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Apple iPad for the Travelling Executive

Having used the iPad for three months and on extensive travel, I thought it might be appropriate to provide some thoughts on how it works as a travel device.

Device design – There is something about the design that just works.  The device has an excellent form factor that I find easy to use in a multitude of scenarios including reclined, sitting at a table, on a jet plane, or lying in bed.

Battery life is probably one of the most impressive aspects of the device.  It is a true workhorse lasting a full day of heavy use.    As I write this review, I’m on the second leg of a 16 hour plane trip:  I’ve checked my mail, played games, watched a two hour video and listened to hours of audio content.  My battery currently has 67% capacity left.  One of the most frustrating things as a traveler is finding access to power.  With the iPad, I don’t feel like I am constantly looking for my next power outlet.

The applications are comparable to what we’ve come to expect on the iOS platform.  Any application that works on an iPhone will work on the iPad, but the best applications are those that have been natively compiled for the iPad’s screen resolution.

Having used the new iOS 4 for a couple of weeks now, it is discouraging to go back to the iPad and not have multi-tasking or application folders.  It certainly makes it seem like the iPad (which is 90 days) old is already outdated.  As far as I am concerned, Apple can’t get iOS 4 on this device soon enough.

I originally bought the wifi version of the device, but sold it when the 3G came out.  I decided that I wanted to have reliable and convenient internet access on the device and tired of waiting for the MiFi to boot and also those frequent instances where my iPad had 7 hours of battery life left, but the MiFi was dead.  Since I use this device on the road and out and about, having that consistent access is critical.  One critical complaint is the inaccessibility of reasonable international data plans.  If you plan to use GSM data on your iPad while you travel overseas, it is going to be very expensive.  Unreasonably expensive in my opinion, which makes the iPad a WiFi only device internationally for me.

I find myself taking the iPad with me on business trips and to business meetings.  It gives me a quick way to take notes, check my email, or add something to my calendar or ToDo list.  I keep it docked next to my monitor during the day and on my nightstand at night.  During the day for meetings, I often leave my laptop behind and just bring the iPad.  It has become a fully integrated part of my technology universe after just a few months.

The Essential Applications:

I regularly use a variety of applications on a daily basis.  Here are some of my favorite work, educational, and entertainment picks.

Mail – this is my most used application on the device, but already I long for iOS4 features like a unified inbox and the ability to sync with more than one exchange account.  While the iPad does support MS Exchange, it limits you to ONE Exhange account on the device.  With the migration to IOS4 on the iPad, users should be able to sync with an unlimited number of Exchange servers.

Calendar – I sync this application with my Google calendar  and with MS Exchange (which in turn sync with my desktop and laptop computers).

Reeder – an incredibly fast syncing RSS reader with an interface that is straight out of Minority Report.  I find that the iPad has become my preferred device for reading RSS feeds because I enjoy this application so much.

FlipBoard – another great content consumption device.  I use Flipboard as my preferred way to browse Twitter and Facebook on my iPad.  In addition, Flipboard aggregates the social conversation around links in your social stream, which makes it easy to track what your network is saying about the topic.   While most Twitter and Facebook apps just give you stream as a series of links (most of them in URL shortened format) FlipBoard actually pulls down allowed segments of the actual content and presents it in a visually appealing way.

Dropbox – as an avid user of Dropbox on the desktop, the iPad support ensures that I always have my documents with me to edit or mail.  Unfortunately, there is no easy way to get documents back in your Dropbox once you’ve edited them on your device.

Office applications – I’m torn on recommending a specific application, because I use them all right now and have not picked a favorite yet.  That said, I’ve yet to encounter a document format that I haven’t been able to open and work with on the iPad.  One feature I really like with Apple’s office suite is the ability to mail the document as a PDF to a contact.  Since PDF is my preferred way of sending documents, that works well into my workflow.

Kindle – My Kindle books are always with me and syncing via whispernet means I’m always on the right page.

Netflix – Netflix streaming content on the go.  I just realized yesterday that I’ve had the same Netfix DVDs out for six months.  Streaming has changed the way I interact with the service.

Evernote – Used to take notes in meetings that sync in the cloud.

SkyGrid – Streaming news updates that shows the current social zeitgeist.

iSSH  and LogmeIn – Remote management of my server and workstation computers anywhere I can get a cell phone signal

ToDo – My to do list manager of choice.

Flight Control HD – this game is fun and addicting while giving you a better appreciation for air traffic controllers.

Financial Times – Great implication of a newspaper on the iPad

Wired Magazine – This is really the future of magazine content.  I have no doubt that I’ll consume 100% of my magazine content this way within 5 years.

SIP Softphone – Coupled with Callcentric pay as you go service, this gives me a great VOIP capability for about $1.00 per month.  The same application and account is also used on my iPhone, so I can make calls from whatever device is most convenient.

YouMail – delivers my voicemail transcribed to my iPad or iPhone and allows me to respond via email.

1Password – One of my most essential utilities across all my platforms.

Korg iElectribe – I have the hardware version of this device that cost several hundred dollars.  The version for my iPad cost $10.

TWiTpad – watch the TWiT network live.

Speak it! – Text to speech application for the iPad.

RackSpace – create and manage cloud servers on the fly and access your files stored on the cloud.

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An iPad Review: No matter what the app, it just works well

An iPad Review: No matter what the app, it just works well

iPad is a great interface and form factor, and has great battery life

I got an iPad on Saturday, and spent about 25 hours straight putting it through the paces (my family was also part of the test team).

The speed and user interface along with the apps are stunning.  It is light and fast, the battery lasts over 10 hours between recharges (as Apple claimed it would).

I have  over 130 apps, 477 photos, 14 movies, and 664 songs loaded on it.  I believe that the way the apps and content work together with the interface and consistent standards they all follow sets a new bar for HCI.  For example, you can hit the home button any time on ANY app, and it saves where you were automatically.  The concept of save & close is gone for the most part.   The multi touch interface on a larger screen, as well as the gestures and “fake physical momentum” of the controls and the accelerometers really improve the way you interact with a computing device.  Also with the low power consumption processor, that also processes the UI lightning fast, sets a standard for 10 hours between charges, others will be hard pressed to beat.  Not sure why anyone would consider other eReaders over this.

Remember when you used your first mouse to interact with a computer rather than typing commands, this is one of those moments?…it started with the iPhone, but this has taken it to a new level.

The good:

  • Speed,
  • fantastic screen,
  • user interface,
  • all your iTunes content and iPhone apps just work, and work well (unusual in the computer world).
  • Set up was seamless and simple.
  • The apps and interfaces are just one level of quality above ANYTHING else out there.
  • Very stable, did not crash once since its arrived.

The issues:

  • I purchased a 32 Gig unit since that is what my iPhone is, and I don’t plan on carrying the iPad around, so I figured I didn’t need as much storage.  This was a mistake… why?… because it turns out that the iPad specific apps are MUCH larger than the iPhone/iTouch apps.  Its true that you can just use the iPhone apps, they really work well, but the higher res ofthe iPad apps are really impressive.  I would say the average iPhone app is <100MB, the average iPad app seems to be closer to 1Gig.  If I was buying again, I would get the 64Gigversion.
  • To fit the apps, I have had to delete a lot of my movies that came over from iTunes.iPad lets you use old entry methods if you must
  • The iPhone screen gets covered with fingerprints, but its fast to wipe it off, its a bit more  constant work with the iPad because of its size.  Expect to spend a lot of time trying to look through a cloudy fingerprint covered screen, or spend a lot of time wiping.  This is especially true if you are sharing it withyour kids.
  • The iPad apps cost a LOT more than the iPhone apps did.  An average iPhone app is $0.99 – $10, the iPad apps run from $4.99-$15.99, and more of them are in the $10-15 range.
  • Seems stupid not to have included a video camera on the front for video teleconf. Would be  a great Skype tablet.
  • Lots of web sites don’t work because of the lack of flash support, also seems stupid for something that is intended to be a web browsing and media tool.
  • It seems like everyone with a web site needs to build a custom app to present their web page instead of using the browser. This does allow them to have a richer user experience than you get with the browser, but what a mess having the IT folks of every company needing to maintain an app for every customer OS to access their web sites.  And since browsers are the main focus of defense against cyber attacks on the client, having an app for every companies web site opens up a whole new security issue that I don’t believe most organizations are ready for.

All in all, I have to admit that I like it a lot, even with these short comings.  I don’t think its something I would carry around with me, its too big, and the iPhone is the thing to use for that.  But as a device whose home base is the kitchen table where anyone can pick it up and walk around the house using… its a hit!  Its beautiful, fun, fast, impressive, and VERY easy to use.  I am sure the iPad 2 will address the short comings in a year.  This is a great foundation to build on.  And, more diversity in computing platforms is good for everyone!

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Want A Bigger Bang From AI? Embed It Into Your Apps

 

Infographic: Rise of the Machines

As artificial intelligence (AI) hits the headlines more, it’s getting difficult to separate fact from fiction. You may still be left with questions, such as:

  • What is the purpose of AI?
  • How can it help us?
  • Should we be worried about it?

According to new infographic Rise of the Machines, in the simplest terms the purpose of AI is to learn, adapt and think. It’s designed to demonstrate human behaviours, such as planning, problem solving, reasoning, learning, perception and recognition.

Developments are often split into two: narrow AI and general AI. Narrow AI systems can carry out specific activities. For example, Apple’s Siri can send messages, make calls and check the calendar on your iPhone or iPad, but it can’t do anything outside of the specific tasks it’s been programmed for. General AI, on the other hand, can adapt and use what it’s learnt to find a new solution.

AI can help us by speeding up processes, identifying problems, making predictions, improving security and remembering information we might otherwise forget. This can help on both a personal and professional level.

However, there are also concerns about whether AI has (or will have) too much power. It doesn’t take human emotion or creativity into account, plus there’s a worry it could take jobs away from people.

Ultimately, we’re yet to see the full effect of AI and what it can do, but there’s no doubt it’s changing the way we live. See Rise of the Machines for more information.

AlienVault: Providing An Open Threat Exchange

AlienVault is now part of AT&T.

 

AlienVault Open Threat Exchange (OTX) gives you access to the largest crowd-sourced threat intelligence exchange. OTX is an open threat information sharing and analysis network, created to put effective security measures within the reach of all organizations.

Unlike invitation-only threat sharing networks, OTX provides real-time, actionable information to all who want to participate.

http://www.alienvault.com/open-threat-exchange

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For insights into the emerging world of technology solutions search the CTOvision Solutions Directory:

Artificial Intelligence Companies | Big Data Companies | Business Intelligence Companies | Cybersecurity Companies | Cloud Computing Companies | Collaborative Tool Companies | Infrastructure Companies | IoT Companies | Mobile Companies | Robotics Companies | Services Companies | Tech Titans | VC, PE and Finance Companies

We track security firms in the categories of:

CASB | Cyber Threat Intelligence | Deception | Encryption | Endpoint Detection and Response | Governance, Training, Education, Process | IAM | Managed Services, Outsourced Security | Microsegmentation and Container Security | Network Traffic and Analysis | SDP | Security Scanning And Testing

CTOvision Reviews of Cyber Threat Intelligence Sites:

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How the Internet of Things is Influencing a New Cybersecurity Era

Cybersecurity is the new chief concern for every organization. Recent global attacks like Wannacry and NotPetya have proved that hackers aren’t sparing any institution in their latest show of might. Most companies have thus resulted in the internet of things, and it’s cybersecurity features to help keep their digital assets safe. But does IoT offer the much needed online security?

Analysts agree on the fact that the current technological advancements have rendered the IoTs online security features ineffective. Contrary to their intended functions, some of these interconnected devices have, in the recent past, been used by cybercriminals to access company data. For instance, hackers recently exploited a vulnerability on amazon’s echo to infiltrate company’s using the devices.

Note that while Amazon might have provided a patch for that, there is no telling what other vulnerabilities they will find in other IoT devices. There is, therefore, the need to address the influence IoT will have on the future of cybersecurity. These include:

 

Exposing weaknesses in traditional cybersecurity

If the latest cybersecurity threats are anything to go by, then it is clear that conventional online security mechanisms like antivirus and staff awareness can’t adequately protect your digital assets today. The massive uptake of IoT across all industries has helped unearth numerous security challenges affecting both the network systems and connected devices.

Manufacturers and developers can, therefore, learn from the current challenges facing their innovations and improve on them with future technologies. Online security experts are nonetheless worried about the manufacturers’ sluggish response to online security threats as they continue to introduce inadequately protected devices into the market.

Reduce human activity in cybersecurity

Human beings have, for long, been considered the soft underbellies and weak links when it comes to institutional cybersecurity. Despite the enormous resources company’s set aside for staff education on the importance of online security and different activities that put company assets under threat, human error still leads the pack of activities endangering a company’s cyber environment.

Champion the introduction of intelligent cybersecurity

In appreciation of the role human beings play in exposing digital assets to cyber threats, future IoT may turn its attention towards less human interactive systems. Online security companies have already come up with intelligent security systems that help mitigate against these threats. These include the network monitoring tools aimed at continually keeping tabs with a company’s or IoT systems online activities and reporting them in real time.

Advancements in technology and the fusion of artificial intelligence with IoT might see the introduction of more intelligent systems that not only report suspicious online activities but also takes appropriate actions like quarantining them. Technological giants have even come up with smart systems that help identify loopholes in an IoT system like helping identify private data appearing on public domains.

Revolutionize how people share information

How you store, process, and share data over the internet births any cyber threat facing your organization. Most institutions understand this fact and have, therefore, come up with several strategies on how to secure each part of the data sharing process by insulating the input, storage, processing, and sharing systems from cyber attacks by way of high-bit end-to-end encryption techniques.

Human involvement in any of these data sharing stage translates to reduced security features as humans can’t read encrypted files. This in effect exposes the entire system to vulnerabilities that hackers can use to terrorize your organization.

IoT seeks to revolutionize this process by eliminating human error in the data storage and sharing. Considering the fact that IoT is primarily machine to machine communication, IoT security experts can help come up with stronger protection controls that only the interconnected devices can decipher.

Bottom line

The internet of things is about to champion a revolution in cybersecurity that starts with eliminating cases of human error. These will be replaced by the more reliable intelligent systems and will affect the entirety of data processing, from capture through to sharing.

Apple and IBM Announce Partnership

In a move that blurs the line between consumer gadgets and enterprise technology, Apple and IBM announced on July 15th a partnership to transform enterprise mobility. The collaboration intends to develop new business applications that bring IBM’s big data capabilities, security services, and device management to Apple’s popular iPhones and iPads.

The four primary goals of the partnership include developing more than 100 industry-specific enterprise solutions for the iPhone and iPad, creating special IBM cloud features for iOS, providing enterprise-level AppleCare service, and offering device activation, supply, and management.

In an interview on CNBC , Apple CEO Tim Cook expressed his enthusiasm and high expectations for the partnership. “I think it’s absolutely huge. It’s landmarked. It takes the best of Apple and the best of IBM and puts those together. There’s no overlap, there’s no competition, but they’re totally complementary. And more than anything, it focuses on the enterprise customer.” IBM has expressed similar enthusiasm, committing over 100,000 employees to the Apple initiative, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The deal reflects the current tendency of previously separate devices and technologies to converge. Although few tech companies have had real success selling both consumer and enterprise technologies, modern employees increasingly carry their mobile devices to work and their work devices to their homes. It makes sense that Apple and IBM want to take advantage of the blurred line between work and home, as it will likely make many professionals more productive (and it appears a good business opportunity).

Although this partnership’s impacts on security and businesses remain to be seen, it is hard to dispute that IBM and Apple make a formidable – if somewhat unexpected – team.

What the Microsoft buyout of Nokia means to the consumer

WPhone_logo_300Recently, Microsoft announced that they will be buying Nokia’s mobile division. In my mind, this was the inevitable conclusion of Nokia’s announcement that they would only manufacture Windows Mobile devices. Microsoft has struggled greatly with their Surface RT device, and Microsoft has had to cut the price (and toss in the $130 keyboard cover) to move any product. Microsoft has been similarly struggling with smartphone sales, and they believe the two are combined. As more users look to lightweight mobile solutions instead of laptops and PCs, Microsoft does not have a compelling alternative.

We’ve talked extensively about ecosystems here at CTOvision, and I lauded Google for their ecosystem improvements in the Nexus 7 and Android 4.3. Microsoft clearly has control of the desktop ecosystem, but many analysts believe that era of the PC is over, and that sales of those devices have already peaked. Struggling to make money in this realm, Microsoft has finally made it’s top suite (Office) available on mobile, but only on iPhone/iPod Touch (as there is no iPad or Android application out yet). Microsoft has yet to provide a compelling argument to buy into their mobile ecosystem, and while they are selling 7M+ quarter, that is a drop in the bucket compared to the success of Android or iOS.

The hope, is that this purchase will engage both Microsoft and developers to make the Windows Mobile experience a viable mobile operating system. Competition in the mobile landscape is beneficial, and while it’d be great to get some quality Nokia hardware running your favorite mobile OS, it looks like that will never happen. However, if Microsoft continues to only focus their mobile capabilities on Windows 8 (not developing for other platforms), then this will just be a stalling effort. Apple is a unique brand/ecosystem, and can afford to focus on only one platform, due to brand loyalties and a heavy install base. BlackBerry has only just now branched out to supporting multiple platforms, and are fast on their way to becoming a footnote. Microsoft has to take this partnership and mirror what they have done with Office on PCs to the whole mobile world.

The purchase of Nokia will more tightly tie hardware and software development for Microsoft, and may create a stronger OS. However, they still need to grow their app store offerings (and get third-party developers to engage). Lastly, Microsoft needs to create a real value-add for their mobile operating system. “Ease of use” isn’t a real differentiator, nor is the lack of Office in other ecosystems a viable reason. Windows Phone needs to meet Android and iOS as a real mobile OS, that people should want to use (not just the cheapest phone available).

Mind Maps: "Nonlinear Systems benefit from Nonlinear Documentation"

Editor’s Note: This CTOvision.com post was written by  , a highly regarded security professional and inventor in the UK with a focus on design and implementation of multilevel and cross-domain IT security (“MLS”)-bg.  

I was first introduced to mind mapping a few years ago, when some colleagues I was having email discussions with about security in Grid environments (and very early Cloud environments, although they weren’t called Clouds at the time) started sending me diagrams by email rather than narrative text, involving little constellations of thought bubbles arranged in linked hierarchies.

Back then, I didn’t really get it, and carried on replying in narrative form. However, in the last year or so, I’ve started to see the value in this form of recording ideas, especially once I hit on the idea in the title of this posting. In practice, I’m now finding that when an idea arrives fully-formed, there are so many implications for associated systems and ideas that trying to record the idea (especially if it’s the small hours of the morning) in narrative form just doesn’t work, especially if I want to make notes quickly; there are some classes of idea where trying to impose a linear narrative form on their description is either artificial or actively detracts from the clarity of the explanation, by making it more difficult to see where some things are parallelisable, or where multiple dependencies exist between elements, what they are. This, in my view, makes a well-constructed mind map far more information-dense than a piece of narrative – not only are the elements of an idea included, but also how they fit together, and it all goes on one sheet or screen.

I’ve recorded and developed most of my Cloud thinking in mind map form (and will be posting some threat model thinking, shortly); I originally started with FreeMind, which works nicely on desktop systems, but my favourite app these days is iThoughts HD for iPad – not only is my iPad more convenient to keep to hand for when an idea shows up, but I find the direct touch-based interface really lends itself to mind map editing in ways that a trackpad and pointer don’t match.

The definitive written work on mind mapping is “The Mind Map Book” by Tony Buzan (BBC / Pearson, 2010), the guy who came up with mind mapping in the first place; this showed me that, while the fundamental “vocabulary” of mind maps in terms of a central idea with branches off it tracking lines of thinking is common to all mind maps, other apparent “mind map vocabulary” items such as branch colour, shape and clockwise position relative to the central idea or a preceding node on a branch, are more like Twitter hashtags in that there is no common dictionary of them and their meaning can differ between authors. Still, it appears they are typically done this way to appeal to the latent synaesthesia in the adult mind; while we might not remember an idea “cold”, we might get to it based on remembering its colour or relative location, for example.

While the book suggests a number of uses for mind maps – and the iMindMap tool from ThinkBuzan, Tony’s own company, bristles with features for making mind maps the core of presentations, project plans and other necessary things – there are some areas where I think they could be employed further, especially in documentation. While it can be argued that the mind map came first, a mind map can also be viewed as an exploded Hypercard stack.

The “MyFry” app version of the second volume of Stephen Fry‘s autobiography is driven by a user interface which is effectively a version of a mind map, by topic. Extending this, I can see conventional mind maps being usefully employed instead of Contents pages, with each branch element carrying a page number as well as its idea. This could work not only for detailed software documentation (where a map could show dependencies between functions, for example), but also for any highly-nonlinear system such as – and we’re back to the start of my journey, here – a Cloud…

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