Did you ever have to give a presentation on the job that turned into a major uh-oh? It can cause major embarrassment and then some. Apple gave one Florida web/app developer a huge uh-oh.
Ngen Works is a software and app development company in Jacksonville, FL, led by Carl Smith. According to a blog post found in Medium.com (the blog’s language is fairly graphic, so it may not be appropriate reading for the little ones), one of Smith’s apps was sent to Apple for review and approval. But Smith was soon notified the app could be used to search for hardcore porn, a strict no-no in Apple’s policy. However, when an Apple employee sent a replying email with an attachment, that attachment included a man touching himself inappropriately. There was no warning, no red flag, nothing. Naturally, Carl Smith is outraged. That’s what inspired to write the blog post, in hopes that Apple management, the higher the better, will respond to the issue. Personally, I can’t wait for Apple’s response.
I’m going to play innocent and naive and just assume this was just a terrible mistake by one Apple employee. But if just find it ironic, to say the least, that Apple has such a strict anti-pornography policy, only for this to happen under their watch. Apple needs to address this and address it immediately before it happens again. Carl Smith is taking the right action here, except he could have used more dignified language to do so. This mishap comes just weeks after the celebrity nude photo hacking scandal, which also pointed back to an Apple fumble. It’s another Apple uh-oh, and how many more of these can they afford to have?
Hey techies, it’s Halloween time and if you haven’t gotten your Halloween costumes yet, we have a few suggestions for you.
10. Steve Urkel: This 1990s icon is the stereotypical epitome of the geek. But glasses, suspenders, and hitched up pants are all you need to pull it off. Eventually, Urkel got the girl, so there’s hope for all of us.
9. Astronaut: Technology and the space age has gone hand in hand since the 1950s. To enhance the costume, carry Tang around. See if anybody under age 30 understands.
8. Any Big Bang Theory Character: You can get Sheldon’s ‘Great American Hero’ T-shirt online for around $25. That t-shirt alone should be a clear giveaway. The Periodic table t-shirt works well too.
7. Neo from Matrix: This Matrix leader’s costume is fairly simple. Dress in all black, including the glasses and long coat, and a belt with toy weapons would make a great touch. As far as those cool moves and the blue pill vs. red pill, we can’t help you with that.
6. Dr. Who: A staple of pop culture for over 50 years, a suit, bow tie, and British accent should pull it off. Maybe this one’s a little too easy.
5. Any Robot: A few famous ones like Robocop, Transformers, and Wall-E come to mind. Who remembers the 1980s TV sitcom Small Wonder? Again, see if anybody under 30 will get it.
4. A Walking Computer: This takes a lot of effort to pull of, but from costume contests I’ve attended in years past, it’s well worth it.
3. Aliens: Again, you can go anywhere with this. Go as an X-Files alien. Go as the alien that terrorized Sigourney Weaver. Go as Marvin the Martian on Bugs Bunny. But my favorite alien is The Twilight Zone’s ‘To Serve Man. “It’s a cookbook!”
2. Any Star Wars character: This doesn’t need to be explained. We all get it.
1.? Any Star Trek character: Bring the next Star Trek convention to your Halloween party or trick or treat venture. Come on, you know you want to. This is the time a year you unleash your inner Star Trek without being considered…well… a geek.
This time, Steve Jobs will be played by Christian Bale, known for blockbusters such as Batman Begins, Dark Knight, and American Hustle. Not only did Bale get the role, he didn’t even have to audition for it. Bale won an Oscar for best supporting actor in The Fighter.? The new project is led by Hollywood screenwriter Aaron Sorkin. In 2011, Sorkin won an Academy Award for best screenplay in The Social Network, a movie about Facebook’s humble beginnings.? According to Sorkin, “We needed the best actor on the board in a certain age range that is Chris Bale’s.” But this role will not be a quick or easy role. Sorkin says Bale has more than double the lines of the rest of the cast combined. He’s expected to be in every scene and Sorkin is confident he’ll excel in every one.
We’ll see. We had high hopes for Kutcher too, but look at what happened. But Ashton Kutcher is more of a comedic actor, though he did attempt to go dramatic in 2004’s Butterfly Effect. Bale has done a range of Oscar winning dramatic acting and a far reaching range of roles. He even pulled off a very dark portrayal of Batman. But you need a good supporting cast behind the camera as well as in front of it. Aaron Sorkin is a good start. Just be careful of picking the right producers and directors and editors. Be careful in picking a good supporting cast and who will be portrayed in this movie. There was a lot of beef about that in the last one. Do you think this new Jobs biopic will be any better?
The Apple iPad Air 2 release is upon us…well, sort of. You have to pre-order it. Is it worth the suspense, or the money?
The pre-order doors were open on Friday, October 17. Shipping should? take a maximum of four business days. In other words, don’t go lining up, rushing, camping out, or trampling over or fighting over the last one. That’s not happening this time…yet. Battery life is very important to me, and the length of it seems to beat all the competitors, even Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S 10.5. According to charts, the iPad Air 2 leads their competitors in display brightness, graphics performance and hard drive speed. But what’s getting attention is the thinness of this design. This device is so thin you can cut butter with it (don’t go trying that). It weighs about 15 ounces and measures 9.4 x 6.6 inches. You can set up Touch ID and use Apple Pay with this iPad. The pixel resolution is the same as the original iPad Air. The iPad Air 2 contains twin bottom speakers which should guarantee a clear, but bumping audio sound; so make sure you get good headsets for it. The camera has been upgraded from five to eight megapixels. Can you believe there are over 675,000 apps for iPad products, including Apple iPad 2? Now let’s talk price. One can order an Apple iPad 2 from the online Apple store for $499 for a 16 GB version. If you want to really go all out, you can get a 128GB version for $828.
Personally, I’m impressed. I think all the right moves to make iPad Air 2 a success are being done. Everything from the pictures to the battery life is being improved. Even the price is reasonable, for the 16GB version at least. But I’m most grateful for the selling and ordering process. As for right now, it’s only online, so no chaos at the physical Apple stores. Chaos at stores may be a tradition for some folks, but I deplore it. I’m glad Apple is doing it this way…for now at least. Is the Air 2 worth the hype?
Who ever said hackers had to use computers, smartphones and credit/debit cards? Just ask the Foreman Seeley Foundation Architecture firm in Norcross, Georgia. How does a company run a $166,000 phone bill on a day nobody’s in the office?
This architect firm was a victim of an age old scam that’s come back with vengeance now that most corporate phone lines are so intertwined with the Internet.? Hackers broke into the firm’s phone network and routed $166,000 works of calls to telephone numbers in African nations like Gambia and Somalia. But this scam costs businesses nearly $5 billion a year; in 2011, this fraud was worth only a billion. Major carriers are already hip to this game; that’s why they can catch these hackers and turn the millions meant for the frauds back to the victims. But smaller business don’t have that luxury. Because of tight budgets, many of them use local carriers, which don’t offer these kinds of anti-fraud protection. And though lawmakers have been fighting to make anti-fraud protection available for all telephone companies, it has come to little avail.
Here’s what hackers do: They set up a premium 1-900 style numbers, usually overseas. Then they break into business systems like Foreman Seeley Foundation Architecture and make calls through it to premium number. And because of the Internet, they can make hundreds of calls at a time, thousands over the course over the weekend. Hackers get their cut through wire transfers. Personally, I think lawmakers need to stay on top of this issue to keep all businesses safe. Small businesses are the heart and soul of our economy, and we need to take necessary steps to protect them. So let’s help the smaller phone companies get the tools they need protect their smaller business clients, even if federal laws are needed to make that happen. What else can be done to protect us from phone hackers and their scams?
