Category: Technology

In Search of the next iPad Keyboard

The more I use my iPad (1, 2 and now 4), the more I think I need a keyboard. With a decent keyboard I can essentially leave the laptop computer at home, even though the laptop is already a very lightweight one. With a decent keyboard, I can browse the web, jot notes, tweet, update Facebook / Linkedin / Google+ status and compose / reply emails easily … and that’s pretty much all the things I do day in, day out.

So it’s like a mission to find the best keyboard for iPad. First, the original Zagg Solo – it’s a good one but not that protective. Then the updated Zagg ZAGGFolio – stylish, solid but heavy. Then I found a really good one – the Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard. It’s beautiful, lightweight, and with a comfortable keyboard. The only down side is that it cannot protect the iPad very well.

That is the reason why I backed the Brydge + project in Kickstarter. From the project page, the keyboard certainly looks like the perfect keyboard – rock solid, good keyboard, and come with a speaker. 9 months (!) after the project get funded, I finally received the keyboard – it’s heavy, thick, and with sticky keys. You can check out the project comment page on how upset all the other backers are, in fact many still have not received their keyboards.

I am still using this keyboard every single day, while waiting for the next one – Belkin Ultimate Keyboard for iPad or Logitech Folio Keyboard.

Yes, the more I use my iPad, the more I think I need a keyboard.

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AWS Cloud Security

Going to Vegas for the Amazon Re:Invent event is one of the best ways to learn about Cloud Computing and Cloud security. And the second best of course is to just browsing the slide decks or videos of the event, from your office or home. So here you go, fresh from the Internet, the course 206 of the security track – “Security of the AWS Cloud”.

And don’t forget to follow up with the slide decks of “AWS Cloud Security” and “Security and Compliance”

To cloud or not to cloud ?

If you ask the above question to the various cloud services providers, I am sure their answers are “Definite yes”.

If you ask the same question to end users, their answers may end up like “I really don’t care.”. And for the question again to business owners, their answers will probably are “May-be’s” because seriously no one really reveals all the cloud benefits, implementation pros and cons to them.

To IT professionals, however, we will probably provide a vague answer – “It depends.”. The long form of the answer is – “It depends on the maturity of the cloud market, technology and whether the solution available today can match your budget, quality requirements, and expected service level. More importantly, whether cloud technology and solutions can help your company to improve competitive advantage.”

That’s exactly what Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) and Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA) did in a recent survey to answer part of the question – what is the maturity of the cloud technology and market, now ? A collaborative project by CSA and ISACA , the Cloud Market Maturity study provides business and IT leaders with insight into the maturity of cloud computing.

The study also reveals that cloud users in 50 countries were least confident about the following issues (ranked from least confident to most confident):

  1. Government regulations keeping pace with the market (1.80)
  2. Exit strategies (1.88)
  3. International data privacy (1.90)
  4. Legal issues (2.15)
  5. Contract lock in (2.18)
  6. Data ownership and custodian responsibilities (2.18)
  7. Longevity of suppliers (2.20)
  8. Integration of cloud with internal systems (2.23)
  9. Credibility of suppliers (2.30)
  10. Testing and assurance (2.30)

None of these findings are really a surprise, I suppose, however it is important to conduct such project because it helps us to understand how the cloud market will change over time, and how it advances from infancy to full maturity.

Do check out the press release and the full report to understand more about the findings, or you can check out the following infographics – the whole report in one picture.

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4 key questions about your security programme

If you are the CISO of your organization and implementing a security programme, what questions shall you ask yourself to help realizing a successful programme rollout ? No, it is not about what software to use, what hardware to install, what process to put in place or even what vulnerabilities you are going to remediate or mitigate. In fact, they are:

  1. Are we doing the right things ?
  2. Are we doing them the right way ?
  3. Are we getting them done well ?
  4. Are we getting the benefits ?

Four simple questions about your security programme, all about the business results – but not technology, schedule, and resources. Four questions about the reality such that your company can make informed decision. In addition, each of the four questions can be further elaborated, for examples:

Are we doing the right things ?

  1. What technology, processes are proposed ?
  2. For what business outcome ?
  3. How do the deliverables within the programme contribute ?

Are we doing them the right way ?

  1. How will it be done ?
  2. What is being done to ensure that it will fit with other current or future capabilities ? (e.g. Business / Operational / Technical capabilities)

Are we getting them done well ?

  1. What is the plan for doing the work ?
  2. What resources and funds are needed ?

Are we getting the benefits ?

  1. How will the benefits be delivered ?
  2. What is the value of the security programme ?

You shall answer all the questions based on relevant, current accurate business-focussed information. By that time, I am sure, you will find that to have a successful security programme, it is no longer depending on the technology, process and policy only, but also an investment that has an enormous impact on creating and sustain business value.

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Log My Life

Back in the early 1980s’ when I was a Fortran programmer, it’s a doctrine to document every programs with very detailed comments. Roll forward 15 years, then when I developed the very first homepage of my own in year 1995, I started to log down the changes of my own website and showed those in the front page, with an aim to inform my site visitors the details of the website changes. And gradually, the “logs” included not only website changes, but also news, jokes, events, photos, videos and opinions.

As you may all know, these change logs (Web Logs) later was named as Blog (coined by Peter Merholz, who jokingly broke the word “weblog” into the phrase “we blog”) in year 1999.

And now I no longer develop programs (except some twists on scripts and PHP programs), but more and more, I am logging my life within the Internet … like a lifelogger but without those geeky devices.

Like it or not, every single day we are logging our lives with dozens of modern day Internet tools and social networks. I did a check lately and found that indeed I am sharing bits and pieces of my life one way or the other, every single day. And treating myself as a use case, here are the tools and services you can use to log your life if you want to, insanely …

  1. Start your usual day with the app Zite (or Flipboard) for iPad and start sharing your selected Internet, eCommerce, Media and Security news to Buffer (Buffer is a service to schedule your social sharings, highly recommended).
  2. For some more important news that shall not be “buffer-ed”, immediately share to social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and Google+.
  3. Throughout the day, browse your Facebook wall and Twitter tweets (with TweetDeck) to see what news you can further share to your friends and followers.
  4. For each place you visit in the day, check-in to FourSquare and take a photo with an aim to share it later to social networks, with or without touch-ups by Instagram. If time permits, record this in the beautiful app Path. In case you will forget where you’ve been, say two years later, you can subscribe to Memolane service to remind you.
  5. Whenever you see some good photos (food, pet, fashion, scenery etc. etc.), “pin” it with Pinterest tool. And for good articles and slides, save it to Dropbox for future reference.
  6. What about books ? Read your ebooks with Kindle and whenever you encounter a good line, share it to Facebook and Twitter again. Of course, don’t forget to tell your Linkedin connections what book you’re reading with the Amazon module.
  7. Then for the slides created in public speeches or presentations, share those though Slideshare. In addition, publish your own “social newspaper” thru Glos.si. And if you want your friends to get a printed copy of your sharings in Facebook, publish it through Yearlyleaf.
  8. With all these social interactions, closely monitor your Klout score to see whether your shall share, tweet and “like” even more …
  9. And about your work, document your career history in Linkedin, VisualCV and Vizify.
  10. Last but not least, keep your views and master pieces in your blog like this tiny little one …

So, are you ready to log your life ?

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