Digital Samurai

There’s an App for That

Some phrases just stay with you forever. Thanks to the marketing folks for Apple who gave us the famous line we used to title this post. Now there really is an app for that. If you own an iPhone (we won’t get on our iPhone insecurity bandwagon for now) you are well aware of the variety of applications available from cooking to beer drinking simulators. Now there’s an app from Fastcase that lets you have free legal research on your iPhone. You can search cases and statutes from all federal and state courts.

We are very familiar with the reputation of Fastcase. Fastcase has been providing free legal research (via an Internet browser) to Virginia attorneys as a Virginia State Bar benefit since 2006. And now there’s an app for that.

- John and Mike

(703) 359-0700
digitalsamurai@senseient.com
www.senseient.com

How Vulnerable Is Your Computer System?

Ever wondered just how exposed your computer system is to the most common vulnerabilities? Now there is any easy and free way to find out.

Secunia, a great online security resource, now offers an Online Software Inspector (OSI) that quickly scans your PC for the most common programs and vulnerabilities. The scanner supports the inspection of about 100 or so programs including Adobe Acrobat Reader, all the major web-browsers, Microsoft operating systems and commonly found media players. This basic scan is certainly not complete, but will still give you a good overview of your computer’s security.

Once the scan has finished, if any insecure versions of software or vulnerabilities are found, the results window contains instructions and download links to fix the problems.

You can have your computer scanned by Secunia’s OSI by visiting their web site here: http://secunia.com/vulnerability_scanning/online/.

- John and Mike

(703)359-0700
digitalsamurai@senseient.com
www.senseient.com 

Is a Tablet Device Apple’s Next Big Idea?

If you have been online in the past few weeks, then undoubtedly you’ve come across a story regarding Apple’s next big device, rumored to be a tablet/e-reader device.

Now we aren’t ones to speculate on what Apple may or may not announce during tomorrow’s Apple event, but many industry insiders believe the tablet will be Apple’s next big device. Is there room for another tablet device with the Kindle and Nook already available? Only time will tell.

We all know just how much Sharon loves her Kindle, so don’t expect her to buy one.

For those Apple fan boys that just can’t wait for the daily news cycle, live streamed coverage of the event can be found online at: http://live.twit.tv and http://livetechevents.com starting tomorrow at 1 PM EST.

We know that we won’t be watching.
 
- John and Mike

(793)359-0700
digitalsamurai@senseient.com
www.senseient.com

Boot Camp Update

Those readers with a military background probably don’t need to be reminded of their days in boot camp. This is not a new and improved version of the past experience. Boot Camp is an Apple alternative to allow the running of Windows on a Mac and they just released an upgrade that adds Windows 7 support.

- John and Mike

(703) 359-0700
digitalsamurai@senseient.com
www.senseient.com

Google Docs Gets an Upgrade

Are you looking for a way to replace all of those USB thumb drives that you carry around? Google hopes that you are.

Google has just announced an increase in the size limit of individual file uploads (except for Microsoft Word docs) and the different file types that users may store on Google’s servers. Users may now upload files that cannot be converted into the Google Docs format such as photos, music and movies, and are provided with 1 GB of space to store their data. Google does allow users to rent additional storage space at the cost of 25 cents per year per GB.

While convenient (assuming your computer has an Internet connection), we don’t think that this service is going to have any effect on the popularity and usage of USB thumb drives, and instead we will continue to use our Ironkeys.

-John and Mike

(703)359-0700
digitalsamurai@senseient.com
www.senseient.com

Encrypted USB Drives at Risk

SC Magazine reported that encrypted USB drives from SanDisk, Kingston and Verbatim can be read despite being encrypted. Each manufacturer has issued a warning that certain secure drives can be compromised if a skilled person has the proper tools and physical access to the USB stick. That doesn’t make them very secure does it?

Affected devices include:

• SanDisk's Cruzer Enterprise USB flash drive, CZ22 (1GB, 2GB, 4GB, 8GB)
• SanDisk's Cruzer Enterprise FIPS Edition USB flash drive, CZ32 (1GB, 2GB, 4GB, 8GB)
• SanDisk's Cruzer Enterprise with McAfee USB flash drive, CZ38 (1GB, 2GB, 4GB, 8GB)
• SanDisk's Cruzer Enterprise FIPS Edition with McAfee USB flash drive, CZ46 (1GB, 2GB, 4GB, 8GB)
• Kingston DataTraveler BlackBox (DTBB)
• Kingson DataTraveler Secure – Privacy Edition (DTSP)
• Kingson DataTraveler Elite – Privacy Edition (DTEP)
• Verbatim Corporate Secure USB Flash Drive (1GB, 2GB, 4GB, 8GB)
• Verbatim Corporate Secure FIPS Edition USB Flash Drives (1GB, 2GB, 4GB, 8GB)

Apparently the problem is not with the hardware or firmware, but the actual computer application that accesses the device. SanDisk and Verbatim have updates to address the issue, but there’s nothing from Kingston at this time.

Boy are we glad that we use IronKey USB sticks for our secure encrypted storage.

- John and Mike

(703) 359-0700
digitalsamurai@senseient.com
www.senseient.com

Incentive for Upgrades

Our friend and colleague, Dennis Kennedy, just wrote an article in the ABA Journal, where he predicts that Windows 7 will be a non-starter for law firms. Of course we are paraphrasing Dennis’ article, but you get the drift. We have always held the position that you want to buy any NEW computer with Windows 7 rather than going through the pain of an upgrade, especially since there is no direct upgrade from Windows XP. That’s essentially Dennis’ advice too, but we amiably disagree with our good friend that Windows 7 will not get traction because of the upgrade pain.

We grant that our opinion has also shifted a bit, particularly since Microsoft just announced a 50 percent discount for users of Windows XP and Office XP as an enticement to upgrade. Of course there are some restrictions (e.g. applies only to the Professional versions of Windows and Office), but generally we would expect that a lot of our clients will take advantage of this new program. Up until the release of Windows 7 we have specified computers with sufficient “horsepower” to run the latest operating system, but had them loaded with Windows XP instead of Vista. The 50 percent upgrade price may make the reinstallation of the operating system more attractive since the hardware base is just fine.

It will be interesting to see if Dennis rethinks his position given Microsoft’s announcement.

- John and Mike

(703) 359-0700
digitalsamurai@senseient.com
www.senseient.com

Office 2010 Coming in June

The current word [bad pun] from Microsoft is that the next version of Office will be available in June of 2010. The beta is currently available if you want to get a preview.

Office 2010 is a big bet for Microsoft. The landscape has changed over the years, especially when it comes to office productivity software. Many firms are rethinking their upgrade strategy, which could really hurt Microsoft in the pocketbook. In fact, recent Forrester data suggests that 6 of every 10 information workers don’t need a full-featured word processor to get their job done. The skies get even darker if you also consider the pressures from cloud computing and SaaS alternatives like Google Apps and Zoho.

What’s the big enhancement with the new version? In a word - collaboration. Time will tell if users will flock to the Office 2010 platform, especially since there are so many other alternatives available.

- John and Mike

(703) 359-0700
digitalsamurai@senseient.com
www.senseient.com

Did Microsoft Really Lose the Right to Sell Word?

Yesterday was not a good day for Microsoft. It lost the appeal in the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals and must cease selling copies of Office that include Custom XML functionality by January 11, 2010. On top of that, it has to pay i4i (the Plaintiff) more than $290 million. It may sound like a big number, but it probably won’t hurt Microsoft much. We joke that $290 million is a little more than a rounding error for Microsoft accountants.

So what is all this hype about Custom XML? According to Microsoft, Custom XML is the support for custom-defined schemas (yawn). According to Mary-Jo Foley, Microsoft has already figured out a way to disable the Custom XML feature, which could be addressed via patch deployment. The injunction only applies to purchases after the 1/11/2010 date. If you already have Word 2007 or Office 2007, then you’re good to go without any additional patches.

- John and Mike

(703) 359-0700
digitalsamurai@senseient.com
www.senseient.com

Screen Capture Utility For Macs

Techsmith, the maker of the popular screen-capture software for Windows-based computers, Snagit, has finally released a version for Macs.

Snagit for Mac is currently in a beta version, and has similar capabilities to the Windows version. The screen capture software allows a user to create an image of what you see on your computer screen, including scrolling windows. This is a piece of software that we use frequently (the Windows version) when putting together presentations because it's great for capturing graphics from web sites.

The beta software can be downloaded from Snagit's web site at www.techsmit.com/snagitmac.

-John and Mike

(703)359-0700
digitalsamurai@senseient.com
www.senseient.com