Clete's Blog

There are so many posts out on the internet about router security. Well, here is another one.

In my house, I receive at least 6 WAPs in some spots of my house. Over the few years that we have lived in our current house, I have seen router security improve.

However, people take the first step to securing their router and then they stop there. They do the basic WEP encryption and then just leave their router alone. This is a bad practice. WEP isn’t enough.

If you’re sending packets over your network using a short key for your passcode, you’re at high risk. Most people don’t realize that there are tools available like aircrack-ng and LiveCDs like backtrack available that are made specifically for quickly cracking low-security networks. These tools can crack your password in a number of minutes if you’re actively using the internet. Once your network security is compromised, it’s all over. The perpetrator can intercept (and if he has enough knowledge, he can even inject) packets from your network and find out anything that he wants to know.

That’s why I must say: Use WPA2-Personal encryption as a minimum for your home network!

That’s all.

I have 30 Google Wave invitations available. I have posted this on many places on the internet, so I won’t be upset this time about outsiders.

Comment with your GMail address to get one.

Revision: I am out of Google Wave invites until further notice. I will post again once I receive more invitations.

Here is my second project on the Arduino.

I had the idea to expand the LCD project that I previously posted here to add a little bit of customization.

What I did was set it up so that I could type in text on a web page (remotely) and have it show up on the Arduino.

I set up a small PHP script that will allow you to enter text, which is then saved to a text file. I run a Python script that checks that file for changes every ten seconds. If it detects changes, it will write VIA serial to the Arduino and give it the text to send.

Below is a video demonstration. See it on YouTube here.

Here is the code:

index.php:

<?php

$filename = “lcd.txt”;

?>

Insert text to show on the arduino LCD:

<form method=”GET”>
<input type=”text” name=”textToShow” />
<input type=”submit” value=”Submit” />
</form>

<?php

if(isset($_GET['textToShow'])){

?>

<br /><br />
The following text should be displayed on the LCD:

<?php

echo $_GET['textToShow'];

$file = fopen($filename, “w”);
fwrite($file, $_GET['textToShow']);
fclose($file);

}

?>

<br /><br />
To see the contents of <?=$filename;?>, click <a href=”<?=$filename;?>”>here</a>.

serialChecker.py:

import serial
import time
import urllib

# Create serial connection to arduino
ser = serial.Serial(‘COM4′, 9600, timeout=0)
url = ‘link-to-lcd.txt (can be remote)’
previousMessage = ”;

while(True):
message = urllib.urlopen(url).read()
if(previousMessage != message):
ser.write(message)
previousMessage = message
print message
time.sleep(10)

Arduino Code:

#include <LiquidCrystal.h>

// LiquidCrystal display with:
// RS, EN, D4, D5, D6, D7
// or: RS, R/W, EN, D4, D5, D6, D7
// or: RS, EN, D0, D1, D2, D3, D4, D5, D6, D7
// or: RS, R/W, EN, D0, D1, D2, D3, D4, D5, D6, D7

// In this case, the minimum: RS, EN, D4, D5, D6, D7
LiquidCrystal lcd(7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12);

void setup()
{
Serial.begin(9600);

lcd.begin(2,16);
}

void loop()
{
if(Serial.available() > 0){
lcd.clear();
lcd.setCursor(0,0);

for(int i = 0; Serial.available() > 0; i++){
if(i == 16){
lcd.setCursor(0,1);
}
lcd.print(Serial.read(), BYTE);
}
}
delay(1000);
}

Connectify is a new program that turns your Windows 7 PC into a Wi-Fi hotspot. It’s interesting because Microsoft had announced that this feature would be built into Windows 7 on release, but never got around to finishing it. Interestingly, enough code was left in the operating system to make it easy to code a program to implement what Microsoft had originally intended to do.

It’s possible to run your PC as a Wi-Fi hotspot if you don’t run Windows 7, but it is pretty difficult.

I’m interested to see if this actually runs in station (SoftAP) mode or in ad-hoc mode. We will see.

Connectify is a free beta download, though I wouldn’t be surprised if they charge once the final version is released.

I will be giving out 8 Google Wave invitations. The first 8 people who post comments here using their GMail address as the contact for the comment will get them.

I apologize for those who read my blog regularly. Someone posted this at Overclockers UK and sent a bunch of people who have never even seen my blog over here. It was a low move and I will find ways to make it more fair next time.

Yes, this means that I am out of nominations.

Since I’ve been fooling around with an Arduino in Windows 7 (64-bit if it matters), I figured I would share some tips to help get the compiler to work properly and the drivers to work.

First off, download Arduino .0017. If you run it, you will notice that it works properly, but graphical glitches exist in it. To get rid of these, download the latest JRE in 32-bit (even if you run 64-bit). Copy the Java folder from Program Files. Then, delete the Java folder in the Arduino folder and replace it with the one from your Program Files. This will fix it. (it’s possible that just deleting the Java folder from the Arduino folder will work; so long as java.exe is in your PATH variable)

Another thing you may encounter is that either the drivers don’t work properly or your computer hard crashes (e.g. no bluescreen, just a total freeze; can’t even move the mouse) after you upload a few times to your Arduino. To fix this, download the drivers from this page and install them:
http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/VCP.htm

There, I saved you the time I took to figure these idiosyncrasies out (e.g. the time I spent on Google). :-/

I’ve been playing around with the great Arduino kit I recently purchased. It has been a great learning experience so far — and surprisingly easy to use. I have completed my first “project” (although I do hope to expand it in the future). Below is a YouTube video I made for it (yuck, I hate youtube!) and below that is a higher-quality video.

Higher Quality Video

Yesterday, Ashley and I went to New York City to see the Lion King. Of course, we also walked around a bit. Here are the pictures that I took!

Click!

I received my Google Wave invitation today straight from Google! I have 7 out of 8 of my invites left. Beg now!

Anyways, I’ll post a review sometime.

As I have already mentioned, I love integration. I have Google Calendar set up to use Exchange server to sync with my iPhone. I also have a Google Sync application for my PC so that Outlook syncs with Google Calendar as well. If that isn’t enough, I can also add events from calendar.google.com and have them pushed to both my phone and my PC (this works in other combinations as well).

I have now discovered that there is a Windows Gadget for Google Calendar. Not only can I have integration with Outlook, my phone, and the web interface, but I can also have a gadget on my desktop that gives me a quick glance at all of my appointments and also expands for more details.

Here is a picture of the gadget:

And here is the gadget expanded:

The gadget is called Google Calendar Agenda. I highly recommend this gadget for people who use Windows, even as an aside to Linux or OSX.