Lazybit

SIM Manager can retrieve the address-book and SMS from the iPhone, via iTunes' backups.

Depending on the firmware version of your iPhone, you can get lucky and recover deleted SMS as well. Take a look at this video for more details:

This procedure does not require a card reader, so technically you can try it out for free - since the trial version of SIM Manager is fully functional during the evaluation period.

Here is a download link for the current release candidate of version 3.0: dl.dropbox.com/u/3258602/DKbeta/SIMManager3-a.exe

Some great changes are on their way - SIM Manager is going to get a major upgrade soon.

The software will be extended with new online synchronization features for services other than Google Contacts and Yahoo! Contacts (which we already support).

A great addition to that is Facebook - the new version of SIM Manager can get all your friends' phone numbers off Facebook and write them to a SIM card. Here is how this works:

In the future, we adding support for SyncML, and the ability to retrieve the data from a phone via Bluetooth.

SIM Manager's icon is changing as well, here are the prototypes:

Stay tuned for more.

With the advent of iPhone4, the question How to use a micro-SIM with my phone? became very popular, even though [to the best of my knowledge], there are no other phones that use a micro-SIM. Besides the iPhone4, that is.

As a person who does not own an iPhone, the only reason this captured my attention is the fact that people cannot use their micro-SIM with SIM Reader, unless they employ some clever tricks that involve paper, scissors and rock some scotch tape.

What happens when you have a curious mind, a motivation to help people, a load of old smart-cards and some expensive toys?

This is etched with a laser on a sheet of plastic. Here are some other photos of experimental prototypes of our microSIM adapter:

As soon as we're satisfied with the results, Dekart will offer free microSIM adapters with every purchase of SIM Reader.

This is what it looks like when inside our SIM card reader:

Yes, you can barely see it - that is precisely the point :-)

Stay tuned!

After a rather long development cycle, Private Disk 2.12 is officially released. What has changed?

Major changes under the hood

On lack of admin rights - one of Private Disk's strengths is the ability to start directly from USB flash disks, requiring no installation on the computer. This is a widely used feature, but its use is impeded by the fact that mounting an encrypted disk requires administrative rights. This is a show-stopper, you realize this as soon as you attempt to access your encrypted files in an Internet-cafe, or on a computer at work (university, or any other non-home environment), where administrative privileges are revoked.

Private Disk introduces "Explorer mode", which provides read\write access to the encrypted disk's contents. This mode is invoked automatically, if the required privileges are not available. If you wish to start Private Disk in Explorer mode even if you have admin rights, use the /explorer command line argument.

This is a unique feature for disk encryption software of such kind. To take things one step ahead - we made sure that this works for all the file systems used on Windows - FAT, FAT32, NTFS. Thus you can be absolutely sure that your files will be accessible in any circumstances, regardless of how the planets are aligned in the sky.

Handheld computers and phones - another significant improvement is Private Disk's ability to access encrypted data on Windows Mobile and Windows CE handhelds. This is achieved by adding compatibility with SecuBox from Aikosolutions. In plain English, it means that:

• SecuBox users can mount their encrypted images on Windows desktops;
• Private Disk users can mount their encrypted images on Windows-powered handhelds.

Another interesting bit worth mentioning in this context is that if you already own a license of SecuBox, you can get Private Disk with a discount; and if you already have Private Disk, you can buy SecuBox with a discount.

Here's how SecuBox looks like on a handheld, notice how the interface closely resembles that of Private Disk.

Looks familiar, doesn't it?

Minor changes
Private Disk suffered just a few cosmetic changes, most of the hard work was invested into things that are under the hood. Here are the simple bits:

Installation - you will notice a prettier and a friendlier installer, it sets up Private Disk in 3 clicks (in the past it took about 7). A few clicks are not essential, but they do make a difference.

Playing nice with Windows Vista/Seven - as of Vista, Microsoft made some changes in the way the system behaves. The new version of Private Disk takes that into account and plays nicely with UAC, requesting admin rights when necessary.

Tricks on 64-bit platforms - Private Disk has been updated to behave well on 64-bit computers, which ensures a consistent functionality on any Windows computer; regardless of the hardware you have - Private Disk works in the same way, you don't have to change anything or learn anything new; Private Disk takes care of the details.

Per-user settings - Private Disk keeps user-specific settings, rather than system-wide settings. In the previous releases, the changes made by one user would affect others in the system; that is not the case anymore. Each account on the system can have their own preferences (ex: hotkeys, program icons, etc).

Splash screen can be disabled - I have mixed feelings about this one. On one hand I like the fact that people can see the Dekart logo and Private Disk's icon; on the other one - I always turn splash screens off when possible. You can do that too, the command line argument is /nosplash.

There are some other changes that I will mention here, but I'll ask you not to tell anyone about it ;-)

• If you installed a trial version, and the trial period expired, Private Disk will let itself be purchased with a discount;
• If another copy of Private Disk is running on your network at the same time, Private Disk will be happy that you use it somewhere else, and offer another copy of itself to you with a discount.

What has NOT changed?

A few things haven't changed, they are:

• The licensing policy is hyper-friendly - you get free updates for all the versions of the same major branch (i.e. anything that is 2.x is free for you);
• Technical support is free. We are there when you need us; you can interact with us on our forum, on Facebook, by posting comments on our Youtube channel, by writing an email to the helpdesk, by posting comments here - on Lazybit. For more details, check out Dekart on the social web.
• Private Disk continues to be a lightweight application with a small memory footprint - it is fast, it will not slow your system down, it will not get in your way;
• Private Disk continues to provide a high level of security, to make sure that your secrets stay secret.

What happened to v2.11?
Private Disk jumped directly from 2.10 to 2.12 - that's what you see if you observe what happens on the site. However, a 2.11 release does exist, it was made available for the Japanese market only.

P.S. Private Disk turns 10 soon.

P.P.S. Thanks for reading it all the way down to this point. Patience pays off, here is a link to purchase disk encryption software with a discount. :-)

Dropbox is a highly effective tool for file sharing and syncing between multiple computers or users. It offers great portability and easy access to your files from, practically, anywhere.

Dekart offers 2 different solutions to protect files on Dropbox.
Both solutions add a new level of security, which saves you in case somebody found out your Dropbox account's password or it got hacked, leaving your data intact. Each has its set of features that make them unique from one another, at the same time, offering the highest grade of protection and usability.

Keeper
Encrypt files and folders and sync them using Dropbox, and access your secured data from anywhere.

In order to share the sensitive information with users that do not have Keeper, create Self-Extracting Archives and send them the password.

Private Disk
Create encrypted disks for secured file storage, and open private data from work, home or anywhere you have Private Disk installed.

Use the Portable Private Disk feature, to get extra space for your sensitive data to be stored.

We believe people should understand that, nowadays, when information technology is part of everyday life, it is important to keep your data safe.

For this version there are the following changes:
+ contacts can be exported as vCard files
+ cosmetic changes in the user interface
+ improved usability
- fixed issue which made it impossible to purchase a smart card reader with a discount

Now, using SIM Manager 2, it's possible to export the contacts as vCard files, improving the mobility of your address book in between your SIM card and various e-mail clients and other software as well.

To save any contact to vCard, simply select the entry, go to Edit / Save as vCard.

Save to any directory of your choice and you're done.

Further more, you will notice an appealing cosmetic improvement of the software's interface.

Also, one major bug-fix has been done.
It has been reported that certain user's had no feedback after clicking the "Buy" button from within the software. Rendering the user unable to purchase the SIM Reader with a discount.

For this version, the developers at Dekart have included:

+ added support for synchronizing contacts with Yahoo! Contacts
+ CSV files can be imported to Nextel phonebooks as an option
+ user-friendly notifications for cases in which
* the SIM card contains no data
* no readers are found in the system
+ sorting was possible only by name or by phone, now sorting by all columns is supported

Synchronizing with Yahoo! Contacts

This new feature, as in the case of the Google Contacts, will allow you to download and upload contacts from your Yahoo! account to your SIM card.

In order to get this done, click the newly added button in the File menu.

Next, you will be asked to log in to your Yahoo! account, and agree on letting SIM Manager extract the contacts information

Copy the code that you are provided by Yahoo! in the Yahoo! verifier window of SIM Manager 2.

And you are done, now you have all the contact information from your Yahoo account, which you can easily store on your SIM Card.

The inverse operation is performed as easy as the previous mentioned one. In the phonebook, select the contacts you would like to upload to your Yahoo! account, right-click and choose "Send to Yahoo!".

The rest of the steps are analogue to the ones mentioned before.

CSV imported to Nextel

As you may know, the Nextel card have a different construction than the usual SIM or USIM cards, so importing CSV files to Nextel was a bit tricky.
Now the developers at Dekart have added a new feature that eases up the process and renders the import successful. All you need is to check the box next to "Import CSV to Nextel phonebook" in Options / Settings...

Notification boxes

In SIM Manager 2.9 has been added a new feature, that notifies that there is no SIM card reader connected to the PC.

This box will appear in case of a non-PC/SC compliant reader being connected also, as you remember, that SIM Manager works only with PC/SC compliant SIM card readers.
Also, a notification box for the cases where there is no information to be read from the SIM card.