Amazon: It May Be Easy, but It’s a Risk

Now that Amazon is shipping the Kindle Fire, I got to thinking: what if you gift the Fire or any other Kindle? Well, if you do, make sure you do what Laptopmag.com says in their post and keep YOUR Kindle account safe. After I read this, I did some more thinking: What if someone stole your shiny new Kindle off of your porch? If this happens, then that thief has access to ALL of your books and can purchase books on your account. This is bad. This is very bad. Gear Diary’s own Michael Anderson and Dan Cohen are both trying out the Kindle Fire,…

News

mSecure 3.0 Puts a Blowfish in the Cloud

Largely because I tend to switch devices and platforms regularly, I keep coming back to the same password manager – who for now shall remain nameless – because it is available for Blackberry, Android, and iOS devices, as well as having desktop applications for both Windows and Mac OSX. It’s not the most aesthetically pleasing software from my perspective, but it works well enough. Syncing my mobile devices does require that I sync with the same computer, but I can’t sync between computers. Cloud syncing isn’t an option. I may have to consider switching now, however, as mSeven Software’s mSecure…

Editorials

Invasion of the Super-Cookies!

A few weeks ago it came to light that Spotify was using a special type of tracking cookie. Of course, once caught with their hand in … um, the cookie jar (sorry!), Spotify said they would suspend the use of the Kissmetrics cookie technology. But as Digital Music News notes, it is a bit late for the tens of millions of users worldwide who have used Spotify already! Spotify is already managing this like a crisis. According to research just published by researchers at UC Berkeley, Spotify has been using a cookie that cannot be deleted, still tracks if the…

Reviews

Lorex LIVE SENSE Gives Parents (and Grandparents) Peace of Mind

Photos: Author Having never been blessed with children of my own, I never quite got a grasp of everything new parents had to worry about nor how extensive their “to-do” list was … until last Christmas when we got word of the impending arrival of my wife’s first grandchild. Fast forward to July 26, and Baby J arrives in fine fashion. In no time I begin hearing “I can’t wait until we can start babysitting him over here.” What? The baby is coming here? “I’m not ready.” “The house isn’t ready.” “Where did the time go?” The very next day…

Reviews

Logitech Alert Review: Makes Your iPad a Home Security Solution

Now that summer is here, you’re probably gearing up to enjoy some much-needed vacation time. Before packing up and hitting the road, one thing none of us likes to stop and really think about is how to keep watch over our home or business while away. Luckily, Logitech has come to the rescue with an easy and portable solution that doesn’t require us to own a private jet to maintain digital home security. Does it do the trick? Can Logitech Al turn an iPad into your private watch dog? Let’s jump right in and see.

Reviews

Vivint Adds Security and Automation to a 1970s Era Deckhouse, Part Two: Installation

A few weeks ago I wrote about the fact that we were going to be adding an alarm system and a nice degree of home automation to our residence in New Jersey thanks to Vivint. Well, the process is all but done and I thought in this second post we would take a look at what the installation process actually entailed. I set up a standard installation appointment with the company and was pleased to find out that, unlike so many companies, the guys actually showed up exactly when they said they would. And they were awesome. They explained what…

Reviews

Vivint Adds Security and Automation to a 1970s Era Deckhouse, Part One: The System

Eight years ago we moved into a thirty-five-year-old Deck House fixer-upper. Deck Houses are post and beam “kit” houses that are built like a barn, offer huge open space and because they have no joists or crawl spaces for running wires and plumbing present numerous challenges when renovating. It is for that reason (among others) that eight years later, we are still working on it. On the “wish list” of renovations was adding some home automation, but the cost and the unique challenges of the design made it less enticing than it might otherwise have been. At some point, I…

Editorials

Choosing Not to Share in a World of Over-Sharing, the President Takes the Lead

This photograph of the President and his staff watching the assault that eventually led to the death of bin Laden in real-time, is on track to be the most viewed image in Flickr’s history. The emotion on their faces, Secretary of State Clinton’s hand over her mouth and the laser focus of the President Obama’s eyes on the screen say pretty much everything that needs to be said about the importance of the moment. Since Sunday night there has been great speculation about whether or not an image of the terrorist’s body would be released. The debate has raged and…

Editorials, News

GD QuickRant: TSA Redefines Terrorism …

Image courtesy of IVCaffeine … To Include Being Unhappy With Their Unconstitutional Screening Practices. Over at CNN there is an article that highlights a recent move by the TSA to categorize profiling of those who are unhappy with the potential added security screening as ‘potential threats’. There is also a video report. Here are a couple of quotes: the TSA‘s crack behavior detection officers are now on the lookout for “anyone who displays arrogance or expresses contempt for the screening process.” Why? Because scientific anti-terror detection techniques have now apparently revealed that complaining about poor treatment from airport security indicates…

News

Gear Games Update: Playstation Network / Qriocity User Data Compromised

Yesterday I wrote about the ‘ongoing PSN outage saga’. Today things get worse. Sony has confirmed what all users feared – personal user and account information has been compromised and ‘may’ have been stolen. Here is the full text of a message I got and that every PSN and Qriocity member will get: Valued PlayStation Network/Qriocity Customer: We have discovered that between April 17 and April 19, 2011, certain PlayStation Network and Qriocity service user account information was compromised in connection with an illegal and unauthorized intrusion into our network. In response to this intrusion, we have: Temporarily turned off…

News

Epsilon, Emails, and Hackers

My guess is that, like me, you’ve received many soothing-but-scary emails over the last few days from Target, TiVo, Best Buy, maybe even your bank. They explain how, oops, someone might have accidentally tapped into their database and found your email, but don’t worry! Just maybe think twice before clicking on any email links until you make sure it’s from the company you trusted to not leak your email in the first place. It’s a headache, but not a huge problem all by itself. Except, of course, the sheer number of companies impacted. Because everyone was using the same company,…

Gear Bits

The Swingline Stack-and-Shred Has Arrived!

Not that you needed any further proof that I was a dork, I mean geek, but I found myself unnaturally excited when FedEx dropped off this package earlier today. Inside is the SwingLine Stack & Shred, a crosscut shredder that allows you to feed up to 100 sheets of paper at a time by lifting the lid on the front and laying the items to shred inside the tray. Stack, Shut and Go. The Swingline Stack-and-Shred technology is built for busy executives, small and home office users and anyone who wants an easy and efficient way to personally shred. It…

Music Diary, News

Music Diary Notes: TuneSecure – Making the (Same Old) Piracy Argument New Again

Why is it that music files were the first ones that were widely pirated, yet now account for ~3% of files downloaded in a recent survey? Bandwidth – or more to the point, convenience! But as internet access speeds and download methods have evolved people are downloading movies and games and other massive files more frequently than music. For a long time folks in the RIAA and MPAA and other related media industry groups have keyed on THAT – the ever-increasing ease of piracy – as a route to eliminate piracy by making it inconvenient / uncomfortable for pirates. Their…

News

Swingline Introduces the Stack-and-Shred, So You Can Keep Your Secrets Hidden

Are you one of those people who sticks your insurance finalization forms in the trash? The kind who tosses bank receipts, deposit slips, paid utility and credit card bills in the bin? Do you make jokes about filing important documents away in “drawer #13”, but you really mean the overflowing bucket under your desk? If so, then you are also the type of person who is simply begging for their identity to be stolen. Yes, really. The solution is to shred those documents as they leave your hand, before they make their way into the garbage. Don’t even let them…

Gear Bits

Here is Every Password You Will Ever Need!

Someone at Gear Diary recently had one of their personal accounts hacked, which should be yet another reminder to everyone that you never know when or why one of your accounts might get compromised. Last year I had an issue with my Facebook account, and several years ago my Steam account got hijacked. It can happen to anyone, anytime … but the passwords you use can help keep you more secure. Last week there was a interesting infograph about the 20 top passwords of all time. Here is a snip from the graph: Amusingly this week there was an article…

Editorials

Power of Tech Shown by Egyptian Protests

Photo courtesy of the The International Business Times When all of Iran seemed to be exploding in the wake of “President” Mahmoud Ahmadinejad‘s “victory” in the 2009 election, the news was noteworthy not just because a country struggling against authoritarian rule was trying to free itself, but also because of how the news got out: Twitter. Before cell phones integrated with digital cameras, smart phones, and Twitter, it’s possible that the world at large might have received no notice at all of the massive protests, deaths, vicious governmental crackdowns, and all the other info about Iran’s “Green Revolution”. Now we’re…

Events, News

How Many Bloggers Does It Take to Screw in an Archerfish Solo?

“Installing Archerfish Solo is now as easy as screwing in a light bulb – literally.” Okay, now we’re talking… a product tag line that promises something I can handle. No drills, hammers, screwdrivers, or circular saws. The Archerfish Solo is advertised as “thinking camera” featuring “built-in Homeland Security technology” that allows it to interpret what it sees, so it only shows you what you want to see – those types of activities that made you install a security camera in the first place – rather than making you weed through hours of uneventful video. Cernium Corporation, makers of the Archerfish…

Editorials

I Always Feel Like … My Apps Are Watching Me!

A few weeks back I ordered two things from different online vendors, one for my brother and the other for my parents. I used an email address I rarely use, an account on which I only get a few spam messages a week. Naturally within hours I had received a months’ worth of junk email! One vendor was sending me messages directly advertising their own stuff … but aside from them I was getting tons of other sales messages. Some of those messages were related to the purchase I made from the other vendor and others were classic ‘wide-casting’ spam…

News

SplashID KeySafe Unlocks Your Cold, Security-Obsessed Heart

Well, now, what do we have here? Generally a software company, SplashData has now taken one of their best known software products and merged it with a hardware product. The SplashID Key Safe is a 2 GB USB drive made to fit on your keychain, but featuring a portable version of SplashData’s well-known password protection program, SplashID. We’ve reviewed various incarnations of SplashID on this site a number of times in the past and we’ve always had good impressions of it. I’ve always liked SplashID because it’s available for so many different platforms. The Key Safe includes many of the…

News

Random Cool Stuff: Honda’s App Tells If You Were Naughty Or Nice on FaceBook This Year … But Beware!

Since the advent of the web there have been sites like ‘Santa Trackers’ and ‘Naughty or Nice’ tests that would tell you about your behavior based on answering some questions. And since these were aimed at kids they would never ask anything that would allow a truly evil path. But what would happen if someone were to analyze your Facebook history for the past year? If you head to Honda’s Facebook site, you can start the ‘NaughtyOrNice-a-Tron’, which will dig through everything you’ve done on Facebook this year and then spit out an answer about how you have behaved. It…

Editorials

The Frightening Power of the Social Internet

These days, everything is “social.” CNN wants me to know how many people have “liked” an article, the New York Times has embraced Twitter, and you don’t even need to go on TV to get your 15 minutes of fame … now all you need to do is cause a controversy on the internet! Strike a metaphorical match, and voilà, before you know it the smoldering fire you lit has everyone buzzing. Until the next #topic comes along that is. Yes, the social internet has taken our Attention Deficit Society to all-time highs … or is it lows? Truth be…

Security and Privacy