iOS CoH app maybe?

Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow [The Incarnate System is] Jack Emmert all over again, only this time it's not "1 hero = 3 white minions" it's "1 hero = 3 white rocks."

Not likely for the time being. NCSoft has problems understanding "platform neutral API".

It's the end. But the moment has been prepared for ...

Does it have to be developed by NCsoft/Paragon Studios?

We've been investigating ways to make this happen. No promises, but don't rule it out.

Actually, yes. I appreciate the hard work you and your team (past and present) have put into the Titan Network and City Info Tracker, but there's just no way I could ever trust installing your software on my machine and that it wouldn't be picking off keystrokes. I'd much prefer a CityVault solution originated and maintained by Paragon. Alas, my loss, my gain.

Make it so ...

It's the end. But the moment has been prepared for ...

Actually, I don't blame you, and I've seen this concern echoed before. I'm quite paranoid myself. However, there are at least three mitigating factors here.

1) Right now*, you can actually download a program such as Wireshark, run some network traces, and verify for yourself exactly what gets sent to the Titan Network servers. Right now*, all of the data is sent in clear text, so the data is there, laid bare for you to pick through as much as you want to get comfortable in knowing that we're not doing anything evil. You can also use something like TCPView to verify that the only external site that Sentinel is talking to is the Titan Network and that it is only making requests to port 80 via HTTP. You can also use Process Monitor and/or Process Explorer to validate that Sentinel is only touching City of Heroes, not watching anything else on your system. It sure as well doesn't write anything to any running processes, as we've all agreed that's a HUGE no-no.

2) We have a bunch of developers at the Titan Network, most of whom are at least passingly familiar with the language we're using for Sentinel. One authored the utility and is intimately familiar with the code base. I've personally looked over the code myself and have not seen anything close to being non-kosher. Our source repository is actually accessible to all of our Titan Network devs (around 10 people in all), and at least one or two have picked through parts of the code. Furthermore, the particular parts that are usually really interesting (and thus picked through the most) are the detection routines. If it was pulling usernames or passwords or anything like that, it would most assuredly be caught by somebody, and there's no way we could keep that kind of conspiracy theory under wraps. In fact, if someone were to find something evil that compromises something as essential as usernames/passwords, I'd want it brought up because I use the thing myself.

3) The Titan Network is totally non-profit. We don't run ads on the site, we don't sell information to third parties, and hosting costs are completely paid for courtesy of community donations and Tony's day job. I've turned down substantial (to me, at least) offers to sell the sites, especially the Paragon Wiki, which gets around 2.5 to 3 million page loads every month. When you think about it, if you take away the financial incentive for stealing people's information or bury evil things in the software, it really doesn't make much sense that we would. If we really were that unscrupulous, there are much easier and more lucrative ways we could be making money--some of which such as running Google ads or something probably wouldn't be terribly opposed to--but we don't.

If you still don't want to use it, I'm not trying to guilt you into doing so. I'm just saying, it's not like we're some shady group you don't know or that the data isn't there to look at and verify that we're on the up-and-up.

* Soon™, with a planned revamp of the sites we are working on, the plan is to switch over to SSL specifically so that third parties--your ISP, your employer, your neighbors sniffing your unsecured wi-fi--won't be able to sniff your personal info off the wire just as you currently can using Wireshark. While this means that you will no longer be able to sniff the data in the clear unless you use some relatively sophisticated SSL interception methods, the honest-to-god truth is that we're doing it so that your data is more secure, not less. I'm worried that a lot of people probably use the same username/password on the Titan Network as they use for their NCsoft and City of Heroes accounts, and I don't want our network getting compromised, in case it ever does, to be the privacy disaster that it could be if everything is sitting there in the clear. In fact, the past few weeks, I've put in a lot of hours in working on the new site encrypting things like the e-mail address you supply because I'm that paranoid and security is really important to me. If you're paranoid too, that's great, but even if you couldn't care less, at least there's a minimum threshold of paranoia baked in from the start just in case a hacker slips past and something evil were to happen.

At some point, I might put some gray matter into transmitting data that's not really private, such as builds, badges, etc., via unencrypted HTTP and reserving SSL for the initial login and token generation.

Edit: Just to clarify because as I re-read my post it's kind of worded funny and possibly open to interpretation, we do not currently nor have we ever (at least, to my knowledge since joining the Titan Network) stored any passwords in clear text. We also have never nor will we ever ask for or otherwise try to acquire your game account password. If anyone ever does, including anyone claiming to be from the Titan Network or even from NCsoft or Paragon Studios itself, please notify NCsoft support immediately.

Given that Apple's intention seems to be to turn all OSX installs into iOS with bigger icons, the two may become one and the same sooner than you think.

I use Titan Sentinel and City Info Tracker and I love them, and really appreciate all the work you guys put into those and other Titan Network applications (especially Mids, I can't live without Mids).

However, Sentinel/Info Tracker has some limitations that can't be overcome by a non-licensed third party application. It can't track anything that happens when I'm not running the app - which means it can't track anything that happens if I log onto my account from multiple computers unless they all have the app installed.

It can't differentiate between characters on my two accounts. It can't tell me what salvage/recipes I have on which toons, or how far along on my Incarnate powers I am, or what my current prestige ranking in my SG is. It can't tell me if any of my bids have filled or items listed have sold. It can't show all my current costumes. It can't tell me what's in my email inbox, or my certifications and vouchers. And on and on.

All of these are things I'd like to see in a City Vault webpage, and for that to happen it really has to be NCSoft that develops it.

If you actually CAN work any of those in, I will be suitably impressed, and grateful! Most of it, though, I just don't see as being possible when you're pulling info from the client and not the server(s).

"You got to dig it to dig it, you dig?"
Thelonious Monk

I thought Babs animated a fix for stability issues just before he left, didnt he?

That may explain why he's no longer here

"You got to dig it to dig it, you dig?"
Thelonious Monk