apple-list July 2013

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5 discussions

by Wayne Billing

There's still a few days left for the beach…. or maybe next year's Triathlon in Morden (http://mordentriathlon.com)? …from: http://www.underwateraudio.com/?gclid=CJfuotDh1bgCFS_ZQgodAWsANQ [Underwater Audio]<http://www.underwateraudio.com/> * Depth tested to 200 feet underwater * 1-year Underwater Audio warranty * Free shipping on every US order * My Account<https://www.underwateraudio.com/customer/account/> * My Cart<http://www.underwateraudio.com/checkout/cart/> * Checkout<https://www.underwateraudio.com/checkout/> * Underwater Audio Blog<http://www.underwateraudio.com/blog/> [We Accept: Visa, Mastercard, Discover, and Paypal] Mon-Fri 8am-6pm PST Customer Service 877-849-0750 [We are a PayPal Verified Merchant] [cid:65774146-1826-4717-87FD-8D40A51CADBD@cc.umanitoba.ca] * PRODUCTS<http://www.underwateraudio.com/?gclid=CJfuotDh1bgCFS_ZQgodAWsANQ> * Home<http://www.underwateraudio.com/> * FAQ<http://www.underwateraudio.com/faq/> * Waterproof iPod<http://www.underwateraudio.com/waterproof-ipod.html> * Waterproof Headphones<http://www.underwateraudio.com/waterproof-headphones-short-cord-swimbuds.ht…> * Accessories<http://www.underwateraudio.com/aquasphere-kayenne-goggles.html> * Blog<http://www.underwateraudio.com/blog/> * Press<http://www.underwateraudio.com/press-releases/> * Our Advantage<http://www.underwateraudio.com/our-advantage/> * [Genuine Waterproof iPod and Swimbuds Headphones] * Waterproof iPod + Swimbuds * Waterproof iPod Shuffle * Waterproof iPod Mega Bundle <http://www.underwateraudio.com/waterproof-headphones-short-cord-swimbuds.ht…> Swimbuds Waterproof Headphones - $30 [Swimbuds Waterproof Headphones - $30] Swimbuds Waterproof headphones offer a slim design to reduce drag with an extra-short cord designed for flip turns. Swimbuds include three interchangeable tips – choose the one that fits your ear best! <http://www.underwateraudio.com/aquasonic-waterproof-headphones.html> AQS-02 Waterproof Headphones - $30 [AQS-02 Waterproof Headphones - $30] AQS-02's patented waterproof headphone technology ensures these headphones are built to withstand heavy perspiration and full submersion. These headphones are made for sports in—and out—of the pool! <http://www.underwateraudio.com/aquasphere-kayenne-goggles.html> Aqua Sphere Kayenne Goggles - $35 [Aqua Sphere Kayenne Goggles - $35] Aqua Sphere Kayenne goggles provide a great value. Ever get tired of getting rid of the water in your goggles? Not with Kayenne. We highly recommend these no-leak, no-fog, no-scratch goggles! [cid:1FB8BAE5-C778-4CD5-BE0B-65390BCC7514@cc.umanitoba.ca] Waterproof iPod Shuffle for Athletes We design our waterproof iPod<http://www.underwateraudio.com/waterproof-ipod-shuffle.html> especially for athletes. Unlike other devices, Underwater Audio’s process enables the user to skip songs and adjust volume mid stroke. “I transitioned from swimming to Pentathlon and I believe Underwater Audio allowed me to break the American record in the swimming portion,” said professional athlete Logan Storie<http://www.underwateraudio.com/blog/logan-storie-proof-it-works/>. “Nothing has the sound quality or longevity of the Underwater Audio iPod.” Logan and other athletes have used the waterproof iPod and Swimbuds headphones to take their performance to the next level.

10 years, 9 months

INTEREST: Google's Chromecast dongle vs AppleTV

by Wayne Billing

Google has just announced the Chromecast dongle which allows video streaming to your HDMI television or monitor….. …from: http://9to5mac.com/2013/07/26/graphic-the-35-chromecast-dongle-is-no-replac… http://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/devices/chromecast/ Graphic: The $35 Chromecast dongle is no replacement for the $99 Apple TV (not yet, anyway)<http://9to5mac.com/2013/07/26/graphic-the-35-chromecast-dongle-is-no-replac…> The Verge snapped together <http://www.theverge.com/2013/7/24/4554130/google-chromecast-vs-apple-airpla…> the chart below illustrating the feature set of the Chromecast dongle<http://9to5google.com/2013/07/24/google-announces-chromecast-a-small-hdmi-s…>as compared to the Apple TV’s<http://www.amazon.com/s/?_encoding=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&field-key…> Airplay functionality. In reality, we are looking at two different ways of looking at place-shifting content. Apple’s is directly from an iOS device or a recent Mac’s display. The Chromecast is sending instructions to the dongle to start playing content from the cloud (meaning you need a pretty healthy Internet connection). In its present state, the $35 Amazon<https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DR0PDNE/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=thepartim-20&camp…>/Best Buy (in stock)<http://www.dpbolvw.net/click-5527868-10597222?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bestbuy.…> Chromecast is a convenient way to show Netflix, YouTube and Google Play content on a TV. But a lot of the good programming lies outside of this sphere. Sure you can ‘Chromecast’ videos from your Chrome browser as you watch Hulu, Amazon Instant Video, or just about anything else that works in a browser including .MKV, MP4, AVI files, etc, but that’s not elegant (and Chrome/Android chief Pachai says websites, like Hulu, could turn off the functionality at any time)! Also, you get no dedicated remote with the Chromecast (though Android devices can be found pretty absurdly cheap) like with the AppleTV. You can’t help but wonder if the Apple TV could be put in the Dongle format and perhaps given some more content sharing options. Google reached across the aisle and built Chromecast to provide Apple Mac and iOS users the same compatibility as Chrome and Android users. Sure Chromecast needs external power such as that provided by a USB port, but the form factor and, more importantly, the price, seem very compelling. If Apple could squeeze its current format Apple TV into a dongle and cut the price in half, why shouldn’t it? [cid:39F4C7F7-5812-4C28-A115-F224E4F0C4BE@cc.umanitoba.ca] Update: Search Engine Land simplifies<http://marketingland.com/compared-google-chromecast-apple-tv-roku-53291> and throws in Roku for good measure [appletv-vs-roku-vs-chromecast]

10 years, 9 months

INTEREST: Apple scores 3 "Brand of the Year" in Harris consumer poll

by Wayne Billing

Harris Interactive published in June its findings from the 2013 Harris Poll EquiTrend which measures the perceptions of 38,500+ American consumers on more than 1,500 lifestyle, product and service brands across over 155 categories. Harris Interactive has over 500 employees and it does its work by "Utilizing the most appropriate mix of media, tools, and methodologies [to] turn relevant insight into actionable foresight." Well……. then……. they must know what they're talking about……. I guess. ….from: http://www.harrisinteractive.com/AboutUs.aspx http://www.harrisinteractive.com/NewsRoom/PressReleases/tabid/446/mid/1506/… Apple Pulls a Hat Trick with Brand of the Year Status Across Three Harris Poll EquiTrend® Categories Tech Categories are Full of Multi-Year Award Companies - Apple, Hewlett Packard and Verizon Wireless; NewEgg.com<http://NewEgg.com> Makes Debut Appearance NEW YORK, N.Y. - June 25, 2013 - While many have questioned the post-Steve Jobs fate of Apple, the company continues to hold its spot as a top technology brand across three mainstream categories, according to findings from the 2013 Harris Poll EquiTrend® (EQ) study. In its first full year under Tim Cook's stewardship, Apple took home repeat Brand of the Year distinctions in three categories - Computer, Tablet and Mobile Phone - in the annual study, which measures the perceptions of 38,500+ American consumers on more than 1,500 lifestyle, product and service brands across over 155 categories. "Americans continue to give Apple brands strong ratings," says Manny Flores, Senior Vice President at Harris Interactive. "And while their Consumer Connection scores are strong within their respective categories, what really stands out is that in all three of the categories Apple brands are measured - Computer, Tablet and Mobile Phone - its Brand Momentum scores are in the top 30 of all 1,500 brands evaluated in the study, showing that consumers see this as a brand of the future." Consumer Connection measures a brand's Emotion, Fit, Trust and Performance; Brand Momentum is comprised of Energy, Ubiquity, Future Outlook, Leadership and Popularity. […] Computer brands ranked above category average: 1 Apple Computers - 2013 Computer Brand of the Year 2 Hewlett-Packard (HP) Computers 3 Dell Computers 4 Sony Computers Other Computer brands in study ranked below category average (alphabetically): Acer Computers, Asus Computers, Compaq Computers, Fujitsu Computers, Gateway Computers, Lenovo Computers, Panasonic Computers, Samsung Computers, Toshiba Computers In the world of tablets, Apple's iPad series, which expanded its offerings in 2012 with the iPad mini, receives the Tablet Brand of the Year distinction for the second consecutive year. Amazon's Kindle Fire series, which also expanded in 2012 with the addition of HD and larger offerings, follows. "While both the Apple iPad and Amazon Kindle Fire series of tablets show small gains in Brand Equity for 2013, they both receive strong increases for Purchase Consideration," says Flores. "These increases show how the relatively new Tablet technology has grown to meet the needs of both the sophisticated and first time tablet buyer." Google's Nexus series, Samsung's Galaxy series and HP's Slate series tablets also out-perform the category average. Tablet brands ranked above category average: 1 Apple iPad Series - 2013 Tablet Brand of the Year 2 Kindle Fire Series 3 Google Nexus Series 4 Samsung Galaxy Series 5 HP Slate Series Other Tablet Computer brands in study ranked below category average (alphabetically): BlackBerry PlayBook (Tablet), Microsoft Surface (Tablet), Motorola XOOM (Tablet), Nook HD Series Another product category, another repeat Brand of the Year Brand of the Year title for Apple. For the second consecutive year, the iPhone earns the 2013 Mobile Phone Brand of the Year title. HTC, Samsung and LG, each with Android phones in their lineups, also outperform the category average. Mobile Phone brands ranked above category average: 1 Apple iPhone - 2013 Mobile Phone Brand of the Year 2 HTC Phone 3 Samsung Phone 4 LG Phone

10 years, 9 months

INTEREST: Textbooks-R-Us

by Wayne Billing

Some time ago, Apple introduced the ability to purchase textbooks through the iTunes store as well as a tool that allows pretty much anyone to publish interactive books: http://www.apple.com/ca/education/ibooks-textbooks/ http://www.apple.com/ca/ibooks-author/ [cid:A07CB99A-CC47-49F3-9A50-95D1F3F4B222@cc.umanitoba.ca] [cid:8D6323F1-16FF-484A-9429-E465939F513E@cc.umanitoba.ca] Today, Google is announcing: (http://www.engadget.com/2013/07/24/google-play-textbooks) Google intros Play Textbooks for purchase and rent By Jon Fingas<http://www.engadget.com/about/editors/jon-fingas/> posted Jul 24th, 2013 at 12:46 PM36 <http://www.engadget.com/2013/07/24/google-play-textbooks/#comments> ________________________________ [Google Play Textbooks]<http://www.engadget.com/2013/07/24/google-play-textbooks/> Google is clearly committed to education on mobile devices beyond Play for Education<http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/15/google-intros-play-for-education-a-curat…> -- it just unveiled<http://www.engadget.com/2013/07/24/google-breakfast-liveblog/> Google Play Textbooks, a dedicated category on the Play Store for learning material. The section will offer titles from the top five publishers, and students will have the choice of renting books for six months in addition to buying them outright. Textbooks should be available this August, and they'll sync across Android, iOS and the web.

10 years, 9 months

INTEREST: Android default: plain text password with backups

by Wayne Billing

....from: http://arstechnica.com/security/2013/07/does-nsa-know-your-wifi-password-an… Does NSA know your Wi-Fi password? Android backups may give it to them EFF technologist says "back up my data" exposes users' data to government spies. by Sean Gallagher<http://arstechnica.com/author/sean-gallagher/> - July 17 2013, 11:55am CDT [cid:7EADC2E1-0230-4F2B-AFFF-1E4A986C5838] On by default on most newer Android devices, Google's Android backup stores your personal details in plaintext. If you’re using Google’s “back up my data” feature for Android, the passwords to the Wi-Fi networks you access from your smartphone or tablet are available in plaintext<https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=57560> to anyone with access to the data. And as a bug report submitted by an employee of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) on July 12 suggests, that leaves them wide open to harvesting by agencies like the NSA or the FBI. “The ‘Back up my data’ option in Android is very convenient,” wrote Micah Lee, staff technologist at the EFF. “However, it means sending a lot of private information, including passwords, in plaintext to Google. This information is vulnerable to government requests for data.” The Backup Manager<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.backup.manager&hl=en> app stores Android device settings in Google’s cloud, associated with the user account paired with the device; the Backup Manager interface is part of the core Android application API<http://developer.android.com/reference/android/app/backup/BackupManager.html> as well, so it can be used by other Android apps. Backup is turned on by default for Nexus devices and can push data such as MMS and SMS messages, browser bookmarks, call logs, and system settings—including Wi-Fi passwords—to Google’s cloud for retrieval in the event that a device is broken, lost, or stolen. “Since backup and restore is such a useful feature, and since it's turned on by default,” wrote Lee, “it's likely that the vast majority of Android users are syncing this data with their Google accounts. Because Android is so popular, it's likely that Google has plaintext Wi-Fi passwords for the majority of password-protected Wi-Fi networks in the world.” Most of those Wi-Fi networks have been mapped by Google as well<http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2010/04/google-talks-street-view-wifi-co…>. So it would be relatively trivial for an organization with access to backup data to match Wi-Fi network names and passwords with geolocation data. The result would be a partial map of where the targeted user has been as well as access to the networks his or her device has connected to in its travels. Lee suggested that an easy fix to this privacy hole would be to encrypt the content of backups with a user’s Google credentials or a separate sync password. “I don't think it's rational to expect users to trust Google with their plaintext passwords when Google can be compelled to give this data to the US government when they request it,” he added Wayne Billing Classroom Technology Support Audio Visual and Classroom Technology Support 130 Machray Hall Building 204-474-6649 204-807-3153 (cell) 204-474-7625 (fax) Wayne.Billing(a)umanitoba.ca<mailto:Wayne.Billing@umanitoba.ca>

10 years, 9 months

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apple-list July 2013