Microsoft unveils new 'Surface' computer

Here is a look at Microsoft Surface, a Windows Vista-based PC with a 30" touch screen turned into a table. With an up to $10,000 price tag at present, Microsoft doesn't feel consumer versions may be available for up to 5 years. They should be available in T-Mobile stores by November 2007. Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. and Harrah's Entertainment Inc. are among the early adopters.

Surface uses cameras mounted underneath its acrylic frame to sense external objects, and it can recognized barcodes on common items. Be sure to check out the intriguing video and article hosted by KING-TV's web site.

Q. Which surface in your work, home, or travels would be more useful if compute-enabled?

Forget Google Phone? Google eyes wireless spectrum

The FCC plans to auction off a swath of 700MHz spectrum that is currently dedicated to over the air, analog, television signals. Presumably the bands, whose signals can carry abou double the range of those from higher-frequencies, can be used to offer consumer wireless broadband access in competition with cable and DSL. The auction is expected to rake in $10B or more.

According to USA Today, Richard Whitt, Washington, D.C. telecom and media counsel for Google, allows that Google may participate in the auction. Chilling to me was Google's request to the FCC to allow winners of the auction to create an auction system allowing third-parties to bid for use of the spectrum.

I observe that Google serves about 50% of Internet searches, down from perhaps 75% when free market forces prevailed and Yahoo! stopped purchasing Google's search ranking results. If Google owned this new frontier of spectrum outright and set the terms for third-party use, what free market forces could intervene?

Q. Cable, DSL, or holding out for 700MHz?

'Evil twin' Wi-Fi access points proliferate

There is little consumers can do to protect themselves from hackers eavesdropping on wireless communications

Head this warning to be wary of rogue Wi-Fi access points masquerading as legitimate counterparts at hotels and airports. IDG News Service's Jeremy Kirk interviews Phil Cracknell, president of the U.K. branch of the Information Systems Security Association, who warns, "With the growth in wireless networks, the 'evil twin' type of attack is on the rise."

In April I was on the road in North Carolina and changed hotels in the Raleigh area. The new hotel had fee-for-access Wi-Fi, so why did I boot and immediately access the Wild Wild Web without ponying up my credit card? Thanks to the office of the community church visible from my window, I stumbled into their open, insecure network. At least, that's what a potential Evil Twin access point would want me to think.

Whether your access is for free or for fee, encrypt your communications before entering passwords or other sensitive data to at least provide some modicum of security. Redirect to TLS-encrypted web pages (https://) when available, and use a VPN tunnel to get back to the office or even your home network. Or even better, remember your ethernet cable and jack into the wall port. Although a crafty insider could still eavesdrop your communications, at least the drive-by sniffers in the parking lot will be left out in the dark.

Q. Would my hotel time have been better spent at the pool, anyway?

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