Posts by Bill Brown

  • OnPoint: The Big Guns: Truecrypt and Tails,

    I keep all my passwords in keypass2.

    Keypass2 generates all my passwords, they are strings of random digits up to 20 characters or so in length.

    I use keypass2 to autotype them when I need them - I couldn't reproduce any of them even if I wanted to.

    My keypass2 database is kept on boxdrop and is available from any of my devices. It has a really long key which I remember - this is my only password.

    If I delete that file, nobody, including myself can get into any of those accounts, encrypted zip files or whatever.

    In fact, if I closed my eyes and changed its password to something even I didn't know it would be impenetrable.

    So, if the cops are knocking at my door, and I do that - what's their recourse?

    Since Apr 2008 • 4 posts Report

  • Hard News: Radio Times,

    do the Nielsen Media ratings include time shifted listening via the web page? I usually look for the summary of the big progs (saturday, sunday, nine-to-noon) once they're on line and listen then.

    Since Apr 2008 • 4 posts Report

  • Island Life: Suits YOU sir,

    Surely the value is in the content not in the transmission of bits.

    If 90% of your customers are in the US then your data should be as close as possible to them - after all, every time one of these customers hits your page the same data is sent over the same link, this is highly inefficient. Far better to send one copy (your content) to a repository close to your customers and minimise the distance over which replicas are sent.

    <<Warning Science Content>>
    As an aside, due to the distances involved and the default settings of most PC's the algorithm used in TCP/IP makes transmissions with high round trip delays (due to the number of hops and the speed of light) highly inefficient as the rate will be backed off drastically due to the long acknowledge time for each packet - closer is usually better.

    Since Apr 2008 • 4 posts Report

  • Island Life: Suits YOU sir,

    I spend thousands on hosting in the USA because no-one here can set me up with a fast enough server and a big enough data allowance.

    There's no way that providing fibre to every home is going to fix this problem for you. Your problem isn't access, it's the service you're wanting from your ISP.

    It would be incredibly inefficient for everyone who wants to host services to run a server farm in their basement. You're far better off using a hosting service which provide you with hardware, bandwidth and support.

    The fact that you cannot find this service locally is probably because there is not enough business to support a service like this in NZ to the scale needed to make it economic. In addition, unless the vast majority of your customers are NZ based and there is a decent exchange between your service provider and your users' ISPs you will probably find most traffic will transitinternationally anyway.

    Since Apr 2008 • 4 posts Report