| Victorinox nixes software updates for USB drives, security certificate to expire in September Aug 21st 2012, 07:39  Victorinox may have offered a hefty bounty to crack its secure USB drives' encryption, but the storage sticks seem to have met their match another way: the end of software support. In an email sent to customers and a pair of Facebook posts, the firm announced that it will halt updates as of next month and that its security program's VeriSign certificate is only valid until September 15th. As a result, customers are urged to backup their data lickity split. According to the outfit, the economics of continuing application development just weren't reasonable and it'll now refer to a third party for all software. However, the Swiss Army Knife maker isn't out of the flash drive business -- it's committed to putting more of the devices on the market. We've reached out to the company for more details on how the thumb drives will be affected and we'll update when we get word. In the meantime, hit the source links for the notice or check out the e-mail below.
[Thanks, Scott] Continue reading Victorinox nixes software updates for USB drives, security certificate to expire in September Filed under: Storage Victorinox nixes software updates for USB drives, security certificate to expire in September originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Aug 2012 03:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink |  Facebook (1), (2) | Email this | Comments | | Back in the BBS days: how-to helps newbs navigate to a pre-internet playground Aug 21st 2012, 06:33  The web has an origin story, one that predates any cozy trip in the wayback machine. That's because where we're going, there is no internet -- at least, not as you now know it -- only Bulletin Board Systems. And to help guide curious digital natives on this journey back to the time tech forgot, a programmer by the handle of Proppelerpowered has whipped up a how-to that leverages nothing more than a microcontroller-based microcomputer and BASIC knowledge. The brief step-by-step, listed over on Instructables, requires intrepid geeks to build a Pocket Mini computer, which purportedly takes only "an evening," after which they'll have to tinker with some low-level coding to complete the connection setup, hitch a ride online via PC and then link up with any number of active BBSs around the world. For the purposes of this beginner guide, you'll have instructions for access to a Canada-based Commodore 64 clearly laid out. But the more adept are encouraged to swap out the standard setup for an ANSI terminal and wade into serious retro-gaming waters (Trade Wars, anyone?). Hit up the source below to peek the blow-by-blow and see if this hack's made for you. Filed under: Internet Back in the BBS days: how-to helps newbs navigate to a pre-internet playground originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Aug 2012 02:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink  Hack A Day | Instructables | Email this | Comments | |
