Conducting a Breathtest

June 1st, 2010

 

The right time to check my blood alcohol level.
 

As a retailer of breathalyser’s, a common question asked of us by potential customers is this. 

“When is the right time for me to measure my alcohol level?” 

The purpose of this blog is to address this very important question, as well as making consumers aware of the optimum use for this type of device. 

We at Top Gadgets send this information to both our potential and existing customers.  We hope that it will also answer any questions you may have on this topic. 

Once again, thank you for buying the (insert breathalyser model here) breathalyser from us. 

We would like to take a few minutes of your valuable time to explain the optimum operation of this type of device. 

A common misconception by drinkers is believing that once a person has consumed their last drink the Blood Alcohol Content (BAC), measured as a percentage, remains at this level.  This is incorrect.  The instructions for most breathalyser’s state that at least 20-30 minutes should pass before a breathalyser reading is attempted.  You will be aware that, when stopped by the police for a random breath test (RBT), you are usually asked if you have had anything to drink in the last 30 minutes. 

We should be mindful that even after the consumption of alcohol has ceased, the BAC might continue to rise for a further two to three hours.  It is only at this point that you will have the highest likely BAC reading. 

So when you are enjoying a few drinks and decide to do a breath test from a coin operated machine or a hand held breathalyser, the reading may be low.  This low reading could allow you to believe that you are capable of driving your motor vehicle, flying your aircraft, driving your boat, or even going to work.  In fact, your BAC may continue to rise for up to two to three hours after your last drink!  A little into your journey, should you be subjected to a breathalyser test, there is a significant chance (depending on your alcohol consumption and what you have eaten prior) you will fail the test. The consequences of a failed breath test are far reaching and could impact on your work and private life.  

Wall-mounted units and hand held breathalyser’s are not intended for use while still consuming alcohol.  The manufactures recommend use for these highly calibrated devices would best be described as “morning after” use.  It is at this time there should be no reason for the BAC to increase (depending on the time you had consumed your last alcoholic beverage).  In fact, it should continue to decrease further as time passes. 

You will know from advertising and personal experience, that usually when we hear BAC, the level for fully licensed drivers in NSW is under .05%, for drivers with special licenses the limit is under .02% and .00% for provisional or learner drivers.  Even some industries have adapted a BAC of under .02% as the ‘OK to work’ level. 

The Pitfalls of Cheaper Breathalyser Units. 

Some semi-conductor breathalyser’s (cheaper units that may be purchased at service stations or on some websites) are nowhere near as accurate as the more expensive fuel cell sensor types.  Semi-conductor units are subject to more readings that are false, as these units can react to substances other than alcohol, combined with a higher margin of error. 

These cheaper breathalyser’s cannot distinguish between ethyl alcohol and other compounds of a simple chemical nature.  Methyl compounds such as acetone and ketones can be present in the breath of diabetics and those taking certain dietary supplements and can cause the breathalyser to over-estimate the BAC. 

Cheaper semi-conductor units usually only have the ability to display readings of two decimal places, i.e. .05% BAC.  The mistake that could be made from these units is that you do not know if this reading is above or below the acceptable limit for driving a motor vehicle, operating machinery, or going to work.  You could be .05%, or well over this.  You cannot tell from these cheaper units with any great certainty as they do not show the correct percentage. 

Fuel cell sensor breathalyser’s, especially those that have been tested to comply with Australian and New Zealand Standards (A/NZS) like the Andatech AL9000 Stealth, (+$349.00) or the Andatech AlcoSense Precision, ($439.00), for sale on our website www.topgadgets.com.au, react only to alcohol.  They are more precise (the equivalent of approximately .005% BAC at 0.1% BAC at time of calibration) and maintain their accuracy over time and several hundred tests. 

As well as having readings of three decimal places that will provide you, the consumer, with a more accurate reading, the Andatech fuel cell sensor range of breathalyser’s, for example, would show an indication of .049% BAC.  This would then allow you to make the correct determination depending on your circumstances. 

Before we decide to travel or go to work we may conduct a breath test at home using a quality fuel cell sensor unit, like the Andatech AL9000 Stealth or the AlcoSense Precision, we can rely with reasonable certainty on this reading, as long as we have maintained the unit to the manufacturer’s calibration requirements. 

Calibration 

Having said that, at any time should you believe that the unit is not working correctly, please conduct another test and compare the reading with the first one.  If you notice a difference in the results, it may be that your unit requires recalibration to maintain its optimum functionality.   Alternatively, if you believe at any time that the readings are not consistent with your alcohol consumption, please send your unit in for calibration – do not risk your driver’s license and or your job on readings that may be incorrect. 

We recommend 

Top Gadgets highly recommends the use of fuel cell sensor technology breathalyser’s, as they utilise the same type of technology as units operated by police and RTA and are far more accurate within percentage points.  Remember, percentage points can make the difference! 

Click here for further information on the AL9000 Stealth Breathalyser, 

 

AL9000 Stealth Breathalyser 

Or click here for more information on the AlcoSense Precision Breathalyser, 

 

AlcoSense Precision Breathalyser 

Should you require any further information or assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me by email at remo@topgadgets.com.au 

Thanks for visiting this blog. Please visit our website at www.topgadgets.com.au for these and many other Top Gadgets. 

As always we welcome your comments, feedback and ideas. Thanks again. 

Remo Krause, 

Director and CEO 

Top Gadgets 

 

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Conduct a Breathtest | No Comments »

Data backup

May 31st, 2010

Thanks for taking the time to read a few words from the Top Gadgets team concerning

Personal, business, or corporate computer backup systems.

Most of us will be unaware that for safety and security reasons government agencies, banks and insurance companies conduct regular backup proceedures on computer-generated data. This is in order to protect our personal or financial data against loss due to any number of reasons a few of which are listed below:

  • acts of war
  • natural disaster
  • acts of sabotage
  • computer/server malfunction

Should any of the above occur these organisations can quickly restore services with a minimum of data loss.

Many business and government organisations go the extra protection level of making multiple copies that are kept secure by storing them in different parts of the country. The concept of keeping a current backup copy of your server, network, or computer data away from your place of business or home is a good example for us all.

Some larger, medium and small business owners fail to understand, or simply do not realise,  that they too are vulnerable to these scenarios. Were something catastrophic to happen to a business that does not conduct a regular server or a computer network data backup, that business would more than likely come to an immediate halt and be unlikely to operate until all the lost data has been re-entered manually, if it was available.

Can you imagine how long that could take? How many days, weeks, or months? Not knowing who your debtor’s are and what amount of money they owe you, or worse still who your creditors are and when your bills are due for payment. It would be fair to say that some businesses would find it difficult to recover from such a serious setback. A setback that is so simple to avoid.

This is a very real threat to the viability of your business.

As business owners or managers, we need to schedule the time to conduct a regular backup of our computer system and store this data at a secure location. It is critical that this is scheduled on a regular basis to minimise data loss to your business should a catastrophe occur.

Put your business to the test, ask yourself:

  • how protected is my data should my server or network crash
  • how is my information backed up if my laptop was broken, stolen or lost
  • what would the delay be should a fire caused damage to my server or computer network

Many business owners by now will be thinking that maybe they are at risk and need to put some controls in place to manage this risk.

The computer user at home also faces this very realistic risk.

Having used computers for over 20 years, I can recall a number of occasions when my computer crashed unexpectedly. The loss of data was not catastrophic, but it did result in many late night sessions rewriting documents. Now as a result my computer is backed up weekly and even more frequently if required. My daughters have laptops and I constantly remind them to backup all their schoolwork, as many of these documents would be almost impossible to re-create.

You need to decide what tools you can utilize for the storage and protection of your valuable data. We at Top Gadgets use and highly recommend the IronKey Personal S200 range of 256 bit encrypted USB flash drives that can securely store up to 16GB of data. Also available from us is the IronKey Personal D200 series with a capacity of 32GB. See our website www.topgadgets.com.au for the full range of encrypted USB Drives. These USB Drives protect your and your customer’s data with a password and will prevent unauthorised access to this valuable data.

Not all companies, businesses or even individuals can backup all their data on these encrypted USB flash drives. The good news is that we also have a range of 256 bit encrypted external hard drives up to 1TB that will keep your data safe with password protection. Visit www.topgadgets.com.au for the full range of DataLocker encrypted external drives as well as all the technical information on this ideal backup drive.

By using any of the items shown here, you can be assured that your business or private data is protected with state of the art technology. This technology meets exacting standards set by the US Department of Homeland Security and Department of Defense.

Some people may consider using a device that is Not Encrypted. This is understandable, as the non encrypted devices are cheaper than those that are encrypted. We warn against using cheaper non encrypted drives, because you become vulnerable to the misuse or manipulation of confidential data. (In the near future, we will be writing another blog on Cyber Crime involving storage devices that at not encrypted).

Thanks for visiting this blog. Please visit our website at www.topgadgets.com.au for these and many other Top Gadgets.

As always we welcome your comments, feedback and ideas. Thanks again.

Remo Krause,

Director and CEO

Top Gadgets

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Data backup | 1 Comment »

Internet Cafe Keystroke Fraud

April 21st, 2010

Join us in making the Internet safer for your family, your banking and business

This blog is written to provide some valuable information on Internet Security. Top Gadgets needs to raise awareness of the potential for Internet fraud especially when we are travelling and have to rely on Internet cafes to maintain contact with family and friends and just as importantly to conduct personal banking transactions to take care of daily expenses.

Keystroke fraud is where an unsuspecting computer user, usually at an Internet cafe, has all their keystrokes recorded by a stealth program. There are many variants of this type of program. They are very difficult, if not impossible, to detect by the average user. This type of fraud amounts to billions of dollars per annum worldwide.

This issue has come to our attention as a result of feedback from and discussions with many people who have been victims of this type of increasing common electronic fraud.

Situation One

Larry used an Internet cafe in Asia to do some banking as well as check his Hotmail and Facebook accounts. While using the computer at this internet cafe his keystrokes where recorded and the criminals involved later attempted to withdraw a significant amount of money from his bank account. It was only the banks due diligence procedures for unusual transactions that allowed him to cancel this illegal withdrawal.

The criminals then changed the details including the password of his Hotmail and Facebook accounts.

All this was possible because he unwittingly used a computer that had a keystroke program installed that allowed for his private usernames and passwords to be captured.

Situation Two

The son of a friend of ours was in the US recently. He used an Internet cafe to conduct a number of online banking transactions; it was not until one week later that he realised over US $5,000 had been stolen from his bank account.

After contacting his bank and proving these transactions were fraudulent, he had to wait 12 weeks before the money was refunded.

This is the typical situation where once the fraud is identified the victim has to firstly prove that he is innocent, and then wait over an extended period for the bank to refund his money.

This is not the first time we at Top Gadgets have heard these types of stories. We have heard dozens of reports of this type of illegal keystroke activity happening all over the world. Listed below are just a few of the many stories posted on the Internet by other victims.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/22550/beware_of_fraud_in_internet_cafes_when.html?cat=3

http://www.onlinebankaccount.com.au/news/2003/2/10/backpackers-savings-at-risk-from-online-banking-scam/

The solution

In recent times, a number of speciality products have been released onto the commercial market to prevent keystroke recording fraud from occurring. New to our product range is an IronKey USB Flash Drive (IronKey S200 Personal) that is 256-bit encrypted as well as having its own secure version of the popular Mozilla Firefox Web browser.

What this means is when you go to an Internet cafe to do your banking, check your email or Facebook accounts or any other account that requires you to log in, your username and password are protected and cannot be recorded by a keystroke program, as long as you use the secure version of the Web browser on the IronKey USB flash drive.

The bonus of these IronKey USB flash drives is that they also are password protected storage devices ranging from 1GB to 16GB in size. All your information is 256-bit encrypted and password protected. If anyone obtains your IronKey and tries to hack into it, after the default 10 incorrect password attempts, the IronKey will obliterate all data on the disk, rendering it and your precious information, unreadable and irretrievable.

The directors of Top Gadgets were so impressed by the IronKey technology that we all bought one each to access our banking and communicate with our suppliers and clients over the Internet. The high-tech 256-bit encryption technology, coupled with our bank’s encryption, makes it virtually impossible for someone to access private corporate information.

The IronKey is approved for use on the United States Department of Defence (DoD) networks, as IronKey flash drives meet or exceed all new DoD specifications for flash media, after they were banned in 2008 following a Worm attack which was traced to USB flash drives and removable media.

The technology was developed partly through a grant from a branch of the Department of Homeland Security that is tasked with advancing technology designed to protect the US. At a recent board of directors meeting and following a meeting with the people at IronKey, we made it company policy to use the IronKey for all interoffice and directors communication over the Internet. As we all know, the Internet has made business easier, but also has inherent risks. IronKey helps to control those risks.

The directors of Top Gadgets were so impressed by IronKey’s commitment to helping control corporate and personal risk, we enthusiastically endorse this innovative product without hesitation.

Beware of cheaper imitations, and those products that overpromise but can’t deliver. Visit at our website www.topgadgets.com.au for all the technical information on these state of the art 256-bit encrypted IronKey USB flash drives.

Happy and safe travelling and browsing.

Remo Krause

CEO/Director

Top Gadgets

www.topgadgets.com.au

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Internet Cafe Keystroke Fraud | 2 Comments »