digi-quest
I hate to look dumb in front of my children, especially when they use words and expressions I don't know. So before they ask me, what does RSS mean? Should I be concerned about it?
Name and address supplied
DQ: I sense the beginning of a long and meaningful relationship here, as you will hear many such acronyms and words. RSS, a family of feed formats used on websites that are constantly being updated - for things such as blogs, headline news and podcasts - is a great way to get timely information online. It is fairly harmless but I would never suggest you leave young children online for hours without supervision.
More than 10 years ago, engineers at Apple thought it would be a good idea to syndicate certain kinds of messages so a person browsing the internet would not have to keep seeking updates. Their research yielded the meta content framework format for structuring metadata (data about data) from websites. Subsequent work on such syndication at Netscape developed the resource description framework (RDF), which became the early version of RSS, known as RDF site summary. Later advances in the technology led to it being referred to as rich site summary, although there are other claims as to what the RSS stands for.
RSS content can be read using so-called 'RSS reader' or 'aggregator' software, which is frequently built into advanced internet browsers, e-mail programs and Web portals. The more sites that support RSS means the less information needed from Web users on each visit, which should be seen as a positive. Learn more at www.whatisrss.com.
I want to set up a wireless router at home for our three computers. What do I need to look out for in terms of security?
Steve, Pok Fu Lam
DQ: There are some basic steps you should take to secure your network, but a lot will ultimately depend on your wireless router.
Whatever router you get, you must first change its default password. People frequently omit this process. Another common mistake is the creation of a good password that is forgotten six months later. Keep the password somewhere convenient, so you can always access the router.
The next step is to turn on the router's encryption program. Finally, only allow those machines that you 'know' to connect. The easiest way to control access is with MAC address filtering. Take a look at this site, which covers various operating systems: https://forms.swlaw.edu/swlawforms/findmacaddress.htm.