Archive for December, 2017

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The IT Nerd Award For The Best Car Of 2017 Goes To: 2018 Hyundai Elantra GT Sport Ultimate

Posted in Products with tags on December 28, 2017 by itnerd

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Every time I review a vehicle from Hyundai, I walk away impressed. It started with the Genesis… Long before they spun that off as a separate brand. Then the Tucson impressed me so much that I bought one. And both of those vehicles won IT Nerd Awards. Now it’s the 2018 Hyundai Elantra GT Sport Ultimate turn to continue that tradition. What the Korean company has come up with is a hot hatch that challenges VW and its famed GTI in pretty much every area and leaves a grin on your face that is so large, it will be seen from space. On top of that, they have some cool infotainment tech on board in the form of BlueLink. In short, it really fits the definition of what a hot hatch should be at a price point that is accessible to those who are looking for a car in this category. For those reasons, the 2018 Hyundai Elantra GT Sport Ultimate is very much a worthy winner of an IT Nerd Award for 2017.

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NordVPN Serves Up The 10 Best Security & Privacy Apps for 2018

Posted in Commentary with tags on December 28, 2017 by itnerd

As another year is drawing to a close, cybersecurity experts are warning that Internet users should start taking their privacy & security more seriously.

Cyberattacks in 2017 have been happening at a twice higher rate than in 2016, but many Internet users still make such basic mistakes as easy-to-guess passwords, clicking on unfamiliar links sent through emails or going to a public WiFi network without using a VPN.

NordVPN is sharing its list of the best security and privacy apps for 2018.

  1. Signal is an encrypted messaging and voice calling app that provides end-to-end encryption to secure all communications. The app can also verify the identity of people one is messaging and the integrity of the channel they are using. When texting non-Signal users, one has an option to invite them to an encrypted conversation via Signal.
  2. Tor Messenger is an encrypted messenger created by the makers of Tor, the world’s most popular encrypted Internet browser, synonymous with “the dark web.” Tor Messenger is a cross-platform chat app that is secure by default and sends all messages over Tor Network. The app supports a good number of transport networks, such as IRC, Google Talk, Facebook Chat, Yahoo, and others, and enables Off-The-Record (OTR) messaging – a safe and encrypted way to have private conversations – over Tor’s network of computers for greater anonymity.
  3. NordVPN (Virtual Private Network provider) is a must-have encryption app. A VPN encrypts the data traveling from your device across the Internet and is the best security mechanism to ensure the Internet traffic remains confidential. NordVPN has a reputation of focusing on security and having a zero logs policy, is fast and easy to use. The app re-routes and encrypts all Internet traffic making the connection private and secured while using top of the line security protocol IKEv2/IPsec.
  4. Norton Identity Safe gives you freedom from remembering passwords: it saves all usernames and passwords on iPhone and iPad and syncs them across devices. Secure passwords can be created within the app. The app also allows for faster checkout and fills in forms with the user’s bank information.
  5. ProtonMail is a Gmail-like email provider, offering an automatic end-to-end encryption. No personal information is required to create a secure email account.
  6. Keeply is a spy-level app for an average user. It stores a user’s private moments and data – pins, credit cards, notes, photos and videos – right on the phone. Keeply provides a Fake Pin feature, which is an alternative password that the user can give to their nosy friends or family –  when they enter it, the app shows an empty application. Face-down Lock, on the other hand, causes Keeply to close immediately when it’s placed face down. It can also take a photo of anyone who enters a wrong PIN code into the phone. Best of all: nothing ever leaves the phone.
  7. Secret Calculator is another app for storing user’s private photos, videos, notes, contacts and other sensitive data behind an innocent-looking calculator app.
  8. Find My Phone is an app and service by Apple that allows remote tracking of iOS devices. It can be installed from app store like any other app.
  9. Kryptos app is a fully encrypted voice communications app that provides encrypted VoIP connectivity for calls over 3G, 4G and WiFi. While Kryptos is not a replacement for mobile phone service, its function is to provide privacy for the calls.
  10. Best Phone Security Pro is an app that will ring an alarm as soon as someone unauthorized touches the device.  The user can choose the lock option: Touch ID, pattern lock or passcode lock. You can even record your own alarm sound.

It’s becoming increasingly important to make sure that all digital devices, whether used privately or by a company, are as secure as possible. Just as we protect our homes with locks and security systems, fielding potential intruders, we should make sure our devices are also properly secured – especially because these days, most of the valuable information is stored online. Beside security and privacy apps, everyone should use common sense when sharing information on their devices, encrypt when using public Wi-Fi and always use strong passwords.

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Korea To Apple: Why Are You Slowing Down Older iPhones?

Posted in Commentary with tags on December 28, 2017 by itnerd

The controversy over Apple slowing down older iPhones isn’t going away. On top of the lawsuits that have been filed, the Korea Communications Commission wants to know what the deal is:

 The Korean broadcasting and telecom regulator has formally sought an explanation from Apple on allegations that it tried to defraud customers by deliberately slowing down devices without warning, according to industry sources on Dec. 28. 

“We are hoping to get some answers on whether Apple intentionally restricted the performance of old iPhones and tried to hide this from customers,” said the Korea Communications Commission. 

The only good news for Apple is that these guys can only ask questions. They can’t slap them with penalties or anything of the sort. But seeing as this is Samsung’s backyard, you know that Apple will choose its words very carefully when they answer.

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MyRadar App Adds Flight Tracking

Posted in Commentary with tags on December 28, 2017 by itnerd

MyRadar, a popular weather app with over 25 million downloads, has released a feature for iOS just in time to help holiday travelers not pull their hair out. The newly added travel features include allowing holiday travelers to view delays, their flight information, including arrivals, departures, and gate information while staying within their favorite weather app.

Users can also link their TripIt account, so MyRadar can update their saved flight information for upcoming trips. The app will automatically detect when you open it at a major airport and will show you any delays at the airport.

These new features give MyRadar users the same access to the minute to minute weather predictions, storm tracking and temperature displays, with the added convenience of all their travel information as well.

Fior more info, you can go to Myradar.com

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Rogers Seems To Have Widespread Issues With Their Gigabit Internet Offering…. Sigh

Posted in Commentary with tags on December 27, 2017 by itnerd

Over the last ten days or so, my normally fast gigabit Internet service with Rogers has become problematic again. To give you some perspective, I normally get about 900 Mbps downstream from a wired connection on the modem. Now I am lucky to get 450 to 500 Mbps. I was going to say that I had a problem with my area as this unfortunately is not the first rodeo when it comes to dealing with substantially slower speeds with Rogers gigabit Internet offering. But on a hunch, I decided to look at Twitter to see if I was the only one with these issues. It turns out that I am not:

Now if I scroll back through Twitter, there has been the odd Tweet about Rogers gigabit Internet being slow. But the pace of complaints via Twitter seems to have picked up right around the time I started to have problems again. Thus this implies that Rogers has a widespread issue of some sort with their gigabit offering.

Seeing as this is my third go round in just over a year with not getting close to gigabit speeds with Rogers, I am seriously entertaining switching to Bell. Sure they have problematic customer service and have been accused of being a bit shady at times. But everyone in my condo who has their gigabit Internet offering is getting gigabit or better speeds all the time. Having a service that delivers what is promised all the time is increasingly looking appealing despite the risk of going with a company with questionable customer service. When I work up the courage, because it does require courage to call Rogers, I will do so to see if I can get this resolved. If I can’t, I know where my next call is going.

Updates as they come.

UPDATE: In the last ten minutes, I’ve gotten emails from Rogers customers who have experienced what I have experienced. That’s pretty telling and illustrates that Rogers has a problem with their gigabit Internet service that extends beyond yours truly.

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Nissan Canada Financial Pwned…. Number Of Customers Affected Is Unknown

Posted in Commentary with tags on December 27, 2017 by itnerd

The holiday’s may be in full swing but the pwnage continues. Today’s story of pwnage is Nissan Canada’s financial arm who posted this notice on their website right before the holidays to say this:

Nissan Canada Finance recently became aware it was the victim of a data breach that may have involved unauthorized person(s) gaining access to the personal information of some customers that have financed their vehicles through Nissan Canada Finance and INFINITI Financial Services Canada. 

The company is offering the following:

NCF is taking prompt action to notify potentially affected customers and is offering them 12 months of credit monitoring services through TransUnion at no cost. While the precise number of customers affected by this breach is not yet known, out of abundance of caution, NCF is notifying all its customers and is providing them with credit monitoring services even if their personal information may not have actually been affected. 

In addition to alerting our customers, NCF has contacted Canadian privacy regulators, law enforcement, and leading data security experts to help rapidly investigate this matter.

Now what was scooped up in this event? Customer names, address, vehicle make and model, vehicle identification number (VIN), credit score, loan amount and monthly payment may have been swiped and Nissan figured it out on December 11th. Though the world didn’t find out until December 21st. It isn’t clear at this point the exact number of people who might have been affected by this pwnage. If you’re a customer of Nissan Canada Financial and you feel the least bit paranoid, and you should feel paranoid, you can phone 1-877-224-4711.

In the meantime, I hope the federal government is watching this situation as this illustrates the need for strict laws in Canada to forces companies to not only invest in defending against being pwned, but to rapidly disclose pwnage when it happens.

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People Who Have Bell & Telus $60/10GB Plans Can’t Have Apple Watch Series 3 On Them… Customers Outraged

Posted in Commentary with tags , on December 27, 2017 by itnerd

It seems that if you were one of the many Canadians who rushed to get a $60/10GB plan from Bell, and you have an Apple Watch Series 3 with LTE, you might have a problem. Based on these Tweets, you can’t add an Apple Watch Series 3 onto that plan:

https://twitter.com/rhipo5/status/944589457067569152

In two of the Tweets above, it seems that reps for Bell said to those customers that they could add an Apple Watch. Only to find out later that they couldn’t. Thus it seems that Bell still has issues when it comes to dealing with their customers in an upfront manner.

But Bell isn’t alone in this. Telus customers seem to have the same issue:

https://twitter.com/majikp3/status/944244610792124421

As for Rogers….. Well…. They still don’t have Apple Watch Series 3 support at all. But clearly those Canadians who wanted a cheap cell phone plan because Canadians get screwed by cell phone carriers may have to give up those plans if they want an Apple Watch Series 3 with LTE. That shows you what Canadian telcos think of their customers.

Pity.

UPDATE: Telus seems to have bigger issues. Apparently you can’t add an Apple Watch to a Telus corporate plan either:

https://twitter.com/JDaveMacD/status/943918006396162049

https://twitter.com/Eric_G_Mathias/status/945029693610139648

But it also seems that Telus might have a workaround to not being able to add an Apple Watch to their $60/10GB plans:

If this is accurate, then it looks like Bell might be the big loser here. If you’re a Telus customer and you have an Apple Watch with your $60/10GB plan via this method, an email or a tweet to me confirming that this works would be really appreciated.

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The IT Nerd Award For The Best Accessory Of 2017 Goes To: Rogers Smart Drive By ZTE

Posted in Products with tags , on December 27, 2017 by itnerd

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I have to admit that this was a very competitive category which had a lot of strong contenders in it. But in the end, I went with Rogers Smart Drive which is made by ZTE. The reason being is that this device brings smart car tech to any car. Installation is trivially easy and you get WiFi, location services for your car, monitoring of things like fuel economy, fuel level, and if there are any diagnostic trouble codes that the car has, and alerts if you car has been hit or if someone is trying to break into it. And you get all of this info on your iOS or Android device. The price point is a winner as well as the costs to buy the device and the monthly data charges are well within the reach of most. I will note that ZTE has also partnered with Telus and Bell to bring the same device to their networks. Regardless of which one you choose, this is a worthy winner of an IT Nerd Award for 2017.

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Linksys Tries To Limit The Damage As Frustration Mounts Over WRT32X Issues

Posted in Commentary with tags on December 27, 2017 by itnerd

The last time I wrote about the issues with the WRT32X, I had had a chat with a rep from Linksys and I was reassured that they were doing everything possible to resolve the firmware issues that had been plaguing that router along with the WRT3200ACM. Since then I’ve noted on the Linksys community forums that Linksys is sending out routers for some with other models so that users can get online. Here’s an example (Click to enlarge):

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I applaud Linksys for taking this route. It’s not a cheap course of action to start handing out routers to users who are affected by this issue, but they need to ensure that their users are online and placated for the moment while they work on the issues with the WRT32X and WRT3200ACM.

Here’s the flipside to that. Time may be running for Linksys to fix this. I said in one of my previous posts that the company has hours or days to fix this if they want to maintain the trust of their users. It’s been weeks and the frustration appears to be growing based on this Reddit thread and these Tweets:

In terms of the second tweet, I have heard rumors of a stop sale on both routers. But I have not been able to confirm that. If and when I do, I will update this post.

I’ve also talked to my contact at Netgear who served up this router for me to review shortly after this story broke. Speaking on background, his comment was that he’s seen an uptick of Nighthawk router purchases. That’s great for Netgear, but bad news for Linksys as it suggests that people are abandoning Linksys for the competition. And those people may never come back. I’ve also reached out to my contact at ASUS who served up this router for me to test to see if the same is true for them and if and when I hear back from her, I’ll update this post.

Now I still believe that Linksys will fix this. And I also believe that by sending out routers to affected customers, they’re really trying to do the right thing in a very difficult situation. But time is starting to run out for them to bring this issue to closure. The reality is that the longer that this goes on, the possibility for this to get worse for Linksys increases. And it could get to the point where they aren’t a viable choice for people looking for routers. That would be a shame as they’ve got some great stuff that’s out there as well as some great stuff in the pipeline that I’ve seen and can’t talk about. But all of that won’t matter if they can’t resolve this firmware issue as quickly as possible.

UPDATE: I have two updates on this story to tell you about:

  1. Both routers that have this firmware issue seem to be unavailable for sale via Linksys.com. So it’s clear that Linksys has stopped selling them to customers directly. However I found them both very easily at everything from local computer stores that carry Linksys product to Best Buy and even Amazon. And salespeople in those stores are completely unaware of this issue. Thus the unsuspecting will be buying these products, run into this issue, and be none too happy when they find out that this has been going on for a while. Thus adding to the problems that Linksys is facing.
  2. ASUS has told me on background that they’ve seen a “significant” bump in sales of their high end routers due to this issue. Great for ASUS. Not good for Linksys.

 

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The IT Nerd Award For Best Smartphone Goes To: ASUS ZenFone 4 Pro

Posted in Products with tags on December 26, 2017 by itnerd

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I reviewed a bunch of phones this year, but the ASUS ZenFone 4 Pro stood out to me because of the camera. I took it into an environment where it had to deal with a variety of lighting conditions which was the new Line 1 extension of the Toronto Subway System. And it passed that test with ease. That’s important because every phone these days is fast and capable. So it has to have something that makes it stand out from the pack. ASUS has it in the form of the camera. It’s a total winner if you want a flagship phone with a great camera. To add to that is battery life of close to two days. All for a sub $900 price tag unlocked. This makes the ZenFone 4 Pro a worthy winner of the IT Nerd Award for best smartphone of 2017.

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