Apple’s lax security with MobileMe
I learnt two surprising and potentially dangerous things today. MobileMe’s webmail and Apple’s iDisk are not encrypted. Discussion of this available here and here.
While I can understand that the argument for email encryption is not that obvious, emails being inherently insecure for many cases, I am surprised and disappointed about the lack of SSL encryption for iDisks. This is especially surprising because if you mount an iDisk on Windows you can do so with SSL encryption and it works fine. Even more worrying is that backup data using Apple’s Backup software is also not encrypted. Now, I don’t tend to store anything of sensitive nature on my iDisk anyway, but I am positive this would catch a good number of people off guard who just expect it to be doing the right thing. Many Macs generally will also be synchronising their iDisks automatically so you could easily be transferring data over an insecure open WLAN the minute you connect to it.
This is doubly troubling because Apple does not actually warn users about this and I am certain many live with the warm cosy feeling that “Macs don’t have security problems”. Apple’s semi-official stance seems to be to use an encrypted disk image on iDisk if you want to pass around sensitive data, which I have yet to experiment with. However I can’t imagine why it would be difficult to use SSL for iDisks or allow the user to turn it on as an option. Finder could even verify certificates automatically and refuse to work if there’s a mismatch (thus removing the possibility of the user accepting a bad certificate).
Something for the Mac users out there to be aware of.
No Finnish outrage at iPhone packages?
I’ve been looking around the few Finnish blog posts and comments online about TeliaSonera’s iPhone packages in Finland and, considering the backlash some operators are getting, it’s been almost a surprise to have heard nothing but silent grumbling here.
Let’s look at the basics. The iPhone is a nice device, no doubt about it. Sure, Apple is still messing things up by not offering an unlocked version, but it does something that phones have done poorly for quite some time: Internet connectivity. There is over-the-air syncing, a good browser, rich email, an in-built store, video features, maps and widgets. The kind of device to finally get people using the Internet on the go. Yet that usefulness has been all but destroyed by extremely poor packages under the TeliaSonera wing.
To put it bluntly, none of the packages offer the one thing you really want with an iPhone: unlimited data. It’s what the iPhone is about. Even worse, the small and medium package offer ridiculously low amounts: 100MB and 250MB respectively. Only the large package offers a fair, if not fantastic, 1000MB. However that’s 90 euros a month. OK, you do get the iPhone for free then, but you’re still paying for 1000 SMSes and 1000 minutes of talk time. I want neither.
TeliaSonera do offer a ‘My Sonera’ option, where there is a minimal monthly fee and you can build up the package as you want. Downside: you have to pay the full 400-500 euro price for the iPhone, which isn’t even unlocked for you. Additionally I still can’t figure out if I can get unlimited data for the iPhone with that and, if so, what exactly it costs. The My Sonera package builder doesn’t offer the iPhone and doesn’t offer an obvious way to add a data package, unless I can use their USB dongle package for that.
Whatever happened to the lovely “buy phone, pick an operator” model that worked so well here before?
The Cable Factory building is alive
Our radiator started playing music. Yes, you read correctly. It suddenly started playing out this really HC industrial beat. I’m not talking about some weird bubbly noise, but a heavy four-on-the-floor beat, like machinery of some kind. Not only that, but the track is developing all the time. There are fills, faster portions, and changes of pattern. It’s one of the spookiest things I’ve ever heard and we can’t figure out how on earth a radiator can make this kind of sound.Perhaps it’s a joke by one of our neighbours? Maybe some artists downstairs doing something? Or then our radiator has got an industrial DJ stuck inside. Truly weird.
We are trying to set up a Skype stream, so ring toivotuo. We’re working out how to do this. Believe me, it sounds fantastic (alternatively visit our office at the Cable Factory to hear it live, and maybe participate).
Update: Our radiator is now silent, after a good midnight performance. We will be putting soundclips up a bit later.
Update 2: I put up a soundclip of our radiator. It doesn’t demonstrate many of the cool bits with the fills and patterns, but you can get some idea. Available here.
Techcrunched!
What a nice surprise! Returned after a long conference day to the hotel. A cold beer. Good music. Checking email… and the daily Scred usage report. Well, what do you know. Looks like a day on day growth record. How come? Fire up Google Analytics and there it is: Techcrunched!
My personal favorite in the Techcrunch post’s comments: “first Finnish startup in Techcrunch since Jaiku”. And we all know the story with Jaiku.
Greetings from Startup Camp
We’re here at Startup Camp 4 in London for two days. An interesting event with some four hundred participants, most from early stage startups, like us. We’ll probably have some conference blogging here on the Scred blog, but there’s also a more personal take on my blog. You can also take a look us and other startups taking part in the “best startup competition”.
Scred party, and thanks again!
We had a nice little get together tonight to thank all the people who participated in the beta phase of Scred. Not too many people turned up, but that was quite allright – the office would quickly have got rather crammed. We watched All Good Things…, the last Star Trek: TNG double episode to honor one of our release code names, and conclude our beta test phase. Hadn’t seen TNG for a while so it was nice and relaxing after some tense weeks.
Despite the rather ominous continuation of the “All Good Things…” phrase we tend to look things in a somewhat more positive light: All the good things Scred already does are just the beginning! So to borrow and another cliché (or two) – stay tuned, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet!
Whiskey is good
Nothing like a night cap of Bushmills 10yo. Just a nice simple way to sip away the late evening while for once taking it easy (well, fixing a couple of things) at home. Monday and Tuesday became tense with 25-26 hours of work fitted in, all in the name of the good Scred. It was a big release and it has its problems, but the guys did well. Good on them (and me, I suppose) for working so hard the past couple of weeks.
All that is left is to now work harder still.
New release out, competition announced
Recent feelings have been a mixture of excitement and anxiety about Scred. This is the first time we have gone so far in an adventure down product launch lane and if I am totally honest, even I am not sure how it will turn out. All I know is that I find it useful and I will likely always be using something like this, in one form or other. It just makes everything so much easier. I also know that several others agree and are creating transactions regularly. I can only hope that the rest of the world sees it in the same way.
We have very big plans for the future of Scred, but right now we need to focus on getting the basics right. Polishing those rough edges, making it as easy as possible, adding pieces of useful functionality without losing simplicity. Our latest release reflects that philosophy. There is nothing dramatic about it apart from the fact that it is making things better and easier, instead of the opposite, which is often the case with software products. I know better than anyone how coarse it still is, and every effort is being made to develop it towards perfection. I hope the effort is appreciated and I’d like to thank the users for their patience.
We also announced a competition for our members. Every user who manages to get 10 friends to register before New Year will get a cool Scred t-shirt. By cool I mean cool. I dislike most promotional t-shirts as they’re just plain ugly and feel geeky (in the wrong way) to wear. This t-shirt will not be like that at all. It will be neat and stylish.
Additionally the top two inviters will get leather travel wallets to carry documents, tickets, credit cards and cash when flying around the world. Unfortunately Scred isn’t yet accepted everywhere so a traditional old wallet is still a worthy companion.
If you are not yet a member on the public beta site and would like to be, please feel free to email me at setok@fishpool.com and I’ll be happy to send you an invitation.
Coding and remembering the old times
Fun fun. Working on the next release of Scred, due RSN.
Bought some non-alcoholic gin long drink (Finnish: “lasten lonkero”) to the office. Feeling rather nostalgic for our first office at Eerikinkatu 28 (Dec 1996 – Feb 2000). We used to supply the office with lasten lonkero because it was simply a cheaper sugary drink than Coke or any other “proper” soft drink. Especially the cranberry taste was rather popular, the blueberry much less so.
For an extended nostalgia fix I’ll have to post a link to a set of photos from the old office, ca 1997.
“Fiskin liepeillä 1997” (In the environs of Fishpool 1997), photos by Henri Mäkilä.
Pictures from the latest Fish adventure
I put up some photos and videos of our trip to the Lotus 7 50th Anniversary party in England. Mari-Pilvi and I drove there in our lovely 1989 Caterham 7.
Why buy a normal car when you can have something so much more fun?
2 comments