C-band satellite dishes were used to receive satellite television signals during the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s. These satellite dishes were usually about 10 feet across and were a constant complaint for homeowners and neighbors wherever they were installed. Because of changes in television signals and advancements in technology, these large satellite dishes have been replaced with a smaller and less costly dish. However many of the big satellite dishes still work and can be used for new technology applications. If you have a big satellite dish and want to continue to use to watch television, there are many free-to-air television stations still accessible through these satellite dishes and some stations periodically open their scrambled feeds which can be picked up with the satellite dishes. But if you want to use this dish for a bigger project, you can also use the dish as a wifi internet antenna.

To convert your satellite dish into a powerful wifi internet antenna, you will need to purchase several items including an N-connector and a pigtail connector with the necessary connector for your internet access point on one end and an N-connector on the other. You can find the N-connector and pigtail cables available for purchase online and in case your not sure where to purchase all the different parts needed, you can find several different kits available for purchase. The most important part for this entire project is the N-connector so you may want to purchase more than one. You also need a thin copper sheet, plastic for the base, and a soldering iron.

Using standard solid-core house wire you need to build an element for the wireless signal. Cut a piece of wire 244mm long and bend the wire into a double diamond or bow tie shape. You want to make each diamond in this element symmetrical so this may take a little bit of practice. You should have extra wire available incase you want to stop and start over several times. If you find the wire too hard to bend, try using two pairs of pliers as it can be very firm. Next, you need to cut a 110mm square of black plastic to use as a base for your new wifi reflector. You should drill a hole in the center of your plastic to allow the N-connector to fit properly.

Prep your N-connector by soldering a piece of copper wire to the center pin and to the outside of the connector. In order to save time, you should solder the outside wire first as it will take longer to heat and attach. After your N-connector has cooled attach it to one side of the plastic base using epoxy and epoxy the thin copper sheet to the other side of the plastic base. After the epoxy has cured, solder your copper bow tie to the two vertical wires, the bow tie can not directly touch the copper plate below it so you may want to prop it up with a couple pieces of excess copper plating. Once all your solder points are cooled, trim the excess from the vertical wires and relish in the fact, you just made an antenna.

Now it is time to connect your antenna to the satellite dish. Connect the N-connector to the feed horn on the satellite dish remembering to point the copper side of your antenna towards the satellite dish. This antenna is going to pull in wireless signals from your area and you will need a converter for your computer to take the signal being sent down the coax. This could be another access point or a cable internet box. The type of converter used will vary upon your computer and your available hardware. You can also convert your new satellite dish antenna to project your own internet signal in order to boost your wifi range.

After you have the antenna connected, you should set your satellite dish to point in a direction you expect to find at least one wifi signal. You may want to use a software program like kismet to search and find wifi signals in the area and test your antenna. You should be cautious with your new internet antenna as it may be more powerful than allowed by the FCC. Building these large wifi satellite dish antennas is a little complex and time consuming but for people who live in areas where it is hard to get broadband internet this is a viable and cost effective solution. If you live in an area where you have a large amount of open space and need or want to access the intent in these open areas, you can pick up satellite dishes for free from people who want to get rid of old equipment and build your own network of wifi antennas.

Do you have a desire to continue learning but do not have the money to pay tuition? Does the idea of returning to college and having to sit in a classroom not appeal to you? Maybe, you have a family and a demanding job and the thought of having to complete homework assignments simply will not fit into your life but you want or need to learn a new topic. If so, you may want complete a university class online and at your own pace. Many colleges and universities offer online continuing eduction programs that are low cost or no cost but these programs usually have deadlines and homework assignments to complete. There is a new option, many colleges and universities are releasing programs and classes you can complete for free on your own schedule.

Many colleges are taking part in a program called OpenCourseWare. OpenCourseWare was started at MIT with the idea to post the materials from all MIT university courses online for free. The program is a permanent MIT activity and new courses are added monthly. Through OpenCourseWare you can download lectures, reading assignments, and even quizzes and tests online for free. Once you download these materials you can read the information and work through the class lessons at your own pace. While you do not have access to the teachers or lectures, many times the teachers publish their email address and are happy to respond to your questions as time allows. The OpenCourseWare program has been so successful for MIT that many other colleges and universities are starting to offer free courses online. The purpose of these online classes is to help you to learn at your own pace, however, you will not earn any college credits or degrees. As the MIT OpenCourseWare program grows additional content such as audio and video recordings are being added to the materials available for each class.

If MIT is not the University you want to study from, the OpenCourseWare Consortortium has over 200 colleges and universities located around the world. All 200 colleges and universities are creating programs similar to the MIT project. You can find virtually any topic you want to learn covered in OpenCourseWare materials but most institutions do not have the same amount of material and content that MIT has amassed. New classes and universities are constantly joining the consortium so if the information you are interested in learning is not online yet, continue to check back because it could be added soon. Also, ff you are a teacher or home schooler you can augment your lessons with OpenCourseWare materials. All OpenCourseWare materials are released with the creative commons copyright license which allows other educators to adapt the materials for use in their own classrooms. What could be better than increasing the information in your classroom lessons with information taught at MIT or your favorite college?

If you are a visual learner instead of a reader you may be interested in downloading audio and video recordings of class lectures. If you miss the atmosphere of the college lecture and would like to continue to listen to and watch lectures, you may want to download classes through Apple’s iTunes U. ITunes U provides downloadable audio and video recordings of college class lectures from hundreds of the top educational institutions around the world. If you do not have time to spend working on the materials available through OpenCourseWare, listening to an audio lecture in the car or while you exercise may be the answer for you. The downside of iTunes U is that you do not receive the level of information and detail on reading materials and writing assignments that is available through OpenCourseWare. However, you can combine these two programs to create your own university experience through reading and lectures.

By using the technology of podcasts, video lectures, tutorials and full web classes online, universities are helping to educate the world for free. If you work through the materials provided through OpenCourseWare or iTunes U you will actually learn. If you take the time to study the materials provided for the class and do the assigned reading, just like you would have done in a college course, you can challenge yourself and increase your knowledge from these free University programs.

If you have a specific topic you want to learn about chances are OpenCourseWare and iTunes U has a university providing a course online for free. You can learn anything from how nanobots work in medical situations to how to journal about your life. You can even learn to speak a foreign language for free through podcasts and iTunes U. If you never finished college and you want to think about returning to school but are afraid you will not be up to the standards of eduction, completing several free online classes may give you the confidence needed to return to school and get the degree you always wanted.

You may have heard that Google has a motto of “Do Not Be Evil” but as this giant internet company continues to invade our lives more and more, the company takes more and more liberties with our information online. How many times today did you visit a website that had a link to Google, either directly as a Google franchise or indirectly through advertising or data sharing. We all believe that Google the services provided by Google are important and beneficial to our lives but this company grows larger and larger everyday. There may come a time when we no longer see Google as doing no evil but how will this company be overthrown?

Today, Google is under attack through the demands of the telecommunications monopolies. In the United States, most internet services are provided to homes by a telecommunication company. The individual pays a small fee each month for unlimited access to the internet. Google makes billions of dollars each year by connecting to the individual and advertising to them. At no time does Google pay the telecommunication company any money for the ability to use their internet infrastructure to reach people in their homes. If net neutrality laws are not passed, Google may be forced to pay the internet service providers and the telecommunication monopolies a large fee in order to continue to provide internet uses with services we have become acquainted with.

Improvements in home computing and desktop hardware may eventually be the downfall of Google as well. As the company becomes older and more well known, people may being to look for the next great and hot internet idea or they will make their own. Just as Google’s search engine was created by two people on a home computer if open search algorithms are created and released we may have other people creating new search engines or wiki style databases of all the data and information available. Imagine being able to rival the amount of data Google has been able to amass from your kitchen table because you have the ability to store terabytes of data on your computer. WIth open search algorithms and improved advancements in artificial intelligence you will have the ability to search and collect everything you desire and build your own citizen encyclopedia of information. You will not need to rely on a search engine to find information for you because you have your own database which is constantly being added to by the artificial intelligence and search algorithms.

Increased competition from China and Russia may eventually cause Google to be overthrown as the leader in internet search and advertising. Google provides many software programs for free to its users. These programs usually require someone to be connected to the internet in order to use them, but as more and more people from China and Russia begain to exploit the internet we may see an influx of cheep software programs available. Some people use the free Google software to host materials that they do not hold the copyright for. If Google ever suffers from a data loss scandal or has to deal with copyright litigation based upon data found in one of the online programs hosted by the company, people will begin to move away from these free online programs and may find that cheep software from China and Russia is a viable solution.

Eventually, Google will suffer a data loss scandal of some sort that will be exploited by competitors very easily. Every day Google begins to collect more and more information about its uses. While most of the information Google has collected about each user is relatively begin, imagine what would happen if the company succeeds in gaining access to private medical records and an unhappy employee steals the data. A scandal of this magnitude would effectively overthrow the company very quickly. There are currently several grassroots privacy campaigns focused on Google’s amassing of personal data and working to educate the public of the dangers associated with allowing Google to continue to collect personal information about its users.

Today we trust Google because of their motto “Do Not Be Evil” but would you continue to place all your information and trust in the company if there was a change in the management philosophy? There will be a time when management makes a decision that is good for the company but not seen as good by the internet population in general. After all, Google is a company that wants to make a profit. We are already seeing management and profit decisions coming from the company because, Google is overextending itself and expanding into areas and markets that would not be considered their core business. Do we really need a cell phone created by Google? Eventually Google will extend itself beyond its capabilities and begin to flounder in areas that are unsuccessful for the company. These unsuccessful endeavors will drain Google’s bank account and popularity.

While Google is king of the internet at this moment, internet users are fickle and at some point in the future our desire for all things Google will wane. At that point Google will be prime to be overthrown and a new company will step in to replace Google as provider and collector of most of the internet’s data.

1. Musician Profile: The music industry has been the primary opponent of internet file sharing since the practice became popular in the late nineties and CD sales started to drop off. Now with for profit music download sites being legally established right, left, and center, the music industry is trying to finish off the unregulated of music online. However, free online distribution actually expands an up and coming band’s exposure ten-fold. The music industry should take advantage of unregulated sharing to increase new acts’ exposure.

2. Movie Distribution: With movie theatres losing money and video stores reporting lower than average rental numbers every fiscal quarter, the film production and distribution industry must look to file sharing raise the profile of movies as an entertainment medium. While the industry would like to receive compensation for every copy of every film distributed, the fact is, for older films that are already on television, unregulated file sharing offers opportunity to get these products to audiences that might not otherwise pay them any attention.

3. Book Distribution: The potential unregulated file sharing has for a new and unexposed author is clear. Publishing paper and ink copies of a novel is prohibitive to say the least. The unregulated sharing of files on the internet allows a book to be widely distributed in whole or in part to a wider audience than could be found on any shelf in any bookstore.

4. Video Game Distribution: Video game designers and producers know better than any industry the advantage to be gained by online connections, as games such as Half-Life and World of Warcraft take full advantage of online technology. However, the industry ought not oppose unregulated file sharing, as it is this medium by which most new popular games are distributed in their beta stage of development and it here that the gaming community decides what will be the next big name game.

5. Software Distribution: Software manufacturers fight unregulated file sharing tooth and nail. However, file sharing online actually improves the exposure of software products far more than any other form of distribution or advertising. Moreover, freeware and shareware is often limited and glitch ridden, so consumers who are serious about using a given software product will still buy a licensed copy.

6. Democratization of Culture: The internet, specifically unregulated file sharing, has democratized the mediums for culture and art in an age of cultural division and diversity. File sharing online allows artists of all stripes and mediums to distribute and expose their work to a larger than life audience. Youtube alone is a massive storehouse of new and previously unexposed art and culture, although refinements are still needed.

7. Technology Flourishes When Uninhibited: Unregulated file sharing allows inventors and innovators to search and access information, reports, and instructions uninhibited by fees or other profit driven nuisances. In this way, unregulated file sharing itself is a contribution to research and development as it breaks down barriers between various schools and specialties in any given technological, academic or scientific field. Fewer barriers between great thinkers and versatile innovators will speed up humanities ability to advance the technological basics we have today that are just begging to be put to more practical and effective use.

8. Free Content is Only Universal Content: Free content is the only content that one can be sure will reach the maximum audience as anything that requires the viewer to pay a fee will automatically alienate itself from ninety-nine percent of the public who will not be willing to invest their money in whatever it is being distributed. In this way, free content, such as that distributed by unregulated file sharing systems is the only universally distributed content.

9. Impossible to Completely Wipe Out File Sharing: To fight unregulated file sharing is entirely futile. Since various big name musicians went after music file sharing service Napster, one sharing network after another has become popular and been attacked by businesses and individuals who feel robbed by people sharing their records and movies with everyone else. It does not seem likely that all file sharing will be stamped out anytime soon. Even if every file sharing service available right now is eliminated by tomorrow, by next week a whole new generation of file sharing networks will have been established given the great demand for free music, movies, games, and software.

10. Advertising Potential: As yet, the untapped advertising potential intrinsic in unregulated file sharing has not been largely explored. With so many downloads every, an advertiser that can get his client’s message involved in enough of those downloads will have a large, almost unlimited market. Moreover, this market is, right now, largely untapped. Very few free downloads or file sharing services involve any ads at all.

PGP sign your emails: PGP, or “Pretty Good Privacy” signed emails involve a cryptographically encrypted key function that ensures a given message was sent from the source it was sent from and was not altered at any point after being sent. It is important to secure e-mails in this manner since un-signed e-mails can be decrypted and used as template for false messages in the name of the digital sender. Moreover, private/public authentication keys prevent PGP signed from being read by unintended recipients.

OTR Instant Messaging: OTR, or “Off the Record” instant messaging is method by which a digital sender of an e-mail can maintain deniability should the e-mail be decrypted. OTR messages are un-signed and therefore can have been sent from any user without any need for authentication. In this way, OTR messages make a digital conversation as informal as a private conversation.

Encrypted VOIP: The main danger to unencrypted VoIP conversations is interception by just about anyone who has access to the particular network. The conversation can also be recorded and altered. Due to user demand, most VoIP networks include encryption features to protect from hackers. These features prevent both recording and alteration of VoIP conversations using recipient authentication keys.

TOR web browsing: TOR, or The Onion Router, web browsing allows users to anonymously access a network. Use of the network can protect a users’ access codes as well as digital identity from would-be hackers. While the TOR system is vulnerable to traffic analysis, by overlaying several Onion Routers, TOR web browsing provides considerably increased privacy. This form of web browsing was originally developed by the U.S. Navy.

Secure tunnels to safe havens: Data need to be stored in safe havens to guard against unexpected and crippling data loss. In addition, to get to these safe haven data storage facilities, the data need to take a secure tunnel route through the internet from the original storage location. In this way, the data is protected the entire way to the data backup storage location.

Dynamically encrypted hard disk: In order to protect the files and folders stored on individual hard disks from unauthorized use or duplication, the disk must undergo full disk encryption. This form of disk protection will prevent outside use of the contents of the disk, including swap space and temporary files and folders. In addition, since the entire disk is encrypted, the user does not have the option of which files to encrypt and the encryption protocols themselves are encrypted. If the protocols are destroyed, the hard disk contents are purged as well.

Staying updated: Package managers, such as Synaptic, manage multiple incoming packages and feature a package search utility. In addition, Synaptic and other package managers, use as their source multiple and mixed repositories such as ftp or http sites, as well as network and local file systems. With a bug patch, the package manager can keep a system updated against the latest bugs and glitches. Modern package management software is capable of system-wide comprehensive upgrades to correct system bugs all in one fell swoop or get up to date.

Protocol encryption for P2P: A huge portion of internet traffic is P2P, or peer to peer and the Internet Service Providers have only two options to deal with the enormous workload. They can increase their service capacity, the expensive option, or, they used specialized system so they can throttle individual users’ BitTorrent traffic, essentially slowing the user interface to a crawl and preventing the P2P connection. Protocol Encryption works to cloak the P2P traffic and reduce the risk of the Service Provider throttling the BitTorrent traffic.

Have a serious password: Hacker attacks of passwords are surprisingly fast-acting. For instance, a four digit password can be cracked almost instantly by even the simplest class of password attack. A good, serious password includes numbers, common symbols, and letter, both upper and lower case. This way, a hacker must go through the maximum number of permutations to crack the password. If all the aforementioned elements are involved in a password, it can take until the end of time for a even a very advanced and sophisticated password attack to succeed.

Use Linux: Linux is an open source code based operating system and is an alternative to Microsoft’s Windows. It differs from Windows in that the source code is open and therefore constantly updated and improved with the users interests in mind and without any central control or profit driven motivations. Linux Security Modules, or LSMs, allow Linux systems to use multiple security modules and implement a mandatory access control module. This results in hooks or up calls when any sensitive system is accessed controls access on a user level.