PC IN A FLOWER VASE : ECS's MING VASE

1. One Taiwanese computer maker has come up with a novel way to camouflage a computer made for your living room: give it the shape and color of a Ming Dynasty vase.

2. Elitegroup Computer Systems (ECS) put the small blue and white vase-shaped computer on display by a large-screen LCD TV at Computex Taipei 2009, to the effect that it really looked like Chinese art work rather than a gadget.

3. Inside the shapely plastic covering includes

(a) Home media computer complete

(b) A Blu-ray Disc player offering full 1080p high-definition video quality

(c) Intel Atom N230 microprocessor

(d) Nvidia Ion graphics chips and a

(e) 2.5-inch hard disc drive.

(f) Bottom of the vase reveals plugs for an HDMI cable, an Ethernet cable and USB ports.

4. See all this in the pictures in set....really amazing!!!

EYE-FI : GETs YOUR CLICK UPLOADED

1. What's the route from the moment you click any pic from your digital camera or your camera phone to the time you upload the selected few.It involves clicking the pic followed by Booting-up your computer, plugging in your camera, uploading pics to the hard drive and finally choosing what to send to the web !!!that has started becoming annoying now...since the number of pics a camera freak clicks is huge....so he generally shams it out and let them remain in the stoarge media by default.

2. SOLUTION : EYE-FI Memory Card. The Eye-Fi camera memory card (Pic in set) not only provides memory as usual for your pictures, but uploads the snaps as you take them.

3. The procedure involves just sync the card to a hard drive or Wi-Fi network, and getting it plugged into a digital camera and start snapping away. Pics are then routed to the hard drive or to one of 17 photo vendors (like Facebook or Flickr.) The card's software deftly handles scaling and compression while privacy settings at the individual sites allow you to filter what gets published. The software handles scaling and compression as well as privacy settings.

4. The Wi-Fi chip uses 70 percent less power than competing products, allowing it to be comfortably nestled in a standard SD card.

5. Thank you http://www.technovelgy.com

E-WASTE : DEPOSIT & GET PAID

1. In an earlier post I discussed about the consequences of e-waste and how few organisations were involved in controlling the issue.

2. Recently I came to know of this site at www.techshop.in/e-cycle which claims to recyle e-waste in a real economical manner.They pay you for the trash that you deposit.More details mentioned below.

3. MGA & Associates is a major organisation for the recovery & recycling of electronic equipments and components based strategically in the deep sea port area of Kandla India. MGA & Associates plans & carries out the collection, transportation, processing & recovery of all base materials from electronic equipments. They offer an environmentally sound and compliant route for organisations for their end of life and obsolete electronic equipments & components with the best available techniques. All MGA & Associates processes and daily operations are backed up by ISO 9001 and ISO 14001Quality & Environmental management systems certified by Bureau Veritas.

4. MGA & Associates was formed in 2003 by a group of dedicated & professional individuals with over 60 years of collective experience in recovery and recycling of electronic equipment and components and is one of the largest professional processors of this type of equipment.

5. Your e-waste can be sent or deposited in person against which you get the coupons at the following locations:

(a) Polytela e-Commerce PVT. LTD.

25, Gaurav Industrial Estate, Bail Bazaar,

Kurla (W), Mumbai 400070.

Tel.: +91 9920213743 , +91 9323699901

Fax: +91 2264501259 E-mail: support@TechShop.in

(b) MGA & Associates

Factory Site

Plot No. 262/263, Sector 4, Kandla Special Economic Zone,

Gandhidham - 370 230, Gujarat, INDIA.

Tel.: +91 2836 252225, +91 2836 253930

Fax: +91 2836 252522 E-mail: info@mgaind.com

(c) Logix Express

37/1945 Om Karam CHS ltd. Gandhinagar. Bandra E. Mumbai. 400051.
Tele: 022 26510708/26510687.
M- 09833175486.
Contact Person: Mr. Abhishek.

(d) DELHI

Logix Express
8908/2 Multani Dnada. Opp. Rangoli Guest House.
Pahargung. 110055.
Tele: 011 32617289.
M- 09999796936.
Contact Person: Mr. Govind.

(e) AHMEDABAD

Logix Express
Block No. 71 to 76, Sagar Estate Part 3.
Opp. Ekta Hotel. Sarkhej Bavala Road.
Sarkhej- Ahmedabad. 380210.
Contact Person: Govind.
Tele: 079 26890419.
M- 09979865961.

(f) HYDERABAD

Logix Express
C/o Fast Freight Courier
1-10-9/3, Airport Road, Opp. IBP Petrol Bunk,
Begumpet, Hyderabad-500016.
Contact Person : Mr. Anil Reddy
M- 9848017335

(g) CHENNAI

Logix Express
13/Devsigamani Street.
Chulaimedu.
Chennai.94.
Contact Person: Mr. Silverraj.
M- 09841418946.

(h) BANGALORE

Logix Express
C/o Ever Green Logistics
6, 4th Cross, 5th Main,
S R Nagar, Bangalore-560027.
Contact Person : Mr. Ravi
M- 09845836058.

(i) PUNE

Logix Express
Survey no 755, Kalpana warehouse.
Opp. Hotel Ram kamal, Pune Nagar Road.
Katkewadi, Wagholi, Dist. Haveli
Pune-412207.
Contact Person: Mr. Raja Ram.
M- 09850604994/09730073535.

(j) SURAT

Logix Express
Ground Floor, Swagat Complex.
Kadodara Chokdi.
Surat.
Contact Person: Jayendra.
M- 9979865968.

6. GOOD WORK...SO FREE PUBLICITY!!

KYPS : HELPS AVOID BEING VULNERABLE!!

1. In an earlier post when I had discoursed how much prone are you at any cyber cafe or at some other non friendly computer when u surf web on a holiday outside or when u dont have your own laptop,how prone you become to keylogger!!I had given out given out few suggestions in form of using mobile/portable browser etc. that was at http://anupriti.blogspot.com/2009/06/are-you-secure-at-your-friendly.html

2. Not a new thing but I tried this for the first time yesterday ie KYPS that stands for Keep Your Password Secret.Now for the understanding of this I will write a small step by step instruction.

3. BACKGROUND

How to avoid typing username and password at the outside or malicious looking cyber cafe computer.?

4. SOLUTION

(a) Register at http://kyps.net/home/

(b) Get a set of codes at your email id

(c) Register those username/passwords site that u intend using sometime later at some other computer.

(d) Now when u wish to access the email account at the cyber cafe you simply have to log into the site of KYPS and site will help you reach and access the e-mail without using the username and password,but by using the one time codes that I had mentioned earlier.

5. EXAMPLE

(a) You register your email id abc@yahoo.com at KYPS.

(b) Once you register,a set of codes will be mailed to you.Qty will be decided as per your choice.Say 80.

(c) These codes will look some thing like :

100 9?nRQuJ8p 110 DzobNpk?M 120 Xg1Z2kXsL 130 maXXcACKV

101 x0Ivy4XsB 111 jcK8p7JRl 121 WqJ6GXDz4 131 XfjKVH65p

102 ilKzybBE0 112 /nvspLbmr 122 VoaX7yI1 132 5ILuG5ddN

103 tXaRNJwk? 113 lcMEO?GN? 123 MjpXow3CI 133 vBbKpkXiT

104 lAJNJnfcZ 114 Lf?U7Zzyn 124 VX71za0+J 134 KGXkxsVc

(d) You go to a Cyber Cafe.Log into the KYPS site with your e-mail id.

(e) Select which e-mail you would like to access.

(f) Once selected, KYPS will ask you the equivalent code of 100 ie 9?nRQuJ8p

(g) and you log into the email page to access your mails.

(h) DONE.That's it.

6. RISK

The only risk you build here is that since you rely on KYPS which has your info in their server but they claim is never stored.So one risk closed is one risk open......thats the funny side of SECURITY

AMD : The Launch of ISTANBUL

1. I really wonder whats going to be the end of MOORE's Law.Where did the thing start from and whats going to be the conclusion or is their really going to be any?First it was the pentium, then pentium 2,then 3 ,then 4,then Core 2 duo,dual core,then it was Quad Core and now comes the launch of SIX PACK ABS .....sorry..I mean Six Core Processor,the first of its kind from the AMD,to be known as the ISTANBUL Processor.Why so named is still a question?

2. The good thing is that these processor can simply be used to replace and upgrade the existing lot of Quad Core processors ie the Opteron Series without investing again into the motherboard and making it obsolete.

3. Istanbul comes with a powerful DDR2 memory architecture and the AMD virtualisation technolgy.Just to be clear these are 6 distinct physical cores, just as the Shanghai processors contained 4 distinct physical cores. Each core comprises 512K of L2 cache and 128k of L1 cache. The L3 is a 6MB cache shared by the six cores.

4. This also comes as an answer to the Intel's "Nehalem" Xeons.I assume that with the launch of ISTANBUL,now the quad series of the AMD is heading for a conclusion and a farewell from the exisiting motherboards since Istanbul can simply fit into the same slot as the Quad core's.

5. So next after Istanbul will be ?????.......Afghanistan!!!!ha ha ha....long and fast lives the MOORE's Law.

USB DHAMAAAL!!!

1. The world of USB based gadgets is in for some real surprising things.Two of the recent ones that surprised me really are mentioned below.

2. USB Beverage chiller : The name says it all.

Features:

• Works w/ Soft Drinks, Coffee, Tea, and More
• High Efficiency - Works in Just a Few Minutes after Plugging into USB Port
• Draws Power Directly from USB Interface
• Plug and Play (No Driver Required)
• On Board Button to Switch from Warm to Chill
• Weight : 440 gm
• USB Cable length : 1.1 m

3. USB Mini Fridge : Again the name says it all.The features include :

• Powered entirely via your computer’s USB port
• Internal blue LED illumination
• Keeps one 12oz can of beverage chilly cold
• No batteries required

4. Where are we heading this way?

Check your ANTIVIRUS'es Loyalty : EICAR Way

1. The world of bloggers is increasing at an astonishing pace and there are lots and lots of good of them with loads of beneficial and estimable info. Recently I came across one good one that introduced me to "The European Institute for Computer Anti-Virus Research" (EICAR).

2. Now this was able to provide me a real cool trick that of testing the reliability of the antivirus being run. I tested the same on two computers. One with a antivirus loaded and the other one badly infected. I will now share the cream instead of minting words.

3. It is just a matter of simple cut & paste.Just do the following steps and the matter of how reliable your antivirus is will be taken care of.

(a) Open Notepad and paste the code given below

X5O!P%@AP[4\PZX54(P^)7CC)7}$EICAR-STANDARD-ANTIVIRUS-TEST-FILE!$H+H*

(b) Save the notepad with the name eicar.com

4. If ur Anti-Virus is powerful , it will stop u from saving .. Or atleast trap it few seconds after saving.

5. That’s it!!!!!So simple.So my infected computer was able to save the same and the F - secured one caught the moment I tried saving it and deleted it too!!!!!!!!Screen shot in set

6. Thanks EICAR and http://www.technotips24x7.co.cc/

UNIQUE IDENTIFICATION PROJECT : UID

1. We all know how the launch of PAN Cards and Voter ID Cards in the initial period say about 7-8 years or may be slimly earlier created discombobulation amongst the aam janta. Photos clicked, Data base created and then all got inter amalgamated and I got somebody else's pan card with a different pic and altogether different address with the age of my grandfather endorsed in BOLD.The thing and the vision seems to have ameliorated today.

2. Now on top of this Sarkaar plans to make a Unique Identity Card.Since the sarkaar never wanted to take a chance this time ,the onus of the culmination of the project has been given to INFOSYS and the over all coordinator is none other then Mr Nandan Nilekani,the co chairman of infosys.

3. The UID (Unique Identity) project is one of the most aspirational projects of the UPA government. The UID programme will provide an identity card to every citizen to establish citizenship and address security concerns.

4. The identity cards purported will be smart cards which will carry information of each and every individual, his/her finger biometrics as well as a photograph. A unique National Identity Number will be assigned to each individual including those below 18 years of age.

5. The government will spend around $6 billion on developing smart cards apart from a gigantic citizen database. Karnataka has reportedly been chosen as the pilot state to carry out the project.

6. The broad idea is to get all the births, deaths, marriages, passport data, bank account data, ration card data into one database. This will help all these offices to just tap into the central database as and when required and update their accounts.

7. In year 2000, Tata Consultancy Service was assigned with the task of studying the feasibility of this project. It came up with the report which said that the government would have to earmark around Rs 10,000 crore in three to four years, to implement it.The project would also require completely new software, capable of handling detailed information on at least one billion data entries.

8. This proposal that took almost a decade to become a project. And now the government is reportedly looking at a three-year term to complete the entire programme. I am slightly positive about this deadline being met as the project is in the hands of INFOSYS.

9. Info from http://infotech.indiatimes.com and http://www.ciol.com

NOW CHIP IN BATHING SOAP!!!!

1. I was really amazed to read this one in TOI today wherein I came to know that in few remote villages of south India,some panic occured after they found a chip resembling a pen drive in their toilet soaps.

2. This was prominent in a village near Bajpe and as rumours spread that the chip was a bomb or was inserted to make blue films, the villagers made a beeline to the police station. Police investigated and found that the chip was installed for collecting data. A team from Hindustan Lever Limited was conducting studies related to Lifebuoy soap and its usage in the village.

3. “There was nothing harmful in it. A chip was installed in the soaps as a part of the research. The team had visited about 28 houses. A representative from UK, Julian Collins had explained the villagers in detail about the project. The only mistake was that they had not obtained permission from the district administrator to conduct the research,” he added.

4. Though most of the houses had signed a consent letter for the use of the soap, on seeing the chip, they panicked. The company’s documents, however, showed everything was above board.Meanwhile, Sumathi, Project co-ordinator of the company said, “Hindustan Lever Limited was conducting a two-year project to study children’s health in connection with the use of Lifebuoy soap.

5. Thus chip was a data-collection card which entered data about the children’s health in relation to the number of times they used the soap.All documents regarding the research project are clear and the company had obtained permission from the superintendent of police and about 30-40 people were working on the project.

6. Wonder what else is in store when this can be claimed to be the begining of some sort in the name of research and

investigation!!!!

7. Some extract taken from http://www.punemirror.in

Are you secure at your friendly neighbourhood CYBER CAFE ?

1. This one comes after I have read a wonderful article in the DIGIT Carnival issue Jun 09 on Cyber café Security. This article covered how few Cyber Cafe’s with notorious intentions can play with crucial, critical and confidential information of the user who might have accessed his e-mail accounts or would have booked a flight ticket with his credit card or might have done some personal work on the cyber cafe’s PC.In the following paragraphs I would just go over the preventive measures in brief as outlined in that article. Genuine Informative CREAMY INFO THAT IS!!!!!!!!

2. PORTABLE WEB BROWSER : A portable web browser as the name suggests would be able to allow you to take bookmarks and passwords with you while not writing any information on the host computer. This allows to bypass key loggers who would be expecting that all that you type would be logged in one separate file unknown to the user. So this feature of the portable browser would allow you to access your accounts without typing and thus preventing from leaking your crucial info. But at the same time you have to be aware that PENDRIVE would be equal to your most precious thing in life….so don’t ever try and attempt loosing it.Mozzilla,Opera have these free softwares ready for download at the click of a button and Chrome is working still!!!!!

3. Another thing about the key logger software’s available in the market, yes they include OPEN SOURCE TYPE ALSO………so all the more vulnerable the user becoming a quarry. Key logger can be of two types :

a. Hardware Type – By using a small chip in the keyboard which makes by passing impossible.As shown in the figure below,we see a normal CPU rear from back and another PC with the malicious chip placed in between the cable.

b. Software Type – Can be activated with the help of a Trojan or with the help of a simple installation.

4. A software based key logger can either keep a record of what is being typed or would be able to take periodic screen shots while the user is using the PC.All this being sent to a remote server without the knowledge of the bechara user.Hai na kamaaal ke baat!!!!!!!!!!

5. VIRTUAL KEYBOARD : Although the endeavor of the cyber cafe PC user should be to ensure that in no circumstance, credit card details should be typed,but if at all it is marta kya na karta wali baat,then use of virtual keyboard should be exploited. This would be available as Start > Accessories > On Screen Keyboard.Although there are ways and means to even break this,but then there would never be a guarantee of sort…after all U R ON THE WEB BHAISAAAB…..every thing is accessible.

6. I would like to mention one more thing here….VIRTUAL KEYBOARDS/ON SCREEN KEYBOARDS are not a guarantee for ensuring safety. There are key loggers which are even configured to log only details from on screen key boards. There is a solution to this also and that is OBFUSCATION.

7. OBFUSCATION : This basically allows key loggers to log a certain combination of keys,while keying in different combination. There are some programs that are targeted at different obfuscation algorithm and thus by pass typing in the meat thing. Obfuscation is actually the deliberate hiding of the software's behavior, is used by malware authors as well as legitimate software developers. They both use code obfuscation techniques to keep curious souls from understanding how their software works and what it is doing to the computer on which it runs.A complex thing in itself but who needs to know that….aaam khao….not to worry of guthli!!!!!!!!!!!How to use it?Pl BING or Google.

8. Another important thing to be ensured is to protect your USB drive from Viruses.The first thing to do when you plug in your USB Drive into a public computer is to identify and disable malicious processes running. Process Explorer is a good utility for doing this.This is actually like windows task manager but with few more good options to work on. A Screen Shot from my lap top shown below.

9. Securely deleting data : Last but not the least…ensure using a good software that ensures that no trace of activity on the used computer is left behind.I recommend using ERASER and Free Commander ……tried and tested……………