Also: IHA launches Home Integrator Initiative; Philips tests home healthcare platform; 2Wire launches automated DSL installation system; D-Link Webcam foils robbery
Imagine the impact on the financial industry if everyone who banks online today stopped – and instead went back to their local branches?
Banks and other financial institutions fear hackers, phishers and identity thieves are scaring people away from conducting online business. In a recent online survey by market research firm Greenfield on behalf of Entrust, 65% of the 2,000 respondents said the protection of their online identity would influence their choice of bank, and 22% said they would switch banks to get better protection.
The solution lies in creating a two-factor authentication product for the masses – a way to provide strong identity protection that’s inexpensive and easy for everyone to understand and use.
Entrust is banking on the bingo card.
Not just any bingo card, but a U.S.-patented bingo card. It’s the cornerstone of Entrust’s new Identity Guard product, in beta now with Entrust customers. Issued to individual consumers, each bingo card displays a unique grid of characters – there are 10 to the 50th combinations, says Chris Voice, Entrust’s vice president of secure identity management.
When users log on to their bank accounts (or healthcare provider site, or retailer) they type in their usernames and passwords; then the system presents two (or three) challenges: “Look up C5, look up B9, look up A4” and users then find the coordinate and type in their corresponding numbers.
The plastic cards will live in your wallet and be issued by banks, credit card firms or ISPs. Banks will first issue cards to their customers for banking transactions, but eventually you could use them to conduct all your online business.
“The card is very resistant to brute force attack,” Voice says. “Even if someone intercepts the logon, all they see are two coordinates out of all those different grid locations.”
Recently AOL and RSA Security teamed to offer AOL customers a hardware token keyfob, AOL Passcode, which costs $9.95 each and $1.95 to $4.95 per month.
“That’s great for customers willing to buy it,” Voice says. “But we wanted to create a token issuers can produce for pennies a pop that costs consumers little or nothing.”
IHA launches Home Integrator Initiative
| More music than god! Digital Mind has released the first 100G-byte music player and storage device. The new DMC Xclef connects to PCs and Macs via USB and can hold as many as 25,000 music files — as well as back up a hard disk or two. The device boasts a 20-plus-hour battery life, studio-quality direct encoding, voice recording, FM radio and FM recording. It supports MP3, WMA, WAV and ASP file formats. The 100G-byte version costs $449; 40G-, 60G- and 80G-byte versions start at $249. |
The Internet Home Alliance – a group of computer, consumer electronics and home appliance manufacturers – has launched a program aimed at growing the nascent home network integrator market.
Systems integrators who want to earn certification in home technology products and services now have two paths: Take courses from the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA), or the Custom Electronic Design & Installation Association (CEDIA). CompTIA focuses more on computing and networking; CEDIA on consumer electronics.
So IHA has stepped in to work with both – as well as a host of others – to develop one set of standards for home technology integrators.
“We want them talking apples to apples,” says Tim Woods, IHA’s vice president of ecosystems development. “And we want consumers to have peace of mind that the people they’re letting into their homes are people they can trust.”
The group’s first step was to produce the free white paper, “Net Gain: Advancing the Market for Home Technology Integrators” (PDF available here), which offers a baseline set of education standards and makes recommendations for how the industry can promote home integrators.
IHA also has developed a Web site where you can type in a ZIP code to return a list of local certified integrators. “This is how we ensure this market moves forward faster,” Woods says.
| NEWS NOTES |
| Two-second commute. Nearly 4.2 million people worked at home in 2002, up from 3.4 million in 1990, according to a new U.S. Census Bureau report. The Census counted people older than 16 who usually work from home, and discounted part-time home workers. More recent estimates from the American Community Survey show 4.5 million worked from home in 2003.click here. For details Tivo to go. Orb Networks announced a service that lets you access all your multimedia content, including TV feeds, over any Web-connected device. Downloading Orb software on a Media Center PC creates a secure link between the content and Orb’s central server. You then log onto the Orb Web site from a smart phone, laptop or PDA to access the content. Support for non-Media Center PCs is coming soon, the company says. You also can access the system remotely; for instance, use your cell phone to program your PVR to record a show. That way, if you don’t make it home in time, you can view it on your cell phone. The service, available by press time, will cost $9.99 per month for the first household user, then an additional $3.99 per user per month. For details click here. My first robot. iRobot has sold more than one million Roomba Robotic Floorvacs, (left), since introduced in 2002. Roomba’s infrared sensors let it follow walls, avoid stairs and concentrate on particularly dirty areas. Models start at $150. For details click here. |
Virtual house calls
Philips launched a pilot study to test a secure healthcare communication platform that connects chronic disease patients to their care providers via the TV. Philips will test the Motiva platform with 60 patients of the Cardiovascular Associates of the Delaware Valley (CADV). Comcast has provided the cable broadband connections. The goal is to help patients and cut healthcare costs, 78% of which is spent managing chronic conditions, Philips says.
Philips will install a set-top box, customized remote control and home -monitoring devices in the Cherry Hill, New Jersey homes of 60 patients with chronic heart failure. Patients can use to measure their vital signs, such as weight and blood pressure, and conduct videoconferences with doctors and family members. Motiva also provides positive reinforcement through daily vital signs and health status feedback, interactive surveys and messaging to encourage a healthy lifestyle.
Not-so-safe at home A study of 329 online households conducted by the National Cyber Security Alliance and AOL found most people have a false sense of security: | |
| 60%said they feel safe from hackers 73%said they think they’re safe from viruses 77%said they think their computer is safe from online threats | 67%don’t use a firewall 67%don’t have anti-virus software 72%don’t have a secure firewall (with no open ports) |
Broadband buzz
Now grandma can install DSL herself. 2Wire, which develops residential gateways and software, recently launched Greenlight, an automated installation system. Greenlight doesn’t require the end user to load a CD or handle manual installation and authentication routines. Instead, you just plug the 2Wire HomePortal into the PC and a phone line. Part of 2Wire’s Component Management System, Greenlight also makes it possible to provision DSL in non-PC households where gaming, video or VoIP applications are primary. 2Wire says Greenlight could reduce service provider support costs by as much as 70%.
More than 60% of online households would consolidate their communications services under one provider if it meant saving $20 per month, according to the new report from Parks Associates, “Bundled Services: Analysis and Forecasts.” Only 43% said they would switch to a bundle without a cost incentive. The study, which surveyed 4,000 online households, also found that 74% of those likely to upgrade to broadband in the next 12 months would subscribe to a bundle for voice, video and data.
Worldwide broadband modem, router and gateway revenue increased 5% to $1.7 billion and units increased 15% from first to second quarters 2004, says Infonetics Research’s Broadband Gateway biannual report. The report predicts revenue will grow to $4.8 billion and units increase 141% by 2007. North America accounts for more than a third of total revenue; Europe, Middle East and Africa also have a third, followed by Asia Pacific with nearly one-quarter, and Caribbean and Latin America with 5%.
D-Link Webcam foils robbery
Pedro Gonzalez bought a D-Link Systems Webcam (DCS 900) to keep an eye on his fiancée’s beloved Yorkie, but wound up nabbing a burglar instead. The Yorkie spends his days sleeping on the living room couch, so the 29-year-old Miami resident aimed the camera there. But the very first time he logged on, he saw his TV, not the dog, sitting on the couch. Then a silhouette passed by.
“Dude, there’s somebody in your house!” exclaimed a co-worker, who had the smarts to press the “printscreen” key, capturing a shot of the intruder.
When Gonzalez told the 911 dispatcher there was someone in his house, she didn’t understand.
“You’re at your house right now?” she asked.
“No, I’m watching my house – from work.”
“You can see the man now?” she asked.
“I’m looking right at him,” he said.
Because the day was clear, Gonzalez could see through his living room window the burglar backing his white Bronco up the driveway. Gonzalez jumped in his car, and met the police at his house. The burglar was apprehended 2 miles away, the Bronco full of Gonzalez’s stuff.
And the Yorkie? Gonzalez found him cowering in a bedroom closet, unharmed.
