General

Windows 8.1 May Contain a Fake Start Button

It looks like a Start Button, it is in the same place as the Start Button, but it is not the “real” Start Button. So, it seems the latest rumors about the upcoming Windows 8.1 aka Windows Blue is while it going to have a Start Button, this button does not bring up the Start Menu as one would expect it should. Instead it is going to simply be a way to switch between the Modern UI and Desktop modes. According to reports, the Windows 8 Start button will reside at the bottom-left of the screen just as it has…

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Microsoft has a habit of bashing/bad-mouthing their competitors. However, Microsoft’s Terry Myerson took it to a new level at this week’s D: Dive Into Mobile conference. Seems Myerson slamed Apple’s iOS for being “boring” and Google’s Android for being a “mess” because there are so many versions in the wild. Really?! So many versions of Android in the wild? Umm….Terry have you looked at your company’s number of versions of Windows in the wild? Well, let’s see there is Windows XP, Vista, 7 and 8 … and not even taking into account the “service packs” (3 for XP, 2 for…

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Tablet News Week of March 10th, 2013

Actually, some of this news is from a couple weeks ago. Not as much tablet news lately as there was earlier this year with the big trade shows. Acer Shipping 7M Android, 3M Windows Tablets in 2013 — If there was ever a doubt that Android was leading the tablet market. I find it a bit odd that Acer is planning on shipping some 3-million Windows based tablets this year. They did announced [IT World] last month they were going to ship Windows RT tablets, however they had complained that Microsoft needed to make improvements to the Windows RT platform. Apple Shoots Itself in Foot…

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Intel Leaving Desktop Board Market

Intel made a bit of a surprise announcement on Tuesday, January 22nd. They have announced they will be slowly discontinue production of desktop motherboards over the next 3-years when they will be out of the market completely. Intel says they are going to focus instead on on other aspects of the PC industry, such as reference designs for Ultrabooks and all-in-ones, along with its Next Unit of Computing (NUC). While this is great news for other desktop PC motherboard manufacturers such as MSI and Asus, is this a sign that the traditional desktop PC is going the way of the VCR? The tablet market has grown by leaps and bounds in the past…

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Tablet News Week of January 13th

Not as much Tablet news this week around now that CES has wrapped up. All external links go to Tom’s Hardware unless otherwise stated. Tablet Announcements: Gigabyte Announces Two Windows 8 Tablets - The 11.6-inch S1185 and the 10.1-inch S1082. Both seem to have decent specs and both will use Windows 8 Pro. Pricing not yet announced and likely won’t be until we get closer to the February 2013 and March 2013 releases for the S1082 and S1185 respectfully. Archos 80 Titanium tablet has same resolution as iPad Mini for $169 [C|Net] - Mentioned this new product line from the French…

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Oracle Release Java Release 7 Update 11

Looks like Oracle is going to be paying out some overtime to its developers who worked over the weekend to get Java 7 Update 11 released. This emergency update patches the latest (announced January 10th) vulnerability CVE-2013-0422 as well as CVE-2012-3174 from June 2012. They have also changes the way Java interacts with web applications “The default security level for Java applets and web start applications has been increased from ‘medium’ to ‘high,” Oracle said in the advisory. This means the user will always be prompted to before an unsigned Java applet or Web Start application can run. Previously, Java applets and applications ran automatically is users…

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Browser Plugin Vulnerability Alerts

Normally, I don’t re-post from my Firefox Blog, but these browsers plugin vulnerabilities affect other browsers (such as Chrome & Safari) besides Firefox. Dangerous vulnerability in latest Java version Version: Java 7 Update 10 Issue: Can be used for Cyber attacks (even on fully patched Windows machines) Recommend Action: Browser plugin should be disabled or sandboxed (see Work Around below)) Work Around: For those who MUST have Java, use Firefox 17 is or newer. The Java plugin will be installed but ‘sandboxed’. The plugin will not execute/run until the user gives permission ‘click to play‘ on a per site basis. The user will…

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Where a Touch Screen Does Not Work

Touch screens are becoming more and more common. From Smartphones and Tablets to touchscreen monitors that take advantage of Windows 8 Metro Interface. However, trying to put a touch screen in a car while can work for some of the ‘physical’ controls, should not be a replacement for all all of those said controls. Unfortunately, that is just what Cadillac’s CUE system has done, it has eliminated all the physical controls for climate control as well as the entertainment system. The 8-inch screen does support a really nice 800×480 resolution and runs off of Linux (hate to think if it…

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New in 2013

It has been a while since I’ve done much with this blog. That is going to change this year, call it a ‘New Year’s Resolution’ if you will. Most of what I plan on doing with this blog is going to be more Computer/Internet related. To be more specific: WordPress. Been doing a lot of work with WordPress for the past few days. I currently have around 10 WordPress sites four of which are actually blog, the others are ‘websites’. The Weaver II theme is one the best themes out there on WordPress. I’ll be doing a more in-depth review later on of this theme. There are…

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Hawaii (Hula) Chair

As we wrap up this week of ‘people actually buy this stuff?’. I present the Hawaii or Hula Chair. Not sure how long this has been around. Their domain was registered in 2006 and is still active, but the same can not be said for their website. But wait…it is still being sold today (though the fabric is now black instead of tan) on a few sites including Amazon for around $200-$250.  

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