Tag: finance

Categories
Apple

Apple To Announce Cash Plan

Apple is said to announce what they plan to do with their giant pile of cash tomorrow. Granted anything is possible, some ideas:

  • Dividend – Boring, but the only thing that will please investors if they return it all. One time large and then reoccurring. Anything less and Wall Street will be disappointed. Obviously.
  • Buyback Stock – Possible, but doesn’t sound likely.
  • Buy A Telecom – This is actually possible, though not likely. T-Mobile’s acquisition by AT&T failed. Sprint has been rumored to be a target forever now. Apple could benefit from owning the ecosystem and making it into a Kindle like environment. Huge investment, but long-term benefits are obvious. The ugly and complicated in the iPhone business is the telecoms. Apple hates ugly and complicated.
  • Build A Telecom – Kinda like the above, but slightly different approach.
  • Buy Up Or Replace Key Vendors – This isn’t impossible. For example, Samsung’s LCD business in-house would mean adequate supply and design opportunities for Apple’s products (MacPro is the loner in major no-screen devices). Battery vendors working in-house would mean emphasis on what Apple needs: more power density and strategic development that would enhance Apple’s designs. It also means ample capacity for Apple’s production needs. Lastly it means a step ahead of the competition. While competitors shop around for something that meets their needs, Apple can build what they dream up. Apple’s purchase of P.A. Semi a few years ago shows this is a strategy they are willing to use.

I’d bet on dividend, but anything is possible.

Categories
Security

How To Hack A RFID Card

Boing Boing TV has a great video on how to hack a RFID credit card for a mere $8. I’ve said it more than once that I don’t trust it yet. This is why. You just removed the best security feature on the card (the ability to keep it and it’s information out of view).

As a commenter noted, the Nokia 6131 NFC includes the following from their tech specs:

  • Explore mobile weather and news by touching your phone to radio frequency identification (RFID) tags

That’s right, a built in RFID reader. Just needs software for this particular task. I’m sure that won’t take too long.

Categories
Security Tech (General)

How To Steal A Credit Card

I said a while back RFID credit cards still have to prove themselves. Today I saw this interesting story on CNet:

As part of his presentation Wednesday, Laurie asked for someone from the audience to volunteer a smart card. Without taking the card out of the volunteer’s wallet, Laurie both read and displayed its contents on the presentation screen–the person’s name, account number, and expiration clearly visible.

You can find a ton of information including code and the hardware necessary to duplicate this his website RFIDIOt.

Another real potential issue is companies using RFID for security badges. Considering how easy it is to read and duplicate, potentially anyone who can get close to someone walking into an office can capture the data necessary to produce their own ID card. In this case only matching the photo stored by the company on their computer system (not the one on the badge) to the person’s face is security. So for those offices who don’t have security staff doing this, anyone could theoretically get in.

The best security mechanisms are the most simple and discrete. Credit cards are naturally pretty secure if used correctly. Nobody can abuse a credit card unless they know the number. Nobody can read it through a wallet. The wallet in this case is a great security feature. To read it you need to either visually inspect it for the numbers, copy it, get an impression of it, or swipe it through a reader. All things that require intimate contact with the actual card. Impressive security for some old technology isn’t it?

I’ll stick with swiping a credit card for the foreseeable future. Your only not liable for a stolen credit card if you and your credit card company mutually agree it’s stolen or being misused. Otherwise you may be on your way to an expensive dispute. Regardless it may have hit your credit, and you’ll spend a lot of time sorting it out and getting it corrected. Bad credit costs you money. Some individuals make it sound like it’s just a phone call and your done, but people who have had their credit card stolen sometimes spend several months fighting to save their credit.

Categories
Mozilla Open Source

Open Source And Recessions

There’s an interesting blog post on Open Source and recessions worth reading. Essentially the question is this: Does a recession have a negative impact on open source?

I’d say the answer is somewhat more complex than a simple yes/no. There are many different types of projects out there with entirely different circumstances. However I suspect a projects impact could be gaged on a few key aspects of it’s operation:

Purpose – The purpose of the project is likely the most critical aspect. For example, I don’t think there would be any significant impact on projects like the Linux kernel which is essential to many products out there including server infrastructure that powers much of the web and many companies computer systems. Then you have consumer products like TiVo, Google Android etc. Because it’s purpose is so broad there are enough people with a financial interest in seeing development continue. WebKit, Mozilla, Apache, are good examples of this. They have broad usage by many. Something specific to a more obscure task would have more trouble due to it’s more limited market.

Development Team – Of course for a project to succeed it needs one or more developers. During a recession one could theorize that many would be less inclined to participate. This may not necessarily so. First of all, quite a bit of open source development is loosely sponsored. Several projects have actual staff, paid employees who write open source code. For example Apple employees people to work on WebKit. Mozilla has staff working on Firefox. There are people paid to work on Linux (Red Hat, IBM, Novell, etc.) and many other open source projects. There are also companies who contribute some code that would be of strategic value to them. There’s also those who are simply willing to sponsor some work they want to see happen. All of which fund developers of larger open source projects. But would developers who aren’t sponsored or employed to code still participate? I theorize most still would as they don’t depend on it for income during good times, presumably a job during a recession wouldn’t generally prohibit participation and more than a job during years of economic growth. There’s also the impact of college students who participate partially for the educational aspect. The early 2000’s was a recession and still showed a fair amount of growth of open source. In fact many of todays stars really started to take shape during that period. For example:

Funding – Somewhat obvious: Funding is key. Who pays the developers (partially the last aspect I discussed)? Who pays for the projects needs (servers, etc.)? Many of the more popular projects (almost all of the above) have either an organization of for-profit company around built around it. That company often sponsors the needs of the project. Unless the needs of that companies product/service is no longer needed during the recession, funding likely remains. That’s partially the first aspect I discussed.

It’s my belief the larger and more popular open source projects would feel a minimal impact during a recession. I think history has shown this, and common sense agrees. They are mostly low development cost, adequately funded (often from diverse sources), stable, and have a broad team of developers. The projects that are in trouble are the ones who have very few or only 1 developer, even worse if they share the same sponsor, even worse if there is little community around the project. Most projects would generally experience a slight slowdown in development the degree would depend on the above. A few may go dormant for a period of time. Thanks to things like GPL licensing, another developer can pick up should there be a market in the open source ecosystem.

Overall I don’t think open source would be nearly as impacted as most businesses during a recession. The model is very different. Open source when successful has a community and many different sponsors. The diversity allows the project to survive even when recession causes some sponsors to need to reduce or eliminate involvement. Open Source also by definition is used to this type of environment. It’s used to developing on a budget, soliciting sponsors to help cover costs, etc.

The interesting thing about recession is that it impacts everyone, but the degree to which someone is impacted varies. For example construction and housing are generally harder hit than other industries. People tend to cut back on new home purchases before they cut back on other things. Each of those industries has computing needs, sometimes met by open source. This all feeds into the open source ecosystem.

I’d suggest that all of the projects I have mentioned here will do ok during a recession. Many with a slowdown, but all will still continue as long as they provide value. A notable situation is Mozilla’s income comes largely from Google which is based on ad revenue. During a recession and bubble bursting this would likely dramatically reduce the revenue brought in. This isn’t being ignored. As the 2006 Financial FAQ states:

First, the cash reserve is of course a form of insurance against the loss of income. We will continue to maintain enough of a reserve to allow us flexibility in making product decisions….

It seems that an open source project with a diverse stream of funding from individuals and companies of various industries, as well as developers in different situations is in the best position to survive.

It’s an interesting topic.

Categories
Google

Google Bouncing Checks?

On Friday I saw one of the more memorable Seinfeld Episodes “The Little Jerry“. The episode is most memorable for Kramer wanting a chicken and ending up with a rooster he names [Little] Jerry. It’s also known as the episode in which George dates a woman in prison, considering it the ideal girlfriend. Slightly less memorable is that in the beginning of the episode Jerry found out his check bounced and is hanging at Marcelino’s bodega. Little Jerry was to be in a cockfight with a victory resulting in the check being taken down.

Ironically I deposited my last Google check Saturday. Today I ironically saw that Google checks are bouncing. I’m curious if I’m going to hear from the bank in a day or two regarding that check. Sounds like accounts payable had a little goof up. I’m not sure how large this problem is, but I’m pretty sure it will be corrected ASAP.

Categories
Security Tech (General)

Getting A Non-RFID Credit Card

Chase Freedom VisaThe Chase Freedom credit card isn’t bad (1% cash back, 3% on certain items). There is an unadvertised downside. While Chase doesn’t promote it very well, the card contains a tiny RFID chip. This allows you to pay for something using a contact-less terminal (no swiping). Just put your card near the reader and it registers. Is it really any quicker than swiping? Who knows, but likely not by much.

It looks like a regular credit card, same thickness, size, and shape. Just a tiny emblem exists on the upper right hand side to distinguish the onboard cargo. You can see it in the image above. A larger version of it is below:

Blink Logo (sm) Chase

For those wondering, the actual RFID chip seems to be on the left side, opposite the Blink logo.

Chase brands the technology Blink, American Express calls it ExpressPay, MasterCard calls it PayPass. They are all pretty much the same thing.

RFID doesn’t have a great reputation right now. There are some privacy and security concerns, such as an unauthorized party reading your credit card without you knowing. Think this is a tin-foil-hat mentality? It’s been done already. I haven’t found anything online to indicate criminal exploitation yet, but it’s possible and will happen.

Chase Flexible Rewards VisaChase doesn’t advertise this, but if you contact them by phone or email, they will send you a replacement card, without the “Blink” capability. The actual plastic card is their “Rewards Visa” though the paper it’s attached to clearly says “Chase Freedom”. It’s just plastic, the credit plan is in the account not the card. So there you have it, you can get a secure credit card if your concerned about security.

Chase claims “Blink” it’s very secure, but I’m still not personally comfortable with the technology. According to their FAQ (in PDF format):

10. Are blink purchases secure?

Yes. As always, you are 100% protected against any unauthorized purchases. These transactions are safe because they are protected by an additional level of encrypted security. You must deliberately use the Chase card with blink at the point-of-sale to make a transaction. The Chase card with blink needs to be within an inch of the special reader and correctly oriented to be read. In addition, blink transactions use specific data that is protected by the highest level of security.

Judging from the speed in which it can be swiped (as demonstrated on the Chase blink website) one could technically walk by with a bag containing a reader and just brush by the victim to read the card in their pants pocket, sit next to you on the bus/train, etc. Easier than pickpocketing since no actual contact needed (such as digging a hand into someone’s pocket).

We already know they can clone RFID passports. What stops someone from reproducing the credit card, then using it? With regular cards, my wallet is an effective firewall. No way to read the magnetic strip or copy the numbers off of it without the actual card visible. And if my card is missing, I know I have a problem. I always keep it in my wallet so nobody can just look at it. This is a pretty secure way to handle a credit card. With this potential crime, I wouldn’t even know right away, and by the time I do realize I wouldn’t have any idea when/where it was compromised. It could potentially be months between the theft and usage of stolen data.

I’d like to see this tech a little more proven in the “real world” before I jump on board. For now it’s just good to know you don’t have to live with it, you can get a non-RFID card. I didn’t find this advertised anywhere on the Chase website. I guess they realized us tin-foil-hat people would ask for a blink-free card, so they made sure to have an alternative. I must give them credit for that (no pun intended).

Just call/email Chase and ask for a non-blink version of the card. They told me 5-7 days for delivery. No hassle. I was very pleased how painlessly they made it. It arrived in about 5 days.