Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Need to Get GTR-Evolution

Just found out that in the new edition of GTR-Evolution, I'm actually one in the roster of drivers in the game :P

In the GP Club class, I'm in one of the teams. The details are as follows:

Car Model: Gillet Vertigo Streiff
Class: GT Club
Number: 101
Team: Sebastian Schillag & Pisal Setthawong
Sponsor: Ecurie Gillet


Now I just have to find a place that retails that game. Got to get to the licensed PC gameshop at Mahboonkrong. Hopefully they would have a copy of the game :P

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Safe Internet on Public Terminals

Using public computers is a risky endeavor, and there are certainly numerous ways that you can easily get hacked. That is especially risky if you are logging to accounts that deal with money (e.g. credit card transaction and etc), in which you can easily get into alot of trouble.

Due to that, I would like to write just a few short tips that might help keep you save if you are planning to use the Internet on Public Terminals. I'll try to keep the guidelines short and easy :P

1) Don't use public terminals when on the go!
If it isn't necessary don't use public terminals if possible. If you don't expose yourself, you won't get into trouble. However this isn't quite possible is it?

2) Access only low priority accounts
If you really need to access your accounts on public terminals, it is also a good idea to access low priority accounts. In other words, access emails that are not critical to you. Don't access your bank online from public terminals! That is certainly a really dangerous thing to do.

3) Logout and Delete all Cookies and Caches from Your Browser after Finishing Usage
This is one method that has been highly touted as a way to keep yourself especially safe when you are logging into a public termainal. Though this method can prevent most kinds of unauthorized access to your site, certain programs embedded in public computers by hackers such as keyboard loggers can easily figure your account and password easily. Due to this, there is another precaution that could help.

4) Copy and Paste Passwords Letter by Letter
Here is one under-utilized technique that can easily prevent keyboard loggers from finding your account and password. Try opening up a random website and copy letters from the webpage to fill up your account and password when you want to log into any of your account. This can prevent simple keyboard loggers from knowning your password as all it can see is a series of copy and pastes without the letters saved.

These techniques discussed here is just a simple rudimentary way to protecting yourself when using Internet on public terminals. It still can't prevent from advanced forms of hacking from the most dedicated hackers, but at least it is a quick guideline to keep yourself safe. On a short note, this doesn't cover the proces of selecting good passwords or segregating your accounts to limit damage when a hack has occured :P

Friday, December 05, 2008

Unexpected Hero

Getting to my work place is quite a long transit. First of all I have to get from my home to the bus stop which is a 5 minute walk. The next step is to take a 20 Km trip accross the city on an express bus. This part of the journey is deceptionally fast, as going on the expressway literally on the opposite way of where must the traffic are, the trip takes usually only half an hour which is a short time compared to all the inner city traffic jam. After debarking from the bus, I have to cross the bridge, and walk another short transit to a shuttle bus (the red pickups) before I could reach my work place. This process usually takes me about an hour to complete a single trip.

In most of the cases, the trip here are usually uneventful. However a few days back, things weren't as simple as it turned out. As I got off the express bus, there were a few people that usually use the same route as I do. On this day, things were mostly the same, except that during my walk from the busstop to the shuttle bus - which was about 500 meters, I met this man that was dressed in short jeans, and a red shirt that didn't cover the waist. As seeing a somewhat odd fellow, my usual reaction is to take a long route around the person. As I was walking past him, he was muttering all sort of non-sense - in which I ignored, knowing that it is best to avoid these types of people. However as I walked past him, I heard a scream, and a young lady (probably a student in one of the schools close by) ran past me, and grabbed my hand, and told me that she was harassed. As I turned back, I could see that I was in between the crazy person I mentioned earlier and she was behind my back. As I looked at him and sized up, I could see he was mutting all sort of nonsense before turning sideways and shouting at a telephone booth. A few seconds later he walked back and shooted at a trashcan. As seeing he wasn't quite interest in us anymore, we decided to walk off.

As we briskly walked on, the young lady gave a call and quickly hopped on the cab while I continued my transit.

Afer all that has happened and as it sunk into me, I couldn't help by wonder how things could have been very very different. As in this case, I was lucky, as I was only confronted by a crazy person which in most cases were quite harmless. If the person was a stalker or a sick individual, I deduced that I might have been in serious trouble (e.g. been stabbed or stalked for helping another person out). The worst part about it is that in this case, I wasn't given the ability to choose whether to help or not. No matter the case, at the end of the day, I'm just glad everything turned out not too bad... At least I'm still around to tell this tale...