NSA wiretaps the internet, and what you should do about it!

NSA wiretaps your Internet!

The National Security Agency has been in the past a thorn in most people’s sides. As of late though their new Prism program has raised some very interesting questions. It isn’t like they have anything to hide, after all if you haven’t done anything wrong than you neeed not worry! That logic just elludes me, we have seen this is history. People who haven’t done anything wrong who are prosecuted for their believes and actions. They will make everyone evil some how. See how they did with Edward Snowden, NSA and other’s are saying he was wrong to do this but it was the public right to know. While whistle blowing is a necessary for the public to know about it, the NSA thinks we should always be kept in the dark over some of this. I personally believe we should not only be told but also have a public forum over stuff like this. Now let’s not forget that we are trying to fight terrorism, but this is what they wanted us to do in the first place. Fear brings down our civil liberties by making it harder for us to be free, hince we now have to worry about the NSA!

The Pipe

If you haven’t figure out how they National Security Agency is doing this than, one you didn’t watch that video or two it just didn’t click. I am going to try to dumb it down a little more and make it easier to understand. Let’s say you have an apple, the apple in this case represents your data or metadata as some would call it. You have two people who want the apple, so you would basically cut it in an equal half. Now that doesn’t mean both people have different information they have the same information but it is simply just been cloned, or copied. Another way to look at is this: You have a piece of paper with your information on it. You send it Google, Bing, Yahoo, ETC and just before it is delivered there, someone graps your paper puts it on a copy and makes a copy for themselves, and send the document along it’s way as if nothing happened. You wouldn’t know, the place you sent it to would not know and somewhere there is a piece of paper with your data and no one is the wiser. Kinda of snicky isn’t it!

Fighting the NSA!

You can always fight the National Security Agency, with a few good steps you can make them worry and wonder where you are actually coming from. This won’t stop them but it will at least keep yourself private and less likely the NSA will get this personal information of yours. I am hoping this helps people find out how to fight this injustice.

  • VPN4ALL — this is a vpn service that I have started using to help keep my information safe. They use a 256 encryptions algorithm and it means no one can see where you go when you don’t want them to know. Works with Android, IOS, and most Mobile Devices also…
  • DNSCrypt — Making sure no one knows where you go to on the internet is made a little easier with DNScrypt. It works really nicely but nothing yet for android. Hopefully soon, someone has something.
  • Encrypting your Email — Although this seems kind of hard it is actually quiet easy. Any emails your send get’s transmitted and that means the NSA can get them. If you encrypt them they can read them. So this is always a good idea to do, because you never know.

So you can see there are a few ways to encrypt your information so no prying eyes can see it. Although it won’t stop them from seeing what you done later on the in future but it will stop them for right now. As technology advances so does un-encryption, so hopefully by the time they see where you went and what you did, you will be long gone dead. I do hope this helps those of you who are worried and want to protect your sensitive information. This won’t help all over but it will help the average person surf the internet a little more securely and hopefully shows the NSA we mean business!

What a Secret is really worth and why! My Secret to you!

Secret Canyon Trail

A Secret!

When you mention you have a secret you probably get bombarded with “What is it?”.   I posted that I’ve got a secret on my Facebook page,  although I have gotten some people to like the post.   Other’s have actually come out to me and asked what my secret is. A few friends but what really surprised me was everyone of my family members, asked what it was.   Even my mother who doesn’t do Facebook was asking what my secret was.

The Secret Goes Viral!

If you have ever done something like this and gotten it to go viral.   You’d bee amazed at how many want to know your little secret.   I even had a few emails but I won’t say much about those.   It was such an amazing experience and just how much people want people to know the secret.

My Secret revealed!

So I am going to share with you my secret.  I gotten a chance to review a good little USB portable battery backup for your Cell phones and tablets.   It’s called RAVPower® Dynamo-On-the-Go backup battery pack and I will be doing a full review of this product in the coming months but I am so far really impressed.  They given me one for free to do a full test out on and see how well this worked with all my devices.   So you will see this probably next week or so and you might even be surprised.

 

 

 

Reviewing the Overdrive Pro 3G/4G Prepaid Mobile Hotspot (Virgin Mobile)

Click Image to see Price!Overdrive Pro 3G/4G

The Novatel Wireless MiFi 2200 Prepaid Mobile Hotspot was my first choice when I first started using the Virgin Mobile / Sprint network.  I knew what I was getting myself into after using that modem. Knowing where I was,  I knew I was going to need a Signal Booster.   I found the Wilson Electronics – Sleek – Cell Phone Signal Booster, Which is a cradle.  I also used it in conjuction with my ARC Wireless Freedom antenna.  Which I have had for over a few years now.   So I know how useful this little guy can be!

You can use it without the Freedom antenna, because the Cell Phone Signal Booster comes with an Mini Antenna that can be used put outside on the roof or someplace to get a better signal  I like the Freedom Antenna because of it’s Bi-Directional amplification.  I can point it at One tower and get a faster connection and faster speeds.  It isn’t as though you have a way to Hack it to increase the Signal strength just yet.   I am sure someone will do it sooner or later, when they do I will know about it myself.  With it being a 4G modem though, I have been wondering when Sprint is going to bring 4G LTE to my area!

The Pro’s

I can only come up with a few but here goes some of the most common ones:

  • More Display Information — No more guessing if I have a signal or not.   For that matter, no more guessing if there is an update or something is wrong. 
  • 4G Possibility — If and when Sprint decides to give my area the 4g access, it should dramatically boost my speed by 50%.   I don’t know when but I am confident that it will happen.  Walmart no longer sells the Mifi 2200’s 3G only cards so I am sure it is coming.  You can buy an Overdrive Pro Dock for it but only for 4G, not 3g.
  • Micro SD Card Slot — Great way to share music with all your devices at once.   No more having to switch from one device to another to find that one song.   You can keep it on the Overdrive and listen to it when you want to.
  • The UI isn’t bad — Comes with a lot of bells and whistles.   You can have all kinds of sounds when you loose signal or when someone connects to the device.   So you have an audible notification when something happens.  The Router menu has some great things you can do with settings to improve security.

Basically that is it for right now.   I am sure I will have more on the pro’s later on.   

 

Cons!

  • Bulky — Not as thin as the Mifi 2200 card that I once had so it isn’t as easily concealable.
  • Not Unlimited 3G — When I first started using the Mifi 2200 card, I was unlimited but if you are going to buy it right now without having an account that has unlimited 3G.  Then you will have to pay 55$ for 10 Gigabyte a month.  I am on the grandfather clause so it is unlimited  3G for me!
  • 4G — Just like it being a Pro, it is also a con. Without the 4G capability it isn’t really unlimited to everyone.  Hopefully it will be soon though.
  • Price — After buying this new modem it wasn’t as cheap as the Mifi 2200, but I thought it was time for a change.   So you can always buy the Mifi 2200 card a little cheaper.   Don’t know how long they will be selling those on Amazon so get them while you can!

All in All I am pretty happy with the speed and the use of the Overdrive Pro.   I will be talking it about it more and more in the coming weeks so stay tuned!  I might even have a few hacks or tricks for this little device also.

Paul Sylvester

5 ways to improve your security with your Overdrive Pro (Virgin Mobile)!

My MiFi and My Newton – The Novatel MiFi 2200

 

The OverDrive Pro

After a long hard search for my old Mifi Device,  I recently had to buy the Overdrive Pro (Virgin Mobile) mifi Card.  So I went out to find a replacement for my card and came to this.  I must say that with it having the option to have a way to increase Signal strength on the Mifi card by buying antenna’s for it.  It is a good deal for me.   I had a simple time getting it to work other than having to call Virgin Mobile Broadband (877-877-8443).  I do however think you should update your card for more security and here are a few tips.

Open a web browser and go to http://192.168.0.1

Change The Default Password

Just by chance someone gets a hold of your password for your mifi card.   They then can log into and change anything they want.   So you should change the “admin” Password and possibly change the Wi-Fi Password as well.  You can do this by going to the Admin Setup Page on the Mifi Device.

Change the SSID

By default the SSID for the Overdrive card is OverDrive Pro.   You can leave it as it is but the problem with it is someone else might have the same exact SSID and you may accidentally give out your wifi password to a stranger.   It should be unique and unguessable to people.   This Also can be done in the Admin Setup Page.

Change your DNS

By default you are going to use Virgin Mobile/Sprint DNS servers.  They may not be as fast as other servers and thus you can get a little more speed from changing the DNS to something other than Virgin Mobile/Sprint DNS.   You do this by going into the Advanced Settings, Clicking the Router Tab and going into the LAN tab, Which is a separate tab from the top.  You would then need to change DNS MODE to manual and enter two different IPS.  See below for two suggestions.

Here are two that you can try and see which one works better for you.

Google DNS:  8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4

OpenDNS: 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220

Don’t Display Wifi Password

This is another by default, it will display the password on the Mifi screen for any passer by to gain access to the network.   If you have limited amount Gigabytes to use, you may not want to share that with a stranger.   So by turning off the password no-one will have access to the mifi device without asking you first.  That can also be changed and updated on the Admin Setup Page.

Change your Wifi Password

Finally the last step I would recommend is to change your Wifi Password so no other Overdrive Pro can have that same password.   Again, it is possibility someone else might have that password so it is best not to keep it.   Create a new password you can remember but nothing that everyone used.   Just saying.   You can do this also by going to the Admin Setup Page.

With these simple steps your OverDrive Pro Mifi Card is much more secure and less likely for someone to gain access unintentionally.  So you can sit back and relax and have fun with your card and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did making this blog post.

Paul Sylvester

 

 

What I have learned from being a leader and not a Follower!

Leadership

Leadership and Qualities!

 

When you see someone walking down the road, do you stop or let them keep walking?  This is where a leader and follower will differ.   I am going to talk about what it is to be leader:

 

Yes, in all my research, the greatest leaders looked inward and were able to tell a good story with authenticity and passion. Deepak Chopra

Ever since the last few months, I have not had a lead role.  I recently began to transition from a doer or a follower to leader.   There is many facets to being ones people come to for help but it also comes with great responsibility.   So nothing I say can ever get you ready to be a leader but  I can sure try!

Take Every Chance, Drop every Fear!

This is something that I saw a few weeks ago that just kept on sticking in my mind.  If your going to be leader you need to take risk.  For example:

I was at work, and I know this assignment is going to end.  I decided today was going to my day.  I walked up to a lady and asked you out on a date.  It didn’t go as well as I expected but at least I am not sitting at home wondering the old story of “What if’s??”

As you can see there are many ways you can take  but the best results I have seen is know your capabilities and use them to your fullest.  Some risks you can’t take but some risks, might make it just that much better for your TEAM.

There is no I in TEAM!

This is another good one, that just makes you understand more about how leading will impact your results.  If you are constantly worried about me, then you can’t possibly be thinking about them.  So when you want results, you put your team first and you become second, third, and so on. This is something I have found out to be true also.   If you want to succeed in anything, you work with your team and  you NEVER use I in any context unless it was to mean “I went to the bathroom!” Would be kind of hard for your team to go to the bathroom with you.

Even leaders need help!

Any day I go into work, I am certain of one thing.   I will ask help for something or other because I know my limitations and I also know that to ask for help doesn’t show me weak but someone who wants to fix something or get something done.   Those who don’t ask for help or ask questions are just asking for trouble but those who do ask gain everything. 

These are a few simple rules I have started to follow and they seem to be working really well for me.  I will keep looking and hopefully I will come up with even more.  One other tidbit, learn to write better and that will help you get what you are wanting done.

Paul Sylvester