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Are you worried about security on the Internet? [Geotagging]

30 Mar

Recently a friend sent me a link to the following video. It’s scary how ‘social’ information about where we are can be used against us. I guess now because of this and news stories like it, people really do know how to stalk each other electronically.

It can sound pretty creepy. Fortunately most people don’t have the skill to do this, however there are certainly a lot of people who do, and who will use it against you.

So we have a couple of options here – we can stick our heads in the sand and refuse to acknowledge the technology – its greatness and its dangers – or we can learn something about it. Here are a couple of definitions to get you started.

What is Geotagging?

Geotagging is the process of adding geographical identification metadata to various media such as photographs, video, websites, or other media. It is added to EXIF data in a large number of mobile phones, and lately, digital cameras. Some people call it GPS tagging.

What is EXIF Data?

EXIF data (EXchangeable Image File) is data that is stored in jpeg and other image and video media files, and includes data such as shutter speed, date and time, focal length, exposure compensation, metering pattern and if a flash was used a the time a photo was taken.

Fortunately, you don’t have to stop taking photos and videos completely. There are some ways to protect yourself.

Disable GeoTagging on Phones

The first way is if you use your phone to take videos or photos, you need to reset or turn off the Geotag setting.

iPhones – Visit eHow – How to Disable Geotag on an iPhone to see how this is done.

Other Phones – there is a comprehensive guide on turning this Geotagging feature off on a number of phones, including Palm WebOS, Android and Blackberry over at the I Can Stalk You website.

I would encourage you to do this, or never take photos on your regular routine or at home.

Does your child or teen have a phone that Geotags?

Also, check your child’s phone to see if they are recording location data. Talk to them about it so that they know the bad side of what can be done with that information – show them the above video if it helps.

Creating awareness about how information is used is not only important, it allows them to think about other ways that information can be used, and also makes them aware of the information that is collected about them and how it can fall into the wrong hands.

Do you know of any other ways to disable geotags on phones? Please post in the comments if you do, and share this valuable information so that we can create awareness and others will benefit.

And then when you are finished with this, go on to read about password security.

 
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Posted in Security, Tech Stuff

 

Pleasant Gully 2008 Shiraz Merlot

23 Jan

This was not an easy wine to drink. To be honest I’m now quite sure why. Had a nice taste but somehow by the time I reached the bottom of the glass I was forcing myself to drink it.

Somehow I think it was a bit heavy, which I found surprising considering the blend.

Would I buy again? Probably not.

 
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Posted in Food

 

Losing Weight [Don't Diet. Change Your Lifestyle]

23 Jan

I haven’t posted in a while, and a large part of that has to do with me losing 10kgs in a month in December. That and travel.

I also recently met a doctor friend who had also lost weight. Both of us had basically been watching what we eat. I had the advantage of using the Cohen Diet (recommended for anyone who wants to seriously lose weight and learn about balanced meals).

Why I say this is an advantage is that it is one thing to watch your calorie intake – anyone can lose weight if they consume only 1600 calories per day as my doctor friend is doing – but also we need to keep in mind what we eat. This is just as important as eating vegetables does wonderful things like clear your skin, and allow you to eat more with fewer calories (unlike potato chips or burgers).

For those that can’t afford the Cohen Diet plan, follow the food pyramid (yes – the one we all learned about in school), and monitor your calories. That simple act often makes you reconsider your meal choices, and that is basically all we need to do.

To help you with this try apps like MyFitnessPal for iPhone. It has a lot of foods available for lookup (Internet connection required).




 
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Posted in General

 

Do you need to get from Taiwan to China? Ask Google!

22 Nov

?1) go to Google maps.

2) go to get directions

3) type Taiwan as starting point

4) type China as end point.

5) read direction number 24

LOL

 
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Posted in General

 

Returning Home [Cat greeting]

01 Nov

 
1 Comment

Posted in General

 

If everyone hates immigrants, maybe there should be a “no exit” sign when you try and leave?

14 Sep

Everyone hates immigrants.

Foreigners!

Maybe no one should be allowed to leave their country?

 
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Posted in General

 

TechTip: Redirecting directories in cPanel & WordPress [Heavy Stuff]

26 Aug

This is a bit for my own reference and because I couldn’t find a useful link on this, so I hope that this page provides information that some would find useful. Apologies to my regular readers who may think this is a bit too ‘deep’.

Recently I changed all the Permalinks in a WordPress blog, and shuffled some things around. This resulted in a lot of 404 messages and file not found results for regular readers, or some coming from other links and search engines. So for some really important stuff I decided to put some permanent redirects in. However when I tried to redirect to the new permalink that WordPress provided, I was getting some weird error messages, so I sought an alternative.

Redirecting folders to WordPress Posts

This was a little easier than the next one, as WordPress 3.0 and higher helps you out by providing you with a shortcut URL.

For example, after saving the draft of this post, you can see under the title bar there is a button called “Get Shortlink”:

If you click on that button, you get a link like this:

So now I copied that URL to my clipboard and then went to my host’s cPanel.

I then go to the ‘redirects’ item (which you can find easily by using the new search option for cPanel):

Then I just fill in the directory that I want to set up the permanent redirection for (eg. http://myblog.ozlady.com/some_directory redirects to http://myblog.ozlady.com/?p=1999) – see in the screen shot below.

Click the ‘Add’ button, and you’re done!

Redirecting folders to WordPress Pages

This one is almost identical to the redirect for WordPress posts, however for WordPress pages, I found it a little trickier to find the shortcut URL.

To do this you will need to find the Page number. To do this, go to the pages listing and ‘Edit’ the page that you want to redirect to.

In the URL at the top of the ‘Edit Page’ page you will see something link this:

Note down the number next to “post=” (in the instance above it is 166.

Now you will need to use that number and insert it in a pages URL which is slightly different from the one we used in the posts example.

http://myblog.ozlady.com/?page_id=7

Notice that we use ?page_id= instead of ?p=

This can then be entered in the cPanel Redirects page as follows:

Click on ‘Add’, and you now have a redirect to a WordPress page.

If you know of an easier way to do this, please let me know, however in my case I found that the permalinks provided by WordPress that would appear in the address bar were kicking me with error messages, and this was almost fool-proof.

Back to regular programming now!

 
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Posted in Tech Stuff, Technical

 

How do I care for my pet in Singapore? [Living in Singapore]

20 Aug

Tiga on the beer barrelI was recently asked by the wife of DH’s colleague about pet care in Singapore. She raised a few needs:

  • Veterinary Medical Care – for vaccinations and illness
  • Pet Transportation – if you don’t have a car in Singapore, normal taxis often won’t take your beloved baby, which can be difficult when you do need to go to the vet
  • Pet Sitting – living in Singapore makes travel too much of a temptation to resist, but we still need to be responsible pet owners
  • Pet Grooming – I have cats, so that usually involves a battle with scratching in the bathtub where I end up with the scratches, and the cats end up licking themselves dry. Dogs, however, often benefit from a good groom.

I use the services below. If you know of any good additions to this, please add them in the comments below.

Veterinary Medical Care – A Doc for your Fur Baby
I have been using this vet for 10 years now, and they are listed with the Singapore Veterinary Association (SVA).

Mount Pleasant Animal Medical Cent
Blk 105, Clementi St 12, #01-18/20 S120105
T: 67768858 | F: 67761678

I use the one in the west (address above) because that is close to where I am, however they have other branches, and they all receive pretty good reviews. If you visit the SVA site link above, it will have the other locations so that you can see one that is perhaps closer to you.

This vet also provides a number of services including preparing pets for moving country, dealing with deceased pets, spaying, etc. They are pleasant, helpful, and don’t treat me like an idiot. They have information sheets on a lot of things – we had a mite infestation and they gave me a sheet with instructions on how to go through the home and clean everything out. Very professional.

Pet Transportation – Pet Taxi Services

If you don’t have a car, then my sitter (Rick – see next bit) has a pet taxi service to get your pet to and from the vet: See his pet taxi services on his website.

Pet Sitting

The sitter I use is Rick Tan and he runs Pet Mobile. His mobile number is 9099 8511.

Usually what he will do is set up an appointment to come and meet your pet, find out where the food, toilet and any play things are kept (and anything else necessary for your baby’s care), learn what walking schedules are, etc. Rick usually offers to do some basic “while I’m away” type chores (eg. Please throw the newspaper delivered to the front door, please water these plants). If it’s just a couple of chores he’ll usually do that as part of his visit.

You can either give him a key to keep, or you can arrange key swapping on an as-needed basis. He says that some clients arrange for him to collect the key before they leave on their holiday/trip, and then he leaves it in the letterbox after his final visit.

Rick has a full list of rates for pet sitting on his website.

Pet Grooming

As stated above, grooming is usually a battle at our place with our three cats, however if you want to outsource this, Pet Mobile does Grooming Services, which include transportation to and from your home.

Check out the pet grooming services here.

 
1 Comment

Posted in General, Living in Singapore

 

Travelling to Cambodia from Singapore [Living in Singapore]

17 Aug

Travelling to Cambodia from Singapore is just too easy on a budget. Recently I have been planning a trip for ourselves and my brother and his family. We went in 2008 and loved it so I wanted to share the wonders of Siem Reap and Angkor Wat with them.

Steph in Siem Reap

Steph climbing around Angkor Thom

I’ve listed some of the resources that I’ve used below.

Flights

Jetstar – cheap and good. Their service runs in a loop: Singapore >> Siem Reap >> Phnom Penh >> Singapore. We’re going to go Singapore to Siem Reap and spend a few days there, then either take a bus or a boat to Phnom Penh, then jump on the Jetstar flight from Phnom Penh to Singapore.

Flights for the above trip had to be booked as two separate legs and cost as follows:

  • Singapore >> Siem Reap – SG130-150 per head for the Jet Saver rate
  • Phnom Penh >> Singapore – USD50-USD60 per head for the Jet Saver rate (the closer to the travel date, the higher the price)

The Jet Saver rate includes 20kg of checked-in luggage.

Accommodation

I use Hotel Club to book accommodation regionally – membership is free and you collect points which you can then use for discounts for your next stay. Those points translate into real dollar savings.

Siem Reap

Last time we stayed, we were treating ourselves a little, and stayed in a 4-star – Steung Siemreap Hotel. Very nice and located in the heart of town.

This time we are staying in Motherhome Guest House, and if their email correspondence is any indication of their service, this will be a memorable trip.

Phnom Penh

I’ve used Hotel Club again, and we’ve booked Royal Inn Phnom Penh. Let’s see how that goes. I’ll update after our trip!

Visas

Most people will be able to get a visa on arrival, but seeing as the Jetstar flight from Singapore leaves at 6am, and lands around 7-ish, I prefer to pay the US$5 more and have the visa pre-approved. I recall the queue at the visa counter when I arrived last time, and don’t wish to be waiting in line at 7 o’clock in the morning.

The Cambodian government runs a website for e-visa applications, and for those that don’t trust the internet, I had a payment glitch when processing this time – my card statement said I had paid, but their website hadn’t recorded the payment. Easy to fix – I just emailed them a copy of the email receipt that I received and they tracked it down and fixed it.

The visa is valid for 3 months from date of issue, so apply well in advance to avoid any dramas. You can pay a little extra and get express processing if you need.

 
2 Comments

Posted in Living in Singapore, Travel

 

What is the price of rice in China? [Wolfram Alpha let me down]

08 Aug

Wolfram Alpha couldn’t tell me!

Sure – it could tell me how much they consume, but upon purchasing this app it couldn’t answer the first question I typed in.

Bummer.

It did, however, identify the dog that I was enquiring about! LoL

 
1 Comment

Posted in General, Tech Stuff

 
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