Review: Dashlane is a robust password manager with a gorgeous interface

Dashlane With its simple interface and myriad of features, Dashlane is a powerful password manager anyone should consider.


A password manager is a must. Unless you're using the same password for everything (not recommended) or have a truly phenomenal memory, your productivity can benefit from a place to store all your passwords and easily use them whenever necessary. There are several strong players in this field, such as LastPass and KeePass. Dashlane (free for basic version, $20/year for Premium) aims to take on both.

Dashlane is a robust password manager with additional room for your various IDs, credit cards and other payment methods, receipts, and notes. It comes with an auto-fill feature for online forms to which you can add different addresses, phone numbers, and other personal information you're tired of typing repeatedly. There are two features that make Dashlane stand out when compared to both LastPass and KeePass: Its beautiful and easy-to-use interface, and its optional cloud syncing.

The Security Dashboard analyzes your database, alerting you of weak, recurring, or breached passwords
Setting up Dashlane is exceptionally easy. LastPass and KeePass are both fairly easy to use, but they have nothing on Dashlane. The installation process takes you step by step through setting up the program, with clear instructions and smooth guidance. After choosing your master password for Dashlane--unlike LastPass, there's no "password reminder" here, so you must remember it or lose access to your database--Dashlane will install itself on your browsers (Firefox, Chrome and Internet Explorer are supported), and will lead you through trying out its different features and interface elements.

If you're already using a different password manager, you can import your database into Dashlane pretty easily. The import tool supports databases from Firefox, Chrome, Internet Explorer, LastPass, 1Password, RoboForm, PasswordWallet, KeePess, and custom CSV files, but the tool is a little finicky. For example, my KeePass CSV did not contain a filled-in URL field, as this is not mandatory in KeePass. Dashlane ignored every password that did not come with a URL, leaving me with no way to import my large password database into Dashlane. Fortunately, Dashlane can automatically add new credentials upon logging in to websites, so after using it for several days, most of my oft-used passwords were transferred to Dashlane without much effort on my part.

On every new login, Dashlane will offer to automatically save your credentials
Dashlane's strong yet subtle browser integration makes logging in to websites a seamless operation, but doesn't add unnecessary clutter to your browsing experience. Once a password is stored in Dashlane, it can log you in automatically every time the website is loaded, or auto-fill the credentials without logging you in. If you're opening an account on a new website, Dashlane can generate a strong password for you right from your browser, and store it in your database in one fell swoop.

You can categorize passwords and other information for easy access, and a small blue impala icon in a browser text field will alert you to the fact that Dashlane can auto-fill this for you. If you have more than one account with a website, more than one email address you like to use, etc., clicking the blue impala will open a dropdown menu where you can choose the desired information.

One of the most important aspects of a password manager is security, and with Dashlane, you can select your level of paranoia. Your database is encrypted with AES-256 encryption, only you know the master password to decrypt it, and you can enable Google Authenticator for extra security. Unlike LastPass, where everything is in the cloud, automatic cloud syncing and backup is a Premium feature in Dashlane, so free users don't have to worry about it.

Even if you're a paid customer, however, you can easily opt out of cloud syncs, meaning your password database is only stored locally, just like with KeePass. Unlike KeePass, though, Dashlane's free mobile apps can be managed as separate databases, so you can access your passwords on the go without worrying about constant cloud syncs. When enabled, Dashlane syncs happen every 5 minutes, and there's no way to control or reduce this frequency.

The Premium version also includes Web access to your data from any browser, anywhere
Dashlane is an impressive password manager with some excellent features and a beautiful interface. It does require a certain amount of trust in the company, especially when using its syncing options, and for $20/year, its Premium version is expensive when compared to the alternatives. Nevertheless, it is the perfect password manager for the less tech-savvy, and even the experienced are sure to enjoy it, if only for the merits of its interface. It's available in Android, iOS, and Mac editions, in addition to the PC edition I reviewed.

Oracle Enterprise Manager 12c gears up for the private cloud

For the latest update of Oracle Enterprise Manager, the company has taken additional steps to help organizations set up their own private clouds, using Oracle systems, software and even non-Oracle products.

"Our goal is to is to allow enterprises to take any [Oracle] platform and offer it as a service," said Sushil Kumar, vice president of product strategy and business development.

Oracle Enterprise Manager 12c Release 3, released Tuesday, comes with new workflow capabilities and new connectors for managing additional Oracle products and systems.

Oracle Enterprise Manager was originally created to deploy and manage groups of Oracle databases. Over the years, Oracle has extended the software to manage the Oracle Application Server and third-party software packages from Microsoft and others, through the use of plug-ins and connectors. Today, the Oracle Enterprise Manager Extensibility Exchange, a sort of app store for the software, offers more than 135 add-ons for third-party programs.

In addition to aiding in the deploying and managing software, Oracle Enterprise Manager also offers a number of operational health metrics, based on information collected by agents installed on the same server as the software being monitored.

To help organizations set up cloud services for internal use, Oracle has been adding more features to Oracle Enterprise Manager.

In this version, reporting capabilities for charge backs have been enhanced in the software. Organizations running internal clouds may want to bill individual business units for their cloud usage. Earlier editions of this software could provide reports of usage by processor, storage, database queries and other metrics. This version allows organizations to create their own usage reports based on other metrics provided by the software, which then can be used as the basis for internal billing.

OracleThe activity planner tool.
An activity planner has been added, which will allow administrators to set up workflows to automate a series of tasks, such as updating a set of databases. "The change activity planner helps administrators plan, execute, tracks and report on long-running operations," Kumar said. The software uses the built-in operational health metrics as a way to determine that individual steps of a workflow have been completed.

Oracle Enterprise Manager 12c Release 3 also improves on a new capability introduced in the last version, the ability to build and manage a Java-based PaaS (platform as a service).The prior version of the software required administrators to provision and coordinate multiple WebLogic servers in order to build a service. This update eliminates that step.

"In a physical environment people had to pre-deploy the WebLogic software on the machines, and then Enterprise Manager could dynamically create the domains," Kumar said. A domain is any one of a number of logical containers that WebLogic creates to hold applications. "It goes one step further in that you do not have to pre-deploy the software."

The software adds more support for Oracle engineered systems. It now allows administrators to control multiple Exadata racks as a single entity. It provides the first full support for the Oracle Exalytics in-memory data analysis system. In addition to WebLogic, Oracle Enterprise Manager now can work with Oracle's other application servers, Glassfish (which Oracle acquired in the Sun Microsystems purchase) and Tuxedo (acquired in the BEA Systems purchase).

Oracle Enterprise Manager 12c R3 will also "fully support" the newly released Oracle 12c database, Kumar said. Oracle 12c was released last month with little advance notice from Oracle, and features a number of new advanced capabilities, such as multitenancy.

Kumar, however, would not discuss in detail how Oracle Enterprise Manager 12c R3 supports Oracle 12c, noting that Oracle will make another announcement within a few weeks. "We have all the capabilities for supporting database 12c," he said, including the ability to control individual tenants in the database, as well as the ability to manage Oracle 12c itself in the same way it manages prior versions of the database.

When asked about Oracle's reluctance to go into details about Oracle Enterprise Manager's support of the new Oracle database, Ovum principal analyst Tony Baer noted that, while the Oracle Enterprise Manager officially supports the database, the company may still have yet to work out all the particulars of assuring the management software works with the database across all possible scenarios, a large undertaking given the complexity of the new database and the wide variety of possible deployment scenarios.

Detroit emergency manager steps up pace in city restructuring

Detroit's emergency manager issued a flurry of announcements on Thursday addressing union contracts, power distribution and an errant council president as he steps up the pace of efforts to tackle the city's massive $18.5 billion debt problem.

Kevyn Orr stripped City Council President Charles Pugh of his authority and pay, terminated two union contracts that were about to expire so as to allow room to renegotiate them and announced an agreement with power company DTE Energy Co. to take over power distribution to local institutions, including the public school system.

In a statement, Orr said the power distribution operations of Detroit's Public Lighting Department have run at an average annual loss of roughly $30 million for the past five years and that DTE would be better placed to take them over.

"The 100-year-old PLD system has not received any investment in nearly a decade," Orr said. "Exiting the electric business and letting a recognized expert such as DTE run it is a sensible course of action to take."

DTE spokesman Alejandro Bodipo-Memba said the agreement should result in "significant improvements" for the 115 institutions and businesses affected.

Orr was appointed by Michigan Republican Governor Rick Snyder to try to tackle Detroit's finances and create a sustainable model for a city whose population of 700,000 numbers not much over a third of its peak more than half a century ago.

On June 14 he made a proposal to creditors that would pay them pennies on the dollar and defaulted on a $39.7 million payment on certificates of participation. He has said a number of times that he would like to avoid bankruptcy for Detroit, but will file for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection if need be.

Douglas Bernstein, a partner at law firm Plunkett Cooney in Detroit suburb Bloomfield Hills, said Orr's moves on the union contract and power distribution were common sense moves.

"Orr is just doing what he needs to do," he said. "He's checking off the things that need to get done and what he's doing makes sense."

"OLIVE BRANCH"

The emergency manager also announced Thursday that letters were sent on June 25 to provide notice that contracts with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) and the Detroit Police Lieutenants and Sergeants Association would be terminated on July 6.

Those contracts were about to expire and under U.S. labor law, if Orr had failed to terminate them they would have rolled over for year and he would have been unable to negotiate new terms until next year.

Edward McNeil, assistant to Albert Garrett, who heads AFSCME in Michigan, said "this is just standard practice."

"If either side wants to change the terms, this is what you do," he said.

McNeil said the AFSCME contract in question only affected 911 operators, which account for 100 of the 2,000 employees the union represents in Detroit.

In his statement Thursday, Orr said it is possible "new terms could be issued in the future as part of the city's restructuring efforts."

John Beck, a professor of labor relations at Michigan State University, said that signaled a willingness to negotiate.

"That is kind of an olive branch and it shows he would like to talk before he dictates terms," Beck said. "These people are important to the fabric of the city and you want them on your side for years to come if you want to succeed."

PUGH'S POWERS, PAY REMOVED

The only move by Orr on Thursday that unrelated to his task of trying to restructure Detroit's finances was the decision to strip Charles Pugh of his salary and powers.

Pugh missed the last two council meetings and on Tuesday said was taking medical leave for up to four weeks.

Orr had ordered Pugh to return to his $77,000-a-year job by the end of the business day Wednesday or resign.

Calls to Pugh's office were not returned. He disabled his social media accounts last week.

Pugh will be paid through July 7. He will keep his health care benefits until he leaves office on December 31 at the end of his term.

Two members of the City Council have also announced plans to leave after the end of this week. Their departures and Pugh's loss of authority will bring the council down to six acting members.

Mayor Dave Bing has announced he will not seek re-election this year. While Orr's powers as emergency manager mean that he is the ultimate authority in the city, Bing and the City Council still run the city day to day. The loss of several members will make it difficult for the council to conduct business.

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