* I just sent this on Twitter and decided to post it here as well. Some yachts may not realize yet that I can actually come onboard the boat and solve computer problems and computer networking problems. Got a problem? “I can fix that!!!!”.
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Alan Spicer Marine Telecom
+1 954 683 3426
Email: communications @ marinetelecom.net
3 things got me to changing some more passwords online. I had recently changed some already … after warnings related to Facebook. I think a lot of people have a bad habit of using a couple or a few common passwords (often combined with our email addresses) to log onto the ever increasing numbers of sites and accounts online that we have to deal with. The problem is that if one of those sites gets hacked or social engineered (someone physically pretends to be YOU on the telephone or whatever…) then other accounts of yours are also vulnerable along with any single one.
Use more than one password … and change them often. I know its work … but it’s better than having an account OWNED. I had a Bellsouth email account taken away from me a few years back – and trust me it’s no fun! (* Well, except for Me – throwing them back OUT was pretty fun – since I reported them to everyone in their company and their ISP.)
Anyway Tim O’Reilly on my Google+ had a posting about this stuff. And I had already bumped into a warning from Google that I should use 2-step verification for logging on to Google. Supposedly someone had logged in, or attempted to log in to my account. (that was the premise anyway.) So I set up the kind of Pain-in-the-Ass 2-step thing with Google … along with the special custom email log on passwords for Gmail (which are now completely separate passwords between my iPhone and my Desktop PC) which I don’t even care to know what they are (this is the recommendation from Google.) The two step thing involves 2 things to thwart hackers (other than yourself) 1 – your username and password, and 2 – a code that is sent (either voice call or Text Message) only to your phone. Both are required to log on after that. You can allow “trusted computer” of yours to log on without that for up to 30 days. And that’s good enough for me.
So along the way I also got Tim’s recomendation of this article: http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/08/secure-your-digital-self-auditing-your-cloud-identity/ - I already have read some of their articles as I have them on Twitter in my iPhone.
So … all good stuff. I went a changed some other mission criticle passswords that weren’t on the Google gridwork … just to be extra extra safe. And now I feel a lot better that I can have Happy Rest of Year. New passwords are not related to anything that can be social engineered or researched about me – so doing so would be pointless for man or machine.
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Alan Spicer
http://www.marinetelecom.net – http://www.wifiyacht.net
+1 954 683 3426
communications @ marinetelecom.net
* Some of us have seen the movie Pirates of Silicon Valley … and might see a similarity. Perhaps if the legal system worked the same back in the 70′s as it does now – then Zerox would own both Apple and Microsoft.
It’s all over the web that Samsung went public with evidence that was excluded from the trial. Evidence that might show how Apple designs were derived from Sony designs. There was certainly a race to once again be the “Window(s) to the World” in some type of computing / communications electronics device(s). And maybe, just maybe, once again someone left the door open.
(Samsung /) Bill Gates: Get real, would ya? You and I are both like guys who had this rich neighbor – Xerox – who left the door open all the time. And you go sneakin’ in to steal a TV set. Only when you get there, you realize that I got there first. I got the loot, Steve! And you’re yellin’? “That’s not fair. I wanted to try to steal it first.” You’re too late.
Steve Jobs: We’re better than you are! We have better stuff.
Bill Gates: You don’t get it, Steve. That doesn’t matter!
Picaso once said, … Steve Jobs once said … Good artists copy, great artists steal.
We have always been shameless about stealing great ideas…
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Alan Spicer Marine Telecom
http://www.marinetelecom.net – http://www.wifiyacht.net
+1 954 683 3426
communications @ marinetelecom.net
* In light of the previous article, where it was mentioned …
“Most customers upgrading their maritime connectivity with a priority of driving their own profitability (not that of their satellite service provider) are finding the best strategy is to keep their legacy Inmarsat service as a pay-as-you-use backup, and upgrade to maritime VSAT for the heavy lifting.”
* Alan Spicer Marine Telecom has been in the business for 8 years to help marine vessels such as sail and motor yachts save money on their communications services such as voice and Internet. This often involves integrating multiple Internet “Connections” such as Satellite, Cellular, and WiFi into an existing (or creating a new) onboard network. Even vessels that have Full Time VSAT sometimes need a backup system for times such as going into covered dockage (or yard shed) or other times where the satellite signal may be obstructed. We have a WiFi Hotspot Sharing System called Lightspeed II on http://www.wifiyacht.net and continue to provide Ericsson and other 3G and 4G systems for marine vessels.
Contact Information:
Alan Spicer Marine Telecom
+1 954 683 3426
communications @ marinetelecom.net
* First of all this in not an endorsement for KVH. Not that there is anything wrong with KVH – but I wanted to clarify that I don’t have a working relationship with KVH. Readers should do their own evaluation of satellite system and service costs.
* In my group: Marine Telecom (Communications) on LinkedIn, there is a new Discussion post:
Jim Dodez 1st (First level connection to me Alan Spicer on LinkedIn)
VP Marketing and Strategic Planning at KVH Industries, Inc.
Providence, Rhode Island Area
Inmarsat releases confidential pricing data – blog post
In an open letter to members of the International Chamber of Shipping, Inmarsat released for the first time detailed data about what maritime customers actually pay for their Inmarsat services, and how the majority of Inmarsat customers using Inmarsat Fleet and FleetBroadband services will pay more in coming months. This remarkable document is available through the blog of MSUA president Tim Farrar at the attached link (click reference to briefing paper). Forward this link to the person in your organization that manages your Inmarsat service!
Section 1.3 of the document outlines the average monthly cost of 50MB’s of data using each of Inmarsat’s services. This is Inmarsat’s own presentation from their own data of the real negotiated prices customers are paying, not the retail prices. Read it for yourself!
Inmarsat’s average cost of 50MB’s of data
Fleet 77 $1628 ($32.56/MB)
Inmarsat B $ 992 ($19.84/MB)
Inmarsat B HSD $ 620 ($12.40/MB)
Fleet MPDS $ 832 ($16.64/MB)
FleetBroadband $ 530 ($10.60/MB)
The letter provides remarkable revelations that should be carefully analyzed by all Inmarsat maritime customers, the overwhelming majority of who currently spend less than $1,000 per vessel per month and will be paying higher prices. When competition is driving prices DOWN, Inmarsat documents its decision to penalize existing customers that have made large investments buying, installing, and integrating Inmarsat equipment on their vessels by RAISING prices. Amazingly, Inmarsat presents the competiveness of their pricing based on the roaming charges of GSM service, not maritime VSAT services (see section 3.0 of their document)!
Inmarsat is addressing their profitability concerns, isn’t it about time you addressed yours? What’s going to happen when they launch their new Inmarsat I5 satellites and have the opportunity to raise prices/cut channel margins on FleetBroadband because of their profitability concerns following their huge investments in new satellites and lost revenues due to increased competition from new VSAT services providing full ocean coverage?
You can upgrade to faster, lower latency, global VSAT service rather than be held hostage by Inmarsat. For example, the price of 50MBs of data using KVH’s mini-VSAT Broadband service is $49, less than 1/10th the price of FleetBroadband and 1/30th the price of Fleet 77 (visit www.minivsat.com/one for details)!
Most customers upgrading their maritime connectivity with a priority of driving their own profitability (not that of their satellite service provider) are finding the best strategy is to keep their legacy Inmarsat service as a pay-as-you-use backup, and upgrade to maritime VSAT for the heavy lifting.
TMF Associates MSS blog tmfassociates.com
http://tmfassociates.com/blog/2012/07/25/moving-target/?goback=%2Egde_3208547_member_140573555
Its been a little hard to make sense of some of the data emerging from Inmarsat recently. For example, a recent factsheet from OnAir indicates that the first Global Xpress launch will be in October 2013, followed by
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Alan Spicer Marine Telecom and WiFiYacht.net
http://www.marinetelecom.net – http://www.wifiyacht.net
+1 954 683 3426
communications @ marinetelecom.net