One of the most interesting projects I had a chance to lead: Getting XM Navtraffic into the 2005 Cadillac CTS:
http://www.gpsworld.com/gpsworld/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=165057
I just read through the “Web Safety Guarantee” of everbank. The guarantee covers 100% of any losses due to “A computer crime that EverBank security system fails to prevent”.
That seems awefully generous, given the poor web safety standard of US banks in general and EverBank in particular compared e.g. to their German counterparts.
I have used online bank accounts in Germany for years. To ensure security those banks use two layers of authentication: A password to gain access to the account in the first place and a one-time transaction authorization number (TAN) for each transaction. Those TANs come in a long list by mail and are worthless once used. In a new twist bank are going one step further and sending the transaction number via SMS right when needed – further increasing security against stolen TANs or certain man-in-the-middle attacks.
In case that anyone obtains my passwort (e.g. due to a security breach within Microsoft Windows) a hacker would still not be able to transfer any money out of my German bank account without valid TAN numbers. In most US banks the hacker would gain access to the account and be able to transfer money. It seems pretty clear to me: Everbank and other US banks security system would fail to prevent an attack that every German bank would have stopped – hence the liability for such an attack should rest with EverBank.
One question I have never been able to answer though: Why is it, that US banks just don’t care? Are US customers really that lazy that typing in a TAN to increase the security of their bank account is too much? Or do US banks believe their customers can’t handle the complexity of password and TAN?
Here is a link to my latest project: A US-Patent Wiki for German inventors. It’ll one day be a comprehensive information source especially for German inventors interested in obtaining a US Patent.
I thought it might be neat to have all my patent / patent applications on one page… ended up taking longer to compile than I anticipated…
Tivo is great. It does have one disadvantage though: Tornado Warnings typically reach me about 2-5 days after the fact. And even though it is always fun trying to remember what the weather was like that day it kind of defeats the purpose of a warning.
The feature I would like to see: A Tivo popup / banner / whatever that informs me of severe weather even if I am watching Tivo. Certainly the information is available on the internet (weatherbug has it), so why not combine it with the broadband Tivo features?