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The best Palm e-mail client...and other musings |
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David Berlind Executive Editor, Tech Update Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2003 |
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Although I'm primarily a Pocket PC user, I occasionally dabble with a Palm-based device when I'm testing something new from PalmOne or I'm trying out one of the Palm OS-based smart phones like Samsung's i500 Mobile Intelligent Terminal (cool, but no external caller ID display like Kyocera's 7135). One problem with most Palm-based devices is that, by default, (unlike Pocket PC-based devices) they're not well-equipped for people who work with a lot of e-mail attachments. Enter Snapperfish's SnapperMail. I've yet to find a better e-mail client for the Palm OS.
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Click here to seeWhen Congress readied the Can Spam Act for signature by President Bush, I complained that spammers had chalked one up in the win column. Now, finally, after the spin doctors and lawyers have had sufficient opportunity to review any public statements, several antispam vendors are voicing their concerns over the pending law. The one I liked most comes from e-mail security solution provider CipherTrust, which says, "While end-user frustration with spam is at an all-time high, many members of the e-mail community, including CipherTrust, do not believe that this specific piece of legislation will be effective. While CipherTrust applauds Congress for taking action to tackle the spam epidemic, we believe that CAN-SPAM falls short of what is required to decrease the amount of spam plaguing e-mail users' inboxes, which is the litmus test for any spam remedy." What's with all the applause? Why applaud some action if you find the action to be antithetical to your belief? Who are you afraid of offending and why? But apparently, as part of the standard lexicon for politically correct public relations, the word "applause" must be used to cleverly disguise a wolf in sheep's clothing. Need another example? On the same day that CipherTrust issued the tongue-in-cheek applause (Dec. 8), another e-mail security solution provider, ePrivacy Group, issued a statement that applauded Yahoo for announcing an antispam technique called Domain Keys that is technically similar to ePrivacy Group's own Trusted Sender technology. In what sounds like a thinly veiled reminder that Yahoo could be infringing on a patent, the company's statement said, "Yahoo's endorsement of trusted e-mail domain identity, a potent anti-spam technology, was applauded today by ePrivacy Group. Yahoo announced last week that it plans to develop technology called Domain Keys to embed a cryptographically secured identity tag in the headers of e-mail messages, allowing recipients to verify the true identity of each e-mail's sender...In fact, embedding identity in a cryptographic header tag is at the core of ePrivacy Group's patent-pending Trusted Sender(TM) technology." If this ends up in court, I doubt anyone will be applauding. You be the judge. Is this patent for or against spammers?
ZDNet reader Richard Close alerted me to the fact AT&T has been awarded Patent 6,643,686 for "spam filters." The patent's text describes "a system and method for circumventing schemes that use duplication detection to detect and block unsolicited e-mail." Hopefully, on the ground of patent infringement, AT&T will use the patent to sue spammers that have so far managed to evade capture based on duplication. Otherwise, who could benefit from such a patent? We'll try not to think the worst. Meanwhile, if you're at AT&T and you know something about this, please get back to me. Secure things come in small packages.
If you're like me, you could be amassing a collection of USB "pen drives." These are the pocket-size devices that, when plugged into your USB port, appear to your system as a removable hard drive that can hold as much as a gigabyte of data. Unfortunately, the smaller the containers for your data get, the easier they are to lose. If you lose a USB drive with sensitive data on it, then what? Memory Experts International thinks it has the answer. Memory Experts has designed a USB drive called ClipDrive Bio with a built-in fingerprint reader. Having a fingerprint reader directly on the USB drive enables its user to divide the drive into two resizable partitions--one that's encrypted and the other that's not. As you might have guessed, no matter what computer the ClipDrive is connected to, the contents of the encrypted portion cannot be listed or opened until the right fingerprint is used to unlock the drive. Since the fingerprint reader only needs power when the drive is being opened--in other words, when it's connected to a computer's USB port--it simply draws the power from the USB port. But when it's in your shirt pocket (or sitting on the seat of that taxi as it pulls away), no power is required to ensure that the contents remain encrypted. As many as 32 fingerprints can be enrolled on a single ClipDrive, which means that more than one person can be authorized to unlock the contents of the drive's secure partition. On the down side, since the ClipDrive only supports FAT and FAT32-based file systems (as opposed to NTFS), it requires that drivers be installed on the host system (drivers that theoretically could be stored in the unsecure partition of the ClipDrive). Drivers also have to be installed to support the fingerprint reader. As far as the encryption type is concerned, ClipDrive Bio uses 128-bit AES encryption. But according to Memory Experts spokesperson Tia Palumbo, the company would consider substituting--for volume customers--a customer-specified encryption type such as Triple DES or Blowfish As the popularity of USB drives continues to rise along with their extraordinary ability to hold a upwards of a gig of data, companies that want to manage the risk that large amounts of sensitive data could fall into the wrong hands may want to consider standardizing on and distributing ClipDrives. Memory Experts can be found on the Web at www.clipdrive.com. ZDNet reader: Ditch the iGo Juice and try this ultimate power cheat.
In response to my recent review of the iGo Juice universal power supply, Jonathan Yarmis of Waggener Edstrom (the PR firm for Microsoft) offered this ingenious work around: Supply power to any device that needs it via a USB hub. So, instead of finding a universal power supply, just make sure your notebook has power and USB takes care of the rest. Jonathan Yormark from the Marshall School of Business echoes Yarmis' ingenuity. Talking about how he charges three devices simultaneously, Yormack said, "I routinely use a USB dongle to charge my cell phone. That way I only have to track down one power outlet. That means I can charge my laptop and my PDA with Juicer while the phone also tags along for the ride." Waggener Edstrom's Yarmis advises, "You just need the right cables for your devices--a USB synch cable for your PDA and a cell phone cable that can connect to the hub. Even without external power, I can charge the devices from my laptop battery." Though I wouldn't recommend that unless you're in a real pinch, it just goes to show what you can get with a little ingenuity. If you're looking for a USB-based power connection for any of your handheld devices, check out ZipLinq. The company's USB-based charging dongle for my i85s phone is working perfectly off the USB ports on my notebook computer (you'll need a USB cable as well), which means that I need one less outlet in the wall. Another ZDNet reader wins unofficial "Insert Foot in Wire" award.
In response to a story I wrote about the usefulness, or lack thereof, of the ability of the hard drive in an IBM's ThinkPad T41p to sustain a five- to six-foot drop without incident, ZDNet reader Doug McKelvy took issue with Alex Gruzen's (of Hewlett-Packard) questioning of the usefulness of such a feature. Gruzen asked me how many times I thought a notebook computer might be in the "on" position just prior to falling five or six feet. I thought he had a point until McKelvy reminded me that a lot of notebooks get yanked off desktops by people tripping over their wires and that all it takes is a three-foot fall to trash a hard drive. Mea culpa Doug (and IBM). As an experienced yanker of notebooks off desks (especially in hotel rooms), I could hardly argue the point. My suggestion? Use a docking station and hide the wires as best you can. If the hard drive doesn't fail, something else will. Speaking of docking stations for IBM ThinkPads...
Coming in 2004 will be a long-term road warrior test of IBM's ThinkPad T40 (a notebook that breaks all the battery records). In the meantime, in the process of trying to charge all my handheld devices via the USB ports on the ThinkPad's docking station, I discovered one suggestion for the engineers at IBM: Turn the docking station into a USB hub. The T40's docking station comes with four USB ports and supports hot docking and undocking (inserting or removing the notebook while it's still on). Unfortunately, despite the fact that the docking station is receiving constant power even when the notebook is removed, the USB ports are only active when the T40 is docked. This means that any peripherals (such as my cell phone and BlackBerry) that rely on the dock's USB ports for power and recharging will lose their power source each time the notebook is undocked. I've seen the Anti-Web, and it lives in Texas.
I have seen the Anti-Web. It's the Web site of the El Paso, Texas-based ABC affiliate KVIA Channel 7, which ran an Associated Press story about Michael Jackson's recent trials and tribulations. The story from the news syndicate, which also appears on other sites across the Web, discusses a leaked memo that could exonerate Michael Jackson from the charges he currently faces. The story speaks of how the memo was leaked to The Smoking Gun Web site. However, KVIA not only didn't add a hyperlink to the Web site from its story, but the site used an unusual presentation--"w-w-w-thesmokinggun-dot-com"--thus making it impossible to even cut and paste the site's name into their browsers. As ABC's John Stossel says, "Gimmee a break!" What do you think of these issues? TalkBack to me below!
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