Archive for September, 2014

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BlackBerry Named A “Leader” In Mobile Device Management

Posted in Commentary with tags on September 30, 2014 by itnerd

Today BlackBerry announced it has been named a “Leader” in The Forrester Wave: Enterprise Mobile Management, Q3 2014. Forrester evaluated BlackBerry along with 14 other of the most significant mobile device management vendors. BlackBerry earned the highest score in Strategy as well as Global Presence, and tied for the top ranking in Market Presence, which considers revenue, install base and partners. In addition, BlackBerry received the highest possible score in 12 of the 27 criteria measured by Forrester, including Network Security, Future Vision, and Support.

More details on the report can be found at http://www.blackberry.com/forresterwave/

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Telus Launches Enhanced We365 App

Posted in Commentary with tags on September 30, 2014 by itnerd

With We Day Toronto just around the corner, Telus has partnered with Free the Children to launch a new app that’s designed just for youth.

As digital natives, youth are joined at the hip with their smartphones and their social lives increasingly exist in the digital world. According to a recent TELUS WISE survey, 71 per cent of Canadian parents purchased their child’s first mobile device before the age of 14. An Ipsos Reid survey also found that 48 per cent of teens use online social networking as their main form of communication.

But Telus believes that technology should empower youth to go beyond texts, photos and videos. That’s why Telus and Free the Children have partnered to launch the enhanced We365 app, the first digital community and mobile app of its kind designed to inspire and empower youth to make positive change throughout the year. Frequent readers will recall that Telus had a similar app last year.

To help make sure that it would really sing with youth and meet their needs, the app was tested with them through all stages of development to ensure they would have a user experience that is not unlike the social media platforms that they already know and love.

Available for free download on Android and Apple devices, We365 enables youth to:

  • Discover and learn about causes that are important to them
  • Rally their friends and create groups to support issues
  • Spread the word and share accomplishments on social media
  • Take daily challenges or create their own to make an instant impact
  • Track and verify their volunteer activities and hours electronically for school and scholarships

Telus will donate $5 for every download of the We365 app until November 30, 2014 up to a maximum of $125,000.

More information on We365 can be found on www.we365.com. You can also check out this recent Buzzfeed post on ways social media has already changed the world.

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Rogers And Telus Announce New Phones

Posted in Commentary with tags , , , , on September 30, 2014 by itnerd

I got e-mails from Rogers and Telus announcing that they’re carrying some new phones.

First Rogers. The Android based HTC Desire 510 launched today at both Rogers & Fido. The device is available for $0 on select two-year Share Everything plans with Rogers and $0 with a 2-year Tab24 agreement on a Smart plan with Fido. The device is available in grey and white – white is a Rogers/Fido exclusive. Driven by a quad-core processor for the LTE network, the HTC Desire™ 510 displays rich graphics on a 4.7″ display, juggles between multiple apps, and provides the smooth gaming of a premium smartphone.

Over at Telus the new Moto X will available in black at TELUS for $100 with a two-year SharePlus plan or $600 outright. The Moto X in bamboo finish as well as the Moto 360 smart watch will be available at TELUS on October 31. The Moto X will be sure to have friends burning with phone envy. From the phone’s stylish design, lightning fast performance, stellar voice activation powered by Google to the 13 MP camera, the Moto X has it all at an affordable price point.

I’ve asked for loaners of both phones. When I get them, expect a review or two to be posted.

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Belkin Announces Thunderbolt 2 Express Dock HD for Mac and PC

Posted in Commentary with tags on September 30, 2014 by itnerd

Belkin today introduced the Thunderbolt 2 Express Dock HD with cable, a powerful docking solution for both Mac and PC computers. Equipped with two Thunderbolt 2 ports, it allows users to take full advantage of Thunderbolt 2 technology’s high-speed 20Gbps bandwidth, and provides reliable transfers between laptops and up to eight other devices using one single Thunderbolt cable.

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Designed for PC and Mac, Ultrabook, laptop and desktop users, the Belkin Thunderbolt 2 Express Dock HD helps increase productivity, portability and connectivity. With eight ports including support for HDMI, USB 3.0, Gigabit Ethernet, audio and Thunderbolt 2, the Thunderbolt 2 Express Dock HD supports up to eight devices connected directly to the dock, with support for up to four additional (five total) Thunderbolt devices through a daisy-chain setup. Display the clearest picture through either the HDMI or Thunderbolt 2 port at a resolution of up to 4K. The USB 3.0 ports open the ability to charge smartphones, tablets and other higher amperage devices, even when the host computer is asleep or not connected to the dock. It also offers Thunderbolt 2 data transfer speeds of up to 20Gbps, which is two times faster than Thunderbolt, four times faster than USB 3.0 and up to 25 times faster than FireWire 800.

Belkin’s Thunderbolt 2 Express Dock HD (F4U085bt) is available now at belkin.com and is planned to be available at Apple stores nationwide in October for an MSRP of $299.99 and includes a Thunderbolt cable.

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Smart Lamp Speaker Pops Up On Kickstarter

Posted in Commentary with tags on September 30, 2014 by itnerd

A new Kickstarter project that crossed my desk today is the Smart Lamp Speaker by emoi.This clever speaker melds the functions of technically advanced music player, a soft lantern,speakerphone, alarm clock and more controlled with one simple APP from you smartphone or tablet.

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  • Use it as a bedside light or light up the night on your deck or patio.
  • The Smart Lamp’s speaker can be paired with Smartphone, tablet and other Bluetooth devices.
  • Take a conference call or simply touch it to turn on some soothing tunes and unwind at the end of a long day.
  • The compact size make it versatile and portable for indoor/outdoor use.
  • There is a battery built in so you can take it with you.One APP controls all functions and you can dim the light or set the alarm to come on playing your favorite tune quickly and easily.
  • The light has a comfortable color temperature to emulate dawn and dusk which enhances the tranquility of the moment.
  • Turn on the lamp with a simple, intuitive light touch on the soft (environmentally-friendly silicone) iconic lamp cover.
  • There are three levels of lighting making it perfect for everyone – from story time to party time.

Retail will be $100 USD. But, during the short Kickstarter campaign early birds will be able to pre-order it for $69 USD.

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Microsoft Announces Windows 10… Really. It’s Called Windows 10. [UPDATED]

Posted in Commentary with tags on September 30, 2014 by itnerd

That isn’t a misprint. Microsoft today at a preview event announced Windows 10 to the public.This is  the last “major” Windows update. Microsoft’s strategy is to make smaller updates to the Windows 10 codebase, rather than pushing out new major updates years apart. Sort of what Apple does with OS X where they come out with a new release every year with smaller updates in between.

Some of the key features include:

  • A refreshed user interface.
  • The Start Menu will be a mix of what users loved about the one in Windows 7 with elements of Windows 8.
  • The addition of Universal Windows apps which addresses a major grievance that many Windows 8 users have experienced with Modern user interface apps not working well when run from the desktop.
  • A feature called “Continuum” that automatically adjust Windows for 2-in-1 tablet-computer hybrids so that it can automatically detect whether there’s a keyboard and mouse hooked up to the device and offer the more desktop-friendly version of the Windows user interface.
  • A “tablet mode” that will automatically pop up whenever you touch the screen.

In short, Windows 10 is supposed to make tablet users as well as mouse and keyboard users happy. Good luck with that Microsoft.

Microsoft is expected to release a preview test build of Windows 10 sometime tomorrow. When it goes live at this link, I will grab a copy and give you my thoughts. Expect the OS to ship sometime in 2015.

UPDATE: Microsoft has just posted a press release on Windows 10.

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CRTC Blinks In The Battle Against Netflix

Posted in Commentary with tags , , on September 30, 2014 by itnerd

When I last talked about Netflix, the CRTC had demanded data on subscribers along with other info from the company. The response of Netflix was to use a Glee reference, “hell to the no.” So the question was, what would the CRTC do to an entity that they technically don’t regulate.

The answer according to The Toronto Star is nothing:

In a letter to the U.S.-based, web-streaming service on Monday, Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications’ secretary general John Traversy said the CRTC has “the powers of a superior court . . . to enforce its orders” and oblige Netflix to provide confidential business data. 

But he said the regulator has decided to carry on without the information.

Traversy, however, said the CRTC would expunge on Oct. 2 all public record of Netflix’s participation in public hearings on the broadcasting system if it continues to refuse to relinquish closely held information. The CRTC will base any regulatory outcomes on the data available.

In short, the CRTC wasn’t willing to take on Netflix and potentially lose badly. Thus they basically folded up their tent and went home while acting like they could have done something to force them to comply. And the fact that they’re going to delete any record of the participation of Netflix in the Let’s Talk TV hearings will not bother Netflix at all.

Also, you should recall that Google had a similar demand from the CRTC which Google blew off. Want to place a bet that the CRTC backs off of them too?

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Serious iOS Bug Nukes Your Data On Your iDevice AND iCloud

Posted in Commentary with tags on September 29, 2014 by itnerd

From time to time, the only way to fix a problem with iOS is to use the “Reset All Settings” option. That should only erase your data on your iDevice. However, there’s a bug in iOS 8 that not only nukes your data on your iDevice, but on iCloud Drive too. Macrumors.com has the details:

In our own testing, using “Reset All Settings” deleted all iWork documents stored in iCloud Drive on the iPhone and on iCloud.com. After allowing time for syncing to a Mac running OS X Yosemite, all of the documents disappeared from that machine as well. Preview and TextEdit documents, which cannot be accessed on the iPhone, remained untouched on the Mac. 

Now apparently, Apple is looking at the issue. But this is the latest in a string of embarrassing issues related to iOS 8 and the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. You can bet that Apple employees are working overtime to fix this in a hurry.

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Apple Addresses Shellshock Vulnerability….. Maybe [UPDATED]

Posted in Commentary with tags , on September 29, 2014 by itnerd

The good news. Apple released an update to address the Shellshock vulnerability that I have written about. That sounds good. But there’s if you start looking at the details, here’s what you’ll find:

  • The update that I linked to is for Mavericks. Apple also released updates for both OS X Lion and OS X Mountain Lion. If you have an earlier version of Mac OS X than either of those, there’s no update for you. You should update if you can to a newer version of OS X.
  • After I applied to my MacBook Pro running OS X 10.9.5, opened up terminal and ran this command: “bash –version”. The result shows 3.2.53(1). Here’s the problem: CVE-2014-6271, CVE-2014-7169 list Bash versions through 4.3 as vulnerable. So Mac users appear to be still at risk. Now Apple hasn’t posted any details on this update at this link. Until they do, this is an open question.
  • This update as I type this isn’t being distributed via Software Update which would deliver it to every Mac user. That’s a #fail as many users will never know that this update exists and thus will never get it and be protected.

So has the Shellshock vulnerability been addressed? Maybe. We’ll need to get more details to know for sure. More details as they come.

UPDATE: Apple posted this document and it says this:

In addition, this update added a new namespace for exported functions by creating a function decorator to prevent unintended header passthrough to Bash. The names of all environment variables that introduce function definitions are required to have a prefix “__BASH_FUNC<” and suffix “>()” to prevent unintended function passing via HTTP headers.

This is a method of addressing this issue that seems to work as many LINUX distributions are using this method to solve this issue. As a result, I’d strongly suggest that everyone download and install this patch.

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Why Facebook Should Worry About Ello

Posted in Commentary with tags , , on September 29, 2014 by itnerd

There’s a new social network out there. It’s called Ello (as in the way that some from the UK say “hello”) and it’s currently an invite only platform. Now, you’re likely saying that there’s a new Facebook clone popping up every week. Why should you care about this one? Here’s why. This is what the creators of Ello have to say when you scroll down their landing page:

Your social network is owned by advertisers.

Every post you share, every friend you make and every link you follow is tracked, recorded and converted into data. Advertisers buy your data so they can show you more ads. You are the product that’s bought and sold.

We believe there is a better way. We believe in audacity. We believe in beauty, simplicity and transparency. We believe that the people who make things and the people who use them should be in partnership.

We believe a social network can be a tool for empowerment. Not a tool to deceive, coerce and manipulate — but a place to connect, create and celebrate life.

You are not a product.

That’s a clear shot at Facebook who’s known for not exactly being the best at balancing the needs of users privacy with its need to make a buck. That’s the main reason why I steer clear of Facebook and will never get an account on that platform. But will the fact that Ello advertises itself as being the exact opposite of Facebook resonate? It does for me and I suspect it will for many others out there as well. That’s a problem for Facebook as it makes most of its cash from collecting data on its users and selling it. Unless it can somehow wean itself off that addiction to making money in that manner, it will be under threat by a service like Ello. Thus Facebook will have to adapt or perhaps face the possibility that it may lose users.

My advice? Let’s see how this plays out. It will be very interesting to watch what happens as I really think that Facebook truly has something to worry about.

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