Universal Media (audio/video) transcoder - Open Source

Media Coder

Heard about this today... haven't had a chance to check it out yet, but seems like a great program to transfer anything media from one format to another. It's licensed under the GNU Open source licensing

http://mediacoder.sourceforge.net/

Making a ringtone from any MP3 file

Heard about this... not sure if it works... I may give it a try... (getting tired of hearing my same old Nextel generic ring tone, but didn't want to pay any thing for a new one.)

Make a ringtone from any MP3 file?

http://lifehacker.com/software/ringtones/geek-to-live--make-a-ringtone-from-any-mp3-212232.php

DemocraKey - Safe Computing away from your system

Heard about this today while listening to the Globalgeek podcast #41. Haven't had a chance to try this out yet, however, it sounds interesting. It can load on a USB drive or even an IPOD/MP3 player.

A DemocraKey is a portable piece of software that works on any computer. Just walk up, plug in a DemocraKey, and you can be assured your files are much safer, your computer is better protected while browsing the web, and nobody will be able to tell which site you’re visiting.

For more info goto http://www.democrakey.com/

Windows WiFI Wireless Adhoc connections by default

On Episode 81 from Security Now... I Learned about "FreePublicWiFi" entry that gets propagated (I've actually seen this before) / Wireless Ad hoc connections by default

Windows XP's "zero configuration WiFi" system defaults to the almost-never-useful and always-potentially-dangerous mode of connecting to non access point WiFi devices in so-called "Ad Hoc" mode. This has potentially serious security consequences. This is an insecure default which SHOULD be changed on every XP-based WiFi machine.

See Notes for How to remove.. http://www.grc.com/sn/notes-081.htm

This episode also has some great info about Hard Drive failures...

Favorite Podcasts

Thought I would just provide a list of the podcasts I listen to each week:

SecurityNow (Leo Laporte/Steve Gibson.)
FreshUbuntu (Halem)
Linux Reality
GlobalGeek Podcast
The Linux Action Show
Ubuntu Podcast
Lottalinuxlinks
Linux Install Podcast

Favorite Linux Distribution

My favorite Linux distro so far is Ubuntu Linux. Check it out at http://www.ubuntu.com/. You can download a copy at here.

VPN Tunnel - Anywhere

Recently I learned about a great product that allows one to create an encrypted VPN tunnel anywhere (even through existing firewalls.) You can create virtual private networks where multiple computers can be attached (ala, install vnc and then use the new vpn connection to remotely control another system without even needing to open ports on your firewall.) There are many things you can do with this.

The product's name is "Hamachi" (you can find this at www.hamachi.cc). I first stumbled upon this while visiting/listening to a Podcast from Knightwise.com Episode 37 "remote domination". At first I was a little skeptical about how secure it was... I tried it out anyway on a few sandbox systems I have (vmware instances) and was surprised about how fast it was to sign-up and then connect.

Later, as I was listening to an older episode of Security Now with Steve Gibson, he do was impressed with this product. He went on to say how he was an early tester of the product and had spoken with the developer on how it was constructed. Steve felt that the product was developed with the right technology to provide truly private connections. See episode #18 and 19.

Give it a try and let me know what you think or how you used it?