Web Security for the Wary

We’ve all watched the Matt Honan story unravel with dread and fascination. Some smart hackers convinced Apple to reset his iCloud mail password and then used access to his email to wreak havoc on his life.

I suspect this won’t be the last horror story to spawn out of these wild-west days of the cloud. I’m not going to tell you to abandon the Internet but I do think this is a reminder to be careful. The thing that galls us all is that it doesn’t appear Matt did anything wrong. Hopefully Apple tunes up its policies and doesn’t let people play this game in the future.

In the meantime, Lex Friedman wrote an excellent piece about Google and two-factor authentication at Macworld. I’d also recommend looking into Verisign Identity Protection. This free service includes an iPhone app that provides a separate ID code (on a 60 second timer) for logins to sensitive websites. I use it, for instance, on Paypal. To get into my Paypal account, you’ll need my account name, password, AND my unlocked iPhone.

Be careful out there.

TechHive Beta Blog ▻

I’ve recently subscribed to TechHive and I’m really digging it. The post volume is right in that sweetspot with regular posts but not too many regular posts and their technology coverage is generally stuff I’m interested in. This shouldn’t suprise you since Jason Snell is one of the moving forces behind it and Jason is a really smart guy.

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ScreencastsOnline Monthly Magazine ▻




Don McAllister is one of my heroes. He built a business where no one said a business could exist. He’s been creating amazing screencasts for years and managed to turn it into a full-time gig. Now Don has started publishing his own magazine through the iPad newsstand. It includes some fantastic screencasts, Don’s Liverpool accent, and articles by others from the Mac community, including yours truly. The first issue is free. Check it out. Moreover, share it with some of your less nerdy friends who want to get better at using their Apple technologies.

As part of a bigger story, I love this explosion of independent publishing.

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Hapy Birthday TRS 80 ▻

In 1978, I learned to program on a TRS-80. It went something like this.

10 Get on orange Schwinn 10-speed bike
20 Ride to Radio Shack
30 Progam many lines of basic including one seriously kick ass text adventure
40 Ride back home when store closed
50 Goto 10

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Facebook Shenanigans ▻

One company’s investigation showed 80% of their Facebook ad clicks were bots. What worries me about Facebook is that the only way for them to earn the bucket loads of cash everyone thinks they should is a frontal assault on the privacy rights of their millions and millions of users. Creepy.

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