Posts about Internet

TED Talk. Glenn Greenwald: Why your privacy matters

20.10.2014

None of us has anything to hide. We are righteous, hard-working citizens with no criminal relatives in our history. We pay our taxes, don’t drink and drive, abstain from drug abuse, raise our kids well, indulge in the odd harmless outing or occasional holiday, meet some friends once in a while and have to make ends meet on the basis of a regular but mediocre income. This is mostly it. Nothing exciting, really. Then why would we have to be overly protective of our personal sphere online? And even if our privacy had been invaded severely, how could we possibly be harmed?

Read article

The Cliffs of Moher - Ireland's most spectacular scenery

Virtual excursions in Ireland

13.10.2014

Forty Shades of Green on Google Street View

Not only the number of meeting variants is constantly growing, their degree of creativity increases as well. Ranging from the regular office get-together to the classical congress, popular in-between solutions like BarCamps, Open Spaces, casual World Cafés, Brownbag Sessions and whatnot, have been sprouting in mushroom-like fashion, only to be accompanied – or replaced – by the next unconventional novelty at the wink of an eye. But what if there isn’t time for an exchange face-to-face and/or the cost for it is unwarranted? In that case, one might want to opt for a virtual meeting instead. And, for the sake of the concept’s purity: Why not enhance it with a stressless, equally virtual „fringe programme“? An „excursion“ to the Cliffs of Moher on Ireland’s west coast could be a rewarding experience.

Read article

A jumble of cables: Frankfurt is the world's largest internet exchange point.

Internet Exchange Point Frankfurt

10.10.2014

A gigantic digital hub

In fact, Frankfurt is the world’s largest Internet exchange node with more than 3.2 terabits per second peak traffic; the leading Internet exchange for Central and Eastern Europe; has the world’s largest and most advanced Ethernet-based platform, DE-CIX Apollon – delivering high-availability peering with full 100G Ethernet capabilities, about 600 participants at the peering platform and more than 10 terabits of connected customer capacity (Public Peering) …
You are not an IT expert and all of this is absolutely Greek to you? Well, welcome to the club!

Read article

A marshaller at Frankfurt Airport: Follow him!

Germany. Free 24h WIFI at Frankfurt Airport!

3.07.2014

Maximum Ubiquity at Germany’s largest Airport

Fraport AG, the company managing Frankfurt Airport (FRA), expands its free Wi-Fi access from 60 minutes to 24 hours. This around-the-clock freebie is available immediately. With more than 300 Wi-Fi access points located in the terminals, utilising the free Wi-Fi service is pretty easy: Passengers and visitors simply have to log on via the “HotSpot” Internet portal of Deutsche Telekom. A few quick clicks enable them to check on their e-mails or search for information. Travellers facing a stopover lasting longer than 24 hours, are eligible for another full session of an identical length of time.

Read article

Kilroy is watching us!

TED Talk. Mikka Hypponen: How the NSA betrayed the world’s trust

13.11.2013

We will, we will watch you!

Is there any such thing as digital privacy? Aren’t we still sharing personal information far too generously and aren’t we all thoughtlessly jumping onto the cyber-fuelled bandwagon, just because it pretends to be the done thing? We are exposing our sometimes innermost secrets to a seemingly tangible community; after all, it is such a good feeling to be ‘liked’ by our diligently accumulated friends, 500+ at least, whom we trust blindly. Human vanity displays itself in many shades. So does human voyeurism. When friend turns into foe, the resulting mudslinging is witnessed by the same interested internet public. And then the desperation is individual and very real – and not just fleetingly virtual.

Read article