Practical Technology

for practical people.

July 14, 2011
by sjvn01
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Five Things to expect from the Amazon Android Kindle tablet

I wish Amazon would stop being coy about its plans for an Android Linux-based Kindle tablet and just announce it already. While Amazon still won’t tell me that they’re building one, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that Amazon is planning releasing an iPad Rival.

OK, enough is enough. While I don’t have any hard facts that anyone from Amazon will officially tell me, here’s what my sources have been telling me to expect. What I’m telling you here is from people both inside Amazon and from Amazon’s partners. Some of it may be wrong. I’m sure though that the broad picture is correct.

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July 13, 2011
by sjvn01
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Netflix and the Internet bandwidth dilemma

I get it. You’re ticked off at Netflix for raising its prices for online video streaming. I understand perfectly. I recently dropped my cable TV service for a combination of Internet TV services-Netflix, Hulu Plus, and Amazon Instant Video–my own iTunes-based video server, and over-the-air (OTA) TV. Of all of them, I watch Netflix the most. I’m not happy about paying more. I also don’t think I have much of a choice in the matter.

You see, Netflix didn’t have much of a choice in raising its prices. Just like the recording industry before it, video content owners are having a heck of a time shifting over from their old selling and broadcast models to Internet savvy business models. So Netflix knowing darn well that the price it was paying for the right to stream videos made a per-emptive move to raise its rates. Yes, they’ll lose some customers, but they’re betting they’ll still have a good revenue stream. They’re going to need that revenue just to keep their video streams flowing.

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July 13, 2011
by sjvn01
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Google needs to clean up its Android Market malware mess

Come on! I like a lot of what Google does, but its refusal to keep malware-laden apps out of the Android Market is inexcusable.

Just today, researchers at Lookout Mobile Security spotted more variants of DroidDream malware in the Android Market. On the same day, Fortinet spotted the Zeus banking Trojan in Android.

It’s not that Android is uniquely vulnerable to malware. It’s not. In fact, Android, which is based on Linux, has not only the Linux operating system’s higher than usual resistance to attack; it also has the advantage of running applications in a Java-like virtual machine (VM), Dalvik. What all that means is that malware should actually have a great deal of trouble running on any Android device, and even if it does get on one, it should be locked in the VM where it can’t harm any other applications.

So why, does security firm Trusteer CEO Mickey Boodaei claim that mobile malware will affect more than one in twenty devices within the next two years? And, specifically that “Compared to Apple’s App Store, Android Market is the Wild West. You can’t always trust applications you download from it.”

I’ll tell you why: Because Google doesn’t do an adequate job of checking programs registered for the Android Market for hostile intent and poisoned payloads before letting the public at them. When you download a malicious program, it’s going to nasty things to you. It’s that simple.

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July 11, 2011
by sjvn01
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Getting a user-friendly Web address on Google Plus

I’ve had several friends tell me about how wonderful it was to get a Google Plus (G+) Web address via the Gplus.to Web site. With it, I could, for example, have http:/gplus/to/sjvn instead of https://plus.google.com/113169713749496726739 (Try saying that three times fast!). That sound good, but I have several problems with it, and besides, you probably already have a human-friendly G+ Web address.

First, the good news: Your Google Profile, https://profiles.google.com/username, already has your Gmail name on it, and if you use that as your Web address, you’ll find it takes visitors straight to your G+ stream page. So, for example, https://profiles.google.com/sjvn01, will bring you right to my G+ page. No fuss, no muss, and no need to do anything.

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July 11, 2011
by sjvn01
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Security: It’s not just for Windows users anymore

Historically, Windows users were always the ones getting blitzed by malware. Viruses, worms, you name it, Windows PCs got it. Lately, though, malware is appearing that targets Macs as well.
I know some Mac users refuse to believe it. Believe it. Even Apple finally admitted that Mac Defender Malware was a real and present danger.

Don’t get too bent out of shape about it though. Just because Mac malware exists doesn’t mean that your Mac is as unsafe as an unpatched Windows XP PC. It’s not. It never will be. Windows, by its very nature, has always been more insecure than Linux or Mac OS.

From the day of its creation, Windows was designed to be a single-user system in an non-networked world. That hasn’t been true for more than twenty years now. Linux and Mac OS roots though go back to Unix. Unix was designed from the ground-up for a world with multiple-users and networking.

But that’s no reason to lean back with a big stupid grin on your face and think that you’re safe as houses. You’re not.

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