Showing 11 - 20 of 26
New year, new iPhone rumours
Life, James Hein, Published on 13/01/2016
» What would the week be without more rumours about an upcoming iPhone? Even though a new Apple phone isn't due out until September, speculation is already flowing rapidly. It will of course be called the iPhone 7, no surprises there. It will come in two sizes, just like the 6 range, allowing those users afraid of the larger screens to remain calm. It will have a better CPU and be a tiny bit thinner. It probably won't have an AMOLED screen but will have a better battery. The most interesting rumour is the removal of the 3.5mm headphone jack to be replaced with a wireless lightening port. This will instantly disconnect a plethora of current devices from the phone and increase revenues for Apple iPhone-only peripheral products, including headphones. So far not even the predictions are encouraging, but it is very early days yet.
Do not feed the trolls
Life, James Hein, Published on 14/10/2015
» The internet is full of nice people who just want to make everyone feel good about themselves. Yes, of course, I'm just messing with you. While there are some people and some sites that are indeed supportive there are many others that are full of anonymous cowards who lurk in wait and revel in making personal attacks. The term "trolls" is a common one and some of these are even paid to wait for an organisation, website, blog or specific individuals to post something so that they can instantly slither in for the attack. It doesn't seem to matter if the subject is somewhere from aardvarks to zebras there will be someone out there to take an opposing position like that one guy in the audience who just doesn't like what you are singing in a pub.
The year Samsung outsmarted Apple
Life, James Hein, Published on 31/12/2014
» It is that time of year where I look back and see how many of the predictions I made at the start of the year happened.
At the risk of droning on about UAVs
Life, James Hein, Published on 26/11/2014
» A hot topic at the moment is UAVs, or unmanned aerial vehicles. Not the military drone kind but the one with four or six rotors carrying a camera and flying around the neighbourhood taking photos of video up to 4K resolution. The TV show South Park covered this issue in its own unique way and countries are struggling to cope with the legal ramifications of taking pictures over the backyard fence, through windows, above secluded pools and so on. Even innocent pictures like a real estate agent getting an aerial shot of the property can be an issue as one found out recently when part of the shot had someone sunbathing next door that was missed in the process before the billboard went up.
Unconcerned China hacks the iCloud
Life, James Hein, Published on 29/10/2014
» Apple was temporarily enthused that their iPhone 6 was going on sale in China since this has been a reasonable marketplace for them in the past. Then it was reported that China state-supported hackers were actively implementing a so-called man-in-the-middle attack against Apple's iCloud which would give them access to people in China trying to connect to the iCloud.com server. This attack replaces the certificate used by the customer and allows monitoring of user names, passwords and activity.
Just who is accessing your data?
Life, James Hein, Published on 15/10/2014
» According to a recent Department of Finance announcement in Australia, agencies must now adopt cloud technologies. In the announcement, the word "must" is in italics because there are some qualifications like "where it is fit for purpose, provides adequate protection of data and delivers value for money".
Are Padfones one step too far?
Life, James Hein, Published on 11/06/2014
» Sometimes all you need, or want, is a simple version of a device that will meet your needs. All too often in the IT and technology industries, builders keep adding bits and pieces to a product to try and make it all things to all people. Microsoft Office is one example. How many people use all the functionality of, say, Word — or even 50% of what’s available?
Sysadmins know all the best secrets
Life, James Hein, Published on 11/09/2013
» After all the hoopla about Edward Snowden, now a new resident of Russia, you may be asking yourself how he managed to walk off with all that information. After all, the US National Security Agency, or NSA, is meant to be the be-all and end-all of security. They can supposedly listen to everyone's phone calls and all information is carefully monitored with employees blocked from copying files. So people are calling him a genius who brilliantly made off with all that sensitive information. The truth is a little more mundane. He belonged to a group known as System Administrators.
The eyes have it
Life, James Hein, Published on 13/03/2013
» Another detail about an upcoming Samsung smartphone feature. The latest is that the phone will allow you to scroll through text by watching your eyes. Apparently when it sees that you have reached the bottom of the text it will scroll down to the next paragraph. Not sure that the Galaxy S4 will boast this feature, but it is one that the next iPhone won't possess. As the S4 release date gets closer, the wild claims of the next iPhone's feature set are also being ramped up. I suggest you wait until closer to the actual release date to find out what that model really offers.
Apple's slide points to its fading allure
Life, James Hein, Published on 27/02/2013
» I was walking past the Apple store recently and wondering if as a heretic I was going to burst into flames as I walked in. After no signs of combustion I wandered round looking at the goodies.