3 apps you need for your next road trip
There is something fun and exciting about road trips. They are a great way to discover wonderful places and people. So I wanted to share my top 3 iPhone (IOS) / Android apps every road-tripper should download now.
GasBuddy
<img src="uploads/2025/1c51936d42.jpg" alt="">
Gas Buddy is a free app that helps you find the cheapest gas in your area (Canada and US). It is a great way to decide whether to fill up now, somewhere on your route or at your destination. It also has a handle alert feature that will notify you if it thinks gas prices in your area are heading up (fill up cheap while you can).
<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/gasbuddy-find-cheap-gas-prices/id406719683?mt=8"><img src="uploads/2025/42b6027495.jpg" alt=""></a>
<a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=gbis.gbandroid"><img src="uploads/2025/51b5aae718.jpg" alt=""></a>
iExit
<img src="uploads/2025/fd498c2fa2.jpg" alt="">
The manufacturer describes the app as
“Open up iExit when traveling on an interstate and it will figure out which road and direction you are traveling and the next 100 upcoming exits”
Obviously a great tool to have when travelling in the US.
<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/iexit-interstate-exit-guide/id401746066?mt=8" target="_blank"><img src="uploads/2025/4cb8dfb766.jpg" alt=""></a>
<a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.metrocket.iexitapp&hl=en" target="_blank"><img src="uploads/2025/332c58e4fa.jpg" alt=""></a>
Google Maps
<img src="uploads/2025/95d117fa3e.jpg" alt="">
Google has become synonymous with the word maps and their latest Google Maps product is fantastic. It gives you maps for 220 countries and now even allows you to download routing maps to use while offline.
If you are connected via 3G/LTE, you will get live traffic information (now with Waze traffic data integration), active rerouting, lane guidance, easy searching for local establishments (restaurants, bars, stores, etc).
Overall this has become my defacto mapping app and every smartphone should have it. If you own an Android device, it is already installed (just make sure you update it). For IOS:
<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/google-maps/id585027354?mt=8" target="_blank"><img src="uploads/2025/905b8a14b5.jpg" alt=""></a>
happiness is within reach
“Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.” - Thích Nhất Hạnh #quote #meditation #serenity #happiness #joy
Walk as if you are kissing the earth
“Walk as if you are kissing the Earth with your feet.”
― Thích Nhất Hạnh #mindful #peace #meditation #Quote
Live in the present quote
"Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment." Buddha
Amazon giving away $100 worth of app for free
Amazon has a 2 day promo giving away over $100 of free Android apps via its AppStore. The loot this time around is 30 apps ranging from games, utilities and more.
Follow this special link to get it while it is available (link)
Roam Mobility released new plans
As part of their recent network upgrade to LTE, Roam Mobility has spiced up their plans. The new Text+data plan is an interesting option for people who don't really use their smartphone for calling (which is a surprisingly high number).
Now my caveat. Anytime you see unlimited data, it is on the T-Mobile 2G network which is painfully slow and has spotty coverage across the US. It is enough to [very slowly] download emails but, during my tests in New York and Vermont, it was too slow for GPS navigation or web browsing on my iPhone 5s using Safari or Chrome.
The new LTE network seems to be blazing fast and I will test it during my upcoming trip to Los Angeles (expect a blog post early September).
For Canadians travelling to the US, Roam Mobility offers the best price/value options. Their Data only plans are incredible values. As an example Rogers charges 8$ per day for 50MB. Roam gives you 300MB (valid for 3 days) at 8$.
Source: Roam Mobility
Quote about harmony
"Harmony makes small things grow, lack of it makes great things decay." - Sallust
Quote about Success
A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him.
David Brinkley
Russian government offer $111,000 to de-anonymise TOR
The Russian government has released a tender worth $US111,000 (4 million rubbles) to device and implement a technology to decrypt TOR traffic and to de-anonymize users. The Russian government says this will help their law enforcement efforts by catching criminals using TOR to hide their tracks.
You can read the official procurement notice from the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs here (link). Contest is only open to Russian organizations (application fee is about $US5,500) and contest closes August 20.
It is unquestionable that many criminals use TOR to hide their online activities but it is also important to remember that many law abiding users also hide using TOR sych as activists, journalists and researchers.
It will truly be sad day when anonymity is lost in the name of protection.
Thousands of Wordpress sites compromised
WordPress is an extremely popular blogging platform that makes extensibility easy through thousands of third-party plug-ins. Now one of those plug-ins, called MailPoet (link), is causing issues for thousands of sites (some estimate the number to be between 50,000-100,000).
A MailPoet vulnerability has been discovered and exploited in the wild that allows attackers to inject malware, spam or defacement webpages into any site running the vulnerable plug-in without authenticating.
CEO of Sucuri, a security research firm, has seen a huge spike in sites being compromised by cybercriminals to install and deploy backdoors. (link)
“To be clear, the MailPoet vulnerability is the entry point, it doesn’t mean your website has to have it enabled or that you have it on the website; if it resides on the server, in a neighbouring website, it can still affect your website.”
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="690"]<img src="uploads/2025/32424bb426.jpg" alt=" Courtesy Sucuri - This is the total number of hacked sites that we were able to identify so far (per day) "> Courtesy Sucuri - This is the total number of hacked sites that we were able to identify so far (per day) [/caption]
A new era in cooler air conditioners
As many Canadians are getting ready to go on vacation, I though it would be a good time to write about the "next generation" of portable coolers with built in air conditioners.
The IcyBreeze Cooler can be plugged in or operated from its built in rechargeable battery.
<img src="uploads/2025/4a3f80c178.jpg" alt="">
It has different dan speeds and also keeps your drinks cold. That's it, nothing else to say.
Source: IcyBreeze
Scan that file
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Image by Surian Soosay used under Creative Commons License [/caption]
This blog is a hobby and in my day job (as the Chief Information Security Officer of a major international company) I see all kinds of attacks and malware. A considerable amount of infections are caused by users who run files that subsequently infect your machine. Doing so is as foolish as having unprotected sex.
Before you run any file, make sure you scan it first. You should always scan files using the antivirus on your computer first but there are also 2 very good services that scan your file using over a dozen different scanners (since no one scanner detect every malware),
The two sites are:
Here is a simple walkthrough using Virus total
1 - Go to the site
<img src="uploads/2025/303a92fbe2.jpg" alt="">
2 - You click on Choose file and select the file you want scanned
<img src="uploads/2025/e9bb0ca7bb.jpg" alt="">
Click Scan It
If the file has already been scanned by someone else (recently) it will show you a screen like this
<img src="uploads/2025/3cfc05567d.jpg" alt="">
Even if you see this, I recommend you click on Reanalyse. If it hasn't been scanned, it will go straight to the scan screen.
As it scans, you will see this message on the top of the screen. Just wait
<img src="uploads/2025/e42bb19768.jpg" alt="">
Once the scan completes, you'll see something like this
<img src="uploads/2025/93b44486b9.jpg" alt="">
In this case the site believes the file is harmless and I am much more comfortable running it.
Protect your online accounts from compromise before its too late
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Image by David Goehring used under Creative Commons License [/caption]
As more and more of our services are delivered through cloud services, it becomes increasingly important to protect our accounts. As a security professional there are a handful of steps I perform regularly that many of you don't so here they are:
- Install a well respected antivirus/antimalware software on your PC with real-time protection enabled and regular automatic updating of its database. There are hundreds of online posts discussing which one is "the best" but keep it simple and pick one of the products from the big manufacturers.
- At least once a month, scan your computer with an online antivirus scanner (different from the one installed on your PC). Here are some examples
- Regularly update your Operating System and installed applications. Virus' and malware often use known vulnerabilities in existing commercial off the shelf software to compromise machines.
- Update your account recovery options regularly (monthly if possible)
Use 2-factor authentication for any online services that allow for it. There is a good list of sites that support it here (link)
Never reuse an online password on more than one site
Use complex random passwords. A good site that generates true random passwords online for free can be found here (link). Just take as many characters as the site allows
Use a password manager. Once you start using unique complex passwords for each site, you can no longer remember them so use a trustworthy password manager. A password manager stores all of your passwords for you and all you have to remember is one complex password to unlock the password vault. My personal password manager of choice is LastPass (link).
Clean up your social media permissions (link). Over time, you give various apps access to your social media accounts and most people just forget about it. It is a good idea to review everything that has access to your accounts and revoke the permissions from apps you no longer use.
The World needs Gummy Bear Sausage
In the category of "are they out of their minds" comes Gummy Bear sausage. At first this looks like a misprint or a joke but it isn't. Oh no folks, this is the real thing.
Grundhofer Old Fashioned Meats (link) in Minnesota is the creator of this meaty sugary monstrosity. The owner, Spencer GRundhofer, said this started as a joke when a friend suggested he make a gummy bear flavored sausage. The joke turned into a permanent menu item when demand continued to grow. Because who doesn't want sugary Brat?
<img src="uploads/2025/2e6f6f93bc.jpg" alt="">
Source: neatorama
This notebook makes everyone cry
there are many reasons you use a notebook: at work to take notes, at home to build a to do list or a sacred spot to share your most precious inner thoughts (aka a diary). Notebook manufacturer Magnus Ferreus has created "the worlds first emotion-stirring notebook".
The Notebook will make you cry as you write in it. The pages are coated with the same compound that causes you to cry when cutting onions (hence the name). The compounds are released as you write, they evaporate and cause you to shed some tears.
These notebooks will first launch in Japan. Prices and release date are still unknown.
Maybe this is all a hoax but you never know.
Source : [onionnote.com](http://onionnote.com/)
I believe in you
"Yes You Can. I believe in You"
Edward N Kiledjian #coaching #success #leadership #selfImprovement
It is important to live
"To Live is the rarest thing in the world.Most people exist,That is all"
Oscar Wilde #quote #success #leadership #existence