In a post on bluebox.com,  Andrew Blaich writes that many of the cheap tablets they tested had minor to Major security flaws.  Flaws that might make you not bother with trying to save an extra $20. Bluebox bought a number of tablets from big name retailers like Best Buy, Walmart, Target, Kmart, Kohl’s and Staple and ran security tests on them. One device from The DigiLand had so many discrepancies and never-encountered-before security issues.  Check out the following quote from Bluebox:

Best Buy is advertising a DigiLand 7” Android tablet for $49.99 We purchased and tested this tablet model, which, reportedly runs Android version 4.4.0. But when we looked under the hood, we started seeing some discrepancies with some parts of the system indicating it’s Android 4.4.2. This makes us question if what the device tells us is real and or not. We also found the device was signed by the AOSP (Android Open Source Project) test key, which is not supposed to be used for signing the firmware of commercial devices because it allows an attacker to easily create a Trojan system update.

You can read more from the link I provided above, but here is a short list of devices you should stay away from, or make sure you rebuild the OS if you know what you are doing.

• $49.99 DigiLand from Best Buy
• $39.99 RCA Mercury from Target
• $39.99 Mach Speed Xtreme from Kmart
• $49.99 Polaroid from Walgreens
• $49.99 Zeki from Kohl’s
• $39.99 Mach Speed JLab Pro from Staples
• $49.99 Craig 7 from Fred’s Super Dollar
• $49.99 Pioneer 7 from Walmart
• $49.00 Nextbook from Walmart
• $49.99 Ematic from Walmart
• $69.99 RCA from Walmart
• $47.32 Worryfree Zeepad from Walmart

And here is the chart that is on their site.  Again, remember, you get what you pay for.  If you buy of one of these cheap devices just to play games or watch movies that might be fine, but I would not even log into a website on one of these. Also, you may want to create a new google email address just to be safe.

Click image to see full size.

image from phonedog.com

Recently there has been rumors that Samsung will release the new gear and a new set of phones running on the little known Tizen OS.  Which seen a bit odd given the experience they had with Bada.  Remember Bada?  Do not blame you if you do not.  Bada was actually a good OS, and the interface you are seeing with all Samsung phones was there with Bada.  The issue was, no one wanted to write apps for the Bada OS.  So what makes Samsung think that suddenly there will be a wave of people writing apps for Tizen?  Because Samsung thinks they have a good market share of the mobile phone and tablet market, the first major player out the door with a smart watch and finally with their curved and other advanced screen technology, can produce nitch phones that will not have any direct competitors.  But these reasons are not enough to take a chance on a OS that few app makers will write for.   Or are they?

What Samsung wants is what Microsoft wants, what Blackberry tried for, and to some extent, what Google is working on.  They want what Apple has.  An eco system where they collect a VAT (value added tax) on all transactions within the eco system. Apple is making amazing profits as every app is created and bought within the system.  Samsung wants this so much so, that they are willing to take a chance on relying on app developers to develop a version of their app for yet another OS. If they were to do this right now, they will have a bad time.

But I do not think they plan on leaving Android that fast.  Yes, they have given the first warning bell when the Samsung Gear was restricted to only work with Samsung devices. They already have been hiding some elements of the Android UI with their own Touchwiz UX and will bury Android even further with the new version of Magazine UX for tablets. Many Samsung users are so locked into the touchwiz system they would be a bit lost using a pure Android for the first time. In fact, if you were to take an old Bada phone and give it to a Samsung user, they would have no problems using it at the basic level.  And that is the plan.  To create an interface so removed from Android that you could be using any OS and you would still feel like you were using a Samsung device, just as you feel you are using an Apple device when you pick up an iphone. But still, you need apps when you get a phone and right now, there are not many Tizen apps out there.

And this is the problem.  Samsung cannot just abandon Android and strike out on there own. We have seen with Bada, MicroSoft, Intel’s Meego and BlackBerry that app makers do not have all the time in the world, and normally they will build for Apple first, Android second, and perhaps Microsoft third if they get around to it or someone pays them to do it.  So what makes Samsung think this is going to work?

Lets go back to what I said in the beginning.  They have a good chunk of the phone market.  A lead with watches (if you think that matters) and other tech that gives them a lead.  They are hoping this is enough to attract programmers to create for what they gamble will be a maintained if not grown market share.  I think they are taking a big chance that in the short term, will not pay off.   Yet…

In the long term, it may not matter.  With HTML5 apps getting better and better, a ‘set’ of apps that seems to be common among most consumer smart phone users getting integrated into the OS directly and tools that are making it easier to migrate code from one OS to another will remove much of the ‘yet-another-OS’ barrier.  By Samsung having a large number of diverse devices that work with each other, phones, watches, tv’s, laptops, etc.., a unified UI and a name to back them up, they could capture a part of the market that views smartphones as utility devices as most Apple users do and not mini computers as many hardcore Android users do.  And this brings up another point.  iOS user are far more likely to pay for their apps then Android users are.  These people are normally consumers, not first adapters, and want a simple unified eco system not something they have to hack.  And this is what Samsung is building.

So although in the short term, they could backfire, in the long term it may not matter.  The question is; how long?

What I really love about this new approach is that they threw away the typical convention of the joystick controller and instead embraced swiping which is more common and natural with a slate display.  Also, position navigation now using point and go which we have already seen on some desktop games.  As with these games when you click on a spot in the environment, your POV goes to that position.  If there is something in the way, it goes around it.  The biggest change for me dropping the concept that when you shoot, your target must be in the middle of your view frame.  Instead, you press two fingers to the place you want your bullets to go.  The further away the target is, the harder this shot will be.  You can also strafe by two touching one position to another.

All these changes may seem like you are being asked to relearn how to use a FPS, and in a way you are.  But you are not holding a controller or using a mouse, so asking a player to try to use a virtual joystick is worse then trying to learn a new system.  Also, as you can see in the video, it does not look all that hard.  I would bet that with a few hours of practice, one would be able to master this quite quickly.

When I first watched this was ready to jump up and get my iPad … till I found out its not ready yet.  GRRRRR>>>   Hurry up then!

BTW, check out this really well done interview of Ben Cousins by Dean Takahashi on GamesBeat.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAKdyxIB1cE

So I saw the commercial again tonight and it really struck home, especially after watching the iPad mini preview,’what the hell are they thinking  in the Microsoft marketing department?  There is NOTHING about this advert that makes me want to buy this device.  And that is one thing Apple always seems to get right.  I know what their device is going to do and why I want it.  With the surface, I guess the reason to buy is tonnes of peoples around me will suddenly jump into a choreographed dance.   Not sure if that is good or bad.

Each time I watch the commercial, I’m annoyed more and more.  And that’s too bad.  Because kinds of like Palm’s epic fail with the creepy girl, you only get one shot when you trying to catch up from behind.  And this commercial is strike 1.

Essentially, this is Google’s answer to Apple’s virtual voice assistant Siri for iOS, which remembers important dates on your calendar, reminds you of appointment times, and allows you to search the web via voice controls. However, Google Now goes a bit above and beyond this concept by taking the data from your daily routine, search history, and other user behavior.

For instance, Google Now will learn your daily commute home. And if there’s particularly congested traffic that would cause you to get home much later, it’ll send you a notification suggesting alternate routes. Another thing it does is update you on restaurants/retail stores as you’re walking past them, provides reviews of those stores, and other recommendations.

I really love the driving aspect of this.  The more I learn about Android 4.1 jelly bean, the more I’m thinking my next phone could be an android.

As rumoured, Google’s going to announce a 7-inch, Nexus-branded tablet called the Nexus 7. According to the leak, it’s built by Asus, with a 1.3Ghz quad-core Tegra 3 processor, GeForce 12-core GPU and 1GB of RAM with two different storage variants: 8GB and 16GB.

The Nexus tablet will also feature NFC and run Google Wallet (probably only in the US) and Android Beam.

The screen is an IPS display with a 178-degree viewing angle, running a resolution of 1280×800. The device will also sport a 1.2-megapixel front-facing camera. The battery will also give you nine hours worth of operation.

The 8GB model will set you back $US199 and the 16GB will cost $US249. No word in the document on local prices.

Looks like its going run jellybean, 4.1.  There was talk the google may leapfrog to 5.0, but no evidence out there to support this.  The big news is the $199 price point.  I can see lots of pickup for this as well as a good premove to block Apple in case its thinking of a 7-inch tablet.

But again..  All rumer.  We’ll see.

So I grabbed an old copy and posted it here.  And now I will add to it after seeing it on Big Bang Theory.  I have to give kudos to the advisers of the show to think to give Sheldon a TC1100.  Although I did not get a good picture, the tablet PC was working.  If anyone can get me better screenshots, please send them and I’ll add them to the post.

The HP Compaq TC1100 is a Tablet PC sold by Hewlett-Packard that was the follow-up to the Compaq TC1000. The TC1100 had either an Intel Celeron or an Intel Pentium M chip set and could be upgraded to a maximum amount of 2 gigabytes of memory. These upgrades from the TC1000 were much welcomed after numerous complaints about the poor performance of the TC1000. The TC1100 was the last version from HP in this style of tablet.

So a couple of things here. I commute.  I have my iphone jailbroken so I can get web access. (its called tethering and you can pay an extra $20-30 a month of you do not want to jailbreak).  Normally I would use my laptop, but I decided to give it a week and only use the iPad.  Did not miss it at all!  In fact, I have stopped taking my laptop home with me and only use the iPad.  Same when I travel or take a road trip.  Just the iphone and ipad.  Since the iPad has a FAR better battery life then my laptop, I do not need to bother taking a power supply.  Just toss in the small adapter and cable and that’s it.  It may not seem like that much of a savings, but I find I’m much more willing to simply grab my iPad and take it with me then I ever would with my laptop. Also, the keyboard is easy to use, allowing me to type at almost 80% the same speed I do on my normal keyboard. One tip I can give you is if you do not use keyboard shortcuts, learn them.  Short cuts, using the tab key to jump from filed to field and using the arrow keys to move around the screen makes living without a mouse acceptable.  The only slowdown is when I need to right click on something.  But you get used to that.  As I said, 80% efficient for all tasks.

I’m just as productive on the ipad as I am on the normal machine since 85% of what I need to do I can do using web services. But what about the other 15%?  Then what?  Glad you asked.

There are a number of ways to deal with the last 15%.  The easiest is remote access.  If you are not a computer God and know how to set up secure remote access to your home/work computer, there are a number of apps out there that can help you.  The easiest I know of is. Teamviewer.

Download Teamviewer to your desktop or laptop.  I recommend you configure it so its always on.  Leave your computer on ( I normally turn off the screen) and make sure it does not go into sleep mode. Next download the Teamviewer app onto your laptop and boom.  You now have access to all your files and apps. Teamviewer is one of my top iPad apps.

Just need access to your files?  Start using cloud storage services like dropbox, microsoft skydrive or even google drive which just came on the scene recently.  And of course, for almost all of these services there is an app for that.

Finally, check out onlive desktop.  This give you a virtual windows 7 desktop with windows apps.

{update}  Just read a review on VentureBeat that explains this pretty well.  Still withholding judgement till I use this for a bit more.

Subject: Yahoo! Axis launches on May 23- Redefining what it means to search and browse

Hi team,

I am so excited to announce that tonight  at 9pm we will launch Yahoo! Axis! Since you are one of my most valued clients I am giving you first notification. Since this is not launching publically until tonight, we ask that you please keep this information confidential until tomorrow.

Yahoo! Axis is a new browser that redefines what it means to search and browse- enabling a seamless search experience on your iPhone, iPad, and even your desktop.  Here are some highlights of how Yahoo! Axis brings search to life in a whole new way:

·        Smarter, Faster Search with Rich Design: Get instant answers and visual previews so you can continuously discover and explore content without interruption. Never leave the page you are on to view your search results again.

·        Connected Experience: Move seamlessly across devices, picking up wherever you left off as you move across your desktop, iPhone, and iPad. Recently visited sites, searches, saved articles, and bookmarks are automatically accessible across all your devices.

·        Personal Home Page: Get direct access to your favorite sites and content across all your devices with the customizable Home Page.

Although initially there will not be paid opportunities for advertisers, we do plan to integrate this at a later time and will definitely keep you updated. However, our goal remains to grow our search base and traffic to you. We believe Axis will help accomplish this goal. It is a great opportunity to grow search volume on all devices, perhaps most importantly on phones and tablets.  The end result should be new users and greater search volume, translating into increased traffic and value for advertisers in the future.

Want to know more?

·        Visit axis.yahoo.com to watch a short video demonstrating how Axis is sure to wow, and woo, searchers. And more importantly, once there, download Axis or get the app! (After 9pm on 5/23)

BTW, if you are lucky enough to have one, and want to put Windows 8 on it.  Its not fully working yet. Many people are having issues with the wifi and so far the top control buttons do not work. But give it some time. I think Windows 8 on this tablet would be amazing!

At some point, I really should write a post on why the TC110o has the cult reputation that it does.  Its more then just the fact its both a convertible and a slate, and its more then just good design, and more then despite its age, the components are just good enough to keep it useful even today … but that will be another post another day.

If I can find some time, I may gather what the web has said about the coolness and cult value of the classic TC1100.

• Biggest win. The TC1100 was used by Sheldon on the TV show Big Bang Theory.
• The TC1100 was used by Paul Ballard in the Dollhouse (TV Series) second season episode Belle Chose
• The TC1100 was used by Tom Cruise‘s character, Vincent, in Collateral.
• The TC1100 was also seen in the movie Alien vs. Predator.
• The TC1100 was also used by Dr. Cameron in an episode of House MD
• The TC1100 can also been seen in the film The Island starring Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johannson.
• The TC1100 was also used by characters in the TV show Alias
• The TC1100 was also used by characters in episodes 18, 19 and 22 of season 3 and 4, and episode 13 of season 5 of 24
• The TC1100 was also used by characters in the TV show CSI: Miami
• The TC1100 was also used by Angela Montenegro (Michaela Conlin) in the TV show Bones
• The TC1100 was also used by characters in the TV show My sweet 16 on MTV
• The TC1100 was also seen on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart in a skit with Jefferson Han
• The TC1100 has been seen on the TV show “Las Vegas” in various shots around the bars.
• The TC1100 was also seen on the TV show “Knight Rider” in various parts of the show.
• The TC1100 was also seen on the in flight safety video for Singapore Airlines

I’m going to through this image of the iPad vs the TC1100 just for fun.  I would not call it an apples to apples (get it?) comparison, but I still dig it.