One of Drobo FS drawbacks is its inability to be accessed outside of a local area network (LAN). Many NAS servers today have this functionality built-in along with tons of other features that allow mobile users to access their data from abroad. Today, Drobo answered that call in a way with its partnership with Pogoplug, the popular way to make ones data easily accessible on the Internet. Drobo calls it Personal Cloud and will give user 10GB of free cloud storage in addition to instant access to their Drobo unit. All it takes is a software download for either your Mac or Windows machine and you’ll be off and rolling.

View Press Release »

If you’re wondering what iCloud is or know but just need to know how to use it, then you may be interested in the new book from Joe Kissell entitled Take Control of iCloud from TidBITS. The 143-page ebook will help you understand the differences between MobileMe and iCloud and what stays, goes away, and what’s new. Examples of how to configure aspects of iCloud, such as syncing your calendar, are all part of this new digital release. Get it and learn the iCloud.

View Press Release »

Clearwire Corporation, a leading provider of wireless broadband services and operator of the first 4G network in the country, today announced the availability of CLEAR® 4G, take-it-with-you internet service for businesses and consumers in Sacramento. With CLEAR, anyone can now use the internet at speeds four times faster than 3G* – whether at home, in the office, or on-the-go within CLEAR coverage.

In Sacramento, CLEAR covers nearly 1.2 million people. Regionally, service extends out to Davis to the West, to Elk Grove in the South, to Roseville/Folsom out to the East and Natomas to the North. A detailed coverage map of CLEAR 4G service is available at www.clear.com/coverage.

“Whether as a critical link for the Pony Express or for the first transcontinental railroad, Sacramento has long been at the forefront of this country’s ever-growing need to communicate. With today’s launch, Sacramento reinforces its historical position as a communications hub and becomes the anchor to Clearwire’s 4G network in the Central Valley,” said Allan Lamb, regional general manager for CLEAR. “For the first time, capital city consumers are able to access the content they normally enjoy at home or work wirelessly around Sacramento at an affordable price and without data limits.”

For a limited time, new customers can take advantage of CLEAR’s online-only mobile internet promotion to receive a 50% discount on their service plan for the first two months, with overnight shipping included and no activation fee. This promotion is available at www.clear.com/sacramento.

Does a GPS with a constant connection to the Internet make it the best way to travel in your car? Can it find the lowest gas prices, the nearest Starbucks, an ATM near your friends home, and the best pizza joint in town? Will it show you how to get to work quicker than you have ever made it before IN traffic? Does the volume setting of 11 make it that much better than anything else available?

Yes, we know so many questions to be answered but we think we do a pretty good job of answering those and even more with the newest craze hitting cars across the country in this new GPS unit. An Internet enabled GPS device that taps into Yahoo! Local and lets you send your addresses from within your web browser on your computer to your Dash Express sitting silently on your, um, dash.

Now, is it all worth it? Read on.

What can you say, when you move from the high through put of 5 Mbps of cable modem to iffy fixed wireless of the country, you become excited for anything close to reliable Internet. This weekend I surprised a friend in San Antonio, Texas for his 40th birthday and when I popped open my MacBook Pro yesterday to download Firefox’s latest beta, I was stunned to see the download ticker hit the 800 Kbps. I quickly went to Speedtest.net and was nearly floored when the connection tested at no lower than 7.9 Mbps. I looked to my buddy and asked him, “Dude, what are you connected to out here?” “Fiber,” was his response. “Fiber?! Out here?” was my shocked reply as they live about 30 minutes north of San Antonio.

Yes, it was fiber. Lucky for him, he just got it dropped into his home a few months ago and man, what fiber can do for you. Yes, I would agree that fiber indeed makes on regular. I’d use his connection regularly. So last night I was downloading everything I could. His upload speeds weren’t fantastic at 800 Kbps, but it was solid and latency was low enough that it still seemed blazing when compared to my crappy connection at home.

So, I’ve experienced a blessed experience on true broadband of fiber (though this fiber optic use is kinda interesting, too) and hope that one day I too will have the availability of fiber. But for now, I’ll be happy with my forthcoming T1 install and enjoy the 1.544 Mbps upload speeds (which will better you Rog’ ) as well as down at the same. Consistent, low latency, reliable Internet will be nice to have but dang, 8 megs was grand! ]]> http://svenontech.com/2008/04/21/ive-been-experienced-nirvanna-at-8mbs-at-home/feed/ 0 http://svenontech.com/2008/03/25/greenlight-wireless-expands-reach-into-emerging-markets/ http://svenontech.com/2008/03/25/greenlight-wireless-expands-reach-into-emerging-markets/#comments Tue, 25 Mar 2008 17:47:08 +0000 Sven Rafferty http://svenontech.com/2008/03/25/greenlight-wireless-expands-reach-into-emerging-markets/

Orange Madagascar S.A. has released its new Orange World portal powered by Greenlight Wireless’ Skweezer technology, which optimizes Web pages and searches for mobile handsets.

Orange World is a mobile Internet portal that provides Orange Madagascar’s 1.4 million customers with access to Web content, such as news and sports scores, from their mobile phones and PDAs. Skweezer Private Label has been integrated into this portal so that Orange customers will be able to browse off-portal and visit any Web site on the Internet, whether it’s mobile-friendly or not.

“Orange Madagascar has chosen to work with Greenlight Wireless to integrate Skweezer into its WAP portal because of Greenlight’s experience, knowledge and expertise in the technology of reformatting pages to adapt them to the screens of mobile phones,” said Orange Madagascar Product Manager Tohiniaina Raherimanantsoa.

Approximately 24% of all Skweezer users are from so-called “emerging markets”. The growth in this sector is an ongoing tend that became apparent in mid-2005, when Skweezer penetration in Latin America, China, and India began to accelerate. Skweezer Private Label is also used by Orange Dominicana’s 850,000-plus customers, with further Private Label implementations due to be deployed in upcoming months.

Orange Madagascar is using Skweezer Private Label, which is a carrier-grade solution that optimizes Web content for PDAs and cell phones. Skweezer compresses and reformats content being downloaded, so that it loads faster, looks better, and is easier to navigate. Skweezer has introduced many mobile browsing innovations and has won several awards in 2007, including a Gold Star in the Mobile Star Awards and Best Web Compression Service in the Smartphone and Pocket PC Magazine Best Software Awards. Skweezer is completely platform-independent and can be accessed from Pocket PC, Palm, MS Smartphone, Blackberry, iPhone, Symbian, PSP2, and WAP 2.0 compliant devices.

Symantec Corp (Nasdaq: SYMC), makers of
Norton security software, today released the first volume of the Norton
Online Living Report (NOLR) revealing that, more than ever, adults and
children around the world are getting emotionally and socially connected
online – including dating, friendship and playing – as well as for
information and communication. The NOLR, undertaken by Harris
Interactive, revealed some startling statistics about how Internet-Age
technologies have affected families across the world.

Up to half of online adults worldwide and up to 40 per cent of online
children worldwide have made friends on line, with 72 per cent of
responding UK adults having translated at least one online friend to an
offline friend. In the UK, 43 per cent of online adults and 26 per cent
of children enjoy their online relationships as much or more than their
offline friendships. This indicates a major shift in how people relate
to one other and provides potential clues for the future of human
interaction.

Another common theme worldwide reveals that parents’ perception of what
their children are doing online does not reflect the reality of what
their children say they are doing. For example, one in five responding
children admit to conducting activities online that they know their
parents would not approve of with 24 per cent of UK online children
spending tenfold or more time online than their parents think they do.
The survey revealed that 72 per cent of responding parents in the UK are
concerned about their children’s activities online, with 25 per cent
having no idea about what their children are doing on the internet.

This can have shocking consequences: Five times as many children online
in the UK have been approached by a stranger online than their parents
believe. In UK, adults believe that four per cent of children have been
approached online by a stranger. The actual per cent reported by UK
online children is 20.

Online parents are recognising the social and informative benefits of
the Internet both for themselves and their children yet few are setting
parameters and implementing controls to ensure children remain safe on
line. Worldwide, half or less of online parents, or 37 per cent in the
UK, have set parental controls on their family computers. Around seven
in 10 UK online parents are concerned about their children being
approached with inappropriate content or solicitations but only four in
10 have spoken to their child on safe Internet practices, despite the UK
having the highest number of children (87 per cent) claiming to be
comfortable talking to their parents about their on line experiences.

Commenting on the research, Chris Kelly, Chief Privacy Officer from
Facebook said: “Facebook recognizes the importance of helping parents to
understand the online world that our children are growing up in and to
provide practical advice on how people can replicate their offline
controls, online. Our technology has been designed to replicate
real-world connections online, with the ability to select personal
privacy settings and provide complete user control.”

Caroline Cockerill, Norton Online Safety Advocate for Symantec, said:
“The Norton Online Living Report highlights how the boundaries have
blurred between the online and offline worlds and the effect this is
having on our families and as individuals.”

“As parents, we need to balance our concerns about child safety online
while allowing children the freedom to explore without fear of what they
may find. In order to make our children’s time online as safe as
possible, there are a number of recommendations to follow. Installing
and constantly updating Internet security software is a key factor in
helping to shield our families from a variety of unwanted materials, but
the protection does not stop there. Now more than ever it is important
that parents fully understand the rich online world that children have
access to, and are aware of the social as well as technological measures
that need to be undertaken to ensure that they are protected. This
begins with an awareness of the Web sites that our children now use on a
daily basis, and an open and frank discussion about the online risks
which children may face.”

The Norton Online Living Report is the world’s most comprehensive report
on the digital lifestyle habits of adults and children, cataloguing the
astonishing migration of offline activities to the online world. The
report examines data from eight countries including UK, Australia,
Brazil, China, France, Germany, Japan and the U.S., to reveal surprising
cross-cultural differences, and similarities, when it comes to
interacting with technology. Symantec commissioned Harris Interactive
to conduct the survey to better comprehend how consumers interact with
technology on a daily basis in order to understand the mindset of
consumers worldwide. This detailed data will allow Symantec to hone its
products, deliver targeted and streamlined services and to anticipate
online threats and trends.

For more information on the Norton Online Lifestyle Report please visit
www.norton.com/onlineliving, or for further information on Symantec’s
online safety education initiatives log on to
www.norton.com/uk/familyresource.

Key Findings

Communicating:
* Email has usurped the telephone as the major source of
communication
* Online users in the UK and China are most likely to use their
phone to send text messages
* Most online adults (except in the U.S. and Japan) spend at least
one hour per month sending text messages from their mobile phones with
65 per cent in the UK spending between one and four hours engaged this
way
* Brazil and China, are way ahead of the global pack when it comes
to Instant Messaging (IM) with 93 per cent (Brazil) and 97 per cent
(China) sending IMs at least sometimes, compared to 61 per cent of UK
adults
* 40 per cent of UK children have created an online avatar versus
just 21 per cent of adults. China has far and away the biggest take up
of avatars – 72 per cent of adults and a massive 88 per cent of China’s
children have created an online avatar at some point
* Nearly one in five adults in the world spend time on their
personal blog
* In China, nearly 87 per cent of users have a personal blog
versus only 19 per cent of UK users

Socialising:
* Half of adults globally have made friends online. Of those
users, approximately 60-80 per cent have translated some of these online
friendship to their offline world
* 40-60 per cent of online adults globally prefer their online
friendships the same amount or more than their offline friendships
* The UK’s adults feel more comfortable than their European
counterparts socialising online. Twenty eight per cent say they feel
confident in doing so compared to 21 per cent in Germany and just 16 per
cent in France. Globally, China leads the pack with 44 per cent of
adults claiming to feel confident socialising online
* 30-40 per cent of online children have made friends online

Living:
* UK adults spend an average of 40 hours per month online, almost
double that of their children who spend 24 hours online. The average
Chinese adult spends a reported 100 hours online
* Online gaming has become enormously popular, with 97 per cent of
online children and 65 per cent of online adults in the UK playing games
online
* Over half (55 per cent) of Britain’s adult online community owns
a digital music player and 58 per cent download music from the Internet.
Marginally more (65 per cent) of its online children download music from
the Internet
* People in the UK are by far the largest users of online travel
sites, with 81 per cent booking their travel online. Australia is second
to the UK with 67 per cent

Informing:
* The Internet exceeds the offline world as a source of key
information about the world we live in
* The vast majority of online children in the world use the
Internet to help with schoolwork with the exception of Japan (77 per
cent). The UK is third highest with 95 per cent of responding children
using the Internet for schoolwork
* Most online adults spend at least one hour per month both
reading news from online sites/blogs and from a print outlet
* Online beauty and fashion advice has become popular globally
with nearly 3 to 4 in 10 online users seeking advice

Buying:
* The UK is ahead of the rest of the world when it comes to
shopping online, with 96 per cent of adults responding that they shop
online at least sometimes. Germany is second to the UK, with 93 per
cent. China (86 per cent) and Brazil (80 per cent) had the lowest
positive responses
* Half of all global online users feel confident shopping online
* The UK is way ahead in terms of confidence when using the
Internet to shop. Seventy eight per cent of UK adults feel confident
shopping online. The US is second to the UK, with 63 per cent
* Compared to their parents, the UK’s children have significantly
less confidence in shopping online with just 32 per cent feeling
confident or very confident shopping online. China’s children are the
most confident online shoppers – 69 per cent offering positive responses

Banking:
* Banking is a popular Internet pastime for adults worldwide.
China (87 per cent) and the UK (85 per cent) lead the way
* 54 per cent of Brits manage financial investments online

Exploring:
* Although the majority of online adults and children have
received some level of violation (from minor spam emails to major hack
attempts) and express concern about online safety, most users do not
take enough steps to protect themselves online
* 12 per cent of UK online adults and 15 per cent of UK online
children say they feel confident surfing the Web without any security
software
* The majority of adult users worldwide have installed security
software but few go beyond basic steps such as changing passwords
frequently, using multiple email addresses and surfing only on trusted
sites
* Just half of UK adults use complex passwords to protect their
Internet security
* One in ten UK online adults have had someone use their credit
card online without approval – the highest in the world
* Thirteen per cent of UK adults have experienced someone trying
to break into their computer remotely compared to 43 per cent in China
and 23 per cent in Australia

Protecting:
* While the majority of parents recognise online threats to their
children, most underestimate the prevalence of these threats and far
fewer are taking actionable steps such as setting parental controls
* 72 per cent of British parents say they worry about their child
being approached with inappropriate content or solicitations online.
China and France were the highest scoring nations in the survey with
over 90 per cent of parents concerned
* Just 37 per cent of UK online parents have set parental controls
on their family computer
* Almost a quarter (20 per cent) of British parents have ‘spied’
on their child’s online usage and only eight per cent have caught their
child doing something they don’t approve of
* There is a disconnect between the number of British adults who
think their child has received requests for personal information online
(just four per cent) and the number of children who say they have been
approached with such a request (25 per cent). Almost one in ten (eight
per cent) UK children have received inappropriate materials via the
Internet that made them feel uncomfortable
* Nineteen per cent of UK children say they do things online that
they know their parents would disapprove of. That figure is even higher
in China with 55 per cent responding in the positive

About the Survey
The survey was conducted online by third-party research firm, Harris
Interactive, and returned a total of 4,687 adult and 2,717 child
responses. All respondents spend at least one hour per month online and
were surveyed in their native language across eight countries (U.S.,
U.K., Australia, Germany, France, Brazil, China and Japan). The adult
(18 and over) and child (8 to 17) samples were both weighted to be
representative of the population of online adults and children for each
individual country.

The overall study entailed 15-minute interviews among adults and
5-minute interviews among children. Questions asked were identical
across all countries, with some overlap between the adult and children
surveys.

Whether staying in a hotel, waiting for a flight or drinking a latte at the local coffee shop, Alltel customers can now connect to the Internet virtually anywhere. Alltel Wireless, America’s largest network providing coverage across the nation, today launched Alltel Wi-Fi, an easy-to-use solution powered by Boingo Wireless that instantly provides customers with laptop access to thousands of hotspots throughout North and South America. Alltel also provides wireless broadband access via Alltel Wireless Internet service, allowing customers to access the Internet from their laptop or smartphone at speeds of up to 2.4 Mbps on its nationwide data network.

Through Alltel’s relationship with Boingo, the world’s largest network of Wi-Fi hotspots, Alltel customers will be able to enjoy a fast connection all over the country. To provide customers with maximum coverage, Alltel is offering a Wi-Fi and EVDO Wireless Internet “bundle,” delivering unlimited Wi-Fi access from any supported hotspot starting as low as $9.99 per month, in addition to the customers’ Wireless Internet Plan. Pre-paid Wi-Fi cards are available at Alltel Wireless retail stores for $19.99 per week or $9.99 per day. Additionally, users can purchase Wi-Fi access at https://wifi.alltel.com.

“Wi-Fi is an excellent complement to Alltel’s existing portfolio of wireless internet solutions and is a good fit with Alltel’s strategy to provide customers with more ways to connect wirelessly to the Internet, email, or corporate intranet,” said David Maddox, director of product marketing for Alltel Wireless. “Alltel customers will get the best available wireless broadband connection throughout the country with EVDO and Wi-Fi from Alltel.”

I can’t even begin to tell you how many people I tell that just because you dragged something to the Trash can on your Mac and emptied it, it’s not gone. Or how you deleted a bunch of e-mail in Mail.app. It’s not gone. How ’bout all your Internet History that you “cleared”? Not gone. Only the index marker is gone. The actual data is still there. Ask former CEO Kenneth Lay of Enron how that works. Worse yet, even your Keychain really isn’t safe from prying eyes.

SubRosaSoft.com Inc. of Union City, California, has just released a tool that will help forensic specialists get some interesting stuff off of any OS X computer. With the simple insertion of the MacLockPick to any USB port on a Mac, the MacLockPick starts digging into the operating system looking for gems and jewels. MacLockPick knows where to go for finding the large vein and thus starts cracking your Keychain for the real goodies. “Once the MacLockPick software is run it will extract data from the Apple Keychain and system settings to provide the examiner fast access to the suspect’s critical information with as little interaction or trace as possible,” so says SubRosaSoft’s press release. Wow! This is some heavy stuff. For the mind-blowing specifics, check out the list after the jump.

Now, don’t worry. SubRosaSoft is only selling this to “Licensed Investigators, State and Local law enforcement professionals, (as well as to) Federal law enforcement professionals.” Though, I just added one into my cart under PI and it hasn’t yet asked me for my license (though I suspect it does further into the purchase phase.) Pricing starts at $499.95 for PIs and the Feds get the best deal at $399.95. eBay buyers will most likely pay double.

Apple Keychain Passwords

• System – The user password of the logged in user. Often this is shared for root access and FileVault encryption.
• General – Includes (but is not limited to) passwords for encrypted disk images, wifi base stations, iTunes music store, iChat login, Apple Remote Desktop.
• Internet – Includes (but is not limited to) login and password details for web sites, email accounts, some peer to peer networks, online services and stores, auction sites, and .mac accounts.
• AppleShare – A list of login and password details for appleshare servers this mac has connected to.

Files and Folder details

• Folder Dates – A list of all the key user folders along with their creation date, date of last modification, date of first access, and date of the most recent access.
• Disk Images – Paths to the most recent disk images that have been mounted on this mac.
• Preview – Full paths to recent files that have been viewed in the preview program.
• QuickTime – File names for recently viewed movies for the QuickTime player applications
• Recent Applications, Documents, and Servers – Program names for the most recently used items on this Macintosh computer.

Instant Messaging

• Default Login – for iChat instant messenger system.
• Complete buddy list – including buddies who have since been deleted.

eMail

• Account Details – login names and server addresses used.
• Address Book – Address details for entries in the address book including contacts that have been deleted. This address book is used by most communication programs on the Mac and is used to synchronize with the iPod and other portable devices.
• Opened Attachments – Paths to files that have been received as an attachment then saved or opened including the date and time of opening.

Web History and Preferences

• Search Strings – The most recent items that the user has searched for using the google toolbar in safari.
• Cached Bookmarks – Sites that have been bookmarked in Safari including items that have been deleted.
• Current Bookmarks – Sites that are currently bookmarked in Safari.
• Cookies – A full list of cookies include the server address the cookie value and the date and time of assignment.
• History – Complete details of browsing history including the number of times visited and the date and time of the most recent visit.

Hardware Preferences

• iPod – Serial numbers of any iPod that have been connected to this Mac along with the date and time it was first used.
• Bluetooth Devices – hardware address of any Bluetooth devices that have been paired with this mac along with the most recent time these devices have been paired.
• Wi-Fi Connections – Listings for Wi-Fi base stations that have been used on this computer including the base address and the date and time of the first connection.
• Network Interfaces – MAC address for each integrated network interface on the suspect’s machine.

Taxes are due next Tuesday and many will be spending their weekend “finishing” (read: starting) their taxes. Many will eFile. Check Point sent SvenOnTech this great write up on what to watch out for when filing over the Internet.

Despite the growing awareness of online identity theft, many electronic filers still do not know the basic and necessary measures to protect themselves and their tax information, said the security experts behind Check Point’s ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite today. The IRS reports that last year, about 73 million people submitted federal tax returns electronically. About 20 million of these individuals filed via the Internet using home computers, an increase of 18% from 2005.

“It’s amazing how many e-filers take pains to keep their jewelry in a safe at home and their financial paperwork in a locked desk but don’t take minimal precautions on their personal home computer,” said Laura Yecies, vice president at Check Point Software Technologies and general manager of the ZoneAlarm consumer division. “For starters, we hope everyone knows by now that they shouldn’t wirelessly file tax returns from the local coffee shop, which may not be secure.”

The IRS expects a steady increase in the number of e-filers this year as consumers are increasingly taking advantage of the conveniences of the Internet to file, getting their returns faster and helping them avoid the long lines that mar the post office on Tax Day.

With Tax Day coming two days later on April 17 this year, many consumers are greeting the extra days with a sigh of relief – they now have 48 more hours to wrap up their taxes. But this also means that today’s malicious cyberthieves also have some additional time to exploit the hundreds of returns that will be filed in those extra days. Criminals are increasingly using the Internet as an avenue to steal and sell personal information.

Below is a list of tips compiled by ZoneAlarm’s security team, for online tax filers to ensure the smooth and secure transmission of their tax data online and the proper disposal of confidential documents:

1. Update your security software before beginning your tax preparation. Verify that you have at basic protection: a firewall, anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-spam, privacy settings and anti-phishing features.

2. Update your Window’s operating system and install the latest security patches.

3. Using wireless at home? Make sure your wireless router’s security is enabled (IE WEP or WPA). Never do your taxes at a public wireless hotspot.

4. Run antivirus and anti-spyware scans immediately before you begin to ensure a spyware-free PC. (For a free online scan, visit: http://www.zonealarm.com/scanner)

5. If you are using an online tax service, read the posted security/privacy policy. To ensure the transaction is encrypted, verify that a little yellow closed-lock icon appears in the bottom right corner of your browser, and that the URL begins with “https” (as opposed to “http”).

6. If you use an accountant or a brick-and-mortar tax preparation service, inquire about their security practices and ask if they have a standard set of policies and processes to protect your data.

7. Protect all passwords used to access tax filing accounts. Do not tape them to your computer or write them down nearby. Use a combination of numbers, letters and characters, and avoid common passwords such as your pet’s name or your place of birth.

8. Back-up your tax filing to a CD or portable USB drive, and then delete all associated files off your hard drive. If your PC is compromised in the future, your tax information, Social Security Number and other sensitive data will not be revealed. Shred any documents you may have printed – do not throw them in the trash.

9. Beware of fraudulent e-mails (called “phishing”). Never click on a link in an e-mail or open an attachment. Common scams include claims of outlandish refunds, suspicious tax filing services, or a warning that your tax filing was rejected or your IRS account was hacked. If in doubt, visit http://www.irs.gov directly or call them at 1-800-829-1040.

10. If your computer is extremely sluggish or is “acting up” even after you run a scan, consider filing the old-fashioned way: by snail mail.

For tips from the IRS on phishing and online scams.

For the top Tax Scams.