Edward Kiledjian

Google has created a new initiative called Project Zero where it aims to hire superstar hackers and use them to improve intent security. Their goal will be to use their expertise and Google's resources to find security issues with foundational internet technologies.

Zero-day back market

Newly discovered security issues (bugs, vulnerabilities or anything exploitable) that have not yet been announced are called zero day vulnerabilities. there is a healthy black market buying and selling these vulnerabilities (typical buyers are organized crime, criminals or intelligence agencies). The fact that these are unknown by the manufacturers or general population is what makes these more easily exploitable vulnerabilities worth so much.

In the blog post announcing Project Zero, Google says

Google is committed to responsible handling of discoveries which means they will first notify affected vendors, give them time to patch the security vulnerabilities before announcing it to the world. 

Google Blog post announcing Project Zero (link)

Database where vulnerabilities will be made public for the general public and academic research (link)

Dropcam (Now a Google Nest company) took the remote internet connected video world by storm by allowing anyone to remotely monitor their homes or business' cheaply and without being a technical genius. There are countless media articles about business and homeowners using it to catch thieves, but now we learn that it can be exploited by cybercriminals against you. 

Two researchers from Synack (Patrick Wardle and Colby Moore) discovered vulnerabilities in Dropcam which they will demonstrate at Defcon 22 in Las Vegas next month.

Like a bad hacker movie, the researchers claim to have discovered that it is possible to hack the system to watch videos remotely, turn on the microphone (hot mic), inject fake video into the stream (to cover tracks) and even to use the Dropcam to compromise your network. 

"If someone has physical access [to a DropCam device], it's pretty much game over," says Wardle, who is director of research at Synack. "People need to be aware that these devices can be accessed by hackers or adversaries, and they should be scrutinized in the way people protect their laptops," for instance. [source DarkReading]

It seems the software running on the Dropcam is also old and unsupported which may explain why it is also vulnerable to Heartbleed.

All in all a pretty bad situation that should serve as a wake up call to everyone that we need to pay more attention to the Internet of Things. Too many small companies are trying to seel sensors, cameras and mic to consumers without paying enough attention to protecting their devices (and therefore my privacy). hopefully Google and Apple will force more secure standards to bring these small players in line.

Google's Niantic Labs had a huge hit with the Ingress game on Android. It created something special with fans becoming ambassadors and creating meetups and thriving online communities. Now Niantic Labs has taken the next step by making Ingress available for iOS (link).

The IOS release works on iPhone, iPad mini and iPad. It is a game that get's you moving in your area. The in-game chat allows teammates (there are 2 factions in the game) to coordinate and do real world meetup. 

So far, the game on IOS looks similar to the one on Android (no major changes). there are even reports that people have lost huge amounts of weight because it forces people to get out and move.

Ming-Chi Kuo, the famous KGI Security analyst, is now claiming that Apple's iPhone 6 5.5" model will be delayed because of constraints with some key components. He claims that current supply chain contacts say it will be pushed post October (possibly into 2015).

He claims the issue may lie in the drop test durability of the new sapphire display. His "unnamed sources" claim that when the larger iPhone 6 is finally released, fewer than 20 million units will be available.

The 4.7" iPhone 6 is expected to have the same issues but he believes solving it on a smaller display size device is much easier. he also highlights the fact that there have been more leaks of the 4.7" iphone 6 than the larger 5.5" one.

The truth is that Apple hasn't announced anything yet and I don't think it is fair to say an unannounced product is delayed. It can't be delayed until Apple officially provides a release date which is missed. So take all of this with a grain of salt.

If you need a new iPhone then get whatever they release in Sept-Oct but remember that most generation 1 releases have issues that are worked out post-release. I prefer to stick with the "s" iteration of the iPhone's to ensure most kinks are worked.

Canada always get's the short end of the stick when it comes to online streaming services. We get 5 year old films on Netflixs and music streaming services avoiding us like the plague.

Spotify has been that elusive butterfly but not they announced they will be coming to Canada. We don't have a launch date but you can sign up for a pre-launch investigation. 

Go sign-up now (link)

Microsoft just announced that it is giving away hundreds of free eBooks covering a wide swath of topics from Windows 8.1, Office 365, Azure and much much more. There are close to 300 different titles to choose from.

Most books are available in multiple formats including PDF, ePub, DOC and MOBI.

Books range from small 8 page titles to massive tomes.

Click here to browse and download them now (link).

The Biolite CampStove has something of a cult following in the camping and survival world. It's claim to fame is its ability to burn easily available biomass (aka anything natural) and also recharge external USB powered devices. Some absolutely love it while others abhor it. 

The truth is that there are other products that can do each of the individual functions better  (a battery for device recharging, a liquid gas stove for cooking, etc) but is the whole worth more than the sum of its parts? Read on to find out.

How does it work

The stove is composed of the main combustion chamber, a pot stand and the power module.

The power module is built in heat resistant plastic that remains relatively cool to the touch during operation and houses the battery, fan & power conversion module. The fan is used to push oxygen to feed the fire, which gives it the ability to burn any time of biomass. The conversion module converts heat into electricity which recharges it's internal battery, power the fan and then uses the surplus power to charge your devices.

At first I assumed that the built in battery would also be used to recharge my connected electronic device but it doesn't. The Biolite CampStove only uses excess electricity to recharge your device (once its internal battery is full and it is generating enough power to keep turning the fan.)

When you first receive the unit, you are asked to charge the battery using the provided (yellow) USB cable with a computer or USB Wall Adapter. After that, you will never need to recharge it this way as long as you use the stove at least once every 6 months.

The power module fits inside the burning chamber so it is "fairly compact" but shouldn't be considered small.

The device

The device is designed so that the external stainless steel mesh case can he held even when the fire is scorchingly hot. It has 3 legs which means it won't sterilize the ground (where it is placed) and won't cause the snow to melt (for winter camp).

Compared to most liquid fuel based camping stoves, it is much bigger and heavier. The Biolite CampStove is (packed):

• height 8.25 "
• Width 4"
• Weight 33 oz

My fully loaded packed MSR Whisperlite weights in at a mere 14 oz and packs in a quarter of the size. Unless you are an ultralight packer though, this shouldn't be much of an issue for you as it is the size of a large Nalgene bottle.

Especially if you buy the Kettlepod accessory, the entire kit stores in the KettlePot making it even more compact. I'll talk about the KettlePot a bit later.

Let's talk about fire

Biolite provides 5 fire starter sticks to get you going and you can buy a 10 packs from most sporting good stores for a couple of dollars. Combine this with a Zippo lighter and even semi-dry kindling will light into a warm bright fire.

Basically you light the fire starter, gently drop it into the combustion chamber then gently top it off with the kindling. You then slowly add the biomass fuel.  After 15-20 seconds, you press the fan button once to start a gentle blow. As the fire starts to heat up, you start to add more wood (ideally the ticker woods which will last longer per load) or other thicker biomass. About a minute into the burn, you press the fan button again to switch it into high gear. Small sticks and twigs will burn within a few minutes while the thicker wood like maple may last up to 10 minutes.

Once the fire is hot, you can add almost any kind of biomass. I tried using fresh wet oily cedar tree branches and it burned them no problem. Pine cones, wood pellets, birch bark, wood, different grasses, leaves, animal dung are  no problem for this hot oxygen fed fire.

Now people criticize the fact that it burns the biomass quickly (because of the high temperature) and that you will have to continually reload the CampStove to keep the fire burning and charging your devices. They complain about the impact on the forests of providing that much fuel, but the reality is that everywhere I've gone camping over the last 20 years has had more than enough dead biomass available on the forest floor. 

The fire can get very hot which is good because the hotter the fire the more electricity it generates but if you need a slow simmer, you simply allow the fire to die down a bit bit, feed fuel more slowly and switch the fan speed to low. To boil water, you add a lot of wood and put the fan on high. The fact is that controlling a natural fire's temperature is much more complicated than a fuel based camping stove, so you'll have to be more attentive.

Because it burns very hot, all that is left is a small amount of ash that is environmentally safe and easy to dispose of. Plus the high heat means the fire generates less smoke.

I was able to boil 1.5 liter of water in their KettlePot in 5-6 minutes even when the ambient air temperature was in the low teens.

Recharging capabilities

Remember that you can recharge almost any USB powered device but.....

I tested with various smartphones (iphone 5s/4s, Nexus 4/5, Samsung Galaxy S4/5, HTC One M7 and all of them were receiving power and charged.

My Nexus 7 (2012) tablet charged but not the iPad. The reality is that the Biolite should not be your only gadget power source. Recharging a completely dead modern smartphone will take many hours of stocking and restocking the fire.

The first rule of survival is redundancy. Always have 2 ways to accomplish a critical task. To build a fire, I always carry a lighter and a ferro stick. So to power your devices, I would use the Biolite CampStove and maybe a Solar charger as well ( I am testing and will be reviewing the Joos Solar Orange Joos Solar charger and battery soon). The Orange Joos solar panels charge an internal 5,000 mAh battery which can then power your power hungry devices. I recommend you take the same approach with the CampStove. Use the CampStove to recharge an external battery then use this battery to charge your devices.

It took 2.5 hours to charge my iPhone 5s from 12% to 50%. 

Kellepot time

It's a 1.5L kettle you can use to boil water, rehydrate food, make soup, boil pasta or veggies.It is an extremely versatile piece of kit that makes using the CampStove that much better. It's bottom has a heatsynch which means it collects the maximum amount of heat which efficiently boils 1.5L (of room temperature) water in about 5-6 minutes with a hot fire.

Once you are done cooking, you can clean the Kettlepot with water and a soft sponge and store the CampStove inside it for efficient space use.

Customer service

I sent a couple of "issue" emails to their customer service group and responses where always prompt, courteous and complete. In this day and age of offshoring most support services, it was nice to deal with a company that seems to offer good reliable customer service.

Conclusion

I tested the unit a couple of times before making any judgements about it. I know many online reviewers complain that they have to find biomass and keep feeding the Campstove but I really don't see that as an issue. The way I look at it, it means I don't need to carry fuel with me which is really attractive for longer multi-day excursions or off-grid survival situations (when you lose power at home).

I never leave a lit fire unattended anyway, so dropping some wood into the device every 10 minutes isn't a big issue for me. You can sit around it with friends and chat. 

Additionally there are drier periods when open campfires are not permitted but most authorities will allow you to use the Biolite, which means you can also use it to roast marshmallows, make smores or just relax around a "mini campfire". This thing is beautiful to watch at night in the dark ( I would even say mesmerizing).

Before I list the positives and negatives, let me just say that I actually liked the Biolite CampStove and will be using it for my personal camping excursions. There are a lot of negative write-ups but please make up your own mind. 

Dislikes

I wish the device could generate power more efficiently, charge devices faster and maybe use part of the built in battery to charge devices when the stove is not in use.

It is a bit on the heavy side so I wish they would cut down on weight a bit (20-30%)

I wish you could lower the intensity of the LED lights on the power module. They are fairly bright at night in a dark forest environment. Either reduce the brightness, allow me to adjust the brightness or have an option to use red light which doesn't ruin night vision.

Likes

A great backup in survival or power down situations. 

Easy to find fuel for your fire almost anywhere in the world. You don't need to lug heavy containers of fuel and if you travel internationally, you won't have to scramble in your destination country to find compatible fuel. I love the fact it uses standard highly available biomass. 

I wish the fire chamber was a bit bigger so I could use larger pieces of wood but then people would complain about the increase in size. 

It burns down the biomass completely into ash which means means you won't leave any trace.

The legs of the CampStove lift the device off the ground so you are not sterilizing the ground and are not risking starting a forest fire.

A recent StatsCanada report shows that Canadians are increasingly replacing their expensive home phone lines with their cellphones. Actually 21% of households have already made the switch to being cell phone only (13% in 2010). 

understandably this trend is stronger in the houses owned by sub 35 year olds.

Source : Stats Canada

Email has become an indispensable business tools for millions of users around the world. To make email just that much more personal, the engineers at Google have now added 13 additional languages (bringing the total to 71). 

The new languages are:

1. Afrikaans
2. Armenian
3. Azerbaijani
4. Hong Kong Chinese
5. French Canadian
6. Galician
7. Georgian
8. Khmer
9. Lao
10. Mongolian
11. Nepali
12. Sinhala
13. Zulu

It's important to note that these are not just straight machine translations but rather carefully translated versions quality checked by linguists to ensure the translation is region specific (including nuances).

Source: Google

The US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) says that users on some in-bound flights originating in certain overseas airports will have to prove [to the security agent] that their devices power on and work as expected.

The list of where this new rule will be implemented is not yet known so for now, make sure your devices have enough power to switch on and be used. This is another reason why you should always travel with an additional portable battery.

Source: TSA

Zagg (link) is currently running a 20% off promo on their InvisibleShield skins with code USA20 (expires July 6) at checkout. This is the biggest discount we have seen for these protectors in 4-5 months so the price is very good.

US Orders ship for free and international are done at a small fee.

This protectors are available for every gadget available under the sun (almost) including: iPhone, iPad, Samsung Galaxy S5, Google Nexus 5, Kindles, Watches, etc.

I love portable battery packs because they make travel a lot more enjoyable allowing me to watch movies or listen to music much much longer than the devices built in battery. But these batteries are designed for smartphones or tablets and typically provide 1 or 2.1 amps of juice.

Now Cobra has the JumPack which can deliver 400 amps of car starting power and can also power your smartphone or tablet with its 7500mAh built in battery (through its USB port).

you can charge the JumPack with the (included) AC power adapter or the (included) 12V cigarette lighter adapter.

It's currently selling for $US109.81 on Amazon US (link) or $CAD121.90 on Amazon Canada (link).

I think its a great price for something so versatile.