Category: work

A good free VPN Client — OpenVPN & more

Paul

I’ve been doing some research on what might be good to use in case, I was away from my home network.  I was thinking how safe am I at Starbucks or other places that I might doing my web.  So I did a little looking around to see which one I liked and I came to the conclusions that only one I need right now is:

openvpn

The nice thing about this was the simple installation of the software and how easy it was to set it up. This service is in beta but seems to be really well done with regards to the end users. When you install this software and want to connect it uses the OpenVPN software with there configurations. OpenVPN, is a open sourced SSL VPN solution and is free to use. The way this this free is of Ad Supported banners. Now it is cheaper than paying monthly for a VPN service. The ones I’ve found so far are these few:

  • OpenVPN (FREE)(*advertisement)(Linux, and Windows)

  • Always VPN (Prepay) (5 GB to 80 GB limit) (Linux, Mac and Windows)*Out of Beta

  • Hotspot Shield (FREE) (*advertisement) (Windows) (3 gig Cap)

  • WiTopia (40$/ Year) (Mac, Linux, and Windows)

[ad]There is of course others out that but these are just a few that I saw that looks like the cheapest there is.  Others I’ve seen cost 40 to 50 dollars a month.   If you have any other ones that are free or cheap let me know.  I don’t think we need to pay a lot just to have security on an open network. I’m certain that they’re more out there but will keep looking for more later on. I did my initial research and will come back and find more.

*Update Feb 8, 2009*

As of recent a friend emailed me saying telling me to check the site out again and I did.  Not sure when they went out of Beta because I’ve not been using Always VPN lately due to my Broadband Cricket Prepay Internet.  I just checked and yes they are charging here’s the break down:

  • 5GB – USD 8.50

  • 10GB – USD 15.00

  • 20GB – USD 26.00

  • 40GB – USD 33.00

  • 80GB – USD 47.00

So I must ask why they didn’t just keep the 5 GB limit with the Advertising, I do not know but  I did want to let people know that it is no longer free and no longer in Beta.  I went from Always to OpenVPN which still works despite the fact they are using Always VPN back client.   It’s open source so it will probably change to something else sooner or later.   If you see it changes let me know, I will update more when I find out more!!

Google Now lets you Video/Voice chat!!

Paul

After checking out some of what Google has been doing.  I find out that you can now Video Conference for free.  That is to say that you can conference with someone on line and do cloud computing.   According to Google:



To Get this Video and Voice chat Click this link

[ad#ad2-right]Now I might not a lot but this will be most likely be used in association with the new Google Phone, the G1. So I thought about how this will be used? This will be used in several ways. To keep in touch with family, to make it easier to telecommute and to Video Conference with associates from work. Google Model is “DO NO EVIL”. There is a flaw to this I am sure, this is a Internet Protocol to Internet Protocol connection and in doing so you create so much possibility of a virus getting through. There is no doubt that this is using flash. It also is know to make the infrastructure of a business weak. The Intranet of the business would be compromised. I am sure there are vulnerabilities in this and we will hear them shortly. I’d give it a week or two, remember the problem with Google Chrome and how un-secure it is. These are just a few of what would cause security headaches to all who work in the IT field. I just want to bring that up to prove a point. Google’s mantra isn’t perfect, it is what it is.

Comfirmed: DHL to Lays off 10,000 workers!!

Paul

[ad#ad2-left-1][COMFIRMED]

According to The Press-Enterprise has announced all 18 U.S. Hubs will close and that means 10,000 workers will be out of a job.  They will keep 3,000 for international business.   I wanted to tell everyone about this as soon as I found out.

There is a rumor that DHL might layoff some of it’s employees. About 8,000 Jobs will be announced to tomorrow when they release the earnings report. Now I know very little about this parent company but they have 475,100 employees and that would mean 1.6% of the people would be laid off!!

According to Business Week there Volume have been going down this year.

(CNN) — A southern Ohio community is bracing for possible layoffs as DHL Express — the largest employer in the area — planned to announce its quarterly earnings report and restructuring details. [Via CNN]

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From what I can tell this will affect the Eastern part of the US. I’ve done a little digging for everyone to see just why they would want to layoff so many people. They have to reduce there spending because there Volume isn’t as it should. This will also effect delivery of packages, and might end up slowing the delivery of Christmas packages.  So pack those presents early and ship them off early, to make sure they get delivered before Christmas!!  To see other layoffs this year just click this LINK.  It will show you all of the layoffs that have/are/or might happen in the near future.

Rumor: GE to be the next to layoff its workers!!

Paul

GE to Layoff 11,000 Workers!! GE to Layoff it workers!

According to sources of friends close to me, their seems to be a consensus that there will be a major layoff coming from GE. My source is talking about it being a lot of people will be laid off and that it will start happening in the coming weeks.

According to Yahoo Finance saying this “52 week change of GE is -50.86% from last year. ”

[ad#ad2-right-1]Now last year this time there Stock Price was 38.38 a Share and now they are 18.60 a share.  They dropped -19.78 over the year.   The seemed to get close to the 38.38 a share on April 4, 2008 with making  37.56 a share.  That was there highest this year, due to the fact that people were getting there income tax refunds in the mail.    Also NYSE says they had a slight increase in July and Aug, that is due to the Stimulus package that we got in 2008.

Now I’m not a financial expert in the least.  I just see what I see with stock prices.  These could mean they are doing extremely well, or they could indicate that the company is planning on laying people off.  I’m just trying to provide a background on why they might lay people off.  We are getting to he point of becoming a Depression and no longer a Recession.  What do you think?

Circuit City to layoff employees and might close several stores!

Paul

[ad#ad2-left]

Some sources are say this:
The newspaper cited one of the affected workers, who indicated that between 500 and 800 employees would be let go. The layoffs reportedly began yesterday with the departure of several “upper management” executives, the source said.

[via Twice]

Now I know people hate when I blog about this because it is so depressing but I do like to let people know about this stuff so you can know what to expect in the coming future. This is all due to the economy and the recession that is on our doorsteps. If you would like to find out what other companies are laying off that I know about just click this [LINK] and it will show you all the other blog posts that I talked about that have or are laying people off.  I keep telling people to keep there resume’s ready for just this type of outcome.