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if you have purchased Microsoft Office 2019 Home and Business between January 15, 2012 and February 26, 2012 you have until March 23, 2012 to download your free copy of Microsoft Office Publisher.

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Just loaded the new MSN App on my iPad, very nice

MSN has setup to make a run at the likes of FlipBoard with its MSN App that takes the current day’s news that they have published at the MSN Website in very nice and easy to use format. They have setup groups to provide easy access to the current flow of stories and also provide a search through Bing to access information that isn’t shown in the current view.

The APP is currently free and can be downloaded from iTunes.

The new MSN app is carrying the same UI interface as the popular Pulse newsreader for iPad carries. Microsoft has simply copied the whole user interface of Pulse app, and powered its MSN app for iPad including with its new Metro UI elements. MSN for iPad also supports the Bing search engine built-in.

The MSN APP for iPad provides you an efficient way to take around the MSN published content, and to get updated yourself with all the news, sports entertainment and other articles and videos. The application also allows you to share your favorite liked comment on MSN with your friends and buddies around the other social network’s sites like Facebook and Twitter.

Interesting article at InformationWeek discussing Meaningful Use requirements.

With Meaningful Use Stage 2 requirements just around the corner, a CSC report says IT managers should prepare with a more robust system that addresses care coordination and patient engagement.

With the whole reason for the emphasis on installing the infrastructure to collect and share patient care information to provide a path towards better/safer patient care we need to make sure we are ready for the follow up of Meaningful Use Stage 1. If you haven’t started implementing an EMR/EHR Solution in your practice you are going to want to investigate what is available to you.

InformationWeek’s writer Nicole Lewis wrote:

Health IT executives at hospitals and physicians' offices should start working now to implement technology that fosters greater patient engagement, enhances patient care coordination, and advances their organizations' ability to electronically capture data for quality reporting--all three of which providers will need to compete in the upcoming pay-for-performance market. That's the conclusion of a new report published by CSC's Global Institute for Emerging Healthcare Practice.

Table 1 — Summary of Requirements for Stage 1 and Proposed Changes for Stage 2.

Requirement	Stage 1 Minimum Requirement	Stage 2 Minimum Requirement
Maintain medication, problem/ diagnosis, allergy lists	80% of patients have an entry or indication of none	No change
Demographics recorded	50% of patients	80% of patients
Vital signs recorded	50% of patients over 2	80% of patients over 3
Smoking status recorded	50% of patients over 13	80% of patients over 13
Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE)	30% of patients have a medication order	60% of patients have a medication and a lab order; at least one radiology order placed
Info on advanced directive	Menu option for hospitals — indicate if patent has advanced directive for 50% of hospitalized patients 65+	Expanded to include 25 patients for eligible providers; add information on how to access the directive
Drug-drug and drug-allergy checking	Enabled	Added capability to modify drug-drug checking
Drug-formulary checking	Menu option	Required
Medication reconciliation	Menu option, performed for 50%	Required
Requirement	Stage 1 Minimum Requirement	Stage 2 Minimum Requirement
e-Prescribing	40% of prescriptions for eligible providers	50% of prescriptions for eligible providers, 10% of discharged patients for hospitals
Summary of care record transmitted between providers at transitions in care	Menu option, performed for 50% of transitions (can be on paper)	Required, added that must be electronic for 10% of hospitalized patients; 25 patient transitions for office practice
Searchable physician (NP, PA) note	No requirement	30% of hospital days, 30% of ambulatory visits
Secure messaging	No requirement	25 patients have sent messages to eligible providers
Electronic medication administration	No requirement	One hospital unit
Encounter summaries	50% of office visits within 3 days	Changed timing to 24 hours, pending results within 4 days
Electronic copies of discharge instructions	50% of hospital patients who request it	Replaced by requirement that 10% of patients have used the capability to access and download their information
Electronic copies of health information	50% of patients who request it
Incorporate lab information as structured data	Menu option, 40% of patients	Required, hospitals must return electronic lab orders as structured data
Provide patient educational materials	Menu option, 10% of appropriate patients	Required, 10% of all patients
Send reminders for preventive, follow-up care	Menu option for office visits; 20% of patients under 5 or over 65	Required, 10% of all patients
Patients have access to their information	10% of patients have access to view information for office visits	10% of patients have used the capability to access and download their information and 20% have communication preferences stated
Electronically exchange patient information	Perform one test	Replaced by specific requirements
Decision support rule	One rule	Use to improve performance
Lists of patients for quality improvement	Menu option, one list	Required, multiple lists
Report clinical quality measures	Specified measures	Expanded list
Submit immunization data	Menu option, perform one test	Required, submit data
Submit reportable lab results (hospitals only)	Menu option for hospitals, perform one test	Required for hospitals, submit data
Submit syndromic surveillance data	Menu option, perform one test	Required for hospitals, submit data
Conduct security analysis	Conduct analysis	Expanded to include encryption of data at rest

To see the full article click on this link: http://www.informationweek.com/news/healthcare/clinical-systems/232600583

For more information on Allscripts MyWay Electronic Medical Records product please don’t hesitate calling me at 1-800-640-7506 and ask for Bob Appleby. I will be more than happy to discuss the product and provide you with information on how you can implement this solution in your practice. One of the first questions I am asked is whether anyone has received payments yet. It has been reported that $2.5 billion was paid out for meaningful use in 2011. Stage 2 requirements are being drawn up now as you see in the table above but they have not been finalized as of this date. You need to be proactive and should be focusing on providing capabilities for engaging patients, coordinating care and capturing the data for quality reporting. These requirements are essential for qualifying for meaningful use payments and for new CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) payment incentives and for succeeding under accountable care.

Mimio PR: MimioStudio 9.0 Releasing on Feb 6!

It's official: MimioStudio™ 9.0 software will be released on Monday, February 6th! At that time, it can be downloaded from mimio.dymo.com.

MimioStudio 9.0 software makes interactive teaching much easier for teachers. It's uniquely intuitive, and seamlessly integrates every MimioClassroom™ product. It also incorporates the new MimioStudio ActivityWizard, an innovation that intelligently automates the activity-creation process, saving time and minimizing errors. Please see below for MimioStudio 9.0 and ActivityWizard differentiators.

MimioStudio 9.0 Differentiators

• Integrates all MimioClassroom devices–the MimioTeach™ interactive system, MimioVote™ assessment system, MimioView™ document camera, MimioCapture™ ink recording system, and MimioPad™ wireless tablet–seamlessly, for a truly user-friendly experience.
• Offers a built-in knowledge engine–ActivityWizard–that lets teachers generate educationally sound and engaging teaching activities in minutes.
• Includes MimioStudio Gradebook, which automatically records student answers and eliminates the need for teachers to hand-grade tests.
• Imports files from Smart, Promethean, and Common File Format (IWB), so teachers can use content they may already have.

ActivityWizard Differentiators

• The easiest and most intelligent activity builder available automates the activity and lesson building process.
• Includes a knowledge engine with a comprehensive library of content, and activity templates that allow automatic assembly of a complete activity in minutes.
• Teachers can build activities that target skill acquisition, rate-building, and evaluation.
• The entire activity-generation platform is founded upon proven instructional design principles.
• Automatically calls out critical components for creating effective instruction.

Ultrabook Theme at CES 2012

The MacBook Air has helped to create a new category of mobile computing where the manufacturers are offering systems that are small, light and powerful to give the ultimate road warrior a sexy machine to take out on the road with them. These devices are all going to hit in the upper end of the pricing scale start at about $850 and going up from there.

The first attribute that is striking is the thinness of the profile of these systems. Weighing in at around 3lbs their screen sizes vary quite a bit. Most of these devices are using Intel’s third generation Core processors or Ivy Bridge delivery more speed, more battery life and better graphics performance.

Most of these devices are missing optical drives, usually have around a 13 inch screen and usually either an SSD or gone big on the HDD side. The SSD versions usually drives the price a bit higher than the non-SSD version. The SSD will help with making it lighter and protect your data a little better with less moving parts.

So what systems are out there?

• Lenovo IdeaPad U300 – The Verge Review
• Lenovo T430u – 14 inch version CNET Review - engadget Review
• Samsung Series 5 – engadget Review
• Toshiba Portege Z830 and Z835 – Toshiba’s Site – engadget hands on report - Laptop Review
• Acer Aspire S3 and S5 – ARS Technica Report – PC Mag Report

Logitech C920–1080p video calling

This could be really scary, Logitech is introducing their C920 Webcam with 1080P video calling. Hook this up with Skype and you are going to be able to display to whomever is hooking up with you, every detail that it is pointing at. This could be good, this could be very, very bad! Priced at around $100 it

Technical Details

• Full HD 1080p video calling (up to 1920 x 1080 pixels) with the latest version of Skype for Windows
• 720p HD video calling (up to 1280 x 720 pixels) with supported clients
• Full HD video recording (up to 1920 x 1080 pixels) with a recommended system
• Logitech Fluid Crystal™ Technology
• H.264 video compression
• Carl Zeiss® lens with 20-step autofocus
• Built-in dual stereo mics with automatic noise reduction
• Automatic low-light correction
• Hi-Speed USB 2.0 certified (USB 3.0 ready)
• Tripod-ready universal clip fits laptops, LCD or CRT monitors

Logitech webcam software:

• Video recording: Up to Full HD 1080p video capture
• Photo capture: Up to 15 megapixels (software enhanced)
• 1-click Facebook®, Twitter™ and YouTube™ HD upload (registration required)

Scanning with my iPad, too!

If you are like me and have allowed your mobile self to become more and more centered around your iPad, then you may be looking for as many different applications that you can use your iPad or iPad2 for. Brookstone makes many different devices for that person in your life that has everything and in the beginning of February they will be introducing a new product called iConvert® Scanner for iPad or iPad 2 Tablet. My immediate response is neat! However, why does it only scan to jpeg images? Why not the universal PDF file format?

Priced on introduction at $149 it is a little on the pricey side but if you have a need for scanning paper while on the road, here is a solution. This unit will work with both iPad and iPad2, scan in high-resolution 300 dpi to a JPEG format. The front feeder will adjust from 2 inches to 8.5 inches. The scanner works with a free app that you can download from iTunes. Hopefully someone will write a new app that will allow you to capture your scans to PDF format and allow you to store them out to the cloud (iCloud or DropBox would be nice). It is powered by an included AC adapter, I wonder if will also charge the iPad when it is attached. This compact scanner fits easily in your briefcase or backpack, measuring 12.1"w x 4.4"d x 2.8"h and weighing just 1.44 lbs. Let me know your thoughts…

Intuit’s Mobile iOS Credit Card Processing System

Last year in Jude a wrote a quick post on Square’s updated Credit Card Processing System and now Intuit is adding its product into ring with less cost and a more substantial reading device.

They have an updated free app on iTunes for both the iPhone and the iPad that provides easy processing of credit card payments to your account.

---FEATURES---

• Receive a free card reader compatible with your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch
• Avoid start-up costs, a long-term contract, and cancellation fees
• 2.7% per card reader swiped transaction rate with pay-as-you-go pricing plan
• Customers sign with their finger and a receipt can be sent by text or e-mail, so you can be paperless
• Access your GoPayment account on your Mac or PC and accept, refund, and review credit card payments online
• All transactions are secure and encrypted, unlike some card readers
• Add up to 50 users to your account so multiple people can accept payments for your business
• We’ve made it easier for you to get started by not requiring bank account information. The money you make with GoPayment can be deposited into your Intuit GoPayment Prepaid Visa® Card account. You can conveniently access and manage your money online at www.gopayment.com, or use the GoPayment Card anywhere Visa debit cards are accepted – in stores, online, and at ATMs
• GoPayment integrates with QuickBooks, making it easier to manage your finances
• From Intuit, the makers of QuickBooks, Quicken, and TurboTax

The app will run on iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 4.0 or later
*You can also sign up at www.gopayment.com. If you would like to sign up for the High volume plan, you must do so on the website.
**Intuit GoPayment offers 2 pricing plans with the following rates to meet your individual needs:
Pay-as-you-go:
Swipe: 2.7%
Key-enter and non-qualified: 3.7%
High volume (option to pay $12.95/month for lower per-transaction rates):
Swipe: 1.7%
Key-enter: 2.7%
Non-qualified rate: 3.7%

---GET STARTED---

• Download the Free GoPayment Credit Card Processing App
• Complete the in-app application*
• Check your email for your approval notification, and then start accepting payments!

Once you’re approved, you can start accepting credit cards right away by key entering credit card info into the app.
Your free card reader will ship the next business day.
If you want to see GoPayment in action before you sign up, select the Test Drive button.

If you decide that this product is for you, then one of the things that jumped out at me right away is that the quantities field only seems to accept whole numbers. This can be a problem especially if you are selling by weight or if you are like me you are selling time. Another problem that you might have is that it only accepts one sales tax field. So if you are in a county that requires you to collect both a state and county sales tax you will need to make some kind of adjustment for that. Of course if you are not roaming around this is not an issue. If you are moving around it might be hard to track who you need to send the tax you have collected to the correct entities.

Otherwise, the interface seems to be simple and straight forward and if you don’t have the concerns about the limitations I stated above then it might be a good fit for you. The charge rates for processing are a little lower then Square’s and Intuit is a big player in the entry level accounting industry.

Compatible Devices

See all devices

CES: Wireless Sound Devices

There were quite a few new wireless speaker products that were introduced at this years CES show. In this post I will be highlighting some of the ones that have caught my attention that have a particular interest to me. There is a mixture of connectivity methods so you will need to look at your particular needs to see which device fits your particular budget, sound quality and connection type.

Altec Lansing Live 5000  and inAir 5000 WiFi music systems

One of the many new high end speaker systems that now support network connectivity over your WiFi network you can have iOS connectivity through AirPlay®. The inAir™ 5000 allows iOS devices to stream music wirelessly over a Wi-Fi network to any room, and with iTunes® multiple devices can be linked throughout the home or office, providing a seamless listening experience. Enjoy your music the way the artist intended with Altec Lansing's legendary sound quality. Your ears will hear the difference with this high-performance, all-in-one, networked speaker.

Altec Lansing has also created another device that uses its own separate networked ecosystem that will support a variety of devices. Connected to your network using WiFi connectivity, you can use any Android, iOS device or computer running the company's Live controller app to setup up a central playlist of your tunes. The music isn't sent to the cloud, but rather, streamed directly from each device's local catalog of music. This saves you from aggregating your files to one central storage hub. There is also support for services like Rhapsody, ensuring you'll be able to load up your music from wherever you normally would.

Engaget reports that:

We checked out an early build of the iPhone app (on an iPad), and the interface was simple and intuitive, but we're told to expect more polish in the final edition -- along with that missing tablet-sized version. Notably, the app allows playback to multiple speakers, giving you the option to set up various linkable "stages" to stream independent playlists to. We gave the unit a quick listen on the noisy show floor, and while it got plenty loud, the bass was on the anemic side, despite its 4-inch woofer. Highs and mids were alright, although, at times things felt a bit tinny to our ears. Of course, the hustle and bustle of CES isn't exactly the best spot for hearing how speakers like this sound, so we'll have to reserve final judgement until the unit ships this summer (not to mention that the testing material was streaming from Rhapsody). For now, hit up the gallery below for a closer look, and you'll find a press release past the break with more details.

These devices should be available in the early part of this year. Rumor puts the price at or around $500.

In the summer my wife and I enjoy each other’s company outdoors on sunny days floating around in the swimming pool. Behringer has introduced a spherical wireless waterproof speaker that floats in your pool. It is called the Splash 100 and will be priced around $99. Scheduled for release later this year it will be interesting to hear more about this product once it is released. This $99 speaker has a 230-foot range from the sound source and 3.5-hour rechargeable battery. They were not showing a working model at CES so I don’t have any reports on sound quality at this time.

Bank & Olufsen is known for their wonderful home theater systems and related gadgets introduced its new B&O Play brand. Hoping to entice the younger crowd with money to burn ($800 to be exact) they showed off their Beolit 12 AirPlay-enabled speaker. It is configured in a portable Picnic Basket form with handle and tray to hold your iPhone.

The 7-pound wireless sound system features a swappable leather carrying strap (color options are planned for the future), and its soft-touch top section is molded to serve as a tray for you device when you'd like to set it down -- this is also where you'll find buttons for power, network setup and volume up and down. Behind the 120-watt mini-rig's aluminum grill, you'll find one 4-inch center woofer, along with a duo of tweeters for stereo separation, not to mention a rechargeable battery rated for 8 hours using its inline connection and half of that when streaming to it using AirPlay. On the bottom front there's an IR receiver compatible B&O's Beo remotes, while on back is hinged door that opens to reveal a storage storage compartment for its power cable, as well as an Ethernet port for wiring directly into your home network -- perfect for firmware upgrades. See Engaget video overview below:

On a slightly different note, NuForce was showing a product that allows you take advantage of your in-place audio system by providing a device you connect into one of you input ports of your receiver and provide connectivity of iOS devices over the air. Details were not made available but it looks like you can have multiple receivers being controlled by single or multiple transmitters. It is designed to allow you to control your audio output in a self-designed environment. Expected to be very reasonably priced we should see more information on this later this year. Again, a brief interview with NuForce’s Ceo is shown below.

When looking at a lot of these devices, I can’t help but remember that SONOS has been out there with Mesh based wireless speaker systems that have been working with iOS devices for several years now. Priced in the same range that we have seen above, these products are available now and allow you to plunk down a speaker in any room and begin enjoying your music instantly. Place a bridge unit on your network to connect your music locally stored on any of your systems as well as internet radio and streaming services. This device then allows you to connect SONOS speakers and place them where you need them to provide a great audio experience.

iConnectivity outs iConnectMUSE digital audio mixer for iOSers

For those of you that want to be able to have a simple audio mixing device while on the road, here is a product from iConnectivity that will allow you to mix analog sound from several sources and digitize it onto your iOS device. Touted as the perfect product for the “garage band” on the road, this device can give you that extra capability from a very small and portable device. See the Press Release below:

LVCC North Hall – Booth #3922
Las Vegas, NV – January 12, 2012 – iConnectivity™, forward thinking developer of hardware accessories and applications for iPhone®, iPod touch® and iPad®, announce its latest creation, iConnectMUSE™ at CES 2012 in Las Vegas.

For musicians looking to control their unique mixes through iOS or computer software while maintaining exceptional sound quality, look no further than iConnectMUSE™– a palm-sized personal mini-mixer that combines several music accessories into one iOS controlled product, perfect for gigs at home or on the road.

The end result? Studio-quality analog audio converted to digital. With iConnectMUSE™, the user will experience higher quality audio processing, improved audio latency and the ability to share and mix audio through an iOS device, and even charge the iOS device at the same time.

Featuring six stereo inputs and six stereo outputs, each with its own unique mix, this ultra compact device may be small on size, but huge on functionality and features. If you're a student musician exploring your own personal composition technique, a professional musician composing in a hotel room or on tour, or the performing musician who needs consistency moving from gig to gig, iConnectMUSE™ is the all-in-one, portable solution.

Additional features include two USB device ports, hub-able USB Host Port, two input and two output ¼" audio port jacks, a headphone monitor jack, Ethernet connection for network sharing, a MIDI pass-thru interface and limited DSP processing.

"iConnecMUSE™ is the future of audio mixing," said Michael Loh, CEO of iConnectivity™. "Its portability, expandability and enhanced functionality through software integration provides the conduit for music creativity for all musicians."

iConnectMUSE™, available Q2 of 2012, will retail for $229.99* (MSRP).
For More Information, please visit www.iConnectivity.com.

Kindle Cover that Charges Your Kindle

I use my Kindle primarily around the pool and a company called SolarFocus has created a cover with a built-in solar panel on the front. So when you have laid your Kindle down and jumped into the pool, you can recharge by having the panel collect those wonder solar rays and boost your battery. If you just have the case with Kindle laying around it will help add up to 3 months of extended charge or 50 hours for it’s include LED lamp.

The SolarKindle is scheduled to be available on January 15th priced at about $80. Pretty neat! A fully charged reserve battery requires only eight hours of direct sunlight and provides up to 80% of backup power to the Kindle. That’s almost three days of use time for each hour of charging!

CES 2012

Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2012 has been going on all of this week and I will be going through all my feed grabs of products that struck me as interesting and discussing them over the next week or so. Some of the themes I am seeing from what is being reported incudes Android Tablets, Windows 8 Tablets and questions on what Apple will be updating on its iPad product in the next few months. I am seeing a lot of IOS accessories surrounding charging, wireless speakers (Bluetooth), wireless Airplay speakers, and printing. There are a few Home Control products that look interesting, some mobile road warrior accessories, All-In-Ones that have come down in price and have some special characteristics.

The Macbook Air has made everyone building laptops coming up with their own version of a Windows super-thin and powerful “Ultrabook”. These are coming in 13, 14 and 15 inch models and are all showing off sexy lines, super light and thin. All this comes at a premium though so if you are looking for a deal your not going to find it here.

A couple of new apps are surfacing that look interesting and I will post the ones that I find most useful to me.

So keep looking back and I will be posting all of this over the next few days.

xPrintServer makes printers AirPrint-compatible

I like looking for new products that will make both my life easier as well as our clients. For those of you that have an iOS device and none of your printers are AirPrint compatible there will soon be a product that could make your printers AirPrint compatible. Lantronix is planning on releasing this January their xPrintServer product that allows printing from any iOS device to network-connected printers.

I have several printers in my house and at work that I would love to be able to print to without the convoluted methods I now employ from my iPad and iPhone devices. Whether it is to my beautiful Canon Pro 900 photo printer or my Lexmark MFC Pro901 I want to be able to whip off a quick printed page for friends or family. Also, at work it would be nice while I am sitting with a client discussing options for their network I would love to be able to share the information I have on my iPad as I am talking to them.

The current drawback of this device is that it will only work with Ethernet-networked printers only. This means it doesn't help with printers that are connected directly to your computer via an USB port. The device comes with just one network port and will need an available LAN port from your router or switch to work. It also require an external power source.

When you plug the device into you network it will auto-discover and auto-provision for your network printers which in turn allows your iOS device to print to them. There is no software or device drivers to load and no special Apps to purchase. I am looking forward to testing this out myself.

More information at Lantronix’s site

Supported Printer List

Intel Launches the 'Cedar Trail' Atom Platform

Intel has today finally introduced its third-generation Atom processors, the 32nm chips codenamed Cedar Trail. This processor supports full 1080p high definition playback capability, support Blu-ray 2.0 and has integrated HDMI video support to give you the full rich video experience on netbooks, nettops, all-in-one PCs and tablet systems. The 32nm design provides higher clock speeds and up to 20% less power draw for the whole platform. It also supports an integrated memory controller supporting DDR3-800/1066 memory, and updated, but still DirectX 9-enabled graphics (Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 3600/3650 based on the PowerVR SGX 545 from Imagination Technologies).

Intel claims that Cedar Trail netbooks will achieve up to 10 hours of battery life and consume up to 20 percent less power than its predecessors. The graphics chipset GMA 3600/3650 promises twice the performance of the previous generation platform. New features include WiDi and Wireless Music, which are now integrated in the product.With these new features and wireless enabled devices, people can share videos or photos wirelessly from their netbooks to a television, or stream music through their home stereo speakers.

Additional features such as Intel Smart Connect Technology allows users to have an instant Internet connection as soon as they open their netbook, and have email, Twitter and RSS feeds automatically updated even in sleep mode. Intel Rapid Start Technology enables fast resume from standby mode and helps conserve battery life.

The new Intel Atom processors provide a lower thermal design power (TDP) and power management features such as Intel Deeper Sleep and Intel SpeedStep Technology that enable lower power designs, making it especially attractive for netbooks as well as intelligent systems including: healthcare equipment, retail systems and entry-level digital signage.

In health care settings, the improved battery life and enhanced graphics means medical professionals can enhance patient care and bring infotainment services to a patient's bedside. Arbor technology will release a new patient infotainment bedside terminal, based on the Intel Atom processor N2800 that helps clinicians improve workflow management and work efficiency, reduce human error, and enhance healthcare quality. Patients can also enjoy access to plenty of multimedia entertainment, hospital information and communication services on the system.

The always on, always connected capabilities are also ideal for entry-level point-of-sale systems with the ability to boot up instantly to serve customer's at a moment's notice. Point-of-sale terminals based on the Intel Atom processor D2700 and manufactured by NCR Corporation will be installed in restaurant and retail locations throughout the US beginning in the first quarter of 2012.

News: Researcher finds vulnerability in WPS protocol

Stefan  Viehbock has just discovered a major security vulnerability which allows someone to use a brute force attack to access a WPS PIN-Protected network in about two hours. According to Viehbock, a design flaw allows the WPS protocol’s 8-digit PIN security to fall dramatically as more and more attempts are made. This flaw after each failed attempt will cause the router to send a message stating whether the first four digits are correct while the last digit of the key is used as a checksum and then given out by the router in negotiation. This results in what was a 100,000,000 possible choices that was initially considered for WPS security level to drop drastically down to around 11,000.

The reasoning behind the original design was to make it easier to bring new device onto your home network more easily especially for unskilled home users. This method now allows it to be much easier for hackers to break into a secure Wi-Fi network as well.

"A few weeks ago I decided to take a look at the Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) technology,"Viehbock said in a blog post. "I noticed a few really bad design decisions which enable an efficient brute force attack, thus effectively breaking the security of pretty much all WPS-enabled Wi-Fi routers. As all of the more recent router models come with WPS enabled by default, this affects millions of devices worldwide."

US-CERT said in its warning that there is no known fix to the security problem. Instead, the group recommends that users disable the WPS function on their routers. The warning lists several wireless router vendors as selling devices that are affected by the security hole: Buffalo, D-Link, Cisco Linksys, Netgear, Technicolor, TP-Link, and ZyXEL.

US-CERT indicated in its warning that it notified router vendors that are affected by the security issue in early December, but so far the vendors have not offered a response nor have any of them issued statements.

For more information:

• Wikipedia Entry about WPS Protocol Specification
• Stefan Viehbock’s Original Blog Post
• CNet’s take on this Vulnerability

Evernote vs. OneNote

And the battle goes on. There have been some recent updates to both of these programs that have prompted me to take another look to see which one is better suited for what I need.

Evernote’s general capabilities are still not as rich on the PC/Desktop side as they are in OneNote but it still has a better overall feel and function between all of the different devices that you can bring it up on. I have listed a table below on some of the major features and how each product rates in respect to each other.

Feature	Evernote	OneNote
Notebook –this feature allows you to group notes together to make them easier to access	Two Level-You can create a master Group and then have notebook containers listed within the master Group or container.	On the surface it appears that you only have two levels here as well however, you may have as many Notebooks that you want. The second level is called a section in OneNote but there are two types of sections that you can create, the first is a Section Group which can create one or more Sections or more Section Groups. A Section then is what actually is the container for your note pages.
Free Form Entries	You don’t have this with Evernote	You can place your entries anywhere you wish on the note. I really like this feature and I miss it with Evernote.
Text Style	The basics are here but they are very limited.	A much richer choice of controls to enhance your text styles. You can create a much richer end product here.
Web Versions	Very similar whether you use the Web Interface or the Desktop Interface.	The Web interface is poor at best not only to the desktop version but also to what Evernote provides. This is the one feature that is a tipping point for me to continue using Evernote as my primary note taking application.
iPad App	Again, this is very similar to the both the Web and Desktop Apps. This makes it much simpler to move from one device to another.	Ugh! The newly released app is ten time better than it was but it still is a poor cousin to anything else. Still not good enough. Evernote wins here as well.
Application Interfaces	Evernote is very strong when it comes to integrating on the iPad with other applications. It should since this is the world that it has mostly evolved in. More and more secondary apps that I use have tie ins to not only Evernote but also Dropbox that these features keep me coming back.	OneNote has very strong tie ins with other Office Applications that I use a lot. This makes it very hard for me to stop using it but in reality, other than the task management associated with Outlook many of the other features that I want can also be found in Evernote.

So, for me I still lean towards Evernote as my primary note program but I still find myself jumping into OneNote when I need that extra formatting or connection to Outlook.

Let me know your thoughts!

Some new features of SkyDrive that may get you to try it out!

I like some of the new file share features that are now available since the upgrade to SkyDrive. The key is that you can generate a share down to the level of the individual file and can even lock it down to viewing, view + edit and sharing with the general public. They have also made it easier to share to your social networks as well by including that capability as an option. Take a look at this video to see this in action.

For more information on this an other upgrade features visit the following links.

http://windowsteamblog.com/windows_live/b/windowslive/archive/2011/11/29/skydrive-gets-simple-app-centric-sharing-for-office-powerful-file-management-html5-upload-other-updates.aspx

http://windowsteamblog.com/windows_live/b/windowslive/archive/2011/12/21/designing-app-centric-sharing-for-skydrive-part-1-of-2-complexity-of-simple.aspx

http://windowsteamblog.com/windows_live/b/windowslive/archive/2011/12/22/designing-app-centric-sharing-for-skydrive-part-2-of-2-rebuilding-permissions.aspx

Burn ISO Images Natively in Windows 7

From Windows Experience Blog by Brandon LeBlanc 

We just had a question come internally about this and I thought that it might be interesting to have it available for everyone else as well…

Geeks and IT Pros often have to burn an ISO image (.iso file) to physical media such as a CD or DVD to test out and install software. We have made it easier to burn ISO images in Windows 7 by natively supporting the ability to burn ISO images directly within Windows without the need of a third party tool.

To burn an ISO image in Windows 7, all someone needs to do is simply right-click on an ISO image and choose “Burn disc image”.

This launches Windows Disc Image Burner, giving you the option to burn the ISO image to either a CD or DVD.

If you check “Verify disc after burning”, it will verify the ISO image burned correctly. Choosing to verify a disc you burned will require additional time so if you’re in a hurry, you will probably want to ensure this option is unchecked.

I often burn ISO images to a DVD-RW so I can re-use the media. What’s great about Windows Disc Image Burner is that it will detect that a DVD-RW has content on it already and prompt you asking if you would like to erase the disc and burn new content to it. This ensures you don’t accidently erase and burn over something important that may be on that DVD-RW disc. This is awesome because it lets me re-use DVD-RW media.

If you haven’t already discovered this feature in the Windows 7, you should give it a shot especially if you are burning ISO images quite a bit.

AVG Service Update

AVG 8.5 migration to AVG 2012 (Small Business)

End of Service Update for AVG 8.5 was released.

Users that are currently on AVG 8.5 need to migrate to AVG 2012 to stay fully protected. We have created a step by step guide to help you.

Please note that you are required to have AVG Remote Administration 8.5 installed on your machine before you begin the migration process. If you do not have AVG Remote Administration 8.5 installed please refer to the “Important note before installation”.

Important note before the installation:

• Workstations with AVG 8.5 will not be able to communicate with new Admin Server 2012, however the list of these stations will be transferred to the AVG Admin Console.
• All stations that will be upgraded to AVG 2012 will be restarted during the remote installation.
• When installing AVG remotely using the AVG Network Installer Wizard, please bear in mind that a manual restart is always required in case there is AVG 8.5 on the target stations. Sometimes the restart is needed also when reinstalling AVG 2011/2012. The restart is needed because all old AVG services and drivers are scheduled for removal upon restart, and new drivers and services cannot be started due to this. The result of reinstallation without restart would be an unprotected station.
• In general, it is recommended to install AVG remotely during off-peak hours, and enable the option "Reboot the computer after finishing AVG 2012 setup if needed". This will ensure that the computer will be unprotected for the shortest possible time.

Visit this site for more information…

Look at the bright orange Lenovo!

The new Lenovo IdeaPad U300 has some interesting specs and is going after the Ultra PC market that seems to be the new must have design for the ULTRA CHIC!

But, if you are a road warrior you want to have a really functional PC that is light and doesn’t take up much space. This is one of the reasons that I run around with and iPad under my arm and what would interest me in Lenovo’s Ultrabook™ design.

Here is a list of the U300’s best features:

• Slim, Ultrabook™ design for easy mobility, from just 0.6” thin
• Minimalist, one-piece aluminum shell, available in Graphite Gray or Clementine Orange (coming soon)
• Long battery life* with up to 30 days standby time
• Lenovo RapidCharge brings battery charge to 50 percent in 30 minutes
• Boot in as little as 10.5 seconds with RapidDrive SSD technology**
• Breathable keyboard uses Intel® Advanced Cooling Technology to improve airflow so PC can run cooler on your lap
• Cool-touch palmrest and intelligent glass touchpad with easy scroll, zoom and rotate functions
• HD graphics and stereo speakers with SRS® Premium Surround Sound™
• USB 3.0 port, HDMI output and 1.3M (720p HD) webcam
• Intel® Wireless Display (WiDi): wirelessly stream content from your laptop onto a big screen (requires TV adapter)
• BIOS-embedded anti-theft protection

U300s Tech Specs

Take the Lenovo U300 Tour: