Practical Technology

for practical people.

March 21, 2013
by sjvn01
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Half-a-billion internet-connected devices and counting

In my home-office, I have 36 internet-connected devices. That’s 12 PCs, 8 laptops, 5 tablets, 5 internet TV devices, 4 servers, an iPod touch and a printer. That’s a lot, but the rest of the US is catching up with me.

According to market-research company The NPD Group, the average US internet household now has 5.7 internet-connected devices. That’s up from 5.3 devices only three months ago. By their count, there are now more than half-a-billion internet-connected devices in the US alone.

Half-a-billion internet-connected devices and counting. More >

March 20, 2013
by sjvn01
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Practicing safe DNS with Google

The Internet’s a dangerous place for an innocent Web browser to be searching alone for the right Web page, so the Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC) was created to make searching safer. That’s the good news. The bad news is that DNSSEC adoption has been lagging. Now, Google has announced that it’s supporting DNSSEC in its Google Public DNS service.

Practicing safe DNS with Google. More >

March 19, 2013
by sjvn01
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Chromebook’s biggest fan: Linus Torvalds

Google’s already popular Chromebooks are getting more popular than ever.

Not only has HP recently joined in selling these Linux-based, lightweight netbooks, but now Acer, HP and Samsung Chromebooks are available in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland and the Netherlands. Part of the reason behind this broader availability may because the Chromebook, especially the high-end Chromebook Pixel, has a very well-known and enthusiastic fan: Linux’s inventor, Linus Torvalds.

Chromebook’s biggest fan: Linus Torvalds. More >

March 18, 2013
by sjvn01
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Google’s Chrome OS partially hacked

As computer security guru Bruce Schneier likes to say, “Security is a process, not a product.” He was proven right again when Google announced that, while its Linux-based Chrome OS hadn’t been cracked in its Pwnium Chrome OS contest, one hacker was successful in creating an unreliable exploit.

Specifically, the hacker known as Pinkie Pie, who cracked the Chrome Web browser on Windows last year in Google’s security contest, “submitted a plausible bug chain involving video parsing, a Linux kernel bug and a config file error. The submission included an unreliable exploit demonstrating one of the bugs.”

Google’s Chrome OS partially hacked. More >

March 18, 2013
by sjvn01
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The 5 things you need for the perfect smartphone

What makes a “perfect” smartphone? Some of my fellow journalist buddies and I wrestled with the question, and here’s what we came up with:

First, some part of “perfection” depends on the person. For example, I love QWERTY keyboards, so my personal favorite phone is a Motorola Droid 4. Most people could care less about QWERTY keyboards.

You can also spend a lot of time arguing over which is the best smartphone operating system — Android, as far as I’m concerned — but as Adrian Kingsley-Hughes recently pointed out in his piece on Android vs. Apple’s iOS, for most people, most of the time, there’s no significant usability difference between the two major mobile operating systems. I know, I know; we can argue about the virtues of one OS over another until the sun goes out and the oxygen freezes out of the air, but practically speaking, most users can’t tell the difference.

The real key operating system-related question is: “Are the applications you need available on your platform?” If they are, you’re good. If they’re not, who cares how great the underlying operating system is?

The 5 things you need for the perfect smartphone. More >

March 15, 2013
by sjvn01
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RSS inventor doesn’t see what all the fuss is about closing Google Reader

Google’s decision to shut down its popular RSS client service, Google Reader, has some people in an uproar. Dave Winer, one of RSS’s creators, has a different reaction: “I won’t miss it.”

Winer, who created the first version of RSS in 1997, continued, “Never used the damn thing. Didn’t trust the idea of a big company like Google’s interests being so aligned with mine that I could trust them to get all my news.”

While Winer may not miss it, at least one petition asking Google to keep Google Reader alive has now topped 100,000 subscribers. Winer’s heard from some people who don’t want Google Reader to go. His reaction generated “a lot of traffic and a fair amount of hate from people who love Google Reader and probably don’t like to hear from someone who uses RSS who won’t miss it (i.e. me).”

RSS inventor doesn’t see what all the fuss is about closing Google Reader. More >