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Hourtime Podcast: The Lair of the White Watch

Posted: 25 Dec 2009 12:46 PM PST

Here’s another red-hot watch podcast for all you watch fans out there. Happy Holidays and enjoy.

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Why the Predator drone encryption doesn’t matter

Posted: 25 Dec 2009 08:22 AM PST

predatorBruce Schneier wrote a great piece on the unencrypted Predator drone video feeds, noting that the drones were built for a post-Soviet, pre-insurgent era and that encryption, in the case of a live feed, is more of a problem than a threat.

The problem is, the world has changed. Today’s insurgent adversaries don’t have KGB-level intelligence gathering or cryptanalytic capabilities. At the same time, computer and network data gathering has become much cheaper and easier, so they have technical capabilities the Soviets could only dream of. Defending against these sorts of adversaries doesn’t require military-grade encryption only where it counts; it requires commercial-grade encryption everywhere possible.

While I agree with him whole-heartedly – Bruce knows his stuff – this is a huge PR mess for drone warfare. Luckily, these are drones and drones don’t have feelings and I suspect that once insurgents notice that they’re on a drone’s live feed, it’s probably too late.

Apple’s New Tablet To Be Baptized iSlate? Let’s Dig A Little Deeper

Posted: 25 Dec 2009 08:14 AM PST

Nice scoop by MacRumors, which reportedly retrieved historical evidence that Apple has acquired the domain name islate.com back in 2007. Apparently, the Cupertino company registered the domain through brand protection firm Mark Monitor to conceal the fact that the domain name is theirs, as usual, but was briefly listed as the owner at some point in the past nonetheless.

If correct, that means we can add a rumor to a rumor: that the unconfirmed, unannounced but most definitely coming (maybe) Apple tablet device will be named iSlate. That would be in line with earlier connections of the ’slate’ term to the illusive tablet computer, based on New York Times Executive Editor Bill Keller calling it something to that effect in a speech.

Let’s dig a little deeper.
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