iPhone 4G found

I like what I see and I wish they will not re-hash the design just to be original at the intro. I hope Steve jobs will not lose much hair due to the incident.

The new iPhone looks less curved, more metallic, is thinner, has front camera (better be using the new videocall codec I've aspired for!) and ... the style reminds me of a great NOKIA phone, E72.

I am skipping 3GS, going straight for 4G. You?

PS. Cheers to the German beer!

Opera strikes a false note

I was an active Opera browser user for about 10 years.
But the time has come for me to stop that practice, and here's why.

To start with, I really like Opera. Or, liked - I should say.
It has pioneered way too many useful features to ignore -

built-in e-mail client with tagging and quick reply (M2)
built-in bookmark sync (Opera Link)
built-in BitTorrent client (although quite limited and slow)
Opera DialPad - replacement for your TV channels
page mini-thumb previews
tabs (yes, way way back before Firefox)
side panes for everything
notes
widgets
Magic Wand - you unobtrusive password helper, even for those site which do not allow to save it
and, lastly, Opera Unite and Opera Turbo (which I don't use)

Opera is a real all-in-one convenience, especially for multiple installations and platforms. It seriously helps achieve unified user experience across separate devices.
I had used it on two PCs, one Mac and two cell phones (S40 and UIQ2.1)
Bookmark sync was a bliss!

But, recent 10.x branch of desktop browser has been less than encouraging.
First off, there's been UI rehash in 10.0 to which one would have to accustom for quite a while. Then, there were some issues with my proxy detection PAC script - while easily processed by IE, it was not always taken well by Opera.
These issues were finally resolved, only to reappear in the latest 10.51.

But Oh, this 10.51 release is something.

The hideous thing is that it installed itself on top of my two 10.10 PC installations! No questions asked, no indication of a process given.
Sneakily and silently it installed itself, so when I reopened a closed Opera browser, the Windows Installer proceeded to set up my user environment and - voila - I had a new shiny un-asked-for release installed.
And guess what - I don't like it.

On one of my PCs, with User Switching enabled, it takes so much time to load. It also makes a simple wake-up operation take up almost 10 minutes with blank screen.
It clearly behaves in a CPU hog manner.
On another PC, it loses connectivity way too often, and I suspect "new and improved" PAC script logic. For instance, taking notebook off the docking station, I am losing Ethernet connection, then I dock it back - and have to restart Opera, because it obviously loses proxy connection, and goes direct.

I hate the new Microsoft-like "O" menu button in the top left.
This is the new Start button for you the netbook generation! :)
Takes one or two clicks more to do same stuff.

Mac version takes too long to start. Although I like the way it scrolls pages.
Smoooth!

So I have taken a look at three more browsers for PC - Apple Safari, Google Chrome, and Mozilla Firefox. And here's what I say.

Apple's Safari was my next turn, obviously, for having it on my Mac.
Once again, I was looking for a unified user experience, a browser I can rely on for both Mac and PC. (I am not using those cell phones anymore)

Safari pros:
- works great on a Mac
- works fast on a PC, too
Safari contras:
- has ugly unnatural looks on PC, trying to achieve mac's look with pc's means
- takes too much space in vertical dimension (three lines for my setup, IE8 takes two)
- bookmark sync is a paid option (mobileme.com costs $100/y)
FAIL (as compared to Opera I'm replacing, and the winner)

Google Chrome is very fashionable now, I see it more and more often, especially at web expos, where most of devs are Google-junkies/wannabes. So I took a spin on it and was not impressed...yet? "Yet" is too, the word which comes to mind when I think of Android. But I digress.

Chrome pros:
- fast
- Google-integrated, HTML5 support
Chrome contras:
- system colors are not respected nor used! I am on XP (Silver theme), do not show me bloody blue Vista-like buttons! WTF? Respect my environment, look and color prefs - do not supplant them!
- WTF with fullscreen (F11) mode? I raise the mouse to top bar - and see no menu, no address line only some useless nag?
FAIL ("yet"?)
By the way, "Chrome" is "lame" in Russian.
Not that I hate it, it's just "not there yet".

And the winner is: Mozilla Firefox

Why?

Firefox pros:
- nice look, respects colors and style
- fast
- has free bookmark sync plug-ins
- does not cause "hanging" when waking up
- does not hog CPU on user-switched setups
- most sites are tested on it (although Opera was also OK in that regard for me)
Firefox contras:
- not the same look on mac - but I guess I don't want it to look like Safari on a PC
- there were problems updating it on a mac, "locked" dynlib files in Trash, even after restart
- popular - could be exploited successfully - will need often updates
Well, I guess it still much better on PC than the rest.

It's not the fist time Opera screwes up. But it's time to change.
Thanks for 9.x-10.10 though, it's been a great ride.

Cracking RSA SecurID

Yes, I cracked it! Read on for details.

There are surprisingly few hits on Google, if you search the topic.

So I, having the token, decided to take the matter into my own hands.

First of all, you'll need clean well-lit place and a strong knife.
Click over to Picasa and see the slideshow:

Crack RSA with only hands and a knife

For those who are lazy to go there, the most intriguing part is how easily can some circuitry contacts be exposed, and that means one can temporarily gain possession of your token, run some attacks on it, replace the glued-on stub and you will not notice a shit!

Could this be the reason they've obsoleted those?

In search for ... a better keyboard

Have you noticed how keyboards get smaller and worse, over the years?

My Apple Pro keyboard (1999-2001) from the PowerMac G4 Cube died on me, and suddenly I was in the market for a decent keyboard.

And I did not like what I saw.

Apple have shifted production to a simple piece of aluminum, which fits my kitchen more than my desk (not to say my fingers). Later on, they cut down on this piece of aluminum, getting rid of the numeric pad. These keyboards, being shipped with Mac Pro, it's a pitiful sight now...

Then I found old bookmark to Matias Pro keyboard, but online research told me that they're loud, and have their own quirks.

Knowing Logitech and Microsoft usually make good peripherals, I am looking at their offerings.

What do you use and prefer, guys?

E-mail encryption with FREE certificate

Hi, I've just discovered this interesting offering from DOCOMO:

The only caveat, compared to Thawte's WoT which came way of Dodo:

It does not verify persona.

So, what it's good for, and what - not?
It's still attractive for those who want to play without pay. I believe this case covers 90% or more, however sad that may sound.
It's also good for personal authentication as long as you know that:
(1) e-mail address belongs to an identified person (say, your friend whose e-mail you can positively identify from your previous transactions)
AND
(2) that it's really your friend who's gotten that free DOCOMO offer first.

Because even though your friend still may have access to his e-mail box, so may the bad guy have. And it's not hard for that bad guy to jump first and get that certificate, and peruse it for his deceptive purposes.
There is no persona verification, nobody goes to WoT notary with his passport and another photo Id, so whoever gets that certificate, and has access to the e-mail box (with no SSL used and abundance of free open WiFi it's not hard to do) - can positively forge his identity and make you believe that you are communicating over encrypted channel to your trusted partner.

In other words, "better than nothing", but "nothing for some".
Try it, use it, message me...

Note: did not work in Opera 10.10 (PC), had to use IE

Apple IS going towards video calling, after all!

Exactly as I envisioned 8 months ago, Apple seems to be moving towards a new and worthy accomplishment - getting bloody unfortunate heretofore Video Calling to the masses.

There are news spread around, and for me - that's rigid proof enough.

It would be nice if they expand some 3GPP standards, in part of video codecs - and open those for everybody else.
Such move would give more installed base of "new" video callers, and more chances to "connect people", bringing benefits to CSP.

Knowing Apple's business tactics, though, I find it highly unlikely that they release such feature to non-Apple users.
Most likely only iPad/iPhone users will be able to visually connect with those new features.
Selling more Apple devices is of course more important than "unduly taxing" CSP network.
Apple's got to know by now - they don't like it!

We're about to watch enrollment of a "new" killer app for 3G, folks!
I told you there were only two major ones, and this one was woefully amiss from the great platform.

AOL fixes Sent Items

There's hope to AOL.

They have finally fixed the long-standing, pesky issue with sent e-mails, which they "managed" even for IMAP accounts, by placing them into "Sent" folder.
While that was quite OK for web clients, this functionality posed a problem for signed/encrypted mail, as well as duplication of saved sent e-mails.

I wrote to AOL earlier last year and later in October and 3 months later (today) they do the fix. Hurray!

Hello,
there are some issues in your e-mail service.
More specifically, digitally-signed e-mails become "tampered with" in status, as they are automatically moved BY YOUR SYSTEM (not my e-mail client) into Sent Folder.
I am including one of many such e-mails in attachments.

It is also of note that I previously contacted you about this "auto copy" functionality - this feature is completely unneded on IMAP interface, as most IMAP e-mail client programs are able to perform this on their own.
It is exactly this feature that causes also troubles with signed and encrypted e-mails as I described in first paragraph.

In case you need more info/descriptions, please connect me to developers/admins.
I am a system engineering architect myself, in telecom.

Thank you.

And the response team strikes back:

Dear cubeover,

If you access your email using third party software, such as Outlook or Thunderbird, please read this important message.

We want to inform you of a change to our email infrastructure that will result in copies of sent emails no longer being automatically placed in your Sent folder when sent via third party email software, as of Tuesday, February 2, 2010.

In order for you to continue having your sent emails automatically placed in your Sent folder on February 2, 2010 or later, you will need to make a change in your email software settings no later than February 1, 2010. Please note that you will not be required to enter your AOL login and password as part of this process.

Below are links to help articles on how to update the settings for the most common email software

Outlook 2007

Outlook 2002/2003

Outlook Express

Thunderbird for Windows and Mac

Mail on Mac OS X

Please make the necessary updates as soon as possible.

The infrastructure change we are making will only affect email sent through third party email software. Email sent using AOL software (AOL 9.0, 9.1, 9.5, Desktop), AOL webmail, or a mobile device such as a Blackberry or iPhone will continue to have copies of sent email placed in the Sent folder.

Thank you for using AOL Mail.

Regards,
The AOL Mail Team

I can only add that of all times I tried to ask Yahoo! Mail team for similar fixes (mostly related to handling of international char encodings), none succeeded.
I got usual third-world support banter instead, and promptly decided to close my Y! account, few years ago.