We're Going to the Dogs?

I never cease to be amazed at the "uses" of technology.  I suppose that for some, this is a good thing, but good gravy - this is almost too much to believe.

The Twitter fad has now mutated to our four-legged friends.  Specifically, some company, in their wisdom, have decided that there is a market for a wireless device that attachs to your dog's collar and Tweets to HIS twitter account when there is change in his activity - if he's sleeping, barking, presumably other dog-centric activities.

I think that we have officially gone too far.  Granted, there are probably dog owners out there that think that this is a great idea and all the power to them, I suppose, but geesh, is this what technology has really come to?  Where does it end, I don't know - and I think that I'm starting to get a bit scared of technology.  With all of the good it does, in so many ways, it degrades our society.

Security and the Human Mind

There's a good article on PC World today as it relates to security.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/188763/too_many_people_reuse_logins_study_finds.html?tk=rss_news

In a nutshell (and this is a very valid point) it says that many of us re-use our user IDs and passwords among a variety of sites.  Of course, the main problem with this, is that if one of your passwords on a specific site becomes comprised, then it can be just a hop, skip and a jump for someone with ingenuity to access multiple sites. 

The problem here is that the human mind is somewhat limited in terms of memory, and it is next to impossible to remember the myriad of user ids and passwords required across the web. 

I think that the general rule of thumb for this is that one should have unique user IDs and passwords for each site visited, and of course - the passwords need to be sronger (there are many websites out there that discuss how to create stronger passwords).

However, as I mentioned, the ability to remember user IDs and passwords is finite, so what are the options?

Well - first of all, software such as Roboform can be used to remember login credentials (user IDs and passwords).  The theory being that Roboform is protected with one master password, and that if it is a very strong password, then all is good.  Where this falls apart though is that Roboform is installed on the local computer and this means that if you're on a different computer on an irregular basis - and if you don't want to be downloading Roboform each time...well...you see how this one goes.

The second option is more manual, but probably a little more easy to manage.  The thought is that you create a strong "base" user ID and password and then have variants for each website.  As an example John G Smith might have the base user ID of johngsmith and a base password of B@seba!!9012.  When on a specific site, you would create a variant of this with text either before or after the user ID and password.  If he was visiting TD Canada Trust, his user ID might be TD_johngsmith and his password might be TD_B@seba!!9012 and if on eBay, it might be EB_johngsmith and the related password be EB_B@seba!!9012.  That way, if the TD Canada Trust account was comprised, this would be the only site affected.

Walking Around With My Head in the Cloud

cloud
  /klaʊd/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [kloud] Show IPA
–noun
1. a visible collection of particles of water or ice suspended in the air, usually at an elevation above the earth's surface.
2. any similar mass, esp. of smoke or dust.
3. a dim or obscure area in something otherwise clear or transparent.
4. a patch or spot differing in color from the surrounding surface.
5. anything that obscures or darkens something, or causes gloom, trouble, suspicion, disgrace, etc.
6. a great number of insects, birds, etc., flying together: a cloud of locusts obscuring the sun.

I often find it interesting how technology not only introduces new words to our vocabulary, and in this case, adds new contexts to existing words. Today, I look at the word “cloud” and how “cloud-computing” has given a new definition to this word.

Quite simply, cloud computing is the ability to run applications through (and on) the Internet. Where in the past, we would have to install an application on our local workstation, with cloud computing, this is no longer necessary. The only software requirements that would be necessary is to have a compatible web browser.

What are the benefits of cloud computing and what does it mean to us?

Well – first of all, the most obvious benefit is that of portability. With an application that is in the “cloud”, this means that it is instantly accessible from just about anywhere. The local library – the Internet café – perhaps even from a web-enabled cell phone. It is no longer a requirement to physically install an application on a specific workstation;

Since WiFi connections are becoming more and more prevalent, this means that if one had a notebook with a wireless LAN card and a solid WiFi connection, they could use their cloud-based applications from just about anywhere.

During the very early years in my career, I worked as a support analyst for a large telecommunications company. The year would have been…perhaps 1987 give or take a year - certainly well before the introduction of the World Wide Web.

Our head office had hundreds of people in the Toronto area, and numbers from coast to coast. One of my roles was to coordinate new software releases and when there were 100+ users spread across the country, logistics were a challenge. Over the years, the delivery model for applications has changed. Where before, it was necessary to physically mail out disks with new versions, with the introduction of email and the Internet, it was now possible to download new versions.

Applications that reside in the cloud will not need explicit delivery for new versions; it would be more a matter that the vendor would only need to upload the appropriate changes to their website.

Larry Ellison of Oracle has a contrary opinion of cloud computing and his assertion is that “cloud computing” has been around for many years and that this term and concept is simply the “in fashion” concept.

He may be right, but in my mind, the question isn’t about if cloud-computing is recent or not – if it’s in fashion or not – if it’s just simply a trend. For me, with technology, the proof is in the pudding. In other words, if more and more software vendors gravitate towards a cloud-computing software distribution model, I think that this is a good thing at least in terms of the portability that I mentioned previously.

The primary disadvantage that I theorize about with cloud-computing is that software must be written keeping in mind the lowest common denominator with regards to the hardware and software installed on the local workstation. In other words, the vendor needs to take into consideration that there is a myriad of hardware and software that would be used to run these applications in the cloud-computing world and as such, they may have to careful choose what functionality is to be added to their site. Upon further reflection, I guess that this isn’t any different from the standard software delivery model of applications being installed on the client workstations.

One further note for consideration. When a software vendor offers a cloud-computing platform, they potentially have more control over their subscribers being able to access. Currently, one typically purchases the software and the related license when run locally. With cloud-computing, it is very possible, and perhaps more than likely, that we will get hooked into a cloud-computing environment. Once we’ve made the commitment to the software in the cloud environment, what stops the vendor from starting to change this to a pay-as-you-go model as opposed to pay once. Food for thought.

As always, the technology tantalized us, teases us and sometimes even delivers. Sometimes it’s just the shine and sometimes the technology has an evolutionary impact on how we use it. Which category cloud-computing will fit in, remains to be seen.

Danger! Will Robinson! Danger!

Harkening back to the robot warnings in Lost in Space, there seems to be an ever-increasing threat (and I think also just as much of a likely-hood) of cyber-attacks.  Cyber-attacks are nothing new.  Corporations have been dealing with DOS (Denial of Service) attacks and sundry naughty bits for many years. 

I believe that the understated danger really lies in planned malicious terrorist attacks.  Not really intending to be a doomsayer, but I do think that the relative ease of these attacks and the fact that they can be launched from virtually anywhere makes this a very viable tool.  Let's face it, the real devastation of an attack isn't necessarily just the targets themselves, but more the panic and insecurity that it can cause.

One looks at the thousands of lives lost during 9/11 and that was certainly catastrophic.  However, the REAL impact of the attacks are still ongoing.  The heightened security - the countless billions of dollars that are spent, the looming threat of another attack.  I'd venture that this is a vastly under-rated casualty of terrorism.

Where do we go from here?  How do we protect ourselves?  What contingencies are in place for a cyber-attack.  These are all very valid questions and they need to be asked and resolved before an attack.