So you purchased your Android phone before the Verizon iPhone 4 was released and you're having iPhone envy OR you're just not wanting to live inside the Apple bubble... Either way you can now be the envy of other iPhone owners with the Android app Winamp 1.0. Yes you heard me - that venerable MP3 playing app from way back has made it's way to the Android platform with some amazing features:
Wireless Syncing of your media library (Even Apple devices cannot do this yet)
Better than the default Android media player
Shoutcast free streaming radio stations
Import of iTunes media libraries and playlists
You can find it now here in the Android Marketplace and the Windows desktop version of Winamp is required for wireless syncing.
Do you want to automate items on your Android device?
Well - There is an app called Tasker that lets you script some items, but there is now an app called AutomateIt which provides a more intuitive way to automate actions on your Android Device.
Find AuotmateIt on the Android Markeplace
Find out more on Tasker at LifeHacker
Find AuotmateIt on the Android Markeplace
Find out more on Tasker at LifeHacker
Tips to secure your Windows 7 Phone
The Android Marketplace has been in the news lately for having trojan infected applications. Here are a few tips on how to secure your Windows 7 phone
1. Download Games and Apps only from trusted sources. For Windows Phone, you can only install apps from the Zune Marketplace. This means that they have been digitally signed, which reduces your risk. As mentioned, Apple uses the same model for iPhone. With Google’s Android, you have to be careful!
2. Install your WP7 Phone updates as soon as they are made available. These may be some security updates too!
3. Use passwords to protect your Windows Phone and important data. Set up a password for the WP7 lockscreen. Imagine what would happen if your un-protected phone were to get lost! Everything including your social networking accounts, email accounts, important data, would be available to a total stranger, for potential misuse. Use a secure password manager or an eWallet app to save and store all your important passwords, and credentials and data safely.
4. Use a PIN (Personal Identification Number) for the SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) card in your phone to prevent people from making unauthorized phone calls.
Find the rest of the tips at the source...
1. Download Games and Apps only from trusted sources. For Windows Phone, you can only install apps from the Zune Marketplace. This means that they have been digitally signed, which reduces your risk. As mentioned, Apple uses the same model for iPhone. With Google’s Android, you have to be careful!
2. Install your WP7 Phone updates as soon as they are made available. These may be some security updates too!
3. Use passwords to protect your Windows Phone and important data. Set up a password for the WP7 lockscreen. Imagine what would happen if your un-protected phone were to get lost! Everything including your social networking accounts, email accounts, important data, would be available to a total stranger, for potential misuse. Use a secure password manager or an eWallet app to save and store all your important passwords, and credentials and data safely.
4. Use a PIN (Personal Identification Number) for the SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) card in your phone to prevent people from making unauthorized phone calls.
Find the rest of the tips at the source...
Make that iPad (or even iPhone) useful - Sign Documents Electronically!
To me - this is truly one of THE killer apps for the iPad - EasySign. What does it do? It lets you use your finger and sign those documents that you received via email, save as a PDF and send the signed copy out via email. This means that no longer do you have to wait till you get back to an office to print out, sign, and fax (or scan and email).
Essentially - you are Getting Business Done quicker!! I do not know any of 2K's clients that could not utilize this. The app itself is free and includes 3 free documents. You can then buy the ability to sign 20 more documents (in app purchase) for $4.99. And they've promised a $9.99 unlimited document version will be available soon.
You can watch a demo below and find EasySign in the iTunes Appstore here.
Essentially - you are Getting Business Done quicker!! I do not know any of 2K's clients that could not utilize this. The app itself is free and includes 3 free documents. You can then buy the ability to sign 20 more documents (in app purchase) for $4.99. And they've promised a $9.99 unlimited document version will be available soon.
You can watch a demo below and find EasySign in the iTunes Appstore here.
ALERT: Japan Disaster Scams are EVERYWHERE!
And even someone as vigilant as I am, I fell for one of these (a fake tsunami YouTube video link in my Facebook feed) - It tried downloading a file to run on my system which was blocked by F-secure and was asking me to verify my age - which if you have a YouTube account it will ask you to login to your account to verify your age.
First - please read this site for tips on how to avoid the scams that are going on. This does include the one I fell for.
Here are a number of other links from a few security related sites that go over a number of the malware scams that are becoming very prevalent over the past week:
419 Scam (similar to the Nigerian scams - asking you to send money)
.tk domains serving out fake tsunami videos
Other Email SPAM messages requesting donations for Japan
Miracle and Survivor stories fake videos
Save Japan and Donate to Japan fake websites
First - please read this site for tips on how to avoid the scams that are going on. This does include the one I fell for.
Here are a number of other links from a few security related sites that go over a number of the malware scams that are becoming very prevalent over the past week:
419 Scam (similar to the Nigerian scams - asking you to send money)
.tk domains serving out fake tsunami videos
Other Email SPAM messages requesting donations for Japan
Miracle and Survivor stories fake videos
Save Japan and Donate to Japan fake websites
What's the big deal about tablets anyway? A: Productivity
In the business world we're getting lots of questions about how this person can use a tablet device or how person could use it. Really what the question comes down to is: Can (brand name tablet device here) improve my productivity?
Depending on what tasks each of you out there do on a daily basis the answer may be an emphatic "Yes!" a strong "Maybe." or an "I don't know." What it all comes down to is what tasks could be moved from a laptop or desktop computer to a smaller form factor tablet.
What 2K needs for you, the client, to do is to have thought about what tasks you feel could benefit from the tablet form factor THEN we can go further by showing you what that tablet could do for you with those tasks and others.
There are other items to think about too and Lifehacker has a great post: How Tables are Great Productivity Tools that should be read and though about before leaping into the purchase of a new hot technology.
Depending on what tasks each of you out there do on a daily basis the answer may be an emphatic "Yes!" a strong "Maybe." or an "I don't know." What it all comes down to is what tasks could be moved from a laptop or desktop computer to a smaller form factor tablet.
What 2K needs for you, the client, to do is to have thought about what tasks you feel could benefit from the tablet form factor THEN we can go further by showing you what that tablet could do for you with those tasks and others.
There are other items to think about too and Lifehacker has a great post: How Tables are Great Productivity Tools that should be read and though about before leaping into the purchase of a new hot technology.
HUMOR: David Letterman's Top 10 reasons to buy an iPad2
OK - Enough serious stuff for a moment - get a laugh to start your day.
iPad vs other Tablets
A few websites have put some iPad vs Motorola Xoom and other tablets comparisons together and we wanted to share them with you:
A "By the Specs" comparison from Droid Life
A Computerworld "Death Match" between iPad and Xoom
BUT – remember – that the Xoom is Android 3.0 and there are very few apps (between 50 adn 100 out of 150,000)that have been updated for 3.0 because it’s currently only a tablet OS. This is the biggest downfall for ANY Android tablet at the moment and will continue to be so until the developers get on the ball and create TWO versions of their apps. Google has stated that Android Phone 2.2/2.3 branch will be merged with the Android Tablet 3.0 branch sometime later this year…. Until then do you think the developers want to maintain 2 copies of their apps? Probably not. This is where the iPad2 has the advantage. Most developers are creating “unified” apps that work on both the iPhone and iPad natively without having to create two different apps.
The app advantage goes to the iPad and it’s really all about the apps you are going to use with the tablet of your choice.
Of note – upon the announcement of the iPad2 Samsung has already begun re-evaluating it’s new Galaxy Tab 10.1 that’s not even released yet!
To tell you how important the iPad is – the FAA has approved it to REPLACE the paper flight path maps AND LAPTOPS for pilots!
And now that the iPad 2 is finally out - here's a feature by feature comparison against the Motorola Xoom (in the end iPad2 comes out on top).
So we've gone this long without even mentioning Microsoft.... How can that be??
Microsoft tried to move into the table space before 2004 with Windows XP Tablet edition. They migrated that into Windows Vista Home Premium and above a few years ago and there are still Tablet based services built into Windows 7. Yet where is the multitude of tablets that the big computer makers should be pushing to compete with the iPad? There isn't any really because I feel Microsoft just cant get out of it's own way to innovate. Microsoft could lose out BIG TIME (up to 1.28 billion) in potential lost revenue and R&D monies needed to play catch up if they want to stay in the game. They keep looking at the tablet market as a touch screen PC... it's NOT! The way we interact with tablets is different when we touch than when we use a mouse and physical keyboard. Just look at this video with a baby learning how to use the iPad - I've never seen any kid be able to figure out a Windows laptop computer with such ease. That ease of use is what makes tablet computing different. That's why I feel Microsoft may NEVER field a true tablet OS that can compete with the iPad or the Android tablets.
A "By the Specs" comparison from Droid Life
A Computerworld "Death Match" between iPad and Xoom
BUT – remember – that the Xoom is Android 3.0 and there are very few apps (between 50 adn 100 out of 150,000)that have been updated for 3.0 because it’s currently only a tablet OS. This is the biggest downfall for ANY Android tablet at the moment and will continue to be so until the developers get on the ball and create TWO versions of their apps. Google has stated that Android Phone 2.2/2.3 branch will be merged with the Android Tablet 3.0 branch sometime later this year…. Until then do you think the developers want to maintain 2 copies of their apps? Probably not. This is where the iPad2 has the advantage. Most developers are creating “unified” apps that work on both the iPhone and iPad natively without having to create two different apps.
The app advantage goes to the iPad and it’s really all about the apps you are going to use with the tablet of your choice.
Of note – upon the announcement of the iPad2 Samsung has already begun re-evaluating it’s new Galaxy Tab 10.1 that’s not even released yet!
To tell you how important the iPad is – the FAA has approved it to REPLACE the paper flight path maps AND LAPTOPS for pilots!
And now that the iPad 2 is finally out - here's a feature by feature comparison against the Motorola Xoom (in the end iPad2 comes out on top).
So we've gone this long without even mentioning Microsoft.... How can that be??
Microsoft tried to move into the table space before 2004 with Windows XP Tablet edition. They migrated that into Windows Vista Home Premium and above a few years ago and there are still Tablet based services built into Windows 7. Yet where is the multitude of tablets that the big computer makers should be pushing to compete with the iPad? There isn't any really because I feel Microsoft just cant get out of it's own way to innovate. Microsoft could lose out BIG TIME (up to 1.28 billion) in potential lost revenue and R&D monies needed to play catch up if they want to stay in the game. They keep looking at the tablet market as a touch screen PC... it's NOT! The way we interact with tablets is different when we touch than when we use a mouse and physical keyboard. Just look at this video with a baby learning how to use the iPad - I've never seen any kid be able to figure out a Windows laptop computer with such ease. That ease of use is what makes tablet computing different. That's why I feel Microsoft may NEVER field a true tablet OS that can compete with the iPad or the Android tablets.
IE 9 is out, but wait...
Many sources across the web are announcing the release of Internet Explorer 9. We just have one thing to say about it: wait! Many times, a new version of a browser will not be compatible with many different websites and applications until there has been enough time for them to adjust. If you rely on any web sites or applications (especially those that require Internet Explorer), don't install IE9 until you have verified (on a test machine or with your IT department) that they will not be broken.
Google removes malware apps from app store and devices
Google used it's "remote removal" (also known as a "kill switch" capabilities built into the Android OS to remove all of the malware infested applications installed by users on their phone and tablet devices. This is not the first time this has happened but is the most pervasive with over 50 apps included in this remote removal action. More details can be found in this H-Online article. For all of those wondering - yes Apple does have the same capabilities built into it's IOS devices, but has not had the need to use it.
Google has now officially acknowledged the issues in it's blog posting a few days ago and is vowing to increase security of the Android Market place so this kind of infestation of bad apps does not occur again.
My opinion on this is this: There are reasons Apple has an approval process to get an app added to it's AppStore and security is one of the top reasons. Google's Android Market place currently does not have any such process or capabilities so it's Buyer Beware when downloading/purchasing an app for your Android device.
And now we've got an alert from Trend Micro that they're seeing the Zeus malware/trojan makers (known for phishing scams and Fake AV utilities) targeting Blackberry users.
We have moved into a SmartPhone era where it truly is a mini computer in your pocket with lots of very personal and valuable items to the same community creating FAKE Antivirus Trojans for PC that would allow them to steal your identity. Everyone needs to be vigilant and pay attention to what they're downloading.
Google has now officially acknowledged the issues in it's blog posting a few days ago and is vowing to increase security of the Android Market place so this kind of infestation of bad apps does not occur again.
My opinion on this is this: There are reasons Apple has an approval process to get an app added to it's AppStore and security is one of the top reasons. Google's Android Market place currently does not have any such process or capabilities so it's Buyer Beware when downloading/purchasing an app for your Android device.
And now we've got an alert from Trend Micro that they're seeing the Zeus malware/trojan makers (known for phishing scams and Fake AV utilities) targeting Blackberry users.
We have moved into a SmartPhone era where it truly is a mini computer in your pocket with lots of very personal and valuable items to the same community creating FAKE Antivirus Trojans for PC that would allow them to steal your identity. Everyone needs to be vigilant and pay attention to what they're downloading.
Trojans in Pirated Android Apps
Yet another reason to stay away from pirated software, and as always, be very careful about what you download!
Apple tells you what makes that Verizon iPhone different from the ATT iPhone
It's the carrier, stupid! :-) Yes and the carrier differences mean that different service related options such as call forwarding, call waiting and other features are accessed and changed in a different manner.
Lifehacker has a nice post with an image you can print out for quick reference, or you can go directly to the Apple Knowledge Base article that outlines this in table format.
Lifehacker has a nice post with an image you can print out for quick reference, or you can go directly to the Apple Knowledge Base article that outlines this in table format.
F-Secure Tops another independent lab test
AV-Test.org has revealed the Q4 2010 test results for the 20+ antivirus products they pit against some very bad malware and F-Secure has come out on top. F-Secure and Symantec had been battling it out for the top two all last year, but F-Secure has come out on top where it counts. While they tested the F-Secure Internet Security Suite product - the F-Secure Protection Service for Business version only adds central management to the mix!
See the PC Mag article detailing the testing here.
See the actual results from AV-Test.org here.
See the PC Mag article detailing the testing here.
See the actual results from AV-Test.org here.
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