Much of our digital information is stored and accessed through online accounts, most of which only offer a standard username and password authentication process. While this single factor authentication is sufficient for most cases, two-factor authentication offers enhanced security. But before I go any further, lets make clear what single-factor and two-factor authentication actually are.

In order to authenticate who you are online, you need to demonstrate one or more of the following factors:

• “Something you know”, such as a password or PIN.
• “Something you have”, such as a mobile phone, credit card or hardware security token.
• “Something you are”, such as a fingerprint, a retinal scan, or other biometric.

Most online systems require only something you know, usually a username and password combination. The weakness of this system is the password because if it is too short or easily guessable then an attacker can brute force, or systematically guess every possible combination, until they have access and compromise your account. A password that is too long and convoluted can be a burden to remember though harder to guess by a third party. Adding another authentication factor will greatly increase your security as well as making the login process less cumbersome.

This is where VeriSign comes in. They have developed an identity protection service that gives you access to a random, one-time use password that piggybacks on your existing username and password credentials. The device used to deliver the 6-digit code is the size of a credit card and easily fits into a wallet. With the press of a button, a new set of numbers will be generated for you to authenticate with when logging in to protected sites.

The system isn’t perfect as the card costs $54 and only works with members of the VeriSign Identity Protection Network. Right now that network includes eBay, Paypal, and VeriSigns own OpenID service. Keep in mind this is still in testing mode. With online identity protection becoming a bigger issue, I can see this growing and including more members in the near future.

Some sites that I would really like to see participating in this program would be Amazon.com, GMail, and my bank USAA.com. If I relied more heavily on PayPal and eBay for my income I would definitely sign up, but for now I will sit out and wait for more sites to join before plunking down the $50.

For more information about two-factor authentication check out episode #94 of Steve Gibson’s Security Now Podcast.

My 60 GB Creative Zen Vision:M recently died and I have bee looking for a worthy replacement for the past month. The 2nd generation Zune, known as the Zune 80, is the best digital media player out there. I started looking online for a site that has the player in stock and came out with nothing. Then on a whim I looked for Target stores in my area that might have a Zune 80 available and there was only one left at the Target at Route 198 and 295. The customer service rep I talked with said they weren’t selling that well, HA! I rushed out and picked it up.

You are probably thinking that is where the story ends? I got the player I wanted and everything is grande! But this is the first time I have an item that is in frenzied demand. Such a high demand that people are willing to pay more than retail in order to get it before it comes back in stock, which could take 2-6 weeks. So I listed it on Amazon and made a post on the DC area Craigslist with a hearty markup. If it doesn’t sell in a couple of days, then I will open it up and use it, but if I can find a buyer I have no problem waiting a couple weeks to get a Zune 80 at the regular price.

Canon announced two new super telephoto lenses for their EOS DSLR line today. The first is a 200mm f/2L prime (right photo) with image stabilization and an ultra sonic motor (USM) for focusing. USM lenses usually provided faster auto focusing that is quieter than their non USM counterparts. The second lens is a monster 800mm f/5.6L prime (left photo) which also features image stabilization and USM.

Both of these lenses are geared towards professional sports photographers, and out of reach for mere mortals like me, but it is still fun to think about what it must be like to shoot with one of these. On the other hand, I won’t be complaining about lugging that monster 800mm lens where ever I go. There are pros and cons to everything I guess.

A 20GB Xbox 360! Though it doesn’t include an A/C adapter, A/V cables, or controllers, it was a good deal at $125. After purchasing the most expensive thrift store purchase in my life, I took it to a friend’s house to test it out. It powers up just fine and even included a game, though the game was heavily scratched. Now it is off to eBay to buy the few things needed to get this thing up and running.

DIYLife.com has a great feature all about film rigs for scrappy independent filmmakers. DIY Film School consists of links to instructions on building tons of great film tools for a fraction of the price of buying things new. I have made some of these and of course they take a lot of time and the quality is a little low. But hey, you get what you paid for but just don’t expect Hollywood results from this stuff.
The list of things you can build includes:

• $14 Steadycam
• Body Brace Steadycam
• $60 Camera Jib
• Backseat View Car Mount
• Exterior Car Mount
• Bike Mount
• PVC Pipe Fig Rig
• and an Underwater Camera Housing

If you’re itching for more of this kind of stuff then check out Home Built Stabilizers for tons of homemade movie-tool goodness. So much for your free time this weekend 🙂

Browsing New Egg I stumbled on two quad core HP desktop PC’s for under $1,500 which left me in a state of shock. This HP Pavilion m8150n comes with a quad core 2.4ghz CPU, 3GB of RAM, 2x 320GB hard drives, a HD-DVD Rom drive, and a tuner card for recording TV signals.

I occasionally eye PC’s checking out specs and pricing. One day I will replace my 17″ desktop-replacement laptop with a true desktop that I can gradually upgrade. I don’t know when I will take the plunge and plunk down a couple thousand dollars on a new system but since I spend most of my time at work, it seems rather trivial to get a big honking system with all the trimmings.

Still, this system on New Egg sounds like a great deal. I would need to upgrade the graphics card so I can run dual-monitors and the case looks too small for adding extra hard drives. Even with these upgrades, the price is still lower than custom building your own.

Alas, this deal is too good to be true since it is currently out of stock. I guess I’ll keep looking.

This guy took his already busted iPod and did a little experimentation. Cutting the frame in half, leaving the screen, headphone, and lock module intact, he managed to create a new iPod form. Meet the iTop, a propped up iPod that would be perfect for watching videos on. Why didn’t Apple think of something like this?

Wouldn’t it be cool if they came out with a flexible iPod?

Ok maybe it isn’t that great…

Oh those wacky Japanesse, coming up with the weirdest things. This USB keyboard bra actually might be a good idea to get computer nerds to spend more time with their not-so-techie significant others. Kitty costume not included.

Who is Randall Bennet? Why my fellow DV Guru blogger and this weekend he was on MSNBC to talk about the iPhone. It’s weird seeing a friend on a national news channel especially since we use to do a semi-regular podcast together. Oh well, I’m glad to see Randall hitting it big and still blogging for a living. Keep it up buddy!

The release of the iPhone brought out a high supply of morons including this lady from Texas.

If you devised a plan to buy out the entire supply, let alone forking over $500 for just one iPhone, you would think investigating the details of the launch prior to arriving would be a given. How could you miss it? The entire Internet was regurgitating iPhone deets.

And selling them all on eBay? Ha! Too bad Apple was loaded with iPhones in all of their locations killing any eBay plundering that might have occurred. If there was a large supply of iPhones, then looking back at all of the suckers standing in line now seems like a complete waste of time. Apple wanted all the buzz it could get for its first foray into the phone business and creating a false sense of supply is the perfect way to lure consumers in. Of course having every media outlet in the world buzzing about the launch for the past six months doesn’t hurt either.

Another thing, why would you even think of buying an iPhone at an AT&T store? Apple is all about user experience and unlike the cell phone store, isn’t trying to shove a sales pitch down your throat or force you to buy accessories with your purchase.

I hope all of the iPhone maniacs out there are enjoying their shiny new device. Apparently there are quite a few shortfalls about the device that people are discovering after actually using the thing. If Apple’s number one strength is user experience design their number two strength, without a doubt, must be marketing. How else can you explain the throngs of giddy people who were more than willing to give up their hard earned moola for a device that can only tout that it is more “sexy” than anything else out there.

At least the idiot lady above probably didn’t drop her single iPhone right out of the box.