Showing 31 - 40 of 74
Safe surfing with a VPN
Life, James Hein, Published on 27/08/2014
» So how safe is your surfing? Not the water, board and shark kind, but what you do on the web. Sitting in front of your computer you will either have your own internet protocol (IP) address or be assigned one as part of a pool that is doled out by your internet service provider (ISP). Somewhere between you and the rest of the internet will be a domain name server (DNS) that knows how to get a message from out there back to you and vice versa. Or to put it another way, they know where you are.
Downfall of Chromebook dynasty?
Life, James Hein, Published on 20/08/2014
» First there was the netbook, then the Ultrabook. Now we have the Chromebook, of which the Gartner Group predicts sales will top 5 million units this year. If it is anything like the netbook, by 2017 people will be asking: "Chromebook? What is that?" Gartner missed predicting that the netbook bubble would burst, and I think they have made the same mistake here.
Condolences and rumours
Life, James Hein, Published on 23/07/2014
» I want to start out this week by offering Microsoft server administrators by heartfelt condolences for their future. I recently remote-logged onto Windows Server 2012 and immediately thought I’d made a mistake when I was presented with a Windows 8-like screen.
Web standard development in the pipeline
Life, James Hein, Published on 16/07/2014
» Samsung, Dell, Intel, Broadcom and others have started the Open Interconnect Consortium (OIC) with the aim of uniting on standards for internet development. Or, in their own words, “will seek to define a common communication framework based on industry standard technologies to wirelessly connect and intelligently manage the flow of information among devices, regardless of form factor, operating system or service provider” and “it is our intention to create a specification and an open source project that will allow interoperability for all types of devices and operating systems”. For the moment this announcement is about there is to it, with more information to follow later.
OnePlus One is new
Life, James Hein, Published on 04/06/2014
» The OnePlus One is a new Android phone from Oppo Electronics out of China. It sells for US$299 (about 10,000 baht), which puts it under half the price of the big models like the Samsung Galaxy S5 and HTC One M8. For that price you get the latest Snapdragon 801 quad-core processor, 3GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, a 5.5-inch 1080p IPS screen, 13MP camera, 4G LTE support, Bluetooth 4 and a 3100mAh battery. You also get Gorilla Glass 3 in a polycarbonate shell.
Protect your photographs from spies
Life, James Hein, Published on 21/05/2014
» Beware the Cloud, or at least Google+. I took a picture with my phone recently, something I don’t do all that often, and happened to visit Google+ soon after. The first thing I saw was the photo I’d just taken. This was the first time I discovered that any photos I take are by default sent immediately to my Google+ area. You would think this was a setting in the Android G+ app but it is instead in the Photos apps. Google’s default push is to fully open up everything you do to Google, so be careful what setting you have and how you use your camera. To be fair the photo was in a “protected” area but we all know how well that kind of protection remains in the open-to-the-world-plus-their-dog environment we live in.
Happy birthday, Gmail
Life, James Hein, Published on 30/04/2014
» This month Gmail turned 10. According to legend, it was created in the free time of Google engineers, who were allocated 20% of their time for personal projects. In those days there was Microsoft (who managed to lose all of my Hotmail emails one year; I’ve never touched it since), Yahoo! and AOL, making Gmail’s rise from nothing quite an achievement. Gmail introduced threaded mail, more data storage and allowed users to send larger emails. They also introduced an “undo send” option, long-term storage of emails, better searching and didn’t delete your account if you remained inactive for a while. It handled spam decently and worked on almost every browser. Microsoft responded by charging for extra space. No wonder it is now the top free email service, at least according to some measures.
Smart shopping
Life, James Hein, Published on 09/04/2014
» I have been looking at tablets. It took me a long time to decide on a smartphone and when to buy it, and while my first was an O2, the first one I was happy with was the Galaxy S2. I now have the S3 and will be upgrading to the S5 probably a month or so after it is released to avoid the introductory high prices. Picking a first tablet is turning out to be a much harder exercise. The unit must have a good screen but also support for a memory card which cuts out everything Apple makes. Good battery life is essential as is light weight and this covers a good range of products. For the moment I have my eye on the Note 10.1 2014 model, but that could change over the next couple of months as new devices enter the market.
The death of the PC?
Life, James Hein, Published on 12/03/2014
» According to the International Data Corporation (IDC), the PC market contracted in 2013. Along with Gartner, IDC predicts a continued contraction until at least 2018. Reasons include the popularity of tablets, smartphones, a slowing world economy, people sticking with their PCs longer and operating system issues. Some are predicting the death of the PC, but I disagree, because what is the alternative? In a work environment and even for many home users, the PC still reigns. Other devices are good toys, but the PC is still the base.
How not to be a Glasshole
Life, James Hein, Published on 26/02/2014
» The growing use of smart glasses technology has led organisations like Google to issue a list of do’s and don’ts when using the devices so as to avoid being a “Glasshole”.