I have used most of the tools listed in this task at one time or another. Because of this I have gone off in search of some various "other" tools for the internet. As a result of my exploration what I found was an avalanche of tools allowing you to better utilise your time and be more productive on the internet. Without writing a thesis on the various applications I explored I thought highlighting the following three apps would give enough insight into my experiences.
Managing Bookmarks
First off is Webbla; a Mac application for managing bookmarks from all your browsers. Webbla allows you tag and add notes to each bookmark. The usual search and grouping options are present alongside some more advanced features such as site tracking (tracks updates to pages), popularity (your last visit and how many times) plus a very fancy page preview (view your page visually without visiting). All up Webbla was easy to install with lots of preferences and features to manage your bookmarks including hooking into OS X's Quick Look and Finder. In my mind though it was a little too complex and feature rich (bloated) for this simple task.
Managing Passwords
With the explosion of Web 2.0 sites, social media and web apps it seems we are drowning under logins and passwords. 1Password is a little application which helps manage all these logins and passwords plus a slew of other things relating to your online life. To make sure all your details are stored securely the app hooks into OS X's Keychain application to provide maximum security goodness. After using the app for a day I found it extremely useful and something I will probably use in the future. Downside was it doesn't auto fill logins such as Firefox's built password manager.
Managing Online Updates
Alert Thingy is an Adobe Air based application which allows you to manage and view all your updates from various social media sites. It's an interesting app as you can see status updates from Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, etc in the one application without having to go to the actual site. Installation was simple although extended due to having to install Adobe Air before the app itself. Alert Thingy doesn't have a lot of preferences but it is very useful for keeping abreast of the growing status and update feeds associated with social media.
So what did I learn from all this? I think Internet users can sometimes forget (or take for granted) the most essential tool for our online lives: The humble browser. Pretty much all the above tasks can be completed by your browser, be it native or with an additional plugin.
My browser of choice, Firefox, allows management of bookmarks with tags (Keywords), annotations (notes) and much more. It has built in features for managing passwords with strong built in security for such. Various addons can also be installed to manage social media updates and the like, and that's just the begging of what it can really do.
It is this that makes the browser the most powerful tool for accessing and using the internet. Of course not all browsers are created equal and many people will have different preferences as to what they want from a browser. But it's worth remembering that your browser can offer so much more than just a window to your online world.
Showing posts with label internt tools. Show all posts
Showing posts with label internt tools. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Module 1 - Internet Tools Task
As this tasks concept points out the keystone foundation to the internet is the system of identifying a location and routing data between two fixed end points. With out the ability to do this the internet as we now know it would simply not exist.
Previously I have used Traceroute and other internet tools when building websites and determining which hosting company to go with. I suppose this makes me relatively familiar with the tool and the information that it provides. Never less, I thought a little background research to broaden my understanding of the underlying concept would not hurt.
To complete this particular task I had to complete a Traceroute inquiry via either network-tools.com or centralops.net: I choose to do both to see what, if any, differences would present between the two tools. And besides, it's not like it takes hours to complete a Traceroute inquiry.
The Results
Results from Network-Tools took around 260ms with the last three hops timing out once the packets hit the Curtin network.
Results from Centralops came it at 253ms with the last three hops again timing out once they hit the Curtin network.
Neither of the actual results surprised me as both tools are located offshore. What did surprise me was that both times the last three hops timed out. I hav read that this could be due to packet loss or the network protecting itself as a Traceroute is similar to port sniffing.
Incidentally, the IP address for curtin.edu.au is 134.7.179.53
Ping
For those mildly interested, like nearly every other word within the world of IT, Ping is actually an acronym for Packet Internet Groper (sounds dodgy eh). Ping is used to see if an address on the internet is active an accepting data and it's latency, when pinging curtin.edu.au from the online tools the following was yielded.
The Results
Results from both online sources were approximately the same as the Traceroute results coming in at 260.2ms and 253ms respectivly. This was to be expected as data is still being sent via the same route as in the Traceroute. The major difference here is that a Ping is not recording all hops or resolving domain names. This would explain why Ping results will appear on the page quicker.
From My Local Machine
In further exploration for this task I have done as suggested and utilised the software WhatRoute, directly downloaded to my local machine. I also have used OS X's bundled application, Network Utility, to complete this final piece.
The Results
Results were as expected with response times nearly half that of the online tools, 104ms with traceroute (although both my attempts seem to have completely died when reaching the Curtin network) and 110ms when pinging.
The key takeout to me from this is that location is everything when it comes to speed on the internet. Obviously the closer you are to your destination the quicker it will be to get there. Though the one caveat that I throw in is; you have no actual control on just how your data will be routed. Take my last image for example. My ISP Exetel routes all data through Sydney before shooting me off to Perth and Curtin's network. Is this something that has an effect?
I'm not entirely sure but logic says that going to Perth via Sydney isn't the shortest route and it allows more opportunity for error.
Previously I have used Traceroute and other internet tools when building websites and determining which hosting company to go with. I suppose this makes me relatively familiar with the tool and the information that it provides. Never less, I thought a little background research to broaden my understanding of the underlying concept would not hurt.
To complete this particular task I had to complete a Traceroute inquiry via either network-tools.com or centralops.net: I choose to do both to see what, if any, differences would present between the two tools. And besides, it's not like it takes hours to complete a Traceroute inquiry.
The ResultsResults from Network-Tools took around 260ms with the last three hops timing out once the packets hit the Curtin network.
Results from Centralops came it at 253ms with the last three hops again timing out once they hit the Curtin network.
Neither of the actual results surprised me as both tools are located offshore. What did surprise me was that both times the last three hops timed out. I hav read that this could be due to packet loss or the network protecting itself as a Traceroute is similar to port sniffing.
Incidentally, the IP address for curtin.edu.au is 134.7.179.53
Ping
For those mildly interested, like nearly every other word within the world of IT, Ping is actually an acronym for Packet Internet Groper (sounds dodgy eh). Ping is used to see if an address on the internet is active an accepting data and it's latency, when pinging curtin.edu.au from the online tools the following was yielded.
The ResultsResults from both online sources were approximately the same as the Traceroute results coming in at 260.2ms and 253ms respectivly. This was to be expected as data is still being sent via the same route as in the Traceroute. The major difference here is that a Ping is not recording all hops or resolving domain names. This would explain why Ping results will appear on the page quicker.
From My Local Machine
In further exploration for this task I have done as suggested and utilised the software WhatRoute, directly downloaded to my local machine. I also have used OS X's bundled application, Network Utility, to complete this final piece.
The ResultsResults were as expected with response times nearly half that of the online tools, 104ms with traceroute (although both my attempts seem to have completely died when reaching the Curtin network) and 110ms when pinging.
The key takeout to me from this is that location is everything when it comes to speed on the internet. Obviously the closer you are to your destination the quicker it will be to get there. Though the one caveat that I throw in is; you have no actual control on just how your data will be routed. Take my last image for example. My ISP Exetel routes all data through Sydney before shooting me off to Perth and Curtin's network. Is this something that has an effect?
I'm not entirely sure but logic says that going to Perth via Sydney isn't the shortest route and it allows more opportunity for error.
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