StillSecure, After All These Years

All charged up

Hi! If you haven’t noticed I have not blogged for over a week.  That is a long time for me to go without a word on here.  My dropping out involved more than blogging. I dropped out of most everything except being a daddy and husband.  It had been way too long since I actually unplugged and just spent time with my family.  My friend Brad Feld writes a lot about work-life balance.  I was badly in need of some balance. Unlike most people I actually love what I do.  But when it becomes work and I don’t like doing it, something is wrong and my work suffers.  Shortly after my work suffers, my family suffers because I become some sort of proto Mike Rothman-like grump.  That does not make for a happy home either.  So I unplugged for the week. Went fishing with my sons, played baseball, sailed a Hobie Cat, spent quality time with my wife and generally just unplugged.  The picture to the left is a bonito I caught.

Anyway I am back now, recharged and ready to rock n’ roll. I am excited to get on the road and start talking to people again. Black Hat will be here in a few weeks and I am looking forward to it! The Security Bloggers Network continues to grow and we have some announcements coming out around that as well.  Also, I am going to be doing a new series of podcasts on some great new topics that I am very excited about.  I have enlisted the StillSecure marketing team to help me promote them.  You will be hearing more about them soon! Generally I am ready to dive back into the security fray. It seems like the challenges are greater then ever and we have lots to do to keep up.  Looking forward to it!

Come on baby hit me one more time (Its iPhone upgrade time again, Oh God)

Image via CrunchBase

I don’t know what is with me. I must be either a  closet masochist, a glutton for punishment or just plain stupid (or maybe all of the above).  For whatever reason I felt it necessary to try and upgrade to the latest version of iPhone software today when prompted.  Every fiber of my being was screaming no don’t do it. But I did anyway.  For those not familiar, every since I got my iPhone about a year ago, everytime Apple has put out an upgrade to the OS, my phone has bricked.  So why should this time be any different?  Did I really think Apple would give a crap about their AT&T customer base and actually fix whatever bug consistently causes this problem?  Of course not! 

Same old, same old. I upgraded, the phone bricked, iTunes froze, locked up the computer. Had to reboot, same thing happened. When on to another computer did a clean install. Wiped out everything on my phone, came back to my old computer did a sync and now I am spending the rest of the night re-customizing and trying to find what I have lost. 

When am I going to learn.  Apple you suck!

Its a mixed up, muddled up, shook up world except for Lola

L-O-L-A, Lola, tastes just like cherry cola!  Lola by the Kinks, one of my favorite old rock songs. It wasn’t till much later that I realized what it was really about. But I couldn’t help but thinking of that line reading today’s headlines:

1. GM declares bankruptcy with the US Government to give them up to another 30 billion dollars and own 60% of the new company. Welcome to the car business President Obama. How did they go from worlds largest carmaker to bust in just a few short years? What are other countries going to think about what is in essence the nationalization of GM. How much creditability will we have when we talk about foreign governments protectionism of their car companies?

2. Citibank removed from Dow 30 to be replaced by Travelers. Wait, didn’t Citi buy Travelers? Yes they did, but it seems they choked on it and spun it off and now they will replace Citi on the Dow. Also joining the Dow is Cisco, taking GM’s spot. So finally the the big three in tech – Microsoft, Intel and Cisco are all on the Dow.

3. N Korea readying intercontinental missile, could reach US territory. How long is the world going to put up with these hoodlums? I heard an interesting fact last night that the average N Korean is now 3 to 6 inches shorter than the average S Korean due to poor nourishment.  If China doesn’t keep the dog on the leash lets just put it down.

4. Cybersecurity is now a national priority. Wasn’t it one already? Hey I am glad to see the President shine the light on cybersecurity. But before we get ourselves too wound up, shouldn’t we wait to see how this plays out. I have seen too many cybersecurity chiefs come in and be ground up by the DC machine.  I think many of us are flattered by the attention, but lets see how it translates.

5. Abortion doc shot down in church! Dr George Tiller one of the few doctors performing late term abortions was shot and killed in Church yesterday. He was performing as an usher and in front of his wife in the choir.  Whether you agree with the politics of abortion or not, who gives anyone the right to take the law in their hands like that. They call it the pro-life movement?

A shook up world indeed!

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3D BD

When it is all said and done I am involved in many things at StillSecure.  I like that because it feeds my own ADD tendencies. I need to be working on different things all the time.  But the core of what I do and in many ways what I like best is business development / corporate development.  I have been in BD for a very long time and during those many years have had a chance to meet some really great people.  Generally BD people understand that what comes around goes around and a relationship which benefits both parties is one that will enjoy continued success.  As a result you tend to deal with the same folks over and over again.  The names don’t change but the companies and exact titles do. 

One of the people I have dealt with over the last few years is Michael D’Eath formerly of Mirage Networks. Michael ran BD and strategy over at Mirage for some time.  Though we never did a deal directly with each other, we did have partners in common and have gotten to know each other a bit through the NAC wars.  Anyway Michael has started a new business performing BD and CD services for companies called CMT Consulting.  He is also going to start sharing some of his tips, tricks, experience and thoughts on business development and corporate development via his new blog. It is called 3 dimensional business development.  I already like what I have read so far and am looking forward to hearing more from Michael.  If you are involved in BD or would like some great insight to what we do in business development and corporate development I recommend you read it too!

Welcome to blogging Michael and we will be reading!

Would taxing tech companies foreign income kill the goose that laid the golden egg or just close an unfair loophole?

No sooner had President Obama announced plans to close down some loopholes that allow US based companies to defer and in some cases not pay taxes on income earned out of country, a group calling themselves the Silicon Valley Leadership Group voiced their objections. They claim that many of the largest tech companies like HP, Google, Microsoft and Cisco earn half or more of their money from foreign markets.  They pay the usually lower taxes in those countries and as long as they don’t take that money back in the US, they should not have to pay the higher US tax rate on it.  The group further argues that if these poor tech companies had to pay that tax, it would make them uncompetitive and wind up costing jobs. 

I think they talk out of both sides of their mouth.  I think the present system of letting them avoid taxes by not bringing dollars into the country incents them to keep their money and their employees and spending out of the country!  These countries often get their start by building a US presence. Yes they need to compete internationally but it is high time that we close the loopholes that allow these companies with billions in profit from paying their fair share.  As it is now if a company pays foreign income tax, they can take that as a deduction even though they do not take that income or revenue into the US and pay taxes on it.  Additionally they can deduct from their US taxes money they use to build foreign operations, while again not paying taxes on the money they earn from those operations.

Everyone wants our economy to do better and have more jobs here.  That means we need to put the incentives in place for these companies to hire Americans in America. It is very hard to feel sorry for these tech companies crying with two loaves of bread under their arms.

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Will Wall Street's loss be tech's gain?

Cover of Wall Street [Blu-ray]

Going back to the time I was in school, it seemed like the best and brightest aspired to a career on Wall Street. Yes you could go to medical school or law school, but many very bright and ambitious kids wanted to to go work for Goldman Sachs or Morgan Stanley or some other such Wall Street house.  Except for a brief period during the dot com bubble when the lure of stock options pulled some of them away our best and brightest were drawn to the bright lights and big city. President Obama says that this is going to change.

In a report on abcnews.com highlighting a NY Times interview, President Obama says that Wall Street is going to play a less dominant role in our economy and our lives going forward.  This will be due to more government regulation and less risk taking. This will mean less chance of excessive profits, so less extravagant bonuses. As a result, Obama says the some of the talent that has been attracted to Wall Street will seek other avenues like computers and engineering.

I think this would be a great thing for both the tech industry and our country.  However I have heard this before. When the cycle picks up will the call of Gordon Gecko, “greed is good, greed is what made America great” once again be a siren song for our best and brightest?  I guess we will find out soon enough.

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3 way battle royal for the data center

I was reading the news yesterday about IBM oem’ing Foundry/Brocade switches. Watching the machinations of companies vying for dominance in this space is like watching continental drift over geologic time periods. It seems the same old masses are in constant motion - combining, breaking up and recombining in infinite configurations. Cisco dominated the data center network infrastructure. HP had servers and storage. IBM competed with HP but dominated in services.  HP buys EDS competes with IBM in services. Cisco makes blade servers, competes with HP. HP heavily promotes its ProCurve line to compete with Cisco.  IBM oem’s Foundry/Brocade, competes with HP and Cisco.  Round and round she goes, where it stops nobody knows. Hey what is Microsoft going to do? As much as it goes around, it seems at the end of the day it is the same old big giants that dominate and are constantly trying to steal each others cheese.

I do know that there are billions of dollars at stake.  With stakes that high, it will be a fight to the finish.  However, sooner or later equilibrium will set in. Every side will find its niche. I don’t think any of these guys are going out of business or anything. In the meantime it could create opportunity too for smaller vendors to run between the legs of these giants and deliver solutions that customers need.  By the same token I am sure that this new jostling will lead to a new round of acquisitions as well.  Same old same old in the tech business!  The faces change, but the names stay the same!

If you don't ask you will never know

I had an interesting experience this weekend that drove home for me again that the current economic conditions have changed the rules we should play by. I received a call from Comcast.  Because my development has basic cable included in our HOA fees I was eligible for a new promo they were running.  Digital Voice unlimited local and long distance plus 6Mgbps internet access for $49 dollars a month for 6 months, then going to $88 dollars a month.  I pay about 120 dollars for the same services from AT&T now. So I was going to switch, but when I told Bonnie about it she was upset about having to lose her email address that she has through AT&T.

I called AT&T the next day to tell them I was thinking about switching (actually my DSL was out again and I was so fed up I told them I was switching).  Well that were the magic words. I was transferred to what they call the competitive offer desk or something.  The man asked me what Comcast was offering. I told him and he came back and beat their price on the 6 month price and the permanent price plus threw in a new modem!  So now for 6 months I have cut my home internet and phone bill by more then half and by over a quarter permanently.

I imagine there are plenty of companies looking to keep their customers in these times.  You should put your vendors through a similar exercise and save you and your company some money.  Except of course your security vendors, that is much too important to quibble over price with ;-)

A study in what is wrong in America

Image via Wikipedia

Here is a perfect example of our throw away society, where shoddy quality is what we expect and it is easier to throw away than fix.  Last Wednesday our 8 year old dryer gave up the ghost.The motor burnt out and it was done.  Thursday morning Bonnie and I went to the Home Depot to by a new dryer. The had models from under 400 dollars all the way up to about 1200 dollars.  Really just 4 manufacturers though. There is Maytag, who also makes Whirlpool and Ammana. There is GE and the Korean brands LG and Samsung.  In actuality I think all of them are made in Korea anyway (what is made in America anymore?).  Bonnie and I picked out a nice Ammana model for 700 dollars.  It wasn’t the top of the line, but had enough bells, whistles and buttons to give us what we needed.  The salesman in Home Depot was the nicest guy we ever dealt with at the store and we were very satisfied.  Delivery was scheduled for Saturday and we were getting a 65 dollar rebate to cover the cost of delivery and installation.

Today the dryer was delivered and that is when the fun started. The delivery people took our old dryer out in about 2 minutes.  Part of buying the dryer is they charge you for a new vent tube.  They took out my old one and put the new one and attached to the dryer.  The way they did it the dryer was half way out in the middle of the wash room. I told them that was not acceptable. The delivery guy said that is the best they could do. I could do it myself.  Great I paid 65 dollars for delivery and install and they want me to do it myself.  I cut the vent tube while the guy was there and re-attached. He watched and inspected it and said everything was good and left.  We put clothes in the dryer and immediately started getting water on the floor. I called the delivery service and they said I cut the vent they are not responsible, call Matyag.  I called Home Depot and they said they don’t hire the install people and could only call Maytag,  They would call me right back.

Ten minutes later Home Depot called back.  Great news, Maytag is sending out a new dryer to replace this one and it will be here Wednesday.  I told the guy, I don’t need a new dryer, I think just the vent tube is no good.  He said he can’t help with the vent tube, easier to just replace the whole dryer. Are you kidding me?  Take the brand new machine, mark it defective and put a new one in, just for a 5 dollar vent tube and wait till Wed?  What a bass akwards way of doing things. Maybe that is why the Maytag repair man was so bored. They never fix these things, they just put new ones in.

I hung up, took my old vent from the old dryer, hooked it up to the new dryer and everything works fine!  No need for another new dryer and throw out this brand new perfectly good dryer. I called the Depot and told them forget it.  The sales guy explained that it is easier for them to have a new dryer sent then it is to send back the install people and redo the vent. That is a real problem and sums up much of what is wrong about the way many companies do business today.

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Austin isn't the only place where AT&T sucks

Image via CrunchBase

I had to comment after reading Matt Rosoff’s rant on C/Net about how bad AT&T’s coverage was in Austin this week for SXSW. It seemed the AT&T network was so bad that it left many iPhones useless as bricks.  The thing is Matt makes it like it must have been all of the geeks in Austin for the show.  While that may have had some effect, it is really no different then normal for AT&T.  Their network is terrible.  I have found that in the Eastern US I cannot reach the StillSecure exchange server or even our web site for hours during peak time.  On the west coast I never have a problem. 

I called AT&T tech support and they tried to tell me they have nothing to do with their 3G network. I told them that maybe they should watch the Verizon commercial where all of those people are the network supporting their users. The coverage is just terrible!  I think this problem will take care of itself though.  As Matt points out when all of those 2 year contracts are over, unless AT&T gets their act together, people are going to leave in droves.  Then the network will be less crowded and work better.  Problem is I will be one of those leaving.  I only hope Apple tells AT&T that this type of service is an embarrassment to them and they are going with other network providers as well.  Maybe that will get AT&T moving.

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