2013
Cuba may have turned on it's first underwater internet connection
Canadians travelling to CUBA for rest and relaxation often complain about excruciatingly slow internet connectivity. The reason internet in Cuba is so slow is that all traffic goes through an aging satellite infrastructure. Imagine my surprise when traffic monitoring company, Renesys, said it believes Cuba turned on it's underwater Internet connection (via Venezuela) for the first time. It detection an internet connection between the Spanish ISP Telefonica and the national Cuban telecom company (state owned of course).
Android versus IOS, which is better?
As an experienced IOS user, I decided it was time for me to learn Android and early December 2012, I jumped in head first. I bought an Android (Nexus) device and started reading/watching everything I could find. Having spent over a month living and working with an Android device, I wanted to share my comparative thoughts about Android (Jelly Bean 4.2) vs IOS 6.0.1. Applications Android is now competing head to head with IOS and offers almost as many apps to its users.
New Screenshots of Kim Dotcom's Mega
Mega us tge rebirth of the old MegaUpload that was taken down by US authorities for copyright infringement. Here are some screenshots of the service if you are curious: You can see the full size image by clicking on any of these thumbnails. Main screen after you login Account Details option Transfer Settings Account Balance Session History Some people may not like the fact that every time they log in, the MEGA system will log browser, IP address, country of origin and browser.
Megaupload is back offering interesting new features
Kim DotCom, the famous founder of MegaUpload.com had been promising a rebirth of his file sharing service and the day has finally come. His new creation is called MEGA. In its current form, it has a simple drag and drop file sharing interface (easy to use) and provides 50GB of FREE online cloud storage. Mr DotCom has promised many more features such as Google Docs style online file editing, instant messaging, smartphone clients and much more. He is offering paid storage upgrades: Right now, I haven't seen a killer feature that would drive the masses to use Mega but I am sure Kim has some interesting plans to encourage us to try his new creation
Does productivity hurt creativity?
I love the Chinese concept of yin and yang. It reminds us that all things in the universe must be in balance. Good with bad, positive with negative and productivity with creativity. What?? You heard right, productivity and creativity are at opposite ends of the spectrum. The part of your brain that handles organized productive thought is the opposite side of the one that comes up with the crazy out of the box thinking that creates revolutionary shifts. I often hear comments like “I was on the plane and all of a sudden, I had this great idea”.
Do less, accomplish more
We are in the tail end of January and many have already given up on their new year’s resolutions. In life just like in business, too many people “fail” at accomplishing the goals they set up for themselves. This is a great time to remember one of my favorite questions “What’s most important to you about […]” Doing less accomplishing more This is a simple sentence that has been used to turn around dying companies and turn around marriages. Forget about trying to accomplish 500 things simultaneously and distill your commitments to the real value-add goals.
Employees leaking information to competitors
As an infosec leader working for a large multinational, a lot of risks keep me up at night. Most execs still believe (mistakenly) that the biggest risks come from the outside. Imagine my interest when I learned that AMD is suing 6 former employees because it believes they leaked over 100,000 documents ("trade secret materials relating to developing technology") to NVIDIA. The complaint says these employees took the info with them when they switched employers. AMD claims to have uncovered evidence of their claim using “forensically revealed data”.
iPhone 5s production begins March 2013
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) created a lively debate within the Apple community when it published an article claiming that Apple was reducing its component orders because of weaker than expected sales. The Apple proponents came out swinging while opponents cheered hoping it was the truth. Now Peter Misek, a Jeffries analyst is making a claim that seems to be much more believable. He is reporting that Apple will begin production of the iPhone 5s in March for a June 2013 launch.
VISA approved Blackberry (RIM) for mobile payment
Research In Motion (RIM) is working to build credibility ahead of the Blackberry 10 launch later this month and 3rd party certifications are critical. RIM is able to add another to its hat because VISA just approved RIM Near Field Communication (NFC) and Secure Element Manager (SEM) for use with VISA's mobile payment solutions. In Canada, mobile payments are just starting and the largest consortium (EnStream created by Rogers, Bell and Telus) will allow Blackberry users to pay for purchases using their smartphones.
She drove 900 extra miles because the GPS told her to
The internet is littered with horror stories about people doing wacky things because of a GPS. Why not add another story to the mix? A 90 mile journey turned into a multi-day 900 mile excursion. How can this happen you ask? Because the GPS told her to do it. A 67 year old woman wanted to pick up a friend from a train station 90 miles away (both starting and ending point are in Belgium). Instead of taking her to Brussels, the GPS directed her to Zagreb (Croatia).
Backberry 10 specs and features revealed
I have received emails from readers mentioning that carriers (US and Canada) have started training employees in preparation for the Blackberry 10 launch later this month. A training presentation has surfaced showing the browser, powerful multi tasking, etc. One slide claims there will be 70,000 apps at launch, which blows my mind. Spec wise, expect a 336ppi screen, a Qualcomm S4 processor, an 1800 mAh battery and BBM video. Stuff from Chris Parsons
Silent Circle enables secure VOIP calling from Android
I wrote about Silent Circle in October and was excited to learn that they recently released an Android app and enabled Out of Circle calling. Silent Circle will enable secure voice, text, email and video chatting from any Silent Circle client to another (Android -> Android or Android -> iPhone).
The app can be downloaded from the Google Play Store. Using their service is simple and straightforward. You download the app, create an account and then pay the $20 monthly service fee. As soon as this is done, you will be able to call Silent Circle to Silent Circle securely regardless of where in the world you are (over WIFI, 3G or 4G).
They also added an "Out-Circle Access" which will enable Silent Circle users to call regular phone lines. You link is encrypted from the device until the Silent Circle boundary (which is a nice feature for people working in some questionable countries). This feature costs an additional $29 a month but includes unlimited calling to Canada, US and Puerto Rico.
Here is the full Press Release
Silent Circle Releases Silent Phone For Android And Out-Circle Access (via PR Newswire)
Private encryption service developed by PGP inventor Phil Zimmermann protects voice and video calls on both Android and iOS devices across cellular and Wi-Fi networks Download image WASHINGTON, Jan. 16, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Silent Circle, a global private encrypted communications firm revolutionizing…
Nexus 4 production alive and well says LG
Anytime a gadget is popular, tech sites buzz about rumors from unnamed sources claiming the most incredible things. Last week, many sites reported that LG was having production issues with Google’s Nexus 4 and that this model would be phased out for a newer one to be released during February’s Mobile world Conference. Android Central is reporting that there is no plan to phase out the device and that everything is humming along splendidly at the factory. It looks like Google and LG will now start offering the Nexus 4 through select global carriers (in the UK, US and Europe).
China adds 51 million internet users in 2012
Everything China grows in leaps and bounds, internet usage included. The mega economy closed the year with 564 million internet users, a jump of 10% in 2012. The data shows that the biggest driver has been the mobile internet and the number of users accessible the web through a smartphone or tablet increased by 18.1%. The total number of Chinese internet users accessing the internet from a mobile device has now reached 420 million or almost 75% of total internet users.
Basis watch killer health monitoring features
The wearable technology market is exploding and we have seen a handful of very interesting health monitoring gadgets over the last year (Nike Fuelband, Lark Life, Fitbit, Withings Smart Activity Monitor, Shine). Basis says the battery will last up to 4 days between charges which seems low. A longer life battery would be very desirable (ideally close to a week). Basis was originally supposed to hit store shelved “early 2012” but obviously missed that target. In November 2012, Basis shared a blog post announcing that they were moving the device from the lab into field test mode, which is promising.
Is Samsung cooler than Apple?
There is no one characteristic that is responsible for Apple’s phenomenal rise over the last 5 year. It is a combination of good design, great marketing and an excellent ability to predict market trends. Buzz Marketing Group told Forbes that their research shows that Apple has lost it’s coolness badge with teens. It may be a case of Apple being too cool to be cool. Because Apple products are so popular with the general population at large, they are no seen as mainstream and therefore less desirable by today’s youth.
One Pound Fish - The newest internet music sensation
We all know Gangdman Style but have you heard about the newest sensation, the One Pound Fish song? The singer is a 31 year old Pakistani fishmonger from London's Upton Park area. Before this became a famous music video and itunes downloadable song, it was a catch song Nazir use to sing to attract customers for his fish. The 1 pound refers to British money not the weight. Nazir left Pakistan about a year ago (for the UK) and became an unusual music sensation.
Windows RT is not selling that well
In October, I wrote an article entitled "Don’t Buy Microsoft’s Surface RT Yet!"and I still think that is good advice. Now Samsung has told CNET that it will not bring the ATIV TAb (Windows RT tablet) to the US based on the feedback it received from its retail partners. Samsung is also worried that most customers still don't understand the difference between a "real" Windows 8 device and a Windows RT tablet. Samsung doesn't want to fork over the money to educate the market about the differences.
Merge, Split or Encrypt your PDFs online for free using Sejda
There may be times when you need to perform merges, splits, or encryption on a PDF file but don't have access to software on your PC that can perform those tasks. This is where the free Sejda web service comes in. the process is simple: Select the task you want to perform Upload the file Define the tasks parameters Voila The web interface is clean and the service is super easy to use. I tested it out with PDFs up to the service maximum and the service worked quickly and flawlessly.
Find GMAIL messages by size
There are lots of reasons why you may want to search GMAIL by file size. I do this very often to find emails containing large attachments, so I can delete them and free up storage space. Open the GMAIL web interface and type size: followed by the size of the attachment. In this case I am searching for emails 5MB or larger. or you can use This will show all emails containing an attachment larger than 10MB. Both of the above queries can be used interchangeably.