If you’re using ‘Password1,’ change it. Now.

By doris | Published: March 2, 2012

Full Story at money.cnn.com

SAN FRANCISCO (CNNMoney) — The number one way hackers get into protected systems isn’t through a fancy technical exploit. It’s by guessing the password.

That’s not too hard when the most common password used on business systems is “Password1.”

There’s a technical reason for Password1′s popularity: It’s got an upper-case letter, a number and nine characters. That satisfies the complexity rules for many systems, including the default settings for Microsoft’s (MSFT, Fortune 500) widely used Active Directory identity management software.

Posted in Internet, Passcode, Security Updates, Wedsites | Leave a comment

Tiny $35 Raspberry Pi computer causes big stir on launch day

By doris | Published: March 1, 2012

Full Story at CNN.com

(CNN) — The tiny $35 Raspberry Pi computer went on sale today, crashing its distributors’ websites on the way to selling out within hours of launch.

Looking like little more than a credit card-sized chip of circuit board, the powerful, fully-programmable PC can plug into any TV and can power 3D graphics and Blu-ray video playback.

Its British-based designers at the Raspberry Pi Foundation hope the computer, which has been in the works for six years, will spark new interest in programming among children.

“The primary goal was to build a low cost computer that every child could own, and one where programming was the natural thing to do with it,” said co-founder Robert Mullins.

Posted in Children, Computer, Tiny, Wedsites | Leave a comment

Microsoft Windows 8 on 82-inch touchscreen hands-on (video)

By doris | Published: February 29, 2012

Full Story at Engadget.com

We don’t have 100 fingers — theoretically the supported limit of Windows 8 on the 82-inch capacitive touchscreen display we just had a chance to go hands-on with at the company’s latest OS demo at Mobile World Congress — but things looked pretty impressive even with just 10. The display we saw is manufactured by a company called Perceptive Pixel, and it may even look familiar — it’s the same glass screen used by television news networks like CNN. But, unlike the giant touchscreens you’ve seen on TV, this guy is connected to a standard off-the-shelf PC running Windows 8 Consumer Preview.

Posted in 3G, Microsoft, Touch Screens, Windows 7 and others | Leave a comment

Designing a $100 solar-powered tablet

By doris | Published: February 27, 2012

Full Story at money.cnn.com

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — You may not have heard of Yves Behar, but chances are you’ve seen his designs.

He’s the visionary behind the popular Jawbone Jambox sound system, Herman Miller’s Sayl chairs, Swarovski chandeliers, and even New York City’s free condoms.

The Swiss designer, now based in San Francisco, has plenty of commercial hits. That gives him the financial freedom to pursue his belief that design can change the world. It’s a passion he put to work on his most famous project, One Laptop Per Child, better known as “the $100 laptop.”

Now he’s nearing completion of the sequel: A $100 tablet. It’s rugged, solar-powered, and designed for children in the world’s poorest countries.

“The tablet is a refinement of the laptop,” Behar told CNN’s Sanjay Gupta in interviews for The Next List. “It’s much smaller, it’s much lighter, it uses less energy, less materials — it can be even more cost effective.”

Posted in Children, Solar Power, Tablet, Technology | Leave a comment

Why your cell phone bill is going up

By doris | Published: February 23, 2012

Full Story at money.cnn.com

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Has your mobile phone bill jumped this past year?

Get used to it.

Demand for wireless data services is soaring, forcing carriers to invest massively to keep up. They have two main options: Upgrade their network technology or acquire more wireless spectrum to give them more bandwidth.

Both approaches cost billions. AT&T led its rivals by spending $95 billion over the past five years upgrading its network. Verizon just agreed to pay $3.6 billion for a small but tactically significant bundle of spectrum from a group of cable companies.

Those expenses are getting transferred to you, the consumer.

“The insatiable thirst for mobile broadband is going to force all of us to pay more,” says Dan Hays, a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers’ consultancy. “Phone bills are going up.”

Posted in Cellphone, Company, Data, Electronics, Money, Wireless | Leave a comment

Netflix gives new customers DVD-only option again

By doris | Published: February 22, 2012

Full Story at Technolog.msnbc.msn.com

Despite its commitment to streaming movies and TV, Netflix is offering its DVD-only service option to new customers again, but will it tempt those who have converted to Redbox?

When Netflix implemented in September its highly unpopular plan to separate its DVD and streaming plans and 60 percent price hike (which met with vehement social media scorn for days and weeks following the announcement in July), it removed the DVD-only option for new customers, making it available only as an add-on to a streaming plan at sign-up for an additional $8 a month (one DVD out-at-a-time).

Posted in Business, DVD, Electronics, Netflix | Leave a comment

Apple ‘determined’ to improve conditions at plants in China

By doris | Published: February 19, 2012

Full Story at CNN.com

San Francisco (CNN) — Apple CEO Tim Cook on Tuesday said that the world’s most valuable tech company is doing everything it can to address growing concerns over working conditions at its Chinese manufacturing plants.

“We know people have a very high expectation of Apple,” he told hundreds of investment professionals at the annual Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference in San Francisco. “No one in our industry is doing more to improve working conditions than Apple.”

Cook’s comments came one day after the announcement that an independent watchdog group, the Fair Labor Association, has begun auditing conditions at plants in China that make most of Apple’s products, including iPhones and iPads.

Posted in Apple, Business, China, Company, Investment, Manufacturer, Technology | Leave a comment

FCC bans LightSquared over GPS interference

By doris | Published: February 17, 2012

Full Story at money.cnn.com

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — LightSquared’s plan to become a fifth major nationwide wireless carrier hit a major snag this week, after government regulators said they would continue to bar the company from launching its network.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration said late Tuesday that LightSquared’s network could interfere with GPS signals, despite LightSquared’s proposed engineering solutions. That interference has the potential to be extremely dangerous: In addition to powering consumer navigation devices, GPS is used by the military and the aviation industry to guide airplanes and missiles.

Posted in Carrier, Devices, GPS, Wireless | Leave a comment

NY tickets 118,000 drivers under texting law

By doris | Published: February 14, 2012

Full Story at msnbc.com

NEW YORK — Police in New York state have ticketed more than 118,000 motorists for using cellphones behind the wheel since a strict new law took effect in July, the governor who signed the law said on Monday.

Ticketing rates for texting while driving have more than doubled since then, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said.

Texting and other handheld cellphone use is blamed for the deaths of more than 5,000 people and injuries to more than 440,000 people nationwide each year, said Barbara Fiala, commissioner of the Department of Motor Vehicles.

New York’s new law made using any kind of electronic handheld device while driving a primary offense, meaning police can pull over drivers for that reason alone.

Posted in Automobiles, Cellphone, Family, Illegal, Law, Problem, Texting | Leave a comment

FaceTime bug lets locked iPhones make video calls

By doris | Published: February 11, 2012

Full Story at msnbc.com

An iPhone bug enables people to make FaceTime video calls on phones that are locked with a password and protected with the highest security settings, a researcher discovered.

The flaw, which exists in the newest version of Apple’s iOS 5.0.1 smartphone software, can be exploited even if the iPhone owner has voice dialing turned off and the device is set to require a passcode, according to Ade Barkah. He explained the vulnerability in a blog post he entitled “More fun with a locked iPhone 4.”

Barkah is familiar with toying with the iPhone and exposing its weaknesses. Last month, he demonstrated how setting the iPhone’s clock back could expose all the photos stored on the phone, even if the phone had been locked.

In this week’s proof-of-concept iPhone hack, Barkah first disabled voice calling, but found that the iPhone — he tested the exploit on an iPhone 4 — keeps Voice Control enabled.

Posted in Apple, Bugs, iPhone, Smartphones, Software | Leave a comment

Chrome Web browser comes to Android phones, tablets

By doris | Published: February 9, 2012

Full Story at CNN.com

Google launched a beta version of Chrome for Android smartphones and tablets Tuesday, delivering a mobile version of the popular desktop web browser after a very long wait. Indeed, both Android and Chrome launched more than three years ago, and users have demanded unification ever since.

Why bemoan the long wait? Much like the company’s other products and services, the new Chrome app hooks wonderfully into the Google universe, giving those immersed in desktop Google apps even more incentive to choose Android as their mobile OS. So, naturally, we would hope — nay, expect — that Chrome would be the default browser for the Android OS.

Posted in Android, Chrome, Google | Leave a comment

Motorola Droid 4 coming to Verizon on Feb. 10

By doris | Published: February 8, 2012

Full Story at Gadgetbox.msnbc.msn.com

It’s official: The Motorola Droid 4, that slender beast of a smartphone, is headed to Verizon’s speedy 4G LTE network on Feb. 10.

As you might already know, the gadget is skinny — it’s less than half-an-inch thick — and offers a dual-core 1.2 GHz processor, a five-row QWERTY keyboard, a 4-inch qHD display (made of scratch- and scrape-resistant glass), an 8-megapixel back-facing camera, and a front-facing camera for video chats.

Posted in Droid, Motorola, Verizon | Leave a comment