-Capital and lower case letters

-non-dictionary words

-Numbers

-special characters

-easy to remember

None of my passwords even come close to the popular “lists of common passwords”.  But then I saw this xkcd comic.

http://xkcd.com/792

Yes my passwords were immaculate, but the same password connected my email to my twitter, my school account to my pandora account, my internship-supplied work computer to my bank account!  If any one of those password databases or accounts were hacked, my digital life could be unraveled!

But I’m not one to freak out.  I have blind faith in the systems I use.  I don’t use one of those god-awful “master password” add-ons. I change my passwords often enough, and use several at a time.  Only my most basic password is known to a few of my personal friends.

unlike some people I know

As long as you are smart and a little creative, you’ll be fine too.

-Andrew Mederos

Part 2 will come soon…maybe…

Anyways, this is an idea I’ve wanted to write about for a long time.  It is how I consume television media using the latest trends on the internet instead of paying for cable.  Cuz, you know, I am broke.  If you consider all of the components of this plan, I don’t think it actually comes out to be cheaper.  However, a lot of the items I would have anyways, so you can think of this as more of “how to avoid cable.”

First of all- TV with a VGA/HDMI input.  This is critical, because a lot of this involves streaming media from your computer.  Most TV’s now a days come with a VGA input, and most laptops have a VGA output so I chalk this up as “you would have this anyways.”  HDMI is a little nicer, but optional. Cables are also necessary, but these are like, $5 at the most.  DO NOT pay $30 for an HDMI cable, no matter what the Geek Squad says.

XBox 360 with XBox Live Gold Membership (~$400) - This is kind of expensive, but again, this falls under YWHTA.  Because what self-respecting college student doesn’t have one of these?  This is also important for streaming media.  Gold memberships now include a free subscription to ESPN3, so you can now watch a significant amount of sports.

Netflix ($7.99/mo, $9.99/mo with DVD’s) – I have always been a big supporter of Blockbuster, but the time has come to move on.  For a mere $8 a month, you get access to Netflix’s comprehensive instant que, streaming directly to your computer or XBox.  While this is not great for watching the latest and greatest movies and tv shows, there are plenty of gems here (I recommend Joss Whedon’s “Dollhouse”).  Lost, Dexter, SNL, Top Gear, Weeds, Skins, and more are all available here.  For an additional $2 , you get the DVD service, which covers everything you’re missing.

Hulu (Free) – Seriously, who doesn’t know about this yet?  While Netflix is great for watching what you missed, Hulu is for staying caught up.  Plenty of the hottest shows today are here and stay here for 3-5 weeks.  Why did I have to tell you this?  There is also the premium, “Plus” edition, but frankly I don’t know anything about this, so research it!

Various bootleg streaming sites- Legal? Probably not.  High quality? Definitely not.  Free? Absolutely.  A few smart Google searches and you can watch pretty much anything on tv you want.  I use these to watch sports games I can’t find elsewhere, especially soccer matches (no one broadcasts Real Madrid around here…).  Sometimes teams will tweet urls to follow their games, which is a great service.  I would tell you some of my favorites, but I don’t want to get them caught in the net of trouble that these .tv streaming companies have to deal with.

And now the kicker-

Slingbox ($179 solo, $299 Pro-HD) – Ok, so this is way expensive and still requires you to pay for cable, so I will list this as optional.  That being said, my roommate has one these hooked up to his family’s DVR back home.  This is a great for filling in all of the cracks that my methods miss.  You can watch live tv legally, or utilize the on demand feature to watch shows you couldn’t find elsewhere. So if your family is already paying for cable, this would make a great birthday/holiday gift.

So there you go.  This is how my house survives without paying a single cent for cable tv.  Honestly, it works pretty well, and we get really into forgotten older series.  Yeah, it still isn’t the same, but if you NEED to be more connected than this, please turn off your television and go outside.  Just make sure to put on sunscreen, cuz you’re probably pretty pale.

See you soon?

-Andrew Mederos

In my effort to normalize myself, I’ve decided that I’m going to start updating this thing again. I’ve kept up with my twitter account (@RangerOfFortune), but haven’t really talked tech in a while. Which is a shame, because I really enjoy today’s technologies and feel that they are a big part of my life. A big part of my tech resurgence is my new classes (GET 234 and 235 at the Syracuse iSchool), which make me interested in school again. Also, I really enjoyed this month’s issue of Wired, so go figure.

I have a couple ideas for blog posts coming up in the next few days, but for now I figured I just update all y’all (i.e., my gf and family- the only ones who read this) with what’s been happening in the past…. year and a half (sigh).

So! Since my last update, I have:
-Finished my first internship
-Had a decent fall semester
-Lead the Sour Sitrus Society
-Got really sick
-Stopped being a student for a while
-Completed my second internship (same place)
-Applied for a job
-Became a student again
-Got “waitlisted” for said job (I like to think of it as “last four out” in the NCAA basketball tournament)
-Started leading SSS agian
-Dealt with family getting really sick (<3 mom)
-Started classes for my minor
-Got really interested in tech again.

And there we are! That’s my life in a nutshell.

Look for posts about not having cable, foursquare and space in the near future!

I got lyrics, and you ain’t got none,
-Andrew Mederos

“How can we best make use of this media, even though it means changing the way we’ve always done it.” – Clay Shirky

So my roommate has got me watching TED talks now.  These are really quite interesting; I highly recommend them.

I recently came across this one, in which Clay Shirky talks about social media and its affect on society and history.  His lecture is based off the realization that every member of the audience can now be a producer, due to the ubiquity of technology.  “It’s as if, when you bought a book, they threw in the printing press for free.”

He talks about several recent events and how social media affected them- most notably the massive earthquake in China and Barack Obama’s campaign.  The take away here is that social media cannot be used to control supporters or group members, but rather to offer a place for them to convene.

But I’m not nearly as eloquent as him, so without further ado:

-Andrew S. Mederos