Vig the Geek

Andrew from Retrevo has some peeves about tech. As always, none...

Sun, 20 May 2012 20:59:13 -0500

Andrew from Retrevo has some peeves about tech. As always, none of them make sense. Here they all are… totally debunked.

Retrevo editor, Andrew, thinks Ultrabooks are better than a...

Sun, 13 May 2012 22:40:01 -0500

Retrevo editor, Andrew, thinks Ultrabooks are better than a MacBook Air for several reasons that don’t really make much sense. I ask “him” about it in this video.

TechCrunch is reporting that Foxconn has confirmed the iTV (or...

Fri, 11 May 2012 15:37:50 -0500

TechCrunch is reporting that Foxconn has confirmed the iTV (or Apple HDTV) with “facts” that don’t really add up.

With laptops, netbooks, ultrabooks and desktop PCs (plus...

Thu, 03 May 2012 21:33:33 -0500

With laptops, netbooks, ultrabooks and desktop PCs (plus tablets), knowing what to buy and which platform (Windows vs Mac) can be almost impossible. Here is some help.

Facebook sets I.P.O. price

Thu, 03 May 2012 18:48:00 -0500

On the afternoon of Thursday, May 3rd, Facebook set its expected price range for its initial public offering at $28 to $35. The news is being reported by all major media and news outlets, from the standard networks such as FOX, ABCand CNN; Financial reports like Forbes, Wall Street Journaland Yahoo! Finance; and, of course, countless tech companies, pundits and blogs. If the price were $31, Facebook would raise $10.6 billion, giving the social network an overall value os $86 billion. Once the prospectus is finalized, they will meet investos in major cities before Friday when Facebook executives meet in New York city with the underwriters of the company. The I.P.O. presentation will be briefed to the sales force so they can reach out to possible investors.

The date that Facebook begins trading publicly on the Nasdaq, under the symbol “FB” is not set, but it is expected to happen around May 17 or 18, given a nine day roadshow for investors. There is lots of excitement surrounding this event as it has the potential to be the I.P.O of Internet company. The current record holder is is Google in 2004.

Facebook is on track to reach 1 billion users by August or September of this year with a user base of over 700 million and 526 million of them being active daily. User growth and engagement is one of the most heavily measured and weighed metrics of successful for social networks.

Facebook’s financial growth has continued to grow, but proft margin shrank in the first quarter as Facebook’s technological growth required a large amount of expenses. They are expenses that are far from one-time, but also not nearly recurring. The need to grow is only a good sign.

Hulu has changed the way it does business. Now you have to be a...

Tue, 01 May 2012 17:19:00 -0500

Hulu has changed the way it does business. Now you have to be a subscriber to a cable/satellite provider to use Hulu Plus.

Andrew, the editor and blogger, at Retrevo dislikes the Apple TV...

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 18:33:09 -0500

Andrew, the editor and blogger, at Retrevo dislikes the Apple TV and gives 5 reasons why. These reasons are not good and don’t make sense with just a little bit of research and thought. Here is my rebuttal.

WWDC dates announced and tickets sold out

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 13:47:17 -0500

Apple announced that their yearly Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) will be held June 11-15 this year. The five day event is most well known for the keynote speech held on the opening day each year. Historically, the keynote (done by Steve Jobs every year until now) is where they would announce the newest iPhone model. Last year, it was all about iOS 5 (since the iPhone 4S was delayed until October for a variety of reasons). The keynote lasts about an hour, but the conference goes on for a total of 5 days.

The week long event gives an in-depth look at everything that’s new in iOS and OS X. There are many workshops for developers or aspiring developers. It is an opportunity to work with Apple’s own engineers and get questions answered and learn new techniques. It is also a great place to make new friends, meet other developer’s and build connections within the Apple development ecosystem. Aside from all the sessions and hands-on labs there will be speakers and events, a competition with the Apple experts and the WWDC bash.

There are two problems. The first is that tickets do not come cheap. Getting into the event will cost $1,599, which leads to problem number two - tickets sold out in just two hours this year. With each passing year, the event has been gaining popularity and tickets have been selling out in less itme. Two hours seems to be a record.

It is interesting this year because there has been no announcement about a new version of iOS. Any speculation is based on prior years. More than likely, workshops will focus on Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion. This will also be the first year for Tim Cook to kick off the event with the keynote address. Tim was panned for his announcement of the iPhone 4S only for the world to find out that Steve Jobs lay on his deathbed at the time, causing pundits to withhold judgment. He proved to be an engaging speaker at the announcement of the new iPad.

What will be announced at WWDC is anybody’s guess at the moment. If previous years are any indication, Apple’s slogan “It’s the week we’ve all been waiting for” will certainly hold true.

Facebook buys AOL patents from Microsoft

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 13:07:17 -0500

Just earlier this month Microsoft spent $1 billion on on 800 patents and 125 patent applications that belonged to AOL. AOL only kept 300 patents for itself that represented its core businesses and technologies. That sell took place on April 9, 2012. It was a tremendous weight lifted off of Facebook, who has just been sued by Yahoo! and feared AOL may do the same. Facebook and Microsoft have always had a wonderful relationship.

In a big move this morning, Facebook bought 650 of those same patents from Microsoft for $550 million. Facebook will likely use this to defend itself in the litigation from Yahoo! that is still pending. Facebook and Microsoft have also agreed on cross-licensing. The end result of the deal is that Facebook purchased 650 patents with license to use the remaining 275 that Microsoft held onto. Microsoft has recouped more than half of its initial outlay of money to AOL and still has 275 patents for its own use. Additionally, Microsoft has the rights to use the patents it has sold to Facebook. A similar cross-licensing deal was reached between Microsoft and AOL earlier this month during the initial sale. Microsoft has rights to use the 300 patents it did not purchase from AOL and AOL retained rights to use the ones it did sell.

The strange love triangle of patents positions Microsoft perfectly in the middle of all of it. It owns some patents outright, but has the right to use the rest owned by both AOL and Facebook. Microsoft put out a press release earlier today

REDMOND, Wash. and MENLO PARK, Calif. — April 23, 2012 —Microsoft Corp. and Facebook announced today a definitive agreement under which Microsoft will assign to Facebook the right to purchase a portion of the patent portfolio it recently agreed to acquire from AOL Inc. Facebook has agreed to purchase this portion for $550 million in cash.

In the initial AOL auction, Microsoft secured the ability to own or assign approximately 925 U.S. patents and patent applications plus a license to AOL’s remaining patent portfolio, which contains approximately 300 additional patents that were not for sale.As a result of today’s agreement, Facebook will obtain ownership of approximately 650 AOL patents and patent applications, plus a license to the AOL patents and applications that Microsoft will purchase and own.

Upon closing of this transaction with Facebook, Microsoft will retain ownership of approximately 275 AOL patents and applications; a license to the approximately 650 AOL patents and applications that will now be owned by Facebook; and a license to approximately 300 patents that AOL did not sell in its auction.

“Today’s agreement with Facebook enables us to recoup over half of our costs while achieving our goals from the AOL auction,” said Brad Smith, executive vice president and general counsel, Microsoft. “As we said earlier this month, we had submitted the winning AOL bid in order to obtain a durable license to the full AOL portfolio and ownership of certain patents that complement our existing portfolio.”

“Today’s agreement with Microsoft represents an important acquisition for Facebook,” said Ted Ullyot, general counsel, Facebook. “This is another significant step in our ongoing process of building an intellectual property portfolio to protect Facebook’s interests over the long term.”The parties are evaluating the accounting treatment for these transactions. These transactions are also subject to customary closing conditions, including clearance under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended.

Facebook gives IPv6 access to developers

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0500

IPv6 is the next generation of IP addressing that will be used across the Internet. We currently use IPv4 and it is what we have been using for a very long time. An IP address is simply the way your computer is addressed so other computers and network devices can find and speak to it. It consists of four numbers that range between 1 and 255, all separate by dots. Your home router will likely have an IP address of 192.168.1.1. IPv4 has about 4.3 billion addresses, which may sound like a lot, but it isn’t when every computer on the globe needs one. There are tricks in networking to extend the life of IPv4, but they aren’t enough. Plus, we have come up with new features that IPv4 just will not support. There is not and will not be a version 5. It was looked at and planned, but the amount of time it will take to transition the world would not make IPv5 worthwhile, so we jumped to IPv6, which will have 340,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 addresses available (that is rounded down by a bit actually).

As the next generation IP addressing scheme, IPv6 is very important and it is paramount that developers and network administrations create a smooth transition from version 4 to version 6 to avoid interruption of service for users. The official date, called World IPv6 Day, when ISPs around the world will enable IPv6. The companies involved will amount to only 1% of the residential population having the new standards.

Facebook is giving its developers access to IPv6 three weeks early. This will give them time to ensure their applications will work and properly parse data using the new structure for addresses. While IPv4 addresses are written in dotted decimal notation, like 192.168.1.1, IPv6 has what we call hexquads and look like 1553:58E0:0246:93BF:47E4:AC25:C000:95DB/128.

As of May 18, 2012 Facebook will open IPv6 to developers to work out any issues that may arise before it goes live to users on World IPv6 Day. Facebook has already participated in World IPv6 day on June 8, 2011, which was just a 24 hour test. This year’s will function as a permanent move for the enabled users if all goes according to plan.

From the Facebook Developer Blog:

IPv6 Access

With the World IPv6 Launch coming on June 6th 2012, Facebook has committed to enabling IPv6 access for our users on most of our HTTP and HTTPS endpoints. Based on the results of last year’s IPv6 test on June 8th 2011, we are confident that enabling IPv6 on our platform will be a success. On May 18th, we will be enabling IPv6 on beta.facebook.com ahead of World IPv6 Launch to give our developer community time to discover issues and report bugs back to us.

IPv6 is vital because the Internet’s original addressing system (IPv4) has run out of free space. Since every device on the Internet relies on a unique address to communicate, we must transition to IPv6 which provides over 4 billion times more addresses than IPv4. IPv6 will ensure everyone (users, ISPs, governments, and companies) have direct and open access to the Internet.

YouTube adds an audio editor for your videos

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 11:45:37 -0500

This is the YouTube generation. Everyone is able to record content with cell phones having high definition cameras and camcorders being so cheap that everyone can afford one. Not everyone has video editing software or the knowledge to do it either. YouTube has been consistently striving to make that possible for everyone. They have slowly been adding features for video editing directly into their site. First it was smalle tweaks for the video. They gave capability for stabilizing camera shake, rotating and trimming the length. Then came the Instagram-esque filters to be applied at any point.

Today they added audio features. You can now add music to any poing in your video. Youube gives you a library of over 150,000 to choose from. These are not current pop songs that you are used to hearing on the radio. You cannot upload your own songs. While that may sound like a limitation, YouTube just wants you (and them) to avoid getting sued for copyright infringement.

When adding music to your video you have the option of mixing the sound level to have the new music play softly in the background or completely replace the original audio track. You cannot put music in parts, split, splice or otherwise mix audio tracks. You can simply embed one of the 150,000+ tracks and control the volume.

This will be available worldwide and YouTube plans to roll it out over the next couple of days and promises further enhancements coming in the future

Facebook Offers

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0500

The one thing Facebook has not done for us, until now, was help us shop, at least not directly. We have been using this social network to reconnect with people, such as friends, family, co-workers and others. We have shared interests in movies, music, hobbies, places, activities and causes. We were then granted the ability to check in to locations and share out whereabouts with the world. Along the way, there were other companies and platforms that allowed us to do each of these features or others. Yelp! has allowed us to leave reviews for restaurants. Foursquare let us check in at the places we went and Groupon provided us with deals for all the things we love most. Facebook as has slowly acquiring or implementing the ability to do each of those things. The last one has finally been added to the list.

Facebook has launched Facebook Offers. If you click like on a business and that business has a deal for you, you can get it via Facebook without going to another separate platform. Do not be surprised if you start to see a lot of these springing up in your newsfeed. This is one kind of advertisement that nobody will complain about. These are very different from the sponsored statuses that were proposed or the ads you currently see in the side bar. In this case, these deals directly reflect a savings (like a coupon in the mail) from a company or brand that you have taken the time to click “like” for.

Direct mail coupons are something that everyone is used to seeing for a long time and those came from random sources that paid to be in the mailer. These are coupons from the brands you love the most and already interact with and you receive them while doing something you already do every day. This is a gigantic step forward in the marketing of brands on Facebook. There is one step in between seeing the offer and using it. That is clicking on it to receive an email at your already registered email address with Facebook. There is no additional registration. This step is necessary in preventing fradulent or overuse of the offers.

If you are a user, you don’t have to do anything. You will start to see them as brands start to offer them. If you manage a brand, then you are free to start creating offers for your customer. Both parties need to keep in mind that not all brands are capable of creating offeres currently. Right now, if you have a Facebook page for a brand that is not listed as a business, you cannot create an offer. Whether or not that functionality gets extended to all businesses and brand pages remains to be seen at the moment.

To create one:

Go to your page and from the sharing tool at the top of the timeline, click the yellow square that says Offer, Event +
Create a headline
Upload a photo
Set the limit on the number of claims
Set the expiration dates
Add your terms and conditions
Review your offer and click Post.

These instructions with further detail can be found on Facebook’s Offers help page.

You can also watch the informational video attached to this article

This is an exciting development. We have had Groupon and other offer services, but this integration into the world’s most popular social network makes saving money and interacting with your favorite brands easier than ever before.

Facebook toys with trending articles in newsfeed

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0500

Facebook is known for making changes and its user base is known for not liking them. However, shortly after the change is implemented, most people tend to forget what it looked like before the change and adapt to the new way of life on Facebook. This may be happening again, although on a much smaller scale than recent changes (Timeline) and the complainer may have a valid point this time.

When Facebook began to push the open graph and the ability for people to connect with it in new ways, other than a “login with Facebook” button, we saw news and music become the top two ways that third-parties integrated their services. You can now see what your friends are reading or listening to. The reading of news articles is the current focus for Facebook. As it stands, if many of your friends are using the social reading function from places like The Washington Post, you will see what they are reading in your ticker. As that list grows, when you log in, you may get an aggregate feed at the top of all the articles read by all of your friends. This gives you an opportunity to read and learn new things and share your interests with those in your social network circle as well (if you authorize it, of course).

If multiple people read the same thing, right now you’ll get a box at the top and it’ll say “Jimmy and 3 others read this” but you don’t get much information beyond that. With the new tending articles function you will. Some say too much information actually. Now there is a section at the top of your newsfeed (that is not always there) that comes up with all of the articles that are being read heavily by your friends, but it is more than what you are already used to seeing. Each article gets a thumbnail and roughly 100 words of the article as a teaser. The included photo gives more detail.

The problem that some people are experiencing is that it takes up a large amount of real estate on the newsfeed. The other issue is that people are seeing this even if they do not use the social reader apps like The Washington Post, The Huffington Post, Yahoo! Social Reader or The Guardian. What’s more is that one person selected at random by Facebook to be a tester has responded that the articles showing up were not even trending and only had one read each.

It needs time to be tweaked, but it is likely that we see this feature integrated into everyone’s Facebook account in the newsfeed. Many have already said that they prefer to see it in its own tab where it is prominent, but not intrusive. Facebook is not known for taking user feedback into account early on, so you can expect it will go the way they envision it and then it’ll be altered to fit feedback later. Either way, the open graph is here to stay and sharing information from multiple sources on Facebook is part of the future of sharing and social networking.

Swipe your phone and pay with NFC by Nokia

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 12:37:33 -0500

Near Field Communications, or NFC, has been around for a long time in stand-alone items. If you have ever seen the swip to pay systems in retail stores (McDonald’s also had them) then you know what it is. Mobil gas and Sheetz gas also had them. Mobil called it the SpeedPass and it was a wand what got waved in front of the pump to pay.

It is a device - wand, credit card, etc - that has your credit information stored on it and it allows you to pass over the reader without physically making contant or being subjected to fickle readers. Almost everyone has seen the plastic bag over the magnet strip when a reader becomes particularly stubborn.

NFC has been called the payment system of the future, but has had its detractors as well. People are often concerned about the security. While there is supposed to be a bond between the device and the reader so passers-by cannot digitally eavesdrop, security has been defeated in the past. There was also worry that someone could engineer a reader and walk by and scan your wallet through your jeans or purse and create a “transaction,” which would give them the account information. These are not security flaws inherent in NFC. They were problems that just weren’t solved - YET.

Apple has long been rumored to be creating an NFC wallet for the iPhone, but it has yet to arrive. Nokia was the first to show up and announced, just yesterday, that the Lumia 610 is a Windows phone with NFC on the feature list.

NFC means Near Field Communications and is not only associated with payments, although the Nokia Lumia 610 is approved for Visa PayWave and MasterCard PayPass. It recently released a product called the Play 360 Speaker, which provides omnidirectional sound and uses NFC to communicate with the music player.

It is safe to say that NFC is on the rise and will become the next bluetooth, or certainly a fantastic complement to it. The uses for NFC are not clearly defined, but small accessories (speakers, headsets) and payment systems are the focus. Using digital tags embedded into paper can communicate with devices over NFC as well. Only time will tell how the rest plays out.

IBM named Jeff Jonas newest fellow

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 12:35:41 -0500

When you work for a company like IBM as an engineer or a scientist, the competition is pretty stiff. In 1962 Thomas Watson created the fellow program. It is the highest honor one can achieve at that company. Fellows are appointed by the CEO and there are only an average of 6 new fellows per year, totalling 231 in the company’s history. Today there are 64 active fellows in a company that employs over 400,000 people worldwide.

Last week, IBM named their newest fellow - Jeff Jonas. Jeff is one of 8 recent honorees. His history and experience are very interesting. He is, by all accounts, a data guru and his official title at IBM is actually Chief Scientist, Entity Analytics with the IBM Software Group, Information Management. He is also a high school dropout who has survived bankruptcy and three divorces and turned around to become an IBM fellow. IBM calls him “a self taught software savant and swashbuckling entrepreneur.”

This excerpt of their official bio for him gives insight into his professional life:

Jeff Jonas is chief scientist of the IBM Entity Analytics group and an IBM Distinguished Engineer. The IBM Entity Analytics group was formed based on technologies developed by Systems Research & Development (SRD), founded by Jonas in 1984 and acquired by IBM in January 2005.

Prior to the IBM’s acquisition of SRD, Jonas lead it through the design and development of a number of extraordinary systems including technology used by the surveillance intelligence arm of the gaming industry. Leveraging facial recognition, this technology enabled the gaming industry to protect itself from aggressive card count teams, the most notable known as the MIT team and the subject of the book “Bringing Down the House” as well as the recent movie “21.” Today, possibly half the casinos in the world use technology created by Jonas and his SRD team. This work is frequently featured on the Discovery Channel, Learning Channel, and the Travel Channel.

In a small bio about his appointment as a fellow we get some more information about Jeff as a person:

The colorful software personality fit the Strip like a well-coiffed Elvis impersonator. “I fell in love with Vegas and Vegas fell in love with me,” quipped Jeff, whose annual New Year’s Eve bashes became legendary even in a town known for its parties.

Jeff’s focus is on the amount of data we create and how companies can use that data more appropriately. One example he gives in the video is how a retail company hired two people that had been previously caught for stealing from that same company. The information was available, but as he says - companies are getting dumber. This is all caused by the fact that in previous years a company had to use the little data it had, leveraged against instinct and gut reaction. Now, the data is available. Analytics can be done. Decisions can be made on real data and not a feeling. However, so many companies are not using the data or don’t know how.

Jeff Jonas is an interesting and brilliant man. Watch the video to see his personality. Congratulations to Jeff on achieving one of the highest honors an engineer can achieve - certainly within IBM.

Happy Foursquare Day

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 13:13:15 -0500

On April 16, there’s only one thing in tech to write about and it’s foursquare. Two years ago, adoring fans of the popular geolocation, check-in service names today Foursquare Day. Naturally, the date is important. If the service is called foursquare, the square of four is 16. So, April 16th or 4/16 is, naturally, Foursquare Day. That means that today, of all days, you should check-in - you’ll even get a special badge for it today.

What is foursquare? According to their about page

foursquare makes the real world easier to use. We build tools that help you keep up with friends, discover what’s nearby, save money, and unlock deals. Whether you’re setting off on a trip around the world, coordinating a night out with friends, or trying to pick the best dish at your local restaurant, foursquare is the perfect companion.

If that doesn’t make it make sense, here is how it works. Using a smartphone, because it has GPS in it, you launch a foursquare app. It will use the GPS and tell you all the places nearby. Select the place you are headed to, or just arrived at, and click the button to check in. You have not shared with the foursquare world (and Facebook and Twitter if they are connected) your location. Sounds scary to some people, but it is really a lot of fun and can result in good deals and savings as well.

The images in the slideshow talk about badges. Badges are a fun way to accomplish certain things. Be the first of your friends to check into a place that has 50 people also checked in at the same time and get the swarm badge. Find three places that have a photo booth and check into them to earn the photogenic badge. The don’t do anything other than offer a fun way to compete with friends. Points are the same thing. Every time you check in you get points. A standard check-in is a point. If you go multiple times per week, check in with the mayor, take the mayorship, first check-in, etc there are bonuses. It is just a tally that resets each week so you and your friends can harangue each other playfully about who has the most, or least, points.

Mayorships are similar. If you check into someplace more than anybody else, you’ll be the mayor and hold that title until someone else checks in more than you. Why is the mayor important? Other than a gold crown on your profile next to each destination that you are the mayor of, sometimes it nets you a discount. Ben and Jerry’s ice cream was giving an extra scoop, for free, to the mayor. Starbucks had a free coffee per week for the mayor. The mayor typically gets perks because if you are there enough to be the mayor, then chances are you’re bringing friends or talking to them about it and you are rewarded for your loyalty.

Foursquare deals are relatively new. Foursquare for business allows venues to create a location or take control of an existing one created by users and offer deals. Look around and you’ll see window clings on doors and windows letting you know there’s a deal to be had there for checking in. Check into Chili’s with three or more friends and get a free queso dip. Check in with a group, to Buffalo Wild Wings, and get 20% off your bill.

Some people worry about privacy and telling the world where they are every moment of the day. If you are somewhere secretive, you don’t check in. It’s that simple. If you are out in a restaurant, 200 people saw you anyway so there’s no need to worry that the world knows. However, you can control privacy to a degree. Sharing your check-in happens naturally with the foursquare community, but pushing that information to Facebook or Twitter is optional. You can befriend certain people and block others. The choice is yours. You can share all things or take action to check in privately (although you don’t get points for checking in privately).

This service is up to 2 billion check-ins per month. You read that right. 2 billion every month. It has put competitor, GoWalla, out of business. Why not do it? Why not take one moment to show the business you’re frequenting some love on a social network and open the opportunity to be rewarded for your loyalty? If you haven’t used foursquare ever before, foursquare day is a good time to start.

New Mac trojan - SabPab

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0500

Last week, the big news in the Mac community was the arrival of the Flashback trojan. For so long, Mac users lived under the pretense that they could not get a virus. The Flashback proved that wrong. For years, it was a numbers game. There is no sense in writing a virus for the Mac when the PC had such a large market share. Virus writers are looking to achieve something on a massive level and the PC was the way to do that. While the Mac doesn’t have nearly the market share of PC still, it has grown and continues to grow at a rapid pace. It has suddenly became apparent to virus writer and users that the Mac represents a significant enough target.

The arrival of the Flashback trojan was the first indication that a virus on the Mac was a credible threat. It used a security vulnerability in Java to infect the machine. There was no apparent danger by getting it and it didn’t seem to actually do anything. If anything, it was a message that the Mac is not as secure as people may think. At its height, Flashback had infected over 650,000 users. Apple quickly released a security patch to remove it, shut down access and prevent future exploitation via Java. Last count showed around 270,000 users still have it. Norton by Symantec has a tool available to download (for free) to check for Flashback and remove if necessary.

Now we have SabPab (sometimes called SabPub, by Kapersky). It is a simple backdoor Trojan that serves no purpose, but to wait further instructions, at which point your computer is under the control of the hacker instructing the virus. It could be used to steal information from your machine. It may also be used as part of a botnet army in a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack.

So far, Norton has classified SabPab risk as very low and gives instructions for removal if you own their Anti-Virus software. One step to be taken in the event Norton is not installed on your system is to search for the following files in these locations.

/Library/Preferences/com.apple.PabSabAgent.pfile
/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.PabSabAgent.plist

Stay ahead of the virus by updating your software and keeping current with the patches Apple releases. You can do it by looking at Apple’s latest software releases or following the directions to run Software Update.

Retrevo editor, Andrew, thinks you should jailbreak an iPad. I...

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 21:34:44 -0500

Retrevo editor, Andrew, thinks you should jailbreak an iPad. I disagree. Here’s why

Contact lens of the future may be here

Sat, 14 Apr 2012 11:46:58 -0500

Science fiction movies have long shown us futuristic example of augmented reality without the use of a handheld device. Arnold Schwarzenegger sported a heads-up display as a cyborg in the Terminator series, but that may not be too far off from what is coming to an eye near you. Innovega, Inc. has created the iOptik, an amazing feat that allows users to wear contact lenses and receive images and video direction through their eye. The natural reaction is that this would inhibit regular vision, but Innovega shows it will not and the attached video proves it.

With this technology, it is possible to view the image displayed on the lens and the natural environment at the same time. This is done by using polarizing light that basically convinces your eye that it is part of the background. Your eye can only focus on one distance at a time, so in order to view this and your natural environment at the same time, your eye cannot think they are at two different focal lengths.

Innovega expects the to be available for consumer purchase by 2014 and feels they can be used for integration with cell phones and even 3D movies. Cell phones can project emails, text messages, images and any other data via Bluetooth. 3D movies are possible by projecting a different image into each eye to create a 3D effect. This is particularly convenient for people who wear glasses and currently have to remove them to use the 3D glasses.

While 2014 may be a couple of years away, Innovega is already producing iOptik lenses for an order by Defense Advanced Research Projects Association, better known as DARPA. DARPA feels these lenses could be used by soldiers in the field by providing additional information about points of interest and targets. The deal with DARPA was just signed this week with no deadline for delivery or testing.

Facebook email uses your Timeline name

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 11:41:00 -0500

In 2009, Facebook first gave vanity URLs. Before that your profile was reachable at an address that looked something like http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1234567890. The arrival of vanity URLs allows us to customize it for convenience and simplicity. Mine is http://www.facebook.com/jason.t.viglione. Not everyone has set that.

Since November of 2010, if you have a Facebook account, you have had the ability to have a @Facebook.com email address. They launched this feature on November 15th of that year. It hasn’t been well publicized since then. Now your facebook email will sync with Timeline. That means that you can send me an email at jason.t.viglione@facebook.com. From within Facebook you can send email to any external address as well.

This may not seem like something of importance but it is to Facebook. Approximately 25% of all time spent online is done on a social networking site like Facebook. If you can do everything from within Facebook you have no reason to ever leave. While that may not ever be 100% true, they will get as close as they can. At this point, just about the only thing you can’t easily do from inside Facebook is shop. Most people are on Facebook and use its messaging system simply for internal messages. The ability to send emails to any external domain means you don’t have to open another browser window/tab or email client for the few people that aren’t on it. There is no chance of getting distracted on your way back. Facebook obviously likes keeping you here.

The timing of this is suspect as well. Even though sending emails to/from external email addresses has been enabled for some time, the syncing of Timeline name to email address just simplifies the process and requires no interaction from you. If you have Timeline, you have a @facebook.com email alias. The only social network that has ever posed a threat to Facebook, albeit a small one, was Google+, which is heavily integrated into Google’s own Gmail. By logging in with your Google username/password credentials you have all of Google’s ecosystem in front of you Single Sign-On as an authentication technique is proven to keep your customers using your services longer. Google+ has been around for nearly a year and hasn’t made much of a dent on Facebook’s user base, but it has also just recently gotten a much needed face lift.

This is another step in the current day version of the US vs USSR space race between Facebook and Google (no direct association with either company and either company). Each is vying for your constant, undivided attention. The more they can offer without extra involvement from you makes the user experience easier for you.

If you are a heavy Facebook user, you have probably set your Timeline name by now which means your @facebook.com email is waiting for you.