Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Title:


Solar Gadgets – Gotta Love Them





Word Count:



347





Summary:



It has been claimed that our nation is infatuated with a variety of things from civil rights to freedom. Bah! If we are honest, we will admit we are infatuated with gadgets.







Keywords:



gadgets, solar, power, oil, cell phones, ipod, pdas, bluetooth







Article Body:



It has been claimed that our nation is infatuated with a variety of things from civil rights to freedom. Bah! If we are honest, we will admit we are infatuated with gadgets.

Solar Gadgets – Gotta Love Them

Forget the oil addiction, our biggest weakness as a nation is we are fools for gadgets. If it peels an onion 56 different ways, we have to own it. Don’t believe me? Ask yourself one question. When you go to a fair, how many gadgets do you end up bringing home? Be honest. There is no shame in it. In fact, I believe there is an argument to be made that a particular subject matter, whatever it is, isn’t mainstream until it includes gadgets. If this is true, solar energy may finally be a real alternative.

Most of us have far too many gadgets, particularly small personal gadgets. Cell phones, ipods, pdas, Bluetooth, I have them all. I find it somewhat ironic that all these small gadgets that are to make my life easier make me look like Sherpa walking around. Regardless, the digital age has one problem and you already know what it is. Gadgets require power and they always run down when you need them most. This, of course, results in you walking around with a power converter in your hand looking for a convenient outlet of some sort. Instead of looking like a junkie trying to find a fix, you can use a very useful new gadget.

Solar power packs are the latest and greatest thing when it comes to gadgets. Yes, I said solar. The packs come in a variety of forms, but they tend to look like the black folders for your compact discs. The packs are thin and light. When you are outside, you just unzip them, lay them in the sun and plug your power hungry gadget into them. The packs will put a charge into your gadget and you’ll be ready to go.

Finally, solar power we can use on a personal level. I guess it is here to stay.


Saturday, December 17, 2011

Title:


Anonymous Proxy





Word Count:



327





Summary:



An anonymous proxy, also referred to as an anonymous proxy server, allows a client to access a file, web page, or some other resources through a server which services the requests of the client through another remote server.







Keywords:



Anonymous Proxy







Article Body:



An anonymous proxy, also referred to as an anonymous proxy server, allows a client to access a file, web page, or some other resources through a server which services the requests of the client through another remote server. For example, when a client accesses a web page through an anonymous proxy, the client talks to the proxy and the proxy talks to the web page, maintaining the privacy of the client, such as his/her IP address. The purpose of such a proxy, or a server, is to protect the privacy of the client from the service and from other individuals who may be logging and inspecting the client’s connection.





Such proxies are commonly used in schools and workspaces, to pass-by potential firewalls and monitoring services in place. Students will often utilize anonymous proxies to access social networking websites deemed and blocked by the school as harming the productivity of the students. Employees of a company may try to circumvent forms of monitoring within a company that may try to track or control which websites its employees are visiting.





Anonymous proxies serve as a wall between the client and the service being accessed. These servers can be used to bypass the restrictions and access these services possibly blocked by the country or some other organization providing the Internet connection, while others may use it solely for the privacy that is possibly guaranteed.







Risks Behind Anonymous Proxies



Because of how anonymous proxies, especially those running on web pages, are designed, all data sent to the proxy servers are unencrypted. Therefore, it is possible that confidential information such as logins and passwords can be recorded by a malicious proxy server. Also, through proxy chaining, some clients could potentially fall as victims to a web page displaying a false security measures, allowing all proxies within these chains to trace the client’s activities. Thus, only trusted anonymous proxies with a clear privacy policy should be used for security sake.


Friday, December 9, 2011

Title:


What is a netmask calculator and how do I calculate it?





Word Count:



342





Summary:



A netmask calculator is basically a script or a program that automatically calculates the netmask numbers for you. Netmask is simply a code of numbers that is used to correctly transfer messages among machines in the same subnet. So, a netmask would work together with the router to determine whether the data goes. For example, if the host’s IP address was 63.243.31.41 and the netmask was 255.255.255.0, the netmask is responsible for telling the machine what numbers in IP address are the subnet and what numbers in the IP address is the machine. In this case, 63.172.202 would be the subnet part while 41 would be the machine part. So, any machine in the 63.172.202 would be part of the (local) subnet and thus, the netmask is exactly what assists in differentiating the IP address.







Keywords:



Netmask Calculator







Article Body:



A netmask calculator is basically a script or a program that automatically calculates the netmask numbers for you. Netmask is simply a code of numbers that is used to correctly transfer messages among machines in the same subnet. So, a netmask would work together with the router to determine whether the data goes. For example, if the host’s IP address was 63.243.31.41 and the netmask was 255.255.255.0, the netmask is responsible for telling the machine what numbers in IP address are the subnet and what numbers in the IP address is the machine. In this case, 63.172.202 would be the subnet part while 41 would be the machine part. So, any machine in the 63.172.202 would be part of the (local) subnet and thus, the netmask is exactly what assists in differentiating the IP address.







Behind the Calculation of a Netmask



Before anything else, it is advised to use freely available online netmask calculators as most modern equipments do not need a full understanding of how the netmask works to correctly configure them. In fact, most of the newer models have been hard coded to force a 255.255.255.0 netmask. Nonetheless, such calculating knowledge in needed when dealing with older equipments.





Firstly an internet protocol (IP) address is divided into three main sections when looking at the first octet (xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx): Class A, Class B, and Class C. One of the rules of the IP address are that Class A should be 0-127, Class B should be 128-191, and Class C should be 192-222 with everything else reserved for a special reason. Basically, these classes in the IP addresses are what determine the netmask. Class A means a netmask of 255.0.0.0, Class B means a netmask of 255.255.0.0, and Class C means a netmask of 255.255.255.0. Thus, a simple knowledge of which class implies which netmask is the key to calculating the netmask.







Free Online Netmask Calculators



Again, most of the modern equipments used today have been hardcoded to have a netmask of 255.255.255.0. However, there are also readily available scripts and softwares available that can help in the calculation.