Safeguarding your Credit Cards

"Rs.60,000 gone in a day"....thats what I heard from one of my colleagues when I entered office today. How ? Someone had used his Credit Card details to buy Airline tickets worth Rs.60,000.

He first summoned me & asked if our Office network was secure, as I am a Security Consultant. Later on, after a few rounds of discussions we suspected that someone probably had jotted down his Card No., Expiry Date & CVV in some Hotel or other location where he had used his card. It reminds me of the famous Security statement - "Security is like a chain & its total strength is equal to the strength at its weakest point". In todays tech-savvy world there are 2 weak points - the Internet & not to forget, the vulnerable HUMAN CHAIN.

So how to keep your Credit Card secure -

1. Whenever you handover your Credit Card at any outlet, make sure that the executive is not noting down the Card details.
   
2. Keep a regular check on your Card transactions by checking online. This will prevent any misuse of your Card. Don't worry, online transactions are still pretty safe & secure provided you have logged on to a secure site (i.e. httpS://*.*) of a genuine company.
   
3. Do not make transactions until & unless the site is a Secure site. Do ensure that the site being accessed is not a Phished site. Banking firms & various other companies regularly sent mailers to customers on how to check whether the site is a genuine site.
   
4. Nowadays many Banks also provide one time use Virtual Credit Cards that can be created by you for online transactions.
   
5. As a best practice, memorize your CVV code & scribble the same behind your Card.
6. Close your unused Credit Cards & physically destroy them.
   

A little bit of technical / financial know how & keeping yourself updated with the latest happenings around you will keep your Credit Cards safe & secure.

Splitting your Cable Connection

With the implementation of CAS (Conditional Access System) in India, having multiple cable connections in your home might turn out to be an expensive proposition. But with a little bit of tweaking here & there, you can still continue to share your cable connection with the STB (Set Top Box) provided, without opting for multiple cable connections & paying additional cable connection charges.

I am talking about the scenario where-in your STB provides 2 outputs - one is an AV-out, providing Digital quality output, through which you can watch only the encrypted channels (or Pay channels) being decrypted by the STB & the other is the RF-out through which you can watch the traditional cable airing few FTA (Free To Air) channels & few Pay channels. This scenario would work if & only if your STB provides the output with the specifications I have explained in the previous statement.

To explain it in the layman's language, I have a cable connection coming in to my Hall provided by a big time MSO (Multi Service Operator) in my city. My area falls under non-CAS notified areas. So, even if I don't opt for a STB, I can view a decent list of channels. But with a STB, I get even more channels & that too digital quality. Now coming to the idea of cable splitting; I have 3 TV's in my flat - one located in my Hall, the 2nd one in the Common Bed Room & the 3rd one through my PCs' TV-tuner card located in the Master Bed Room. The main cable line does not have enough signal strength to drive 3 TV's parallely even with a 1:3 Cable Splitting device. Do remember that STB's require quite a good signal strength to give you that crystal clear picture quality. If you do not provide the direct main cable line connectivity to your STB, you might end up viewing many channels through the STB which are highly pixelated.

The perfect connectivity scenario is as follows -

1. Connect the main cable line to the RF-in of STB.
2. Connect the AV-out of the STB to the TV located in the Hall.
3. Connect the RF-out of the STB to the 1:3 Cable Splitter IN point. Here the STB itself acts as a signal amplifier/booster. Hence you do not require a 1:3 amplified Cable Splitter.
4. Connect OUT 1 of the Cable Splitter to RF-in of the TV located in Hall.
5. Connect OUT 2 of the Cable Splitter to the cable line going to your Common Bed Room.
6. Connect OUT 3 of the Cable Splitter to the cable line going to your Master Bed Room.
   

NOTE: With this connectivity scenario you need to keep the STB located in your Hall at least in STANDBY mode for viewing FTA channels in the other rooms (since the STB acts as the cable signal amplifier). To view the encrypted channels you need to completely turn on your STB. Also, all the TV's can view FTA channels independently, but when it comes to encrypted channels, all TV's view the same content. The STB which I am using also provides the encrypted channel output in RF mode known as the RF modulator channel. So old TV's which do not have an AV-out can view the STB channels using RF cable in the RF modulator channel specified in the STB configuration settings. In my case, I have set the STB RF modulator channel to Channel # 3 of my TV. This is the key setting due to which you can view the encrypted channels in the TV's located in the other rooms.

The above mentioned connectivity scenario will provide the following viewing options:

1. Hall TV - FTA channels in TV mode & encrypted channels in AV mode through the STB.
2. Common Bed Room TV - FTA channels in all TV mode channels excluding Channel # 3. In Channel # 3 you can view the STB encrypted channel.
3. Master Bed Room TV - FTA channels in all TV mode channels excluding Channel # 3. In Channel # 3 you can view the STB encrypted channel.
   

This cable splitting configuration has given me the following advantage - my mom can comfortably watch her favourite regional language (encrypted) channel, on Channel # 3, sitting in any of the Bed Rooms, by just turning on the STB in the Hall. At the same time, me & my dad can continue to watch our favourite Cricket shows, in TV mode in the Hall, being aired as FTA channel, thus not requiring the STB.

Isn't this cable splitting configuration quite interesting & cost saving. Do try it at your home & post your comments if this configuration works out for you.

Nail Polish for your Car

Bought a new Car ? Sensitive about scratches on your Car ?.... I have a cheap & easy solution. Your mom's, sister's, girlfriends or might be your wife's Nail Polish would turn out to be a very handy item to keep your Car scratch free.

In your early driving days, you might end up with quite a large number of minor scratches all over your Car. Or might be that naughty boy in your colony scratches something on the Car's body. Rather than getting irritated or tensed, ask any lady from your family whether they have a Nail Polish with a closest shade matching your Car's body colour. If not, visit your nearest Cosmetics store & select one yourself. Nowadays you get Nail Polishes with a wide range of shades. Rather than buying an expensive Spray Paint can, a Nail Polish turns out to be a better option.


I still remember the first major scratch that appeared on my Car. I quickly picked up a shiny Golden shade Nail Polish matching my Car's metallic Gold body colour & whew !!!... its now almost impossible to trace that scratch. But do remember, these Nail Polishes bind only on the metallic parts of your Car's body. Plastic parts, like the Bumper, don't bind well.

I am attaching the image of the area affected by the dent & scratches on my Car (Uploaded on 24-Jul-2008) -



The entire area marked with the red line is covered up using the Nail Polish. The dent & scratches seem to appear very faint, thanks to the Nail Polish.


So now, sit back & relax with a scratch free Car !!!

The Future of Telephony - Mobile SIP Telephony

With the advent of highly feature rich Cell phones, I feel normal Cell Phone calls using GSM, CDMA or 3G Networks would soon become a thing of the past.

To be more technical, most of todays high-end Cell phones support SIP (Session Initiation Protocol), a protocol widely used in Internet Telephony or to say VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol). There are numerous sites floating on the net today, eg. www.brujula.net, which allow you to have your own FREE SIP account. There are also free sites like www.ipkall.com & www.orbtalk.co.uk which provide a FREE direct US / UK number forwarded to your SIP number. So I guess you got the clue. You can activate your advanced GPRS connection with your Cell Phone Service provider, or if you have a 3G Network... it would be an icing on the cake, & recieve calls from countries like US / UK (& others too) on your Cell, sitting in India (for eg.), not as a POCS (Plain Old Cellular Service) call, for as low as 30 paisa INR to 60 paisa INR per minute. Isn't that amazing. Google around & find out how you can fully utilize the power of Internet through your cell phones by making FREE VOIP calls using SIP Service Providers mentioned above or using a lovely VOIP supported FREE INSTANT MESSENGER like Fring www.fring.com on your cell.

Just waiting for 3G services to be launched in India.