The Umbrella Man
My friend Scott Albert Johnson has released his new album entitled "Umbrella Man". It draws on many styles and I hear songs that are reminiscent of Blue's Traveler, John Taylor and a full-spectrum of old fashion blues with great lyrics and wonderful harmonica solos. The family favorite thus far is "Turn Out Fine", which is a fast-paced upbeat ode to a former lover. Support this hard-working independent musician by picking up your copy today.
Pulling the Twitter thread a bit more....
Andy Carvin writes a more detailed post on how Twitter could save lives.
Karoli doesn't get it and issues the following challenge "If someone could leave a comment giving me one truly practical reason to use Twitter, I’ll sign up and add them as my first friend, because I seriously don’t understand the buzz around it."
My earlier post on Twitter was enough to convince her.
Physical attacks against digital targets
Anyone who has seen me present or has been a student in my class is familiar with the matrix below. In fact, this matrix was the guiding principle for an entire conference session in Sweden 18 months ago and I've briefed on it least 300 times to thousands of people.
Now read this article:
SCOTLAND YARD has uncovered evidence that Al-Qaeda has been plotting to bring down the internet in Britain, causing chaos to business and the London Stock Exchange. Link --->
This is the beginning of what will be an interesting trend as some emergent terrorist cells push the boundaries and decide to engage in physical attacks on financial infrastructures. When you are in Nigeria all your targets look like oil pipelines, so when you are in London, what do you targets look like if your intention is to wage economic terrorism?
Richard Clarke even has a recent book where the founding premise is a series of attacks on the U.S. Internet infrastructure. It isn't a bad read, even with the obvious Soxster = Mudge parallels.
Second Grade Second Life
My daughter (and wife) seem to be hooked on the second grade version of Second Life called Webkinz. With Webkinz the cost of entry is the purchase of a physical stuffed animal that is bundled with a unique code that allows you to go online and virtually care for your pet. You can create a house for your pet, complete with bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchens and a trampoline in the back yard. You then engage in lots of virtual activities like taking baths, making food, playing games and working (you can only work one job every 8 hours, perhaps so they stay compliant with child labor laws - kidding).
You can also engage in limited interaction with other Webkinz, though it seems to be closely controlled (perhaps to prevent child exploitation). This game appears to be as addictive as its elder kin such as Second Life and World of Warcraft and represents the first time I've had to institute a Bill Gatesian limit on my daughter's screen time.
There is no charge to play Webkinz, but when your account expires, you MUST buy a new stuffed animal to stay in world. An interesting recurring revenue model. I can only assume that they intend to be able to keep up with the recurring demand.
What are you doing right now?
Twitter wants to know. After hearing about it on at least 20 podcasts, I decided to check it out. It seems to be nothing more than the next step in the pervasive social networking meme that takes the geek culture by storm every few months.
Twitter allows you to use IM and SMS messages to post what you are doing and to track what others are doing as well. I haven't tested the SMS version, but thus far the only thing the IM component seems to do for me is allow me to send updates about myself. It doesn't IM me when a friend I am tracking updates their Twitter. If the SMS version doesn't send me friend updates, I'd say that Twitter is not even close to reaching its potential.
There are a few interesting uses for Twitter to create real-time SMS mesh networks. For example, it looks like the SXSW Twitter group is keeping folks in touch and helping others find the hot spots. I could see doing the same sort of thing for our DefCon entourage as it would help keep us coordinated and is a nice replacement to the dozens of 1-1 SMS messages we send.
There is also an interesting homeland defense/emergency response angle here as the 1 to many messaging model over SMS would be a very good communication channel for those times when the phone lines are jammed (which is sure to happen in Washington DC). I could see Twitter as a great way to get real-time news, but the infrastructure would need to be set up in advance.
I'm going to keep playing with Twitter and see if I can get a few more friends on there to test it out.
Update: I am getting Twitter messages on my Blackberry via SMS, but can't seem to send from it and have it post to my Twitter page.
Update 2: Check out "Five ways to use Twitter for good" - Link --->
Update 3: I can send to Twitter via SMS
Total Intelligence Solutions Launched
Total Intelligence Solutions launched recently. You can learn more about the company at the TotalIntel.com website.
I co-manage this company with Rob Richer (former Assistant Deputy Director of Operations (ADDO) at the Central Intelligence Agency) and serve as President.
We are poised to change the landscape in this industry and have brought together world-class capabilities and leadership team to do it.
Puddle of mud...
I managed to go on vacation without taking my Mac Book Pro with me. Instead, I relied on my Sony UX390N and my Nokia n800 for all my Internet needs. The UX and n800 both worked great for surfing the web and the UX did double duty with email as well.
While on travel I managed to drop my N80i cell phone in a big puddle. Fortunately, it never stopped working the entire time and seems to be okay after a frantic cleaning with paper towels. It is a tough little cell phone and performed well on the trip obtaining good coverage in some pretty desolate areas.
And now for something completely different....
Second Life terrorism. Link--->
Is voice chat the killer app of Second Life? It could be: Link--->
Also listen to the PodCast regarding how voice will integrated: Link--->
Sony UX380N
I've spent a good deal of time using the Sony UX380N. I was a fan of the original UX180, but could never quite get used to how slow it was. It always felt more like a PDA than a portable computer to me. The UX380N is certainly a marked improvement on the device, which is quite an accomplishment in just six months.
Some things I like:
- It is running Windows Vista Business. I don't like Windows, in particular Windows XP. Vista is a great improvement to the OS and this device comes with Vista pre-installed.
- It is fast. The 380N is using a solid state hard disk, has 512meg more memory and is running an Intel Core Solo processor. All of these seem to contribute to a much faster system. In fact, it is downright snappy.
- Integrated biometrics. Fingerprint authentication works great and is very convenient for a device this size. Also, Sony has bundled a great application which lets you use fingers as hotkeys so that left middle finger can launch Explorer and right index finger can launch Firefox.
- Integrated dual-cameras. Great for a quick video capture or to use Skype with Video.
Things I don't like:
Integrated Cingular Edge service. Edge is the worst of the cellular data services. I wish Sony would get out of bed with Cingular.
- Keyboard is still a bit tough to use.
- Way to many pre-installed apps. I spent the first hour just uninstalling all the crap Sony includes on the device. I wish more companies would take the Alienware approach and leave the installed app baseline at zero.
All in all, this is a pretty amazing device. I just wish Apple would come out with a micro PC type model.
Terrorism Index
I participate in this index as one of the 100 experts polled. Interesting reading....Link--->