The White House wants to tap the Internet

Are you ready for the next round of possible government-inspired Internet security measures?

Well, get prepared, because there is big talk and even bigger plans under way regarding Internet security.

It was reported in the Sept. 27 edition of The New York Times that the White House is hard at work creating legislation that will broaden the scope of the current wiretap authority to infiltrate and intercept our Facebook, BlackBerry and Skype communications without prior knowledge or consent.

The proposed legislation would also include an agenda that will give law enforcement and security officials increased ease in being able to infiltrate and eavesdrop on your online chatter as well.

Don't be alarmed, as the proposed legislation is not expected to be presented to Congress before next year and we all know just how long it can take, before a decision is made on anything in Congress.

You can bet there will be hearing after hearing, filibusters and a host of other objections during the process.

This proposed legislation is being seen as an Obama administration-sponsored bill, which for all intents and purposes would appear to be true since it is coming out of the White House.

One of the unsettling and most prominent aspects of the pending legislation, if passed and enacted, will demand that every Internet-based communication service reset its internal protocols to be technically capable of adhering to the federal wiretap order to include the ability to intercept and unscramble encrypted messages.

The overall scope of this legislation has incredible implications, as it may seem to be a means of releasing the proverbial hounds of hell on an unsuspecting population, in that it will equip our government with the power to listen in on every communication that is made online.

Of course, given the times that we live in and the relentless pursuers of anarchy, terrorism and the destruction of anything and anyone that does not have a shared belief, in their opinion, philosophy, political persuasion or religion, this new legislation may not be such a bad thing.

Yet, there is always that overwhelming, sinking feeling that Big Brother is waiting, watching and listening, as well as the distinct possibility that those in the administration, intelligence community or any other entity with access to and permission to use this legislation having ill intentions could use it for all the wrong reasons and exact untold invasions of privacy.

What of the government officials working on this new legislation? Who are they and how are they attempting to define who the Internet communications providers are and what the criterion is that the government will use to move forward in exacting the new legislation on their choice of who constitutes a qualified, in their opinion, provider?

And what about the providers of Internet communications services, what are their thoughts on this new legislation?

How will the new legislation affect the realm of wireless technology, specifically the smartphone?

Make sure you're on board, next week, as we will look at these questions and attempt to provide answers accordingly.

- Andino Ward

Microsoft's Cyber Security EBook and Google TV

In an effort to keep up with the ongoing need for safety and security on the Web, especially for teens, Microsoft has developed and released a free Ebook that imparts and defines an incredible amount of diverse security topics.

Even though Microsoft created this specifically for teenagers, it became clear that the book's contents does offer such an indepth view into using the Internet safely that it can be used by anyone looking to gain advise and insight on Internet security.

One of Microsoft's main concerns in developing the Ebook was to not insult teens by appearing to be trying too hard to look cool. In checking out the Ebook, I must say that Microsoft did a fantastic job at, as the teen set says, "keeping it real."

Microsoft should be given high praise in that they really did create a comprehensive guide for teens as well as new computer users, which does cover everything relative to cyber security.

Some of the topics include catching phishing tactics, how to set up your browser so that you're protected against browser-based intrusions and crimes, how to handle cyber-stalking and bullying. The Ebook also offers up an interesting history and real world examples of the danger and harm that can and has come from cyber security vulnerabilities.

The great part is that you and your teenager can download the 253-page book for free. Microsoft has added an aspect of convenience in that you have the option to either download the entire book or you can download only those chapters that you feel are relevant to the specific concerns that you and your teenager may have.

In reviewing the Ebook, it was also obvious to me that it would be a great teaching tool for students and organizations.

I urge every parent, teacher, caregiver and youth organization to get a copy of this Ebook and to use it to help "tweens," teens and everyone find ways to be safe on the Web. If you would like to download the Ebook, all you need to do is visit "Own Your Space: Keep Yourself and Your Stuff Safe Online."

So, what's hot at Google? Well, Google has made a strong move into the Internet TV arena and is calling its new venture, appropriately so, Google TV. This new technology is planned to hit the scene within the next few months in the U.S. and will create a seamless connection between your TV and the Web.

Google TV will also connect to the Android app store as well as the Android-powered smartphones and the iPhone, with both having the capability to be used as remote controls for Google TV.

There will be three specific devices that will have the ability to initiate the Google TV platform and they will be Sony HDTV, Blu-ray players and a Logitech set-top box, both of which should connect to your TV, provided that your TV is in the recent high-definition realm.

This new endeavor is incredible as it will completely change the way we use and view our TVs and our computers, in that it will, in effect, merge the two. You will be able to get the Web at the push of a button and channeled TV with a smooth cross platform search tool ability and your TV will become an enormous digital photo frame with a slideshow mode that will allow you to have all your photos uploaded to sites like Flickr or Facebook.

Make sure you say thank you to the required Google TV hardware specs like Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, as they will give you the ability to load a Web page on your Android phone and beam it to your Google TV.

Also, in case you forgot, remember that whole Android and smartphone voice recognition thing I told you about in the first part of this series? Well, you can also use your Android phone's voice recognition, making it possible to change channels or search for shows just by talking into the phone and this application will become available for other smartphones in time.

As you can see, Microsoft and Google are charting a course, in their respective arenas, that is both exciting and definitely expanding our capabilities in the vast, open space we call the information highway.

So make sure you're on that fast-moving ride and strap in tight, because it's going to be a wild, fast-paced and exciting ride. I hope we can all keep up!

- Andino Ward

Google and Microsoft on the cutting edge

Google was a big standout at this year's IFA convention that was held in Europe and is said to be the world's largest consumer electronics and home appliances trade show on the planet.

Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, was on hand and gave a very revealing talk on the realm of the smartphone, cloud computing and Google TV.

Let's start with the Android platform as well as the exciting new tool for voice search recognition and mobile speech translation called conversation mode.

Because of the unprecedented development of the many variations of smartphones, it is anticipated that there will be a staggering upswing in the growth of the smartphone handset market.

The numbers are incredible and estimated to go from the current 1 billion mark to 3 billion or 4 billion in the next four years and all this movement in smartphone technology and the consumer will be tied directly to the cloud, which will provide an increased impressive array of functions to smartphones.

It goes without saying that smartphone technology is seriously becoming the driving force in the world of information technology.

When you take all of this into consideration, it really isn't a surprise that the hottest smartphone on the market, the Android, is said to be shipping 200,000 activations per day.

Now here's the really exciting part. Google has made a significant push into the area of what is referred to as the "augmented humanity" model.

This is something that seeks to make the aspect of cloud computing and smartphone apps become aligned with you and me, the human being, and what we want in the way of services from our mobile technology.

One part of the model is designed to improve the search capability by building a more defined bridge between what you search for and what you mean with a solid degree of search efficiency that will determine and find exactly what you want to the most minute detail.

But the most exciting part of the new model is the upgraded voice recognition technology app that is expected to be released in the next few months.

Google introduced voice search recognition two years ago and it is calculated that Android search in the U.S. is now being done by way of voice at a rate of 25 percent.

The move into this area by Google is doing quite well and has very fast voice search capability and voice actions to include impressive speech to text tools.

I have personally had the opportunity to play around with this new technology and I must say that it has made a believer out of me, to the extent that I can truly tell you that it will change the way we all use our smartphones in that it will end the days of pushing buttons.

There is also the new app that Google will be releasing in the next few months called Conversations Mode and let me tell you, it is awesome.

So this is how it goes: Let's say you're in Turkey on vacation or business and you are shopping at an outdoor market place or eating at a local Turkish restaurant.

Of course you don't speak the language, but fear not, because you have your trusty smartphone.

You whip it out, go to the conversation mode app and begin to say what it is you want the merchant or waiter to know, all in English.

As you speak into the handset, within seconds your smartphone will send out a spoken translation to the merchant or waiter in their language and it will do so with perfect translation, to which the merchant or waiter will, in their own language, respond into your handset and you will then receive the spoken translation in perfect English.

Just think about how easy this will make travel to a foreign country and the fact that you won't have to make the mistake of ordering sautéeed goats eye's, when you really wanted fried calamari.

Doesn't that take a load off your mind, since you're planning on going to Thailand where there is some really exotic cuisine?

Join me next week as we take a look at Google television and Microsoft's new Cyber Security EBook.

- Andino Ward

Groupon: The next level in online shopping

Here's the thing: I was shopping around the other day for some percussion instruments, as I have started playing again with a jazz band and a blues band as well.

Without thinking, I went directly to the Internet and started looking for the various pieces of equipment I needed.

All of a sudden, I just stopped surfing the Net and started reflecting on what I was doing and it became very clear to me that over the last 10 years, at least 95 percent of my shopping is done online. The remaining 5 percent is done at the grocery store and gas station.

No matter what I am looking to buy, the ease of sitting at my desk and surfing is relaxing, economical and, I must say, fun.

There is such a plethora of online stores to choose from and the deals that I find are incredible, with a 10 to 30 percent savings every time.

Every major store chain has a site that you can go to and shop and then there are all the online stores to choose from as well. One can almost never say that they cannot find the particular item or service they are looking for when shopping on the Internet.

Well, hold on to your heavily weighted down with money fanny pack, because there's a new online shopping site that has hit the ground running and is changing the way online shopping is done.

This is all coming from one Andrew Mason, a 29-year-old music major from Northwestern who in 2008, with lightning speed, created and launched the fastest growing Web-based business in the history of the Web.

The young entrepreneur has brought to life an online company called Groupon, which is a combination of the words group and coupon. Groupon's purpose is to invoke huge sales and easy profits along with creating a solid connection between retailers and online consumers.

Of greater interest is the fact that the Groupon philosophy is a direct throwback to the dot.com era and what it was supposed to have been about.

The company provides an online audience with deep discounts on a product or service and uses the "act now" slogan as its main pitch, followed by, "you have only so many hours before this offer expires." All of which can be considered familiar come-ons, yet they are still very effective, as seen in Groupon's incredible online success.

Groupon lists with vendors in every city and they list the deals of the day on the site for consumers to partake of in their own area or any part of the country they choose.

When you shop on the site, you will find everything from tickets to sports events, museum exhibits, classes at yoga studios or spas, ice cream shops, clothing stores and so much more. I found that the savings are typically around 50 percent on must items or services, while putting you, the customer, in touch with vendors you who might never have thought of patronizing since you weren't aware of their existence.

One of the main things that has made Groupon a big and fast-moving success is its use of Google and Facebook. By connecting with them, Groupon is able to gets its offers in front of a tremendous consumer base that is estimated to be around 13 million subscribers.

I have personally been shopping online using Groupon for the past year and have consistently been amazed at the ease of use and the deals that I have come across in the process.

The young Mason has definitely created a winner and you will most definitely find Groupon a fun-filled, bargain-rich site.

Have a great time shopping and try not to spend all that money in your fanny pack. Isn't it kind of geeky to still be wearing a fanny pack?

- Andino Ward

How smart is your underwear?

So, how are those new underwear that you just purchased fitting you right now? Since you started wearing them, are you getting a tingly feeling in your lower region? Is there a sudden pep in your step, dip in your hip, glide in your stride? Are you feeling a sense of free and wild abandonment, all because of your new underwear?

Or, do you think your losing your mind, because of the newfound exhilaration and excitement that you're experiencing below your waist?

Well fear not! It is not your imagination and you're not going crazy. What's really happening is that you are the proud owner of "SMART UNDERWEAR"! That's right the underwear that you have on are intelligent. This groundbreaking technology was created at the University of California San Diego by Professor Joseph Wang and a team of scientists who specialize in nano technology. Dr. Wang and his team have designed high-tech underwear that may one day save lives.

Now, of course, I was joking in the opening lines of this piece, about your undies giving you a new lease on life, but that perspective is not really far off. You see, the smart underwear that Dr. Wang and his team are responsible for have sensors in the waistband that can monitor a person's blood pressure, heart rate, and other vital signs. It is also anticipated that the underwear will one day have the ability to release drugs into the body that will help relieve pain and treat wounds.

All of this new technology, as wonderful as it seems, is not yet available to the public, but is actively being used by the military. Exactly what the military is using smart underwear for is still a mystery and I would guess top secret. Although the military is actively using the smart underwear, the technological range of applications does and will go far beyond the military.

Dr. Wang is very clear in indicating that one of his visions for smart underwear is rooted in personalized medicine that will move into the area of remote monitoring of the elderly at home, as well as monitoring a wide range of biomedical markers like cardiac markers that will send an alert out for a potential stroke, diabetic changes, and other changes related to a number of other biomedical situations and scenarios.

Wearable smart underwear will also have biosensors, which will be able to provide incredibly valuable information to athletes regarding their physical conditioning, and injuries. Another application of the smart underwear will be to measure blood alcohol levels, without the need for an actual sobriety testing.

Now, if you think that the new technology is only happening in your underwear, don't bet on it. If you're an avid movie goer, but hate it when you're sitting in the theater, intensely watching a movie and then someone's cellphone goes off, fret no more. There is now a cell phone-detecting shirt that is worn by the theater ushers and will detect mobile communications devices that haven't been switched off during the movie. The smart shirt is the brain child of Richard Etter and is part of a new clothing line called, "Aware Fashion."

The shirt looks much like a standard fashionable shirt. However, if a mobile phone gets near the shirt and are on, the shirt will glow unobtrusively at the end of its sleeves, alerting the usher to the fact that there is a cell phone active in the theater.

Don't think that what I just talked about is it in smart wear. There is so much more. What about the question of privacy and whether you will even know that you are buying a piece of smart clothing? Think about that. You could be walking around, right now, wearing smart wear and not even know it. The worst part is that someone, somewhere, could be monitoring your every move, or what's happening in your underwear.

- Andino Ward

Ethics, morals and the information highway

In several past columns, we dealt with the aspect of the ever-changing realm of information technology as it pertains to you, the private citizen and businesses.

There has been an emphasis on how the changes will affect each one’s pocketbook as the technology expands in strength, capabilities and functionality .

Well, this time we are going to take a look at the growing concern with what is felt to be a problem that is and continues to reach beyond the scope of everyone’s ability to correct and navigate through.

Some of the greatest minds of our times are completely baffled and stumped at how to institute a means of providing a sustainable moral and ethical roadmap for the information highway, and the effects of the void are growing increasingly obvious with each passing day.

Consider the recent e-mail intrusion that claimed several high-ranking U.S. senators had died, even though they had not; and to take it even further, the e-mails appeared to come from each of their offices.

This, of course, created a panic and potential security breach throughout the capitol as there was a move to beef up security around the senators in question.

It is obvious that this was a case of hackers breaking into their e-mail accounts and, if you recall, I did recently write a column on this very matter indicating just how ramped e-mail hacking is becoming.

Furthermore, it goes without saying that the government is supposed to have the top cyber security hardware and software in place with protocols that should make it almost impossible to penetrate.

Yet it happens all the time and more than we will ever know or hear about.

One must ask the question, “What kind of ethics and moral understanding did the person or persons have who, without any feelings or conscience, felt it was perfectly acceptable to hack the Senate e-mail accounts? And then falsify obituaries indicating that they had died and send it out to numerous news agencies, both print and TV?”

I remember watching an episode of a TV show called “The Closer” that centered around a young woman who was the daughter of a prominent senator.

The woman had been murdered in a most horrifying and brutal way by a teenage boy, who frequented a particular Web site that specialized in bringing people together who were into what is considered S&M sex.

Now for the clincher! As the investigation progressed, the real situation began to unfold and it was determined that it was not a true murder in the sense of break in and robbery.

Without going into all the gory details, what had really happened was that an ex-boyfriend of the women was angry at the fact that she broke up with him and wanted to get his payback.

So he hacked into her computer, created an online profile relative to her being into S&M and then, from her own e-mail account, he posted it on a Web site requesting an S&M sexual encounter, which was false, as the woman was never involved in that practice, and as a result of what he did she lost her life.

This an extreme case, but it is something that is very possible as there are individuals and groups who operate in the dark and evil recesses that are void of ethics and morality in our society.

Consider that ethics and morality, relative to the information highway, have been studied and continue to be under intense scrutiny for the last 30 years and yet, to date, there is still an overwhelming amount of unanswered questions and the list grows ever longer with each passing day.

As the power and reach of the technology increases, it has a residual effect that comes with it of those who are going to be unethical and immoral having a greater playground on which to exact their sinister plans and desires without being seen, as well as being able to more effectively and easily link up with those of like mind on a global scale.

So how do we survey our society in an attempt to find out just how we, human beings, view and perceive ethics and morals on the information highway?

We will look at the groups that are studied on this issue and what has been determined about their viewpoints as a result of the information obtained from the studies.

Do you have an opinion or negative experience relative to ethics and morality on the World Wide Web or the Wild Wild West? Whichever you prefer!

- Andino Ward

Can data traffic clogging be resolved?

We now know that the cellular companies are in dire straits due to the proliferation of data traffic and the fact that they were not prepared for the overwhelming amount of use by cell phone users all over the world, to the degree that their systems just cannot handle the overload.

So what did AT&T Wireless do to combat the huge data demand from devices such as the iPhone and iPad?

Instead of trying to make things more efficient, they decided to take away unlimited data or Internet packages.

AT&T believes that devices like the iPhone are more computers with phone capability rather than phones with Internet capability and now they have changed their pricing model in order to capitalize and make more profit.

This change came mere days before the launch of the new iPhone 4 and the iPad.

Why is unlimited data so important?

Imagine you have a 600-minute cell phone plan and you go over your minutes. Unless you have something similar to AT&T’s Rollover minutes, you are probably going to get hit with some outrageous per-minute fee, like 3 to 10 cents per minute for each minute over the 600 minutes during “peak” time.

Let’s apply this idea to data plans. For people who get a lot of e-mail and attachments, or who listen to the radio on their cell phone, or are using a data card to get online — they can very easily go over the limit and get charged 6 to 10 cents per kilobyte over their limit.

Just to put this in perspective, a gigabyte is 1,000 megabytes and a megabyte is 1,000 kilobytes. The average digital picture size is 5 megabytes and the average e-mail size is 5 kilobytes.

AT&T claims that most data users do not need an unlimited package and use less than 400 megabytes every month, and this is why they decided to discontinue the unlimited package and lower the cost of a “limited” data package in order to make things more affordable for customers.

Why didn’t they simply leave the unlimited data package alone and come up with a lesser expensive limited data package for customers that do not need unlimited?

Why do customers now need to watch their cell phone Internet usage like their cell phone minutes?

There are many cases where customers were slammed with multiple thousands of dollars in data usage from cell phone companies — upwards of $10,000. I know this is an extreme case; however, there has to be a red flag at some point and it looks like the customer in the end will get hurt.

Well, I am not an AT&T subscriber, so what does this have to do with me, you ask?

Verizon Wireless has already hinted that they are going to follow suit in cutting their unlimited data package. Verizon has yet to pull the trigger, as they don’t want to cut the cord as abruptly as AT&T has; however, at some point in the not so distance future it will happen.

If the top two carriers in the country press the red button to kill the unlimited data plan, the question then becomes, will the other carriers follow behind them?

There is no clear answer to that question. Maybe other carriers like Sprint, T-Mobile and lower-tier carriers like MetroPCS, Cricket, Boost Mobile, and so on, may find it a selling feature to bring subscribers over to their side.

The only problem is that the cell coverage areas for high-speed data, from the lower-tier carriers, does not compare to the top two carriers.

The bottom line is that you need to seriously pay attention to what is going on and babysit your cell phones or else you could end up with an outrageous cell phone bill one day.

I am sure at some point you have either gone over your minutes or your text messages. Well, now be ready to go over your data package.

This is yet another mechanism for the cell phone companies to generate profit, as cell phones are becoming less phone and more multimedia devices.

Be aware and you won’t despair.

- George Bardissi