input to output

The MiFi from Verizon Wireless takes the usual wireless broadband connection to a new level. The MiFi offers mobile broadband access via WiFi for up to five devices at a time, all in a package smaller than a BlackBerry.

When the MiFi is first plugged in to the computer, a drive is mounted allowing the installation of VZAccess Manager directly from the device. This is necessary only once to activate the device. Once activated, the MiFi connects to the Verizon network automatically when powered on. The MiFi offers a good selection of configuration options, allowing the user to modify the SSID of the wireless network and select security options, all through a web interface familiar to anyone that has used a router at home.

The MiFi sports a Micro USB connector that doubles as a charging port and a connectivity port. While plugged in to a computer, internet access is available via tethering using VZAccess Manager. For battery life reasons, it is a good idea to consider tethering when you don’t need to have WiFi access to multiple devices. While tethered, the MiFi disables wireless access.

While testing the device, I found the wireless signal to be good to around 30 feet before dropping off. Not bad from such a small, and battery powered, device. I found that I was generally able to get at least a few hours out of the battery.

Bandwidth was generally good. I got somewhere around 1.5Mb/second down and 400Kb/second up most of the time. Some streaming video was slightly choppy at times, but most sites I tested were quick. The numbers are around what I would expect from a Rev. A device, and there seems to be little or no drop in performance from the WiFi or routing overhead. Speeds understandably drop when the device is serving multiple devices.

I found the MiFi to be a very impressive device overall. The flexibility of the device makes this very compelling for anyone in the market for a wireless broadband device. There are few downsides when compared with other 3G access devices. The MiFi is a very solid effort for a first offering in this type of device, and one I have no problem recommending.

The new BlackBerry Tour from Verizon wireless combines some of the best features of the BlackBerry Curve and BlackBerry Storm to offer a solid phone all around. The Tour offers a sleek design and offers all of the standard enterprise features people expect from a BlackBerry, without sacrificing many features demanded from the consumer market.

RIM has clearly taken messaging seriously with this phone. In addition to the top notch push e-mail features now expected from RIM, the Tour offers a wide array of other applications allowing the phone to integrate with many of the most common sites and services. AOL Instant Messenger, Google Talk, Yahoo Messenger, and Windows Live Messenger are all available through the Application Center menu.

The high resolution display on the Tour is impressive, and offers exceptional video playback capabilities. All areas are crisp and clear. The resolution of the display does make text in the browser difficult to read without zooming at times, but is a small price to pay for overall clarity. The web browser is very similar to that of the Storm or Bold; clearly not as good as the competition, but certainly usable.

For multimedia playback, the Tour offers both a 3.5mm headphone jack and a speaker. The speaker has sufficient volume, but sound does distort somewhat at high volumes. Music downloads are speedy on Verizon’s EV-DO network. Many songs are downloaded in under a minute.

The 3.2 MP autofocus camera built in to the Tour takes sharp photos with good color saturation. The camera can be somewhat slow in taking pictures, but still handles moving objects impressively despite this fact.

Overall, the Tour is easily the best smart phone with Verizon Wireless. Call quality was excellent, and data connections were snappy. BlackBerry owners wishing to upgrade will not be disappointed.

IronKey, the company known for the world’s most secure USB flash drive, just took it to a new level. The S200 model was unveiled today becoming the world’s first and only FIPS 140-2 Level 3 validated flash drive. This includes features such as hardened epoxy covering chips, encryption keys bound to individual devices, and a self destruct feature on the cryptographic chip. This device goes beyond passive safeguards, and can actively detect and respond to threats.

Some highlights of the S200 include:

• Anti-malware capabilities built in to the hardware
• Lock-down of auto-run functionality to help prevent spread of worms
• Read-only mode to prevent infection of the device
• Trusted network settings to prevent the drive from unlocking on non-approved networks
• Optional customer hosted management server
• Optional anti-virus/anti-malware scanning capabilities

The S200 features broad operating system support including Windows XP, 2000, Vista, Mac OS, and Linux. Consumer grade IronKey products start at $79.00 for a 1 GB drive, and ascend to $199.00 for the 8 GB model. Enterprise class units undoubtedly demand much more. This is a serious product that is certainly valuable for governmental entities and enterprises, but at this price point certainly isn’t for everyone. PR info to follow.

LOS ALTOS, Calif., July 13, 2009 IronKey, maker of the world’s most secure flash drive, today announced the launch of its S200 device for government and enterprise customers, featuring hardened physical security, the latest Cryptochip technology, active anti-malware and enhanced management capabilities.

Highlights of IronKey S200:

* The first and only USB flash drive to meet the rigorous government security requirements of FIPS 140-2, Security Level 3.
* Hardware-based AES 256-bit encryption in CBC mode.
* Tamper-resistant and tamper-evident rugged metal case.
* Secure management of encryption keys.
* Anti-malware capabilities in hardware provide an unprecedented layer of protection from malware and prevent its spread onto enterprise and government networks.
AutoRun lock-down protects against worms.
Read-only mode prevents malware on infected hosts from infecting IronKey devices.
Trusted network restrictions prevent IronKey devices from unlocking on uncontrolled PCs.
Optional anti-virus/anti-malware scanning cleans the devices in the background. Dual-channel architecture enables significant performance when writing large and small files to the drive.
* * Includes extended-life flash memory capable of running high-bandwidth applications such as data backups, virtual machines, or bootable mobile desktops.
* Enterprise Management Cloud Service over the Internet for the enforcement of security policies, security and anti-malware updates, and the tracking and auditing of hundreds or thousands of devices.
* Optional Enterprise Management Server that customers can host themselves.

IronKey FIPS 140-2, Level 3 Validation:

* The IronKey S200 USB flash drive has been awarded FIPS certificate 1149.
* IronKey S200 includes the ability to prevent intruders from gaining access to Critical Security Parameters (CSPs ) held within the cryptographic module.
* The physical security mechanisms required at Security Level 3 validate that IronKey thumb drives can detect and respond to attempts of physical access, use or modification of the cryptographic module.
* IronKey includes the physical security mechanisms required for the validation including the use of production-grade components, hard potting material to encapsulate the chip circuitry and a hard metallic enclosure.

Enterprise Management Service Enhancements:

* Mac support for Silver Bullet service provides remote wipe, comprehensive tracking and rich reporting capabilities.
* Configurable time-out policy enables the ability to automatically lock devices after a specified period of inactivity.
* Search capabilities help to locate device information by user name, email address, serial number or other specific information.
* Enhanced backup and recovery capabilities from previous Password Manager to the Identity Manager.
* Management capabilities are available as cloud-based SaaS or on-premise server software for flexibility in meeting organizational requirements.

Supporting Quotes:

David Jevans, CEO at IronKey said:
“As one of the world’s leading information security companies, IronKey is continually innovating to push the boundaries of security and ease of use. Our new IronKey S200 family of secure USB flash drives puts a whole new level of security into the hands of government, military and enterprise customers, at an affordable price. The IronKey S200 is the first and only USB flash drive to achieve the demanding FIPS 140-2, Level 3 security validation from NIST, giving even more proof that IronKey is the world’s most secure flash drive. We are also releasing a suite of new enterprise remote management capabilities, available over the Internet from the IronKey managed service, or from our enterprise server software that companies can install and operate themselves.”

Scott Crawford, research director for the security practice at Enterprise Management Associates said:
“FIPS 140-2, Level 3 is most often associated with devices such as high-confidence security hardware typically found in the data center. To have implemented this in a USB form factor is a noteworthy achievement—yet is just one of the many measures IronKey has integrated with its products, which speaks to IronKey’s commitment to extending a distinctively high level of security to portable media devices.”

So Apple just upped the bar big time on the shuffle. There are enough articles on this already that I won’t go into too much detail, but I want one. No buttons on the device itself, just a slider. Controls on the cord for the headphones, which appear to be compatible with my iPhone. This would be perfect for workouts, where I generally put music on shuffle anyway. Here is the link for those of you who haven’t seen it yet: iPod Shuffle

Thoughts anyone? Should I pull the trigger or is it just another toy?

One thing I truly hate is getting calls from blocked numbers. Really people, if you have a reason to hide who you are when you call me, I don’t want to talk to you. The new service Trapcall, currently in beta, is a wonderful idea. Provided by TelTech systems, the company behind SpoofCard, this service will unblock the ID of any blocked call you receive.

So…how does it work? The service makes use of a loophole in the ID blocking service. Calls to toll free numbers are not blocked. The user sets up their cell phone to forward any rejected or unanswered calls to the TelTech toll free number. The call loops through their system, returning the call to your cell phone with the unblocked ID. Rejecting the call a second time sends it to your normal voicemail, without the caller knowing anything. They hear nothing but normal ringing.

While ID unblocking is free, two other levels of service are available which offer features like voicemail transcription and call recording, as well as displaying the name and address of the caller if available.

Ok, so it’s been a while freaking long time. Sadly, it took GoDaddy reminding me to renew my hosting to kick me back into gear. Anyway, I have done some thinking and have a decent list of blog postings that I intend to write, so hopefully they will keep me going for a while. I also have some planned additions to the site that will let me do some additional updating without full postings. Stay tuned!

With the announcement some time ago that Polaroid was no longer going to produce their instant film due to lack of demand, something was needed to fill that void. Poladroid has done just that. Their free app brings a fun twist to digital photography.

The software brings up a Polaroid camera clone on the screen that “develops” any image that is dropped into it, giving it a more classic Polaroid style. The developers also added a couple of fun touches to the app. When you “develop” an image, it appears slowly over time just like the real film did. This time though, shaking the image during development actually does speed up the processing! Just make sure you don’t take too many pictures as you can only develop ten pictures per session before the “film cartridge” runs out!

I was always intrigued, though not particularly tempted by the Google Android OS. This news has tipped me ever so slightly. I am quickly becoming an advocate of the Amazon MP3 Store. I’m tired of DRM and tired of paying for content that I can’t use in any way I want to. Amazon has announced that its MP3 music store will be a pre-loaded application on the T-Mobile G1. G1 users will now be able to search, download, buy, and play music from a library of around six million DRM free songs. Downloading will require WiFi, but all other functionality is said to be possible over “The T-Mobile Network”. Go Amazon.

Apple announced yesterday that due to a risk of electric shock, they are setting up a recall for iPhone 3G style (Ultracompact USB) power adapters. According to the company, the metal prongs can break off and get stuck in power outlets. There have not been any reported injuries.

If you have one of the affected adapters, you can have it replaced online or at an Apple store. Online orders can be set up now, and retail store exchanges start on October 10th.

NOTE: If your adapter has a green dot on it, you already have the redesigned adapter and do NOT need to replace it.