Who can see your IP adress and what you can do about it

All Internet communications require Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. If a website you visit couldn't see your IP address, it would have no way to send you pages, images, files, and so on.


It's nothing personal, it's just location. Image source


To see how easily a site can see your IP address, visit What is my IP Address. Or just Google what's my ip address. It's easier to get than your telephone number.


It's not as scary as it sounds?

Who can see your IP address and how serious a problem that is? Assuming you're using a router, those web sites can only see the router's IP address, not your PC's. They can't tell who in the house is visiting them - which is just a small comfort - but this also protects you from certain drive-by malware attacks.

What can website administrators find out about you from your router's IP address? They can identify your Internet Service Provider (ISP) and figure out approximately where you're located. They will likely be able to identify your neighborhood, but not your home. And they can see how often you (or someone else sharing your router) visit their website.

But they won't be able to see that forever. Chances are your IP address is not a permanent fixture. Most home Internet accounts use a dynamic IP address, which your ISP changes from time to time.

And, of course, if you take your laptop to a coffee house or library, you'll have an entirely different IP address there, although you now have to consider public network security issues.

If you're still worried, you can use a Virtual Private Network (VPN). Once you've set one up, your Internet connections travel encrypted from your computer to the VPN server, and from there, unencrypted, to their final destination. The sites you visit see only the VPN's IP address.


TheGreenMechanics: You can also use VPN to view websites blocked in the particular country you are surfing the interned from. For example, if you travel to Shanghai, China where blogger.com gets blocked from time to time, you may want to consider VPN.


Note: This article was published by Computerworld Malaysia on Mar 18, 2014. Source Link

Penang government to create 'mobile community'

Penang government has signed Malaysia's first state-level collaboration with a private entity in an initiative aimed at getting across messages from the state government to Penangites and "bridging the communication gap between the two parties".

Sounds innovative to me, if it can really cut cost and be effective at the same time.


"We are going mobile". Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng (2nd left) with XOX officials.
Photo: Computerworld Malaysia


First such 'mobile community' in Malaysia

Under an agreement with a private company, XOX, a mobile communication platform would be put in place to create mobile community, which includes free SMS (text messaging) blasting services for all Penangites.

It is said that this initiative would cut administration cost, apart from building closer link to the people.

"The Penang State government has the capability to reach 200,000 individual citizens through direct SMS within the first year of this partnership with a total estimated 2.27million SMSes to be sent out."
- Lim Guan Eng, Penang Chief Minister.

Penangites informed, and connected

There are other upcoming collaborations with the State of Penang, which includes providing free Penang tourism information for selected tourist packs, free mobile Internet and extended validity for selected segments such as youth and senior citizens, as well as special call and SMS rates exclusively for the Penang people.

It was reported that the service from XOX is offered for free and will enable the Penang State government to save a great amount in expenses, which is estimated to be RM180,000  (around US$54,209) a year.


Source: CM

Celcom, DiGi signed major backhaul deal with Telekom Malaysia, expect better support for 4G

What this means to the consumers of Celcom and DiGi is that, there should be improve network quality, low latency and high bandwidth for their mobile devices.

This will only be for Peninsula Malaysia, while Sabah and Sarawak will have to wait for, perhaps other means of enjoying better network quality.


Joining hands for better network quality. Photo: CWM


TM, Celcom and DiGi collaborate

Last week, Telekom Malaysia, Celcom and DiGi signed a wholesale bandwidth collaborative deal for TM Next-Gen Backhaul Services, which should help provide the infrastructure for broadband rollout through Malaysia.

Under the agreement, TM will provide wholesale bandwidth connectivity via TM Next-Gen Backhaul services for aggregation and access sites jointly owned by Celcom and DiGi, covering between 3,000-km and 5,000-km in Peninsular Malaysia.

The deal is part of an ongoing network collaboration between Celcom and DiGi announced in early 2011, that aims to roll out more than 10,000-km of fiber network nationwide.

For Celcom and Digi, the deal is expected to support the transmission requirements for their rollout of 4G LTE services and enable both companies to optimize cost and efficiently utilize TM’s infrastructure.

Further story at Computerworld Malaysia site.



TheGreenMechanics: This should be good news. But remember, announcement is not data and is only good for PR. Until then, we will have to be content with the slow 3G speed we currently enjoy.

This reminds me of Maxis, the other major telco in Malaysia. I'm quite sure the executives at Maxis have something up their sleeves to win customers back from possibly jumping ship to Celcom and DiGi as a result of this development.

Internet in schools: Malaysian parents concerned about privacy, want online ads banned

Do you currently have school-going children?

Do you believe that the use of internet in schools will provide your children essential skills for the future? If your answer is yes, you are not alone. Many Malaysian parents think so, too, according to survey.

But like myself, a majority of those surveyed want online advertising or data mining of children’s personal information prohibited.


In-school internet access - the good and the bad. Infographic source: Parent Action Group for Education Malaysia (PAGE) and SafeGov.org


The survey found that 92% of Malaysian parents want all advertising-related practices to be banned from such services in schools with 82% calling for the government to pass a law to ban all advertising-related activities from online services in schools.


Are connected classrooms beneficial?

Definitely. More than three quarters of parents surveyed felt that Internet use would help their children to learn creativity, problem solving, and critical thinking. Furthermore, about 75% believe that it would aid their children to acquire essential skills for competing in this century.

Of course there are dark side to the use of certain internet services in schools - or for that matter, anywhere. Advertising services that engage in data mining are always of concern.


TheGreenMechanics: I believe in monitoring and mutual understanding of what the dos and don'ts are when going online into the cyberworld, although we give them some space of privacy for themselves.


Info source: Computerworld Malaysia

Apple is throttling iPhone data speed?

If you are iPhone user, there is reason for you to be concerned about - report says that Apple is collaborating with 3 major carriers in the US to "soft throttle" data speeds for iPhone in their networks.

Although the throttling is not to a point where users experience 'crawling' speed, iPhone users are said to be losing out to Samsung Galaxy users in terms of true potential of the device.

“I’m not saying the throttling is a typical throttle where you see 2G speeds. It's a soft throttle to slow users down a bit.”
- Joseph Brown, a well known iPhone hacker.

I hope this is nothing more than a mere allegation.

If that happen in Malaysia and iPhone's true potential is purposely manipulated to "even it out" with the telcos' capability, I will seriously consider switching to Android.


How about a download speed of 28.6 Mbps such as this one? I'm drooling.


iPhone Data Speed Throttling? Say It Ain’t So, Apple!

Is Apple  throttling your iPhone’s true data speed?

Joseph Brown, who is probably best-known for previously creating several iPhone carrier hacks, posted the details of his discovery on the iTweakiOS site. Via Cult of Mac, Brown states, “Apple and the carriers have implanted coding to purposely slow down or limit the data speeds the device can achieve… iPhones are very complex devices with a very complex OS.

The OS eats much more data, even when in idle mode, than most phones on the market. So by carrier request, Apple limits devices to ‘even out’ the network, even if it means Galaxy users outperform Apple devices by such large scales.”

Brown notes that the throttling code is found in both iPhones and iPads on AT&T’s network. Verizon throttles data speeds for Apple’s mobile devices on its 4G LTE network. Verizon and Sprint both slow down data speeds on their 3G networks, although their data throttling can be circumvented with a hack.

However, Sprint does not appear to throttle data speeds on its high-speed network. T-Mobile might be the best option for Apple device users, since it appears to do the least throttling of any carrier.

Brown posted screenshots of iOS code from an AT&T iPhone 5 that demonstrates how the network speed settings are switched from 21.1 Mbps to14.4 Mbps, despite the fact that AT&T’s network and the iPhone 5 support speeds as high as 21.1 Mbps.

Via his Twitter account, Brown points out, “I’m not saying the throttling is a typical throttle where you see 2G speeds. It's a soft throttle to slow users down a bit.”



Further reading at: WSCS and iphonefaq. There are interesting debates there on the allegation.

Cyber crime: Malaysia sixth most vulnerable

If you are residing in one of these countries, you are highly at risk of cyber crime. This is according Norton Cyber Crime Report 2012:-

• China
• India
• Indonesia
• Hong Kong
• Malaysia
• Mexico
• Philippines
• Taiwan
• Thailand
• United Arab Emirates

- in no particular order.

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Malaysia sixth most vulnerable

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia is the sixth most vulnerable country in the world to cyber crime, in the form of malware attacks through the computer or smartphone.

CyberSecurity Malaysia Research vice president Lt Col (R) Sazali Sukardi said the Sophos Security Threat Report 2013 found, in a period of three months this year, that besides Malaysia, nine others - Hong Kong, Taiwan, United Arab Emirates, Mexico, India, the Philippines, Thailand, China and Indonesia - were also highly at risk.

"Cyber thieves have stolen about RM331.7bil worldwide, at an average of RM593 per victim based on the Norton Cyber Crime Report 2012," he said, while presenting a working paper entitled "Collaboration and cooperation in the fight against cyber crime" at a two-day e-Crime conference, here, Thursday.

However, cyber crime in the country decreased from 15,218 cases in 2011 to 9,986 cases in 2012, he said.

He attributed the drop to effective enforcement by the government enforcement agencies, including CyberSecurity.

According to Sazali, the highest reported cyber crime was fraud, followed by cyber invasion attempts, spam, denial of service, content-related offences, malicious code and cyber defamation.

"We are also facing security threats from international criminal organisations that abuse the internet for various cross-border illegal activities such as drugs, human trafficking, financial fraud and money laundering," he said.

He urged the public to contact CyberSecurity at its helpline Cyber999 through 03-89926969 to provide information or lodge a public complaint. - Bernama

Top 10 websites currently blocked in China

I mentioned in my previous post, Hello Shanghai that, Blogger website (or blogspot) which is owned by Google is blocked in China.

There are a lot of other high ranking websites you might be interested in, that are/were blocked there, such as Facebook, Youtube and Twitter. I found the following sites while in China and tried to 'google' them or simply typed their domain in the address bar.

The search results varied from simply 'invalid URL', to 'server cannot be found', or the browser would just 'hang' with unusually long wait:

1. Facebook

The social website was blocked since 2008 to present.

2. Twitter

I'm not a user of Twitter but as evidenced in my test, this site is currently blocked.

3. Picasa

I occasionally use this site to store images for my blog. It has been blocked since 2009 to present. It is no wonder that many of the images in my blog wouldn't load in that country.

4. YouTube

You wouldn't be able to watch clips and video sharing via YouTube in China.

5. Blogger

Type blogspot or Blogger in the address bar and you know it's blocked. Or, try reading a friend's blog hosted by Blogger and you'll be disappointed.

6. WordPress

The famous blog platform is also not spared. it was blocked since 2011 and it still is, at least so in Shanghai.

7. Technorati

This was said to have been blocked since 2008. Tried accessing and result returned as "This page is not available".

8. Dropbox

Unable to access this site, and search confirmed that it had been blocked by the Chinese government.

9. Wikileaks and Wikipedia

Access to WikiLeaks had been blocked since 2010 and if you like to find information through Wikipedia, you are in for a tough luck, too.

10. Google+

Like many other Google websites, Google+ joined the growing list of blocked websites in 2011.

On why they are/ or were blocked in China, people have different opinion but I wouldn't speculate.

World's fastest home internet service hits Japan

Ahem, just recently Maxis announced its 4G LTE services recently with a claimed download speed of up to 75Mbps (and you are lucky to get 1Mbps of 3G speed here), consumers in Japan can now enjoy download speed of 2Gbps.

That's about 1,000 times faster than our average speed of 2Mbps. Darn!

Engadget reported that Japan has the world's fastest commercially-provided home internet service called Nuro. Launched on April 15 by Sony-supported ISP So-net, the fiber connection pulls down data at 2 Gbps, and sends it up at 1 Gbps.

An optical network unit (ONU) given to Nuro customers comes outfitted with 3 Gigabit ethernet ports and supports 450 Mbps over 802.11 a/b/g/n. When attached to a two-year contract, web surfers will be set back 4,980 yen (RM154) per month and pony up a required 52,500 yen (approx. RM1,630) installation fee, which is currently being waived for those who apply online.

Consumers can register their house, apartment or small business to receive the blazing speed, so long as they're located within Chiba, Gunma, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Tokyo, Kanagawa or Saitama.


TheGreenMechanics: Come on Malaysia, give us better speed for the money. Don't hide behind the "at best effort" disclaimer when you can't deliver the promised speed!


More info: Engadget

Wi-Fi: What are the health risks related to it?

It is good that most of your computing works today are seamless and done wirelessly, thanks to WiFi technology. But the more you use it the more you'll be wondering if there've been health risks linked to it.

         Radio waves emitted through Wi-Fi technology are at much lower intensities.

What is Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi is the name of a wireless networking technology that allows an electronic device to exchange data wirelessly and it provide high-speed Internet and network connections. It is based on radio waves whose frequency is similar to that of microwaves.


Any ill health effect?

Given what microwave ovens can do to, say, meats, chicken nuggets, it is perhaps not surprising that there has been concern that exposure to Wi-Fi could be unhealthy. Fortunately, however, while they are found to be used everywhere, Wi-Fi waves are emitted at far lower intensities than microwaves in ovens. As a result, they cannot produce anything like the same heating effect.

Even so, some people still worry that perhaps even this far weaker effect could cause damage after years of exposure. To date, epidemiologists have failed to uncover any consistent evidence for even long-term effects.

It does, however, suggest that the health effects, if there are any, are pretty weak, and that we should worry about more hazardous things, such as tripping over all the cables we would need if we did not use Wi-Fi devices.

Technology, as it seem, is something you cannot go without.

References: Sciencefocus and The guardian

Google giving away wonder glasses

Step aside bionic eyes, here comes your new challenger - a smart piece of glass.

Well, it's not exactly a 'give away' as the title suggests, as it cost early adopters or 'explorers' $1,500 to own the internet-enabled Google Glass. But its arrival could change the way on how people choose to get connected, and potentially being exposed. Or, do we really want to spend every second that we're awake connected to the net?

: : Photo credits: ndtv and zdnet : :

: :

How it works

It is claimed to perform many of the same tasks as smartphones, except the spectacles respond to voice commands instead of fingers touching a display screen. The glasses include a tiny display screen attached to a rim above the right eye and run on Google's Android operating system for mobile devices.

It will be easier to take pictures or record video anywhere and anytime. Just tell Google Glass to look for specific online search and you'll see the piece of information right in front of your eyes.

I suspect there'll be a bit of a challenge though for Asian users. Google's Android system has a voice search function on smartphones and tablet computers. Apple has its voice assistant Siri. But these voice search apps recognise English mainly in Europe (UK) and North America. What about localised English in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, India, Hong Kong, etc?

But then again, the prospect of wearing a pair of these is pretty exciting.

-    -    -    -    ✄    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -

From  Associated Press on Feb 21:
Google to give contest winners a chance to buy its $1,500 glasses

SAN FRANCISCO: Google is giving more people a chance to pay $1,500 for a pair of the internet-connected glasses that the company is touting as the next breakthrough in mobile computing.

The product, dubbed "Google Glass," will be offered to "bold, creative individuals" selected as part of a contest announced Wednesday. Participants must live in the US and submit an application of up to 50 words explaining what they would do with the Google Glass technology. Entries must include the hash tag "ifihadglass" and be submitted through Google+ or Twitter by February 27. Google did not say how many glasses it will sell this way.

Winners will receive the "Explorer" version of Google Glass, a forerunner of the product that is expected to be released to the mass market next year. Google already sold an unspecified number of the glasses to computer programmers who also paid $1,500 apiece at a company conference last June.

To gauge how people might use its glasses, Google is encouraging entrants in its contest to include up to five photos and 15 seconds of video with their applications. The company doesn't want to see any nudity or violence. "Basically, don't add anything you wouldn't be OK with your Mom seeing," Google advised.

Google Glass is at the forefront of a new wave of technology known as "wearable computing."

Broadband penetration in Sabah is now 47%, or is it?

As far as broadband penetration is concern, it seems that we are not too far off from other states in Malaysia.

Penetration rate of 47% is not too bad compared with the 34% figure given by Sabah Minister of Resource Development & Information Technology, Dr. Yee not too long ago. At national level, broadband penetration rate for households in Malaysia is 62.9% (as of Q1, 2012) compared to 62.3% in 2011. Malaysia has about 6.69 million households.

Datuk Mohamed Sharil Tarmizi said:

"The broadband access rate in Sabah is close to 47% currently and not 34% as was reported previously. The new access rate was determined through a recount as the majority of the people enjoying the facility are not transients in Sabah."

For the record, previously in July, and as recent as early this month, broadband penetration rate in Sabah is reported to be just 34%.

That is what we believed until someone from Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) popped up and surprised us all (or should we be surprised at all?) with the above statement. Datuk Mohamed Sharil Tarmizi is the MCMC Chairman.

Let me summarise - from from my understanding - on what he revealed to the press:

1)  We made mistake when calculating Sabah's

     broadband penetration rate,

2)  We recounted and the new figure is 47%
3)  The lower figure earlier published is because of 

     inclusion of illegal population in Sabah, in the 

     calculation formula.

Isn't that startling? The low penetration rate is one thing but even more worrying is the statement issued by MCMC:

The household broadband penetration in Sabah has stretched to 34 per cent, but if the number of illegal immigrants is set aside, the rate can reach 47 per cent. - Daily Express, Dec 7, 2012

TheGreenMechanics' two cents:

To MCMC, I say DON'T GIVE EXCUSES! You stated that 37% of the population of over 2.52 million was illegal immigrants. Illegal or not, they are still party to the statistics. Therefore, they should be counted for the purpose of calculation of rate of penetration.

Don't exclude them just to paint a good look on your performance, and then count them in (include) again when it gives you advantage. That's a terrible way of addressing the poor broadband services here. And the transient population!

But if you can exclude them permanently by solving the illegal immigrant problem in the state, by all means, go ahead!

As far as I am concerned, the penetration rate is still at a poor 34%. Period.

Wikipedia sees future and threat in mobile phones

Wikipedia is definitely useful. I use and access it from my smartphone.

But to penetrate the poor nations, and to use it as educational tool, it must also provide for 'text only' alternative so that places with low broadband penetration can also benefit from it.

The Wikipedia website accessed on an iPhone. Photograph: de engineur

Wikipedia sees future - and threat - in cell phones
AFP, Dec 13
Cell phones could be Wikipedia's path to global domination, but may also pose a risk to the crowd sourcing culture the online encyclopedia relies on, chief executive Sue Gardner says.

On one hand, says Gardner, who is also executive director of the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation, cell phones are by far the best way to reach vast new audiences in the developing southern hemisphere where people rely heavily on handheld devices, rather than desktops or laptops.

Right now, "Wikipedia is most popular and most effective in richer countries, because they have fast band, good Internet penetration and people own lots of devices," she told AFP in New York. "In developing countries, people are going straight to the Internet only with mobile phones."

To make Wikipedia take root in Latin America and Arabic-speaking countries, for example, the huge organization wants cell phone companies to offer access without charge.

"Data charges are a big barrier to Internet use in poor countries," Gardner said, adding that a streamlined, text version of the encyclopedia will be built to reduce those phone charges and speed downloads.

Ironically, though, the rise of the smart phone and incremental retreat of larger computers could threaten the lifeblood of Wikipedia, which is the crowd-based, volunteer collaboration between readers in creating content.

People may constantly demand more information at their fingertips, but the question ultimately may be: who takes the time to provide it if they're glued to their smart phone?

MCMC issues revised SRSP for 4G services in 2600 MHz spectrum

When I posted about Super Wi-Fi poised for growth a few months back, I was talking about the long range and use of the broadcast spectrum that would allow wireless signals to travel farther than Wi-Fi. Couple that with 4G technology and you get almost unlimited possibility of things at your disposal; live streaming at premium video quality for instance.

What MCMC did was timely and it should put Malaysia "on par with other developed countries in the delivery of 4G services."


MCMC issues revised SRSP for 4G services
Nov 30, 2012

Kuala Lumpur: The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has released a revised Standard Radio System Plan (SKMM SRSP-523) to pave the way for potential service providers to launch 4th Generation (4G) mobile services.

The 23-page document details the requirements for a globally harmonised spectrum band plan to implement the International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT) systems (or 4G) operating in the 2600 MHz spectrum band to ensure efficient use of this scarce spectrum resource and to minimise interference among spectrum users within the country as well as with its neighbours.

Malaysians will get to enjoy 4G technology which could offer mobile broadband speeds of more than 100 Mbps and a plethora of new services such as high definition video upload and streaming, improved user experience on real-time applications and better connectivity for mobile and consumer electronic devices.

This band has been harmonised globally to facilitate international roaming by allowing the consumer to make use of the same device when travelling across different countries.

In a statement Thursday, MCMC Chairman, Datuk Mohamed Sharil Tarmizi said: "This is a paradigm shift in the mobile broadband era; whereas before, with 3G, users can expect typical mobile broadband speeds of between three and 10 Mbps, with 4G, speeds in excess of 100 Mbps will be possible.

"With the introduction of the 2600 MHz spectrum band for 4G mobile broadband as defined in the Standard Radio System Plan, it is envisaged that Malaysia will be on par with other developed countries in the delivery of 4G services."

The SKMM SRSP-523 document is available for download from the MCMC website. - Bernama

Study: Swedes are most Internet savvy

Question: Which country is the best at putting the Web to use?

Answer : the U.S.

Very close, but not quite. That would be Sweden, according to a new report spearheaded by Tim Berners-Lee, the guy who basically invented the World Wide Web, WWW. I know many Americans would not agree to this, but hey this is just one study. Take it with a pinch of salt, if you like.

The Web Index is the measure of the Web’s use, utility and impact on people and nations.

U.S. is second best country in the world for using the internet

The United States came in second place on the much-anticipated study, which was published online Wednesday by the World Wide Web Foundation.

Called the Web Index, the first-of-its-kind report ranked 61 countries across seven categories, including communications infrastructure, Web use, Web content and the political, social and economic impact of the Internet in those countries.

The group, in collaboration with Oxford Economics, collected five years of data from other sources and spent a year conducting surveys to arrive at its conclusions. The report was funded in full by a $1 million grant from Google. Yemen, the violence-plagued Middle Eastern country, ranked last on the list, behind Zimbabwe and Burkina Faso, both in Africa.

Overall, one in three people worldwide use the Internet, according to the report. But Web use is uneven. Only one in six Africans use the Web.

Sweden beat out the United States on the ranking in part because a smaller percentage of Americans are online. About three-quarters of American are Internet users, compared with about 90% of Sweden's population. Meanwhile, "the U.S. has a lower percentage of households with personal computers than a raft of countries, including Canada, Ireland, Japan and Norway," the report says.

The United States "also offers slower bandwidth per Internet user than a range of countries, most notably Iceland, Sweden and Singapore."

The United States is No. 1 in terms of access to Web content, which the report measures in terms of the number of Wikipedia articles in a particular language as well as "the type of data and information that is accessible on the Web in each country."

Iceland topped the list in terms of its Internet infrastructure and Web use. Nearly 96% of people in that country use the Internet, according to the report.

Singapore has the world's fastest Internet, and Ireland's economy benefits the most from the Web. Internet and communications-related exports accounted for 15% of its gross domestic product between 2007 and 2010, which the report says puts it "exponentially ahead of any other nation." - CNN

Dark blue and purple ones scored highest and red the lowest

In summary, the report says:

1. Google granted $1 million to fund this report
2. The Web Index report ranked 61 countries and Sweden is best at using Internet
3. The U.S. comes second
4. Yemen ranked last on the list, behind Zimbabwe (both in Africa)
5. On average, 1 in 3 people worldwide use the Internet (in Africa only 1 in 6)
6. The U.S. is No. 1 in terms of access to Web content
7. Iceland is No. 1 in terms of its Internet infrastructure and Web use
8. Singapore (ranked 11 in the Web Index) has the world's fastest Internet
9. ASEAN nations ranking:

Singapore (11th), Philippines (32nd), Indonesia (34th), Thailand (37th), Vietnam (47th)

To see the complete list, visit the Web Index.


How about Malaysia?

Now, where's Malaysia? Why isn't Malaysia included in the report?

Currently, household broadband penetration in Malaysia is 63.95%, so, we should sit somewhere between 20th and 30th place. As for Sabah, broadband penetration is about 35%, that is way below the national average.