Alan and Heidi's Blog

What the People Want

alanandheidi — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 20:58:20 +0000

So this is somewhat of a rescind of an earlier post regarding the unibody MacBook. They took the new aluminum unibody MacBook, gave it a better processor, put the FireWire port back on, and called it a 13″ MacBook Pro. I must admit that I was pretty happy about this change. On top of the improvements, the new 13″ MacBook Pro is less expensive than the aluminum MacBook. Many Mac users are extremely happy that these changes have come about. Apple has once again listened to their users and given the people what they want!

A Tribute

alanandheidi — Fri, 29 May 2009 05:46:11 +0000

This is a tribute to those crazy people or geeks or people that just didn’t quite fit in. One important thing my parents taught me: “Be careful of whose toes you step on because they may be connected to the butt you have to kiss later on in life!” Words of wisdom!

Microsoft Ad Spoof

alanandheidi — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 20:24:32 +0000

I think this is dang funny. This is what Microsoft really meant when they released all their new ads. Hidden meanings.

MacBook Migration

alanandheidi — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 03:26:53 +0000

I have some mixed feelings about the new unibody MacBook. I am really liking the display and how robust the new unibody is. I’m still trying to get used to the new trackpad and how the whole thing acts as a button. I feel like it is missing a lot of capability by leaving out the FireWire port. Migration is a little bit different to accomplish (and slower may I add) when bringing information from another Mac. You can still attach the computers via a crossover Ethernet cable, but this is obviously a lot slower than the FireWire.

You also have to open the Migration Assistant on both machines. On the new MacBook, bring up Migration Assistant and select “From another Mac”. This will make the MacBook search for connected machines. Now go to the old Mac (doesn’t really matter what model it is) and open Migration Assistant. Make sure “To another Mac” is selected. This will allow the computers to find each other.

Now all that needs to be done is select what needs to be migrated as before with the FireWire. The transfer rate is substantially slower than with the FireWire, but that is something that we all have to live with now. Migration can be done using a wireless connection such as an ad-hoc network, but the Ethernet is much easier and stable for moving data. The new unibody MacBookPro has a FireWire 800 port, something that definitely should have been included on the MacBook.

Nipper

alanandheidi — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 14:57:27 +0000

I have begun to play around with Nipper. For those that don’t know what Nipper is, it is a Network Infrastructure Parser. It looks at running configurations of devices such as routers, firewalls, and switches and points out various vulnerabilities. It is a simple, yet very effective tool. The cool thing is it supports various platforms, not just Cisco and the results are generated into a text form that is bulleted for easy reading. For those who want to make their networks more secure, check it out. It’s worth it.

After you install Nipper from sourceforge.net, you copy your running configuration into a .txt file. After doing so, open up your command line and insert the following:

nipper --ios- --input= --output=

This will initialize the scan. You can run it multiple times to help you further harden (secure) your network. It’s that easy.