Keeping your sanity in the car

JpK — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 16:02:33 +0000

As much as I love music, I simply can’t deal with morning radio.

There are only so many commercials for alarm systems, vacation getaways, and “once-in-a-lifetime” mattress sales that any man can take. As a result, I’ve turned to listening to audio books and podcasts to pass the time during the commute.

Since a number of people have asked for recommendations, here are some of my favourites:

Audio Books

For audio books, I’ve been using Audible for a number of years. I believe they also provide audio books to Apple’s iTunes Store and to Amazon.com.
For public domain audiobooks, check out Librivox.

Podcasts

I’ve listened to every episode of Steve Gibson’s Security Now.
Kevin and Alex from Diggnation always crack me up.
Business Week offers a number of podcasts.
The openculture blog has links to university lectures and speeches.
IT Conversations
Manager Tools

Another reason to abandon WEP

JpK — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 23:52:11 +0000

If you’re concerned about the privacy and security of your wireless Internet connection, I’d recommend you listen to episode #89 of the Security Now podcast. In this episode, Steve Gibson highlights a new attack on the flawed WEP protocol that is often used to secure Wi-Fi connections.

I abandoned WEP for the successor, Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) protocol, awhile ago. Nowadays, it is easy to switch to WPA as support for the protocol is very common. Off the top of my head, you’ll find support in Windows XP, Windows Vista, Mac OS X, and on devices like the Xbox 360.

Of course, WPA is only as strong the password. If you need need, Steve Gibson provides a random password generator here.

If you interested in learning more about Wi-Fi (in)security, check out episodes 10, 11, and 14 of the Security Now podcast.

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Keeping your sanity in the car

Another reason to abandon WEP