I settled on the Samsung Gear S3 Frontier as my smartwatch of choice.

One feature’s details with which I was unfamiliar when I purchased the watch is the Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST).

For Apple and Android mobile device users who setup and use Apple Pay or Google Wallet, Samsung’s MST uses Samsung Pay but with a twist.

Where Apple Pay and Google Wallet depend on NFC, the Samsung Gear S3 opens a new opportunity for paying.

NFC requires the sales terminal to be NFC-enabled and the vendor must accept that payment system, Apple Pay or Google Wallet.

With Samsung’s MST, the S3 watch can be used like any credit card with a magnetic strip on the back of it.

My experience was that I turned on Samsung Pay on the watch, entered my PIN to unlock the app and then held my watch ~1 inch away from the card reader … right beside where I would normally swipe my credit card.  The card reader received a stream of encoded characters as though it had just read my credit card and validated the sales transaction.

In less than 30 seconds (which is how long Samsung Pay is enabled once I enter my PIN), I completed the transaction and the vendor didn’t have to accept Samsung Pay, they hadn’t needed to update or change their credit card equipment and I didn’t have to pull out cash or my wallet.

With standard sales equipment I was able to complete a cardless, cashless transaction by starting a program, entering a secret and holding my arm close to the register.  That is the type of convenience I value.

For security’s sake, Samsung Pay also uses tokenization of the credit card number and the MST field is typically only about 1″ from the smartwatch.  I’m certain there will be compromises for this but it seems to be about as secure as any other convenient payment process I would regularly use.

I’m a fan of Anker products and this small, Ultra Thin USB 3.0 hub fits well with the other Anker items I use.  The price of this hub has been reduced (at the time of this writing) to $9.99.

This is the “everyday carry” (EDC) USB hub for my Microsoft Surface Pro 4.  This is not an externally powered hub but it expands the single-USB connection of the Surface Pro 4 into four.  If you are looking for a hub that can power low-consumption USB devices, albeit slightly larger than Anker’s, check the Sabrent UM-43, also for $9.99 as of this writing.

The light (seen to the left of the hub ports), stays lit blue on mine when connected and blinks with traffic.

Some of the USB ports can be tight fits but they all work well and provide high-speed performance.

On the Surface, the ~5″ USB plug and cable are long enough for the hub to rest reasonably flat on the desktop.

One big con I’ve found is that plugging a relatively large-size (16gb+) USB storage device in after booting on the Surface Pro can disable my Logitech Unifying USB dongle until I remove the USB storage device.  Unplugging the offending storage device re-enables my Logitech devices.

QQ-Tech Mini Bluetooth keyboard with touchpad

I’ve been trying the QQ-Tech mini Bluetooth keyboard for a few months and it’s turned out to be a handy device.

The keyboard is powered by a rechargeable, internal LI battery.  The keyboard takes a mini-USB cable for charging.

mini-USB power

The touchpad works well on connected devices.  I’ve tried it with my Android devices and my Windows Surface Pro 4 tablet.  The device provides several special character/feature capabilities that are difficult or unavailable using the Swype virtual keyboard I normally use on the Samsung Galaxy Note 5.

Touchpad

The touchpad includes a four-way directional rocker with physical left- and right-mouse buttons on either side of the rocker.

The keyboard is lit for easy visibility in dark settings.  It also provides notification lighting for options like Bluetooth (when seaching, pairing and when connected), battery charge, and caps lock.

Notification lights on keyboard

I’ve been very happy to take advantage of this small keyboard.

UPDATE:

The FN and CTRL-ALT-DEL key (aka Enter) will reboot my Samsung Galaxy Note 5 Android phone without warning so use that key combo only when you’re ready to restart.

The Alt-Tab will, like Windows, switch between running apps and is a fast way to get from one app to another without having to touch the glass.

I’ve been blogging and active in social media for years but recently added podcasting for both my faith-based site, TeachingMyHeart.com and my professional information security/risk management site, TheDudeSays.com.

This podcast should follow recent blog posts in focusing on products and services I use.

Audio Technica AT2020

I recently began podcasting after years of blogging and social media engagement via multiple Twitter (primarily @0bytes, @ADubiousDude), Instagram and other accounts.

Why

This venture arose, like several of my information security peers, out of a desire to promote my career through social engagements.  A partner and I agreed to invest in this venture at professional information security strategists.  My decision to stand up a podcast about my faith followed as a way to re-purpose the equipment and practices into which I invest for podcasting, extending my stewardship of these tools and skills.

Equipment

As my podcasting partner and I invested time over a few months to learn what it takes to produce podcasts that aspire to professional quality we considered tools, services, processes and skills.  We searched out wisdom from various online sources.  As engaged listeners & financial supporters of many podcasts we shared together what qualities we prefer in the product we intend to deliver.  From those efforts I chose the Audio Technica AT-2020 electret cardiod condenser microphone.  It’s an XLR (phantom power) type mic.  It’s Audio Technica’s entry level in professional mics.  It’s available at Amazon.com for $99 as of this writing.  I purchased mine with the CAD Audio AS32 Stand Mounted Acoustic Enclosure for a total of $149.  I’ve been very happy with this device.  It is a solid piece of equipment that reproduces a quality of sound that I and several listeners found satisfying.

Processing

While my process isn’t the focus of this review, it may affect the output produced so I share that I use an Alesis MultiMix 8 USB FX audio mixer ($129 at Amazon.com).  Output is recorded to a Tascam DR-05 digital audio recorder, which I found on sale at Amazon.com for under $80.  I balance, sequence and mix separate tracks into a final product in AVS Audio Editor on my computer before producing the podcast.

I purchased a lifetime license for AVS4You software suite years ago for $75 or maybe $99 and it’s been one of the best investments for manipulating constantly evolving digital media formats ever since.

Result

With limited audio experience there are surely people who have richer insight into this and other microphone equipment but as a neophyte podcaster I’m happy to share my satisfaction with this microphone as my first investment into audio capture for voice.  I expect to enjoy and utilize this investment for many years.  If you’re in a similar situation, I suggest that AT2020 as an inexpensive investment that provides benefits that meet my needs.

Noteworthy

We’re still working on our information security podcast and will promote it once we’re publishing regularly.

Raspberry Pi WAP

This setup required some capabilities

• Internet access for the Pi
• Wireless access for the Pi to host other devices
  • Wireless USB dongle
  • Ability to share connection/host other devices
  • Ability to serve DHCP assignments
• Proxy through which traffic must pass (thus providing both insight and some control)

The first wasn’t difficult since all Pis come with an RJ-45 connector for ethernet connectivity.  The wireless hosting, however, required me to purchase, connect and configure a USB dongle as a wifi antenna on the Pi.

I’m not sure I will keep this antenna but for a $10 investment I chose Kootek Wireless-N 2.4GHz device.  This devices supports b/g/n connectivity.  I decided to forgo AC or a larger antenna until I proved out this use case at home.

Kootek USB wifi dongle

It seems to be working well with several other devices connecting to it for internet access.  I’ve read that the Realtek 8192CU drivers are flaky with power mgmt and connectivity might flicker but in the event that happens I can download the drivers, modify them and compile my own (a nice option) or else buy a different (and slightly more expensive) WiFi USB.  I didn’t use the 8192 driver; I believe I used the 8188 or 8170 that was already installed in the Debian distro that I put on the SD card so I don’t know if this implementation is susceptible.

Web Access Point

To configure the WAP I relied on Adafruit’s tutorial, Setitng Up A Raspberry Pi as a WiFi Access Point.

This tutorial worked great.  There were a couple of places where the formatting contributed to me overlooking a command but overall this was a clear, concise and effective tutorial.

Proxy

I initially started looking at standing up a local proxy to gain more control and access to reporting.  I started with KidSafe proxy which uses the squid proxy, which is primarily for caching but which has what appears to be an effective control capability.  In my work, however, I was able to get the proxy installed and (mostly) working but the interface felt heavier than I bargained for and I could see it falling entirely back on me to maintain everything; not the circus or monkeys I was looking to take on.  I wanted more lightweight and automated so that I can focus on reacting to what’s happening.

In working through this I found a solution that I believe will work better for me: OpenDNS.  Through OpenDNS’ free service I was able to setup DNS on the Pi network to forward requests through OpenDNS.

In testing this I was able to prove that requests that can access undesirable content via the main home network are blocked when run through the Pi WAP.

OpenDNS Block Response

Total Cost (to date)

At this point I’m probably into this solution about $70.  The Pi is easily the most expensive at ~$40-50.  The SD card was probably about $10 and the WiFi was $10.  You could arguably just go buy an inexpensive router online that allowed you to configure DNS and route that through the OpenDNS service but it’s difficult sometimes to know what the software enables on routers until you actually try doing something with them and I already had this Pi sitting around.

Caveats and Left-to-be-Dones

There are still gaps in this implementation.

Two that stand out are

• use of nearby wifi
• use of another proxy via IP address w/no name lookup
• tunnel over VPN to another proxy

Any of these can compromise the effectiveness of this solution in terms of what content someone can access but both are beyond the scope of me managing what’s in my purview.

The OpenDNS is configured to block access to known proxy sites but that’s still vulnerable to someone using a recently stood up proxy that’s not yet been tagged appropriately and blocked via OpenDNS.  If I find it, however, I have the option of adding the block manually.

As with most security implementations there are probably several other gaps I’ll have to find and this is a work-in-progress but for now it affords me access for the kids and for guests without worrying what they might encounter over our network.  Someone would have to intend to compromise this based on the default way devices use access points with DHCP.

The first step we’ll undertake is setting a timeout for the Android display on the device.  To access the Setting menu pull down from the top of the display and choose the gear icon at the top right of the display.

You’ll scroll down the Settings menu until you see Device section and then look for Display.

Display Menu

Within the Display menu you’ll have to scroll down to find the Screen Timeout option.

Screen Timeout

Clicking this option brings up a set of radio button selections for seconds/minutes before the Android devices turns off the display.

Screen Timeout Options

Because I sometimes get distracted, I chose a higher value of 2 minutes to give me time to respond to something and try to redirect my attention to my phone before the display is turned off.

Next we’ll set the option to lock the device when the screen turns off so use your Back button to get to the main Settings menu and then scroll down until you see the Personal section of settings.  In Android stock ROM version 4.4.2 the Lock Screen  gives you access to settings like screen timeout.  In earlier versions this may be in the Security menu.

Android 4.4.2 Settings

From the Lock Screen menu you can set your unlock method (Screen Lock item).  You can see from my screenshot below that I’ve chosen to use a Secured with PIN.

The two settings that interest us most on this menu are Lock Automatically and Lock Instantly With Power Key.

The Lock Instantly With Power Key means that when I press the power key on the side of the Android device I want the phone to lock itself so that I must enter my passcode/PIN to use the phone again.  This is handy when I know I’m going to be doing something else.  It ensures that the lock on my phone is engaged instantly, hence the name.

Lock Automatically means, after an event (for the basic Android “stock ROM” the event is whenever the screen turns off) how long the phone will wait before locking itself and requiring you to enter your passcode/PIN to use the phone.  This is useful if you may be distracted while using the phone and your screen timeout causes the screen to go blank but you don’t want to have to re-enter your passcode.  In situations like this you can simply hit the Home button on your phone to turn the screen back on and resume using the phone without having to re-authenticate yourself by entering your passcode.

Lock Screen Settings

I selected 15 seconds to give me enough time to even notice that the screen has gone dark.  If I’ve not noticed that the screen’s turned off after 15 seconds I’m probably pretty engrossed in something and I want the phone to lock itself.

Screen Timeout

When I choose the Security from the main Settings menu or when I click on the Lock Screen menu item from the Lock Screen menu (hmm, I hadn’t noticed that the label was identical for the parent menu and the child menu yet), the phone presents me with options for how to unlock my phone.  Some of these options, while fun, aren’t very secure.  I’ve chosen to encrypt my phone so several options are disabled (their text is darkened on the menu below and I cannot select them without disabling Encryption for my phone).  I’ve chosen a PIN at this point over a password.

Passcode Settings

There are numerous other applications and settings that can be applied to manage things like screen timeouts, locks and passcodes but this was intended as a basic How-To.

I’ve often been able to use one of my company’s presentation devices but ran into a scheduling issue where their Logitech R400 device was assigned to someone for a presentation when I needed to use it.

I decided to double down on Logitech and purchase my own R400.

Logitech R400 and R800
Side-by-side

I am very happy with the R400 I bought.  It works from > 35′ (~ 10 meters) away even working through walls.  The R800 I had wouldn’t even work from 5′ (< 2 meters).

After a couple of weeks of using my own R400 I contacted Logitech through their Support & Warranty phone number.  I spent a few minutes verifying the model I have before they decided to issue me a replacement upon proof of my purchase (invoice) and photos showing the model and part numbers and PID.

Logitech R800 –
Difficult to read numbers

I wish they’d caught this in QC but this is outstanding service.  No hassles and they’re sending a replacement so I hope to have two great presentation devices which is what I paid for.

Once I receive the new R800 and have an opportunity to compare them I’ll post an update.

I ran to the local Best Buy to replace the gigabit switch ($35 USD for another NetGear) in order to restore wired connectivity but I quickly learned from my constituents customers family that we NEED wireless access at home for numerous devices I’d forgotten that I’d connected.

Another trip back to the Best Buy (and thankfully after winning a $50 gift card to that retailer) and I chose the Asus RT-AC66R, on sale at $149.99.  I’m into these two devices for $184.98 + tax, – $50 so about $150.

Asus RT AC66R – AC1750 Dual Band Wireless Gigabit Router

I was excited to see what the router would provide me out-of-the-box.

Living in @TheGigCity, I plugged the router into our @EPB_Chattanooga high-speed, fiber-to-the-house connection and ran some speedtests.

800+ mbps up & down on my wired connections

The slowest results I got from a variety of testing sites were still around 500 mbps.  I saw these numbers while people were streaming video, music and other media to try and stress the network.

Test results from Xfinity speed test

Followup Xfinity test some time later

SpeedTest results from Ookla

I’ve achieved similar results before by attaching the laptop from which I ran the tests directly into the ethernet-terminated fiber connection from my ISP.  Previously whenever I’d put my hardware between that ISP endpoint and the laptop I’d see a degradation down to ~ 125mbps speed at the laptop endpoints.  Now, all wired connections (except for the Roku & TV) are running > 500mbps.  Wireless connectivity runs about 30mbps throughout the house and close by the house although I peaked at ~ 33mbps down & 61mbps up on my Note 2.

Speedtest Note2 over Asus

Wireless access is certainly restored and solid at this point.  I’m satisfied with our initial experience with the router.

I’ve downloaded the DD-WRT flash for the firmware but still unsure about flashing it or not.  The Asus interface is nice but I’m open to comments on this.

This Spring I invested in a presentation device by Logitech: the R800.

It comes with a USB, RF dongle; ostensibly for good range of motion while presenting.  Here you see it side-by-side with the USB dongle for a Logitech M570 Trackball, my favorite pointer device.  I’ve tried it in different configurations (with no other RF devices and even no other USB devices and on other laptops but always with similar results).

The dongle sits with the presentation tool when not in use.

In this photo it is extended about half its length outside the device.

My experience with this device has been less than acceptable.  The range is less than 10′ (~ 3 meters) and it’s highly susceptible to orientation of the “clicker” (I must point back toward the laptop).  This device has demonstrated a lag and queuing effect where multiple clicks queue up and then be executed on the laptop in rapid order which is similarly not acceptable.  I’ve tried suggestions on Logitech’s Support page for the R800 but to no positive effect.

Luckily at work we have the Logitech R400 which has delivered far superior results for me.  I’ve tried both devices (my R800 and the company’s R400) on multiple devices running different OSes.  The old R400 consistently works from significantly greater distances and with no sensitivity to how I orient the “clicker.”  The R400 works great regardless of other devices attached (the M570 RF USB dongle, USB wired devices, etc) and it hasn’t queued or dropped clicks.