of Philosophy and Technology

Impressive! This was my first word when I got hold of my iPhone direct from our source abroad. It looks cool, the screen is one block of touch sensitive glass and it fits perfectly in the palm of my hand. What’s good about this phone is the interface that even my 10 year old son and my 68 year old mother could easily operate it. The iPhone has dented button in front that serves as a escape key that brings you back to the main menu, this means that non-techie users would never get lost while using the phone.

  Connecting the iPhone to my wifi network is a breeze and the Web browser that goes with it is a real browser where you get your full web layout plus scrolling by just flicking your finger is more convenient than using the scroll bars.  

As of now, what I have is an overpriced iPod and mini web browser as I could not use its phone functionality yet.  Hackers are now racing whoever gets to crack the iPhone first.  Just last week it was reported that hackers have already cracked the master root password of the phone.  I guess I would not wait long before I could use my Globe SIM card for my iPhone.

 An extensive review of the product minus the phone functionality will be published in the Technews Section of the Manila Bulletin.

I love this job!

Lesley Ang, Marketing Director of Power MAC Center introduced me to Myrabelle Tan, also of Power MAC, at the M Cafe during the launch of Seagate just recently. Myrabelle voiced her concern about the problem of intellectual property rights violations. She said that fake iPods are everywhere and there are times that even the consumers do not know that they have bought fake units. She narrated that there were customers who went to a Power MAC center to ask them to repair the units that they have bought, only to be surprised when they were informed that their units could not be repaired because Power MAC center does not repair counterfeit iPods. What’s surprising she said is that the receipt of these units bought in the Philippines have stamps saying that Power MAC Center will repair these units. They politely decline requests for repairs of customers with fake units. This is the reason why I always recommend to my friends to buy from authorized dealers and distributors ONLY. You might save a few hundred or even a few thousand of pesos if you buy from unauthorized dealers but most of the time the units that they have are refurbished, cannibalized from other units or are even fake units.

There is a major shift in ways how consumers’ PCs are attacked online.  In the past, computers can be infected only when they visit dangerous sites or click malicious links that lead to infected sites.  Today, malicious hackers just look for poorly secured websites — a task that has become easy because of available vulnerability scanners in the Web. A vulnerability scanner is a computer program designed to search for weaknesses in an application, computer or network. Once a poorly secured site is found, these hackers then insert malicious codes that can infect users who will visit these sites.  A user can be infected even without clicking anything on that site. This is called “drive-by download” as it downloads programs and other malicious content without the consent of the user who happens to visit that site.

A vulnerable site can contain keyloggers that can capture the user’s keystrokes then e-mail all these strokes to a particular e-mail address; Spyware that can collect various types of personal information – it can also interfere with user control of the computer in other ways, such as installing additional software, redirecting Web browser activity, or diverting advertising revenue to a third party; and adware that automatically plays, displays, or downloads advertising material to a computer.

Symantec demonstrated in Vision 2007 held in Las Vegas recently “the strongest level of protection from surfing the web.”  Codenamed “Canary” the new software identifies signatures of all types of browser-based exploits and blocks them immediately.  Canary not only stops worms and viruses but also known and unknown browser-based attacks. As patches take a while to come out and even longer to deploy, the best way to block attacks is signature based technology like the Canary. Canary can shut down the attack without forcing the user to deploy the patch.

In the past, users have no choice but to wait for the official patch from Microsoft to secure their systems. Virus writers are a step ahead of everyone as they immediately exploit any vulnerability announced by Microsoft as most customers delay widespread deployment of a patch released by Microsoft because of cost. As virus writers create new exploits, security vendors then create fingerprints and tools to clean up the mess.  Customers will then remove infections and may deploy patches to critical systems, but the damage has already been done.

Symantec’s strategy now is to create a new vulnerability signature as soon as they find out about it and distribute it to customers via LiveUpdate. Customers can easily deploy this signature, just like virus definitions, to all desktops, servers and devices. So even if virus writers create a new worm that takes advantage of the vulnerability, it is blocked immediately.

A computer hacker who claimed to have breached a computer at London-based Bloomsbury Publishing said that he was able to download a digital copy of JK Rowling’s seventh and final book, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.”

The hacker known as “Gabriel” posted a spoiler of the book in the website www.insecure.org, a site maintained by Fyodor, a self confessed hacker (“the good kind”) and the  author of the program NMAP, a network security scanner available in the Internet for FREE.

LAS VEGAS – Symantec Vision 2007 – Symantec Corp. announced Storage United, a new business initiative designed to help enterprise storage professionals address the root causes behind the growing cost and complexity of their storage environments. Symantec’s Storage United strategy provides a software-oriented approach to enable even the largest, most heterogeneous data center environments to unite their diverse storage platforms, to unite their isolated islands of storage administration, and to unite storage operations with the business by delivering storage as a service.

My last email to smart: 

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Please inform me if my E61i can have its BB functionality before Sunday as I am going to Davao for two weeks.  I need a definite answer so that I could
transfer to a better provider if you could not do anything about this problem.

I do hope that this time you would NOT leave me hanging like what happened to my previous problem where my E61 could not receive emails.

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I got this answer:

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AS e-mailed to you yesterday we have a process to follow for approval. I am still waiting for a formal request from your end.I am afraid we won’t be able to meet your request before this week ends. Our apologies. Since approval from our officers might take a while.For your information please.
 

The funny thing is I have already sent the request thru their solutions consultant .

Smart failed, I guess I have to use the better provider.  I have pulled strings and called my contacts inside Smart and yet nothing happened.  With Globe I only need to call one person while with Smart I have to exchage phone calls and emails with at least three personnel only to be frustrated at the end.

Being tech savvy comes handy when tech support personnel could not do anything with your problem.  When Smart tech support was not able to solve (despite phone calls, emails and text messages) why my Blackberry suddenly stopped receiving emails, I decided to put things into my own hands.  I removed the Blackberry application in my Nokia E61 then reinstalled it.  What took Smart’s tech support personnel more than a week of scratching their heads just took me about five minutes to make it work again. The problem was, that more than a week of no Blackberry service was the week I was in China for the HP event.  Good thing I have a backup Blackberry 6230 from Globe, I was able to get in touch with my office.  Also Globe now provides auto roaming service, you don’t need to call to activate your line when you go out of the country.

Now, here’s another problem.  I have changed my unit from E61 to E61i. (The E61i is an improved E61.  It sports a camera, an improved keyboard, a more convenient navigation pad instead of joystick and two extra buttons, one for direct access to contacts and the other one called “my button”  that allows users to assign any application for easy access.) Since I have changed my device I have to register it to the wireless network and go to the Blackberry website to “connect” my mobile number to my new E61i as it was “linked” to my old device.  I have already informed Smart but I haven’t received any reply from them. This time I am not expecting much from them, maybe I have to use Globe Blackberry service on my E61i instead of waiting for their reply.  I have changed device before with Globe and it only took them 15 minutes to PROVISION my number to the new device, I don’t know what’s wrong with Smart why it has become a standard for them to take days even weeks to answer my email.

Gary Cutler Vice President and General Manager of Hewlett-Packard’s Edgeline Technologies said that the paperless office is just a myth. “More than thirty years since the paperless office was first declared and  consumers are  still printing more than before. As a mathematician I can say that there is a strong relation between light and the reading materials” Cutler said.  He explained that it is more convenient to read on printed materials than on computer screens as the human eyes strain easier in backlighted screens as compared to reading on printed materials with correct lighting environment.  Cutler made this statement at the launch of HP Edgeline Technology, an ink-based printing engine designed with printheads that span the width of a page. With HP Edgeline Technology, the paper moves, not the printhead.

“This technology will make the cost of printing go down as there will be no difference in the price of color or mono printed materials. Edgeline Technoloy is all about radical change. Print quality, performance reliability and cost of operation taking ink-based page wide printing to astonishing new level. Edgeline represents the best in ink and laser technology.” Cutler  added.

HP however would not be caught off guard should the idea of the paperless office take off.  “We have new inventions that show our commitment to modern technology.  One of the inventions of HP is the thin foldable and flexible screen that could replace the existing paper that we are using now.” Cutler said.

1 ) HDTV units
2 ) Latest Samsung Phones
3 ) Latest Motorola Phones
4 ) a prototype of the Samsung MP3 player with phone function
5 ) Sony Ericsson W880i
6 ) Nokia N93i
7 ) Philips S660
8 ) Xcute Phone (N93 clone?)
9 ) Nokla, Nokir Sanxing, Sansung, iAsk and other made in China clones of Phones and MP3 players

Only the Samsung MP3 player with phone function is not owned by the Manila Bulletin Technews.  All units sent to us for review are returned after two weeks.  We have received offers of cell phone units and MP3 players in exchange for a good review but we declined.  We will maintain our independence and credibility in informing consumers about a certain product by not accepting such offers.  If you encounter people soliciting tech gadgets for Technews please inform me immediately by calling 5278121 or e-mail me at technews@mb.com.ph

I was looking for a new casing for my O2 Mini in a big electronics shopping center just recently. The storekeeper told me that it’s available only on a “per order basis” and it would take a long time before they could get their order. He said that if I want he could buy my unit for seven thousand pesos as it has scratches on top and on the screen, and that it would be hard for him to look for a buyer for my O2 in that condition. I told him I would sell my O2 but I have to first copy my address book and the other contents in it. I said I would be back after two hours. After about 30 minutes I went back to the same store, properly disguised. Changing my voice, I asked the same storekeeper if they have an O2 mini—even a second hand unit would do. He said they have a unit but I have to come back later. He said he is willing to sell it to me for fourteen thousand pesos only because of the “very minor scratches on top and on the screen”.  Haha.