[tweetmeme source=”franscomputerservices” only_single=false]Finally getting back to this blog! Sheesh, time sure gets away from ya!
iPad
The iPad looks great! But…
Why couldn’t Apple have done a Mac OS X tablet! Mac OS X which really does just work but is still much more open than iPhone OS. I absolutely love my Mac, and I love my iPod Touch, but I wouldn’t want my iPod Touch’s iPhone OS on my Mac!
Apple’s new iPad coming soon and already introduced by Steve Jobs in the Keynote; but it is basically a tablet in the form of a larger iPod Touch. Including no Flash player still (but can you blame Apple for not including Flash – yes and no LOL!)? Also, apparently, including still only allowing single apps to run at a time?
Also playing games with eBooks and their customers and retailers, and basically saying that their fiddling will only mean that all eBooks will be the same price (albeit Apple’s higher pricing worked out by playing games with the publishers) — kinda a reversal of what they did with the music labels, by the way.
EDIT (added this paragraph): Speaking of single apps only at a time like the iPhone OS … I remember the Windows 7 Starter on netbooks which restricted users to 3 concurrent apps at a time and people were very upset about it. (Thanks to @Blair_42 for reminding me about it. We talked about this on the JimmyLee and Bambi Show Saturday night on CNIRadio, or JimmyLee and I talked about it before the show…will have to go back and listen to the show to be sure LOL!)
… all instead of a Mac OS X tablet that would be able to do so much more, and be more open than the TOTALLY closed environment of the iPhone OS.
Don’t get me wrong, I love my iPod Touch, but it is not the venue I would want for a tablet computer.
Microsoft
Security Garden reports;
Microsoft released thirteen security bulletins addressing twenty-six vulnerabilities. Windows is affected by eleven of the bulletins and older versions of Office by the remaining two bulletins. Of the bulletins, the following are rated as Critical: MS10-006, MS10-007, MS10-008, MS10-013, and MS10-015.
Much more in the Security Garden article.
But this is after next to nothing in January, mind you.
And Researchers warn of likely attacks against Windows, PowerPoint;
Hackers will jump on several of the bugs Microsoft patched today
And of course, there’s also The Windows 7 honeymoon is over as well.
Joy…Windows XP is long in the tooth, Vista is a total dud, and now the only contender for Windows is Windows 7. I personally love Windows 7, but it does have some oddities that are quite annoying.
Flash
Back to the part about no Flash on the iPad, as I say, who can blame Apple’s decision on Flash when you have things like Adobe screw-up leave Flash flaw unpatched for 16 months?
Firefox
Those that know me, know that I highly suggest that folks use Firefox due to the lack if Active-X and it’s related vulnerabilities, as well as the extension system which has been very helpful; NoScript, Adblock Plus, MyWOT, and so many more wonderful extensions.
But there is the recent concern about Firefox Add-ons Infected;
Perhaps you read the Mozilla blog at http://blog.mozilla.com/addons/2010/02/04/please-read-security-issue-on-amo/ where it was revealed that two add-ons for Firefox were infected with Trojans. In this case the distribution was very small, so not many users were infected, but this type of attack is likely to grow.
And then there is the outright annoyance of HTML 5 and NO H.264 support in Firefox 3.6
Just when HTML 5 is finally breaking ground…We have Firefox 3.6, which supports HTML 5, but which is also a step backward in compatibility with video sites?! Huh?!
What good is HTML 5 support in Firefox if they take away H.264 support?! I understand ADDING Ogg Theora support, but removing H.264 support?
I applaud YouTube, Vimeo, Blip.TV, etc. (hopefully Hulu too), for going to a more open standard like HTML 5 (instead of Flash) for their delivery method of their video content, but they are staying with the same H.264 codec for the videos themselves.
So, why would Firefox, at this particular juncture, remove the ability to play H.264 from Firefox so all their Firefox 3.6 users (even on a computer with the proper codecs installed) get greeted with this:
Firefox 3.6 and YouTube HTML 5 breakage
Or is Flash the ONLY way to get H.264 compatibility?! Which would really stink big time.
I predict, sadly that many will move from Firefox to other browsers as their main browser due to this major annoyance to browsers such as Google Chrome, or Safari who also support HTML 5 but also support H.264.
I am very disappointed about this. And the only way to get around this is what to stay with Firefox? Stay with Firefox 3.5.7? Brilliant move Mozilla. And this from a Firefox user who has been thrilled with Firefox all the way since before it was Firefox in the Beta days. *Sigh*
Me? I don’t know. For general surfing, Firefox with the security addons that I use and other addons that make life easier, I may stay with Firefox. But now I will have to look elsewhere for video rendering of H.264 on all the video sites?!
More…
Oh, and apparently there may be some malware that is currently corrupting DNS or redirecting results for any of the built-in or toolbar search engines in both Firefox and Internet Explorer.
I am not sure which combination appears to do it, but one client got hit by malware (and removed it with Malwarebytes Antimalware), and found that even after the malware was gone — and BTW the host file was clean — they would get misdirected to bogus sites if they used the built-in search engine for Google or use the Yahoo Toolbar in both Firefox or Internet Explorer. However, correct results would happen when going directly to the search engine website like google.com, ixquick.com or yahoo.com. Very interesting.
Buying a new computer? Here’s some great information from Bits from Bill Pytlovany (creator of WinPatrol — great program by the way!) and the article has nothing to do with buying or using WinPatrol. 😉
Here’s the lead in to his article over Bits from Bill blog:
Bits from Bill Pytlovany: Brand New Computer? Read Me First!
Did you think I was going to start out by telling you all to install WinPatrol as soon as you opened up your new computer? Guess again. I always try to write my articles from a different point of view and today may not be what you expect.
For the 2nd time I’ve had to return the Dell All-in-One Multi-Touch computer system that I’ve been dreaming about for months. The first unit had to go back because Dell shipped the wrong configuration. The 2nd system had to go back due to internal hardware failure. I should have known something was wrong when I could hear loose parts when I took the computer out of the box.
My point today is take a little time to insure your brand new computer is everything it should be or you may be sorry. Before you install your favorite software on your brand new system I have a few recommendations.
Great article.
The Bits from Bill blog also has some great posts. One in particular is Who Gets Your Personal Information on Facebook?
Well that’s enough for today, I think…
EDIT: Added inline edit about concurrent apps
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