The Gadget Blog » Tools

RoboForm First Impressions

Rico Mossesgeld — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 16:23:54 +0000

I’ve been given a copy of RoboForm Pro to try out, installing it and its accompanying Firefox add-on. But as I now try it on my computer, I can’t help but wonder, how secure is this program? The official FAQ claims that saved passwords are encrypted with strong algorithms like AES, but it’s honestly worryingly quiet about what steps are taken to protect your passwords from Siber Systems (the makers of RoboForm).

How do I know that they aren’t secretly pulling my passwords through their own software? I know encryption like AES is supposed to protect the data from anyone, including whoever made the encrypting program, but I think Siber Systems needs to be more clear about this. They need explicit statements explaining that “the encryption we use protects your passwords from even us” or something similar. In any case, if I’ve missed anything, feel free to comment in RoboForm’s defense below.

Watch out for a review on RoboForm soon! My first impression of RoboForm is also a matter of good timing, given all the password phishing scams now going around.

Update: Looks like specific information addressing RoboForm’s security is available here.

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Metaklett: Velcro’s Awesome Steel Counterpart

Rico Mossesgeld — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 15:20:39 +0000

A team of engineers ~~headed by Josef Mair~~ at the Technical University of Munich, Germany have developed fastening technology called Metaklett. Inspired by the hook-and-loop concept of Velcro, each square meter of Metaklett can support up to 35 tons under temperatures of until 800 degrees centigrade, reports the NewScientist. Like Velcro, Metaklett is reusable, in the sense that two of these 0.2 millimeter thick metal strips can be pulled apart without tools and refastened later on.

TUM Institute of Metal Forming and Casting

Personally, the potential of Metaklett is endless. Velcro itself has numerous applications, mainly multiple attachment-detachment requirements like bag covers or handles, the strap loop of cell phone chargers, etc. But even if Metaklett is capable of supporting up to 7 tons perpendicularly (compared to the 35 ton capacity when the force is applied along the strip’s plane), are industrial and construction companies willing to rely on a super-strong fastener that nevertheless can be undone with a single pull?

In any case, we’re now sure that the killer robots of the future will have clothes to wear, at the least the kind they can easily wear and take off. And those strips seem pretty effective as laceration tools (ouch!).

Source

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NVIDIA Releases Drivers for Windows 7 RC1

Rico Mossesgeld — Fri, 01 May 2009 03:11:00 +0000

Coinciding with the release of Windows 7 release candidate 1 (today for MSDN and Technet subscribers and on the 5th for the laymen), NVIDIA has released drivers for the OS. The package comes in 32-bit and 64-bit flavors The tech-heads over at Anandtech declare version 185.81 “much more polished” than 185.71, released for the first beta version of Windows 7.

Why is this development important? Well, anyone wanting to run their NVIDIA graphics cards properly on Windows 7 will obviously need this. Which cards are supported? Let’s take a look at the release notes (a more detailed version is available here):

This is a beta driver supporting GeForce 6, 7, 8, 9, 100, and 200-series desktop GPUs. This driver package installs WDDM v1.1 for GeForce 8, 9, and 200-series (DirectX 10) GPUs and WDDM v1.0 for GeForce 6 and 7-series (DirectX 9) GPUs.

This driver supports all of the new Windows 7 GPU-accelerated DirectX APIs: DirectX Compute, Direct2D, DirectWrite, and DXVA-HD.

Download GeForce Driver Release 185.81: 32-bit and 64-bit versions

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C’mon Gmail, You’re Still Missing Something

Rico Mossesgeld — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 14:45:59 +0000

Email undo is a great feature. But it needs to be available on-the-go as well. And, Gmail still lacks one feature I’d like to see on email clients in general.

As explained by User Experience Designer Michael Leggett, Gmail holds your message for five seconds, and I agree: that’s enough time for your sensible self to kick in, and immediately pull back messages written from the hip. And don’t you hate accidentally sending confident info to the wrong person? That’s something that I’ve done at least twice, unfortunately.

But it isn’t clear if this new features is available on mobile platforms. At the very least, they could apply it to their Java app. I bet that a growing number of those oops mails are sent away from the computer.

More importantly though, where’s that browser-free Gmail client I so very want?

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Google Docs Spreadsheets Now Editable Through Android Browser

Rico Mossesgeld — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 15:57:41 +0000

Finally, Android G1 owners can now edit their Google Doc spreadsheets on their mobile browser, reports TechCrunch. Jonathan Rochelle, the senior product manager Google Spreadhseets, proudly showed off his team’s latest creation.

As he added rows, edited, sorted, and filtered on his phone, the changes would automatically be reflected in the same spreadsheet on his desktop. (I took a photo of him doing this—with my iPhone, naturally). Each row can be edited by clicking on an “edit” link, and columns can be sorted via a box at the top of each one which then pops open an overlay screen that allows you to select each name or other variable you want to view in that column.

What I find particularly interesting though, is why mobile editing made it to Spreadsheets first (currently Android users can only view Google Documents and Presentations). Wouldn’t it take less to allow the editing of what’s basically formatted text? And aren’t there less objects to work with when modifying presentations? To be even more speculative: are Google’s developments not syngergizing with each other?

In any case, TechCrunch has promised that the Spreadsheet-editing functionality should be up as you read this, or by noon at the latest. Potentially a great new feature for Android users. Take note though, online access is a requirement—a limitation Google should work on eliminating ASAP.

(Image from source article)

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PhotoRec = Lifesaver

Rico Mossesgeld — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 18:12:58 +0000

PhotoRec’s mission is simple, but crucial to any careless or absent-minded computer user. Through its dos-like interface, PhotoRec allows users to recover deleted photos from any sort of drive, whether the hard disk, an SD, or a thumbdrive.

It took me a while to recover photos from a 4GB SD card (about two hours). Luckily, I accidentally lost photos of an event the previous night, and a friend telling me about PhotoRec was like mana falling from heaven. I was able to recover said pictures, and even images I took months ago!

That being said, users who aren’t used to a dos interface—and the act of browsing through menus with your keyboard and not your mouse—may find PhotoRec a bit hard to use. But, it works as advertised, and it proved a definite lifesaver for me! Especially since it’s a free utility!

Visit PhotoRec’s website

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First Installs on a New PC: What’s Yours?

Rico Mossesgeld — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 18:12:46 +0000

That HP w2228h seemed a bit lonely—especially after the XPS M1330 fiasco—so I decided to kit together a budget gaming PC. Those 1680 x 1050 of LCD-driven goodness seemed more suited for entertainment after all. Taking a few cues from extremetech.com, modifying the setup according to parts availability, I now write with this with my new speedy machine.
Here’s what I installed after Windows and the hardware drivers (in this particular order):

Now I’m off to install productivity applications. Perhaps later on I’ll finally progress to the games. Have I forgotten anything, dear readers? Of course, feel free to suggest alternatives to my list.

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Lots of PDF Books Available for Free!

Rico Mossesgeld — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 17:30:16 +0000

Well, if you have no qualms about piracy that is. Hacknmod.com recently linked to a compilation of scanned coding books, and their post has already been picked up by the big blogs. Real appealing for those who live online, since:

These books have everything you’ll ever need to become a master hacker using PHP, Linux/Unix, Java, Perl, MySQL, and Python to name a few.

Which begs the question: how tempting is it download the books (found here)? And how soon will the copyright owners go after the website, now that the cat’s out of the bag?

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The Best Cable Ties Ever?

Rico Mossesgeld — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 16:05:42 +0000

Cool Tool recently reviewed the Ty-Rap Zip Ties, which are designed to keep the cables in any computing/home entertainment environment neat. You neatly bunch cables together, then use zip ties to make sure the cables remain neat and together. The verdict? “…expensive, but worth it.”

That’s because unlike your average cheap zip-tie, Ty-Rap’s offering uses a stainless steel lock to hold things tight. This instead of plastic serrations that usually seal just too loose to keep things together. Is $19 expensive for 100 pieces? That’s $0.19 a piece, and when you consider that you only have to buy the pack once, it’s a worthy purchase in our book.

We power our gadget through sheer force of will, and rely on wireless tech like Bluetooth and Wifi. So we don’t need the Ty-Rap zip ties. But you probably do, and you can buy them from Amazon. There are also lots of other options available through the same site.

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