ashNOLOGY

Hello World,  I hope you have been doing well. So I just came across a video from the Youtube channel DIY Tryin (I love these guys), and with in about 5 minutes, they set up a " Pirate Box ". I was blown away, because I had not heard of this before. " What is a Pirate Box?" you might ask. Its a secure way for you to share files (and even chat) with friends, who are within your proximity, without needing internet. Basically its turning a device into a wireless local LAN almost. Its pretty cool. As they mentioned this could be used for many things, from Fun to Functional. Fun: If you are throwing a party, you can have your friends connect to it, up load the pictures and videos they take, or share their favorite songs to be played. Functional: If you need to exchange files between machines securely for example. The possibilities are endless, and I personally want to do this. I would probably go with the TP- Router instead of the Raspberry PI, becaus

Hello World, This is super interesting. When I'm not IT-ing, I'm usually doing something music related, either practicing or performing with one of my friends. Its mostly acoustic/live instruments. Then a friend of mine (also a musical techie) sent me a link to Sonic-Pi . I wasn't sure what it was for, then I watched the video that's on the site, and I got REALLY excited, and I had to share it. Dr Sam Aaron basically developed a language, using the Raspberry Pi's Python kernel as the basis, and it actually allows you to CREATE music, via programming, its brilliant. I can see this being a hit in both the Computer Science and in the Music Class, especially for the younger generation. In a way its stimulating both sides of your brain, the Analytical side (programming), and the Creative side (music). Check it out at Sonic-Pi.net , its very cool. Keep on tech-ing everyone. -Ash

Hello World,  So recently 2 of my friends and I started a little Study Group, one of us is very much interested in getting the Security + certification, and the other 2 are inspired by that human, so the 3 of us decided that we shall study together, and hopefully all 3 of us take the exam and get certified. Its a good cert to have, especially in this field. I actually am not being considered for a position because I don't have this cert, so that is encouraging me to get it. What we have done so far: We met up and tried to watch an instructional video on the subject, but it was very badly made, and the "instructors" were not very good. So we instead decided that we would go the Book route. We all agreed on the same book, by the end of the night, we all had a digital copy via our Kindle/Kindle App. We then set a time line, which means we need to cover 2 chapters per week, to be able to take the exam by September, and this where things get tricky. The 3 of us have very acti

Hello world,  So today I had a random thought, the existence of a book called "The Screwtape Letters" by C.S. Lewis, sparked an interesting discovery for me. I knew I had heard the name, but I couldn't place what he authored. A quick search and voila, he wrote the "Narinia" series. Then I remembered where I had heard the name, it was in college and I was in class that spoke about J.R.R. Tolken, and how he was friends with C.S. Lewis, and that's when I noticed something. Many of the big innovations tend to come in twos, here is what I noticed. Pepsi Cola - Coca-Cola. Both came from rival pharmacists at there time. C.S. Lewis - J.R.R. Tolken Gave us "Chronically of Narnia" & "The Lord or Rings" series respectively. Steve Jobs - Bill Gates Gave us "Apple" & "Windows" respectively. So I started thinking, who would be the "TWO" of today, and it was a no brainer for me. Elon Musk - Jeff Bazos Giving us &q

Hello World, I have recently come across a super awesome programming language called Python, oh dear god, it is awesome. Its free, versatile, and so many projects use it. I've been self-teaching my self via online tutorials and books, the best way is to do it. I first learned about the language when I came across the Raspberry Pi , which is a revolutionary. Its a product or creating an affordable, many ways portable computer. So many amazing things are happening with it, from DIY Weekend projects, to people creating computer labs in 3rd world countries, the possibilities are endless. You can read about so many of the projects on their official   Raspberry Pi Blog , they also have super cool magazine called The MagPi which you can subscribe to receive a physical or a digital version of the monthly magazine, which is also filled so many goodies. Another cool thing is the fact that you can use Python to create things, modify things on the Raspberry Pi. Finding out about the Ras P

Hello World,  So very recently I've accomplished a goal of mine, I'm officially a Certified Ethical Hacker. What that means is I studied and now have the academic knowledge to be a Pen Tester / Entry level Information Security Analyst. I am excited and frustrated at the same time, here is why. I'm excited because I've accomplished this task which I've been wanting to do for a while now (a little over a year), and it does give me a boost in my confidence, I won't lie about that. I'm frustrated because I keep running into a couple of things at this point when trying to get into this field. Thing #1: Most of the jobs that are posted require Top Secret clearance, which I don't have. Thing #2: The rare "entry level" positions that I do find that don't require a clearance are either far from where I live, or ask for 2 years experience.  Its at this point when I start worried a little, because I've run into this situation before. A decade

Hello World,  I wanted to talk to you about something today that is near and dear to my heart. First of, do you remember something called "The Arab Spring", back in 2011? You know when countries in North Africa started a revolution against their dictators, and many of them were talked about (some still bask in that glory today), well in 2012 a revolt happened in Sudan (and is still happening today), but no one brought any attention to it. What does this have to do with technology? Everything.  You see the people who were (are) revolting, are the bright young women and men. So what they started doing is report on their own revolt. They would take their cell phones to these peaceful protests and stream them to YouTube. At one point I was in contact with someone there who sent me daily text message of images and reports from there, and I would post them on the Sudan Speaks blog. Then the contact wanted to update it directly from there, then they stopped updating.  The S

I'm so excited to be reviving this blog of mine once more. I have written in it for quite some time *cough* 2013 *cough*, but that will change. I'm excited to be starting some new things, and want to document my journey will of you. I can't wait. -ash