New phone idea – Droid Turbo

Image source: Droid-life
Image source: Droid-life

I previously blogged about my frustration with phone battery life and later wrote about the Experia Z3 Compact which is a smaller phone with a large battery.  My current contract expires next month and so I wanted to continue the blog series about phones with long battery life.

The Droid Turbo is an unannounced Android phone that according to the Verizon countdown timer, will be launching on October 28.  However, like most things mobile, the device is a poorly kept secret and the phone specifications and manual have been leaked, and Android Central has a very good summary of the smartphone.  Some key elements that got my attention include:

Continue reading New phone idea – Droid Turbo

Review: JuiceSSH For Android

JuiceLogoAs my readers know, I am a techie and one of my hobbies is monkeying with Linux. My basement contains multiple Linux servers including a Raspberry Pi model B, and I also have a couple of Linux webhosting accounts. I am an anti-GUI kind of guy and so I manage and operate all of these systems through SSH. The process has historically worked really well until a few months ago.

Recently, my company updated their firewall to block SSH and so my remote access functionality ceased operation. This was a problem especially since I was in the process of migrating webhosts. As a result, I had to look for other SSH access options. My first thought was to use my smartphone and so I headed to the Android AppStore to look for a client.  My initial search yielded ConnectBot which was highly rated; however, I ran into problems. Continue reading Review: JuiceSSH For Android

Another data breach – why two factor authentication matters

TFA2
Image source: Brian Klug

The Internet has become an indispensable tool for purchasing items and managing personal information. We trust vendors with our data and assume that they will safeguard it and prevent unauthorized access. Yet, the headlines are filled with news of data breaches and other hacks. The latest story is that Dropbox was hacked although the company says that it was not their servers. Regardless, users need to be more sensitive than ever to data breaches and one of the most important tools in the battle against hackers is two-factor authentication (TFA).

Continue reading Another data breach – why two factor authentication matters

New phone idea – Sony Experia

sony-xperia-z3-compact-318_verge_super_wide (1)Last week, I blogged about my frustration with the battery life of today’s phones.  My position was that we have become complacent and that we must prioritize phone longevity over other features.  My phone is coming off contract and so I committed to prioritizing battery life as a key metric for the future purchase.

A Twitter Follower had recommended that I look at the Experia Z3 family from Sony.  These devices bring high end phone specs and two different size options.  The base Z3 comes with a 5.2 inch screen and is unsurprisingly is called the “Experia Z3.”  Sony also offers a 4.6 inch model which they call the “Z3 Compact.”  The Compact is particularly noteworthy because it bucks the industry trend of  limiting high end hardware exclusively to large phones.  (Generally, flagship phones like the Galaxy S5, HTC One M8 or LG G3 get the latest hardware and the smaller versions of those phones come with reduced specs.)  The Compact has similar hardware innards as the Z3 with the exception of a smaller screen and hence smaller form factor.  I find bigger phones awkward to hold and pocket and so the idea of a very powerful smaller phone intrigues me.  The initial press releases suggested that Sony was prioritizing battery life which further accelerated my interest. Continue reading New phone idea – Sony Experia

Lotus 1-2-3, a walk down memory lane and lessons learned

Lotus123-smallI recently encountered this article over at The Register that discusses how the final version of Lotus 1-2-3 just reached end of life and so is effectively dead.  This is no surprise as the product has been in a long decline; however, I cannot help but feel a bit melancholy because Lotus 1-2-3 was a killer app in the day and it is sad to see it slide into obscurity and now cancellation.

In the early days of personal computing, users and vendors were struggling to justify the existence of the complex and powerful machines like the Apple 2 or IBM PC. Just to be clear, these machines were barely more powerful than today’s desktop calculators and lacked virtually all of the advanced technologies we take for granted today; however, at the time they were cutting edge.  Out of this chaos of technology and software development emerged Visicalc which was the first spreadsheet program and was the first killer application for personal computers.  It was instantly a best seller; however, it still had significant limitations. Continue reading Lotus 1-2-3, a walk down memory lane and lessons learned