Archive for February 24, 2014

Samsung Announces Galaxy S5 And Galaxy Gear

Posted in Commentary with tags on February 24, 2014 by itnerd

Samsung has decided to fire the next shot at Apple to try and gain control of the smartphone universe.

Let’s start with the new Galaxy S5 that was announced today. It has a 5.1-inch 1080P screen and includes a fingerprint sensor built into the device’s home button, mirroring Apple’s own Touch ID introduced with the iPhone 5s. Samsung’s sensor is activated using a swiping motion that scans the finger from base to tip as the phone utilizes a rectangular home button. To me it looks similar to previous models, though it has a unique soft-touch textured backing, a water resistant casing, and it comes in both blue and copper gold along with black and white. It also rolls up to the table with a 2.5GHz quad core processor, 2GB of memory and Android KitKat 4.4.2 along with an upgraded 16-megapixel camera with quick autofocus and real-time HDR. Not only that, there’s a heart rate sensor next to the camera’s flash which is able to measure heart rate with a finger on the sensor. The heart rate sensor accompanies the standard accelerometer, gyroscope, proximity sensor, compass and an IR-based gesture sensor.

The Galaxy S5 will also work with a suite of new smart watches that were announced in two announcements today as well:

  • The Gear Fit focuses on measuring heart rate and counting steps. It incorporates an AMOLED touchscreen panel and offers smartphone notifications and alerts, but it does not include a camera, a microphone, or a speaker.
  • The Gear 2 features a 1.63-inch touchscreen, 4GB of internal storage, 512MB of RAM, and mobile speakers, and contains a built-in IR blaster and a camera that has been moved from the wristband to the front of the device.
  • The Gear 2 Neo is lighter than its higher-end counterpart, and does not feature a camera.

And if you’re a Rogers or Telus customer, they’ve got news for you as well:

  • New and existing Rogers customers can reserve theirs on Rogers Reservation System at  http://rogers.com/reserve. More details can also be found on RedBoard: http://roge.rs/1msjtDO
  • Telus customers can pre-register on their website to receive information and early access to pre-order the Samsung GALAXY S5.

So, will you be rushing out to get one?

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REPORT: Ford Dumps Microsoft For BlackBerry QNX

Posted in Commentary with tags , , on February 24, 2014 by itnerd

This has to sting for Microsoft.

Reports suggest that Ford is about to dump Microsoft as the provider of their Sync infotainment software for BlackBerry’s QNX OS. The same underpinnings that powers BB10 devices:

Using QNX will be less expensive than licensing Microsoft technology and will improve the flexibility and speed of the next Sync system, the people, who asked not to be identified because the decision hasn’t been made public, said Feb. 22. Ford has more than 7 million vehicles on the road with Sync using Microsoft voice-activated software to make mobile-phone calls and play music.

This has to be a huge vote of confidence for BlackBerry and if you’re Microsoft, this must, really, hurt because Ford made a big deal about being in bed with Microsoft when Sync first appeared. I also wonder if existing Sync owners will get an upgrade or does this only apply to new owners who buy new cars?

Assuming that this is true of course. We’ll see if it is or not soon enough I suppose.

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BBM Coming To Windows Phone “In The Coming Months”

Posted in Commentary with tags , on February 24, 2014 by itnerd

It’s available on BB10 devices, along with iOS and Android. But BlackBerry has never had BBM available for Windows Phone. That changed today with this announcement:

BlackBerry Limited (NASDAQ:BBRY)(TSX:BB), a global leader in mobile communications, today announced that BBM™ will be made available to Windows Phone and Nokia X customers in the coming months.

BBM is a premier mobile messaging platform that offers best-in-class collaboration tools such as BBM Groups, BBM Voice and BBM Channels. BBM users rely on the privacy, immediacy and control that are at the core of BBM.

“BBM continues to grow in popularity as millions of people use our mobile platform for chatting and connecting with friends or colleagues, and we are very excited that we will soon welcome Windows Phone and Nokia X users to the BBM community,” said John Sims, President, Global Enterprise Solutions at BlackBerry.

“Today marks an exciting moment for Nokia,” said Bryan Biniak, Vice President and GM of Developer Relations, Nokia Corporation. “By bringing BBM to the Windows Phone and Nokia X communities, our customers will be able to experience this popular global messaging app.”

From the press release, it looks like it will be feature complete which is a good thing. I’m not sure what “In The Coming Months” means, but one would imagine that it would be before this summer.

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Nokia Releases Android Phones… No That’s Not A Misprint

Posted in Commentary with tags , on February 24, 2014 by itnerd

Nokia CEO Stephen Elop, who we thought had hitched his wagon to the Windows Phone OS, seeing as they’re owned by Microsoft, showcased three Nokia Android-powered devices today which likely shocked more than a few people. Here’s a snippet from the Nokia blog on the Nokia X, Nokia X+ and Nokia XL:

The Nokia X family offers terrific value with acclaimed Nokia and Microsoft services and experiences. HERE Maps with turn-by-turn navigation and offline maps are included. Nokia MixRadio offers hundreds of free streaming and offline playlists. Free cloud storage from Microsoft OneDrive with 7GB of space for free is included out of the box. There’s also access to Outlook.com as your email service. And there’s Skype with a month’s free calls to international landlines in selected markets.

All three of the devices are powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon Dual Core processor and are Dual SIM. A range of third-party apps comes preinstalled, including BBM, Plants vs. Zombies 2, Viber, Vine and Twitter. As many more as you can fit can be obtained from the Nokia Store, third-party app stores and sideloaded.

Interesting. It seems that Microsoft still managed to get something onto these phones. Now to the part that everyone cares about, the specs:

The Nokia X is the entry level member of the family, with 4-inch IPS LCD screen, 512MB RAM and a 3-megapixel camera. It will be available in green, black, white, yellow, cyan and red.

The Nokia X+ offers you a little more, as the name suggests: there’s 768MB RAM and a 4GB MicroSD card is included in the box. It comes in the same colours as the Nokia X.

Lastly, the clue is in the name for the Nokia XL, as well, with its 5-inch screen. The Nokia XL also boasts 768MB RAM, the free MicroSD card and it has both a 2-megapixel front-facing camera for Skype calls, as well as a 5-megapixel rear camera with autofocus and flash. The same colours are available as for the Nokia X and X+, except bright orange replaces the red with this model.

As for availability, all these will be available “globally.” Whatever that means.

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Serious Apple Security Issue Threatens Macs

Posted in Commentary with tags , on February 24, 2014 by itnerd

Last week, Apple released an update to iOS 6 and iOS 7, as well as the version of iOS inside the AppleTV to fix a bug with its SSL implementation, which would allow a evil doer on the same local network as your computer to intercept sensitive information as you browse the Web, send or receive mail, or many other things that use SSL. Well, some digging indicates that OS X has the same bug and so far it is unpatched. Here are the details from the National Vulnerability Database for your review. If that’s a bit too technical for you, here’s something that is a bit more down to Earth:

The problem lies in the way the software recognizes the digital certificates used by banking sites, Google’s Gmail service, Facebook and others to establish encrypted connections. A single line in the program and an omitted bracket meant that those certificates were not authenticated at all, so that hackers can impersonate the website being sought and capture all the electronic traffic before passing it along to the real site.

In addition to intercepting data, hackers could insert malicious web links in real emails, winning full control of the target computer.

The intruders do need to have access to the victim’s network, either through a relationship with the telecom carrier or through a WiFi wireless setup common in public places. Industry veterans warned users to avoid unsecured WiFi until the software patch is available and installed.

Apple has promised that a fix is on the way, but it is yet another example of how Apple isn’t taking security very seriously as this is just the latest example of Apple failing on that front.

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