If you rely on remote access to your home computer but cannot be bothered with having to record your external IP each time then you can use DynDNS or No-IP, but they rely on installing their own tools to update their systems, and in some cases, want you to pay for the service. I have found a (somewhat convoluted) way of an alternative means, which should work under most Linux environments.
- Install the packages "at" and "grive" (at allows you to schedule tasks from command line with simple timing syntax. Grive is a console-based Google Drive syncing tool) -- note, however, that grive may not be present in all repositories.
- Setup Grive.
- Add this script to the grive directory and name it externalIP.sh:
IP=wget -q -O - checkip.dyndns.org|sed -e ’s/.Current IP Address: //' -e ’s/<.$//'
HOST=host $IP | cut -d ' ' -f5
echo $IP $HOST | tee externalIP.txt
grive
echo ‘cd {path-to-your-grive-folder};./externalIP.sh’ | at now + 2 hours
- Make the script executable
chmod +x externalIP.sh
- Run the script ONCE
$ ./externalIP.sh
XX.X.XXX.XXX your-hostname.
Reading local directories
Synchronizing folders
Reading remote server file list
Detecting changes from last sync
Synchronizing files
sync "./externalIP.txt" doesn't exist in server, uploading
Finished!
warning: commands will be executed using /bin/sh
job 278 at Tue May 6 22:48:00 2014
What the script does is determine the external IP address of your machine, do a reverse lookup on it, write the results to a text file, then sync it with Google Drive. What you can do is read the text file (externalIP.txt) off your Google Drive storage via the web interface at http://drive.google.com, and you can then access it remotely, using either the IP or the hostname. The last line schedules the script to be run again in two hours from now (in case your IP address changes), this is the “job 278” line.
It should also be noted that the scheduling carries on between reboots.
In October, the tech industry's biggest companies petitioned congress to reform the US Government's surveillance policies. Now, the firms are taking their pleas global. Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Yahoo and AOL (Engadget's parent company) have banded together to ask the world's governments to reassess its intelligence practices. This time, however, the firms are presenting more than a strongly worded letter - they've laid out five core reform principals, detailed both on an official website and in full-page ads in national publications.
The breakdown is fairly straightforward; the group asks that government’s authority be imposed with “sensible limitations on their ability to compel service providers to disclose user data,” and that they give more consideration to the link between privacy and trust required by technology providers and their users. The group is also demanding increased oversight, accountability and transparency, outlining a system that allows companies to publish the nature and frequency of user information requests and attached to a “clear legal framework” with “strong checks and balances.” Governments outside of the US are encouraged to work together too, to create a “robust, principled and transparent framework” to guide requests for data across jurisdictions. The group of tech giants also wants these changes to respect the flow of information, and ensure that service providers are able to build infrastructure on a global scale, without needing to store data inside the country for the sake of national government inquiries.
“Unchecked, undisclosed government surveillance inhibits the free flow of information.” Twitter CEO Dick Costolo writes on the movement’s website. “The principles we advance today would reform the current system to appropriately balance the needs of security and privacy while safeguarding the essential human right of free expression.”
An open letter to Washington underlines the campaign, noting that “the balance in many countries has tipped too far in favor of the state and away from the rights of the individual.” The companies pledge to keep user data secure with encryption technology and by fighting unreasonable government requests, but change needs to start from within. “Reports about government surveillance have shown there is a real need for greater disclosure and new limits on how governments collect information.” Mark Zuckerberg stated. “The US government should take this opportunity to lead this reform effort and make things right.” Indeed, the letter asks that Congress do just that: “take lead and make reforms” that would bring the proposed changes to fruition.
While the firms openly acknowledge the government’s need to take certain actions for the public good, it clearly states that the current laws governing surveillance are no good, and may even be hurting future adoption of new technologies. Microsoft’s Brad Smith puts it best, “People won’t use technology they don’t trust. Governments have put this trust at risk, and governments need to help restore it."
Microsoft and Google lead coalition demanding limits on government surveillance.
Google are now offering All Access to users in the UK. I had a go at their trial. And I wasn’t impressed. The things it offers like Radio and recommendations you can already get for free in other providers (Last.fm, Spotify, Grooveshark). Recommendations you already get from the main Play Music app. Suffice to say, my trial didn’t last very long before I cancelled it…
Take a look at some of the related articles and make your own decision.
It would appear that Google Play now do TV shows. Kind of an “On Demand” thing. True, you still have to pay for the shows, but they’ve got some pretty big name shows there now:
And even for the learning types, they've got documentary series too:
They're running a couple of free episodes at the moment via here.
Looking for someone caught up in the explosions? Have information about someone caught in the explosions? Google have setup a people finder to help on both fronts:
http://google.org/personfinder/2013-boston-explosions
EDIT: From Sky News UK
Boston Police said there is a helpline in the US for concerned relatives: 617 635 4500, and anybody with information about the blasts should call 1 800 494 tips.
The UK consulate in Boston said British Nationals in need of emergency consular assistance should call the Global Response Centre on 1 877 854 6872.
Been trying to watch some DRM movies off Google Play recently, and can’t seem to get them working on Fedora. I can watch them on my TF101 though, so it’s not too much of a problem, but more of an inconvenience:
I'm already talking to Google support about this and seeing what they suggest.
Grive is an open source command-line-based sync tool to synchronise a directory with your Google Drive. Grive is not in the Fedora repositories, although it is undergoing review for addition into the repositories.
In the meantime, if you want to use it, I’ve written a script that should pick the latest version from the russianfedora website. Bitbucket repository is here.
Direct link to script: here
Once you install the application, create a blank folder (this will be the sync folder), then run
grive -a
to request an authentication URL. Go to that URL, log into Google if you need to, and you’ll get a response string you need to copy back into the console window. If the authentication was successful, Grive will sync your files into the folder. Each subsequent time you run Grive, it will download and/or upload files to/from your Google Drive.
There is only one limitation that I’m aware of. Documents created from within Google Drive won’t sync, but if you convert them to odt or doc files, they will sync.
Grive: Open Source Google Drive Client For Linux ~ Web Upd8: Ubuntu / Linux blog.
If you use Google Drive a lot, this might be a useful tool for you. It provides a form of sync for a folder to and from your Drive.
You may recall in my earlier post that I mentioned the GfxTablet project but complained that there was no support for left-handed users, but I just discovered something.
Under Xfce the configuration for Mouse and Touchpad:
Inside the configuration applet, you get to see all the input devices available on your system. On my system, I have the touchpad set as left-handed, because I prefer to work with my mouse buttons swapped (as I’m left-handed).
However, what you notice is that “Network Tablet” shows up on this list when the service is running:
So, select that, and:
Lo and behold, the Network Tablet is configured as right-handed. Which means that even though my touchpad is configured as left-handed, I can freely use my Android tablet as a graphics tablet without the annoying button switching I had to do before.
Now, I found this in Fedora, but it might also work under Xubuntu.
Some may not know, but Google supports 2FA (2-Factor Authentication), and this basically means you need two items of information to log into your Google Account. Paypal also has this option.
I only found out about this through LastPass when I was cleaning up some old (and no longer used) accounts. This is worth a look and maybe switching on. But, as with most forms of authentication, you need to balance the convenience and risk (See related articles)
2-step verification - Accounts Help.
