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Networked Blogs
Feb
21
I feel better having read Casey McGlasson’s post on The Sample Gates regarding a study that determines that Internet usage makes us smarter. Sometimes I worry that too much Internet usage is a bad thing. Reading that it isn’t is relieving.
Writes Casey McGlasson:
At least it’s relatively encouraging to hear that the benefits side of things is highly recognized, despite much of the popular opinion.
It makes me think about how things have changed over the years since the Internet became commonplace.
Instead of waiting for the weekly news or special interest magazine to arrive, we now have gigabytes of information on any subject readily available at our fingertips 24-hours every day. Even the arrival of the morning newspaper seems to bring old stories one has already read online.
Instead of having to run out to a library to pull a book from the stacks, fire up the computer and log on to find information. Data that used to be expensive — legal research, for example — is being made cheaper by companies providing flat rate access to legal information, such as Fastcase or Casemaker.
Phone books seem to be going the way of the dinosaurs as online directories — such as Google local — make looking up a business easy and quick. There’s no need to ever call 411 when online services provide free directory assistance by phone, text, or web.
Even sending documents is easier. Instead of mailing or faxing letters and other documents, I find it is often easier for everyone involved to scan and send via email. It saves postage and the trip to the post office, if the letter carrier has already stopped by the mailbox.
The Internet is a great thing. Life has gotten easier than ever. We’re growing smarter than we’ve ever been.
If people complain that the Internet is dulling our senses, it might be because they aren’t using the resources available to them the right way. Even with ample usage of “time wasters,” people are better off today because of the rivers of knowledge flowing through the Internet than they were back in the old days when data was often harder to come by.
Photo credit: Roberto Rizzato.
Jul
30
Internet DNS Threatened?
Filed Under internet, life online | Leave a Comment
Is the way the internet translates friendly URLs — such as ChristopherHedges.com into IP addresses (this website’s IP address is 208.109.149.107, for example) — that send people to websites threatened by a flaw that the bad guys can exploit?
The New York Times reports that IT people and ISPs are rushing to fix their DNS servers before the information about the exact problem is released to the public.
The potential consequences of the flaw are significant. It could allow a criminal to redirect Web traffic secretly, so that a person typing a bank’s actual Web address would be sent to an impostor site set up to steal the user’s name and password. The user might have no clue about the misdirection, and unconfirmed reports in the Web community indicate that attempted attacks are already under way.
One easy solution computer users can do for themselves right now if their ISP hasn’t responded to the threat is to switch to Open DNS, reports the New York Times.
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