Currently the client sends plain text all the time and digitally signs all email. You choose which email you want to encrypt. It also won't let you send outgoing mail to email addresses where the other end cannot decrypt the email.
While I agree that they must install new software, sometimes baffling people, its not as hard as installing Zone Alarm. You litterally install, restart and it prompts you from there.
As for reconfiguring your mail client - you really need to download the software so you can see what you're talking about. Zero mail configuration. (yea, I was wrong on my initial post...so what)
I litterally installed and sent an email out without touching anything and my computer still thinks I'm connecting to my ISP's SMTP server. It slows mail checking and sending time down a little bit, but its beta - who cares.
Its actually pretty simple. I figured it out just reading the "automatically" but I'll break it down for you. Directly from their website:
"The Ciphire Mail client resides on the user's computer between the email client and the email server, intercepting, encrypting, decrypting, signing, and authenticating email communication. During normal operation, all operations are performed in the background, making it very easy to use even for non-technical users."
I shouldn't have to explain it any further than that here on Slashdot. Thats in the first paragraph of the Technical Explanation of how it works. Later on it lists:
"The Ciphire Mail client consists of three parts: the core client, a graphical configuration interface, and mail connector modules (redirector). Supported email protocols include SMTP, POP3, and IMAP4. The STARTTLS and direct SSL/TLS variants of these protocols are supported as well."
For anyone that didn't get the gist - it basically redirects your mail to its own "server process" sitting on your computer then sends it out to the normal SMTP server. This is using the same technology that the current Mail virus scanners use (Think Symantec), not new technology, just used in a different way.
On the reverse end, the "server" checks the mail and hands it to the email client making everything secure in between.
Pretty simple way of getting Jane and Jon Doe with OE to use it if you ask me. Granted, it needs to be installed by Admin on proper machines, but that shouldn't be too much of an issue for any company that would like to secure their email - especially if you explain and show your network admins that email is USUALLY a plain text security nightmare.
I would have to say after a lot of thought on the same subject, this would be the best way to go. Automating the downloads of pictures in the middle of the night would allow you to show him fresh pictures for when he woke up. You should be able to program the device to turn off the screen at, say 8pm and turn back on at 7am so it doesn't disturb him while sleeping. Mounting it on the wall or just above the TV would allow him to see it as he normally would.
It would also allow you to get pictures to him the very next day as apposed to weeks with the APO system(Gag). On top of that, if you have kids, you would be able to scan drawings in of theirs and they would be available for his viewing the very next morning.
I'm stationed in Wiesbaden Germany if the story parent is "local", I'd be willing to help out if needed.
While I'm not the story parent, I can say that this won't work well.
I'm also stationed overseas with a handicapped sister. Mailing something to the states can take up to a month or more, depending on the season. At one point, I did manage to get a package back home in a record 10 days, a small miracle if you ask me.
Also, the pictures could tend to get lost and it would require staff to sit with the parent's dad. This isn't something their going to want to do. To them, just having to be around patients every day is enough, asking them to sit down with him every time pictures come in is something else. The other thing is, due to high turnover, you'll occasionally get an idiot once in awhile that will just put the box in his dad's room and leave it - not good.
I've also thought about this subject in the past and I'd have to say that a cheap digital picture frame (home built) would probably be best bet. Once I get a new laptop, my Dell Latitude from 1999 (yea, I'm a poor geek) will be turned into one.
I can agree with this. I've had more success on recruiters contacting me than I have actually sending in resumes.
Now, I've also started collecting resume's from friends for a new startup and I've found more interest in a 2 page resume that highlights your strong points then just lists your education and past job history. It makes anyone viewing the resume curious.
The biggest issue of applying to any major company is that the resumes generally are not looked at by a human at first. They are data mined to get the details and filtered (ie: not enough education - trash/ignore). The best examples are then given to the "human" counterpart of the system for the decisions. Now, the problem with this method is, due to human nature, the "Good'ol'boy" system kicks in and anyone that knows someone will get an interview. Also, the top X percent are given interviews as well (since its required by law in the United States - well, they have to interview people that are qualified...). The GS system for the US Government is a prime example of this.
Thus the "mining" in the above quote... So my initial theory was flawed - at least I did the research to point it out:-P
I don't agree with what Alexa does, but your average geek won't have alexa installed. I expect most of the "Slashdot" hits to be the younger crowd or people that are curious. While my wife has the Google toolbar installed on her laptop, I actually just enjoy opening a new tab and going directly to the site. Call me old fashioned, but thats how I work. These days, anything can watch you.
I had to look at this to see for myself. While I can see where its possible, after looking at it and thinking about it - I don't think its true in the context that you meant it.
Alexa/Amazon has no way of knowing true traffic of a website without actually getting access to the logs. I would believe that this report is based off of searches and other factors (link traffic and response time maybe?).
Now, in that context, I can believe that Mary, the 12 year old, is going to search for her website instead of actually typing it in...
I decided not to be a lazy as normal. Further research shows: "Over the last six years Alexa has been crawling and archiving the net at an unprecendented rate, delivering web intelligence to millions of toolbars, and mining the net and web usage paths for traffic data, related links and other data."
Yea, um - while working at said ISP, I had a bad experience with my mute button... Lets just say the customer was VERY polite and said that they would call back.
Since that moment, I would rather just sit there and act alone.
While I took pride in my work, I wasn't going to go against company policy.
I agree with everything that you said, but when you have managers 2-3 levels above you listening to calls and can be walked out for such things (even though in PA, if both parties know, it doesn't matter who's recording), I'm not going to do it. While I was in training for the company, I watched a team mate of a new group get walked out for teching a call that a customer recorded... Needless to say, I don't work there anymore.
I use to work Tech Support for an ISP in PA and I can say that while you're technically true, most companies will refuse to work with you if you where recording the call. That was a normal thing with us - if you told us you where recording, we got off the phone within one minute. Why? Because this is normally someone trying to catch a company screwing up, either by accident or on purpose. Those types of people look for ways around extra fees and such. Now, I've never had someone admit to recording a major complaint (most of it was minor like "my email hasn't worked for 2 days" - wrong password; or "My connection speeds suck" - upgrade driver), but due to policy, I would have gotten off the phone anyway.
Also, I've monitored calls from the start of the menu (for technical support, press 1....). Things I've heard have been a few bathrooms (along with normal noise associated with it), sex, arguements, etc... Not very fun stuff because people just don't think. My wife didn't understand why I would sit totally quiet while on hold and not allow her to talk - until I told her a few stories.
I can agree with this. Most people just don't care about bandwidth (ok, outside of Slashdot). I'm in Germany and my parents have 4 times as much bandwidth as I do and don't use 1/8th of it.
Not to change subjects - in Europe, there are cars that have 27 horsepower, but they can go several hundred miles on about 8 gallons of fuel. In the US, we have 500 horsepower cars that can travel gas station to gas station. With all the crying over gas prices, people also don't understand that Diesel is the way to go as well... Its something that isn't well known (other than people that think its only for trucks), but its better.
Back to bandwidth, unless you're around a large group that demands higher bandwidth, you're not going to get it. Think about the way business works. The same product sold over and over, costs less in the long run. Upgrading costs money and you reinvent the wheel, creating a new environment you'll need to upgrade (think Microsoft here...). If people are mainly paying for the same thing, day after day, why should these companies update their systems for a few screamers mixed into the masses of idiots?
I can agree with this too. While my parents didn't care about my TV input, I didn't watch a lot of it. I would read most days or go outside to play or ride my bike around. Heck, I still get messed up when some group of people talks about X TV show from the 80's - no clue...
At the same time, the computer should be introduced around 4-5'ish. I know a 3 year old that can get up in the morning, turn on the computer, get online and pull up his favorite kids website. While I don't think this is a good thing (just think of his social skills when he grows up), moderate computer use can be a good thing.
Oh, and my dad started teaching me basic around age 6. I graduated to HTML around 1994, although I'm kind of upset that I skipped over C++ until now. Of course, my computer thinks I spend too much time with my wife...
When I was just a newbie tech, I severly disagreed with the company monitoring my email and website usage (even though that company really didn't). Now that I'm starting up the same kind of business, I'm stuck between a rock and a hardplace wondering what my employees are really doing with the data at their fingertips vs my beliefs.
I know in my heart I'll trust my employees before I go about spying on them, but its going to be a long hard road trying not to abuse the power.
I'm in Germany as well and have found that this is true. But here, you have to be carefull for those that claim that they don't speak English (most speak a little, just don't want to admit to it). That and dialects can eat you alive...
Anyway, I've found that the easiest way to learn is to actually just talk with someone that is native. You both end up learning things from each other.
My favorite was when a German friend asked "What did she mean when she said: I akss you that?" (ask..)
While I'm not in an office environment anymore, I can recommend a set of headphones my wife got me for X-Mas since she got tired of me rockin'in the house down every day. That and my office currently sounds like an airport due to being small, no carpet (wood floor) with 5 computers (3 servers and 2 laptops) running in it. Add another person and a dog walking around clicking on the floor with its nails and its enough to drive you nuts.
Now, with my Altec Lansing's (Amazon), I can't even hear her talk to me (just like a mute button - lips move and thats it) when the volume is just on medium. I can't hear the keyboard when I type anymore either... Not bad for a $23 dollar solution.
Now, when the volume is just off (which I've caught myself doing a lot here lately), I can still here some noise, but not nearly as loud. My only gripe is that, originally, I didn't like the feeling of the cups, but thats because I had never used this type before.
Last but not least, I have a pair of ear buds too and I like the Altec's better due to in-line volume control and the cup over ear instead of in-ear. I tend to get headaches after about 2 hours of buds in the ear. That and I tend to walk around on breaks with the buds in to keep from killing my ears putting them back in within 5 minutes.
And no, I'm not trying to push them that hard, I just happen to like the cheap solution my wife found. Oddly enough, she knew about these due to her profession - professional flute player in a band...
Slashdot Mirror
Currently the client sends plain text all the time and digitally signs all email. You choose which email you want to encrypt. It also won't let you send outgoing mail to email addresses where the other end cannot decrypt the email.
While I agree that they must install new software, sometimes baffling people, its not as hard as installing Zone Alarm. You litterally install, restart and it prompts you from there.
As for reconfiguring your mail client - you really need to download the software so you can see what you're talking about. Zero mail configuration. (yea, I was wrong on my initial post...so what)
I litterally installed and sent an email out without touching anything and my computer still thinks I'm connecting to my ISP's SMTP server. It slows mail checking and sending time down a little bit, but its beta - who cares.
One word: "Yup"
Its actually pretty simple. I figured it out just reading the "automatically" but I'll break it down for you. Directly from their website:
"The Ciphire Mail client resides on the user's computer between the email client and the email server, intercepting, encrypting, decrypting, signing, and authenticating email communication. During normal operation, all operations are performed in the background, making it very easy to use even for non-technical users."
I shouldn't have to explain it any further than that here on Slashdot. Thats in the first paragraph of the Technical Explanation of how it works. Later on it lists:
"The Ciphire Mail client consists of three parts: the core client, a graphical configuration interface, and mail connector modules (redirector). Supported email protocols include SMTP, POP3, and IMAP4. The STARTTLS and direct SSL/TLS variants of these protocols are supported as well."
For anyone that didn't get the gist - it basically redirects your mail to its own "server process" sitting on your computer then sends it out to the normal SMTP server. This is using the same technology that the current Mail virus scanners use (Think Symantec), not new technology, just used in a different way.
On the reverse end, the "server" checks the mail and hands it to the email client making everything secure in between.
Pretty simple way of getting Jane and Jon Doe with OE to use it if you ask me. Granted, it needs to be installed by Admin on proper machines, but that shouldn't be too much of an issue for any company that would like to secure their email - especially if you explain and show your network admins that email is USUALLY a plain text security nightmare.
Been there, done that. Didn't even get offered the damn T-Shirt.
I would have to say after a lot of thought on the same subject, this would be the best way to go. Automating the downloads of pictures in the middle of the night would allow you to show him fresh pictures for when he woke up. You should be able to program the device to turn off the screen at, say 8pm and turn back on at 7am so it doesn't disturb him while sleeping. Mounting it on the wall or just above the TV would allow him to see it as he normally would.
It would also allow you to get pictures to him the very next day as apposed to weeks with the APO system(Gag). On top of that, if you have kids, you would be able to scan drawings in of theirs and they would be available for his viewing the very next morning.
I'm stationed in Wiesbaden Germany if the story parent is "local", I'd be willing to help out if needed.
...Only 1 cup of coffee this morning and my hands haven't returned to their normal curled position...
Sister is at home in Oregon - not with me. I'm in Germany.
While I'm not the story parent, I can say that this won't work well.
I'm also stationed overseas with a handicapped sister. Mailing something to the states can take up to a month or more, depending on the season. At one point, I did manage to get a package back home in a record 10 days, a small miracle if you ask me.
Also, the pictures could tend to get lost and it would require staff to sit with the parent's dad. This isn't something their going to want to do. To them, just having to be around patients every day is enough, asking them to sit down with him every time pictures come in is something else. The other thing is, due to high turnover, you'll occasionally get an idiot once in awhile that will just put the box in his dad's room and leave it - not good.
I've also thought about this subject in the past and I'd have to say that a cheap digital picture frame (home built) would probably be best bet. Once I get a new laptop, my Dell Latitude from 1999 (yea, I'm a poor geek) will be turned into one.
I can agree with this. I've had more success on recruiters contacting me than I have actually sending in resumes.
Now, I've also started collecting resume's from friends for a new startup and I've found more interest in a 2 page resume that highlights your strong points then just lists your education and past job history. It makes anyone viewing the resume curious.
The biggest issue of applying to any major company is that the resumes generally are not looked at by a human at first. They are data mined to get the details and filtered (ie: not enough education - trash/ignore). The best examples are then given to the "human" counterpart of the system for the decisions. Now, the problem with this method is, due to human nature, the "Good'ol'boy" system kicks in and anyone that knows someone will get an interview. Also, the top X percent are given interviews as well (since its required by law in the United States - well, they have to interview people that are qualified...). The GS system for the US Government is a prime example of this.
I have more arguments, but I'll let it drop. No sense in arguing over something that neither of us can prove ;-)
I'll admit though, LJ is a major undertaking and they have produced some nice code for the community at large to use.
Thus the "mining" in the above quote... So my initial theory was flawed - at least I did the research to point it out :-P
I don't agree with what Alexa does, but your average geek won't have alexa installed. I expect most of the "Slashdot" hits to be the younger crowd or people that are curious. While my wife has the Google toolbar installed on her laptop, I actually just enjoy opening a new tab and going directly to the site. Call me old fashioned, but thats how I work. These days, anything can watch you.
I had to look at this to see for myself. While I can see where its possible, after looking at it and thinking about it - I don't think its true in the context that you meant it.
Alexa/Amazon has no way of knowing true traffic of a website without actually getting access to the logs. I would believe that this report is based off of searches and other factors (link traffic and response time maybe?).
Now, in that context, I can believe that Mary, the 12 year old, is going to search for her website instead of actually typing it in...
I decided not to be a lazy as normal. Further research shows:
"Over the last six years Alexa has been crawling and archiving the net at an unprecendented rate, delivering web intelligence to millions of toolbars, and mining the net and web usage paths for traffic data, related links and other data."
I seriously thought it was supposed to be like that though. I laughed when I saw it since that's how they write these days.
Yea, um - while working at said ISP, I had a bad experience with my mute button... Lets just say the customer was VERY polite and said that they would call back.
Since that moment, I would rather just sit there and act alone.
While I took pride in my work, I wasn't going to go against company policy.
I agree with everything that you said, but when you have managers 2-3 levels above you listening to calls and can be walked out for such things (even though in PA, if both parties know, it doesn't matter who's recording), I'm not going to do it. While I was in training for the company, I watched a team mate of a new group get walked out for teching a call that a customer recorded... Needless to say, I don't work there anymore.
I use to work Tech Support for an ISP in PA and I can say that while you're technically true, most companies will refuse to work with you if you where recording the call. That was a normal thing with us - if you told us you where recording, we got off the phone within one minute. Why? Because this is normally someone trying to catch a company screwing up, either by accident or on purpose. Those types of people look for ways around extra fees and such. Now, I've never had someone admit to recording a major complaint (most of it was minor like "my email hasn't worked for 2 days" - wrong password; or "My connection speeds suck" - upgrade driver), but due to policy, I would have gotten off the phone anyway.
Also, I've monitored calls from the start of the menu (for technical support, press 1....). Things I've heard have been a few bathrooms (along with normal noise associated with it), sex, arguements, etc... Not very fun stuff because people just don't think. My wife didn't understand why I would sit totally quiet while on hold and not allow her to talk - until I told her a few stories.
I can agree with this. Most people just don't care about bandwidth (ok, outside of Slashdot). I'm in Germany and my parents have 4 times as much bandwidth as I do and don't use 1/8th of it.
Not to change subjects - in Europe, there are cars that have 27 horsepower, but they can go several hundred miles on about 8 gallons of fuel. In the US, we have 500 horsepower cars that can travel gas station to gas station. With all the crying over gas prices, people also don't understand that Diesel is the way to go as well... Its something that isn't well known (other than people that think its only for trucks), but its better.
Back to bandwidth, unless you're around a large group that demands higher bandwidth, you're not going to get it. Think about the way business works. The same product sold over and over, costs less in the long run. Upgrading costs money and you reinvent the wheel, creating a new environment you'll need to upgrade (think Microsoft here...). If people are mainly paying for the same thing, day after day, why should these companies update their systems for a few screamers mixed into the masses of idiots?
I can agree with this too. While my parents didn't care about my TV input, I didn't watch a lot of it. I would read most days or go outside to play or ride my bike around. Heck, I still get messed up when some group of people talks about X TV show from the 80's - no clue...
At the same time, the computer should be introduced around 4-5'ish. I know a 3 year old that can get up in the morning, turn on the computer, get online and pull up his favorite kids website. While I don't think this is a good thing (just think of his social skills when he grows up), moderate computer use can be a good thing.
Oh, and my dad started teaching me basic around age 6. I graduated to HTML around 1994, although I'm kind of upset that I skipped over C++ until now. Of course, my computer thinks I spend too much time with my wife...
When I was just a newbie tech, I severly disagreed with the company monitoring my email and website usage (even though that company really didn't). Now that I'm starting up the same kind of business, I'm stuck between a rock and a hardplace wondering what my employees are really doing with the data at their fingertips vs my beliefs.
I know in my heart I'll trust my employees before I go about spying on them, but its going to be a long hard road trying not to abuse the power.
Ha! Here pretty soon in Germany, the Government, etc can look at your bank account whenever they want...
You add that with email records and you're REALLY in a world of hurt.
Ahh, this must be my ISP, Greennet.de - been there, done that. Bastards.
I'm in Germany as well and have found that this is true. But here, you have to be carefull for those that claim that they don't speak English (most speak a little, just don't want to admit to it). That and dialects can eat you alive...
Anyway, I've found that the easiest way to learn is to actually just talk with someone that is native. You both end up learning things from each other.
My favorite was when a German friend asked "What did she mean when she said: I akss you that?" (ask..)
While I'm not in an office environment anymore, I can recommend a set of headphones my wife got me for X-Mas since she got tired of me rockin'in the house down every day. That and my office currently sounds like an airport due to being small, no carpet (wood floor) with 5 computers (3 servers and 2 laptops) running in it. Add another person and a dog walking around clicking on the floor with its nails and its enough to drive you nuts.
Now, with my Altec Lansing's (Amazon), I can't even hear her talk to me (just like a mute button - lips move and thats it) when the volume is just on medium. I can't hear the keyboard when I type anymore either... Not bad for a $23 dollar solution.
Now, when the volume is just off (which I've caught myself doing a lot here lately), I can still here some noise, but not nearly as loud. My only gripe is that, originally, I didn't like the feeling of the cups, but thats because I had never used this type before.
Last but not least, I have a pair of ear buds too and I like the Altec's better due to in-line volume control and the cup over ear instead of in-ear. I tend to get headaches after about 2 hours of buds in the ear. That and I tend to walk around on breaks with the buds in to keep from killing my ears putting them back in within 5 minutes.
And no, I'm not trying to push them that hard, I just happen to like the cheap solution my wife found. Oddly enough, she knew about these due to her profession - professional flute player in a band...
Where are my damn mod points when I need 'em!?!
You're not googling hard enough...
The History of the Automobile - Steam Cars