research

How are you celebrating?

I need to research some password manager tools to see if they are better than my current approach. My current approach allows a way to manage different passwords for different sites, but theoretically could be hacked. The password manager should work across the web (mainly using Chrome) and Android apps. Symantec has a password manager Norton Identity Safe which is in beta.

• Do not use the same password for same ID or associated e-mail address across multiple sites.
• Do not use obvious passwords. Adding numbers like the year to the end of password does not make it that much more complicated to crack.
• In theory, the longer the password, the more secure it is, regardless how obvious it is.
• Do not use real answers for the answer to your secret question. This was how Sarah Palin’s Yahoo e-mail account was hacked. There aren’t too many places for guessing where she met her husband.
• Do not click on links in e-mails which supposedly take you to one of your accounts. At a minimum, double check the address where the link is taking you. It’s much safer to simply open a new tab and manually type the address where you want to go.
• Be especially careful of public computers. At a minimum, remember to log off all the websites to which you connected during the session. Public computers could have key logging software which is keeping track of your keypresses.
• Google had introduced a way to log into your Google accounts by using your smart phone, so you don’t need to type in your password on public computers, by scanning a QR code. It seems like a good idea, but it is no longer supported. It did increase your exposure to risk though in case your smart phone is lost or stolen. 1 week ago

As all the major telcos contribute big time to the Republican Party, there isn’t much of a selection… I could go over to a company like Credo Mobile, but as far as I know, their phones would not be compatible in Europe and Japan, and they don’t seem to have a good selection of phones either.

However, a possible option may be to go with KDDI Mobile or Docomo USA. I need to find out more about what they offer. Likely, they won’t be cheaper than the service I have now, but it is the principle which matters…

For my mom, maybe Republic Wireless at $20/month including unlimited data may be good enough for her. They also have limited phones, but I don’t think my mom will be so picky. 1 week ago

My set up for recording movies seems to have had problems with the audio level at times. If I can figure out which time periods had audio problems, then I’ll know that movies recorded around that time should be re-recorded.

May have to readjust the volume levels for Hilton as I found out the settings for XBMC were not set on max.

Disclaimer: No guarantee regarding the quality of the movie itself just because they are on the above list. 3 weeks ago

This issue was opened up but so far, there is no solution from Google: http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=7906

There are some possible apps out there to do this, such as BTMono.

Update: BTMono seems to work!! However, my BT headset broke. It still works but basically impossible to wear so I’ll need to further test after I glue the headset back together. 3 weeks ago

If I want to switch my computer over to Linux, I need a way to search all of my Notes repositories.

According to this link: http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/domhelp/v8r0/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.ibm.workplace.search85.googledesktop.doc%2Fp_search_m_ovr_srch_center.html

• Beagle Desktop
• Tracker Desktop

Previously I could do so under Windows using Google Desktop for Enterprise, but it is no longer supported by Google and as far as I can tell, a Linux version never existed for searching Notes.

Also, it seems if anyone should know, it would be the guy who runs the site: http://www.ilovelotusnotes.net/

Update: Beagle Desktop is no more… 3 weeks ago

Since my dad lives in a remote part of Japan and since the last place I stayed had no Internet access and actually did not even have phone service for guests, I need to find Internet options when going to Japan… such as being able to sign up for mobile Internet. If bandwidth is good enough, I can then use VoIP for phone calls anyway.

This may be a moot point though as I will likely no longer have to stay at the same place where I stayed last time… Most likely the next place I stay, I will have both Internet and phone service… but it wouldn’t hurt just to check out options. 3 weeks ago

Rather than just asking questions about things to consider in setting up a home entertainment system, perhaps I need to envision how it would work/look, and then find a solution which best fits this vision.

Since I hardly watch any live TV anymore, it is mainly recorded. Although older technology, all of my recordings are done by ReplayTV. ReplayTV recordings may be offloaded to a local hard drive.

I should be able to define different “watch lists” to identify movies or recordings to watch. I should be able to put them in a sequential order within the watch list. The watch lists could be like genres, so that if I am in the mood to watch a particular type of movie, such as comedies, action, etc, I would already know which movie I’d like to watch next. The watch lists should not necessarily be limited to genres, though. Ideally, the content of the watch list can be from many sources, such as recorded and stored locally or stream through some service, such as Hulu, Amazon, or Netflex.

It should be able to keep track of which shows I’ve watched or whether was in progress of watching. It should then give an option to restart where I last left off. I should be able to watch from any TV, any device, whether home or away.

I should be able to watch a trailer for any movie as well as information about the movie, such as synopsis, actors and crew, and see how other people have rated the movie.

It should support closed captions/subtitles, and even translating the subtitles into other languages. I’m not that into social networks, but it should be able to provide an social watching experience, such as sharing comments within your “circles” while watching, speech-to-text commenting, webcam, and even synchronized viewing (such as pausing or replaying will be synchronized across the social watching experience).

The TV platform will also support living room webcam/video conference experience. The TV platform also supports other media such as pictures and music, whether local or cloud-based. In case I am outside weeding in the backyard, it should be able to play music to the outdoor speakers. In fact, it should be able to show video to the yet-to-be-defined outdoor entertainment system, but I suppose that is another project all on its own.

I noticed I had not yet focused so much on audio media so far, but audio should be able to be streamed throughout the entire house at the same time or to specific rooms.

If I am browsing a web page or video on the web, I should be able to easily transfer it to the TV.

If someone calls on the phone, it will flash the caller ID. This could be across all phones, land lines and mobile phones. In case phone # is unknown, it supports call screening capabilities.

Perhaps more related to home automation, but when watching TV, it should be able to control lights as necessary. In addition, if someone comes to the front door, the front door security camera displays who is there.

All upcoming TV shows (ie, TV program guide) is shown with way to see all programs for a given TV channel or all upcoming occurrences of a specific TV show. Ideally, it can tell me when there is some change out of the ordinary. For example, if one show has been moved to another timeslot due to some sports event… In fact, if this platform supports DVR functionality, it could also automatically adjust programming due to a sports event running long (whether you are recording the sports event or programming after the sports event).

I should be able to share programming with my mom or relatives in Japan and vice versa.

I’m sure I’ll be updating the above, but then what I need to do is when looking at different options, such as GoogleTV, determine how much it can support what I am looking for…

• GoogleTV (or perhaps Android in general)
  
  • Sony BlueRay DVD player+GoogleTV
  • Vizio Stream Player
• XBMC (running on a PC)
• Vulkano
• Digizon
• ReplayTV
• SlingPlayer
• Orb
• UPnP, DNLA4 weeks ago

And I don’t mean recipe on how to make glühwein, but how to make some variations of glühwein. A friend gave a bottle of glühwein for Christmas, but I don’t really drink, so I might be tempted if I could find something a bit more “interesting” for its use. While in Austria, I noticed that at the Christmas markets, they were selling variations of punsch, which from my understanding is the Austrian version of glühwein. Some of them, for example, included chocolate liqueur. I looked around on the Internet for recipes but all I could find are recipes how to make glühwein. I did find one place which mentioned adding various shots, but I couldn’t find anything specific. Maybe I could check with my Austrian colleagues…

Update: Some more information I got about punsch in Austria is that punsch generally has more varieties of fruit than glühwein, and sometimes sweeter due to the additional fruit… So that was one of the suggestions was to warm up glühwein with more fruit… Another suggestion was “winter tea”

For example, I found the following recipe at: http://www.lupiciausa.com/v/static/enjoy-tea/winter-tea.html

1. Place red wine, sliced orange, a handful of spices and sugar into a pan.
2. Heat the pan until the mixture is hot but not boiling.
3. Mix the mulled wine syrup with an equal amount of double strength Ceylon tea.

Also, some of the punsch served at the Christmas markets might include variations mixed with either Bailey’s or Mozart (chocolate) liqueuer. 1 month ago

This goal overlaps with create a way to evaluate and compare different things as usually the reason I need a way to evaluate and compare different things is to make a decision. Therefore, I’ll end up sunsetting that goal in place of this one.

Researching items also belong on my personal to do list. However, one advantage of sharing what I am researching with others, such as on 43T, is the potential that others can help provide feedback on what I am researching. A perfect use of social web!

My first research topic though is if there is a way to rename goals in 43T. That way, I could simply rename the other goal, but so far, I have not found a way to do that. I haven’t found a way to do it, so looks like the only other option is to create a new goal to replace an existing one. 1 month ago

i enrolled into master research program finally, i will kick start and improve my research 5 months ago