JDPFu.com 2013

Using FreeNAV on Android is mostly good, but it lacks a few capabilities that would be really nice for any GPS user.

• Add POI data
• Import POI files
• Export Favorites
• Transfer Favorites
  The POI DB is definitely missing many, many, many POIs. Looking for a specific pizza place found 6, but none of them are the two within 3 miles of home that have been there longer than I’ve lived here. It seems to list places 100+ miles away.

You will need to be in Marietta, Georgia, USA next week for this to be useful.

• Event: ALE and ALE-NW : GPG Keysigning Party
• When: Thursday, December 13th at 7:30pm
• Where: SPSU Campus, Atrium “J” Bldg. rm J266

Visit http://ale.org/ for more information.

Advanced prep is required so be certain to visit the link ASAP to get your keys setup and added to the list. Do this at least 2 days prior to the meeting to allow time for the organizers to complete their preparation.

GPG is useful if you want to send secure email like General Petraeus should have.. Having signed keys is not strictly required for gpg to be used, but it does increase the trust similar to how the W-O-T does for internet websites.

Other articles here about using GPG.

By now most people that I know are using Anki techniques to learn things with memorization. Anki quizzes on facts and tracks whether we get them correct or not.

Anki learning gets a little tedious to me. Boring. There is at least one less boring option.

A few readers might be interested in this article about eReader privacy from the EFF.

Sadly, the privacy ratings for the eReader that many people are considering or already have is not included in the chart or article. If you have an eReader device and use the most popular reading softwares on it, chances are that what you read is being tracked and shared more than you'd like. I haven't seen any tinfoil hats available to block the eReaders from reporting back to the home office that don't also break the features. If you care about personal privacy, the 1 pg article is definitely worth your time.

Found myself needing a specialty product for that XBMC computer recently. Spent a few days doing research, thinking about it, then finally ordered directly from the main US distributor after getting an email from their sales team explaining a particular add-on that was required.

The cost for the items was reasonable, perhaps even a good value, we shall see, but when the shipping charges were displayed, something was wrong. I’m used to free shipping for my online orders, so seeing a $70 shipping option seemed completely out of place. Here’s the exact shipping prices offered:

• Next Day Air – $69.47
• UPS 3 Day Select® – $24.20
• UPS2Day – $31.24
• UPSGR – $10.92
  Toggle a switch to see other shippers, USPS in this case:
• USPS Priority (Domestic) – $9.62

UPS is sticking it to the little guys, unless this company has a $5 base handling charge. Priority (if it fits, it ships) seemed like the best answer and arrived quickly across the country.

Do people really pay $70 for next day shipping of tiny objects? I still have this idea of a FedEx envelope costing $12 for overnight shipping. Maybe the prices have increased? These items would easily fit into a padded FedEx envelope.

What do you typically pay to get something that fits in a padded envelope shipped?

We’ve all felt screwed before. Today, I’m listing the computer/tech items that I felt unsatisfied buying after a little use. These items really go beyond unsatisfied and enter into the completely screwed over or forever hate category.

Watching Olympics on NBC

I’m addicted to Olympics. I admit it. As I watch them on my OTA setup, the fluffers, you know, the announcers between sports, are constantly saying to watch all the events Live by visiting nbcolympics.com. I’ve been there a few times and been disappointed.

Sorry, this becomes a rant.

A few years ago, I dropped an expensive cable TV plan to get limited basic service. This is just the local channels, public access and a few shopping channels. No CNN, no basic cable channels, just the local broadcast ones – or at least close enough. The cable TV bill is $29/month for this, which sucks. In total about 25 stations come in, but 10 are shopping channels and 5 are wacko religious channels – you know, the channels you remove from the TV? Yep, those.

Below I’ll detail my antenna trials and more importantly what I think I’ve learned about antennas that none of the sites with the plans talk about.

In short, we were getting 19 channels, but now have 58.

Where is Curiosity?

When you lose a smartphone, all sorts of personal and proprietary data may become available to the finder/thief. Recently, a friend had a smartphone that I’d given to him stolen, so some of my personal and proprietary data may have been on that device still. Below I’ll attempt to outline what we should have done. This is very much a work in progress, but my quick searches for best practices smartphone loss returned nothing current or useful to an average person.

There was lots of best practice information for corporate devices on the internet. Buy this add-on for policy management, password complexity mandates, whole device encryption. None of this will help a soccer mom or a small business traveler overseas. We’ll try to work through what normal people can do to protect their devices, their data and make a lost or stolen device nearly useless to a thief.

A smartphone today is more powerful than a desktop computer from 10 years ago. This means these are extremely well-connected and valuable devices for you, me and thieves.

Let’s get started. I can’t ensure that any of these features or techniques will be available on your device or in the operating system that you phone runs. I’m only familiar with GSM phones, not what Verizon or Sprint use. Apple devices are a complete mystery to me. Do your own research for your device’s capabilities.