Internet based voting is simply stupid!

This is in response to blog post Imperatives Of Electronic Voting, it details the plan to conduct Overseas Absentee Voting via the Internet. You might want to read it first before proceeding.

Reading the Scytl's "How it works", its clear the level of security is very low. Come on Scytl, web base voting over Internet? A script kiddie can do better than that!

If its running via a bootable BlueRay/HDDVD based LiveCD then there would be some hope. Why? Read more on BlueRay/HDDVD's hardware based key for disc/data encryption. From there you can achieve the minimal controlled environment for your system to run, you can even use Xbox 360 with HDDVD and it will run with a lot more security compared to any PC! Eventually secure systems only works on controlled environment and there is no way to completely secure a system once it connects to the Internet, that's the cold clear fact.

Finally, Security is just a pseudo-term for insurance companies which basically says they guarantee a certain risk-level ratio to cost. This means we cant totally blame Scytl, It seems our budget can only afford the unsecured system.

You can also follow the discussions at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ph-cyberview/message/30264

Filipino Ingenuity: Taxi store!

I often hear from my 'gurus' the tales of how Philippines was so far ahead compared to the other Asian countries (the late 70's to early 80's) in term of technology, infrastructures and commerce. "It's called Filipino Ingenuity!" they say, "..its just in our nature to excel in anything given we have the opportunity". Unfortunately I wasn't born before 1980 so I didn't have the opportunity to experience it for myself; it's hard to grasp the idea we were that we we're so far ahead before but we're so far behind now.

Today, a very inspiring event transpired on my way to the office; me and my girlfriend took a cab and we were surprised to see inside lots of women's accessories hanging by its window .


Picture: Accessories for sale, shop while you ride a taxi!

"They're earrings from Hongkong..." said the driver, "I sell them to mostly to foreign tourist and they loved it -- they're selling for big bucks too but I sell them cheap to locals". He picked two sets and offered to show them to us, "they're marvelous...", my girl exclaimed; Indeed they are marvelous... and a marvelous proof of marvelous Filipino ingenuity!.

"Manong, you must be the first [Philippine] taxi driver to ever think of it" I replied with amazement; "You can start this and build a franchise just like Jolijeep! Keep it up". The driver smiled at our compliments and encouragements, we all know its true, it just takes a small opportunity for this type of enterpreneurship to succeed.

So whenever you're around Makati area, take a look around maybe you'll spot the roving taxi where you can buy great sets of accessories and be inspired at the same time.

[Note: Jolijeep is a restaurant on wheels that sells native street food delicacies and its very famous here in Makati.]

iPhone Review: Has Steve Jobs done it again?

Everyone was asking; where's your iPhone review? We'll, I spent an afternoon reviewing footages of the iPhone from MacWorld as well as going thru lots of blogs detailing the iPhone but there were no complete specifications out there about it. So I went back to the footages and try to come up with some guess work specifications of iPhone v1.0




iPhone Specifications:

• Screen size: 3.5 inchess.


• Screen resolution: 320x480 @ 160 ppi.


• Height: 114.3 mm.


• Width: 60.96 mm.


• Thickness: 11.6 mm.


• Weight: 4.8 ounces or 135 grams (may vary with storage capacity).


• Talk time: 5 hours.


• Play time: 16 hours pure playback.


• Camera: 2 megapixels.


• Storage: 4 and 8 Gigabytes.


• Operating System (OS): Mac OS X.


• Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.0, WIFI, EDGE
  


• Interface: Multi-touch point screen (no stylus).


• External interface: Ring/Silent Button, volume control and a home button.


• Browser: Safari.


• Est. Release Date: June 2007.


• Est. Price: 500 USD.

Some notable iPhone Features:

• Phone Lock: graphical slide bar to unlock phone.


• 'Flick Scroll': slide fingers quickly accross list like a flick to scroll quickly.


• Battery saving: proximity sensor automatically turns off the screen when on call and placed near the ear.


• Conferencing: When merging a call you can set a member(s) to private so you can quickly switch between private and conference.


• Display orientation: tilt phone horizontally during browse modes to have wider display, extra paging controls will be available. Tilt it back vertically for normal view.Feature also available for photos.


• Browsing: Use multi-points by pinching to zoom out, release (pinch out) to zoom in.


• Typing: touch text input fields to bring up soft keys with predictive typing.


• Maps: use maps to find for locations, search for stores to find nearest branches related to current map. Tap on markers to store show infos and finally tap on phone number to call.


• Videos and Music: All your favorite iPod features.


• Messaging: Message history can be listed as conversations. iChat type qoute bubble included!


• Widgets: Stock, weather, etc...


• Mail: Auto-preview plane available, attachments such as photos are automatically visible.


• Calls: Calls can be recorded (acts as voicemail) and played back.


• Network: Cingular/AT&T only


• Applications: No 3rd party applications.

Well there you have it! It's not official and complete but so far that's what I can dig about iPhone specs and most probably much of it will drastically change during its release on June.

If you want to know about the weaknesses on iPhone then check out Oliver Starr's posts on MobileCrunch, IMHO it summarizes all the bad parts of the iPhone and I totally agree iPhone's UI is revolutionary (actually ripped-off technology from other companies) but technologically it lacks a lot especially for not supporting 3G. Personally i think iPhone wont sport 3G features but instead jump ahead and launch with 4G WiMAX!

Videos about iPhone on YouTube:

Job's presentation


Demo of iPhone's Feature