networks

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Mobile Broadband Slow?

June 28, 2010 in mentat notes, technology, toys and gadgets | 1 comment

I use Sun’s Mobile Broadband product and I have to admit that there are times when it crawls. Literally crawls. I can’t surf any website let alone connect to any of the 5 instant messaging networks I login to everyday. But thanks to the tricks I’ve learned through the months I’ve been using the service, there are ways to boost your speed to remove your frustrations.

Edit the network settings of the Huawei modem softwafe

Relocate the dongle to a better position (usually involves an extension cable)

Use a frying pan as signal catcher

Learn the best times to connect

Refresh DNS/IP address

Let’s take a look at each of the methods I’ve enumerated.

Network settings: Go to TOOLS / OPTIONS / NETWORK / REGISTRATION MODE and choose Manual. Search for your network and click REGISTER. Then move to the NETWORK TYPE tab and choose WCDMA PREFERRED. Click OK to save everything then connect.

Note: you can only do this if you’re still not connected to the network. Effect is doubtful but it works for Denmark and me. This tip came from him, actually.
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Tags: effective, gadgets, geeks, ideas, networks, technology

Security Breach

May 10, 2010 in c'est la vié, computers, mentat notes | No comments

Every so often, as is our lot in life, especially when we’re online more and more, somebody or something out there will try to hack into our accounts. Email. Facebook. Websites. And a few more others. The main reason someone or something will try to do this is to obtain your personal information so your identity can be stolen. Hollywood, of course, put that fear into a lot of us.

A lot of us, though, never think it will happen to their friends, let alone themselves, thinking we are nobody. We are invisible. Sure. How often do I see posts on facebook that the owner didn’t place there? How often do I see friends getting locked out of their email accounts without their knowledge? Surely it doesn’t happen everyday but it’s enough.

Enough so that Sunday, as I got home and prepared to write my Mothers Day message to my blog, I find out someone or something tried to breach my yahoo, facebook and google accounts. Wonderful. Such inconvenient timing. Remember how zippy my internet connection is after a certain time window? Well, I had to spend 60% of that remaining window on resetting my yahoo and facebook passwords. Then updating Pidgin with them so I can login to the chat networks.

Then I hurriedly typed my message for the mothers in my life and away it goes. Posting complete. Then… ooops. I forgot to tell this here blog of mine that my facebook password’s been updated. That’s why I don’t have anything, no posts, no wall entries, no status updates for yesterday.

My accounts, though, remain secure and untouched and I’ll explain in the next post. I just hate the inconvenience and the hassle of the password reset options I have to go through. Especially when I think about how interconnected my sites are.

Tags: computers, diary, facebook, google, hack, information, networks, safety, security, social, systems, yahoo

Using Pidgin for Facebook Chat

March 11, 2010 in computers, technology

Remember Pidgin? Yes, it’s that one program I use to rule all my chat networks. People have asked me how to use it for Facebook chat so here’re the steps to setup your Pidgin for Facebook’s chat.

Facebook:

1. Login and go to Account / Account Settings and setup your username if you haven’t done so yet.

2. Then go to Account / Edit Friends and sort all your contacts into their own lists. This is required as Pidgin can’t recognize your friends who do not belong to any list. They can open a chat with you but you can’t see when they come online.

That’s it for the Facebook part. Now you can logout of Facebook and open up Pidgin.

1. Go to Accounts / Manage Accounts and click on Add…

2. Select XMPP as your protocol and fill in your Facebook username and the domain.

3. Check the Advanced and Proxy tabs to match the screenshots below.

4. Click Save and you’re done.