Digital Home Convergence Designs Blogs

IP addresses are running out so it’s time to upgrade…. What this means is companies will start to offer their content over the internet in a new version. We all currently run on v4, however as the internet grows space needs do as well. Companies participating in this test run are Facebook, Google, and Yahoo just to name a few. Think of it like making your computer Y2K compliant, except this is for the Internet service providers, hardware makers, operating system vendors and web companies.

If you’d like more information on IPv6 or how you can upgrade your network to accomidate IPv6 please give us a call or e-mail.

To test your system please click the link provided.

http://test-ipv6.com/

The security threats in 2011 will continue to exploit existing vulnerabilities, plus add a whole new list of cyber-attacks for which to prepare.

Get prepared for continued exploitation by cyber-criminals, spammers and a new wave of amateur hackers in 2011. Here are the most serious security threats you should be aware of for the upcoming year.

1. Upgrade Your Patches Now!

The biggest threat in 2011 will not come from the bad guys, but will continue to be poor patch management, according to Randy Abrams, director of Technical Education at Eset LLC (San Diego).

“People are not upgrading their programs with the latest patches,” said Abrams. “Even amateurs today can download a cyber-attack software kit that exploits multiple known vulnerabilities, most of which have been patched, but still work against millions of computers whose software has not been upgraded.”

2. Malware to Exceed 50 Million

Computer viruses, worms, Trojan horses, spyware, rootkits and all types of malware will flourish, but botnets will likely be the biggest problem, since they perform coordinated attacks. “We expect that the number of unique known malicious software samples to be in excess of 50 million by the end of 2011,” said Abrams.

3. Social Media Fleecing the Naive

Social networks will continue to exploit the unwary, according to Abrams. E-mail will continue to spread malicious URLs, as will Twitter and Facebook posts. “It’s all about tricking the victim into clicking on something that is going to be bad,” said Abrams. “Bad” usually means turning the user’s computer into a “zombie” that then does the bad guy’s bidding.

4. Mobile Android Targeted by Cyber-criminals

Smartphones mark a new frontier for cyber-criminals. “Mobile handsets are becoming ubiquitous, and they are being used for e-commerce as well—the perfect combination for a cyber-criminal,” said Abrams “And unlike the iPhone, Android OS phones can download software from anywhere, making them vulnerable to Trojan horses that can access your GPS, the Internet [and] your contact list, [and] can dial your phone and send text messages.”

5. Worm Attacking Iran Will Strike Again

The Stuxnet worm that attacked Iran’s centrifuges did so by using stolen digital certificates, which allowed the downloaded software to run on its Windows-based host. “In 2011, we are going to see an expansion of the use of stolen certificates in order to make malicious software run on Windows-based industrial systems,” said Abrams.

6. Firesheep Sidejacks Proliferate

In 2011, amateur hackers will increasingly use sidejacking—the stealing of active cookies to allow malicious users to hijack a user’s session. “It used to take some skill to perform a hijack,” said Abrams. “But now you can just download the Firesheep plug-in for Firefox to hijack Facebook, Twitter and other user sessions over WiFi by reading the log-in information in their cookies.”

Today I received an email from Netflix offering me to update (change) my subscription to a streaming only plan, aka no DVD’s, for $7.99. I am very tempted to get rid of the physical media and just stream the content, aka unlimited number of movies and TV shows on my computer or TV (well, Netflix’s Instant Play choices).

I have noticed recently when I have been in the mood to watch something, I tend to favor the Netflix streaming service. Although the catalog of movies you can downstream is substantially less what is available in DVD format, in the last 6-8 months, Netflix has greatly expanded that content. Granted, the choices are typically not the latest blockbuster movies, but rather some older classics, TV shows, and foreign films, but since I fancy the latter, I am in great shape. And, with the new AppleTV, you can easily navigate, search and manage your selection right on the screen – no need to use your computer to make all your selections. You have reviews, actor bio’s, similar movies, etc, many different tools to help you decide what movie to pick. Another cool thing Netflix offers is the ability to select an entire season of a TV show. So…, if you missed an episode, you can very easily catch up.

I used to always have 3-4 DVD’s checked out, and if my family didn’t feel like watching the specific movie, the DVD’s would just sit there – sometimes for weeks. Now, with the streaming service, we can pick and choose right then and there and just start watching the movie on the spot. Much like my movie server, we can pause it, resume it, pick a different movie if we get tired of the one we are watching, etc.

I know I am not representative of the average movie watcher, e.g. I have a Kaleidescape movie server with 400+ movies ready to be watched instantly, I have a collection of 1200+ purchased DVD/BluRay discs, I subscribe to Netflix, and on average I still purchase about 2-3 BluRay discs a month. On top of that, I also use TiVo to record tons of TV content.

Although the Netflix streaming quality is decent, at 720p, it is highly compressed and won’t compete with an up-converted DVD from my Kaleidescape system, or a BluRay disc for that matter – there just is not enough bandwidth to support that higher level of quality in sound and video. Also, audio is a bit lacking and is only served in stereo, not 5.1. But for casual watching and just for the pure convenience, the Netflix streaming service cannot be beat.

Choices, choices, choices…. The convenience of being able to pick what you want to watch, at the precise moment you want to watch it, is extremely gratifying and I think Netflix does an excellent job at this.

BTW, Netflix picked up close to ~6 million new users (+50% increase) in the last year – mostly the younger generation of streaming users. According to Sandvine, Netflix now accounts for 20% of all Internet traffic at peak times (8PM-10PM). This should tell you something about where things are heading.

You can add a lot of cool features to your clients’ homes by just adding some occupancy detection to their home automation system. To achieve a “smart space”, where the house knows that someone is there and changes accordingly, the automation system needs to adapt to the specific behavior of the homeowner.  I’ve found a couple of practical solutions that have made my holiday season even better. 
Enjoy!

Solution 1:
A buddy of mine had a simple and effective solution for automating the lights on his Christmas tree using a Motion Sensor and an Outlet Dimmer. He had his tree set up in his family room and as soon as someone walked in, the tree lit up and it felt like the Holidays.  Since his family was always in and out of that room, increasing the Motion Sensor timeout to 10 minutes ensured that the tree was lit until bedtime.

Solution 2:
My tree was in the sitting room. Since there was never a lot of activity in there, and I didn’t want to increase the Motion Sensor timeout significantly, I added a Pressure Sensor to the mix. By pairing the Motion Sensor and the Pressure Sensor, not only could I turn the lights on when someone entered the room, but I could keep them on by simply relaxing in my recliner.  After a while I forgot that the lights were adapting to my activity. They just seemed smarter — taking care of the details for me and producing the lighting scene I wanted without me even thinking about it.

Products used:

• Control4 Wireless Outlet Dimmer
• CardAccess Motion Sensor
• CardAccess Smart Pressure Sensor

I was at a new client’s home the other day to add some new Comcast HD boxes to their existing Control4 system (not installed by me). They had a very nice theater system with a JVC front-projector, Stewart film screen, a multi-tiered theater seating arrangement and even a dedicated elevator leading down into the movie “cave”.

I installed all the components and made all the necessary tweaks to incorporate the new components into the system per the client’s request. I then took the elevator down to the theater to perform a final system test before I left for the day.

The previous Control4 installer programmed the system so when the client wants to watch a movie, the projector is powered on, the blu-ray player turns on, the screen comes down and the lights in the room are dimmed – all at once.

Nothing wrong with this you may say – it works. Well, the big issue is that as you wait for the projector lamp to warm up and a picture to show up on the screen, you basically sit in total darkness for about 45sec. Not only do your eyes never get a chance to properly adjust to the darkness, but you also sit there with no point of reference yelling/talking to your friends in a pitch black room – very unnerving.

FIX: Slowly (over 20s) dim the lights to 10% while the projector warms up and then when the picture shows up on the screen, dim to 0%. This will provide enough light to see faces or even walk around in the room. It also prepares the eyes for the upcoming dark movie setting.

BONUS: As a bonus, I temporarily ramp-up the lights to 10% whenever the movie gets paused or stopped. That way, your eyes won’t have to re-adjust when you start up the movie again.

Something as simple as this adds that extra touch of refinement and forethought to a system that the client will ultimately appreciate – It’s all in the details !!

Avatar takes home Oscars for visual effects, art direction, and cinematography. If you haven’t seen Avatar yet perhaps this will be your inspiration…

The message that was sent out last night is that there’s a new era upon us in the 3D movie experience! Some of us agree that this is a long over due recognition.  The 3D movie experience is now like no other. The industry has developed so much over the years. Remember when 3D meant watching with cardboard cutout glasses with a plastic film of red and blue for the lenses? Today there are such high-tech versions that actually have receptors on each side of the goggles that receive  signals, telling the lenses when to flicker on and off in correlation with the screen image resulting in the ultimate 3D experience.

I am ecstatic that Avatar took home those Oscars last night, the visual effects were truly revolutionary and warranted the win. I look forward to the continued convergence of technology and entertainment for the benefit of us the viewers! I can’t wait to watch  3D  in my home!

I got a panic call from a Palo Alto client at 11:00 p.m. last Friday. A plane flew into some power lines and knocked out much of the town’s electricity including his home. By the time he called the power was back on, and so were his TV, stereo, and other components. Everything but his $700 controller . Ouch!

The situation was puzzling. We had already gone through a power failure together and his system came back up on its own just fine. He knew because I installed an email alert feature that told him what was going on even though he was in Mexico.

We knew each other for about a year, and much of his equipment was in before I arrived. They had had two surge protectors in place designed to restart his system gracefully. Those pilot lights were definitely on. Was his controller really fried?

I went online and found the exact specifications for the Panamax M4300EX surge protectors . It turns out they have several banks of outlets. Some reboot automatically after a power failure, some don’t. I had him hold the “On” button down for a minute, and Voila! His controller came back up just fine. Sometimes all it takes is a phone call…