Friends don’t let friends…

Posted on August 6, 2008 by Mark Urbin

This is the basic Internet security tip I give everyone. Don’t load Outlook & don’t run Internet Explorer unless you have to.

Friends don’t let friends run Outlook.

Think about it. The vast majority of email based virii (viruses or however you want to spell it) take advantage of the huge security holes in Outlook.

It’s not even that good an email client. Really, you are better off with Mozilla’s Thunderbird.

As a groupware scheduling program, it is actually pretty good.  That doesn’t make up for its general, and I’m going to use a technical term here, suckage as an email program.  If you are using Outlook for your personal email, just don’t. Use a web based solution, like Yahoo mail or Google Gmail.  You can even use a client program like T-Bird in IMAP mode with Gmail for free.

I’ve run a couple of small corporate IT departments, which included supporting their Exchange servers and Outlook clients, so I know of what I speak.

For small companies, especially non-profits, going with Google Apps makes a lot more sense.  Outsourcing your email means at least one less bit of server hardware you have to maintain on top of any software related costs.  Even if you are running Linux for your mail server, there is an associated cost for the geek to maintain it, on top of the hardware costs.

Take a look at Worcester State College for a good example of how outsourcing a basic function like email frees up not just money, but the talent of the IT department to help their clients.

Not using Microsoft IE browser is another simple way to improve your basic Internet security.  Web based security attacks focus on IE because it is the default browser for a large majority of computers in use.

Switching to a third party browser, such as Firefox, will not only improve your security, it will also improve your overall browsing experince by using a better designed product.

Filed under: Internet | Tagged: , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Simple is good

Posted on August 6, 2008 by Mark Urbin

A gadget doesn’t have to be high tech and fancy to be good.  It doesn’t hurt, but it’s not critical. 🙂

Example, the simple coffee press.  I’ve used different coffee makers over the years and have settled on a basic coffee press for home use.

Why? It makes damn good coffee quickly and easily.  I’m not tied into buying a particular type of prepackaged, pre-ground stuff that the one shot machines require.

The trick is start with good coffee, whole beans, and fresh roasted.  I get mind from Armeno Coffee Roasters, a local establishment in Northborough, MA, that actually roasts their own beans on site.  They also carry Hawaiian beans.  Which in addition to “buying American” is damn good coffee.

A course grind on the beans, hot but not boiling water, wait a few minutes, and my coffee fix is taken care of.

You may ask, “A discussion on coffee in a tech blog?” If you do, you haven’t worked in High Tech.  The business runs on coffee.  According to Bandit Six, so does the US Army, but I digress.

The latest issue of Wired had an article on a high tech coffee machine that Starbucks paid a lot money for. Perhaps it will help hide the fact that they over roast.

Filed under: Gadget | Tagged: , | 1 Comment »

NetShare pulled from the Apple Store

Posted on August 4, 2008 by Mark Urbin

Netshare is a very useful iPhone app that allows you to share the iPhone’s Internet connection with other devices over the WiFi connection.

Too bad it isn’t available anymore.  It was on the iTunes app store, but then it was pulled, put back, and then pulled again.

The app was produced by Nullriver Software.

No explanation from Apple on why this extremely useful app was pulled.

Update: Nullriver Software claims that they are “working with” with Apple about getting NetShare back in the iTunes Apps store.

Filed under: Apple, Gadget, Internet, Smart Phone | Tagged: , | 1 Comment »

Another reason to stick with the old hardware

Posted on August 2, 2008 by Mark Urbin

AT&T decided to change the data plan rates with the second gen iPhone. The data plan I have with my first gen is a flat $30 a month charge that includes 200 SMS text messages month. I’m not a big text user, so that is more than enough.

The new plan doesn’t include SMS text messaging. It’s $30 a month pluse $0.20 per SMS text message. That’s coming and going. Someone sends you a text and you are tossing two dimes in the jar for your next bill. To get that 200 messages a month, AT&T now charges $5 a month.

AT&T isn’t alone in this price gouging. Most of the other US cell phone carriers are doing similar Evil to their customer basis.

Why is it Evil? IMNSHO, it is because a SMS text message is just data traffic. No different from sending an email from your phone. Hell, even your voice traffic (i.e. old school phone calls ) is just data traffic now.

The cell phone carriers are charging more for SMS text messages because kids are sending them more than crack addicts are looking for their next fix.

As one pundit (either Leo Leporte or Glenn Reynolds I think) put it, his daughter views her cell phone as primarily a texting device that can, in a pinch, be used to actually talk to people not hip enough to text.

One of my kids had just over 350 text messages on his monthly bill. That’s incoming as well as outgoing, and he claims he isn’t a heavy text user. At $0.20 a pop, 350 text messages translates to an additional $70 on your bill. All of a sudden, paying an additional $5 or $20 a month for a texting package isn’t so bad.

Unless you keep in mind the words of Malcolm X, “When someone sticks a knife six inches into your back, and then pulls it out two inches and claims he’s doing you a favor, don’t believe him.”

Filed under: Apple, Internet, Smart Phone | Tagged: , , | 13 Comments »

Google breaks into college email

Posted on August 1, 2008 by Mark Urbin

According to Mass High Tech, Worcester State College replaced its Microsoft Exchange based email system for Google Apps for Edu.  This is expected to save the College IT department $120,000 the first year and $70,000 each following year.

This is a trend I’m seeing in college IT departments.  Very traditional services, like email & database hosting are being outsourced so the IT departments can focus on more innovative services that directly meet the needs of the facility and students.

There are “privacy” issues raised about handing the campus email system over to private company.  On the other hand, I can see a mail server at a college getting hacked at lot easier than a Google based server.

Google Apps also includes Google Docs, so I can see more students storing their files “in the cloud” instead of on their local systems.  Of course, there will be those, both students and facility, who just don’t back up their files.

Filed under: Internet, IT | Tagged: , , | 2 Comments »

Two Hours to buy an iPhone

Posted on July 31, 2008 by Mark Urbin

That is just too long.  I called ahead, made sure that the local Apple Store had the phone my wife wanted in stock.  We get there, on a Wednesday night, and have to wait for a blue shirt to free up.  When one of the blue shirts finally does free up, he manages to get the new iPhone assigned to my number (I have a gen one iPhone and see no reason to upgrade), instead of my wife’s number.

Of course, they can’t fix the problem there, so we have to hike to the AT&T store, wait twenty more minutes for someone there to free up, and then another 45+ minutes for the AT&T rep to reset my account back to the way it was.  That should have taken five minutes, tops!

Instead, it was a major operation.  The AT&T rep had to program a new sim card for my phone!  Then the obnoxious process of having to register my iphone through iTunes once again.

So over half of my time was wasted because Apple screwed up my AT&T account, and I still don’t have the iPhone I came there to buy for my wife.

I understand that AT&T wants to make sure it makes its money back on the iPhones it is paying part of the cost on, but they have gone to new lengths to make the process difficult and un-consumer friendly for those of us who are actually trying to buy the Apple iPhone legally.

I’ve been a customer of AT&T Mobile (as they are now calling themselves) for over a decade.  I have five numbers on my account.  Never before have I run into a case where I was trying to sign up for a more expensive service plan and AT&T refused to take my money.

Until last night.  AT&T’s ovewheleming desire to make sure they squeeze every penny out of the iPhone rates means that they are putting the screws to long time loyal customers like myself.

The only bright point was that someone at the Apple Store finally figured out what customer service was. I managed to get the iPhone for my wife, with it actually assigned to her number, after just over two hours.

I’ll talk about the anti-consumer changes AT&T made to the rate plans later.  That’s a big reason I’m sticking with first gen iPhone.

Filed under: Apple, Bad Customer Service, Smart Phone | Tagged: , , , | 7 Comments »

The Digg/Google rumors

Posted on July 30, 2008 by Mark Urbin

MIT Tech Review is now covering this story.  Kevin Rose was on the lastest episode of TWiT and talked about it.

He said the company policy was not to comment on such rumors and then went on to say it was not the kind of deal that Digg was looking for at this time.

I wonder if all of his board is as immune to massive amounts of google bucks as he appears to be.

Filed under: Internet, tech rumors | Tagged: , , , , | Leave a comment »

Mobile blogging

Posted on July 30, 2008 by Mark Urbin

I am writing this post on my iPhone using the new WordPress app.

For this to be a serious tool, a portable Bluetooth keyboard is needed. Too bad Apple doesn’t even support their own Bluetooth keyboard.

Filed under: Internet | Tagged: , | Leave a comment »

Why no decent camera app

Posted on July 28, 2008 by Mark Urbin

One of the glaring exceptions in the Apple iTunes application store is a decent camera app.

There are several “jailbreak” phone apps that add good functionality to the extremely basic camera software on the iPhone.  Adding functionality to the camera is something that iPhone users would pay money for.  Price it under $10, preferably under $5, and it would move.

The camera on the iPhone is the equivalent of an old Instamatic film camera.  Not a modern one, you  can get better pictures from a modern cardboard disposable.

It is not that bad, but getting a decent picture out it is a challenge.  Like most photography, it is all about the lighting. Just don’t expect to blow that picture up to a poster.

Filed under: Apple, Gadget, Smart Phone | Tagged: , , , | Leave a comment »

Don’t fly without a pair!

Posted on July 28, 2008 by Mark Urbin

I picked up a pair of Bose Quiet Comfort 2 headphones on the recommendation of my friend Vic. In the interest of full disclosure, Vic is an employee of Bose in their product development group.

First off, these are really good headphones. I never liked ear buds for either the comfort (or lack there or) or the sound quality (or lack there of) These headphones will remind you what music is supposed to sound like. They might even cause you to go back and re-encode some of your music for better quality.

Recently I flew across the US and back. Over ten hours in noisy aircraft, including a small turboprop plane. These headphones really cut out the loud white noise that exists in passenger aircraft. These are over the ear headphones, as opposed to on the ear headphones, like the Quiet Comfort 3 headphones. For traveling, I prefer the over the ear because they are less likely to move off my ears as my head moves while I am sleeping on a plane.

Filed under: Gadget, Sound | Tagged: , , , | 2 Comments »

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