Integrity of hardware-based computer security is challenged

Integrity of hardware-based computer security is challenged – Network World

What really bothers me is that Black Hat pulled this. I work at Black Hat’s Las Vegas Conference, and love Jeff, Ping, and the rest of the Black Hat folks I’ve met. This pulling of information (likely because of some legal pressure) is disturbing to me. Of course- just because it has been “officially” pulled- doesn’t mean it won’t become available in some way, either at Black Hat or Defcon.

What the iPhone Doesn’t Have

Finally Confirmed: What the iPhone Doesn’t Have – Gizmodo

More reasons not to waste $500 + activation fee + 2 years of monthly payments to AT&T.

It seems to be more eye candy and fluff than practical. Kind of like Windows Vista.

Key points, for me:

• Songs as Ringtones
I would have thought this was a given. I can’t believe it doesn’t do this.

• Any flash support
So much for that fancy browser!

• Picture messages (MMS)
You’ve got to be kidding me. It can’t do something a $19 phone could do years ago?

• Video recording
Ditto.

• Voice recognition or voice dialing
Ditto. Ditto.

• One-size-fits-all headset jack (May have to buy an adapter for certain headphones)
Not sure what exactly this means. If it doesn’t have a plain-old headset jack- that sucks.

• 3G (EV-DO/HSDPA)
Their little Google Maps integration demo in the commercial would actually take several minutes.

• GPS
This seems odd too, especially given the coolness factor of the maps and that GPS integration is quickly becoming a standard item on cell phones.

• A real keyboard
I have friends with other “smart phones” that use on-screen keyboards. They suck. No physical feedback when you press keys or to indicate key locations or boundaries. They also force you to look at the phone- making it exceptionally dangerous in certain situations- especially driving.

• Removable battery
This, along with AT&T being their carrier, was one of the two biggest reasons I decided not to bother with one of these. Generally Lithium Ion batteries are only good for about a year in cellular phones that get frequent use. Their life and performance starts to drop off after that much time. So- you are spending $500+ and committing to a two-year contract on a device that will probably be unusable before the contract is up (unless you don’t mind using it while it is tethered to its charger).

• Direct iTunes Music Store Access (Over Wi-Fi or EDGE)
This is something else that just blows me away. All the hype about how cool this phone and its Internet browser are- and you can’t even use it to download music from iTunes directly.(?!) I could understand EDGE- since it sucks and it would take a half-hour to download a song, but you certainly should be able to over WiFi.

All-in-all I think the iPhone has a lot of potential to change the smart phone industry. It is certainly unlike anything we have seen before, and the demos I have seen online and on TV are very impressive. It is lacking in a lot of what I feel should be “standard”, both for a cell phone and a “smart” phone. I guess we shall see what the iPhone 2.0 looks like.

11 iPhone Gotchas

PC World – 11 iPhone Gotchas

I’m really fed-up with all the iPhone hype. I do admit I started drooling when I saw the first commercials on TV, but then I started to take a close look at it and found most of the problems pointed out in this article. My biggest issue is the battery- which gives the $500-600 investment only about a 1-year lifespan. Not acceptable. Besides- I HATE AT&T almost as much as Microsoft.

Apple 2.0: Apple Ugrades iPhone Battery Life

Apple 2.0: Apple Ugrades iPhone Battery Life

This is great, as it addresses one of the big down-sides to the iPhone.

I still have to ask Apple: Why? Would a battery door or snap-on battery REALLY degrade the design and engineering of the iPhone? No matter how good the battery is- it won’t last more than a year. Batteries in cell phones and PDAs are only good for about a year. Lithium ion batteries generally start degrading after about 100-150 charge cycles. No matter how cool it is- I’m not going to pay $500+ for a piece of hardware I know has that limited a lifespan.

I don’t know when they will address my other big concern (and that of a lot of other people) as far as the iPhone goes- AT&T (formerly Cingular). Contrary to their advertising- they do not have very exemplary customer service or quality records. I personally refuse to do business with them after a bad experience many years ago. If the iPhone makes it to other carriers, and has a replaceable battery- I might consider it.

Local Resellers

I hate them. Period. I’m working with a manufacturer right now for some network hardware, and they want me to go through a local reseller. Here is a typical experience, at least for me and the company I work for, with local resellers:

We want to buy “Product A”. We contact manufacturer of Product A and are told we must purchase it from a “Local Reseller”. So we do.

Local Reseller quotes us a price for Product A, which we agree to. Local Reseller also insists that we NEED to buy Product B and Product C to go with it. We tell Local Reseller we ONLY WANT Product A. We already researched Product A and how it will fit into our enterprise, and don’t want anything else.

Local Reseller insists that Product A won’t work properly without Product B and Product C. We contact the manufacturer- who tells us that is not correct and Product A will work just fine in our enterprise without the other products. They also speak glowingly of Local Reseller (one of their “top” Resellers, of course).

After a week of arguing, Local Reseller finally delivers Product A by itself, for a higher price than originally quoted. Another argument ensues. Local Reseller claims their cost for Product A went up. Whatever- we buy it.

We install Product A. Product A works great for a couple of weeks, and then we start having problems. We contact Local Reseller for support. Local Reseller doesn’t want to support Product A because we didn’t purchase Product B and Product C to go with it. They don’t want to support our “configuration”.

We contact the manufacturer for support- and get it directly from them. It turns out to be a minor configuration issue that was quickly resolved. We are happy with Product A, even without the support of the Local Reseller.

Local Reseller has sales people call us for weeks afterward trying to sell us Product B and Product C to go with Product A. They also have new upgrades for Product A, and a Product D we should really consider. We tell sales person to bugger-off since they won’t support the Product A we already bought for them.

Local Reseller continues to have sales people call to sell us other products. This is ongoing. Local Reseller just doesn’t “get” the fact that we don’t want to buy anything else from them, ever again. Sales person just doesn’t understand why we are dissatisfied with their service department and swears someone will contact us immediately to resolve our issue.

Nobody from their service department ever calls, and their sales department continues to call every month.

This sort of thing has happened with virtually EVERY Local Reseller my company has dealt with. We just flat-out won’t do it anymore. If a manufacturer won’t deal with us directly- we will buy products online or go to another manufacturer who will.

Genuine Windows is Ubuntu

Genuine Windows is Ubuntu – Ubuntu Forums

I think the post says it all.

Hello, from the car in front

News in Science – Hello, from the car in front – 12/06/2007

I’ve blogged about this before. Always thought it would come sooner or later.

Astronauts face Russian computer problems

Astronauts face Russian computer problems | Chron.com – Houston Chronicle

They running Windows?

Okay- I know it was a cheap-shot, but: 3 computers suddenly go down on a Wednesday and it may take at least a few days to get them running again. Sure sounds like Windows servers to me.

YouTube – I’m Steve Jobs – WWDC 07

YouTube – I’m Steve Jobs – WWDC 07

Leopard looks like … Vista

» Leopard looks like … Vista | All about Microsoft | ZDNet.com

Not a good thing at all. I was really hoping Leopard would blow away Vista. It sounds like it is going to be a yawn.