Fresh Tablet

It seems reasonable to assume that combining Apples ‘automatic wipe’ after 10 failed attempts with a 4 digit code is adequate security. After all, 4 digits is 10,000 combinations, and almost impossible to guess in 10 attempts.

However, a hacker who has your device is not just going to sit and type in to the screen. They will attack the system directly, and as Vladimir Katalov at security firm Elcomsoft says “We run the attack on the passcode directly “on the chip”, and the system does not recognize that it is being bruteforced, so we can make as many attempts as we want (and have the time for)” And it only takes about 20 minutes to crack an iPhone 4.

Once the passcode is cracked, the all the encryption is removed, and they have full access to your data.

So the only way to take advantage of ios hardware encrpytion and protect your data is to use a big old long password, as Mr Katalov says “Complex passcode is a good idea — it is almost impossible to break it.”.

I favour a 2 or 3 word phrase that I can remember, and that I can type with one thumb! And to make it more useful, I’ll use motivational pass phrases.

source: http://blog.crackpassword.com/2011/05/elcomsoft-breaks-iphone-encryption-offers-forensic-access-to-file-system-dumps/

Yesterday, the AAP (AMERICAN ACADEMY OF PEDIATRICS) released a report on the use of media by children.

Most of the findings seem pretty obvious, except that most of us hoped there were at least some benefits to watching TV, but Sesame Street can have a negative effect? Damn!

There is hope however, the author said she doesn’t have a problem with touch screens, and as nobody has really researched their use we can keep letting junior use the iPad without feeling guilty!

In brief

1. TV doesn’t help under 2’s learn.
2. Families who watch lots of TV spend less time talking to kids, which slows language development
3. Kids who watch lots of TV read less, slowing reading development.
4. TV before bed can disrupt sleeping.
5. 2 studies found that watching a program such as “Sesame Street” has a negative effect on language for children younger than 2
6. Children younger than 2 years who watch more television or videos have expressive language delays,and children younger than 1 year with heavy television viewing who are watching alone have a significantly higher chance of having a language delay
7. Unstructured playtime is more valuable for the developing brain than any electronic media exposure.
8. 1 study claims that for children over 2, some educational TV is good.Children who watch these programs have improved social skills, language skills, and even school readiness

Their recommendations include limiting TV time, not putting a TV in the childs bedroom, and limiting adult TV when children are around.

link: http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2011/10/12/peds.2011-1753.full.pdf+html

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/10/infant-tv-guidelines/

I had a meeting with a buyer from a large supermarket chain last week, we were talking about some possible uses of safedrop for managing the supply chain.

I had a mix of wireframes (thanks balsamiq!) and screen shots, as well as some raw data from the client. I passed around the handouts, but everyone ignored them, and instead passed around the ipad. And it worked, really really well.

The wireframes were much more useful on a zoomable screen…

The screen was hugely more compelling than the a4. We passed it around, zoomed in on the screenshots to get more detail, and suprisingly, spent a lot of time just looking at a csv file of data, as we all expressed how we would present it.

I didn’t present any slides, as I thought the screen would be too small and I hate using projectors in meetings as they tend to distract more than engage.

With this experience, I will start preparing for meetings in a different way. Instead of lots of slides, I’ll prepare screenshots and diagrams, and instead of a presentation, I’ll talk it through, and pass around the pad to let people interact with it, see the graphics themselves, and get involved. And as any good salesperson will tell you, getting prospects involved in the sales process much improves the chances of success.

Ironically, this messed up my workflow, I usually use the iPad to keep notes, but that obviously wasn’t an option, so I had to borrow a pen and paper!

One option I have seen for presenting that looks interesting, is Prezi’s. Anyone tried those out?