Have Scrabble Will Travel
I really like board games and thanks to an open ended Game Night with a couple of good friends, my interest for board games is really coming back.
What board games do I like? Well to name just a few Clue and Monopoly come to mind. Does chess count as a board game? If so, I really like chess too but one of my favorite board games is Scrabble.
Why I bring up Scrabble is because earlier today I went to my local Target store and while I was looking around the board game section I came across a travel sized Scrabble game. It’s called Travel Scrabble - Folio Edition, so of course since I do a lot of traveling for work and personal life this was a must have for my collection.
It was less then $20.00 and will bring many hours of gaming enjoyment to me around the house and while out on adventures with my laptop.
As you can see from the picture above, I’ve already started to play with it. I’m going on a road trip soon, so I’ll be bringing this for sure.
Don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy playing games and watching movies on my laptop while traveling but a good game of Scrabble is always fun and with the way this travel version is set up, it’s perfect.
The pieces snap into place, so even in a moving Plane, Train or Automobile (such a great movie), the game won’t get messed up.
Open-Source Disk Encryption Software
Many of my geek friends use an array of Linux flavors (Debian, Fedora, FreeBSD, Gentoo, Knoppix, Mandrake, OpenBSD, RedHat, Slackware, etc.) and have their hard drives encrypted for added protection and security.
I also have some friends who don’t use Linux and prefer Windows, shame on you, hehe… but that’s ok because at some point we all have to use Microsoft Windows in our personal or business daily lifes.
It seems lately I’ve been asked a lot if I can recommend an easy solution to encrypt hard drives under Windows. Well today I have a great recommendation: Truecrypt.
TrueCrypt is Open-Source, free and runs under Windows XP/2000/2003 and Linux. What more could you ask for?
Some of the key features in TrueCrypt include:
- Creates a virtual encrypted disk within a file and mounts it as a real disk.
- Encrypts an entire hard disk partition or a device, such as USB flash drive.
- Encryption is automatic, real-time (on-the-fly) and transparent.
Something a lot of people will find interesting about this program is it provides two levels of plausible deniability, in case an adversary forces you to reveal the password:
- Hidden volume (steganography)
- No TrueCrypt volume can be identified (volumes cannot be distinguished from random data).
TrueCrypt uses multiple encryption algorithms: AES-256, Blowfish (448-bit key), CAST5, Serpent, Triple DES, and Twofish. Mode of operation: LRW (CBC supported as legacy).
To find out more, visit www.Truecrypt.org today!
Albert Einstein’s Chalk Board
As many of my geek friends know, ever since I was a little kid while learning about computers and technology, I’ve always liked Albert Einstein. He was way ahead of his time for sure.
If Albert Einstein was alive today, I wonder what he would think about our modern day technology? Just imagine if he had a blog. It would be filled with all kinds of geektastic writing. If I could go back in time, he would be someone I’d like to meet in person.
Speaking of time travel, tonight I received the following picture in an email:
As you can see from the picture above, he’s written about me on his chalk board. I never knew he liked or even promoted my website. Wait?! He must have figured out time travel, found out about my site, then went back in time and wrote on his chalk board about me. Cool. Thanks Albert Einstein for making my day.
Google and Dell Partnership
Google announced earlier today that Dell Inc. has agreed to ship 10’s of millions of computers with Google software installed.
This news is really going to upset Microsoft because now another powerful company (Google) is getting into the same market share that’s been dominated by Microsoft for over a decade. What market share do you ask? The desktop of course.
This partnership deal is really going to widen the usage of Google products and provide another boost to its already rapidly growing profits. I’m sure it will help Dell as well.
Basically the three year deal has Dell pre-installing Google’s search application for searching a computer hard drive and emails. It also has a Web browser toolbar linking to Google’s online search and other services like Gmail and Google News.
The best part about this deal for Google is Dell would set the homepage of the computer’s browser to a co-branded Dell/Google Web site and would make Google the default search application.
Google has emerged as a serious threat during the past two years and as we all know, there’s been a very heated competition between Google and Microsoft. Who do you think is going to win? My money is on Google.
You’ll definitely want to keep your eye on this story for sure!
Metal ASCII
Anyone remember ASCII art? I sure do and to celebrate, here’s a heavy metal hand gesture just for you:
Google’s tribute to Conan Doyle
Google Celebrates Conan Doyle’s (1859-1930) Birthday with a fancy new Sherlock Holmes inspired logo:
Arthur Conan Doyle was born in Scotland on May 22, 1859. He studied medicine there, eventually serving as a physician in the Boer War (1899-1902).
Conan Doyle’s fame rests on his creation of the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes. Doyle published his first Holmes tale, A Study in Scarlet, in 1887.