Hmm, SC, a security focused magazine in the UK, says...

WiFi is no longer a viable secure connection

Interestingly, the US version of this site says nothing at all about should be a global security nightmare if true.

In any case... SC UK's article says that NVidia graphics cards have been used to accelerate WiFi password recovery times by 10000%. This is used as evidence that WPA and WPA2 can now be broken. However, the article does not provide any details. So, it is difficult to determine what this really means. Does it mean that a dictionary attack is used? If so, using non-dictionary strings or even a cryptographically strong password should deal with the issue.

I think like the current global economic nightmare, the thing to do here it try to get a better grasp of what this report means and not panic.

If you want a cryptographically strong(and impossible to type) password, check out Gibson Research Corp.'s...

Perfect Passwords

Given all the cyber-security issues I covered today perhaps I should add a cyber-security category to this blog. Hmm...

I activated the Google Advanced IMAP Controls for Gmail after reading this item in the Google Labs blog...

New in Labs: Advanced IMAP Control

I've been using Gmail's IMAP4 feature since it became available for my account just about a year ago.

I even used it with my Windows Mobile smartphone but had to turn it off within a week or so because Google's IMAP4 server was so slow my battery drained significantly everytime it checked for mail. However, I checked in again about a month ago and found that the server had sped up considerably. I wonder if fixing IMAP4 and these new advanced Gmail advanced IMAP controls are just the start of important tweaks to prepare for T-Mobile G1 users?

If anyone from Google reads this, what we really need is a good web tool to manage really messy Google Contacts lists (like mine) that need to be cleaned up before October 22.

The newly public Zoho Mail and other Zoho office components may look and work great on an iPhone. But, if you use Windows Mobile, everything looks quite broken at the moment. The main menu for Zoho Writer and Zoho Creator (the only two components available for Windows Mobile devices) looks quite odd. And, selecting a Zoho Writer document for viewing doesn't work at all.

I sent email to and "tweeted" Zoho about this problem.

The big news from Zoho today is...

Zoho Mail Launches with Offline Support

It has a couple of mobile implications:

1. If you use a netbook running Windows XP with Google Gears, you can now take and view your Zoho email offline (say on a flight). Once turned on, this feature automatically detects your connectivity status and lets you read email from the Google Gears store/cache.
2. If you have an iPhone or iPod touch, Zoho Mail can be found along with other Zoho apps at: mobile.zoho.com. Note, however, that Zoho does not support SSL (https://) at any point including login. So, everything is sent in clear text. This may not be a huge issue for iPhone users on EDGE or 3G. However, iPod touch users using it over WiFi should be aware of this security issue.

Sometime in the past 24 hours, the CNET News.com mobile friendly web site at...

m.news.com

...stopped working. I tried browsing the site using an iPod touch and a Windows Mobile smartphone. Both attempts resulted in viewing the full desktop version of the news.com site. The iPod touch (and iPhone) renders it as it does any site. It just requires a lot of finger gestures and pinches to navigate and view (zoom/unzoom) the site. The Windows Mobile browser couldn't handle the full desktop site at all and didn't even completely render it after waiting about 30 seconds for it to complete.

I'm sure this is just a glitch. But, I still recall when PCWorld.com didn't restore its mobile friendly website for over a year (ouch).

And, yes, I know the irony of me saying this since MobileAppsToday itself does not have a mobile friendly version.

If you own a Mac computer, iPhone, or iPod, you've probably visited the Macworld magazine site now and then. But, did you know they have a mobile friendly website too? You can find it at...

mobile.macworld.com

The screenshot above comes from an iPod touch. But, the site looks fine on a Windows Mobile smartphone's web browser too. It should render on most mobile web browsers.

VNC is an acronym for Virtual Network Computing. Its main use is to provide graphical remote control of another computer. I've used various versions of VNC for years. So, I was interested to see this in the iTunes App Store.

Jaadu VNC

The first thing that struck me was the relatively high (in comparison to typical iPhone apps) $24.95 price. The second thing that struck me (if I read the information on Jugaari's web pages correctly) is that it does not provide encrypted communication between computers. This is not a huge problem in a properly secured home network that is behind a properly configured firewall/router and WPA2 wireless security implemented. However, it is not something you should demo at, say, a public hotspot when carrying your Macbook and iPhone.

Looks like TouchArcade has some company in the iPhone/iPod touch game review world.

Finger Gaming

...also focuses on iPhone/iPod touch games. I'm always afraid to visit TouchArcade and, now, Finger Gaming. I know if I find an iPod touch game that really grabs me, my productivity will drop to zero (maybe even less :-).

YouTube video courtesy of radumotisan

I don't think I need to use a Bluetooth Mouse with my Windows Mobile touchscreen smartphone. But, if I did, here's an interesting application that would let me do so.

Teksoft Blueinput

This app costs 14.95 Euros and works with Windows Mobile touchscreen devices (Professional Edition)

Image courtesy of WindowsForDevices.com

WindowsForDevices.com has a great article with lots of screen shots of a...

Windows Mobile app turns phone into "air mouse"

...that lets a touch screen Windows Mobile smartphone (Professional Edition) be used as a kind of intelligent remote control like those home theater remote controls that reconfigures its screen for different functions. GRemote can let a Windows Mobile smartphone be used as a mouse, a touchpad, a Windows Media Center or Windows Media control pad, or a keyboard.

The article discusses an app in development called...

GRemote 0.3.0

iPhone Alley has a great tip for iPhone users...

iPhone Basics: Silence Your Ringer & Send A Call To Voicemail

- Press sleep/wake button once to silence the ringer
- Press sleep/wake button twice to ignore the call and redirect it to voicemail
- Pressing the iPhone headset microphone twice also redirects the call to voicemail

When I heard that GoDaddy (best known for their low-cost domain registration services) started a Hosted Microsoft Exchange Server service, I headed over to their...

Personal Email Plans

...web page to see what kind of price was associated with this service. I fully expected their prices to be a bit lower than other Hosted Exchange Server services I had looked at before based on their domain registration pricing. However, their $9.99/month price ($8.99/month if you sign up for 12 months) for the Outlook with Mobile plan was actually higher than the $6.99/month plan from 1and1.com that also includes Windows Mobile sync. And, both plans are significantly more than the typical 99 cents/month IMAP4 email services both GoDaddy and 1and1 offer.

Yes, I understand that Microsoft Exchange Server offers considerably more features than a relatively simple IMAP4 email service. But, I really wish some firm could offer a reliable personal Microsoft Exchange Server account for Windows Mobile smartphone and iPhone users in the $2/month price range.

Slashdot issued the headline grabbing item...

Tapping the IPhone, Courtesy of Yahoo!

Here's the sad thing, the story is actually way worse than the title implies.

Slashdot's item refers to this blog post...

More Yahoo! funtimes, this time with the iPhone which reports that: Sadly, it turned out that the iPhone mail application (with its pre-sets for Yahoo!) also fails to use encryption for everything but authentication.

The bad news is that this problem is not confined to the iPhone. Yahoo! Mail behaves this way everywhere including your desktop, notebook, netbook, or smartphone. You can see this for yourself:

1. Login via https://mail.yahoo.com. You can ignore the certificate mismatch warning. This is kind-of-sort-of ok. the S in https tells you that you are using SSL (Secure Socket Layer) to send your username and password over an encrypted channel.
2. Look at the URL in the address bar after the login completes and you see the Yahoo! Mail web page with your mail. Note that the URL starts with http, not https. This means that Yahoo! switched you back to unencrypted clear text. Everything you send or receive via Yahoo! Mail is sent in clear text from this point.

What does this mean? If you are using are using an open WiFi hotspot (like at Starbucks), all email text sent or received through Yahoo! Mail can be sniffed. If you must use Yahoo! Mail at insecure sites, you should use a VPN service to help secure your information. Better yet, switch to another mail service that supports SSL end-to-end.

Did you know your digital camera can Twitter (tweet) and RSS feed your photos to the world? I didn't either until I read this item over on the Laptop Magazine blog...

Eye-Fi Announces Twitter Support

The Eye-Fi card is a 2GB SD card with a built-in WiFi radio. There are three models ranging from $80 to $130. The price tiering reflects differences in services such as geo-tagging and web sharing features. All models can wirelessly upload photos to a computer. Eye-Fi's software works with Microsoft XP/Vista and Mac OS X Tiger & Leopard.

Spb Software House extracted the casual multiplayer online games from their Spb Online package to create Spb Online Games...

Play the Games, Play the Online Games of Spb!

This $14.95 package is available for both Windows Mobile touchscreenand non-touchscreen smartphones.

The package's four games are: Two versions of checkers, Hexagon, and Reversi.

My take on this is that real-time multiplayer mobile gamers may find it hard to find other players. I know that this was the case when I tested a couple of real-time online multiplayers games on my Sony PSP. I think some kind of turn-based multiplayer game may have higher update on a mobile platform. Something like Risk or Civilization.