On June 13, 2013,  a coalition of law enforcement, consumer groups and political leaders named “S.O.S” (Secure Our Smartphones), called for a “kill switch” to be installed in every smartphone. The concept of this kill switch is simple -- when a smartphone is stolen, the owner can have the device permanently disabled. Approximately 1.6 million people in the USA had a mobile device stolen in 2012 and a third of all robberies involves a stolen cell phone -- it is a serious problem. The hope is that overall smartphone theft would be reduced as a disabled device would be worthless.

While the concept makes sense from a law enforcement standpoint, the possibility of misuse and abuse is astronomical and threatens our liberty and freedoms. Once the kill switch is built into these devices, we lose a certain level of autonomy. There will be the potential for a government agency (domestic or foreign), corporation or hackers to disable our devices by using this kill switch for evil purposes. In other words: who will control the kill switch?

You never know who you are going to get.

Yahoo has announced that starting mid-July, it is going to begin recycling email addresses. All Yahoo email addresses that have been inactive for 12 months or longer, will be made available again. Users will be able to stake claims on desired and expired Yahoo email addresses on a first-come, first serve basis. This sounds like a fun thing for Yahoo users who want a shorter or easier email address.

Yesterday, my colleague Alan Buckingham reported on the Xbox One availability and pricing. I wasn't sure if I wanted one but I thought it would be a good idea to pre-order. I have failed to pre-order consoles in the past with devastating results. Many Christmas holidays were ruined by the failure to secure the newest console (I know -- first world problems). And so, I decided to pre-order the Xbox One -- just in case.

I headed to the online Microsoft Store, with debit card in hand. I went to the pre-order page and started the process. I was shocked to find that Microsoft wanted me to pay the full $500 (plus tax) up front! Keep in mind, this console will not launch until November. Paying full price now, in June, is ludicrous. In the past, I had pre-ordered consoles by putting down a small deposit.

I am a longtime Android user and fan. However, my Nexus 7 has been running very slow. Needless to say, I am in the market for something to replace it. I was planning on looking for another Android tablet. Heck, like my colleague Joe Wilcox, I even collect Android collectibles. However, I am currently having a sordid love affair with Microsoft Windows 8. Everyone who hears about my love for Windows 8 on the desktop tells me that the operating system will really shine on a tablet. And so, I decided to explore an Android alternative -- a Windows 8 device.

When looking for a Windows 8 tablet, there were only two things I knew I wanted -- great build quality and for it to be light-weight. However I knew for sure what I didn’t want -- Windows RT. I expect Windows RT to slowly grow and gain momentum in the future. However, that time is not now. I need to get work done with my tablet so I must have access to Windows x86 apps.

Yesterday at WWDC, Apple announced iCloud Keychain. This is a password management service that utilizes Apple’s iCloud. It will allow users to sync their website login credentials, Wi-Fi passwords and credit card information across multiple devices (iOS and OS X) using 256-bit AES encryption. On the surface, it sounds like a great feature that would be very convenient for Apple users. However, the world has changed much since the PRISM scandal.

Ever since we learned that the US Government has allegedly infiltrated Apple, such a service is problematic. By storing all of your passwords with an NSA infiltrated company, you could be potentially compromising the security of all of your accounts. It could be especially bad to expose your Wi-Fi passwords as you could be compromising entire networks. While 256-bit encryption is a wonderful thing, it makes no difference if the NSA has direct non-encrypted access -- it would be understandable for users to be suspicious.

…And I don’t feel fine. Tyranny has replaced liberty in the United States. Our rights are slowly being eroded. Not a day goes by without a new government scandal breaking in the news. As my colleague Mark Wilson reported yesterday, the National Security Agency (NSA) has been secretly spying on Verizon customers since April. The public was outraged -- and rightfully so. There was worry that this was just the tip of the iceberg. Unfortunately, according to a new report, it was just the tip. The rest of the iceberg is much larger -- and we are the Titanic heading right for it.

While the public was still wrapping their heads around the Verizon scandal, they were  informed by The Guardian of a far more devious and tyrannical program dubbed ‘PRISM’. According to the report, this program has been in effect since 2007. In that 6+ year span, the following companies have allowed themselves to be infiltrated:

As the cloud computing gold rush continues, more and more companies are trying to lay their claim. Like it or not, the future of computing is the cloud. Make no mistake -- whoever controls the cloud will control the web and computing overall. With that said, major computer manufacturer, Lenovo, has decided to get into the ring with its newly announced cloud platform named Reach. It will work on both Lenovo and non-Lenovo computers.

The company says that Reach "…allows users to access social networks, favorite applications, as well as help them find files, photos and other digital media across your online storage accounts, no matter where users put them".

I'm not saying Windows 8 is directly bad for your health -- but it can indirectly lead to lung cancer and countless other diseases. It can also indirectly get you addicted to a particular drug -- nicotine. How is this happening? Through Windows 8 in-app advertising.

As many of you know, I recently made the switch to Windows 8 -- for which I paid for the privilege. Paying for an operating system is unlike the very capable and robust Linux Mint, which is absolutely f

Is the open source dream over? In 2004, Ubuntu Founder Mark Shuttleworth filed the first Ubuntu bug which was titled "Microsoft has a majority market share". It was a symbolic bug -- not a real one. It symbolized Ubuntu’s purpose -- to defeat Microsoft and aid the push of Open Source. This was an unattainable goal as Ubuntu never had a chance to defeat Microsoft. However, such goals are often good motivators for companies. It gives both the employees and users something to rally around.

While Ubuntu has fought the good fight, it has recently admitted defeat. On May 30, 2013, Mr. Shuttleworth marked this bug as "Fixed". Make no mistake, no bug has been fixed -- the 9 year old symbolic rallying point just became ridiculous and sad. It was time to close this embarrassing “bug” before a decade passed.

Linux users are a strange bunch. As a distro gets popular, it tends to lose credibility with the Linux elitists. It is much like an underground rock band. As the band gains mainstream success, the original fans view the band as "sell-outs". For instance, Ubuntu, the most popular Linux distro, is viewed negatively by many as a beginner distro (Linux users only feel this way because of its success -- Ubuntu is a wonderful OS). Linux Mint however, is the exception to the rule -- it is revered by newbies and elite users alike. This is despite its long-held top spot on www.distrowatch.com and the fact that it is based on Ubuntu.

On May 29, 2013, Linux Mint 15, codenamed "Olivia" was released. This is the newest version of Mint and is based on Ubuntu 13.04. While Linux Mint is built on Ubuntu, it removes what many users hate about that distro -- the Unity desktop environment and integrated Amazon.com search.

Microsoft Windows 8 is the best desktop operating system. Period. No Linux distribution or OS X can compare. I say this as a Linux user and lover.

When it comes to computing, I have always had a soft spot in my heart for Microsoft Windows. Windows 95 was the operating system of my first-ever computer -- we could not afford a computer before then. As time marched on, I found myself dual-booting Windows and Linux on my future computers, with most of my time being spent in Linux. That is, until a few years ago when I exclusively ran various Linux distributions as the sole OS on my computer.

Microsoft has been on a roll lately in its sad attempt to publicly bash Google. From the "Scroogled" campaign, to "Bing It On", the company is more focused on the current king of online search than solving its own problems. Focusing on Google internally is fine enough, but is classless to do so publicly. You should never have to bash a competitor’s products to further advance your own.

With that said, Microsoft continues the desperation in the latest Bing blog entry entitled “The Grand Bargain”. Stefan Weitz, Bing senior director, explains that your information being sold to advertisers is the price paid for Google services. However, Weitz further claims Microsoft does it too but it is OK because the software giant isn't "solely an advertising-driven company". This implies that Google is strictly an advertising-driven company. While advertising is a huge source of Google’s revenue, it is not the company's sole source. Microsoft's statement is simply not true.

As cloud-based storage gains traction vs. physical storage, there have been many big-name providers popping up, such as Google Drive and Amazon Cloud. However, Dropbox continues to be an extremely popular option for both personal and business users alike.

While already popular for business use, the company announced on April 10, 2013, that it was working on single sign-on for business users.  This would enable Dropbox to better integrate with the corporate world -- a huge step towards broader corporate adoption and acceptance.

Something strange happened last week. My ultra-fast Nexus 7 started to freeze and run slow. The problem persisted for about a week and I feared that the tablet had become a paperweight. I turned to Google Search to research the issue and as it turns out, I was not alone. Other Nexus 7 users (and other Android device users) were reporting the same issue -- if the device uses most of or all of the available storage, then the operating system is slow. When I say "slow", I mean painfully slow. Users were reporting that they needed to keep at least 3GB free to keep the tablet running properly.

As a test, I wiped all data from my device and rebooted. Amazingly, the device ran as well as the day I bought it. Unfortunately, the solution raised a much bigger problem -- I could not use all of the storage space that I had paid for. Was this a case of false advertising? Did Google lie to me about the available storage? I decided to contact Google for confirmation.

Music Piracy is now dead. Apple iTunes is now obsolete. Spotify, Pandora, Slacker -- yesterday’s news. This is all because of Google Play Music All Access. It will change the way you listen to music. It will change your life. You will subscribe. Resistance is futile. This is the future of music.

The idea of a music streaming service is not new. However, a music streaming service by the most important and influential tech company is. On May 15, 2013, Google unveiled its new music streaming service, named Google Play Music All Access. Other than the ridiculously long name (I will just call it All Access for the rest of the article), the service is near-perfect.