Category Archives: internet tips

3 Good Reasons to persist in using Google ncr = no country redirect

Image from: marketing-partners.com

Since some weeks ago, I used:

for my web search and I was able to open the main Google Homepage without to be redirected to any local Goole site.

What I usually obtained was:

1 – less “personalized” search results: the algorithm will be not “contaminated” by my local IP and I will able to find information “cleaned” by local trends;

2 – the possibility to use the “same” Google even when I am abroad;

3 – the security that my searches were always up-to-date respect the global actual trends. For my experience when I search some particular topics as “marketing” I obtain, in the first Google page, fresh news only using Google in its NCR version. If I try to use my local Google homepage I have to spend more time setting the Google’s “advanced search” or trying to understand what information are “really” fresh new.

Image from: mods2015.com

I found the right solution when I visited ycombinator.com and I found the post created by newman314 that submitted a link that combined NCR and SSL protocol (for a little bit of more privacy).

https://encrypted.google.com/search?q=test&qscrl=1&n…

https://encrypted.google.com/search?q=test&qscrl=1&ncr=1

Where the word “test” is what I am looking for.

Then I also found a faster solution by dragop:

http://www.google.com/?gfe_rd=cr&gws_rd=cr

and, in the same webpage, a shorter version from 3dfan:

http://www.google.com/?gws_rd=cr

On my side I prefer to use this other URL that gives me the same results through an SSL connection:

https://encrypted.google.com

To be sure that the results were really the same and not simply related with the English language and influenced by the IP, I tested this URL comparing them from what I obtained from the above mentioned:

http://www.google.com/?gws_rd=cr

I discovered that what I “received” using encrypted.google.com are really the same links and they are not just the standard local results in the English language.

I know that cookies will not allow me to have real “septic” results but this is the first step to a less passive use of Google search because I would like to be a more active user and not just a passive customer pampered by Google.

Start 2016 with a bunch of unusual Linux OS!

linux-distributions-to-look-forward-in-2016

What’s better than testing? For me nothing!

For this reason, let me introduce some “unusual” Linux distribution proposed by Jesse Afolabi @Jesseflb via Techmint.

VeltOS and PapyrOS are based on Arch but the last one is in its pre-alpha testing so it’s not suggested for beginners.

Moreover, we may decide to begin 2016 with Korora that is still one of my favorite projects also after so many years since the first release.

Last but not least, we have Solus OS 2 that it is not the most Linux distribution I tested but it is stable and really well built.

Happy 2016!

TrueCrypt – Try it again! Waiting for CipherShed…

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truecryptlogo_256 TrueCrypt is safer than we thought! A specific audit tested TrueCrypt 7.1 unmantained through a complex verification process and the results are surprising.

First of all we have to consider that TrueCrypt is not mantained since 2014 and that its “natural” fork, VeraCrypt, is directly developed by Microsoft. For this simply reason many former TrueCrypt users prefer not to use VeraCrypt.

Secondly, the bugs revealed by the testers in TrueCrypt are less worrying than that discovered using its competitors solutions.

For this reason I decide to install TrueCrypt (that I use previously it was unmantained) on my Fedora 22 laptop.

To begin, I searched for a good repository and, at the end, I opted for that mantained by GRC. So I downloaded the TrueCrypt 7.1 archive from GRC that is still storing all the others TrueCrypt versions.

I decided to use the 7.1 version because it has more features than the last 7.2 version (the last known release of TrueCrypt). In any case I am monitoring the Swiss website and I wish that the CypherShed project will be completely developed soon.

After I extracted the file and moved it to a specific folder.

Last but not least I opened Terminal and typed:

sudo ./truecrypt-7.1a-setup-x64

and the software was correctly installed into my Fedora 22 OS.

After some tests I can adfirm that TrueCrypt is still a good security solution not only for the above mentioned audit but also because it is really stable, flexible, full of useful features and simple to use.

To sum up: Try it… again!

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Online Speech to Text Recognition

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It’s fast, it’s immediate and it lets you to write an email or a text in a while, anywhere you are. When you use a mobile, you need to find the right app. For my experience the universal app for this doesn’t exist. It depends on the model of the mobile in general and in particular on the type of the installed microphone. This means you need to test different apps to fins a suitable solution for your specific needs. But usually it doesn’t keep much time.

When you are at home or for more complex works that need to be directly edited on a PC, you usually cannot use any Android app and so you need a similar tool. This is my case.

If you google it, you will find different solutions. Some of them are desktop software that can be installed and settled up in a reasonable time (usually few hours). These software are really accurate and have many tools that allow you to develop complex texts typing just few keys to refine some inaccuracies. The “problem” is represented by their cost that, for some products, is high (… certainly, we are talking about few bucks…).

Instead, a good solution could be the online -speech to text- tools offered by different websites. They are usually free but you need to be obviously connected to the web if you want to use them.

Furthermore the text results generated by these on line tools are connected with the particular model of microphone you installed into your PC. Also in this situation you can find enthusiastic reviews for an on line tool that is completely ineffective for you. And as for Android apps you need to spend some hours to discover what is the best online tool for your needs. Last but not least to use them you need to authorized Flash (sic! yes the nosey Flash…) for managing your audio hardware.

In my experience, after some tests, the best sites offering -speech to text- tools are four:

Speechlogger that is really simple to use and the most versatile as for exporting the “written” text but it works just on the Chrome Browser (version 25 or later) and this is a big limitation when you are fond of Firefox:

TalkTyper that is also complete and it is supported by different browser (Firefox included);

Dictation that is very minimalist as web graphics but it really does what it promises in every browser…;

SpeechPad that is very complete but it requires a free registration to use the -speech to text- feature. There are two big features offered by this website. The first is about that it has a good grade of recognition for speeches in Russian. The second feature is represented by the possibility of using an audio file or an url redirecting to audio files and/or video (but only for YouTube or HTML5audio/video).

Some of the above described websites have a large selection of different languages you can be interested to use. Others have a narrow choice of languages but for the accuracy of the -speech to text- work, could really be what you are looking for.

So, to conclude, if you need a -speech to text- online tool, you have just to invest some hours to find the right website for your needs. When you will start to use these kind of online tools you save a lot of time that before you spent for typing.