Computer Solutions in the greater brisbane area.
News
Currently browsing the News category
Facebook letting apps have your email address
News today that Facebook are changing the way applications within Facebook can communicate with the users of those apps; Previously, if the application wanted to give users information, it would do so via a ‘notification’, which would appear in the notifications list on your facebook page. Now, you are forced to give the application your email address if you want to hear from the app.
From what I have seen so far, chances are the best option is to not allow application’s access to your email address in the first place. I haven’t seen any app notifications that were important in any way, so this might in fact be a way for users to reduce the amount of stuff they are being bombarded with, which might be a nice side effect.
That being said, I can imagine times when communicating between the developers of your favourite facebook app, and you, might actually be useful, and it boggles the mind to understand why Facebook weren’t smarter about this; First off, most users will not want to give out their email address to heaps of unknown app developers, we all get enough spam as it is.
Facebook could have moved these notifications to email, but made it so that app developers had to send that email through Facebook. Facebook could then mail out the stuff to the users email addresses, the end result being the same, but users email addresses would never need to be shared with the application developer. This idea improves privacy for users, gives facebook more control and leverage, and even allows facebook to think about charging application developers to use the system.
The recent privacy settings changes, coupled with this bone headed move, makes me wonder if the decline of facebook has begun. Time will tell.
Need help remembering passwords?
I think we may have finally found the answer to keeping track of all your passwords. If you want to stay safe online, you setup a new, secure password for every site and service you setup online. It’s not long before you have so many weirdo random strings of letters and numbers to remember that you need something to help.
With Lastpass,you download an addon for whichever web browser you use, and it then remembers passwords for you as you enter them into websites to login. There are other ways to do this too, but Lastpass is better because;
- You can have it auto log you into sites
- It syncs the passwords securely to Lastpass servers so you can access them anywhere
- When you return to a site, Lastpass always fills in the login fields
- When you change the password on a site, not only does Lastpass change it’s recorded password, but pops up allowing you to let it generate a random password to use.
If you are happy to pay $14 a year, you can also use the iPhone application, then you have access to all your passwords wherever you are, and of course you can then use those passwords to login on your phone!
We highly recommend the service; If you need help setting the software up, give us a call and one of our engineer’s can visit you and walk through it with you.
Got an iPhone? Get Moodagent!
I discovered Moodagent last week watching an episode of App Judgement (embed below); The app lets you adjust six different mood indicators, and it then creates a playlist from the music on your iPhone that matches the mood you have specified.
The app is free, so you’d be mad not to download it and give it a go if you enjoy your music!
Windows 7 is here!
Windows 7 is here and it brings with it a host of improvements to the worlds favourite computer operating system. We are super excited about it being available to the public for the first time, as we’ve been running it internally for a while now, and it is spectacular. Here are some great reasons to think about deploying it sooner rather than later;
Windows 7 is more reliable; learning from all the hiccups of the past, especially from the 8 year old Windows XP, the team at Redmond have developed what is probably the most reliable version of Windows ever. I don’t recall having a single problem with it, even when running pre release versions that are supposed to be buggy.
Security has been improved; Microsoft have tweaked up user account control, improved the way security issues are reported to the user and given the whole security architechure a rev up. Considering the host of flaws present in Windows XP, this is a good reason to move up.
Aero Glass / Peek / Shake are quite useful new interface tools. I particularly like the new snap feature, where I can grab a window, drag it to the side of the screen, and it snaps to take up exactly half of the display. Aero peek, where you hover over an icon on your task bar and a thumbnail of the window is displayed, is also super handy.
The new task bar in Windows 7 is awesome; You can pin your favourite applications to it so they are always just a click away; Multiple instances of a program don’t add up to multiple icons though, they stack up, and you can use Aero peek to see them all. Plus, you can right click the icon on the task bar and get a jump list of tasks that program can do.
XP Mode; If you are stuck with an outdated software program you cannot replace just yet, and that program refuses to run on anything more modern than Windows XP, then you can take advantage of Windows XP Mode in Windows 7, which we have tested, and lets you run your app in a Windows XP virtual machine; The application runs just like any other app, so you can keep on working without a worry.
These are just some of the reasons I think Windows 7 is the first “must have” upgrade since Windows 95. Now that you can have it, give us a call and find out the best way for you to upgrade.
Norman anti virus is eating 7Zip
Over the past few days we’ve had a variety of reports of problems from our clients running Norman Anti Virus software; Many problems related to backup software systems that were giving strange new errors relating to 7Zip.
7Zip is a file compression program that you can use to “squash” files into smaller packages to free up space, and many backup solutions including our Managed Backup solution, use it.
For some reason, Norman anti virus has started detecting 7Zip as a trojan, which of course, it is not; It is deleting the programs executable part, so that from then on, the program cannot operate, and in some cases, backups stop working;
Our clients who have migrated across to ESET anti virus need not be concerned, as this anti virus package is not having this issue. Clients who are taking advantage of our Managed Backup Solution also can breathe easy, because if this problem occurs for them, we will automatically fix it for you!
If you would like more information about upgrading to ESET anti virus, drop us an email at support at shiftsolutions.com.au
As always, if you are concerned you may have a problem, give us a ring at the office on 3814 1131 straight away!
Apple updates iTunes & iPhone
Today’s the day for us down under to grab the latest upgrades from our friends at Apple. iPhone owners will want to sync up their phones and download the 3.1 update, and while you’re at it, grab the new iTunes 9. There are some good reasons to upgrade, especially with regards to iTunes. Read More…
ESET Racing Ahead
Thanks to ESET Antivirus for inviting me out to the Queenland Raceway this weekend as a guest of the Race Image / ESET V8 Supercar team. It was great to be out there over the weekend, and special thanks for letting young Darren climb into the hot seat and check out the drivers view of things!
ESET’s support of local Aussie motor racing is another demonstration of ESET’s strong position in the local market. ESET Anti Virus continues to be our security software of choice, as it consistently proves to be a top performer, confirming our decision to make it the only security software we recommend to our clients.
For more information on how ESET Anti Virus can protect your computers, call our office on 07 3814 1131.
Microsoft banned from selling Word
The patent system continues to create problems for companies in tech, and now, the giant of them all, Microsoft, has managed to get a judgement against it brought by a smaller company with an obscure patent.
The patent in question describes a method for reading XML, which in turn is a standard technology that Microsoft chose to deploy for word documents (and other office suite programs) to make reading those documents across different platforms easier, by using the XML standard. (This is why all Office 2007 documents have an X on the end of the filename, thats to signify the document is using XML)
In this latest round of patent madness, a judge has ruled that Microsft must stop selling MS Word completely in 60 days, as well as paying large damages. Microsoft will obviously appeal the verdict, but really, banning the product from sale seems a bit far to go, if the judge is going to uphold the patent, surely damages and royalties are the way to go?
Intel drops price on SSD
Virtually none of our clients have yet even heard of SSD, but all of you soon will, as Intel moves to slash pricing on the new technology by over 50%.
SSD’s are a new type of hard drive that use ram chips rather than a spinning magnetic disc to store your data. They are fantastic for laptops because they use much less power and are normally much quicker than convential drives.
The big drawback has been the price, with current 80 Gig drives costing as much as $699 (compared with conventional drives at around $100).
We’re in the process of tracking down more information about the new models and when we have pricing, we’ll be able to see if they are now a real possibility, or still too expensive for the mainstream to consider.
iPhone 3GS
Today’s the day for iPhone fans; The new iPhone 3GS is now on sale in Australia. This updated model comes with a slew of improvements moving the iPhone further in front as the leading smart phone in the marketplace.
The 3GS features a faster processor that the previous model, which take the good user experience of the 3G and bring it to a new level; Also, there is more mobile network hardware in there, which may mean improved performance on some networks.
The camera has been improved, and now you can take video as well as photos, and you can even trim the video and upload straight to Youtube!
Apple has shoehorned a compass into the new model, which allows the maps to rotate to match your direction.
If your phone carrier will let you, the new iPhone can also be used as a broadband internet modem for your laptop; That may not be that useful here in Australia unless local carriers offer up a bit more in the way of download quota though.
