Archive for August, 2012

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Review: Diskwarrior For Mac 4.4

Posted in Products with tags , on August 22, 2012 by itnerd

One thing that a lot of people never think about is what tools you need to have if disaster strikes. As a computer consultant, I have to think about that because my clients pay me to. In the Mac universe, that means that I need to have Diskwarrior in my toolkit to save my Mac customers from disaster. What is Diskwarrior you ask? It’s an app made by a company called Alsoft that comes in the form of a bootable DVD which will prevent and repair common directory issues on a Mac hard disk. Not only that, if your disk is non-bootable, Diskwarrior can often recover your data to the point that the disk becomes bootable again.

Diskwarrior is simple to use. Simply insert the DVD into your Mac and restart it while holding the “C” key (you can let go when you see the Apple logo and hear the DVD drive reading the disk). It will take quite a while to boot (like up to 10 minutes), but once it’s up you simply have to click on the rebuild button. The program will then scan your hard drive and work its magic to repair issues on the hard drive of your Mac. Not only that, but it will construct an optimized directory and allow you to replace your current directory with it. This is also the same methodology that it uses to recover data from a non-bootable hard disk. The big plus is that anybody can use Diskwarrior. Seriously. When I say anybody, I do mean anybody. Another thing that I should note, I have used Diskwarrior since 2002 and I have yet to find a Mac hard disk that it won’t fix… Unless it’s physically damaged of course. At that point you better have a recent backup handy. The fact that I can say that about any disk utility shows you how good Diskwarrior is.

A couple of things to note. Diskwarrior works with every version of OS X all the way up to Mountain Lion. However, the current version of the DVD won’t boot the latest MacBook Pro models that were introduced in June. But Alsoft is really good about getting Diskwarrior updated. Thus I don’t think that it won’t be too long before updated DVDs as well as downloadable disk updaters for existing users are available.

Diskwarrior is $99.95 USD direct from Alsoft. But you might be able to find it at your local computer store as well. If you want my advice, run it once a month to keep the data on Mac safe.

If you want something in your toolbox to protect the data on your Mac, you should get a copy of Diskwarrior before you actually need it.

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Symantec Annouces Norton Mobile Utilities For Andrioid Users

Posted in Commentary with tags on August 22, 2012 by itnerd

If you have a smartphone there’s one thing that you have to be afraid of – having your battery die at the worst time. It’s happened to me a couple of times and it really sucks when that happens. The question is, how can you prevent it. Well, if you have an Android based smartphone then Symantec has something that can help. Called Norton Mobile Utilities, these are tools that help to maximize your battery life and keeps your smartphone running at top speed. The tool shows you what applications your phone is running and allows you to close out apps to manage your battery drain. According to testing performed by Symantec, using Norton Mobile Utilities resulted in a phone battery savings of more than five hours. Sounds like a winner to me.

It’s available on Google Play as of now. Hopefully Symantec brings this to iOS and Blackberry users as they could use this sort of help as well.

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Rogers LTE Now Live In Moncton NB…. And They Have A New Ad Too

Posted in Commentary with tags , on August 21, 2012 by itnerd

Rogers ongoing plan to rule the LTE world continues with their announcement of LTE in Moncton NB:

Starting today, Moncton customers will have access to the Rogers LTE network with theoretical download speeds of up to 75 Mbps, with typical download speeds ranging from 12 Mbps to 25 Mbps. * These speeds are significantly faster than those Canadians experience on any other 4G HSPA+ wireless network.

More details can be found on RedBoard. But one of the main one that I’d like to point out is that a lot more cities are going to get the LTE love shortly:

Upcoming LTE launch cities  include Trois Rivières, Sherbrooke, Quebec City, Kingston, Ajax, Pickering, Oshawa, Oakville, Burlington, Hamilton, St. Catharines, Niagara, Windsor, Cambridge, Kitchener, Waterloo, Guelph, London, Barrie, Sudbury, Saskatoon, Regina, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Kelowna, Whistler, Abbotsford and Victoria. More cities will be launched in 2013

Nice! Since I’m talking about Rogers, let me toss one more thing. Rogers has a new ad campaign called “Rogers vs. Milos Raonic and Brett Lawrie.” For those of you not familiar with those athletes, Raonic is Canada’s top tennis player and Lawrie is the Canadian superstar playing for the Toronto Blue Jays. The campaign supports the new Rogers Ultimate Bundle which includes TV, Home Phone, and Internet. The point of the campaign is to demonstrate how fast the Internet in the new bundle is via some challenges that compares each athlete to the speed of Rogers Internet. You can find out more and see the ads on RedBoard.

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Review: Undercover For Mac

Posted in Products with tags , on August 21, 2012 by itnerd

Having been the victim of a break in and losing my Mac in the process, I’ve wanted to make sure that I had a shot at getting it back if it happens again. So I figured that I’d use some sort of application that allows me to track my Mac live on the Internet. At the time I did some research and found an application called Undercover For Mac that suited my needs nicely.

Now someone is going to point out that recent versions of OS X do come with a feature that allows you to locate your Mac using iCloud called Find my iPhone/iPad/Mac. It can track your Mac and even send a message to the screen of the Mac or it can send a command to erase the computer remotely. Granted. That’s all good and there’s nothing wrong with that. But Undercover For Mac does so much more. Once you install the software (and there’s nothing on the computer that says that the computer has Undercover on it and there’s no way to get rid of it by the way), it will silently monitor the location of your Mac in real time. If your Mac gets lifted, simply go to www.undercoverhq.com and that where the magic begins. Here’s what you can do once you’re logged into the site:

  • You can see all the locations of your Mac has been
  • You can activate your Mac’s FaceTime camera to take pictures of the thief
  • You can take screenshots so you can see what the thief is doing
  • You can log the keystrokes of the thief

All of this is done silently so that the scumbag thief has no clue that he’s being monitored and tracked, and all of this can be bundled up into a “Thief Report” and handed over to your local police. That’s sweet. But it still gets better. Let’s say that none of this helps get your Mac back. No problem. There’s always “Plan B” which simulates a hardware failure on your Mac so the thief has no choice but to take it into an Apple Store for repair. Once you track it to the Apple Store you then send a command to the Mac to display a message on the screen saying the Mac has been stolen and to call police. Very sweet! If you combine all of those features with the Find My iPhone/iPad/Mac feature in OS X that allows you do a wipe of the data as well as using iCloud to log into the Mac, then you have the ultimate security solution for your Mac.

If you have a Mac, you must get Undercover. It’s a must buy as far as I am concerned. The cost is $49 and it’s a small price to pay to protect your Mac. By the way, there’s versions of this software for your iPad, and iPhone called Undercover Mobile. I haven’t used this myself, but seeing how good Undercover For Mac is, it’s worth considering if you’re an iPhone or iPad user.

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Sony Internet Play Gets TVO And Cineplex Apps

Posted in Commentary with tags on August 19, 2012 by itnerd

The news from Sony doesn’t end with their latest e-reader. The Sony Internet Player With Google TV which I have discussed previously has two new apps available on it. One is the TVO On Demand app which gives you various TV Ontario current affairs and lecture programs, point-of-view documentaries, documentary series, and popular dramas whenever you want to see them.This is a big deal for TV Ontario who had this to say via a press release:

“TVO is pleased to be working with Sony to bring our content to a Canadian audience,” said Lisa de Wilde, Chief Executive Officer of TVO. “As part of our aggressive digital strategy, TVO is always looking to leverage new technology and increase our impact by offering our educational programs on a variety of platforms.”

Canadian content is the number one thing that sets the Sony Internet Player apart from similar devices seeing as it ships with the National Film Board app. That’s one big reason why this device has my attention.

The second app is the Cineplex app which allows you to browse showtimes, enjoy exclusive trailers, footage and interviews, buy tickets, and access you SCENE card directly from your TV. Both apps are available from Google Play.

On a related note, The Sony Internet Player With Google TV is now in stores. So if you’ve been wanting to get your hands on one, now is your chance.

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Sony Announce A New E-Reader That Promises A More Natural, Smart & Social Experience

Posted in Commentary with tags on August 19, 2012 by itnerd

Sony has been a player in the e-reader space for some time and when you’re in a market that has competition from Amazon and Apple, you have to find ways to be different. To that end, Sony Canada introduced the Reader PRS-T2 which sets itself apart from the competition in the following ways according to Sony’s press release:

It now features intuitive touch, more paper-like page turns, improved continuous page turns and a smoother zoom in and out. The new device features an improved default book layout and makes it easier to organize and find books. The device has two English and four translation dictionaries built-in (including French), and provides up to two months battery life (with wireless off), and 2GB of storage. Readers can swipe a finger to turn a page, zoom in and out by pinching fingers together or apart or write notes on the page or highlight text with a finger or the supplied stylus. Users can also choose from eight font sizes and seven font styles.

Okay, that sounds good so far. But there’s more:

The device includes new Facebook® and Evernote® features. Consumers now have the ability to post a short passage from books purchased from Reader™ Store to Facebook directly from the device along with the book cover, author, and title.
 
For the first time, Reader is combining features from Evernote to allow users to save their favourite web content to enjoy any time. Evernote’s Wed Clipper allows saving content with a click, and pages saved with Evernote Clearly are optimized for Reader’s crips E-Ink display. Favourite passages can also be annotated on Reader and saved back to Evernote for viewing later on any smartphone, tablet, or PC.

If you’re a social media butterfly, that’s a feature you’ll love. But here’s something that got my attention:

With built-in Wi-Fi®, the Reader PRS-T2 offers readers more access to books anytime and anywhere. Sony continues to offer its popular and critically-acclaimed public library lending feature by offering patrons with a valid library card the ability to easily and conveniently borrow free e-books wirelessly from participating public libraries in Canada via an intuitive, simple-to-use dedicated icon on the device.

Now that means something to me as many library systems offer e-books as part of their lending catalog. That’s a big way to be different than the rest of the pact. The PRS-T2 s Windows and Mac friendly and goes for $139 at Sony Stores, online at www.sony.ca/reader and other authorized retailers nationwide.

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PEER 1 Hosting Completes Audits

Posted in Commentary with tags on August 19, 2012 by itnerd

I’ve written about PEER 1 on several occasions as they’re one of those companies that is a must watch as far as I am concerned. I got an e-mail from them earlier this week with some interesting news. PEER 1 has successfully completed two independent audits, SSAE 16 Type II and CSAE 3416. In doing so, PEER 1 Hosting continues to demonstrate their commitment to providing their customers with peace of mind and transparency, and ensuring the ongoing security of their data and information. That’s important because if you have an e-commerce application or simply have your corporate data hosted outside your company, then you have to put PEER 1 at the top of the list for hosting providers because not all hosting providers go through this much effort to show that they are this secure.

That’s another reason to keep an eye on PEER 1. Clearly they’re doing the right things to put themselves in the position of being the hosting provider for businesses.

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Poll: What Smartphone Would You Buy Today?

Posted in Commentary on August 12, 2012 by itnerd

I’ve posted a fair amount about the fall of RIM and the rise of Android and Apple phones. But I want to know if your purchasing decisions have been altered by this. Feel free to vote in the poll below and you can even share your thoughts in the comments section below.

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Digital Backpack Launches for Android

Posted in Commentary with tags , on August 7, 2012 by itnerd

I have a soft spot for up and coming Canadian companies. Such a company is Digital Backpack who have launched an app for Android smart phones that allows companies to securely distribute apps without relying on an app store. Here’s how the company explains it:

Our scalable platform helps your organization share and manage digital content and apps on multiple devices. We can even provide you with real-time analytics to help you evaluate which apps and digital content are being used – and which aren’t. With Digital Backpack, you can turn any mobile device into a private, secure, and manageable part of your organization’s community.

Additionally, as more and more organizations implement a “Bring Your Own Device” (BYOD) policy in education and the workplace, Digital Backpack helps you securely manage your organization’s private content on your employees’ or students’ personal devices. You do not need to control the entire device, just a small digital “Backpack” (super app) that sits on any mobile device.

Now this makes sense to me. A lot of companies out there could leverage this and not be reliant on Google’s app store to do it. Though I don’t see it happening, it would be nice if this came to the iOS ecosystem. I’m thinking that once companies see the value in this, they’ll be beating a path to Digital Backpack’s door. Another thing in their favor is Mike Sommer who is the CEO of Digital Backpack. He is the former CIO of Pacific Mergers & Acquisitions and founder of Pacific Online Learning – a company whose platform is being used by Facebook, AT&T, The American Red Cross, and Home Depot. It sounds like that he has the ability to take this company to the next level.

My advice, keep an eye on this company. I really think they’re going to be a company that will make a lot a noise.

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Attackers Use The Olympics As Bait For Spam, Malware And Phishing Attacks: Symantec

Posted in Commentary with tags on August 7, 2012 by itnerd

The Olympics are a great display of athletic talent. But in these Olympics, spam, malware and phishing attacks are taking center stage according to Symantec:

Unfortunately, it’s exactly this goodwill that attackers are attempting to prey upon. In this month’s Symantec Intelligence Report, we take a look at how attackers are using Olympic themed hashtags on Twitter to spread malicious code, bundling threats with popular Olympic-themed Android apps, and creating spam and phishing scams that pretend to be contests sponsored by credit card companies—all in the hopes of taking advantage of the excitement surrounding the event. There has also been a few instances of spammers attempting to trick users into downloading malware. For example, one spam email we’ve recently encountered includes a link to a website that mimics YouTube.

Now there’s some other interesting facts in here as well. For example Canada’s spam rate increased slightly from last month’s 66.5% to 67.9%. Canada’s virus rate currently sits at 1 in 275 (compared to June’s 1 in 271.3). But clearly the fact that attacks are being tied to a major event is kind of disturbing. Clearly you have to on guard for these sorts of things if you want to stay safe on the Internet.

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