Android

My top two web filters

I was doing a project for my Network Security class last night and I thought I would share some of the results from my review of different web filter products. Many of us might be in the market for a web filter. The reasons might not just be for content filtering, they can also be used as a highly effective tool for blocking malware transmission and hoax/malicious websites. Each of the products I am about to share can perform theses tasks.

opendns1. OpenDNS by Cisco
OpenDNS takes a DNS approach to web filtering and can be enabled on the client and/or the network router. The home use tier offer three options for products. The first is a set and forget “Family Shield”. The second is a “Home” version that allows some customized filtering and identity theft protection. The third “VIP” option costs $20 a year and has usage stats and other useful settings.

k92. K9 Web Protection by Blue Coat
K9 takes a software based approach to web filtering. It’s available for Windows, MacOS, iOS, and Android. K9 uses Blue Coat’s unique caching technology, so your Internet experience is always as fast as possible. I have generally found software based solutions slow in the past but K9 seems to do better at this than most others.

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Hammerhead

So I had to write a love letter to an inanimate object for my English class. I decided to go full cheese on writing one about my phone.

Dear Hammerhead,

While some may simply call you a Google Nexus 5, that name does not do you justice. I prefer to think of you with the exciting codename you were using while you were just a rumor that tech bloggers liked to write about. How alluring you have been to those in geek culture as your specifications and price were discovered and later confirmed. You truly were the belle of the ball that many other geeks wanted.

While some geeks looked to other smartphones built by companies with large marketing budgets, I have always loved the software freedom that you brought to me. Locked down popular phones built by companies named after fruit were never a temptation to me. The freedom you allow me to customize and tinker to my heart’s content is truly one of your greatest virtues. Besides you, there is no other.

When I didn’t think things couldn’t get any better, we placed a custom recovery on you and flashed a new ROM. New speed, customizations, and the latest the CyanogenMod operating system had to give us were now in our grasp. What a wonderful development that became in our time together. You can now be customized in ways that carrier branded phones couldn’t even think of. Every time we flash a new nightly ROM, it’s like opening a gift of new free things to enjoy with you.

We have been through a lot, everything from drops and bumps, to rain and dust. I do my best to protect you and I hope you are enjoying your new case. I’m hoping it will keep you protected from many of the other bumps we will encounter as we continue through life together. Hopefully we will be able to share many other geeky adventures together and have fond memories to look back on in our photo gallery.

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Net Neutrality, T-Mobile and Cheers

tmobile-music-freedomYesterday (June 18th) T-Mobile announced Uncarrier 6.0 and as part of that Music Freedom. Essentially Music Freedom will allow T-Mobile customers to stream audio from supported providers without it counting against their high speed data cap and will allow them to stream music at high speeds when over the data cap. Currently Pandora, iHeartRadio, iTunes Radio, Rhapsody, Spotify, Slacker, and Milk Music are the only supported services but Legere says that they will work to include others.

As a T-Mobile customer I was excited to hear of the program but then it sunk in that this program is a text book example of a violation of network neutrality. For those that are unfamiliar with the term Network Neutrality it is defined as:

Net neutrality (also network neutrality or Internet neutrality) is the principle that Internet service providers and governments should treat all data on the Internet equally, not discriminating or charging differentially by user, content, site, platform, application, type of attached equipment, and modes of communication. (Source: Wikipedia)

In this case T-Mobile is giving preferential treatment to audio streaming services over video, other data use and potentially other audio services. This acts as a violation of network neutrality and provides opportunity for unintended consequences. This is all a clear violation unless you are a fan of the Google/Verizon 2010 deal which redefined network neutrality (for them) to allow for discrimination between different types of data but not within a data category. Most comments and articles at the time were not fans of that plan for the internet.

Now John Legere has announced a plan which is a perfect example of the Verizon/Google deal. Earlier this month AT&T announced a similar plan called “Sponsored Data“. The difference from the AT&T plan is that services have to pay for their position on the sponsored data plan so that their services data does not count against users data caps. From what I saw most comments were critical of that plan but my experience so far is that many users are ecstatic about the T-Mobile plan.

Let’s get back to that opportunity for unintended consequences. There are several openings in this case. Currently there are a limited number of services that are covered in this plan. While John Legere says they will work to get other services on this plan, will it really happen? For the services not on the plan will it encourage T-Mobile users to use services on this plan? I found myself planning to use Pandora while mobile as opposed to Amazon Prime Streaming or Google Play while out due to this deal. iHeart Radio is included in this deal which streams music and talk radio. Will podcasters and other internet talk radio stations have a chance to join in this for free? I could see that giving a big advantage for the current big content producers. Most of these are what if situations so I am taking my own concerns with a wait and see approach.

This is about when I get to the cheers. Violating Net Neutrality doesn’t always result in a negative result for the customer. In this case it appears to be a positive result for customers and is getting a large amount of positive fanfare. So in this case I believe this violation of network neutrality will be accompanied by cheers of T-Mobile customers and by envy of AT&T/Verizon customers. In fact I think AT&T and Verizon will take note of this to better plan how they will roll out similar initiatives in the future.

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CyanogenMod 10.1 on my HTC EVO LTE

Last night I flashed the June 8th IRC build of CyanogenMod 10.1 on my HTC EVO LTE. In addition I flashed a modification that will give a transparent status bar on Android 4.2.2 devices. As a launcher I am using Apex Launcher with the dock disabled. Do actually launch my commonly used applications I use Unity Launcher with auto hide enabled. This gives my phones home screen an extremely clean look. If I need an app not on Unity launcher I have my phone configured to bring up the app drawer with a long press of the home button.

Here are a few pictures of what this configuration looks like while in use:

Screenshot_2013-06-11-09-14-45
Default Screen View
Screenshot_2013-06-11-09-15-04
Unity Launcher Swiped Out

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s pretty fun to have such a minimalistic yet functional setup.

Adding in the wallpaper for those that want it:

tardis_doctor_who-wallpaper-1280x720

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