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This place needs more writers. My current situation leaves me without a computer to post with and as such this blog is very dead. Traffic has gone down 66.8% in the past month, due largely to the fact that nobody wants to post.

If you have some spare time and wouldn't mind contributing to this here blog, email me. zack@podtube.us - we can talk!

In today's ridiculously intrusive world, sometimes you want to do some secure encrypted browsing through a remote access point in a way that is difficult to trace if you don't cut any corners.

Things you'll need.

1. A shell account.
   I used my own personal Virtual Private Server for this demonstration due to its privacy and such, but most free shell providers do not mind if you tunnel a bit of data through their servers. That being said, please do not download massive files or commit illegal acts through these free services. Buy a VPS, it's much more secure.
2. PuTTY
   PuTTY is a shell emulator that can be used to access a computer remotely. We will be employing PuTTY's handy tunnel function to make our Internet traffic secure.
3. A modern browser, preferably Firefox.
   We'll be using Firefox in this example, but the method is intuitive for other browsers as well.

Doing it.

First things first, open up your newly installed PuTTY and put the hostname or IP address of your shell provider in the "Host Name (or IP address) field." It should look like this, except with your own information:

Then, go to the Connection > SSH > Tunnels options. Enter 1984 in the Source Port box and pick "Dynamic," then click "Add." It should look like the image below.

Now, you can proceed to click "Open." If a message box comes up warning about host keys, ignore it and press "Yes." Now enter your shell username and password to login. Minimize that window.

Open up Firefox. Click Tools > Options... > Advanced > Network > Settings. A window will appear with proxy settings. Select "Manual Proxy Configuration." Remove all data from the HTTP proxy field, and fill the rest in with "127.0.0.1". Change all the port numbers to 1984 and select "SOCKS v5" under SOCKS host. It should look like the image below.

Now attempt to browse the web. If you get an error or a blank page, make sure you have followed the instructions to the letter. Go to an IP checker website, and verify that the IP it shows is indeed that of your shell provider.

Congratulations! Your information cannot be intercepted locally, just at the midpoint shell provider. Note that in some cases, this can slow down your Internet connection. It will, however, unblock sites and ports blocked by your firewall :)

Aside from the obvious things like it being a wannabe Twitter, the owner (xiofire)'s 15-year-old-ness is really messing him up. I know a friend who was one of the first people to use Cloudica and every few days he threatens to quit due to the admin's social incompetence.

Protip: being a jerk will get you nowhere, xiofire.

A few weeks ago, I was strolling through my friendly local library and I saw the dedication plaque on the wall. Being the bored and easily distracted person that I am, I began to read and nearly cried when I saw this guy's name.

A few weeks ago I sent in my broken phone to LG for a refurbished one. It had missing screws, large scratches, and both water damage indicators were activated.

Today, I got a brand new phone. There were no snide notes included with it or notifications of payment owed.

I'm not sure why this happened. Was it just a fluke in the system, or do they just not have enough time to check returns? I certainly didn't mind.