I’ve been meaning to write about this for a while, as the folks from Budget Gadgets sent me one of these a while ago: a USB 2.0 to 3D Audio Sound Card. The upshot of this device is that it converts an analog headset and microphone to USB, which is nice on computers that don’t offer these analog input, such as my old Mac Mini.

This device does not need any USB drivers as it is treated like a regular USB sound device, which most operating systems recognize immediately. I plugged it into a Windows XP computer and tested it with Skype, which worked flawlessly.

The price is right at about $8, including shipping. If you want to save 5% off this and other cool things you might buy at Budget Gadgets–and they have a number of nifty items that I want to purchase–use the coupon code: DM5OFF12

One word of warning: since items come from Hong Kong, the shipping can take a few weeks to reach the US.

Recently, I was asked to complete a security awareness training at Check Point. It is considered a mandatory exercise for all employees. It consists of watching a brief presentation, taking a short multiple-choice test, virtually signing the security policy document, and providing a user validation question and answer.

The entire process took no more than 20 minutes. After having watched the presentation, I can tell you, with a fair degree of certainty what the different levels of classification are, what generally falls into each level of classification, and what my responsibilities are with respect to handling data in that classification. It was all done with clear language using examples I feel most people could relate to.

It is exactly the kind of policy presentation that any serious company should have. The reason: employees are often the weakest link in security. Educating employees on what the policy is vital to ensure corporate assets are protected.

Oh wait, you don’t have a security policy? Well now, that is a problem.

One of my “jobs” is to monitor for mentions of Check Point Software on Twitter. This is a lot harder than it seems, even with the ability to search with Tweetdeck, Seesmic Desktop, or even the Twitter Search site. The problem: search terms. The ways I’ve seen people refer to the company include:

• CP (for Check Point)
• CHKP (the stock ticker)
• Check Point
• Check Point Software
• Checkpoint (people forget there’s a space between the two words)

They might also refer to a product, such as:

• VPN-1
• UTM-1
• Power-1
• SecuRemote
• Endpoint Security
• Endpoint Connect
• Pointsec
• ZoneAlarm

Since each search phrase can be no more than 140 characters, this gets out of hand pretty quickly, not to mention exposed a nice bug in Seesmic Desktop. I actually have to run three different columns in Tweetdeck or Seesmic Desktop to see what people are talking about.

Searching for Check Point by it’s name (with or without the space) is difficult, because in addition to the company, there is:

• Security Checkpoints (e.g. at the airport)
• Racing Checkpoints (e.g. when doing a rally race)
• DUI/DWI/OVI Checkpoints (as in driving under the influence, driving while intoxicated, operating vehicle under the influence, depending on the locale)
• Coding/Debugging Checkpoints
• Other companies named Checkpoint (they do exist, in other fields)

Not to mention the fact that my search for Power-1 picks up POWER!!!!1 and little things like that. In short, there’s a fair bit of sifting that goes on in order to find the tweets that require a response. That won’t stop me from trying, but if you can suggest anything to improve the situation, let me know!

One of my tasks at Check Point Software has been to help develop a social media strategy for the company. While I do not report into the marketing organization, I have a lot of experience building a community around Check Point, dating back more than a decade. I also am familiar with various social media toolks like Twitter, being one of the first Twitter members back in 2006.

While I’ve had the account going for a couple of weeks now, I can now officially announce Check Point’s corporate Twitter account: @checkpointsw. And yes, I am the guy behind it. It’s not Check Point’s first Twitter account, though, as @zonealarm has been around for a bit longer.

While I can’t help but use the account to push out information about Check Point products, which includes ZoneAlarm stuff, I will relay interesting security articles I run across as well as engage in the network security discussions. And, of course, try and help customers out along the way.

This is a completely new direction for me, and hopefully I won’t make too many mistakes along the way Let me know what you think, I’m open to ideas and suggestions.

As someone who recently became employed by Check Point Software, it’s nice to see stuff like this about your employer, especially in these tough economic times.

From TradingMarkets.com:

“We posted record first quarter revenues of $195 million and non-GAAP earnings per diluted share of $0.45 cents during the quarter providing a good start for the year,” said Gil Shwed, chairman and CEO at Check Point. “Our operational discipline continues to translate into increased profitability with non-GAAP operating margin of 56 percent and record cash flow from operations of $172 million.”

These numbers are not affected by the acquisition of Nokia’s Security Appliance Business, which didn’t occur until a few weeks ago, i.e. after Q1 ended.

For a while now, the family computers were connected to the Internet using a couple of WiFi routers: one was in a WDS Mesh with my router upstairs in my office. The other router was simply a client set up in Client Bridge mode. All of the routers were Linksys WRT54G(S) running DD-WRT 2.4 SP1.

When I first set this up, I spent roughly two weeks diddling with it and finally got something stable. It generally stayed that way, though periodically, I’d experience random dropouts and other weirdness. The past several days, the WDS mesh would simply fail for no reason and despite my best efforts, I could not bring it up again.

I replaced my Linksys in my office with a UTM-1 EDGE W device I picked up from the office. This is an industrial strength firewall with WiFi, anti-virus at the gateway, and a lot of other cool security features in something about the size of a typical Linksys/D-Link router. I’m sure costs more than what most people want to spend on a router, given enterprises buy hundreds of them and manage them centrally. Home users can get a lot of the same functionality in the ZoneAlarm Z100G Secure Wireless Router for $150 shipped to your door (sorry, US and Canada only).

Unfortunately, this didn’t solve my WDS problem since the EDGE gateway does WDS differently than the Linksys boxes. I set both Linksys routers downstairs into Client Bridge mode temporarily, which allowed the Internet to work, albeit a little more slowly. Unfortunately, this is still not reliable as the WiFi periodically cuts out downstairs.

Today, I trekked over to Frys Electronics and picked up some HomePlug AV gear from TRENDnet (specifically the TRENDnet Tpl-302E2K 200Mbps Powerline Av Ethernet Adapter Kit and TRENDnet Tpl-302E 200Mbps Powerline Av Ethernet Adapter B Class). D-Link, Belkin, and Netgear also make this equipment, but I opted for the TRENDnet gear for one simple reason: I could buy a single TRENDNet HomePlug AV receiver. I needed 3 of them and the price for a pair was, at minimum, $120.

Setup was pretty easy, if you follow the included QuickStart guide. The TRENDnet software tool for configuring these devices (which, unfortunately, requires Windows) was able to find all three of my devices right away. It took me almost no time to get the devices connected together and passing traffic. One of the devices is plugged in near my router upstairs, the other two are downstairs in different rooms.

There are, of course, some limitations with these devices:

• The device–which is much larger than our typical wall-wort–partially blocks the other outlet. I found it worked if I used the top outlet and had the “bottom” facing upward.
• The device absolutely must be plugged in directly to the wall for it to work (i.e. no powerstrips).
• A maximum of 16 devices is supported.
• All devices must be on the same circuit breaker. This basically means you can only use these devices within a single dwelling.

While the TRENDnet Utility shows my devices not getting anywhere near the stated 200mb/s maximum throughput–the spec says the max data throughput is actually 150mb/s–I am getting anywhere from 10mb to 30mb/s to and from my locations. It’s at least as good as the WiFi link if not better as it’s more stable. I wish the price would come down a bit, but it’s still cheaper than cutting up drywall and adding in the necessary outlets.

One of the phrases I heard when I worked at Nokia right before they announced the divestiture of the Security Appliance Business (where I worked) was “more wood behind fewer arrows.” In other words, Nokia was wanting to focus more of their resources behind fewer initiatives, products, services, whatever. Seems reasonable.

It should, therefore, be no surprise given Nokia’s huge fall in profits and the general state of the economy that Nokia is, once again, putting more wood behind fewer arrows by, according to the press release, “[focusing] investments on fewer initiatives and [increasing] the use of common enablers across certain services.”

The press release gives scant details, as press releases often do. However, they do mention a couple of interesting tidbits:

• A variety of third-party partners will be added to the image capture and sharing features on devices. Presumably, only newer devices. Those of us with Nokia devices today likely won’t benefit. And seriously, how long did it take for Nokia to realize there’s a thriving ecosystem of services that they simply don’t participate in?
• When Nokia says employees will be impacted by a strategy change, as this press release says, it means only one thing: layoffs. 450 of them, or at least 450 people will have to substantially change their job. At least Nokia gives decent severance packages, but I still feels sorry for those impacted.

Given how long it seems to take for Nokia to make any serious changes, based on having worked for them for 10 years, I have to wonder if these changes can be implemented in time to reverse the downward slide of market share and mind share.

Based on what I saw in Redwood City when I was at the Check Point office last week, I’d say the fight is over and Nokia lost. Many former Nokia employees are now proudly carrying iPhones along with many long-time Check Point employees. Me? I’d love to get an iPhone now, but I can’t justify spending money on a new phone when I’ve got a drawer full of them. Maybe after Apple releases the next generation iPhone

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• Nokia Asking For Volunteers To Trim The Fat (phoneboy.com)
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• Too many brands – variety stymies smartphone viruses: study (cbc.ca)
• Nokia to extend S60 usage, new smartphone defintion (allaboutsymbian.com)
• Nokia Targets the U.S. Market (businessweek.com)

This past week, I have primarily been using my Nokia 5800 XpressMusic as a way to listen to my podcasts. However, I have been using it without a SIM card. This is good, as it extends the battery life of my Nokia 5800 substantially, particularly when all I am using it for is browsing via WiFi and listening to podcasts.

The bad thing? Well, just about everything else. Some applications, such as Mail for Exchange, will not work when a SIM card is not inserted. An error similar to the one pictured on the right is shown. In other applications, you are asked to confirm whether or not a connection can be established in offline mode.

I understand why you might want to prompt in this manner. On an airplane, or in other areas where you must be “radio silent,” this kind of prompting is necessary. The current Offline profile should be maintained.

What we really need is a new Profile type. Called it SIMless. It would allow the WiFi and Bluetooth radios to be activated as if a SIM card were there without the stupid “Create connection in offline mode” prompts.

How about it, Nokia? Seems easy enough to do.

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• Maximising Battery Life on the Nokia 5800 (allaboutsymbian.com)
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Last week, I attended a presentation at the West Sound Technology Association about Windows 7. The presenter, Chris Avis, showed many of the new and interesting features present in Windows 7. He didn’t present slides, but simply demonstrated the various features using a freshly installed copy of the public Windows 7 beta code.

One of the features Chris demonstrated was something called Direct Access. It is essentially a “transparent” VPN that is activated automatically when the user tries to access a resource in the corporate network. There is no indication or icon that the user is connecting via some sort of encrypted tunnel, it “just happens,” assuming the action is allowed.

While I have to admit, this is pretty slick from an end user perspective, it will take large businesses years to get corporate desktops, laptops, and servers upgraded to the necessary levels in order to take advantage of this feature–Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. In the meantime, more conventional VPN solutions, such as provided by my employer Check Point Software, provide solutions today. The end user experience may not be as “transparent” as Microsoft is demonstrating, but it is not the hurdle Microsoft is making it out to be, either.

It’s also clear to note that this solution is really going after the client-to-site VPN. The conventional site-to-site VPNs aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. Do you really want to run separate VPN solutions for site-to-site and client-to-site? What does Microsoft’s solution do with respect to ensuring that endpoint remains secure and uncompromised?

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• Windows 7: Enterprise Features Explained (infoworld.com)
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• Windows 7 Starter Edition: ‘No, you can’t’ is a deterrent (blogs.chron.com)