Apple isn't Phabulous
Goldilocks knocks on Apple's door looking for the right mobile device. She first picks up iPad Air, which with 9.7-inch screen is too big. Then she tries 4-inch iPhone 5s, but it's too small. Finally she grabs iPad mini, thinking the 7.9-inch display is just right. But unlike the fairy tale, Goldilocks is disappointed. She drops the tablet, goes next door to Samsung's house, and takes the Galaxy Note 3, which at 5.7 inches -- and with stylus -- is just right.
There's a gaping hole in Apple's product line -- and one CEO Tim Cook better quickly fix. Through it sales leak to competitors, but into a category where Apple doesn't compete. Tech-Thoughts analyst Sameer Singh observes about first calendar quarter global handsets: "As of now, we can assume that ~20 percent of all smartphones shipped have screen sizes large enough to become acceptable substitutes for tablet computing tasks".
PQChat secures your communications using quantum computing-proof encryption
After Edward Snowden’s many (and on-going) revelations, it’s easy to think there’s not much you can really do to avoid being spied upon or prevent your communications potentially being monitored. Of course you probably don’t have much to hide, and therefore what you say isn’t likely to be of major interest to the NSA or other snoopers, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t at least try to maintain a degree of privacy where possible.
SRD Wireless has today announced the launch of PQChat, a free app for iOS based on SRD’s own Never-The-Same (NTS) encryption which protects data using the McEliece cryptosystem, the strongest currently known, and which has never been broken (as far as anyone is aware, at least).
Motorola Moto E: An attractive and affordable Android smartphone [Review]
Anyone who regularly reads my handset reviews will know how important the Motorola Moto G has been. Since last November it has overshadowed every phone aiming at the £150 price range, and quite a lot priced a fair bit higher. Now Motorola wants the Moto E to achieve the same kind of dominance -- this time at the entry-level end of the phone market. The Moto E can be yours for £89 SIM-free.
By modern standards this is a small handset -- its screen is only 4.3-inches. It is amazing how much the landscape has changed over the last few years, so that a 4.3-inch phone seems small and 5-inch feels like the optimum size.
IcoFX adds three new adjustment tools, enhances crop selection
Romanian developer IcoFX Software has released IcoFX 2.7 and IcoFX Portable 2.7, a minor update to its commercial icon-editing tool for Windows.
Version 2.7 adds three new tools to the Adjustment menu, plus refines the existing crop tool. It also introduces two new options, a shortcut key for quickly deleting sections and fixes a number of known bugs.
Insiders continue to put corporate data security at risk
Although there's greater awareness of the risks that insiders pose to information security, many companies still struggle with how to control them.
The findings of a new report by defense systems and cyber security company Raytheon, show that people with access to privileged data such as health care records, sensitive company information, intellectual property or personal records frequently put that information at risk.
Rdio undergoes further expansion, now in 60 countries
Rdio is one of the fastest growing music streaming services on the market these days. The company is trying to keep pace with a number of rivals in the increasingly competitive field of internet and mobile entertainment.
Today Rdio is announcing that it's expanding to a staggering 60 nations. This is an additional nine countries being added to the existing regions, and puts the service on six different continents.
Protect your privacy with Self-Destructing Cookies for Firefox
Self-Destructing Cookies is a Firefox add-on which does a great job of controlling cookie use, without any of the complexity you’ll see in other tools.
Install the add-on and it takes immediate effect, automatically deleting a site’s regular cookies -- and its LocalStorage data -- just as soon as you close its tab.
Nokia Lumia 930 goes up for pre-order in Europe
After Microsoft finally unveiled the highly-anticipated Windows Phone 8.1 in early-April, Nokia announced three new smartphones running the new version of the tiled operating system. Two of them, the Lumia 630 and Lumia 635, are affordable offerings meant to conquer the entry-level market, while the Lumia 930 is much more expensive, competing against other flagships like the Apple iPhone 5s and Samsung Galaxy S5.
Of the three, the Lumia 930 interests me the most as a Lumia 920 owner looking to upgrade to a new, up-to-date Windows Phone. Unlike the Lumia 630, which went on sale last week, it will hit store shelves later down the road, starting in June. But, in Europe the flagship is already available to pre-order.
Norton promises 100 percent virus removal for small businesses
Businesses increasingly rely not just on PCs but on smartphones and other devices to access information and carry out transactions.
But this also means that they face ever more complex security threats and for smaller organizations that can be a big problem. To help protect businesses with fewer than 20 employees Symantec is launching Norton Small Business aimed at simplifying security for smaller enterprises.
Watch the Microsoft Surface Pro 3 announcement here
You probably already know, but Microsoft is set to announce a new Surface product today at an event in New York City. The initial rumors suggested we would be seeing a mini version of the company’s flagship Windows slate (a conclusion jumped to because the invites mentioned a "small gathering"), but latest rumblings suggest the exact opposite -- with a 12-inch Surface Pro 3 now tipped to be the product revealed on stage.
While I personally would like to see a Surface Mini, a larger Surface Pro makes a lot of sense, and will appeal to power users. At the moment no one outside of Microsoft knows for definite what to expect, but it should be very interesting nonetheless.
TechEd 2014 Wrap-Up: 12 major cloud announcements; zero big on-prem news
As a yearly event geared towards my neck of the woods, the IT pro community (non-developers!), TechEd is the sort of Microsoft-focused conference that resonates with me. It's the one large event solely dedicated to the products and technologies I am knee deep in consulting customers on.
While most Microsoft watchers may not have caught it outright, did anyone notice the subliminal theme that arose? All of the major product announcements at the conference were planted in some facet of Microsoft's growing cloud landscape. Before anyone jumps on me for being technically inaccurate, yes, they did announce a few news items based around their traditional on-prem products.
Apple’s iPad problem
My three sons share an Apple iPad given to them by Mimi, their grandmother. When she bought it a couple years ago the iPad was top-of-the-line with 64 gigs and a Retina display. The boys run it hard on car trips where it functions as a hotspot and under covers in their bedrooms along with a couple iPhones, iPod Touches, various Kindles and some cheaper seven-inch Android tablets.
In all we have probably a dozen touchscreen devices in the house but most of the action takes place on iPhones or that one iPad. Great for Apple, right? Not really. Apple’s iPad sales are dropping you see and the reason nobody seems to talk about is they don’t wear out.
Hands on with YotaPhone: Great idea but some rough edges
There's a new Android phone on the block called YotaPhone. It shows off a really innovative, really smart concept: It has two screens. On one side is what we will call an ordinary smartphone screen -- you know, full color, touch-sensitive. On the other side is an E-ink screen of the type usually found in eBook readers.
I was a big fan of this idea when I first heard about it, and I am still a big fan of the idea now that I've been playing with the YotaPhone for a while.
Net Neutrality: When you are the competitor
As the Net neutrality debate rages and feels fresh, it's easy to forget just how long this thing has been raging. While searching for a post over at my personal website I stumbled onto a forgotten analysis from April 2006, when I lived on the East Coast and had Verizon FiOS.
Critics complain the Federal Communications Commission seeks to create two Internet Information Highways -- one fast lane and the other slow. But something I identified 7 years ago is still relevant today.
Ergo Book by Acme Made -- an ingenious and svelte iPad case on Kickstarter
Tablets have forever changed the landscape of computing. An entire industry has been formed from Apple's tablet alone -- iPad cases. Yes, cases for the tablet are very abundant from many manufacturers. A search on Amazon, results in a smorgasbord of options, such as color, size and price.
Unfortunately, the market is so flooded that it is nearly impossible to impress with a new case. Surprisingly, a company called Acme Made has done just that with the Ergo Book. It is an extremely svelte case, for which the manufacturer is seeking funding from Kickstarter. Will you back it?
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