Asides

Check if you’ve had a security breach

Aside

Many of the popular websites and services have been or at some point or will be targetted and exploited. As a result, it is most likely that at least one of your online accounts has been pwned at some point. This doesn’t mean your account has been cracked but it could mean that some of your private information has been leaked (e.g. email, password, personal info like date of birth, etc…). Recently Gmail has been exploited by attachement phishing.

There’s no guaranteed way to check if your account has been hacked but one way is to check if you’ve been pwned. Just enter your username or email to check if you’ve been pwned.

Advertisement

Distraction Free Email Composition with Gmail

Aside

As you can see, I am writing an email in Gmail without the standard Inbox in the background. This is a nice hack if you want to send an email without unintentionally glimpse your full inbox. To achieve this simple use the following url:

​​https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?view=cm&fs=1&tf=1

To do this easily, simple bookmark the page and use that bookmark whenever you want a distraction free email composition with Gmail. ​​ PS: After sending you email you can write a new one by simply refreshing your page. Happy Emailing — Sincerely Yours, Ibrahim Selection_026

Tip from a reader (Marc): If you want a similar solution when replying to a email, simply pop-out the reply window then clicking the double-arrow icon in the upper right corner while pressing the shit key as shown in the images below.

An easier keyboard-based solution is Shift+r.

Seafood Fraud in the US

Aside

To all seafood and especially sushi lovers take care of what you’re eating. Oceana Study Reveals Seafood Fraud Nationwide and here’s a selection from their report on white tuna.

White Tuna

The majority of the tuna samples in this study were label[l]ed as “white tuna.” Of the 66 white tuna samples, 62 were mislabel[l]ed (94 percent). Eighty*four percent of the white tuna samples were actually escolar ( 52 of the 62) (Figure 10). The remaining white tuna mislabel[l]ing (16 percent) came from the substitution of one type of tuna for another or the use of a non-acceptable market name. A fish product referred to as “white tuna” is only acceptable as a market name when sold in a can. 30 Otherwise, “albacore tuna” or “tuna” is the acceptable market name for that same fish, Thunnus alalunga, when sold outside the can, fresh or frozen.

Swapping escolar for white tuna is not only illegal , but it can also cause serious health problems. Escolar, or oilfish (Lepidocybium flavobrunneum), is not actually a tuna species at all, but is instead a snake mackerel that contains a naturally occurring toxin, gempylotoxin. This toxin can cause mild to severe gastrointestinal problems even for some who eat only a few ounces of the fish. Because of the health problems associated with escolar, Italy and Japan have banned it, several other countries have issued health advisories for it 31 and the FDA advises against the sale of it in the U.S.

Sources

59% of the ‘Tuna’ Americans Eat Is Not Tuna, The Atlantic (original page)

Oceana Study Reveals Seafood Fraud Nationwide (PDF)

 

WhatsApp – Why I don’t use it

Aside

Having been repeatedly asked by friends and colleagues at work about having WhatsApp I decide to write a short post about my reasons for not using WhatsApp as my main medium of communication.
These reasons also apply to other similar and non-similar services but given that WhatsApp is most popular I have chosen to write about it.

My reasons are as follows:

  • Not unique: WhatsApp is not the only service that offers these features
  • Speeds up life’s pace: It increases the pace of life which is already too fast. I wish to slow down my clock not speed it up.
  • Always on: no way to stop the service which leads to a shorter battery life.
  • Distracting: Being always turned on and having many contacts will lead to constant notifications that distract and decrease focus even if you don’t check them.
  • Settings: not enough control is given to the user
  • Privacy & Security: anyone at anytime can reach you. Add to that that it has been proven that WhatsApp had previously sent most data in plain text and the supposed “encryption” they employed was just hiding data not actually encrypting it. Moreover, WhatsApp has been reverse engineered.

#AKB#

If you enjoyed this post or found it useful please consider sharing it using the buttons below and supporting the blog using flattr or some bitcoins:

1BgwrNmtgWSth7KC67MZEbBhnsPshSb4x 1BgwrNmtgWSth7KC67MZEbBhnsPshSb4x

Tip: Evernote and Daily the review

Aside

Yesterday, I learned a new and useful Evernote trick from science fiction writer and Evernote ambassador Jamie Todd Rubin.

The trick is from his article Going Paperless Quick Tip: How I Do A “Daily Review” in Evernote. The trick is to create a saved search which makes the daily review in Evernote a click away. The daily review concept is referenced to the Getting Things Done (GTD) system by David Allen.

The daily review, as the name implies, is to review all of what you have received or created during your day to keep things in place and on track. For example you might have received some mail or have created some notes.
All this has to be processed at some point (preferably daily) otherwise, you will lose track of all the input you have received especially those that need some action on your behalf.

In regard of Evernote, Jamie (and now myself) uses a saved filter to process his daily notes. To do this he made the following search:

any: created:day updated:day

This search returns all notes that were created and updated/modified “today”. You can then save the search and add it as a shortcut which makes it very handy once you’re ready to do the daily review.

I tried to do the search on my Android phone and tablet but it didn’t work. Nevertheless, once you do this on the web app you will also have the saved search on all of your devices which is really useful.

You can read more of Jamie Rubin’s articles on the “Daily Review” on his website.

Thanks to Jamie Todd Rubin.