TechyDad, Author at TechyDad

Another App Bites The Dust – Goodbye TweetDeck

April 22, 2013 TechyDad Smartphone/Tablet Apps, Twitter

On Friday, I was checking some news items when I stumbled upon a note about TweetDeck. For those who don’t know, TweetDeck is a wonderful Twitter client that lets you read your stream easily as well as view additional columns for users, searches, or lists. This is my preferred Twitter client. I don’t know how I’d keep up to date with Twitter without it.

Unfortunately, it looks like I’m about to find out.

As of May 7th, TweetDeck’s Android, iPhone, and Adobe AIR versions will cease to function. (The web app will continue to work.) The reason behind this is the impending Twitter API upgrade. The 1.0 version of the Twitter API is being retired in favor of the new 1.1 version. TweetDeck is based on version 1.0. TweetDeck’s team made the decision to focus all effort on the web version of the application and thus shut down the rest.

First, Google Reader and now this.

Of course, this meant that I went on a hunt for a new favorite Twitter client application. My initial step was to list all of TweetDeck’s features that I liked and that I’d like to see in a new Twitter client.

1. I like that TweetDeck allows me to show lists and searches as columns. Users as columns is nice, but I don’t actually use it that often. (Mostly during Twitter parties and then I can use TweetDeck’s web version.)

2. I like getting notifications for updates not just for mentions or direct messages, but for said lists and searches as well. (Notifications for my main timeline aren’t needed. Since I’m following over 1,000 people, there’s no way I can keep up with everyone.)

3. Handle multiple accounts. (After all, I do have the @FollowerHQ account even if I don’t use it often.)

I began trying a few apps from the Google Play app store. UberSocial looked nice initially, but wound up missing key features. (Namely, it couldn’t save searches and lists as columns.) Then, I decided to try out the official Twitter app, but found it extremely limiting. (Which is odd since Twitter actually owns TweetDeck. I’d think they’d want to fold TweetDeck’s features into the main Twitter client. If they do, I’ll revisit the app, but for now it’s MUCH too limited feature-wise.)

I had a recommendation of Falcon Pro, but it costs $1.96. I don’t mind paying, but I’d like to be able to try it first. I’d hate to pay only to find out that I don’t like the application. Besides, this review says that it doesn’t have push notifications.

For now, I’ve settled on Plume. It’s not perfect. For one thing, while it lets me use a list or search as a column, it won’t show me notifications on new tweets in these areas.

What Twitter app do you use? If you are answering TweetDeck, what will you move to when TweetDeck shuts down.

NOTE: The "cutie bird" icon above is by Luen and is available from OpenClipArt.com.

Editing Reality

April 19, 2013 TechyDad Books, Geeky Pursuits

Yesterday, I wrote about a great book I read titled Off To Be The Wizard by Scott Meyer. In it, the main character, Martin Banks finds that he can edit a computer file and alter reality. A bigger bank account, taller height, and different location are just a quick file change away.

This got me to thinking what I would do if I found such a computer file. Changing my bank account balance is the obvious choice. However, like Martin, I might run into problems if I abused that. After all, banks tend to get suspicious if large sums of money just appear in your account for no good reason. I could change physical attributes like my weight or height, but those could have unforeseen consequences as well. (Such as making me weigh less by removing organs from my body that I need to live.)

In the end, I think that the thing I’d edit the most would be location. Imagine being able to take a trip anywhere by merely finding your location on a map and clicking. I could take a trip to Disney World without needing airfare and, when the day was over, could teleport back to my own house and my own bed (saving money on hotels). My daily commute to work would involve popping out of my house and immediately being by my desk. A trip to my parents would be as easy as point and click. Of course, my photography vistas would expand infinitely as I could quickly appear in a location, take some photos, and then disappear to go back home.

If you could edit any aspect of reality by simply editing a computer file, what would you do?

A Tale of Computers and Wizards

April 18, 2013 TechyDad Books, Review

A couple of weeks ago, I was reading Epbot, a blog run by Jen Yates of Cake Wrecks fame, when I saw her review of a book titled Off To Be The Wizard by Scott Meyer. I immediately knew this was a book I would have to read.

The author had put the first seven chapters online for free so I downloaded and read those. Actually, read is the wrong word. Devoured sounds better. I was done with those quickly and purchased the Kindle version to read the rest. The story sucked me in so much that I was done in just over 24 hours.

The tale begins with Martin Banks. Martin’s a pretty average guy. He has a boring, dead-end job, a drab apartment, and not much money in his bank account. He’s also a computer enthusiast. One night, while hacking into a server (not to cause mischief, but just to see what he can find), he stumbles across a strange text file. The file is large and has a boring name, but something about it piques Martin’s interest. He tries to download it and is surprised when it instantly opens.

Martin quickly realizes that this file describes people and objects in the real world. Not only that, but he can make changes to the file. If he changes his longitude and latitude in the file, he teleports to another location. If he changes his height, he gets taller or shorter. He can edit his bank account balance and his cell phone’s battery level. He can even hover or travel to the past (but not to the future).

With all this power at his disposal, it is almost inevitable that Martin runs into trouble. He’s forced to flee and, given that he could be pursued any WHERE, decides to escape to a WHEN. Specifically, the middle ages. After all, the power to change reality could be viewed as magic and he could become a wizard.

What follows is a riveting adventure filled with magic, geeky references, and time travel as Martin learns how to be a wizard. I’d definitely recommend this book to any who loves computers, fantasy, science fiction, or just a really good story. Off To Be The Wizard is available from Amazon.com in both paperback and Kindle versions.

Disclosure: I purchased Off To Be The Wizard myself to read. I wanted to share a book that I loved and wasn’t compensated in any way for this review.

Apocalypse Meow and a WordPress Hack Warning

April 17, 2013 TechyDad Blogging, Internet

WordPress is the biggest content management system around, The good thing about this is that there is a wide array of themes and plugins that various people have developed. The downside is that it makes WordPress a giant target for hackers. Security is paramount if you are going power a website with WordPress.

Currently, WordPress websites are under attack. A network of 90,000 compromised sites are performing brute force attacks to try to gain access to WordPress websites. (To those who don’t know, brute force attacks attempt to learn your password by trying many common passwords in a rapid manner. The more power behind the brute force attack and the shorted the span of time that it would take to guess your password and get in.) If your site is compromised, it will be added to the network and used to hack other sites. In other words, as the brute force succeeds, it becomes stronger and more capable to add other sites.

How can you prevent this? Over at TypeAParent, I shared some WordPress plugins to help prevent spam and strengthen security. One plugin in particular would be helpful with this attack: Apocalypse Meow.

The first thing that Apocalypse Meow can do to protect you is remove the "generator" tag that WordPress adds to the website. This tag doesn’t display, but notes that WordPress created the website and even the version number that you are running. This might not be something you see, but to a hacker it is a flashing neon sign telling them just how to attempt to hack your website.

The second thing that Apocalypse Meow can do is rename your administrative account. By default, WordPress suggests the name "admin" for your admin username. Most people don’t change this and so millions of sites are administered by "admin." Hackers need just guess the password (not a hard proposition in many cases) and they have full control of the site.

Last week, there were over 7,000 login attempts made on TechyDad.com and TheAngelForever.com. That is about 2 attempts every 3 minutes. Of those attacks, 98.8% were trying to log in as "admin."

As a side note: These stats were recorded by Apocalypse Meow, It records all successful and failed login attempts. If one user tries and fails too many times (user defined, but starts at 5), then you are locked out of logging in for awhile. Usually, this thwarts brute force attacks, but in this case the attackers wisely assault sites from many different compromised WordPress installations.

Still, why not make things more difficult for the hackers? They are mainly looking for "admin", so rename the Admin account to something else. Make sure it is something you can remember, but nothing obvious like "admin1" or "administrator". Apocalypse Meow can help here too. It provides an easy method for renaming the admin account.

In a matter of seconds, you can thwart 98,8% of attacks, keep your site safe, and help make sure that your website doesn’t unwittingly get conscripted in the hacker’s brute force army.

NOTE: The computer image above is by DTRave and is available from OpenClipArt.org.

Scales of Good vs. Evil

April 16, 2013 TechyDad Life

While watching the horror that took place in Boston, a few things struck me. First of all, one evil person can do a lot of damage in a short period of time. With one act, they can end some lives and seriously injure many more people. They can cause property damage on a large scale and inspire terror in many folks’ hearts.

In addition, while good people can help, they for the most part can’t do so with the same speed and reach as the evil people.

At first, I felt discouraged, but then I realized something. Good people might not have scale or speed, but they have numbers. When you see the video of the bombing, there are many people running towards the carnage to help the injured. Police, fire fighters, and medical workers rushed in despite the fact that they could have easily been walking right into the range of another explosion. They did this to help as many people as possible.

It wasn’t just the first responders, either. Plenty of ordinary people helped out in any way they could. I’ve heard reports of people living in the area bringing out blankets and lending the use of their bathrooms and phones. In the days to come, I’m sure we’ll hear many more stories of good deeds being done in the midst of this tragedy. Even if each of these deeds was small, they add up quickly.

There is a reason that events like the Boston Marathon bombing are so shocking. It is because our nature is not to be cruel. Our nature is not to cause harm to people. It is to help and heal. Evil is only an exception to this rule. Evil might be able to make a big impact every so often, but as long as good people keep performing acts of kindness, evil won’t be able to tip the scales in its’ favor.

My prayers go out to those affected by this tragedy. In honor of the wounded and in memory of those killed, please go do some good deeds. Let’s tip those scales.

NOTE: The images used in this post were created by combining two images available from OpenClipArt.org: Scales of Justice by johnny_automatic and Stone by Angelo_Gemmi.

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