Sarcastic liveblogging of Apple's iPhone event - Get it here
Today, gadget tastemaker Apple is expected to unveil a host of new products, including a new iPhone, new iPods, and perhaps even an update to the bête noire that is iTunes. In all likelihood, the "iPhone 5" will be the scene-stealer of this event, which will add some small, incremental changes to the obnoxiously popular device. The changes documented herein are sure to be labeled as life-changing and essential by the bike-riding gentrification brigade, and be labeled as Android copies by the cloak-wearing dungeon masters. Since we've sat through six different iPhone unveilings, we've decided to call this one as we see it...
Today's event begins at 10:00 am PDT (1:00 pm Eastern), and all updates appear in reverse chronological order (i.e. newest posts first), and yes, you do actually have to refresh the page.
Use SmartUtils Easy Password to create secure logins
To keep your web accounts secure it’s a good idea for their passwords to be as cryptic as possible: lengthy, a good mix of numbers, upper and lower case letters, maybe even other characters if they’re allowed.
You won’t be able to remember them? That’s probably true, but with a copy of the free SmartUtils Easy Password to hand that simply won’t be necessary.
Windows 8 won’t save ailing companies from disaster
We all know that Microsoft is taking a hell of a gamble with its new operating system. If Windows 8 fails, as many are suggesting it will, that would be a major blow to the Redmond, Wash.-based company. Microsoft is staking pretty much everything on Windows 8 and trusting that ubiquity -- placing the OS on desktop systems, tablets, and mobile phones -- will be enough to persuade people to give it a chance.
The problem: Microsoft isn't just risking its own business. With the traditional PC market stagnating, faltering companies like Dell and HP (which both reported large drops in revenue recently -- HP’s losses being the worst in its 73-year history) need a way of boosting their dwindling PC sales. In previous years, the arrival of a new operating system would have done exactly that. When Windows 7 launched, for example, sales of new computers jumped 40 percent in the first week alone. While PC sales will undoubtedly still increase following Windows 8’s launch, it’s unlikely we’ll see such a big jump as last time around. Partly because many of those relatively recent upgraders will be happy to stick with what they’ve got, and partly because Windows 8 runs better on lower-specced systems than its predecessor does anyway. For those reasons alone it’s unlikely that this version of Windows will drive hardware sales in the same way that previous ones did.
Don't expect too much from iPhone 5 sales
Finally, someone is brave enough to give iPhone 5 a big reality check. Who better than Stephen Baker, NPD's vice president of industry analysis?
"Ahead of the expected launch of the iPhone 5", he says, "there is a growing expectation that this release will achieve the equivalent blowout sales success that the iPhone 4s enjoyed; however, a careful review of the sales history reveals that, while the new iPhone may be a gigantic success around the world, the inevitability of similar success in the US is not quite so pre-determined".
Who's lying about the GoDaddy outage?
Yesterday registrar and web hoster GoDaddy went down for several hours, taking millions of websites along, too. Within an hour, Twitter accounts associated with hacktivist group Anonymous took credit. Today, GoDaddy blames "corrupted router data tables". Meanwhile AnonymousOwn3r claims denial of service attack and hack -- and within the hour publicly posted what supposedly is GoDaddy "source code and database".
Somebody's lying here. But whom?
O&O releases DiskRecovery 8.0 Professional
Berlin-based O&O Software GmbH has released DiskRecovery 8.0 Professional, the latest iteration of its data-recovery tool for Windows PCs. Version 8, which is also available as a dedicated 64-bit build, recognizes more file types, plus promises improved tools for recovering picture and video from digital cameras. It also claims enhanced search tools for compressed files, including zip and 7-zip.
Despite the “Professional” tag, this version of O&O DiskRecovery is aimed very much at individuals as well as home users, and offers a simple wizard-based interface for finding and saving deleted, lost and corrupt data from a user’s hard drive.
I would end my boycott if Apple stopped bullying others
Apple is on my mind again, with the company hosting a big media event tomorrow presumably to unveil iPhone 5. I'm not seriously thinking about buying the smartphone, certainly not sight unseen. I'm super satisfied with Galaxy Nexus -- if not, I'd move to a LTE Android, perhaps HTC One X or Samsung Galaxy S III. Rather, iPhone 5 is good time to assess my personal Apple boycott, where I sold off all my fruit-logo gear in protest of patent bullying.
Until July, I was a long-time Apple user, starting with the December 1998 purchase of the original Bondi Blue iMac. Then about six months ago, Apple's persistent competition-by-litigation tactics finally made me mad. I also had grown sick of Apple media bias that borders on the insane. How crazy? Yesterday, Washington Post explained "How Apple’s iPhone 5 could singlehandedly rescue the US economy". Bad is worse -- today, extending this economic lift to US presidential elections, Nextgov (a product of the National Journal Group) asserts: "How the iPhone 5 could help re-elect Obama". These are people I really don't want to associate with. (Say doesn't the president use BlackBerry?)
The devil is in the details of Google's free Boingo Wi-Fi deal for Android devices
Today, public Wi-Fi hotspot provider Boingo Wireless announced a promotional partnership with Google Play that gives Android users free Wi-Fi access in 4,000 different locations across the United States (including fifteen major airports) for the rest of September.
The promotion encompasses Android-based smartphones and tablets, as well as Windows and OS X PCs, on the assumption that they can still be Android mobile device users when using a PC.
Trend Micro Titanium Internet Security 2013 supports Windows 8
Trend Micro Incorporated has released Titanium Internet Security 2013, the latest edition of its consumer security family.
And the key addition to every Titanium package is Trend Micro’s Facebook Privacy Scanner, which at a click will check your Facebook page settings and alert you to any privacy problems: which apps can access your details, who can tag you, see your photos and more.
I will never buy another laptop
That is the conclusion I reached after several weeks living la vida post-PC. With nothing but my trusty Acer Iconia Tab to work on while waiting for my house sale to close in Florida (see previous post about not needing a smartphone), I've managed to remain productive and connected without touching so much as a byte of "wintel" technology.
Well, maybe a few bytes. There have been the occasional detors off the Android wagon -- for example, when I needed to quickly print, sign and re-scan some legal documents and hijacked my daughter's Dell Inspiron for a few minutes (it was like pulling teeth -- she's quite possessive of her toys). However, for the most part I accomplished everything I needed to from the comfort of my Ice Cream Sandwich-based tablet. And the secret of my success had as much to do with the accessories that I surrounded the tablet with as with the device itself.
No longer an iOS pack-in, YouTube app update brings ads
Ahead of the Apple event rumored to be the unveiling of a new, smaller iPad, Google on Tuesday released an updated native YouTube application for Apple's smaller-screen iOS devices.
The new application for iPhone and iPod touch speeds up video discovery with an improved channel guide and search functionality, improved sharing capabilities, and a larger roster of compatible videos.
Is your PC wonky? Try Malwarebytes Anti-Malware 1.65
Malwarebytes Corporation has updated both free and paid-for versions of its anti-malware software with major improvements and enhancements, particularly to the Pro version of the software.Malwarebytes Anti-Malware FREE 1.65 benefits from enhancements to the software’s Chameleon technology, which allows it to run on infected systems, plus update improvements and various fixes.
The Pro version also comes with major enhancements and additions to the software’s real-time protection features, as well as new features for business customers wishing to deploy the software throughout their organization.
Windows 8 simplifies computing
Second in a series. Most, if not all, the reviews of Windows 8 focus on the intuitiveness of the user interface. As a designer/developer I think lots about creating good UI and user experience (UX). What's seems important to product reviewers or techies is meaningless to Microsoft's target audience of Windows 8 users.
I’m here to tell you that there’s more to the analysis than intuitiveness. UI designers who are really serious about designing compelling user interfaces know that intuitiveness is not the only aspect to consider, there’s also learnability and discoverability that are essential to UI design and development.
CyanogenMod 10 M1 -- first monthly release -- is available
CyanogenMod 10 is one of the most popular Android 4.1 Jelly Bean custom distributions available today, but keeping up with all the nightly releases can be time consuming, which is why the team behind the project announced the rollout of the M-Series build -- releases of CyanogenMod 10 that will be available at the beginning of every month.
CyanogenMod team wants to offer more stable builds on a timely manner, that is a departure from the ever present CM10 nightly builds that can vary in quality from one release to another. A code freeze was announced, blocking new features and focusing instead on stability that is of utmost importance for a build designed to work for a month and be adequate for daily use. They will still be labeled as "experimental" considering that at their core they still come from nightly builds.
Are you a defense contractor? Beware the Elderwood Project!
The Hydraq (Aurora) Trojan horse is in the spotlight, courtesy of a hacking group that uses it to wreak havoc with the security of numerous renowned industries. While these hacking maneuvers were pretty high profile and as a result got a lot of coverage, it is the said group’s hacking activities, and patterns, that have caught the eye of a lot of security pundits and writers.
Zero-day exploits, another term brought to fame by these hackers who took the computer spy software game up a few notches, has been used by the group to not only penetrate the security of the targeted organization, but also the manufactures that were servicing the said company in their cross hairs.
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