Archive for April, 2018

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Schneider Electric Announces Edge Computing Contest

Posted in Commentary with tags on April 25, 2018 by itnerd

Schneider Electric, the global specialist in the digital transformation of energy management and automation, has announced the launch of the Schneider Electric Edge Contest to provide funding to help customers deploy or upgrade their edge IT infrastructure. This initiative is designed to enable customers who purchase select APC by Schneider Electric products to capitalize on the benefits of edge computing solutions to enhance customer experience, generate new revenue and decrease business costs. As 2018 is shaping up to be the tipping point for edge computing, businesses can now begin enhancing their Internet of Things (IoT)-critical on-premise infrastructure as part of their overall IT strategy.

2018 is the Year of the Edge

The trends around IoT are reshaping the technology ecosystem, with a more distributed business model adding significant emphasis and importance to factors like bandwidth, latency and physical security. As businesses become increasingly reliant on IoT and dependent on a distributed IT ecosystem, applications are migrating closer to the point of data consumption; requiring speed and capacity to meet customer demands in real time. As a result, edge environments are increasingly being utilized to process and analyze information to make companies’ most critical decisions. According to IDC, 45 per cent of data generated by IoT technologies will be processed close to or at the edge of the network by 2019.

As the leading brand in IT physical infrastructure and critical power management, Schneider Electric provides customers with the technology, management and services capabilities they need to successfully deploy and maintain edge IT infrastructure in a way that is consistent, manageable and secure. Schneider Electric’s integrated solutions enable customers to leverage dynamic, business-critical IoT platforms with the same level of availability, security, and management of their IT systems from the enterprise to the edge.

Seizing the edge opportunity now

To enable the growing trend of edge computing, Schneider Electric is offering a series of grants across multiple countries for businesses to strengthen and improve their edge infrastructure. Customers will have the option to invest in the IT infrastructure needed to seize the opportunity of edge technologies in the near term, whether they’re embarking on their first deployment or upgrading their existing footprint.

Through the contest, customers can buy and connect new Connected Smart-UPS™ with APC SmartConnect for a chance to win US$10,000 of IT equipment to bring data centre-like resiliency to their distributed environments. If a channel partner resells and helps connect the winning Connected Smart-UPS, that channel partner will also receive US$1,000 credit from APC by Schneider Electric.

For more information on Schneider Electric’s edge solutions, please contact your local APC representative or visit www.apc.com/edge.

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Guest Post: Ooma Illustrates Five Ways The Landline Is Still Relevant

Posted in Commentary with tags on April 25, 2018 by itnerd

Today is National Telephone Day and Ooma says the landline is still relevant in 2018.

1. 911 CAN’T FIND YOUR SMARTPHONE’S LOCATION
As many as 95% of cellphones can’t accurately share their location with 911 dispatchers—because 911 was designed for landline phones, meaning a VoIP phone service that offers enhanced 911 will always be able to accurately and immediately provide your location to first responders.

2. WHO’S THAT EAVESDROPPING ON MY SMARTPHONE CALLS?
There’s a backdoor built into every cell phone call allowing anyone who can hack to listen in on your private conversations—but many VoIP landline services include state-of-the-art encryption to keep hackers out.

3. DON’T GO BROKE CALLING INTERNATIONALLY
Any international call using a cell phone involves expensive roaming charges, add-on plans, and even SIM card swapping. However, VoIP services offer much lower international calling costs—making it feasible to keep up with friends and family in other countries.

4. STOP DROPPED CALLS IN THEIR TRACKS
Home phones tap directly into your phone network, while VoIP phones use a steady internet connection—dramatically increasing voice quality and reception compared to a cell phone.

5. SLASH YOUR PHONE BILLS
VoIP phone service can cost as little as $4 a month, leading to savings of more than a thousand dollars on an average phone bill over a couple of years.

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GrayShift Pwned…. Some Code Leaked And An Extortion Attempt Was Made

Posted in Commentary with tags on April 25, 2018 by itnerd

You might remember that I have previously covered Graykey which is made by a company called GrayShift and is the iPhone unlocking device that all the cool law enforcement types are using at the moment. Well, it seems that they’ve had a bit of a leak of some of their IP as part of an extortion attempt by parties unknown. Motherboard has the details:

Last week, an unknown party quietly leaked portions of GrayKey code onto the internet, and demanded over $15,000 from Grayshift—ironically, the price of an entry-level GrayKey—in order to stop publishing the material. The code itself does not appear to be particularly sensitive, but Grayshift confirmed to Motherboard the brief data leak that led to the extortion attempt.

“Mr. David Miles,” the extortionists’ first message, published on Thursday, reads, addressing a co-founder of Grayshift. “This is addressed to you and any other people interested in keeping GrayKey product secure and not available to the wide [sic] public.”

And:

Indeed, Grayshift told Motherboard in a statement “Due [to] a network misconfiguration at a customer site, a GrayKey unit’s UI was exposed to the internet for a brief period of time earlier this month.” 

“During this time, someone accessed the HTML/Javascript that makes up our UI. No sensitive IP or data was exposed, as the GrayKey was being validation tested at the time. We have since implemented changes to help our customers prevent unauthorized access,” the statement added.

So the company says that this isn’t a big deal. But the fact that GrayShift got pwned at all has to get your attention. As well as the attention of their customers. You can bet that either the people responsible for this, or someone else will take another shot at the company. And maybe they will get much further and that may spell trouble for the GrayShift.

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Guest Post: NordVPN Discusses The Fact That Telegram Downloads Increase & VPN Usage Triples in Russia

Posted in Commentary with tags on April 25, 2018 by itnerd

On April 16, Roskomnadzor, the government agency in Russia, started blocking Telegram – it said was the company failed to comply with the Russian requirement to share users’ encrypted communication data.

However, those whose Telegram is blocked have no problem overcoming the restrictions – they just need to download a VPN.

“We are having a lot of first-time users from Russia,” said Marty P. Kamden, CMO of NordVPN. “Since the upcoming Telegram ban was announced, NordVPN has already had a 300% increase of Russian users. People simply need to connect to a VPN server to reach any IP address where they can download Telegram. Many Russians are becoming more technically savvy because of the Telegram block and will now be able to use VPN to unblock other sites blocked in Russia.”

As a response, Roskomnadzor started blocking multiple IP addresses that use the same IP address clusters as Telegram, affecting various businesses and disrupting the Internet in Russia – such as Viber, supermarket chains, taxi service Gett and others.

“The Russian government is failing in their task to block the app,” said Marty P. Kamden. “Telegram has only become more popular in Russia with many moredownloads compared to the week before, and the government has shown its complete lack of understanding of how the technology works.”

 

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Urban Armor Gear Launchs New Plasma Case For Apple iPad And iPad Pro

Posted in Commentary with tags on April 24, 2018 by itnerd

Urban Armor Gear leading designers of lightweight mobile device cases, announced the launch of their NEW Plasma Series iPad cases available exclusively at Best Buy.

UAG is working with Best Buy to launch the latest addition to UAG’s lineup of MIL-SPEC drop-tested cases. The Plasma Series is designed for those who require ultimate rugged protection for their iPad in a slim yet sturdy design.

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The Plasma Series for the iPad provides 360-degree protection in a feather-light design and features uncompromised functionality and capability. The new Plasma Series includes a two-position kickstand for laptop mode, and Apple Keyboard compatibility. The case also boasts a dedicated Apple Pencil holder for creators on-the-go. UAG’s newest Plasma case is available for Apple iPads and iPad Pros, exclusively at Best Buy stores and BestBuy.com.

MSRP $69.95 – $89.95

UAG Plasma Ice Case for iPad Pro 12.9”, Pro 10.5”, and iPad (6th & 5th Gen)

  • Feather-light composite construction
  • Impact resistant soft core
  • Apple Pencil Holder
  • Easy access to touchscreen and ports
  • Apple Smart Cover/Keyboard Compatible
  • Two Position Kickstand supports Apple Keyboards and laptop mode
  • Meets military drop-test standards (MIL STD 810G-516.6)

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If You Don’t Want To Use Rogers Yahoo/Oath E-Mail Because Of The Terms Of Service Change, Here’s An Option For You

Posted in Commentary with tags , on April 24, 2018 by itnerd

Yesterday I wrote about the fact that Yahoo/Oath have changed their terms of service for their e-mail offering, and as a result of that Rogers customers are up in arms because Rogers uses the Yahoo/Oath e-mail platform and people feel that their privacy might be under threat. Overnight, I got 7 or 8 e-mails from users asking me what options exist for users who want to switch from using Rogers e-mail service and still have their privacy.

In my mind, there’s really only one option that balances the need for privacy with ease of use and support for a variety of OSes and devices. That option is ProtonMail. Based in Switzerland, these guys are free (Though they do have a paid option. More on that in a moment) and use open source software to provide their services. They guarantee that nobody can see your e-mails. And they do mean nobody. Not your ISP. Not a national government. Not even them. In fact, if you forget your password, you lose your e-mail if you don’t have a recovery account set up. You don’t get more secure than that. Another plus is that these guys don’t store IP address info. Because when you send an e-mail, the external IP address of the network you sent it from is usually logged. That can allow someone to track you down in theory. That can’t happen with these guys.

The free version of ProtonMail supports 500 MB of email storage and limits your usage to 150 messages per day. You can pay for the Plus or Visionary service for more space, e-mail aliases, priority support, labels, custom filtering options, auto-reply, built-in VPN protection, and the ability to send more e-mails each day. There’s also a Business plan available. So you do have options depending on your e-mail needs. But I suspect that most Rogers users would be fine with the free option.

Are there any downsides to using ProtonMail? The only one that I can see is that it does not support IMAP, SMTP, or POP3 protocols. Likely to ensure your security. Thus you’re stuck using their web interface or their iOS or Android app. But they are all easy to use so I don’t think that’s too much of a hardship.

Thus if you’re a user of Rogers e-mail, and you’re not thrilled with the change to the terms of service from Yahoo/Oath because of the privacy implications related to that, you might want to check out ProtonMail as you get privacy and security for your e-mail with them.

 

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Review: 2018 Hyundai Accent GLS Sedan – Part 2

Posted in Products with tags on April 24, 2018 by itnerd

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The 2018 Hyundai Accent GLS is supposedly a sub-compact car. But apparently nobody told the people at Hyundai who designed this vehicle that as they dropped in the engine that you see above into it. This is a 1.6L direct injected four cylinder engine which serves up 130 HP and 119 pound feet of torque. You can get it with a six speed manual, or in my case a relatively smooth shifting automatic transmission (that can be shifted manually, but I would not bother doing so) to deliver power to the front wheels. And it works insanely well to get this car up to speed quickly, as well as giving you the punch that you need to pass transport trucks and slower drivers on the highway with ease. In short, there’s more than enough torque off the line and through the rev range all the way up to roughly 4200 RPM. That was a surprise to me as many cars in this class force you to modify your driving style by hugging the right lane because you can’t quickly get up to highway speed, or not passing the car that is holding you up because the power isn’t in the engine to pull that maneuver off safely. That’s not the case here.

Now add to that that the Accent chassis is full of Hyundai’s in house high strength steel. It makes this car not only incredibly responsive and even bordering on sporty from a handling perspective, but it also feels incredibly solid when rolling down the road. But I will note that some may find it to be too jarring over really rough roads as is the case here in Toronto. Thus make sure your test drive includes some rough roads. But having said that, these are traits that I usually don’t associate with sub-compact vehicles as they usually feel like flexible pieces of tin.

The ride is generally quiet with the only noises that I noted being a touch of wind noise at highway speeds that wasn’t objectionable, as well as tire noise that were likely coming off the Bridgestone Blizzak winter tires that were on my test vehicle. Something that I was grateful for seeing as it snowed during the early part of the week that I had the Accent. If you test drive it with all seasons, I suspect that you’ll have no complaints. Road feel is surprisingly good for a sub-compact car as I was able to easily figure out what the car was doing underneath me. Pedal feel is good as well with the throttle being easy to modulate and the brake being firm by equally as easy to modulate. Steering is light at low speeds, but heavier at high speeds which I did like. And if you want to have some fun, there’s a button that enables sport mode which amps up the steering feel to being a touch heavier, and the shifting of the transmission to make it a bit more aggressive and hanging on to gears longer.

In terms of fuel economy, I am getting 8L per 100 KM’s which is pretty good given I’ve been doing a mix of city, and highway driving which includes driving in rush hour. I expect that to improve as the week goes on.

Tomorrow, I will look at the interior of the Hyundai Accent GLS which from my perspective is above what you would expect from a compact car. Tune in tomorrow to see why I feel that way.

 

 

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GM & Amazon Launches Amazon Key In-Car Delivery Service

Posted in Commentary with tags , on April 24, 2018 by itnerd

Starting today, more than seven million owners of eligible Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac vehicles in the United States can enjoy the convenience of having Amazon packages delivered inside their vehicle using Amazon Key. In-Car Delivery comes at no extra cost for Amazon Prime members with an active OnStar account and is available in 37 U.S. cities and surrounding areas, with more cities to follow.

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With Amazon Key In-Car Delivery, packages can be delivered to a vehicle when it’s parked in a publicly accessible area, such as on the street in front of an apartment building, at a workplace surface parking lot or in a home driveway. Delivery is available on tens of millions of items sold on Amazon.com and works with Same Day, Two-Day and Standard Shipping.

Setting up Amazon Key In-Car Delivery is easy. Customers must download the Amazon Key App and opt in to seamlessly link their Amazon and OnStar accounts. Once the first step is complete and the delivery location has been registered, customers can shop on Amazon.com and select the “In-Car” delivery option at checkout. Additional eligible delivery addresses can be added to the Amazon address book at any time.

Customers receive a notification via the Amazon Key App when the delivery is on its way and after the delivery is completed and the vehicle is relocked. Deliveries are made to a stationary car parked in a publicly accessible area.

Amazon Key In-Car Delivery requires a 2015 model year or newer Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac vehicle. Visit onstar.com for coverage map, details and system limitations. To check eligibility and sign up for Amazon Key In-Car Delivery, visit www.amazon.com/keyincar.

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Google Launches New Messaging Service WITHOUT End To End Encryption….. Why?

Posted in Commentary with tags on April 24, 2018 by itnerd

Google has either made an epic blunder here or they really don’t care about the privacy of their users. I say that because Google’s new “Chat” messaging service that The Verge uncovered last week is trying to do for Android what iMessage (or Messages as it is now know as) does for iPhone users. Which is rethink how people text message each other.

But there’s a catch:

But remember, Chat is a carrier-based service, not a Google service. It’s just “Chat,” not “Google Chat.” In a sign of its strategic importance to Google, the company has spearheaded development on the new standard, so that every carrier’s Chat services will be interoperable. But, like SMS, Chat won’t be end-to-end encrypted, and it will follow the same legal intercept standards. In other words: it won’t be as secure as iMessage or Signal.

Well, that’s a #fail.

Google wants to rethink how people text message with each other. But they’re not going to secure those messages and they think that’s cool. If I am an intelligence agency or a cyber criminal, Google just made my life a whole lot easier. But if I am an Android user, I think I’d switch to WhatsApp or Signal as they secure messages from end to end. Or if I was really ticked off at Google, I’d switch to iOS as clearly they care about their users privacy. The fact is that we live in a world where privacy needs to be top of mind. Google clearly doesn’t get that. Hopefully they get a swift kick in the posterior the feedback that they need to adjust their thinking accordingly.

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I Am Not Sure Why Rogers Customers Are Shocked That Their E-Mail Is Being Read By Yahoo

Posted in Commentary with tags , on April 23, 2018 by itnerd

Over the weekend a number of stories appeared about a change to the terms of service to Yahoo e-mail. Yahoo, which you can also call Oath as that’s the name given to it by Verizon who bought the company last year said in their new terms of services that they analyze “‘content and information,’ including e-mails, photos and attachments ‘when you use our services.’”

In other words, they read your e-mail.

Now how does Rogers fit into this? Rogers e-mail services are powered by Yahoo/Oath. Thus when users got notified about this change to their terms of service, it led to stories like this one and this one being published.

The thing is, I am not sure why anyone is surprised here. After all Google’s Gmail e-mail service used to read your e-mail to serve up targeted ads. Until they dialed that back  to read your e-mail for other reasons. So one could safely assume that others that offer up e-mail services were doing the same thing.

In short, if you use a third party e-mail service, anyone, or anything could be reading your email. Thus you should have no expectation of privacy. Ever. If you want privacy when it comes to you’re e-mail, you can always do what I do which is build and run your own e-mail server and host it out of a data center. That way you control the e-mail that you receive and that you send. What happens to it after you click send though is completely out of your control. Which means that you’re only marginally ahead in the privacy game.

One other thing. There’s a bunch of people who are mad at Rogers for this. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that Rogers is just collateral damage in this as they are essentially a customer of Yahoo/Oath. So while there are things that Rogers does that deserve the ire of their customers, this isn’t one of them.

Finally the story written by Ellen Roseman of Toronto Star which is linked to above has this in it:

Rogers Yahoo email customers need to press for more information. What is the deadline for agreeing to Oath’s updated terms? Will they be cut off without access if they don’t agree? Can they get help moving all their emails to another provider?

Those are fair questions to ask. Hopefully Rogers and Yahoo/Oath answers those questions and does so quickly. Though I suspect that I can answer question three for them. I cannot see a scenario where Rogers or Yahoo/Oath would help a customer move their e-mail to another provider. There’s no value in doing so. But the other two Rogers and Yahoo/Oath can and should answer.

UPDATE: I just had a chat with a Rogers Tech Support rep who informed me that if users don’t agree to the new terms of service, they can’t use Rogers e-mail. Also, users who have contacted me directly have said the same thing.

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