But my absolute favorite suggestion came from several people who’d probably appreciate it if I keep their identities under wraps. When junk faxes proliferate, they say, they take some black crepe paper, feed it into their fax machines and then tape it into a never-ending loop.

Then they dial the number of the junk faxer and allow the Black Fax of Doom to do its dirty work at the other end of the line, wherever that may be.

I hope the original sender didn’t use an innocent from: fax number when they sent their junk fax . . . as you could inadvertently end up attacking an innocent fax machine with this “countermeasure”.

advertising, blowback, countermeasure, junk fax

The Good:

• Great Interface . . . one that only Apple could envision and execute!
• Well Rounded Feature Set!
• Marvelous Design!
• It’s Gorgeous!

But I’ve got a few issues that will need to be resolved before I will buy one:

1. EDGE?!?!? Apple, are you serious? Have you tried an EDGE data connection on Cingular? Calling it painful is generous . . . at best! A couple of facts about EDGE:
• It’s inadequate for video streaming and/or near real time media downloads. Less than 80k of throughput . . . in real world use, much less!
• Cingular is in the process of deploying UTMS/HSDPA 3G networking, and there should be a fair amount of coverage in metro areas within the year.
• There are many phones on the market with combined GPRS/EDGE/UTMS data support, why limit the iPhone?
• This handset has to be usable for at least as long as the carrier commitment (2 years minimum for this deal). Launching a “revolutionary” phone with yesterdays data access is inexcusable.
• The cellular ecosystem does not allow for the same upgrade cycle that Apple has enjoyed previously with the iPod. The cost of upgrading hardware mid-contract is prohibitively expensive. Who here has experienced the sticker shock of replacing a lost or damaged handset? What’s the price of this phone without a “carrier subsidy”? Enough said.
• I really hope the hardware is capable of 3G/UTMS/HSDPA out of the box . . . just waiting for a code to activate, like the recent stealth roll out of the Pre-N WiFi cards in recent Apple hardware?
2. 4/8Gb Storage? Not enough to use it for a video media player
• I hope the slot below the camera lens (on the left side of the phone) is a removable media bay (CompactFlash I Hope, but I’ll settle for SD).
3. WiFi Access:
• Where is the seamless VoIP integration that can roam between the Cingular and WiFi network?
• Open WiFi is not ubiquitous in the US, and most public access is fee based.
• Cingular, your signal sucks in my house but I have great WiFi coverage.
4. And now no user installable applications . . . according to The Unofficial Apple Weblog.

apple, cellular, cingular, wifi, iphone

Image Courtesy of NASA

nasa, spaceflight, spacewalk, space

Gives new meaning to factory fresh . . . the weird part . . . they shipped it Ground!!!

china, fedex, ipod, ipod video, apple

I’ve got to get out to Florida to see one of these in person before they stop flying them!

discovery, hdnet, nasa, space shuttle, sts-121

Improv Everywhere decided to find out . . .

I would venture to guess that in-store customer satisfaction actually increased.

best buy

Ad 1 and Ad 2 Via YouTube

And people wonder why I carry my PowerMac around to security conferences

EDIT: Looks like the official Apple site has all six ads . . . Â

mac, marketing, microsoft, security, apple

Hopefully they can now do something with the wonderful intellectual property they have socked away in the vault.

scott mcnealy, sun

The consumer encryption problem is really a chicken and egg issue. On one side you the software developers that would rather not put the time and effort into making online identity and non-repudiation of transactions a standard feature in all Internet applications. On the other, you have the consumers, in desperate need of a standard – USABLE method for proving their identity online (or say, checking the identity of their eBay trading partner).

On the software side, the developers seem to be waiting for a critical mass of consumers to adopt a specific solution (which will never happen). On the consumer side, they continue to look for a solution that doesn’t require an engineering degree to install and a PHD to use.

Making the consumer credential free, drives the software industry in a direction . . . one, arguably, that I did not believe would be successful in the past (I have always thought that PKI for the masses will never fly duue to its complexity). While the consumer experience leaves a lot to be desired, its a great first step in the process of deploying some sort of digital credential to each Internet user.

Ok software developers, let’s start focusing on a usable consumer interface for this foundation that Thawte has deployed.

Also of note, Thawte does not seem to have a eassy way for you to integrate their certificates into the Apple OSX Mail.app. I have written a ‘quick’ rundown of the (35) steps that you will need to complete to make this work on a Mac. This process takes about 15 minutes.
Have fun, and happy signing!

mail.app, certificate, certificate authority, credential, identity, x.509