB drive. As it uses only the host system’s RAM, it leaves no trace when you switch off and disconnect. You can rock up at an internet café or use the PC in your hotel lobby without worrying about viruses and spyware on the host OS, and you can also use Tails to circumvent regional locks and censorship. Bear in mind, though, that you must boot it from a disc or external drive.

Download the Tails ISO image from tails.boum.org and follow the instructions to verify the image. To install it on a USB drive, first go to pendrivelinux.com to download and run the Universal USB Installer. Choose Tails from its drop-down list and click Browse to select your downloaded ISO image, then select the drive letter of your USB stick. Finally, click Create to build a bootable Tails OS drive.

Tails includes a range of tools, all of which are preconfigured to connect to the internet through the Tor network – it blocks any attempts by applications to directly access the internet.

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Slow Computer Startup Problems

Many people have decent machines that startup quick when they first buy it. However after several of months they may notice the performance of their computer slowing down and not understand why. They may first think they need to do some type of PC upgrade because of the performance. These types of problems are often not because of the actual hardware but because of normal use. The computer isn’t getting old it just needs some routine maintenance to get it performing like you want it to. There are several things you can do to boost the startup speed of your computer as well as the overall performance of it.

After you’ve owned a computer for a few months you’ve probably installed several programs on the computer. The programs in most cases will automatically create various shortcuts on your desktop and start menu. While these shortcuts are very handy they also cause your computer to take forever to start up. Many people also tend to clutter their desktop with other types of shortcuts or files. It’s a very common case that not many people recognize. You should start by taking all of the shortcuts on the desktop and putting them in a folder named shortcuts. By doing this you’ll still have access to all of the programs that you want.

Next you will want to take any of the programs off of the start menu that you have already put into the shortcut folder. If there are some shortcuts on the start menu that aren’t in the shortcut folder then you can simply add them to the folder and delete the rest of the file off of the start menu. By cleaning up all of the extra shortcuts off of the start menu you will not only speed up the startup of the computer but the overall performance. This is because the computer memory or RAM doesn’t have to load all of the duplicate shortcuts and try to arrange them where you had them. Also when you try clicking on the start menu there will be a lot less for the computer to have to load.

Finally you will want to do a disk cleanup and defragmentation from time to time. You can actually set the computer up to do this automatically. You should plan to have it do it once every other month at the latest. It’s best to defragment every few weeks or after installing several programs. This is because the files get shifted around a lot and the computer will have to search to find them. It’s comparable to having an office full of filing cabinets that are never organized. You’ll never find what you’re looking for. However if you have them all organized you know right where to find them. The same is true for a computer. Defragmenting will increase the speed of your computer and it’s startup by leaps and bounds if you’ve never done it before. These few simple steps can help improve the performance of your computer and make it feel like a new machine.

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