Jimiz.net – Jim Becher on the web

I am looking at gathering up enough cash to replace my commuter bike this spring.  While I am a bit price sensitive, after reading this Wired article I think I could be convinced to spend some cash for this bike.  

ARTICLE: www.wired.com/reviews/2012/02/stringbike/

The string bike is built in Hungary and the writer likens this bike to the Wankel engine.  I think the idea is great, I would love to try this bike out.  I think the crazy crank configuration would be hard to get over.

What are your thoughts?  Check out their site www.stringbike.com/

I’m always checking the number of devices on my network.  I have a guest wireless that I have in the past let neighbors use.  Since then I have cut them off, but left the network  on to see who attaches.  For a while I had my pineapple setup to do a rickroll on anyone who connected. 

Nmap makes it easy to see what devices are on the network. My IP network is setup as 192.168.2.1.  The easy way to scan the network for devices is to run this nmap command

nmap –sP 192.168.2.1/24

This will return a quick discovery of your network.  The “-sP” option specifies that only a discovery will be performed.

RESULTS:

It is basically showing the 13 devices on the network and each IP and MAC address.

UPDATE: I was able to purchase Tea Fillers from Teavana in our local mall

My current employer does not provide coffee. So I find myself bringing coffee to work. This is not a bad thing, only that I tend to forget my Thermos at work.  They do offer coffee to purchase in the café, but this can become pricy.  Overall, I have found that I enjoy making coffee at home.  I like to use a stronger coffee on some days and then some flavor on others.    However, on the days I forget to set the coffee maker or don’t have a mug to take it with me to work I don’t like this arrangement.

I have toyed with bringing my Senseo to work.  For those not acquainted with the Senseo is single cup brewing system.  Corporate rules don’t allow coffee makers so I would have to hide this.

An alternative is to use single brew coffee like Starbucks VIA.  This solution only requires you to add hot water.  The downside to VIA is the cost. 

I recently read an article on lifehacker that discussed how to make your own portable coffee.  I am not on a quest to do this process.   Simple coffee the way you like it in a few minutes.

Head on over to read the instructions at instructables. http://www.instructables.com/id/Customize-your-own-portable-coffee-bags/

I love the idea of adding sugar and creamer.  I’m calling a local tea shop to see about fillable tea bags.   I did find these on amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Finum-100-Filters-Large-Brown/dp/B000KDW9MO/ref=sr_1_1?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1329365388&sr=1-1

I noticed a few months ago an interesting phenomenon.  I would feel my iPhone vibrate when I was not carrying it.  This strange sensation has happened a few time in the past, but last month it seemed more intense.  I found out this is something that others have experienced.  It even has a wikipedia page.  This sensation can be called “phantom ringing” or Ringxiety (what a great made up word).

The other interesting thing that happened around this time I also began to miss a lot of phone calls.  I keep my phone on vibrate continually.  Because of the number of text messages and calls I get, my phone goes off frequently.   However, in the last few months I have noticed that I am missing these calls (vibrations).     It is strange, I can feel phantom calls (vibrations) but not the real ones.  This is particularly bad when a client is trying to contact you.

So to help combat these issues I have tried a few things.  The first was to just turn on sound and use the ringer.  This worked for about a day.  It turns out that a ringer is annoying and also impractical if you attend a lot of meetings.  

To keep from missing important calls I turned on custom vibrations on my iphone (another post on that later).   The custom vibrations worked but it was only from particular contacts.

The change that has helped the most is to switch pockets.  I have carried my phone in my right pocket for years.  It has been second nature that any time I leave the house to put my phone in the right pocket, keys and wallet in the left.   So 2 weeks ago I friend from work suggested that I should give it a try.  I joked that I wouldn’t make it the day.  However, 2 weeks running I’ve been switched. 

DID IT WORK?

So far this has solved missing any calls and notifications. It has also caused me to think a bit when leaving the house.  Making sure I don’t forget things.  The most interesting change is attempting to answer the phone and not  drop it.  As a right handed person, this took a bit to get used to.  However, I find myself talking on the phone with my left hand more.

Overall, this has been a  good solution to missing calls but has not stopped the phantom ring.  As a side note, my dress pants seem to have a pocket inside the pocket that fits the iphone perfectly to keep it vertical.  This great feature is only in the right pockets….

I found a great site for creating custom QR codes. 

I had a project a few years back where I had to generate QR codes, so I wrote my own engine.  Then I used the .net framework to impose images on top of QR codes using GDI+.  The qrhacker.com site does a great job of putting the elements I did a while back into an easy to use site.  

The issue I had with the program we wrote, is that depending on the QR code generation the logo or icon you placed over the image would cause the QR to not render.   What I like is how they let you know when you may have caused the QR quality to be out of range.    I have just a generic version that generates a QR code based on size quality at tilde32.com/qr.aspx.   

QR codes have come  along way in the past two years.   Part of the reason I created my own generator is that I could validate the quality and also have control when needing to batch the QR generation.  Here is the previous post on some discussions on QR codes  – http://jimiz.net/blog/2010/12/qr-code-generator-2d-barcode/

This has been a great book so far.  Not only is Kevin a very sociable person but he is a very entertaining writer.  His stories are amazing.  To think that he left some out.

http://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Wires-Adventures-Worlds-Wanted/dp/0316037702

Watch is interview with Snubs on Hak5. “23 Questions with Kevin Mitnick”

http://hak5.org/episodes/hak5-1017

I saw this article from a group that I am a member of.  What a great idea.  Some old roller equipment and a low-tech speedometer.   What a great event to go to, I would love to watch this in a local GR environment.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/25/nyregion/cyclists-race-in-bars-going-nowhere-fast-spokes.html?_r=3

Here is a video of one of the final races.  Check out the speed they are turning at.

I was watching some CES news and ran across a new gadget that I would like to purchase. It looks like I’ll have to wait till March for this one.  Only $50 dollars.   It is called feedair.

http://www.feedair.com

I have tried in the past to use the Ambient orb to get something like feedair to work.  Weather forecasts, information, etc…   I think I even wanted something like pointcast to be delivered to my TV.   I can’t wait to see what I cn program to be delivered on this.

Here is a tutorial on how to setup SARG (http://sarg.sourceforge.net/) – Squid Analysis Report Generator on Pfsense.   If you don’t know what any of those words meant then here are some references.

• SQUID – (www.squid-cache.org): Squid is a web proxy that can filter traffic from your network to the internet.
• Pfsense – (www.pfsense.org) : PFsense is a free opensource firewall / router for home or office

I have recently setup a Pfsense router / firewall to replace my old “blue plastic” router that was purchased at the big box location.   This solution has been working great.  It has been in place for over a week and I have been adding configuration settings to it.  One of the great tools included in this router is the ability to add packages.  In particular one of the packages is SQUID.  A proxy tool that can help monitor web traffic and also speed up performance.  

I have used SQUID in the past and know it’s benefits and also issues.  One great benefit is reports on web usage and traffic.   The pfsense implementation also has a package for reporting on squid called lightsquid.  Lightsquid is ok, but not my favorite tool for displaying information.    I would rather use SARG.   So I began to do a few searches and found some outdated information and ways to configure SARG.  From these searches (NOTE: Most of the info below I was able to find from other forum posts)

Install SARG on pfsense

1. Install the Squid package and have squid running on your firewall
2. Validate that SQUID is logging (Services | Proxy Server |) – Enable Logging (check) and keep the log store directory “/var/squid/log”
3. SSH into your firewall
4. Open a shell
5. (optional) I added nano as a text editor so I ran this command.

     pkg_add -r ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/i386/packages-8-stable/Latest/nano.tbz
   

6. Run the package command to add SARG (this retrieves the latest stable package for freebsd stable branch)

   pkg_add -r ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/i386/packages-8-stable/Latest/sarg.tbz
   

7. Now to configure SARG – You can start with the default config
   

    cd /usr/local/etc/sarg/     
   cp sarg.conf.default sarg.conf      
   nano sarg.conf

8. I actually created my sample from some other settings.  You can just copy and paste this into sarg.conf if you like

   #Locatoin of log files - from pfsense settings  
   access_log /var/squid/log/access.log     
   title "Squid User Access Reports - SARG"     
   graphs yes   
   graph_days_bytes_bar_color orange     
   #LOCATION of WEB PAGES  
   output_dir /usr/local/www/squid-reports   
   #Display usernames or IP  
   resolve_ip no   
   #Sort Order 
   topuser_sort_field BYTES reverse    
   user_sort_field BYTES reverse

9.   Run SARG for the first time.  This may take a bit to run depending on your system and how long you have log files for.

   cd /usr/local/bin     
   chmod +x sarg

10.   Configure the system to run the reports once a day using CRON. 

    #crontab -e    
    01 * * * *   root /usr/local/bin/sarg

11. To view the reports you will need to go to a specific url http://<your pfsense box>/snort-reports/

Here are some example reports: (ip’s blocked to protect the innocent )

LANDING PAGE

DAILY REPORT

INDIVIDUAL USERID (IP)

GRAPH OF INDIVIDUAL

I prefer SARG because of the graphs and the look and fee.  Let me know if you have any preference on reporting systems.

I recently purchased an ip camera for the house.  I have wanted one for a long time and finally made a purchase.   The reason for the camera was to monitor the kids and also the garage.  The camera I purchased was a dlink DCS-930L.   It was on sale at Best Buy for about $55.

The reason I chose this camera was for the price.  There are many more expensive camera that allow for Dark viewing (LED) and also pan and tilt.  This is an entry level IP camera and has limited resolution.

With that said, this is a great camera.  I am planning on adding it to my garage where I can view the kids and any motion detection.   Currently the camera is sitting in the bay window that is viewing the new construction of the house next door.

The camera comes with a great application to use called mydlink.com it allows you to access yor camera from anywhere even on your phone.  A neat feature I have found is that it also streams audio as well as video.  Nothing is better than using it when away to have the kids share with you what they are up to.

I have also paired it up with my linux server and a software package called zoneminder.    Zoneminder is a security camera package that allows you to monitor multiple cameras.  It allows you to set motion detection.  I currently have it set to record when motion detection happens.

I have been having some performance issues with my home firewall.  Last year I upgraded my networking to use a Cisco e3000 running tomato firmware.  This configuration worked well when I paired it with an airport extreme to be the dedicated wireless access point.   I had moved to a dedicated wireless AP as we added more wireless devices in the house.  This also allowed for my wireless repeater/bridge in the office to have better connections.

Previously in 2009 I had used just a netgear router with DDWRT. This was quickly overpowered by the number of connections I have in my home.    I did a quick inventory yesterday to see what the kind of numbers were were talking about.  There are about 16 devices using my wireless:

• 2 Nintendo DS
• 2 tablets (ipad, etc..)
• 3 iPhones
• Tivo
• Windows Media center
• 2 wireless cameras
• wireless printer
• 3 Laptops
• Wii

To help with this issue I decided to build a more robust firewall router.  This would allow me to shape traffic better and add some QOS rules.  I tried a few versions of firewalls.

• Pfsense – http://www.pfsense.org/
• ipcop -  http://www.ipcop.org/
• untangled – http://www.untangle.com/
• m0n0wall – http://m0n0.ch/wall/
• smoothwall – http://www.smoothwall.org/

My original intent was to build a low power dedicated server for routing and firewall.  I chose an atom processer mini-itx board.  I’ll share the hardware info in another post.   I thought for sure that I was going to use smoothwall. I had some experience with it in the past.  Unfortunately I decided against it in the end.  I gave each a shot to be in stalled.  Overall, the untangled had the easiest install but I really never got it working.  It could have been that I configured the system behind my existing network, but I did not have a good experience once it was setup.

As I said earlier I had intended to use smoothwall.  The install did not go well initially.  I did not have a CD-ROM on my new system, so I tried to do a usb boot.   smoothwall somehow did not install properly.   I ended up getting a usb Cd-rom to do the install only to find out that one of the nic cards was not recognized.   I decided after that to give monowall a shot.   I got half-way through the monowall install and my Cd-Rom failed.   I was frustrated enough that I just decided to throw another package on it to try. 

I installed pfsense and have not looked back. It is a BSD based application and has been working perfectly.   I added a few packages to the system.  Ntop – to monitor bandwidth and systems.  SQUID proxy for proxying and tracking all web usage.

Overall, the usage of opendns and the proxy has significantly increased web performance at our house.

I have mentioned before I  am not a designer.  I can see recognize good design and appreciate how creative minds can put together a cohesive look and feel.  However, I can’t do that.   These logos were originally created with a specific font in mind, it is amazing how just changing a font can change the logo.

When I first read this article I thought how funny it was that I was that person, the one who just thought a logo could use “arial” or “Verdana”. 

Take  a read “What if famous brands had regular fonts?” – Pixelonomics.

I particularly like the coca cola logo and facebook logos.  It makes me think of what a knock off brand would look like.

I am a huge fan of Paul Scholes.  He recently retired, and was looking to do some management with Manchester United.   I saw in the news today that he is making a return to MU.  That is just great news.  Paul is 37 and still just an amazing player.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story/_/id/1005940/paul-scholes-signs-for-man-united-for-rest-of-season?campaign=rss&source=soccernet&cc=5901

I decided to jail break again. I really like the sbsettings That lets you turn things like wireless, bluetooth, and other features on and off with a simple click.

I also use mywi to tether when on the road, since I purchased the app it is very useful.

Some of the other reasons to jailbreak are to test out some fun themes.

To jailbreak I used the always up to date lifehacker post:
http://lifehacker.com/jailbreak/

Beyond the main applications I normally use I also installed the best jailbreak apps from lifehacker

My wife went to a seminar today and came back with a good idea. That she and I should have an emergency contact card in our wallet. She also mentioned an ICE contact for our phones. I had not heard of ICE contacts, “In Case of Emergency” – here is a quick blurb from lifehacker – How to add an ICE contact to your phone

After some research I came up with a format for us to have a business card size emergency contact for us to carry. I used the Microsoft Word template called “pocket emergency contact reference.” You can download the template from the Microsoft office site

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/pocket-emergency-contact-reference-TC030001514.aspx

It is a quick and easy way to make an emergency contact card. I created one to put in my wallet, backpack, and bike bags. I typically carry my ID when I bike, but this would be valuable as well.