Yes, it may seem a bit ironic in that they are generally known best for spying on their own citizens and others, and you may be forgiven for thinking this is some ploy to embed malware into your router by them, but no, it is all very practical and solid advice written in easy to read language.

Of course, you'll visit their website using a VPN connection ;-)

See https://www.nsa.gov/Press-Room/Cybersecurity-Advisories-Guidance/

#technology #security #NSA

Okular is a very versatile document viewer found on many Linux distros, but one of its shortcomings is not being able to just paste a transparent PNG format signature in. Pasting signatures into a PDF is often the commonly used method, as most businesses want a plain 'signed' PDF that they can print and view. Although digital signing is more secure and legally accepted, most businesses are not geared to understand how to use these (much like with encrypted e-mails).

The workaround I show in this video, using custom stamps, is actually better than other document viewers in that you do not need to attach the file every time you want to paste a signature. You set up the custom stamp one, and just re-use that every time.

See https://youtu.be/QtY_RTTVnYI

#technology #PDF #signature #Okular

The internet is not so free as it seems: even outside of authoritarian countries like China and its Great Firewall, many people are routinely denied access to sites that have content authorities deem harmful (Australia immediately comes to mind...). How do these blocks work, though? What methods do governments employ to control the web?

It’s not just authoritarian regimes that block certain web sites, though: many western countries block extremist content, for one, and in the U.S. the National Coalition Against Censorship is campaigning against the way public libraries block sites using keywords associated with sexually explicit content—including sex education materials (and abortions and more).

If you wonder how governments "can" control the Internet, remember that in just about every country on Earth, their government issues licenses to telco's and ISPs to operate, and those licenses carry all sorts of conditions around national emergencies, terrorism, child trafficking, etc to "ensure your safety on your behalf". That is how governments control the telecomms companies behind the scenes.

The article does a bit into circumventing censorship, but the best advice is, to implement whatever you want to before it is needed because for example if the Internet is blocked, you may not be able to access what you need. If you want to use peer-to-peer networks, you need to already have established links to those peers.

Interesting, too, that Shadowsocks is less easy to detect than typical VPN services.

See https://www.howtogeek.com/875107/how-countries-censor-and-control-the-internet/

#technology #censorship #VPN #Shadowsocks #privacy

Well, this is interesting as we often have more than one fast-charger plugged in around the house. I had noticed mine are all 'cool' without anything plugged in. So this was a fascinating report to read. They dig down into the approximate costs per year, too. Of course, old chargers maybe a different situation altogether.

Smartphone and laptop chargers use a negligible amount of idle power when left plugged in. Other kinds of chargers vary significantly, however, and it's worth checking their power consumption or just unplugging them to play it safe.

"Measuring such low wattage consumption with consumer devices is tricky, but it’s safe to estimate a power charger with no attached load (no device plugged in and charging) draws between 0.05W to 0.1W or less of power in standby mode. This series of tests conducted by an electrical engineer with more advanced equipment than ours supports our estimate, as he found chargers had a similar range, as does this extensive Department of Energy analysis."

"To put that low level of power consumption in perspective, most LED light bulbs use between 5-7 watts of power. So to even approach the power draw of leaving a single energy-efficient LED light bulb on, you’d need to plug in around 100 cellphone chargers."

See https://www.howtogeek.com/231886/tested-should-you-unplug-chargers-when-youre-not-using-them/

#technology #chargers #power

You’ve been emailed a document, and you have to sign it and send it back. You could print out the document, sign it, and then scan it back in and email it. But there’s a better, faster way.

This article shows you how to quickly add your signature to any PDF document, saving it as a standard PDF file that can be read anywhere. You can do this on Windows, Mac, iPad, iPhone, Android, Chrome OS, Linux — whatever platform you prefer.

I've been using Master PDF Editor on Linux for a while, mainly because I often have to paste signatures in (and Okular does not do that at all - yes really odd) but I now tried Xournal and yes it does all I need as well as much more. Maybe now, too, Google's GDrive will also allow the form filling and signing (it's not mentioned in this article as it's quite a new feature).

See https://www.howtogeek.com/164668/how-to-electronically-sign-documents-without-printing-and-scanning-them/

#technology #PDF #signature

Rather than wandering off on foot in search of help, he stayed with his vehicle, which provided shelter from the elements. Conveniently, he also happened to have a drone along with him, which provided him with an opportunity to get some help. After typing a detailed text message to a friend describing his situation and exact location, he attached the phone to his drone and sent it straight up a couple of hundred feet — enough to get a line-of-sight connection to a cell tower.

When he brought the drone back down a few minutes later, he found that the queued text had been sent, and the cavalry was on the way. The Search and Rescue unit was able to locate him, and as a bonus, also found someone else nearby who had been stranded for days.

See https://hackaday.com/2023/03/08/stranded-motorist-effects-own-rescue-using-a-drone-and-a-cell-phone/

#technology #drone #SOS

Whether the reason is Pi's are really difficult to get hold of, or you just needed more RAM on an existing Pi, it is technically quite possible to upgrade it yourself. The video in the linked article below demonstrates it being done.

You get a compatible RAM chip somewhere like Aliexpress – lucky for us, those come equipped with a set of balls from the factory. The default balls are made of lead-free solder, and MadEDoctor reballed the RAM chip with leaded solder balls to lower the melting point, but it’s by no means a requirement that you do the same.

In fact, you only need a hot air gun, flux, a soldering iron and some solder wick to perform the replacement – no reballing equipment.

The "brave" part is whether you feel comfortable heating the board up in this way and getting all those pins loosened, and the board cleaned. That said, I've heated my TV's motherboard in the oven to solve a dry solder joint issue, and it is 100% many years later still.

See https://hackaday.com/2023/03/05/upgrade-ram-on-your-pi-4-the-fun-way/

South Africans living in rural areas without mobile or fixed network coverage can get Internet access through a satellite broadband provider.

Starlink may have less latency and higher speeds, but it is not yet available in South Africa, and many of these existing services start from around only R710 per month. But note the fair use policies and any contract lock in periods.

See https://mybroadband.co.za/news/broadband/481923-satellite-internet-packages-in-south-africa-speeds-and-prices-compared.html

#technology #southafrica #satellite #rural

Goodnotes was/is my go to notes app on my iPad. It was excellent bang for the buck with a once off payment. I used it for any handwritten meeting notes, and also if I needed to sketch diagrams for anything.

Now it's getting stated with testing on Android in a limited-seat beta. Participants get full access to the app for free during the test period (the iOS version has some features behind a paywall), but there are still a couple big limitations here.

Maybe the biggest right now is that the GoodNotes beta only works on Samsung Galaxy tablets with an 8-inch display or larger, and at least 3GB of RAM. Enthusiastic redditors point out that this is a Progressive Web App (PWA), which could be detrimental to the overall user experience (while also needing constant internet access).

GoodNotes plans to add support for more Android tablets in the future, but makes it clear the Android app is separate from the iOS version. Unfortunately, that means that notes made on the former won't sync with the latter, taking a lot of the air out of this new release.

So yes, far from perfect right now on Android. On Android, I've actually already been using Sketchbook and been pretty happy with it. So for me, it will come down to a comparison between those two.

See https://www.androidpolice.com/goodnotes-ios-android-beta/

#technology #goodnotes #notes #android