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Showing posts from June, 2010

80 Apps in my iPad

Some of the apps in my iPad. Check out as I introduce some of other interesting ones as I get a snap shot of the screens. To take a screen shot, all you have to do is hold the Menu Button and the Switch Off button in the ipad or the iphone to take a snap shot.  The screen shots on the left are from my iTunes. I have not yet synched my applications and there are a few that I would review and post my comments. Keep on the watch out.

New Google Audio Search - Streaming.

Google bought a company called Simplify Media. The web site does not talk about it much but we can see that the services it was offering are to be withdrawn by June 30th 2010. However, we have been seeing a audio stream that we can listen to when we search on google. This technology is supposedly have come from Simplify Media. This may also become a tool for the Google Android Platform soon. Keep watching this space for more as they unfold.

Do you need the iPhone 4G??? What does it bring to the table

The Iphone 4 may look like a power house with lot of new features. But as always Software is the key, if you can run the older devices - the 3G and 3GS with the new Iphone OS 4.0. Most of the features are already in. The hardware may have the muscle to multi task, but then multi -tasking on a puny little processor is always limited. Have seen Android Phones - they always multi tasked - suffering if you have too many apps running in the background. So what are the real changes that would make the move to the new hardware breath taking or need to have. FaceTime. The dual cameras?? The N800 and N810 from Nokia had a similar feature and the same restriction. The Video Conferencing is limited to the same devices. Except that the camera on N800 was VGA cam, whereas you would get 1.3 MP on the iPhone 4. The device has a meatier battery to last  a bit longer but may be the new multitasking would eat away those advantages. The other major difference would be .. We are going to be bo

Cloud Security - The Way Ahead

Cloud Security is of two types. The Public Cloud Security and the Private Club Security. Both the options need a set of controls that are different and needs to be addressed separately. The Private Cloud Security is just an extension of the security parameters that are taken into consideration when we handle physical servers. Each device as in every other case are to be addressed as an individual entity and the process and procedures that are applicable to a physical box are applicable to the virtual ones. However, there is one major difference, the host machines, Each host machines may host different servers and services on a single physical device. Considering this , it would be wise on the security team to ensure that they are grouped based on the criticality of the applications hosted. There are a few pros and cons of such an exercise. The first major advantage is that you ensure by grouping sensitive servers to a single physical host and take all necessary precaution to  pro

Role Based Firewalls - New products on the anvil

Devices that have varied capabilities are increasing in number. This would lead to the inevitable deluge of devices connecting through Bluetooth, Wifi, Wimax, Fiber and any other medium that is considered good enough for data to be carried over. The present set of tools that we use for securing networks are part of the risk management stance of an organization. The complexity of the varied devices is making it much more difficult and the balance between productivity and the technology advantage is lost if the organization does not use the latest in technologies. We are seeing Contractors and end users who want to use their own devices. They want to connect to "The Networks" and the Infosec practitioner is to provide the needed connectivity to resources at the same time ensuring that the data is protected. The Contractor may work for our competitor, how do we ensure that he has access to systems that he needs access to. This is where the new breed of products would come in

Mining for Plastics - circa 2150

Humans have inundated the world with plastics. We see plastic nurdles everywhere. Humans have driven the crude oil supplies to precariously low levels that it is impossible to extract oil at a reasonable cost!!! This could all happen in the next hundred years. What would it take us to clean up the environment. Would the landfills become the sources of material in the future, well it could be so. The most valuable resource in the world is the Landfill of today. Humans might make a way out to use the nurdles and plastic all over the place and digest it into energy and fuel. Plastics are formed from petroleum products and a new way to digest them and make them into energy may be the way to go. At the present production levels, there would be nothing left other than tons and tons of plastics across the world. From Antarctica to the Arctic the world is a big garbage bin and humans would start to mine this waste in hundred years to power themselves for the next 100 years. What next?