The Internet is an insanely massive collection of servers and nodes, all of which serve a part of our rich online experience. At first it was a purely educational technology on a very slow connection; capable of text-only transmission. Since its mainstream acceptance in the 90s, there's been a massive drive to create a intuitive user experience. People have moved on from creating animated GIF filled pages about their favourite pets, and the horrible ad supported 'free' hosting services which allowed anyone to actively contribute to the worlds ASCII art collection. Not to mention the abundance of 'under construction' declarations - there's irony in that, I'm sure of it.

What was eventually formed is a generation of new sites which offer clean and dynamic infrastructures to create, share and discuss almost anything. Think content management systems (CMS) such as WordPress, media sharing services including YouTube and Photobucket, and perhaps most importantly, social networking sites. Facebook is one of these social networking sites, and quite possibly the most popular, with an estimated value of 10 billion US dollars and 100 million users worldwide. With a major rise in social networking, should we be concerned with security? Who has access to the information we're submitting to Facebook? Is this information secure?

Nothing on the Internet is private. It's a rule that several users tend to forget on a regular basis. Once information has been placed on a host accessable to the public, it's going to be very hard to remove every copy, particularly when it comes to controversial content. Social networking is no different. In some respects, it's worse. Users are easily lured into a false sense of security, and are often led to provide personal details to 3rd parties without realising.

First and foremost, there's the wealthy list of Facebook security options to run through. I think it's safe to say that many people outright ignore these settings, and it can get hard to keep up when they're constantly being amended - and in some cases - reset. It's arguable that that example was pure user ignorance, sure. However, it's unacceptable for security settings to be altered via an impromptu security notification, especially when it's to such a vulnerable state. Many people were caught out by this, and there's no reason why this couldn't happen again. It's critical that you keep your eyes peeled for tricks such as these.

Take the time to look at the security preferences that Facebook provides. It's as simple as navigating to 'Account' > 'Privacy Settings'. If you're like me, you'd lock everything down as tightly as possible. As constricted as that sounds, it's far from fool proof.

The problem with security and Facebook (apart from being on the Internet) is the fact that all your information is freely available to friends. Makes sense right? Afterall, that's the point of Facebook; to share information with people of your choosing. Unfortunately, this is also the single greatest flaw. Your friends can distribute your details any way they like. Assuming your friends are nice trustworthy people, there's several ways for your information to leak via their access. The most obvious is their account getting compromised, which can be caused by leaving a logged in PC unattended, or through successful phishing attempts. Perhaps a little more tricky is the use of 3rd party Facebook apps.

When a friend allows a quiz, game or other application to access information on their account, they may be inadvertently giving the developer access to your data. Although you can restrict how much information friends can share about you, there's no reason why your wall posts and comments cannot be read, in addition to "name, Profile picture, gender, current city, networks, friend list and pages".

Facebook, among other companies, need income to remain afloat. The free service is funded by ad revenue and virtual gifts, in addition to 3rd party investments. There's no reason why Facebook couldn't start selling information to advertisers in order to create targeted ads. Will this happen, is it already happening? Possibaly. The solution is simple. Don't put anything on the Internet that you don't want the world seeing. Think deleting your nasty photos will solve the issue? Not quite. You never know where your data will end up.

Website: http://www.tp-link.com/
Price: $147 - http://www.megaware.com.au/ (at time of review)




Ethernet or wireless? To some, this question is trivial. Ethernet is by far the most secure and speedy connection to a modem or router, and thus, it trumps a wireless connection. But what if the router is inaccessible via an Ethernet connection? In this case there are two options. Either make it work by installing a connection through walls or under carpet, or, to use the aforementioned wireless. But what if both of those options are unsuitable? Perhaps getting cables laid is not an option, and wireless is unsuitable due to bad signal or a fetish for competitive online game play? There's a solution! One that a surprising amount of people never consider. It's a technology called Ethernet over power (EoP), also known as 'power line' communication. The technology is by no means new, however it has only recently become reliable enough for high speed connections. It begs the question, is EoP a viable replacement for a typical Ethernet connection? I have with me a 'TP-Link TL-PA201' kit ready to test just that.

What is Ethernet over power?
EoP is a technology which uses the power infrastructure within your home to communicate data. It does this via orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing, or OFDM. In layman's terms, the data is sent at several frequencies between 2MHz and 28MHz. Interference in one or more of the designated carrier frequencies does not hinder reliability, the device simply switches to another frequency. The speed at which data is transferred depends on the quality of the wiring in the house, the distance between EoP units, and the hardware limitations of the EoP units themselves. The TP-Link TL-PA201 kit is based on the HomePlug AV specification.

How does it work?
EoP units generally work by having two or more units connected directly to a mains socket,  just like any other electronic gear you may have.  These units should be plugged in close to the equipment that you wish to network, e.g. one near your router, and another near your PC. More than two units can be used at one time depending on the number of systems you wish to connect. Generally, one EoP unit will service one piece of equipment via a single Ethernet connection, unless of course this connection is connected to another router.

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There are many hidden gems on the Internet. Some are so interesting, it's a wonder why so many people give you a blank stare when you mention them. I've collected a few of my favourite finds to showcase some of the best sites the Internet has to offer.

The first is TinEye. For years we've been searching for images via services such as Google Images. However, what all popular search engines require is the use of text to find an image. But what if you wanted to do the opposite? What if you wanted to use an image to find a website, alternate images, or further information?

This is where TinEye fills the void. TinEye is a "reverse image search engine". To use it, you either upload an image via the provided form, or link to an existing image on the net. TinEye compares the image to their database, and shows results based on relevance. The cool thing about it is that it completely ignores the file name. It compares the image itself, which means accurate results. TinEye can be accessed here. It's currently in beta, and its database is still quite small. However, it's still very impressive.

Wolfram|Alpha is another site which has impressed those who have experienced it. It's a mathematical search engine, to put it simply. Alpha accepts both qualitative and quantitative input, and uses this to deliver an answer in multiple forms. This may include graphs, derivatives, solutions, alternate forms, general facts and more. It's very handy when you're unsure if your solutions to mathematical queries are correct. A great site to have bookmarked. Link.

Lastly is the Microsoft's new search engine 'Bing'. What was once 'Live Search' has recently progressed to a surprisingly noteworthy search engine. It recommends similar searches, shows site previews within the result page, and offers advanced search parameters in the sidebar to refine your results. In the US, the feature set is increased significantly. There's no word about when other countries will also get access. The features include discount offers for using Bing (Bing Shopping), hotel rating search, 'Rich Listing Results' for finding locations/shops including their contact details, 'Sentiment Extraction' for searching expert reviews, 'Travel' for travel information, and trusted medical resource search. Bing.

Share your picks for 'Intriguing Web Services' in the comments section below!