CNET article about $2M gas station card-skimming scheme

Interesting article about 13 individuals being indicted for theft, fraud and laundering from devices that they installed inside gas pumps in New York state. This appears to be another version of the skimmer device that was inserted into ATM’s to do the same thing.

If you are interested in reading the article here…

This just brings to mind that you have to be extremely vigilant in tracking charges to your credit cards even from sources that you would normally consider safe.

"By using skimming devices planted inside gas station pumps, these defendants are accused of fueling the fastest growing crime in the country," Vance said in a statement. "Cybercriminals and identity thieves are not limited to any geographic region, working throughout the world behind computers. In this case, the defendants are charged with stealing personal identifying information from victims in southern states, using forged bank cards on the East Coast, and withdrawing stolen proceeds on the West Coast."

Vertical’s Voice Over IP Solution

One of the nice things about the Vertical Telephone systems is that they are a Hybrid type unit. What that means is that it can handle both analog phone lines as well as IP Trunk lines and that the handsets can be both local, digital direct and can use an IP handset as well. In a recent test setup that we did for me to have a phone presence on our system from my home office we programmed an IP phone to connect to our internal MBX system. Vertical’s Edge 8000 unit will work on MBX IP®, SBX IP® and XTS IP® telephony systems. Once set up this unit gives you all of the features that you have with a regular digital phone set, just not as many buttons. All of the keys on the side are programmable so you can set them up for line presence as well as many other features. Priced at $265 this unit will give you a great addition to your current Vertical environment.

Protect your files from Cryptolocker

Sophos is one of our partners that we work with and just love their products. We have been selling their Firewall products for years and since they merged with Astaro we have been working with their the rest of the security software products as well. They have put together a little video that discusses How Cryptolocker encrypts your files and extracts a ransom.(see below).  Here is an excerpt from their demonstration site.

Our Support teams have put together a video demonstration (embedded below) that shows what Cryptolocker actually looks like and how it works.

We’ll show you what the file looks like when it infects a computer (claiming to be a PDF document), what happens when it executes, and how the cybercriminals expect you to pay up (they offer to let you pay in bitcoins). You’ll also see how layers of protection from Sophos keep this from happening.

Remember though—you really don’t want to try this at home. If you see the ransom message from Cryptolocker on your computer, it’s too late. Your files are already encrypted, and only the ransom-takers have the encryption key to set them free. It’s much better to protect yourself proactively and keep your files backed up. We don’t recommend paying the ransom.

For more information on this type of threat, you can also download our whitepaper on ransomware (registration required), or use our Knowledgebase.

Watch Cryptolocker in action!

Worst Passwords of 2013

There are a lot of solution out their to help you keep track of and to make strong passwords for you online access to all of your sites. It is important to not only have strong passwords (ones that cannot be easily guessed) but also to have different passwords for each and every site that you access. That way if one is compromised then the rest of your secure sites are not compromised as well.

What Makes a Strong Password?

• It needs to contain special characters such as @#$%^&
• It must be at least 8 characters long.
• It must not have any common words such as 123, password, your birth date, your login name and any words that can be found in the dictionary.
• a variation of capitalization and small letters

For best protection every password you use should be unique and have the characteristics of what is a strong password listed above. You may be wondering how you are going to remember so many passwords when you have a problem remember just one! Try some of these tips in creating and remembering your passwords:

1. First, think of a thing, date, phrase, event, place or anything that is unique only to you. Make sure that it is at least 8 characters in length. What ever you come up with use this as the focal point for creating the rest of the password. Some people call this the salt phrase.

2. Many use the following to confuse the spelling by replacing certain alpha characters with specific special characters. You can come up with your own rules for doing this but commonly people use the following.

• Replace all the ‘a’ with @
• Replace all the ‘s’ with $
• Repalce any space with %
• Replace any ‘o’ with 0
• Replace any ‘i’ with !

3. Then for each site use either the site name or something about the site additionally added to your salt term. You can even vary the placement of the two parts to even make it more unique. Come up with some rules to use to help you remember and you will be on your way to a much safer online experience.

Phillips developing uses for Google Glass in Health Care

I know we are all waiting for the day that there really is something useful that Google Glass can do for you. Well here is one being developed by Phillips Healthcare and Accenture to help surgeons interact with patient data to become more efficient and effective. If you are unaware of what Google Glass is then here is a brief explanation.

Google Glass is wearable technology that looks like eyeglasses, but without the lenses. Instead, a small prism on the right side displays information via a Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connection to the MyGlass app on Android or iOS devices.

Google Glass was rolled out to early adopter this past year and Google is encouraging users to share their ideas and innovations to help develop the base of applications that this new user interface device can take advantage of. Researchers from the Philips Digital Accelerator Lab has collaborated with Accenture Technology Labs to come up with potential uses of Google Glass in Clinical settings.

Anthony (Tony) Jones, M.D., is the vice president and chief marketing officer for patient care and clinical informatics at Philips Healthcare. He explains, “The most exciting potential application of Google Glass in healthcare is the ability to allow providers to ‘virtually’ be in two places at once, which will have a significant impact on workflow and patient care.”

The idea is for the surgeon or other medical professional to be able to verbally request information on patient status or show images like X-Rays, MRI or other digital images to be able to quickly and simply access information as a reference while working on the patient. Patient vitals or other information would also be at their fingertips to be able to react quickly as necessary to best take care of the patient all while keeping their eyes on the patient.

“It sounds simple, but small workflow improvements like this can reduce errors and have a significant impact on patient care,” Jones says.

Surgery is not the only place where this technology can make an impact. Think about first responders, either medical, fire or police that could be looking forward at the scene and have information being presented that will make their response more informed, safer and of course help with providing a positive outcome.

Currently there are some real issues with this technology that will need to be overcome before it becomes widely accepted. Battery life is the first one that comes to mine. some method of extending the battery life needs to be adapted before this becomes a valuable tool. Also, the display is still a little small so the detail will need to get better so that more information can be displayed at a time. This is a good step and I am looking forward to seeing where this goes into the future.

Android vs. Window 8.1 (what’s best on a tablet)

I just posted and article about the ASUS Transformer Book Duet notebook/tablet that hopefully will be coming out in the near future. This unit provides both operating systems on the same system whether it is in tablet or notebook format so you don’t have to make a choice between one or the other. But if you have to make a choice now between the two, which should you choose?

James Kendrivk wrote for Mobile News/ZDNet an interesting article that describes the “4 advantages Windows 8.1 has over Android in mobile”. Take a look at his article, he makes some interesting points.

The World Premiere of SmugMug Films

New feature in announced from SmugMug called SmugMug Films. This is going to be available on YouTube and will have its own channel that you can subscribe to and is a film series that “will take you behind the lens with the world’s most exciting photographers.”

It is not meant to be an educational how to but I can’t imagine that you won’t walk away with some knowledge of how they did it and how you might learn how to do it.

SmugMug is hoping that we will be inspired to pick up our own camera and get out there and create some masterpieces of our own.

Watch Preview Now

PR: Nuance Dragon Assistant for Intel® RealSense™ Technology

Press Release

I always love the thought of having a conversation with my computer and having it respond with meaningful information just like it was portrayed on Star Trek. I already use Nuance’s Naturally Speaking for a lot of my long winded typing so taking it to the next step and having either complete control over computer functions or asking a series of questions and have the computer understand the direction of the questions that have been posed to the computer just like you would expect from a normal interaction between individuals. 

The current release of the “next-generation Dragon Assistant designed for Intel® RealSense™ technology”, was announce by Nuance Communications, Inc. and is available on Acer, Dell, HP and Lenovo 2 in 1, tablet, Ultrabook, notebook and AIO devices and will also be available on ASUS and Toshiba in early 2014.

Dragon Assistant, which comes with two selectable personalities (American Female and British Butler), lets you have an ongoing dialogue with your Intel-powered 2 in 1, tablet, Ultrabook, notebook, and all-in-one devices. Simply tell it to play music, get answers, connect with friends and find content – all by using your voice. Dragon Assistant even lets you check your calendar, get maps and directions, find flights or book a dinner reservation. Also available offline, people can play music from their hard drive, control their device, dictate notes and more without an internet connection.

“Our vision with Intel RealSense technology is to make computing more immersive and enable human-like natural interaction,” said Mooly Eden, senior vice president, general manager Perceptual Computing, Intel. “Intel has worked closely with Nuance at the system level for Intel-based devices; to create a leading voice solution that understands how humans speak, and searches like humans search, rather than forcing us to learn new commands to communicate with our devices.”

To learn more and see what Dragon Assistant can do, visit www.nuance.com/dragon/dragon-assistant/.

To read the entire press release click here!

Is 2014 the year for Windows Tablets to have their first strong boost in sales?

So the simple question is whether the corporate world is going to make its first will push into replacing notebook purchases with tablet purchases. This is the real area that has a use for a Windows based tablet if there is one. Gartner seems to thing that this will one of the 2014 trends but I am still in a wait to see stance about this. Window’s main advantage is the ability to run natively programs such as Microsoft Office and of course Outlook. While there are ways to work around this on the other devices, having this one capability for most of us pounding with Office through out the day would much rather have it running device that we are used to. Add in other job related applications that require Windows as the base operating system and all of sudden you have a real reason to buy this type of device. I am surprised that it hasn’t happened as of yet and that is the main reason that I still hold the wait and see attitude.

The choices are going to get better as the year progresses so keep your eyes open for some of the new products that you will have to choose from.

AT&T Unite Pro-Black

If you are willing to get saddled with a 2 year commitment here is an interesting product from AT&T. The Unit Pro allows you to connect up to 15 devices at one time so this is perfect for those situations where you need a portable hot spot at show or conference and you need to provide a group with internet access. It even allows an option for a special guest Wi-Fi option for added security with on-time visitors.

The unit has a bigger battery in it so you can use it for up to 16 hours before recharging. It also has the ability to provide a battery boost for your phone. With the included cable, simply attach your smartphone to your AT&T Unite Pro and share the charge from the hotspot’s battery.

With Dual-Band Wi-FI and global connectivity you will be able to use here in the US as well as abroad. With AT&T Unite Pro, you can travel internationally and stay connected globally in more than 200 countries around the world. Dual-Band Wi-Fi broadcasts both 5 and 2.4GHz, advanced settings like Guest network, block device and WPS, access internet and email on the go, on screen data usage and customization capabilities, use BatteryBoost in airplane mode where Wi-Fi is restricted.

Save $150 if you commit to a two year contract and you will need to sign up for either Mobile Share or a minimum DataPro 5GB plan. If you have the need this may be the unit you want for your travel kit.

Addendum: I had a comment mentioning that this unit can be purchased at Walmart without a commitment for $99.95. You can purchase either a one week access for $15 or one month for $50.

Looks like another Office365 phishing scam!

It looks official but if anyone asks you for login information for anything then don’t trust them. Don’t give them this information. It is an easy rule of thumb that will keep your information safe.

If you have any questions don’t hesitate giving us a call.

We appreciate anyone that let’s us know when they receive anything like this so we can alert you to this kind of issue. We can’t be reminded too often!

ASUS' Transformer Book Duet–Dual Identity

If you are not sure whether you want a tablet or notebook, whether you want to use it with Android or Microsoft Windows then maybe this will help you with that decision. The Asus Transformer Book Duet TD300 is a 13.3 inch PC with dual OS. It is a tablet that comes bundled with a keyboard dock that has its own hard drive and ports. The real interesting thing about this unit is that it will run both Android 4.2 and Windows 8.1 on the fly whether you are in tablet mode or laptop mode.

This is a pretty nice little machine running an Intel Core I7 processor, 4GB RAM, 13.3 inch screen that supports 1,920 x 1,080 resolution, 128GB SSD in the tablet and 1TB hard drive in the keyboard. The unit weighs in at 4.1 pounds which is a little heavy for an UltraBook, and is about half an inch thick. This is very comparable to a Surface Pro 2 in weight but a little thicker. There’s also the usual array of extras, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 + EDR, a headphone jack, 1 x USB 3.0, 2 x USB 2.0, 10/100Mbit/s LAN, an HDMI 1.4 output, and support for MicroSD cards.

The real kicker here is that ability for the unit to instantly switch between Android and Windows 8.1. That’s nice for those of us that need to be able to switch back and forth at a whim but it doesn’t sound like they will include some of the nice features of the Samsung Ativ Q which allows you to pin Android apps to the Windows Start Screen. Starting at $599 this looks like it might be very interesting indeed. There has not been a launch date as of yet but this looks like a nice alternative to having two different devices.

Google jumps into the Home Automation Pool

Google with all that cash in their pocket is letting some of it go to acquire Nest for $3.2 billion. Nest makes smart thermostats and smoke alarms for the home and with all the focus at CES 2014 on Home Automation devices it isn’t surprising the Google grabbing someone like Nest.

Look at the ZDNet article by Larry Dignan for more detail on the acquisition and what it means for Google and the industry at large. He shows some interesting insight on how Google may use this acquisition and what it means for us consumers.

https://nest.com/

Nest Announcemant:   https://nest.com/blog/2014/01/13/welcome-home/

Nexus 2013 7 inch tablet

I was so happy with the fact that Google allowed me to send back my original Nexus 7 inch tablet for credit when for the third time it became a brick. I had to applaud them for standing by their customer, me, and making the purchase of this product right. I must say that the new tablet is much faster, has a camera on the back which I use a lot for things around the office and doing site surveys at customer sites and I have not run into any memory limitations as of yet but I am very picky about what I put onto it. I would have like the option of an SD card slot where I could add additional memory if I wanted but it is not a deal breaker for me obviously. If you make judicious use of the available cloud storage you should be fine. I have thrown all my music up to the Amazon cloud and I am able to access that from any device that use including my phone (Samsung Note II), ASUS TF300T, iPad 1 & 2, and any computer I lay my hands on.

Another surprise I had with the new design is how loud the stereo speakers are on this unit. It makes it nice to set it beside me to listen to audio books while I am working on different things in the house. I also purchased a nice simple case that has a magnet built into the front flap that acts just like the iPad magnetic cover does to turn on and off the unit. This is a quick way for me to turn of the screen display while a sound application is running that helps to cut down battery drain on the unit. When I open the cover it immediately turns on at the sign in screen to prevent unauthorized access.

This has become my go to tablet now for most everything I do. It is small enough to fit in my pocket, fit on the shelf in my car and have a large enough screen to allow me to see a movie, read a book or do some simple notes on a project. With the mail and calendar programs I use it makes it very easy to continue to communicate with the outside world and whenever I need an instant hotspot I can fire up my Verizon hotspot real quick to acquire that capability for any of the devices that I carry. I have no longer included 4G as an option to any of my device except my phone because you normally don’t need it except for short exceptions. It is much simpler to have just one plan for this purpose that I have to manage and take care of all of the machines I own.

This would probably be a good time to go over the list of apps that I use on my tablets. I choose most of them by whether they will do the job for me but I refine that to include those apps that are available on both Android as well as iOS and if possible have a browser or desktop application as well.

For the Office I use: Evernote, OneNote, OnLive Desktop, Dropbox, SkyDrive, Pocket, RingCentral, Keep, Fill and Sign PDF Forms, Lync 2013, Feedly, Adobe Reader, LogMeIn, Instapaper, Outlook Web App, Messaging,  and Skype.

For Personal and Entertainment: Amazon Kindle, Amazon MP3, Audible, BeyondPod, Cozi, Hulu Plus, Pepperplate, Roku, Scrabble, SmugMugMobile, SquareSpace, Xfinity TV, NetFlix, WatchESPN, Plex.

I’ll go into more detail on how I use some of these programs in another posting. I hope this gives you some insight on using a tablet and maybe some detail on the Nexus 7 if this is one of those tablets that you are thinking or purchasing.Let me know how you are using your tablets for work and play, I would really like to know.

What are the Highlights of CES2014 this year?

If you take a census of opinions by looking at everyone’s articles it appears that there were a lot of pretty Bluetooth Speakers being shown, there was quite a bit of Wearable Tech for all of you Dick Tracy’s out there, T-Mobile made some major headlines with their offerings and their antics, many more options are becoming available for having your own personal HUD using smart glasses and small projectors.

Audi and other auto manufacturer’s were showing off their future options from infotainment to self parking cars. Really neat stuff and things I want in my car but not much about pricing or availability yet. The future looks very interesting with all that is coming.

Samsung still seems to be the leader out there with their TV offerings. Curved TV’s are all the wave and Samsung’s 85 inch screen that has a mechanism built in to bend the screen to your liking is strange in concept to me but is an interesting method of giving you this capability.

Sony was showing off a short throw projector unit with built in speakers that made me drool a little until I heard the price tag of 10’s of thousands of dollars. Great concept but ouch to my wallet. It can scale up to 120 inch 4k display. because it is a short throw you can walk right up to it with blocking the image. Probably should be considered as an event type unit because of both the cost and function.

Streaming media was a big subject as well and one of my favorites is the Roku technology and they are now partnering with TV manufacturers to build their technology right into your TV. As you may know, most Smart TV's are never updated so whatever you have when you buy your system is what you are stuck with. Roku is trying to change this.

A modular gaming server was shown that is a cool idea but it is a really boutique type setup. Hmmmm. Maybe I am just getting too old. There were lots of new controllers to choose from to fit the needs of just about anyone. Other items in the game arena is the offering of different options to access the Steam Gaming Network.

Home automation is coming around again. Intel had made a big initiative in this area many years ago and we went so far as to put together an example of a digital home demo  in the building we now use for other purposes. Maybe this is the year that we are going to finally see it coming to the masses.

Wanting to get a new phone-T-Mobile may make it easier to swallow the cost.

If you are a technology geek like me you are always looking for new product that makes your life easier and more enjoyable and… you just want the newest stuff! If t-Mobile’s service will work for you, then their offer to pay your early termination fees if you jump from a rival carrier might make that move a lot less painful in your wallet.

The bold move is the next phase of T-Mobile's so-called "Uncarrier" strategy. The company says it will pay early-termination fees for customers when they trade in their devices with T-Mobile and sign up for T-Mobile wireless service. T-Mobile said the total value of the trade-in offer to switch carriers could be as high as $650 per line.
Read more: http://www.cnet.com/8301-35284_1-57616868/switch-he-said-t-mobile-will-take-the-penalty-for-you/#ixzz2pwMZqWMd

Take a look at the article cited above but this really sounds interesting and makes one wonder how much longer the other carriers will continue with the overpriced/outdated services.

Audi shows integrated Android tablet at CES

Audi already integrates Google Earth into its navigation system. The Open Auto Alliance means a lot more Google technology will arrive, and at GM, Honda, and Hyundai, too. Audi showed a 10 inch Android based tablet in their console that would control both vehicle services and entertainment. The OAA is dedicated to using a common platform that will drive innovation and make technology safer and easier to us for everyone.

Audi did not provide details as to availability or cost, but the demonstration worked seamlessly. The tablet will likely coincide with the new TT model, which does away with a central LCD in favor of a virtual instrument cluster showing gauges and infotainment functions. The TT cockpit does not allow for a passenger to control infotainment functions, making the tablet a perfect adjunct.
Read more: http://www.cnet.com/8301-35289_1-57616809/audi-shows-integrated-android-tablet-to-ces-2014-crowd/#ixzz2pwImG0AQ

With an open environment like Android the case can be made for easier innovation to be delivered easy and quickly to your automobile. This will allow you to pick those applications that make sense for your use case, and make you car driving experience even more personal and enjoyable.

The partnership also could help pave the way for incorporation of Google's self-driving car technology. Even if that technology doesn't use Android itself, the OAA is a tight technology partnership for essential computing services, and that could make it easier to rely further on Google technology.
Read more: http://www.cnet.com/8301-35289_1-57616662/google-joins-with-gm-honda-audi-for-android-powered-cars/#ixzz2pwISjeSn

Scanadu–CES 2014

I have a medical background so anything that hints of futuristic health care devices catches my attention. The small device shown in the picture to the right takes 10 seconds to provide a quick vitals workup. This device plans to give you the ability to keep up on your personal health easily. The information is planned to be captured and be available to you over a period of time allowing you to track changes in these readings and compare them to your life changes. This would then give you the ability to see some cause and effect situations that might not be captured otherwise.

They wanted this device to be as easy to use as a thermometer but to give you real information. Watch Engadget’s interview from CES 2014 to get more in depth information.

http://www.engadget.com/video/5min/518078359

The new Linksys is looking a lot like the old one…

It is hard to believe that it is a full year since Belkin purchased the home networking division of Linksys from Cisco but there it is…

At CES this week Linksys is showing a version design of its WRT1900AC dual band WiFi router that appears to be inspired by the original WRT54G. The planned retail price of this unit is $299.99 and is updated from the old series of routers to support 802.11ac. It has four antennas now with a faster 1.2GHz processor, eSATA and USB 2.0/3.0 connectivity ports and four gigabit LAN ports. Maximum throughput will be 1.3 Gbps on the 5GHz band and up to 6700Mpbs on the 2.4GHz band.

The WRT1900AC is also the first Linksys router to include a Network Map feature designed to provide a simpler way of managing settings of each device connected to the network. Linksys VP Mike Chen justified the $300 price tag by saying in the announcement that the WRT1900AC "will be the most powerful router in its class on the market. We have spared no technology expense to make this router a prosumers’ dream."

Toshiba Chromebook

Now Toshiba is getting into the Chromebook market with a 13.3” Haswell system. Proposed price is $279 and will sport a dual-core Celeron, 2GB of RAM, dual-band 802.11n WiFi, (2) USB 3.0, (1) HDMI, (1) card reader port and 16GB SSD which puts its specs on the same level as most of the Haswell Chomebooks on the market at the moment. Some other models have up to 4GB of RAM but since Chrome is not a memory intensive operating system having a little less probably won’t matter. Rated at 9 hours of battery life will make this a very useful during a hardworking day.

Toshiba is hoping to differentiate itself from their competitors by offering a 13.3 inch screen as compared to most of the other units at 11 inches. The display resolution will be about the same, 1366x768, a larger screen will probably help with productivity. You know, as we get older, the bigger the characters the better. Weight is in between 11 inch and 14 inch systems being just over 3 pounds. If you are looking at purchasing a Chromebook this might be a good option. Should become available around February 16th.