geek stuff

Start ups join identity verification battle

25 January 2014 by Steve Blum
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Cash is king, but kings are increasingly scarce.

There are two ways to look at threats to the electronic payment systems consumers and retailers – online and brick and mortar – rely upon: as an ongoing process of swatting down isolated and rarely successful attacks, or as a full scale war that the good guys are completely capable of losing. Since the holiday mega-crack at Target stores, I’m leaning towards the latter.

The point of sale is a critically weak link.… More

If you wait long enough for M2M, you'll be disappointed

18 January 2014 by Steve Blum
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Don’t wait for orders from headquarters! Mount up, and ride to the sound of the guns!
Cavalry maxim, attributed variously to Napoleon, JEB Stuart and Pat Buchanan.


An industry committee could have prevented this.

“Machine to machine” – M2M – is a clear way of describing a rapidly growing high tech sector. It involves two (or more) devices directly interacting with each other, without the necessity of a human or higher level system reprocessing data or interjecting commands.… More

Google positioned to set standards for smart homes


Nest is in good hands with Google.

The quest for a mass market business model for home automation products and services took a new turn this week, when Google announced it’s buying Nest, which makes networked thermostats and smoke detectors. Since it’s unlikely that Google is going to drop $3.2 billion just to make pretty gadgets, the working assumption has to be that it’s developing an online platform to support networked products. Just as it developed the Android operating system, then bought Motorola’s mobile phone manufacturing business as a development tool and to lock down valuable patents.… More

The end of TV and the rise of the microwave oven will define consumer electronics of the future

10 January 2014 by Steve Blum
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Twilight of the gods.

“The TV has been challenged for the the last four or five years and, frankly, it’s on the way out unless they reinvent its presentation in the home”, said Peter Corcoran, assistant dean at the National University of Ireland. He spoke yesterday at a CES session sponsored by IEEE and focused on future technology.

“The TV needs to reinvent itself”, Corcoran said. The way to do that is to marry it to smart phones and tablets and make it a two screen experience.… More

Bitcoin is virtually a developing country

9 January 2014 by Steve Blum
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Open for business.

Four thousand transactions a day and total 2013 transactions of $100 million would be chump change for Visa or Mastercard, but it represents blindingly fast growth for Bitpay, which only moved $3 million in 2012. It’s an Atlanta-based transaction processor, one of three Bitcoin-related companies sharing a small booth in the back of CES’s south exhibit hall.

Bitpay is one of several companies that make it possible for merchants – big or small, online or bricks and mortar – to accept Bitcoins from customers and get dollars, or whatever national currency they prefer, in return.… More

ZTE turbocharging Firefox mobile OS with two new phones

6 January 2014 by Steve Blum
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LG is in the Firefox game too.

The Firefox OS smart phone universe is expanding. ZTE, which launched the Open last year, essentially as a software developers’ kit, will be unveiling two new phones based on Mozilla’s open source, HTML5-centric operating system. The expected Wednesday announcement will launch the Open C and Open 2 smart phones, which are pegged to move up the value chain with more features than the $80 Open.

Two other Firefox phones were on display at the Pepcom event at CES this evening: the LG Fireweb, which is currently available in Brazil, and the Alcatel One Touch Fire.… More

Bitcoin hopefuls stepping off the fringe at CES


Dollars go in, Bitcoins come out.

Bitcoin’s global buzz notwithstanding, virtual currencies are a niche commodity. Compared to even a minor national currency, the volume of economic activity that flows through these peer-to-peer media of exchange is infinitesimal. To move from the fringe to the mainstream, Bitcoin and its brethren have to be useful to and useable by ordinary consumers, not just geeks and cranky libertarians.

So it was with great pleasure that I toured the first “Bitcoin Pavilion” at CES this evening.… More

Keep it simple Schwinn

5 January 2014 by Steve Blum
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Follow the arrows.

To go along with its uncomplicated bicycles, Schwinn is introducing the CycleNav, a simple bike navigation display that pairs with your iOS or Android phone (check the minimum specs before you buy, though). It sits on your handlebars and speaks to you, telling you to turn left or right and backing it up with big green flashing arrows. No detailed maps or screens or routes to distract your attention. That’s a very good thing, because letting your attention wander while you’re riding a bike can have fatal consequences, usually for yourself.… More

De facto M2M protocol might be decided by appliance makers

4 January 2014 by Steve Blum
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Popular standards flow from the lowest common denominator.

From Ericsson’s 50 billion node mobile universe to Qualcomm’s 1,000X meme, there’s been no shortage of grand vision for machine-to-machine (M2M) connectivity at CES. Meaningful standards are lacking, but at least a consensus seems to be building around what to call it: the Internet of things – IoT.

Since it’ll be using the same, old Internet, there’s no particular worry about how to deliver data from point A to point B, and back again.… More

Santa Cruz becomes the place Silicon Valley wants to be

31 December 2013 by Steve Blum
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Sticking out like a surfboard in a cubicle farm, Santa Cruz has risen to the top of Silicon Valley’s hot spots for 2014. It’s a top 5 tech mecca for the coming year, according to Silicon Valley Business Journal, and the only one of the bunch with local culture that rises above strip malls, fast food and bad haircuts.

According to author Lauren Hepler…

Hippie beach enclave no more? A gaggle of politicians, entrepreneurs and deep-pocketed investors want to diversify from Santa Cruz County’s $500-million-a-year reliance on summer tourism.

… More