With all the gadget websites slamming the iPad for touting less features or design than their Dream Apple device, it got me thinking what type of consumer would be interested in the upcoming Apple iPad.

Question: Who’s gonna buy this thing???
Answer: Someone interested in an e-book reader.

Based on the limited information Apple has made available thus far, the following price comparison can be made:

Obviously the iPad is capable of much more than the Kindle, but go back to who’s going to buy this thing. Perhaps an iPad is just the Christmas present Grandma was looking for? Of course, that’s assuming she’s hip with the latest in gadget trends. If not, she may appreciate that Kindle at least 2.5x more.

Related posts:

1. Amazon Deal: 90% off HD-DVDs
2. Minority Report Computer is Real
3. Barnes & Noble Nook Review: Pretty Good

I’ve been looking into home automation gadgets like X10 for quite some time now. My interest in home automation revolves around reducing power consumption, recording anomalous events with cameras as evidence and because I’m super lazy and only like doing things once (but the right way) and want my CFL’s to flick on when I stumble in after a long day at work. I also want to build a DIY BIDS: Burglar Intrusion Detection System.

I even admit to visiting my local library and borrowing books on the subject solely with the goal of pimping the geek out of my home. So did I find true trekkie bliss, full of motion sensing lighting, sexy sounding verbal computer readouts, intelligent power management and enhanced security?

Fat chance. In fact, I have to wonder if any information security kung fu has been applied to this home automation stuff at all.

Looking at this list of criticisms makes Microsoft’s spotty past suddenly look peachy.

For those who haven’t looked into the X10 home automation technology, let me introduce you to a couple of it’s significant figures:

• 256 – The number of unique addresses that are possible using X10
• 16 – Unique transmittable commands
• 4096 – Total number of unique packets
• 0.75 seconds – Time it takes to transmit one X10 packet
• 42 – Number of bikini clad girls on the X10.com website in GIF image glory (unnecessary!)
• 1 hr – Worst case total time it takes to transmit every unique X10 packet towards your neighbors house using a $9.99 X10 universal remote since both X10 RF or OtW transmissions may bleed to neighboring circuits

For example: if two X10 devices (say your glass vibration sensor and motion detector) transmit within a second of each other, the message is garbled, bringing your Jura F90 Ethernet Coffee Pot to boil right when that burglar breaks in to your computer room instead of the Star Trek: TNG Red Alert Klaxon you deny purchasing. Granted, X10 was developed in 1975 but Ethernet has been around nearly as long and it handles transmission collisions just fine. A little piece of mind regarding retransmissions would be nice.

What really worries me about deploying an X10 home is how easy it is to cause mayhem. It’s like guessing the IP Address of computers on a class C LAN (ie: 192.168.1.XXX.) How long will it take to transmit all commands to all X10 IDs using a perl script and a X10 enabled laptop? Really.

In addition, most of these devices do not have backup batteries and are knocked offline during blackouts. While I’m interested in +5-ing the geek of my home, I’m not going to do it because I value sleeping more. And also because my girl gave me “the look” when I brought it up.

So please, please, please let me know if you know of any hacks to fix these issues or if you can suggest a better product.

P.S. Doesn’t it make you wonder about automobile remote entry systems? I wonder how long it really takes to transmit every possible unlock code for every car manufacturer? What are your observations?

Related posts:

1. Computer Security At Hotels
2. Writing a DNS sniffer
3. Spam is unpredictable

Penguin added for festivity bonus

One of my two recently purchased 1TB Seagate 7200.11 drives (model: ST31000340AS, firmware: SD15) decided to join the IBM deathstar family. Otherwise known as the deskstar, it’s apparently #18 on the list of worst tech products of all time.

This time, the drive decided to stop powering up fully instead spinning up and down like a yo-yo. Quick internet research revealed they are failing en mass due to a firmware bug. RMAing the sucker tomorrow for a reflashed one. This is just the latest proof regarding my knack for buying defective storage intended for backups.

Go Figure.

Read full article at:
The Register

Anyone else got one of these duds?

Related posts:

1. Computer Security At Hotels
2. Metasploit Framework 3.3 Released Today
3. Dell Mini 10 – My Next Toy Purchase