security 
Yukari Mitsuhashi
Whether it’s a Facebook post, a tweet, or a photo, the general understanding of web and digital content used to be that it lives forever. But very recently, we’re seeing a lot of services built around the concept of expiration dates. For example, the photo sharing app Snapchat has become popular among teenagers, now boasting over 150 million photo shares per day, each one with a limited duration viewing period. Likewise Twitter app Efemr allows you to post self-destructing tweets by adding a dedicated hashtag to your message.
This self-destruct feature is not limited to just services. A Japanese company called Century has released a hard disk drive case called Jigen (CT-25-ERP). When there is no access to the encrypted drive for a set period of time, the encrypted key is automatically deleted thus making it impossible to access what’s inside the drive. The period of data preservation can be set by using a dedicated utility available on the Century website for both Windows and Mac. The data can be preserved up to a maximum of 9,999 days.
In addition to this self-destruct feature, the device has automatic locking as well. When there is no access to the encrypted drive (for a maximum of 999 minutes), the content will be locked and will require a password.
Your HDD/SSD can be divided into three partitions, but only one can be encrypted. Such a case would be perfect for Inspector Gadget (see the video below for some fun 80s nostalgia!) is available for just 3,980 yen, or about $41. Note that if data is deleted as a result of misuse, the company says it will not be held accountable.
Japan appears to like such self-destructing services and solutions that provide anonymity on our increasingly social web. For example, to avoid the possibility of having your boss read your angry or dissatisfied tweets, there are interesting solutions such as Arrow which we featured recently. There are also services like Gtitter (a playful variant of the word ‘vent’) which allows users to complain about things anonymously.
[Via Impress]
For women who wish to enhance their security at home, Magrex has invented a wireless door monitoring hardware called Kowagirlie (“Kowa” means scared in Japanese). All you do is place the required hardware on top of your door and download the dedicated app which is available for both iOS and Android. Kowagirlie transfers what’s displayed on the monitor over wi-fi so you can then see who’s at the entrance simply by looking at your smartphone, with no need to approach the door.
