A New Rechargable Battery

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USBCell.com

USBCELL from Moixa Energy was launched on September 18th. The concept is a rechargeable battery which can charge from any USB port. The lid pops open to reveal a USB port which can be plugged in to charge the battery. Currently only the AA battery type is available, but AAA, C/D, 9v, and various cell phone and other device batteries will be coming.

We’ve signed up for their notification list. The product is currently only available in the UK. We will advise you when we are told it is available in the US. Either way, we think it is a cool idea.

Using Your Laptop at the Airport

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Our colleagues at Flight Wisdom have posted a quick post on using your laptop at the airport. We thought it was a good opportunity to discuss the wireless hotspots in general.

Now, there are hotspots operated by individuals, community hotspots, and hotspots operated by companies(Sometimes for Pay). Paid Hotspots are popular at coffeehouses, airports, some hotels, and other places. Community hotspots are operated by nonprofit organizations, although occasionally by municipalities. NYCWireless, a New York City group responsible for free wireless in places like Bryant Park, is a good example of this. And individual hotspots are those unaffiliated ones.

Sometimes, individuals do not realize they are running a hotspot. They have simply not enabled any security on their wireless router and thus are giving their internet away to the neighborhood.

In a future post, we will be discussing ways to secure your wireless network. Stay Tuned.

Portable Security and Data Protection

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Putting all your eggs in one basket is not a good idea. Keeping all your critical data on an item you keep on your person at all times, a USB drive, ensures that it is protected. However, it also means that your data is moving around and thus increases the number of places you could be parted from it.

Now, your USB drive may include a security program for encryption. If it does not, or you wish to use a program that will work on any drive and not just on the drive you purchased, try TrueCrypt. TrueCrypt creates a virtual encrypted disk within a file and mounts it as a disk. TrueCrypt can run in Traveller Mode, which allows it to not be installed on the Operating System. You will need administrative privileges in order to run it that way and records of the mount may be left on the computer, although the data will be secure.

For portable versions of various popular applications, visit Portableapps.com. It includes portable versions of the Firefox Web Browser and the Thunderbird Email Client, as well as an IM client, a portable version of OpenOffice, and so on. Our ideal portable applicatiion USB drive contains Openoffice, Firefox, Thunderbird, TrueCrypt, KeePass(which we mentioned in a previous post), and Miranda IM Portable. Our data USB drive contains KeePass, TrueCrypt, and our secure data.
In a future post, we will discuss how to install a bootable operating system on your USB drive, if you wish to go a step further in mobile security.
Just remember when using a USB drive with portable applications that they can spread viruses and malicious code in between computers. Scan your USB drive for viruses on a regular basis, especially when it has been in strange computers. Also, back up your USB files regularly to ensure your protection.

In our next security piece, we’ll discuss strategies for backing up your data.

Buying a USB Drive

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As promised, we’re going to review USB flash memory drives. For some historical background, we once again referred to the people at Wikipedia for their entry on the subject.

There are many types of drives, and unfortunately we do not have the funding to do speed tests on a large selection of USB drives…unless someone would like to send us such a selection, in which case we will be happy to make such a comparison. In June of 2004, CNET reviewed 14 tiny USB flash drives. In November of 2005, PC Magazine published their USB Key Superguide.

Now that we’ve referred you to people who have the budget for intensive reviews, we’re going to refer you to a few different types of USB drives that are good for various uses. Now, most USB Drives look pretty much the same. A little rectangle that has a loop for a keychain. Many have a cover for the USB port that frequently is lost. We recommend you review Amazon’s user reviews for each drives to see what people are saying.
For rugged durability, you might want to try a Lexar Jumpdrive Sport. It is available in several sizes:

If you are interested in a newer feature we recently reported on, another Lexar Product, the Jumpdrive Mercury, has a built in usage gauge.

USB Drives from Kingston also receive favorable reviews:

While there are many others, we do want to cover the other popular brand, Sandisk…

Now, most of these drives have some kind of security software, often proprietary, designed to protect the data inside. If you don’t wish to spring for this, or wish to explore the wealth of open-source options for using your USB drive, please stay tuned for the next part of our series, where we will show you how to use your new USB drive to protect yourself.

Electronic Paper

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As Wikipedia says, electronic paper is a display technology designed to mimic the appearance of regular ink on paper. Electronic paper reflects light like ordinary paper and is capable of holding its display without power, requiring it only to change the display.

The technology has been used limitedly for various things and is now coming into the mainstream. The E-Ink Corporation is responsible for many applications of this technology thus far, including the Lexar 2 GB JumpDrive Mercury JDMC2GB-431 or the Lexar 1 GB JumpDrive Mercury JDMC1GB-431. The Jumpdrive Mercury uses an electronic paper display from E-Ink to display an exterior usage gauge on the drive. Since it draws no power, the gauge is always visible.

While E-books as well as low-power informational displays are the most popular of the expected usage of this technology, it is definitely worth monitoring. For now, its use on the Jumpdrive makes us endorse the Mercury should you wish this feature. We will be reviewing USB drives and purchase considerations in a future article.

Mourning the Death of Imagination

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CNET UK has an intriguing opinion piece on consumer electronics is causing the death of childhood and imagination and an open letter to the British government in the Daily Telegraph from 110 teachers, psychologists, children’s authors, and experts calls on the government to prevent this.

We wonder about the next generation and if they will be capable of taking on the future. We have no doubt that a technology based world is changing things. When a five year old has more mastery of a computer than their parents, we cannot say the world is not changing. However, if it is all for the worst, we doubt. We do however, believe we have some problems we must overcome.

The problems of society though, are somewhat beyond the scope of this blog. We bring it up so that you keep in mind, while we are very much in favor of a tech-filled world…it can occasionally be damaging to us.

Password Security

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In last weeks post on Laptop Security, we explored some of the special issues of keeping your laptop secure, many of which also apply to desktops. Now, there are many commercial products to assist you in that, but we will generally focus on the free and open-source ones. Remember, free does not mean bad. The open-source community has produced a great deal of quality software.

Now, we turn to the issue of password security. A few bits of common sense advice:

  1. Do not base your password on a dictionary word. Brute force attacks on passwords use dictionaries.
  2. If possible, combine letters and numbers, even better, non-alphanumberic characters, ie ! $ % etc.
  3. Vary the case of letters. Remember, FoUr is a different password than four or Four.
  4. Passphrases can be a good idea with sites that do not limit the length of your password. If ones do, try a passphrase as a mneumonic. For example, turn The Quick Brown Fox Jumped Over the Lazy Dog into TqBfJoTlD – hard to break, but easy to assemble when you log in. Note the varying case.
  5. Change your password regularly.

Now, that requires a lot of work. So, try some software assistance. While several commercial software packages allow for password vaults, we offer this nice free one, KeePass. KeePass is a password manager that stores all passwords in one database locked with a master key/password or key disk. A key disk can be stored on a USB drive, a floppy disk, etc. Just remember to take a copy of it and store it in your safety deposit box, a fire-proof safe, or with a loved one, in case of unexpected loss.

KeePass is a Windows program, but doesn’t store any information in the Windows registry. Thus it will work on older versions and newer versions of Windows and will continue to be updated. It can auto-type into web browsers and other programs. It is extensible with plugins and very configurable.

Look forward to our next part in this continuing series of securing your computer use, when we will discuss more secure tools you can store on your USB key-disk, and more about USB jumpdrives in general.

Laptop Security

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Jim Rossman of the Dallas Morning News advised of his experience leaving his laptop at an airport security checkpoint. Mr. Rossman is right, a simple business card attached to your laptop will allow its owner to be idenitified.

Our colleagues at Flight Wisdom suggested that you consider STOP. Security Tracking of Office Property, despite the name, works well for personal use as well. If you want your thief to know your name and address, putting it on the laptop will certainly help them find you, although that may be a bit paranoid. A third-party is certainly helpful in these cases. Also, the security plate, cemented to your laptop, is a theft deterrent in itself.

The next step after a security tag, or equivalent label is a laptop security cable. These cables are enough theft deterrent. Given time and a hacksaw, someone can remove these cables, but the goal is such things will delay them. Most theft is dependant on stealth and speed, not hanging around with such tools. Of course, finding a place to lash it in your hotel room on vacation is usually hard.

The final step is of course, in software. Set your computer BIOS to require a password, and then prevent booting from the USB port, a floppy disk, or a CD-ROM. If you need to do any of these things, go in and override it for the time you need it. Then, set a password for logging onto the system, be it a variant of Windows, UNIX, or the Mac OS.

Of course, protecting your files can be a matter of encyption. Check out a future post, when we intend to report on Encryption Tools as well as other software security for your laptop or even your desktop.

Pocket Keyboard

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We have yet to purchase the Virtual Laser Keyboard, but we have been waiting for this technology to become available.  It projects the image of a keyboard onto a flat surface, and uses lasers to sense key-press events. Currently, it is about the size of a cellular phone, and comes with either bluetooth or serial connectivity.

This technology, when coupled with various types of electronic ink and oled displays that are also being developed, could be used in the future to produce a very small keyboard and video hookup for a small computing device. Currently, that device is a PDA or mobile phone, both of which are continuing to increase their computer power.

For now, however, we believe as soon as the price point reduces, it may become a viable option for the basic of mobile functions, word processing, if nothing else.

Frugal it isn't

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TrekStor i.Beat organix Gold MP3 Player (1 GB)

This MP3 player is built for every millionaire who loves digital music, according to the Amazon description. Eighteen-karat gold, 63 diamonds, and a gem-encrusted chain. Of course, we endorse frugal purchasing. We even are reluctant to endorse the Ipod, not because it isn’t impressive and well designed, but because too many people want to steal it. Imagine how much security this thing requires. Hope it comes with lojack for that price.