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Consumer Reports Disproves Apple

Consumer Reports tested the iPhone 4 and concluded that they cannot recommend the phone until Apple has fixed its antenna problem.

Engineers ran a series of tests on the phone and other comparable smartphones. They found that the iPhone 4’s reception dropped dramatically when the bottom left corner was covered by a hand or finger. This is especially problematic for left handed people. The signal drops so much that it is very possible for a call to be lost.

These results disprove Apple’s claim that there is no reduction in signal, but that the signal is weak to begin with. Apple released a statement at the beginning of July claiming they found the source of the reception problems:

“Our formula, in many instances, mistakenly displays 2 more bars than it should for a given signal strength. For example, we sometimes display 4 bars when we should be displaying as few as 2 bars. Users observing a drop of several bars when they grip their iPhone in a certain way are most likely in an area with very weak signal strength, but they don’t know it because we are erroneously displaying 4 or 5 bars. Their big drop in bars is because their high bars were never real in the first place.”

Not only did Consumer Reports test comparable smartphones, but also multiple iPhone 4s. However, they cannot conclude that all iPhone 4s have the signal problem based on their sample of three iPhone 4s… That sample size is just too small to make any definite, final conclusions.

Consumer Reports’ engineers recommend using a strip of non-conductive tape wrapped around the bottom-left corner of the phone for a quick fix. Apple also suggested using a case or just trying to avoid holding the phone with your hand over the sensitive spot.

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Google, Make Me Happy Again!

The new iPhone has made Android owners feel inferior and not so special anymore. However, Google Labs has just launched a new tool to invent your own applications. What’s more fun than creating your own applications? My Easy-Bake-Oven was my favorite toy when I was little and it seems we never grow out of having fun creating new things.

The App Inventor software is still just in Google labs, but is ready and available for use. It allows a user to create an application for Android powered devices. Released on July 12, the App Inventor makes cell phone owners more involved in the applications. As cell phones become more and more advanced, they become more and more like computers. So, it is important to increase user involvement and user knowledge.

Google is proud of this new tool’s easy to use features for all ages. It has been in development for a year already and tested on students, professionals, non-programmers, even sixth graders. Google believes the tool is a good first experience of computer programming for these children. Exposure to simple and fun computer programming is beneficial to kids in the long run.

Also, Google hopes that by opening up its applications’ invention to more and more creators, it will even up with Apple’s app store and maybe even surpass it. Android phones are definitely a forerunner in the smartphone market, but they are also well behind the iPhone. And while Apple’s app store has strict rules and regulations on the apps they provide, Google does not. They are hoping this access and freedom will attract more users and app inventors.

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Google’s Struggle with Censorship

Google has been in a heated battle with the Chinese government since January this year when there were various security breaches targeting Gmail accounts. After Google sorted all the attacks out, they decided they didn’t want to be a contributor to government censorship. So a few months later, in June, Google decided to “stick it to the man” and forward the Chinese Google site, Google.cn, to the uncensored Honk Kong Google site, Google.com.hk.

You can imagine the Chinese government did not take this insult well. Threats went back and forth between Google and the Chinese government arguing over who is right and who is wrong. So Google took it down a notch. Instead of keeping the automatic redirect to the Honk Kong site, Google put a link on the Google.cn page to the Hong Kong site. This kind of takes the blame off Google directly and gives the Chinese people the option to click on and choose an uncensored version.

The Chinese government still were not fond of this solution. And when Google resubmitted their ICP (Internet Content Provider) license renewal application, they prepared themselves to be rejected altogether. At least they weren’t compromising their morals by keeping Google.cn only able to access limited, censored search topics like music and translations.

Google was supposed to know whether they would be keeping Google.cn by June 30th (which was the ICP renewal date). And yet we have all been waiting and waiting to hear from the Chinese government if Google.cn will remain accessible. Finally, today Reuters reported that the Chinese did in fact approve the ICP for Google.cn!

The acceptance is great news for Google seeing as China is the world’s largest Internet market and, with the government’s censorship, a market with little search engine competition.

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Simple Steps to Protect Your Computer

Just yesterday we told you about a Google results scam to be aware of. Today, protection against such scams is on the chopping block. It is easy to call up your local tech guy or favorite Keystone employee and get him to fix all your problems for you. However, your wallet might not appreciate that approach. And isn’t it always best to be prepared and protect yourself from harm? It’s like wearing a helmet when you ride your bike or wearing a seat belt when you’re in a car. You don’t expect to get in a car wreck but you’re wearing that seat belt just in case someone else decides to get in a wreck.

I asked around the office and compiled a list of how to protect yourself and your data while on the Internet. The outline is basic: Install protective software and keep it updated, and avoid malicious tricks.

Get Protective Software:

This is the most fundamental way to protect yourself on the Internet. At home or in the office, anti-virus software is very important to having a smooth Internet experience. Our Web producer, Jeremy Scott, says, “Be proactive and get some anti-spyware and anti-virus software as soon as you get your computer. It’s a lot less work to put precautions in place ahead of time than it is to fix a problem after the fact.”

In the office, be sure to buy business-class software. Retail versions of anti-virus software are not strong enough to cover an entire network at your business. Our experts recommend Trend Micro Worry Free Security Suite for a business. For regular home users, Thomas Campbell suggests, “either Trend Micro Internet Security Pro or Webroot Spysweeper with anti-virus. There are plenty of good anti-virus programs out there but in my opinion these offer the best combination of effectiveness, reliability, and ease of use.”

Keeping your Security software updated is almost just as important as having the software in the first place. If you don’t have the most up-to-date software, there can be holes in your security. Cyberscammers stay updated so why shouldn’t you? If you are not keeping your software up-to-date, you could be susceptible to the latest virus scams.

Avoid their Tricks:

This is an important step as well to keep your online data to yourself. Pay attention and use common sense! One of our IT consultants, Adam Arnold, said:

“Most infections come from some form of social engineering or overall trickery. If a window pops up and says ‘You are infected! Click here!’ Please don’t. Reputable software doesn’t do that… If you are the type of person that gives out very private and personal information to strangers on the street, you will need to hire someone to supervise you on the computer. Otherwise, if you are unsure, call someone to help you.”

Our web producer, Jeremy Scott, gave his input here also and said, “Pay attention. Most people only notice their machine is infected long after they’ve received a lot of malware and spyware.”

Very true, Jeremy. Make wise decisions when you are surfing around on the web. You have too much data at risk when you don’t make smart choices. Clicking on random pop-ups is always the wrong thing to do. Another Keystone IT consultant, Thomas Campbell, says:

“Don’t open attachments if you don’t know who they are from. Remember that people can spoof e-mail addresses (i.e. look like the e-mail is coming from a friend or trusted bank but it is not) so be careful clicking on any links. Be careful where you surf, and even more importantly, what you download… A lot of the malware we see these days install a fake antivirus program on the victim’s machine at the user’s prompting and harasses them to buy the “full version” of their software. Don’t be fooled!”

Overall, the Keystone office agrees that you need to take certain steps on your own to avoid major problems with viruses, malware, identity theft, and more. After reading all these warnings, I hope you will take a few minutes to familiarize yourself with your anti-virus software and update it to the latest version.

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Cyber-Vampire-Scammers

I’ll be the first to admit that I have seen all the movies of the Twilight saga thus far and have liked every single one (but that didn’t stop my bosses from making fun of me). With Vampires on the mind, you might be susceptible to viruses or identity theft. Not because they are going to come and bite you and turn you into a vampire, but because there is a new scam targeting Twilight search results on Google.

The cyberscammers will create a fake webpage on Eclipse (or whatever other trendy subject they prefer) that will show up in the top Google results for your search query. After you click on the site, a fake warning will pop up saying you’re in danger of being infected by some virus. Then you will be convinced to buy some obscure anti-virus software from the warning window. After you’ve bought it, you will not have any anti-virus software, and the bad guys will have all your money.

Byron Acohido of USA Today writes,

“If you see a suspicious scareware alert, the worst thing you can do is click on anything in the alert, even a ‘cancel’ button. That’s because clicking on anything the bad guys present to you usually advances the scam. Instead, do a force quit: type ‘cntl-alt-delete’ to navigate to your task manager. Locate the application running the fake alert and force-quit it by clicking ‘end task.’”

Also, be sure to keep your virus protection software up-to-date. It may be inconvenient today, but you’ll be less inconvenienced tomorrow when you don’t have any viruses to clean.

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Not Just Wireless but also Mouseless

It may be pointless to state, but technology is constantly changing and evolving into more efficient and practical tools. Computers have gone from huge and inaccessible to lightweight and portable. As well as portable, there has been a large movement toward wireless everything, e.g. wireless internet access, a wireless keyboard and a wireless mouse. Well, now a group at MIT has developed a wireless, mouseless mouse.

Using an infrared camera and laser, Fluid Interfaces Group and Pranav Mistry have developed a mouseless mouse for a computer.  It requires the user to cup his or her hand as if there were a physical mouse present underneath. The infrared laser creates a surface that will pick up your hand movements and clicking gesture. Then, paired with the infrared camera, the mouse will move on the screen, click, and right-click as if you had a traditional mouse.

The recently developed Magic Mouse from Apple featured a multi-touch surface that allows scrolling, zooming, and clicking with different hand gestures. Pranav Mistry’s invention is another monumental development. There is room to expand the mouseless mouse’s gesture library in the future to include and exceed the capabilities of the Magic Mouse.

Unlike the Magic Mouse, the mouseless mouse will not be limited to the physical hardware when gesture capabilities are expanded. The mouseless mouse will be able to support unprecedented movements and capabilities. What’s even better? Pranav Mistry built the prototype for only $20 meaning the final product won’t be out the roof. Check out the video here demonstrating the mouseless mouse in a pretty entertaining and creative way.

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Microsoft’s Newest Phone Cut After 48 Days

You probably saw a commercial or two for Microsoft’s Kin cell phone recently. Well, not too recently since Microsoft discontinued the phone after only 48 days on the market because of such low sales.

The Kin was geared toward young adults and teens who love social networking. The phone plays up easy social network access like Twitter, Facebook, even MySpace. It also featured a loop of friends that you are directly connected to, i.e. follow their tweets, status updates, etc.

I found it curious that I would see tons of commercials at home that made the Kin look decent (something appealing to social-media-crazy-teens) and yet never saw any articles or reviews on any of the big name tech sites. The phone regretfully did not catch the eye of enough teens or young adults either. All the advertising for the phone came from Microsoft’s large ad budget for the Kin. And that obviously wasn’t enough.

It probably wasn’t the best idea to release the smartphone right around the set release dates of the iPhone 4 and the Droid Incredible. While the Kin does have a unique look, it cannot compare to the iPhone craze and its huge apps store resource.

Even though discontinuing the phone may have been the best option for Microsoft, it is completely out of their character. Like the Windows Vista or Internet Explorer, Microsoft tends to hold on to projects (however awful they may seem) and improve them over time. But this time the product was cut off after only 48 days!

Maybe Microsoft was so okay with shutting down the new phone because the next Windows phone is in the works and could potentially come out by this fall. Microsoft said that all Kin employees would be reassigned under the Windows Phone 7 development.

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