News: Fired Up About Laundry Tags

By | November 24, 2011
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 It’s interesting to see how RFID — the technology behind product tagging that I’ve banged on about here before — enflames passions. News on ZDNET that chipmaker Texas Instruments has announced a wireless identity chip for clothing which can survive the dry cleaning process has unleashed dozens of comments, most of them about the potential for tracking folk and abusing their privacy.
 
The Laundry Transponder, from TI Radio Frequency Identification Systems, is a thin 13.56MHz radio frequency identification (RFID) chip with a circumference of 22mm that can be attached or sewn into fabric. Its plastic casing is capable of withstanding industrial cleaning processes, making it practical for dry cleaners to track items through to customer delivery, ZDNET says. But more interesting are the comments that follow the article (scroll down to the bottom to read them). Steel yourself for some forthright language.
 
What we need is a reasoned debate on both sides so everyone knows what they’re dealing with. That may be about to happen, at least in the UK: ZDNET quotes Labour MP Tom Watson as saying he has submitted a motion for parliamentary debate on the regulation of RFID devices, and is confident that it will be debated in September.

Hardware: Notebook Chillout

By | November 24, 2011
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 A problem I keep having with my notebook is that it catches fire a lot. Well, not actually on fire, but it gets very, very hot. Here’s a possible solution: Antec’s new Notebook Cooler.
 

 
Designed to draw a continual flow of cool air across the computer’s hottest surface, Antec’s Notebook Cooler fits underneath a laptop. Its aluminum surface helps conduct heat away from the system and its 388 ventilation holes keep a steady distribution of airflow from two 70mm fans. Cost? $39.95.

News: When An ATM Isn’t An ATM

By | November 24, 2011
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 From the These Thieves Are So Smart, Why Can’t They Get A Real Job Dept comes a story about ATMs. The Canadian Press reports of a scam in Ontario where the bad guys have rigged a number of existing bank machines allowing them to make working copies of customers’ debit cards by putting on a mask.
 
 
The thieves install a false front on an ATM machine for a few hours, painted identically to the actual front of the real machine.When a customer slides a debit card into the card slot on the false front, a small electronic device attached to the front reads all the information contained on the card. A tiny camera installed just above the machine’s number pad videotapes customers as they type in their personal identification numbers. The thieves then produce their own magnetic cards containing identical information to customers’ cards.

Update: Blasted?

By | November 24, 2011
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 While the corporate and government damage wrought by the Blaster worm does not appear to be as bad as it first looked, ordinary users may be in trouble. (The worm uses other infected computers to try to attack more computers, all of which then try to attack part of the Microsoft website with a message calling on Bill Gates to “fix your software” — a sentiment I can help agreeing with, even as I condemn the method of delivery. I’ve counted five separate assaults on my computer, one of them 145 times).
 
If you have been infected, don’t defenestate yourself or your computer: it doesn’t seem as if the worm actually erases data but it still could be a serious nuisance, and all evidence of it should be expunged as soon as you can. The best way may be to use Symantec’s specially devised tool, which you can download for free from here. Then update your version of Windows, and update your anti-virus. Oh, and install a firewall. I recommend Zone Labs’s Zone Alarm (yes, there’s a free version, and Zone Labs say their products have thwarted the Blaster demon).
 
Some other links:
Microsoft on the matter (not particularly helpful)
Discussion about anti-virus manufacturers’ ‘slow’ reaction to the worm
The Sophos alternative instructions for removing the worm
 
 

Update: A Successor to Sony Ericsson P800?

By | November 24, 2011
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 Those of you who admired the Sony Ericsson P800 cellphone/camera/PDA but never got around to buying one, hang on until October. PMN Publications, a mobile newsletter, reports that Sony Ericsson is planning an upgraded version of the P800, featuring an enhanced digital camera, 65,000 colour screen and a slimmer form factor. It will be called either the P810 or P900.
 
 
One major European operator has scheduled availability for 1st October 2003.
 
I have to say that while I admired the screen and the look and feel of the software, I wasn’t a convert to the P800. Too many things seemed to go wrong, and one user I spoke to reported having to return his unit three times before he got one that didn’t crash. Other users, of course, love ’em.