Tag: Tech

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Uncommon Sense, iOS 7 beta and App Reviews

Apple is expected to release iOS 7 sometimes in Fall 2013. So far, five beta builds of iOS 7 have been seeded to developers. A lot of progress have been made since the first iOS 7 beta was released. The first iOS 7 beta had a lot of known issues. Apple has been fixing the issues with consequent beta builds. With iOS 7 beta 5, there are still some relatively major issues and the are expected to be fixed I’m the upcoming betas.

Developers are expected to work on their existing Apps to ensure compatibilities with iOS 7. Since iOS 7 is still in beta, developers cannot submit Apps created using iOS 7 SDK beta at this time. Thus existing Apps are likely to be incompatible with iOS 7 beta.

There are a lot of people who should not install iOS 7 beta on their devices in the first place. That’s because they installed iOS 7 beta for all the wrong reasons. They left reviews for Apps at the App Store complaining that the Apps do not work with iOS 7 beta. It is obvious that these people are not developers and do not have common sense at all.

Apple should crack down on this type of review on the App Store and delete them. Furthermore, Apple should temporarily ban their account from posting any reviews until iOS 7 is released publicly.

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Security versus Convenience

Elliott Kember wrote the headline: “Chrome’s insane password security strategy”

Kember points out the way Google Chrome manages saved passwords.

There’s no master password, no security, not even a prompt that “these passwords are visible”. Visit chrome://settings/passwords in Chrome if you don’t believe me.

Yes indeed. Unlike Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome does not offer users to set Master Password. Apple added Passwords Manager in Safari 6; the passwords are actually stored in users’ Keychain.

Justin Schuh, who works on Google Chrome Security according to his Hacker News profile, says that it was a design decision to not include Master Password in Google Chrome.

For most users, there’s a certain level of inconvenience they are willing to tolerate when dealing with security. Unsurprisingly a lot of users are still using obvious passwords or none at all for their computer login. That’s because they prioritize convenience over security.

Security and convenience have an inverse relationship. It would look something like this:

Security-vs-Convenience-Linear

that is true if it is a linear relationship. In reality it looks more something like the following:

Security-vs-Convenience-Curved

It is more like a curve line. More convenience means less security.

The concern about the way Google Chrome manages passwords is valid. At the same time there is a bigger issue with security. Having a Master Password option would be useless if it is the same obvious password people are using for their computer login. Most users using Mozilla Firefox never set the Master Password at all.

Users need to understand why they need to secure their computers. Ultimately the users are the one to set the security level based on their convenience level.

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Amber Alert on Android and iPhone

This would be the first time I received Amber Alert on my Nexus 4 and iPhone. Users can turn this kind of alert on their phones.

AMBER Alert
Boulevard, CA AMBER Alert UPDATE:
LIC/6WCU986 (CA) Blue Nissan Versa 4 door

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Child abduction (AMBER Alert)
Boulevard, CA AMBER Alert UPDATE:
LIC/6WCU986 (CA) Blue Nissan Versa 4 door

Android Amber Alert

 

Ambert Alert setting in iOS 6 and iOS 7 can be found in Settings > Notification Center
At the bottom there are “GOVERNMENT ALERT” settings.

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Amber Alert settings in Android (4.3) can be found in Settings > Wireless & networks > More… > Cell broadcasts

Android Cell Broadcast settings

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Amazon.com Honors Chromecast-Netflix Promotion

Amazon Customer Service scores another point. One satisfied customer reports that Amazon.com sent him the Chromecast-Netflix Promotional code even after his order was canceled.

The customer was originally told by that his Chromecast order was not eligible for the Netflix promotional code because it was placed after 5:31 p.m. PST on July 24, 2013. Subsequently the order was canceled after contacting Amazon.com Customer Service and getting no resolutions. The customer citing that at the time the order was placed, Amazon.com and Google promised that the order was eligible for the promotional offer. In addition to that, Google Play stated that orders of Chromecast placed before 1PM PT on 7/25 will receive their promotion code once their order ships; 18 hours and 29 minutes later than Amazon.com cut-off time.

A few days later the customer received an email from Amazon.com:

Dear Amazon.com Customer,

Thank you for your recent Chromecast purchase. Your purchase has qualified you to receive a 3-month Netflix gift code. Your code will be emailed to you 5 days after your Chromecast ships.

Apparently Amazon.com had changed the cut-off time to 5:31 p.m. PST on July 25, 2013; 24 hours later than its original cut-off time.

The customer contacted Amazon.com Customer Service asking if his order could be re-instated; Amazon.com replied:

Unfortunately, we don’t have any more stock of ‘Google Chromecast HDMI Streaming Media Player’ right now, and we’re not sure when we’ll be able to get more.

Despite all of that, the customer also received an email from Amazon.com that said:

Hello,

As your order is eligible for this promotion, here is Netflix promotional code: XXXXXXXXXXXX

Follow the instructions below to redeem your code:
1) Go to netflix.com/chromecast.
2) Enter the Netflix code from your email and click ‘Continue’.
3) If you are a new member, you will be asked to create a Netflix account. No billing information is required.
4) If you are an existing Netflix member, login into your Netflix account and your subscription will be credited for 3 month’s worth of streaming services.

Yes, Amazon.com gave the customer the Netflix promotional code even though they could not fulfill the order. Anecdotal story like this really shows how much Amazon.com cares about their customers.

If only I had ordered a Chromecast from Amazon.com.

By the way, Google is to blame for botching the Chromecast launch.

Amazon Honors Chromecast Netflix Promotion

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WordPress 3.6 is Released

WordPress 3.6 “Oscar” is released.

The latest and greatest WordPress, version 3.6, is now live to the world and includes a beautiful new blog-centric theme, bullet-proof autosave and post locking, a revamped revision browser, native support for audio and video embeds, and improved integrations with Spotify, Rdio, and SoundCloud.

WordPress 3.6 Update

User Features

  • The new Twenty Thirteen theme inspired by modern art puts focus on your content with a colorful, single-column design made for media-rich blogging.
  • Revamped Revisions save every change and the new interface allows you to scroll easily through changes to see line-by-line who changed what and when.
  • Post Locking and Augmented Autosave will especially be a boon to sites where more than a single author is working on a post. Each author now has their own autosave stream, which stores things locally as well as on the server (so much harder to lose something) and there’s an interface for taking over editing of a post, as demonstrated beautifully by our bearded buddies in the video above.
  • Built-in HTML5 media player for native audio and video embeds with no reliance on external services.
  • The Menu Editor is now much easier to understand and use.

It is highly recommended to upgrade to the latest version of WordPress.

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