Password? No Barrier for a Hacker.

This was published on Technorati.com
http://technorati.com/technology/it/article/password-no-barrier-for-a-hacker/
Published: April 27, 2013 at 9:35 pm

No matter how carefully thought out your password, no matter how complex it is, if you type it on a keyboard, (irrespective of language or symbol), as we all must do, it is no challenge to a hacker.

Yet another major website
( LivingSocial.com ) falls prey to a hacking attack. What was the treasure hackers were after? What is the bounty they lust after?

Well, approximately 50 million email addresses and passwords for starters.
In a USA Today interview, C.E.O. Tim O'Shaughnessy stated: "We recently experienced a cyber-attack on our computer systems that resulted in unauthorized access to some customer data from our servers. We are actively working with law enforcement to investigate this issue,". He went on to say "Although your LivingSocial password would be difficult to decode, we want to take every precaution to ensure that your account is secure, so we are expiring your old password and requesting that you create a new one."

What an understatement. The fact is, passwords are becoming totally useless for several reasons. which I will outline here, but first, it's important to know HOW hackers get your password in the first place. The vast majority of the public don't have a clue what is really happening out there.

Sit down and buckle up, let's go.

The age old art of cracking passwords has advanced capabilities so much so in the last 5 years, than it did in several decades combined. This is due to two reasons:

#1. The average person uses weak passwords, and re-uses them on multiple different sites, so if one site is compromised, down come the house of cards.

With each major security breach over the years, over 100 Million real-world passwords have provided hackers (more accurately called CRACKERS) with an immense database of compiled data, giving them a broad picture about password behavior. This compiled information allows CRACKERS to program sophisticated software to crunch through algorithms and immense amounts of data, which leads to reason:

#2. The computer hardware hackers are using now is advancing faster than you can image. Most people have a password that is 8 characters or less in length. Crackers can now crunch through 16 character passwords with ease.

By combining this raw computational ability, with a massive database of known passwords, regular passwords are now compromised almost instantaneously, allowing the computing horsepower to focus on the longer passwords, making it easier and faster to crack through them as well.

A THIRD issue, is that most websites encrypt passwords using cryptographic algorithms that were never designed to protect passwords, for example, SHA1, DES, NTLM/MD4, MD5, etc. ( LivingSocial.com was using SHA1 ) They use these so they can encrypt plain text passwords, and do it incredibly quickly. Unfortunately, they can be decrypted just as quickly.

What can be done? Websites need to start using encryption designed specifically for securing and protecting passwords, like the SHA512crypt, or BCrypt, which uses a variant of the Blowfish encryption algorithm’s keying schedule. This would definitely slow the crackers down a bit, but not forever, and certainly not guaranteed.

The end result is passwords are OUR responsibility. Make them long, change them frequently, and don't use the same password at multiple sites. That's just the way it is.

P.S... Don't count on services like 1Password either, as services like these also have serious vulnerabilities.

Chocolate Ice Cream. Can You Taste the Technology?

This was published on Technorati.com
http://technorati.com/technology/article/chocolate-ice-cream-can-you-taste/
Published: August 06, 2012 at 5:33 pm

There is more tech in those chocolate chips than you can possibly imagine. Talk about kilobyte karma in your Ben and Jerry's Karamel Sutra!

First it was home computers, then cell phones, Apple ipad tablets, flat screen TVs, technology is now completely ingrained, integrated, and inseparable from our everyday lives. Now, technology takes yet another step, designing the actual food that we eat. Ice Cream.

Not just the ingredients, but way down to the molecular level, changing the way it tastes, feels, consistency, and shelf life. This is Einstein Level particle physics at work here.

Dr. Alan Gray, at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, stated: "If you zoom in and look at substances and were able to view them at a microscopic level, you would see that there are actually made up from quite complicated structures of different materials."

Jay Gould, at Cray supercomputer, said "...you've got to have a lot of compute power, It's not just a laptop...if you used just a laptop to generate some of these computations, it might take five lifetimes."

Cray super computer published a special document that explains it as "Over the last 12 years, a collaboration between the University of Edinburgh’s Soft Condensed Matter Physics group and the Edinburgh Parallel Computer Centre (EPCC) has developed simulations of soft matter systems using the lattice Boltzmann method and the parallel computing code "Ludwig" to accurately capture the physics of systems such as mixtures, suspensions and liquid crystals. Understanding and controlling the phase separation of liquid mixtures, for example, prevents the formation of those ice cream compromising ice crystals and improves the shelf-life of frozen desserts - one of the many practical applications of the research." The full document can be viewed here, while the Nvidia blog is here.

Initially researchers ran the code on over 200,000 cores on the Cray XT5 Jaguar system at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, then switched over to a GPU system that used fewer resources.

Controlling "phase separation" in ice cream can also benefit other complex liquids, such as motor oil, cosmetics, paints, and other foodstuffs.

The next time you lick your favorite flavor, think about the storm of electrons it took swirling around to fabricate the taste, texture, and experience you are enjoying in your mouth.

The Boogie Man In Your Pocket

This was published on Technorati.com
http://technorati.com/technology/article/the-boogie-man-in-your-pocket/
Published: July 24, 2012 at 5:36 am

You have a smartphone? It's already too late. He has your bank account number, passwords, confidential friends list, and much more. Forget your social security number and your fingerprints, all a professional fraudster needs is your smartphone. It's the equivalent of a burglary in one insidious move. He doesn't even have to steal it.

Every day it seems, you hear about security breaches at major companies like Sony, and personal attacks via viruses attacking your home computer, identity theft, etc. There are many news stories (UK telegraph & Mashable for example) giving examples how vulnerable smart phones are.

No doubt about it, the boogie man is out there, and he is hot on your heels after you. Now there is yet one more way he can get to you, find out your user names, passwords, who you call, who calls you, who your friends are, your calendar agenda, and even track where you go. The vast majority of people are wide open to attack without even realizing it.

Your Smartphone. It has a processor, memory, an operating system, it is a COMPUTER shrunk down into the palm of your hand that happens to have a phone function, but it is primarily a computer.

Your smartphone is every bit as vulnerable as your home computer, in fact even more so, because we do absolutely nothing to protect them. Most people install antivirus software on their computers, but somehow, not our phones, yet we use our smartphones to store highly personal information on, such as banking details, credit card numbers, employee number, etc.

Compounding this, more and more apps are relying on device browsers to run, while browsers on mobile devices aren't as secure as home computers.

Small screen sizes also inherently add to the problem of people out and about on the go hastily clicking on links without really reading and understanding what they are doing.

This is a particularly juicy target for nefarious individuals who want to do you harm. In fact, McAfee, the antivirus company that regularly releases threat reports, states that in the fourth quarter of 2011, the number of mobile malware samples jumped from less than 150 in the third quarter of 2011, to well over 400 in the fourth quarter.

According to McAfee, the first Android exploit came with the first SMS Trojan discovered in the wild in 2010, since then the landscape has become more and more volatile, with sophisticated  malicious code seen in the official Android Market during the first half of 2011 like DroidDream, DroidKungFu, and Plankton.

I have compiled a list of ways you can protect yourself and prevent your device from falling under the control of someone else...

* Don't click links in emails that may have you download something or sign in to a website using your username and password. Always go directly to the website. For example, if you get email from Bank of America, don't click any links in it. Instead go to the Bank Of America website directly by typing in the URL in your browser.

* Don't visit websites that aren't "known" to you. You have very little to fear from Ebay, Amazon, Google, CNN, etc... but unknown websites with lots of ads are just waiting to inject some nasty malware code into your device via your browser.

* APPS: The ultimate culprit, trojans. There are thousands of apps tempting you to download some free new super app that does wonderful things, but hiding within may well be malicious code with evil intent, even opening a backdoor into your device to transfer your information out.

* WiFi: Try to avoid using public WiFi on your smartphone. This opens up your device to the wild west of the unknown on the internet because there aren't any network security measures in place. Public WiFi hotspots are playgrounds for hackers seeking to harvest data from your mobile device.

* Activate installation password protection measures to prevent your device from downloading apps or files without your permission

* Install antivirus software on your smartphone, tablet, or other mobile device. Among some of the mobile security software offerings:

Total Defense, formerly a division of CA Technologies.

Webroot offers protection for both Android and iOS devices

Macafee Mobile Security

Norton offers Norton Mobile Security 2012

and finally Kapersky Mobile rounds out the list.

Good luck out there. Enjoy your device, you can, if you exercise a bit of awareness and common sense.

Techno Desire Cubed

This was published on Technorati.com
http://technorati.com/technology/article/techno-desire-cubed/
Published: March 12, 2012 at 5:49 am

Behold the latest advancement in personal computing by Xi3.com. This tiny tot of a computer packs a behemoth punch of computing power. We have come a very long way in 31 years since IBM first introduced the first (now considered a monstrosity) Personal Computer (5150 PC) in 1981.

Just so you tech buffs don't start arguing amongst yourselves as to the original PC specs were, here they are: CPU: Intel 8088, 4.77MHz, RAM: 16K,(640K max), Display: 80 X 24 text, Storage: dual 160KB 5.25-inch disk drives, Ports: cassette & keyboard only,OS: PC-DOS v1.0.

Xi3 has managed to truly re-design the PC from the ground up. Gone is the run of the mill single motherboard design concept we are all used to seeing in both desktops and laptop form. Instead, they use a modular back plane architecture concept. Because the Xi3 architecture separates standard system components, such as processor and memory, from customer or special application requirements, the Xi3 design approach allows for rapid and inexpensive development of new and innovative technologies.

This is the first architecture to separate the SouthBridge chip of a chipset solution from the core processor and the NorthBridge chipset. This innovative "SouthBridge agnostic" design means that any number of SouthBridge chips can easily be developed into a working product regardless of the processor or NorthBridge in the "core" design.

What does that mean to you? Consider a tiny sleek all aluminum cube computer producing specs like this: 1.8 Ghz Dual-Core 64-bit 3400e, 1MB L2 Cache, supported by the 780E NorthBridge and SB710 SouthBridge chipsets, 2GB DDR2 memory, with dual 2560X1600 display outputs, eSATA 3.0, 2.5 and 1.5 support, USB 2.0 support, 16GB mSATA SSD (up to 129GB).

The environmentally conscious, will certainly appreciate that it sips power, consuming only 20 Watts! Large scale businesses will enjoy the fact it will keep their power bills down.

The perfect computer doesn't exist. There are positives and minuses with all of them regardless of manufacturer, make, model, or brand. With that in mind, here are some downsides to consider with the Xi3 system. While being highly versatile, the hardware and components are strictly proprietary... you won't be going down to your local electronic store to get a replacement part or upgrade. This means you have to rely on buying from the manufacturer, and paying the price they set.

The Xi3 cube computers are far MORE than adequate for everyday all around use both in business, office, and home environments. Only hard core power computer users like Gamers would need more computing muscle in their rigs.

Xi3 has done a remarkable job in redesigning the home PC, and the way we look at it, clearly with the future in mind. Bravo.

Not So Neat, When It's Obsolete

This was published on Technorati.com
http://technorati.com/technology/article/not-so-neat-when-its-obsolete/
Published: January 15, 2012 at 8:57 pm

In the stampede to make tech devices smaller, flatter, and thinner, are we sacrificing common sense for vanity?

The 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) just wrapped up in Las Vegas, Nevada. This was the largest show in the event’s history, with more than 3,100 exhibitors across the largest show floor  – 1.861 million net square feet of exhibit space – and drawing more than 153,000 attendees from all corners of the world to see the newest, latest, and greatest in the world of tech offerings: Cell phones, TVs, computers, video games, cameras, appliances, and more. If it's tech, it's here.

The driving force of this annual show, is the insatiable demand by consumers for more and more tech. We blew past 2G, then 3G was better, now 4G is pushing data transfer speeds to your mobile phone as fast or faster than your home internet connection! Look at the offerings of any wireless carrier, it is a veritable arms race who can cram the most tech into their mobile devices. People demand larger and flatter screens, higher image density, LCD, Plasma, LED, more pixels, more more more more more.

The show also attracts all the press and independent tech reviewers. These privileged individuals get to see products in person 3-6 months before the product shows up on store shelves, while the general public gets to see glimpses of the new tech through the eyes of the reviewers.

This year, several in the press came back from the show, grumbling and commenting that it was "boring" this year.

How on earth can a show with over 3,100 exhibitors taking up the better half of 2 million square feet produce a show that can be written off as boring by certain tech reports and reviews? Out of the thousands of exhibits on show, was there nothing there that captured their interest? Obviously not.

What can we expect from manufacturers year after year that are forced to produce innovative gadgets that warrant space age headlines and mind boggling concepts?

Are we, as consumers, inspired by these techno geeks putting unreal pressure on manufacturers to invest millions of dollars into research and development in this current financial climate, to outshine their current and  existing products, some of which haven't been released yet? When the iPad 2 is released, the iPad 3 is already in the works.

Does vanity, or a need to be first with the latest trend, cause an imbalance over necessity? It's now reaching epidemic proportions to have, say, the iPad 3, when you just bought the iPad 2 a few weeks ago, and it is already pushed to one side.

The financial cost to a business of research and development to come up with new tech at breakneck speeds is alarming on many levels. Consumers say they want to be clean and environmentally conscious, yet at the same time, they want the ultimate new tech, replacing it sometimes several times a year, and at what cost to the environment? Besides the obvious physical problem, the invisible issues of cadmium, lead, mercury, hexavalent chromium leeching into ground water can devastate water sources and earth for eons to come. This is not an environmental rant, however valid that point of view may be.

We are all guilty of it. We all like the next big thing, but if we like what we have and it does the job well, do we really have to have that shiny new gizmo just because promotional advertising tells us we do? Are you sure you want to spend $600 for the Samsung Galaxy Tablet when it's life expectancy with you is around 3 months; and for 2 of those months, you are drooling, salivating, and coveting the next model about to be released? As a tech professional, I get to handle and examine, operate and compare, many new products as they are launched by major manufacturers. There are some stellar devices among them; but most are superceded in a matter of months by their own brothers and sisters on the production line. So why the rush - why the race? Are consumers confused with regard to need over greed?

We aren't talking about inhibiting progress and invention here; it's a matter of injecting a little logic into the equation, and establishing if we really need to obsess about owning every new piece of gadgetry on show.  Is it imperative to be able to switch on your Samsung washing machine from your mobile device from 30 miles away? I don't think so. When it happens to me, I just ring the lady next door to do it for me.  :P

Everybody loves an upgrade: something better and smarter than what we already have ~ but do we have to do it at this pace, and spend as much as we do? Perhaps it's time for reflection to allow the technomania to cool down a little.

You are Looking at the Future - Called Graphene

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http://scm-l3.technorati.com/11/10/30/55261/graphene.jpg?t=20111030073821
Published: October 31, 2011 at 6:38 am

Welcome. You are gazing upon a new substance, in it's infancy, called Graphene.
You might have heard the word Graphene before, but didn't really know what it was all about. Well, imagine future cell phones as thin and flexible as this. The iPad2 will look like a ganite slab compared to how thin devices with Graphene might be designed.

Before I explain graphene, and for you to understand the future we are headed into, we need to take a quick trip back in time to the last invention that changed our lives the way we know it. The transistor.

A little history: "In 1947, John Bardeen and Walter Brattain, working at Bell Telephone Laboratories, were trying to understand the nature of the electrons at the interface between a metal and a semiconductor. They realized that by making two point contacts very close to one another, they could make a three terminal device - the first "point contact" transistor. They quickly made a few of these transistors and connected them with some other components to make an audio amplifier. This audio amplifier was shown to chief executives at Bell Telephone Company, who were very impressed that it didn't need time to "warm up" (like the heaters in vacuum tube circuits). They immediately realized the power of this new technology.

This invention was the spark that ignited a huge research effort in solid state electronics. Bardeen and Brattain received the Nobel Prize in Physics, 1956, together with William Shockley," for their researches on semiconductors and their discovery of the transistor effect." Shockley had developed a so-called junction transistor, which was built on thin slices of different types of semiconductor material pressed together. The junction transistor was easier to understand theoretically, and could be manufactured more reliably."

As you know, because of the transistor, it has paved the path for all variety of modern consumer electronics devices and computers. (Computers are just incredibly densely packed transistors on a single chip).

Back to the future: Graphene. So what IS graphene stuff?

Quite literally, it is a sheet of carbon atoms, 1 molecule thick. It was first isolated by Professors Konstantin Novoselov and Andrew Geim and Manchester University in 2004 in England.

Imagine, for similarity, a sheet of seran wrap made of carbon atoms just 1 molecule thick. That sheet, in theory/principal, is so strong, you could put an elephant on top of a pencil, with the point of the pencil digging into the graphene sheet, and it wouldn't break. If you stacked 3 million sheets of graphene on top of each other, it would only be 1mm thick.

Graphene is seven times stronger than diamond, but it will stretch like rubber, it is nearly invisible, 200 times stronger than steel, and almost weightless, and unlike most everything else in nature, it is a truly 2 dimentional structure. This means it has unique properties, like it will conduct electricity better than anything we currently have available. Carbon is one of the most common substances in the world, so graphene will be extremely inexpensive to produce. This is in stark contrast to the high costs of processing silicon to make computer circuits.

Still having problems visualizing the future? You might want to watch this short YouTube video that shows a future device made of Graphene, and what it may be able to do.

Thanks For The Memory - Digital Amnesia

This was published on Technorati.com
http://technorati.com/technology/article/thanks-for-the-memory-digital-amnesia/
Published: September 08, 2011 at 6:43 am

The WORST thing you can do is back up your data, and think you're safe. I am continually shocked at the true lack of protection the average person has for their information. Yes, I am talking about YOU, sitting there right now and reading this. You are >.< this close to losing all your important information... and it isn't YOUR fault!

If you are like most individuals, you are quite concerned with making sure you don't suffer a hard drive failure and lose all your data. Photos, music, videos, contacts, files, documents, email, the way data is multiplying exponentially, you have a lot to worry about.

You do some research on data security and backing up your hard drive, read all the advertisements, ask the "experts" at a popular local electronics store, and you are lulled into a false sense of security when you are advised to buy one of the USB external hard drives from popular manufacturers like Western Digital, Seagate, Toshiba, LaCie, Hitachi, etc, and breathe a sigh of relief. All your precious files that compose your digital life are safely tucked away. I mean, it SAYS on the package it keeps your data safe.

NOT. They are only marginally safer than they were in your computer. A study by Carnegie Mellon University shows that hard drive failure rates are much higher than manufacturers let you know. There is a wide body of academic evidence among true industry experts that show how fragile a hard drive is, and relying on just one is total folly. A single external hard drive should be considered, at best, a temporary "work / hold" drive, not your safety net you were convinced of by the salesman who sold it to you.

ANY "expert" that sells you an external USB hard drive and tells you that it will fully protect your data is absolutely lying to you in your face. The knife in your back is delayed. You feel it when your data is lost... while the "expert" made his sales quota. Why?

Inside that external hard drive, is a single hard drive...which itself can fail, crash, get stolen in a burglary, destroyed in a fire, flood, earthquake, etc... with ALL your information.

Poof.

Is that a chance you really want to take? I will repeat myself here: The WORST thing you can do is back up your data, (on a single drive solution) and think you're safe. So what DO you do?

If you are truly serious about protecting your data, there are two very simple, elegant steps to guarantee 100% protection from data loss.

#1. Buy a Drobo. drobo.com It works with Windows / Mac / Unix
What the heck is a drobo? Ask your local tech "expert" and watch his eyes glaze over. A drobo is a DATA ROBOT, simply an external hard drive with multiple drives, without you having to do ANY configuration. Literally plug and play, it does all the work for you automatically, IF one drive fails, it automatically protects your data on the other drives, you can change a defective/failed drive on the fly without using any tools except your thumb, and without losing a single byte of data. It will automatically rebuild the new replacement drive. Don't let anyone uninformed tell you this is just a standard raid solution. This is unlike anything else available. It's raid, with brains, elegant, sleek, hands free, configuration free.

This option guarantees you 100% immunity from losing anything due to hard drive failures. That still leaves natural disasters, theft, flood, fire, etc. This brings us to:

#2. Cloud storage. For example, DropBox. This guarantees your data can't be drowned, burnt, stolen, blown, or any other nightmare scenario you can think of. Your data is available from any computer you go to, it can be shared, it is platform independant, working with Windows, Mac, Linux, and Mobile devices.

This is one instance in your life when you SHOULD be thinking INSIDE THE BOX, utilizing both Drobo and DropBox to guarantee you peace of mind, and true data safety: and yes, I am being extremely hard on salesmen, because I am tired of seeing people get hurt and lose everything due to misinformation and someone trying to make a quick sale. I want people to understand how easy it is to protect themselves before something happens.

New Reconnaissance Recruits - better call S.W.A.T.

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http://technorati.com/technology/article/new-reconnaissance-recruits-better-call-swat/
Published: September 03, 2011 at 6:39 am

The Terminator, one of the most recognizable icons in the world, and a perfect example of what a cyborg is.  The stuff of science fiction? Think again. You just might be seeing one sooner than you think, in the form of a cyborg bug, a "CYBUG".

For decades, research into robotics and miniaturization have impressive, if not miraculous. Robots build the cars we drive, however getting robotic parts down to the size of an insect, and being functional, have hit quite a few obstacles.

Since 2006, the U.S. DARPA, (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), has invested over $12 Million into research. The fruits of their investment?
CyBug cockroaches at Texas A&M, Horned beetles at University of Michigan and the University of California at Berkeley, and Moths at an MIT led team, along with another project at the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research.

Instead of trying to miniaturize robotics, and then control it, they decided to use what Mother Nature has already designed. Insects, one of the most populous life forms on earth, their bodies a design that has successfully survived through the eons to the modern day.

The concept is actually quite simple. The hard shell of an insect is an exoskeleton, already a miniature marvel of evolution. Body, legs, wings, everything you would want a robot to have.

Scientific researchers implant a micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) circuit into the insect while still in the pupae stage of life. As the insect matures, grows, molts, the body tissue grows around the implanted circuitry, literally fusing the insect body with the implant, which is able to control leg and flight muscles, and nervous system processes.

This means that you can be THE FLY ON THE WALL. Surveillance, intelligence gathering, recon, all are applications for this technology.

At first, only Governments with deep pockets to fund this research will have access to it, but imagine a future where wives can hire a private detective to spy on their cheating husbands with CyBugs.

HDMI CONnection Scam

This was published on the BangorDailyNews.com
http://drtech.bangordailynews.com/2012/11/04/new-products/hdmi-connection-scam/
Posted Nov 4, 2012

The vast majority of retailers and salesmen lie to your face and steal your hard earned cash when they sell you HDMI cables. If you paid more than $10 or so for your cables, you’ve been had, another victim of the CONNection scam. Does this shock you?

Rarely do I get all fired up about something, but when I see unwary consumers being outright lied to and robbed for no other reason than pure greed, it makes me sick; I am going to rip this one wide open so stand back, because this isn’t going to be pretty.

FACT: ALL HDMI CABLES PERFORM THE SAME regardless of what price or materials they are made from. A $10 HDMI cable is going to give you the same performance as a $200 cable. IF a salesman tries to sell you a more expensive cable telling you it will give you a better picture quality, they are lying to your face, or have no idea what they are talking about, and they are incompetent. Either way, this is inexcusable. This is what I call the CONnection Scam.

Picture quality implies that the HDMI cable used would result in better color, contrast, clarity, etc. That is saying that the source and display is different with a digital signal. Pixels can’t change. This is flat out wrong. A technical impossibility.

Scenario: Joe Consumer is excited, he got his paycheck and finally has enough to get himself that flatscreen TV he’s had his eye on for months now. The salesman starts telling him he needs special cable called an HDMI cable to connect his Blu Ray, PS3, etc (this is true), now here comes the CONnection SCAM.

The salesman tries to sell Joe Consumer a 4 foot long $200 HDMI cable, confident that Joe Consumer has no idea that a $10 HDMI cable will do the exact same thing. All the salesman wants to do here is meet his sales quota and meet bonus as the expense of the customer.

That’s right, let me restate a fact in big bold print to make sure this is clear: ALL HDMI CABLES PERFORM THE SAME.

Let’s see why: It’s all about the signal, which is what is transmitted over the cable in the first place. HDMI uses Transition Minimized Differential Signaling, or TMDS. An HDMI or DVI video signal is a small signal and it is digital. It is either good or not good. As long as the length is under 8 feet, there is NO signal degredation. With an HDMI signal, you either get a perfect image, or nothing at all.

Another CONnection Scam

You will see HDMI packages in the store, screaming “120 Hz,” “240Hz” and “480 Hz”.
FACT: HDMI cables can no more be manufactured for specific refresh-rate HDTVs than a garden hose can be manufactured specifically to water seeded lawns and sod lawns. The same water flows through either one. The same HDTV signal flows through all HDMI cables, whether labeled “120Hz” or “480Hz” — or not labeled at all.

A TV’s refresh rate has nothing whatsoever to do with the signal flowing to that set. The refresh rate is determined by the set’s circuitry once the signal gets there, so how can different HDMI cables be manufactured for different refresh-rate sets? A total lie. The CONnection scam.

HDMI Licensing LLC licenses the design, specifications and requires labeling of cables as either “Standard” or “High Speed.” Only two types of HDMI cables are included in the HDMI licensing spec: “Standard” (aka category 1) or “High Speed” (aka category 2). Category 2 is required to insure the cable passes 1080P HD signals, (which includes 3-D), and is the highest bandwidth video signal available now and the forseeable future. (As of this writing, the latest version is HDMI v1.4, however, according to HDMI.org, As of January, 2012, HDMI will no longer list version numbers.)

HDMI cable makers are intentionally misleading consumers by hyping their cables with the various refresh rates used by set makers to improve picture quality. Despite the fact that some labels indicate signals of 480Hz, the signal fed by an HDMI cable to a set never exceeds 60Hz. Conversion to 120 or 240 Hz is done internally. There is no such thing as a 120 Hz or 240 Hz signal. It doesn’t exist. If you are told an expensive cable is the only way your 240Hz set will work, demand to speak with the store manager.

Any “High Speed” HDMI v1.3 cable should handle any display and any video signal you can throw at it. Period. Full Stop. The next version is 1.4 which is intended for “4K” video, which only exists in extreme high end commercial applications.
As an extreme example of the CONnection scam, AudioQuest has a line of “High Speed” HDMI cables; its packaging states that it “delivers 100 percent of the data required for 120Hz, 240Hz, 600Hz displays.” It costs up to a whopping $299.99 for its 9-8-foot Carbon model (sold online from Bestbuy.com).

What this means to you is that there really is no such thing as a “better” HDMI cable. Either an HDMI cable works or it does not. If it doesn’t work, you will immediately know it. Your screen will freeze, or it will skip frames, or it will show big square blocks instead of a picture. It will be completely obvious that there is a problem. In that case you need to throw the cable away.

How much have YOU thrown out on HDMI cables? With the prevalence of HDMI cables on TVs, Playstation and xbox consoles, and more, this is affecting a lot of people. Share this with your friends, post on your Twitter and Facebook pages, and get the word out.

I am here to protect YOU, my readers, and I challenge any salesperson to prove me wrong. They either want to make bonus, or are incompetent and give the wrong information. Companies that label their cables for a certain frequency or claim to be better are outright scamming you. There is no getting away with it, 1+1 will always equal 2.

:)

HDMI CONnection Scam Hits Consumers Hard

This was published on Technorati.com
http://technorati.com/technology/article/hdmi-connection-scam-hits-consumers-hard/
Published: July 07, 2011 at 11:15 am

When it comes to HDMI cables, retailers and salesmen have had a roarin' good ol time at the expense of the consumer. It's time to put the facts where they are and show them up for what the are, CON MEN.

I call it, the CONnection Scam.

Scenario: Joe Consumer is excited, he got his paycheck and finally has enough to get himself that flatscreen TV he's had his eye on for months now. The salesman starts telling him he needs special HDMI cable to connect his Blu Ray, PS3, etc (this is true), now here comes the CONnection SCAM.

The salesman tries to sell Joe Consumer a 4 foot long $200 HDMI cable, confident that Joe Consumer has no idea that a $20 HDMI cable will do the exact same thing.

That's right, let me restate a fact in big bold red print to make sure this is clear:

A 4 foot long HDMI v1.4 cable costing $20 will perform the same as a HDMI v1.4 cable costing $200.

Let's see why: An HDMI or DVI video signal is a small signal and it is digital. It is either good or not good. As long as the length is under 8 feet, there is NO signal degradation.

Another CONnection Scam

You will see HDMI packages in the store, screaming "120 Hz," "240Hz" and "480 Hz".
HDMI cables can no more be manufactured for specific refresh-rate HDTVs than a garden hose can be manufactured specifically to water seeded lawns and sod lawns. The same water flows through either one.

The same HDTV signal flows through all HDMI cables, whether labeled "120Hz" or "480Hz" — or not labeled at all.

FACT: A TV's refresh rate has nothing whatsoever to do with the signal flowing to that set. The refresh rate is determined by the set's circuitry once the signal gets there, so how can different HDMI cables be manufactured for different refresh-rate sets?

HDMI Licensing LLC licenses the design, specifications and requires labeling of cables as either "Standard" or "High Speed." Only two types of HDMI cables are included in the HDMI licensing spec: "Standard" (aka category 1) or "High Speed" (aka category 2). Category 2 is required to insure the cable passes 1080P HD signals, (which includes 3-D), and is the highest bandwidth video signal available now and the forseeable future. (The most current spec is Category 2, Version 1.4).

HDMI cable makers are intentionally misleading consumers by hyping their cables with the various refresh rates used by set makers to improve picture quality. Despite the fact that some labels indicate signals of 480Hz, the signal fed by an HDMI cable to a set never exceeds 60Hz.

Any "High Speed" HDMI v1.3 cable should handle any display and any video signal you can throw at it. Period. Full Stop. The next version is 1.4 which is intended for "4K" video, which only exists in extreme high end commercial applications.

As an extreme example of the CONnection scam,  AudioQuest has a line of  "High Speed" HDMI cables; its packaging states that it "delivers 100 percent of the data required for 120Hz, 240Hz, 600Hz  displays." It costs up to a whopping $299.99 for its 9-8-foot Carbon model (sold online from Bestbuy.com).

What this means to you is that there really is no such thing as a "better" HDMI cable. Either an HDMI cable works or it does not. If it doesn't work, you will immediately know it. Your screen will freeze, or it will skip frames, or it will show big square blocks instead of a picture. It will be completely obvious that there is a problem. In that case you need to throw the cable away.

How much have YOU thrown out on HDMI cables?

Steampunk Gadgets - Turn Art Deco Into Art Techno

This was published on Technorati.com
http://technorati.com/technology/article/steampunk-gadgets-turn-art-deco-into/
Published: June 13, 2011 at 9:48 am

What do the movies: Time After Time,  Wild Wild West,  The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Skycaptain and the World of Tomorrow, Around The World In 80 Days, Young Sherlock Holmes, and Kate & Leopold have in common?

How about the Gnomes and Goblins in World Of Warcraft, the most successful MMORPG game ever created, boasting 20 million players worldwide?

They are all STEAMPUNK THEMED.
Audiences are captivated by the unique romance of the steampunk genre, and marvel at the quirky gadgetry.

What if you could own real life working gadgets like that? They do exist, you just have to look. For example:

Looking for a unique cell phone? Ask your carrier if they have this little Steampunk themed little number!

Richard "Doc" Nagy, steampunk contraptor, technical artist, and self proclaimed jackass-of-all-trades, is the genius behind the website Datamancer. He says "I don't just build products. I create heirlooms."

That's an understatement. Just one look at the "New Yorker" keyboard will make you gasp, and you will find yourself staring in amazement at the one of a kind steampunk laptop.

Another website, Gadgetsin has an 8GB steampunk USB Flash Drive with glowing quartz crystal, while another site ETSY sells their version of a 2GB Steampunk copper USB flash drive.

Steampunk goes beyond flash drives. How about a mouse? A Russian "hardware modder" created this one of a kind hand made steampunk mouse.

PopGive has quite unique Steampunk Jewelry.

How about some music? Rock out playing this steampunk themed stratocaster.

Remodeling your home? How about some Steampunk designed switchplates?

What exactly IS "Steampunk"? It's a sub-genre of science fiction, alternate history, and speculative fiction that came into prominence during the 1980s and early 1990s. Specifically, steampunk involves an era or world where steam power is still widely used—usually the 19th century and often Victorian era Britain—that incorporates prominent elements of either science fiction or fantasy.

Works of steampunk often feature anachronistic technology or futuristic innovations as Victorians may have envisioned them; in other words, based on a Victorian perspective on fashion, culture, architectural style, art, etc. This technology may include such fictional machines as those found in the works of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne or real technologies like the computer but developed earlier in an alternate history.

Leave comments and feedback, I would love to see your opinions!

Cell Phones Carcinogenic - WHO Says So?

This appeared on Technorati.com
http://technorati.com/technology/article/cell-phones-carcinogenic-who-says-so/
Published: June 08, 2011 at 5:14 am

The WHO (World Health Organization) has classified radio frequency electromagnetic fields as "possibly" carcinogenic to humans, based on an increased risk for glioma, a malignant type of brain cancer, associated with wireless phone use.

Over the last few years, there has been mounting concern about the possibility of adverse health effects resulting from exposure to radio frequency electromagnetic fields, such as those emitted by wireless communication devices. The number of mobile phone subscriptions is estimated at 5 billion globally.
From May 24–31 2011, a Working Group of 31 scientists from 14 countries has been meeting at IARC in Lyon, France, to assess the potential carcinogenic hazards from exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields. One similar study of past cell phone use (up to the year 2004), showed a 40% increased risk for gliomas in the highest category of heavy users (reported average: 30 minutes per day over a 10‐year period).

We all love our phones, so let's see if there are things we can do every day that will make it just a bit safer to use. Some are quite obvious, but make sense:

* Keep calls as short as possible. The longer you talk, the more radiation you are absorbing.

* Use a Bluetooth earpiece. While still a radiating wireless device itself, Bluetooth radiation is a miniscule fraction compared to a cell phone. Bluetooth signals only travel a maximum of 35 feet, while cell phone signals have to carry for miles.

* Use a hard wired earpiece. Remember the pre-bluetooth days? It may have been the healthiest way to use a cell phone, and whether we want to admit it or not, the audio quality is better, they are lighter, thinner, less bulky that most bluetooth earpieces... if it
wasn't for that darn wire catching on doorknobs and everything else in between.

* Send SMS TXT messages instead. Go ahead and add that unlimited texting package to your plan. Texting is more convenient, you can carry on a conversation in places that would disrupt or annoy others around you, plus you don't have anyone else listening in on your intimacies.

* Buy a phone with the lowest SAR (Specific Absorption Rate) of <0.6 W/kg. All cell phone manufacturers publish the SAR rating for every model phone they produce. Granted, they burry it in the fine print or deep in the specs list, but it is there.

* Don't use a mobile phone in an enclosed space. Places like elevators make the phone work harder to get a signal OUT, thereby causing more radiation into YOU.

* Before making a call, make sure you have good signal strength, for similar reasons, if the signal strength is poor, the phone will be cranking out the highest radiation to maintain the connection.

* Radiation Blockers make it worse. We have all seen these sticky little things you put on your phone to supposedly block the radiation, well even if they DO work, it makes things worse by making the cell phone work harder, put out more radiation to reach the tower, thereby defeating the entire purpose of the radiation blocker.

* Dont hold your phone directly against your head. Try to use your speaker phone if it won't disrupt anyone around you, or hold the phone a little away from your ear. For example, in the Apple iPhone manual, it says:
“when using iPhone near your body for voice calls or for wireless data transmission over a cellular network, keep iPhone at least 15 mm (5/8 inch) away from the body, and only use carrying cases, belt clips, or holders that do not have metal parts and that maintain at least 15 mm (5/8 inch) separation between iPhone and the body."

* It is recommended that individuals who have medical implants, like pacemakers, etc., must keep their cell at least 300mm (11.8") away from the implant.

* When all else fails, use a landline or payphone - if you can find one.

The Ghost In The Machine - Microsoft Haunts Android Success

This appeared in Technorati.com
http://technorati.com/technology/article/the-ghost-in-the-machine-microsoft/
Published: May 31, 2011 at 12:29 pm

That's a snazzy slick super cool new Android device you have there! Most likely, you chose it because Android is a new open source OS based on Linux, and you wanted some independence from the usual iPhone / Blackberry / Microsoft Windows Phone options. Not so fast.

Microsoft actually has their hand in your pocket. Welcome to "Microsoft Android".

Impossible you say? Android is from Google, and has nothing to do with Microsoft? Just like Voldermort, it seems Microsoft has gone over to the dark side, the "Ghost In The Machine", haunting the success of Android.

For those who aren't well versed about Android, allow me a moment to fill in a few quick details. You see, Android was a relatively new OS. Android is actually a software stack for mobile devices that includes an operating system, middleware and key applications. Google Inc. purchased the initial developer of the software, Android Inc., in 2005. Android's mobile operating system is based on the Linux kernel. Google and other members of the Open Handset Alliance collaborated on Android's development and release, and the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) is tasked with the maintenance and further development of Android. The Android operating system is the world's best-selling Smartphone platform.

STOP RIGHT THERE. The last sentence above is the only excuse Microsoft needs for an all out attack. In an effort to delay the success of Android, and profit from it at the same time, Microsoft decided to get a "FEE" for every Android device sold.

How is this all even possible? How does a company, any company, up and decide they are going to get a fee? Simple.

Either an Android device manufacturer pay Microsoft a "patent fee", or Microsoft will sue them. Whether valid or not, just the prospect of a massive company like Microsoft with infinitely deep pockets taking you to court... smaller companies simply roll over and pay the fee. That's protection money. Some are saying that this is basically mafia behavior. Can you say Mafiasoft?

Most people have no idea, but behind the curtain, Microsoft actually is making more money from Android than they are on their own Windows Phone OS. Mr. Walter Pritchard, a Citi analyst, revealed that Microsoft extracts a $5 "patent fee" from HTC for every Android device they sell. Microsoft is also suing other Android makers, and is seeking $7.50-$12.50 per device.

Going back to almost since Linux was created, Microsoft has argued that it infringes on Microsoft Intellectual Property, and as a result, Microsoft has often sought, some say bullied, royalties from businesses who base their products on Linux.

Because Microsoft is upping their offensive with Android, there are whispers and rumors that Microsoft and Apple may tussle a bit in new court action as well.

The problem, is that large tech companies, such as Microsoft, have purposely vague, huge patent portfolios. This vagueness overlaps with some other large company's vague portfolio, and BAM. You have the decision to go to court, threaten to go to court, or... extract a fee and label it "licensing fee" or "patent fee".

As an Android device owner, I can just hear you now... "Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in."

I would love to know what you think. Please leave comments and share this post with your friends.

Medical CyberBots May Be Crawling Around Inside You

This was published on Technorati.com
http://technorati.com/technology/article/medical-cyberbots-may-be-crawling-around/
Published: May 29, 2011 at 6:57 am

It may sound like something straight out of "The Matrix," but advances in robotic miniaturization have made it a reality. It isn't a future concept anymore.

"They're Here!"

Example: Israeli researchers from Technion (Medical Robotics Laboratory at the Israel Institute of Technology) created "ViRob", with a diameter of just 1 millimeter wide, 14mm long, it was designed to crawl through vessles and cavities. It can deliver a dosage of medication to a precise location in the body, or pull a microcatheter deep inside where it would normally not have been able to reach previously.
Researchers can also use ViRob to deliver drugs in lung cancer patients, as well as take tissue samples from different areas inside the body.
As development progresses, it will be possible to add miniature tongs, video camera, and other extra functions as needed. ViRob is just one of many different types of medical microbots being developed.
Research is under way to make nanobots even smaller, much smaller... down to a MOLECULAR level. The NANOBOT. When this happens, we will have hundreds of medical cyberbots patrolling our bodies, carrying out routine tasks such as scouring the insides of our arteries to remove plaque, all but eliminating heart attacks, atherosclerosis, and much more.
Mollecular bots could assemble other bots while inside the body as needed for specific tasks.
A first wave of molecular bots could detect cancer cells, target them, and remove them before cancer can get started, while a second wave delivers anti-cancer medication to the exact spot where the cancer cells were just targeted and removed.
While this is truly an amazing thing, a benefit to mankind, it also brings with it some very ugly and serious ethical questions...
Who will be able to afford this? Only wealthy individuals, or will the common peasant in a third world country be able to have it as well?
Some doomsayers may go so far to say thing such as: If mankind eliminates cancer and heart attacks, people start living much longer, world population increases beyond any normal conditions, famine and world starvation kick in because we can't produce the quantity and volume of food to feed everyone.

Photo Credit: Medgadget

All Fiber Optic Internet A Future Reality

This article was published on Technorati.com
http://technorati.com/technology/article/all-fiber-optic-internet-a-future/
Published: May 23, 2011 at 5:55 am

Every day we upload and download more and more data, in fact we are encouraged to use more, stream more, share more. Our data consumption rates are astronomical.

We went from acoustic couplers that screeched into the mouthpiece of telephones at 300 BAUD... shudder.
(Let's take a moment of silence, and be thankful we evolved past this!)

Then came dialup internet access via modems, to DSL (Can you say filters?), to cable modem, and some now to FIOS, a bundled home communications (Internet, telephone, and television) service, operating over a fiber-optic communications network that is offered in some areas of the United States by Verizon Communications.

Our data consumption doesn't just stop at just our home computers. Oh no, we now have our mobile / cellular phones connected with mobile web at broadband speeds no less as well!

As we enjoy the fruits of our never ending hunger for faster data connectivity, we are reaching the limits of what was once thought an infinite resource.

We are quite literally running out of fiber optic bandwidth... unless we figure out a way to increase the capacity of the infrastructure we already have in place.

Somebody once said "Hurry Up Quickly". This age old wisdom just might be the key to speeding up the internet even more, by slowing parts of it down, by using "Meta Materials", the same magical things that might make the possibility of invisibility cloaks a reality.

The speed limit of today's internet comes not from the transfer of information, but in the routing and conversion of electrical signals which are stored, routed, and turned back into optical signals with lasers. The conversion, besides adding significant cost and complexity, also slows down the data transmission. "Meta Materials" would replace the relatively slow electronics that use use for routers, etc., leaving only the speed of light transmission of data.

E=MC2. Nothing is faster than light. It travels at 186,200 miles per second. The high speed fiber optic cables that span the globe are what make the internet possible.
Fiber optics can easily sustain data rates at multiple TERRAHERTZ speeds, while electronics max out at a few Gigahertz. By using Meta Materials to make the light hurry up and wait, deliberately slowing light down. This would allow a single chip made of Meta Material to do all the work, the effect could be used to store light signals, with different delays for different frequencies, in a so-called "all optical network".
This is all decades away from being a practical reality, but it is definitely something to look forward to coming down the pipe.

Sony Hacked Again - Competency Questioned

This was published on Technorati.com
http://technorati.com/technology/article/sony-hacked-again-competency-questioned/ Published: May 21, 2011 at 1:59 pm

April 20th, 2011, the day the nightmare began for Sony, and it's still ongoing.

However, millions of PlayStation users have started to realize, it's not a game anymore. Suddenly, the question has gone from "When can I play my game again" to "What has happened to my personal information?".

The Sony PlayStation Network and Qriocity music streaming service have been shut down since the 20th of April, when the breach was detected. Hackers stole personal details belonging to 77 million users including names, addresses, email addresses, birth dates and passwords.

Increasingly, Sony has been coming under fire for competency, and even outright negligence with regards to their handling and safekeeping of user's private information. For example, when Mr. Bruce Schneier, chief security technology officer at BT (British Telecom) and a world expert on cryptography, was asked if Sony should have known better, he said “definitely”.

While it is easy to point fingers and blame Sony, there is an equally important point that it seems everyone is missing entirely. I don't hear anyone blaming the hacker(s) for bringing down the service and inconveniencing millions of fellow generation game players in the first place. PlayStation Network users are angry and frustrated at Sony for having the network down for so long,. Why can't they realize it wouldn't have been down at all if hackers hadn't ruined it for them. Certainly, Sony should have done things differently, that is an absolute, indisputable fact, but that doesn't excuse the hacker(s) actions and give them a green light.

Let's look at this a moment. Literally, one or more individuals took it upon themselves to knowingly break into a system to take things, personal information and details for their own personal gain, and no one is putting up a fuss against the hacker(s). Where is the logic in that?

That is the same as ME breaking into YOUR home, stealing something, and the police blame you for not locking your door securely.

The fact is, there is an ongoing cyber war between hackers and IT network security professionals. Ask any of them, on either side, they will tell you there is no such thing as hacker proof.

Just a few days ago, (May 18, 2011) in order to prevent and defend against just such attacks, the State of Israel created "The National Cybernetic Taskforce" to secure the country against hacking attacks on its key networks, and boost the competitiveness of local industries specializing in high-tech security".

Going forward, Sony needs to invest in, and implement much stronger network security methods. As we see, hacking afflicts us all with an extra price to pay. Sony has to pay to beef up security, and that takes away investing in new games. Now, players may have to wait a little longer for the next new release, but they will be safer and secure.

Microsoft Late Again - Under The Microscope

This article first published on Technorati.com
http://technorati.com/technology/article/microsoft-late-again-under-the-microscope/
Published: May 10, 2011 at 6:27 pm

As the news of Microsoft buying Skype for $8 Billion-ish races around the internet, let's take a look under the microscope, and see how many revolutionary events Microsoft has almost missed.

THE INTERNET: Going back to 1993 when the internet was just a seedling, Bill gates almost missed the internet entirely. At one time, he even considered it to be merely a passing fad. Only a small handful of people at Microsoft were working on the Internet Explorer browser, a distant afterthought in the mind of Bill Gates.

Other companies saw the importance of networks long before Microsoft saw the light. By the time he finally realized the potential of the internet, he scrambled together a team and threw obscene amounts of cash at it. Microsoft spend over $100 MILLION per year developing the Internet Explorer web browser in the late 1990s, with other 1000 people working on it by 1999.

Microsoft won the browser war against Netscape because Microsoft had the war chest to fund it.

BLUETOOTH: The wireless technology we all know and enjoy, was shunned. Fact. Microsoft refused to join the Bluetooth consortium until late 1999 because it claimed the group did not have the backing of official standards organizations.

SKYPE: Why am I listing Skype? Didn't Microsoft just announce they were buying it? Yes, about 5 years later. Apparently, around 2006, Microsoft considered, and passed by Skype as an opportunity. Robert Scoble, a tech industry insider and influencer, worked at Microsoft between 2003-2006. Today, via his Twitter account ( @Scobleizer ) said: "It's ironic for me to see Microsoft buying Skype. When I worked there, execs told me it didn't have enough business value to buy."

Luckily for Skype users, Microsoft C.E.O. Steve Balmer, promises they will not ditch Mac, iPhone, and Android Skype users.

Once again, Microsoft is late to the game, some might say they consistently BUY their way in, instead of , INNOVATING their way in.

What do YOU think? I would love to hear your comments.

Blackberry Playbook Kills iPad2

This first appeared on Technorati.com
http://technorati.com/technology/article/blackberry-playbook-kills-ipad2/
Published: May 09, 2011 at 6:36 pm

It's a Blackberry. Nuff said.

For the legions of my fellow Blackberry afficionados who know what Blackberry is all about, that 3 word answer is all it takes, but for the rest of you, I have outlined just a few bullet points to illustrate why.

#1. Eye Candy: Measuring 7 inches with a resolution of 1024 X 600, it has better resolution than the original iPad, and the Playbook only weighs 0.9 pounds, less than the iPad or iPad2.

#2. It connects with Blackberry Enterprise Server right out of the box, and instantly pairs with a Blackberry phone, so anything you view on your Blackberry, you can view on the Playbook tablet.

#3. Blackberry Tablet OS, powered by QNX technology. The Blackberry Tables OS has QNX's Neutrino microkernel. This could easily have been part of #2, but it deserves a space to itself. Back in April of 2010, RIM bought the QNX company, for a very good reason. To make a long story short, the Playbook tablet is optimized and visually more appealing than Android, with a sleeker navigational interface, and true multitasking.

#4. It's 4G. O.K., O.K., I thought it would be cute to put 4G for #4.

… but it's still 4G, whereas the iPad2 is still… ahem… 3G.

#5. Dual core 1GHZ CPU and 1GB of RAM. The Playbook isn't just another pretty tablet face. To power this supermodel, it puts some real power under the hood, (Think Lara Croft / Tomb Raider), allowing you to TRULY MULTITASK, (just like a standard Blackberry phone), run powerful apps, and, oh yeah, output 1080P video while your at it.

#6. FLASH 10.1 & Adobe AIR built in. So sorry, but the iPad2 STILL can't view flash enabled websites.

#7. 1080P Video recording… v.s iPad2 720p

#8. 5MP rear facing camera, 3MP front facing camera… v.s iPad2 720P rear, VGA. (640x480) front.

#9. Blackberry Playbook Price: $499 v.s. iPad2 $499-$829 depending on model.

#10. Amazon Kindle App… yup. That too.

Any questions?

I welcome your comments.

Walmart is Watching You

This column first appeared in Technorati.com

http://technorati.com/women/article/walmart-is-watching-you1/
Published: April 23, 2011 at 6:26 pm

Walmart has legions of fans and loyal customers. They also have serious critics, for example a quick Google search finds WalmartSucks.org, Walmart-Blows.com, and we have all heard conspiracy theories like blog posts, how Walmart is taking over, some say in insidious ways. While some may think this sounds like crazy conspiracy theories, two things happened that may fuel these theories a bit more.

On April 18th, 2011, Walmart quietly acquired Kosmix Corp, a company that analyzes, dissects, and searches online social data, for example Facebook. It then takes this data, and as they put it, "personalizes" web content.
Walmart also announced the formation of @WalmartLabs, a technology group tasked with advancing the integration of Walmart’s stores and web and mobile channels.
This sounds innocent enough, but let's see who is behind this initiative, and what the implications of this can really mean.

Mr. Eduardo Castro-Wright, Walmart’s vice chairman and head of global e-commerce, says, in part: “We are expanding our capabilities…"

“Our intent with @WalmartLabs is… …becoming a part of our customers’ day-to-day lives globally, influencing how they think about shopping, both online and in retail stores.”

Yes. Walmart has set up a dedicated group to take your personal information, and use it to control you and influence the way you think and what you buy.

Can you say mind control?

If one views @WalmartLabs on Twitter, it looks noticeably empty, the avatar is the default Twitter avatar, and the only link provided from this Twitter account, goes to a bland understated page.

The impression you take away is they are trying to keep a very low profile, there is a master plan in place, and they are the puppet master pulling our strings.

Here is a quote from the link.

"We are at an inflection point in the development of ecommerce. The first generation of ecommerce was about bringing the store to the web. The next generation will be about building integrated experiences that leverage the store, the web, and mobile, with social identity being the glue that binds the experience. Walmart’s enormous global reach and incredible scale of operations — from the United States and Europe to growing markets like China and India — is unprecedented. @WalmartLabs, which combines Walmart’s scale with Kosmix’s social genome platform, is in a unique position to invent and build this future."

All this leaves you wondering... the next time you go to Walmart, what are you buying that you were influenced into buying without even knowing it?