Honey, I shrunk the PC

By Hector Cisneros

Being a sci-fi buff, I'm into technology. I  imagine how it will affect our lives, what will it

Image courtesy of fanpop.com

mean for business, commerce, education, travel and yes watching your favorite sci-fi video episode. Recently my eye caught a headline that read, “HP Launches Stream Mini and Pavilion Mini Affordable Compact PCs”. These computers fit on the palm of your hand. After sending a picture of the computer to my business partner telling him that soon we will be able to make anything a smart device, he wrote me back saying he’s got Tupperware bigger than this new PC. Now keep in mind, we don’t sell any kind of hardware, but we love technology. And this brings up my most important question. Just how low can computers go in the next five years? Matchbox size? In this article I will explore the ever shrinking personal computer, how they will be used and where they will take us. So strap yourself in and turn on “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids” so that you can find the limits (if any) to the ever shrinking personal computer.

I have been involved with personal computers since the very beginning. I purchased my very first Apple II in 1979. I had already owned several special purpose computers before (chess computer, etc…) and was stoked at what the future would bring.

From androidwaypoint.com

In the beginning, personal computers actually got bigger. As functionality was added (like floppy drives, hard drives, more memory, faster processor and so on) the PC physical size went up. Portable

devices came into being around 1983 with the Osborne One and soon to follow, Compaq computer. By the end of the eighties the size trend began to splinter with high powered computers getting somewhat larger and regular small business and personal systems shrinking in size by a marginal amount. The 90’s saw this trend continue with the overall size really starting to accelerate with the widespread acceptance of laptop and notebook computers. The early 2000’s saw the domination of laptop over desktops and the emergence of tablets, smart phones and even phablets. Recently we have seen the emergence of Chromebooks and Apple and Android tablets of varying size. Until recently, there were only a few mini size PCs that could actually run full blown Windows 8.1. Most had a foot print of say 10 inches by 6 inches or so and had very specific limits on processing power, memory and storage.  With HP’s launch of their new mini’s, we see the emergence of full powered small footprint computers today.

What many people do not realize is that our high tech world has already spawned dozens, if not hundreds of miniature and micro computing devices that are smaller than the HP Stream. Early smartphones (PDA) have been around since the early 1990. Today, many smartphones have more computing power than the computers used in the moon mission space crafts. Today smartphones run the gamut from ultra-portable, super thin do everything devices to large format phablets that act as tablet substitutes. Speaking of tablets, these devices have made huge inroads towards replacing laptop computer systems.

Another area of small smart devices can be found in the medical industry. For example, blood

Courtesy of buffalonews.com

glucose meters have been shrinking in size for years. Ingestible video cameras with tracking devices have been around for quite some time. There is a whole horde of medical devices that use smartphones as the smarts in the system where the smartphone is used to record and store the measured biological function from a micro transmitter measuring device. Today health tracker wearables are all the rage.

In modern terms, when you think of smart devices you can include everything from watches to clothing, drones, small robots, even smart prosthetics come to mind. Let’s face it, miniaturization of transistors, CPUs, memory, storage and other computing devices have always been the norm.  But how many are actually full blown computers that include everything you expect in a desktop or laptop system that you’d buy today. 

Hewlett Packard was not the first to produce small foot print personal computers. A number of them have been around for several years. A quick internet search reviles small footprint PC from companies like ASUS, MSI, Acer, Lenovo, Zotac and many more. Some of these are even smaller that the newly announced HP Mini’s. The smallest of these are still full featured and come in with dimensions as small as 4 inches by 6 inches by 1 inches and can run Windows 7 or 8. Most of these small footprint computers have been used in specialty/vertical markets, which is why most consumers haven’t yet seen them. It usually takes a company like Apple or HP to push a new technology to the consumer market.

Having said that, the new HP Stream sets a new standard for low price & features while at the same time being one of the smallest new PCs for sure. It includes a powerful Intel Celeron CPU, 2 gigs of RAM memory, 32 gig SATA solid state drive, Intel graphics, support for two displays, four USB 3.0 ports, Wireless integrated Bluetooth 4.0, wireless LAN, wired Ethernet port, HDMI out, headphone out, built in power supply and comes with a wireless keyboard and mouse. Plus, it comes with windows 8.1 and a stack of software apps. The dimensions are approximately 5.7 inches square and 2 inches thick. Price tag – around $179.

If you need a little more power, upgrade to the HP Pavilion which comes with a faster processor, twice the RAM (4 gigs), 3-n-1 card reader, 500 gig hard drive (up to a 1 terabyte in top model), and more s/w.  Both come with antivirus s/w and cloud services. Price tag – starting at around $319

Now before you think this is an HP commercial, understand HP was not the first to offer a small footprint PCs. There have been many white label small footprint systems running Android and chrome. Also Apple beat HP to the punch with its 2014 October 16^th release of its own Mac Mini. The Mac Mini is a tad more expensive (starting at around $499) is a full powered, full featured and comes with Apple’s latest IOS. Its footprint is around 7.7 inches square by and inch and half or so. Any Mac user will love this mini Mac because it's essentially a “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids” version of a Mac system.

How Low Can You Go?

How small can these devices really get? The actual limit is the size of the connected port you need. You need physical space for video, audio, network etc… ports. However the more we move to higher speed wireless devices the less you need physical connected ports. One day we will easily have match box sized PC’s. Some futurists have even predicted nano-sized computing devices. I don’t know about nano- sized devices, but they would be cool because you could attach them to most anything which is where this article started.

Image courtesy of tomsguide.com

So what's the point of all these small footprint systems. These new small footprint, full featured personal computer systems will allow us to upgrade the smarts of many of our personal devices we currently have at home or in our offices. Want a smart TV? Just plug in a small footprint PC. Want to have your own steaming music or video service, just plug in a small footprint PC and add software for your specific needs. Need to clear up desk space. These little devils are a pint sized godsend for saving space and removing clutter.  I don’t know about other people, but I really like the idea of connecting one of these devices to my large flat panel TV. The idea that I can have two full screens on my desk with “virtually no desktop PC” is very appealing. So the next time you go shopping for a new desktop PC, think small, Tupperware small and save all your desktop space for important things like pictures of your family, your lunch or other necessities of life.

Hector Cisneros is CFO of Working the Web to Win, an award-winning digital marketing agency based in Jacksonville, Florida.  You can listen to Carl live every Tuesday at 4 p.m. Eastern on BlogTalkRadio

To the Moon

By Carl Weiss

Nearly everyone on the planet has heard of the XPrize, which has spawned hi-tech competitions with multi-million dollar prizes for everything from fuel efficient vehicles to sub-orbital spacecraft. However, in what must be the XPrize that is by far the most "Out There," the race is on as three-dozen teams are vying to become the first private enterprises to land a rover on the moon. The winner takes home $30 million. In fact, the Google Lunar XPrize competition has recently heated up with one competitor, Team Astrobotic collecting a three quarters of a million dollar "Milestone Prize" for overcoming key technical risks in the areas of imaging and mobility. XPrize may announce more Milestone winners in the coming weeks, if other teams can prove their rovers are on track to land on the moon by December 31, 2016.

To Go Where No XPrize has Gone Before

Image courtesy of deviantart.com

To understand the sheer audacity of the current prize, you need to understand those that came before it.  The XPrize Foundation was founded in 1995 by entrepreneur Peter Diamandis who offered a $10 million prize to the first privately financed team that could construct and fly a three place vehicle 100 kilometers into the stratosphere.  The contest, which later morphed into the Ansari XPrize eventually involved 26 teams whose combined expenditures topped $100 million.  Won by Burt Rutan and his Mojave Aerospace Ventures team who flew SpaceShipOne into space and back, the XPrize did not end there.

In fact the inspiration for the XPrize did not get its start in the space age, but the Roaring Twenties when French Hotelier Raymond Orteig offered a $25,000 prize for the first person to fly nonstop between New York City and Paris.  That’s right, this is the very prize that inspired Charles Lindbergh to work with the Ryan Aircraft Company to construct the Spirit of St. Louis.  While Lucky Lindy won this prize in 1927, what most people forget is that he was not the first, nor the only person to attempt the feat. 

The same year that the Orteig Prize was announced, the Daily Mail offered a 10,000 pound prize for any airplane or airship that crossed the Atlantic Ocean in either direction between the British Isles and the US or Canada.  Captain John Alcock and Lieutenant Arthur Whitten-Brown of the RAF accomplished this feat in a WWI Vickers-Vimy bomber, making the prizewinning flight from Newfoundland to in a little more than 16 hours.

They weren’t alone.  According to thestraightdope.com, “Major George Herbert Scott of the RAF and the crew of the British dirigible R.34 in July 1919 flew from East Fortune, Scotland, to Mineola, Long Island, New York, a distance of almost 3,000 miles, in about four and a half days. Also on board were a stowaway (William Ballantyne), a stowaway cat (Whoopsie or Wopsie) and two homing pigeons. The R.34 made the return flight to Pulham, England, a few days later, marking the first round trip transatlantic flight.”

While 10,000 Pounds Sterling or $25,000 American sounds like a paltry amount today, as well as a flight from Europe to the US or vice versa, when taken into context both the prizes offered and the lofty goals put forth were staggering for their time.  It also goes to show that cash prizes are an incredible way to galvanize the creative spirit and spur competition.

While the Ansari XPrize was the most newsworthy, it was not the only competition to bear that moniker.  In 2007, Progressive Insurance threw its hat into the ring b announcing the Automotive XPrize whose goal was to design, build and race vehicles that could achieve 100 MPG that were capable of being mass produced.  On September 16, 2010 three winning teams were announced:

Courtesy of inhabitat.com

1.      Team Edison2 won the $5 million mainstream competition with its 4-passenger Very Light Car that achieved 102.5 MPG.

2.      Team Li-Ion Motors won the $2.5 million Alternative competition with their Wave-II electric vehicle that achieved 187 MPG.

3.      Team x-Tracer Switzerland won the $2.5 million Alternative Tandem competition with an electric motorcycle that clocked in at 205.3 MPG

On July 29, 2010, the Wendy Schmidt Oil Cleanup XCHALLENGE was introduced that offered a $1 million prize that inspired a new generation of innovative solutions that will speed the pace of cleaning up seawater surface oil resulting from spillage from ocean platforms, tankers, and other sources. The team of Elastec/American Marine won the challenge by developing a device that skims oil off of water three times faster than previously existing technology.

A Clear Cut Case of Lunacy

This brings us to the Google Lunar XPrize introduced in September 2007.  The goal of the prize is for teams to launch, land and operate a rover on the lunar surface.  Offering $20 million to the first team that successfully roves more than 500 meters and transmits back high definition video, the competition also offers a $5 million second prize as well as millions in bonuses by being the first to achieve specific goals.

According to Wikipedia, “As of June 2014, 18 GLXP teams remain in the competition, and five of those are thought to be making good progress. However, none of the GLXP teams have announced firm launch dates to attempt the prize. The prize expires at the end of 2016 and launch service providers typically require launch vehicle reservation 24 months prior to the date of the launch.^[4] Also in June, one GLXP team is scouting co-competitors to travel with it on a common launch vehicle and lunar transit satellite. Astrobotic announced it would be willing to share a single "ride" to the Moon with up to four competitors. The shared transporter, including a shared Lunar landing, would result in a common start time for a race to achieve the 500 m lunar-surface distance-traveled objective. However, Astrobotic had not yet lined up its own launch arrangements with 18 months left in the competition.^[5]”

Image courtesy astrobotic.com

That’s not to say that several teams haven’t made significant progress.  Several teams, including Carnegie Mellon University have already completed rovers. Astrobotics Griffin Lander is well under way. https://www.astrobotic.com/griffin  Whether any of the teams will be able to snatch the prize before the clocks runs down is anybody’s guess.  But if Lucky Lindy hadn’t risked his life to make the first solo transatlantic crossing by airplane, think of how different the world might be today.

But Wait, there’s More

If a trip to the Moon isn’t far out enough for you there is yet another XPrize that’s even more out there.  In 2011 Qualcomm sponsored a Tricorder XPrize with the goal of creating a mobile device that can deliver medical diagnosis, better than or equal to a panel of board certified physicians.  Inspired from the Tricorder device from the series Star Trek, this prize has yet to be won.  With $10 million in prizes on the line all I can say is, “get cracking all you Trekkies out there”.

Carl Weiss is president of Working the Web to Win, an award-winning digital marketing agency based in Jacksonville, Florida.  You can listen to Carl live every Tuesday at 4 p.m. Eastern on BlogTalkRadio

Greatest Garage Gurus

When it comes to the Internet everyone is familiar with the three letters WWW.  Well today we are going to talk about the three G’s, since if it weren’t for the Greatest Garage Gurus there would never have been an Internet in the first place.  A number of startups from Apple to HP got their start in the humble garage.  Some of these made their owners billionaires.  All of them changed the ways in which the world works. Let’s take a look at the top five garage businesses:

#1 – Amazon

What sounded like a South American River turned into a waterfall of profit for Jeff Bezos who founded Amazon.com in 1994 as an online bookstore in his garage in Bellevue, Washington.  While it took Jeff until 1995 to sell his first book online, he made it book by being one of the quickest online businesses to go IPO in 1997.  Today, this online e-tail powerhouse has one of the most automated shipping systems in the business with more than 40,000 robots employed to help take products to market.  Amazon has also been flirting with using delivery drones to enable them to compete with retailers who can offer products on the spot.  2015 is shaping up to be the start of the shipping wars as e-tailers and major retailers duke it out for dominance.

#2 – Apple

image courtesy of http://commons.wikimedia.org

Started in the year of our Bicentennial, 1976, two Steves by the name of Jobs and Wozniak started a revolution by bringing personal computing to the masses.  One of their first major orders for 50 Apple I Computers was constructed in Job’s parents garage in Cupertino, California.  Although they had their battles with everyone from Bill Gates to the Beatles over the Apple trademark name, the rest is history being that today Apple is the most valuable tech company in the world.

#3 – Disney

While not technically a tech company, although their current crop of animated feature films are produced on computers, the Walt Disney Studio got its start in Walt Disney’s uncle’s one-car garage in Anaheim, California.  Started with a mouse named Mickey, today Disney is no Mickey Mouse operation, being the highest-grossing media conglomerate in the world.

#4 – Google

We couldn’t talk tech without mentioning the 800-pound gorilla in the room named Google.  Started by Stanford graduate students Larry Page and Sergey Brin in Susan Wojcicky’s garage in September 1998, they unsuccessfully tried to sell the search engine to Excite for $1 million a year later.  Excite’s loss was the college student’s gain as the company went public in 2001, raising $2.7 billion.  Today, Google is the most trafficked search engine online garnering 80% of all web searches.  During the intervening 14 years, Google has diversified itself into everything from medical research to robotics.  It has also bought or developed dozens of other tech businesses since going public.

#5 – Hewlett Packard

  http://commons.wikimedia.org

An oldie but a goodie, HP got its start in 1939 when Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard invested $535 in order to start building audio oscillators in a garage in Palo Alto, California.  One

 of their first customers was the Walt Disney Studios, which purchased eight oscillators in order to augment the sound system for its animated feature film, “Fantasia.”  Widely regarded as the birthplace of Silicon Valley, Hewlett Packard is today one of the largest and most respected tech companies in the world.

Making Something from Nothing

Like the story “Stone Soup,” where an itinerant stranger tricks the town folk into sharing their food, all of these people literally made something out of nothing.  Think about it.  When Jeff Bezos started Amazon, major booksellers didn’t regard him as a threat.  Heck, it took him almost a year to sell his first book.  When Jobs and Wozniak tried to sell the Apple 1, it was little more than a computer kit that sold for $666.66 ($2,763 in 2015 dollars.)

What turned these businesses from a curiosity to an industry were several things, including a little bit of luck and a ton of pluck.  Part businessmen, part showmen, each and every one of these individuals ― while regarded as genius innovators today ― had to suffer the slings and arrows not only of their competitors, but of their peers as well. (“Go on, get out of here boy, yer botherin’ me!”)  Yet persist they did to become icons of industry, proving the old saw that success is “10% inspiration and 90% perspiration.”

Today this trend continues as other tinkerers piece together hardware and software in their garages,

Courtesy alibabagroup.com

hoping to be the next tech sensation.  While many of these future Garage Gurus will be products of universities, others can come out of the blue.   Jack Ma, CEO of Alibaba in China, founded his company in his apartment in 1999. He claims to have coined the name while sitting in a San Francisco coffee shop.  On September 5, 2014 the company went public, raising more then $20 billion making it the largest IPO in history.

Industries to keep an eye on in 2015 are offering such inventions as 3D Printing, Personal Robotics and Drones, Wearable Computing, Battery & Power Technology and Cybersecurity and Robotic Exoskeletons. While the next wave of Garage Gurus could come from one of these areas, or from some other innovation such as nanotechnology is anybody’s guess.  What is certain is that some of the most profound changes to society will almost certainly have its start in the most humble of beginnings … the garage.

Carl Weiss is president of Working the Web to Win, an award-winning digital marketing agency based in Jacksonville, Florida.  You can listen to Carl live every Tuesday at 4 p.m. Eastern on BlogTalkRadio

The 12 Cons of Christmas

By Carl Weiss

Image courtesy of fanpop.com

You may have heard of the 12 Days of Christmas, but what you probably haven't heard about are the 12 Cons of Christmas. In their efforts to "liven up" the holidays, cybercriminals this year are going to act like the Grinch in their efforts to ruin your holiday spirit. So in this season of giving I though it only appropriate to give all of our loyal readers the lowdown on the top 12 cyberscams that you can expect to see this yule.

On the First Day of Christmas my true love said to me, you won’t believe what I found under the tree.

Santa has nothing to do with the multitude of offers you will find online this shopping season that are too good to be true.   A recent blog on Democrat and Chronicle quoted attorney Eric Schneiderman as saying,

“As the holiday shopping season kicks off and more consumers plan to shop online, there are simple steps you can take to avoid scams and protect your personal data. Consumers should know how to spot fake websites and deals that are too good to be true.”  Schneiderman warned that when shopping online, consumers should only use secure Internet connections and only process online payments on web pages that are HTTPS verified to protect themselves against fraudulent companies.” 

This is good advice.  But the first warning sign of an impending cybercon should be prices for merchandise way below retail or wholesale value.  You also need to make doubly sure that the website you thought you were clicking onto is indeed the one you arrived at.  Cybercriminals are amazingly good at creating knockoff websites that look just like the real deal.  The only difference would be a subtle spelling difference in the url.  So be warned and be safe.

On the Second Day of Christmas my true love said to me, look what I won honey!

en.wikipedia.org

A variation of the offers-too-good-to-be-true would have to be contests that notify you that “You Have Won!”  First of all if you are unfamiliar with said “contest” do not accept the email, much less click on the link.  If you do go there odds are you are going to be asked for additional personal information “needed” to send you your prize, or you might even be asked for a credit card number to “cover shipping.”  They don’t call them Con Tests for nothing folks.  Give the Grinch the boot.

“Consumers should be suspicious of any email, messages, or posts on social networks promoting giveaways or contests that seem too good to be true, e.g., free high-value gift cards, tablets, and smartphones. These “contests” are often scams designed to bilk consumers out of money and/or to collect consumers’ personal information for resale. Genuine sweepstakes and contests are commonplace on the Internet; however, you should avoid any contest or promotion that requires you to pay money or to perform any sort of financial transaction. Also, think twice before participating in promotions that require entrants to register with multiple third-party websites; often these are ploys to build marketing lists. Promotions that require users to provide more than simple contact information may even be phony or run by scammers who resell consumer information to collect referral fees!”

On the Third Day of Christmas my true love said to me, let’s help this charity!

While giving to a legitimate charity is a noble act, you need to be extra careful to whom you donate your hard-earned money.  Fake charities are a real menace to consumers and business owners alike.  Before you donate, make sure you navigate your way to a legitimate charity.  A blog by Credit.com titled “4 Ways to Avoid Charity Scams” advises,

“It’s so easy to click on a link in your email, break out your wallet for a sympathetic caller or open a site from Facebook — but resist the impulse. When you decide to donate, go directly to the website of the organization to whom you want to give your money, rather than taking a shortcut. Not only could your dollars never reach their destination, you could end up downloading malware or leaving yourself open to identity theft.”

On the Fourth Day of Christmas my true love said to me, look what a little birdy told me.

Zazzle.com

As I have pointed out in many other blogs, always be doubly suspicious of email that was supposedly sent to you by a friend or family member that simply contains a line and a link along the following, “You need to check this out!”  The only thing you’re likely to check out next is the local PC Doctor to help you eliminate the malware you just unleashed on your system.  Even worse, some of the latest hacking software can even robotize your system, not to mention rifle it for any contact emails for your family and friends.  How do you think they got your address in the first place?

On the Fifth Day of Christmas my true love said to me, check out my new USB.

Other than clicking on ads or email links, the quickest way to infect your system is to plug in a Free USB.  If you will recall, this is how Iran’s Nuclear program was infected with the Stuxnet virus.  One of their personnel inadvertently picked up a USB that was left lying around only to plug it into a terminal.  So if you should be sitting in a coffee shop or copy center and see a USB lying around on a table unattended, DO NOT TOUCH IT.  You will thank me later.

On the Sixth Day of Christmas my true love said to me, let’s grab a cup of coffee.

From precisionnutriton.com

Speaking of coffee, you also need to be very wary of using public wifi these days.  As of late everything from coffee shops to airport terminals and  public wifi systems at hotels have been targeted by hackers in order to gain access to unprotected systems.  There was even a report of a number of hotels in Japan that were infected with an insidious malware subroutine that was designed to target specific high-value executives in order to aid and abet corporate espionage.  Personally, I never connect to public wifi.  I use my cellphone to launch a wifi hotspot.  If you do insist on using public wifi then you should have at least three layers of anti-virus and anti-malware to protect you from unwanted intrusion.  Because your real wake up call might not be that double mocha latte after all.

On the Seventh Day of Christmas my true love said to me, let’s get some money.

Here’s the rub, it isn’t just your personal electronics that can be hacked.  So can everything from ATM machines to gas pumps.  Cybercriminals use credit card skimmers that are designed to grab your credit card information or your pin numbers.  Thieves have also been known to install their own cameras in order to record your PIN as you enter it in public kiosks.  So make sure you cover the keypad with your hand before entering any PIN.

On the Eighth Day of Christmas my true love said to me, I got a call from somebody.

Thieves are also not averse to getting on the phone, impersonating a lender, credit card company, or even the IRS in order to try to pressure you into divulging personal information.  While breaches of major retailers involving tens of millions of stolen cards have and will continue to take place, when in doubt you should call the number of the bank or the one on the back of your credit card to make absolutely sure you are not being conned.

On the Ninth Day of Christmas my true love said to me, our package is in jeopardy.

blog.ted.com

Here’s another newsflash: The US Postal Service, UPS, Fedex and other legitimate shipping companies will not send you an email if a package is hung up in transit.  But cyberthieves will send you an email that links to a clone of the shipper’s site in order to fleece you.  Again, when in doubt call the company directly.  Do not click on a poisoned link.  And never, EVER divulge personal or financial information unless you know to whom you are speaking. 

On the Tenth Day of Christmas my true love said to me, have you ever been to Bimini?

Along with bogus product come-ons are travel deals that offer to Save You Big $$ on last-minute trips.  While there are a number of legitimate travel purveyors that specialize in last-minute trips, they will not solicit you via spam email.  You are required to opt-in and register with them.  The last thing you want to do is schedule a trip that takes you nowhere but to the cleaners.  Travelers Beware.

On the Eleventh Day of Christmas my true love said to me, look at the card we got from Sonny.

Digital e-cards are sure to bring a smile to your face unless they are not from the person you thought they were.  While you might be thinking season’s greetings, cyberthieves are into season’s greedings by hoping to get you to click on a fake link that instead of bringing a twinkle to your eye will instead give you a case of merry Malware.  Again, never click on a link unless you are sure that it is from a legitimate e-card company like jibjab.com.  (Also make sure you mouseover the link in order to detect if the url on the card or email is the one you are going to be taken to.  If you mouseover the link and the url that is displayed at the bottom of your browser does not match up with the link on the email, don’t go there or you will soon have a case of the Ho-ho-holiday blues.)

On the Twelfth Day of Christmas my true love said to me, let’s try this free app honey.

As they say, there’s no such thing as a free lunch.  And when it comes to free apps, user beware.  Man of them are designed by and for cyberthieves.  Like a vampire, these denizens of the dark hope to get invited into your private space so they can put the byte on you.  Before loading any app you need to check them out in advance.  Google their reviews and use protected sites such as googleplay, or itunes or tucows.com since these sites vet their apps to make sure they aren’t carrying any unwanted presents.

When he isn't playing Santa, Carl Weiss is CEO of Working the Web to Win based in Jacksonville, Florida.  

Big Mac Attack

By Carl Weiss

Image courtesy of itechcode.com

It used to be that Mac, iPad and iPhone owners used to poke fun at PC and Android users, bashing them for the many ways and means that malware compromised these non-Apple systems.  Of course when you maintain an iron grip on who gets to develop software and hardware for you as Apple has always done, then there are many fewer paths of infection that can compromise a system.  PC and Android has always been a proponent of open architecture which means that anyone and everyone was free to develop everything from apps to operating systems.  This makes them patently more vulnerable to backdoor hacking.  However a spate of highly publicized iOS and OS X security issues have left Apple devotees wondering what happened.

The New York Times recently reported that “While malware attacks have been possible against jailbroken iOS devices for some time, a new piece of malware has been discovered that can infect even iPhones that have not been jailbroken.“

Additionally, Palo Alto Networks discovered a program called WireLurker  which can be used for a number of nefarious purposes including spying on users.

“The point of entry seems to be OS X computers, with researchers having found 467 malware OS X applications in the unofficial Maiyadi App Store in China that were downloaded more than  356,000 times in the past six months in the region.  Once on a Mac, WireLurker can infect any iPhone that’s connected via USB to the computer, and install malicious applications.  WireLurker is capable of stealing a variety of information from the mobile devices it infects and regularly requests updates from the attackers command and control server. This malware is under active development and its creator’s ultimate goal is not yet clear.”

While the vulnerability of these systems is troubling, what is even more frightening is that these two hacks were not the only worms in the Apple.  In early October a Russian security company discovered another flaw in OS X that enabled hackers to take control of infected 17,000 devices using Reddit. 

Rt.com reported, “One of them turned out to be a complex multi-purpose backdoor that entered the virus database as Mac.BackDoor.iWorm.” It has not yet been determined how the malware spreads, but Russian experts say that once a Mac has been infected, the software establishes a connection with the command server.” http://rt.com/news/193032-mac-infected-hackers-reddit/

While hacking in general has always been a concern to computer users, what has really been causing many Apple users to wake up in a cold sweat are the number of ways in which hackers have been not only gaining but using their access.

Image courtesy of CBS News

Case in Point: On October 28 Fox News published a report concerning journalist Sharyl Attkisson who reported that her CBS computer and personal iMac had been repeatedly hacked and its contents accessed, including information pertaining to an article on Benghazi that was critical of the current Washington administration.

 Fox News further reported that, “Further scrutiny of her personal desktop (by a consultant hired by CBS) proved that the interlopers were able to co-opt her iMac and operate it remotely, as if they were sitting in front of it.” http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/10/27/highly-sophisticated-hacking-sharyl-attkisson-computers/

Inside Every Dark Cloud

And if hacks on iMacs and iPhones weren’t bad enough, Reuters reported on October 21 that Apple’s iCloud storage service in China had been hacked resulting in messages, passwords and even photos being compromised.  Employing a technique known as a Man-in-the-Middle attack, hackers were able to superimpose their own site between the users and the iCloud server.  The sophisticated attack was reputed to have been perpetrated by the Chinese government.

The reuters.com article went onto say that, “An Apple representative declined comment on the allegations that Beijing was trying to spy on Apple customers, but noted that the company had updated its technical support page to provide advice on how to protect against such attacks. We’re aware of intermittent organized network attacks using insecure certificates to obtain user information, and we take this very seriously.” http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/21/us-apple-china-security-idUSKCN0I92H020141021

Rotten to the Core?

While these well-publicized security breaches have given a number of people pause to reconsider Apple’s new found vulnerabilities, there are still a number of people and organizations that still http://www.livetradingnews.com/ that detailed Home Depot’s recent security breach.  After the retail giant’s Microsoft-based payment data system was relieved of 53 million email addresses and 56 million credit card account numbers, the company bought two dozen new iPhones and MacBooks for its senior executives.believe that the latest big Mac attack is no cause for alarm.  Quite the contrary, if you read the November 10 blog by livetradingnews.com, you will find that:

“ It is not that Apple devices have not faced any security problems in past. They even had security issues but still Apple Inc. iPhone and MacBooks are comparatively secure platforms. They can deal with the malware and other threats in a much better way. Still, whether the use of Apple Inc. MacBooks and iPhones can solve the problem of security breaches for the Home Depot or not, time will tell. It is a high time for The Home Depot to seriously find the cause of the problem.” http://www.livetradingnews.com/home-depot-inc-nysehd-use-apple-inc-nasdaqaapls-iphones-macbooks-81726.htm#.VGPA_PnF8do

The sad fact of the matter is that regardless of the type of machine that you, I, or multinational corporate executives choose to use, there is no way to completely bulletproof yourself against hackers.  All you can do is make sure you keep your machines protected with at least three layers of anti-malware software, keep your software updated or face having to answer the toughest of all questions that comes with any big Mac attack, “You want fries with that?”

Carl Weiss cooks up online controversy every Tuesday at 4 p.m. Eastern on BlogTalkRadio

Will Pay-To-Play Payoff Online?

By Carl Weiss

It’s said that the best things in life are free.  But as Berry Gordy so aptly added in 1960, “But you can keep them for the birds and bees.  Give me money, that’s what I want.”  The song aptly named, ‘Money (That’s What I Want)’ went onto become the first hit for Gordy’s Motown record label Tamla.  It also went onto be covered by many prominent recording artists such as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and the Doors, among others.  Even though fifty four years have passed since ‘Money’ first became part of the public consciousness, the concept behind it seems set to make a revival on the Internet if a number of powerful portals have their way.

As recently as three days before Halloween 2014, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki publicly confirmed that Google’s video portal was considering the introduction of a subscription service.  Since other popular video portals such as NetFlix which started as a subscription service and Hulu which began as free only to turn into a subscription service, have been using a monthly pay-to-play charge to vend everything from first run movies to television series, this isn’t likely to cause people to run screaming into the streets.  The chief difference between the likes of Netflix and Hulu when compared to YouTube is the fact that they both stream professionally produced feature-length content.  Whether or not a portal where the lion’s share of the content is created by amateurs can make a go of it is anybody’s guess. 

An article in the NY Times sums it up like this: YouTube’s subscription effort is still in the very early phases, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. In essence, the company is making phone calls to potential partners, including anyone from big media companies like Disney to popular individuals with millions of subscribers, to see if they might be interested.  At first, the model is likely to be similar to YouTube’s long-planned subscription music service, which Ms. Wojcicki said would be introduced “soon.” Rather than an entirely new paid YouTube, there would be several subscription services based on certain topics – for instance, a subscription service with nothing but video games.  http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/10/28/youtube-weighing-new-subscription-service/?_r=0

Currently YouTube produces revenues for airing in-stream ads that are displayed on participating videos on the world’s most popular video portal that streams more than 4 billion videos per day.  The portal has also gone to great lengths to partner with homegrown content producers such as these ever popular channels: PewDiePie, Stampylonghead, SkyDoesMinecraft, and CollegeHumor, just to name a few.  While some of PewDiePie’s  videos have garnered as many as 59,917,883 views, it is questionable how many people would choose to pay to play short videos with titles such as ‘How to Get Ebola,’ ‘Corpse Party,’ or the animated ‘Brain Transplant.’

The Backstory

While the idea for an online subscription model is hardly new, what YouTube is hoping to capitalize on is the ever growing disenchantment many people have toward broadcast and cable programming.  What with the advent of the four-minute commercial break, as well as the ever more costly way in which cable companies charge families for the hodgepodge of channels foisted on them, even major players such as HBO have started to realize that people want better choices. 

The NY Times article added: An example is the service recently announced by HBO, which said that next year it will start a stand-alone streaming service aimed at “cord cutters,” people who want cable quality shows but refuse to pay several hundred dollars a month for the jumbled mess of cable channels.

That’s right, starting in 2015 HBO will begin a pay-to-play online streaming service that will not require a subscription to a traditional TV provider.  Recognizing the fact that there are currently more than ten million homes in the US that do not subscribe to either cable or satellite TV services but who do have Internet access, the CEO of HBO, Richard Plepler announced that the opportunity was ripe for direct-to-web programming.

While 10 million households seems like a drop in the bucket when compared to the sheer number of consumers with cable or Satellite TV access, the number of households that are expected to switch to services such as Netflix continues to grow. 

“Netflix has more subscribers in the United States than HBO, which counts about 30 million subscribers. But HBO delivers more profits because of lower costs and its distribution through cable and satellite providers. HBO generated $4.9 billion in revenue in 2013 and about $1.8 billion in operating income. Netflix had $4.4 billion in revenue in 2013 with $228.3 million in operating income.”

The Boob Tube vs YouTube

The real question for portals such as YouTube is how much of an impact it can make on the viewing public.  Currently the Boob Tube outguns YouTube four to one, seeing as how most American adults watch an average of four and a half hours of broadcast and cable programming per day on average versus about an hour of online video.  It has been suggested that YouTube can try to bump these numbers up by either improving the technology and/or trying to create higher-quality content that people will come back to watch week in and week out.

To this end, YouTube has built production studios in such places as New York, LA and Sao Paolo, Brazil, to help their ‘creators’ produce more TV-like programs.  They are also seeking to woo show producers with Hollywood or broadcast TV experience, many of whom are underemployed.  Whether YouTube can reinvent itself as an entertainment service that people will lineup to pay for is still in question.  But as the world’s viewing habits change and companies with online audience loyalty continues to grow what does this hold in store for the future?  Will popular blogs start charging readers to peruse their pages?  Will social networks demand a fee to allow their users to connect with more than a handful of friends? Who knows?

Just as the opening of Pandora’s Box unleashed a number of unintended and unwanted problems for the masses, what is left to discover is whether pay-to-play is to become a benefit or a burden to those who want the web to remain free?  While the future of pay-to-play Internet programming is anything but a sure thing, I will leave you with a little pearl of wisdom from a man who was clearly ahead of his time: Berry Gordy.

Money don't get everything it's true
What it don't get, I can't use
Now give me money
That's what I want
That's what I want, yeah
That's what I want

While Carl Weiss doesn’t always get everything he wants, you can listen to him every Tuesday at 4 p.m. Eastern on BlogTalkRadio