56: One Password to Rule Them All
2009-05-31
Download MP3 For Geekons Episode 56
Pop-Up: LastPass.com
- LastPass.com is fairly self explanatory, it is the last password you will ever need to remember (if you trust 'em)
- Disclaimer: Geekons is not affiliated with, or responsible for lastpass.com and we don't accept any responsiblity for anything that might happen if you use any online service.
- I use LastPass.com and love it.
- It is basically another website to store your passwords for other websites and software, allowing you to type one master password in to "unlock" or decrypt the passwords.
- All of the encryption and decryption happens on your local machine, not on their servers. That means if they get hacked, the hackers still won't have direct access to your passwords.
- There are apps for Linux, Windows, OS X, and BlackBerry devices. The best of which being the firefox extension. (possibly the IE extension as well, but I'd have to open IE to find out)
- They even have offline USB key kits you can install so you have offline access to your passwords.
- When you use the Firefox extension, you simply give it your master password, and it synchronizes with the lastpass.com website, decrypts the local passwords, and gets ready to auto-fill formfields it has data for!
- That means you can generate passwords on your home computer, but access them on any other computer in the world.
- There's also a web interface if you don't want to install software, or if you are on a friend's computer.
- There's tons of other sweet features, such as:
- on-screen keyboards to thwart keyloggers
- One-Time passwords for use on public computers
- Share specific passwords with trusted friends
- secure password generators
- export passwords to your computer for safe backup
- multiple identities to separate your work passwords from your personal passwords
- And the premium version even supports the YubiKey! (The Premium service is only $12/year)
- 5 out of 5 stars, The free version does everything you need, and the paid version is affordable for anyone who can afford a YubiKey anyway!
Geek-Tweak: 3 Practical Ways to Use Twitter at Church
- Twitter has been getting quite a bit of notice in mainstream media, which means the general population is more likely to respond positively when we mention the use of twitter as a means of communicating with the congregation.
- In order to begin using Twitter for your church, you'll need to meet the first 4 prerequisites:
- Permission from the pastor!
- A username that makes it clear who you are (perhaps church name + city abbreviation)
- The internet and a computer to get started, then a mobile phone to keep tweeting if you don't have a computer and the internet.
- SomeONE that has the final say and final publishing rights for all tweets that understands both twitter and your church's vision.
- In order for your congregation to make use of twitter, they'll need to meet at least one of the following 2 prerequisites:
- A device capable of browsing the internet (such as a computer, iPod Touch, PDA, etc.)
- A mobile phone with texting enabled. (may cost money!)
- So here's my top three ways to use twitter in your church, along with the tech side of how to accomplish each of them:
- Post messages from the official account to announce upcoming events.
- The church simply needs to have the twitter servant post the official message, adding any relavant @usernames or #hashtags
- To enable users to receive these tweets, simply link to twitter.com/username and have a graphic stating that people can text "follow username" to 40404 (even if they don't have a twitter account!) to receive updates on their phoen
- Answer bible questions from the congregation
- The church needs to search for #hashtags they've defined and asked the congregation to use, as well as check their direct messages and @ replies.
- Then, the twitter servant needs to get the answer from a pastor (even if they think they know the answer, they need to run it by a pastor!), tweet the answer, and include the @username and any #hashtags used
- The congregation simply needs to post questions using @churchusername or any #hashtags defined by the church
- Request feedback from the congregation about a sermon or event
- The church simply needs to have their twitter servant post a request, including a relavant #hashtag
- They also need to search for that #hashtag, or @ replies so they can retweet the really good responses for the rest of the congregation to see.
- Link to sermon notes, audio, video, blog entries, etc. if you can so people who missed the event can check it out.
- Post messages from the official account to announce upcoming events.
- One other fun thing the church can do is have a large monitor displaying a visibletweets.com search for one of the official hashtags (fair warning, they don't filter content!)
View-Source: Advice for Joel #6
- This week's advice was given by Noah, Des, & family.
- Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
- There's some pretty clear instructions here, so I'll just bullet point them:
- Rejoice always - yup, even in the bad times!
- pray without ceasing - communication with God is vital!
- in everything give thanks - God has done so much for us, and we need to acknowledge that!
- this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you - God's will for us, which was given as an example by His son Jesus, is that we obey these commands.
- These things are God's will for us because He knows how the world works, and how to best live our lives. If we don't obey these commands, we are going to seriously miss out on the awesome things He has in store for us!
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