The Nike Fuelband is an accelerometer/watch combo that allows you to track your steps, calories burned, and Nike fuel points earned.

Nike fuel points are an arbitrary number assigned to how active you are. The points earned for various exercises will vary from person to person depending on weight and height.

Here are a few tips to help you get started using the Nike Fit:

1. iOS Application – Currently, there only exists an iOS version of the Nike Fuel application. If you don’t have an iOS device, then maybe the Fuelband is not for you. We love the interface and data visualization provided by the app and think it makes the Fuelband even more valuable. Download it here!
2. Optimize your band. The Calories burned, and Steps taken are neat information to have but we really don’t care for them. Turn those off from the iOS app or the desktop application.  It makes scrolling through the band much easier when viewing the time or Fuel earned.
3. Not a runner? The Fuelband reports certain exercises much better than others. For instance running will report extremely well because your entire body is in motion. However, when lifting, biking, or doing yoga you might not get an accurate reading.

In the end, we love it! It’s a great product, made well, with exceptional battery lifetime.

Enjoy,

Scott J. Krieder

“The Tangled Web” written by Michal Zalewski and published by No Starch Press is a great way to learn about browsers, and web application security. What I like most about this book, and a lot of the No Starch Press books, is that this book is not a text book. Instead, this book is a story. That being said, there are plenty of code examples provided in the book that you can plug into your favorite editor and try out. There is no online repository of code examples from the book, but most of the examples are short enough to type without error. Also, the folks here at SmallTownGeeks think you’ll learn more from typing them out yourself Overall a great read, and highly recommended for anyone looking to get into the Web Application space.

Happy Hacking,

Scott J. Krieder

A Bug Hunter’s Diary: A Guided Tour Through the Wilds of Software Security is another great work from No Starch Press.

This book, written by Tobias Klein, allows readers to learn the fundamentals of exploiting a variety of systems. Exploiting is the term referring to the general public’s view of hacking.

Many books and articles written on security are very dated. They often refer to specific operating systems or protocols of the time period and therefore they are quickly outdated. This book presents specific examples essentially in the form of case studies. The author outlines the fundamentals of the case study thus allowing the reader to learn on their own. Felix “FX” Lindner says it best, “Give a man an exploit and you make him a hacker for a day; teach a man to exploit bugs and you make him a hacker for a lifetime.”

This book is not for the programming illiterate. However, users with a basic under of security and programming should find it a great read!

Happy Hacking,

Scott Krieder