As much as we love to assume free Wi-Fi is secure, this is far from the truth. Because you are attaching to a service many others are connected to as well, without security measures, your device can be hacked, especially if the network is unencrypted. Because this encryption involves handing out a 26-character hexadecimal key to every individual wanting to use that network, most places opt for ease of access over security. And even with a secure network, your information is vulnerable to everyone else who has the password and is on the network.

This may not seem like such a big deal and many people don’t believe they have anything to hide on their personal devices, but remember what you use on those devices. Chances are your e-mail is attached as well as all other social media sites. You may have apps that track your finances or private messages to certain others that you would never want anyone else to see. Luckily, there are steps that can be taken to reduce and prevent any unwanted information grabbers from accessing your personal information.

To start, go through your computer’s settings in order to verify your operating system’s security functions are all set to offer the highest protection. Open up the Control Panel and double check that your Firewall is enabled for both private and public networks. Then, go to Network and Sharing to open Change advanced sharing settings. In here, you can turn off file and printer sharing and network discovery for public networks.

One of the most important things to watch for is HTTPS. Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure ensures secure communication across the web. Many of the major email systems use this when you log in (as another layer of password protection) but drop the security as soon as the login is complete. To keep this going, HTTPS Everywhere is a browser extension that gives you a secure connection when browsing some of the more popular sites. It can also be programmed for other sites you like to visit that don’t use HTTPS.

Not every place on the internet provides the choice of HTTPS, and VPNs are there to fill in the security gap. Virtual Private Networks allows data to be sent and received through public access points as if it were directly connected to a secure network. Many businesses offer this for company devices, but if you are an individual looking for that kind of security, ProXPN is a free version that can be upgraded. Unfortunately, it limits your speed, but other choices include VPNBook, OpenVPN Shield Exchange, and OkayFreedom.

With these three steps implemented, secure public Wi-Fi can be achieved. No longer will you have to worry about connecting in an unsure environment with strangers, never knowing if your information is being stolen. With all of the options free of charge, it is also an affordable means of protecting yourself that only takes a little time and effort to implement and guarantee safety.

In Demand IT Skills

Password Management Tools

Net Neutrality for the Layperson

What are a few unique pieces of career advice that nobody ever mentions?

Google is one of the most popular websites in the entire world that gets millions of views each day. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that it needs a strong and reliable programming language that it can rely on to run its searches and many of the apps that Google has created. Because of this, Google uses Python to ensure that every time a user uses one of their products, it will work smoothly and flawlessly. That being said, Google uses Python in a variety of different ways, outlined below.

Code.Google.Com
Since its creation, Google has always used Python as part of its core for programming language. This can still be seen today considering the strong relationship the two have with one another. Google supports and sponsors various Python events, and Python works to better itself so that Google remains on top of cutting edge material. One way that they do this is by working with code.google.com. This is the place where Google developers go to code, learn to code and test programs. And with it being built on Python, users can experience exactly what it is that they should expect once they start using the real site.

Google AdWords
Google AdWords is a great way for people to get their websites out there, through the use of advertising. Each time a person types in a certain string of keywords, or if they have history in their cookies, then they’ll come across these AdWords. The way that these AdWords are broadcasted to online web surfers is built on the foundation from Python. Python also helps clients access their AdWord accounts, so that they can tailor where they want their advertisements to go.

Beets
If you have loads of music, but some of it is uncategorized or sitting in a music player without a name or title, Beets is for you. This Google project uses Python and a music database to help arrange and organize music. The best part about Beets is that even if it doesn’t run exactly the way that you want, you can use a bit of Python knowledge to tailor it to be more specific to your desires.

Android-Scripting
Not only does Google run off Python, but Android also has its own value for the language. Whether you are someone who is just creating your own app for your phone or if you are someone who is looking to create the next app that gets downloaded multiple millions of times, you can use Python and Android-Scripting to create an app that does exactly what you want it to do.

YouTube
YouTube one just started as a video viewer on its own, but is now a billion-dollar company that is owned by Google. YouTube uses Python to let users view and upload video, share links, embed video and much more. Much like Google itself, YouTube relies heavily on Python to run seamlessly for the amount of traffic it gets daily.

Python is not your average coding language. Instead, it is a valuable and integral part of some of the biggest websites in the world, one of which is Google. And the resources listed here are just a fraction of what Google uses Python for in total.

Related:

What Are The 10 Most Famous Software Programs Written in Python?

The Future of Java and Python

Ranking Programming Languages: Which are Gaining Popularity?

Top 10 Software Skills for 2014 and Beyond

Working With Strings In Python

Working With Lists In Python

Conditional Programming In Python

I’ll get straight to the point.  Why should companies invest more in management training?  Here are 10 simple reasons.

1) An employee’s relationship with his or her direct manager is the most important single factor in employee engagement.

2) Engaged employees are happier and more productive.  Disengaged employees are frustrated and more disruptive.

3) Because there’s no widely agreed-on skillset for management (good managers come in all shapes and sizes), there’s an assumption everyone knows how to do it.  This is akin to someone who’s never driven before being given keys to a car and told: “Drive.”  (Many many years ago, this is how I first learned to manage.  I blundered my way through it.  Trial and error.  It wasn’t pretty.)

It is said that spoken languages shape thoughts by their inclusion and exclusion of concepts, and by structuring them in different ways. Similarly, programming languages shape solutions by making some tasks easier and others less aesthetic. Using F# instead of C# reshapes software projects in ways that prefer certain development styles and outcomes, changing what is possible and how it is achieved.

F# is a functional language from Microsoft's research division. While once relegated to the land of impractical academia, the principles espoused by functional programming are beginning to garner mainstream appeal.

As its name implies, functions are first-class citizens in functional programming. Blocks of code can be stored in variables, passed to other functions, and infinitely composed into higher-order functions, encouraging cleaner abstractions and easier testing. While it has long been possible to store and pass code, F#'s clean syntax for higher-order functions encourages them as a solution to any problem seeking an abstraction.

F# also encourages immutability. Instead of maintaining state in variables, functional programming with F# models programs as a series of functions converting inputs to outputs. While this introduces complications for those used to imperative styles, the benefits of immutability mesh well with many current developments best practices.

For instance, if functions are pure, handling only immutable data and exhibiting no side effects, then testing is vastly simplified. It is very easy to test that a specific block of code always returns the same value given the same inputs, and by modeling code as a series of immutable functions, it becomes possible to gain a deep and highly precise set of guarantees that software will behave exactly as written.

Further, if execution flow is exclusively a matter of routing function inputs to outputs, then concurrency is vastly simplified. By shifting away from mutable state to immutable functions, the need for locks and semaphores is vastly reduced if not entirely eliminated, and multi-processor development is almost effortless in many cases.

Type inference is another powerful feature of many functional languages. It is often unnecessary to specify argument and return types, since any modern compiler can infer them automatically. F# brings this feature to most areas of the language, making F# feel less like a statically-typed language and more like Ruby or Python. F# also eliminates noise like braces, explicit returns, and other bits of ceremony that make languages feel cumbersome.

Functional programming with F# makes it possible to write concise, easily testable code that is simpler to parallelize and reason about. However, strict functional styles often require imperative developers to learn new ways of thinking that are not as intuitive. Fortunately, F# makes it possible to incrementally change habits over time. Thanks to its hybrid object-oriented and functional nature, and its clean interoperability with the .net platform, F# developers can gradually shift to a more functional mindset while still using the algorithms and libraries with which they are most familiar.

Related F# Resources:

F# Programming Essentials Training