Hackers, Sarah Palin, and I-Snooping – Is it Safe to Use the Mobile Communication Devices?

by Sarah Harper

Mobile Internet Devices: Secure Communication Tool, or Invitations for I-Snooping?

Although I tend to believe my life is too ho-hum for someone to want to pry into my business, when I found out about a hacker’s recent intrusion vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s email, I began to wonder: are there any truly secure ways to communicate, short of face-to-face correspondence? Email may be out of the question, but can I trust my cell phone, text messaging service, or iPhone™?

Cell Phones and Texting

With texting, or Short Message Service (SMS), you can keep in touch instantly by sending a brief message from your mobile phone. In some cases, SMS gateways can also connect the user with other services such as instant message (IM), the internet, a desktop computer, or a wireless network.

But is texting secure?

In a word, no. There are security devices on the market, such as cryptographic security, that are designed to protect cell phone users against unauthorized data access by SMS intrusion, spying, phone tapping, and interception.

iPhone™

The iPhone™ is perhaps the goddess of Mobile Internet Devices. It is simultaneously a camera phone, portable media player, voice mail, e-mail, internet, Wi-Fi, and text messaging device. Surely, with all these bells and whistles, my iPhone™ will also prevent me from a hacker’s tactics…

Sad but true, iPhones™ are not secure communication devices. First, according to data-forensics expert Jonathan Zdziarski, Apple®-authorized technicians – and hackers – can recover snapshots the phone automatically takes of you every time you press “home”, as well as deleted photos and e-mails. Second, some communication security experts suggest that, although the iPhone™ can only run software with an Apple®-approved cryptographic signature, it is possible to replace this software and break into the phone. Finally, it is not feasible to create third-party security (ie. anti-virus software) to secure the iPhone™.

Is There a Communication Solution?

In the words of John Wayne, “talk [er, type] low, type slow, and don’t say too much”. And consider any electronic correspondence to be as available to the public as the 6 o’clock news.

Today I talk to Chez Ochoa about the big deal behind MS IE8

by Adrienne Markovic

The Web world is on fire with the announcement of Microsoft's Internet Explorer 8 introduction. The new version is currently in beta, but will be launched soon, much to the delight of the web design community. The major breakthroughs of IE8 have to do with their CSS compliance, a hot button topic that has caused great controversy to this day. For those non-design community, CSS, or cascading style sheet is basically a coding cheat sheet for a website for thematic consistency regarding style.
In a recent interview with Appeal Media Interactive Studios' Creative Director and Award Winning Designer, Caeserae Ochoa, he got down to the dirty details of IE8 and told me what all the fuss is about.

What browser are most designers currently using and why?
This is a good question. I usually hear.. "what browser are most people using".
Considering "designers" is one thing most designers would like to hear more often. I'm sure they all have a favorite browser when just cruising the web. If they're on a MAC they might be using Safari or Firefox, if it's a PC then Firefox or IE. But because of a lack of standards compliance, a good designer/developer will use many browsers to test their sites.

Why do you think Microsoft caved in to w3 standards after all this time?
Well.. I don't think they've fully caved in, but I do think that someone there is really shooting for a more standards compliant browser. After taking a look at the beta version of IE8 they are definitely working toward a more designer/developer friendly browser.

Will this impact designers day to day work, as soon as it is launched?
At this point, it's hard to tell. They are still in the first beta version of IE8. But it does look promising.

Will more web design professionals use IE8 (Internet Explorer 8) than they do currently with Internet Explorer 7?
Well, considering the fact that Explorer 7 has only been out for a year and a half and Microsoft is already coming out with its replacement, a better version, will move most to into version 8. But on the development side, the complexity hasn't changed because of having to develop code that will still have to work with all those IE7 browsers that are still out there. So the work and complexity will still be there, at least a while.

By this time, do you think Microsoft should be totally compliant? Although an improvement for them, is it still outrageous they haven't TOTALLY complied with w3 standards?
I think Microsoft should have been the hub of compliance from the beginning. This definitely would have won them the respect and support of the web design/development community thereby promoting the IE browser a lot more than it has. Though IE wins popularity for the fact that it comes bundled with the Windows operating system, I believe it's never too late strive for a standards compliant browser. And I believe that doing this, MS will win the hearts of many.

Do you think most designers will hold off until they are 100% compliant? yes/ no
No. Simply for the fact that IE still is a very popular browser. However, a good designer/developer will and should look at the pros and cons of every new browser, or at least become aware of them in some way. Currently IE hasn't been compliant with W3C standards but with version 8 it looks like they are finally making their way there.

So what are some of the positives that I.E. is bringing to the table?
On the front end at the moment, it's not too much different from IE7, but there are some cool new features such as "Activities" which enables a user to right click, and from the menu select from blogging to searching to translating capabilities. Also, tabbed browsing, Tab groups, advanced printing, RSS feeds, and page zoom.

- However, on the development side there are 3 modes that IE can render web page code. "Quirks", "Strict", and "Standard". When an old or no "DOCTYPE" is used, such as that of IE 5, IE will render it in "Quirks" mode. Though this has been around for a while in other browsers.
- Also, there are corrections being made to CSS floats, one thing that designers have been contending with for a long time. Microsoft has long used the "hasLayout" functionality, which has been the cause of many headaches on the development side. They are doing away with this feature.
- They will also be bringing in the CSS table layout, which will enable designers, and developers improve the quality of their layouts.
- Text-decoration: overline behavior is now compliant with the CSS 2.1.

And certainly in the way of solving compliancy issues, Microsoft is planning on working directly with the W3C to solve many of the CSS interoperability issues that currently exist. IE 8 Beta is available on the website. http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/ie/default.mspx
Also, the CSS improvements being made to IE 8 are here.. http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc304082(VS.85).aspx

http://www.appealmedia.com