Archive for January, 2015

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FCC Says Blocking WiFi Is A Big No No

Posted in Commentary with tags , on January 29, 2015 by itnerd

You might recall that a hotel chain got smacked down pretty hard by the FCC because of the fact that they wanted to block any WiFi signal that they did not control. Plus when the pushed the issue, all the negative press forced them to back down. Yesterday, the FCC sent out this edict: Blocking WiFi is verboten:

Wi-Fi blocking violates Section 333 of the Communications Act, as amended. The Enforcement Bureau has seen a disturbing trend in which hotels and other commercial establishments block wireless consumers from using their own personal Wi-Fi hot spots on the commercial establishment’s premises. As a result, the Bureau is protecting consumers by aggressively investigating and acting against such unlawful intentional interference.

I for one am overjoyed with this because WiFi in hotels is not only hit or miss, but it’s sometimes rather expensive to use. Thus it sometimes makes using my iPhone 5s as a mobile hotspot an attractive option. Hopefully when some hotel chain tries to push the FCC on this, which they will, the FCC really takes them to the metaphorical woodshed.

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YouTube Moves Away From Flash…. Flash Is Doomed?

Posted in Commentary with tags , , on January 29, 2015 by itnerd

I have to admit that I do not like Flash. It’s insecure and power hungry. And I thought that long before the late Steve Jobs said so. So the news that YouTube is moving away from Flash is something that I really, really like:

Four years ago, we wrote about YouTube’s early support for the HTML5 <video> tag and how it performed compared to Flash. At the time, there were limitations that held it back from becoming our preferred platform for video delivery. Most critically, HTML5 lacked support for Adaptive Bitrate (ABR) that lets us show you more videos with less buffering.

Over the last four years, we’ve worked with browser vendors and the broader community to close those gaps, and now, YouTube uses HTML5 <video> by default in Chrome, IE 11, Safari 8 and in beta versions of Firefox.

The benefits of HTML5 extend beyond web browsers, and it’s now also used in smart TVs and other streaming devices. 

With YouTube moving away from Flash, it means that Flash is likely doomed because others will copy YouTube’s move . And finally, I will have a reason not to have Flash on my computer which will take away one attack vector from the bad guys and make my computer perform better.

 

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Echo Connect Plus Looking For Backers On Indiegogo For Innovative Charge Cable

Posted in Commentary with tags on January 28, 2015 by itnerd

Something that caught my eye today was the Echo Connect Plus charging cable. It’s a keyring based charge cable that is also has the world’s first Apple licensed dual connector. You can charge any device with it. Android, iPhone, tablets, whatever. It’s durable and will survive almost anything that you can throw at it. Here’s a video that goes into more detail:

The company behind the Echo Connect Plus is looking for backers on Indiegogo so that they can start production. A link to their funding campaign that recently kicked off is here. Check it out as they have some really neat perks if you join the campaign.

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Apple Makes Craploads Of Money And Sells Lots Of iPhones

Posted in Commentary with tags on January 27, 2015 by itnerd

Apple released their quarterly numbers after the close of the markets and they blew any expectations that the street had for them. Here’s the highlights:

  • Apple posted revenue of $74.6 billion
  • Apple had a net quarterly profit of $18 billion or $3.06 per diluted share

This compared to revenue of $57.6 billion and net quarterly profit of $13.1 billion, or $1.98 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. The company currently holds $178 billion in cash and marketable securities

More highlights:

  • Apple sold a record 74.5 million iPhones during the quarter, up from 51 million
  • Apple sold 5.5 million Macs up from 4.8 million units
  • iPad sales were down to 21.4 million from 26 million

Samsung must just be freaking with numbers like those.

Oh, there’s one more thing. The Apple Watch will ship in April. This was confirmed by Tim Cook on the earnings call tonight. Start getting in line now.

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OS X 10.10.2 Released To The World [UPDATED]

Posted in Commentary with tags on January 27, 2015 by itnerd

Besides an update to iOS, Apple released OS X 10.10.2 today to fix a whole host of issues that has plagued the OS since its release last year. Here’s the list of fixes:

  • Resolves an issue that may cause Wi-Fi to disconnect. Of course, that’s what they said with 10.10.1 and it wasn’t true. So we’ll see.
  • Resolves an issue that may cause web pages to load slowly
  • Fixes an issue that caused Spotlight to load remote email content when the preference was disabled in Mail. That’s something I reported on here.
  • Improves audio and video sync when using Bluetooth headphones
  • Adds the ability to browse iCloud Drive in Time Machine
  • Improves VoiceOver speech performance
  • Resolves an issue that causes VoiceOver to echo characters when entering text on a web page
  • Addresses an issue that may cause the input method to switch languages unexpectedly
  • Improves stability and security in Safari

Also, according to the document that details the security content, it contains fixes for the Thunderstrike exploit along with all three issues that Google disclosed last week. I’m downloading it now and I will be testing it and reporting back shortly. It will be safe to say that if WiFi isn’t fixed in this update, Apple will have some very ticked off users to deal with very shortly.

UPDATE: It’s early days yet, but so far my WiFi is more stable and Safari feels much faster. I still need to do more testing to confirm. Continuity works better and the user interface feels a whole lot more fluid, I’ll let you know if I notice anything else.

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iOS 8.1.3 Released To The World [UPDATED]

Posted in Commentary with tags on January 27, 2015 by itnerd

So, Apple released iOS 8.1.3 to the world. It brings with it a bunch of fixes including:

  • A fix for an issue that prevented some users from entering their Apple ID passwords for Messages and FaceTime
  • A fix for a bug that caused Spotlight to stop displaying app results
  • A fix for a problem that prevented multitasking gestures from working on the iPad.
  • It reduces the amount of storage space required to perform an iOS update…. Which I am guessing has something to do with this lawsuit.
  • It adds new configuration options for education standardized testing.

So in the interest of being able to report the results to you, I downloaded and installed this update a few minutes ago. For the first time since iOS 8 hit, I was able to update over the air without having to delete some of the contents of my iPhone 5S to do it. Not only that, after the update I had 1.3GB free which is almost double the free space I had going in. That alone makes this update worth the price of admission. I also notice that some weird user interface glitches that were pervasive are absent. I will continue testing and post my results. But if you have any feedback, please post a comment and share your experiences.

UPDATE: I note that Continuity works more consistently. Other than that, I haven’t noticed anything else other than a prompt for the iCloud Photos beta.

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Mobilicity Lives…… At Least For Now As It Secures Financing To Compete For New Spectrum

Posted in Commentary with tags on January 27, 2015 by itnerd

The upstart cell phone carrier that I’ve had on death watch for sometime now seems that Mobilicity has enough of a life to get financing to compete for the upcoming AWS-3 spectrum auction. Here’s what The Globe And Mail had to say:

Last Thursday, the company said it had still not secured the necessary backing, but William Aziz, the chief restructuring officer, said in an affidavit Monday that the company has reached an agreement to enter into a second debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing for $65-million from some of the company’s existing debt holders.

The agreement is structured off an earlier DIP financing arrangement for $30-million the company entered into when it first filed for protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act.

The funding is contingent on court approval, which the company is seeking at a motion in Toronto scheduled for Wednesday.

The company plans to create a new, wholly owned subsidiary called Mobilicity SpectrumCo for the sole purpose of applying to participate in the auction.

This has to be considered a last chance for the company as not getting this spectrum would leave the company at a huge competitive disadvantage. So if this fails, one would think that Mobilicity which has been under creditor protection since September 2013 is done.

Some key dates to keep in mind:

  • Deposits are due on Friday for the AWS-3 spectrum auction. That’s when we’ll see if Mobilicity truly has the cash to compete in this auction.
  • March 3rd is the deadline for sealed bids. It will be shortly after that we’ll find out if Mobilicity will be around for the long term.

Add to that the fact that Mobilicity is seeking an extension of a stay of legal proceedings against it from Jan. 30 to May 8. So that could really change the landscape if they don’t get that.

This is a story to keep an eye on as things are about to get very interesting I suspect.

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Sonos Announces Improvements To The Sonos App

Posted in Commentary with tags on January 27, 2015 by itnerd

Sonos today announced via their blog that they were making some improvements to the Sonos app. They’ve taken some user feedback in terms of the user experience and have made the following improvements:

  • A faster way to manage all the rooms in your home: Effortlessly move your music around your home with a more accessible rooms menu, now available by tapping the top of any screen in the Sonos app.
  • Improvements to the tablet app: New dedicated screens for what’s playing and music discovery on iOS and Android tablets makes toggling between screens more intuitive.
  • Quickly switch between screens: Using your phone, swipe left to right to open the music menu. Swipe up to go straight back to what’s playing.
  • Want to hear that verse again? The track progression bar is back in your now playing screen, just below the album art. Drag it to whatever point in the song you want to play.
  • Easier to mix it up: Shuffle mode and crossfade are back where they belong. From the now playing screen, simply press the info button.

You can try Sonos 5.3 in beta today on any Android mobile device. An iOS beta version is available via a media VIP beta which means it is not open to the public at this time.  The full release, including the updated app for iOS devices will be available in the coming months.

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Samsung Galaxy Note Edge Coming To Rogers

Posted in Commentary with tags , on January 27, 2015 by itnerd

The Samsung Galaxy Note Edge, Canada’s first CAT6 enabled device, is now available for pre-order via Rogers reservation system for $399.99 on select two year Share Everything plans. CAT6 devices are the next evolution of wireless technology offering faster downloads and higher quality video experiences. That will make your smartphone experience very impressive.

It will be rolling out in select locations including:

  • Ontario – communities within Toronto, Oshawa North, Caledon East and Stouffville
  • B.C. – communities within Vancouver, Walnut Grove

More locations will appear soon.

I’ve requested one to review and as soon as I get it, you can expect a review to be posted.

 

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Facebook & Instagram Go Down…. World Goes Bonkers

Posted in Commentary with tags on January 27, 2015 by itnerd

You might have noticed that between 6:10 AM and 7:10 AM GMT that Facebook and Instagram were down. That also took down anything that used Facebook credentials to log in. That caused many on the web to comment on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/TheDavidStoll/status/560074043400134656

https://twitter.com/Decentjaykumar/status/560073961028198400

One interesting thing that happened is that the infamous hacker group know as “The Lizard Squad” claimed responsibility for the outage:

https://twitter.com/LizardMafia/status/559963134006292481

However, Facebook came out with a statement denying any sort of attack. Here’s what they said via CNBC:

“Earlier today many people had trouble accessing Facebook and Instagram,” a company statement, emailed to CNBC, said.

“This was not the result of a third party attack but instead occurred after we introduced a change that affected our configuration systems. We moved quickly to fix the problem, and both services are back to 100 percent for everyone.”

So, did Facebook get pwned and they’re not admitting to it, or did they really screw up? Only Facebook knows the truth on that front. But at least they’re up and the world can relax and can go back to reading mundane status updates and having their personal data mined to help to line Facebook’s pockets.

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