This feature is only available on Windows PC and iOS at this time, but we hope to add it to eWallet GO! on Mac, Android, and Windows Phone in the future.

As if that weren’t enough, we also added full Landscape support to eWallet GO! on iOS.

To celebrate this release, we’re offering a Back-to-School Special! For a limited time, you can get eWallet GO! for your mobile device (iOS, Android, or Windows Phone) for just 99 cents! But wait…there’s more! You can also get eWallet GO! on your Windows PC or Mac for free!

What are you waiting for? Hop over to http://www.ewalletgo.com and get your copies of eWallet GO! before the sale ends!

It’s easy to do! Just export the LastPass data and save it into a text file, then run through the Conversion Utility wizard. That’s it! The utility does all the rest!

For more information about eWallet GO! click here.
To access the eWallet GO! Conversion Utility click here.
To learn more about converting to eWallet GO! from LastPass, click here.

* Previously known as the Wallet Transfer Utility

When you backup your information to Dropbox or Google Docs from eWallet GO! you’re backing up a fully encrypted file. This file features the power of 256-bit AES encryption. Even if someone managed to get this backup file, as long as you’ve chosen a strong password, it is effectively impossible for them to access your personal information stored in eWallet GO! And when we decrypt your data so you can view it, it all happens locally – we never, EVER send your password over the internet.

But how safe is safe?

But what does this “256-bit” stuff mean? In a great article on Wikipedia about what it would take to hack a file using 256-bit AES encryption, they offer the following:

A device that could check a billion billion (1018) AES keys per second (if such a device could ever be made) would in theory require about 3×10⁵¹ years to exhaust the 256-bit key space.

In other words, a really good password using 256-bit AES encryption is effectively unhackable by anything outside of science fiction. Humans will have constructed a Dyson Sphere around the sun and shed our mortal forms by the time someone can get to your data.

Good Passwords Required!

There is a caveat – the security is only as good as the password. First, we all know choosing a password another person could guess is a bad idea. We also know that we should never leave the password where someone else could find it, and we know that we should never pick a word that appears in the dictionary. We hear this advice time and again from security experts, and it’s true!

But what about a “brute force” attack, where a hacker uses a computer to guess the password by trying different combinations of letters, numbers, and symbols? In this case, the longer the password, the harder it becomes to crack. How hard? Let me give you a couple of examples:

An 8-digit password using all lowercase letters would take, in theory, around 3-6 years to hack with brute force.

An 8-digit password using a combination of lowercase, uppercase, numbers, and symbols would take, in theory, around 4000-8000 years to hack with brute force.

That’s right – if your password is f8#$mGQ! it could take 4-8 THOUSAND years to figure it out using an off-the shelf computer and the appropriate software.

And here’s the best part – length benefits are exponential! Add one more character – and now it might take 250-500 THOUSAND YEARS to hack your password.

At the end of the day, you don’t have to sacrifice convenience for security. With eWallet GO! you get all the benefits of cloud based storage and sharing while significantly reducing the risk.

Need help building a strong password? Visit www.passbuilder.com to generate super-strong passwords!

PROS

• It’s Google. Google = Success in the technology market right now which bodes well for the device.
• It’s a pretty nice OS from a user perspective. Nice UI. Decent look.
• It might be the “other phone” along with the iPhone.

CONS

• Every OEM can tweak the UI meaning an potentially nightmarish (and expensive) development environment.
• They aren’t as big of a market as the media makes them out to be. (http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10366193-94.html)
• Questionable support of applications: (http://www.electronista.com/articles/09/08/31/android.app.sales.low/) which may stem from the fact that Google is a app developer making everyone else a competitor.
• It isn’t clear that Android Users are Application Purchasers (http://www.electronista.com/articles/09/08/27/admob.july.2009/ ) (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/08/31/top-developer-reveals-android-markets-meager-sales/)

So – can you support or contradict the pros and cons? Do you have other pros and cons you’d want to add? How about personal experience with folks who have switched to or abandoned Android? As I’ve said, this is a platform we have not ruled out but I’d love to hear your opinion!

And as a extra motivation, if you post a response with your opinions TODAY you’ll be entered into a drawing for a special prize!

If you aren’t familiar with the Total Access service, here is the official blurb from MS:

Total Access is your guide to all the things you can do with your Windows Mobile phone. Make your phone unique with free ringtones, games and themes, find helpful software and other extras that further enhance your phone, and get premium help and support from user forums, so it’s easier than ever to get more done on the go—that’s Total Access.

It’s a pretty cool service for Windows Mobile users. Definitely something you want to check out even if you already have NewsBreak (or RSSHub which is the HTC branded version of NewsBreak.) They have a ton of great stuff and are adding more all the time.

If you’d like to hear why a silly icon rejection is a big deal to you, read on…

I’m not going to frame this with a lot of color text – let’s get right to the point.

1. No Features For You!
Apple is preventing you, as a consumer, from getting upgrades and features you deserve. Right now, users of eWallet can’t use Copy & Paste because Apple delayed our update over an icon.

2. New Features OR AppStore Compliance Updates: You Choose
This sort of stuff eats up developer time which in turn cheats you out of better products. Instead of focusing on things that will actually benefit our customers, we’re messing around playing AppStore acceptance games.

3. Diminishing Returns
No matter how good a platform or outlet is, developers will only take so much. At some point the system become onerous enough that it makes more sense to focus on other markets. This is the long term cost of this sort of thing – and at some point there WILL be a powerful competitor.

4. Too Risky for Good Products
Illogical, petty, and ever changing acceptance requirements will cause developers to think twice before making a major investment in an iPhone application. If you don’t know whether your app will even get in, you reduce your initial investment to protect yourself. That means you, as a consumer, end up with apps that don’t hold a candle to what a developer might have risked in a more stable environment.

None of these are speculation – in every case I’ve seen it happen in the AppStore already, or in the case of #3, I’ve seen it happen on other platforms. And remember, the problem they are talking about isn’t just about us – this is affecting numerous developers.

So yes, these little and seemingly silly issues have a VERY REAL COST to the consumer. It’s easy to think “Meh, not my problem.” but in the end (as always) the consumer is the one who pays the price.

If you’re interested in this sort of thing, read on after the jump to hear me toss out some ideas!

The Internet = A Public Space

If you don’t already know it, websites track a ton of information about the people that visit them. Unique visitors, how long they linger on individual pages, what files they download, how they got to the site, or even where they go when they are finished. And it isn’t necessarily the person who owns the site that is doing this – these are all things a typical internet provider will track for the people who use them to host a website.

In general, folks aren’t too worried about this. My theory on why, is that people view the internet as “public space.” It’s like a park, a grocery store, or a government building. When you “walk around” the web, you have an expectation that someone might be watching you. Do you care? Most people don’t. So what if I appear on WalMart’s security tapes? What do I care if a traffic camera picks up my car driving down the street.

The internet is the same way. I have no greater expectation of privacy browsing books on Amazon than I do hanging out and thumbing through books in Borders. I’m out in public – someone is probably watching. Even on “secure” sites like banks, there is a real world analogy. Although I expect the transactions I make at the bank to remain secret, at a real bank I’m driving up to the bank out in the open, walking down the sidewalk and in the door in full view, and talking to a teller out loud (others might hear). There is a limit to privacy at a real world bank, and a bank website is much the same.

Software and My Computers = Private Space

On the other hand there is software (and the computers it runs on). People have an expectation of privacy here. I would no sooner expect a game I purchased to send personal information about me back to the developer than I would expect my refrigerator to send information about what food I eat, how much beer I drink, or what non-food items I store in my fridge back to Whirlpool. If my fridge actually DID this, I’d be pretty freaked out and probably get a new fridge.

The same with my computer. Although I access the internet through a browser from my computer, the space of my computer itself is my personal space. I’ll accept a CC camera at a grocery store, but I won’t accept one in my living room.

There are, however, real world exceptions. I might allow a Nielsen ratings box to be installed on my television, or fill out a survey for a marketing company about my buying habits.  But there is a difference…

Real World Permitted Spying vs Virtual Permitted Spying

The first key difference between the sort of private life spying that goes on in the real world (Nielsen box/survey) is that in the real world, retailers and marketers ALWAYS ask permission first. A handy fact about the real world is that they pretty much have to – I’m not going to accidentally fill out a survey. Also, there are laws that punish people that spy on us without our explicit permission.

A second difference is that real world retailers and marketers almost always give me something back for my effort. A freebie, coupons, or some other compensation for sharing my information. Take those stupid grocery store cards as an example. If you use one, they track your buying habits, but in exchange you get lower prices and targeted coupons at checkout. It’s worth it to me.

An Unfortunate Confusion

The problem is that software developers are getting confused. Now to be fair, some folks just don’t care, but I know a lot of software developers and I really believe that it is more an issue of confusion than purposeful wrongdoing.

First, they’re mixing up private space and public space. Just because we will accept a traffic camera, doesn’t mean we’ll let the government put a camera in our living room. The same is true for the internet. Just because we’ll accept data tracking on a website, doesn’t mean we’re okay with it in our favorite piece of software. And just like real life, although the technology is the same (a CC camera is a CC camera no matter where you put it) whether you are tracking web access or software use, this doesn’t mean we will accept that technology in all places.

Second, they are taking without giving. Traditionally, in our market based economy, we get when we give. If you want me to fill out a survey about my laundry habits, you’d better send me a little box of detergent. Or if the information is being given with no direct compensation, it had better be optional. I don’t mind volunteering, but if it isn’t a choice I’m no longer a volunteer.

Third, just because you can do something (and do it easily in many cases), doesn’t mean it’s okay to do it. I cansneak over to my neighbors house in the morning and peek in the window while they are getting ready for work. This doesn’t mean its okay. Software is powerful – we can do a LOT of things with it, but as Ben Parker once said, “With great power comes great responsibility.”

Wrapping It Up

If you managed to read this whole post, thanks! I’ll take that as a compliment. In the meantime, encourage your favorite software developer to ask before they spy. I’m sure many of us are happy to chip in with information that might make our favorite products better, but there is a very clear line between our private space and our private space and developers need to make sure that they don’t cross it.

So, for my take on the subject, read on after the jump!

As a little background, I’m one of those psychos who insists on approving every cookie in my browser manually. I really like control over my personal info. It’s not that I’m that worried about giving away my personal info, I do it all the time. My thing is that I want to very specifically choose who I give that information to.

That’s why I’m not a big fan of data collection without explicit notification. When I install something that is going to collect my personal data, including use patterns, location, hardware specs, or anything else, I want the software to ask me:

“Excuse me, Mr. Tassin. Would it be acceptable if we collected your personal information?”

When a software company, website, etc. that I like and trusts asks me this, I always say “Yes.” I WANT them to be successful, and if my personal data will help I’m happy to provide it. On the other hand, if a piece of software I know very little about, a website I’m not likely to visit again, or another unknown entity wants this information, I always say “No.”

For me, the debate isn’t about whether collecting information is a good idea, whether the parties involved will use it wisely, or even what information is collected. For me, the debate is all about “Did You Ask Me First?”

If the answer is “Yes,” then I have no problem with it. Keep up the good work!

If the answer is “No,” then we have a problem since at that point you really ARE spying on me, no matter how ethically you use the data you’ve collected.

NOTE: Ilium Software does not automatically collect any user data at this time. We encourage software registration and ask some optional questions, but we use no automated collection tools. We appreciate the value of automated data collection and may consider doing so in the future, but as Product Manager I would only do so in combination with a clear opt-in policy.

“In some respects, the App Store has taken its place alongside YouTube, where poor taste is the defining metric,” Wolf wrote. “More ominously, it has led to a deterioration of the entire pricing structure for iPhone applications. The risk is that developers who hope to build quality applications that have a long shelf life may be discouraged from doing so because prospective development costs exceed the revenues they expect to earn on the applications. In short, this race to the bottom has the potential to degrade the overall equality of the applications sold at the App Store.”

Not only is this something Apple needs to think about, but all the other device and OS manufacturers out there should keep this in mind as they launch their own on device stores.

You can find the entire article over at AppleInsider!

Read on for my two cents on the Marketplace!

Microsoft is doing a LOT that is right in their Marketplace. For instance, they are working directly with developers to create a model that benefits the customer, but not at the expense of the developer. This is going to encourage developers to support the system. The end result is a win win for the consumer.

They are also listening AND making changes based on what they hear. Throughout this process we’ve offered and been asked for our advice. Better yet, the advice doesn’t just disappear into a black hole – we see concrete, positive changes resulting from our discussions with Microsoft.

Finally, the testing process for applications is going to weed out a lot of junk. Microsoft really is striving to ensure that applications are the best they can be. The requirements for developers are clear cut, the testing is comprehensive, and the feedback is clear information the developer can use to improve his product and resubmit.

And they’re putting every bit as much effort into the front end for the store. I firmly believe that the Marketplace is going to be very successful, and I think Microsoft is going to help set both consumer and developer expectations for application stores going forward.