My wife and I were privileged to be invited to the Mrs G’ Very Import Blogger (VIB) event on Wednesday January 27th hosted by Debbie Schaeffer, CEO of Mrs G’s TV and Appliances in Lawrenceville, NJ. The event was planned and promoted by Hillary Morris, a blogger and owner of the social event planning company, H. Morris Solutions.. The VIB event provided an opportunity to network with some of the blogging talent in the Princeton area and also a chance to see the Mrs G’s store for the very first time. I met Sue Gordon who writes for the Examiner and blogs for Food Network Musings. I met two expert mommy bloggers, Bay and Heather. Bay blogs at Queen Mother Blog, a blog about the daunting task of saving money. Heather – The Penny Pinching Mama – is a mother of a 13 month old and “home finance manager”. If you are looking for contests and give-aways, Heather’s blog is the place to find it.

The guest speaker, Dr. Joanna Dolgoff is a Princeton University graduate and Board Certified pediatrician. She is also the author of a book on childhood nutrition, Red Light, Green Light, Eat Right. The book gives parents a fun way to learn and apply healthy knowledge to everyday activities. Dr. Dolgoff gave an overview of the problems facing many parents, namely how to develop healthy eating habits and fend off obesity. She highlighted the growing trend of child hood obesity, letting us know that it was in our power as parents to guide our kids to making healthy food choices.

Dr. Joanna Dolgoff speaking about childhood obesity

After Dr. Dolgoff’s presentation, we had a break to eat some delicious low-fat turkey and vegetarian chili and tour Mrs G. show room. It was my first time and I am very impressed.

Mrs. G TV & Appliances is a 3rd generation family owned Retail Appliance and TV super store that has had an outstanding reputation in New Jersey and Pennsylvania for over 70 years. Mrs. G is located on the north bound site of Route 1 in Lawrenceville and has outlasted retail chains like Crazy Eddie and Tops. The store showroom has stunning displays of home appliances from Sub-Zero, Wolf, Miele, Monogram, Viking, Frigidaire, Electrolux, Kitchen Aid, Jenn Air and more. I especially enjoyed touring the the Living Kitchen. Looking at the display, I felt my current kitchen was inadequate and immediately wanted a re-model.

Twiiter links:
@PennyPinchingMa
@QueenMotherBlog
@MrsMoNJ
@DebbieSchaeffer

IDF reinforces its support to translational research in diabetes with the second round of its funding programme, BRIDGES (Bringing Research in Diabetes to Global Environments and Systems).

Nine new diabetes research projects will be funded for a total of US$2 million over the next three years as part of the International Diabetes Federation’s (IDF) translational research grant programme, BRIDGES.

A total of 157 applications were considered for the second round of funding. The chosen projects address important issues in primary and secondary prevention of diabetes in different parts of the world.

“BRIDGES is a key programme for IDF’s work and mission. The support of translational research projects is critical in a world facing various global health challenges, including diabetes,” said IDF President Jean Claude Mbanya.

“Just like the first phase, this round of the programme has a true global impact. The research carried out will have far reaching implications in Austria, China, Colombia, Haiti, India, the Philippines, South Africa and the US,” Prof Mbanya added.

The projects focus on topics such as lifestyle intervention to prevent type 2 diabetes, gestational diabetes, peer support, foot inspection for the visually impaired and the  impact of motivational interviewing.

A full description of each project is available at www.idfbridges.org

For more information, contact
Nancy Matos
Communications Officer, International Diabetes Federation
Email: nancy.matos@idf.org
Tel: +32-2-543-1639
Mobile: +32-492817785

Note to editors:
The International Diabetes Federation (IDF) is the global advocate for more than 285 million people with diabetes worldwide. It represents over 200 diabetes associations in more than 160 countries. Its mission is to promote diabetes care, prevention and a cure worldwide. IDF is in official relations with the World Health Organization and associated with the United Nations Department of Public Information. Visit www.idf.org for details.
BRIDGES or Bringing Research in Diabetes to Global Environments and Systems is the global grant programme of the International Diabetes Federation supported by an educational grant from Eli Lilly and Company. It provides funding for translational research pilot projects and outcome studies over the course of seven years. Relevant topics include methods and strategies to improve health care delivery to people with and at risk of diabetes; enhance diabetes self management; promote healthy lifestyles or lifestyle change to reduce the risk of diabetes; and identify people with pre-diabetes and undiagnosed diabetes in cost-effective ways.

I was exchanging e-mail with a number of former work colleagues who are Mac users. Not everyone was in love with the iPad. Some called just a bigger iPod Touch while some think it’s the device most of our non-tech family could use the most. Posted below is a response from one of those colleagues, Johnny:

Earlier I said the iPad is for consumers and Apple. When Apple came out with the iPod, no one expected them to do so. It took a bit of time but it caught on. Today it is the ubiquitous music player. I grew up with the Walkman. It was revolutionary for its time. God knows how many tape I’ve worn out in one. The iPod has totally replaced it in scale and popularity. When Apple came out with the iPhone, it was heavily rumored for years (much like the iPad). Expectations were created. I think they’ve hit a home run. Now, Apple is expected to deliver that mojo to every market they decide to stick their foot in. Those are big shoes to fill. The only big news out of CES this year was for people to display their tablets in hopes of upstaging Apple’s announcement. No one was willing to commit on pricing because they wanted to see what Apple would deliver. What OS ran on those tablets? Win7 Starter and Android. OS’s that are totally divorced from the hardware.

Apple designed the iPad totally from the ground up. They are not beholden to anyone for their wares (unlike Dell/HP tablets which will have to run Win7 Starter). Apple is in control of everything: size, scale, battery, software, hardware. They don’t have to design around someone else’s limitations. In some ways, the iPad is a triumph for Apple. Multitouch, their own batteries, and now, their own CPU/GPU (although some claim they just retooled existing stuff). They will be able to design stuff in secret. Everything suspected Apple was working on SoC (system on chip) but no real leaks came out about it. When Apple starts sourcing parts, people take notice and try to figure out what Apple is building. Plus when you use sourced parts, people are able to compare you directly to your competitors. How many times have folks compared like-for-like hardware of Intel-based Macs to their PC equivalents? With their own CPU/GPU it will be harder to compare. You can bet the next iPhones and iPods will use in-house silicon. Apple has removed that piece as a limitation.

Why did they focus so hard on iWork? Because iWork is a very important part of their software stack for the iPad (and any possibly future Mac versions). One of the dings Apple would take is that the iPad doesn’t come with any office productivity. All the netbooks come with something. This gives further credence that the iPad is trying to be more than just a big iPod Touch. The challenge is how do you bring multitouch and make it useful? More than just a mouse replacement? Look at the current touch enabled computers. The HP all in one. iMac meets touchscreen. If you’re running some program that is all touchscreen, fine. But I think it would be a pain to use everyday. Up touching the screen, down on the keyboard. Back up on the screen again. Down on the keyboard. Tapping on a vertical keyboard surface like that only works on kiosks and in restaurants. Same thing could be said for the tablet laptops out there. Fold the screen flat and walk around like Dr. Huer (on Buck Rogers in the 25th Century). Need to type something? Open up the lid, access the keyboard and clack away. You’re still limited to what the Windows OS would support as input. The OS is built around mouse driven technology. Apps are mostly designed that way. People are forced to think in those terms for input.

Apple is trying to break everyone of thinking in these ways. iWork was redesigned for multitouch as your only input. Your hands never leave the screen. Keyboards will show up when you need them, disappear when you don’t. You don’t waste any space having a permanent keyboard that may or may not be used alot. The Kindle is an eReader but the hardware could be the model of what a flat tablet could look like if you didn’t have multitouch. People complain about the lack of feedback in a virtual keyboard. This will be the test to see if folks can really use it. Considering that a lot of consumers (target audience of the iPad) still hunt and peck, lack of feedback might not be a big deal because they will be staring at the keyboard anyway. iWork is a catalyst to consumers and developers to think about what can be achieved when using multitouch as the primary interface to a device. Developers embracing multitouch like it is implemented in iWork will help substantiate the iPad as more than just a big iPodTouch. Apple has also thought about accessories. The 30-pin connector to USB/SD is a way third parties can bring accessories to the iPad. Look at the case too (My God! I would not want to have to use it without one. I’d drop it for sure.). The case protects it. The case also shows you that the iPad can be used on a stand and also as a lapdesk or have it elevated on a flat surface. You saw one of the challenges of a touch screen during the keynote. You can hold it up to point at things. You have to lay it down to type. The keyboard dock is the answer to people who type and/or want keyboard feedback. In all of this, Apple is giving people ideas on how this should work but is not going to limit how things can be done.

Working in Product Development, I’ve learn to accept a certain level of unknowns in a product roadmap. Sometimes things go off in a different direction than you expected (like the iPhone/iPodTouch as a gaming platform). Sometimes what you expect in execution happens. Sometimes you have an idea and you know someday it will be solved but not today. You give third parties and yourself time to work towards that goal of someday. The iPad could not exist 5 years ago. It will be interesting to see what the iPad becomes 5 years from now.

As just a big iPodTouch, I don’t think the iPad will survive. It has to be more in order to reboot a market that has struggled from the get-go. Apple needs the help of the third party (developers, content people, hardware/software add-ons) to keep this from being a flop. Considering the success of the iPhone/iPodTouch, I think iPad’s chances are good.

I’m sorry for writing a book here. Like usual, I have a lot to say.

Johnny

Last weekend, I attended a photo meetup in the Newport area of Jersey City hosted by John Bodensiek. The weather was cold but dry. We met outside at the Starbucks next to the Newport PATH station. I had everything all set – two SD cards, two tripods, a zoom and prime lens, lens cleaner and …. I forgot the battery for the Nikon D40 in the charger at home.  Argh! I used the only other camera I had with me – a Sony HDR-CX7.  The Sony is an HD video camera with a 6MP image sensor and VERY limited manual settings. Despite the cold, with John’s excellent direction I was still able to get some decent shots.  At least until the lights went down.

Midtown by Khürt, on Flickr

So you just got your new Mac and are excited to start using it. You’ve heard a lot about how Macs are easy to use and how secure they are. You’ve seen the ads on TV showing how Windows is susceptible to viruses and hacking and Macs are (supposedly) immune. Apple’s marketing machine and Steve Jobs reality distortion field are in full effect. Your’re ready to hit the on button and get to playing. Well … Halt! The truth is no computer system, including your shiny new Mac, is immune from attack. There are a few steps you can take to make sure you new Mac is setup to stay as safe as possible. I’ll be detailing these steps in a series of blog postings. Mac OS X (Snow Leopard) has quite a few security features. OS X can prevents hackers or malicious code from harming your computer by restricting actions by applications and services, securing files and network services, and limiting what users can do. I’ll be breaking the blogs steps down following this loose outline.

• Accounts
  • Standard and Administrator Accounts
  • Creating strong passwords
  • Auto-login
• Network
  • Wireless Network Security
  • Virtual Private Network
  • Bluetooth Security
• Firewall
  • File System
  • FileVault
  • Master Password
• Applications and Services
  • Disable unused services
  • Secure services – restrict access levels by user
  • Bluetooth Sharing
  • Application Firewall
  • Parental controls
  • Software Update

Don’t be an Administrator

Mac OS X has three account types – Administrator, Standard, and Managed (with Parental Controls).

Administrator: An administrator account user can create, delete, and modify accounts, install software, and change system settings. Since administrators have such broad access, you should limit the number of administrator accounts created.

Standard: Standard account users cannot administer other accounts, but can install software for their own use and change settings related to their accounts.

Managed with Parental Controls: In an account managed by parental controls the administrator can place restrictions on: inappropriate Internet content, the amount of computer use, and access to applications, email, iChat.

When you take your Mac out of the box, it is securely configured to meet the needs of most common environments, so you don’t need to be a security expert to set up your computer. When you first setup your Mac, OS X will prompt you to you create your first user account. To keep things simple Apple set this by default to be a system administrator account. Operating your Mac with an account with such high level access leaves you vulnerable to malicious software that may have installed itself when your clicked that innocent looking video link in an email from your friend (except it was from a hacker using your friends email account). The Administrator should be used only when absolutely necessary to perform administrative tasks.

Create a Standard Account

The best security practice with any computer, is to create individual standard user accounts for each person who regularly uses the computer. Each user will have a separate home folder and can adjust his or her own account preferences without affecting the accounts of others users. In this way, only applications trusted by the user may receive administrative privileges, and malicious software may be kept from compromising the operating system.  This is how most large companies create and manage user account for all their computer systems.

To create a standard user account in OS X (10.5 or 10.6) launch System Preferences->Accounts and click on the “+”. Enter a full name and a short name (short name can be anything), password, and a password hint. Don’t use a password hint that makes it obvious what the actual password would be.

Click the little lock icon and OS X will provide help with generating strong easy to remember passwords. I like to use short phrases to generate my password – using the first letter of each word in the phrase. I also like to throw in a few non-alpha characters. For example, “Mac user are the most creative!” would lead to password “Muatmc!”.

When a user attempts to install an application or change a system preference he/she will need to enter the user name and password for the administrator account. Most of us don’t have a need to change system preferences or install applications very often so this is a minor inconvenience for an increase in system security.

Login Options

There are some other account settings that help prevent others from getting access to your sensitive information. To enable these options click on the “Login Options” (the little house icon) in the Accounts pane of System Preferences. OS X allows you to setup an account so that your Mac automatically logs into that account on boot up. If you enable this option, anyone with physical access to your Mac ( a thief for example ) would be able to gain easy access to all your files. Turn it off.

Stay tuned

In the next article I will give some advice on securing your wireless network and locking down your Macs networking services.

When my MobileMe account came up for renewal, I let it expire. I did not need it. I had found cheaper and better alternatives.

When Apple’s $99 MobileMe service was released I was quick to register. With MobileMe I could access my mail, contacts, and calendar information in the “cloud” and keep everything in sync across my Macs, my iPod Touch (not iPhone for me as yet), and the web automatically. I could upload my photos to a web gallery and invite my friends and family to view my photo slideshow and download their favorites. iDisk allowed me to store and share files online and access them from another Mac, or from my iPod Touch or from a web browser on any computer. With iDisk Sync, I could keep a copy of my iDisk files on my local hard drive for offline editing and when I reconnected my changes would automatically sync back to my iDisk.

However, when my subscription for MobileMe came up for renewal I let it lapse. Why? I’ve been using the Google Mail service since it launched in 2004 and with Snow Leopard I am able to sync my Gmail to Mail.app, my Google Calendar to iCal, and my Google Contacts to AddressBook. I can access these services from any computer with a web browser (I prefer Google Chrome), any Mac on which I have an account, and from my iPod Touch (and iPhone if I had one). All for FREE!

But what about MobileMe’s Gallery feature? I’ve had a Flickr Pro account for a few years. For just $24.95/year, Flickr provides me with unlimited uploads and storage for high-resolution original images and high-definition video. With a free Flickr account, you can upload 2 videos and 100MB worth of photos each calendar month. I can create slideshows, edit my photos, share with friends and family, or link my photos back to my blog. Don’t try any of that with MobileMe.

While MobileMe provides 20GB of storage that space is used for all your email, calendar, address book, photos, and files. With my photos hosted on Flick, and my email,calendar and address book safely stored on Google’s super reliable “cloud”, I found that I did not need much online file storage. I started using Dropbox. Dropbox allows me to sync my files online and across multiple computers (Mac, Linux and Windows) – automatically. The free version provides 2GB of online storage, which is quite sufficient for my needs. Sharing files is simple and Dropbox provides access to my files via any web browser and my iPod Touch. Oh, and it also provides interactive photo galleries.

So, yes, I let my MobileMe account expire. And I did not miss it. My wallet felt a little heavier too. I had saved about $75.

Then a few months later I was working on my brother-in-laws Mac and needed access to files on my Mac mini. Of course, the very files I needed would not be on my Dropbox account. I had no way to access my Mac mini. It was then that I realized how useful MobielMe’s “Back to My Mac” feature is.

Back to My Mac puts any Mac OS X Leopard or Snow Leopard Mac you use within easy reach. MobileMe finds your remote Mac computers over the Internet and displays them in the Finder on the Mac you’re using. With Back to My Mac Screen Sharing, you can control your remote Mac as though you’re sitting in front of it.

Fortunately my brother-in-law lives near my home but Back to My Mac would have been more convenient than driving back home, copying the files to the Dropbox folder, and driving back to my brother-in-law’s home. I did not like that. I had to find a solution. A few weeks later I discovered an application from YazSoft called ShareTool. ShareTool lets you access all of the Bonjour services on your home network from anywhere. This includes iTunes Music Sharing, Screen Sharing, File Sharing, printing, and more. In effect with ShareTool I can remotely access any Mac service on my home network as though I was physically on the home network.

Once installed, ShareTool presents the user with two choices of operation – Connect or Share. The Share options configures a Mac to provide services over the Internet while the Connect options allows the remote Mac to connect to that share node. Click the Share button and ShareTool automatically configures your router and the current Mac with the proper network settings. To connect to a remote host over the Internet from your other Mac you’ll need information about the Internet address address and port that the remote ShareTool host is using. Don’t worry about writing this down as ShareTool contains a feature that will email this information to you when you setup the “Share”. Simply copy that information from the email into the other ShareTool and start working.

ShareTool provides a number of other features to make accessing your Mac over the Internet both easy and secure. You can specify exactly which Bonjour services are available including, iTunes Music Sharing, iPhoto Picture, sharing, Apple File Sharing, Windows file sharing, Screen Sharing, SSH, printing or any other service running on the remote Mac that uses the Bonjour service. I have my HD TiVo set to share files with my Mac via Bonjour. From work I am able to pull up one of my recorded TV shows and watch it during my lunch hour. I’m the paranoid type and allow access to my computer over the open Internet can be scary, so I am happy that ShareTool encrypts it communication using AES-128 bit encryption and uses a unique and randomly generate key each time a connection is created. ShareTool can also be used over a VPN and provides an audit feature so I can see exactly which users are using the service.

When sharing my network I configured ShareTool to send an email with the connection information, automatically update an external DNS service, and auto launch iTunes and iPhoto. From the comfort of my desk I can listen to my entire iTunes library over the Internet. How sweet it is. When connecting to my home network from work ShareTools will show me my home network just as though I was sitting at home. I can see all my Macs in the Finder, connect to them, open and edit files, move, create or delete folder – pretty anything I could do while at home. I am able to connect to my Time Capsule over the Internet and setup Time Machine to use the remote Time Capsule for backup.

I am still playing around with ShareTool but I have not discovered any limitations to what I can do over the Internet. The trial copy of ShareTools limits each session to just 15 minutes but this is enough time to discover the true potential of this awesome tool. ShareTool is just $20 for a single license but you can get a discount when additional licenses are purchased.