As Rumors Grow of a Verizon iPhone, AT&T Steps Up Their Game

As many iPhone customers continue to criticize AT&T's cellular network regarding performance, The Wall Street Journal reports that AT&T's has recently been attempting to beef up its cellular network. As part of the report, the Journal notes that Apple and AT&T have worked closely on addressing the issues, with Apple even going so far as to tweaking how the iPhone connects to the network in order to reduce load and enhance performance.

Apple has attempted to lighten the load by rejiggered how the devices communicate with AT&T's towers. As a result, the phones now put less of a load on the network for such simple tasks as finding the closest tower or checking for available text messages. This will significantly improve the overall performance and reliability of the AT&T network and iPhone handsets.

"They're well past networking 101, 201 or 301," said Mr. Donovan. Apple, he said, is now "in a Master's class." (The wall Street Journal).

In addition, AT&T has been reportedly sending high-ranking company executives to Apple's campus to personally meet with Steve Jobs to assure him that network issues were being addressed and quickly enhanced before the launch of the iPad this weekend. According to the report, AT&T rolled out a "100-day plan" in mid-December to rapidly improve service in high-density markets such as New York City and San Fransisco, cities that have been the focus of customer complaints.

AT&T's "100-day plan" may be paying off as recent studies have show higher consumer satisfaction regarding the iPhones cellular network. It is also important to note that as rumors of a Verizon iPhone for Fall 2010 continue to circulate, and the iPad nears its launch this weekend, there are additional incentives for the carrier to invest in its infrastructure, and maintain its competitive advantage by being the only U.S. carrier to hold the iPhone.

Windows is safer when not using admin rights

Windows 7 is safer when the admin isn't around: "

Not that we necessarily needed a report to tell us this, but the fewer privileges you afford yourself as a Windows user, the more secure your operating system becomes. The report looks into vulnerabilities disclosed by Microsoft during 2009 and concludes that all 55 reported Microsoft Office issues and 94 percent of the 33 listed for IE could be prevented by simply running a standard user account.

Windows 7 is safer when the admin isn't around originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Mar 2010 06:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink CNET | BeyondTrust (PDF)"


This article is a great reinforcement to the structure of SU's computing environment. We do not place restrictions on users without cause, if we could mitigate vulnerabilities without removal of rights we would much rather do so.

It is also important to point out that out dated operating systems like Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 (and even Vista) are more vulnerable than Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008.

The wait is almost over!

Apple Reportedly Working on New iPhone for Verizon

Verizon Communications shares surged on the news, rising 3.4 percent in after-hours trading, while the shares of AT&T, the current exclusive carrier of the iPhone in the United States, fell 2.2 percent. Apple is apparently developing a CDMA-compatible iPhone model that would work on Verizon's network, the Journal reported, citing people briefed on the matter. An Apple spokeswoman said the company does not comment on rumors and speculation.Verizon also declined to comment.
Verizon Wireless is a venture of Verizon and Vodafone Group. When asked about the report, an AT&T spokesman said: "We have a great relationship with Apple and we don't comment on the specifics of that relationship."AT&T also repeated previous comments that the iPhone "will be an important device for us for quite some time."Apple has released a new iPhone model every summer for the past three years and is widely expected to do so this summer. But a CDMA-compatible iPhone may come later in the year, the Journal report suggested. Contract manufacturer Pegatron, a unit of Taiwan-based Asustek, is scheduled to start mass producing CDMA iPhones in September, the report said, citing one source. But it was unclear when Apple might start selling that model.
Broadpoint Amtech analyst Brian Marshall said it was "only a matter of time" before the iPhone landed with Verizon. He said Verizon has a better network than AT&T and a larger base of customers. Marshall expects a Verizon iPhone to happen early in 2011.Verizon has roughly 6 million more wireless customers than AT&T. Rumors have been swirling for some time about Apple launching an iPhone with Verizon. AT&T has been the sole U.S. carrier since the iPhone's debut in 2007 and some iPhone users have complained about the quality of the AT&T network." AT&T has known all along that its exclusive relationship with Apple would change into something else some day. From the beginning of its relationship with Apple, AT&T has factored this change into its business and technology planning," a person familiar with AT&T said.

Cloud Computing Gains Momentum but Security and Privacy Issues Persist

The use of cloud computing is growing. On our very own Syracuse Campus we can see its use by the university in SU Mail. Outsourcing our email system is a much easier and cost effective way to manage the number of users of a university such as Syracuse. With its use also come problems, as we have seen with system outages and other various issues.
Despite any problems the Could system may have it is not just education systems that are latching onto the idea, but also governments. At the forefront of cloud systems are Google and Microsoft. One of the largest planned implementations is California and most prevalently, Los Angles.
Some are still unsure of resorting to a cloud system as seen here in an article on California and Cloud.

While cloud will change the way users access and store data, there are always risks in using a system like cloud. Being a remote storage, information is always being moved across the internet. Security in these transmissions is a huge priority as well as scare for users. By outsourcing you are loosing the control over access and storage and must rely on the provider (Google, Microsoft) to ensure integrity. The Cloud model means data could be anywhere around the country or world being stored.
Google has spent a great deal of time researching and developing their security protocols for their could system. For the government side a private cloud can be created, rather then use a public one. Should the system go down or company go bankrupt, where will your files go? Most likely they will be lost. Agencies are trying to ensure that the data is not lost, but courts have found that it is not their fault, as you willingly move the information to a third party.

As cloud computing is still in early stages of life, and has a lot of growing to do. Only time will tell how this evolution spread, and its safety.

Clean XP Antivirus and other fake alert infections with McAfee Stinger

Clean XP Antivirus and other fake alert infections with McAfee Stinger: "

Filed under: Security, Windows

Malware infections are the most common problems I see on my workbench. While there are plenty of different kinds, fake alerts and rogue antivirus programs seem to be the most widespread. They end up on my customers' systems with many different names -- Antivirus XP, Personal Antivirus, Spyware Protect, XP Antivirus -- and they're all major annoyances.

If you've fallen victim to one of these nasty bits of malware, a big repair bill doesn't have to be in your future. There are plenty of great, free, programs you can download to remove fake alert infections. A good one to start with is McAfee Stinger, which they've updated to clean this kind of malware.

Stinger is a free download and doesn't require you to install anything. Save stinger.exe to your desktop, double-click the icon to launch the program, and run a scan. Once it's done, remove any files it detects and reboot your system. That's it! Stinger currently detects and removes more than 1,300 types of malware (including most of the common ones I remove at my day job).

It's a good idea to double-check with another program when you try to clean up an infection like XP Antivirus (or its hundreds of variants). I highly recommend using Malwarebytes -- another free program -- to make sure the malware has been removed.

Clean XP Antivirus and other fake alert infections with McAfee Stinger originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 26 Mar 2010 11:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Macs vs. PCs on Operating System Security [Blockquote]

Macs vs. PCs on Operating System Security [Blockquote]: "

Security expert Charlie Miller on the record-breaking 20 zero day security holes soon to be announced in OS X. [H-Online] More »

Yes, Macs do have security issues and even are susceptible to viruses and malware/spyware. As we see OSX becoming more and more popular with Students it is important that we educate them in protecting themselves just as we do for students who choose to use Windows PCs. -Stuart

Big Brother or the Ultimate in Target Marketing?

(Photo credit: PR via Guardian UK)

Remember the great scene from Minority Report when Tom Cruise is walking through a building and all the advertising is uniquely customized for him? ("John Anderson, you could use a Guinness right about now!") While it seemed unreal at the time, the technology may be coming to billboards near you...not quite yet, but it is in the stages of development! A company in Tokyo has developed the technology that uses facial recognition software to register gender and age, then pulls and displays ads meant for you and also records how long the ad captures your attention. Check it on cnn.com:

Ads that Watch You

A definite way to capture your target market! I can't wait to see this technology sprout up around town! (Oh, and so you can sleep at night, the technology does not capture and store your image...yet!)

Website Content Planning

To add on to Jim's post, I came across this article on Smashing Magazine:

Starting Out Organized: Website Content Planning The Right Way

While you may have the best of intentions to create a website destined for a Webby design award, you'll soon realize that you're never the one driving the boat...the content...and the client are really in charge. To avoid redesigning a site over and over to accommodate numerous changes, it's best to nail down the content/navigation early on, well before design is involved. This article lays out many good tips for the beginning steps of content planning. But as we all know, clients will flip-flop on what they want, which is why it is important to take the process step-by-step. It may be slow and painstaking but it will pay off in the end.

But even with all the preparation there's bound to be numerous changes throughout the life of the website, which is why you should always design your website to be expandable both with content and navigation....because, well....you never know what's coming around the bend!

Wireframing: Worth its weight in gold!

During a web development project, people often rush into design and forget about content, and more importantly, organization of content. I too am guilty of doing this. However, taking a short amount of time to develop a very basic "blueprint" of your page layout can prove to save tons of time in the future.

A wireframe is: "A website wireframe (also "web wire frame", "web wireframe", "web wireframing") is a basic visual guide used in interface design to suggest the structure of a website and relationships between its pages. A webpage wireframe is a similar illustration of the layout of fundamental elements in the interface. Typically, wireframes are completed before any artwork is developed."  - wikipedia

Example:

For all you Google Docs users; pretty cool!

A new tool to bring your Google Docs into Outlook. Check it out...
http://lifehacker.com/5489917/harmony-attaches-and-opens-google-docs-from-outlook

Never work on unsaved attachments in Outlook

Ever have hours worth of work disappear because you forgot to save that Word attachment to your computer before altering it? This can happen and does frequently!

When you open an attachment in Outlook by right clicking the file from an email and choose OPEN, this does not save the file to your computer in the purist sense. It saves it to a temporary location somewhere on the hard drive. Even if you click save while working on the file, then close out of the Application(Word, Excel, etc), the file will most likely be lost forever!
So if you need to work on an attachment from Outlook, always save the attachment first by right clicking on the attachment and choosing SAVE AS. After this is complete, you can double click the file you just saved on the computer and work on it from there.

Glenn

JavaScript Frameworks: Which one???

In today's web development world, there are a plethora of tools/frameworks out there to take advantage of. Since JavaScript has revived itself and become deeply embedded into today's killer web apps, I thought I would take a minute to list and discuss a few popular JS frameworks, and their differences.

• Prototype (http://www.prototypejs.org) - Offers an very extensible library for creating your own JS objects/classes, as well as using a sweet list of functions for Ajax, DOM, JSON, Arrays etc... It is the basis for other frameworks, such as Script.aculo.us and ModalBox.
• MooTools (http://mootools.net) - A lightweight, selective library which accomplishes much of what the Prototype library gives you. Advantage, smaller library size, since you can pick and choose your components.
• Jquery (http://jquery.com) - Similar to the others, but well noted for its DOM and event modification. Jquery is also probably the most widely used library with clients like Dell, Google, Mozilla, etc... It is also sanctioned as Microsoft's platform for ASP.net Ajax and the MVC.

Some frameworks will support use with another, but not all. Tread lightly.

As you can see, all offer similar functionality, but your choice will most likely depend on the type of project you are attacking. I have had to use all three, depending on the client, technology, and existing platforms; so if you already haven't familiarize yourself with what is out there!