Aug 21, 2014 | Computer technology, News
Parents, it’s your favorite time of year: It’s back to school time. Make sure you got all your kids’ equipment: pencils, paper, backpack, maybe laptop/tablet, and don’t forget your Go Pro camera.
First grader Andrew Weber didn’t forget his. In Tampa, Florida, McFarlene Park Elementary wanted to conduct an experiment of sorts. They wanted to see what the first day of school was like for a six-year-old. So Andrew’s parents attached a Go Pro camera to their son and the child’s first day of school was captured on tape through this technological means. I admit, it was amazing to see an elementary school day unfold from a child who isn’t even four feet tall. Teachers, adults and even some kids towered over him. This was proven as Andrew went to hug his teacher, Ms. Weber. And the camera made him so popular all his classmates wanted to play with it.
But why would a school and parents want to subject a child to this? School officials say by looking at things from a student’s perspective, it will help them improve the school. Andrew’s mom thinks it will better understand her son socially as well as academically. The teacher wasn’t intimidated at all with this device. Even little Andrew was impressed with how popular this camera made him. All of that is good, but I hope they can use this camera in perspective. It seemed like everyone was good with this experiment, which is a good thing. I’m just afraid where this could lead. What if Go Pro Cameras, Google Glass and other devices are used to deliberately spy on people and set people up, whether they did anything wrong or not? What if high school kids use this as a cyber bullying tool? What if officials use this to have someone fired just because they said or did something the officials didn’t like, no matter how innocent it was (I just read of a disturbing case of a high school student being suspended over something innocent). What are some ways we can assure these technological methods are used and not abused?
Aug 20, 2014 | General
Back in June 2014, Apple split is stocks seven fold. That’s right; it’s cheaper to buy Apple stock today than it is to buy most of their products. Let’s see how it’s going for them.
Since the June split, Apple’s stock is at $100 a share, the first time that happened since the split. When it began in June, stocks were about $92 a share. In fact, this is the first time Apple stock has reached this high in five years. If they keep this trend up, they will break their record of $100.72 (this breaks down to $705). The record was set in September 2012, long before the split. Then came months of stock downturn. At one point, in April 2013,? stocks were $419 a share. That’s not even $60 a pop in post-split terms. What’s the reason for this boom? Apple has been really busy this past month and has a busy one ahead. They just acquired Beats headphones for three billion dollars. They’ve upgraded MacBook Pro. They’re slashing the prices of MacBook Air.
And then there’s the anticipated iPhone 6. This device could be their most popular product yet and the rumor mill is buzzing. I got two things out of this story. First, this is proof the ‘too big to fail’ mantra really doesn’t work. Look at the Apple stock before the split. Look at Apple’s stock after the split. I hope other companies…ahem…Google…take note. But more to the point, I hope these products back up what they deliver. As I said before, there is a lot of buzz surrounding iPhone 6. Let’s hope they live up to it. I don’t know about you, but Apple has let me down before. Let’s hope this Beats acquisition is well worth it. It’s amazing how these mergers can backfire and both companies crash and burn because of it. Do you think Apple’s stock will keep up it’s soaring momentum?
Aug 19, 2014 | Computer technology, Entertainment
Google has really been trying to improve their music subscribing game. Lately we’ve heard of every proposal and plan under the sun, from background audio to offline playback. Now the picture may be drawing a little clearer.
Google’s You Tube is launching You Tube Music Key. Their tempting offers include ad-free music, audio-only playback and offline playback. If you want to sign up for You Tube Music Key, then your first month will be a free trial. If you like what you hear, then you will pay $9.99. This price includes Google Play Music Key. Google boasts of over 20 million songs to choose from, coming from all genres imaginable and probably some you didn’t think existed. But when you get Music Key, you just don’t get your favorite songs from your favorite artist. They offer goodies from concert performances to remixes. It will even make suggestions of what artist you should listen to, sort of like how You Tube suggests videos to watch according to your viewing history, likes and subscriptions.
Don’t go rushing to Google or You Tube looking for Music Key. It’s not out yet and there’s yet to be a release date. I’m sorry if this sounds like a promotion of You Tube Music Key, but I’m looking forward to where this going. I doubt Indie records are going to be so quick to get on board with this. And all the music you can handle for less than $10 a month , plus other goodies, I think this is a good deal. I know what some of you might be thinking. If I do this, I’m supporting Google, a mega-corporation. Keep in mind if you subscribed to Music Key, think of all the rising artist you would be supporting. Many of them are striving to get their talent out, and can’t get a major record deal or go on reality talent show to get it. But couldn’t Google/You Tube just come up with a better name?
Aug 19, 2014 | Computer technology, Entertainment, internet, networking, News
Today in the grandest city of them all, New York City, HTC showed us all its new Windows Phone, the HTC One M8 For Windows Phone! From Customizing your own home screen, to linking with your Xbox One, this phone looks killer. Now this is not a new phone that you haven’t seen, it actually came out earlier this year running the latest and greatest of Android OS. But for those of us who don’t really like the Android OS, and are more used to our Windows 8.1 PC and XboxOne consloe, the?HTC One M8 For Windows will perfectly sync with everything.
From the great aluminum design, to the use of Microsoft’s live tiles to the Epic Audio, HTC Boomsound, the?HTC One M8 For Windows Phone brings it. Cortana is Microsoft’s answer for Siri, and is faster and smarter, and able to help you with anything from finding a restaurant to scheduling your whole life. Which is great if ?you are a busy person, like a lawyer or restaurant owner who is always on the go, and having a reliable personal assistant in your pocket comes in handy.
My favorite part of the HTC One M8 for Windows Phone is how easily it syncs with my XboxOne which already syncs with my entire home. I no longer have to worry where my kids put the remote, or get up off the couch to turn off the lights or fix my thermostat (I have fully integrated my home with my XboxOne) now my phone will do it all for me. My entire home in the palm of my hand. This is the future we were told about when watching cartoons as kids, and now it’s easier.
Price-point for this phone is set at $99.99 with a 2 year contract and is available through Verizon Wireless only. As always if you would like some help syncing your new HTC One M8 for Windows Phone with your PC at home or at work, Geek Choice is a full service residential and business IT service that can help you do it all!
?Below are some of the specs for the?HTC One M8 for Windows Phone:
General
- Size: 146.36 x 70.6 x 9.35 mm
- Weight: 160 grams
- Display: 5.0 inch, Full HD 1080p
CPU Speed
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 801, 2.3 GHz quad-core CPU
Platform
- Windows Phone 8.1.1 with Cortana
- HTC BlinkFeed
Memory
- 2GB of RAM
- 32 GB of onboard storage
- Expansion card slot support for microSD cars up to 128 GB
Sensors
- Accelerometer
- Proximity sensor
- Ambient light sensor
- Gyro sensor
- Barometer sensor
Connectivity
- 3.5 mm stereo audio jack
- NFC
- Bluetooth 4.0 with aptX enabled
- Wi-Fi: IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4 & 5 GHz)
- DLNA for wirelessly streaming media from the phone to a compatible TV or computer
- Micro-USB 2.0
- Microsoft Project My Screen
- Miracast
- Support consumer infrared remote control
Sound
- HTC BoomSound
- Dual frontal stereo speakers with built-in amplifiers
Camera
Duo Camera
- Primary camera: HTC UltraPixel camera, BSI sensor, pixel size 0.2 ?m, sensor size 1/3″, f/2.0, 28 mm lens
- HTC ImageChip 2
- 1080p Full HD video recording with HDR video
- Secondary camera: Capture depth information
Front camera
- 5 MP, f/2.0, BSI sensor, wide angle lens, with HDR capability, 1080p Full HD video recording
- Gallery with UFocus, Dimension Plus, Foregrounder
Aug 18, 2014 | Law Blog, News
Sometimes we have to report disturbing news, and this is one of those times. Now I understand that the law is the law, and certain things shouldn’t affect others just because you did something else bad. But, when a former Ameherst Public School Teacher can keep his pension after pleading guilty for possession of child porn, I draw a line.
Under state law, a public employee must forfeit his/her pension if convicted of a criminal offense involving the laws that apply to his or her office or position. So how, on God’s green earth did he win this!!? You’re telling me that having child porn has nothing to do with the fact that he is around minors all day? There is no provision in the school code that prohibits this behavior? What if he were taking pictures of students? Would he still get to keep it? This guy should be locked away in a dungeon and the key thrown away.
When I was a kid we didn’t read about this garbage every day, people weren’t using their computers for this utter filth. To go further here at Geek Choice, we have a strong anti-child porn stance, where we report any child pornography to the proper authorities if we see it on ANY computer.
Garney, 67, a former longtime ninth-grade science teacher, pleaded guilty in December 2007 to 11 counts of the purchase and possession of child pornography. He had been identified by federal authorities in 2004 as part of an online investigation of international commercial child pornography websites.
A raid by police of Garney?s home turned up 575 images of child pornography on his home computer and a library of 85 videos of child pornography organized by gender, according to court documents. The materials contained images of children, from toddlers to early teenagers, involved in sexual acts.
Garney was sentenced in February 2008 in Hampshire Superior Court to 2? to 3 years in state prison followed by 10 years probation and was required to register as a sex offender.
He received pension benefits totaling $31,119 from the time of his conviction until his benefits stopped in February 2009 after a retirement system hearing on the matter.
A district court decision upheld the teachers? retirement board decision to stop Garney?s benefits, but that was reversed in Worcester Superior Court last year.
My mother always told me once a predator always a predator so more than likely this pervert will get what’s coming to him, I can only hope we get a call to clean his computer one day and I get to make the call myself. And who knows? A Geek Choice Legal IT client will probably be my first call!
Aug 18, 2014 | News, Security
Where you treated at a hospital in the US, particularly a rural US hospital between April and June 2014? Watch your back, because hackers half way around the world know what ails you.
Community Health Systems had over 4.5 million patients’ hospital records hacked. This hacking has hit 29 states. Most of those compromised were in the rural areas in the American South and Midwest, though Pennsylvania was hit pretty hard. They claimed in a report to the US government the culprits were part of a hacking group from China, and it is an ‘Advanced Persistent Threat’. No motive is yet known. Here is where it gets interesting. A security company called Mandiant used a phrase ‘Advanced Persistent Threat’ to describe a Chinese Army unit hacking networks throughout the Western nations. Community Health Systems hired Mandiant to investigate this. As of this blog, it’s unclear Mandiant believes or not the Chinese Army had anything to do with this hacking. I just think it’s ironic how things come in circle like this.
As expected, China denies ever having a part in this. But this hacking dispute between China and the US has become disturbingly common in the past several years. One nation has accused the other of hacking something, whether it be military secrets or hospital records or bank codes. It sounds like this is pretty early in the investigation. It almost sounds like what Community Health Systems said vs. what Mandiant says vs. what the Chinese government says. But the Chinese Army isn’t the only suspect here. What if it’s some cyber crime rink in this country trying to get IDs to sale for $10 a pop? What if it’s a rival medical company whose behind this? What if it’s a disgruntle patient or former employee who was done wrong in some way and considers this revenge?
Aug 18, 2014 | Computer technology, Entertainment, News
Best Buy has finally announced the price point for the new Moto 360 Smartwatch. It is now listed for pre-order on their site for $249.99. The Moto 360 is a highly anticipated wearable device that looks like an ordinary wristwatch at first, but when you start to look closer, you realize it is so much more.
Let’s be honest, we were all fans of the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers?growing up. And we all wanted one of Billy’s wrist communicators, and although this watch doesn’t let you teleport to the Command Center to see Zordon and Alpha 5, it does let you do a lot of the functions of your smartphone.?Including sending and receiving messages from a friend, checking the weather, a pedometer and heart rate monitor, for you runners. And of course the whole thing is voice activated!
Moto 360 Device Specifications
As for specs, the Moto 360 will sport a 1.5-inch backlit LCD touchscreen display with 320 x 290 resolution (205 pixel per inch ratio) and Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection. The device apparently measures 1.8 x 1.8 x 0.4 inches, weighing 2.1oz.
The Moto 360 packs a Texas Instruments processor, 512MB of RAM, Wi-Fi 802.11n support, Bluetooth 4.0, a heart rate sensor and an ambient light sensor. Battery life details for the Moto 360 have not been revealed, other than the fact the wearable device will have a lithium-ion battery pack ready to provide ?long-lasting operation.?
The watch is also water-resistant (up to 3.3 feet for up to 30 minutes), has a stainless steel case, plastic back and leather band.
It is said that Motorola is supposed to unveil their new Moto 360 at a special media event which should be held sometime in the first couple weeks of September, so stay tuned for more!
I for one cannot wait for this device to come out, and I’m going to dig out my Green Ranger costume like the Geek that I am, and try to save the world when I get my hands on one!
Aug 17, 2014 | internet, networking
Is everyone in social media doing tests now? First Facebook Messenger is turning into a forced disaster. Now Twitter is doing test that are, in the eyes of many, just a plain annoyance.
Twitter followers are seeing tweets favored by others on their page, and are getting notifications when their followers follow someone else. At first it was just a handful of users that were being subjected to this. Now, more and more followers are. It doesn’t seem to be a hit. One Tweeter user says, “Twitter [is] filling my feed with stuff I didn’t ask for…”.? This isn’t the first experiment that’s upsetting consumers. Other experiments like removing Bing translation and embedding Tweets have only caused confusion and frustration among Twitter users everywhere. You don’t have to take my word for it. Just listen to these dissatisfied customers. One person said, “Why does my twitter timeline randomly show me what people have [favored] and who they follow?” Someone else said, “I I do not wanna see what people [favored] on my timeline…” Now, there’s talk of Twitter building a Facebook style platform. That means content on your page will be randomly selected for you.
Look, I can appreciate Twitter trying to provide better service and I can even appreciate them using trial and error to do so. But isn’t there a better way than this? I don’t have all the answers, but maybe a survey of people who will willingly partake in such tests is a good start. And from the looks of things, these tests aren’t working. My suggestion to Twitter is don’t tick off your fans so much they won’t Tweet anymore. Yes, it can happen. I’ve seen it myself. So let’s stop the testing. And I wonder what will the next uninvited, unwanted Tweet I will get on my Twitter page?
Aug 16, 2014 | Entertainment
Are you a Premier League soccer fan, or should I say, Premier League football fan? You might want to think long and hard before you post that next spectacular goal on your social media pages.
According to the BBC, the Premier League is warning fans about posting goals and other plays online. They claim it’s illegal and it violates copyright policy.? The thing is, with apps like Vines, recording these plays are easier to do than ever, and more people are copying and uploading them then ever. The Premier League has a legal point: It’s legally a copyright breach. But fans have been doing this for years. Why are they clamping down now?
Recently, BT, a top cable company in the United Kingdom, and BSkyB (ESPN2 of UK)? bought copyrights to Premier League games for approximately three billion pounds. That’s around $5 billion US dollars. British newspaper media The Sun and The Times? have a lot at stake too. It cost $13 a month to subscribe to Sun+. One of their main sale points: Premier League goals. They’re not even being subtle about why that want to crackdown on Tweeting goals. A senior Sun newspaper writer named Dean Scoggins said, “…we’ve obviously signed a very big deal with the Premier League to be a rights holder and to show it…”. Why are they surprised at this? Welcome to the 2010s, guys! Many people have access to smartphones and social media these days. You don’t think someone’s going to record a nice goal? Maybe they should have taken this into consideration before throwing billions of British pounds around. The fans taking these pictures don’t have billions of pounds to throw around. And are these Tweets violating the soccer stars’ copyright laws, too? I think not. I think this is another example of the very wealthy trying to cover their own hides from the regular fans. Do you think this ban is a good idea or a modern day witch hunt?
Aug 15, 2014 | Computer technology
Smart Things is a home monitor and security app. It can even turn on the lights for you. It can even help you find your keys. Now, SmartThings has found itself a part of the Samusung family.
Nobody is certain how much Samsung paid to get SmartThings, but the number $200,000,000 has been thrown around. It’s headquarters, scattered around the U.S., will be moved to Samsung’s Open Innovative Center in California’s Silicon Valley. This innovation center is dedicated to software and app innovation. Samsung isn’t the only mega technology company investing in technology innovation. Facebook bought virtual reality headset company Ocalus VR for $2 billion. I wonder if competition is driving Samsung to make this acquisition. In January 2014, Google bought Nest Labs for over 3.2 billion dollars. Nest Labs is also a home monitor and control app. But the reports and quotes I’m reading suggest this is more for studying innovation than anything else.
They chose an opportune time to acquire SmartThings. One can purchase a SmartThings kit for around two hundred dollars. Sales have been growing and so have subscriptions on apps. I admit, that’s a great business move. But I find it amazing Samsung is growing far beyond just making great phones. Now they’re expanding to things like home security. I’m glad they’re letting SmartThings be themselves, for the most part. So far, the most radical change has been SmartThings headquarters moving to Samsung’s innovation center. Nobody has been laid off. Let’s keep it that way. I’m not much of a company merger fan, but if it must happen, this is a proper way to do it. Will this be a merger made in Heaven or Hades?
