Digital Samurai

NEVADA – MORE THAN JUST THE HOME OF SIN CITY?

When most people think of Nevada, they immediately think of Las Vegas a/k/a Sin City. What else is there? Lots of desert. And of course the infamous slogan “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.” Nevada has recently gotten a lot of press for something it decidedly isn’t known for – being the leading edge of technology.

Nevada legislators have passed law NRS 597.970, which requires businesses to encrypt all electronic transmissions of a customer’s personal information except when sending a fax. If the business with whom you wish to transmit customer’s information doesn’t accept or handle encrypted communications, you can’t send the data. Plain and simple. Or is it?

It’s hard to find a consensus of exactly what this law means. Sure, we get the encryption part. But the statute provides no definition of “electronic transmission.” Is it referring to sending an e-mail or shipping a CD? Both can be considered a form of electronic transmission. As we know, terms can be loosely defined and we guess that it will be left up to the Courts to decide.

There are a number of ways to encrypt data transmission, and we can probably count the number of businesses that consistently do this on one hand. The question now is how many companies doing business in Nevada are in violation of the law? Probably the majority of them.

The statute is a step in the right direction. But what do the remaining 49 states do now? Should each state develop individual laws regarding data protection or do we need federal legislation? For one national company having to comply with the individual laws of 50 states sounds like a nightmare as bad as coming out of Sin City on a losing night.

To read the text of Nevada law NRS 597.970, visit the web site at http://www.leg.state.nv.us/Nrs/NRS-597.html#NRS597Sec970

- John and Mike

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

USB 3.0 – SUPERSPEED COMING SOON TO A COMPUTER NEAR YOU?

“Coming soon to a computer near you – Superspeed Technology.” Sounds like a really bad advertisement if you ask us, like a Billy Mays’ infomercial. But soon it’s going to be a reality.

Later this month, it’s expected that the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF), the standards organization for the design of USB specifications, will announce the finalization of the USB 3.0 standard. Soon thereafter we should start to see broad-scale deployment and support for USB 3.0 devices to hit the market. The new USB standard has been appropriately dubbed “USB Superspeed.” Catchy, huh?

USB 3.0 is expected to provide data transfer rates up to 10x faster than USB 2.0 (4.8 Gbps - maximum theoretical speed), transferring up to 250 GB of data in just under a minute in a half. But here’s the truth. Don’t believe what you read. Unless Microsoft rewrites their device drivers and hard drives increase the speed at which they write data, it’s all just for show.

However, delays in the development of the new standard (3 years in the making) have pushed back the date in which we can expect to see the new technology until 2010. The new standard will be backwards-compatible with USB 2.0 and 1.1, so at least we won’t have to replace all of our USB devices.

The new standard for USB is exciting. Although not as exciting as it will be to watch Billy Mays promoting a computer with Superspeed technology.

- John and Mike

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

GOOGLE EARTH FOR THE IPHONE – THE EARTH JUST GOT SMALLER

You’ve got the whole world in your hands, literally. Now what are you going to do with it? Right now, not a heck of lot.

Google has released a handheld version of the Google Earth application for the iPhone, available free for download from the App Store. This software allows users to explore the earth using the same global satellite and aerial imagery present in the desktop version. Unlike the desktop version, however, the mobile edition is much more interactive, controlled through the iPhone’s multi-touch screen, which even adjusts the layout view according to data received from the phone’s built-in accelerometer. For those who get motion sickness, be careful!

The software’s integration with the phone’s GPS allows for users to quickly map themselves, but lacking navigational functionality it still leaves us scratching our heads. What good is a mapping application without directions? You’ve got us.

In its current state, the software is severely limited in its capabilities. It has only minor integration with geo-tagged data and limited searching capabilities. Not to mention that there have been reported bugs with the software’s panorama view locking up the phone.

It’s clear that there remains a lot of work to be done, especially with feature integration and porting of the app to other mobile phones. We hope to see these problems addressed in future updates because it sure would be cool to fly around the world with a flick of the finger on our Windows Mobile devices.

- John and Mike

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