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Sharing thoughts and ideas on business, security and photographySome thoughts on DSTV mobile and the Drifta #in
Posted on December 19, 2010A couple of weeks ago I saw that the DSTV mobile offering was being launched, not having a compatible phone nor having a contract due for upgrade any time soon it was with a little bit of jealousy. Then in the release article was mention of a little device that could connect to a laptop or iDevice – enter the Drifta.
I was rather keen to get hold of one of these devices so the week after launch I looked in the DSTV website, found the participating dealers and went to visit a few of them. Sadly none of them had a clue as to what it was (Yup, that’s you GAME, Pick n Pay, Incredible connection etc). I phoned the DSTV customer care and they couldn’t tell me who had stock either. Eventually I discovered that Makro had them listed and in stock (very useful function on the website). So last Thursday I went and picked one up. R599 later I had one in my hands. Neat little box too.
DSTV Drifta Box
Nokia Ovi Music now DRM free in South Africa – and it works really well!
Posted on September 09, 2010Nokia Ovi Music has been around for a while, but to be honest, after signing up and finding out that it was all DRM’d music in WMA format that was the end of my experience.
Today I saw a few tweets saying that it had now been relaunched as DRM free. A quick visit to the Nokia website and … after a few minutes of wandering around to various pages saying lots and nothing I gave up and googled “Ovi Music” and ended up on the Music Store at : Music.Ovi.Com.
I logged in, and was pleased to see that it still had all my details from the Ovi Store account I had created on my Nokia E71 a few months ago. I dived straight into the music looking for the new Liquideep album, Fabrics of the Heart (link here), which I had been struggling to find on the on-line stores (Exclusive books etc) and was pleasantly surprised to see that they had the album for a very reasonable R80 for 14 songs.
New ISACA audit programs: Cloud computing, Crisis mgt, Infosec mgt, Active Directory, Oracle eBusiness #in
Posted on September 02, 2010ISACA has recently made 5 new audit programs available, 4 in August and one in July, bringing the total number of available programs to 31.
These new audit programs cover :
- Cloud Computing Management Audit/Assurance Program (Aug 2010)
- Crisis Management Audit/Assurance Program (Aug 2010)
- Information Security Management Audit/Assurance Program (Aug 2010)
- Windows Active Directory Audit Program (20 Aug 2010)
- Security, Audit and Control Features Oracle E-Business Suite, 3rd Edition – Audit programs and ICQs (July 2010)
They are all available for download on the ISACA knowledge centre website.
ISACA makes the material available at no cost as a benefit of ISACA membership. Anybody wanting to contribute material to share with fellow professionals can send it to ISACA via research@isaca.org.
ISACA Annual Conference 2010
Posted on August 30, 2010Dates: 13 to 15 September 2010
Venue: Indaba Conference Centre, Fourways/Johannesburg
Over the last few years the ISACA SA Conference (#isaca2010) has drawn between 230 – 260 delegates. High profile local and international speakers provide delegates with insight into the latest developments in the IT, security and governance. The 2010 conference has 3 streams of presentations and focuses on the latest strategies to address business, managerial, operational, auditing and security challenges associated with information technology and information systems. The conference topics are applicable to a wide range of attendees from CEO’s and CIO’s through security, audit, risk and IT professionals.
Follow @isacaza on twitter for #isaca2010 conference news and updates
Attendance
Should you be interested in attending the conference use the online booking facility at the ISACA website or contact Nadine on admin@isaca.org.za.
See you there for another great conference.
ZA WWW 2010 – 12th Annual conference on World Wide Web Applications
Posted on August 30, 2010Date : 21 – 23 September 2010
Venue : Graduate School of Business, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Afria
The ZA-WWW2010 conference in Durban is multi-disciplinary event. Researchers (academics and collueagues from industry) will represent the wide spectrum of human knowledge: with Web applications as the common denominator.
This year’s ZA-WWW conference will feature
- Prominent keynote speakers
- Multiple programme tracks covering e-Learning, Web development and e-Commerce
- Peer-reviewed papers as well as invited presentations
- Poster presentations
- Proceedings published in electronic format in the Conference’s website
Some of the speakers and topics include :
ISPA and UniForum SA’s Annual conference, September 2010, Jhb #in
Posted on August 29, 2010The Internet Service Providers’ Association of South Africa (ISPA) and UniForum SA (the co.za administrators) will be hosting their 9th iWeek annual conference from 15 – 17 September 2010 at Kloofzicht Lodge , Muldersdrift, Johannesburg, South Africa.
This premier event attracts speakers and attendees from a broad spectrum of the most important players in South Africa’s telecommunications industry. Representatives from Internet service providers, product resellers, network operators, telecom end-users, government, the ICT-focused legal fraternity and regulators will assemble at iWeek 2010 to discuss the latest challenges.
Read more about iweek here, take a look at the 3 day conference programme, the speakers, or head straight for registration.
I didn’t see a price anywhere, so this appears to be a free conference. Let me know if you hear otherwise.
Lifehacker.com article on creation of PhotoSynths
Posted on August 28, 2010Lifehacker.com’s Adam Dachis published an interesting “how to” on the creation of photosynths. Check it out here. Between the article and the followup comments this is a really good intro on how to put together your own Synths, as well as some links to some really good synths.
One of my favourites is a HDR panorama of Chateau de, Maulmont, done in a full 360degrees horizontal with 180deg vertical, done by M9. Check it out here : Link
Also checkout the PhotoSynth’s of sandcastles done by Alexander Riccio here.
Some pretty awesome work. Give it a go and share your results.
Google acquisition trail Feb 2001 – Aug 2010 #in
Posted on August 26, 2010This is a rather impressive info graphic put together by scores.org laying out the timeline of Google acquisitions from Feb 2001 to current. Take a look through, a walk down memory lane 
The acquisitions are categorised (left to right) according to the revenue intent behind the acquisition, into either revenue growth, competition reduction, or a bit of both.
The inner circle is a colour coded pie chart reflecting whether the key asset obtained through the acquisition was People (yellow), Market (red) or Technology (blue).
The sizes of the outer circles also shows the relative size of the acquisitions. The relative sizes don’t take into account the size of Google at the time of the acquisition nor inflation so take care before reading too much into these sizes.
The list is quite comprehensive although it is not believed to be complete, the author has indicated the graphic will be updated to reflect corrections.
Click through to see the full infographic (It is extremely long so isn’t included here on the front page).
2010 Data Breach Investigation Report – Who stole my client’s cheese? #in
Posted on August 25, 2010The first-ever joint report by the Verizon Business Risk data crime investigation team and the U.S. Secret Service presents a fascinating and current insight into the murky world of data theft and cyber crime. Contrary to general expectations 85% of all stolen data records can be traced back to organised crime. Woaah. While almost 50% of cases had active insider involvement, these were small-time jobs resulting in only 3% of records lost. So yes, watch out for your employees, but beware of those syndicates!
Read more in Woody Leonhard’s summation of the report here.
Download a copy of the VBR/USSS report from Verizon Business here
Howto : Small Business IT Governance Implementation #in
Posted on August 25, 2010One of the key challenges of IT governance is how to break it up and make it understandable and implementable for small businesses. Cost/benefit is always a key challenge and unless there is a practical sensible way that adds value to the business then IT governance is not going to work in small business.
ISACA have released a nicely put together article in their J-Online section of the website. Small Business IT Governance Implementation by Janeane Leyer and Katelyn Quigley provides useful practical advice on how to implement. In doing so the article provides three key questions in a simple framework and discusses six critical success factors for the implementation.
Abstract
The largest risks to businesses today are failure to align information technology to real business needs and failure to use information technology to create value for the business. Effectively managed IT can provide small businesses with a competitive advantage, whereas ineffective management can impair the business as a whole. With recent increases in demand for cost reduction, the need for small businesses to actively manage their IT resources has never been greater.
This article will provide an overview of IT governance, discuss the benefits to small businesses, suggest a framework for implementation in small businesses and discuss critical success factors.
ISACA Whitepaper “Securing Mobile Devices” #in
Posted on August 25, 2010ISACA have released a whitepaper on the securing of mobile devices. This is the first in a series of documents which will eventually include audit/assurance programs for such devices. The overview of these documents can be found here.
Abstract of white paper
Mobile computing devices have become a critical tool in today’s networked world. Enterprises and individuals alike rely on mobile devices to remain reachable when away from the office or home. While mobile devices such as smartphones, laptops, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and Universal Serial Bus (USB) memory sticks have facilitated increased convenience for individuals as well as the potential for increased productivity in the workplace, these benefits are not without risks. Mobile devices have been, and continue to be, a source of various types of security incidents. These stem from issues such as device loss, malware and external breaches. As the availability of human resources and systems continues to be critical to society and business operations, it stands to reason that mobile device usage will continue to escalate as will the features that these devices offer. It is therefore imperative that proper risk management be applied and security controls implemented to maximize the benefits while minimizing the risks associated with such devices.
Securitysearch.co.uk writeup on the whitepaper here.
ISACA SA Chapter meetings in October (Dbn, Jhb, Pta) #in
Posted on August 25, 2010Three of the ISACA chapters are having meetings in October. Details are below and will be updated as confirmation of speakers is obtained. Don’t forget the #isaca2010 conference in September.
KZN regional chapter meeting
- Date : 7 October 2010
- Venue : PKF Offices in Umhlanga
- Topic : To be confirmed
Pretoria regional chapter meeting
- Date : 14 October 2010
- Venue : To be confirmed
- Topic : To be confirmed
Johannesburg regional chapter meeting
- Date : 26 October 2010
- Venue : To be confirmed
- Topic : To be confirmed
Confirmation of attendance
As always, please confirm your attendance with Nadine on 011-803 0803 or admin@isaca.org.za a few days ahead of time.
163 Megapixel panorama : View from my lounge
Posted on August 22, 2010This morning I created and uploaded my Gautrain panorama (see previous post). That encouraged me to try and make a more detailed and refined panorama using a better camera. I have always enjoyed the view from my lounge / balcony so decided to try and create a panorama shot from there.
Using a basic tripod and a Canon EOS 550d DSLR camera I took a series of 31 photos which were then run through Microsoft ICE and uploaded to Photosynth. The resulting image is the 163 megapixel panorama image present below. What is really impressive is the level of detail present in the synth. Try zooming into leaves on some of the trees, cars on the freeway in the distance or to windows on the office block. This really is powerful technology which anybody can enjoy.
This second synth was taken over lunch using my Nokia E71. The quality isn’t great as it was taken handheld. The synth has many gaps and misplaced photos. I took 77 photos and ICE used 66 of them to give a 360 degree vertical coverage and 144 degrees horizontal. I uploaded it out of interest thinking it would be a bit of a disaster but after playing with it for a while made it public and added some highlights. Its amusing to play with for a short while.
You can download the Microsoft ICE tool here at the Microsoft Research website.
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