Category: Computer setups

A CCTV hacking incident could be a lesson in system lifecycle issues

Article

How A Prison Had Its CCTV Hacked | Lifehacker Australia

My Comments

In this article, it was found that a prison’s video-surveillance system was compromised. The security team checked the network but found that it wasn’t the institution’s main back-office network that was compromised but a Windows Server 2003 server that was affected. This box had to be kept at a particular operating environment so it could work properly with particular surveillance cameras.

The reality with “business-durable” hardware and systems

Here, the problem was focusing on an issue with “business-durable” hardware like the video-surveillance cameras, point-of-sale receipt printers and similar hardware that is expected to have a very long lifespan, usually in the order of five to ten years. But computer software works to a different reality where it evolves every year. In most cases, it includes the frequent delivery of software patches to improve performance, remedy security problems or keep the system compliant to new operating requirements.

Newer software environments and unsupported hardware

The main problem that can occur is that if a computer is running a newer operating environment, some peripherals will work on lesser functionality or won’t work at all. It can come about very easily if a manufacturer has declared “end of life” on the device and won’t update the firmware or driver set for it. This also applies if a manufacturer has abandoned their product base in one or more of their markets and leaves their customers high and dry.

Requirement to “freeze” software environments

Then those sites that are dependent on these devices will end up running servers and other computer equipment that are frozen with a particular operating environment in order to assure the compatibility and stability for the system. This can then compromise the security of the system because the equipment cannot run newly-patched software that answers the latest threats. Similarly, the system cannot perform at its best or support the installation of new hardware due to the use of “old code”.

In some cases, this could allow contractors to deploy the chosen updates using removable media which can be a security risk in itself.

Design and lifecycle issues

Use standards as much as possible

One way to tackle this issue is to support standard hardware-software interfaces through the device’s and software’s lifecycle. Examples of these include UPnP Device Control Protocols, USB Device Classes, Bluetooth Profiles and the like. It also includes industry-specific standards like ONVIF for video-surveillance, DLNA for audio-video reproduction

If a standard was just ratified through the device’s lifespan, I would suggest that it be implemented. Similarly, the operating environment and application software would also have to support the core functionality such as through device-class drivers.

Provide a field-updatable software ecosystem

Similarly, a device would have to be designed to support field-updatable software and any software-update program would have to cover the expected lifespan of these devices. If a manufacturer wanted to declare “end of life” on a device, they could make sure that the last major update is one that enshrines all industry-specific standards and device classes, then encompass the device in a “software roll-up” program that covers compliance, safety and security issues only.

As well, a “last driver update” could then be sent to operating-system vendors like Microsoft so that the device can work with newer iterations of the operating systems that they release. This is more so if the operating-system vendor is responsible for curating driver sets and other software for their customers.

The device firmware has to work in such a way to permit newer software to run on servers and workstations without impairing the device’s functionality.

As well, the field-updating infrastructure should be able to work in a similar way to how regular and mobile computer setups are updated in most cases. This is where the software is sourced from the developers or manufacturers via the Internet, whether this involves a staging server or not. This should also include secure verification of the software such as code-signing and server verification where applicable.

Conclusion

What this hacking situation revealed is that manufacturers and software designers need to look seriously at the “business-durable” product classes and pay better attention to having them work to current expectations. This then allows us to keep computer systems associated with them up to date and to current secure expectations.

Achieving a failover printer setup in your business

Brother HL-2240D compact monochrome laser printer

Brother HL-2240D compact monochrome laser printer – an example of a workflow printer

I have come across situations with small offices such as clinics who run one or more dedicated laser printers that turns out receipts, invoices and other documents as part of the customer-facing business workflow. Some offices may run the printers also for some back-office requirements like preparing reports or balance sheets for that workstation.

But there is the situation where the printer can break down, usually with a mechanical failure like frequent paper jamming. This can happen more frequently as a machine ages and is worked hard in a busy office. It is analogous to that situation most of us experience when a car gets to that point in its life where it frequently lives at the mechanic’s workshop and drills a hole in your pocket because it is always breaking down.

This situation can impair the business’s workflow especially as one has to work out how to rectify a paper jam or, in some cases, reset the machine. As well, no woman would want to ruin their beautifully-done fingernails knocking them on the machine’s internals while removing jammed up paper.

In these situations, it is a good idea to set up a failover printing arrangement where you have other printers that come in to play if the workstation’s primary machine fails. This is easier to achieve if all of the printers accessible to the office or reception area are linked to the network.

For example, you could use a multifunction for this purpose even though each workstation computer has a dedicated laser printer like the Brother HL-2240D or Dell 1130n. The multifunction printer, which is often expected to serve as the main copier and fax machine for the organisation, could be a machine like the Brother MFC-8370DN or HP LaserJet M1536dnf for a monochrome variety or a Brother MFC-9460CDN or HP LaserJet Pro Color M475 Series for a colour variety. Even one of the high-end business inkjets like the HP OfficeJet Pro 8600 could do the job just as well.

Some environments that have two or more workstations may prefer to have one workflow printer per workstation. Here, it would be preferable to connect the printers via the network rather than directly to the workstation computers. Here this can allow the other workflow printer to be used as a failover measure.

HP LaserJet M1536dnf monochrome laser multifunction printer

HP LaserJet M1536dnf monochrome laser multifunction printer – an example of a multifunction expected to be a small business’s copier and fax

But what you would have to do is to set up the workstations to use the printer that is local to them as well as this main multifunction printer or other workflow printer. This may be as simple as adding the driver set for the main printer to the computers or it may also require the line-of-business software to be set up to allow the use of two or more printers.

As far as default printers are concerned, you would have to set the primary dedicated printer as the default machine, then have the users select the main multifunction printer as a secondary printer whenever their primary printer fails. This can be done as part of ordering the print job in most software or going to the Printers option in the operating system and setting the multifunction printer as the default while the single-function workflow printer is out of action.

If you run a server-driven printing environment, it may be worth looking at options that allow failover printing so that print jobs that come from one workstation appear at particular printers in an order of availability.

Once you look at this option for setting up multiple printers in your office or reception area, you could then be sure of an arrangement where a printer failure doesn’t impede on your business workflow or affect how your business is perceived by the people your business benefits.

Asus’s latest USB laptop expansion module satisfies current expectations

Articles

Asus Launches the New USB 3.0 HZ-1 Docking Station | Tom’s Hardware

ASUS Launches the New USB 3.0 HZ-1 Docking Station Based on DisplayLink’s Leading SuperSpeed™ Graphics Technology | BusinessWire

My comments

I have covered the concept of expansion modules a.k.a docking stations that connect to laptops via USB 3.0, Thunderbolt or other similar connectivity as a must-have accessory. This is to allow people who use smaller or less-equipped laptops like Ultrabooks to use other equipment like optical drives or larger displays at their normal workspaces yet be able to maintain the portability of these machines. I cited this kind of device when I reviewed the Sony VAIO Z Series ultraportable which came with one of these modules that housed a slot-load Blu-Ray optical drive.

Lenovo issued one of these USB 3.0 modules as the ThinkPad USB 3.0 Dock. This unit had a Gigabit Ethernet connection as well as an external sound module and self-powered USB 3.0 hub for five devices.

Now ASUS have issued an improved USB 3.0 variant of a USB docking station that they previously released. The previous iteration had USB 2.0 connectivity therefore having access to 10/100 Ethernet, VGA and DVI video as well as an audio module and USB self-powered-hub connectivity for four devices. The video is supplied to the module using the DisplayLink video-over-USB technology to transfer the video to the VGA and DVI ports.

Now this improved version satisfies the current expectations by being equipped with a Gigabit Ethernet port as well as an HDMI port for current displays. This has the audio module and the USB 3.0 hub but uses the latest iteration of the DisplayLink technology to exploit the high throughput of USB 3.0 for high-resolution displays and stereo or surround-sound audio via HDMI. It is infact the first USB 3.0 docking station or expansion module that I have heard of that implements this DisplayLink setup.

Personally, I would like to see this device and the previous version equipped with an SP/DIF optical output using the same 3.5mm optical-electrical jack that Sony used with some of their CD Walkmans in the mid-90s to facilitate digital CD-MiniDisc recording with their MD Walkmans. Here this connection could be used provide a high-quality PCM stereo or bitstream surround digital signal to amplifiers that have built-in digital-analogue conversion circuitry.

As long as these are kept to common standards, it could then be feasible to supply the expansion modules to work with extra peripherals at one’s main work locations.

Is your mouse acting too “hair-trigger”? Check the Mouse settings in your operating system

On Saturday, I had been asked by a friend to help her out with her laptop computer and there were problems with her Outlook email client. After a bit of troubleshooting, I had found that I was single-clicking to open emails rather than doublie-clicking. She also mentioned that she was having similar problems with other applications on the same computer.

But what I had done was to check what is happening every time one double-clicks with the mouse by visiting the Mouse item in Windows XP’s Control Panel. The setup was a laptop which was also being used with a wireless mouse. So I selected the “Other Hardware” option which would pertain to the wireless mouse and adjusted the “double-click” speed for that mouse.

This is a problem that can happen with some mice and trackballs especially as they implement switches that have an increased rate of “contact bounce”, thus causing this false “double-click” behaviour.

Adjusting the double-click speed

Windows users should go to the Mouse option in the Control Panel then try double-clicking on the folder icon in that dialog box. MacOS users should go to {Apple]-System Preferences, then click on “Mouse“. Then try double-clicking on the display image in that dialog box.

Windows mouse control panel

Mouse Control Panel dialog – Windows 7

Adjust the slider towards “Fast” if the folder opens and closes in one click and towards “Slow” if double-clicking doesn’t cause it to open. Then click OK or Apply to confirm the setting.

This may be a trial-and-error routine as you get the mouse or other pointing device working properly for you. In some cases, you may have to select the device you are using or use its software if you are maintaining two or more devices on the same computer. A common example of this may be when most of you use an external mouse with your laptop computer; or some of you may use two different pointing devices for different purposes such as a trackball and a mouse.

The best practice to do is to play around with this dialog box for your pointing device when you install a new device or acquire a new computer and revisit it to make sure that the double-click speed matches your needs properly.

Troubleshooting a network printer that you can’t print to

Dell 1130n compact monochrome laser printerYou may find that you cannot use your printer or multifunction from your computer via the network yet find that it can perform standalone tasks such as copying and faxing for example. It is even though the printer used to print from the computer via the same network connection just before the problem surfaced.

In the case of multifunction printers, you may not be able to start a scanning job destined for your computer from the machine’s control surface or, at worst, scan to your computer at all. This is although you previously were able to scan that way before. It can also affect computer-based faxing for fax-equipped multifunction printers.

This is a situation I have ran in to myself with my computer and my inkjet multifunction printer on many occasions. But I have also assisted a small company whom I deal with regularly that faced similar problems with two of their colour laser printers that are connected to their business’s network.

There are two main problems that can cause you not to print to your network printer even though you could previously print to the same machine.

Driver software and operating-system problems

If the fault occurs with one particular computer rather than all computers and devices that use the same printer driver software, the driver software or its configuration may be balky.

This may happen if you have continuously added and removed many printers from the same computer, something I have encountered as I install and remove many different review-sample printers from my desktop PC through the course of adding content to this Website.

Check and reinstall the driver software

In some cases, this problem can be caused by faulty driver software and you may have to download the latest driver software from the manufacturer’s Website. It is infact a process I encourage people to do when installing new hardware because the software supplied on the CD in the device’s carton may he “rushed out” in a bid to get the device to market quickly.

Check the state of the operating system’s print functionality

Similarly, it may be worth rebooting the computer because the print spooler (the software that manages the printing function) in the operating system may have stalled. On the other hand, you may have to manually start the print spooler. In Windows 7, this would be found by searching for “Services” in the Start Menu’s Search option, whereupon you look in the list for “Print Spooler” and make sure that’s started.

Network interface not working

If this happens with all of the computers in the network, it may be due to the printer itself losing connection with the network. This may also affect other network functions like IP-based faxing, HP ePrint or other Web-based features.

Check for faults with the network

Check for obvious faults with the network connection like faulty Ethernet leads, infrastructure equipment like a router, switch or HomePlug bridge turned off or not functioning or, in the case of Wi-Fi setups, the quality of the wireless signal.

In some cases, you may have to turn the network-infrastructure device off at the AC power for a few seconds because it may have “frozen” due to something like a power surge. Use the network-status option on the printer’s control panel menu to check that it can “see” the network after you check these factors.

Reset the printer’s network connection

Sometimes, you may have to force a network reset on the printer. This can be done through an option that is, again, found on the same setup menu on the printer’s control panel. On the other hand, you may have to simply unplug the machine from the AC power, waiting a few minutes, then plug it back in.

Conclusion

Once you know how to tackle these printer problems, you may then be able to see longer service life from your equipment.

How can the Occupy campaigns and cloud computing help the small or midsize business

Article

HP Blogs – How can Occupy Wall Street and Cloud Computing hel… – The HP Blog Hub

My Comments

The recent “Occupy” movements, which were assisted by the Social Web to create the critical mass, had an intended effort to highlight the resource disparity caused by big business to ordinary people, and small and midsize businesses.

This occurred at the same time that consumers and small-to-medium business were made heavily aware of the concept of “cloud-computing” and computing-as-a-service. In some ways, this can assist in making certain computing services that would be out of the reach of the 99% accessible to this group rather than the 1% which represents the “big end of town”.

When I visited the “Big Picture Experience” computing conference that was hosted by Microsoft in Melbourne this past Wednesday (AEDT), there was a lot of emphasis on this kind of cloud-computing and computing-as-a-service to effectively make a flexible workforce. Applications that were promoted included shared-document management and unified communications; with these applications linking to the business via Internet connections.

They even proposed that small and medium business who can’t afford their own servers have this functionality by renting these services from other companies in a similar way that we can rent disk space for our Web sites from Web-hosting companies like GoDaddy. It is also in a similar way to how some small business operators can work out of a garage yet are able to rent a self-storage lockup from Fort Knox or Big Yellow for storage of extra goods or hire a competent truck form Budget or U-Haul when they need extra trucks.

These concepts can open the door to the feasibility of smaller operations expanding without costing them an arm and a leg. It is because it could allow concepts like telecommuting or shared-desk business, which could lead to reducing the physical size of the business’s premises.

Cloud computing and computing-as-a-service can open up “big-business” paths to smaller operations. Examples of this may include hosted archiving-for-compliance or access to sophisticated business systems and practices like multi-tier loyalty programs for independent business.

This kind of computing can then become the big tide that lifts many boats up and yield flexibility across business sizes. In some ways, it could allow “big-business” hopes from small and medium business owners.

A suggestion to make Black Friday the day to update the software on your parents’ computer

Article

Forget Shopping, Friday Is Update Your Parents’ Browser Day! – Alexis Madrigal – Technology – The Atlantic

My comments

You are celebrating Thanksgiving at your parents house but you notice that the old desktop computer that is their computer (and ending up as the family computer) is running Windows XP and Internet Explorer 6. But they see it as their “comfort zone” even though newer versions of Windows and Internet Explorer have been released.

This newspaper article has been suggesting that you update your parents’ computer with the latest version of the Web browser they are using for their operating system. This is because most of the Web sites are being re-engineered to work with newer Web browsers rather than the likes of Internet Explorer 6.

It could be done as part of keeping the computer in good order by doing other software and driver updates. You may even think of updating their computer to Windows 7 if it is running relatively-new hardware and use this package as a Christmas gift idea.

But the main issue with this kind of software update is that you may need to spend a lot of time teaching them the ropes of the new software with the new user interface elements. This may involve long telephone calls or regular house visits to walk them through parts of the user interface that they may find very difficult, as I have experienced with teaching people different computer skills.

Is it worth it to put full broadband in the “family house”?

What is the “Family House”?

The “Family house” is typically a  house, that is usually resided in by one or two older parents where the children have “left the nest”. The adult children and their grandchildren regularly visit this house to see the parents and, in most cases, they stay in this house on a temporary basis. In a lot of situations, family friends will end up visiting or staying over at this house in the company of the family members.

Such situations typically include the children who normally are out of town coming in to town for business, leisure or to attend family events; the children seeking temporary accommodation while their house is being built or renovated, or are between houses. It may also include the “family house” being close to a place of study which a grandchild is enrolled at and the grandchild stays there while completing a course of study. As well, the parents typically end up caring for the very young grandchildren in this house while their children work or undertake other activities.

This concept may also extend to any occasional-use accommodation that the family shares responsibility in maintaining, like city apartments or holiday / seasonal houses. In the latter situation, a household or the whole family ends up staying in this accommodation.

Common practice with IT at these locations

Compaq Presario CQ42

Compaq Presario CQ42 entry-level laptop

In these places, there may not be an intention to have full Internet service at these houses because the main householder may not be a regular Internet user. But what can happen is that other people in the house make regular use of the Internet. This would typically be achieved through each device that other people bring in using a mobile-broadband service for their Internet.

A small number of portable devices that someone owns can be served with this kind of Internet connection using a “Mi-Fi” mobile router or a smartphone that implements a “personal hotspot” mode.

A significant cost difference

But this may only work best with one rarely-used device on the premises. This is because most of the wireless-broadband services work on bandwidth that is narrower than wireline broadband services like cable-modem or ADSL services.

As well, the tariff charts for these services are typically more expensive than most of the wireline broadband services. Here, you end up paying more for the same bandwidth allowance and usage quota than you would for a cable or ADSL broadband service of equivalent standard or, for the same money you pay for a wireless-broadband service, you would obtain more bandwidth and usage quota.

Should I establish the full home network here?

It would be worth it to establish the full home network with a fixed broadband service if there is at least one Internet terminal that is used regularly by at least one of the parents, a relative or another regular houseguest. The Internet terminal, which can be a desktop, “all-in-one” or laptop / notebook computer or a tablet MID like the iPad, can be either owned by the parent or a regular houseguest like the grandchild who is staying regularly at that location.

The Internet deals commonly available

The common marketing practices amongst most wireline broadband Internet providers who run a voice telephony or multichannel pay-TV service is to offer a sweet deal where the customer benefits from reduced service costs if they have their telephony or TV service provisioned by this Internet provider. Some of these deals are provided as “triple-play” packages especially if all services come through the one physical line.

If you are in a highly competitive Internet-service market like UK, Australia or France, you may find these deals being offered at some very attractive prices that make you not even think twice about signing up.

I often suggest that people take advantage of these abovementioned offers when choosing their Internet service for these locations because this may help with saving money on this service. These deals will usually be advertised in brochures that accompany the regular bill for the phone or pay-TV service that they currently are subscribed to.

In some houses where there are older people who don’t use the internet frequently, one or more younger people who make use of the Internet could incite the older people to make increased use of the Internet. This can be done by the younger person sharing their computer with them, demonstrating various Internet and computing skills and assisting the older person with these skills.

As well, you may find that there are new media paths being opened up by a home network associated with a wireline Internet service in the “family house”. Examples of this include use of Internet radios that pick up the Web feeds of overseas and obscure radio stations as well as access to Internet TV through the use of a compatible TV or set-top box and music, pictures or video on-demand through the house with cost-effective equipment.

It also includes the like of Netflix or Spotify as content services; along with TV stations offering catch-up / video-on-demand services that can even be viewed through the big-screen TV with an appropriate set-top box.

Who should bear the extra costs

Issues that may come up include whether the houseguests like the children should cover any extra costs associated with use of a full broadband Internet service at the “family house” if the main householder isn’t the one using that service. This may be of little impact to the guests because the wireline broadband services will be relatively cheaper than running a wireless broadband service which just services one computer.

Establishing the full home network

The network-Internet “edge”

Netgear DG834G ADSL2 wireless router

Netgear DG834G ADSL2 wireless router

You may have to make sure that you use a wireless router if you have a laptop computer or other portable Internet device on the premises as the network-Internet “edge”. Most of these devices are for sale at very affordable prices and you could get one through your Internet service provider as part of your broadband Internet deal. As well, I have written a buyer’s guide about the entry-level wireless routers. The limitation with most of the units supplied by your Internet service provider is that they may yield average performance and may not offer the functionality as a retail-supplied unit.

Assuring proper wireless coverage

Some houses that have interior walls made out of double-brick or stone may have problems when it comes to operating a wireless network. This is something I have touched on in this Website many times and can be handled with an auxiliary access point installed in the area where wireless-network coverage is below par and connected to the router via an Ethernet or HomePlug wired backbone as explained here.

Or pay attention to newer distributed-WiFi setups that are increasingly being offered by many network-hardware manufacturers and Internet service providers. They will have a router and at least another access-point module and are designed to be simple to set up and manage and spread the Wi-Fi coverage around the house. Most of these setups rely on you using a particular range of equipment offered by the same manufacturer but pay attention to devices that are compatible with Wi-Fi EasyMesh technology. These will allow you to use equipment offered by different manufacturers as long as it works to this standard. If you are in Australia and sign up to fixed broadband service through Telstra, you may find that your Smart Modem Generation 2 modem-router that they supply you supports Wi-Fi EasyMesh.

It is also worth knowing about how to encompass outbuildings like bungalows in to the scope of the home network, a reality which will be of importance for country or outer-urban properties. Here, I have written a good feature article on how to achieve this goal in a manner that is best suited to your particular scenario.

Printers

As well, when you need to install or upgrade the printer, you may need to go for a unit that has network connectivity of some sort. If the main computer device happens to be a tablet computer, you may have to look at a printer that is supported by an app or the tablet’s operating system. You may also have to make sure your printer supports AirPrint and Mopria driver-free printing functionality so it can print from mobile devices running iOS or Android.

Brother DCP-J562DW multifunction printer positioning image

Brother DCP-J562DW multi-function printer

You don’t have to have a machine with all the “bells and whistles” if it is not going to be used regularly – here an economy-level network capable printer may just suffice. Even so, you should prefer a printer that uses separate colour cartridges rather than the tri-colour cartridge because you won’t be wasting colour ink if one colour runs out.

There is an exception if the house has a regularly-used fax machine. Here, you could replace the fax machine with a network-enabled multifunction printer which has integrated fax capabilities. Again, these would be much more cheaper to run than the typical older “thermal-belt-driven” fax machines that some households still consider as fax machines.

Network-attached storage devices

It may be worth considering the purchase of a one-disk network-attached-storage device at a later time as the network is used more. This may allow for pooling of common files like driver files for various peripherals as well as a backup storage for data held on one or more of the computers.

As well, most of these devices provide media-server functionality for Apple iTunes and standards-based DLNA setups so that your pictures, videos and music can be “pulled up” on demand. This may work well as a central media store which can be used as a way of “offloading” the media from a computer’s hard disk or making it available to everyone at all times without the need to have a computer on all the time.

This function will become more relevant as more consumer AV equipment becomes equipped with some form of network connectivity and is able to play or show AV content from the Internet or media servers like these network-attached storage devices. Infact I have covered this topic very heavily on this site and you can look at this article here as it pertains to these devices as media servers.

Conclusion

I would recommend that you look at the value of providing a full home network with wireline broadband service to the “family house” if you notice that there is a strong likelihood of regular Internet use there.

Updates

This article has been updated on September 2020 to encompass newer trends affecting Internet at the “family bouse” including distributed Wi-Fi setups, more online audio and video and printers supporting AirPrint and Mopria.

Understanding the new Thunderbolt peripheral-connection technology

Another of the new technologies that Intel has been promoting alongside its “Sandy Bridge” processor architecture has been the “Thunderbolt” peripheral connector.

Capabilities

This connector has a current raw transfer speed of 10Gbps but could have a theoretical maximum is 40Gbps (20Gbps up and 20Gbps down) when both pairs of wires are used. You can use this same “pipe” to pass a DisplayPort-based audio-video stream for a display as well as PCI-Express-based data stream.

There is the ability to daisy-chain 7 Thunderbolt-connected devices but you can have less than 3 metres between the devices at the moment.

Thunderbolt at the moment

This technology will complement USB and other connection technologies but will be like what happened with USB in the mid-90s. This means that it will be an Apple-only technology and this will appear on the latest run of MacBook Pro laptops.

It will appear on PC-based computers in early next year. As far as retrofit opportunities go, Intel had mentioned that it could be available for new motherboards but there was nothing much said about availability as an add-in expansion card.

The main peripheral applications would be external storage subsystems like the LaCie “Little Big Disk” storage array; as well as displays. Such peripherals that have this connection will typically be marketed as being “Thunderbolt-ready”.

What could it offer

Another storage-expansion connection for computing devices

One key application would be to provide a high-bandwidth direct connection between computer devices and one or more external hard-disk storage subsystems. The reason I use the term “computer devices” is because such devices could encompass PVRs which could benefit from capacity expansion, routers and network devices that convert attached external hard-disk subsystems to network-attached storage; as well as the general-purpose computers.

Multifunction devices that are fit for the new generation of compact high-performance computers

There is the possibility for one to exploit the Thunderbolt concept to design a multifunction desktop console unit. Here, this unit could house a screen, audio subsystem, video camera, removable storage such as an optical drive or SDXC card reader and/or a USB hub. Another variant could house a keyboard instead of a screen and connect to one or more external displays using DisplayPort or regular monitor connectors.

This display unit would be connected to an ultracompact system unit that has only the processor, RAM, graphics-processor, network connectivity and a hard disk, plus some USB sockets for a desktop application. On the other hand, this display could serve as a “desktop display” for a subnotebook or ultraportable computer. The USB hub would come in handy for connecting keyboards, mice, USB memory keys and similar devices.

Here, these multifunction devices can be designed so that they are no “second-class citizen” because they have multiple functions. This means they could render the multiple video streams as well as support the high-capacity removable storage technologies like Blu-Ray Disc or SDXC cards.

This is more so as the Intel Sandy Bridge technology makes it feasible for small computers like book-sized ultracompact desktops and notebooks of the “subnotebook” or “ultraportable” class to “have all the fruit” as far as performance goes.

Issues that may be of concern

One main issue that I would have about the Thunderbolt technology is that Intel could limit it to computer applications that are centred around its chipsets. This would make it harder for competing processor designers like AMD or NVidia to implement the technology in their chipset designs. It would also place the same implementation limits on system designers who want to use chipsets that offer improved performance or better value for money alongside Intel processors on their motherboards.

This is like the Intel Wireless Display technology which allows a special display adaptor to connect to an Intel-based laptop computer via a WiFi wireless network and show the pictures on the attached display device. Here, this functionality could only work with computers that have certain Intel chipsets and couldn’t be retroactively applied to older computers.

Another issue would be to encourage implementation in “embedded” and dedicated-purpuse devices like PVRs and routers as well as the general-purpose computers. For some applications like the previously-mentioned storage-expansion application, this could add value and longer service life to these devices.

Conclusion

Once the Thunderbolt technology is implemented in a competitive manner, it could open up a new class of devices and applications for the computing world by making proper use of the “big fat pipe” that it offers.

What about having IMAP4 as a standard email protocol

Introduction

Most email services, especially those offered by consumer ISPs, use the old POP3 / SMTP protocols as the backbone for their email services. This works properly when only one computer is working as an email client because there is an expectation for the email to be downloaded off the mail server to that one computer.

Now the reality has changed due to Moore’s Law allowing for the ISP to offer email storage capacity to their customers in the order of gigabytes. As well, the computing paradigm has shifted towards people viewing their email from multiple devices. This has been brought about with small business owners having an office computer and a home computer, as well as the increasing popularity of smartphones, tablet computers and secondary-tier notebook computers like netbooks and 13”-14” ultraportables.

What does IMAP4 offer over POP3?

The IMAP4 technology requires email to be stored on the server and allows a copy of the mail to exist on the client devices. When the email client connects to the IMAP4 server, it simply synchronises all the email between the client and the server. This includes synchronising the client outbox to the server outbox in order to have emails being sent.

There is the ability for an IMAP4 setup to support “header-only” downloading, which would be of importance to people who use portable devices or low-bandwidth connections. As well, an IMAP4 setup can allow the user to operate in “offline” mode where synchronising is done when the user explicitly goes online so that users can prepare their email where Internet access is unavailable but synchronise when it is available.

Compared to POP3 / SMTP, this allows for increased flexibility when it comes to maintaining a mailbox from different email clients. Primarily, the contents of the same mailbox appear in all client devices that can access that mailbox. An example of this benefit would be that the Sent folder contains all messages that are sent from all of the clients rather than from that particular client. Similarly, one could “rough-out” an email using a smartphone or other portable device, then “finish it off” on the desktop because the email will be held in the Drafts mailbox folder.

It also supports the ability to create mailbox folders which will allow you to file the email in a manner that suits you, yet see the same filing arrangement across all your client devices.

It is also worth knowing that IMAP4 is the basic email protocol that OMTP have called as part of their standard for mobile “visual voicemail” services. These services allow a user to manage voicemail that they receive on their mobile phone in a similar manner to how they manage email on their computer or smartphone.

The status quo with IMAP4

IMAP4 is a free open-source technology that is independent of any licensing requirements; and nearly all email clients for desktop and mobile operating environments offer IMAP4 support as standard.

It is even though most of the consumer ISPs don’t offer it as an email protocol to their customers. This is while an increasing number of these providers are now offering mailboxes with gigabyte file capacities to new customers and upsizing existing customers’ mailboxes to these capacities. As well, the current range of data-centre equipment that works as mail servers can handle IMAP4 easily.

Some of these providers would rather offer a “hosted Exchange” service which would require the user to use Microsoft Outlook in Exchange mode. These services are more expensive to provide and may cost more for most personal and small-business users.

What could be done

An Internet service provider could offer IMAP4 mailboxes as a standard option for new customers or customers opening up new mailboxes. As well, they could offer it as a free upgrade option to existing customers, with information on how to convert from POP3 / SMTP to IMAP4.

This kind of setup that IMAP4 offers can allow telcos who offer Internet service and telephony as a bundle or triple-play services to provide a unified messaging environment where customers can manage their voicemail, fax and email from the same terminal. It also opens up ways for these companies to add value to their telephony and Internet services.

It also is a way of supporting the Internet-usage reality which is a reality driven by multiple-computer setups and portable computing.