Schneier: How to protect your laptop and portable disks
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Bruce Schneier writes an excellent security newsletter called Crypto-Gram. This week there's something especially important for physicians who keep patient data on portable computers or drives: How to Secure Your Computer, Disks, and Portable Drives.
"The reason you encrypt your entire disk, and not just key files, is so you don't have to worry about swap files, temp files, hibernation files, erased files, browser cookies or whatever. You don't need to enforce a complex policy about which files are important enough to be encrypted. And you have an easy answer to your boss or to the press if the computer is stolen: no problem; the laptop is encrypted."
Google Personalized Home Page for Anesthetists
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I made a tab on my iGoogle page for just my anesthesiology-specific widgets. Take a look...
Why I'm Not Buying The (First) iPhone
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With only three weeks to go until the release of the iPhone the frenzy is peaking. What features will it have? What is the twelfth icon? Will it have a SIM tray? Where will be the best place to buy one? I decided to today that I don't care. Let me explain why I won't be buying Apple's iPhone.
I've learned not to buy the first of anything Apple puts out. Though I love the company and have been buying their computers and other devices since the beginning, I think that (especially recently) there's good reason to be patient and let other people help Apple work out the kinks.
I ordered the MacBook on the day it was announced....and had the heat-sink problem. I ordered the 24" iMac the day it was announced...and had it up and die on day four of owning it. There are other examples of released hardware that was flawed initially but improved with each revision that, thankfully, I didn't experience myself. The bottom line is that being first has a price and that it's worth giving Apple a chance to learn from the initial release and improve the hardware with subsequent revisions. That doesn't mean waiting for the next model. Apple revises hardware between new releases, too.
The second reason for waiting is that the device you really wanted is usually the second one in the model line, not the first. But you compromise, tell yourself it's still worth getting the first one, but it's not. Because as soon as the second version comes it, you decide you should have waited. That's what happened to me with the Newton. I bought each new model as it came out (and still have a 2100).
What do I expect in the second version of the iPhone that I think makes it worth waiting for? Better-than-EDGE speed, for one thing. A camera that's better than 2 megapixels for another. GPS for a third. And many fewer problems.
Today, I put down my own good money for a Nokia N95. Five megapixel camera, built-in GPS, and a mature OS that has lots and lots of third-party apps. With iSync and the release of Nokia Media Transport yesterday (nice write-up here), adding contacts, calendars, iTunes music, photos, and videos just got a lot simpler.
ReaderMini: Google Reader On-The-Go
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I track about one hundred news sources with Google Reader. By subscribing to a site's RSS feed, I can see updates as they happen without having to visit the web page itself. Very efficient.
Google has a mobile version, too. Thought this stripped-down version is excellent for cell phones, the interface is too simple for someone with a more capable internet device such as a PDA, UMPC, smartphone, or Nokia N800 internet tablet.
From reading the forums at internettablettalk.com I just found ReaderMini:
"Reader Mini is a light-weight alternative to Google Reader. Reader Mini uses the Google Reader API to access your feeds. It is a compromise somewhere between the power of the main interface and the too-limited mobile version."
Own Your Own Cable Modem? Check The Speed!
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I have cable modem service to my home via Comcast. I bought my own modem, the Motorola 4100, about three years ago so I wouldn't have to pay the cable modem rental fees. Since the modem only cost about $50, I've saved about one hundred dollars over that time period.
I had Comcast come install two CableCards in my new Tivo Series 3 and the installers commented on what an old modem I had. They went on to explain that one advantage of renting a modem is that, when the modem limits download speed, Comcast will replace it with a faster one. Having just installed a new Airport Extreme Pre-N wireless router, this seemed like something to check out.
After reading the spec. sheets on both modems it looks to me like their download speed is the same (38 Mbps). However, the Motorola 5101 I just installed is faster in my tests. Maybe it's the DOCSIS 2.0 support. Well, I'm just an unfrozen caveman anesthesiologist but I know speed when I see it...16 Mbps:
If you bought your own modem several years ago, consider upgrading it. The results might surprise you.
