Http & Https

The 23 Things Oxford programme prompted me to find out the difference between Http and Https, so I did a bit of research. According to www.wisegeek.com, http stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol and is a system for transmitting and receiving information across the Internet. Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (Https), is described on Wikipedia as 'a combination of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol with the SSL/TLS protocol to provide encryption and secure identification of the server'. In short, it seems Https is used when there is an exchange of confidential information with a server, which needs to be secured in order to prevent unauthorized access. I checked Facebook and found the website address was preceded by Http, until I logged in and it changed to Https as I hoped it would!

iGoogle

I set up a Google ID and made myself a nice new iGoogle page a while ago. I like to keep it as my personalised homepage largely because I find the theme I chose super-attractive! I've spent a lot of time adding and deleting gadgets to make it as pretty and appealing to myself as possible. There seems to be an almost overwhelming array of them and they vary greatly in quality. However, I pay little attention to my iGoogle page most days; I forget to check the current moon phase and the Russian word of the day and go straight to my favourite sites from my history in the drop-down search box. Old habits die hard I suppose.