If it wasn’t clear that you should enable two factor authentication on your iCloud account, here’s a very good reason. The Chinese have been accused of being behind a man in the middle attack where they would intercept user names and passwords. Here is a link to the details including the fact that this coincides with the launch of the iPhone in China. The purpose of this attack is unknown. But it cannot be good. Thus you should take precautions.
Archive for October 20, 2014
China Behind Man In The Middle Attack On iCloud
Posted in Products with tags Apple on October 20, 2014 by itnerdReview: Apple OS X Yosemite – Part 2
Posted in Products with tags Apple on October 20, 2014 by itnerdNow that I’ve got OS X Yosemite installed, I can speak to the key improvements and features that most users will notice right away. One thing to keep in mind is that as far as I can tell, there is no performance penalty that I can discern which is a good thing. Now, to the key improvements and new features:
- Continuity is my favorite feature in Yosemite. I can start an e-mail on my iPhone and continue it on my Mac. Or I can answer a phone call that is coming into my iPhone on my Mac if my iPhone isn’t at hand. I can even start surfing the web on my iPhone and continue surfing on my Mac. This makes the Mac and iOS devices one coherent unit as opposed to two separate devices, which I think users will appreciate. Yosemite now has a iOS 8 look and feel to it which will help that coherent feeling.
- A new feature is Dark Mode which turns some aspects of the OS a much darker shade of grey, to make it more comfortable to use your Mac in dim lighting. Seeing as I use my MacBook Pro on planes and trains often, this is a handy feature.
- For the first time, you’ll actually have a reason to use Notification Center. This iteration has a Today panel that is just like iOS 8’s Notification Centre. It displays your Calendar appointments, the weather, world clock, and other elements you choose. And it supports third party widgets too.
- Spotlight has been vastly improved. Besides helping you to find whatever is on your hard drive, you can type in the name of a movie and you’ll get a thumbnail image and a plot summary with credits courtesy of Wikipedia. If you type in the name of a restaurant or hotel, Spotlight will display a map along with details of the establishment and reviews from Yelp. Handy!
- The new Safari seems minimal at first, but there’s a lot of change that makes Safari a lot like what you would find on iOS 8. Ditto for iTunes. Users of iDevices will feel right at home. Users who have never seen an iDevice may be in for a bit of an adjustment.
- Mail doesn’t look any different. But it is. The first way it’s different is Mail Drop which allows you to send attachments up to 5GB in size to anyone via iCloud. The second way it’s different is that Mail now supports third party extensions so that you can add additional functionality.
- Calendar looks and feels like its counterpart in iOS 8.
- You can FINALLY use AirDrop to transfer items from say your iDevice to your Mac. If they could get this functionality to work with PCs, it would be amazing. But I’m pretty sure it isn’t going to happen.
And the best part of this is that this is a FREE upgrade. Thus there’s no reason not to upgrade if your hardware supports Yosemite. I think that it will be quickly adopted by Mac users because of the features it brings to the table.
Review: 2014 Mazda CX-9 GT AWD – Part 1
Posted in Products with tags Mazda on October 20, 2014 by itnerdThis review of the Mazda CX-9 started out differently than all of the my prior vehicle reviews. It started with an e-mail from a reader:
Hello IT Nerd. I found you via Google while looking for car reviews. I love the detail that you go into with your reviews which is why I am sending you an e-mail. I’m the mother of two young boys and I want to replace my aging minivan with something that makes me feel more sexy. As you can tell, it’s not just guys who don’t want to drive minivans. I’m really interested in the Mazda CX-9 and seeing that you have reviewed other Mazda cars in the past, could you review this one? I would be so grateful if you could!
Thank you!
After receiving that e-mail I reached out to Mazda Canada to see if they had one. It turned out that they did and earned my eternal gratitude by quickly providing me with this CX-9:
Here’s a look from the front:
The Kodo design language still fits on a vehicle of this size:
From the side it looks well proportioned.
On this trim level, you get nice looking 20″ wheels.
The back looks good as well and those dual tailpipes appeal to me.
This is a seven passenger crossover that is clearly targeted to those who don’t want to drive a minivan, but still need to carry lots of people or stuff. Plus they want to look good while doing either.
I’ll be posting a multi-part review that will cover the following sections:
- Engine, transmission, handling, fuel economy, and driving comfort
- Interior
- Technology in the vehicle
- Wrap up
Tune in tomorrow to where I will discuss a engine that I have not seen in any Mazda product that I’ve reviewed, a V6.
iOS 8.1 Relased To The Planet…… So Far, So Good.
Posted in Commentary with tags Apple on October 20, 2014 by itnerdAs promised in last week’s Apple event, Apple has released iOS 8.1 to the planet. In my case, the download was 177 MB but required 2.2 GB of free space to install. That meant that once again I had to zap a ton of stuff to install it as I have a 16GB iPhone 5s. But other than that annoyance, the install was uneventful.
One thing that I noticed immediately is that my WiFi issues that had been plaguing me since going to iOS 8 appear to be gone. My iPhone 5s would connect to my WiFi network and stay connected without a hassle. That is a very welcome improvement. I can’t find anything wrong just yet. But I will let you know if I do.
Key additions and improvements include:
I’m currently looking for any other changes from iOS 8. If you spot any, please post a comment below.
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