Hide your stuff by creating a safety vault on your computer - Part 1

Lets face it, we all wanted a folder on our computer that we wished no one else have access to. A folder that holds our very important work files, personal email or chat logs or may be our collection of naughty videos and pictures, needs a level of security that can give us a peaceful sleep. But how do we actually protect our private folder, well for one, we could use zillions of software available for this purpose. My personal favorite among those zillions of software is TrueCrypt. TrueCrypt is a free, open source software that is available for all platforms. What TrueCrypt does is, it encrypts an entire partition or a USB flash drive, with such a strong algorithm that even if FBI happens to get their hands on your private data, they will have to scratch their grey cells for months to break it!! But, what if you don't want to use any third party software ? Are our Operating Systems equipped with any such mechanisms that will allow us to create a safety vault for our private files ? Read on..

In Mac OS X, there exists Disk Utility that will help us create an encrypted partition and in Windows, however we will use a smart way of redirection to a system folder. Let me first begin with Mac OS X, Windows will follow up in my Part 2 of this article. Follow the exact steps in Mac OS X Leopard :

1. Launch the Disk Utility from the /Applications/Utilities folder
   
   
2. Select New Disk Image from the file menu
   
   
3. You will be required to enter a name for the encrypted disk that will be created, lets name it MyStuff. Remember that MyStuff will be a disk image and hence will be saved as MyStuff.dmg.
   
   
4. Choose the location where you will like the disk image to be created, by selecting a location from the device listing on the left.
   
   
5. For the Volume Size, select a size that will have enough space to fit in all your stuff, for reference purpose I chose 660MB, you should choose a higher value.
   
   
6. For Volume Format, select Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
   
   
7. For Encryption, choose either 128 bit AES or 256 bit AES, I don't have a problem with FBI so I chose 128 bit AES Encryption.
   
   
8. For Partition, choose Single Partition- Apple Partition Map
   
   
9. For Image Format, you choose read/write disk image, so that you can add and delete contents to MyStuff.
   
   
10. Next click on the Create button.
    
    
11. When prompted, enter a password. Remember your password is your key, so make it as jumbled as possible so that guessing the password makes no sense. Use a good combination of characters, numbers and special characters with both upper and lower case.
    
    
12. Click OK and your disk will be created at the location specified.

NOTE: Never click on Remember password or add to keychain as this will enable anyone to access your image just by clicking it.

Now your safety vault MyStuff.dmg is created and every time you want to access it, just double click on it and enter the password. When you are done with it just select the mounted MyStuff and press CMD + E to eject or simply reboot/shutdown. Now dump all your all your Playmate videos and have a peaceful sleep.

DVD Review: Iron Man

To the people who say, 'Oh man, not another Super hero movie!', I'd say, come on people wake up! Super hero movies have adapted so well to the latest advancement in technology, computer graphics and animations that it has become really difficult for the audience to differentiate between reality and Special Effect wizardry. Spiderman has set a standard for superhero movies and every superhero movie that came after it has left the audience mesmerized. Its just unbelievable how creative the folks in Hollywood are, they churn out half a dozen superhero movies every year and they all turnout to be money spinners for the studios! So, where does our Iron Man stand ? Or does it manage to find some place at all ??

The Plot

Robert Downey plays Tony Stark, a billionaire playboy, owner of Stark Industries which produce advanced weapons for the United States Military. Tony is kidnapped by terrorist while he is demonstrating the Jericho missile in Afghanistan. These terrorist are not shown as the ones carrying out Jihad against the West but rather they are shown as villians terrorizing an Afghan villiage. Apparently these terrorist want Tony to make the Jericho missile for them. From here the plot unfolds where Tony realizes that the weapons he created are not just being used by America but are also secretly being sold to these terrorist who carry out terror plans. He has a change of mind, he creates an armor to escape from the cave, where he is kept in holding. How he escapes, redesigns the armor, fights the bad guys is what the rest of the story is. I don't like story telling and so you need to watch this movie to know what happens next.

The highs and the lows

The director Jon Favreau does his job brilliantly with a very perfect cast. The highlight of the movie is Robert Downey's role as Tony Stark, I mean the man gives life to Tony Stark. His performance is so authentic that you feel no one else would have done enough justice to Tony Stark than Downey. The other highlight of the movie are the special effects used in the movie, some of the sequences are simply mind-blowing especially the one where Tony saves the life of Fighter Pilot. Equally fantastic is the scene where Tony trains himself with his newly designed armor. And last but certainly not the least is the character of Miss Pepper Potts played by the very beautiful Gwyneth Paltrow. She plays Tony's selfless personal assistant with loads of cuteness on her radiant face. Gwyneth Paltrow looks a Stunner when she wears a blue dress in the movie, trust me when I say this 'She looked edible in the blue dress'. I mean real mouth watering edible!!

The movies single biggest flaw is the storyline. The script manages to cover its flaw with some witty dialogues and electric performance by Robert Downey but the story line is not convincing enough. Take this, the terrorist are not shown as having some agenda, they are just there as villians who terrorize a village and add this to the fact that they are shown as using the super advanced Jericho missile for such a thing. How could any organization other than the Military have capability to posses and use such advanced weapons is beyond my comprehension, let alone those terrorists who live in a cave!! There is this stupid scene where Tony, after surviving a missile attack, unbuttons his shirt to reveal a bullet proof jacket. But then people this is a super hero movie and we expect entertainment from a superhero movie and this movie has loads of entertainment for you.

Who should watch this movie ?

• If you like comics and if you are a fan of superhero movies, you shouldn't miss this movie for anything in this world

• If you like me have a strong appetite for Hollywood ladies you should watch the stunner of Gwyneth Paltrow in blue dress although I must say she should have some extended role in the movie.

• If you are a porn addict, give yourself a life and take some time off those ass-pounding whore movies and watch this ass-kicking super hero move.

Who shouldn't watch this movie ?

Nobody, I mean nobody!!

The Verdict

I firmly believe that this movie has been over rated, more so by Rotten Tomatoes, who have given it 93%. While I completely agree this movie is an entertainer, lets not forget that this isn't a groundbreaking movie as well. I'd personally give this fantastic entertainer * * * out of 5 forgetting the fact that there is no Hollywood Kiss in this movie!!

9/11 The world order aftermath

The world knows what happened on September 11, 2001, writing about that incident is like bringing the suffering back.

My heartiest condolences to the families of people who died in the incident, my heartiest condolences also to the people who are suffering or enduring the aftermath of 9/11. 9/11 has defined a new world order, a new order of inequality and hatred. Powerful nations now think of preemptive strikes on any nation that they think may pose danger to its national integrity. They amass weapons of mass destruction saying they need them to protect their people while on the other hand they impose sanctions on lesser countries who do the same.

I got one question to be answered, why does the world need Nuclear Weapons ? Does Nuclear Weapons ensure peaceful life to the nations who posses them ? Let me put it this way, USA has weapons of mass destruction so advanced that they could annihilate the Galaxy, but did this drop the crime rate in USA ? Do Americans feel safe ? On the other hand, the same weapons that America posses to safeguard the lives of its people have been used in Afghanistan, Iraq and many other countries killing millions of people, destroying civilizations that have existed for 1000s of years! Now you get the idea what weapons do. Weapons are for destruction, they don't ensure safety they just obliterate life.

America wages war on terrorism telling people that the war will free them bringing democracy to their nations. Let me tell you how much America loves democracy. Imaging democracy in Saudi Arabia, there is parliament, people vote to choose their leaders. Now in a democratic country, for America to setup a military base, it requires to get a nod from the parliament of that country. Any one who has lived in a democracy know it very well what it takes to get a nod of the parliament. America has to convince an entire nation for everything it wishes to do in a democratic nation. On the other hand, if its a Monarchy, all America needs to do to convince a Monarchical Prince is to invite him for luxurious vacations in Vegas and send in some Playmates for fellatio. Mark my words America will never bring democracy to the nations it has promised to do so. You count for yourself, how many people terrorists have killed and how many have been killed by the nations who fight terrorism!

The world is in chaos with all the suffering of innocent people but trust me while everything can't be undone we can sure make a big difference if we clean our hearts of hatred and fill it with compassion and love for humanity.I have nothing more to say on this day than to pray to god to bless its people with wisdom, love and compassion. I remember this line from the movie Blood Diamond when Danny Archer ( Leonardo DiCaprio ) in a deep pain says to Maddy Bowen ( Jennifer Connelly ) : "Sometimes I wonder will God ever forgive us for what we've done to each other ?Then I look around and realize.... God left this place a long time ago." My tributes to the fallen souls of 9/11 tragedy.

P.S: I have repeatedly mentioned USA, this was just for illustration of a scenario. Monarchical Prince doesn't specifically mean Saudi Prince, although I think Saudi Leaders suck.

Lastly I love peace and I love America.. well more than my country, I bet. Ask my friends :-)

Apple's "Let's Rock" Round up..

Well folks the wait is over and I am here with a brief summery of Apple's Let's Rock event. Putting all the rumors to rest about his health Steve Jobs makes his appearance and boy he makes it with a nice slide. I must tell you its always great to have Steve on stage. And now back to the summary of Lets Rock..

Apple release the new iTunes 8 with the Genius Sidebar. According to Steve Jobs "Old browsing wasn't efficient", he means to say that Genius will change the way you browse your media. Well in essence this Genius sidebar will add some eye candy and make it easier for Apple to get some business with 'buy this song' available in the sidebar!! You got TV show in HD in iTunes now. I think its great news.

Next up Jobs pumps up the iPod Classic up to 120 GB and will be available for $249. The highlight of the event is probably the announcement of the 4th generation iPod Nano. I must tell you this thing looks absolutely stunning and boy its got everything you want in a music player. Jobs calls it the thinnest iPod ever with new Genius playlist, shake to shuffle feature and its gone green too. Its got great battery too with 24 hours of music playback and 4 hours of video playback. Nano 4G should be available soon in probably 9 colors with 8GB model for $149 and 16GB for $199.

What about the iPod Touch, much to our expectations Jobs announced the newly updated iPod Touch that is slimmer and its got a stainless steel case too.

Features of the new iPod touch are

• Hardware Volume Controls

• Built in Speaker

• Built in Nike receiver

• User interface now has the new iTunes Genius Sidebar

• Battery life is at 36 hours of music playback and 6 hours of video playback.

If you are one of those who always had a complain about the ear phones bundled with your iPods, you may be in some great luck this time around. Jobs announced the new $79 earphones which should have great audio quality. Going by its features, I bet it should. These new in ear phones have 2 drivers each, a woofer and a tweeter and they come with three ear buds of different sizes so that you can find the one that fits best in your ear.

I thought Let's Rock was an opportunity for Apple to deal with the copy and paste thing in iPhone and iPod Touch. But sadly though the new firmware 2.1 for iPhone/iPod Touch announced with a lots of bug fixes like improved battery life, fewer dropped calls, faster iTunes backups but no mention of copy and paste. Lets see if the new firmware 2.1 fixes the bugs its supposed to when its released this Friday.

To sum up, except for the new iPod Nano 4G, Let's Rock didn't seem to rock as much as we expected it too. Before I take leave don't forget to download the video of Let's Rock which will be available soon on iTunes. Lastly all the pics posted here are courtesy Gizmodo. And boy did I forget ... its my Birthday too :-)

Attack of the Clones!!

The Clones have attacked... don't get me wrong, didn't you hear about the Mac-Clones and hackint0sh ?? Basically a Hackint0sh is a PC that runs Mac OS X, now that is supposed to be illegal. And if that was not enough, Psystar, a little known company had successfully launched Mac-Clones called the OpenMacs and OpenPros and made a pretty good profit for itself. All this happened in and around April this year when Apple was busy with the launch of iPhone 3G and then MobileMe.

In July Apple sued Psystar saying it was illegal to ship PCs with Mac OS X preloaded. Psystar, paying a little attention to this continued to sell its Mac-Clones. And now, as it turns out Psystar has counter sued Apple claiming that the EULA itself was in violation of antitrust laws!! Psystar also seemed to have problems with Apples pricing of its products. Now what is interesting to see is where is this heading towards ??

An interesting point here is that the law firm representing Psystar had earlier sued Apple for patent infringement and Apple had to settle for a 10 Million Dollars out of court settlement. What happens this time around is what everyone will be waiting for...

Apple's "Lets Rock"

Okay folks lets get ready for the next big event from Apple. Apple has confirmed the event named "Let's Rock" on September the 9th. The moment this was announced there have been rumors as to what this event has in store. Apparently "Let's Rock" will have the new updated models of the iPod music players with prices cut down for some other models as well. This even looks like the Apple's chance to cash in the holiday season sales.

As for the rumors, thanks to Kevin Rose's prediction some of the rumors have been put to rest. It looks like the new iTunes 8 is gonna have Genius feature that will generate playlists containing songs that will have similar qualities to other songs, only time will tell how much of this is true. The event's title may not be appropriate for this but there have been discussions that the MacBooks might be updated as well, thanks to the rise in demand for MacBooks.

What about everyone's favorite Job's Keynote. There have been serious talks about Steve Jobs health and may not have his keynote this time around, but I can bet on it he will have one. Steve Jobs has been doing this for the last few years, announcing new iPods every September. This time around we might see new iPods, higher capacity versions of the Slim Nanos, lower prices of the existing iPod Touches. And if we know Apple's history we might be in for a few surprises too.

Now the question is where to catch the action ? There are dozens of blogs that do the live blogging of Apple events but the one that is my favorite is the one at Gizmodo. The event will be held at Yerba Buena Center of Arts at San Francisco at 10 PDT , Tuesday. The Gizmodo team will start the live blogging of the event 45 minutes earlier to the starting of the event on Tuesday. So people Lets Rock this September 9th.

Google's Chrome makes its war cry...

The browser war is in full swing, Firefox created a world record with its Firefox 3 downloads, IE released its beta IE8 with inPrivate feature similar to Safari's Private Browsing. My favorite browser Safari itself is in its 4th avtaar in developer beta. And if that was not enough we hear a war cry from Google's own browser called Chrome. Chrome is a browser that has been designed from the scratch based on WebKit, a rendering engine that Safari also uses. Chrome has been designed with three things in mind Security, compatibility and Speed. Now what remains to be seen is will Google deliver ??

To enhance security Chromes used two blacklists, one for malware and the other for phishing in the form of updates.

That is to say Chrome warns users if they attempt to visit malicious sites that have been blacklisted. Sandboxing is another security feature implemented in each tabs of Chrome, which prevents malware from installing itself. Each tab in Chrome will run as its own independent process, meaning to say that if one tab is jammed the other tabs or the browser itself is not hanged or crashed.

Chrome will integrate Google Gears and will have Java Virtual Machine that will have faster response to java-script code.

Chrome will also have support for plug-ins and will include an Private mode which will allow end user to anonymously browse web without leaving any traces as this mode will not save cookies. This feature will work for any tab you want to invoke this mode on. Chrome will have Task Manager which will allow users to see the browser activity, downloads etc.

Chrome will formally be launched on Wednesday with a windows version and Linux and Mac OS X will versions will soon follow. BTW this is going to be an Open source browser. I love Google stuff so I can't wait for Chrome to invade our desktops..