Family Learning Center

Posts Tagged ‘Typing’

Typing ‘cadence’ used to identify authorized database users, lock everyone else out

We’ll admit to having shared a few login credentials amongst friends here and there in our younger days, but it sounds like the party might soon be over: a company called Scout Analytics has developed a way of identifying a user’s “typing cadence,” and matching it to how a username and password are entered. It only takes 5 login attempts of around 12 characters for Scout to nab your cadence, and although 1 in 20,000 people will share the same cadence, combining the data with browser info and IP addresses makes it accurate enough for general usage. No word on what sites are using this technique, but we won’t be surprised if it starts popping up rapidly — and sniffing typing cadences becomes the next great malware scourge.

P.S.- Yes, we just wanted to run the picture of the keyboard pants again. Seriously, can someone please hook us up with those?

Typing ‘cadence’ used to identify authorized database users, lock everyone else out originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 20 Feb 2010 01:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Ars Technica  | Email this | Comments
Read the whole story…

Firm uses typing cadence to finger unauthorized users

Though most users feel anonymous when browsing the Web, their browsers constantly turn over unique information such as a list of installed plugins, screen resolution, and the user agent string. Taken together, such bits of information can uniquely identify many users even without cookies.

But this is now old tech; behavioral analytics firms have already moved on. Cookies, browser signatures, and IP addresses can all help identify particular machines and particular browsers—but how can you tell which human actually sits behind the terminal at a given moment? One way is by measuring the “cadence” of their typing.

Read the whole story…

Youtego launches more personal approach to social networking

Startup Youtego is bringing a new experience to social networking. It’s all about using images to define yourself, your life, and your interests, and in the little while that I’ve been playing with my account, I’m already having more fun than Facebook ever provided.

Youtego’s main screen is a layout of tiled categories. It starts you off with six: “I love”, “I know”, “I can”, “My work”, “My education” and finally “I”. In each category you can add tiles, called Tegos, of your own design. You name them, choose an image, add text and tell your personal story in a sidebar. Youtego describes its offering as self-visualization. It sounds a bit grand for anything done on a web page, but it may be accurate.

It offers a creative way to self identify on the web. Youtego makes the process of building a social networking page a little more personal. Instead of typing “I love my family”, you put up a favorite picture of you and yours. You don’t tell people things about yourself, you show them. It isn’t necessarily more or less descriptive than text but it does seem to convey emotional content more easily.

It is a different experience from Facebook. Facebook lets you upload photos and video from your mobile phone, pass notes and messages and write on your friend’s wall. It provides an easy to use and effective means of communication with friends and colleagues. It has an enormous user base. For many users the network of people already on Facebook is reason enough to stick with it. Of course, Facebook has been in the technology news a lot lately. The site itself, though, is much the same as it was when I joined years ago. You define yourself in little lines of blue text, add profile pictures and shots from the party last night and voila! There you are. Click on “Tom Waits” and see a list of people in your network who also like Tom Waits. It’s practical but feels shallow.

Despite it’s flaws, which include a release date several years after Facebook’s, Youtego offers things Facebook doesn’t. You can customize a page that reflects your personality and how you see the world. You can express yourself in terms of values instead of relying on media preference lists. You can choose representative artwork from Flickr, Picasa or your hard drive to visually represent those values. It allows a more authentic expression of self. In practical terms Facebook is still ahead, but many users will want to use both.

Youtego has a more organic feel to it, but it does have some beta-form drawbacks. The full version may be smoother but in the mean time the process of adding photos and icons feels a bit clumsy. I added a tile about philosophy and the initial batch of pictures offered by Youtego included a mouse playing the violin. I clicked “Icon Library”, hoping that it would show me photos related to philosophy. Then there were flower pictures. Depending on search terms and selected libraries, Youtego is at turns intuitive and absolutely painful when you are adding visual content. Facebook makes it easier. Hopefully the photo-gathering process will be streamlined when Youtego goes all the way live, since it plays such a large part in how you build your site.

On a side note, the service asks you to rank your job satisfaction and add photos to describe how you feel about your work. This may be an oversight or naivete on Youtego’s part; the adoption of Facebook into the workplace sets a sometimes-dangerous precedent there.

Another beef is site navigation. To get from your “I love” section to “I know”, you have to click the top of the screen as an intermediary to take you to the main menu, where you click your next category. A sidebar would make the whole site easier to use, but so far no luck. The site as a whole has the feeling of a flower not in bloom or a gem unpolished. It has great potential but isn’t quite there yet.

Read the whole story…

The Barcodescan Pro app helps you find the best price

Filed under: iPhone, App Review

Barcodescan Pro [iTunes Link] is an app that uses the autofocus camera of an iPhone running OS 3.1 or better to scan a bar code and provide a variety of information on the product including pictures, high and low prices and more depending upon how much information is in the Barcodescan database.

To scan a barcode, you just hold the iPhone so that the barcode appears in a highlighted window and as soon as the image is steady enough, the app automatically takes a picture, compares it to its database, and renders your results. Another way of getting information into the app is typing in the numbers of the barcode into an oversized numeric keyboard.

I had it scan the CD of Tommy and it came back with a picture of the album cover, a prices line showing the lowest to highest found price which when tapped upon, showed the underlying five vendors, another tap gets you to the selected vendor’s site to buy it. You can also choose a tab to get to Google for a standard search and another for Amazon where you can log-in and put it on your wish list or purchase the item. The vendors in the low to high price list never included Amazon, which I thought odd since Amazon was a persistent button on each search.

You can check If the item is found on iTunes. If so, you are presented with a contextual service option which brings in iTunes information. Instead of giving me one entry for the album of Tommy, it gave me many instances that contained the word Tommy.

Results are saved to lists. The Recent list shows the last thing you searched for, the History list shows everything you’ve searched for. You can create custom lists and easily move any searches between lists. Results can also be shared allowing you to email the search.

So, is it any good? Read on…

Continue reading The Barcodescan Pro app helps you find the best price

TUAWThe Barcodescan Pro app helps you find the best price originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 23 Nov 2009 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Read the whole story…

Dell’s Adamo ‘crazyhinge’ XPS demonstrated on video

So, Dell finally revealed just exactly what was going on with its ultrathin Adamo XPS — to an extent, anyway — but there’s always room for a little more detail, and that’s where the folks at Zive Computer come in. This lovingly filmed video of theirs shows off all the physical intricacies of the XPS, the hinge in action from multiple angles, and even a bit of pretend typing on that odd-looking keyboard. Sure, we’re still in the dark on plenty of specs, but we’ve already gathered enough on this thing to make it clear it’s unlike anything else on the market. Hit up the read link for the vid.

Filed under: Laptops

Dell’s Adamo ‘crazyhinge’ XPS demonstrated on video originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 23 Oct 2009 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Read the whole story…

Video: Pre virtual keyboard developing rapidly, gets easy install method

We know you just can’t wait to get typing on the Pre’s lush touchscreen, and the folks at WebOS Internals must feel the same way as they’ve been hard at work making their on-screen keyboard a functional reality. Installation has been made a breeze thanks to the Preware app, and usability seems to have improved markedly since the pre-alpha version, but a few kinks remain that need to be ironed out. Still, if you’re willing to put up with some buggy behavior and the potential for your Pre to melt into a puddle of fiery lava, then slide past the break to get educated on the how, what and where to download.

Continue reading Video: Pre virtual keyboard developing rapidly, gets easy install method

Filed under: Cellphones

Video: Pre virtual keyboard developing rapidly, gets easy install method originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 31 Aug 2009 08:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Read the whole story…