Article

HP, allies launch Mopria to keep printers relevant in mobile era | Mobile – CNET News

My Comments

HP Envy 120 designer all-in-one inkjet printer

A common reality with the desktop printer is that you need to implement drivers on a desktop computer in order to have the printer work properly with that computer. This has confused many people who simply wanted to “walk up and print” at another location or install a newer printer. The situation is very difficult for mobile and embedded devices where these devices require limited memory space or hard-to-adapt software.

There have been various attempts at providing driver-free printing for mobile and embedded computers. One of these was UPnP Printing which allowed one to print a JPEG image or XHTML-formatted document on a suitable network printer but this was only followed through by HP with their consumer multifunction desktop printers and Nokia with their Symbian-based feature phones. HP also took this further with their ePrint “print-by-email” setup which just about every consumer and small-business HP desktop printer is equipped with.

Apple made a bit of headway with this issue by implementing AirPrint for their iOS devices and Macintosh computers running MacOS X Lion. Here, this was totally “driver-free” and more printer manufacturers came on board offering it for newer printer ranges or as “field-update” firmware for some of their existing models.

There needed to be an effort that is centred around one or more existing standards and augmented by a logo-driven marketing platform in order to provide driver-free printing to other regular, mobile and embedded computing platforms. No doubt, as Apple and their fanbois have their faith behind the AirPrint ecosystem, the Mopria ecosystem will be offered as a complementary system for other “open-frame” computing platforms.

The Mopria platform is recognising the idea that the smartphone or tablet that runs a mobile operating system is serving users as either a sole or anciliary computing device. But I would also like to see Microsoft and the open-source community adopt Mopria as a driver-free system-wide printing solution for Windows and Linux respectively in order to provide the true “walk-up and print” ability to regular computers that run these operating systems.

The embedded device community could place value on Mopria as a way to add network printing to all sorts of dedicated devices. For example, the smart TV or set-top box could exploit Mopria for interactive TV’s printing needs such as coupon printing. Similarly, devices like energy meters or “wellness” devices could use the technology to print trend-based charts for energy used or personal-wellness stats.

This may be early days yet but by using a device standard with a distinct customer-recognisable logo, Mopria could be in a position to provide driver-free printing for most applications. They also need the help of other industry standards groups like DLNA or Blu-Ray Disc to provide leverage for Mopria in the embedded-device space.

Article

‘Bogus IT guys’ slurp £1.3m from Barclays: Cybercops cuff 8 blokes • The Register

Barclays Bank computer theft: Two men in court over £1.3m haul | BBC News London

From the horse’s mouth

Metropolitan Police (London)

Press Release

Barclays Bank

Press Release

My Comments

KVM switch and 3G router attached to the bank’s computer to hack the system

Very often, I have heard and read crime-prevention articles touching on the issue of “distraction burglary”. This is where a person gains access to someone’s home or business under the pretext of a legitimate reason such as to read the meter or do some inspection and takes advantage of this to commit or facilitate crimes, typically burglaries.

The material often encouraged people to check that the visitor is real and legitimate and has a legitimate reason to visit before admitting them to their premises. One of these campaigns that I considered notable was the “Stop Chain Check” campaign in the UK that was ran by various UK police forces in concert with TV Licensing and other utilities where older residents were to have the door chain on before they opened the front door and to verify the credentials of that visitor.

Even IBM ran an awareness campaign through the 70s targeting Selectric typewriter owners who had equipment-maintenance contracts with them warning them of bogus service representatives. Here the bogus repairmen to claim that the customer’s Selectric needed workshop attention and would take the machine away for “repair”. Similarly, businesses had to be careful about people showing up as official telephone-company representatives to perform work on their telephone equipment because of this being used as a cover for planting bugs or phone taps.

Recently, there was a hacking incident targeted at Barclays Bank in Swiss Cottage, London where someone gained access to the bank branch’s IT equipment under the pretence of doing IT support work for the bank. Here, they attached a KVM-over-IP switch and a 3G mobile-broadband router to a computer at that branch and used this setup to commit a very large fraud against Barclays.

The hallmarks of this fraud was an unannounced service call by people pretending to be the bank’s IT staff or contractors. It was very similar to the aforementioned distraction burglaries with the criminals acting like the fake meter readers who were gaining access to people’s homes. There is also another similarity to the new practice of “spear-phishing” which is similar to the classic “phishing” attacks where official email from a bank or similar organisation is used to siphon confidential data from customers, but the attack is targeted at a particular employee of a particular company for access to highly-confidential business material.

A good practice for businesses who have IT-service contracts is to maintain a single point of contact between the business and the contractor. Here, you have an ability to pre-arrange any work that needs to be done on the equipment and be aware of any impending work, whether to rectify a fault or improve the IT system. As well, people in the business or similar environment need to know what equipment is currently in service or available for service.

Also we have to be suspicious if someone is forcing upon you the installation of hardware or software, the modification of existing hardware or software or the removal of hardware especially if the work hasn’t been arranged previously. This is more so if the work isn’t explained, the equipment’s owner or organisation’s management aren’t kept in the loop or at worst they insist that no-one is in the office while the work is underway.

In conclusion, even if you do have your house in order when it comes to Internet-based security threats, you also need to be sure of what is going on if someone visits you to work on your computer equipment.

Article – From the horse’s mouth

Solwise

Value – Aztech HomePlug AV with Dual Band WiFi – PL-HL117EW

My Comments

We are seeing a lot more of the Wi-Fi access points that use the HomePlug AV powerline-network technology as a backbone but these typically work on the 2.4GHz waveband, now using 802.11g/n technology.

But Aztech have released a HomePlug wireless access point that works on both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands rather than just the 2.4GHz band. The Aztech PL-117EW uses a HomePlug AV500 powerline network segment or an Ethernet segment as its backbone, so can be used for a “wired-for-Ethernet” house with the ability to create a HomePlug AV500 segment as well as being an access point.

It satisfies the reality that a home network will be needing the 5GHz 802.11n wireless network segment everywhere especially as the 2.4GHz band becomes more congested. There is the SimpleConnect “push-button” setup for the HomePlug segment as well as a WPS push-button setup for enrolling new Wi-Fi clients close to it. As far as I know, it misses out on the simple “Wi-Fi clone” function which aids setting it up as a secondary access point.

What I see of this is the idea of using the “wired no-new-wires” network that is HomePlug AV as a backbone for extending wireless-network coverage hasn’t died off and is appealing to the UK market as a valid home-network setup option in the face of the cheaper wireless-network range extenders. This device underscores this reality by extending it to the 5GHz Wi-Fi band.

Introduction

You may have read “Is it worth it to put full broadband in the family house”, which is an article that I wrote about going about setting up a fully-fledged home-network setup with wireline broadband at a house which ends up a “common property” for a family. Typically this place may be a house resided in by one or both of the parents or an occasionally-occupied “resource” property like a holiday house or city apartment.

Here I raised issues like the amount of “online” activity that would take place at this location, the availability of the full broadhand services including the packages and what kind of hardware to get if you go about this.

Your home network

Full broadband service

A router that is part of a full broadband service

Firstly, identify whether there is either a landline telephone service or a cable TV service in place at the “Family House”. To the same extent, it is worth identifying whether next-generation broadband is available at this location.

A landline telephone service with a regular telephone may be considered highly important due to the desire for a robust ermergency contact arrangement and will be essential to the operation of a medical-alert system if you are dealing with elderly parents who are at a fragile point in their life.

Here, look at the information provided by the telephone service provider or cable-TV company for packages which include the broadband Internet service along with the telephone or cable-TV service.  Some of these packages may also integrate mobile service for your parents or relatives living there. This is more so when you have elderly parents who are loyal to a particular service provider for most of their lives and are hesitant to change providers.

The cheapest Internet-service packages may only suit very casual Internet use such as daily email checking and Web-browsing where regular use of online games (Facebook games, MiniClip, MSN Games, etc) or multimedia (YouTube, Spotify, etc) aren’t part of that activity. A mid-tier service may be more relevant with a busy household, or regular use of Internet-based communications and entertainment like Skype, YouTube, Spotify or Internet radio is expected to be the order of the day. This also includes a “Family House” situation that has relatives or friends who are regularly stopping by as part of business travel or you have teenagers and young adults who regularly visit that location.

Internet Gateway Devices

This is an important piece of equipment when you are getting the “Family House” on to a full broadband service. Here, if you are supplying your own modem router for a cable or ADSL service, you can opt for “wires-only” / “bring-your-own-device” services where the provider can enable the device at the office rather than supplying the equipment.

Most modest retail-grade broadband routers and ADSL modem routers with simultaneous 802.11a/g/n Wi-Fi LAN connectivity and four Ethernet LAN sockets would answer this need. If next-generation broadband is becoming very imminent, I would suggest that the router being purchased has Ethernet WAN connectivity and preferably have Gigabit Ethernet connectivity throughout.

You can get by with carrier-supplied equipment if it is known to work to a similar standard to the retail-supplied equipment. For example, if you are in France, you could get by with one of the newer triple-play “n-boxes” offered by Free or any of the other carriers there.

Network equipment

HomePlug AV segment

The WD LiveWire HomePlug AV switch that fills in the network gap

A good practice with setting up the home network in this location is to create a HomePlug AV segment which uses the house’s AC wiring as its medium. This can be compliant to either the HomePlug AV 200Mbps standard or the newer HomePlug AV 500Mbps standard. The advantage of this medium is that it works on a wired medium without you needing to lay new wires, thus allowing you to set up a reliable semi-permanent network for fixed devices.

You can get going with this by purchasing a HomePlug AV kit and connecting one of the adaptors to the router and the other to another network device that uses an Ethernet connection in another room. These adaptors simply plug in to the nearest power outlet.

Here, the HomePlug AV multi-port switches like the WD LiveWire can come in to their own with clusters of AV equipment such as the TVs. This device provides a single on-ramp to the HomePlug AV segment for equipment like a smart TV, PVR and Blu-Ray player. As well, a spare single-port or multi-port “homeplug” adaptor can come in handy when you need to bring in a network-capable device on an “ad-hoc” basis. The example that I outline below is the situation where an adult child brings around a games console to either entertain the grandchildren or show off a game to his brothers.

A typical HomePlug AV adaptor that is worth keeping as a spare

Improving the Wi-Fi wireless segment

You may find that you don’t get good Wi-Fi wireless coverage across the house. This may be due to construction issues such as a thick brick or stone wall or extensive use of metal in the construction of a wall. Even the use of some heat-reflecting materials like Pilkington glass treatment or aluminium-lined insulation may affect radio waves that are part of a Wi-Fi wireless network.

You can answer this problem through the use of a Wi-Fi access point that is connected to your Internet router via a wired backbone such as the HomePlug AV segment. Infact there are some access points that connect directly to a HomePlug AV segment and effectively do their job as an extension access point.

On the other hand, you can repurpose an older router with the same wireless-network technology as your current Internet router as an access point. Here, you have to disable DHCP and allocate it a unique IP address within your network.

Computer equipment

Sony VAIO Duo 11

Most portable and transportable computer equipment can work well in the “family house” to underscore the notion of lifestyle computing there. Here, I am thinking of the idea of using these computers around the house and out in the garden to manage email, news, media and similar activities.

• Apple iPad (tablet, iOS, 10” 4:3 screen)
• HP Envy x2 (detachable tablet, Windows 8, 11” widescreen) – review
• Dell XPS 12 (convertible notebook, Windows 8, 11” widescreen)
• Sony VAIO Duo 11 (slider convertible notebook, Windows 8, 11” widescreen ) – review
• Toshiba Satellite U920t (slider convertible notebook, Windows 8, 12” widescreen)
• Sony VAIO Duo 13 (slider convertible notebook, Windows 8, 13” widescreen)
• Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet (tablet, Android, 10” widescreen) – review
• Sony VAIO Tap 20 (adaptable all-in-one tablet, Windows 8, 20” widescreen)
  

  Sony VAIO Tap 20 – an example of an “adaptive all-in-one” computer

  – review

• HP Envy Rove 20 (adaptable all-in-one tablet, Windows 8, 20” widescreen)
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 series (tablet, Android, 8.9” widescreen)
• Google Nexus 10 Series (tablet, Android, 10” widescreen)

Printers

Network-capable multifunction printers work well for turning out hard-copy documents. Here, features like the availability of extra-yield cartridges as an option and auto-duplex (double-sided) printing are a must. As well, pay attention to units that use four or more ink cartridges and make sure that you can choose between standard-capacity and high-capacity cartridges so you can choose the capacity that suits the amount of usage your machine is going to have but cater for particular seasons of use.

Fax-capable printers can work as a good substitute to those economy “plain-paper” fax machines that use a thermal-transfer ribbon to print on to the paper which can be costly to run.

HP Envy 120 designer all-in-one inkjet printer

• HP Envy 120 inkjet all-in-one (review) – a neat stylish all-in-one with duplex printing and its own email address
• HP Photosmart 7520 inkjet all-in-one with fax – an elegant option that can offers photo printing, colour faxing and separately-replaceable cartridges so you can get rid of that old half-dead costly-to-run fax
• Brother DCP-J925DW inkjet all-in-one without fax (review)  – an elegant machine that has basic A4 duplex print and a photo tray
• Brother MFC-J825DW inkjet all-in-one with fax – similar to the DCP-J925DW but is equipped with the colour fax functionality
• Brother MFC-J4410DW inkjet all-in-one – low-tier version of the MFC-J4710DW reviewed on this site

DLNA Home Media Network

The home network offers up plenty of resources for entertainment and, in some cases, communications. Here, it could be to create a reserve of content that can be “pulled up” and played at a moment’s notice or you simply pulling in content from an online resource like a catch-up TV service, Spotify or an Internet stream hosted by a radio station in your home country or country you love so much.

Network Attached Storage with DLNA

Seagate GoFlex Home NAS

A network-attached storage device allows you to store and retrieve data via the network without having to keep a computer switched on all the time. Similarly, the computer doesn’t underperform due to it handling data that it keeps for other devices.

The ability to use common standards to add and view content is very important. For example, using the SMB standards to transfer content to and from a NAS is important if you use a portable computer based on a regular-computing operating system like Windows, Mac OS X or Linux. Similarly, you can add a file manager to most Android and iOS devices so you can transfer files out between these devices and a NAS.

The DLNA requirement is important for whenever you want to gain access to audio, photo and video files from that smart TV or Blu-Ray player.

• WD MyBook Live
• Seagate Central
• Seagate GoFlex Home (review)

Some Internet gateway devices have the ability to be connected to a USB hard disk and work also as a network-attached storage device. These typically provide SMB-compliant file transfer from regular computers and also have DLNA and / or iTunes media server functionality.

TV or video peripheral with DLNA and / or Skype

Here, I am covering either Internet-enabled TV sets which come in to their own if the goal is to upgrade one of the TV sets, especially any set installed in any of the main living areas. On the other hand, I would recommend using Internet-enabled video peripherals like Blu-Ray players / home-theatre systems, games consoles or Skype cameras where a TV is working very well and satisfying the current needs for the area it is installed in.

• Most recently-built Samsung, Sony, LG or Panasonic smart TVs. These sets come with online video, DLNA player / renderer, and Skype functionality on most currently-built units, if not all of the units of the popular screen sizes. You could even consider the Skype cameras that the manufacturers make available for these sets so you can run them as a large-screen Skype videoconferencing terminal which is a feature I recommend for families separated by distance.
• Panasonic Blu-Ray players especially the DMP-BDT220 which offers Skype and DLNA at a reasonable price for a good-quality machine even with the TY-CC20W Skype camera. The Panasonci SCC-BT480 Blu-Ray home-theatre system and similar models in the Panasonic lineup are enabled for Skype and DLNA, which can be of value if you are factoring in a home theatre system with the speakers in to the equation. These use the same Panasonic Skype camera to work as a Skype terminal and exploit the speakers so you can hear the people whom you are talking to clearly. More expensive models in this lineup offer the Viera Cast smart-TV functionality so you can enable other TVs to become smart TVs and have access to online content.
• The Sony BDP-S390 Blu-Ray player (review)
  

  Sony BDP-S390 Network Blu-Ray Player – a Blu-Ray player that adds DLNA to an existing TV

  and the newer Sony Blu-Ray home-theatre systems add smart-TV functionality and DLNA connectivity to existing TV sets. But they don’t offer Skype connectivity which may put you back if you are thinking of Skype on your TV at affordable costs. The mid-range and premium Sony Blu-Ray players also are Skype ready with the same optional Sony camera if you are considering this function for your TV set.

• The Logitech TV Cam HD Skype camera which simply adds Skype functionality to most flat-screen TVs.

Games consoles

Sony PS3 games console – best brought around as needed

You may think of keeping a games console connected to a TV at the “Family House” but this may work if you have a TV in a secondary lounge area and the console is going to be used by the grandchildren. On the other hand, one of the adult children who owns a games console can bring it to the “Family House” on an as-needed basis and connect it up to the TV there especially if the idea is to entertain the younger children.

But they would need to have it be part of the “Family House’s” home network and this setup routine for the Wi-Fi network only needs to be done the first time a Wi-Fi-equipped console is used there. On the other hand, the previously-mentioned spare “homeplug” can come in handy for linking a console that has an Ethernet socket on it to the home network. Of course, some older people may find that the games console would be difficult to use, including playing a game or navigating the user interface. These are best used when you are with the younger people who regularly play games on these devices.

Network-enabled music systems, wireless speakers and receivers

Sony CMT-MX750Ni 3-piece music system

These music-system and receiver suggestions can fit the bill of you want something that can play content held on the DLNA-capable NAS or take advantage of online media resources such as Spotify or the “new short wave” i.e. Internet radio.

• Sony CMT-MX750Ni music system. (review) This system has FM and DAB+ for regular broadcast radio, a CD player as well as an iPod dock. But it can work with DLNA-hosted media content as well as online music services including Internet radio.
• Sony CMT-SBT300WB music system – This is anther 3-piece music system that follows on from the CMT-MX750Ni music system but uses Bluetooth local connectivity as an audio path as well as being able to connect to your home network and supporting AirPlay functionality for Apple devices.
• Denon CEOL and CEOL Piccolo music systems (review).
  

  Denon CEOL music system

  These systems work as part of the DLNA Home Media Network and can pull in online music sources including Internet radio and Spotify. They also have an iPod dock and support Apple AirPlay but the CEOL also has a CD player and FM radio tuner.

• Onkyo TX-8050 Stereo receiver. If you are thinking of a stereo receiver rather than a home-theatre surround receiver, this Onkyo unit can also provide access to
• Most home-theatre surround-sound receivers that are placed in the mid-tier of the market also come with home network abilities including DLNA, Spotify, Internet radio and the like.  But listening to audio-focused content on a lot of these systems typically requires you to use the TV to navigate for the content.
• Marantz Audio Consolette speaker dock (review).
  

  Marantz Audio Consolette speaker dock

  This is one of a few iPhone speaker docks that connect to the home network as a wireless speaker for Airplay and DLNA-capable mobile devices or an Internet radio, yet yield that high-grade sound.

• Boston Acoustics MC-i200 Air wireless speaker (review). One of a few wireless speakers that excel on the sound but works primarily with your home network.
• Denon Cocoon speaker docks – A more affordable speaker-dock setup that doubles as an Internet radio or can accept the popular iPhone 4S or iPod Classic.
• Sony SA-NS410 wireless speaker (review) – A DLNA / AirPlay wireless speaker that can be used around the house and doubles as an Internet radio
• Sony SA-NS510 portable wireless speaker (review) – A highly-portable DLNA / AirPlay wireless speaker with Internet radio functionality that runs on its own batteries thus being appealing for the garden or other outdoor use.

Network audio devices

NAD C448 network media tuner connected to an amplifier

These units can be connected to a regular stereo or home-theatre system via a vacant line-level input to serve as an audio-focused network media player. They also have an integrated broadcast-radio tuner which you may use in lieu of the FM or AM tuner that is part of your system or could replace a regular tuner component for broadcast-radio reception.

• Sangean WFT-1 FM/DAB+/Internet network audio tuner – An economical way to add digital broadcast radio, Internet radio and network-hosted audio to your sound system
• NAD C448 FM/AM/DAB+/Internet network audio tuner – The first “full-band” hi-fi tuner and network audio adaptor with serious hi-fi credentials
• Onkyo T-4070 FM/AM/DAB+ Internet network audio tuner – Onkyo’s “full-band” tuner and network media adaptor for the hi-fi system
• Denon DNP-720AE FM/AM/Internet network audio tuner – A similar “FM/AM/Internet” tuner with network media playback for the hi-fi system.
• Yamaha CD-N500 Network CD player – This CD player can come in handy with a sound system or speaker dock by being able to play CDs as well as tuning in to Internet radio or playing content held on your network-attached storage

Conclusion

Of course, there are better and newer devices that would fill the needs for a house that either serves as an older parent’s residence or commonly-resource property as well as a family hub.

Articles

PlayStation companion app for iOS, Android due in November | Internet & Media – CNET News

Sony to Launch PS4 Companion App in November | Mashable

My Comments

Sony is intending to add value to the PlayStation 4 platform by releasing a companion app for the iOS and Android mobile platforms that works with this console.

But what benefits will it offer to the gamers who use this app and associate it with their console? One would be to exploit the smartphone’s or tablet’s screen as a second screen which would come in to play with a wide range of games. For example, the screen could be used to show a leaderboard or scoreboard for a game while using the big screen just for the gameplay activity. Some adventure-based games may implement this second screen as an always-displayed map of either the game’s whole world or area of local relevance so as to help with fulfilling a particular quest.

The other main benefit is to have the mobile device serve as a controller, which I would see as improving the gameplay experience for some games and players. The touchscreens offered by these devices could allow for intuitive positioning of players in a sports game or could make it real for a strategy game to be played on a console.

Sony is also intending to make these devices become a path to the PlayStation Network online gaming service such as to see what others are playing and how they are performing as well as buying games and downloadable content using the mobile device for delivery to your PS4.

What I like of this is that various gaming tasks can be made more intuitive for more players by exploiting the touchscreen rather than hammering D-pads and buttons to configure a game’s participant. Similarly, it could open the path for other games types to be playable on consoles rather than just on regular computers or mobile devices.

Similarly it could open up the games consoles to user classes other than the teenage or young-adult males of this world by making them easier to use by older people or women.

Article

Train Commuters Rejoice: YouTube Adding Offline Viewing to Apps – Streaming Media Magazine

My Comments

Most of us who want to use our smartphones or tablets to view video content “on the road” may be either using a low-allowance mobile data plan or travelling through areas where Internet access isn’t guaranteed. Examples of this may include underground (subway) trains, air travel or long-distance train travel. As well, you may be using a Wi-Fi-only device like low-tier tablets or MP3 players.

Google have revised the iOS and Android YouTube apps to allow you to download video content for later viewing. These apps will keep the content of 48 hours but it would come in handy when you are “loading up” with content at your home network or public-access Wi-Fi network before you set off.

I see this as being commensurate with Google’s new direction for YouTube where they want to use this service for hosting content that is beyond cat videos. The catch-up and on-demand TV services could follow this line so as to increase their utility to travellers who want to catch up with favourite TV serials.

Similarly, Google could release an official YouTube app with this function for the regular-computer platforms as well as other mobile platforms like Windows Phone 8 so as to court users who use Ultrabooks or Nokia Lumia phines for this purpose.

Article – From the horse’s mouth

Brother

TD-2020 Product Page

TD-2120N Product Page

My Comments

Brother TD-2120 network label / receipt printer

When I reviewed the Brother QL-570 and QL-700 thermal label printers, I mentioned that a feature these units or products like these could benefit from would be to work as receipt or voucher printers for point-of-sale / point-of-service systems.

Now Brother have released in to the Australian market a pair of label printers that can serve as receipt or voucher printers. Both these units can work with the Brother P-Touch label creation software, but they can work with most thermal paper rolls used with other point-of-sale printers. The TD-2020 works as a direct-attached printer for a single workstation whereas the TD-2120N can be connected to a network and serve multiple workstations. There is even an add-on module that allows the TD-2120N label printer to work with Wi-Fi wireless networks rather than an Ethernet or HomePlug network. These units also can work with a battery for highly-mobile applications such as trolley-based setups or tradespeople working out of the back of a van.

This unit supports the ESC/P character-based printing mode for receipt applications as well as the raster-based printing mode and the TD-2020 can also be connected to systems that use serial connection rather than USB connection. Brother publishes application-programming interfaces for third parties to integrate labelling in to their regular-computing or mobile-computing applications.

There is the ability for these printers to work as standalone label writers through the use of a display / keyboard attachment that installs in the top of the unit. It is in addition to a label-peel attachment that simplifies the task of peeling off labels, thus making things much quicker if you have to put labels on many items.

I see these printers as equipment that can be evolved to a business’s receipt, voucher or label printing needs in a very exact manner.