Technicity 5 - Yohan Perera

A medium eye-level shot shows a man with a beard and dark shirt holding up an open silver MacBook Pro laptop, with its screen prominently displaying the text "YOU'VE BEEN HACKED!" in bright green, pixelated letters against a black background. Only the man's chest, arms, and lower face with his beard are visible, indicating he is looking directly at the viewer while holding the laptop. The background is dark, emphasizing the glowing screen.

My Two Cents on the PayHere Hack

In my blog post titled “The Worrying State of Cybersecurity in Sri Lanka,” published last year, I warned that cybercriminals are increasingly targeting high-profile digital assets owned by government institutions and major business entities. My concern was based on emerging trends and the lack of proactive defense mechanisms in place. A year and two months…

A medium eye-level shot captures a man with a beard, wearing an orange and black plaid shirt, looking down at a smartphone in his left hand. His right hand holds a clear glass mug containing a dark beverage. Overlayed on the image are two white, transparent speech bubbles, suggesting a communication or messaging theme. To the left, a large green plant is partially visible, and the background shows a blurred white wall with shelves and some decorative items.

Thou Shalt not use SMS!

On January 25th, 1915, Alexander Graham Bell revolutionized the way we communicate when he yelled, “Watson, please come here. I want you!” Fifty-six years later Ray Tomlinson made history when he sent the first email in the year 1971. The email said, “QWERTYUIOP”. Then on December 3rd, 1992, Neil Papworth from Vodafone Inc. introduced the…

A close-up, angled shot of an open hard drive, revealing its reflective platter and read/write head, all resting on a dark, textured surface.

5 Questions for Choosing a Cloud Storage Service

When the MP Hon. Ranjan Ramanayake was arrested with a collection of CDs containing private telephone conversations, a friend of mine commented Ranjan should have uploaded the recordings to a Cloud Storage Service instead of copying them to CDs. I do agree with him but is it as easy as it sounds? There are at…

A close-up, eye-level shot focuses on a rack of network servers, densely packed with various cables. Multiple white and blue network cables, likely fiber optic, are plugged into ports on the server units, with their green indicator lights glowing. Some red cables are visible in the foreground, out of focus. The silver server casings and their ventilation grilles are clearly visible, indicating a complex data center or server room environment.

Kiss, Kiss, Bye, Bye G Suite Legacy Free Edition!

Prior to December 6, 2012, Google allowed users around the world to sign up for the G Suite Legacy Free Edition, which was a freemium version of Google’s G Suite offering. I am one of those users who signed up. Sixteen years later in January 2022, Google announced that support for the G Suite legacy…

Technicity

JBL Tune 500BT: 2+ Years Later

A part of my daytime job requires editing videos. I edit at least two videos per week. I am not a professional editor, but I help the in-house production team with basic edits because editing those videos require a sound knowledge of theology and a pastoral perspective, although I don’t know the head or tail…

A top-down, close-up shot shows a scattered collection of various USB flash drives on a dark, possibly black, surface. The drives vary in color, size, and design, including white, black, green, silver, and one with a red and beige casing resembling a cork. Some visible brands include "ADATA," "Logiq," "TDK," and "Lexar," with some indicating storage capacities like "4GB," "8GB," and "16GB." The lighting is somewhat dim, creating soft reflections on some of the metallic surfaces.

Rules of Thumb for Thumb Drives and Flash Drives

Thumb Drives and Flash Drives certainly revolutionized the way we store and transfer information between computers. It was from an article in a Technology Magazine that I read about them for the first time about 21 years ago. Back then these bad boys were 6 inches in length and were dubbed “Pen Drives” because they…

A close-up, high-angle shot captures an open Space Gray MacBook Air laptop placed on a light wooden desk, angled from the lower right towards the upper left. The screen is illuminated, displaying a dark background with numerous colorful application icons arranged in a grid. The keyboard is visible, showing the black keys. To the left of the laptop, a red mug with white text and a dark-colored pen are partially visible. The background consists of a plain white wall, with a hint of a power outlet or similar fixture in the upper right corner.

Farewell Windows. Hello macOS

On the 19th of this month, I bought my brand-new 13” MacBook Air powered by Apple’s flagship M1 chip. I have never owned an Apple device before so this happens to be my first time. Today I would like to share with you a few facts I like and don’t like about it in comparison…

Two women stand on a sidewalk against a large brick wall, looking up at the dozens of security cameras mounted in neat rows across the wall above them.

Four Mistakes that could Undermine Your Privacy

Since Facebook announced its most recent privacy policy update for WhatsApp in early 2021, a significant number of users concerned about their digital privacy began abandoning the platform in search of safer alternatives. Many turned to Signal and Telegram, believing that switching apps would be enough to protect their personal information from being misused or…

A close-up shot focuses on a person's hands as they engage in online shopping or banking. The person's left hand, with manicured nails, is positioned over the keyboard of an open silver laptop, seemingly typing. Their right hand holds a white "mBank" debit card with colorful letters (orange "m," red "B," green "a," yellow "n," and red "k") and a small signal icon for contactless payment. The laptop screen is blurred in the background but shows what appears to be a website interface. The setting suggests a clean, possibly home or office, environment with a light-colored surface.

Ground Rules for Online Banking and Shopping

Even though online banking and grocery shopping have existed in Sri Lanka for many years, the majority of Sri Lankans preferred doing these things offline. That was before COVID-19 gave them a limited array of options. According to a study conducted by “Survey Research Lanka” with 580 samples collected from the nine provinces, 47% of…

A cartoon illustration of a penguin in an arctic scene. A large penguin stands in the foreground on the ice, with several other penguins, icebergs, and the ocean visible in the background.

Microsoft loves Linux: Three Lessons to Live By

Microsoft’s complex relationship with Linux has evolved dramatically over the years, but a turning point came in 2014 when CEO Satya Nadella openly declared, “Microsoft loves Linux” during a media event—perhaps the first truly candid admission of its shifting stance. For those unfamiliar, Linux is a powerful, flexible, and highly efficient operating system that outperforms…